I caught a re-run of Shear Genius last week, and the topic was timely for me. During the show, hair stylists cut and styled women's hair. But the twist was that for judging, the women needed to replicate the style on their own.

I know I've been in that type of predicament with my hair before. I'll sit in a stylist's chair and love, love, love what they did. But the next day I discover that I'm completely incapable of recreating the style on my own. Unless you're lucky enough to have the funds to pay for a personal stylist, what good is a hair cut if you can't style it yourself?

Last Friday I got a pretty drastic hair cut. I sat there watching inches of my hair fall to the floor and worried that I wouldn't be able to style it myself. Then I remembered the episode of Shear Genius, and I decided to take a few tips from the show. I'll share some ideas after the break.

Your 'do is getting a bit faded, but you just don't have time to get to the stylist , or you don't want to fork out that much money so soon. You could put off the trip to the salon another three or four weeks if it weren't for your bangs, which are in your eyes and driving you crazy!

What to do?

With this very simple trick from Darla at Chic Critique, you can get yourself those extra days, and you can do it yourself!

These photo pencil covers are a creative way to spice up regular pencils, personalizing them with your own photos.

You can use one picture so that each pencil has a piece, coming together to reveal the whole image. you can also do separate images for each pencil, try pictures of lemon for your yellow pencil crayon, grass for the green and lavender flowers for the purple. There are no rules here. A set of photo pencils would make a great gift for your artist pal, or a fun back-to-school project.

You'll want to use regular paper as opposed to photo paper. Basically, you mark out and cut the photo strips, cover the back with glue, and wrap it around the pencil. Secure the edge with matte scotch tape, and you're ready to more on to the next pencil in your series. You'll find the full tutorial and other creative ideas at Photojojo!

Got no romantic plans for Valentine's Day? How about staying home for a pamper-yourself evening? In the realm of DIY beauty, we have already tackled some haircare basics. (Check out our posts on cutting your own hair and cutting your baby's hair, for example.) Now let's move onto something equally tricky: plucking your own eyebrows.

According to NZGirl ("NZ" stands for New Zealand, but the site has no connection to this Kiwi), the key to brows that are shapely, yet natural-looking, is to have them echo the shape of your eyes. How, you ask? Here are some tips:
1. Check out photos in magazines and use your favorite examples as your guide.

You're bound to make mistakes while you're learning to woodwork, and even as a seasoned woodworker. The real separation is in those who know how to fix them and those who don't. A good woodworker can fix his mistakes so seamlessly that you'd never know there was one when looking at the final project.

Canadian Home Workshop compiled a list of these 10 woodworking mistakes and how to fix them:

1. Removing Router Burn
2. Tightening Sloppy Mortise-and-Tenon Joints
3. Eliminating Gaps in Face Frame Joints
4. Adjusting a Too-Deep Hinge Pocket
5. Removing Mystery Glue Smears
6. Repair Dents in Wood
7. Widening Cabinet Doors That Are Too Narrow
8. Fixing Nail-Split or Screw-Split Wood
9. Salvaging a Bubbly Finish
10. Lengthening a Board You Cut Too Short

Number 10 sounds more like a job for for a magician then a woodworker. I'll share that secret with you after the break.

Manicured nails make a great impression. For most of us, long nails dazzled with jewels just don't match our DIY'er lifestyle. In this edition of DIY spa treatment, I'll show you how to achieve a spa quality manicure that you can live with and easily maintain.

What you'll need

1. Nail brush
2. Soap
3. Nail clippers
4. Emery board
5. Q-tips
6. Nail polish remover
7. Colored polish
8. Clear top coat polish

After the break I'll give you the step by step for your at home manicure. While I am now painfully aware that I am not a hand model, the gallery pictures illustrate each step along the way.

This Halloween trick is sure to terrify your friends and have you go down in history with the best prank of the year. Elaborate makeup with fake wounds and oozing blood are staples of gruesome Halloween costumes, but what about blood that appears without any wound at all? Imagine that you saw somebody get cut with a knife, and blood starts seeping from where the fresh wound. You'd be pretty freaked out, just like your friends will be when you pull this one on them.

This video shows you how to create the two solutions necessary for this trick. The first solution, a Potassium thiocyante formula gets poured onto your body in the place where you want the blood to appear. You then dip the knife in the second solution, a Ferric Nitrate formula. Use the blunt end of the knife (or better yet, get a prop knife to avoid any mistakes) and pretend to slice on the same spot that you applied the Potassium. The result: a stream of realistic looking blood as the knife is pulled down the skin. Check out the video, you'll be shocked at how convincing this one is.

Ah, designer vinyl. Companies like Kidrobot have popularized it, but these days, you can find cool, pricey, not-for-play-or-action figures even in places like Urban Outfitters. You can collect Kidrobot's Dunnys (stylized bunnies, all with the same shape but each with a surface by a different designer, usually retailing for under $10), or focus on pieces by a particular artist.

Or you can go to ReadyMech, a project of the FWIS design collective, and print some free paper models to cut and assemble, with minimal equipment. (However, for best results, you need to use more equipment than the website suggests -- more on that later). The styles are as cool as anything available in the world of limited edition art figures, but as with most DIY projects, you save money by building them yourself.

Aside from the double-sided tape and thick matte paper recommended by the designers, you might consider a craft knife (X-Acto, etc), a metal straight edge, and a bone folder, for clean cuts and crisp folds. Printing onto light card stock might be helpful: if you can only print on thin paper, you might consider gluing it to light card stock with spray adhesive after you've finished printing, because the result would be more durable. A glue stick or glue pen might not be amiss. They say that each project should take you around fifteen minutes to complete.

Click on through for tips, tricks, and what I learned from building a ReadyMech of my own!

Ah the Dremel tool, pervasive hobbyist element that does so much. My first college roommate used his Dremel to decorate his dorm room by drilling holes in cinder block and sawing dowel rods. Not really recommended, but it shows you what a Dremel can do! Now's your chance to win one in our 30-day giveaway, Toolstravaganza.

This Dremel rotary tool goes from 5,000 to 25,000 rpm and can be used with all Dremel accessories. Plus, it has a lithium-ion battery for long life and regular use. Set includes a base station and several accessories including: cutters, bristles, cones, polishers, sanders and more. A little bit of everything in a convenient, powerful package.

Leave a comment on this post to enter, and don't forget to validate. Check out our Toolstravaganza page for previous prizes and full rules. Entry period for this prize is from 5AM-11:59PM on July 24. Good luck!