DIY Life

After three decades in business, garden supply retailer Smith & Hawken has called it quits. Or, rather, parent company Scotts Miracle-Gro pulled the rug out, deciding S&H was not a viable competitor in the current market. Around 700 employees are losing their jobs.

Smith & Hawken's reputation rested on its quality garden tools -- and its pricey accessories and decorative objects. It was the Pottery Barn of the gardening world, I guess. Bargain shoppers (myself included) enjoyed thumbing the catalogues or browsing the website ... but ultimately made their purchases elsewhere, at discount stores.

Gardeners looking for clearance deals should head over to their nearest Smith & Hawken store. (Alas, the online store is already closed.) The company is advertising 20-30% discounts, storewide. Doesn't sound like much of a clearance sale to this budget-minded gal, but I imagine prices might drop further as the weeks go by.

So your wedding day is near, and you still haven't made up your mind about table centerpieces.

Last year, I wrote a post with ideas for 8 do it yourself wedding centerpieces. It's been very popular since it was published, but I know that there are hundreds of additional impressive ways to go about making a beautiful visual feature for your guest's tables.

Let's face it: you want your wedding day to be perfect, and saving money on your centerpieces will give you a sigh of relief. Knowing that you and your wedding party made them yourselves will also give you great satisfaction. "Inexpensive" does not necessarily mean "cheap"; anything that you can do for your wedding day or even your day to day life to save money will make you happier in the long run.

Follow me after the break, as I try again to give you some inexpensive ideas for creating your own beautiful centerpieces.

Summer is almost officially here -- at least in the Northern Hemisphere -- so it's fitting that the Summer 2008 issue of the free online knitting magazine Knitty hit the Web yesterday afternoon.

This time around, the majority of the patterns are small or lightweight things appropriate for warm-weather wear; not many of them will sit on your lap like a blanket while you work on them. Along with a few garments, there are many accessories -- even a knit lace garter for weddings.

We'll discuss a few of the best patterns and technical articles after the break.

This can be a great way to source out a rare vintage find, or expand your collection of designer handbags without shelling out the big bucks. Keep your closet fresh this spring by getting rid of stuff you don't wear, and swapping them for things you will. And needless to say, this is a great way to find those rare pieces you've been coveting for your next DIY fashion creation.

[via: Lifehacker]

What are we trying to achieve when we express our individual style? I'm typically looking to show off a bit of my own flair, letting the world in on who I am and what I'm about. Adding one-of-a-kind accessories is a great way to do this.

If over-sized diamond-encrusted initials aren't your idea of personalized style, then this recycled book handbag might be just the expressive piece of fashion that you're looking for.

There isn't much that says more about us than the books we read and the classics we've enjoyed. Take one of those old favorites, and turn it into a funky handbag. I'm excited to try out this project because it looks relatively straightforward, and the final handbag is sure to be a piece that gets people talking.

Scrounge the thrift stores for a copy of your favorite book, or find an interesting classic. Match it to your fabric of choice, and some purse handles. With these personalized pieces, follow the instructions in the video, and enjoy your newest and hippest accessory.

My daughter loves to watch the cartoon "Lil Bill". Repeat episodes come on every day, so I have the theme "Spring is here, Spring is here, it's the best time of the year" stuck in my head. The episode reminds me that the snow is slowly melting and it's about time to go to the beach.

Maybe it is too early in the year to go to the beach yet, but somewhere in the world it is spring or even summer. That means it is time to think about decorating your home for breezy summer days. What better way to do that than with seashells? Kathy Peterson has excellent suggestions on exactly what and where we can decorate with seashells.

Using seashells as a table centerpiece is a marvelous idea. Decorating with seashells in a roomy bathroom is ingenious, especially is you use seashells to spruce up a mirror. You can use shells to pretty up your fireplace too, as well as your lampshades, pillows and curtain tie-backs, and to decorate a baby mobile.

You can decorate pretty much anything with seashells, but like Kathy recommends, keeping your theme simple is the key to a successfully and tastefully decorated abode.

I'm trying to drink more water. In fact, I'm trying to get our whole family on board, carrying water bottles with us on weekend outings, avoiding our habitual Starbucks and Slurpee stops.

The only drawback to carrying a water bottle with you everywhere you go is that you have the burden of actually having to carry it. I often bring one in the car and leave it there, or stash it in my bag, but then don't actually pull it out the entire trip.

What I need is a handy water bottle holder that's easily accessible. It wouldn't hurt if it was a funky fashion accessory too!

The solution: Kathy Mack's fabric water bottle carrier.

Selecting the audio and video cards for your new computer can be a daunting task. Breaking down your computer needs and desires into terms of functionality, you can make sense of how the multitude of dedicated processing cards can be sorted out to serve your particular needs.

Dedicated processing cards are sort of like your computer's main processor, except they are designed to handle specific tasks and types of information. Video or graphics cards are responsible for how visual data is displayed on your viewing screen. Sound cards are responsible for handling the performance of your speakers and other music or sound-related working applications

Your dedicated processing cards are two of the biggest component decisions you'll encounter when making your new machine truly customized. To make good choices, you need to go back to the very beginning of your computer planning and review exactly what you want your new computer to accomplish for you. Once you are reaffirmed in your computer performance desires, then you can proceed in choosing your processing cards and make your machine truly personalized.