DIY Life

I'm a green gardener. I'm loathe to use toxic chemicals in my yard. However, there are certain situations when only toxic will do. Like, for example, when I recently had to kill a tree. Read on if you're in the same boat and would like some tips. Oh, and be sure to check out my photo gallery, too!

The Camphor Laurel: An Invasive Pest

First up: a bit about the tree in question. The offending plant was a camphor laurel tree (cinnamomum camphora), a native of East Asia that has become an invasive pest here in the US and in other countries, like Australia. Yes, this plant is the source of stinky camphor oil, which is found in products like Vicks® cold remedies.

In my backyard, the camphor is a big pain-in-the-butt-plant. My nemesis. My arch-enemy. It self-sows everywhere. I must have pulled hundreds of tiny seedlings by hand since learning (the hard way) to be more vigilant. Hand weeding camphor seedlings is a nuisance, but it sure beats trying to eradicate them once they become established.

Think you're handy with a knife? Fiercely competitive? Sounds like you'd fit right in with this crowd of entrants in the Salon of Culinary Art, an annual fruit and vegetable carving competition held in New York. It's sort of like the Olympics...but with lots of produce and sharp cutting implements. And less exposure of gleaming, muscular flesh.

Saxton Freymann's books, especially Play with your Food, helped popularize this hobby/art-form. Freymann is known particularly for his fetching broccoli poodles and Brussels sprouts pigs. That's the kind of cutesie stuff that even I could probably master.

Leaders in the field, however, don't play around with such whimsies. Check out this New York Times slideshow to view the most intricately carved entries in this year's competition. Golden beet butterflies and rearing taro root stallions, anyone?

Anyone else think yard sculptures are cool? Here's a follow-up to yesterday's post, "30 uses for a dead tree."

Join me as I time travel back, way back...to 2005. I want to share with you an old article that I just stumbled upon. It's all about a 7-foot-tall statue of the Buddha, custom made for a front yard. Talk about the ultimate in yard art. This Buddha was commissioned by Dave and Gunda Hiebert of Lawrence, Kansas. The sculpture was created for them by local artist and wood-working guru, Dave Werdin-Kennicott. He carved the religious icon from the remains of a diseased black locust tree.

Werdin-Kennicott used as his model a standing Buddha sculpture that rests in the collection of Kansas University's Spencer Museum of Art. His tools for the job included all the standard wood-working gear: sanders, chisels, chainsaws, grinders and drills.

Dave Hiebert, owner of the sculpture, was quoted as saying that at first his only aim was to rid his yard of the tree, but he had soon hit upon the idea of having it transformed into a work of art. Said his wife, Gunda, the sculpture emerged so naturally from the old tree stump, it was almost as if the locust tree was expressing its inner Buddha. Hmm.

I'm sure the neighbors have a love/hate relationship with that thing. As much as I love quirky yard art, I'm not sure I'd have the guts to put a huge sculpture like that in my front yard. Namaste.

Pumpkin vases are simple, and leave lots of room for your own creativity. You can choose flowers or leaves in colors that match your Thanksgiving table setting. This autumn decoration can be quickly transformed into a Halloween accessory by draping it in a spider web.

What you'll need

1. Pumpkin
2. Carving tools
3. Spoon
4. Vase
   
5. Flowers or leaf branches

After the break I'll explain how we make the pumpkin vase. Make sure you take a look through the gallery for pictures accompanying each step.

Do you have some of your own design ideas that you think would make cool rubber stamps? You could use them just about anywhere, adding a personal touch to gift cards and thank you notes, or even for labeling your notebooks.

In this tutorial, Alma Stoller shows us how to carve rubber stamps. All the supplies should be available at your local craft store.

What you'll need

1. Speedball Speedy Stamp carving block - pink is firmer and easier to work with
   
2. Carving tools - linolium, various sizes
   
3. Craft knife and cutting mat
4. Original drawing
5. Tracing paper
6. Pencil

It's difficult these days to come up with unique Halloween jack-o-lantern decoration ideas. I mean, there are only so many ways to carve a pumpkin, right? After all, they've been carving pumpkins since before Ichabod Crane had his run-in with the headless horseman on that covered bridge, and that was at least a couple Halloweens ago.

My challenge was to come up with a jack-o-lantern idea that no one had tried yet. While I'm not sure that I accomplished that goal, I have come up with something which is at least...unusual. The amazing puking pumpkin that you are about to witness was actually quite easy to accomplish. In truth, it's more of a rabid pumpkin than it is a puking one, but I still like the way the whole thing worked out.



Continue reading to see how it's done.

Let's say that Halloween crept up on you. You never saw it coming, and suddenly, there it is, staring you right in the face. You haven't purchased any candy, you haven't bought a costume, and worst of all, you haven't carved your pumpkin yet.

DIY Life has the solution for you. It's called speed pumpkin carving and it'll get you out of a Halloween bind every time. Just grab your reciprocating saw from the tool box, strap down that pumpkin, and you can quickly create the next sequel to the latest Hollywood slasher movie series. Watch the video below to see how it's done!

We've already had a few articles about Halloween pumpkins this year, and we'll continue to showcase some enlightening ideas for the coolest Jack O'Lanterns on the block. However, if you plan to carve up a pumpkin or three this October, there's something you need to know.

I live in Ohio, the US's primary producer of the autumnal pumpkin crop. Over the last week or so, the local news has been buzzing: due to a hot, dry summer, this year's pumpkin yield is smaller than it should be, and among those pumpkins making it to the shelves, there are fewer prime specimens than usual. The same news has been common across all the Midwestern US's pumpkin-producing areas. The last year this bad for pumpkins was almost twenty years ago.

What does this mean to you? A relative scarcity! Pumpkin prices are a little bit higher this year, it will be more difficult to find a large pumpkin that isn't obviously misshapen, and sellers expect those to go relatively quickly. The bottom line is that anyone with plans to dress their Halloween manor to impress should try to get their hands on their little orange victims in the very near future.