DIY Life

There are more reasons than ever to learn how to burn a CD: to create your own CD wedding favors or to make a story CD for your child, for example.

Are you technically savvy enough to do it? I, for one, am happy to have a husband who is, but in the interest of being a strong, independent woman and a good example to my child, I set out to learn how to do burn a CD myself.

The first thing I learned is that there is this thing called a "Wizard" that pretty much does everything for you; simply drag and drop the files you want to write to the CD and surf the internet during your wait time.

OK, it isn't quite that simple (but it's close), but Worldstart has a tips and tricks page with:

• CD-R versus CD-RW tips
• step-by-step instructions
• a separate tutorial for Microsoft Windows XP, which has its own CD burning software

and more -- everything you will need to know to burn your own CD, in fact. Independence is just a click away!

My three-year-old loves to listen to stories. As a conscientious mom and former reading teacher, this thrills me beyond words. We read books together often throughout the day, and though I love to spin a good yarn, we really like to listen to audiobooks while traveling in the car.

We own some good ones, and we frequent the library to check out lots of recorded books every three weeks. But Owen's favorite stories we can't find on CD, so we've just had to be creative about it. Here's what we've discovered:

• Robert Munsch is an author and storyteller with the sense of humor of a six-year-old boy. This works out for us, and since he's got scads of downloadable stories, it is a great resource.
• If you and your child like the classics, Kiddie Records Weekly has all the old recordings you listened to as a child, scratchy LP quality included! Some of these are really priceless; my son loves this version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

I have always loved giving photographs as gifts. In my young and single days, I'd elegantly frame my own photographs of landscapes, flowers, or architecture. Now, people get pictures of my kid. He's pretty cute, so it works out on all fronts, but I think the gift is most appreciated when the photograph comes with a classy frame, made by you.

Every Dad needs pictures of his kids at the office, right? For this cute "Dad" frame, all you need is some oaktag or poster board, scissors and glue. The holes in the letters D-A-D frame photos of your kids -- cute! Martha Stewart has a similar project with a template for the D-A-D.

A rustic photo frame made from twigs can go with just about any decor, from country to modern. Using twigs, twine and a little glue, you can make one is a few short minutes. You could frame your child, but this type of frame would also look nice around a woodland landscape that is somehow meaningful to the recipient.

CDs and DVDs get scratched, and CD-Rs sometimes burn incorrectly and become useless, yet it seems so wasteful to just throw these shiny silver circles into the trash. You might try fixing them first, but if that doesn't work... what then? Surely something can be done with them, right?

Hints and Things has more than a few clever ideas. In fact, they have over 100 uses for CDs that are otherwise headed for the landfill. Some of my favorites include:

• Greendisk, for recycling or for Discsfordogs.org.
• Make a switch plate.
• Use as a pooper scooper.
• Create a "rear view mirror" on your computer.
• When painting, use as an artist's palette.
• Make place tags at a party.
• Use as a stencil.

If you're feeling especially creative, you could also build a CD tower lamp. Finally, if you need a project for all those leftover CD cases as well, check out these ideas for creating wall art or a calendar out of them.

Attention, husbands: If you're just planning Mother's Day now, I won't scold you, but I will save you from the wrath you're about to experience if you don't get things together quickly.

Before you move on to showing her your personal appreciation, you'll want to make sure you've arranged something special from your children. If you're in a hurry, here are some quick and easy Mother's Day projects. You can also help them make this precious card, telling Mom just how much they love her.

Some suggest giving Mom a day without the kids, but personally that isn't what I would want. Mother's Day should be celebrated as a family, but once they've served her breakfast in bed, and spent the day honoring her in clever ways, the two of you can tuck in those sweet little ones and get on with some romantic appreciation.

If you're looking for a way to spoil her, follow me through the break, and we'll discuss how you can shower her with appreciation for little or no cost, and with little preparation (yes, you can pull all of these off before Sunday!).

My husband's birthday was on Valentine's day and our two boys wrote him a song. Our 4 year old made up the lyrics, and together with his 2 year old brother, practiced tirelessly until they got all the words, music and moves exactly how they wanted it. Their performance was nothing like some of the little rehearsals I'd seen them do (what do you mean they aren't robots!) but they sure were proud of their song and Daddy thought it was the sweetest thing ever. Children don't need how-to articles to tap into their creative side. They simply have it. It might be because they aren't clouded by the same daily stresses, or that they aren't afraid to look silly, but they just go for it and as a result, tap into their personal creativity so much more freely than we do.

Songwriting isn't just for worry-free preschoolers, tormented teenagers and professional musicians. You can do it too. Maybe you're writing a song because you didn't live up to your Valentine's day responsibilities, or maybe you're inspired to put some of your thoughts to music. It doesn't matter what your style or topic, these guiding principles will help you write a great song. Offering 17 tips, the article walks you through everything from tapping into your creativity, understanding the building blocks of song creation, lyrical and musical choices, finding the hook, and getting feedback.

You might sign a big record deal, perform for a friend or add a new song to your shower set. Regardless of where you go with your songwriting skills, you'll get huge satisfaction from having produced an original piece of music from scratch.

Using a old computer keyboard you can make a thin sleeve to protect your CD or DVD from damage. Inside computer keyboards is a thin, flexible, and sturdy membrane with printed circuits on it. Older keyboards tend to have prettier colors and designs in my experience. If you have upgraded to a USB keyboard or one with a bunch of fancy function keys and can not find a taker for your old keyboard grab a small screwdriver and see what's inside.

Making a few sleeves like this could be combined to make a CD wallet. Adding a "jacket" made from an old 5¼ inch floppy diskette gives the newer disc even more protection and also makes your CD protection quite similar to the old familiar albums.

Have you heard? Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia recently announced that their magazine Blueprint, around for less than two years and full of achievable DIY domesticity, is kaput: the January/February 2008 issue, which should be out next week, is the last.

The news has not exactly been greeted with cheers of joy, and the company is apparently still trying to decide what to do with the brand. It may be folded into Martha Stewart Weddings (a decision they seem to be rethinking, based on reader feedback), or exist only as web content, or as an occasional "special issue."

The November/December 2007 issue of Blueprint directs readers to a nifty little project on its website: a printable 2008 calendar designed for display in a CD jewel case. You need:

• paper
• a printer
• a CD jewel case
• a paper cutter, or a craft knife and straight edge

Pay attention to the comments on the project at the site: you may need to change the printing scale to 85%, and you'll almost certainly have to disassemble the jewel case and flip one side so that it'll stay open as shown in the photos. The calendar itself exemplifies the appealing art direction that the magazine has been known for, but it will probably only look as good as the quality of the printer and paper stock you use. (Time to pull out that resumé paper you bought a while back!) When you're done, you'll have a stylish and practical little desk ornament for the new year.

If you have a definite opinion about the cancellation of Blueprint, or simply an idea about how Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia can address younger women who aren't as affluent as the target Martha Stewart Living reader, they're asking for suggestions on the Bluelines blog. Of course, the top suggestion so far seems to be, "Bring it back!"

Every once in a while, a project comes along that is really, really worth doing. If you're into unique home lighting effects and are proud to have self-made items adorning their homes, you'll love this one. With a little pressboard, a small shop or auto light, some routing skills and either a stack of old CDs or even a 50-pack of new CD-Rs, you can have a nice lamp for that side or sofa table.

Well, pull out that fluorescent tube-style bulb assembly you may have sitting around (yes, that is the light source) and follow the visual instructions here. Due to the plastic nature of CDs, they are perfect light transmission vehicles for a small tube light in the middle of a tower of CDs. Have an unused or older tube shop light sitting in the garage? It's the perfect light source for this project.

If you have a chance this weekend, this project may be a hit at that New Year's party next Monday night. Heck, make a few of them while you're at it and double the conversations starters next week!

My husband has bins of random old computer parts, and I've begged him repeatedly to get rid of them. He has always said that you can never be sure when you might need one of those parts. I'm sure he's got useless stuff in there, though, like maybe a broken CD drive. Who needs that kind of junk? Well, apparently a broken CD drive isn't necessarily junk after all.

This instructables tutorial teaches us how to make a USB cooling fan for a notebook with a old CD drive. If you've got a bin like ours, you probably already have everything you need for this project.

Tim Ferris, author of The 4 Hour Work Week is at it again sharing his efficiency tricks and experiments with us. This time he's deconstructing and learning a new language in just one hour. He suggests that you ditch the books and CDs and instead delve into the mechanics of language and really dissect your subject.

First consider the new language a sport. With any sport there are some physical requirements. How closely does the new language resemble your native tongue? Does it use familiar sounds or will you need to re-train your brain and muscles to form sounds you've never experienced before? Tim walks you through the language deconstruction to determine how long it will take to gain fluency.

Once you know the rules of the game and the requirements of the specific sport, put your energy into training. Tim explains the theory behind this language deconstruction and outlines the process from curiosity to fluency. You might be preparing for a trip, or exploring a new language for business, or maybe you just want to dazzle your friends with some foreign vocabulary. Whatever your reason, this method looks a lot easier then suffering through hours of CD lessons and poring over language books.

Computers are good for many things -- I use mine mostly for listening to compact discs, playing that awesome pinball game, and checking the finishing times at NASCAR.com -- but did you know they can be just as useful when they're broken? In all, I think I've burned through eight computers over the last three years -- one got crushed when my prized moose head fell off the wall, and I spilled various liquids on the other seven. Typically when I bust up one of my PCs, I just toss it on the burn pile with everything else, but then I got to thinking, "I bet I could tear this sucker apart and use the various pieces in all sorts of different ways."

For instance, discarded keyboards make great dog toys, and you can use those little gray mouse balls to build a sweet miniature billiard set. Now, I bet you're thinking to yourself, "surely you can't do much else with a broken computer!" Au contraire, mon amie. Check out these other ingenious uses for discarded computer pieces:

Singer/fashionista Gwen Stefani recently signed a promotional deal with Hewlett-Packard: she's the new spokesperson for their printers, so they've made some "Gwen's Style For You" printable downloads available on the HP site. If you use Vox, or certain other Internet services, you may already be aware of this: it's been heavily promoted in a few places. (Incidentally, this is not Stefani's first deal with HP -- back in 2005, she designed a limited edition camera for the company.)

But have you actually gone and looked at HP's page of "Gwen downloads"? The printables aren't pics of Gwen; they're much more interesting than just another photo of a pop star. Instead, they are illustrations and designs reminiscent of some of her fashion brands, particularly Harajuku Lovers. I don't think she precisely did the art with her own two hands, but she did commission and endorse it. And it's pretty cool!

CDs are wonderful things. Beyond providing 800 MB worth of storage for your growing lolcatz picture archive, they can also be used to make gaudy desk organizers, tacky Christmas ornaments, and, of course, flimsy wind chimes. Let's face it, the majority of used CD projects are pretty lame (said while placing coffee cup on an old AOL disc), which is why I was so surprised when I found two that were actually pretty cool.

The first tutorial uses old CDs and a 6" fluorescent bulb to create a really cool lamp. Now, I know you're probably thinking to yourself, "why would I want a lamp made out of CDs?" And to that I say, "I don't know." Typically lamps are used to provide light, but I'm not sure how much usable light this little guy's going to spit out. Even still, there's something eerily calming about the light it gives out -- kind of like a futuristic lava lamp, but without the lava. You'll probably need about 60 or 70 CDs for this project, so if you start saving AOL discs now, you should have enough by Tuesday of next week (*rim shot*).

A basic clock is pretty easy to make: you just need a clock kit, which has the workings and the hands, and something to be a clock face. Clock kits usually cost less than US$10 in craft stores. Clock faces can be almost anything (flat-ish) you imagine, from a porcelain plate with a hole carefully drilled through the middle, to an old vinyl record, to your friend's wedding photo, to an actual, formal clock face.

IKEAhacker posted a great clock hack of this nature from the November Dreams blog, which involves only making a few holes: a space for the clock parts, and holes for the hands. If you don't happen to have an IKEA near you, no problem. You won't be able to duplicate the project exactly, but you'll be able to find very similar items at almost any craft store.

Be sure to check out the IKEAhacker post for links to four other fun, easy clock projects!