DIY Life

More and more couples are choosing to do their wedding preparations themselves. Whether it is because they are on a budget or because they are trying to stamp the wedding with their own personal style, it is a growing trend that shows no signs of abating any time soon. Just do a google search of the terms DIY wedding and over a million sites will pop up.

A DIY wedding does not mean having to sacrifice anything. It is not just something for the super crafty who make their own dresses out of fabric scraps, hot glue, and stray buttons. No, it means having the wedding that you want on your own terms. While many couples are DIY-ing their weddings to save money, most DIY affairs are driven by the desire to add personal touches to such an important day.

Writer Holly Burns, along with her fiancee Sean Slinsky, has been blogging about their DIY wedding plans for the past several months on her blog Nothing But Bonfires. From the proposal in Italy to making their own invitations, their wedding plans have a fairytale quality. They are the first couple that I have known personally to undertake a DIY wedding.

Every week, I eagerly look forward to Wednesdays and head over to Design*Sponge to see what has been created that day. Derek and Lauren never cease to amaze me, and this week is certainly no exception. Once again they have come up with an excellent DIY project.

A simple piece of wood, a clock mechanism kit, and a wood-burning tool are materials necessary in making this gorgeous little clock. Derek and Lauren provide complete and detailed instructions and pictures describing the process of putting the clock together.

Summer is in full swing, as are outdoor picnics, parties and wedding receptions. If you haven't taken your turn at outdoor dining, then it is time to pretty up your patio or picnic table, and sit down to some char-grilled delicacies.

Evening dining is tops; nothing beats watching the sun set on a glorious summer day. Since you probably love to sit outside after dark, and do not relish the thought of having to go in the house right away as twilight comes, you can stay outdoors a little while longer with homemade paper table lanterns.

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.

Let's face it: everything today is expensive. Where they really get you, though, is with anything wedding. You can always benefit financially from doing-it-yourself. You've probably thought about making and assembling your own wedding invitations and favors, but have you considered creating your own wedding bouquet?

Simple bouquets are more stylish these days, and that works in your favor. Some general tips for making your own wedding bouquet are at All Wedding Ideas and include:

• coordinating colors and tones with the bride's and bridesmaids' dresses
• making sure to have at least eight of the main flowers in your bouquet on hand
• arranging starting with the largest main flowers and work out from the center
• accentuating the finished floral arrangement with beads, tulle, ribbon, and lace

My hair is super straight and pretty boring. I recently bought some of those pink sponge rollers, the kind my mother used to put in my hair every night before bed. I had forgotten how incredibly uncomfortable they were. Not to mention the weird creases they left in my hair where the plastic closing piece connects.

In a search for more comfortable hair rollers, I stumbled upon this brilliant tutorial. It never occurred to me that I could just make my own.

They look really nice, and will give me the opportunity to use up some of my fabric scraps. And, they look really comfortable. No big plastic pieces!

You'll need fabric, buttons, stuffing, thread, hand sewing needle, scissors, and a sewing machine (with zipper foot if possible). If you are uncomfortable with creating button holes, you can always use Velcro. If you do use Velcro, it would probably be best and cheapest to purchase it by the yard since you'll need a lot more of the loop portion of the velcro.

I guarantee I'll have the most impressive and comfortable curlers on my block!

When I look at a piece of unfinished Ikea furniture, I see yet another project to add to my list. But when an Ikea hacker looks at a piece, they see a blank canvas just waiting to be filled.

Ikea hackers view purchased pieces as "raw material" or the base of their creation. Ikea is known for its inexpensive furniture and boasts a simple style, perfect for modifying.

For instance, one artist used two Ikea snack boxes to make a rolling litter box, while others turn lamps into wall sconces. The whole idea, say Ikea hackers, is to "upcycle" or lift the piece out of its typical, mass-manufactured self and create something better.

If it sounds like fun to you, check out the Ikea Hackers blog and find yourself some inspiration.

If your computer recently puked on you, I sure hope you didn't throw it away. There are so many things to do with retired, puked out pc's, all of us should have salvaged every part of our computers and been able to make something wonderfully geeky.

Instructables user albetcha took the magnets out of some ancient hard drives, was left with some platters, and decided to turn those hard drive platters into a clock. His instructions and pictures are clear, concise and easy to follow. Using those ancient hard drives, some epoxy glue, and other items you should have laying around the house, you can easily salvage your computer hard drives and turn them into nerdy clocks too.

If you need a clock kit, check out Gary's post on how to build a clock out of almost anything. If you are really eager to get going on this outstanding fab project, you can purchase a clock kit at your local craft store. You could even take apart an ugly clock and use the nice mechanisms that clock had. Either way, there is only four days to Christmas, so if you are looking to give your new hard drive clock as a Christmas gift, you'll need to get busy this weekend.

There's been a lot of talk recently about the decline of handiness among the greater American populace (including a great article by our own Francesca Clarke), and to that end Popular Science has compiled a list of 25 skills that everyone should know. As is to be expected, many of the skills reflect our society's increasing reliance on technology (especially dealing with personal computers and networks). Let's take a look at these skills, and see how we (and by we, I mean ME) measure up:

1. Patch a radiator hose - Radiator hose? No. Pantyhose? Yes. Although, I'm sure if you gave me a new one I could replace it without any problems. (0.5 points)

2. Protect your computer - Yes. I never let my computer go to parties without a box of condoms... too many viruses out there. (1 point)

3. Rescue a boater who has capsized - I certified for my lifeguard badge in Boy Scouts, and I swam the English Channel when I was nine, so "yes." (1 point)

4. Frame a wall - It might be a little wavy in places, but I've framed enough walls with my dad that I think I could pull this off. (1 point)

5. Retouch digital photos - Did you see my console TV embedded into the wall picture?! Come on! I should give myself two points, but I don't want to be greedy. (1 point)