DIY Life

Here at DIY Life, posts about weddings are always popular, but often, posts about knit and crochet patterns come in a close second.

I thought it might be interesting to combine the two, by looking at a few free patterns for wedding cakes made from yarn. (Hey, they don't have to be frozen, and they never get stale!)

• Crochet Today's Crochet Confection cake pattern (PDF download) is, at 4"x8", life-sized. It's an easy, single-tier cake that you can display on a stand over a form.
• Berroco's Buttercream is also life-sized, but this one is a tiered cake with flowers; it can be used to store dishes. It's made in their Ultra Alpaca, but any other worsted-weight yarn should work just as well.
• On the miniature side, there are the Norma Lynn Cake Sachets. Several of the designs here, like the Two-Tier Cake and the Clumsy Cake, seem wedding-appropriate, though they're part of a collection of desserts. The second page of cake sachet patterns has a triple-tier wedding cake with flower toppers and ruffled trim.

Suggested uses? The sachets would make great giveaways at a bridal shower; they'd also make nice package decorations for gifts. Some of the projects might make cute gifts for attendants, in the right kind of wedding. They would be fun commemorations of a special anniversary, or whimsical decor in the right kind of room. Professional wedding planners could also probably appreciate them.

Outside of the wedding framework, you can always choose different colors, changing the "wedding cake" into a "birthday cake" -- or merely making a cute trinket for a friend who loves sweet desserts.

And if you're looking for more patterns like this, check out an older post of mine -- Amigurumi-o-rama: Crocheted Food.

Leave it to Better Homes and Gardens. Somehow, they're able to inspire me without making me feel like a second-rate Martha Stewart wanna-be.

Since we joined our CSA farm last year, it's been a pleasure to have new fresh flowers in the house every week. BHG has created a gallery of flower arrangements that can be done in five minutes, and that look positively stunning. Some of their winning combinations:

• poppies surrounded by hosta leaves
• geranium leaves, roses, and trailing vines
• lavender stems and geranium leaves
• hydrangeas with bachelor buttons
• mounded zinneas with bleeding heart foliage

What I really love about BHG's arrangements is that most of the blooms could be found in your own garden, or even in a wild flower field. That makes these arrangements economical, too.

I've been combining wild yarrow with daylilies and daisies for a pretty display on my kitchen's center island. What's you favorite quick and easy flower arrangement?

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

I admit it -- Diane's Avant Yard post, 75 tricks to get your kids outdoors, inspired me. It's one thing to enjoy scents, to make scented products, and to use essential oils and herbs in your daily life. But have you shared your love of scents with your children?

Inadvertently, you just may have. I know my three-year-old wanders through my garden with me, picking leaves off the basil plant for nibbling (he knows which plants are the edible ones), admiring the hard-working bees at the lavender plants, and of course, stopping to smell the roses (stereotypical, yet true).

Kids catch on, through your modeling, to the things you love. If you feel like spicing it up a bit, though, how about creating a scent hunt for your kids?

Colony collapse disorder, the mysterious phenomenon that has entire colonies of honeybees vanishing into thin air, has brought the state of our bee population to the forefront. Not many people realize this, but bees pollinate about 90% of our flowering crops. What that means is: without bees, we don't eat.

Creating a bee-friendly yard may not solve the issue of colony collapse disorder, but it is a great way of doing your part to encourage a healthy bee population. It'll also ensure that any of your own fruit, vegetable, and flower crops get pollinated, so that you have fresh food to eat and a beautiful yard to enjoy. In addition, the same plants that draw bees bring other pollinators, like butterflies.

So how do you go about attracting bees to your yard? It's not difficult at all. Read more about it after the break.

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products, and other useful blends.

There's nothing like a cool drink to refresh on a hot summer day. Last week, we explored drinks made with fresh mint and essential oils. Now it's time to think beyond the mint.

Did you know that most citrus and herbal essential oils are sold to large food companies as flavoring? Hydrosols, which are the water left behind when plants are steam-distilled into essential oils, are also safe to ingest in small quantities when they're organic and top quality, according to Suzanne Catty, author of Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy.

Make sure your oils and hydrosols are organically grown and of good quality, then read on after the break for drink recipes -- citrus, herbal, and even some floral -- made with essential oils, herbs, and hydrosols.

Summer vacation keeps rolling along. How long until your kids go back to school? Are they spending too much time lounging on the couch? Here are a bunch of summer projects to trick your kids away from their air-conditioned sanctuary and out into the great outdoors of, er, your backyard.

Okay, okay. So the backyard is not the great outdoors. True. But the main thing is to get the kiddos out in the fresh air, learning about nature, and learning about the noble pursuit of maintaining a garden.

Getting their hands dirty
1. Ask them to help with the weeding. Pay them a small amount of pocket money for their time.

Mmm-mmm. Fresh basil. It's so very fragrant -- the indispensable ingredient in a host of mid-summer recipes.

My basil is lush, green and ready for picking. Okay, I don't have a whole lot of it out in my garden; however, I'm planning on growing a lot more next summer. In preparation for that lofty enterprise, I thought it'd be cool to find out how the expert basil-growers harvest their beloved herb. Here are some tips I picked up:

1. Know your basil. There are lots of varieties out there, and it's always good to know which one you have, as the flavors vary quite a bit between them. Chances are good that, like me, you've got the most common variety: Genovese sweet basil.

If you're getting married this summer, it's probably a little late to start planning your big day right now. If you're tying the knot next year, however, or just looking for some last minute tips then -- wow! -- have we got some ideas for you!

Blushing brides learn what to do with treasured wedding mementos, hopeful grooms get pointers on the perfect proposal, and if you're the maid-of-honor, you'll be her hero for suggesting economical ways to make table center-pieces and party favors!

I have a large flower garden in my backyard. Last year, my son had just moved in with me (I adopted him from the US foster care system). I was never able to get him very interested in the garden. This year, however, he's been a bit more involved. He's enjoyed seeing the plants spring up from their winter slumber, and he's even potted his "own" annuals.

Working in the garden has been a great learning experience for him. We discuss everything from flowers to bugs to environmental responsibility. When I stumbled across this article about dyeing flowers using food coloring, I knew it was a fun experiment my son would enjoy.

All you need is white flowers (carnations work well, but almost any long-stemmed white flower will do), food coloring, glasses or vases for each color, and water. Simply color the water and insert the freshly cut flower, then wait for the magic to happen. While it's fun to see the color change, don't forget to take advantage of the educational aspect. PBSKids has some information on how the process actually works.

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.

You're so close to walking down the aisle... only a few finishing touches on your DIY wedding, and you'll be ready for the big day. You've made your invitations, your bouquet, and your centerpieces, but have you thought about your favors yet?

Back when I got married, in an attempt to keep my wedding super-simple, we bought personalized votive candles and stuck them on the tables. Pretty much done, but looking back, I could have done something nearly as easy that:

• showed our personality more as a couple
• had a creative touch
• fit the theme of our wedding
• really said "thank you" to our guests.

If I could do it all over again, I'd choose one of these three favors.

Dreaming of a Mediterranean-style oasis in your own yard? Me too! Okay, let's get inspired!

So, what makes certain gardens "Mediterranean," anyway? Well, for starters, they're designed to withstand both lots of heat and irregular rainfall. The garden designs are visually appealing, true. But they're also low-care and eco-friendly. Because plants are selected for toughness, and lawns are absent or insignificant, there's less need for chemicals and watering.

1. It's all about contrast.
Mediterranean styling is pretty easy to imitate. The essential element? Contrast. That is, contrasting hard, structured surfaces with soft, unstructured foliage and blooms. Think tumbling vines atop high stone walls. Think paved walkways next to climbing roses. Think clipped hedges fronting tall, slender cypress trees. You get the picture.

Weddings... it is so easy to get caught up in the moment. After all, your big day is pretty important, right? Agreed, but instead of being stressed over the planning, it makes sense to me to keep it simple and enjoy every moment leading up to your wedding as well.

Zen Habits has thirteen tips to hep you do just that: keep your wedding plans as simple as possible. They make a disclaimer, though, stating that if you want a traditional wedding that you probably still will have some stress. Their sensible tips are to help alleviate some of the needless worrying, so after the break I'll share some of their ideas.

I don't know what it's like where you live, but every time the stores come out with something new for the garden, I start seeing the item popping up all over town. Soon enough, that unique new ornament is commonplace and a bit trite.

I can honestly say that I've never seen a "tipsy" flower pot tower, though; it looks like something I want to try in my garden. To put it together, you'll need:

• A tall, sturdy metal rod. (The instructions call for a 66" rod.)
• One 12" round clay pot.
• Four 10" clay pots.
• Potting soil.

The tower looks simple enough to assemble. Drive the rod into the ground, and thread the 12" pot onto the rod. Fill with soil. Then thread the 10"pots on, balancing each pot sturdily on the pot below. All that's left to do is to fill it with your favorite flowers.