DIY Life

I don't fold my sheets. There, I said it. It's not that I don't know how. I do know how; I helped my mom with laundry all the time when I was a kid. But I don't really know how to do it by myself. What do you do when no one is holding the other end? So, I just sort of do a half-hearted fold, then wrap them all up until they fit into my linen closet.

Now you know one of my deepest, darkest secrets.

Ok, I kid (about the secret, not about not folding my sheets). The truth is, neatly folded sheets just aren't a priority for me. I mean, they're sheets. When I use them, my eyes are closed. Who cares if they're wrinkled?

Have you signed up for a flickr account yet? It's such a great tool. Not only is it a great way to share photos online, it's also a good method for backing up the photos you keep on your hard drive. And now, flickr.com has teamed up with other online vendors to offer some really cool tools.

When you sign in to your flickr account you'll see a section entitled "Do More With Your Photos." You can click over to other sites that will use your flickr photos to create books, frame photos, design calling cards, and more. HP is one of vendors available. Among other great options, they have this simple photo cube. Best of all, it's free!

Check out the gallery for step by step instructions.

I am so in love with the art of origami, but sometimes feel like a new born babe who just can't get her hands to move correctly to fold a piece of paper into a magical work of art. I can do an elephant, a flying bird, and a gift box, but can't do a lampshade or even a hedgehog.

The possibilities of what you can create are endless, as is clear in this article on Wisebread; 8 fun and frugal things to do with origami. If you have a wedding coming up, make your own centerpieces. Make someone you love an origami greeting card. Give a gift in an origami fabric container. Make jewelry. You can even turn your old business cards into neat origami works of art.

Anytime you get bored and think there is nothing to do, pick up a piece of paper or cloth and turn it into something amazing. Just don't let your boss catch you at your new found craft! You may find yourself fixing that piece of paper into a "hire me" sign.

Origami is one of those crafts that requires real skill. Some people just get it while others don't. I am definitely in the don't when it comes to folding origami. These instruction detailing how to make an origami flying bird, take you through all the folding steps. There are 20 steps and it is recommended that you keep your folds as clean and precise as possible, making the whole project easier.
Here are the supplies you'll need:

• Table or hard surface
• Two hands
• Paper
• Reading skills
• Patience
• Scissors

I suspect my main reason for failure is that I never bring enough patience. Still, if you think you can tackle it, this is one of the neatest origami projects I've seen. This isn't the traditional Japanese peace crane, it is a bird with flapping wings. The simple fact that it's animated will be a huge hit with the children.

Here is one of the cheapest children's craft projects that I know of. I learned about the newspaper captain's hat from that old favorite book, Curious George and The Man in the Yellow Hat. By following the instructions provided in that book, my brothers and I made many a hat which fueled many hours of imaginative fun.

I found some of the best and easiest to understand instructions for the newspaper hat project have already been provided by our friends over at Instructables, so rather than taking up valuable Internet resources by rehashing the project, I shall direct your attention to their fine site. Please also note that they provide a link to other folded paper hat designs. You and your child can have hours of fun creating these hats and building fun stories around them.

Just when I thought I was pretty good at origami, I saw this and realized my efforts only amount to a faint crease in the vast art of paper folding:


In a small suburb of Paris, Eric Joisel creates works of staggering origami genius that really are heartbreakingly beautiful. Note to Tolkien fans: don't miss the hobbits and dwarves in the "faeries" section of his website.

It's hard to believe he creates each of these 3D paper sculptures with a single sheet of paper, but the guy is legit. He does make an exception to the single-sheet rule for his musician series: the musicians' instruments are made from a separate piece of paper.

In case you want to give it a go, he provides instructions on how to make a baby hedgehog, a design that took him more than five years to develop. Let's just say it's not for novices. For now I'm content to simply gaze on with envy and awe.

I don't like folding my clean clothes, especially my shirts. To attest to this fact, I have a laundry basket sitting in the corner of my room that's literally overflowing with clean, but incredibly wrinkled t-shirts. Each morning, when I'm wasting time ironing that day's shirt, I think to myself, "if only I'd take the time to fold these darn shirts, I wouldn't have to waste my time ironing them every freaking morning. Why won't someone invent a shirt folding robot, and end my miserable plight?!" Unfortunately, the good people at Honda have yet to respond to my letters asking them to teach Asimo how to fold t-shirts, which means I'm stuck doing this tedious job manually for the rest of my life... or am I?

When I came across this video from Dan Pereda earlier today, demonstrating how to build and use your own t-shirt-folding machine, I nearly fell off my chair. It seems as though Dan has created a simple folding mechanism out of little more than foamcore and duct tape, and in so doing has solved one of the most pressing problems of all-time.



I can't wait to go buy some foamcore, and build one of these machines later tonight. I bet I can burn through my entire basket of t-shirts in less than an hour! Woo hoo! My life is finally complete! Thank you t-shirt-folding machine! THANK YOU!!!