DIY Life

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.

Making your own bath and body products is good fun on so many levels. Not only do you get to concoct what you like using all-natural ingredients, but you can customize your products for the season.

Here we are, about to embark on the three-month stretch that we call summer. My three favorite products to make for the sweltering days: powder, body spritz, and skin soother (for after sun exposure). After the break, I'll share recipes and scent blends.

From observing successful gardeners at work, I've learned that one key to joyful gardening is this: stick with what grows. It's about choosing the path of least resistance--encouraging plants that stay lovely with little or no care. Equally important, however: good gardeners don't hesitate to relocate plants that aren't thriving.

Now, I've made my share of mistakes when choosing plant sites. I'm also dealing with a few bad choices made by previous owners of this property. In either case, relocation was the only way to save the plants involved. For example, I recently transplanted a dozen Japanese Holly Ferns from a dry, sunny spot in my front yard to a moist and shady location in back.

Those poor ferns had been struggling for survival. These shade- and moisture-loving plants were in a hellishly unsuitable locale, dotted around the bases of two pine trees on an exposed and drought-prone slope. Last summer's severe drought nearly spelled the end for them. One thing was clear: they would never thrive in such an unsuitable spot.

I promised myself that if they made it through the winter, I'd transplant them in spring. And so I did! I'm confident that the move will transform them from surviving to thriving. Read on to see how my relocation project went. Don't forget to check out my photo gallery, too!

Got a big ugly space in your yard that needs filling? Adding yet another evergreen shrub seem boring? Consider pampas grass! It's a big beauty of a plant, one that -- like all ornamental grasses -- is frequently overlooked by home landscapers.

Here are a few reasons why I love pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana):

1. It grows fairly fast, so is an ideal choice for filling in large, barren landscapes.

2. It grows nice and thick, creating an effective privacy screen, wind break or sound barrier.

3. Its long, graceful blades and delightfully fluffy pannicles (flower plumes) are beautiful.

4. Its vertical angles evoke the tropics, bringing an exotic feel to suburban yards and otherwise drab mall parking lots. Its long blades also create a dramatic and pleasing visual contrast with other garden shrubs and trees. Meanwhile, its rounded and slightly wild shape makes it an excellent softener of hard urban surfaces, like brick walls or metal signs. (See the photo above for a perfect example of this.)

There's a damp patch in my garage. I've been in denial for a long time, telling myself it's probably caused by rainwater seeping through the garage's concrete foundation. However, the patch has gotten bigger...and bigger. Meanwhile, there's been no rain for at least a week now. Time to face facts: I may have a leaking water heater. Bah!

Looking on the bright side, I might be able to fix this problem myself and avoid shelling out precious dollars for a plumber. (Please, oh, please!) Off I go to look for advice on the Web. Here' s what I found most useful:

Sites to check out:

• Home Tips is an ideal starting point, with a for-beginners-style intro to tank repair, and a ton of other problem-solving articles.

Years ago, I tended bar at a restaurant specializing in spicy foods. A typical Saturday night in the lounge included a collection of guys trying to prove their manliness by eating spicy peppers and tasting hot sauces. One of my private pleasures was putting these guys to shame by casually eating a chili pepper and chasing it with a shot of 151 (it was actually ice tea!) instead of running for the milk the way the boys did. I trained myself to manage some deadly peppers, but if I had a hack like this one back then I could have spared a lot of pain and a few taste buds, without sacrificing the fun and the tips!

Unless you're into fooling your friends or showing off extreme tolerance for spices, you will find this tip more practical for your culinary creations. The conventional way to reduce hot pepper intensity is to simply de-seed it. This tutorial goes far beyond that, getting straight to the heat source. The seeds carry spice, but the burning sensations are actually derived by the lipophilic found in the inner wall of the pepper. Here's what you'll need to take the heat out of a pepper:

1. Chili pepper
   
2. Paring knife
3. Cutting board
4. Olive oil
5. Alcohol - Tequila is recommended
   
6. Latex gloves
7. Shot glass
8. Rocks glass

The full instructables article will take you through the process. Make sure you follow the storage instructions carefully. This is meant to be a kitchen hack not a science experiment! Once you've successfully taken the heat out, you might find this post on how to safely chop hot peppers useful.

There are many hot beverages that are great during cold weather in general, and the cozy, convivial Christmas-to-New-Year's-Day period in particular, but my favorite is spiced cider.

It's more warming and flavorful than hot cocoa, and not as cloying (don't get me wrong -- if you offer me cocoa, I'm not turning it down). The flavor is fresher and often more complex than that of mulled wine; it's also more family-friendly in its unfermented form. It's even a healthy drink for people who are under the weather.

You can get really fancy with the recipes, creating a concoction that's almost more of a punch than a cider and takes as much time to make as a small meal.

However, I know of two ways to make a few servings of tasty hot apple goodness in well under five minutes, with special ingredients that make it easy. You'll find more about them after the break!

How brave are you? I like to think that I'm fairly tough, especially when it comes to taking pain, but this DIY project is way out of my league. Branding is where the skin is burned to make a scar. In these instructions, they use a soldering iron to burn an image into the skin. The permanent scar is called a "brand". Here's what you'll need:

1. A friend who is willing to hold a 450 degree Celsius iron to your skin, or a friend who is willing to let you do this to them
2. Soldering iron
3. Face mask
4. Wooden spoon
5. Anesthetic
6. Emergency first aid

Please note that the article we're linking to here is not a typical site that we would normally link to. While there wasn't any offensive material on the article we are linking to (except of course for the article itself which is about intentionally burning one's skin), be warned that the rest of the Viceland site may well have offensive material. Oddly, in addition to the items listed above, the article recommends having some jellybeans on hand. If you're still reading then you are either brave or stupid, but either way, you might be interested in checking out their full instructions on DIY branding.

Summer is slowly drawing to an end here in the Northern hemisphere, which means this post is geared primarily to our hillbilly brethren South of the equator. However, it's never too early to get a jump on next Summer's oppressive heat, so I guess us Northenders can glean something from it as well.

Okay, here's the problem: it's hotter outside than two muskrats making love in a wool sock in the middle of the Sahara, and your pathetic ride doesn't have air conditioning. What's a sweat-hating hillbilly to do? You could always roll down the windows, allowing your sweaty pits to air out through your functional sleaveless flannel, but then you'll run the risk of making the back of your mullet all frizzy! Their must be some other way to stay cool!

Enter the ultra-portable hillbilly car/truck air conditioner!

Hot air balloons are known to be the oldest successful human flight technology. While they didn't grow into our main form of transportation, they certainly have evolved as a huge fascination and in this case fun inspiration for a little project.

This video shows how to make one with a produce bag, balsa wood and birthday candles. It costs less than a dollar and comes together in just a few minutes. You could have a little fun with your neighbors, pretending there is a UFO in the sky. Sightings have been reported after seeing these things floating around! They might also make a spooky Halloween project.

This isn't something for the kids. This is pure adult fun. As the video warns, make sure you keep it away from the house and any dry grass.

I was snooping around the futuregirl craft blog today and found this awesome idea on keeping your apartment cool when you don't have air conditioning and have strict rules on what you can and can't do to your apartment.

The solution that the author came up with involves white sheets and emergency blankets. You'll have to check out her blog to get the full instructions on how she did it.

This is an awesome idea for those of you in her situation with a handy streak. It sounds as if it may be a bit tricky to pull off but if your are hot and baking in your own apartment. You may be as desperate as futuregirl was. Check out her ideas and see if they might work for you.

Do you have any stay cool ideas that may be easier to pull off or might be a more permanent solution? If so please leave a comment and share your ideas.