DIY Life

Has the summer bug bit you yet?

If it has, you may be itching to try a new outdoor activity. Hiking and biking may have become passe, so get yourself a skateboard and wheel off to enjoy the great outdoors.

Expert Village has created a skateboarding video series that will teach you the basics, like how to stand, push, and turn on your new board. When you are ready for the fancy moves, watch their videos on the Ollie tricks and how to skate on ramps.

Heck, as a self-proclaimed DIYer, you just may want to build yourself a skateboard ramp. There are lots of free ramp plans available on the internet, and wikiHow even gives you step-by-step instructions on how to build your ramp based on your own plans.

So fire up that enthusiasm for your new hobby and learn to skateboard in style!

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!

The birds are back. I know this, because every morning at 4:30, they sing me awake. Hundreds of them. It was cute at first, but now I am thinking I really need to stop sleeping with the windows open....

I jest, because I really do enjoy having a yard full of birds. Our bird feeder is crowded daily with goldfinches, robins, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, and other species of feathered friends. The conservation land our house borders has special houses just for the bluebirds, which are always a spectacular sight.

You can build a bird house from scrap wood for your yard, and hopefully attract some of the fascinating and colorful birds pictured in the gallery. You'll need a hammer and nails, waterproof glue, scrap 1/2-inch and 1/4-inch plywood, and some dowels.

The step-by-step instructions at All Free Crafts are very clear and there is a helpful diagram included. A good tip they mention is to think about the size of the hole you make, as that will determine what type of birds you attract.

Happy hammering!

In a corner of my living room, sitting unused and one on top of the other, are two retro style speakers. The only reason that my husband hasn't hooked them up to his entertainment system is that there isn't any place to set them up. They have sat in the corner for almost 4 years now, waiting for the day they can blast The Beatles to my hubby's content.

Our speakers still work, but if you have an old speaker, or even a matching pair hanging around waiting for the day you will fix the broken whatever, you can turn the speaker into a stylin' new media cabinet. Here is what you will need:

• A speaker
• A hand saw and a rotary tool
• Hinges
• Claw hammer or crowbar
  
• Paint and wooden planks
• Screwdriver or power drill

GoodRubbish takes you through the steps needed to turn your old retro speakers into a handy media cabinet to store all your CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes. Be sure to read through the comments, as there is important information on exactly what digital and optical media is safe to store with the speaker magnets and what could possibly be ruined by leaving the speaker magnets in place.

Do you have the ultimate April Fool's day prank planned for tomorrow? Are you just itching to catch your unsuspecting victim's reaction on camera?

Well, now you can get a little extra credit for your hard work and planning. Get out your camera early, and document the whole thing, from conception, set-up, and finally the seamless execution on your brilliant plan.

If you're game, enter the Instructables April Fools Speed Contest. They only want pranks that are in good taste; nothing harmful, malicious or nasty. Entry deadline is April 13, so document your final preparations and capture the reactions you get this April 1.

Each prize package includes a robot t-shirt, and a mystery prize package. Considering the theme of this contest, I'm curious to see what these surprise packages include. Some of the current top votes include the toilet prank, and the jelly donut surprise. Enter your own gag, or vote for your favorites today.

My laptop is dead. Long live the laptop. (And, no. I did not kill it.) Luckily it's demise was slow, giving me ample time to make complete backups of all my documents, photos and videos. Phew. If your computer died and you were not so lucky, don't freak out yet. Your files can probably be retrieved by manually accessing the hard drive.

This is something a techie guru can handle. However, if you're pretty confident you know your way around a computer, you can attempt a DIY job. JoeTech provides groovy instructions on manual hard drive retrieval, along with tons of juicy color photos to guide you in your endeavor. Detail is the key word here; Joe's instructions are just so beautifully detailed.

Now, the laptop featured in Joe's post is a Sony Vaio, but I guess the guts of laptops are all pretty similar. Also interesting to note that Joe's previous laptop, a Dell, lasted for seven years before it bit the dust. Wow. That's three years longer than my old Dell. (And I thought four years of constant use was pretty good mileage!)

Finally: an important note. Realize that as soon as you open up your laptop for a DIY repair/retrieval operation, your warranty is void. Dead. As in deader than your laptop.

Disposable flashlights are a great thing to have on hand: they are a useful size, and extremely tough. The downside is that they can get pricey when you toss them after a couple of uses. Unfortunately, they can't be recycled, so every time you dispose of one, it ends up in a landfill.

Just because they are sold as single-use doesn't mean they have to stay that way. Next time you buy one of these $2 disposables, use it up and replace the batteries. They aren't manufactured for this, so it will take a bit of work to get it open. This Instructable has everything you need to replace the standard AA cells and extend your flashlight's life.

When you're closing it up, duct tape will do the trick and be easy to disassemble next time. If you want a polished look, you can easily weld it back together, then sand it down smooth.

The tutorial is done with an Eveready brand disposable ZAP flashlight. If you know how to change the batteries in any other brands, please share your tips with us!

These instructions for making the best paper airplane in the world taught us how to fold a a perfect airplane, one built for precision and speed. The result was amazing, but the instructions were complicated and intended mostly for adults.

If you're looking for an airplane that the whole family can enjoy, make some of these launchable drinking straw planes. Here's what you'll need:

• Straw
• Scissors
• Paper
• Tape
• Pen

Have a look through the full Instructables post for the simple instructions and accompanying pictures. Basically, you'll blow through the straw to launch the plane. The whole family will have fun with this one. They don't take long to make, put a few together and see who can launch theirs the farthest.

Green beer is a St. Patrick's day tradition in many homes, restaurants, and pubs. You don't need to be a chemist to mix this celebratory drink. All you need is beer and food coloring. Simply add food coloring to your favorite beer, mix it up and enjoy.

The beer
Choose a lighter beer, one that will take the color easily. If your favorite beer is of the darker variety, it will take more coloring.

The color
It was suggested by a commenter on Slashfood, where we were reminded of this cool St. Patrick's day tradition, that blue food coloring works best; by mixing it with the yellow beer, you should achieve a true green color. I tried both blue and green food coloring. Take a look through the gallery and decide which one you think worked best.

For the purists among us who don't want to tamper with good beer, enjoy a Guinness. If you're in the St. Patrick's day spirit, but aren't really a beer drinker, follow me through the break and I'll share some other green cocktails along with a few non-alcoholic ones.

Do you ever wish that you could disappear? It could be fading away from an embarrassing moment or causing a little mischief in your transparent state, but the whole idea of being invisible is intriguing to me. I can't point you to instructions on how to actually disappear, but we just might be closer to that than you think. There are some exciting advancements in the areas of optical camouflage, which are forging the way for new technologies.

This video is a compilation of experiment clips shot at The University of Tokyo. If you're curious about how it all works, this page offers descriptive diagrams and comments on the public domain research on optical camouflage.

It sounds like we are not far off from having this technology available to consumers. A DIY invisibility suit may be just around the corner!

We got a Wii for Christmas and our whole family is having a blast with it! It's light and easy to pack around if you want to bring it to a friend's place or a party. If you are taking your Wii out of the house regularly, be carefully, and protect this new favorite toy (particularly the sensor bar).

This homemade Wii sleeve is the perfect way to cart your Wii around and stay confident that it's well protected. Your sewing skills don't have to measure up to your gaming skills to pull this one off. It's simple, using just a few materials and a bit of time. Here's what you'll need:

1. 1/2 foam
2. Cotton fabric (1/2 yard)
3. Thread
4. Velcro

The full instructables explains each step and gives pictures to help you along the way. This one is definitely going on my project list for the new year.

K'nex are cool. There is no doubt about it. These are the kind of toys that begin cultivating that DIY'er attitude in the next generation. They help raise imaginative kids, letting them discover how things work, and allowing them to design their own contraptions. The project highlighted here uses a popular kids toy, but it probably isn't the kind of project you'll want to share with your kids. Still, if you have kids, they probably have k'nex so make this project part of your next late night toy raid and have fun.

With decent range and a big rubber band capacity the gears will keep moving the elastic up the gear until it fires. Check out the full instructables post for detailed steps and accompanying pictures. You could play around with the design and see what gives you the best distance.

As long as you don't have to have all the pieces back in place by morning, why not take this new contraption to work and show off a little? You'll either have a great time with your workmates or be asked to go home for the day. Either way you win!

Stumbling on this page was like finding some great secret. We've been making paper airplanes since we were young and are forever perfecting the design in search of the perfect plane. My airplanes are sadly the ones heading straight for nose dives, but my brothers could create some pretty spectacular flying machines. My husband folds airplanes for our boys. He tweaks the nose and wings trying to get things just right, but in the end, it's just a paper airplane and as good as any other, until now. This airplane design models a real plane and is sure to be the best flyer you've tried.

Everything is considered in this design, managing the placement of the center of gravity, taking into account wind variations and preventing wingtip vortex. This is one of the most complicated designs I've seen, but the instructions are carefully detailed, or you can use the video tutorial.

Once you've built the plane it's ready to take it's first flight. Here you'll learn about the pre-flight inspection, flying techniques and fine tuning your plane. Your new paper airplane design is sure to catch some attention. Do you think this is in fact the best paper airplane design or do you have another secret? Let us know what designs you favor or how you'd modify this one.

This has got to be one of the neatest compilations of DIY inventions I've ever seen. This site takes 25 ordinary items and finds new and creative ways to transform them into something completely different and totally useful. It's not in English, but you really don't need any explanation, the pictures speak for themselves.

Topping the list is a chopstick hack that I wrote about a while back. All you need is a clothes pin and a pair of chopsticks and you can put together a set of spring-loaded chopsticks. Great for kids! Here are a few more of my favorites on their list:

• Stamp nails - Have you ever seen postage stamp designs and thought they would make funky nail art? Well, if you haven't, you'll start noticing them now, because this is one cool project. All you do is cut out the nail shape from the stamp and stick it on your nail. I imagine you'd apply a top coat of clear polish to finish them off.
• Cactus soother - I have to admit, this one seems awfully cruel, but if you're looking for a quick way to ween your child from the soother it just might work. Replace the nipple with a mini cactus bud. Your little one will never call for his soother or love you in the same way ever again!
• Dish cloth hanger - I have a few hooks around the kitchen where I hang dish cloths. The cloths are typically on the floor, having slid right off the hook. This clever little hack takes the clip out of a binder, pegs it to the wall and gives you a secure place to hang your dishtowel.
  

You'll find all sorts of little treasures there, like inventive uses for tennis balls, beer cans, goggles, tissue, flower pots, rubber gloves, sponges and more. Which one is your favorite?

Most of you know metronomes from sitting at the piano as a child grinding through your hour long practice. A metronome as defined by wikipedia is "any device that produces a regulated audible and/or visual pulse, usually used to establish a steady beat, or tempo, measured in beats-per-minute (BPM) for the performance of musical compositions. It is an invaluable practice tool for musicians that goes back hundreds of years." These instructions explain how to build your own metronome. All the materials you need can be found at your local electronics store.

Here's what you need:

1. 555 IC
2. 3x 1K Ohm Resistor
3. 2x 22uF 16V Capacitor
4. 9V Battery
5. 8 Ohms Speaker
6. 250K Ohms Potentiometer

Despite this project's perfect simplicity I still struggle to understand the scheme. Thankfully, he includes pictures with all the instructions and finishes off with a couple of videos. This metronome can be adjusted to various speeds by changing the resistance. Grab your guitar and play along.