DIY Life

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.

Hurricane season has been in full swing for a few weeks now, but thankfully it's been very quiet so far. Don't let the lack of named hurricanes lull you into a false sense of security. The season stretches all the way to November 30th, and the peak of it -- August to October -- is yet to come.

Don't assume you'll have time to make preparations "if the needs arises." Of course, we all remember the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. And in 2004, Hurricane Charley was expected to head into the Gulf of Mexico and collide with Tampa. At the last minute, it made a sharp right turn and landed substantially farther south, obliterating entire neighborhoods and barrier islands.

If you live in a hurricane-prone area, and haven't yet made preparations in case one heads your way, here are a few of the most important steps you can take to keep you and your family safe this summer. You may never need to activate the plans you have in place, but it's good to know they're there.

As a matter of convenience, I don't always carry a purse. In the event I have to run an errand or go somewhere where all I need is some cash, my driver's license, and maybe my check card, I'll forgo the bulky bag and just put essential items in my pockets, clasped together with a money clip.

I didn't know that I could make the magnetic strip on my check card unreadable if I also put my cell phone in the same pocket. Rather than put everything in different pockets, I always keep them together, but now I want to keep them separated with a magnetic money clip made by Scott Amron.

For a mere $12, you can purchase a pre-made magnetic money clip, or for $9, Scott will send the materials for you to assemble your own money clip. The kit contains two circular steel plates, sealer, and a thin neodymium disc magnet.

While I think that the kit is a great way for those who have no time or patience to make their own magnetic money clip, I am sure that DIY'ers will want to gather the materials to make the easily crafted clip themselves, me included. The clip would also make a great gift!

[via: Boing Boing]

The hula hoop became wildly popular among youngsters in the late 1950's, even though variations of the hula hoop have been around for centuries. When I was a kid growing up in the 80's, my friends and I had hula hoops and we would get together to see who was the best "hooper." They are becoming popular again, but I think I'll skip buying one, since they are becoming increasingly expensive.

If you or your child(ren) are interested in buying the ever popular LED hula hoop but are turned off at the price, why not make one at a fraction of the cost? Mike's kit is considerably less expensive than buying all the parts separately or having one custom made for you. His kit includes: 21color LEDs, 21 matching resistors, insulated wire, pipe fitting, a slide switch, and a battery.

My heart beats a little faster at the thought of how much fun I had as a kid playing with a hula hoop. If you have never turned and twisted with a hoop, you have no idea how much fun you missed, and how much fun your little ones are missing right now. If you did use a hula hoop, do you remember how much fun you had? Tell us in the comments!

All right ladies and gentlemen, if you have a little girl between the ages of 4 and 12 at home, listen up: she wants a dollhouse for Christmas, so you'd better start building one right now. If you're wondering just exactly how to get that done, I have a suburb resource for you. You can find everything you need, including the very dollhouse basics, on a site called KitGuy. You will find that KitGuy has dollhouse kits and plans to suit every need. From Barbie-sized play houses to high-end replica kits, you can spend anywhere from $40 to $5000 to get the miniature abode you need.

A website called Zoolabees is also a good place to get a start on building a doll house. They also have an interesting article that discusses the history of dollhouses. Did you know that in the 1600's dollhouses were fashionable furnishing pieces in the wealthiest homes of Europe? They were prized possessions not intended for children, fully furnished, and called "baby houses". Some say that they were intended to provide a sanctuary of play time for the spirits of dear children lost.

If building a dollhouse for Christmas to please that special sweet someone who graces your life appeals to the artist or craft person in you, there is a cornucopia of avenues available. I suggest that you get the project started as soon as you can because, as we all know, dolls wait for no one.

Be sure to check out Holidash for more great holiday ideas!

Few words excite us do-it-yourself types more than the word "kit." Have I got a kit site for you! Klockit is the world's leading clock parts and movement supplie, with build your own clock projects for almost every style and skill level. Klockit makes it easy for you to exercise your craftsmanship talents by providing beautifully designed time pieces for you to build. Clocks are daily necessities which can act as decorating and design elements in every room, and they can also be timeless gifts (pun intended).

How would you like a hand-built solid walnut desk clock? Klockit's Breckenridge kit might be just the thing for you. At $36.00, it rivals anything similar you might find in a local gift shop and you get the satisfaction of building it yourself. Our lady woodworkers might like to make this mini grandfather clock jewelry box, but be warned, for $22.00 you get the movement, the glass, the hardware and the plans. The wood parts you must cut for yourself. For those woodworkers with exceptional skills, how about building your own grandfather clock from the ground up? Klockit has several styles to choose from, and nothing says heirloom quite like something that daddy built with his own hands.

Stop the presses! This just in! Breaking news! Lego has released their largest ever building set and Star Wars fans are drooling themselves to death. The Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon kit boasts over five thousand pieces and is large enough, at nearly three feet long, to hold action figures in it's flip top cockpit. The kit comes complete with five action figures including Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa. Also included is an official certificate of authenticity.

The kits from the original production run (undeclared quantity) will each be released with their own certificate of authenticity sealed in the protective box. The Lego site indicates that certificate numbers will be randomly released in the interest of fairness. The model features many moving parts, comes with a display card detailing ship specifications and stands without a base on it's own landing gear.

Oh yeah, the kit will set you back $500. No one ever said being a Star Wars fan would come cheap.

Here are some other great Lego ideas we've blogged about!

Based on a tip from our friends over at Autoblog, I dove back into the nether regions of the Internet to investigate a kit building site called paperinside.com. Yes, the paperinside folks are providing instructions for building cars out of paper. They are model cars and they look just great in the pictures on the website but I find it hard to believe that anyone has the time required to successfully carry out one of these projects.

Not only does the site provide instructions for the building of model cars, you can get your modeling habit into the farthest reaches of the galaxy also. Take for instance this model of an Akyazi Defense Cruiser. It's a 1/1000 scale representation of an intergalactic warship that would make any Klingon craft person proud. The indication is that the model build is easy to complete. I suppose it might be, for people who are accustomed to tweaking phasers and building proton torpedoes.

More in line with my time frame and abilities might be the group of characters which are based upon our favorite Star Wars movie series. This representation of Yoda is particularly fine. I still can't reconcile myself to spending the time it would take to create these little cellulose based creatures but I must admit it does look like it would be fun to try making one. I bet I could whip up a quick Jabba the Hut by throwing some newspaper in the blender and then paint some eyeballs on the resulting pile of pulp.

Perhaps I'll just try to make this model of Kenny from South Park. The model looks to be just about my speed and I don't think the project would take up too much room on my desk. Besides, being that I'm really not a fan of the inane humor upon which South Park exists, the completed model would provide me with one additional artistic outlet. Believe me when I tell you that I'd take particular satisfaction in stepping on the entire lot of them. Model making can be sooo much fun!

So let's say you don't have something small to fix. Let's say it's a little bigger, like, your house. We found a great "first home" starter kit, full of the most used and necessary tools for the fixer-upper in your life. This Denali 115-piece kit has a little bit of everything you'll need to take care of business around the house.

To enter, leave a comment on this post and be sure to validate the comment (check your email!). The contest for today closes at 11:59pm, but we'll have two more this weekend. In fact, later today you'll get to see a sneak preview of the prizes on our Toolstravaganza page. That page also contains the full rules too.

Today's prize: Denali 115-piece home repair tool kit. Includes a heavy-duty bag to carry everything, hammer, level, tape measure, utility knife, wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers and drill bits.

As always, full rules after the jump.

Dilemma: You don't know your blood type and your significant other is sucking the life right out of you. You need help before you end up in the hospital.

As funny as that may sound, there is a serious issue here -- you don't know your blood type! Knowing your blood type is extremely important. Some blood types can only give or receive from other blood types. For example, a person who has a blood type that is O negative can give to anyone with any blood type. However, a person who has blood type that is O negative can only receive blood that is O negative. Givelife2.org estimates that only 7% of the United States population has O negative blood types.

Another example is that a person with AB positive blood type accounts for about 3% of the US population, can receive from anyone, but can only give to that 3% that has AB positive blood type. It is important that you know your blood type when giving and receiving blood as it can make all the difference in the world for a person.

Solution: I just found this awesomely simple DIY Blood Type Test Kit. Just a little prick, a few drops of blood, a little water, and a special card are all you need to find out what blood type you are. In just a few minutes, you'll have a card which will show you which antigens you have in your blood and you'll be able to determine your blood type all on your own. Even better, this kit comes with a laminating sheet so you can carry the card around with you once it dries.

Furni is a little shop where two guys have taken their love of DIY to the logical conclusion, and have been selling custom wood clocks and organizers for a couple of years now. The guys (Devin and Mike) go full circle and have released a DIY alarm clock kit-- that is, the guts of an LED alarm clock. You're left to design the case.

However, if you happen to design and build a particularly cool case for this clock, Furni wants to know. They are sponsoring a design contest that lasts until September 1, 2007. They will consider sketches too, for you armchair DIYers. Even if you aren't into clocks, be sure to check out the Friends of Furni for more DIY folks who ply their trade on the interwebs.

[via Engadget]