DIY Life

Sometimes it seems that we never grow up. Or, to put it more correctly, some toys -- er, motor skills and cognitive ability development tools -- are destined to be played with -- er, used -- by all ages! Case in point: LEGOs!

Don't you just hate it when you're building your current masterpiece and lacking one crucial piece? You've got to buy a whole new set, just for one stinkin' pièce de résistance. But no more! The new LEGO digital designer lets you create a virtual sculpture and submit it on-line. Then you can order exactly the pieces that you need, based on your submission.

The program can be downloaded for both Windows and Mac. Besides the usual requirements, it only needs a decent graphics card (for obvious reasons).

Finally, a way to build whatever you want without accumulating all those extraneous pieces... like that goofy little hat that no self-respecting firetruck-driving LEGO troll would be caught dead in!

[via Lifehacker.]

I have always loved giving photographs as gifts. In my young and single days, I'd elegantly frame my own photographs of landscapes, flowers, or architecture. Now, people get pictures of my kid. He's pretty cute, so it works out on all fronts, but I think the gift is most appreciated when the photograph comes with a classy frame, made by you.

Every Dad needs pictures of his kids at the office, right? For this cute "Dad" frame, all you need is some oaktag or poster board, scissors and glue. The holes in the letters D-A-D frame photos of your kids -- cute! Martha Stewart has a similar project with a template for the D-A-D.

A rustic photo frame made from twigs can go with just about any decor, from country to modern. Using twigs, twine and a little glue, you can make one is a few short minutes. You could frame your child, but this type of frame would also look nice around a woodland landscape that is somehow meaningful to the recipient.

If you and your kids (admit it, you play too!) have a big Lego collection then you know the frustration of digging for the right piece and never really knowing what you have and where to find things. In our house, this is one of the biggest barriers for our little guy in bringing his idea from conception to creation.

You may have tried different ways of sorting similar pieces. We've been through all sorts of bins and containers, but ultimately we end up with everything mixed together and dumped out on the floor in search of that perfect piece. I'm in favor of organizing these pieces if it will save him some frustration and save me from stepping on all the stray pieces!

Evil Mad Scientist suggests that we stack like pieces together. This keeps everything in bricks, making them easy to manage. It will take some discipline, but it's the best idea I've heard and I can tell you that we plan on giving it a try at our house. The article is full of pictures and actually illustrates how the various pieces will go together.

Take control of your Lego bin and spend your time building instead of looking for the right piece.

It has always seemed a shame to me that one of the best parts of the wedding day gets destroyed soon after the wedding ceremony. I have always enjoyed the beauty of wedding cakes and although I have always liked eating a piece, or two, or three, it still seems unfortunate to me that wedding cakes can't survive the celebration intact. Photographs just don't do justice to the memory of a wedding cake. They are after all, hand crafted works of art. So what is a person to do when they want a wedding cake that will withstand the rigors of time? I have found the answer. Although not edible, a LEGO wedding cake is durable enough to keep for a lifetime and to pass on to your heirs.

The LEGO wedding cake web page I have located for you does not have actual step by step instructions for making this beautiful creation but plenty of pictures and good descriptive text give you enough information to undertake the project yourself. The bottom two tiers are constructed slice by slice, allowing the happy wedding couple to give them to wedding guests as keepsakes.

If you're a fan of LEGO construction and you are contemplating tying the matrimonial knot, give some consideration to the LEGO wedding cake. It fits all the requirements of the traditional wedding cake except it's not edible and you really wouldn't want to schmoosh a piece of it into your new life partner's face.

Do you know someone who doesn't need anything, but you still love them enough to give them a one of a kind gift? I think I may have found the perfect Christmas gift for that someone who has everything.

Eric Harshbarger competes in Scrabble tournaments, but also has a serious Lego profession. It would seem that every time he competed in a tournament, someone would tell him that he should make a Scrabble board out of LEGOs. So he did just that. He glued each Lego piece together and made a circular Scrabble board. He even made tile racks from Legos. He put his name on his finished board so that no one would mistake his board for someone else's.

Just think, every time you want to play Scrabble, you won't have to move your tile rack. With the circular concept, everything should stay in place and turn nicely with the lazy-susan turntable glued to the bottom of your new Scrabble board. What a great gift to give someone who loves Scrabble. If you need other ideas on what to do with Legos or just want to add to your Lego collection, check out the 75th Anniversary Lego special, courtesy of Dan Chilton.

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!

It's ironic: the target audience for this article may never know it exists. See, if you didn't notice -- it would have been nearly impossible for anyone who owns a TV and watches networks other than NPR, let alone those of us who spend a lot of time online, not to notice -- Halo 3 came out on Tuesday.

How many gamers planned their vacation days for this week? How many living rooms are slowly filling up with empty pizza boxes and spent Mountain Dew bottles, as the inhabitants frag, frag away? (If not Mountain Dew, insert favorite over-caffeinated beverage -- er, I mean, "beverage with just enough caffeine to keep you going!" -- here. Gamer fuel!)

I'm assuming the number is massive... as massive as this game launch. Which means that those people probably aren't spending too much time browsing the Web. Nevertheless, we have some awesome Halo-based DIY projects for everyone. When the people who would appreciate them most finish the game, or at least come up for air, this article will still be here.

Join us after the break to get your Master Chief on. You know you want to.

There are lots of toys on the market today that can teach children the joy of building stuff, but few are as venerable and versatile as the classic LEGO. For the last 75 years, these colorful connecting blocks have captured the imagination of kids and adults alike, combining to create some truly unique LEGO structures, machines, and useful devises.

In honor of the company's platinum anniversary, we thought it would be fun to create a comprehensive compendium of LEGO projects (and other cool creations). Whether you're wanting to build your own LEGO ultrasonic sonar or rubber band gun, I'm sure you'll find one or two projects on this list that will spark your inner LEGO-addict, compelling you to either drag out the old bucket full of blocks from your closet, or go buy a brand new set from the store.