DIY Life

Plastic bags may not be friendly to the environment, but when recycled, they can be the earth's best friend. Even better? Plastic bags can add a touch of chic glamour to every home they grace. Don't believe your grocery bag and "chic" belong in the same sentence? Think again:

1. The Plastic Bag Chandelier
I always hear that you can make a lamp out of absolutely anything, but I have to admit -- I never believed it. Until now.
See the first chandelier here, and the second right here.

2. The Plastic Bag Chair
Sit on it and spin... literally. The plastic bag chair from Ryan Frank may not be the most functional, but it's certainly the most beautiful.

3. The Plastic Bag Cushions
Cushions that are both lovely and earth-friendly! See them right here.

4. The Plastic Bag Shoes
Don't even think about leaving out your tootsies. Plastic bag shoes? You betcha!

5. The Plastic Bag Containers
Crochet your way to recycled containers right here. Amazing!

As I bid my backyard evenings farewell and welcome cool, crisp weather, I'm dreaming of one last outdoor party, complete with Frank Sinatra tunes, light appetizers, fresh mint spritzers... and these adorable craft lights, of course. I love how simple this project is and can't wait to try it myself!:

A project that uses grocery items always sets my heart aflutter, and I can't believe how easy (and kid-friendly!) this craft is. Why not round up the family for scrambled eggs one evening and decorate your own carton lights to hang outside? Or, be proactive with the holiday season this year and get started on those tree trimmings!

And, when you're finished with your project and have a few egg cartons left over, why not re-purpose them with some of our great ideas right here at DIY Life. Think boot trees, ice-cube maker, drawer liners and more!:
-Recycling Ideas for Egg Cartons

Attention, DIY-ers! You have one more day to win Etsy seller Ideaka's brilliant take out light! Visit this post, leave a comment explaining your favorite take-out-inspired project, and cross your fingers!

We'll choose our lucky winner tomorrow by 5PM, so get to it!

Etsy seller Ideaka loves take out food enough to incorporate the packaging into a fun new DIY lighting kit. Chow mein never looked so good (unless you're on a diet, of course).

To win this lighting goodie, comment below with your favorite take-out-food-inspired DIY and keep your fingers crossed. Good luck, and hurry -- contest ends Friday!

CONTEST RULES

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below telling us your favorite take-out-food-inspired DIY project!
  
• The comment must be left before 5pm ET on Friday, September 11, 2009.
  
• You may enter only once.
  
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
  
• One winner will receive one Take Out Light (valued at $40).
  
• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
  
• Click here for complete Official Rules. Winners will be notified by email, so be sure to provide a valid address!

If you've ever shipped posters before, you'll know how inexpensive cardboard tubes can be. And if you've ever shopped for a chandelier, you'll know how expensive those can be. Let's swap the two, shall we?

Instructables shows us how to create a lovely chandelier with a few materials and just $25 (the cardboard tubes used in the tutorial were free, but you can get more than enough for the project for less than $10 right here).

The tools? Gorilla glue, cardboard tubes, seam ripper, clamps, marker, metal wire, light sockets, surge protector, light bulbs. That's it! Easy enough, and definitely worth a trip to the hardware store for a $30 chandelier.

Don't like the industrial look? Why not spray paint your cardboard tubes in a bold lacquer color, such as hot pink or lime green. Or, for a more glamorous look, paint the tubes white and let the bulbs shine through.

However you slice it, this light fixture will score you a permanent spot in the Most Inventive Lighting Awards* next year!

*MILA may or may not exist.

Have you ever seen a more adorable [and crafty!] lamp? If so, you're totally lying to us. A lovely example of DIY-done-right, the Krylon Spray Paint Lamp from Etsy seller bblock is a huge inspiration for anyone desiring a unique light fixture that you can't find everywhere else. And get this--- the On/Off switch is the can's nozzle! Genius.

Fortunately for you, bblock is offering a lucky DIY Life reader a Krylon Spray Paint Lamp of his/her choice! Excited yet? You should be.

Enter our giveaway by commenting below and telling us the craftiest thing (legal, please!) you've ever done with a can of spray paint.

CONTEST RULES

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below telling us the craftiest thing you've ever done with a can of spray paint!
  
• The comment must be left before 5pm ET on Friday, August 7, 2009.
  
• You may enter only once.
  
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
  
• One winner will receive one Krylon Spray Paint Lamp (valued at $60) in the winner's choice of standard colors.
  
• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
  
• Click here for complete Official Rules. Winners will be notified by email, so be sure to provide a valid address!

Sun jars are a lifesaver for outdoor living, but they are sooo pricey. Luckily, the fine folks at Apartment Therapy Unpluggd are getting their hands dirty with this affordable DIY version:

Here's what you'll need:
(1) mason jar with transparent lid
(1) solar garden light
(1) AA rechargable battery
(1) package of blu-tack, or a similar reusable adhesive
(1) can of glass frosting spray

The best part? This is the easiest DIY you'll find. Simply take apart your solar garden light, mount the contents with blu-tack to the underside of the lid. Frost the outside of your mason jar with glass frosting spray to diffuse the light, and... DONE!
Total project cost? Less than $36 for six sun jars. Much better than the $45 version here! Go, DIY!

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Progress Lighting, has announced a voluntary recall of about 7,500 indoor ceiling light fixtures, due to a fall and injury hazard posed to consumers if the cable that supports the light fixture fails. Progress Lighting has receive five reports of the fixtures falling, including an incident where two consumers suffered bruises.

The International Series indoor light fixtures were manufactured in China and sold by electrical and lighting distributors and at The Home Depot stores from January 2005 through March 2008 for between $290 and $1,150. The fixtures were sold under the Progress Lighting and Thomasville Lighting brand names. Please see the CPSC press release for model numbers involved in the recall.

Consumers are advised to remove the glass from the recalled Thomasville or Progress Lighting ceiling lights and contact Progress Lighting at (877) 369-4548 or www.progresslighting.com to schedule a free inspection and replacement of the ceiling fixture.

We love solar powered stuff here at DIY Life. Hacking things together ourselves in the interest of reducing our environmental footprint really gets us going. This DIY solar lantern is just the thing to keep the spirit of Earth Day even after it's come and gone.

Noel from unplugged living gives us a full detailed tutorial on making the solar lantern. Covering each step thoroughly, and providing loads of helpful pictures, diagrams and part lists, this is one project that will be easily recreated on your own.

This project is split into a three part tutorial. In the first part, Noel explains the basic theory of operation, then goes on to explain how to calculate the value of the resistor. In the second section, you'll learn about the charging module and solar cell. The assembly instructions are clear and detailed. Finally, in the third part, you'll see close-up pictures of each piece and how they should look together.

Staying green isn't always easy, but it sure is important. Noel brings us inspiration by combining our desire to go green with the love for great DIY projects. Gear up for your next camping trip with a solar powered lantern.

A short trip to your local Wal-Mart and The Home Depot could turn your back bedroom or attic into a professionally-lit photography studio. That is, if you have camera equipment to take pretty pictures once you have several lighting equipment environments at your disposal.

Start with some outside tripod-style floodlights and add some foil-covered windshield heat protectors and standard light bulbs and you have the makings of a makeshift and workable lighting studio. Total cost? About $75. Results? Well, they will probably produce 90% of the quality (if done right) for less than a fifth of the price of professional lighting equipment. That ought to do well for us budding amateur photographers, right?

Consult the entire breakdown here to get a rundown on assembly of these items into your very own photography lighting arrangement: some hot-lights (a few tripods required), some light diffusers and portable reflectors and some camera flash diffusers as well. For professional-looking photo results with little monetary investment, you can't beat this.

To those aspiring photography professionals: are you up to snuff on bottom-lit photography? Keep an eye on that image to the right. That mirror effect and many like it require some "floor photography." The good news: no expensive equipment needed except a table with a glass top.

Your kitchen table, coffee table or even just a small sofa table will suffice for lighting that object from below to ensure you really have some of the neatest (and professional) effects from that camera shutter button press. If you have gotten into (or want to) the food photography business (glass containers, especially), having a glass tabletop, some slave flashes and smaller lights are going to be your friends. Even if you don't have a table you can use, a makeshift cardboard box with a piece of spare glass on top of is all it takes.

Basically, shooting objects using lighting from below sounds pretty easy, although getting the formula right for your particular shoot may take some work. The results, though, may come from an amateur but look wholly professional. Like the Corona image here, talk about an enticing image to pitch to a new client for a magazine layout (if that's your thing). It may take a high megapixel count to ensure you get that 300dpi, but wouldn't it be worth it?

If you like taking professional-style photos of your kids, pets or even for that eBay listing, one thing many aspiring photogs have discovered is that lighting is the single largest key to taking a great, well-exposed picture.

Yet, many of us don't have photography studios in our homes. What to do? How about carve out a bedroom corner when you need it and fancy up some on-the-cheap lighting companions to help you? Yes, there is a way to emulate a decent lighting environment similar to what you'd find in a pro studio -- and it'll cost ya not that much in greenbacks.

This lighting example uses three specific lights to create an excellent lighting arrangement that you'll find very useful if you're tired of those grainy point-n-shoot images your digital camera usually serves up. Needed: some used slave flash assemblies (look for these at pawn shops and photography stores), some taping ingenuity and a few miniature tripods that cost just a few bucks at a local electronics retailer.

If you're a child of the '80s or just a recent-film history buff, you know Tron (aka Flynn). The defining computer graphics film produced by Disney in the early 1980s established itself as a cult film many years ago, but some of us can't get enough of the neon colors and lightcycles spinning in our imagination to this day. Congrats -- you can now have a visual representation in the form of a luminescent household light.

Engineers and electronics designers will surely love this -- a lamp that mimics the miniature circuits that power all those gadget goodies with that Tron-esque glow that is just, well, damn cool. Items needed: several sheets of small plexiglass, plexiglass glue, pliers, a single nail, mirror-coated paper, some clear tape (as in, scotch-brand), and quite a few other household items. Along with a metal base and a color-changing LED bulb to actually give off the light, you may have most items already in your tool arsenal.

Geek out here with the complete video and take a trip back to Flynn's Arcade if you dare.

[Via Daily DIY]

If you'd like to experiment with faux paint finishes, consider starting out with something relatively small, like a lamp or hanging light fixture. Unlike applying faux finishes to larger surfaces -- say, a wall or a piece of furniture -- you're not committing yourself so much in terms of time or money. The picture above demonstrates how a faux finish can utterly transform a light fixture by giving it a seemingly aged patina. Switching out the glass lamp shades with paper lanterns also helped. These lanterns were hand-painted black on the outside and gold on the inside.

First step: find something to work on. You may already have the perfect lamp at home, meaning one that didn't cost much to begin with and is now a little out of date. I'm pictured one of those lamps made with that ubiquitous shiny "builders' brass."

Every once in a while, a project comes along that is really, really worth doing. If you're into unique home lighting effects and are proud to have self-made items adorning their homes, you'll love this one. With a little pressboard, a small shop or auto light, some routing skills and either a stack of old CDs or even a 50-pack of new CD-Rs, you can have a nice lamp for that side or sofa table.

Well, pull out that fluorescent tube-style bulb assembly you may have sitting around (yes, that is the light source) and follow the visual instructions here. Due to the plastic nature of CDs, they are perfect light transmission vehicles for a small tube light in the middle of a tower of CDs. Have an unused or older tube shop light sitting in the garage? It's the perfect light source for this project.

If you have a chance this weekend, this project may be a hit at that New Year's party next Monday night. Heck, make a few of them while you're at it and double the conversations starters next week!