DIY Life

I'm really happy with my cute little 14-inch laptop. Wish I'd chosen a different color, though. The lid is a dark blue that looked sleek and soothing on the website when I placed my order. In real life, though? It looks just like plain old navy blue -- definitely more blah than soothing.

Are you unhappy or bored with your laptop? Yeah? Well, fortunately, there's never been a better time to personalize your machine ... or your iPod, Blackberry, cell or other device, for that matter. Whatever your gadget, make it really pop with a cool custom or DIY skin. Let's take a peek at some of the options:

1. Ready-made Skins. First up, there are tons of ready-made laptop skins out there. These may be purchased from computer manufacturers or from a number of other online sources. Dell, for example, now offers over 200 skin designs in a rainbow of colors and styles. Visit Dell Design Studio to see them all.

Notebooks are a necessity for school, but your kids may not get excited about the plain white paper and solid-colored cover. Sure, they are likely to plaster the front of their notebooks with the likes of "I [heart] David Archuleta 4-eva'," but why not suggest a venture slightly more creative than that?

There are some fun ways kids can decorate their notebooks for back-to-school, and make them uniquely theirs. For instance, using spare scrapbooking supplies, your kids can make their notebooks fit their favorite theme, whether that be cupcakes or super heroes.

Or, get some stencils, gel and glitter pens, and construction paper to embellish those notebooks and unleash those kids into a decorating frenzy.

A project like this one could go in so many directions; only time and creativity are the factors. So let your kids use the backs of their notebooks for their love graffiti, and proudly show off their artwork on the front covers.

Are you looking for last minute ideas for gifts, or party and wedding favors? Or perhaps you never have a piece of paper in your purse or briefcase when you need it.

Help is here, with this tutorial teaching us how to make sticky notebooks. Michelle made sticky note books for her daughter's kindergarten classmates, using 3M Post-it Notes in Ultra Colors, and scrapbook paper.

With a knitting needle, she scored the scrapbooking card stock so that it would fold where she needed it too. She placed the sticky notes on the card stock, taking off the last page so that the notes would stick to the paper. She then made circle closures for the notebook, closing the notebook with embroidery floss.

Customized to your specific needs with the appropriate paper and colored notes, these sticky notebooks could be used for grocery lists, notes to yourself (or family members), wedding and party favors, or even as gifts for the person who forgets everything. I think they would also be nice for little fingers to stay occupied on short trips.

[via: Whip Up]

My husband has bins of random old computer parts, and I've begged him repeatedly to get rid of them. He has always said that you can never be sure when you might need one of those parts. I'm sure he's got useless stuff in there, though, like maybe a broken CD drive. Who needs that kind of junk? Well, apparently a broken CD drive isn't necessarily junk after all.

This instructables tutorial teaches us how to make a USB cooling fan for a notebook with a old CD drive. If you've got a bin like ours, you probably already have everything you need for this project.

These mini saddle-stitched books are a great way to use paper scraps and make sure you always have a neat little book on hand. Personally, I'd gladly trade-in scrounging through my purse and scribbling a number on an old receipt for pulling out one of these stylish little books, and keeping my notes all organized.

Jessica Jomes made her books 3X4, but you could choose whatever size fits your needs. This is a great use for old scrap-booking paper, magazine covers, or even kid's art. Have fun with which decorative paper you choose. Here's what else you'll need:

1. Blank scratch paper
   
2. Clear contact paper
   
3. Decorative paper
4. Ruler
5. Something that cuts paper - If you have a paper cutter, this will give you the cleanest look
   
6. Stapler
7. Pin

You'll find a full tutorial on the site. While you're there have a peek around, I think this site is a real gem, and I'm sure we'll find more inspiring projects coming out of Jess and her orange office.

Every so often, someone comes up with something new to do with a Moleskine or similar notebook. Often, these are DIY versions of existing products: "I bought a Moleskine knock-off and it doesn't come with a pocket in back, so I added my own." You know the drill.

Mike Rohde's Planner Hack is that kind of site: it uses a regular Moleskine to make a week-at-a-glance calendar. And to be honest, to me, it initially seemed pointless. Moleskine already makes a week-at-a-glance calendar that won't break the bank, and the process of making one by drawing lines all over the pages and labeling them sounds like a tedious one. Why not just buy the one that's out there? Then I thought about it, and further reading confirmed what I realized.

Earth-shattering epiphanies await you after the break!

I'm terrible at remembering things. Daily tasks, phone numbers, and meeting times all have a way of slipping in one ear and sliding out the other. I've tried various ways to keep track of all this stuff (GTD, online to-do lists, I even bought a little Palm PDA), but nothing seemed to work.

I could enter stuff into my PDA or internet to-do list, but if it wasn't in front of me at all times, reminding me that something needed to be done, I'd simply forget about it. Out of sight, out of mind. Then one day I bought a new optical mouse for my computer, and was distraught to find that it didn't work well on my desktop -- apparently it was too shiny. I looked around for something to use as a mousepad, and that's when I saw it: my sturdy graph paper notebook.

At the risk of this sounding like an advertisement, why does a pad of graph paper notebook makes such a great replacement for a standard mousepad? First of all, it's paper, which means you can draw or write whatever you like on it. Secondly, the little squares on my particular brand of graph paper are exactly 1/4 of an inch, which makes it perfect for sketching quick project plans, or using the squares as pre-made check boxes for my to-do lists.

My particular notebook is also bound at the top with glue, which allows it to lay perfectly flat on my desk. The sturdy cardboard backing is surprisingly rigid, making it easy for me to write on the paper without needing to put it down on something solid (for those rare occasions it actually leaves my desk). And to top it all off, each page is perforated at the top, so you can easily remove pages and not worry about leaving shreds of paper all over the place.

Now I find myself instinctively glancing down at my mousepad/notebook all throughout the day, which makes remembering things a lot easier. It may not seem like much, but my graph paper notebook cum mousepad may be one of the most useful tools I own! If you're curious, my notebook of choice is Ampad's Gold Fibre version.