DIY Life

Thrifty Décor Chick yearned for a Ballard Décor decorative pear ... but she wasn't wild about the hefty price tag. Learn how she made her own version using an $8 thrift store find and a little DIY ingenuity. – Thrifty Décor Chick

Make a pretty little potted topiary for yourself or a friend. Start one now and you'll have a terrific, budget-friendly gift ready when the holidays roll around. – Design Sponge Online

Fishbowl jelly: a guaranteed kiddie-pleaser. Martha tells you how to make this ingeniously simple dessert for your next children's party. – Martha Stewart

Create a stylish bracelet using just elastic and old buttons. Don't you love it when DIY crafts look cooler than the store-bought versions? – DIY Network

Most of us have at least one old computer keyboard stashed away somewhere, right? Maybe it's broken, or maybe it's just an old and outdated one kept as an emergency spare. Well, here are five easy craft ideas that repurpose useless old keyboards into fun and unique accessories. Hint: These are nice end-of-summer rainy day activities for bored kids/teens!

1. Turn old computer keyboard keys into stylish thumbtacks. This inspired Instructables post shows you how. You will need keys that already have a hole in the back to hold the pushpins. You'll also need to do a little drilling and trimming of the plastic to get a perfect fit. Then it's just a matter of gluing the pushpins into the keys. Beautiful.

2. More notice board fun awaits, this time converting keyboard keys into magnets. This is way easier than the thumbtack idea, but just as cool lookin' – and all you really need to buy is a strip of magnetic tape and some glue. Trim the underneath side of the keys, affix the magnets (cut to size) with glue, and you're done!

Yearning for more closet space, but you have no space for a closet? A row of hooks can work just as well, and this one, from Apartment Therapy, is not only stylish and efficient, but also eco-friendly.

The rails are salvaged wood, the hooks are old doorknobs, and the shelf above is a metal stud, folded in at either end. The entire project cost its designer US $17, and a little time.

If you don't have a box of old doorknobs rattling around your basement -- though we can't imagine why not -- you can try thrift stores or garage sales, or, as the article suggests, use garden faucets from your local hardware store instead.

For more instructions on creating your own salvaged wood shelf, follow the link!

My two local thrift stores are full of kids' games and adult board games. Most of the games are missing pieces, but that's OK with me, since I like to use them for craft projects.

Laura, otherwise known as The Scrabble Gal, is great at re-purposing materials some people would send to their local thrift store. She recently had her fingerprint mini-mosaic tutorial made from Scrabble tiles featured on Junk Creation, and sent us the link.

Laura took some old Scrabble tiles and painted them white. She arranged them in a pattern around the non-painted tiles. She then dipped her fingers in a non-toxic ink pad and transfered her prints onto the white tiles.

The possibilities of what you can create are endless. Magnets, scrapbook keepsakes, wall art: the list goes on. For more ideas on how to use Scrabble tiles, either as a kid project or made to give as a gift, check out M.E. Williams's post on making Scrabble tile coasters.

Pretty much everything on this planet has more than one use. Think of all the things you use on a daily basis, and I'll bet you could use those items for something else. The same goes for office supplies.

Lifehacker has a top 10 list of office supply hacks, pretty much involving binder clips. From closing a chip bag, to holding files together, to keeping them from falling over, binder clips can be used for more than keeping your important paper in one place. They can turn a stack of index cards into a Hipster PDA; they can even catch loose cables.

The list goes on to say that you can remove permanent marker from a dry erase board, with, yes, you guessed it, a dry-erase marker. You can also get of all your computer equipment off of your desk by using a letter tray to organize it. For even more great ideas, be sure to check out the Lifehacker comments.

This isn't the first time we've discussed creative uses for office supplies at DIY Life. In the past, Francesca told us how to build a MacBook stand using binder clips, and Diane created a card wreath using paper clips. There are many other possibilities... comment to tell us your favorite hack!

My husband has a collection of leather belts that sit in his dresser drawer. He wears one belt until it's falling apart and basically useless before he uses another one. Throwing them away seems like a waste -- after all, there are still some usable pieces of leather that could be repurposed into something new-to-you.

Fungus amungus over on Instructables recycles leather belts into bracelets. Fungus uses a laser cutter to make a design on the leather to give it a new look, and then hammers in some heavy-duty snaps, so that the bracelet can snap on the wrist.

I like the leather bracelet idea, as it sure beats throwing away a belt just because a part of it is worn out. I imagine there are other things to make from old belts, such as replacement purse straps, or maybe even leather earrings. What do you recycle your leather belts into?

Awesome craft idea spotted in the latest issue of Wondertime: DIY necktie coffee sleeve. It's cute and stylish, yet easy for the kids to make... maybe with a little help from Mom.

Here's what you'll need:
1 stylin' necktie that dad doesn't want anymore...er, one that you're sure dad doesn't want anymore!
1 two-inch strip of 3/4-inch self-adhesive Velcro

Here's what you do:
Step 1. Cut the tie 15 inches from the wide, pointy end. Put the thin end aside.
Step 2. Peel backing from one side of the Velcro and stick it to the underside of the tie, one inch from the point.

We all have pairs of jeans laying around the house we no longer wear. There are many ways of re-purposing them. Everything from denim purses, reusable shopping bags, messenger bags, to just about anything.

Here is another idea: an organizer made from an old pair of jeans! This organizer goes on the back of a door. It can be your bedroom, laundry room, bathroom, or any other door in your home.

All you need for this project is a pair of old jeans, scissors, glue, tape measure, thread, sewing machine, and a trouser hanger. Measure and cut pockets into the jeans depending on the size of the objects you are going to store in them.

I have some really interesting jeans I haven't been able to wear in years with all sorts of patterns, ribbons, embroidery work, and embellishments on them that I'm thinking of using. You can also jazz up a pair of plain jeans with sequins, patches, scrap fabric, paint, embroidery, ribbons.

I love browsing in my two neighborhood thrift stores: if I had the time, I could spend hours there every day, checking out all the new things that come in. Inevitably, I come away with treasures that other people thought were trash cluttering up their lives.

One treasure I've found is vintage tablecloths. When I check them over, they have holes or scorch marks, but most of the time, the tablecloth is still usable for recrafting and repurposing.

Sommer Designs shows off some of the beautiful lavender sachets Carrie made from her collection of vintage tablecloths. Although it pained her to cut up her stack, she knew that she had to give them new life.

She decided to do that by cutting them up into 6 inch squares, matching up the wrong sides, stitching up three sides, turning them right side out, filling with lovely lavender, and sewing the last side closed. She finished off the sachet by adding a pretty vintage button to its center.

Here at DIY Life, we love lavender. Maureen told us how to fall asleep faster by making lavender sleep pouches. I previously told you how to make lavender laundry bags and your own herbal bath bags. All these posts use sachets, so get busy cutting up your ruined vintage tablecloths and make your own sleep pouch, bath bag, and laundry bag. Don't forget to check out Debra's scentual uses for lavender, an article full of fabulous recipes utilizing this lovely herb.

[via: Craft]

Every Wednesday I will be bringing you a project that has been recrafted from something else. I dabble in everything from paper crafts and sewing to construction and electronics so there will be a broad range of projects. The focus being the reuse of items -- often items available for little money or even free.

This month I raided the game closet for inspiration. For years I have stocked those shelves with thrift store purchases. By keeping an eye out for odd games and even the standby classics I have more games than I will ever likely play. A few duplicates give me the raw materials for some nostalgic projects.

We entertain often enough to have the occasion to need to distinguish one glass of wine from another. For some reason people congregate in the kitchen and by milling around, glasses of wine end up misplaced and the ownership of fuller glasses disputed. Putting a unique ring on each glass stem will help people remember which glass is their own -- but there may be arguments over who gets the shoe!

Addictive pop culture site X-Entertainment has posted a fine DIY/reuse-recycle idea. X-Entertainment guru Matt demonstrates how to turn an empty Altoids tin into a teeny-tiny sanity-saving survival kit. Yep. All you need to get out of any conceivable urban scrape (well, some of them, anyway) is tucked securely -- and super compactly! -- in your back pocket.

Check out the X-E site for most excellent pics. Wow, that's a lot of stuff to fit into one tiny tin! First, there's the basics: food and drink, in the form of beef jerky, two types of gum, and a tiny vial of something strong to drink. Second, are comfort items: Listerine strips, a cigar and a couple matches. Finally, fun items to help you cope with typical urban boredom, such as being stuck in traffic: crossword puzzle, pencil and paper, a tiny piece of clay for modeling, a die (as in one half of a set of dice), and stickers for decorating your surroundings. Beautiful, just beautiful.

For those of you already enamored of those cute little Altoids tins, this is a fabulous way to prolong the love. In fact...let's make a pact not to toss them when all the mints are gone. We will try and repurpose them instead! Need ideas? Here's a DIY project that I touched upon just a couple days ago: the Minty Boost iPod charger. As I stumble on more ideas, I'll share them with you right here at DIY Life.

Before you throw out those old CD cases, infant floaties or garage funnels, take a look at this rather unique assembly of small projects created from normal household junk we all most likely have in abundance. I'm still scratching my head on the infant floatie with the lightbulb inside, but I digress.

My favorite out of this collection is the tennis ball ear insulating covers (like those headphones you use when at a firing range). To those of us who are handy daily with a high-speed drill, this could be a cool and very cheap solution. Just remember to get a over-the-head connection that doesn't squeeze that noggin too much.

Another tasty solution from this collection involves an index finger portion of a standard dishwashing glove being used as a dampener of sorts for the end of that salad dressing bottle. How many times have we all accidentally overpoured our favorite dressing onto that nice salad? Talk about a cool kitchen hack that allows neat and easy dressing dispersal.