DIY Life

Keep the romance going past Valentine's day by creating a sensual setting in the bedroom. There is nothing quite as dreamy as a beautifully adorned bed, draped with a sheer canopy. Buying one at a bedroom boutique can be costly. That's OK, because you're not into that anyway, you're DIY-savvy and you'll make you're own. It really is a simple project that you can easily take on, even if you're a novice when it comes to sewing.

Now that you're feeling motivated, here's how to sew a bed canopy. According to sewing.org, you'll need the following:

• 18" wooden embroidery hoop
• 10-1/4 yards 45" - to 60" -wide sheer fabric
• 3-1/2 yards white seam binding
• White sewing thread
• 2 yards x 3/4" white self-adhesive Velcro
• 2-1/2 yards white cord
• 1" wooden bead (?" hole)
• 3/8" metal pot hook
• 1/2" double-side tape
• Sewing machine
• Scissors
• Sewing sheers
• Tape measure
• Fabric marker
• Safety pin
• Iron

Read the instructions before getting started. They'll give you material and assembly instructions specific to the type of atmosphere you're looking to create. They even offer detailed diagrams to help you along the way. This project is a great way to bring luxury into the bedroom.

I love fresh cut flowers, but sometimes it is really difficult to get them to stay fresh for a long time. Flowers shops don't always put a packet of flower preservative in the package, so more often than not, you may end up with dead flowers in just a couple days.

It isn't so difficult to maintain fresh cut flowers. When you first receive them, check to see if there is a packet of flower preservative. Fill a vase with lukewarm water and sprinkle in some preservative. Cut the stems at a 45 degree angle with a knife or kitchen shears, and remove any leaves that may come in contact with the water. If you don't remove these leaves, they may end up rotting in the water. Change the water on a daily basis, each time cutting the stems a tiny bit more to ensure they receive the fresh water. You'll be amazed at how long your flowers last.

You can make your own preservative with this simple recipe from Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Check out the wonderful tips for keeping your flowers smelling fresh and looking lovely long after you would normally have thrown them in the compost bin.

Well, today is Valentine's Day, and let's just say that we want to show how much we appreciate our readers by offering a brand new column just for you. Welcome to the first ever Dear DIY! Yes, you heard right, the DIY doctor is in!

Basicially, us bloggers here at DIY Life want to put our heads together and answer any question or address any problem you might have while out there DIY'ing your way to fame -- albeit obscure -- and glory. The essence of DIY is to do-it-yourself, without help you might add, but sometimes you do need a little advice to get you over a hump.

Here's what you do, leave a comment just below this post, nope, a little further down the page, and...there you go. Leave us a comment below or click here to send us an email tip. One of our bloggers may write a response to your question, either in an email or in a blog post, depending on the subject matter.

So there you go, Happy Valentine's Day to you and we look forward to answering your questions, helping with your problem, or maybe even make things worse, you never know. Here's to you!

Got no romantic plans for Valentine's Day? How about staying home for a pamper-yourself evening? In the realm of DIY beauty, we have already tackled some haircare basics. (Check out our posts on cutting your own hair and cutting your baby's hair, for example.) Now let's move onto something equally tricky: plucking your own eyebrows.

According to NZGirl ("NZ" stands for New Zealand, but the site has no connection to this Kiwi), the key to brows that are shapely, yet natural-looking, is to have them echo the shape of your eyes. How, you ask? Here are some tips:
1. Check out photos in magazines and use your favorite examples as your guide.

My father made me the most fabulous wood dollhouse when I was about 8 years old. It took him hours to put together, as it was very intricate and I had to get in the way and help. I don't know what ever happened to that dollhouse, but I treasure the many hours and years of fun I had playing with it.

If you want to give your little girl something very special this Valentine's Day, you can make her a foam dollhouse that folds flat and can be taken anywhere she goes. Cookie's market editor Meryl made one for her niece using a 20" x 30" piece of foam core board. She covered the walls with graphic wrapping paper, cut pictures and a clock out of catalogs, and used a sharpie to give the pictures their own unique frame. Her niece then filled all the rooms with her own toys.

I didn't like being confined to one spot with the lovely house my dad made me. The dollhouse was too heavy for me to lug around, and it was hard to reach into tight areas. With Meryl's foam dollhouse, your little princess can easily pick up and move her toys, and not worry about being confined to one area.

Thank you, Rachel, for the tip.

Talk about the ultimate Valentine's Day stunt! Described in this Yahoo news bulletin as a "shameless commercial promotion," an all-chocolate room constructed for chocolatier, Godiva, is now complete and open for viewing in New York City. The styling mouth-watering room, officially dubbed the "Godiva Decadence Suite," is located in an office building in Manhattan's East Village. Its purpose is to publicize Godiva's annual Valentine's Day competition. As if the room itself was not enough, Godiva also brought in a glamorously-clad Ali Larter, star of the TV show Heroes, to help showcase its creation.

Visitors to this room of sweet decadence are given strict instructions not to lick the walls, furniture or artwork, all of which are crafted from chocolate.

I have a drawer full of cool stencils of every shape and size. Stencils are just so versatile, and you can use them for any craft project you can imagine. I love to use them on my scrapbook pages, and stenciling gives everything a new and unique look.

Using stencils is a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of using them, why not try stenciling items with spray paint? You can turn everyday items into cool works of art, and the best part is, you won't spend too much money to do it. All you need is some spray paint and an item to transform, such as an Altoids tin.

Make sure to use the spray paint in a well-ventilated room. Make a cardboard backdrop so you don't get paint on anything else, and be sure to use a face mask so you don't breathe in the nasty paint fumes. If you need a quick Valentine's Day gift, try using pink and red spray paint, and you'll have a one-of-a-kind gift she'll treasure forever.

Welcome to the first edition of Kiddie Crafts. DIY'ers are bound to have crafty kids. It's in the blood. Still, even the most inventive crafters can get stuck thinking of creative ways to entertain their children. Each week I'll highlight a kids craft, taking you through step by step instructions. This week, in the spirit of Valentine's day, we've made butterflies with heart shaped wings.

This is a great little project for families with children or various ages. Your younger children will need assistance, while the older ones can manage cutting and assembly on their own, taking time to design and paint the butterfly body exactly how they want it. Finally, little ones will run around the house flying their butterfly, while their older siblings might make up a puppet show.

Crafting these butterflies is simple. Here's what you'll need:

1. Toilet paper roll
2. Construction paper, card stock or craft paper
3. Paints, pens, glitter or other decorations of choice
4. Scissors
5. Glue
   
6. Pipe cleaners
7. Googly eyes or pom-poms
8. chopstick (optional)

Let the children get involved in choosing pens and paints. They might want to add stickers or other little embellishments too. It's fun for them to personalize it. After the break I'll explain the step-by-step instructions. Check out the gallery for helpful pictures along the way.

Could it be that the DIY'er/gardener you love so much might prefer something handy and practical this Valentine's Day? Afraid he/she'll be mad because you chose functionality over sentimentality? Never fear! Your gift can be practical and romantic. You see, the secret is all in the presentation.

Consider putting together a gift basket of DIY-type goodies, all wrapped up in colorful paper or cellophane, and topped with a red ribbon. The basket should contain some sort of mouth-watering Valentine's-themed candy, just for the sake of tradition. As for the rest of the contents, let your sweetheart's interests be your guide. For a gardener, how about seeds, a new pair of secateurs (pruning scissors), or new gardening gloves? For a handyman/woman, how about a hardware store gift card, a screwdriver or a new tool belt?

Selected your gifts? Now comes the fun part: making it look all nice and pretty. The gift basket is always a great choice. Here are some tips on how to assemble a Valentine's Day gift basket for a gardener, for example. However, if this gift is for a real manly man-DIY'er, baskets and cellophane aren't such a good choice. How about using a metal canister, like the one pictured above? Looks a little more manly, a little less frou-frou.

Visit our fabulous sister site, Holidash, to see all our Valentine's Day ideas!

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY.
herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

Valentine's Day romance . . . red wine and chocolate, candlelight, a dozen red roses and . . . . cinnamon buns?

According to research done by Dr. Alan Hirsch, cinnamon buns are the most aphrodisiac scent for men. How can you incorporate their scent into your romantic Valentine's evening without baking up a batch?

Use some essential oils. Combining cinnamon essential oils with some of the less spendy ancient aphrodisiac scents makes a great romance enhancer. Scent the room and some body oil and you are on your way to a Valentine's to remember.


Next page: a recipe for romance

A body oil is just as easy and can be used as a massage oil, a bath oil or for massage. I love to use rice bran oil, but olive oil and sunflower oil work just as nicely and are readily available at the market (for when you are picking up your chocolates, of course!).

To each ounce of oil, add:
- 5 drops vanilla infusion
- 1 drop cinnamon (go easy because this essential oil can feel sensitive on the skin when used in large amounts)
- 3 drops ylang ylang
- 2 drops patchouli
- 4 drops sweet orange

Now who said you couldn't create your own romantic mood?

Back to page 1.

Inspire passion in your beloved gardener! Give him/her a living plant this Valentine's Day. When planted and tended with care, it's a gift that keeps on giving, beautifying the landscape for years to come. Here are two Valentine's Day-appropriate suggestions: the willow tree and the rose bush.

The Willow tree: an unexpected Valentine's Day surprise
For a dramatic gesture, how about a willow tree? Willows were traditionally associated with fertility and reproduction. The ancient Greeks, for example, believed willows increased a woman's chances of becoming pregnant and would lay branches from those trees in the beds of infertile women. (Sounds really uncomfortable!) Some Native American tribes also associated willow trees with fertility, laying willow branches in the beds of newly married couples. (Ditto!) Read more here about the willow tree's symbolic value.

The video above is the Valentine's Day episode of Threadheads, from Threadbanger. In it, you'll see the creation of a corset and a pair of boxer shorts, all using recycled fabrics. The Threadheads will also point you to some funny anti-Valentine stencils.

The following pages will be useful if you'd like to do any of the projects:

• How to make a corset has the assembly process and finished photo.
• Corset pattern teaches you to draft a custom pattern to your measurements.
• How to make boxers from old pillowcases is a photo tutorial.
• The Boxers pattern could turn out to be really useful, particularly if you have access to a thrift store with a lot of solid-colored sheets.
• The Extras page has the anti-Valentine stencil designs, plus lots of other Threadbanger goodness, like a widget for your blog that will automatically play the latest episode of Threadheads!

I had one quibble about the corset instructions in the video. Please join me after the break, where we'll talk a little more about undergarments.

What's the perfect gift for the special someone that puts up with a soldering iron in the kitchen and little bits of wire underfoot? How about this touch activated, pulsating LED heart? This geeky Valentine's Day card pays homage to the musical greeting cards that are popular this time of year. This isn't just for Valentine's Day -- it's a simple heart, so give it to your loved one any time of the year. You can also make your own shapes using the same basic circuit.

A microcontroller pulses the LED heart for a few seconds when the touch switch is activated. After the fade routine, the microcontroller enters a power saving sleep mode. The card runs from a single button cell battery. A battery should last a long time because little power is consumed in the sleep state.

Oh, sure, we've had a bewildering array of amazingly helpful home improvement articles here on DIY Life recently, particularly in the last few days. But whose head can be turned by sheet rock and plumbing when so much love is in the air?

That's right: Valentine's Day is coming up, so this past week, we spent a lot of time thinking about handmade gifts for all of our sweethearts -- and yours. If you're looking for ideas, you will enjoy the following posts:

• DIY Valentine's gifts -- homemade romance by Francesca Clarke: Thoughtfulness goes a long way, but there's more to it than that.
• Lovebird votive holders: perfect DIY Valentine's gift by Diane Rixon: Cut pretty bird silhouettes out of metal to instantly increase your romance quotient by an extra 79%.
• Homopolar motor for your Valentine by Alan Parekh: Use simple electrical principles to show your Valentine how they make your heart spin.

More ways to express your love this week (or any other time) await you after the break, along with several other recommendations which have absolutely nothing to do with either hearts or flowers. We'll also reveal this week's top three posts.