DIY Life

That decorative bowl of fruit on the end of the table has suddenly become a haven to a horde of ravenous fruit flies. You get rid of the over-ripe fruit that attracted them, you clean down the area, but you still have the little wretches. You can swat them, but wouldn't it be fun to trap them?

The people at Chow.com have a great tip for making a fruit fly trap, which involves a small dish of wine, a sploosh of water, and a drop of soap, stirred up with a finger. It would take about 10 seconds to put together.

One of the commenters suggests putting plastic wrap over the surface of the bowl, and making pin pricks in it -- apparently the flies can get in the holes, but are too stupid to get out again.

In fact, once you've watched the video, read the comments. There are a few more very creative fruit fly trap ideas there, too!

If you're having friends over and the wine is going to be flowing, wine charms are a handy little accessory to have. That way, nobody forgets which glass of wine is theirs. Unless you're like me and have a memory as filled with holes as a block of Swiss cheese -- I even forget which wine charm is mine.

That's why I think Shrinky Dink wine charms that look like your friends are not only cute... they're incredibly useful, and simple to make, too!

Just draw cartoons of your friends (be kind) directly on Shrinky Dink paper or use a computer illustration program and print your artwork. Cut a small hole in the top of each cartoon and bake according to directions. Then thread the Shrinky Dink onto one-inch wire hoops. Decorate with additional beads as you wish.

If drawing isn't your thing, you have plenty of other options. Print out your friends' names in a nice font, use photos, or find clip-art that uniquely identifies your loved ones. Any way you choose to make these, your friends will appreciate the personal touch.

Check out Ryan's post about turning Monopoly pieces into wine charms, too.

Summer is here, and the pickin' is easy: the wild strawberries (and farm ones too!) are ripe and ready, the wild blueberry bushes scattered throughout the woods behind my house are showing off their green berries, and the raspberries are just threatening to come out, but they'll be here later in the summer.

What will you do with all of your summer berries? Chances are, we'll be baking with some, but most of them end up in our mouths before they even hit the bowl. If you've got some extras, now might be the time to try making your own wild berry wine.

Beyond a cup of berries, water, and a quart jar, you really don't need anything but a little time to shake it all up each day. After about two weeks, you should be able to enjoy your wine.

WikiHow has more details on your home brewing experiment, and instructions on how to make vinegar or age your wine. If you've got some berries to spare, let the brewing commence!

Though I love a good wine, I'm not a wine snob. Part of the fun of choosing a wine at the store is looking at all the whimsical labels. Sure, a bottle's design doesn't tell you much about what's going on under the cork but if the wine turns out to be not-so-great, at least you have a nice label to look at, right?

I like to keep the labels from some wine bottles that are of particular amusement or sentimental value to me. Here are a couple of tricks I use to get the sticky little buggers off with out wrecking the paper or scraping it off with my fingernail.

My husband loves to have a glass of red wine in the evenings, after the kids have gone to bed and the house is quiet again. It's a habit I'd love to share with him.

I picture us curled up on the couch together, sharing a glass of wine and talking about our day. (Of course, in my daydream the children also stay in their beds at bedtime, and there is never, ever an NBA game on TV.)

In any case, it's a habit I don't share with him because I don't like wine. Every time he opens a bottle, I try a glass, but the first sip makes my nose wrinkle up. I realize I don't need a glass of wine to curl up and spend some quality time with my guy, but I'd like to like it, you know?

So today I'm closely reading this article from WikiHow on how to acquire a taste for wine. I realize now that I was limiting my options. I've only ever really tried to like the wines my husband does, when in fact there are hundreds of varieties out there. Other suggestions include:

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!

Have you been wanting your own display cases, but they just cost way too darn much? Well, you're in luck. Go on down to your local liquor store or wine shop and kindly ask them for their wine crates. Since they generally throw them out, they should be happy to give them to you.

Curbly.com writer erinloechner has written an excellent article on how to make your own wine crate display. All you have to do is get your wine crates, pick up some gift wrap paper at the dollar store, make a trip to your local hardware store for some hanging hardware, spray adhesive, and some rubber bumpers, and you will be able to make some killer looking display cases for this weekend's project.

In my opinion, you could use some fabric scraps you have lying around your house and spray adhesive onto those before putting into the crate. I believe the display case would look just as nice. Now sit back with a nice bottle of wine, admire your handiwork, and call it another A+ project completed.

This DIY chandelier projects is a little over the top for me, but I think it would have a place and if it is used tastefully could be an artistic addition to your room.

Last week, Brian wrote about the cutlery chandelier. Along the same lines, I found this wine glass chandelier. It also has an industrial look, but the bare cabling and glass make it much softer than the knives and forks. The wine glasses can actually be removed and used from the chandelier. Personally, I don't dust my chandelier often enough to make that palatable, but I might if I knew I'd be drinking from them. The Swiss designer, Tina Roth Eisenberg now living in NYC saw this a a practical, attractive space saver. This project has a moderate difficulty level. Here are the instructions for using your own wine glasses as a chandelier.

Have you come up with any useful lighting projects using everyday materials? Share them in the comments.

Lifehacker pointed us to this mailing tube wine rack project. If you need a place to store your wine bottles, but aren't going to shell out for a classic wine rack, then this weekend project solves your storage issue and appeals to your DIY personality. All you need is some cardboard mailing tubes. You can find these at any office supply or postal store. You might want to paint them, or line the insides with patterned paper. The natural look is appealing too, so choose what compliments your style and space. The result is really attractive and doesn't take up much room.

This project isn't for the wine drinkers who carefully consider the temperature, humidity and vibration control of their at-home cellar. This is for the rest of us, who have wine on hand, but keep it up in the cupboard. This is for those of you who would enjoy taking on a little project and displaying your wine in a creative way. It is however recommended that you don't store wine in direct sunlight or any place where the temperature will fluctuate too much. The bottom of a bookshelf away from a window should work just right.

How do you store wine at home? Share your wine rack hacks in the comments.

The dilemma:
It's Friday night. You're off to a dinner party. So you stop to pick up an obligatory last-minute bottle of wine, and show up on their doorstep with a totally warm bottle of chardonnay. Some guest you are -- what exactly were you thinking?

The solution:
Ask to borrow some salt (and a measuring cup.) Then add a third of a cup of salt to a mixture of ice and water (you'll also have to ask for an ice bucket.) Place your bottle of wine in it and in less than six minutes you'll have saved yourself -- who knows -- this nifty little trick may even make you the life of the party.

Why it works:
Salt has many random uses that most of us don't need to know. In this case, however, it might be useful to know that salt causes ice to melt at a lower temperature compared to ice that is just in fresh water. This results in water that becomes colder much faster. In fact, using salt water versus regular water cuts the chilling time by one third.

Who you'll impress:
Everyone at the party, unless -- of course -- you use all the salt that was needed for dinner.