DIY Life

Want a show-stopping container feature for a cramped space? I recently spotted this idea for a succulent topiary in Cottage Gardens: 76 Fresh Ideas for Outdoor Living, a special publication from the editors of Cottage Living magazine. A gorgeous topiary constructed of succulent plants is just one of the attractions in Heather Lenkin's stunning California garden.

You will need the following:

• Wire tomato vine cage
• Chicken wire
• Small-gauge wire
• Wire cutting tool
• Sheet moss
• Potting mix
• Polymer crystals
• A container for the base, made of something very sturdy. A concrete urn is an excellent choice.
• About 25 succulent plants. Pick several different varieties to create a colorful, texturey contrast. Consider using, for example, a combination of kalanchoe, sedum or cacti.
• Tweezers
• Floral u-pins

Making handmade soap is an art form in itself. You can create swirls, layers, confetti, and textures in your cold process soap. It makes sense that you'd want to wrap your soap in a beautiful way too.

Your first instinct might be to use cellophane or another clear wrapper so you can see the gorgeous details of your soap, but if you make cold process soap from scratch, you will want to choose a more breathable wrapping.
The cold process soap likely retains some moisture from the curing process, which, unless you have been drying your soap for a year or so, is still not complete. Also, due to the high amount of naturally occurring glycerin in cold process soap, moisture is naturally attracted to it and you'll possibly end up with a soggy, moldy bar of soap if you use plastic.

After the jump, I'll share multitudes of wrapping ideas to make your soap look classy, country, funky, or somewhere in-between. In the meantime, peruse the gallery for some visual ideas.

Rust never sleeps, they say. The longer you leave exposed, rusting pipes untreated in your yard...well, you are ruining your pipes as they are eaten away by the elements. Rusty pipes, such as those leading to a gas meter, also make a house look a bit shabby and unloved. Let's take a look at how to deal with rusty pipes on your home's exterior. Spring is the perfect time to tackle this project!

Step 1. Select your paint
Go with a good brand like Rust-Oleum. By the way, Rust-Oleum has a fabulous website with lots of helpful advice for beginners. The company even has a special section on best products for really rusty surfaces. I recommend you check it out before heading to the paint store.

You will want to use an oil-based enamel paint. Oil-based paints are sticky and are not water-soluble. This makes application and cleanup a little tougher, but it's so worth it because oil-based paints are made to last. You have a choice between brush-on paint or spray paint. Personally, I prefer the traditional brush-on kind. On the other hand, spray paints mean no messy brushes to clean up when you're done!

When my wife and I decided to mount our LCD TV to the wall instead of having it on its stand, we were faced with the problem of hiding all the cables and wires. There were the component video cables, power cable, RCA wires to connect the VCR, and the cable connection. That was gong to be a lot of ugly spaghetti to have hanging from the bottom of the flat screen.

I decided to use surface mounted wire moldings to hide them. After installing them I painted them to match the wall. While this does neaten things up, you can still see the two runs of molding that I had to use to contain all the cords.

I had considered putting them inside the wall, but seeing as the electrical panel for our town home was directly on the other side of the wall, I decided that it was going to be nothing but heartache to try to do it that way. The other draw back was going to be the extra cutting, patching, pulling, and painting that was going to be required to do it properly.

Now I have discovered a newer, easier, and cleaner way to accomplish this goal of a hidden installation. FlatWire Is the answer that I was looking for.

St. Patrick's Day is coming up on March 17. Need some fun craft ideas? Read on.

Bring a bit o' good luck to you or someone you care about this St. Patrick's Day: make a shamrock bookmark. It's pretty easy, with instructions and photos over at Squidoo. The one and only item you'll need for this project is flexible, green-colored wire. The Squidoo project relies on crafting wire from WigJig (who I think submitted the idea), but anything similar will do. As for tools, just a pair of skillfully-wielded pliers will do the trick.

Note the shape you're aiming for here is the traditional shamrock with three leaves, not the lucky four-leafed clover. Why? Because three leaves are a lot easier to bend into a pleasingly symmetrical shape, that's why!

Other wiry St. Pat's Day ideas can be found here, such as green and gold bracelets and shamrock-shaped earring and necklace sets. Or pop over to About.com for a ton of other St. Patrick's how-to projects, including necklaces, bracelets, and lucky charm key chains.

Stacks of newspaper always seem to accumulate in my house. Newspaper always comes in handy for something, even if it is starting a bonfire on a cold winter night. I use newspaper for packing fragile items when I move, so I am starting to gather piles again, in the hopes we can soon move out of this tiny abode into a bigger one.

A Storybook Life has a tutorial on how to make beautiful paper beads using newspaper, water, glue, craft paint, varnish, and a drill. All you need to do is rip the newspaper into small pieces, put the paper in a stockpot and cover with boiling water, stir the paper after about an hour of soaking to help break it apart, drain as much of the water out of the paper as possible, and then add Elmer's glue and shape into a ball. From that large ball, make as many size beads as you can, let the small balls dry, rolling every once in a while to squeeze out more water, and then sand each bead to remove any rough edges when the paper ball is completely dry. Drill a hole, paint, and varnish.

You can make necklaces, bracelets, earrings...whatever you can imagine or would normally use store bought beads for; try using newspaper beads instead. The simply perfect DIY weekend project!

As soon as the stores take down their boxing day signs, Valentine's day decorations will line with malls and before we know it we'll be heading into February full steam. We'll be rushing to find that perfect Valentine's day gift or instructions for that special craft. I know it seems a little early, but if you're feeling motivated and have scrap fabric hanging around from your Christmas projects, then get a head start on these fabric coated wire hearts.

These make great door hanger decorations and such sweet little heart day gifts. Basically you'll take an old wire coat hanger and form a heart shape. You can cut it down to make them in various sizes. Cove it with fabric, attach a ribbon and you're done. It's a simple, attractive decoration that will look great in any space. Get your children involved and make some as grandparent and teacher gifts too.

Like so many of the best crafts, this one is a great way to use materials you already have around the house. If you finish making all the hearts that your heart desires and you still have piles of wire coat hangers, check out some of these other great uses for wire coat hangers.

DON'T toss holiday cards onto your desk or row them up on bookshelves.

DO create a pretty spot where they will become a focal point for everyone to enjoy.

Making a fun display from cards is easy to do. Not to mention incredibly affordable. You'll be amazed at how the cards pop when they are massed together. Added bonus: you won't have to deal with cards toppling onto the floor all the time. (Boy do I hate that!)

For the last few years I've been pinning my cards to long, wide ribbons that I've hung from either side of a doorway. This year, I need a new strategy because we now have a toddler who can reach and demolish such "pretties" in short order. I'm liking the idea of a Christmas card wreath. First spotted in a flyer from Web-based photo shop Shutterfly, I went looking and found these instructions for a Wire Card Wreath on Martha Stewart's website. The downside: these instructions don't come with photos, so you'll have to drink some coffee and make. brain. think. hard. Basically, it involved bending lengths of wire around a bare wreath so as to create clips, to which the cards may be attached.

Air infiltration into your house is the number one enemy of your home heating and cooling efficiency. Wall switches and electrical outlets which are located on the exterior walls of your home can serve as ports of entry for outside air. Insulating these potential thermal leaks is simple and cheap to do.

You can get inexpensive foam outlet seals at any home or hardware store. They are simple die cut foam shields which go between your outlet plate and the wire box in the wall. These foam insulators can potentially shut off air leakage entering your home from behind switches and outlets.

The process is simple and goes like this:

Have you ever wished for wings?

Costume shops are full of fairy wings at this time of year, but they tend to carry the same models over and over. If you want something more unique, there are at least half-a-dozen websites where you can order custom wings to your specifications, ranging from cartoon-cute to something as lifelike and colorful as a butterfly.

However, most styles of fairy wings are not very difficult to make, if you have the time and determination. Find out more after the break: we have links to plenty of tutorials, videos, and visual inspirations!

High contrast colors captivate and hold baby's attention better than the softer colors that we might find appealing. This sharp contrast is easier for them to see and far more stimulating. You'll notice that many of the new mobiles have come away from pastel moons and stars and adopted black, white and red images with basic shapes and patterns. These modern mobiles can run you a pretty high bill. Why not skip the baby boutique, grab a few supplies from home, and make your own high contrast mobile.

In my post 8 uses for wire clothes hangers, a baby mobile is one of the suggestions. Here's one of those ideas in action: A high contrast baby mobile using only things you'll have around the house.

In a wireless world, we sure have a lot of wires strung through the house. They nest behind entertainment units, tucked under carpets down halls into bedrooms and offices. Under the desk you'll find an ugly, overloaded power bar. Unclutter.com has a solution and all you need is a $2 towel rack.

In this video, Jerry Brito shows you how to use a multi-hook towel rack to keep your cables off the floor and more organized. Some commenters think that this method could alter the audio/video signal. They suggest that cables should be lying flat, maybe bound with zip-cords. Others don't see any difference. Personally, I'm all for the towel rack, get them off the floor and out of sight completely.

[via Lifehacker]

While your new fall wardrobe may never see an old wire hanger, you probably still have some hiding in the back of your closet. Most of my clothes are hung (when they are hung!) on wooden or plastic hangers. The back of my closet, and admittedly, the floor, still overflow with old wire ones. It's time to put them to use.

1. Shoe hanger
   Bend up each end of the hanger and it will nicely hold a pair of shoes. This is particularly useful for some of your nicer shoes that you don't want scuffed around on that hall closet floor. You'll need to allot them some closet space but it will keep them clean and organized.
   
2. Go fishing
   I'm not suggesting you use an old wire hanger as a fish hook! You can use it to make a net. Bend the hanger into a circle and stretch old pantyhose around it. The children can take this to look for little fish in a stream, or sift out seashells at the beach.
   
3. Unlock car doors
   While this is most successful on TV, it will still work on some older model cars. Stretch the hanger as long and straight as you can with a hook on the end. Reach down between the window and door until you feel the latch. Pull it up and you'll unlock the door.
   
   If you've locked the keys in the car with the window slightly open you can use the hanger to fish them off the seat and bring them through the window.
   
4. Unclog drains
   Wire hangers are great for unclogging drains, both toilet and sink. You can go fishing around in the drain and try to remove the obstruction.
   
5. Radio and TV antenna
   I'm sure many college students are tinkering with their old TV, trying to get reception where it doesn't seem possible. Wire clothes hangers are great, and unlike regular antennas they can be manipulated in just the right way to optimize reception. Adding tinfoil will go a long way here too.
   
6. Mobile
   This could be a really fun project for an older sibling to make for the new baby. Use the hanger as your base and attach string and decorations. Colorful ribbons, or bells and seashells would work well. You might also like to hang pictures of family and friends from the mobile. I know you don't need me to say it, but I just can't help myself: Make sure you secure everything really well so baby doesn't choke.
   
7. Bubble wand
   This is another fun one for children. With your help the hanger can be bent into any shape and used as a bubble wand. Pour bubble soap into an old ice cream lid or other large shallow dish, dip the wand in and have fun.
   
8. Hang your clothes
   While it sounds like wire hangers are a thing of the past, there really isn't any harm in using them on most of your clothes. It may distort the shape of a delicate sweater, but if you're like me, there are far more T-shirts than pretty sweaters in the closet, and wire hangers will do just fine for those.

Those are just a few of the uses for wire hangers. I spared you the slingshot and modern art, but I have to leave something for the comments. Let me know what uses you've found for the old hangers kicking around your house.

Kristin, who does the Craft Leftovers blog, has just posted a new project: stitch markers for knitters, made with straight pins, polymer clay, jump rings, and beading pliers. In this project, the straight pins are used the way that wire or head-pins would otherwise be used in a similar project, and the polymer clay is used to make the "beads" that often dangle from stitch markers.

Since the polymer clay is just swirled together, these are easy to make with things that you may have around the house. The aim of Craft Leftovers is to provide you with projects that help use up small amounts of supplies, and this certainly fits the bill.

This style of stitch marker is not appropriate for crochet, which requires split markers.

Crafty Ginger has a great tutorial for making "Tree Branch earrings" with just wire, pliers, and a few beads and findings.

"Elegant" and "personal" are not words that always go with "easy" and "last-minute gift," but this jewelry project is an exception. Even a beginner should be able to create something they and the recipient will love. The technique itself is applicable to larger projects, like necklaces and garlands.

If made in sterling silver wire, these earrings would also be perfect gifts for bridal attendants. Try making a pair or two in cheaper craft wire, first, to get the feel of the process.