DIY: Backyard dressups

If you have a backyard, there are some really cool ideas for making it a better place to hangout in this article by Peggy Wang at BuzzFeed. If you don't have a backyard, my apologies.

Of the 41 ideas Peggy (quoted below) presents, I like these.

Save your pinecones for bedding, which will keep pups and cats out of your plants.

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pinecones for bedding, BuzzFeed

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With a few long pieces of wood, you can also use cinder blocks to create an impromptu couch.

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improptu couch, BuzzFeed

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Repurpose an old chandelier as a bird feeder.

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bird feeder, BuzzFeed

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Spray paint pebbles with glow-in-the-dark paint to light a path at night.

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painted pebbles, BuzzFeed

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This insanely simple rope swing will provide hours of fun.
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rope swing, BuzzFeed

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Most of these don't need instructions; however, weeds may be a problem with the pinecone idea. Here are 8 homemade weed killers from Good Housekeeping.

-- Marge

DIY: color it spring

Here are some projects to bring some color back to your life after the cold, snow, and bleak of winter.

The 36th Avenue by Desirée offers 20 Spring DIY Ideas and Party Time. Among the ideas is a project for putting together a knotted t-shirt headband by Talitha at love, pomegranate house. The Milwaukee and Wisconsin Journal Sentinel also features old t-shirt to headband or bracelet instructions in its Fresh section.

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Talitha, Knotted T-shirt Headband, love, pomegranate house

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At Refinery29, you can find 30 Awesome DIY Projects -- For EVERY Level. In the collection is Grace Bonney's Papier-Mâché Cacti, based on a design by David Stark Design (the D.Stark site's design is, uhm, interesting too).

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Grace Bonney, Papier-Mache Cacti after D, Stark, Design Sponge

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At BuzzFeed there's 33 Irresistibly Spring DIYs, where #30 is Decorate your computer cords with washi tape by Bri Emery at Design Love Fest.

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Bri Emery, Decorate Your Computer Cords, Design Love Fest

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-- Marge

DIY: Backdrops for your selfies (and other photos)

This being the age of the selfie, it seems to me that knowing a little about backdrops for your photos and a reminder to consider the light source are in order.  My favorite mistake is taking a picture too close to the window and having one side of the subject washed out, the other too dark (see the about me photo below).

While setting up a home-based photographer's studio may be a bit much, there are some simple things that will help. Autumn in her blog, it's always autumn, has some great tips, especially for photographing babies. Her about page is a delight.  Her article about "how to set up a DIY photo studio in your home" comes in 2 parts. Here's one of her photos.

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Baby in white blanket. its always autumn

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She also has a post compiling ideas for backdrops.

Buzzfeed has some great ideas in "32 Unbelievably Cheap And Beautiful DIY Photo Backdrops." Many of the ideas presented assume that you have a bare or light colored wall to shoot against. An alternative is hanging a light colored sheet or taping up plain paper that comes by the roll. Some of the instructions assume you have a photo booth.

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Confetti backdrop, Buzzfeed

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Building a photo booth may require a little more investment of time and money, maybe not. A photo booth can just be an area set aside to taking pictures. A tripod for the camera is probably a necessity. Take look at Photography Concentrate's "How to Create A Simple Photo Booth," for pointers on camera, lens, light, and trigger. You can find instructions for a collapsible photobooth that uses an old laptop, webcam, and photo printer at instructables.

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Collapsible photobooth, instructables

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An alternate route for a photo booth is LiveBooth for iPad. A demo is available on YouTube.

-- Marge

DIY: Mother's Day

Well, I started out with the idea of showing some fun projects for making Mother's Day gifts.  After pages of cheesy fur-like necklaces and tin cans punched with holes and planted with who-knows-what, I began to ask what moms really want for Mother's Day.  Here's what I found.

At Huffington Post (2013) there's this graph, first published at Rants from Mommyland.

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As you know, Mother's Day is a favorite of retailers everywhere.  They would love for you to spend big bucks.  A good example of this is Forbes.  BuzzFeed suggests wine (an idea I like a lot) and alone-time.

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Many of the articles about what Mom really wants for Mother's Day emphasize time off and time alone. Older moms and grandmas, on the other hand, may have all the alone time they wished for in years past.

Looks like it's up to you on this one. 

-- Marge

DIY: Valentines, pro and con

Since Valentine's Day is approaching fast, here are some resources for making your own cards or using online resources to send an e-card.  I've noticed a lot of anti-valentine cards and sentiments this year, so they're included.  Keep in mind that most sites offering e-cards mostly just want your email address, thus the option to spam you.

Blue Mountain offers free, printable cards; Egreetings (a subsidiary of American Greetings) will send a free ecard for you.  The designs are, well, cute. Jukebox will print your cards in quantity (there's an option for digital output in PDF form) for a price and send them to you. What's interesting about the Jukebox site is the discussion in their FAQ of paper stock and coatings.

For projects Inhabitots has "6 Adorable DIY Valentine’s Day Cards to Make for Your Love." Here's a sample.

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Paint Chip Valentine Bookmarks, Inhabitots

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For some punny fun take a look at Buzzfeed's "30 Punny Valentines For Everyone You Love." I like this one:

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Buzzfeed

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And if you really want to get down to the nitty-gritty of romance, take a look at "Nasty, funny, FREE Anti-Valentine's Day cards" at StudentBeans.  You can download these cards as PDF files for printing and giving.  The sample below was extracted from the PDF.  There's a section near the bottom of the page titled ....and here's what can happen that you may want to check out.

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Sample anti-Valentine, StudentBeans

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-- Marge

DIY: Christmas trees for the venturous

Here is a sampling of the Christmas trees you can make (and decorate) from collections published at TrendHunter and BuzzFeed. There's also a spiral tree from Designing With LEDs.  They're great alternatives for those of us who find themselves short on funds this season.  And they're fun, too.

Blogger at NotMartha.org, Megan Reardon, assembles an airy collection of Christmas ornaments into a mobile in the shape of a tree. Sweet.

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Megan Reardon, Ornament mobile, TrendHunter

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New England Design and Build re-purposes a ladder. 

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Ladder as Christmas tree, nedesignbuild.com

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My favorite is this LED Christmas tree designed by Margery Connor at Designing With LEDs. It's a little more complicated, requiring a store-bought spiral tree form, a five-meter string of LEDs, a small power supply, a connector, and an Arduino.  Margery has published an excellent how-to at her site. Here's what you can do with one:

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Warning: Several comments about LEDs on the web say they're BRIGHT!

-- Marge

DIY: junk CD magic

I love the shifting, rainbow colors of CDs and DVDs.  You can capture these effects in some of the projects below, all except the mixed media CD clock (it has a beauty of its own).

The mosaic tiles in the birdbath below are shards of an old CD.  Debbie gives full instructions on her blog, me and my diy.  She does a very thorough job.  Seems to me this project could be adapted to a decorative platter by using an old plate.  The direct link to her instructions is is the picture's caption.

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Debbie's birdbath, me and my diy

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Instructions for the disco ball below can be found at wikiHow.  You may be saying, "sure...what do I do with a disco ball?"  I can see a group of them in different sizes hanging by a window where they catch and reflect light.

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Disco ball, wikiHow

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Mixed media artist Cyndi gives instructions for making the CD clock below on her blog, Mixed Media Artist.  Her site has a wealth of information for artists and do-it-yourselfers who like to work with found objects/materials.

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Cyndi, "CD Clock," Mixed Media Artist

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The work below -- a sculpture by Sean Avery -- is an example of what you can do with old CDs.  No instructions are available.

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Sean Avery, sculpture, BuzzFeed

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For more ideas on finding new uses for old CDs and DVDs, take a look at Earth911's "10 Reuse Ideas for CDs and DVDs," Squidoo's "How to Reuse Old CD or DVD," and BuzzFeed's "18 Cool DIY Ways To Use Your Old CDs."

If you've been wondering how DVDs and CDs work, here's an article at HowStuffWorks. Another article there answers the question, "Why do CDs reflect rainbow colors?"

-- Marge

Halloween DIY: frou-frou tutus and other whimsy

While there are happy accidents, most creations start with an idea and proceed to a plan. Here are some ideas for this year's Halloween costume.  Mostly I'm offering parts of costumes for you to mix-and-match as you choose.  My idea of a cool costume is a black unitard (or tights and leotard) with some cover-up for eye-appeal 'correction' and an outrageous hat.  Maybe add an angel wing shrug ($26.80) depending on the theme of the outfit.

At weebly.com there are frou frou tutus--ready-made, custom-made, and kits.  Prices average from 15 to 30 dollars.
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frou frou tutu, weebly.com

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Relache's lens at Squidoo, "Make Your Own Fairy Wings," has advice and instructions on making and embellishing wings and links for buying them.  You can use stuff often found at home (provided you usually have duct tape and pink stockings on hand) in these instructions from DIYnetwork.
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Relache's fairy wings, Squidoo

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Here are "30 Outrageous Hats Designed By The Guy Who Made Princess Beatrice’s Hat," offered by Matt Stopera at BuzzFeed.  I like these two:
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An outrageous hat by Philip Treacy, BuzzFeed

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Another outrageous hat by Philip Treacy, BuzzFeed

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My best find of the day, though, is Savers Thrift Stores, a network of thrift shops.  There's a store locator (Anchorage has, count 'em, 3 stores listed!) and some really good costume ideas.
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Bad Fairy costume, Savers

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Have fun creating and more fun partying.

--Marge

Unwoven Light...

...is the title of Soo Sunny Park’s installation at Rice Gallery that one visitor described as "magical, mesmerizing, magnificent!"
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Unwoven Light, 2013, Photo: Nash Baker © nashbaker.com

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This video, featuring the artist, gives some good information about the nuts-and-bolts of artwork.  And Park's observations about interstitial space are most interesting.
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Note how the dichroic film on the plexiglass pieces causes some interesting effects.  Pieces in a panel at one angle are transparent, at another opaque and reflective and color-shifted.
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An article at Buzzfeed -- "22 Dreamy Art Installations You Want to Live In" features Park's work as well.
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Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas. (Photo by Nash Baker © nashbaker.com)

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What it must feel like to work on a project like this for long hours, then finally see it installed in all its glory.  The exhibit is scheduled to end August 30th.

 -- Marge

DIY: glow stick spatter

In honor of these velvety, somewhat mysterious, warm and dark summer nights experienced by those of you closer to the equator than Alaska, here is some do-it-yourself glow stick magic to try.

Here's a glow stick lantern resembling fireflies in a jar.
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The instructions at BuzzFeed DIY are

1. Cut open a glow stick and shake the contents into a jar. Add diamond glitter.
2. Seal the top with a lid.
3. Shake.

Note that this image with and without instructions can be found at many sites on the web; two others are Curbly, "How to: Make Glowing Firefly Jars," and Emma Rae's Halloween, "The Glow of Halloween."  The identity of the original poster is a mystery.

For tips on how to handle glow sticks and their glowy contents, here's a video by Anne Helmenstine:
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If you want more official information on how safe it is to open up a glow stick, take a look at this MSDS (a PDF), found at Glowsticks Ireland.

ActiveDark has some cool ideas for glow crafts.  Here's an image of glow sticks in balloons.
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Ah, summer.

-- Marge