Design Formula has some handy tips and inspiration for anyone looking to do a wall collage - and let’s face it - most of you have at least one wall in your home in need of sprucing up. Of course, ultimately you can do anything your little heart desires, but following some of these guidelines will help you get started. Here at DIY:happy HQ we have a stair collage made up of the absolute WORST pictures we can find from our local thrift stores. Glamour Shots FTW!
This gentleman made a moving-jaw skull for hanging on a wall. It’s pretty unique, cheaper than buying one at a store, and it opens the door to all kinds of Halloween ideas! Since the directions aren’t directions specifically - more like a general how-to - we’ll post this under Reference. If anyone wants to post more detailed directions with measurements or anything, feel free (and/or spooky)!
Alright folks, the moment all you graphic designers, dabblers, photoshophiles, and avatar-makers have been waiting for!
DIY:happy does not have a logo. Some folks think we do (the little TV-looking thing), but we don’t. However, we’d like one! We’d even be willing to throw in some incentives, because we’re nice and fabulous like that.
Here are the regulations (not rules, for all the Libertarians):
1. The logo has to be a good size. Nothing too small… it has to be made in all kinds of sizes, and we wouldn’t want to distort your masterpiece by resizing it, right?
2. It has to be a-okay for us to print it!
3. We’d rather not having anything offensive, mean, rude, terrible, or violence-insighting.
4. Those things said, anything goes.
DIY:happy loves you. So, whomever wins the contest will win:
The suspense is over, let the games begin!
SUBMIT TO: Kristi@diyhappy.com or TIPS@diyhappy.com!
Projected End Date: September 13th at 11:59 PM (CST).
UPDATE: 14 SUBMISSIONS AS OF 10:00PM, 08-11-07.
This is a very helpful post for anyone who’s always wondered how to take things apart and make new things out of it. If you open up electronics, they generally look pretty similar, but this site allows you to figure out the proverbial melting pot of electronic components. Yay, now you can tell a resistor from a capacitor! Life’s complete.
Alright kids, it’s time to go get your favorite cool-tasty beverage from 7-Eleven. That’s right, Slurpees are FREE today. Why, you ask? Because it’s 7/11 of course! The Slurpees are small, at just 7.11 ounces, but whose complaining - it’s free, right? Start at the north end of town and hit every 7-Eleven within a 20 mile radius. But get down there quick, because the deal ends at 11pm (of course).
(Your local 7-Eleven may not be participating)
Though this post is considered an instructable (by virtue of the fact that it’s posted to the instructables site) but it’s more of an open-ended guide for dealing with and purchasing polymorphic plastic, which is a plastic that can be melted at a considerably lower temperature than boiling water.
Oh, consider the possibilities! Toys, holders, ZOO ANIMALS! Endless.
This book is something that most of our readers could get into.
Book features include:
As they say in Total Recall, “get your ass to Mars!” Buy it. Give it as a gift. Use it. Hack crap. High five.
This is an inspirational site that doesn’t necessarily have to be brought up for the craziest usage of a bottle cork, including a recliner (which makes you wonder why winos go unfurnished in the streets) and a car. It can go to show that using non-traditional decorations in our spaces can be impressive as hell, which I’m sure we all know to an extent, but this serves as a reminder to keep DIY with you always. Like herpes, but not so gross. Food for thought!
[NOTE!] The cork/CD coaster combo is awesome. And easy to make.
If you’ve ever had a really late night, full of insomnia and crappy television, you’ve seen informercials about natural remedies, common cures, and things THEY don’t want you to know (it’s always THEY, isn’t it?). Kevin Trudeau, Calcium salts, homeopathic remedies, ayurvedic remedies, YOGA, all kinds of buzzwords and glossary-needing situations. If you don’t have medical insurance and you have a big splinter - cut some banana peel and stick it on the affected area, tape it and call us in the morning. No, don’t, but you get the idea. There are a whole pack of wild remedy websites, and we’re always here for ya, babe. It’s all about figuring out what works for you, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? Or sicker. Whichever.
Home Remedies:
Herbal and kitchen home remedy site, A-Z index, and causes of ailments under each category. Seems like “oil of clove” is the all-purpose panacea. Maybe we should invest.
Granny remedies, this is an extremely hilarious site. I can have frighteningly smelly armpits (hey, I’m a mother of an infant, I don’t have time to slather myself with lavish deodorants, only DIY projects and raising child!), and I read from this site that rubbing potatoes on the stench will make them smell good. Wow. That seems like adding fuel to the fire. Potatoes and B.O. = Axe? I think not.
Homemade medicine, does not list pot as a treatment for glaucoma. Makes you automatically suspicious, doesn’t it?
Common Terms, defined:
Homeopathy - Treatments developed by the process of “like treating like” to ‘cure’ or lessen the wrath of an illness/malady. If you eat raw belladonna, you’ll get a migraine and probably a rash, but administered in tiny doses, it can treat those symptoms. I don’t know what universe uses that logic system, but Homeopathy reigns there.
Avurveda - Ancient Indian health care. Involves healthy living, various therapies, and panchakarma (which is basically five treatments for broad ailments), which are then separated by the type of person you are, and broken into various methods of treatment. Since regulation of Ayurvedic medicine is common here in the US, generally it’s limited to herbal supplements, massages with oils, incense and all that jazz. Nothing fatal, damn! Use this site to figure out whether you’re a pitta or a vata. Or maybe you fancy yourself a kapha.
Holistic Medicine - Combination of treatments based on the idea that everything which is microcosmic, relates to, but doesn’t completely sum up a whole. Very alternative, and groovy man. Usually involves acupuncture, ayurveda, Siddha, chiropractic, naturopathy, yoga, aromatherapy, homeopathy, massage, Tai Chi, Chinese herbology, medicinal herbs, and Prolotherapy. New agey.
These are just a few references that can interest you in DIY alternative medicine, if needles and prescriptions aren’t your thing. Not to mention insurance, copays, specialist fees, premiums, it’s messy business folks!
{NOTE!} You should consult a professional before getting yourself into something, but there are resources to do that for free on the web, so look into that if you’re intent on going completely DIY on this one. We don’t advocate anything but safety and knowledge in practicing DIY living, so use your brains! According to the FDA, nothing cures anything, so approach any of these sites with caution and a fat bag of “Fair Use” clauses in mind.
There’s a post on Wikihow that explains how to celebrate Earth Day, and half of it has to do with the exact same thing we advocate here at DIY:happy. Coincidence? I think NOT, brosephs.
GO PLANT A TREE,
Recycle your clothes! Make old clothes into new clothes.
Bamboo AGAIN. It’s an epidemic at DIY:happy, here’s how to grow it yourself.
Live without a car. Or at least try to.
Swap or recycle from others, on Freecycle.
Craigslist has a lot of free stuff, recycle everything!
Dumpster dive! We all love dumpster diving, right?
Become a Freegan (NOT for everyone). If you’re hardcore anti-establishment, or anti-capitalism, this is worth a look at. If you don’t dig being cold, hungry, unemployed or vegetarian, Freeganism is something to pass up.
Actually recycle when you’re getting rid of something!
Become a member of a radical environmental organization?
That’s all we can think of right now.
Happy Earth Day!
Any more links? Send them our way!
There are a host of sites you can go to get ideas for “pimping” your nerf gun (as the kiddies say), because sometimes filling a nerf gun up with pee just isn’t funny anymore.
Here’s the working list:
NerfHaven - Not a large selection, but a good variety.
Nerf Maverick - Mod into a Russian Roulette-capable weapon.
Homemade Sniper Nerf - For more mathematically inclined folks.
Nerf PSYCHO - Psycho. There’s a disclaimer on every page.
Any sites you’d like to add to the list, you know where to tell us, or emailez-moi directly at Kristi (a.t.) diyhappy (D.O.T.) com.
Here are some websites about getting all your knots tied. DIY knotting is very important! Some of our projects (i.e. hammock) and hopefully your own individual projects involve tying a rope or string, so we can’t leave you in the dark without resources!
A couple of these sites feature animated knots, and others are just step by step. Just don’t use these to kill someone or tie up a stranger or anything:
This one is animated and has a list of knots by name.
This is a fancy site, including FAQs of knotting.
Outdoorsy/sports knots for you. Go fish.
Categorized very well, easy to search, photos.
DIY:happy is always glad to edify your sick addiction to rope knotting.
We’re here for ya, buddy!
Thistothat.com has been set up to aid all the confused gluers out there who don’t know what glue to use to attach this to that. Pick any two surfaces and the site will recommend glues to use. It will tell you the strongest glues as well as the quickest glues and offer helpful hints for gluing. We were amazed by the in-depth information about our second favorite bonding material (the first being duct tape, of course).
A new IKEA is opening soon near the DIY:happy HQ out here in lonely Happy Valley, Utah. To prepare, we’re brushing up on our IKEA-inspired art designs and home decorating tips. Why IKEA? Because it’s inexpensive, modern, and I heard they have hot dogs there.
Here is an IKEA frame wall mural that can cover as much or as little wall as you want. This one uses artsy postcards, but you can use whatever you want (Bonus: Go get some really old postcards from an antique shop. You can find very unique and cool looking ones and they’re usually pretty cheap).
IKEA Hacker (yes, there’s an entire site devoted to the subject) has tons of projects for the art-minded DIYer. Check out the wall decor section for tons of great ideas. Don’t miss the LED-strip lightbox, the backlit picture boxes, or using wallpaper as art. There is enough here to keep any thrifty decorator busy until the whole house is adorned a few times over.
Taking the Internet with you wherever you go is sort-of like having a super power, especially if you can share that access with others over WiFi. There are a few ways to go about this, from the commercially available Phoebus and Kyocera KR1, to the DIY hack up a router and cell phone method.
Personally, I use a 3G Cingular phone tethered via Bluetooth to my MacBook Pro. OS X has a simple sharing feature that lets you create an access point out of your notebook and share whatever connection is available to you. It’s a simple solution, but expensive if you don’t already have a 3G phone that supports tethering and a computer that runs OS X.
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