Category: Workshop

Make a Handy and Cute Tea Wallet

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It’s a well-known fact that making presents for people makes the world a better place. Not only are you taking time to create the perfect gift for your mother, brother, or girlfriend, you’re making sure there’s one fewer person at the mall and lessening the chance that someone will get trampled to death by the shopping masses. If you’ve got a little extra time and want to use your very own hands to show someone you love them, this is just the miniseries for you.

Maybe you need a little extra something to go with the tea you bought your friend. Or maybe, like me, you happen to have a roommate who loves tea, appreciates a good sense of organization, and travels a whole lot. Enter the tea wallet.

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This little guy holds four tea bags so that your tea-aficionado friend is never stuck drinking boring-but-ubiquitous Lipton.

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Wrapper’s Delight: A Guide to Beautifying Your Gifts the DIY Way

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On Christmas morning, after we’ve opened up our presents and after my dog has sufficiently torn the wrapping paper into the tiniest pieces possible, we get out this massive garbage bag and throw away all the paper that spent weeks just hanging out under the tree. And every year, I can’t help but think about how wasteful it is. When you think about it, wrapping paper isn’t much more than really expensive toilet paper (and I hate buying toilet paper). I mean, what else do we throw away as soon as we use it?

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This year, though, I’m not buying any wrapping paper. I’ve got all kinds of stuff around my house that’s going to be thrown away anyway, so why not use that? With a little bit of tape and some string, any package can look pretty. Wrapping presents creatively doesn’t even have to be a big thing, either. Choose a theme, wrap them all the same and change a decoration here or there. We’ve got three guides — one for boxes, one for paper and one for decorations — that’ll convince you to kick the wrapping paper habit once and for all.

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Make a Rad Magnetic Tie Clip

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It’s a well-known fact that making presents for people makes the world a better place. Not only are you taking time to create the perfect gift for your mother, brother, or girlfriend, you’re making sure there’s one fewer person at the mall and lessening the chance that someone will get trampled to death by the shopping masses. If you’ve got a little extra time and want to use your very own hands to show someone you love them, this is just the miniseries for you.

Hello crafts people and non-crafts people alike! Today we’re starting with something easy: glue.

Inspiration via tiemags.com

Inspiration via tiemags.com

I saw these cute little tie clips and immediately wanted to get them for everyone. Turns out, they’re $30 a piece! There was no way I was spending that much money on a tiny bit of metal. Instead, I got the materials and made one myself.

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Although these little guys are called tie clips, there’s no reason you can’t wear them on your lapel, placket, or anywhere else.

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Mark Your Soap with a DIY Stamp

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Now that I’ve been making soap for a while and have mastered making usable bars, I’ve been wanted make them a little more attractive.

I grew up in a house that strictly used Dove soap and have always liked the little dove on each bar.

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With that in mind, I set out to make a stamp so that my bars of soap could have their own mark.

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Potential Has a Shelf Life

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Margaret Atwood wrote that “potential has a shelf life.” In this case, sometimes potential lives on a shelf.

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Quick and Dirty Oilcloth Travel Bags

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Living in cities for the past seven years has taught me that a good bag can mean the difference between aching shoulders and complete comfort or the difference between buying a new metro card after losing it in my bag (again) and getting to work on time, cool and collected.

I handle a day out with the matryoshka method: bags within bags to keep things organized. In the past I’ve used ziploc bags and bandanas, but in my new capacity as a Working Woman, I decided I needed something a little more official. Desafortunadamente (say it, it just rolls off the tongue), tiny bags cost way more than they should. Afortunadamente (considerably less fun to say), bags are really easy to make.

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Bad Pictures? Throw Some Light On Them

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I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the best at taking pictures. I can paint, draw, and sculpt ’til the cows come home but something about photography just eludes me.

I also don’t have a fancy camera to take pictures with. (I do have a fancy girlfriend who has a really nice camera that she sometimes uses to help me out).

However, seeing as I like making things and tell you about it, I figure it’d be nice to learn a think or two about photography. So far, I’ve made absolutely no progress, but I have made this fancy light box that I saw on 17 and Baking a few years ago. It diffuses the light and creates a nice, blank background so that you can stage your stuff for a good shot.

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