or utility knife

Tile Mosaic Magic

Tile Mosaic Magic

Do you have tile or marble from a home improvement project that you just don’t know what to do with? All you need is enough small pieces of tile to outline the number(s) or object of your choice and a larger piece on which they will all fit and you are on your way to […]

Soda Can Label Embossing

Soda Can Label Embossing

Positive response to the review of my antique Tapewriter label embosser got me thinking about lower-cost ways to make embossed aluminum labels. A comment from reader Rick Hyde (“Actually, the aluminum is so ductile that I bet any Dymo machine can emboss it.”) led me to wonder about feeding thin aluminum strip to one of […]

Upcycled Tooth Fairy Costume

Upcycled Tooth Fairy Costume

I love Halloween and I love recycling. So there’s no better challenge to give myself each year than to create a costume from upcycled goodness. This year I was inspired by my 10-year-old niece’s visit from the tooth fairy. I decided to upcycle toothpaste tubes to create this minty-fresh pleated skirt. And here, I’m going […]

WebHeads! Create Spiderweb-Trapped Doll Heads for Halloween

WebHeads! Create Spiderweb-Trapped Doll Heads for Halloween

This year we are going with a spider-themed house and we will have a “Hedge of Heads” that showcases spiderweb-wrapped heads, etc. (doll parts) trapped in webbing on the hedges or bushes (creepy both day & night). This simple guide will show how we create creepy web-wrapped heads.

Recycle Office Paper into Blank Books

Recycle Office Paper into Blank Books

Here I will give a simple bookbinding tutorial using a Japanese stab-binding technique for making blank books from paper that is printed on one side. These books are useful for all kinds of notes, and tell an interesting story about the place they came from. I work in the computer lab at my school, where […]