DIY Your Way To Nirvana
This weekend take advantage of an easy DIY project to zen your way to a feeling of happy accomplishment, all while turning out a practical rope basket, toy for the kids or wall art of your fur baby! Take a look at all the productive things you could be doing while waiting for official start of the NFL season, (Thursday, September 5).
Pet Portrait Wall Art
You could ship your photo off to an artist at Etsy and pay $116 to get that photo of your dear (or dearly departed) fur baby turning it into wall art that looks like an oil painting. Or you can DIY it. You’ll need an app for this – Adobe Photoshop to be exact – but you can get a seven-day free trial and create as many fur baby mementos as you want! Just follow this YouTube tutorial from Photoshop Café, and fill your wall!
Or DIY your dog or cat’s silhouette to immortalize your pet. HGTV shows you how to make a Victorian-style dog silhouette project using printed photos of your pets, a small wooden frame, basic crafting supplies and decorative paper that matches your current décor.
Easy DIY Metamorphosis
We LOVE this one – even though all you really do for the DIY is buy a woven Mexican serape blanket and turn it into a table cover. When you’re having a party and HAVE to use that unsightly folding table for extra serving space, make the eyesore the eye-catching focal point of the room or backyard! For $23 on Amazon, you can use this colorful tapestry to cover anything, it even works great as a picnic rug – we love double-triple-duty deals!
Do you want a new dresser, not the expensive kind, but custom-created with your very own design in mind? The DIY Network is the place to go for dresser makeovers, including this easy one that uses painted stripes with bold flowers cut from wrapping paper and decoupaged to the surface. Another idea is to paint angular patterns to cover up the damaged spots on a flea market or thrift store find, or use wallpaper inserts on doors or drawers to make a bold design statement.
Another DIY Network original: making a chic basket from clothesline rope and craft paint. Carla Wiking at the network used a zigzag stich on her sewing machine to sew the length of clothesline rope together and then tied it off in a knot. The craft paint was added in opposing – top and bottom – triangles to create the ultimate design. Use it to hold fruit, yarn or washcloths by the soaking tub!
Boxes and BOXES
You know how kids like playing with the boxes at Christmas and Hanukkah, almost as much as they enjoy what came inside them? Here are five ways to turn shoeboxes into toys your littles will love. Watch the video on HGTV as Maria Antoinette makes a mini-stovetop, guitar, car wash, puppet theater and marble maze.
And wrapping up with something completely different, here are nine ways to hide an air conditioner unit from Family Handyman. Alexa Ericson shows you how to hide that ugly box with some of her faves, including a pallet camouflage planter, DIY privacy screen, birdhouse picket fence and tall shrubbery.
Weekends in Crystal Valley
Weekends in the master-planned community of Crystal Valley are the perfect time to tackle a DIY project in your new backyard. These new homes from Richmond American Homes, Kauffman Homes, Century Communities and D.R. Horton – provide plenty of space to craft, create and DIY. Set in natural surroundings with easy access to nearby amenities, find the new home of your dreams in a ranch and two-story model, priced from the $300s.
