Just logged in today for the first time in a few weeks. Saw some new watchers had been added, so yay! Welcome! Hopefully something here will inspire or help you in your DIY endeavors.

Aside from that, I'm sure some of you have noticed the lack of posting lately.I've got to apologize for that, really. When I originally planned this account, I had all these great ideas for DIY projects I was going to try, and then post resulting tutorials for you all. Along with that, I was going to post some tutorials others offered to send in. Sadly, two things didn't happen: I didn't have the money to buy the supplies for the projects I wanted to try (like the stockpot I need for the 2 big homemade soap projects), and nobody sent in any tutorials (yet), so I've been kind of stuck trying to think of other things I could post without just directly copying it over (which I sort of already did by linking the DIY blog, but it really is a great blog).

Life has also suddenly gotten very busy and exciting for me, and it took my attention away from this account for far too long. Things are still busy, and getting busier every day (convention planning, html coding, webcomic designs, etc, all for a webcomic studio I got hired into), but I will try to find something postable at least once a month, if not more.

To help me along, try thinking of tutorials for DIY projects you've read or heard about, and sending them in via Notes, so I can review them and perhaps try my hand at them so I can offer a more personalized review and tutorial of my own.

Or, perhaps you want a tutorial on a specific project you've been thinking about trying, and just can't find one that suits you? Note me with your suggestions, and I'll see what I can do.

And lastly, if you think you could offer a lot as a moderator of this group, feel free to note me about it, and we'll see where it leads. I'm still new to this myself, so maybe you've got more experience under your belt, or you're just feeling really inspired, either way it's worth a shot, right?

One thing I've found a recurring theme for being helpful around the house has been Dawn dish soap. Sure, it's great for hand-scrubbing your dishes, but it's also a great cleaning agent for other things.

Running out of laundry detergent? Prices too high at the local store? Use between a teaspoon and a tablespoon of Dawn liquid dish soap in your washing machine. It fights grease, oils, and removes stains just as well as most detergents. If you're worried about too much sudsing, err on the side of caution and use a smaller amount until you know what your washing machine can handle.

Heavily dried-on foods in your dishwasher load? Need a little pre-wash to help get rid of it? Add a small amount of Dawn to the open detergent container in your dishwasher. True, you could just put more of your dish detergent in there, but if you're running low, or perhaps you use the detergent pods (like I do), and don't have a liquid detergent for the dishes, Dawn is a great substitute. This WILL get sudsy, so use a SMALL amount. I have a small, generic dishwasher (I live in an apartment, so it came with the place), so I use a green pea-sized amount. If you use much more than that, your dishwasher might leak (like mine did).

Got aphids on your roses, or other plants? find a spray bottle and fill it most of the way with water, then add a nice little squirt of soap, and spritz your plants with it. It shouldn't hurt the plants or your kids or pets, but it'll kill the aphids, and it's a lot cheaper than aphid spray sometimes.

Got ants in your kitchen, and can't find the bug spray? They hate most any cleaning agents, including Dawn. Windex, comet, 409, and similar products will make them pretty ill, and not make your kitchen smell like Black Flag. Just keep away from food, kids, and pets. Ingesting any kind of cleaning agent is bad for ya.

Need to scrub away some stubborn gunk or stains in your bathroom, but don't have any tough cleaners handy? Break out the Dawn. It won't get rid of everything you could possibly find in your bathroom, but it's a lot better than just plain water or hand soap, and it's a lot less smelly or dangerous than some of the harsher cleaning agents out there.

Want something safe and efficient to clean your pet's terrarium? There are specialty cleaners you could pay out the nose for, or you could use some gentle dish soap, i.e. Dawn. Some small pets are especially sensitive to smells though, so you might want to look for an unscented one. And don't go cleaning the thing with all that soap while they're still in it!

Toni Ellison over on youtube has some great video tutorials on the basics of many adorable miniature sculptures and bottle potions.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ToniEll...../videos?view=0

She offers tutorials on many potions from Harry Potter, and various sculpey charms, such as poptarts, tiny cakes, sushi, candy boxes, etc.

There are many amazing miniatures crafters out there, who could offer tips and tutorials that would blow our minds, I'm sure, but I find it's best to get a general grasp of the concepts before trying to refine the technique, and this youtube tutorial channel is a great way to start!

Many crafters don't like to share their process, or simply don't have the time or skills to teach their craft, so these videos are a great find for anyone wanting to try it out themselves.

I had hoped to make more posts through the next couple of weeks, but as it is, the holidays are taking over my free time earlier than I'd expected. I do hope to post more tutorials soon, but possibly not until January.

Also, is anyone else having a hard time sticking to a budget this year? I just feel like I haven't gotten a good enough present for the people I'm buying for, so I keep trying to find something bigger and better. Post-holiday bills are going to bite.

I did get some great ideas for new tutorials in the past few days, I just haven't actually done the research yet, so I don't want to get ahead of myself.

I reconstructed the Category list a bit. To be honest, I'd been avoiding making an Arts & Crafts type category, but it just makes more sense to include it.

I was trying to find some fun crafts to make with my collection of extra Magic: The Gathering trading cards, and found a blog post that has 7 fun ideas which could easily be applied to all kinds of gaming cards. I thought it would be nice to share these before Christmas in case anyone has a gamer on their list who could use something unique for a present.

Visit Tally's Treasury to learn how to make Earrings, a Trinket Box, a Tiny Journal, Ornaments, Flowers, Bookmarks, and 3D Tokens out of your magic cards, or other game cards.

Just a note, there are other ways to make the tiny journal, some of which may be preferable to you, so if you don't like that version, feel free to look up others. :3

This is just a list for myself of tutorials I want to post later, so I don't forget. You guys can also suggest tutorials you'd like to see and I'll add it to the list if it's something I can write a tutorial for, or I'll go looking around for a good tutorial on the subject.


-Add more space & impress guests (part 2)
-Custom tags for clothing, plushies, and other handmade fabric goods
-Make your own printable fabric sheets
-batik methods
-caring for plushies
-Cheap moulding methods

Now this particular tutorial might not be for everyone, but I have to say that I never want to go back now that I've been able to do this, and my fiance feels the same way. This is also a 2-piece guide, because even though it's the same concept and parts, each of us used ours for a completely separate purpose.


Part 1:

I really wanted a bunk bed, ever since I was little, but being an only child, there was never going to be one in my future, but you couldn't keep me from dreaming. In my high school and early college years, I started looking into the combination Futon/Top Bunks, but they were either super expensive, or only made to hold children, which would never work for me. I'm lightweight, but I'm also really tall, so I need an adult-sized bed.

Looking into custom-built wooden beds of all shapes and sizes, I stumbled across the wonderful concept of a Loft Bed: Basically the top bunk of a bed, with the underneath area being completely open. I kept looking into this new route, but the price and wait time for a custom-built loft bed was at least $1,000, and that was for chincey, poorly-made, ugly beds that were completely unfinished, wobbly, and probably wouldn't hold more than just myself and a thin mattress. A well-made bed that could hold myself and my fiance, not to mention a real mattress (and not some skinny little uncomfortable mat) was well over $2,500, even before shipping, which was a few hundred on it's own. I think the wait time was at least a month, as well. Obviously this was not going to work.

My fiance had somewhat recently built his own desk with an overhead shelf from a small set of industrial rack parts (which I'll cover in the second part), and I knew this was sturdy, since it holds his computer, 40"+ television, and a ton of things he didn't have room for before. I couldn't remember the exact weight limit, but I started looking into it anyway and discovered that I had two really nice options for this. The first option was a custom-made industrial rack from L.K. Goodwin Co., which would have been roughly $500 after shipping and all of the necessary parts, but I'd still have had to wait at least 3 weeks and be sure to be home when the shipment arrived.

The second option was less custom, but cheaper, and available immediately, was to go the same route my fiance had, and head to a local hardware store to buy industrial rack pieces in person. I believe they are Edsal brand, which is also available at other hardware stores, but in my area, the only store that carries them on hand is Lowe's. Prices can vary depending on location or inflation, but I do believe it cost me less than $500 for all of the pieces I needed.

Now, for the parts I used... I wanted a Queen bed, since I've been sleeping on a twin my whole life, and I wanted more length and enough room for my hubby when he comes over, so I had to use two sets.

A queen-size mattress is roughly 60" wide by 80" long, so I needed something at least that big. There's only 3 separate sizes for each part, so I chose the ones that worked best for me.

Four 96" tall by 30" deep Welded Steel Frames
Six 96" long Steel Beams
Eight 24" wide by 30" long Wire Shelves (to support the mattress)
Six 30" long cross beams (no link available), which come with the nuts & bolts to attach them to the frame (sometimes the baggy comes off of the bar in store, so make sure yours has it's parts).

And some extra pieces to keep everything together:

Three Iron C Clamps (used to clamp the two sets to each other)
Ten to Thirty sets of Nuts, Bolts, and washer pairs (used in the unused slots of the end pieces to help hold the two rack sets together)
Eight 2" square furniture anti-scuff cups (placed underneath the feet of each of the end pieces. Perfect fit for the ones I bought from Big Lots)
One 84" to 108" adjustable curtain rod
Zip ties

The mattress I bought was a Queen size innerspring futon mattress for about $80 or $90 from Wal-Mart (Really great bed, actually), and I used a Queen-size sheet set for it. I bought a queen size futon mattress cover, but I can't imagine trying to put it on and take it off every week to wash it. Any mattress you use is going to be heavy, so it's best to have someone help you lift the mattress onto the frame.

The room I have now has an angled ceiling that goes from 8' high on one end to just over 12' high on the other end, so I have plenty of headroom for this setup, and plenty of room underneath the bed for my craft area. Before you invest in this sort of thing, be sure to check what kind of room you have to work with, and don't forget that the shelves themselves are about 2" thick, and your mattress will be on top of that, then you on top of the mattress. Sit in a chair or something and measure from the bottom of your butt to the top of your head and use this as a guide for how much space you're going to want above the mattress for movement.


To build this frame:

You're probably going to want a second or third person to help you out.

Put an end-piece up against the wall your going to want the end of the frame up against. Lay your beams on the floor near it, and have the opposing end-piece ready on the other end. Start with the top beam: lift it up, with the molded drop-in-shelf area facing up for your wire racks later, and fit the notches on the end of the beam into the holes on the side of the frame. Do the same with the other end of the beam and the opposing frame. Make sure the notches are as far down into the slots as possible (I had my mom spot me while I used them like monkey bars real quick to make sure they were fully locked into the frame. Be careful no matter how you choose to do it, but be sure it's done before you put anything on top of the shelf). Repeat the process with the other beam for that shelf, and then repeat the whole process for the second set of rack parts. So far, you should have used 4 beams, and all four frame end pieces. It's really recommended to have a beam across the bottom of the frame, and/or to have it up against a corner of the room, or it'll be super wobbly. I chose to have one beam across the bottom of the side of the rack that would be up against the wall, and another one across the middle of that same rack side (hence having 6 beams).

To keep the two frames held together, you can use screw-down c-clamps, nuts & bolts, locking clamps, or whatever semi-permanent method you think is best, but don't skimp on this and just hope that it'll hold.

I used a large adjustable curtain rod and some outdoor zip ties to attach it to the "outer" part of the frame, towards the top, to act as a sort of warning bar for my bed. Having slept on bunk beds before, my fiance is good about not rolling towards the edge, and I sleep on the inside next to the wall, but if you intend to do something like this, I would suggest using something stronger, such as a piece of plywood bolted to the frames, or another welded beam or two. I was originally going to do that, but this was cheaper, and we both accepted it. If I'd been worried about either of us rolling towards the edge, I would have just bought the beams.

For me, there's an extra foot and a half or so of space at the end of the mattress, so I keep small things on the shelf there, such as my laptop (I use it in bed most of the time, since I get uncomfortable at a desk), and the laptop bag. Sometimes my shoes end up there just to keep them out of the way.

I haven't done so yet, but I intend to put undershelf storage baskets underneath that top shelf, hooking them through the wire racks supporting my bed. I have other shelves and racks attached to the frame and beams for my craft supplies, since one of my craft tables is under there, along with my fluorescent lights and my gaming area.

The total weight limit for this bed is well over 400 lbs, and I think it actually goes up to 3 or 4 thousand pounds, I'm just not sure off the top of my head.


NOTICE: Many states have laws regarding the way a loft/bunk bed can be built, and how retailers have to respond if they know you're planning to have one built. I got chewed out the first time I tried to ask an industrial rack company about my idea of building a bed, and have been met with strange reactions from other retailers when I brought it up, so I found it best to just stop mentioning the bed and just talk about using it as a shelf unit in my home. By the same token, please don't come after me if you wind up hurting yourself with this setup. I'm just telling you what I did, and what I would suggest doing or not doing to keep yourself safe if you do choose this. You could just as easily do this just to have an overhead storage area for your desk or crafting area.

Just to repeat, This is my recount of how I built my loft bed, and safety precautions I recommend. I am not liable for what you choose to do with your own purchases.

The second part will be posted at another time, and will be the details for how to build the desk and shelf area that my fiance made with his edsal rack parts.

One of my favorite blogs for finding DIY tutorials is "One Good Thing" by Jillee. Most of her tutorials are either household necessities or cooking, but there are a lot of tips and reviews to help anyone save money around the house.

I thought about posting my favorite tutorials from her blog (with credit of course) once a week or so, but it would take me years to finish, and I figure it's best to get the information straight from her blog, since the comments sections are always full of helpful tips and Q&A's to help you figure out any little quirks of the tutorials.

Visit Jillee's blog and find tons of creative ways to save money and improve your cleaning and household processes.

I really cannot explain how wonderful this blog is. There are just so many tutorials, and she's so enthusiastic about helping her readers to find more.

So I've been researching ways to promote my craft business for free, and stumbled across some great places that I thought to share with you guys. Here's a DIY tutorial for posting your own free internet classified ad.

Step 1: Have an item you'd like to sell (either premade or commissionable)

Step 2: Go to http://www.thecraftshopper.com

Step 3: Click on "Post a free ad" at the top of the page (you can only post 2 per day, each lasts 20 days)

Step 4: Enter your Item details in the fields provided. To insert an image directly into the post, click on the small tree icon and enter the url for your product image, add a title, and click accept. You want to include basic details about the item, whether or not it's a premade-only type of deal, or custom commissionable as well. If you have a preferred method of contact, or other important details, you should include those as well. Keep in mind this could be seen by just about anybody, so you want to include as many pertinent details as possible.

Step 5: Add any image uploads you think you'd like to have below the description box.

Step 6: Choose your preferred contact options and details (items marked with an asterisk are required, all others are optional), enter the security code, and click accept.

You'll be emailed with a link to help you keep tabs on your ad, in case you need to update it.

For the first tutorial, I thought it might be best to start off with one of my absolute favorite tutorials

Want to wow your party guests? Maybe make an unbelievably pretty layered cake for your friend's birthday, or even a wedding? (I'm going to use it for my wedding, personally) Then check out this epic layered ombre-style cake recipe and impress everyone who sees it!

Ombre is generally used in cooking and fashion to describe a gentle gradient or fade from one color to another, quite often from white to a vibrant hue. In this case, the example cake uses different shades of purple cake batter to give it that same gradient look when you cut it open to enjoy.

Betty Crocker Ombre Layered cake tutorial

(Categories: Cooking>Vanity Foods)

So these are the categories I'm hoping to have. Tutorials I post will be journal-based, so be prepared for loooots of journals from this group. Any tutorials that don't fit in these categories will have new categories created for them. Eventually there will be a table of contents that links to all of the tutorials and topics.


-Sewing
--Fursuiting
--Costumes (halloween/re-enactment)
--Attire (non-costume)
--Home (bedding, towels, etc)

-Cooking
--Substitutes (things you can use when you run out of something important)
--Remedies (things people like to recommend for various ailments)
--Vanity (foods that are more for presentation/showing off than just plain eating)
---Layered Ombre-Style Cake

-Home
--Cleaners (detergents, soaps, sanitizers, etc)
---Dawn dish soap isn't just for scrubbing dishes
--Gadgets
--Improvement
---Add more space & impress guests (part 1)

-Woodworking
--Outdoor
--Indoor

-Crafting
--Jewelry
--Knicknacks
--Buttons
--Keychains

-Digital
--Websites
--Advertising
---Free Classifieds