Create and frame watercolor portraits
of the grandkids.
Click the image above or go to growcreative.blogspot.com for the tutorial now.

Wrap her favorite Bordeaux
in a sweater sleeve.
Click the image above or go to greylikesweddings.com for the tutorial now.

Fashion a quirky recycled bookmark and place it inside the newest book by her favorite author.
Click the image above or go to greenpaper.com for the tutorial now.

Repurpose blue jean cuffs into bangles.
Click the image above or go to michlinla.com for the tutorial now.

Make exfoliating sugar scrub cubes for a luxurious (and quick) shower treat.
Click the image above or go to soapdelinews.com for the tutorial now.

Spread a picnic lunch on this ombre blanket; when lunch is over, give the blanket to her as a gift.
Click the image above or go to inkmeetspaperpress.com for the tutorial now.

Pour wax into some pretty teacups
for candlelit dinners.
Click the image above or go to cupcakesandcashmere.com for the tutorial now.

Construct these little seed paper pots.
Click the image above or go to greylikesweddings.com for the tutorial now.

8 Easy Crafts for Mother’s Day The Saturday Evening Post

Hand-Painted 
Silk Scarf

Materials

• White, 100 percent Chinese-silk scarf*

• Dull pencil
• 
Permanent markers, choice colors
• Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow paint*

*Available at craft stores or online.

Tools

• Two 2-feet-long pieces of freezer paper
• 2-by-2-feet foam board

• 16 thumbtacks
• 
Iron
• Small paintbrush

Directions

1. Lay pieces of freezer paper side by side, shiny side up on foam board. 
 Gently stretch scarf flat over freezer paper. Pin in place with thumbtacks.




2. Lightly sketch shapes on silk with pencil.




3. Heat iron on “silk setting” and press silk to freezer paper until wax begins to melt. Don’t overdo it! Edge of scarf should easily pull away from paper.




4. Trace pencil shapes on scarf with permanent markers. Be sure to close shapes so paint will stay within marker lines.




5. Paint shapes from center out. Allow paint to spread before adding more paint. Too much paint will overrun marker lines.
 Dry scarf on board for 24 hours. Remove and dry alone in clothes dryer on high heat for 30 minutes.




6. Rinse scarf in cold water until water runs clear. 
 Air dry.

Hand-Painted 
Silk Scarf The Saturday Evening Post

“How’s old Do-it-Yourself this morning?”

October 1955

“She’s in the back, spraying venetian blinds.”

October 1953

“That certainly isn’t how I’d fix a leak in the roof.”

October 1942

“Say, now, aren’t you the clever one?”

August 1949

“Charlie saved a bundle by
building our cabinets himself … that is,
if you don’t count what the hospital charged for sewing his thumb back on.”

July/August 1993

“Well! I just hope my living room walls look half as pretty as you do!”

March 1952

Cartoons: Home Improvement The Saturday Evening Post

Garden Tiles

Photo by Dwight Lamb/SEPS

Materials

• Stepping stone concrete (sold 
at craft stores)

Tools

• Cooking oil spray
• Rectangular plastic tub
• Leaves
• Pebbles

Directions

1. Spray tub and underside of leaves with cooking oil.
2. Mix concrete, according to package instructions, and pour 2-inch layer into tub.
3. Gently shake tub to release air bubbles and ensure level surface.
4. Place leaf (sprayed-side down) firmly into concrete. Cover with pebbles to make clear impression. Wait 48 hours.
5. Remove stones, leaf, and tile from tub. Smooth sharp edges with stone or file.

Craft Magic: Garden Tiles The Saturday Evening Post

These fabric turkeys will add festive charm to your table, mantel, or bookshelves. You will need basic sewing skills to make these cuties, but don’t worry—it’s not too tough for a novice. They are made from simple patterns—only two—and it’s easy to adjust the size (bigger, smaller, fatter!). So get your sewing machine out, gather up some fall fabric, and let’s make a turkey!

Easy-Sew Turkey The Saturday Evening Post

Before and after.

I wanted to wake up to a little more sunshine each day. My solution? Adding a bold splash of yellow to the bedroom by refinishing an old dresser.

Painting furniture is an easy way to add a pop of color to any room. And if you live in a rental apartment or home, it saves you the hassle of painting—and repainting—the walls.

This DIY project is affordable, customizable, and easy to complete in a weekend.

Easy Furniture Makeover The Saturday Evening Post

Greenhouse growers have long used cold frames to harden off vegetable and flower seedlings. Transparent-roofed enclosures, built low to the ground and placed in a sunny location, cold frames are minigreenhouses whose tops can be opened, allowing new starts to acclimate before they are planted in the garden. But today’s home gardeners rely on them just as much to extend the harvesting season. Plants sheltered in a cold frame are protected from chill winds and rain. Solar energy captured through the glass or transparent plastic lid keeps the soil from freezing. With an inside temperature 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than outside, a cold frame environment simulates a growing location 300 miles farther south.

With a cold frame, gardeners may harvest cold-tolerant vegetables and greens for a month longer in the fall and enjoy crisp homegrown salads a month earlier in the spring. Some hardy plants such as Swiss chard can survive all winter in a cold frame if it is covered with a heavy cloth on the coldest nights.

Building a Cold Frame

Commercial cold frames range in price from $99 to more than $450 and are available from garden supply stores and over the Internet, through such Web sites as yardiac.com and thefind.com, among others.

But you can save money by using salvaged materials to build your own.

All you need is an old window frame for the top and some lumber. You can even use an old shower door—clear or frosted—for the top, which only needs to be translucent to allow solar energy to pass through and warm the soil below.

A cold frame can be any length, but limiting the depth to 4 feet or less can spare you from having to stretch when planting and harvesting.

Before you begin, find a proper location. Your cold frame should be placed in a south-facing spot that receives sun for most of the day. Up against a house, garage, or outbuilding is a preferred location, but simply setting one out in your garden patch will work.

Take care that the soil under your cold frame has good drainage. If you are unsure, dig down a couple feet and fill with gravel, then place a layer of soil over the stone.

For an early-spring crop, plant seeds directly in the cold frame in mid-January. When the soil begins to warm, the seeds will sprout. (For an early-winter crop, plant in late August or September.)

Prop the top open during the day to vent excess heat in spring and fall. You won’t need to vent in winter. Also keep the soil watered until freezing weather sets in. The soil under a cold frame will dry out more quickly than outside.

Cold Frame Plan

Illustrated by Niff Nicholls

Using a salvaged window 32″ x 26″

Materials:

• 2 8′ 1” x 6” pine boards
• 1 4′ 1” x 2” pine board
• 14 1½” exterior grade screws
• 16 1¼” exterior grade screws
• 3 2” hinges
• 18 1” exterior grade screws

Directions:

1. Cut 3 30” 1” x 6” boards and 4 24” 1” x 6” boards. Build 30” x 24” bottom frame. Predrill and screw sides onto front and back pieces with 2 1½” screws at each end.

2. Attach 2 10½” 1” x 2” braces to the inside back corner of the frame using 1¼” screws. Predrill and attach top back piece to the corner braces.

3. Place the top side pieces in position. Using a straight edge, scribe a line from the top of the back to the front bottom corner of the board. Cut each board on this angle.

4. Attach one angled board to the back and one through the tip into the bottom frame using 1½” screws. Attach a 9” 1” x 2” brace—made from the 4′ pine board— at the center of each side with 1¼” screws.

5. Place the window on the box. Position correctly and mark for the hinges. Predrill the hinge holes and screw the top, using 1” screws, into place.

Garden All Winter Long The Saturday Evening Post

If your answer to that question was “No!” but you’d still like to update your holiday decorations, we’ve got some ideas for you: Make your own holiday decorations. It can be a wonderful family-bonding activity. You can save money around the holidays and create your very own, unique Christmas.

There are many different types of do-it-yourself decorations. We thought we would offer one craft in detail—making Christmas stockings. For this craft, you will need about a half-yard of one color of felt, and a couple of sheets of craft felt in other colors for decoration and embellishment. You will also need craft glue or a hot glue gun, scissors or pinking shears, newspaper for the pattern, some straight pins, and—for the finishing touches—sequins, beads or fabric paint.

First, take your newspaper and draw the stocking pattern on it. You can make a short, fat stocking or a long, narrow one. You could even make a giant stocking, but keep in mind that you will need more felt for that (and people may not go to the trouble of filling it up).

Cut out your pattern.

Now, take your big sheet of felt and fold it in half. This will be the body of the stocking. Pin your pattern to the felt and cut around it with your scissors or pinking shears (we prefer the shears because they’re more decorative). If you’re using a hot glue gun, plug it in now.

With your craft glue or hot glue gun, apply a thin bead just inside the edge of one of the stocking shapes, omitting the top (unless you don’t want any presents.)

With your craft glue or hot glue gun, apply a thin bead just inside the edge of one of the stocking shapes, omitting the top (unless you don’t want any presents.) Carefully align the second stocking shape over the glued one, and press down. If you are using craft glue, place a sheet of cardboard over the stocking and weigh it down with heavy books.

After the glue is dry, you may want to turn the stocking inside out and iron the edges. We like the exposed seams, but you may not.

While you’re waiting for the glue to dry, plan out your decorations. You might decide to go simple, with just a name at the top and stripes on the sock. You might decorate your stocking with an idyllic winter scene, maybe a snow-covered evergreen. You could decorate it with stacks of wrapped presents or a plateful of cookies, or any number of your favorite things. It’s your stocking after all.

Embellish the stocking further with beads, sequins, glitter, or fabric paint.

From the smaller sheets of felt, cut out the shapes of your decorations. Arrange them on your stocking without glue. Once you’re happy with the placement, start gluing down your felt decorations. From there, you can embellish the stocking further with beads, sequins, glitter, or fabric paint. Make it as wild or as restrained as you want.

Once your embellishments are all dry and set, you will have a wonderful, homemade stocking with a personal flair to it that cannot be matched by store-bought stockings. Get the entire family involved, and you’ll find that you’ve made family keepsakes for years to come.

Make Your Own Christmas Stockings The Saturday Evening Post

Flatbed Feeder

Illustration by Niff Nicholls

Materials

• 1 4-foot long 1-by-3-inch cedar board
• 1 12-inch square section of window screen
• 8 1 ½-inch wood screws
• 2 36-inch-long pieces of film twine, leather, or nylon boot ties
• 4 ¼-inch eyebolts
• Copper upholstery tacks

Directions:

• Cut board into 2 12-inch and 2 9-inch sections.  Stand short pieces on end.  Lay longer piece across top.  Line up so ends are flush.  Pre-drill two holes on each end with a ⅛-inch drill bit.  Insert screws.  Repeat with the opposite end.  Attach screen to bottom with upholstery tacks.
• Screw eyebolts into each corner of top and attach ties.

Log Feeder

Illustration by Niff Nicholls

Materials

• 1 small log (7 to 21 inches long: thickness may vary from 4 inches or larger)
• 1 ¼-inch dowel rod
• Wood glue
• 1 medium eyebolt

Directions:

• Square off the ends of log.
• Drill 1-inch diameter holes, ¾ inch deep on all 4 sides. Space holes evenly.
• Drill ¼-inch holes beneath larger holes.
• Cut 3-inch dowel pieces. Add wood glue to one end and insert into small holes.
• Screw eyebolt into top and hang (using heavyguage wire) from a porch or nearby tree.

How to Build a Winter Bird Feeder The Saturday Evening Post

Homemade Soap

Cookie-Cutter Soaps

Materials

• Baking sheet
• Wax paper
• 2-pound block of glycerin soap base (in craft stores)
• Knife
• Large microwave-safe bowl
• Crayon shavings for color
• Spoon
• Soap scents (in craft stores)
• Cookie cutters (open at both ends)
• Plastic wrap
• Sticky labels

Directions

• Line baking sheet with wax paper.
• Cut soap base into chunks. (It is usually scored for easy cutting.)
• Place chunks in microwave-safe bowl. Add crayon shavings.
• Microwave for 25-second intervals, stirring until melted. (Do not overheat.)
• Add desired scent and stir slowly to avoid bubbles. Pop any bubbles that form.
• Pour soap onto baking sheet. Cool for 30 minutes or until softly set.
• Cut out cookie cutter shapes. Place soaps on flat surface.
• When soaps are completely cool, wrap in plastic wrap and secure with sticky label. Write scent on label.

Cookie-Cutter Soaps The Saturday Evening Post

When it comes to home projects, going green is a broad philosophy that encompasses not only the products you use, but also which projects you choose, the attitude with which you approach them, the people who participate, and even the size and design of your home. That’s the advice from Steve Thomas, host of Planet Green’s Renovation Nation and former longtime host of This Old House on PBS. “You don’t have to put in $40,000 worth of solar panels or drill a geothermal well,” Thomas says. “The accumulation of smaller things — if we all do them — adds up to big numbers.”

Consider one of his recent home projects — adding a pergola to the exterior of a home in Maine. “An outdoor structure like the pergola is not as directly green as water conservation or solar panels,” he acknowledges. “But outdoor structures are a way to increase your space. It gets you outside, and you don’t need as big a house if you use the outside.”

If the house is not as big, that means it doesn’t require as much energy to heat or cool. And if more time is spent in outside spaces, the air conditioner does not need to run as much. “My general philosophy is to keep the space as small as possible and provide transitional space that gets you out of the house and into your yard,” Thomas says.

The next green consideration in a project like this involves materials. What’s the greenest choice for building a deck or pergola? An obvious pick is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified lumber. But perhaps the most important factor — even more important than FSC-certified status — is durability and a lack of required maintenance, says Thomas. Materials that don’t last long must be replaced more often — and that means harvesting, shipping, and disposing of more building materials. Better to choose materials that will stand the test of time, such as Western red cedar, which can survive the weather without regular painting or treating.

The downside: The most durable materials may cost more at the outset. Consider, however, that their durability pays off in the long-run through lack of required maintenance and a much longer lifespan. That was Thomas’ thinking with his Maine project, which also included a large deck.

“There is nothing that requires maintenance on the outside of the building. It’s not going to self-destruct. It will be resistant to weather and wind,” he says. And applying the less-is-more design philosophy helps with the bottom line, he adds. “If you simplify a project, you can afford to spend more on materials. I kept it simple and dialed up the detailing and materials. Luxury to me is not having a lot to take care of.”

Another important point, says Thomas, is what a home project gives the family — especially the kids or grandkids — in terms of relationships, experiences, and learning opportunities. “For me, the first green principle is to make a connection between the human hand and making things,”
he explains. “I always tried to figure out projects I could do with my son that made the connection between the human hand and stuff. You don’t have to go buy something — you can make it!”

Steve Thomas
Courtesy: Planet Green/David Johnson

And if those life lessons include an appreciation for things homemade rather than assembled in China, packaged, loaded onto container ships, and sent to the local discount store for impulsive purchases — well, that’s a green lesson. “I would argue that in and of itself is green.”

A great green family project is constructing a raised garden bed and planting it with vegetables. (It’s not hard to do — see the sidebar.) Add another green component by building a garden bench nearby. Kits make the project easy for completion with kids.

And consider installing a rain barrel for watering the garden, Thomas suggests. Kits are available for this project, too, though some people recycle barrels from food or drink manufacturers. Either way, they can be hooked into a downspout and outfitted with a spigot and hose at the bottom. “It’s deeply
satisfying to use water that you have harvested from the sky,” he says. “I like to call it ‘cloud juice.’ ”

Green projects are great, but it’s clear that Thomas sees green building as a way of life, not just the way families fill their time on weekends. “This is not adding onto an existing lifestyle,” he says. “This is going back to — or forward to — a different lifestyle where we recognize that we’re stewards of the planet, not consumers of it.”

Raised Garden Bed: A Green Project for the Family

Looking for a weekend project that’s good for kids and grandkids, easy to accomplish, and pays lots of dividends? Thomas recommends a raised garden bed. It’s a project that’s green in a number of ways.

It’s a simple project — basically a lumber frame that holds soil deep enough (about 12 to 16 inches) for planting vegetables. Plus, you don’t need very many tools, Thomas points out. “Most of the big home centers will cut lumber to fit. You can load it into your station wagon and bring it home.” Just determine how big you want your raised garden to be and have lumber cut to fit. You can pick something grown to last, such as Western red cedar. Or, if cost is an issue, try a less durable wood.

It will likely hold together for a few years — long enough to provide a lot of enjoyment and bushels full of vegetables.

Assemble the lumber into a sturdy square frame using stainless steel screws or timber screws. Line the bottom with geotextile or landscape fabric, then fill it with fresh loam — a soil comprised of clay and sand containing humus (available at home centers in large bags). “Off you go,” Thomas says, “and you can plant immediately.”

Green Building: It’s a Way of Life The Saturday Evening Post