Curbly

How to Wrap a Wine Bottle Restaurant Style

A swaddled bottle of vino looks nice, doesn’t it? And now, thanks to LifeHacker, we can all truss up our bottles like veritable sommeliers. If you’ve spent a fortune and you want your guests to see the wine bottle’s label, you’ll want to use the first technique. If, however, your budget has restricted you to a $5 bottle of wine, you’ll want to go for the second method as it will hide the label rather nicely and still impress your guests! …Continue Reading

6 Ways to Recycle Soap Slivers

While I let my soap slivers dissolve at the foot of my shower, Alan Hayes is saving his. Why?  Maybe he’s trying to save the planet one soap sliver at a time. Maybe he’s just thrifty. Either way, the herbologist has some very clever ways to make the most out of those little pieces of soap:



1. Make soap on a rope.



2. Recycle your soap scraps into new bar soap.



3. Make gel hand/body soap.



4. Make a cleaning gel, this super-soap can be used as a …Continue Reading

The World’s Most Irritating Alarm Clock

I’ve seen some annoying alarm clocks before, like this one and this one, but the new Puzzle Alarm Clock from Perpetual Kid ($24.99) takes the gold, if you ask me. When its alarm sounds, the puzzle pieces go flying in all directions, and the only way to silence the cacophony is by scrambling for the pieces and shoving them back into their respective holes. Great for those addicted to hitting the snooze, I guess, but for the rest of it...irrita…Continue Reading

Harness The Incredible Power Of The Sun... To Make Pretty Pictures

It contains approximately 98% of the total solar system mass, reaches temperatures of 27,000,000° F. and eventually it's going to gobble up the planet, but not not for a while yet.

In the meantime why not make a sun print? They're delicately pretty and they've got that school science experiment thing going on. Nostalgia-tastic.

Here's what you'll need:

• Blueprint or sun-sensitive paper
  
  
• Cardboard
• Spoons (or any objects you like: pea…Continue Reading

Mustachios = Awesome

Mustaches, they're dashing, debonair and a tiny bit debauched.

And Awesome.

Now you can give your hallway a soupstrainer that will make it the suavest wall in the house and guarantee it's luck with the ladies. Oh, and you'll have someplace to pop your keys. Win Win.

Mustache Key Holder, $30

How To: Turn a Pringles Can into a Macro Photography Tube.

This is the kind of stuff the internet is good for: Photocritic.org offers an absolutely incredible how-to for creating a macro photo lens out of a Pringles can. Not a focusing tube, not a light restricting snoot, but an actual lens for brilliant close-up photography. I guess the lack of lens makes the depth of field a sweet-spot/luck of the draw deal. Get it where it's best, and it's amazing. Via.

Playful Placemats from Modern Twist.

The photos intimate that these modern, poppy placemats from Modern Twist are intended for kids, but these, if I ever catch them for sale, will look mighty fine on my dining table. Their transparent nature simply enhances the beauty of the table, adding a bit of visual interest. "Made from hand silk-screened food-safe silicone, the Modern-twist placemat is available in botanical and nature-inspired patterns. With a minimalist aesthetic, the pl…Continue Reading

How to turn a Tea Towel into a Kitchen Rug

Ric rac lover Hannah was in a predicament. The space in front of her kitchen sink is an odd size, so finding a rug to fit the space had been difficult. She spotted a rug she liked on Plow & Hearth whose pattern was inspired by that of vintage tea towels. The rug was too big, but it did inspire this clever how-to. To replicate Hannah’s technique, you’ll need a tea towel, an old woven rug for backing, however Hannah also suggests using an old tow…Continue Reading

How to Make Scrap Paper Mosaics

Jeffrey Rudell over at Craft Stylish shares his process of making scrap paper mosaics. Materials are minimal on this one and include scrap paper–junk mail works perfectly–and some time. Simply tear your paper and assemble the pieces in the image you imagine. I’d suggest maybe using archival glue to adhere your final vision to, perhaps, an artist’s board or even just posterboard. When fashioning your image, Jeffrey says there’s two things to kee…Continue Reading

A New Take On Log Furniture

Do you love log furniture? Do you hate it? If your feelings gravitate toward the later, take a gander at these sublime creations from Bleu Nature. The French company, created by Frank Lefebvre, uses Mother Nature’s answer to modern design, driftwood, to juxtapose luxury and simplicity to delightful effect. Energetic and youthful, these pieces are a far cry from the log-cabin look.  Via.