Someone has made the best sandwich ever? at home, with step-by-step pictures and beer bottles as the weights to press the sandwich. Sandwich? That’s a manwich.

Producing your own sea salt is easy and is something I’m going to start doing when I get near salt water.

First, I boil the water for a minimum of six minutes to kill bacteria. Then I set it in a nonreactive shallow pan in the sun to slowly dehydrate.

In the world we’re living in, if you don’t get something made and in front of an audience there [is] finally no one else to blame but the person in the mirror. If you’re talented, don’t wait for someone else to tell you so. Go out there, find your own audience.

—Fred Seibert

I used to worry that because I was so interested in so many different things, that I could never become an expert in any one thing. Then I learned to embrace it. It’s just my style to do a lot of different things.

Matt Pierce has one of my favorite blogs/websites out right now, Wood & Faulk. His projects are all DIY and his style is ridiculous. His statement above really resonates with me. As I’ve been reading his blog for a month or so now, I’ve become inspired to get more handy.

Riffing on “make it your own” a bit here. Yes, bespoke is much too costly for many of us, but that shouldn’t stop us from making clothing our own. I call it clothes hacking, but adding a new element to a clothing item, whether it be new buttons (rustic gunmetal blue blazer buttons!) or stitching or some other sort of flare (gauntlet button thread color?), there are ways to make it your own.

Here are some DIY instructions for this outdoor kitchen I mentioned before.

Two DIY-able items here. First, the old cabinet door re-purposed as a serving tray. Second, the carafe wood stopper. The serving tray seems like an easy thing to do. The wood stopper may be a bit more difficult, but would be a nice touch to a wine carafe. Thinking I’ll be on the lookout for a piece of wood to carve and sand down.

I would like one of these handmade camera cases (same colors, please) made for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1. It’d require some adjustments of where the opening of the case is and how it works, but I think it’s totally doable. In fact, I may try to make my own!

I love this “grey water from your clean dishes waters your herbs” concept, but would like to see it more modular. For me, the dish rack, in a window above my herbs would be the idea setup. This looks somewhat DIY-able.

I threw together a quick little Valentines gift you can give your sweetie this year. It’s nothing special and you could easily make your own, but if it’s quick and easy (and cheap) you’re after, follow these steps.

1. Go to your local bookstore.
2. Buy a book for your loved one. Email me if you want recommendations.
3. Come home.
4. Print this PDF. (It should only print to 2″ x 5″).
5. Cut around the edges.
6. Glue together.

Now you have a bookmark and you look totally thoughtful and sweet. BONUS POINTS if you put some cardboard between the two sides and/or you laminate.

Let’s make Olive Juice the new I Love You! It will be fun! In case you’re wondering, “why olive juice”? Read the Urban Dictionary definitions. Action shots next!

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