Christmas Subway Art Printables

Nope, no tutorial. Free, beautiful, fun printables instead! Not just this one, but also "Keep Calm and Jingle On", "Keep Calm and Get Your Smooch On, and "Keep Calm and Get Your Hot Chocolate On". Adorable! What will you do with them? Endless possibilities!

Christmas Printables at Mine for the Making
"I'm sure you would all agree that subway art is definitely the "in" thing right now. I, myself, LOVE subway art and have been wanting to create my own for sometime now. Since I already have Thanksgiving subway art up, I figured that I might as well create a Christmas version and share it with my lovely bloggy readers. Oh how I LOVE Christmas!! And this subway art is getting me so excited to decorate for this holiday! Don't you think this would make a great gift once it's in a pretty frame?..." Read more

Enclosed Lack entertainment center

Materials: LACK Coffee table

Description: Turning the Lack coffee table, into an enclosed entertainment stand.

before

1. Measured to make the Lack coffee table flush with bookshelf.

2. Measured bottom shelf to fit flush with the legs.

3. Measured composite pieces to surround TV.

4. Primed.

5. Cut.

6. Assemble.

7. Paint!

8. Put everything back on it!

See more of the Lack entertainment unit.

~ Michael Simons, East Boston

Nature-inspired Enje roller blind

Materials: Enje roller blind, hacksaw, scissors, acrylic paint

Description: Washroom windows are always a challenge. We wanted some privacy, of course, but I love natural light and did not want to cover up the window with opaque curtains or blinds. So we bought a white IKEA Enje roller blind. Enje roller blinds are great because they provide privacy but still let in a ton of light.

Our project involved a two-part hack. First, we had to cut the roller blind as it was a bit too wide for the window. We measured the inside dimensions of our window frame as the blind mounts inside the frame. We then removed the fabric from the roll and cut it to the right width. We drew a faint pencil line along the fabric and carefully cut along the line with a pair of sharp scissors. We then used a hacksaw to cut the metal rod that the curtain rolls onto as well as the metal piece at the bottom of the curtain. The rod is easily removed from the hanging hardware and the metal piece at the bottom of the blind has removable little caps on the ends, so even if your cuts are a bit rough it won't be noticeable.

After we hung up the blind, we thought it looked a bit plain, so I decided to decorate it with some paint. I drew a tree design with pencil and filled it in with brown acrylic paint. The paint took to the fabric really well. We still get lots of natural light during the day and it looks great at night too.

See more of the nature inspired roller blind.

~ Steph @ BirdHouse Family, Canada

Tutorial - How to Make Quilted Christmas Ornaments

Beautiful and I loved watching this! Looks like so much fun to do.

Quilted Christmas Ornaments Video Tutorial at Pot Holders and Pantyhose

Alex Credenza

Materials: Alex Drawer Unit (40196241) & AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet (#00158439)

Description: I have for a long time wanted to have an old style credenza with modernist influences. I though the Alex file cabinets were very elegant and often overlooked so i wanted to utilize them for this hack. The Alex file cabinets were however, too tall to make a sleek and modernist credenza, so in order to make it work i had to chop off the two bottom drawers and shorten the height of that product all together. Then, once that was done for both cabinets the fun began.

The AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet was perfect for my purposes since it had a beautiful roll front with a metallic finish - the roll front is actually really sturdy so even when i decided to flip the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet so that the roll front was on the top, it can still actually hold pretty heavy objects (including a flat screen TV if necessary).

With the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet, however, the depth and "height" was smaller than the Alex cabinets, therefore two pieces of plywood (1/2 in thick) had to be placed on each side. This actually helped strengthen the credenza, however, it did require me to veneer the surface once all the pieces were attached.
Once the pieces were secure to each other using wooden screws, I veneered the plywood pieces with a nice Maple veneer and gave it a couple of light clear coats to preserve the natural color.

The final touches were getting the legs from Home Depot (or your local hardware store, they cost about $2 a piece) and mount them on the bottom and painting them black. I opted for an arrangement of 3 legs in a triangular fashion on each side - I think that works best since the piece is quite heavy (actually, it is really heavy so lift with partner if possible).

I was happy that my vinyl record player fit the compartment in the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet and i build a little shelf with the spare drawers parts from the Alex cabinet - underneath it is the speaker and wiring, all hidden from sight. I have many pictures of the process but can't supply them all at the same time on the site, if needed please let me know and i'll share them right away!

~ Mark Soares, Connecticut

Tutorial - How to Make a Child's Apron from a Pillowcase

So cute and so easy!

Child's Apron from a Pillowcase Tutorial at Handmade Cute Crafts
"For the child who wants to help out in the kitchen or dress up, here's a tutorial on how to quickly make a child's apron. An old pillowcase can be repurposed and made into a cute apron. This craft project required only a little sewing..." Read more

Patrull air cleaner hack

Materials: Patrull air cleaner, switch

Description: For some bizarre reason, the Patrull air cleaner doesn't have an off switch. It's annoying to always have to pull and insert the plug, hence this hack.

I cut the cable and added a generic cable switch. Problem solved

Note: I'm sure this hack voids your warranty. I don't explain the details because you shouldn't attempt something like this if you're not knowledgeable enough about electronics that you'd need an explanation...

~ Eli, Belgium