Nicole from Making it Lovely provides a helpful list of her top ten must-have tools for DIY home improvement projects.

A while back, The Wurst Gallery in Portland held a great show called We Heart Gocco, which centered on artwork created with the much-beloved Japanese tabletop screenprinting device. It's so impressive seeing how different artists have utilized the gadget's capabilities. Amazingly enough, you can still nab some of the prints online at the gallery's website--what a great way to grab some fun and affordable artwork from some of today's coolest artists. Here are two examples of the 14 prints available, "Little Love" by Mizna Wada (above) and "Love with a Needle" by Evan B. Harris (below). Link.

Related:
• We Heart Gocco - Link.
• Print Gocco Tutorial - Link.
• Save Gocco - Link.

Sarah from The Small Object came up with a great way to put her logo on her wooden creations: this super-handy electric brander. This would be so useful for anyone working with wood! Check out her blog to find out how to get one of your own. Link.

I love Cathy of California's work because it looks like it's straight out of a fabulous '60s-era craft shop. She's just created a new line of craft kits, which she puts together from vintage and "new old stock" materials. As she explains:

If you read my blog you know that I am just nuts about loomed flowers. The thing is that the supplies to make them are super hard to find. In fact most of the stuff is not even made anymore.

That's why I have decided to seek out all of the vintage and new old stock flower looms that I can get my hands on. I've made it my mission to spread the word that making loomed flowers is one of the best crafts around and I hope to be teaching classes very soon.

The materials included are in great condition and should provide hours of fun. You can turn the flowers you make into brooches, use them in shadowboxes or attach them to a handbag, or just fill a bowl with them and admire your work. FYI, Cathy's mushroom pincushions are on sale too. Link.

International Fashion Machines is releasing a kit version of their fabulous Electro-PUFF light dimmers. No special skills are needed, so it could be a fun project to do with kids or give to a crafty friend interested in "smart" materials:

The ElectroPUFF Craft Kit makes it possible for anyone to create a fun and funky item that's also on the cutting edge of technology. The ElectroPUFF Lamp Dimmer is a soft, whimsical pompom that connects to any incandescent table lamp and controls light levels with just a gentle tap. IFM's patented electronic-textile technology is the magic behind the ElectroPUFF. Special conductive yarns that sense your touch are combined with colorful recycled carpet fibers to form the soft switch. Because it combines crafting with innovative technology - and is so easy to make - it has wide-range appeal for kids, grandmothers, science enthusiasts, techies and anyone who enjoys crafts. And it's as safe as plugging a lamp into a wall.

They're even offering a special 10% discount for CRAFT readers on all products until the end of the year. The promotional code is "craft" and can be entered into the shopping cart before checkout. (Not applicable with any other offer :-) Link.

Here are my newest iPhone cases made from recycled items. I do alterations for a high end denim shop in SF called Self Edge, instead of throwing away the scraps I try to recycle them into wallets and coffee cozies. The denim for this particular iPhone case came from a pair of Nudie Jeans and the cool packaging that Nudie ships their underwear in. When it's closed the headphone cable can remain plugged in and the phones speaker is left uncovered so you can still hear the ringer. These cases also fit Blackberries and iPod touches perfectly.

Phil @ MAKE writes:

Texterity (the company that digitizes MAKE & CRAFT) have iPhone editions of both our magazines right now. Point your iPhone to http://iphone.texterity.com and you'll be able browse MAKE 10 and CRAFT 04! It's beta at the moment so there are some things getting fixed and I'm not sure how long we'll have these available - but for now enjoy!

I hate flowers. They're expensive and they just die in a few days. That's why this past Valentine's Day I opted not to go with traditional flowers, rather I maniverated some LED flowers that not only look good, but last forever!

They are easy to make and score big points with the woman in your life (wife, girlfriend... mom?), plus total cost was less than $7.

A little short on details, but I figured anyone that has ever used LEDs can pretty much figure it out.

Here's how to make a fuzzy heart that purrs when you hug it! Rachel writes - This project is a pillow, which I've chosen to make in a heart shape, with a secret surprise inside. When you hug it, squeeze it, sit on it, whatever - it purrs to you!

I have made a couple of these and I leave them on the sofa for unsuspecting visitors.

I've been interested in touch and pressure sensors in soft toys for a while now, and this pillow is about the simplest sensor/motor combination you can do. It consists of an outer fabric shell, a battery/motor assembly, and two fabric switches that act as pressure sensors.

I will be showing these and some other variations off at the Maker Faire this May 19th and 20th with my collaborator, Annie Shao. Come see them in person!

Related:

• MAKE Video Podcast - Bre teaches you how to make a Pinhole Camera and Darkroom - Link.
• MAKE - Tons of pinhole camera projects - Link.

• PART 1: creating the basic flip book - Link.
• PART 2: adding sound to your flip book - Link.
• PART 3: flipbook film deluxe - Link.

Brian says:

For example, crafts like knitting are notoriously hard to teach without visual cues, and even the most detailed books often suffer from their lack of moving pictures. When I learned to knit, I used books as a crutch, but actually learning required sitting next to my mother-in-law to see how it was done. Even now, when I hit a roadblock with a new technique, I need to wait till the next time we're together. But if we had a feature like this, we likely wouldn't have to wait. I could just "look over her shoulder" as she described what she was doing.

Related:
Cath Kidston's In Print, published by Chronicle Books - Link.


]]> [<a href="http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/12/cath_kidston_mobile_phones.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954" />Read More</a>] [<a href="http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/12/cath_kidston_mobile_phones.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954#comments" />Comments</a>] http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/12/cath_kidston_mobile_phones.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954 http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/12/cath_kidston_mobile_phones.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954 Gadgets Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:24:13 -0800 CRAFT friend Bonnie Burton has posted up a complete photo tutorial on how to make your own R2-D2 pinhole camera. It's also a great way to use your old oatmeal container and soda cans in the process! Link....
CRAFT friend Bonnie Burton has posted up a complete photo tutorial on how to make your own R2-D2 pinhole camera. It's also a great way to use your old oatmeal container and soda cans in the process! Link.


]]> [<a href="http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/12/how_to_make_an_r2d2_pinhole_ca.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954" />Read More</a>] [<a href="http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/12/how_to_make_an_r2d2_pinhole_ca.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954#comments" />Comments</a>] http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/12/how_to_make_an_r2d2_pinhole_ca.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954 http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/12/how_to_make_an_r2d2_pinhole_ca.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954 Gadgets Wed, 06 Dec 2006 20:39:57 -0800 Bre, Phil, and I on the MAKE/CRAFT team are so excited to collaborate on Chumby! We each got review devices at FOO camp this weekend to check out and tinker on. My part in all this? Chumby is also...

Bre, Phil, and I on the MAKE/CRAFT team are so excited to collaborate on Chumby! We each got review devices at FOO camp this weekend to check out and tinker on. My part in all this? Chumby is also a craft hacker's dream. Patterns are available for you to customize Chumby's plush interface into any kind of design imaginable. The product is not ready for prime time just yet but we are preparing to help you customize and hack your Chumby in any way we can. My Chumby named "Craftina" will be debuting some new duds one day here on the CRAFT blog. Link.

More

• MAKE Blog Post - Link.
• O'Reilly Radar Post - Link.