Food & Drink,
handmade
Snow small wonder, these cake pops from Pinterest. Nice work, Tori Jayne.
Thank goodness DIY everything is still the rage this year, so we can all sneak in another year of homemade gift-giving without looking like the family cheapskate. And now there’s Pinterest.com, a social media hub where crafty fashion, food and decorating obsessives share their latest inspiration (Aaand now you will never get at least 4 hours of your life back… happy browsing!). The virtual pinboard is also a veritable font of DIY gift ideas we want to try this year. Here are 10: 
handmade,
Health and Beauty
Ditmas Park/ Midwood/ Flatbush
We’re all about the DIY gifts around here — but not the lame ones. That’s why we’re heading to Third Root in Ditmas Park tomorrow (Sunday, Nov. 27) for a workshop on DIY body cream, facial cleanser and body scrub. For a $15 materials fee and a $5 to $15 sliding-scale instructional fee, you get to take all three products, along with a lifetime of homemade beauty know-how. Details:
Sunday, November 27
2 to 4 pm
Third Root Community Health Center, 380 Marlborough Rd. at Cortelyou.
RSVP in person, by phone at 718-940-9343 or by email at rsvp@thirdroot.org
Led by Liz Neves, maker of Raganella’s Botanical Solutions
[via Krrb]
handmade
Cat-hair necklace, $220.
Move over alpaca scarves and sheepskin sock… here comes cat hair jewelry!
In the most impressive recycling feat we’ve seen since the dryer lint Last Supper, a San Francisco artist is turning her cat’s fur into a jewelry line. Flora Davis is selling a (surprisingly beautiful) line of necklaces on Etsy – all made of a cat-hair “felt” she created by rolling the fur between her hands. As she tells Wired:
handmade
If you’re a member of “Dude, Where’s my Kombucha” then you already know. Kombucha, the ancient Chinese remedy known by the Qing Dynasty as “the tea of immortality and the elixir of life,” has been yanked from store shelves around the country. As we speak, Kombucha is being poked and prodded by the government to see if the fermented drink’s alcohol content is just a bit higher than advertised. If so, new labeling and taxation (and a valid ID at purchase?) might soon be in order, and it looks like it could be some time before the stuff’s back on the shelves. So, does this mean panic-time for you jittery devotees desperate for a fix? Maybe, or you could just brew up the booch (hooch?) yourselves.
handmade,
Outings
Now put some air under them.
Why fly a kite? Because it’s “an excellent way… to gain a feel for aerodynamic forces,” says NASA. Because we don’t look up enough. Because you can spend an afternoon adrift with the breeze for next to nothing. Whatever your reasons, kite-flying is one of the summer’s simple pleasures. And Brooklyn’s full of wide-open spaces where you can take part. Here’s how to put sticks to string and get your Ben Franklin up in the air.
handmade,
Outings
Carroll Gardens/ Cobble Hill
It’s happened again. Spring is here. April fools! No, just kidding. It’s here. How do we know? A) It’s sunny and warm, B) Outdoor flea markets are back! This weekend marks the return of Brooklyn Indie Market, after its three-cold-month hiatus. That big red and white tent on Smith St. will be back up for the season this Saturday and Sunday, Apr. 3 and 4. Look for cute, well-made clothes, accessories and housewares from I*M*Handmade; unique prints from kudu-lah; and the coolest, nature-meets-metal jewelry from HaKNiK. Buy some stuff to heat up your spring fever, and support some local artists while you’re at it.
Brooklyn Indie Market, Smith St. between President and Union, Carroll Gardens. Apr. 3, 11-7; Apr. 4, 11-6.
handmade
Williamsburg/ Greenpoint
Tracie Howarth, an Etsy success story. Photo by Patrick Fagan.
Success can come in many ways these days: a promotion, a new job, finally paying off your roommate for dropping her blowdryer in the toilet last summer, finding $20 in your jeans on laundry day; or, by our standards, getting four retweets in the space of twenty minutes (it’s the little things that count). For crafty entrepreneur Tracie Howarth, success has translated her successful Etsy jewelry making business into a real brick-and-mortar storefront in Billyburg.
handmade
Don't: Prairie bunt loaf from Regretsy.com
So You Think You Can DIY? When it comes to handmade holiday gifts, here’s the deal: I don’t want a popsicle-stick gingerbread house that I feel guilty throwing away because you made it, and I don’t want you to resent me because I gave your kid a sock monkey doll that looks like a… sock. If your plan this year is to make your own holiday gifts, follow our suggestions on how to navigate the perilous realms of knitting, sewing, canning etc. Most important: make it simple, stick to what you know, and try to keep it fun. Frustration and tears are holiday Don’ts.
handmade
Photos by Eric Reichbaum.
How cool is this? To demonstrate the many things that can be made from a plain old t-shirt (in this case, an exceptionally attractive one), Park Slope-based writer and craftmistress Megan Nicolay has made a tote bag from one of our Brokelyn 1.0 t-shirts, and we’re going to give it away to a lucky reader.
But first, more about Megan, the author of two books—Generation T, 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt, and Generation T, Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt (both from Workman Publishing)—that show how to fashion everyone’s favorite wardrobe staple into items ranging from quick, no-sew tops to an elaborately construct wedding dresses. With a few quick snips and stitches she can turn a humble top into something ready for a night out.
