Tag: DIY

Pics ‘n’ Props

Jae-Ha Kim

If there are some of you who have yet to order your cards, I would like to share this tip. Order more than you need. Not only will they come in handy when you rush to mail out last-minute cards to people you’ve forgotten about (oops!), but they’ll be really fun to send out in the upcoming years. One day, when our children are no longer small and adorable, they may not want to pose for cute holiday card photos. In fact, they may look downright surly. And let’s face it — when kids are surly at 3, 4 or 5 — they’re still pretty darned sweet looking. At 16 or 17, not so much.

Goodie bags

Jae-Ha Kim

I made these goodie bags for my son’s 4th birthday party. I filled brown paper lunchbags with Lightening McQueen notebads, pencils, a few small toys and packets of Korean cookie sticks. I folded the top part of the bag over, punched two holes into it and then tied crazy straws to the top with colorful ribbons. To make it easier for each child to find his or her own treat bag, I attached each guest’s photo on the front.

Show your spirit with personalized cards

Jae-Ha Kim

There are two types of holiday card recipients — those who display them well into the new year, and those who throw them away the second after they’ve opened the envelope. If you don’t want your card to fall into the latter category, try sending something a little different this year: cards you’ve made yourself.

DIY divas

Jae-Ha Kim

While her friends would dream of having their daddies build them the perfect dollhouse, Tina Hanson was figuring out ways to make her own. Armed with a hammer and nails, she would build little sheds next to her family’s house. Flash forward about 30 years. Hanson, now 40, has done enough work on her Skokie home to make Bob Vila jealous. “Instead of going in the business finance world, I wish I’d had the foresight to have studied architecture in college,” says Hanson, who works as a bookkeeper for a local travel agency. “I think I would’ve been pretty good at building houses. I do all right repairing them.”

Processing good for quantity; printer can be fun if you like do-it-yourself

Jae-Ha Kim

To print or not to print. That is the question for a lot of digital camera users who’ve stashed hundreds of images and aren’t sure what to do with them. If you’re like many Americans, you may store them on your computer or a CD. You may even e-mail a few images to your friends and family. But print them out? What a hassle, right? Not really.