Man Made DIY

Okay, I admit it. I, like nearly every other touch phone owner, have a bit of a problem with Angry Birds. It's not that I play it very often, during every second of free time, it's that when I do open it up, I have a hard time putting it down. For, like, hours. I've forbidden myself from starting after 9:00p.

"As a physics-based game, Angry Birds is similar to those well worn '90s games Worms and Lemmings, and lends itself well to a retro reimaging with blocky pixels," says London-based Penny Designs, and they've done just that.

I sorta have a problem with reading the wish lists and gift guides of my fellow design and DIY bloggers. I can't help it; I love getting a peak into the real lives or my peers, as well as the opportunity to learn about cool new stuff.

This year, I kept noticing one item pop up in lots of lists: the Enchanted Forest iPhone Dock from Anthropologie. It's a fun nature-meets-technology way to stand and display your iPod or iPhone. It's awesome, but at $100, it's a lot to pay for something that doesn't have speakers, a clock, or even a way to plug it into the wall. Of course, the fact that it's 100% wood and doesn't sport any fancy electronics means something else:

It's easy to make one at home.

If you've got a drill, some sort of saw, and a spare iPod USB cable, you can whip one up in an hour or two for absolutely free! I'm pretty sure this is the world's best Christmas gift for iPhone owners, especially cause it's handmade! I'm giving mine to my sweetheart (she's been banned from ManMade and all its networks until… read more

I mostly hate party food. I mean, I like parties, and I love food, but somehow when I gather with others, all the options are sour cream and canned mushroom soup laden glops on my paper plate. And if I ever hear another person remark, "You put grape jelly in your meatballs!?!?" like it's some big secret, I may scream.

But not all is lost. Turns out, you can make tons of scrumptious, fresh, and (most importantly) edible finger foods. And by tons, I mean 101. The NYTime's Mark Bittman has created this master list on which you'll find stuff that'd be perfect for any upcoming Christmas or New Year's events, but worth keeping around to reference for a gathering in any… read more

PerhapsWandering through the shops, scurrying to finish your gift list, you've no doubt stopped in front of the line of families, looking at that guy in red, and wondered, "What sort of person has the time or motivation to play the mall Santa Claus?" Or, perhaps you're a parent, and the question becomes much more serious: "Would I let my kid sit on that guy's lap?"

We've all seen some great Santas in our time, and we've seen some absolutely terrifying ones as well. Your new favorite Tumblr blog, Sketchy Santas, captures those in the later category, reminding all of us just how vulnerable the holiday season can be.

… read more

I'm still keeping up with my handmade only Christmas gifts this year, which, if you ask me, means I also gotta create my own wrapping paper. I added a typographic punch to brown craft paper, and made a super fast hand drawn snowflake paper, but decided I needed a little color under my tree. Not wanting to spend a ton of time, I whipped up several sheets of mod hand-printed paper in under an hour. 

Here's how to… read more

I'm an enormous fan of bent plywood furniture. The subtle curving shapes of the precedent-setting Eames chairs are amazing:

And while it's not impossible to do at home, it would take a lot of gear, time, and money. Individual layers are steamed and then laminated (glued on top of each other) over two-sided forms, forming… read more

After completing my typographic gift wrap tutorial, I randomly Googled the term to see what else might come up. I found lots of weird, and surprisingly expensive, specialty paper sheets, but also came across this cool holiday freebie.

Sugar plums... Figgy pudding... A Dickens goose...

We all know these things exist, and have something to do with Christmas, but in the days of multl-flavored candy canes, pre-cooked hams, and eggnog from a carton, their actual meaning is beyond most contemporary celebrations. But we can guess a bit: we know sugar and plums, figs and pudding, geese. 

But no old-school, carol-inspired foodstuff is more perplexing than that we know from:

Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green;Here we come a-wand'ring, so fair to be seen.

Love and joy come to you, and to you your wassail too;And God bless you and send you a Happy New YearAnd God send you a Happy New Year.

So, WTF is wassail, and why would you ever want to make it? Well, here's a… read more

Dude, everyone knows the Queen's Brigade isn't as awesome as the Flapwings.

Oh, you didn't? Then you, my friend, need to get a copy of "The Hierarchy of Beards."

Beards have been part of humanity's hairy history… read more

While you're checking out some of the best reads from 2010, have a look at these stunning photos of a twisty tower of books in Tel Aviv.