James Wilson made a homemade light box from an old flatbed scanner. You know, one of these things:

He uses the light box for viewing negatives and contact proof sheets.

In his own words, “It was a simple process; gut the scanner, hook up a light fixture inside it:

“…and paint the inside of the glass white. Total cost was around ten bucks for the light fixture, wiring, and paint.”

You could use this light box for other art projects, too. Old scanners like this often show up in thrift stores. [Lifehacker]

Have a Kindle? Why not carry it inside a real book? BustedTypewriter on Etsy came up with the idea of carving out a real book so you can put your Kindle inside it. You can buy one from them or make your own.

The idea has a certain meta quality that I appreciate. And since books are sturdy, they would make a good case for the more delicate piece of electronic.

So hey, between turning a book into a purse, using them to carry around your laptops, and hiding your valuables inside them, we’ll find a use for those old dust catchers yet! [Neatorama]

As I mentioned in my post about my 2011 vegetable garden, I’m trying out companion planting this year. Companion planting means grouping different crops together “on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity,” according to Wikipedia.

One grouping I’ll be trying this year is called Three Sisters, a combination of corn, beans, and squash that has been used for centuries by the Native Americans. The corn provides a pole for the beans to climb on and the beans provide nitrogen for the corn. The squash spreads on the ground, creating a living mulch that blocks weeds and keeps moisture in.

Here’s a tutorial on how to put in a Three Sisters vegetable garden. Essentially, you plant the three crops in a mound so that the corn is in the center, the beans are beside the corn, and the squash is on the outside. As everything grows, the corn shoots up, the beans climb the corn, and the squash fills in around the roots. It looks like this:

[Abri_Beluga]

How has companion planting worked for you?

These botanical posters are quite lovely. They are reproductions of a series of Scientific German Educational Charts from the 1950s and 60s.

The posters are mounted on canvas, fitted with wooden rods, and hang by nylon cords. They also come with a key explaining the chart. For example:

“Garden Pea Key- Pisum sativum: Fig. 1 Plant in blossom. Fig. 2 Longitudinal section through flower. Fig. 3 Tube of stamens with single filament. Fig. 4 Flower, front view. Fig. 5 Young legume of pea, opened. Fig. 6 in germination.”

I also like the zoology posters of various insects and animals. Here is one of a cuttlefish:

These bamboo MacBook cases by Silva Limited in Oregon are very handsome. They are handmade from 100% bamboo and can fit both 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pro laptops.

I like the way they open:

And not a bad price considering the quality–$179.99 each. [The Gadgeteer]

Savvy Housekeeping is now on Twitter!

I will be putting all the current Savvy Housekeeping posts on Twitter, plus additional cool links and thoughts. I hope you will be my Twitter friend! (Is that the lingo? I’m new to this.)

Click here to follow Savvy Housekeeping on Twitter.

Here’s a clever way to decorate cupcakes: use candy to make a flower design on top.

After you bake the cupcakes of your choosing, ice them and make a flower design with different candies, such as jelly beans, Jordan almonds, licorice pastels, and mint cremes. It might lead to a sugar overdose, but it certainly looks pretty.

Looks like this idea originally came from Hello Cupcake! by Karen Tack.

Easter is on Sunday. In my house, that means eating lamb (among other things).

I love lamb. There’s no preparation that I haven’t enjoyed–lamb stew, lamb burgers, leg of lamb, lamb chops, lamb curry, etc. But my favorite is probably the French rack of lambs, if for no other reason than it looks so cool:

[Courtesy]

So, I’ll be cooking lamb this weekend. What about you? Here are five lamb recipes that look promising:

* Roasted Rack of Lamb, Cardamom Crumbs, Fava Puree by Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, pictured at the top. He has you tie the lamb in a round, roast it in olive oil, baste it in butter (yes!) and then serve it with fancy sides.

* Lamb Porterhouse by Chef David Pasternack. Marinated and grilled lamb steaks with French potato gratin and a cold sauce made from garlic, basil, and olive oil. Very French-looking.

* Moroccan Lamb by the New York Times. You get a butterflied leg of lamb (your butcher can do that for you), rub it with Moroccan flavors, and put it on a very hot grill.

* Provençal Rack of Lamb with Roasted Tomatoes from Gourmet Magazine. You brown the lamb, roast it in the oven, and serve with roasted tomatoes.

* Herb-Roasted Lamb with Blackberry Sauce from Lava Lake Lamb. You glaze a lamb roast with herbs and balsamic vinegar, cook it, and serve it with blackberry sauce.

Yay lamb!

[Courtesy About.com]

Fuchsias are one of the easiest plants to propagate. To grow your own, all you need it a clipping off another plant and soil.

That’s great because fuchsias come in all kinds of colors and styles and are very malleable. You can hang them from baskets, grow them as shrubs, or even train them into trees, like so:

[Read about how to do this here.]

Perhaps most importantly, fuchsias are forgiving plants. They grow in both shade and sun and they bounce back from neglect pretty easily. And hey, if you kill it, you can always start again with a new clipping.

How To Propagate A Fuchsia Plant:

Equipment:

Flower pot
Potting soil
Bucket or something to mix in
Water
Fuchsia clipping

Directions:

Start with a clipping from a plant. Simply pinch the end off an existing fuchsia plant, like so:

The clipping is wet because it fell into the cup of water I had it soaking in. I don’t know what kind of fuchsia it is, but the flowers look similar to this one, only red:

[Courtesy Love That Image]

Next, choose your pot. Pick one on the smaller side, since fuchsias don’t seem to like a lot of room while growing.

Fill the pot with dry dirt to the top:

Pour the dirt into a bucket or container. Add water until it is thoroughly moist, then pack the wet dirt into the pot again. Add more soil if necessary.

Stick your finger into the middle of the dirt. Insert the fuchsia clipping so that its stem is in the soil and the leaves are in the sunshine, like so:

Clean off the pot, and voila! You have the start of a new fuchsia plant.

Put the plant in a window where it can get indirect light. Once the soil has dried out, start adding a small amount of water every day. Fuchsias like a steady supply of water, but they don’t like to be drowned. I usually give a new plant about an ounce of water a day.

In a week or so, you will start to see new growth on the plant, and that is how you know that it has rooted. Continue to give it water. Before you know it, it will be taking over your windowsill.

This Hedgehog Cheese Grater from Koziol is pretty cute. You “scratch” its back with the food you are grating. It looks like it would work pretty well, too, judging from the way it is designed. The only downside is that it is plastic.

The Hedgehog Cheese Grater comes in gray, red, green, and clear and costs $14.40.