In case you needed another reason to love Etsy.com, here it comes. All good CollegeCandy readers know that Etsy is a genuinely awesome online marketplace, where artisans from all over peddle their own unique brand of wares, whatever they may be.

Not only do I love Etsy for the seemingly endless supply of lovingly crafted goods for sale – jewelry, clothing, photography, stuffed animals, frames, glasswares, knick-knacks, and on and on and on – but I love the creative kick in the pants I get every time I visit. I see an awesome silkscreened dress and my mind immediately starts perusing my closet for items I could adorn myself. I see jewelry made out of old piano keys, or skeleton keys, or medical skeletons, or anything, and suddenly the overflowing basement in my family home is brimming with possibility instead of junk!

The Storque, Etsy’s brilliant and multi-faceted DIY blog takes this burst of creative energy (which, for my scattered self, often fades in light of the overwhelming possibilities) and makes all things seem possible. Some of their most frequent topics are as follows:

Step-by-step projects:
A la CC’s DIY Tuesday, The Storque offers up clearly written, well-crafted project ideas of all shapes, sizes and ideas. Now that all my cousins seem to be having babies, I am going to test out this adooorable squishy donkey pattern, as a way to turn out simple, personalized baby gifts to all the new additions! There are tutorials on making your own stamps, gussying up your old clothes, and making your own lip balm – and everything in between!

General craft hints:
There are a fair number of pesky instructions or terms that you run across in the DIY world that you seem to be expected to know; those pivotal and oft-screwed-up creative steps. The Storque seeks to fill in those gaps so that nothing stands between you and artistic greatness! Some examples are lessons in how to correctly measure for clothing, to properly frame your artwork, and working your color wheel. Read More »

Sexiest man aliv, Mr. Hugh Jackman hosts this year’s Oscar’s.

S&M Barbie…definitely not for kids.

Perfect gift for that friend that tweezes way too much!

DIY gifts for the wonderful men in your life!

Amazing new skincare from Asia!

Selena Gomez looks absolutely adorable in this outfit, and so can you!

Smart guys have better sperm, ladies!

Zac and Vanessa lookin to have some freaky sex!

Pam’s ass like you’ve never seen it before..and probably don’t want to.

Hottest bikini bods of ’08…I need to go to the gym.

Michigan professor pays (law) student for sex. And he likes it naughty…

So the economy blows. Which is pretty perfect timing considering that one time of the year we’re expected to come to our loved ones bearing gifts is approaching. Great. So now we’re all expected to somehow make less money and still spend the same amount of money on Xmas gifts that we spent last year. How the eff do we make this work?

DIY crafts, kids.

If you need some inspiration, I highly suggest scoping out Etsy.com, but, regardless of Etsy, there are nifty gifts you can make yourself for friends and family. You can do it cheaply. You can do it easily. And lets face it, a handmade gift is always more appreciated than that bottle of body spray everyone knows you just got for free because you spent more than $50 at Bath & Body.

Heat it into a bracelet.

From vinyl records to spoons, heating every day objects to a point of flexibility for the purposes of making a bracelet is easy and always makes for a nice gift.

Heat your oven to 200 degrees for the vinyl record bracelet. Set the whole record on a cookie sheet and keep it in the oven until the record begins to bubble. Remove it from the oven and cut the record into strips while still hot. Place the strips back into the oven for a few minutes and then remove. When you remove the strips, wrap them around something that symbolizes your wrist, but is not your wrist. Think jars, paper towel tubes, anything other than your own flesh. Read More »