Best Wine Bottle Stoppers

Not too long ago I was at a party where the take-away gift was a beautiful set of chrome wine bottle stoppers. I said to my handy dandy boyfriend, Rhett - "What a great Christmas gift idea!" - to which he said - "I think I can make those."


And that he did.

Rhett is not particularly fond of turning wood and these stoppers are his first stab at it. Not too shabby, huh?

Cool fireplace idea.

I've got a non-working fireplace in my living room that was originally behind drywall and bricked over. Of course I dug it out because even if I can't use it it's nice to have. I plan to put a candle menagerie in it and hang a grouping of pictures above it, so it will be a nice focal point. Maybe someday when I strike it rich I'll have a wood stove put in, but for now that is very low on the priority list. Anyway! I've been wondering what exactly to do about a mantel and I came across this today from dominomag.com:

They call it a wood-block mantel and I think it is VERY cool. The instructions are simple enough as well, which is a bonus. Check it out: http://www.dominomag.com/howtos/diy/2008/12/make_wood_block_mantel