Cuckoo clocks. You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em.

I tend to fall under the latter category. I mean, I appreciate the fine craftsmanship necessary to create such a clock, but it’s just not my bag.

I thought that until 15 minutes ago, when I spotted this awesome Elvis cuckoo clock. If you appreciate the kitsch that borderlines pure, unadulterated cheesiness, you’ll love this clock.

Available at BettysAttic.com, the clock is described as follows:

“Elvis® appears at the top of every hour, dressed in his black leather ensemble, and sings part of one of 4 timeless hits — Hound Dog, Don’t Be Cruel, Blue Suede Shoes, or Love Me Tender. Crafted of solid wood with rich black finish, resin attachments and chrome accents, the clock features precision quartz movement and a brass pendulum bearing The King’s replica signature.”

Awesome? Yes. Awesome.

If you find yourself always buying birthday, wedding, anniversary and thank you cards for friends and family, why not make your own? A homemade card is more personal and special than a store-bought card, and saves you money, too. It can really be customized to the recipient’s tastes, so it’s a present in itself.

You can make cards that really show you care with little more than some construction paper, glue and scissors and materials like ribbon, watercolor paints, colored pencils, felt pen, scissors, beads, fabric, tin foil, glitter, and dried or fake flowers.

My mother loves cats so for mother’s day or her birthday, I always make a card depicting a cat, usually a sketch or a watercolor. If you’re not confident when it comes to drawing, try cutting shapes out of construction paper, magazines or wrapping paper and pasting them onto the card to create an abstract, arty image. For example, to depict a black cat’s face, simply cut circles, triangles and other shapes and assemble them on your card. You’ll be amazed at how striking it will look. Happy card making!

Whether you’re looking for something to spark conversation at your next party, or enjoy an eclectic style every day in your home, these bowls made from 33 rpm vinyl LPs will give you a record party in no time!

These bowls are made from melted and molded records with the original label still visible at the bottom and protected by a mylar seal (which also plugs the hole in the center). This dish is safe for party foods like fruit, pretzels, chips, and dip. Care is simple—treat it like you would any plastic bowl (i.e. don’t expose directly to a heating element, or a microwave!) and clean with a couple scrubs of warm soapy water in the sink.

The company, Vinylux, is the brainchild of Jeff Davis. Bowls are available as made from rock, soul, jazz, blues, ‘80s pop, hip-hop, disco, “crooners,” divas, showtunes, folk, country, and classical records. You can’t choose which musical genre will be represented by your bowl, but each bowl is guaranteed to go well with any selection of party tunes!

To me, these bowls are the perfect gift for the home: simple, practical, economical, environmentally friendly, and unforgettable.

You can make vinyl record bowls yourself at home with the proper materials: an oven set to the lowest heat possible, oven mitts, a record that’s scratched and unplayable (or that you never want to hear again), and a well-ventilated room. Heat the record for one minute (and no more than two!) then mold it over a cool glass bowl. The homemade version is unsafe for eating, but  feel free to fill it with keys, knick-knacks, or other non-edibles!

My little brother just moved into his first apartment, so I was looking for the perfect home gift for him. I know he would laugh in my face if I showed up with potpourri or a nice towel set, so I knew I would have to really step it up and find something that he would really get a kick out of.

I was pretty pumped when I stumbled upon these awesome Ninja star coat hooks available at ThinkGeek.com. Here’s the really funny description from the site:

“There is one section of Ninja life that is normally neglected in books, and that is a Ninja’s home life. You think they just hang up all their weapons in the closet? Heck no – those are a Ninja’s tools, for life. The Ninja uses his Katana to do everything from butter his bread to separate his laundry (lights from darks). He uses his hand claws to hold corn and peel potatoes. And, he uses his throwing stars for coat hooks. Until you spend your life training in the Ninja arts, we recommend picking up a Ninja Star Coat Hook or two. It’s just safer. Each Ninja Star Coat Hookis made out of super strong, nickel-plated zinc alloy. One star tip is replaced with a screw, so you can just pick where you want it and screw it into your wall. It will look like a Ninja has attacked your office and you beat him so easily that you now mock his attempt by using his own weapons to hold up your coat. Wow, how did you get so awesome? Your Ninja Star Coat Hook will make you look 100% more badass. Promise.”

Naturally, he loved them. So all in all, if you need a home gift for someone who isn’t really the scented candle type, the Ninja Star Coat Hooks could be your best bet.

If you love the rustic appeal of hunting trophies, but blanch at the thought of an actual dead thing mounted on your wall, you’re not out of luck anymore.

Uncommon Goods offers clever, cruelty-free deer and moose heads made from 100% recycled cardboard. They’re easy to assemble and just $28 a pop.

Or if you’re ready to invest a little more, there’s the Recycled Farm Machinery Deer (no tractors were harmed…) for $345. Handmade in Pennsylvania by artists Ben and Kate Gatski, each is one-of-a-kind, with its own personality.

The same artists make a bull head ($285). Hang it next to your Picasso?

Are you entertaining these days without a full set of dominoes? Looking for an environmentally-friendly way to re-use them, while also making a unique house gift for a friend or loved one? Consider turning those old dominoes into crafty coasters. These coasters make fun and durable party favors, or unique conversation pieces for everyday use.

You’ll Need:

• A hot glue gun
• Stiff piece of cardboard
• Scissors for trimming
• Old dominoes
• Felt

You can find eco-friendly felt, like Eco-fi made from recycled plastic bottles, at a craft store near your. You can also substitute felt with re-used thick flannel or other fabric that won’t scuff wood or coffeetables.

Use hot glue to attach three dominoes together, all dot-side up, along their long sides. Repeat with a second set of three dominoes. Glue the two sets of dominoes together along the long side to make one large coaster-sized rectangle. Be sure to use plenty of hot glue to make ensure that the coaster will hold up over time and repeated use. Use a stiff piece of cardboard to scrape away any excess hot glue before it dries between dominoes.

Lay glue over the back of the dominoes. Avoid putting glue all the way to the edge of the dominoes, since the glue will spread once you lay the felt backing down and be difficult to trim or remove from the edge.

Use scissors to trim felt from the side. Angle the scissors so that the felt is trimmed slightly smaller than the dominoes and won’t peak out from underneath.

Enjoy using these coasters yourself or give as an Earth-friendly gift to others!

We all have those people in our lives that are difficult to buy for. It’s usually either the person who already has everything, or the person who says they don’t need anything that make our lives hell when we’re trying to get them a gift.

For these people, and any other’s you’re having a hard-time shopping for, you can turn to FindGift.com.

FindGift is like a gift search engine that helps you find creative gift ideas for any occasion. They even have categories for breakup/divorce, new baby, and our favorite, housewarming.

If you’d rather search by age, they have that option too. All in all, FindGift.com makes it easy to get the perfect gift for just about any occasion.

This fantastic idea from CraftStylish.com in which you can dress up simple placemats and napkin rings for dinner with merely a silk neck tie or two and basic sewing skills.If you’re a little short on neckties, or feel bad about cutting up your husband’s, rummage around at thrift stores and flea markets. Keep in mind that each place setting need two ties, and the wide ones work the best.

Here are the simple instructions from craftstylish.com that will make your dining room table set for a successful dinner.

What You’ll Need:
• Bias-tape maker, 2-inch (Clover-USA.com)
• Decorative button, 3/4 inch
• Fusible web
• Hand-sewing needle
• Iron
• Lightweight fusible interfacing, 1/4 yard (CreateForLess.com)
• Linen/cotton blend fabric for place mats, 1/4 yard (RobertKaufman.com)
• Neckties, two
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Seam ripper
• Sewing machine
• Thread to match fabric and neckties

Prep the tie and place-mat fabric
Before you cut the pocket and napkin-ring pieces, you have to remove the material from inside the tie.

1. Deconstruct the ties. Use a seam ripper to remove any labels sewn on the back of the tie. Then, remove the seam along the center back, and pull out the padded material from the inside of the tie.

2. Cut the pocket and napkin ring. For the flatware pocket, cut 6 inches off one tie’s wide end, measuring from the tip. From the other necktie cut 8 1?2 inches off of the skinny end for the napkin ring.

3. Prepare the place-mat fabric. Cut two, 13 1/2-inch by 18 1/2-inch rectangles from the linen/cotton blend fabric. Cut two, 12 1/2-inch x 17 1/2-inch rectangles of lightweight fusible interfacing. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, fuse the interfacing to the wrong sides of the fabric pieces, leaving 1/2 inch of extra fabric on all four sides.

Sew the place mat and napkin ring
Fuse and sew on the pocket; then create and attach the border pieces for the finished place mat. Then, complete the napkin rings.

1. Fuse and attach the pocket. Open the back of the fl atware pocket, and place a small piece of fusible web in the center. It should be just large enough to cover the area where the sides overlap. Fold the sides back over the webbing, and press the pocket to fuse the layers together. Fold over a 1/2 inch double hem on the cut edge, and hand-stitch the hem in place. Arrange, pin, and then edgestitch the finished pocket on one of the fabric rectangles.

TIP – Neckties are constructed from several bias-cut pieces sewn together, so if your ties have diagonal seams somewhere in them, ignore them; they aren’t that noticeable

2. Create a bias tape. Press the remaining necktie fabric flat. Trim the edges to create two, 3 7/8-inch-wide strips, at least 33 inches long. Sew the strips together end to end with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Feed the strip through the bias-tape maker, following the package directions. Press the fabric flat as it emerges from the bias tape maker. Next, fold the finished tape in half lengthwise, and press it again.

3. Attach the bias tape. Wrap the bias tape over the placemat edge at the center top. Pin the tape around the edges of the place mat, mitering the corners. Start and end at center bottom. When the ends meet, fold the raw edges under 1 inch, and trim off any excess tape. Stitch along the bias tape edge to attach it to the place mat. Hand-stitch the bias tape ends together at the bottom where they meet.

4. Fuse the napkin-ring fabric. Open the sides on the back of the napkin-ring piece, and place a small strip of fusible web in the center. Fold the sides back over, and press to fuse the layers together. Machine-stitch a 1/2-inch hem at the cut end.

5. Attach the button. Make a 1-inch buttonhole in the pointed end of the napkin ring. Sew a button to the squared end. Fold the piece into a ring, and button to secure it.

DIYNetwork.com has a ton of great projects that you can easily make at home with the right materials. If you’re the type of person who really likes to make their home gifts, this is a great project for you. And even if you’re not the most crafty person in the world this project is still easy enough that you could make a great gift.

Finding good gifts can sometimes be a lot of pressure on the buyer.

One of my best friends is the hardest person to buy gifts for. She’s one of those impossible people who instead of telling you what they want for holidays and birthdays, they simply say “Oh, I’m sure I’ll love anything you pick out”. Which of course, is a total lie. If it were true she wouldn’t have a secret closet dedicated to storing unwanted gifts, equipped with a shelf dedicated to gifts from me! (I was house sitting a few months ago and made the shocking discovery)

Well her birthday’s coming up next month, and I am determined to get her a present that can avoid the bad gift closet. I was browsing the internet last night and found artfulhome.com. There you find tons of home art pieces that are sure to impress even the pickiest gift recipients. Art  is a tricky thing to buy someone, especially if they’re picky. The trick is to make a mental note of the art they already have in their home or artists they like and try to find something similar.

I convinced she’s going to love what I picked out! Check out the great selection for yourself.