Tacky Tourist Junk: Jackalope: Perhaps if you could find a plastic rabbit at a craft store... then add the antlers which coud be a couple of stems from grapes.. or anything else that resembles the antlers you saw.

viola

Tacky Tourist Junk: Don't forget those pencils - about a foot and a half long, with really tacky little felt pennants attached to the eraser end. And full-sized pennants, too. And sweatshirts and T-shirts. Rubber tomahawks and fake peace pipes. Salt and pepper shakers and plates with pictures on them. And shiny rayon throw pillows with scenes painted or embroidered on them.

Having been a child during WW II, my idea of tacky tourist stuff is a closed gas station surrounded by clotheslines full of chenille bathrobes and bedspreads decorated with large, garish peacocks. They were everywhere.

Nancy

Splitting Wood stirrers; I asked my husband about the problem of splitting wood stirrers.   His suggestion is first make sure your drill bits are sharp and not dull. Second of all start the hole with a smaller drill bit and then go with a larger one.   I would imagine for blinds you would need a very small hole. Therefore make sure your drill bit is very small and sharp.

Bonnie in Montana

Clamps: here is the page for those into clamps, like us: http://www.americanwoodworker.com/200204/workshop_tips/  The saw horse and panty hose tips look good too, but I'll let everyone else go and look for themselves.

David

Easy Salad Making: To make an easy salad, just find the silk flower section of your favorite store.. Dollar is mine... and look for the variegated leaves that look somewhat like a lettuce leaf COLOR. From there, you remove the spine of the leaf and crinkle up the leaf, then proceed to cut into lettuce strips some long, some short. Salads don't always look evenly torn or cut. So vary the sizes and lengths to create realness. Add tomatoes and you are set. For sandwiches, cut a squiggled form and place between bread slices. Have fun!

bon from Sunny Alberta

How-to-make-bitter melon: I just posted how to make bitter melon in my website.

Krisana M.

Punched Tin Cabinet: The foil from a Large Kool aid container or from any commercial tins of food, such as nuts, fruits, etc., will give you the "tin" without the heaviness and bulk of real tin. They are easily cut with scissors/X-Acto knife. So cut away and enjoy the punching. A large darning needle with an eraser on the end is a good tool for that.

bon in Sunny Alberta

Punched Tin Cabinet: For punched tin, you can buy tooling aluminum, available in many craft stores, or you can use the aluminum from disposable pie or broiler pans. Just make sure that whichever ones you use have a large enough area that is flat for your use.

Alice Zinn

Modern kitchens: Here are the places I know of that have modern kitchen fittings:

www.dollshousehomepage.co.uk/elf.htm are beautiful but hideously expensive the Poggenpohl of dollshouse kitchens!

www.jlbminiatures.co.uk has some kitchen equipment but a lot of the pictures aren't working

www.miniatures.com/ has kitchen cabinets and appliances

Sally Holmes

Tacky Tourist Junk: In addition to the usual supposedly-Indian stuff (made in Taiwan) out in our part of the country touristy-type stores always seem to have salt and pepper shakers and sugar bowls and creamers with names of local attractions on them; also votive-sized candle holders.

Wanna in El Paso