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The Week's Best DIY Projects: June 5-June 11

Night lights, cover-ups, and homemade paper get your summer off to a sweet start.

We know you want to live a more DIY life—it's just that you don't have the time to weed through the hundreds of projects, directions, and ideas that crowd the internet every week. But don't worry: we have the time. Every Monday, we bring you the best do-it-yourself plans we've seen over the last week, so you can spend your time doing projects instead of just searching for them.

Light the Night:

Long evenings spent dining al fresco and making s'mores around the firepit have given us some of our favorite summer memories. This season, keep your nights bright with this gallery of outdoor lighting ideas from Martha Stewart. Many of the suggestions use vases, jars, candles, and craft supplies that you might already have on hand; choose one of the non-electric night lights for even more energy savings.

Image courtesy of Photography by William Abranowicz // Martha Stewart Living July 2006.

Wax Poetic:

Stuck with a bunch of almost-finished votive or tealight candle nubs? Instead of trashing those bits, use this Threadbanger tutorial to melt them down into new, full-sized candles, using old teacups, jars, or other upcycled containers as molds. Bonus: you might be able to use some of your new candles in the lighting set-ups shown above.

Image courtesy of http://www.kodakgallery.com/jenny/projects/teacup_candles.

Take the Heat:

Cork trivets do a fine job of protecting your countertop and table from burns caused by hot pans, but they aren't nearly as pretty as these knot trivets from Design Sponge. Use whatever pieces of cord you have taking up space in the garage to weave these intricate shields—and, since the project requires only a few needle-and-thread stitches at the end, enlist the kids to help with the over-under criss-cross on an otherwise boring afternoon.

Image courtesy of Courtesy of Design Sponge.

Put Down Roots:

Instructables user DebH57 runs through a 12-step process for turning junk mail into plantable paper in this how-to guide. While the project isn't quick, the directions are clear and easy to follow, and the result—seeded paper that you can use as gifts, cut up for stationery, or plant in your own garden—is an irresistible way to use up that pile of junk mail on its way to the recycling center.

Image courtesy of Debra Hollingsworth.

Image courtesy of Courtesy of .

Cover Up:

Safeguard your skin from the sun on marathon beach days with this repurposed t-shirt project from Diana Eng at Craft. She shows you how to turn a beloved oversized shirt into a trim, belted, bathing suit cover-up that gives those well-worn tees a second life.

Image courtesy of Diana Eng.

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