Take a Break! DIY Edition

It's a classic dilemma: You've finally turned in that take-home exam and you sense that the occasion calls for a celebration, but all your blockmates are busy and the trek to Berryline seems daunting. Before you turn to the time-honored solution of logging into Netflix, Flyby has a few suggestions for celebrating in a more functional way—here are beautiful, alternative creations that you can make yourself.

We talked to Harvard's resident crafting queen, Marjorie Lacombe '13. Founder of the student-run i like fall, Lacombe also runs The Kipi Blog, a personal site for chronicling her creative endeavors.

Think Harvard students are too busy for DIY projects? Lacombe would want you to think again.

"While DIY projects are a great way to take a break from schoolwork, it's not actually a complete departure. When you're writing essays, you have to analyze evidence and construct arguments from that. When you create a project, you think about the materials you have to work with and how you can construct a beautiful, one-of-a-kind project from them," Lacombe says.

So take those analytical skills you've been honing all semester and give some of these Marjorie-approved projects a whirl:

- Greeting cards: great for blockmates, graduating seniors, and friends of any kind.

- iPad case: elevating its pedestrian materials to a cute, functional accessory

- Jewelry organizer: because you've been promising to "do something" about the top of your dresser for a full year now

- Kaleidoscope earrings: using just two materials, likely ones you have lying around your dorm room!