Add some magic to your favorite photos by getting a little knotty. The often feared but oh-so-fabulous French knot is easier to ace than you might imagine. It’s also the perfect embroidery stitch to transform your fabric-printed photos into wall-ready works of art. Have a yearbook photo that needs a makeover? A group portrait you want to add some extra joy to? Thoughtful placement of a few French knots can highlight trim on an outfit, punctuate the center of a flower, or fill the air with...

Lots of people talk about making podcasts, but don’t follow through. Maybe time, funding, and patience – or confidence – are in short supply. None of this should stop you. Unique, personal experience is what makes a podcast work, along with good sound quality and some careful planning. With all the big changes happening in society right now, your podcast can serve as a message in a bottle to those at a distance or for future generations. It can help you build community and make...

We all have that favorite pair of perfectly broken-in jeans we couldn’t imagine living without. And we have all probably experienced the heartbreak when a hole appears in the worst of all places—the crotch! Thankfully, with a patch and a sewing machine, the dreaded crotch blowout is a pretty easy fix (especially if you catch the hole in the early stage). And since the jeans aren’t really wearable without a mend, it makes a perfect project for practicing your sewing skills!  Materials  Jeans to be repaired, scrap...

None of us could have predicted we’d be here, in our homes, quarantining from a global pandemic the first third of the new decade. But here we are. Dow is down, kids aren’t in school, Trump is being Trump, there are no gloves, thermometers, hand sanitizer, or even mouth masks on the shelves. But of all the shortages, there is no damn toilet tissue. When the shortage hit and viral videos of shoppers fighting over packs appeared online, BUST’s own Debbie Stoller asked “Am I...

When it comes to tidying up like a witch, there’s a lot more to it than just wiggling your nose at something messy. Here, BUST’s resident occultist shares how to add a touch of magical intent to your cleaning routine. Everyone knows spring cleaning is a thing, but for witches, it’s a whole-ass ritual. Typically it’s done on Ostara, the celebration of the spring equinox, which generally falls between March 19th and 21st. But you can adopt some of these pagan-inspired procedures any time you feel...

There is a natural tendency of the mind to focus on the negative. Every day, we receive hundreds of positive reinforcements that suggest the universe will continue to support us. But we also receive negative information when we read inflammatory news about the election or the coronavirus. On my frequent subway rides in Manhattan these days, I am aware when my mind vacillates between panic and rational thinking. Making my own hand sanitizer calmed my fears of catastrophe and disease for several hours. It's hygienic and therapeutic! Makes a...

IT’S NO SECRET that the fashion industry is rough on the planet—it’s responsible for more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year, according to a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. And the United Nations Environment Assembly says that, next to agriculture, toxic waste from textile dyeing is the world’s biggest water polluter. On top of that, we throw most of our outfits out anyway—almost three-fifths of clothes get dumped within a year of production, according to a report by McKinsey...

  High Strung AS A FLORAL designer, I’ve long used citrus in my holiday arrangements as a nod to Victorian Christmas celebrations, which included fresh and dried fruit decorations. I also do this because winter is when most citrus is in season—I live in L.A. where farmers markets begin to overflow with all kinds of oranges in December. A few years ago, I turned dehydrated citrus slices into a garland, and have been stringing them together for customers ever since. With just a handful of materials, and...

Generally, a Ouija board comes with a pretty blah planchette (the plastic thing with the hole in it that you place your fingers on to receive messages from the dead as it slides to letters across the board). Well, there’s a craft for that. Whether your vintage board came sans planchette, or you just want something a bit more pleasing to look at, download our template and you can make a new one on the cheap.  Instructions 1. Print out our planchette design. Lay tracing paper on...

  Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic A COUPLE OF years ago, Leah Guerrero was in a Mexico City mercado when a vendor asked why she was buying so many clays and powders. When she told him it was for her skincare concoctions he said, “Eres una brujita” (“You’re a witch”), and something clicked. “A whole self-empowerment thing happened,” Guerrero says. “I was like, Yeah, I am. This is me now.” Guerrero had been an esthetician since she was 18, immersing herself in holistic skincare traditions...