Every veteran of the DIY disease, particularly of the household variety, sooner or later has had to mix up some Quikrete. Wonderful stuff, Quikrete. Comes in several flavors, just add water, stir it up and pour—and in a couple of hours you've got a block of concrete! The stuff is forgiving, too. Many who use it to anchor fences just dump the dry mix in the hole with the post, then soak the powder with water and let it go.

On the other hand, it's messy. And the bags weigh something like 60 to 80 pounds. For the average cubicle dweller, that's pretty heavy to sling around. And what do you mix it in? A wheelbarrow? A rented mixer? A 5-gallon bucket with an electric drill?

The best device, for a long time, was a kind of large bucket with a sealed lid and vanes inside. You dumped in the Quikcrete and some water, sealed the lid and then rolled it around to mix it. Invariably, you and someone else sat opposite each other and kicked the 80-pound bucket back and forth. Good for the thigh muscles, but that's about all.

Now you can avoid kicking the bucket. Now there's something so simple—an elegant engineering solution, actually—that mixing up a batch of concrete can be done in a few minutes with no mess and little effort.

It's called the CreteSheet. I picked one up at Hardware Hawaii a couple of months ago for under $20, and have used it regularly since. It's essentially just a high-strength plastic sheet with lifting handles embedded in the corners. That's it.

Works like this. Spread the sheet on the ground. Dump a bagful of Quikcrete in the middle. Then you and a partner—I use a skinny teenage daughter—lift up on the handles, and the powder mix tumbles to the low part. Sprinkle in about half the water you need and then shake, shake, shake the CreteSheet by lifting up on the handles alternately.

The concrete tumbles and mixes easily. Add the rest of the water as needed. (Tip: An average bag of concrete mix takes about 1- 1/2 recycled milk jugs of water.) Occasionally kick the bottom of the CreteSheet to uncover dry mix. Then carry the load to your pour site, lift up on two handles and use the sheet lip to spout the mix as it spills out. This portability is handy on hillsides and uneven ground.

Rinse off the CreteSheet. Done, son. Also works for mixing potting soil, sand, compost, stuff like that.

From beginning to final cleanup, the whole thing just takes about two and half minutes.

The CreteSheet, invented by engineer John Shoemaker, received the Popular Mechanics Magazine Editor's Choice Award in 2006, and, as if that weren't enough, an Expert's Choice Award in last year's World of Concrete Exposition in Las Vegas, and an endorsement from the Handyman Club of America.