Cardboard House

Can you believe these adorable houses are made from cardboard boxes straight out of a pantry. View the full How-To Tutorial HERE!

Button paperclips

These button paperclips will make a lovely bookmark. Simple and clever. All you need is paper clips, buttons and a hot glue gun! Via Bella Dia.

Eggshell Flowerpots

I love this idea by Martha Stewart Crafts that teaches you how to turn egg shells into flower pots. So simple and beautiful. This will make such a meaningful Easter gift that celebrates the hope of new life. If only I had the green fingers to make seeds sprout like this!

Handmade stamps from Nora Jane

Adorable handmade stamps from Nora Jane that you can use to stamp away your own Christmas giftwrap. (via Sweet & Low)

Crafty rooms

I saw these pretty and super organised craft rooms on HGTV. Hope these will inspire you to set aside a little neat corner of your own at home and get those crafty hands moving!

Valentine's Cards

It is that time of the year again! Thought I would also post some lovely Valentine's Day Cards I found recently. Hope they get you inspired to start making something special this Valentines!

(above) Beautiful 'I love you' cards by Debi Van Zyl. (Available at her etsy store)

(above) Printed by hand using antique wood press on eco-friendly sustainably harvested wood veneer by Papermonkeypress.

(above) Downloadable gorgeous V Day cards from Samantha of Maquette. You can download any of the images at full resolution and email them to your sweetheart, print the white-background versions on your home printer, or go to Zazzle and make 5×7 cards out of the color versions (in flickr click on all sizes and download at original size). If you’re feeling green this Valentine’s day, Sam has even suggested printing these on recycled paper or the backs of old cards! Here’s the link to the flickr Valentine’s Day cards set. Thanks Sam!

And again for those earth-friendly folks out there, thought you may be excited to take part in an exciting new contest on craftzine for Valentine's Day called "Recycle Your Heart". This Valentine's Day Card Contest is an opportunity for you to express your true love by creating a card made from recycled materials. You can use and mix any type of material you find and don't need to limit yourself to paper crafts. Just let your imagination run wild. Click here for more details.

Last but not least, click here if you wish to download a giftbag template to hold your pretty presents! Also, don't miss more lovely gift and craft ideas from marthastewart.com.

Botanical bathroom

I love this bathroom with decoupaged prints of botanics seen at acupofjo's blog.

Fifteen fabulous craft ideas

Summer of the "oh-so helpful holiday gift guide" blog called Design is mine has put together Fifteen fabulous craft ideas from around the internet for Christmas. I think it is such a wonderful idea to make, rather than buy, gifts. Do check out her post!

RELISTED! HURRY! Concentric Circles - 2008 Calendar

Wow!! I love these beautiful limited edition calendar by one of my favourite blogger Debi van Zyl. The circles are hand cut and hand assembled. Each calendar is slightly different. I liiike! Really think it is so wonderful that Debi has turned her current (still?) obssesion with concentric circles into something so beautiful and functional!

These calenders were initially sold out but have just been relisted ... it's still limited edition with a total of 50 in all. Debi will be taking pre-orders and will ship no later than December 20th. And for those in the Los Angeles area, Debi will also be selling more of these at the Holiday Gift Bazaar in Santa Monica, CA on November 17.

Liberty of London Swatch Portraits

A reader pointed me to this wonderful link at The Purl Bee. This gallery display was made by filling a handful of simple wooden embroidery hoops with swatches of fabric from Liberty of London. If you're interested in making a similar display of your own Liberty of London collection, do visit their Swatch Portraits Project Journal. Thanks for sharing, Celine and Viv!

Maki Squarepatch

The 2 beautiful sisters, Xin and Enqi, of Maki Squarepatch just told me that they are doing a callout for old and unwanted toys to be recycled for an upcoming exhibition in Nov.

What they need are toys that are stuffed with fibre foam or cotton. They don't have to be in perfect condition just as long as they’re not too dusty. For every medium-sized toy donated, Maki Squarepatch will donate 10 cents to charity.

Collection ends: 9 Nov 2007. Here’s are the details if you would like to contribute to this exciting project with a worthy cause:

Maki Squarepatch is also having a sale at their beautiful new outlet at 111 Emerald Hill. From 12-31 October, you get to enjoy up to 20% off vintage apparel, belts and Maki Squarepatch’s older stock. And for those not in Singapore and would like to own somthing from Maki Squarepatch, you will be happy to know that they are knocking 10% off most items in their online shop.

I love this house!

I am so inspired by the colours and objects in this house. What a wonderful sense of style! The patchwork wall made up of vintage wallpaper is probably my favourite! This would be a wonderful way to jazz up a wall if you have stashes of odd-sized pretty paper and fabric at home. You can even try gluing the pieces on the wall like what they did in this project. (via Happy Cavalier)

Fabric Collages

I love these tactile fabric collages by Samantha Hahn. They are made from scraps of fabric, burlap, toile, string, velvet, silk etc. sewn onto small canvasses. You can check out Samantha's blog here!

Vintage Belt Floor

I saw this beautiful floor mat over at Branch via sub-studio. Designed by London-based Ting, the mat is made up of a bunch of vintage leather belts that are mounted on a backing of reconstituted leather to evoke the look of a wonderfully worn wood floor. oh...I just love the colour and tones of distressed leather. Each mat is one-of-a-kind.

Print your fabric

Want to learn how to print your designs on fabric to personalise your home decor accessories, T shirt, bags etc? Well, this course is for you!

I have been interested in learning more about textiles and printing for the longest time. Was really excited when Imeda told me about this course at NAFA called "Print your fabric". They are starting a new class on Sept 18. The class runs once a week on Tues from 7-9pm. For some reason, this course has already been postponed a few times due to lack of interest. I think it is because people don't know about it.

There are currently 5 people (including me) who have signed up for this course. They need 12 people. So if you know of anyone who might be interested, could you please let them know? Thanks!

Click here for the course outline.

(images above from joom and Patapri)

Book Bags

Check out these book bags made from actual hardcover vintage books from tizrah's etsy shop. So clever and creative! (via Poppytalk)

Paper flowers

I used to make tons of paper flowers when I was growing up. Our school principal had this grand utopic vision of transforming the whole school into a garden of sorts. To achieve this, the entire school (including parents and teachers) was mobilised to make tons of paper bouquets. We had to surrender our paper flowers to our arts and crafts teacher each week for grading and decorating purposes. I somehow forgot all about this, until I saw these beautiful handmade tissue flowers at Martha Stewart Crafts! I really think they are gorgeous and my hands are itching again to make some for my dressing table and a friend who is getting married soon.

If you are interested in learning how to make these, you can actually purchase the starter kits. One is for smaller, delicate tissue flowers, while the other is for larger hanging versions.

Keri Smith

I recently got to know of Keri Smith. Keri is an author/illustrator who does freelance illustration. She has worked for a wide variety of clients worldwide. Some recent big names include The Washington Post, The NewYork Times, Ford Motor Co., and Hallmark. I just love the colours she employs and the freedom she seems to allow herself in her collages.

What I also like about Keri is her openness and honesty in sharing about how challenging it is to be in a creative field sometimes. You should read her "How to feel miserable as an artist", "How to make a living doing what you love" and the heartfelt lecture she gave to high school students on "Letting yourself soar". You will probably be able to appreciate it better if you are in a creative field yourself, or pursuing something you truely love. Practical, humourous and inspiring!

Keri also gives many wonderful ideas on how to stimulate your creativity. Check out 'The Collage Experiment" and " 100 Ideas". I loved 100 ideas so much that I printed the pdf and cut the pieces up to put in a handmade envelope. Will be randomly picking one out to challenge myself when I feel my creativity juice running low!

Fairground Studio

I did a post on the gorgeous patchwork-inspired lampshades by Karen of Fairground Studio some time back. Fairground Studio is currently offering a 10% on all lamps (with stands) to Laissezfaire blog readers. Just email them to order and mention Laissezfaire to get your discount. Thanks Karen!

Le Petite Atelier de Paris

The next time you visit Paris, you have got to check out this pretty shop near the Pompidou Centre called Le Petite Atelier de Paris. Opened in 2005 by 2 designers, this boutique shop has a workshop inside where a series of beautiful items for daily use are conceived and handmade. I just love the raw, pastry-like, quality of the products. How imperfectly perfect!

(via Bloesem)