Heather Smith Jones has been busy making these little hearts for Christmas and she is donating 40% of the profits from the sale of each heart purchased between Oct. 21 – Dec. 15, 2008 to Habitat for Humanity. Please click here to learn more about the organisation, and click here to visit Heather’s etsy boutique.

I love a bit of DIY, don’t you? But let’s face it, DIY can often be a bit tacky, a bit ‘yesterday’, a bit umm, uncool. DIY can also be super complicated and since I’m an impatient little sausage, as well as having the attention span of a goldfish, my choice in DIY is: simple, short, sweet and stylish. So here for you today I’ve gathered a few of what I think are the coolest DIY projects around…

This handmade necklace is more than awesome. Not only is it super stylish and hip, but it is made from old stockings and tights by Lady Smaggle. I found it over at textile and jewellery design student Felicity Gleeson’s blog. Apparently the necklace has been doing the rounds on the web for a few months now, but it’s all new to me so I thought it might be news to some of you too. The how-to instructions are right here.

Grace from Design*Sponge also loves a bit of DIY, and it was through her that I discovered this super cool bird mobile by Spool. It’s the perfect project to use offcuts of fabrics (which I seem to have alot of) and you can keep adding to it with more petits oiseaux over time. You can even handstitch it if you don’t have a sewing machine (mine is sitting in storage in Sydney) and if you make the mobile for a newborn, you can send a new little bird each birthday. For instructions, just click here. Spool is a shop located in Philadelphia, a city I once called home (here’s a shout out to all you Philly birds, I love ya!). So if you live in Philly, go check out Spool, they have heaps of cool fabrics and generally seem like cool people.

And last up is Lena Corwin who is well, pretty swell. Her book Printing By Hand looks a treat and her ‘printed’ dresser project is la classe. It was featured in Etsy’s The Storque recently, you can read how to make it here.

I’ve always been a DIY gal, but with my workload and personal obligations increasing over the last couple of years I’ve slackened off on taking time out to ‘do it myself’. Also moving around the world has slowed the pace of my DIYing no doubt. But along with finding heaps of cool DIY projects on the web while researching for this post I found my own stash of ideas that I have been collecting over time to make into a book (I know I know, one fine day!). It’s funny because when I made the decision to move overseas I had the limited space of just one suitcase, and its situations like those that you realise what is important to you. In my suitcase was not clothes (I showed up all but nude when I first arrived in Paris) but notebooks. All of my notebooks. Filled with my ideas, loose written work, drawings, thoughts, and book concepts. And below is one of the notebook bundles – a pile of notes for a book that I have been working on for years, and look – how serendipitous: they’re bound in yellow…

Anyway, it got me thinking that I should make DIY a feature here in the (blog)house. But since I have just begun the blog favourites feature, I think I will save DIY for 2009. What do you think?

For now, I shall leave you with a few more fabulous DIY projects that I found around the (blog)block:

How cool is this yellow lawn chair by Danna Ray. And also super cool is that with each item purchased, 10 trees will be planted through her partnership with Trees for the Future.
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Handprinted Japanese maple tote bag from Lotta Helleberg – so simple and fresh, her other printed pieces are gorgeous too, check them out here.
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Am loving the creative use of vintage wallpapers these days, and this sketchbook covered with liberty flower vintage wallpaper is beautiful. It’s handmade from draw flowers in Italy.
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Thanks for stopping by for…

I have a theme for this week, perhaps you have guessed it already?

While the rain falls all around me, and the Rijks Museum bells chime, I just caught the last bit of natural light to show you what arrived on my door step last Friday…

Yes, it’s my Autumn swap surprise package of goodies! Can you guess who it was from? It was none other than the organiser herself, Sofia – that über talented gal who I just featured below in my etsy favourites. Sofia’s autumn package is fabulous, so so many treats I didn’t even know where to begin when I opened it up. Well that’s not true, I did know where to begin, and as the above photo shows you, the things I started with are not present and are all but gone…into my belly.

Sofia’s package is filled with delightful things like chocolate (gone), organic cookies (gone), mère poulard buttery biscuits (French Boy’s eyes lit up when he saw the package and he ever so politely asked “Can I please have one?” Who would I be to deny him of such a delicious treat born from his own territory!) (gone), lollies (gone).

Amongst the victual delights were also the following… l’Occitane hand cream and body bar, 2 gorgeous cooking books that I can’t wait to start trying out recipes, some Japanese Green Tea from Le Palais Des Thès, a beautiful notebook from la marelle en papier, postcards of Manon Gignoux, and… drum roll please…

…one of Sofia’s very own handmade brooches , wrapped in a little handstitched paper envelope. I am going to pin it onto my coat tout de suite. Thank you Sofia, for not only these wonderful delights but also for thinking up the idea of an autumn swap and organising it. This time of year for me is hard to swallow – the dark, rainy, cold days which are just normal for some, are not so easy for me having being born in the sun. So I absolutely loved participating – getting to know new bloggers through it, and exchanging gifts and sending them to strangers all over the world. It totally brightened up my autumn days, let’s do it again next year!!

xx

PS I think this will be a bit of a ‘show + tell’ week – I still want to show you the things I bought at the brocante in France (I know, I promised! I haven’t forgotten!), and I have lots of new things in the boat, perhaps I should do a little tour around it and show you my new treasures, what do you think? I also want to show you some things around the web that have caught my eye. Right now I’m going to play some piano. Catch you tomorrow, have a lovely day/evening!

Since we didn’t have an etsy favourite last week, I’m doubling up with my favourites to share with you this week! Starting with an etsy boutique-warming for Sofia with her new shop called l’oiseau rare, filled with her handmade treasures like the gorgeous necklace above. And I already have my first Sofia creation! I will show you in the next post. While you are checking out her new store, stop by her first etsy store too, right here. Happy etsy-warming for your l’oiseau rare boutique-atelier Sofia!
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The butterflies are free from Vol25. So very pretty.
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I love handmade buttons! I love using them on gifts, pillows, and dangling from ribbon. And I found these two etsy ateliers who make super cute wood and ceramic buttons. The wooden ones are made from wenge from the button shop and the white ceramic buttons are from mud puppy.
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This guy’s name is Joaquin. He is a brown fawn and he is made in Germany from etsy seller alberto’s family. He comes in his own little handmade paper bag and I think he would make the perfect gift for a new bub. In fact, I have a few new bubs born here in Europe that I must send gifts to, so if you go to the shop in a moment and see Joaquin and his pals all gone, you know I am the culprit.

UPDATE: I just bought the store out. There is only one left. Sorry guys.
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And last but not least, I think these earrings are a bit darling. They are from oh hello friend and they are only $6.50! While my ears would love me more for those darling danglies, my shoulders and neck would love me more for this mohair warmer, handknitted by French etsy seller tortilla girl.
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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s installment of…

I think next week I am going to start looking at Christmas decorations – I am rather picky when it comes to Christmas decorations and such (I’d rather an empty tree than a badly decorated one!), but I have started a rather lovely collection of etsy (and non etsy) favourites: handmade and über stylish Christmas treats for your home. The one thing I really have had trouble finding is Christmas stockings, so if anyone out there makes super stylish Christmas stockings, do let me know!

xx