this gorgeous little guy stole our hearts during our visit to bon ton last year – we would always find him in the funniest places around the resort.
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I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed my last post with all the photos, thanks for so many fab comments. It truly is a magical place, I can’t wait to go back.

As promised, here are all the wonderful details to the LASSie (aka Langkawi Animal Shelter & Sanctuary Foundation) creative retail project I mentioned. I’m so excited to be able to share this with you…

So, the team at LASSie have decided to put together a special brand of creative wares in collaboration with designers, artists and supporters from around the world.

Each product will be attributed to the person who designed and made it,  for example: LASSie by Carolyn, or LASSie by Sophie, or LASSie by Jose, or LASSie by Pia… and so on… That means each designer will receive recognition for their contribution. The aim is to assemble up to 100 exclusive items which will be sold through all LASSie boutiques in Penang & Langkawi, in Malaysia. These products will also be available for purchase at cost price by all shelters/ SPCAs in Malaysia  &  sold through their own shops. There will be curated exhibitions organised featuring the artists impressions of dogs,  cats & animal welfare through out the year with various art galleries. And there is also talk of an online boutique to be launched so the items can be purchased worldwide.

The products can be absolutely anything – so whether you are a jeweler, woodworker, ceramicist, photographer, painter, textile designer, fashion designer, soft toy creator – whatever your passion, you can use it to make something wonderful. And it doesn’t have to be animal-themed  – just beautiful, original, inspiring.

There will be a design committee who will be carefully considering all product entries, with chosen products being selected and ordered by late march for delivery of end of June 2011.

Please note: all products suggested will be considered but not all will be chosen for the final LASSie range.

beautiful paintings for LASSie by a local artist

Register your interest by emailing the LASSie foundation with your product suggestions, sketches and price by February 28th, 2011. The design committee will consider all products and respond by email by 15^th March 2011.

It’s such a fabulous opportunity to design something exclusive for a great cause.  Time to get our collective creative thinking caps on… any ideas? the inspiration is endless…

xx

For more information on the LASSie creative retail project, please click here.

This morning I woke up to find this magical creation in my inbox,  created by the ever-inspiring Nathalie Lete. With it she wrote…

je vous envoie mon petit magicien pour faire de 2011 une année (du lapin) magique!!
(i send you my little magician to make  you a magic year(of the rabbit)! !)

Love it. Thank you for being such an inspiration dear Nathalie, here’s hoping for a magical year for everyone.

xx

Leslie has just uploaded her latest creations onto her website.  I have been ‘in the know’ about these new pieces for some time and as you can imagine, I’ve been dying to show you. So here they are for you, in the (blog)house, making their debut into the big wide web world. First up are these stunning myriad necklaces which I am completely in love with, you can see why…

Each necklace tells its own story through the unique combination of time worn oil paintings exhibited on thick timber discs. Linked by natural cord, each disc can be turned to display a different part of a painting, allowing the wearer to create a multitude of variations that reflect their outfit du jour and current state of mind. Click here for more info and more images.

And then, as if they weren’t already enough to satisfy our Swarm cravings, there are these gorgeous motif necklaces…

They are made from vintage brass stencils –  each stencil design has been made by hand and in this particular series, each design displays an exquisite leaf motif. There are only eight available in this series (actually seven, because one, um, is already sold to… me).

The other day I was visiting Hilde at Atelier Tempel (page 153 in Amsterdam: Made by Hand) and saw these little egg cosies she had just made which I thought were utterly gorgeous. On top of each one there is a bird with the corresponding egg on the front. What a brilliant gift for the holiday season. Although they are not on Hilde’s website yet, you can email or call her to purchase them – her contact details are here.

all photographs courtesy of little ocean annie.

The little winter market in Portland, Oregon was this past weekend.  Created by chelsea and abby, this sweet handmade market included loads of my favourite people/bloggers/designers/creatives – herriott grace, mossière, cori kindred, to name but a few, I would have loved to have been there, no doubt I would have bought up a storm.  There is a great post about it by little ocean annie (click here), and there are more photos from the event on flickr.