Halloween Lantern Project

Each year, millions of households around the world, carve scary faces into shop bought pumpkins and then place them in their windows and on their doorsteps as part of their Halloween decorations.

From the distinctly traditional...

Image: Woodward Design

Image: Puzzle-Games

Security Envelope Project(s)

Image: Eco_Monster

Security envelopes hold our lives in the balance.

When the post arrives, we are greeted with one envelope giving us money, or at least telling us that in theory we have money, but not for long - because the next envelope will take it away from us in the form of a bill or bank charge.

It's ebb and flow. It's yin and yang. It's Russian roulette with window pane envelopes.

More importantly, it's a total waste of paper.

Build Your Own Office Organizer* Project

*As much as I would love to begin this post by leaping into the world of science and lay out plans, schematics and diagrams for building your own robot to aid you with the organization of your office and life, this task, much like having to 'build your own' robot, effectively rest with your very own capable hands. 

Also, it's just made from a cereal box. So there's that!

Image: A Little Hut

With shops like Staples, Ikea, Tiger and what appears to be the Daddy of them all The Container Store, being disorganized looks to be a thing of the past. 

Piggy Bank Project

Image: the little red house

Is 1985's chart topping hit,  "Money's Too Tight (to Mention)", a frighteningly accurate prophesy of the economic climate, or is it simply just an obvious reminder that all this has happened before and all this will happen again*.

Either way, it's time to save our pennies and this little projects, from the little red house, which utilizes recycled newspapers and discarded egg cartons, will help you do just that.

Lamp Shade Project #3

Image: Under The Sycamore Tree

Lets look at the rule of 3.

Good things come in 3's - as do the bad. Films, books and plays have a 3 act structure. You could be 3 sheets to the wind or as phony as a 3 dollar bill. It is always: Ready, Steady, Go and after 3 strikes, you're out. Art and photography use the rule of 3rds and any novice interior designer will gabble profusely on the benefits of grouping in 3's. Goldilocks offended and annoyed 3 bears and there were 3 blind mice, 3 wise men and 3 little pigs.

In short, 3 is the magic number. 

DIY Jet Pack Project

Image: Doodle Craft

The three greatest words any child needs to hear should be - 'I love you', but I'm pretty sure most of them (well mostly boys, probably) would easily swap them for  - 'homemade jet pack.'

If you have a young kid in your family, plus a few recycled soda bottles, then this incredibly creative idea from Doodle Craft will propel your once measly status of older brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle, or grandparent into & beyond the stratospheric position of  'coolest older brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle or grandparent ever'.

Lamp Shade Project #2

Image: demilked

Continuing my quest for the perfect lamp shade, I have discovered the designer Edward Chew, who makes these stunning lamp shades from discarded tetra box drinks cartons. The design is an incredible example of how a waste product can be re-purposed into something that's amazingly funky and looks like a disco ball light for the 21st Century - and lets face it, who doesn't love disco balls?

Homemade Art Supplies Project

Images: Chalk - minieco, Watercolour - Oh My!, Glue - minieco, Clay - Etsy{New York} Street Team

The kids are back in school.

That means your child will need to get pens and pencils and pencil sharpeners and rulers and erasers and pencil cases and folders and copy books and school books and a school bag and a lunch box and a school uniform plus a hundred and one other things, adorned with either Spiderman, Batman, Peppa Pig, Thomas the Tank, The Hulk, Dora the Explorer or Hello Kitty that magically, will somehow make your kid, in their own mind at least, amazingly cool to all of their other classmates, and for you, there is the added bonus of a headache in trying to achieve that impossible task.

Lamp Shade Project #1

Image: Lowe's Creative Ideas

They say the key to good design is the marriage of the old with the new, and so in my search for a funky lamp shade for a great but old fashioned floor lamp in the corner of our room, I have stumbled upon some weird and wonderful ideas, amongst the nooks and crannies of the Internet - some of which I will share on these pages over the next few weeks, hence the #1 in the title of this post.

And so on with the first.

(Tangle Free) String Wrapped Earphone Project

Images: Pinterest

Most of us are familiar with the story of the king and the poisoned well.

Everybody in a town, except the ruling king, drink from a poisoned well which was the only water supply. They all go mad and think the king is acting strange and unfit to rule. As they begin a rebellion, the king drinks the water and joins them in their madness. The people rejoice, for their king has regained his reason.

There have been a number of times that I've tried my best to avoid 'drinking from the well' but sadly, certain situations dictate that I must at least dip my toes in it from time to time.