To line pretty paperie or fabric at the back of a shelf creates an inviting backdrop for that shelf space. Designer Matthew Mead replicated the process by lining botanical images on a batch of small boxes and created a fine artistic spectacle!

More on Matthew’s DIY project at Do It Yourself magazine.

Not long ago I received a box of food + sweets, complete with personalised labelling from my cousin and his wife to celebrate the first month of their newborn (a common Chinese practice).

The gift pack is produced by a local company here. As the inner box folds are not glued down, I was naturally encouraged to dissect the box, and I’ve noted down the crucial accents that allow the structure to serve its intended purpose.

On behalf of the newly weds, thank you very much for the well wishes! The wedding took place in an old church and it was a day we all rejoiced and were glad.

As for the favours, I chose the “Love” pouch because I believe in its keepsake potential. (The charming carrier will hold a small gadget/cable/etc.) And the fact that it’s 100% organic cotton had an influence on my decision-making.

Besides the pouch, I also prepared hearts-adorned hand towels which were on sale in a department store, and wedding bell bubbles for the children.

I used a rare + old-fashioned egg basket to house the pouches. The chalkboard frame isn’t a real chalkboard because I didn’t (have to) use chalkboard paint. More on that in time to come.

For the pouch, I took the liberty to add a tinge of pink by painting a heart. This was done by lightly dabbing fabric paint with the help of a stencil made by simply using a heart paper punch on a piece of glossy magazine cutout. A sheet of paper was slipped inside the pouch to prevent bleeding. Later I ironed the print over a pressing cloth.

Each pouch was folded and tied up with ribbon. To spruce up the presentation, I incorporated an origami rose and 2 leaves. I folded some 160 bird base roses and twice that number of leaves to adorn every individual pouch. The tedious part in this entire folding process was curling the “rose petals”, which is most crucial to make them tender and cute. By the time I had finished curling the roses, my fingertips on both hands were too sore to continue the same workout on the leaves. I just trimmed away the spiky edges with scissors.

For the backing, I made mini-tags out of “eco Craft” recycled pulped (though any thick cardstock will do), punched a hole then white-glued the rose + leaves in place.

The square paper size for the rose was about 6.3cm, and 2.5cm for the leaf.

For my bro’s wedding tomorrow, I have folded over 150 paper roses and 2x that amount of paper leaves. Their purpose is to adorn the favours (which I had invited you yesterday to make a wild guess which one I had bought).

Can you tell what kind of origami roses these are? They’re probably one of the fastest to fold.

Will be back next Wednesday (me and my callous fingertips desperately need a post-wedding rest) for the full reveal. Happy weekend!

After clicking through the slideshows on centrepieces at Rachael Ray, I’m feeling very refreshed just replaying their creative ideas in my head.

Such undemanding ways to beautify any table, for any occasion!

After jotting parts 2 and 3, I was wondering if that would be the final trick to lock papers without stapling or clipping. I was hoping it would not.

Some days ago while my mind was somewhat concentrating on a Korean drama on TV, my hands were focused on snipping and folding corners on unwanted papers. My “hard” work paid off – came up with 2 workable* methods. If only they were patentable or worth something.

1. Split the middle

Fold corner, make a slit in the middle and fold each half on opposite directions. I really like this more than this method. Works well on 15 sheets!

2. Slot-in

Fold corner, trim away a small middle portion along the fold. Unfold. Slip the peak into the hole.

* crisp papers work best

[Update: To LH readers, understand that this is something some people out there might have already known but had never cared to blog about it. I beat them to it, that's about all. Also I trust that you should know better not to use any of it on formal documents.]

Recently I found out about another impressive method that is too difficult to forget (however I did forget to bookmark the source).

All it takes is just one cut on one sheet of paper to make a booklet. It may look like an accordion, but it’s not. You’ll see why:

1. Fold half on one side. Fold quarters on the other side.
2. Fold up a quarter. Make a slit in the middle.
3. Bring up the middle portion.
4. Flatten as shown.
5. Gather up.

I’m thinking this could be used as a gift tag, or a kid’s art workbook. And wouldn’t this make a unique writing pad?

Lately my new found alternative to hold 2 or 3 sheets, usually printed articles or clippings of all sorts, is to dab a little glue or paste double-sided tape at the corner of each page. Both ways work out great!

Next I came across this clever tip for making a simple booklet without needing even glue, tape or thread!

The method consists of 2 parts. Here are my jots:

Part 1 (the base): fold paper in half. On the fold, mark out A and B, then cut along the lines. Unfold to reveal gap B. Keep A at least 1cm. I kept B at 0.5cm and could bind up to 10 sheets (excluding the base).

Part 2: fold a new sheet in half and unfold. Make a slit (equal length to A) on opposite sides along the crease. Then insert through the base and rest the slits on the bridge. Repeat to add more pages.

I made a blank notebook with a fancy (and thicker) cover at the front and back. The front is part of the base while the back cover is actually the very first sheet that is inserted (through the base).

[Check out part 3!]

Something I’ve been longing to do is to make a brooch cum hair clip (using one of those handy combo bases) out of an artificial flower, but the right bloom just never seem to surface…until a few months ago.

Having picked up a dress for my cousin’s wedding dinner, I was pondering on matchy accessories, say a humongous floral interest either on the dress or on my head. It was timeliest when I found THE ONE black rose in a florist’s one week before the wedding at only $2.80 a stalk.

The glue I felt should gel both parties just fine was “Perfect Deco” (commonly used for glitter deco crafts) which I use to make some jewelry. And it didn’t disappoint.

So on that wedding night I worn it on my hair. And am regretting that I didn’t snap a picture of my nicely-done-up-hairdo-by-a-makeup-artist-cum-hair-stylist-sponsored-by-my-aunt when my camera was with me all night.

While having tea + toast in Toastbox, a rustic-style cafe, I fell in love with the nifty idea behind the 2-faced menu stand on the table.

Hinge to join at the top.

Screw eyes and a string at the bottom.