CREATIVE SOLUTION | If you’re looking for an easy, dramatic and glamorous way to wrap a very special gift, nothing has the power to bedazzle like ordinary window screen and wire. Read more
Regular hardware store metal window screening, with its nostalgic cottage connotations, has obvious uses—and some that are less apparent. Here I’ve folded it into holders for votive candles that are straightforward to make. Read more
THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | When you have large numbers of magazines, quick reference is not always easy. The standard way to keep periodicals organized is to store them in magazine file boxes, but these containers, which are often made of flimsy cardboard, hold only a minimal number of copies. As your magazine collection grows, so does your need for file boxes, which can end up looking like an unattractive, mashed-up mess when you can’t find more to match the style you started out with.
Faced with this very problem awhile back, I came up with a flexible yet consistent-looking way to sort and store my favourite mags. Read more
THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | When my gaze fell on this cheeky little chair in a friend’s home office, I had to laugh. It was the unexpected choice of fabric, I suppose. Never intended to be a serious design statement, the chair seemed to represent many people’s working lives today, where the comforts of personal style meet stark office severity head on. It’s what I like to call the “cottage industry look.” Read more
CREATIVE SOLUTION | It may not be the biggest problem of our time, but how do you keep a bar of soap from turning into sludge—or sliding all over the place? Read more
CREATIVE SOLUTION | We’ve all seen dried or preserved foliage—tired, dusty, brittle arrangements begging to thrown out. Preserving leaves in glycerin not only keeps them supple but makes them as tough as leather. Keep a bunch on hand for ready bookmarks or, if you now read all your novels on an electronic device, label them with metallic ink to use as place cards or gift tags. Read more
If you are planning a summer dinner party and want to decorate the table in a way that’s fresh and easy, here’s a spin on the current penchant for using formal table arrangements made of single flower variety in a single colour packed tightly into a vase. Read more
THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | When you think of craft projects involving driftwood, does your mind meander back to the mid-1970s and wall hangings made of macramé and driftwood? Where 70s-style craft projects tended to be hippie-like and folksy, the current spin is toward Zen-like minimalism. Materials are organic and weathered, but shapes are defined and graphic, together evoking a calm, spiritual quality. In a word: elemental. These candleholders are my nod to the return of organic. Read more
CREATIVE SOLUTION | The first thing that comes to mind when I think of photo transfers is the unoriginal projects first year art students have to do. But one day, while I was making some photocopies, I thought about how transferring images onto ready-made mini-canvasses from an art supply store would leave them with an impression that looks painted on but without the brushstrokes. Photocopy transferring, I subsequently learned, can turn any snapshot into art. Read more
CREATIVE SOLUTION | I was never a big fan of anything stencilled until I tried stenciling on sheer fabric. Printed sheers are fashionable, make great curtains and are easy to customize on your own. Read more