Antlers: Transformed

I just love these dip-dyed antlers, designed by Cassandra Smith, owner of the Etsy Boutique - one of my favs.  I wonder where I can find an antler around Vancouver? hmm...

Upcycle: Vintage Suitcase

Ok, so I might be a little overly excited about this one... but for good reason!  Here are some examples of how people have been upcycling (repurposing) retired vintage suitcases into pet-beds, bathroom vanities, ottomans, dressers, chairs, and tables. Just purchase a vintage suitcase from a thrift store, find some matching fabric (Dressew is the go-to in Vancouver),  and follow these simple instructions, which are specifically for the pet bed, but the instructions are fairly interchangeable. Stay tuned for photos of MY upcycled suitcase which I'll be posting after the Christmas holidays.
 

Images were borrowed from trendhunter.com and Google Search.

I'm QooQoo for this collection

Latvian-born designer, Alyona Bauska has successfully incorporated graphic design elements into her winter/fall 2011-2012 line, DOG.  The outstanding designer asked her TWITTER followers to send in photographs of their pet-dogs which were then used as inspiration for the patterns seen on the stalkings, dresses, boots and bags. Her collection is bright, bold, and pretty- and falls under the "tribal" category which has emerged as a fashion "must" for 20111-2012. The price range for this collection is approximately $65-160, you can check out the online store here.  P.S How cute are those stalkings with the Bear-heads on the knees? Ahhh!

Recycled Furniture- It's a CRATE idea!

The more I learn about design, the more interested I become in putting recycled materials to good use. A perfect example of this is the Upcycled [Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value. Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which is the other half of the recycling process. Downcycling involves converting materials and products into new materials of lesser quality. Most recycling involves converting or extracting useful materials from a product and creating a different product or material -wikipedia] Commercial Crates designed and produced by Made, a company based in the UK.  They have taken old crates and converted them into beautiful tables. The crates undergo an initial sandblasting before they're finished with a golden brown wax. It's a very do-able project and and costs next to nothing to make.  We currently have an old steamer trunk as the coffee table in our apartment and we just love it! it's great for storage and looks amazing. If I had more space to work with I'd definitely be on the look-out for an old milk crate. It would give me an excuse to live on Craigslist for a while :)