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BUYABLE:

• Brass number clips for the compulsive organizer in everyone. (£12.50)
• Fabric origami necklaces will dress up even your lamest tee. ($35)
• These unisex beach bags from South Africa are perfectly patterned. ($95)

READABLE:

• Waka Waka's Tumblr is a woodworkin', table-lovin' creative's dream. (The grand piano desk is exceptionally fantastic.)
• Mark Borthwick's "If We're  . . . Continue Reading

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By Rachel Rosen

Transforming the quotidian into the sublime is no small task, but for the four artists featured in MAKE--a new film by local documentarians Scott Ogden and Malcolm Hearn--it's been their life’s work. MAKE is a love letter to the artistic process in its purest form, at a time when we are becoming increasingly estranged from examining the elusive origins of creative impulse.

In the  . . . Continue Reading

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You take the good, you take the bad, you take 'em both and there you have: The facts of life, The facts of life...  

What do Natalie, Jo, Tootie, Blair, and Mrs. Garrett have to do with zucchini? Not a whole lot, but I found myself humming The Facts of Life theme song in my garden recently. It's catchy in the way most 80s TV theme songs were*, and it was relevant to my work  . . . Continue Reading

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There are certain tricks that every ReadyMaker comes to learn as they progress throughout their DIY career. Things like "everything can (and should) be made into a lamp," or "spray paint can solve almost any woe," or "owning a powerful drill/driver is more important than matching bed sheets."

And, in case you haven't heard, the Mason jar is one of the most versatile  . . . Continue Reading

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My friend Claire Chambers is awesome. She's so cool, she actually lives in a town called Cool. Seriously. Anyway, Claire is a great maker of cute stuff, including hundreds of tiny chickens wearing pants and plush robot squids, and writes one of my favorite crafty blogs, Absolutely Small, so I anticipated that her approach to motherhood would be equally  . . . Continue Reading

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Trashed Item Spotted: Ukrainian Village, Chicago

Situation: While taking my usual walk through the alleys with the pup yesterday, I happened upon a wicker bench propped up outside a garage door. It looked like it was in good shape, minus sun fading, and I imagined brightening it up with a coat of bright turquoise spray paint from Montana Gold.

Outcome: My mind changed after  . . . Continue Reading

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ReadyMade is getting in on 30 Days of Creativity—which means we’re making something every day during the month of June! Read more about the initiative here. And check out what we made today:

"I'm a freelance writer, so I have to keep all my receipts for write-offs throughout the year (unless I want to cry while eating a tuna fish sandwich around tax time,  . . . Continue Reading

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I am a fan of pretty much anything that resembles a granola bar, granola, or those nut butter balls that you find at health food stores. Partly I just like the ingredients and partly I like being able to have a snack that is balanced, rather than straight up sweet, that I can carry around with me for when I need a snack. And while store-bought goodies are good in  . . . Continue Reading

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It's midweek, and you know what that means—Wedding Wednesdays is upon us! Have a wedding, or wedding related project, you'd like to share? Send it my way!

Centerpieces can range from simple to extravagant, free-ish to crazy expensive. Today, Camilla of Family Chic shares her Apple Bomb centerpiece for those of us on the lower end of both spectrums—and it's a good reminder that  . . . Continue Reading

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