Dear ada posted on this amazing centerpiece made with fake birds. You could do something similar with some branches and fake birds from Pearl River Mart, which cost between $14.00 to $30.00 for a dozen. You could also make your own felted birds, but it looks tricky. Incidentally, the centerpiece’s creator, Abbey H., writes Aesthetic Outburst, a blog overflowing with vintage and handmade inspiration. Definitely one to bookmark.

I love the Design*Sponge d.i.y. series, which premiered with these wine crate display boxes (left). Every project looks both stylish and doable. The series’ authors also run the excellent Curiosity Shoppe, which I profiled last May, and also worked with Todd Oldham and ReadyMade magazine.

Finally, Bloesem found a nice revamp idea involving a lamp shade and an old calendar.

Some D.I.Y. projects for the weekend:

• Craftzine found some cool cardboard artwork. The painted versions are even more striking.
• Lifehacker uncovered a tutorial for this origami paper lamp.
• Shelterrific has a great idea for a showerhead.
• New design blog Have Degree, Will Travel uncovered these tatebanko kits (aka kumiage-e, or Japanese paper dioramas). The kits are affordable at $10.00 each, or you can apply the concept to any number of paintings.

For more D.I.Y. inspiration, check out the archives.

Left to right: YSL Resort 08; Jason Wu for Teen Vogue; Hilary Laing.

Another popular fashion DIY project right now is the painted dress. You’ve got plenty of options: the abstract expressionist approach of YSL’s Resort 08 collection, the impressionist style of Jason Wu & Susie Bubble, or the crayon scribbles of Hilary Laing & Lacquer.

Lee Min Ki in Dal Ja’s Spring.

Two other styles occurred to me, however: metallic paint on something dark & textured (like the above sweater ), and reverse painting with bleach. For the former, just buy some metallic fabric paint. If you’re interested in the latter, Threads has an awesome guide to decorating with bleach; for something more controlled, you could get a bleach pen and do something like this Bluelines dress revamp.

Some fashion D.I.Y. links:

• How to make earrings from heavy lace.

• A free Yohji Yamamoto pattern.

• Mark Stevens-Ellis does amazing things with buttons, but you can’t find his work in the U.S. So…

• Mike Gonzales of Mike & Chris did a 40-minute hoodie hack for the L.A.Times.

• A petticoat tutorial (beware the eye-warping background).

• Lacquer does her own take on Malene Birger.

• I actually like this Lotus Blossom Tank for fall (perhaps in red?).

The Coveted just did a post on eye adornment, inspired by Isabella Blow’s butterfly eye mask. I love the look–it completely transforms the face into something other. Then I remembered: a few weeks earlier, I’d found a Craftster tutorial for that very thing (left). In this case, the brilliant poster used fake flowers; you could easily substitute butterfly wings, if the spirit took you.