A DIY project that gives you two presents in one.

This little DIY tale starts off with a little suitcase found at a garage sale. I picked out the suitcase because of its tattered appearance and would have bought it empty. To my surprise, it was filled with someone’s old leather crafts; straps of leather and metal tools with projects started but not finished. “Love at first sight,” my heart sang. I paid a few bucks and took it home. There I enlisted help from my two best friends and this is what we made.

With the holidays around the corner, this is the rare kind of perfect project that will make your friends and family feel special. It’s two presents in one: the leather candle wrap can be worn as a bracelet when the candle melts down.

Let me show you how it’s done.

The suitcase had some letter stamping tools along with the leather. If you don’t run across a kit at a garage sale, don’t despair; you can purchase these items online.

First, stamp the word you would like onto the leather. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit crooked; as grandparents say, “it adds character.” Then rub a bit of shoe polish on it so the words stand out. We tried rubbing gold paint on one and turned out fantastic.

Punch holes on the sides and string a leather strap onto it. (Also available online.)

Next we adorned the leather with some beads and feathers raided from an old pair of earrings.

Don’t you love?

One more idea for you. When your candle has been used up, try recycling it into another candle.

Shave off the dirt with a kitchen peeler or just cut it off. Melt your candles in the microwave on a microwave safe dish. I put it on high two minutes at a time. Put a wick in a carved out pumpkin and pour in the melted wax.

Simply lovely.

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Can a hip bag ever be a hip bag? I can’t help but raise the question since they keep showing up. Years peacefully pass and then, oh! There’s another fanny pack, I mean hip bag.

My first hip bag was a navy nylon number I wore while trudging through Europe with a backpack and Eurail pass. It was a safe spot for my passport, but try making a quick, sanitary stop in a public restroom with one of those clamped around your waist.

Then Gucci came out with one a few years back and cleverly called it their “belt bag”. I spotted quite a few around town – then poof, they were gone.

But here they are again, this time in a practical, clever version at Etsy. Australia-based Happy Cow makes hip bags in all shapes and sizes using leftover leather scraps sourced from furniture manufacturers.

Check out the Waist Pack ($60) with plenty of pockets for all your stuff. It’s not just for traveling. The Hip Bag ($70) is the latest, greatest version from Happy Cow. It fits through normal pant belt loops (for guys), or loose around the waist (for girls). Might I go out on a limb and consider it somewhat stylish?

I need to hear from you, my fellow fashionistas, to decide once and for all. It’s helpful, but is it hot?

Just don’t call it a fanny pack.

– via Design Milk

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A company born of passion, based on the concept of upcycle rather than brand new, reMade USA makes handbags that hit the eco target.

The San Francisco-based company creates one-of-a-kind stylish, sophisticated bags out of recycled leather jackets and scrap materials sourced from thrift stores and car and furniture upholstery companies. They also accept donations from anyone with unwanted leather lying around the house.

Their current designs are roomy, with plenty of pockets, and are lined with lovely, colorful vintage scarves. Soft and super stylish, these bags cost hundreds less than your logo-labeled luxury bags. And they’re oh-so-eco.

Check out the Mission with its Chanel-like lining (image above) for $325, or the brick red Potrero (top image), available for $295.

See a style you like that’s sold out? Just send reMade your own much-loved and often-worn but outdated leather jacket and they’ll turn it into the design of your choice.

Watch a slide show of the reMade process that starts with a leather jacket. I’m not a seamstress, but for those of you with a knack for it, I bet you could even DIY.

reMade isn’t just another purveyor of eco purses. They live and breathe what they practice and preach. reMade is also a member of The Designers Accord.

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Noted Bay Area artist Joan Elan Davis is still working her magic with flowers – but this time she has moved them off the canvas and planted them skillfully onto the wrist. At least that is where they pop and bloom when you buckle on one of her new cuffs introduced for spring 2009. Aren’t they the grooviest? I love the marriage of the elements she has employed.

The retooled leather straps are adorned with found floral forms and other objects that ooze a 70s sensibility, evoking the spirit of those mod wide watches with changeable snapping bands. Mine were patent leather!

In turning to jewelry, Davis took her cue from her wildflower series of paintings now hanging at the Ritz Carlton, Lake Tahoe, and in other prestigious private collections. Adding sparkle are the vintage gems and stones that are tossed into the interesting asymmetrical designs.

“The colorful mix of found objects was inspired by the coming of spring, a time of rebirth and renewal for all of us,” the painter told me.

Davis, who has studios in Tahoe and at the San Francisco design center (across the street from Showplace Square) is known for bold canvases and works on paper like her “power flower” studies in which she expands tiny elements of nature into grand proportions, allowing us a bird’s eye view of what we often take for granted.

In recent years, she moved into the interior design district of San Francisco to collaborate with furniture showrooms like McGuire, which featured her abstract and floral works as backdrop for its modern rattan furnishings earlier this year.

“Designers are creative people who enjoy working with color and style,” Davis observes. “Great creativity goes into designing a home. It’s a real pleasure to be part of that process.”

The one-of-a-kind art cuffs, $50, will be available in April at Joan Davis Art Studios.

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