Kate Spade ain’t got nothing on us. With Elemental Threads’ line of customizable purses, day clutches, and totes, we are the master of our own design destiny. Choose between dozens of patterns, from paisleys to Geisha girls, to cover your bag. You can even choose from linings, handles, etc., right on down to the type of fastening button. Maybe it’s because the concept of these do-it-yourself designer items is, well, DIY that keeps the cost down. Either way, we already feel like Louis Vuitton’s successor.

A few weeks ago we told you about a little competition Grace over at D*S was having for all of you shelter magazine obsessed DIYers. Now the time has come to vote! Our personal favorites are the newspaper subscription table (our coffee table is 90% Sunday New York Times anyway), Baby Doll Coat Rack (hang your jackets; disturb your dinner guests), and Suzanne’s creepy wooded wall mural (who doesn’t love the classic children’s bedtime story, Sleepy Hollow?). But, the choice is up to you. Get to voting!

We know there’s a bunch of you out there, just waiting for an excuse to bust out your electric drills and saws in the name of DIY hackage. Grace over at D*S (as well as the fine folks at 2Modern) are giving you a bigger incentive to do so: the 2008 D*S DIY Design Contest. Anything — furniture, decoration and beyond — is welcome, as long as it’s for the home (that means no fashion or accessories this year) with the grand prize offering a $500 gift certificate and $150 and other prizes scale down, accordingly. Entries are due in by March 2nd, with voting commencing on March 3rd running through the 9th. All the details are available over on the contest page. Good luck!

Publishing is a little less entry-friendly in Brazil, I’ve observed. You can already have a decent amount of money from other sources so costs become no object, get picked up by only a handful of publishers or rather approach things in DIY style, the latter of which has inspired a small treasure trove of fashion and art magazines. But DIY publishing, if you want to take it to the art form that it can be, can benefit from a helping hand, especially if you don’t have the resources to produce. Publishers taking on secondary roles of advisers and arbiters, Sao Paulo’s Editora Organiza just opened their doors for business to help zine and mini-book authors bring their projects to fruition. The duo running the company boast graphic design experience for major magazines in Brazil and print using silkscreen and photocopying machines — two devices common but not always accessible to the public at large. As part of the company’s inauguration, they’re holding walk-in appointments for anyone interested in discussing their projects and already have created a beautiful sample pack to show what can be capable with their involvement. Those who live in Sao Paulo should hit up their website for more info on times and their location; who knows, the next Punk Planet could be ready to be born.

Vinyltoys Templates is a website that compiles the plans (blueprints?) for a wide variety of vinyl toys from manufacturers that span the alphabet from All City Style to Woodentoy. There are currently about 40 templates up for your downloading and hacking pleasure, with more to come. In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that the information you will find on Vinyltoys Templates means absolutely nothing to this writer. I don’t know much about vinyl toys, nor do I know how to work with vinyl in any sort of artistic way (though I do believe I’ve done a good job of sitting on some vinyl car seats in my day…minus the sliding that takes place during sharp curves). But none of my shortcomings should stop any of you vinylphiles out there from getting high off the fumes and creativity involved in your hobby. If it’s your bag, consider this site your new best friend.

I’m a total dunce at graphic design. I can write about it, but heck if i know which option I should pick in order to shade or shadow. But with the help of the online tool Paper Critters, anyone with C-level design skills can pretty convincingly fake their way through the design of a pro-looking, standing paper toy creature that stands *almost* right up there with Furni’s Big Chief. It’s all in the application; you’re supplied with different tools used to decorate your critter, like shapes, thematic stencils that range from “cute” to “rebel” — good for those of us who can’t even draw a straight line to save our lives — a palette of colors, as well as the option to incorporate an uploaded image from your hard drive. But the best is the end result; when you’re finished, you print out your little bad-ass, fold and glue him together, and wait for office workers to think you’re keeping your secret talent on the DL.

Related: SpeakerDog

This week has seen some serious life changes for me, most notably the purchase of a new MacBook, marking the end of a three-year run with my beloved Powerbook , and signing a lease on my very own one-bedroom apartment (with a walk-in closet! And full kitchen! And a back yard!) in Brooklyn. I guess this places me in the “big girl” category” now, and naturally has me focused on one thing: furnishing my new digs. Once upon a time I would have done an IKEA run & dump, but editing this site along with years of retail merchandising for various design and organization companies have made me a little uh, snobbish refined my tastes considerably. It’s not that I don’t love me some IKEA — what apartment is complete without a bookcase whose construction makes you borderline suicidal? — but I’m just kind of past the generic dorm-roominess of it. Some people get creative and hack theirs up, and others take cues from the flat-pack system and create their own.

The Emergency Stool 5 is a laser-cut piece of baltic birch plywood which breaks apart to create a stool or a side table in, dare I pun, a snap. The instructions are etched on top of the stool, eliminating the need for paper instructions. A far better conversation piece than one that starts with “So, I got the bloody thing home from Elizabeth, New Jersey, and it had no allen key in it…”

Via NotCot

I have a sad obsession with DIY hacks and, if I had any motivation or attention-span to create my own instead of ripping off stuff I find in Readymade, I may very well have found myself in the Etsy field instead of new media. I had come home from a pre-birthday celebration last week with a beautiful bunch of roses, and in my semi-intoxicated state managed to strip the stems and vase them, but left the leaves and offcuts all over our kitchen counter before I passed out. When I woke up the next morning, my roommate told me she hadn’t cleaned it up because she thought it was another one of my little “projects.”

I didn’t think it was that out of control.

In any case, I just saw that Furni is having a contest through September, wherein they want you to purchase one of their clock kits and hack your own timepiece. The prize? A spot in their next collection, of course. Immediately I thought of ripping off my good friend Eric’s blender lamp, then realized that I’m an idiot because that’s a lamp, and not a clock. Whatever! Go ahead and score yourself a kit, get busy and after you’re done sending them photos of your entry, send them to me…because I’m all about stealing your ideas and passing them off as my own.

Related: Furni’s Artist Clock Auction

For all of you kid-loving DIY-ers out there, Nicola Enrico Stäubli, a Swiss-based architect (and bike messenger), has created a line of free children’s furniture called Foldschool. The catch: you have to build it yourself using cardboard, some simple implements, and Nicola’s printable instructions. The first thing you think of when you hear the phrase “cardboard furniture” is probably “unstable” or “ugly,” but it appears that Foldschool is neither of those things. While its not furniture I’d furnish my house with, I think it would be fun to build with kids to show them that they can build (or help build) something tangible and usable in their own lives. And when you and the kids are done with the piece, you can snap a photo of it and send it to Nicola and he’ll upload it to the website for all to see.

Eric at Modern Self just made a great post about how to craft an arty LED Lightbox all by yourself (mommy will be proud). While I haven’t experimented with any sort of illuminated art in my own house, I can definitely see the draw. It allows you to create a bright and unique focal point in any room you need one. The basic materials for this project were a Ribba frame and Trettioen LED light strips from IKEA. While it took Eric and friends a good amount of time to complete the project, you should have a quicker and easier time with it thanks to Modern Self’s thorough directions. It’s nice to know that for well under $100 and a little craftsmanship, you can create a piece of art for your place that will have everyone asking “how’d you do that?”

Ever wanted to design a UniPo? One of those cute little toys the guys over at UNKL have basically become world famous from? Now is your chance– use there product template (download here), submit it via email or snail mail and cross your fingers. They’ll be picking their favorite submissions for a full production run– you’ll get a case of 20 to enjoy and they’ll spread your Unipo all over the world. The due date is March 9th, 2007– so get cracking.

Great clock made from the display of an old taxi meter– the buttons set time as well as switch the display between time, date and temperature. Add a nice wood finish and voila, a one of a kind taxi meter clock. Check out some more pictures and the other awesome clocks at decny. Anyone know where to find old taxi parts like this? What a fabulous idea. Via MAKE

Readymechs are free flat pack toys that you can easily print (and very carefully) build. All the toys are designed to fit on a regular 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper and printed with any printer– obviously the nicer the printer (and paper), the better the toy. Every toy can be assembled with double sided tape, matte paper, and 10-15 minutes of extreme origami like patience. This tentaclopse by Fwis is one of my favorites, but the entire new 002 series are adorable.

Easily the most refreshing DIY iPod case we’ve seen in a while– from a user who goes by the name of Izatchu on Flickr. Especially good for high-school kids who aren’t allowed to have iPods in school (not sure how I would have made it through school without one). This case is so Bond. Bonus if you use an old textbook, double bonus points if you use a bible. Via DIY: Happy

Our pal Aaron Tang (aka Tango!) has a nice little DIY post about his signature paint chip card holders– a must have hand-made accessory for designers needing to show off their chosen profession, not to mention help them remember the difference between Feldspar and June Vision green (or whatever other sample color you choose to use). Good instructions for some rainy day project fun.