My little cats...

I'm not getting anywhere, I'm making the blog a dilettante destination but I think I underestimated the length of my vacation, 1 week against the furiously crazy year that just passed was definitely not enough! So I'm going at my own pace, I'm listening to myself a lot, I've got things ready to go, including the famous DIY that you'll be telling me all about! But I think right now I need to take refuge in the calm and gentleness of summer to try and regain my creative energy, and boost my desire to do things! I've got a feeling September is going to be crazy, even a bit crazy in terms of logistics and scheduling, but never mind, I love it when my life goes at 2,000 miles an hour, but not today. Ahah, I need to settle down, to nourish myself with beautiful things. So here I am, still for those who are unfortunately still in the office, and for the Internet addicts who come here from their laptops while on the beach (LACHEZ CE TELEPHONE)... I realize as I write that it's been a long time and that it feels really good to be writing to you! So don't panic, I'm not putting any pressure on myself, I've got some lovely things for you, I'll be back very soon...

All that to say that today I'd like to tell you about a great little address I came across by chance near my home. It's become a bit like my canteen, it's healthy, it's good and it's pretty, what more could you ask for? Oh yes, the price, even though it's not expensive, if that's possible: "Jules & Shim" the Korean picnic. It's just a stone's throw from the canal, at 22 rue des Vinaigriers 75010 Paris, and I'd advise you to take your Bibimbap, a typically Korean dish, which is a mixture of rice, meat, fish or vegetarian with a hint of chilli, mixed together and served to you with a big spoon... It's fresh and healthy, and that's all I could eat at the moment, so I'm sure you'll love it. I've tested for you the cold cucumber soup, delicious, and the matcha/raspberry cake, sublime... Bibimbap from €8.50. Go for it!

And then, of course, I fell in love with this incredible box, which I recovered, cleaned, scanned and vectorized. Here's the pattern for an A4 sheet. Much smaller than the original, you can use it as a travel box to carry your jewelry on vacation... To make this little DIY minute, you'll need..:

  • - Download the pattern here,
  • - a pair of scissors,
  • - a metal ruler,
  • - a small, blunt scalpel.

To begin, print the pattern on Bristol paper, then put the sheet back in the printer to print a design of your choice on the back of your sheet.

 Then use the scissors to cut along the black lines, even inside the black lines. You now have a stylized flower on each side.

Using the ruler and a blunt scalpel, retrace all the dotted lines. I'd recommend a blunt scalpel, because with a brand-new tool you'd risk piercing the paper; here, we just want to mark the edges. Then, between your fingers, pinch the edges on the patterned side.

 Continue marking all the edges, pressing lightly with your finger. Once you've bent all the edges, start forming the box - you'll see, it'll come together on its own. Start gathering all the "petals" towards the center, and bend the corners as shown in the second image.

And TA - DA! Have fun making them in all shapes, sizes and colors, if you're short of gift-wrapping ideas... Don't worry, you'll be seeing a lot of this little box around here.

Edit, I have just received an email from the creators of this box: Aphinitea. I'm sorry I didn't know about their site beforehand, so I'm removing the template from this post. I hope you'll understand, but if you'd like to have such a pretty little box, you can go to Jules et Shim, or order them from the Jules et Shim site.Aphinitea

August 08, 2013