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It took me some time to post this little Helsinki City guide since my teaserbut it's because I needed to process this trip that changed my habits much more than what I had expected. Let me tell you, it is the middle of August in Paris, a beautiful weather and we decided, Mai and I, to grant ourselves with a little break from our studious summer. We land, the weather is terrible, it's raining all the time and everybody apologizes for it!

We will learn later that there were only 4 days of rain during the summer in Helsinki and well, they were for us, out of our 6 days trip! Ha ha so it's in the rain (I'm definitively doomed but I'll come to that later) that we discovered this city and, well it was quite exotic because at first it wasn't easy to plan something into an overcast city, to learn how to love a city in the rain isn't obvious.

Days flew and Mai and I laughed so much, this girl really is a living antidepressant. We met awesome caring people so full of talents. We saw crazy things and I'm thinking about the Marimekko factory that remains my memory number one and the house of the architect Alvar Aalto.

This city made me want to do things, to throw myself into colors, and to get to the point. And one important thing is that we eat well! I still didn't get over it. Organic is like a second nature there, local culture, very fresh and healthy food, responsible cooking are the key words of this town! I rarely enjoyed eating fresh and simple food so much. As if flavor and taste were tenfold.

Today getting back to this trip, and making this little notebook; I realized that this destination allowed me to understand how to travel differently, how to enjoy real, essential and less immediate things such as inspiration: doing good to your soul (so important) and discovering another way of eating and consuming: doing good to your body (sauna is a basis there!)

Now I want to go back to see the northern lights...

As you might guess, last week was a little overwhelming but I'm back with special pictures.

I was caught with an amazing job and hundreds of applications I've received (I try to answer to everybody so it is very time-consuming). But it is for a good cause, so I can have more time afterwards, and I also went to London for a couple of days and it blew my mind as usual. But this time I came back more motivated than ever, decided to give myself the means of realizing everything that is going on inside my head (and God knows it's a lot!) and to make this website a "war machine".

Since this weekend I prepare, I plan, I note everything, I make flash cards as if I was 17 and revising for my exams. As a matter of fact it did work at the time so I'm thinking that setting goals and planning things shouldn't be prejudicial. This is how on Saturday, freshly back home, I planned my posts, my editorial line and other life mission until january 2014. Everything is fine, I'm not crazy. Well, I'm still giving myself a little leeway in case some crazy creative flash comes in.

But there are so many DIY I want to make that I have no fear for blank page, or I should say blank post. I am here! I'm motivated, and regarding the "Make love not war" DIY, templates are online and the name of the winner is at the end of the post!

And I talk, I talk and I don't even tell you about the most important thing! These pictures, these " tangram food ", I made them last September while taking pictures for Sézaneand during that day I had rented photo equipment and I thought it was too bad not to use it a little bit more. So I organized myself another little shoot where I tried light, a more professional shot and I had the best time. So these are not salad recipes (even though that would be a great idea of presentation...), there are simply inspiration pictures that will please you I hope on this monday morning...

As for me on this blue monday I want an office, the "Lemonade Studio", a place where I could always have some photo equipment out, to make nice and clean shots as soon as the need takes me, a place where I could organize workshops... Ah my dream, but not so unrealistic after all! So today, if you're a real estate agent, a property manager or a janitor, and if you're willing to help me, contact me!

Sweet kisses, Lisa Banana, and rendez-vous tomorrow for my city guide HELSINKI HONEY.

I'm writing to you today because I'm barely back from my holidays and I have to be realistic, if I want to keep doing everything: my work, books, workshops and of course, the blog, with as much passion and love, well I am going to need more time, more neurons, more hands... 

So if you're looking for an internship, if you are more than 18 years old, if you're in the Paris area, if you know how to use a camera a little, if you're not scared by Photoshop, if you want to eat the world, if you're good with your 10 fingers, if you're over motivated and organized, if most importantly you have an intern agreement and if exploring the field of creation is one of your leitmotiv, send me your application (resume and cover letter). 

Together we can work on design, set design, windows but also edition, some computer science and management... A true little company, and it'd be a paid internship. 

I'm waiting to hear from you at [email protected]

And here is the last post of these two theme weeks! I hope you enjoyed it... Anyway I had a lot of fun making them and it made me want to prepare other special weeks as complete as these, to meet people, to follow leads, to make inspiration boards etc... To explore new paths! Here really is my playground and I love discovering it again every time I have such wonderful feedbacks from you, so to thank you I'd like to have you win this DIY!

A flower week wouldn't be without some flower power! So to tell you the story I had this saddle bag sent by Rock Mafia in April and Elise and Charlotte, the designers of the brand, asked me to imagine a DIY customizing their emblematic model: the US army saddle bag. I had just made a post where I was customizing a leather bag without damaging it too much, I didn't want to make two posts alike at the same period so I gave it some time... I have to admit I am a girl that takes her time, or I should say that lets time do the rest and waits for the inspiration to come, there are some things that you cannot force.

Then at the beginning I wanted to cover a mini skirt in flowers (well as a matter of fact it is completely possible to do it on the same basis) then my look went on this ARMY saddle bag... EUREKA make love not war, it was perfect.

And a significant little bonus: you can win this flowery saddle bag by telling me an anecdote about yourself. This time tell me how you do to get inspiration? Do you go out and have a drink with some friends? On a movie ? A show ? 12 hours on Pinterest ? Tell me everything and I'll draw the winner on Friday at 12.

With this, I'm closing these two theme weeks but I think you'll see flowers really soon around here... Oh, the joy of "Horticulturitis"!

To make this DIY, you will need:

• a saddle bag or a skirt or even a cushion... anything that can be covered!
• a pair of scissors,
• flowers templates to download HERE,
• some string and a leather needle,
• fabrics of different shades.

To start with, draw the edges of the templates with a wood pencil. Then cut the shape of the flowers with fabric scissors. You need 4 shapes to make a flower.

Then take your first shape, fold it in half, then again. Then thread your string into the needle and sew the first shape folded in four, into its peak.

Do the same with the other three shapes, thread them into the needle. You can definitely make flowers with more than 4 shapes if you want your final flower to be fuller. 

Slide the shapes onto the string and make severals really tight knots to finish your flower. Don't hesitate to use your needle through the shades to make your knots.

And TA-DA! Almost anyway, here you are with a little fabric flower. Now, repeat these steps with different fabrics. To cover the saddle bag, I needed about 25 flowers. Yes, yes, you have to be patient and ask people around to help you, your friends, your little sister or your grandma, it will keep your family busy for the rainy sundays to come.

Then with your leather needle, sew the verso of the flap of your saddle bag and thread your first flower on your string.

Then embroider your flower on it, don't hesitate to sew your flower several times in order for it to be really fixed. Then make a strong knot on the verso of your flap.

Keep embroidering all your flowers, don't hesitate to sew them quite close from one another, it will give it a full finish touche like a swimming cap, well you'll see... And TA-DA! And for the curious girls asking themselves about my nail polish, I'm wearing the brunette color from The Beautyst. I'm waiting to hear from you!

And the winner is Violaine, the Harp player.

Happy sunday my buttercups!

Thank you for the sensational welcoming you've made to Karuna here! I hope you'll see her here often! And I'd like to talk about the fact I didn't approve some of the comments saying that it was very beautiful but much too expensive...

I annoyed me at the highest point, I'd have liked the reader to realize that even if I'd manage to make a semblance of flower like Karuna's, it could slow her business down... A DIY post isn't about weighing on a business because it is too expensive for you, it's more to teach you how to use your 10 fingers. I believe that when I make a tutorial about how to customize your boots to make them Isabel Marant or Chloé like, I don't do any wrong to the big luxury companies. We need to put things into perspective here...

I'd rather arouse your desire by introducing you to a talented creator than try to reproduce her work. I hope you understand that I'm trying to support Creation here, on top of trying to teach you things. And I think that it is quite affordable considering the meticulous work and the beauty of the materials used. Add it to your wish list...

On this grey sunday I'm wearing an anti-depression outfit, perfect to go and get your croissants in the rain, isn't it? A light pink mechanic jumpsuit, with the famous Zara shirt underneath, vintage headscarf and flowers, and a pair of nude Steve Madden's... Nude stilettos are like my new black...

So many flowery looks this week! And a last one for the road... And as a bonus, a little flowery bun video, okay you're going to tell me this hairstyle really is double-edged, I admit that you can quickly look like a cleaning-lady straight out from a 70's movie. But if you try it, do it completely... with a specialized look, for a night out or a day of shooting when I don't want my hair into my eyes... I wrap them into a turban. And as you can see there is no need to have really long hair to do so, a few hairpins and everything is hidden underneath the scarf... Banco!

Karuna Ballooher name only was predicting that something magical would happen...

To tell you the whole story, I didn't meet Karuna just at the street corner when buying my daily bread, I provoked fate. Everything started a few months ago, at Sacrés Coupons, the place where I buy my fabrics and other cloths filling my office. In this little shop from the rue d'Orsel, there is a huge bulletin board next to the counter where are pinned dozens of business cards and ads from faithful customers, and every time I'd pay instead of looking at the numbers fly, I'd daydream and loose myself on this board, and every time I'd see "Karuna Balloo, fabric horticulurist", so awesome... The small picture and the good turn of phrase piqued my curiosity so I asked Patricia, the awesome saleswoman working at that place I love, if she knows the mysterious Karuna. Of course she does, Patricia knows everybody or so, and she gave me her number. I didn't know what I was going to do with it but I had it. I waited for the right time to contact her and these two special flowers weeks come at the right time...

So here I am, making an appointment to meet Karuna Ballo at her incredible workshop in Montreuil, I didn't know what to expect. Well, long story short, I think I fall in love with her work, if such thing is ever possible...

Karuna Balloo what an exotic name, I ask her right away whether it's a nickname or some sort of magic formula? Not at all, it is her real name... And it is under these beautiful inherited auspices that this Franco-Mauritius-Indian woman grew up, in a family of jeans-makers, she remembers that as a kid, she was already doing her homework seated on denim fabric rolls... Good omen for the rest of her studies, she went to the Applied Arts Superior Institutes then worked for several companies as a fabric designer for 10 years... After wrecking her eyes and her inspiration on a computer screen to create patterns and other wefts for the textile industry, Karuna decided to take embroidery night classes with Paris City Hall and then started her own business in textile accessorizes, getting rid of the computers and making something real and creative out of her 10 fingers.

Karuna is in love with the things of the past and the Japanese culture, she started collecting informations and archives, she spent a lot of time at the Forney Library, she went to garage sales looking for flowers and vintage items that would be able to nourish her inspiration. Karuna has developed her own style between passion for Japan and its Kanzashi art (fabric origami) and heritage with the discovery and acquisition of milliners' antique furnitures, she is slowly but surely creating her job as " Fabric horticulturist "...

 You can buy Karuna's creations on her site but also on several retail shops that you can discover here. Every flower takes 2 hours to make and every petal is carefully folded by her, a real work of art... Karuna also makes special piece for weddings or other occasions, or even for your everyday life after all... I wish you to enjoy it as much as I did, I came out of this meeting feeling lighter than a feather with the desire to eat the world! Thank you Karuna! 

During last Theme week I had asked the sweet Pauline Darley to take my picture as a little sailor... This time, I wanted to put myself back in front of the camera, it really is a work on myself because posing really isn't my favorite thing but there is worst in life, I'm currently self-censoring myself here because I think about the things I hate doing and it makes my laugh just imagining that I'm writing them to you, anyway... A joke compared to this photo session with the beautiful Alice Lévêque... I wanted some pop, impossible to wear things to make you smile... Flowers. Even if seen like that it can be scary - and I am aware of it - I love suits (pants/jacket or shorts/jackets) with flowers. If you ever meet some, send them to me, I'm not even scared to wear them!

Here I'm wearing Shellys London shoes, Joe Fresh shocks, an H&M pair of pants (old collection), a Sézane sweatshirt, a Zara shirt and a Baruckello necklace.

And here is a little improvised crown with flowers!

The Zara shirt and my feathers thing from La Redoute...

A bomber/pants suit from the Australian brand Toi et Moi, a Need Supply shirt and a necklace by H&M and Marni.

A pair of Etam crazy thighs.

In all simplicity, a yoga pose on MY DIY table... Here I'm wearing a Zara outfit with Etam raspberry color tights. For more pictures that tickle your retina, rendez-vous on Alice's tumblr.

Today, I wanted to test some new things! 

Last summer, I was contacted my Joanna who offers me to put some music on my DIYs, I found it a great idea. Especially when I saw how you loved Ludovic's playlist last July, I thought that instead of putting a song or two in my DIYs, I offered Joanna to imagine a flowery playlist. I gave her titles I absolutely wanted to see in it and she added some things to it, I think she liked the challenge. 

Anyway, I'm happy to add her to the list of this blog's contributors. To tell you her story, she is a bordelaise/parisian girls... Living in Los Angeles to find out if she could live out of her devouring passion about music and cinema, well entertainment in the US in general. To broadly explain you her job, Joanna looks up informations about movies and TV shows currently produced in the valley, gets informations about the different story lines and their universes and create a database of artists and songs that could work with the projects the best. And thus she tries to put artists she recently found on the TV shows' soundtracks. If you ever want to contact her for any reason... You can find her via twitter! Thank you Joanna!

This picture is from Viviane Sassen, if you don't know her work yet it's time to go and visit her website... And if, like Joanna, you ever have a brilliant idea, something different to offer, because you think it's extremely missing here, do not hesitate to write my an email. You can find this playlist on Spotify!

Happy saturday honeys, 

No my loves, today I am not about to talk to you about drugs obviously. But about colorful rapture, Armani contacted me to offer me to test their recently launched new lipsticks "Ecstasy. You know there are partnerships like this one that you cannot refuse, especially when you have carte blanche and the possibility to do absolutely everything you want with the products. 

You start to know my passion about lipsticks, when I wear some I think it finishing any outfit, like a bottom page signature. So, when I received all the lipsticks, I first loved the packaging, an object, a real and heavy one with a magnetic lid, a beautiful object you see, and the color coming out was mad. A king of desirable and retro object that made me thing of my childhood. That moment when you watch your mom with the eyes of love applying her lipstick, and that moment when you secretly put it all over your face, the little pleasure that is playing to be the one you'll become, lipstick still is to me a "grown-up game".

A few time ago I saw a picture on Tumblr, that I can't find anymore of course, but let me telling it to you, it was setting two women playing chess with lipsticks. So amazing, their expression was was deep and crazy and I thought I'd inspire myself from it to present this collection to you. Flowers and colors, it feels good, doesn't it?

To cut a long story short, if you're looking for a mate lipstick keep going. Very often, lipsticks with lots of pigments in are very dry and often only a little comfortable after a few hours. Here we are with total comfort, I feel like a lipstick and a cold cream made love together to give birth to Ecstasy... The result is transparent color that you can modulate to get its intensity higher. You can very well wear it as it is of you can also apply a first layer, pat it with a tissue and apply a second layer, and start these steps until you have the wanted colors... Thank you Mai for this crazy tip!

Happy friday my little chestnuts,

Okay, this is an easy DIY that I made for a Fred videoand several people asked my to make a step by step because they didn't understand the video... Ha ha I understand now, he skipped some steps the rascal... So since I'm nice and I love doing these paper flowers I made one. You'll have another DIY next week, I'm going cresendo... But it is also a way of un-rusting your neurons before the big DIY... A kind of warm-up for your fingers... Yes, yes, it is possible. You'll see that with these roses you'll become the children's idol... But not only.

Here is the link  of the video where I learnt to make this sublime rose, when I start I can barely stop myself but I'm working on it... And because I love it, I made you a little step-by-step gif... Send me your pictures !

Hello my butter-biscuits, 

I have noticed a few times that you enjoyed it when I'm talking about my work, I really wanted to show you this project. It was during last June for the publication of the Milk magazine summer edition, I liked working on this series so much that I was stamping on showing it to you, I was just waiting for the right time and I thing this week is the perfect excuse... So we are here talking about the job of a set designer that consists of, as I was telling you in this other articledealing with all the setting and everything that is around the product to highlight it. Soo interesting, from the window to the merchandising or the fashion series. Today I'm showing you a little aspect of my job, let go and loose yourself within the colorful and flowery - of course - excitation of this series. 

Artistic direction: Isis Colombe Combréas, Photographs: Karel Balas, Design: Mélanie Hoeffner. Enjoy and find all the images on sur lisagachet.com 

Happy Monday kittens!

I hadn't do special weeks in ages! As a recompense I'm not making a theme week but a theme two weeks oh yeah, I know, I'm not into half-measures... I don't really know why but my craziness about polka-dots is fading a little, not entirely though. But we can say it's now into my DNA like a mutant gene, the Polka gene. And now my new obsession is about, I'm sure you've guessed, flowers. I don't know if it will enter my DNA, but it is certainly trying. As soon as there is a flower on a fabric, I'm out of control, it started last Spring but I thought it was probably nothing, just a little thing in the mood of the times, except that we have to remember that we never saw Spring (what? Me, nasty?). Still, I'm talking about flowers whereas we are in October because I want to give a good dose of colors, because colors are life, and my personal way of grasping this sad season with love and flowers!

You can find all of these images in full-size on my pinterest! Have a beautiful week my birdies.