Coloring Book Couture. Dressing Between The Lines In A Dress You Color In Yourself.

Amsterdam-based graphic designer Michiel Schuurman and and textile designer Berber Soepboer collaborated on this fabulous bit of Fashion DIY.



The "Colour-In" dress is a black and white graphic print dress that is actually sold with colored textile markers, so you can color in the pattern yourself.




Fifty dresses were produced in four different sizes and if, still available, they run 238 euros (without shipping).


The completed dress below was colored in by Michiel, but you can do yours any way you'd like:



Sizes in cm:
- A: chest 81,6 cm, waist 58,4 cm, base width 164,8 cm
- B: chest 89,6 cm, waist 66,4 cm, base width 172,8 cm
- C: chest 97,6 cm, waist 74,4 cm, base width 180,8 cm
- D: chest 105,6 cm, waist 82,4 cm, base width 188,8 cm
and in inches:
- A: chest 32.1 in., waist 23 in., base width 64.9 in.
- B: chest 35.3 in., waist 26.1 in., base width 68 in.
- C: chest 38.4 in., waist 29.3 in., base width 71.2 in.
- D: chest 41.6 in., waist 32.4 in., base width 74.3 in.

Order a dress by sending an email to soepboerschuurman@gmail.com mentioning your name, address, number and size.

Design Your Own Throw Pillows At Inmod

This is a truly great idea for those who like to have some say and personal control when it comes to the design of their home decor. Or for those looking for reasonably priced contemporary throw pillows as gifts or for themselves.

The Inmod online design studio allows you to design your own throw pillows, in one of two sizes and with numerous image, color and fabric options. Whether you want a 2 color pillow or a 6 color pillow, a cotton one or a silk shantung one, a funny one or a beautiful one... you can design them all yourself.

They have featured designs that include everything from modern chair silhouettes, wild animals, dogs, Bruce Lee, Marilyn Monroe and other fun icons. Also available are patterns ranging from florals and fish to mod 60s abstract styles.



All are easy to design and preview, then just click to order. Prices vary depending upon size and fabric choice.

Here's a few quick examples to inspire you:












The 4 Simple Steps:


STEP 1 - PATTERN
To start designing your pillow, select a pattern. Choose a theme from the drop down menu, and then pick a pattern. Once you've selected a pattern, it will appear in the window.



STEP 2 - FABRIC
Now that you've selected your pattern, choose the fabric for your pillow. You can pick 215 thread count cotton, cotton casement, linen/cotton blend or silk dupioni.

STEP 3 - SIZE
Next, select the size you want your pillow to be. Choose from 18 x 18 or 26 x 26.

STEP 4 - FABRIC COLORS


Choose one base color and then an embroidery color for each detail of your pattern. Select one detail at a time by clicking the circle to the left of each numbered detail, and then select the color you want that element of the design to be. Repeat until all of the details have been selected.

Prices for the cotton pillows in the smaller size (18" x 18") start at about $40 and silk shantung starts at about $60.



Start designing yours here.

A Sweet Treat For Control Freaks. Chocri Custom Organic Exotic Chocolate Bars.

No, I'm not talking about just adding your own label or uploading a picture to the wrapper. I'm talking about truly creating your own chocolate bars from scratch.


above: three examples of possible options for your own created chocolate bars

chocri is a German startup, founded in September 2008, but launched in the US in January 2010. What they do is we allow you to customize your own chocolate bar right on their website.

You start with an organic Belgian chocolate base of milk, white or dark chocolate and then choose from a selection of over 100 of gourmet, organic and exotic ingredients (fruit, grains, nuts, spices, confections and decor).



If you don't know anything about ingredients, they also offer many recommended combinations and options to make the selection simple.

Once you've chosen or built your bar, you can name it (they print the name and the ingredients on the package), and then they hand-make the bars in Germany and ship them off to you.




From bacon to blueberries, pretzels to pecans, you can be as adventurous or as safe as you'd like. I made three to test them out (shown below).


One was dark chocolate with real orange bits and orange chocolate drops, another was milk chocolate, pecans and toffee and the third was milk chocolate with organic salted pretzels and caramel chocolate drops. And yes, they are, er.... were, delicious.

So, how do you do it?
You start with your choice of milk, white or dark chocolate as the base:



Then you are walked through the process to choose as many or as few additives as you wish from the following options (click on each image below to enlarge):

Choose your fruit:

Your spices:

Your nuts:

Your confections:

Your decor:

Your grains:




There's no minimum. You can choose to make one bar or one hundred bars. Once you've selected your ingredients for your chocolate bar(s), they print the name you choose and the ingredients on the individual package, then ship them right to your door.



They use only the best ingredients, such as organic, fair trade chocolate from Belgium. Making them even more delicious is the fact that they also donate a percentage of otheir revenues to DIV Kinder, an organization that supports children at the Ivory Coast, and you are free to add your own donation at checkout.


above: the Chocri team

What are you waiting for? With Easter and Mother's Day right around the corner, these would make awesome gifts.
Get started here.




If you like chocolate, you'll love this:

The Art of Chocolate. Oops, Reverse That.