Kamersvol Geskenke

I've been looking forward to this market since I went to my first one last year. It is simply the loveliest market you'll ever attend, EVER. Stall-holders are put through a thorough selection process and it's obvious to see that only the best are chosen. I left this year's Kamersvol with a lot less money than I came with, feeling inspired and really proud of our local talent. 

cute ceramics featuring fun things like foxes, owls and bicycles ☞ my china

gold bunny ring that I'd like very much to make mine ☞ Collect

nice prints (I love the horsey one best) ☞ Fable

♡

♡

My Top 3:

Essie LetterPress

These ladies make beautiful notecards, artwork and more using the oldest form of printing. Their gallery of wedding invites makes me want to get married…!

♡

 Anomali

I've seen quite a few people making bangles out of old forks and spoons but Anomali takes this to a new level. They use the spoon-y bit of the spoon too to create intricate scenes that blew my mind. A girl on a swing that really swings, a girl walking through the rain with little heart-shaped raindrops actually dancing above her head! My favourite was the little fox (top left)

Their display was really well done; pretty and different. Those are their business cards on the left, SO GREAT.

also the owner was lovely and had such a nice tattoo I had to take a photo.

♡

These animal head mounts. I don't know who made them but I wanted one quite desperately. Unfortunately I'd spent all my money before I came across them so I'll just have to wait for fate to bring them my way again. 

I've been advising all my friends to go to Kamersvol for a full year and after this one I'll continue to do so. Photos of what I bought coming soon ♡

♡ civvies day: VESTS + SHIRTS

Slouchy-Fit Tee

off-the-shoulder  〮nice with high-waisted things  〮sail boats on the pocket

Helm-Back Vest

low arm-holes  〮long vest  〮sail boats on the pocket  〮

These along with many other rather nice things (photos coming soon) will be on sale Friday the 4th November at the You, Me and Everyone We Know Market at the Labia :)

second-hand shopping

look what I got!

I found this blue baby for TEN RAND at a charity shop the other day, what a steal. 

Get a load of this quilting detail! Oh, I'm a lucky girl.

I'm getting rather sick of the hundreds of over-priced 'vintage' sellers that have popped up in the last few year. I'd like to warn you against getting ripped off by people selling their mom's old nighties, using the term 'vintage' to make it seem ok that they're asking triple digits for this junk. It's important to remember:

'vintage' = second-hand = OLD CLOTHES

The fact of the matter is these clothes are all old and have been worn many times already, so before you buy consider how much you'd be willing to pay for this item if it was new. 

Support charity shops as they'll be the cheapest and your money is going somewhere nice. Try the charity shop at the bottom of Kloof Street (1 Kloof St.), the SPCA charity shop in Grassy park, and the place I got my blue dress from which is a few shops down from Pirates in Plumstead, and soon you'll be scorning any 'vintage' items over R50.

paper cut

these eyelashes!

Made from PAPER by the designers at paperself, these falsies are blowing my mind. My favourite is the deer + butterfly set, SO CUTE.

The elaborate-laser-cut-paper-design thing is a love of mine, mainly fuelled by the simply wonderful Rob Ryan

…new things

just a little taste of what is to come :)

♡ civvies day: PLAYSUITS

Playsuits!

More photos coming soon. available in the above print and this material

Market Time

Next Friday I'll be taking part in the YMAEWK Market at the Labia again. 

I'm SO excited about my new stock and I think you might be too so come along with your friends and your money!

Animal

Rottweilers and panthers at Givenchy

While hunting for animal-y things online I came across these temporary 'lip tattoos' 

So disgustingly trashy. I must have them.

the end of the movie

If you're in the mood for listening to the loveliest song you've ever heard then here you go

Stornoway - End Of The Movie

barbie girl

My previous post reminded me of the first time I thought about becoming a fashion designer. 

My junior school offered all sorts of totally radical short courses as that were fun and, most importantly, meant you got to miss a day of school. I did the 'fashion design' course a few times and it sparked off a passion inside me for sticking pins into cheap Barbie dolls. It's a really fun and easy to make clothes for your Barbie this way, just drape fabric around her and press pins into her body until they're hidden to hold the fabric in place.

It was also a sweet excuse to play with Barbies as I was at that age where you're supposedly 'too old' to play with dolls (around 16) (jokes). 

My globe-travelling (absent) parents always brought me a great Barbie back from their travels. Some of my favourites:

Blue Dress Barbie with Singing Blue Bird (note: not her official name)

This gal came from France. Not only was she beautiful, but she had a RING HOLE on her hand (endless accessorising possibilities) and a blue bird who balanced on her upturned palm and SANG. So good.

Bubbling Mermaid Barbie

This babe came from Miami (obviously) and she had the ever useful ability to blow bubbles through her crown. Unfortunately on the very day I got her a friend's dickhead of a dog chewed her crown and I never put her bubble-blowing abilities to the test. Years later this dog would go on to die, so quid pro quo hey.

Olympic Gymnast Barbie

I received this Barbie in 1996 as the Olympics were taking place in Atlanta. I named her Penny Heyns.

and finally a Barbie and Ken I wish I had:

The Phantom of the Opera and Christine!

tomorrow, tomorrow

Tomorrow night my first solo couture creation goes on show at my lovely client's Matric Dance. I'll get photos from her as soon as I can but until then here is a mini version of the dress (I promise it's a lot more impressive in life size)

♥

New

With my recent earnings I bought some sewing room essentials that I'd been in desperate need of. 

First I bought I full length mirror for only R25, I love ChinaTown! It did make you look a little distorted and definitely didn't look like it was made of glass but still it did the trick. Then I dropped it and discovered that it was in fact glass and not a piece of foil carefully stuck on cardboard as I'd previously thought. It broke and I want to apologise to the tiny Chinese hands who made it for wasting your time and effort, you had done a good job.

Then I upgraded my current ironing board (a towel on my floor) to a real live ironing board

Isn't she lovely? Her only flaw is that she is very short and can only be used whilst kneeling or sitting on my armchair, which I can deal with. The idea was to cover it in fun fabric but then I examined the current cover and it says "FOREVER" so I don't think I'm allowed to :(

Making Things

some of my latest swing tags

I'm in love

Meadham Kirchhoff’s Spring/Summer 2012

I found this collection so inspiring and exciting. Every piece is so fantastically kitsch and girly and funny and pretty and just plain GREAT.

Pictures are all from rookiemag.com which is my new fav-y website. It's full of nice pictures, advice and interesting things for teenage girls and although I no longer fall into that category I still find all their articles a great read.