Hey December! I'm back in action!

Hey friends, I know it's been forever since I last posted here. To tell you the truth, I've had the worst year ever! My mom and I went to Pretoria in October to celebrate my gran, Paulina's, 70th birthday and my 31st… That was the highlight of my year! Surrounded by family and friends, I was spoilt rotten! Although I missed Dave and the fresh sea breeze, it was soooo good to be able to spend time with so many of the people I love! Any case, I just wanted to say "I'm still here" while I still feel up to writing this post.

My aunts all did a wonderful job with organising my gran's 70th Birthday party! It was held at Lynnwood Primary School where they have the loveliest little venue which they rent out for special events. I'm not sure who the caterer was, but the food was both pretty and delicious! Well done to all parties involved. My gran's 70th was quite a memorable one.

So much detail and Lavender everywhere, because it's my gran's favourite herb, smell, colour…. you get the point. My mom and I were so fortunate to be there and to share this joyous day with her.

At 70, my gran is on Facebook, works a digital camera, sends us whatsapps regularly… this granny is quite up to speed with technology. She also posts recipes on a few Facebook groups, I think she might even be more socially active than I am.

Everyone pitched in and with a lot of organising and work my aunts gathered photographs of each of the 4 daughters, 6 grand daughters and 2 great grand daughters. They then had a calendar made with the four generations of woman in our family. Aren't they just beautiful? All of them!

My grandparents are so cute together, I can only hope that Dave and I end up like them at that age. Well, I was born on my grandmother's birthday and since I can remember, I've had two birthdays! One with friends and one with family. It's always a special birthday when we're able to celebrate it on the day, together.

To my gran, who is a regular here on OddOneOut, thank you for your endless love and support. I appreciate every link you share and every like or comment you leave, love you!

xxx

Hello October!

Well hello, October! It seems like yesterday that I went to Pretoria with my family to celebrate my 30th, my Gran's 69th and the birth of our good friends' son! This has been such a crazy year (and not in a good way) thank goodness October is here and things can only get better! This year, my mom and I are taking the bus up to see our family for all the birthdays and to celebrate my Gran's 70th! That's quite a big one! I simply cannot wait to see all my cousins and the family…It's been a year.

These lovely flowers grow wild in our area, along the coast, this time of year. I think it's a variant of the Namaqua Daisy. They're so amazing, when the sun goes down or even just when there is thick cloud cover, they close their petals up. When we were small, we used to say that they were sleeping and when the sun wakes them, they open up again.

- I snapped this pic on our Sunday afternoon walk about a week ago and thought it was perfect for October! You can download the free printable here. 

I hope you'll enjoy this freebie.

Have an awesome October!

xxx

Great opportunity, learning from Nadia van der Mescht

A few weeks ago I was privileged enough to attend the Nadia van der Mescht Creative Business Workshop in Cape Town. I've been swooning over her Durban workshops and have followed her business tips on her blog. So you can understand my excitement when Natasha let me know that there was talk of Nadia coming to our neck of the woods, so to speak. Natasha and I both jumped at the opportunity to attend the Creative Business Workshop and took the long road to Cape Town in the very early hours of the morning. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep the previous night and that was to quite a disadvantage to me as I struggled so hard to stay awake during the workshop. I didn't want to miss anything.

We got there early enough to grab a coffee and then we headed off to Dear Me where the workshop was being hosted. What a lovely little hangout, we couldn't stop gawking at all the interesting details. I will have to take Dave there when we go to Cape Town again. As it was way too early to eat a heavy breakfast, Natasha and I both settled for the Cranberry Karma smoothy (I'm a sucker for anything "berry"). It was non-dairy and super delicious!    

We were able to take some pics of the lovely table settings before the rest of the ladies arrived. We also got to choose our seats (and by that I mean, scope out the prettiest zipper pouches). It was great to finally meet the lovely Nadia in person. The workshop was quite intense and I completely forgot to take more photos. I was way too busy making notes and trying to take everything in. Having learnt a great deal, one major thing stood to me, in order for me to get where I want to be in my business, I need to organise my thoughts on paper. Set goals, have someone to hold me accountable and then, take action. This is my biggest problem, so I need to focus on this part first. The rest will then fall into place!

As you can see above, we were treated with many sweet things! We had goody bags filled with the prettiest business cards and other lovely marketing tools. Some Creatives even sponsored pretty things for the day. The whole experience was just so memorable, the food, the ladies, the venue… Thanks to Nadia for going through the trouble to make this Workshop special for all of us who attended, it was so very inspirational.
 

Search the tag #nvdmlearn to see more photo's of the workshop and visit Bamboo Blossom, Lanalou Style and Hello Pretty to see what they thought of the Creative Business Workshop.

Have an amazing Monday!

xxx

Organizing Life: Black Week (3)

It's Thursday and I'm still coughing! Just cannot seem to shake this one. Any-whoooo…We just had some lovely rain, after a lovely sunny day and I must say I'm starting to feel a bit more human. Though, once again this week has just evaporated. Last night I managed to finish my boxy black dress, I'm so proud of myself. No pattern, just a straight rectangle sewn together. I added a contrasting patterned yoke and did this one with a boatneck. When I fit it on the first time it way way to long so I added horizontal pleats and now it's perfect. Just add a belt and we're good to go!

I cannot wait to try it on! I'll definitely do an Outfit Love post on this one. It turned out to have a mixture of 1920's and 1950's fashion, don't you think? Have you guys been sewing anything lately? I'm not a salted seamstress and I'm no fashion designer so the simple stuff can at times be a challenge to me. But hey, I'm learning! This little project has taken a nice big chunk out of my black fabric heap, which has shrunk quite a bit since I started.

While I'm at it, I decided to sort through my accessories and gathered up all my black accessories. It really helps to take photo's of what you have to your disposal. It happens more often than not that I'll get stuck wearing the same one necklace everyday for a month and then complain about not having any accessories. Knowing what you've got and being able to see an overview of what you've got to work with will help to plan outfits ahead. This comes in handy when you're planning a trip or even for that last minute fancy dress event. You also come to realise just how much you really have and what you NEVER wear. In taking my organising one colour family at a time, the monstrous task is broken up into more chewable pieces. I have found that there are a lot of things I don't feel comfortable in anymore. Now I know which things will have to go and it seems quite a lot easier to let them go.

If you have any organising tips for me, please leave you tips or links in the comments below. I'm always looking for more clever ideas on how to get sorted.

Have an awesome day!

xxx

Outfit Love: Black Week (2)

Hey, it's Tuesday! The past few weeks are a bit of a blur, I came down with the flu about two weeks ago and thought I'd recovered from it last weekend. To my surprise, it just hit me harder last Sunday. I was quite enthusiastic about Organising Life and started with my Black Week series last week Monday. Epic fail! I was so sick and my meds made me so sleepy, I don't even remember half of what happened last week. The lovely warm weather and my grandparents visiting over the weekend had me feeling a bit better, though I'm still coughing quite a lot. Being sick has left me very isolated and I fell out of touch with the world. With audio books being my only company as I slipped in and out of consciousness. I listened to How to succeed by Orison Swett Marden and Letters of a Post-Impressionist, Vincent van Gogh, but I'll talk some more about those later.

Today's outfit (to tell you the truth, I cannot even remember when this was taken) I'm sharing with you as part of my Black week series.

This was the first time wearing my new biker jacket (Woolworths) I really love this jacket, come to think of it, this jacket has actually replaced the soft black jacket I bought last year. I shall be getting rid of that one now. My booties! Ah, I found them at Fashion Express after searching everywhere for a comfortable, pacifical boot. They are so awesome, I ended up wearing them almost everyday! They just slip right on and the go with almost any outfit. I'm very chuffed with the above mentioned investments, they were well worth the purchase.

This little black number was more of a tunic and I've always wanted to lengthen it just enough for it to be worn as a dress. Lucky for me, I found just the right amount and type of fabric for just that purpose. So during my more "awake" times last week, I added to the hem, seemed it and voila! At last! I wore it out to dinner with Dave on Friday night and will definitely where it again. Maybe next time I'll remember to take an outfit photo. The offcuts of this particular piece of fabric were cut and melted, ready to become part of a rose hair clip (coming soon).

I hope you all had an amazing Tuesday and to all my sick buddies out there(cause I hear there are a few others), keep warm and I trust we'll all get better real soon!

xxx

Organizing Life: Black Week (1)

Hey there, friends! Before I share with you what I'm up to… I would like to show you this amazing poster! I know the quality is a bit off, I just couldn't seem to find a link to a person to ask permission to use the original. It all started with my favourite local ribbon suppliers, Ebony & Ivory! I have ordered ribbons from their online shop a few times and I like to just go over to their website to peruse their latest products. They have such a beautiful website, so when I saw they were on Pinterest, I followed them immediately! That is where I found this image… it was uploaded by Mosquitopress and does not have a source or link. I just had to share it with you because I am a Pluviophile. I love rainy days, they comfort my soul! They calm me in the strangest way…I long for rain when it doesn't come around as often as it should. I know many people wouldn't agree, but to me rainy days are amazing! I work better, I sleep better, I think better… but the best thing about rainy days, is that David would let me know he's making pancakes (crepes, as you know it) for dinner! What's not to love?

Getting back to my title, I'm "trying" to sort out my life! We will be moving soon and I have a crazy amount to sort through and throw out before we do. As you well know, I get my fabrics from our local charity shops, thrift stores and many times friends and family will give me bags full of scraps which were going to become landfill. Usually, all the fabric attained, is washed and then sorted into colour families. Now, I have been working with which ever type of fabric comes my way, but lately I have felt the need to work solely with natural fabrics and fibres. My plan is to use up all my thrifted synthetics asap. in order for me start focusing on the naturals. The first colour family is black, so this week will be dedicated to all black supplies I have. To use up as much as I can, to donate what I can't and so forth. Hold thumbs I make it through, because as my fellow creatives know, this is a colossal task!

Let the Black Week begin!

First things first, the fabrics are sorted by type, the small pieces are going to become flowers and the pieces that are big enough might just become pretty wearables! I have ironed the pieces which needed ironing and planned projects for the larger pieces. Starting with the small pieces, I cut them into various squared sizes and made roses using this tutorial. This method of fabric rose making is the quickest, easiest one I've come across so far. Then I made other roses using a combination of my own developed method and this tutorial. I also tried this very cute tutorial.




These pretties will become the most beautiful accessories will be available forsale soon. I shudder to think that some people just throw these bags of fabric in the trash when clearly these fabric scraps have super potential! Do you see the rose(above) with the pop of mint in it and the one on its left? They were what looked like the hem of someones nighties, just look at how pretty they turned out. Next time you shorten a dress or night gown hem, consider what you could make with the offcuts before you chuck it in the bin. My favourite quote comes to mind, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" that is just so true!

Hope you all had an amazingly creative Monday!

xxx

OddOneOwl Spotting!

Hey there, friends! I have to say that this year has been weighing heavily on my shoulders and from what I here, so many others are going through tough times! Whether it be emotionally, physically, financially…you name it. I have found myself blogging about my depression and that's awful! I used to escape to OddOneOut, this was my "happy place". There was this rule, you see? "If it's not positive, it doesn't get posted here!" Well, that's out the window! I started #oddoneowlspotting as a way of getting myself out of this deep dark pit. After all, how can you not smile when surrounded by beautiful, smiling owls? Only I was struggling so to get myself to write, that I didn't do this properly.

So, thanks to Natasha for joining in the #oddoneowlspotting and for featuring this challenge on Bamboo Blossom, you will receive a little #randomgiftsoflove from me soon. For my family members who participated on Facebook(…cause they're not on instagram) thank you for joining me, it was fun.

Now I would like to officially open the floor for another month of #oddoneowlspotting! Join me in the fun and see just how many there are out there! It would seem spotting owls has become somewhat of a hobby for us now.

To join the challenge, you need to:

• follow OddOneOut on Blogloving
• follow OddOneOut on Facebook
• follow me on Instagram 
• spot some owls, post at least three times a week
• add the tag #oddoneowlspotting

On 31 August, I will do a round-up of the best #oddoneowlspotting insta-pics and post them right here on the blog. My very favourite instagram will be awarded a small oddoneout token of appreciation, my way of saying thank you for taking the time to have some fun with me.

Good luck and here's to a wonderful August!

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #18

Hey, Happy Monday! We are having more Spring weather than Winter and although it lovely, I'm sad. I was so looking forward to the cold rainy weather, cosy thick scarves, pancakes(most of you probably know it as crepes) and lots of yummy hot drinks. Okay, so we've had some opportunity for all that, but if you have to get rid of layers on a winter's day in the Western Cape, that's just wrong!

I wanted to share my third ever knitting project (completed from a pattern) with you guys. I found this pattern on Ravelry and was instantly smitten! It's a free pattern called the Vite Cowl designed by Kristi Johnson. I downloaded it immediately and rummaged through my stash in search of the right yarn. 

Way at the bottom of a bag of roving my gran had given me, I came across two balls of JanPaulBarnard Handsun Merino. What makes this yarn utterly amazing is that my maiden name is Barnard and this vintage yarn was locally manufactured! Most spinners, weavers and other textile companies in our country have closed down due to the massive inexpensive imports of Chinese products, so you can just imagine how surprised I was when I googled JanPaulBarnard and they still existed. Only now, they specialise in Mohair production and weaving finished products. I then tried out my 7.5mm  Bamboo knitting needles for the first time, I did a test run to see if the needles would provide the correct gauge with this particular wool and it was perfect! I think it took about three youtube tutorial vids and a whole week to finish my Vite Cowl…

-I never thought it would be possible for me to knit this amazing yet surprisingly simple pattern-

-doesn't this handspun yarn just give the pattern so much more character? I'm so crazy about this project that when I finished it, I wanted to do another one and that never happens to me- 

What have you been up to this weekend, knit anything pretty? Please share your projects in the comments below, I'd love to know what your making!

Have an awesome Monday!

xxx

Outfit Love: Grandpa Cardi

Hey-Hey! It's Tuesday! We have been having the loveliest weather for Cape Winter…Sunny days, no wind! Okay, so it still get freezingly (I know that's not a word, but I like the sound of it) cold in the afternoons and early morning but the days are fine! For the cold creeping in, I wore one of my favourite thrifted Grandpa Cardigans…It reminds me of That 70's Show! I absolutely love the colour and texture and largeness of it! So here it is…

-ha! do you have any idea how difficult it is to take your own "jumping" photos? I felt like doing something else for a change and I love all those "jumping" photos that have been going around for the past few years…it wasn't easy-  

-stripes have been increasingly infiltrating the world of street wear style…although I fell in love with stiles more than a year ago, I've only recently found stripy shirts forsale in our local shops. I love the way you can pair them with absolutely anything! …and to feed my rose addiction of late, I added this lovely crocheted scarf with rose detail, acquired some years ago at a flea market in Hatfield, Pretoria-

You must think me crazy, as I have stories for almost every item I own. I do get quite attached to the memories behind everything I own, that's partly why I struggle with clutter in my life! I'm trying hard to let go and to de-clutter our home and my life but it is quite a daunting job and it won't happen overnight. So wish me luck on this journey…

Have an amazing Tuesday!

xxx 

Outfit Love: Vintage Rose Print

It has been way to long since I stopped by here…It wasn't till my friend Natasha posted that she would be taking a blogging-break that I realised I had been on one. An involuntary one I might add. Life has been strange the past six months. Time has evaporated like warm breath in the cold Winter air. Things that were once important, now seem quite trivial. The reasons for getting out of bed in the mornings are no longer of importance… I find myself quite stuck! I need to do more with my life but there are just too many things occupying my mind at the moment, I seem to have a dark cloud overcasting my mind… If that makes any sense at all. July has come rather quick, as the past months have done. I can only hope that I can move forward this time.

Well, it is after all Outfit Love Tuesday! I would love to just quickly share my pretty dress with you…it suites the kind of ominous feeling I have quite well. Vintage colours of times and eras lost to us now.

-I never do this, but this time I actually think it works…matching two different patterns together-

-aren't these flats just too cute?-

Okay, outfit shared. Now I would like to invite you all to join me in some #oddoneowlspotting! I'm forever spotting owls wherever we go. I have been on the owl-loveing-thing for way longer than I've been on any other "love". I then thought it might be fun if you all joined me in my #oddoneowlspotting expeditions!

To join in the fun, you need to:

-follow me on instagram

-spot some owls

-post at least three times a week

-add the tag #oddoneowlspotting 

on 31 July, I will do a round-up of the best #oddoneowlspotting insta-pics and post them right here on the blog. My very favourite instagram will be awarded a small oddoneout token of appreciation, my way of saying thank you for taking the time to have some fun with me.

Good luck and here's to a wonderful July!

xxx

Outfit Love: Cosy Winter

Hiya, just a quick share. My Gran has been sorting out her cupboards and sent me some of her hand knit jerseys. I'm so touched that she thought of me in this regard. Some of the items are way too big, but I'll figure something out. Like this particular one I wore as a wrap and fixed it with a statement belt. It was so warm and cosy, it felt like I was wearing a blanket!

-It's a little more blue than this image portrays it, but doesn't it just look sooooo huggable and squishy? There is a brown-orangey one too, that one is slightly bigger than this one so I'll just have to see how it fits-

-I know know by now this hairstyle is old news, I just thought, since I haven't tried it yet and felt like doing something new with my hair…I received quite a bit of complements! It goes really quick and is quite easy to do. Check out this link for instructions-

Hope you had a lovely Tuesday!

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #17

Alrighty! It's Monday and I'm dead tired! That's not such a good thing seeing as it's only the beginning of the week. We're enjoying our Winter rain although it's bluddy freezing, I love the rain! The smell, the sound, the feeling of nostalgia… The need to get cosy and stuff myself with chocolates, delicious smelling, tasting hot beverages. When Dave comes home after work and says: "I'm making pancakes!" (not to confuse you but in South Africa we refer to crepes as pancakes). Anyway, it's the best!

Today I wanted to share with you my very first T-shirt Owl Buddy prototype. I designed this lil' guy for friends of ours' baby boy. I wanted to make him something special for his room. As the theme of his room is that of the most adorable forest friends and the main friend being an aspiring wise owl… I decided to make him an owl plush toy. When Mr. Owl was done, I thought: "wow! that went seemingly painless…" so I made another one. I now have two more waiting to be finished off and I received such awesome feedback from the proud mom, that I have decided to put pen to paper and will soon have diy kits available for sale on my online shop "in the making". So please tell me what you think, would you buy a kit like this? Would you enjoy making your own Mr. Owl? I might design Lady Owl as well, I think the girls would like that.

-Mr. Owl is made with 100% reclaimed materials! Recycled T-shirts and thrifted buttons. His inner is made up of fabric and yarn scraps that I have collected over the past year ~whenever I finish a project, I would gather all the off cuts of fabric, thread, yarn and even the fluff that comes from shaving down thrifted sweaters. I chuck it all into my "scraps baggy" and when there is enough, I use it to stuff plush toys with-  

-I hope little Christiaan enjoys his new friend, I made him with a lot of love-

I'm so looking forward to your comments, thoughts and advise on this little "big" project of mine.

Hope you had an awesome Monday!

xxx

  

Free Recipe: Chicken Pesto Pasta

Alrighty… my browser just quit before blogger could save my written progress. I don't know what's up with that it seems to do it more frequently on days the internet is slow.

What I was saying, was….I know it's been a while since I last blogged. But it's Friday! So no boring chit-chat bout why or how I'm feeling(which seems to be like a badly constructed roller coaster for the past, I don't know, 6 months). I just wanted to take five to give you guys a free printable recipe card! Only, it ended up taking me two days, ha! Figuring out the technicalities. You see, this is my very first Freebies post with my very first Downloadable link! And because you all asked so nicely for this recipe, I thought to make it special and the beginning of a recipe card series. I hope you like it! 

- click here to download the printable recipe card -

Have an Awesome Weekend and keep an eye out for the next freebie!

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #16

Hey-hey! It's Monday! After a lovely weekend and Mother's Day spent with my parents… My Monday turned out not to be so happy. I really don't want to get into it now because when Dave came home he brought chocolate and we had a very nice evening. I made Nachos, we watched Grimm(quite an interesting series) and now I'm here, writing to you guys. I do feel better although, after having struggled with a very evil old lady neighbour and watching a lot of Grimm episodes… I have come to the conclusion that we might be dealing with a Hexen Beast, a witch. There is just no end to her meanness and she is harassing a lot of the other tenants in our complex as well. What a sad case, that someone would spend all of their time and energy to make other people's lives miserable. Like I said, I don't want to get into it and upset myself all over again. Let me rather show you what I did…  

Friends of ours' daughter through out some of her old clothes but before it goes to charity, she thought my mom and I might find some items useful. After all, I love reusing, remaking, and creating new things from old cast aways, so to speak. I try not to buy new, if there is anything I need I always try the secondhand and charity shops. This way you also end up giving back to your society. If we have anything we can't use anymore, it goes to the charity shops, completing a never-ending circle.  

I found a few items that will be very useful and this little yellow number is one of them.

-a very cute little tank, but with an out-dated hem line- 

-showing the lacy detail and the elasticated hem above- 

A Quick DIY

- I started by removing the hem.

-Then, measuring from the cut edge to where you want the top to sit(above or below the bellybutton), cut straight, even strands.

-Take the strands in two's and knotting them together.

-Again, tie the strands together two by two and that's that!

-Now I have a very lovely boho fringe tank. I know our Winter is upon us but I think I'll wear this tomorrow.

I hope you guys had a better day than I did.

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #15

Hiya friends, it's Monday again! Time for making pretty things…Today's HMM was inspired by the #randomgiftsoflove I gave my Mom. Her's came about when I was visiting to do some HMM sewing, I was looking for thread in her sewing tin and came across a handful of crocheted flowers. I snuck them home, made a lariat and gave it to her the next week. She wore it to a coffee date with a friend and she loved it so much that she asked what I would charge for one. Well now I have the challenge of designing a pattern, working out my costs and making samples. This is my first sample.

-It went quicker than it should've because I got lazy with writing down what I was doing. I get too excited about my projects and then all I care about is getting it done, fast! So this exercise failed, terribly! Hopefully I'll have more patients with the next one. At least it's good practice, working out the kinks, adding things, taking some away-    

-Piece by Piece: each flower motive done separately and the ends woven in.

-Colour Inspiration: I had just taken this top off the drying rack when I noticed that I have wool in the same colours, I then matched them up in the combination used on the top.

~this baby's mine~

Hope you had an amazing Monday!

xxx

Outfit Love: My Very Own

Oh my! I don't wish to complain the whole time… It's just sooo difficult when there is sooooo much to complain about. For one, I couldn't publish my Outfit Love post yesterday nor today due to some rather  irritating technical problems regarding my Mac and the internet constantly quitting for no reason. Ever since we upgrade to Mountain Lion, I experienced some misbehaviour. I really hope we don't have one of those very rare Apple viruses. As soon as I can find the time to do a system clean-up, we'll upgrade to Mavericks, hopefully that will sort our problems out.

Back to a happier, prettier topic now… You have probably all seen my HMM post on Monday, well this outfit is all about that post. About three years ago, I started to really LOVE rose prints. I searched for rose prints everywhere (locally) but couldn't find anything! Then to make matters worse, the internet and my favourite magazines were covered in roses, rose prints…roses everywhere! Everywhere but here! Eventually, I found a really nice pair of rose print jeggings at our local PnP Clothing outlet but that was it… Two years ago I found a hand sewn vintage blouse at Hospice with the most beautiful rose print, then that was it! So on my trip to Pretoria last year I hit the jackpot when I walked into Metro  (one of my favourite fabric stores). They had so many rose printed fabrics, I didn't know how to choose. The worst part was that I could only take a few pieces, as I was flying back, don't you just hate that? So I decided to take half meters of fabric so I'd have more of a variety of prints…okay, I did sneak in some large pieces as well, I just couldn't resist! The first rose print item I made was The Rose Swift dress which featured in my Outfit Love post A Rose Garden. Without further a due, here is my ultimate favourite, my very own, very first, rose printed pencil skirt! 

-Oh happiness! This skirt was such an achievement for me! My next challenge will be to actually work from a pattern, I'v never done that before. So wish me luck! The amazing thing about this skirt is how the outfits just put themselves together. It goes with so many the clothes that I have, it's the perfect game-changer! To tell you the truth, I've been so lost in "myself", not knowing who I am anymore. And as I said in another post, I find myself liking too many styles it feels I got lost somewhere in a vast forrest. Though this might seem a bit shallow, this skirt has become a symbol, a first step to finding myself again. I'm so excited! If this skirt turned out so great, I can't imagine what the future will be like-

-the cute lacey design necklace was a gift from my mom.

-my favourite polka dotty top I bought at Mr. Price years ago

-vintage leather belt is from our Animal Welfare shop

…and the rest (as they say) is history!

Hope you guys had an amazing day…

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #14

Oh, hey! I'm so excited about today's HMM! As you might have noticed, I've been making friends with my mom's sewing machine. Though I still struggle to sew straight most of the times and that sewing machine is damn moody, I think I might be getting the hang of this. Now, this project was inspired by the beautiful piece of rose-print fabric I found in Pretoria when we were the last September. When I saw it there in the shop I just knew it was going to be a pencil skirt. It took time and a lot of courage (for me) to start this project but last Monday, I did! I worked on it during every off minute of last week and the weekend…and now it's done!

-YaY! WhooooHoooo!!!!! I cannot believe I did it! I made this and it's awesome! I've been wanting to wear rose-printed everything for more than a year now but our local clothing store never have what I want… I'm sooooo happy!-

-Okay…so it's no quite perfect, it was my first! The waist-band part isn't tapered to the curve of my middle 'cause I kinda didn't think of that. Well, okay, to tell you the truth…I didn't use a pattern. I kinda just, winged it! And it worked! Ha! (to all the sewing experts out there, go easy on me) I really enjoyed this-

-Oh, I had sewn the hem at my mom's place and when I got home I ironed the whole thing, fit it on and thought it should be shorter. So I marked where I wanted the hem to be, took it off, turned it inside-out and pinned it all around. I then ironed the hem in place, took out the pins as I went and the sewed it with what looks like a whipstitch on the inside all the while making sure that the stitches on the right side were tiny as hell. Ah! Then there's my very first "clothing" zipper… I know I did it soooo wrong, but I couldn't find my mom's zipper foot and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to use it. So I winged that too.

What do you guys think? Have you made something recently using a new skill?

I'd love to see

xxx

 

Outfit Love: Cloudy Greys

Oh wow! We've been having such mixed up weather, the it's hot then it's cold…rainy…sunny. Many mornings we'd wake up with it raining outside. Naturally, I would then put on warmer clothes as I get cold easily. By lunch time it's so hot that I end up taking off all my layers. This particular day was exactly like that.

-I couldn't believe my luck when I popped into the Pick 'n Pay Clothing store and found this totally dreamy bunny print shirt and in my size! I took it immediately! 

-The grey cardi is also from PnP, I bought it at the start of 2014 and have been wearing it every other day. I'm loving their clothes at the moment, it seems more inline with the style I'm into.

-My grey jeans I found at Ackermans, on sale, last year. I wear them a lot! They are just sooooo comfy.

-For the first time in ages, I found exactly the right pair of black boots. They are from Fashion Express, they just packed these babies out, so they are still available to purchase. I've been looking for excuses to wear them, everyday :P

     

-Above you can see the bunny print nicely, and also my statement necklace (Mr. Price). I bought the necklace on sale quite a while back but never had the right outfit to pair it with. This outfit really made friends in my cupboard over night and jumped out at me in the morning! 

-This adorable lazercut bunny brooch is from Hello Bebe, local creatives. Their accessories are vintage inspired and their packaging is just awesome!

~hope you had a lovely Tuesday~

xxx

  

Happy Monday Makings #13

Today has come and gone like a wink… Poor Dave had been so sick throughout Sunday night and I had to practically beg him not to go to work:( He refuses to go to the doctor too. I'd been feeding him black organic Rooibos tea and pain killers, it seems to have helped. Rooibos tea is chock full of antioxidants and I remember that when ever I had a stomach bug it helps keep you hydrated and settles the stomach. Dave must have felt really awful as he hates Rooibos tea and he drank more than two teapot full.

Needless to say, today didn't quite go like either of us had planned. I just wanted to share a quick HMM with you guys. I found this awesome image on Pinterest last week. It led me to Lebenslustiger, a really lovely blog. There I found the tutorial for the Chunky Heart Pillow. I thought "how awesome!" and immediately set out to find a crochet hook sized 25mm. No such luck! I then dug in our garage, found a dowel stick which measured 20mm and asked Dave to make me a hook using this tuto. I then dug out my rowing wool which had been stashed away for over 6 year in the hope that I would find someone to spin it for me. I couldn't wait to start my Chunky Heart! Finally, on Friday, I made the first one!

  -it's sooooo FLUFFY-

-Don't you think Dave did great job making me a 20mm Crochet Hook? For some reason, though, my heart didn't come out quite as nice as Lebenslustiger's heart. It still is pretty awesome!-

-so I made two! It goes so quick and it feels so soft and squishy… you just wanna squeeze it the whole time! I made these for our "winter bed", now all we need is a big faux-furry throw(which I've been calling a Wolfy throw, because the ones I've seen look like wolf fur)-

I simply can't wait for Winter! all the knitters and crocheters out there will know exactly what I'm talking about :)

Hope you had the besets Monday!

xxx 

Outfit Love: Autumn Colours

What amazing Autumn weather we are having! It's raining and the wind is trying to blow our house down… I just love it! It's still quite warm at times, so if you're living in the Western Cape be sure to have a cardi or scarf handy. Layering is more than a trend here, it's a necessity. My friend Natasha says that since they moved here from Gauteng, she's been keeping a spare outfit in the car just incase. The weather is so unpredictable here! Today, I got a good workout from putting my jacket on and then taking it off…putting it back on and then taking it off again. 

- I love this look! Everything just seemed to go together, almost as if they were purchased together-

• you might recognise my winter flower brooch from this post
• the corduroy blazer was a gift from my aunt Zelda - love it!
• Autumn Foilage dress from my HMM post here
• leather "biker" belt, thrifted
• turquoise tights from Woolworths
• mustard flats with cutesy bows from Cotton On

-here's a pic without the blazer, so you can see how cute the dress is! I can already see soooo many outfit possibilities forming around this dress, I can't wait to play with more colours and textures-

  

-these colours have inspired me to make more of these flower brooches, I still have a few bits left of this fabric…some new wintery accessories might be born from this outfit yet-

Hope you had an amazing Tuesday!

xxx

Happy Monday Makings #12

Monday-Monday… We had the loveliest rainy day today, I just adore this weather. It leaves me feeling quite nostalgic. Todays Happy Monday Makings (HMM), was inspired by a pin from my board, for me to sew and some vintage-looking thrifted fabric. The pin took me to Pretty Prudent where I found this really easy tutorial, The Most Flattering Shirt Dress DIY.

-This was my first try, working with bias binding but the tutorial was so great I did it…no probs! I couldn't do the shirring in the middle as I have yet to find the elastic thread needed for the job, but it works well with a belt for now. I love that the print on this fabric is that of a vintage themed Autumn-

-the fabric I used is more of a quilting cotton which makes it a bit rigid, so when I fit the dress on I had Buzz Lightyear shoulders. This was not good! I had to do something about those flying shoulders, so I put little pleats in-

I must say I'm quite chuffed with this dress, I loved this tutorial so much I might just make another dress from it.

Are you favouring any tutorials lately? Please share, we love getting the diy scoop!

xxx