Midlands Revisited

Jan 142012
 

With the hol­i­days not com­pletely over, a new friend came to visit me. What bet­ter way to show him a bit more of my world than take a road trip to browse the Mid­lands Mean­der? The Mean­der (as I call it) takes you off the beaten track criss­cross­ing beau­ti­ful val­leys and farm land with unex­pected finds of farm­stalls and quaint lit­tle shops every so often. It is the place appre­ci­a­tion, of artists and peo­ple liv­ing honestly.

We set out in lovely over­cast weather and cruised along the windy farm roads, stop­ping here and there at places that took our fancy and had lunch at a delight­ful lit­tle place called Caver­sham. And, I’ve dis­cov­ered that this kind of road trip is an excel­lent idea to get to know another person’s likes an dis­likes. If you pay atten­tion, you catch a glimpse of what the world looks like, from their eyes.

So come along for the drive… This is my Meander

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Isabella’s

Dec 202011
 

The first stop over on our trav­els — Irma’s house in Cen­tu­rion (Gaut­eng province).  After a quick bite to eat and some catch­ing up with every­one, she informed me that she had a spe­cial assign­ment to take care of.  Believe it or not, her daugh­ter that is in the USA asked her to pick up a few sur­prises for a very spe­cial friend.  How roman­tic?  We had to go and get a cup­cake, some sparkles and a few other birth­day sur­prises.  So off we went to a quaint lit­tle strip mall around the cor­ner from her house.

This is where we find a delight­ful lit­tle Cof­fee shop called Isabella’s.  It is taste­fully dec­o­rated in a pink candy stripe paired with black damask.  More than just a few lovely chan­de­liers cast a wel­come glow over the inte­rior.  A warm wel­come from the owner and a few sug­ges­tions as to the cup­cake keep us busy for a while.  Nat­u­rally we can­not help but note the cakes on the display.  We end up mak­ing a new friend and promptly decide to have some of the lovely fare.  Who can resist deca­dent cake and foam cappuccino’s?

   
Our plates arrive with fresh roses dusted with icing sugar — nice touch!  

The foun­tain out­side attracts 2 lit­tle girls who get rid of their shoes and splash around in the water.  While I’m enjoy­ing the treat, my eyes wan­der to the rest of the inte­rior.  Just like I expected — not a sin­gle nook has gone with­out a lot of thought & atten­tion given.  A gem where sim­ply every­thing makes you want to linger longer.

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An Unexpected Gem

Dec 182011
 

We were hun­gry and my vehi­cle was run­ning low on fuel.

10 Kilo­me­ters down the road loomed a Petro­Port and we decided to stretch our legs, re-fuel and grab some­thing to eat.  A fill­ing sta­tion, restau­rants, take aways, cof­fee shops and rest rooms and play sta­tions for kids at a One Stop con­ve­nience sit­u­ated all along the main high­ways of South Africa. Towns are quite far apart on this stretch of road and these One Stops pro­vide an oppor­tu­nity to catch a break and relax­ing for a while, part of the “Arive Alive” ini­tia­tive.

Bel­lies full and legs stretched, we decided to explore and found enStyle, a shop spe­cial­is­ing in Proudly South African hand crafted prod­ucts.  A warm smile and friendly greet­ing made us feel like old friends drop­ping in to say hello. I guar­an­tee you will find some­thing here to take home — no mat­ter which style or colour you pre­fer, or what­ever your budget.

Step inside with me and have a look…

Those rein­deer had me — aren’t they just too cute?

Inslee Haynes Illustrations

Nov 292011
 

I dis­cov­ered the fash­ion illus­tra­tor Inslee Haynes a while ago and although we don’t nor­mally blog about fash­ion, I’ve decided to show you some of her work today.  Her illus­tra­tions are just gor­geous, light­hearted & cheer­ful, yet still ele­gant & sophisticated.

Inslee’s work includes a com­mis­sioned series for shoe designer Jacque Levine and her art fea­tured in recent issues of Ivy and Piper and Wash­ing­ton Bride & Groom.  She has a beau­ti­ful blog show­cas­ing her illus­tra­tions and sta­tionery range, where you can order  your very own note cards, cal­en­dars, or com­mis­sioned work…What a unique gift that would make for that spe­cial someone!

Source: inslee.net

2011 Ultimate gift guide

Oct 292011
 

With the sea­son for giv­ing just around the cor­ner I was brows­ing the web in search of some gift ideas. A small pin on Pin­ter­est caught my atten­tion and am I glad I found it! Dani Marie of dm designs must have worked on this for quite a while. Imag­ine an online guide with 101 Gift ideas! I don’t know about you but it is very spe­cial to me to receive a hand­made gift. All the items listed were cho­sen with a “gift-giving” mind­set… So, whether you need a house­warm­ing gift, baby shower idea, birth­day or hol­i­day present, you’ll be sure to find some inspi­ra­tion here.

Just click on the Gift Guide and fol­low the links to var­i­ous amaz­ing sites for step-by-step instruc­tions, tuto­ri­als, and recipes. Enjoy!

Here are some of my favourites

Chalk­board coasters

Trans­fer Pho­tos to Canvas

Sug­ared Jelly candy

Infused Vodca

Mini Mason Jar Sewing Kit

Sewing Book

Etched Tree Plate

Sun­burst Mirror

Lemon Sugar Scrub

Home­made Lip Balm

Mono­grammed But­ton Art

Painted Stone Tic-Tac-Toe

Rice Heat­ing Pad

Pic­ture Frame

Quotes on Canvas

Hang­ing Notepad

Oil-Based Sharpie Mug

Puz­zle Piece Necklace

Sten­ciled Mugs

Sweet & Spicy Nuts

Painted Umbrella

Sim­ple Can­vas Art
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