Photo-a-Day Ain't For Me...

So at the beginning of May I mentioned the May Photo a Day challenge by Fat Mum Slim and that I was going to give it a go - it totally owned me, guys. I'd never done any of those thing-a-day things because it didn't feel like me, and I was right. After the first few diligent days I ended up quickly trying to get the pic of the day done late at night with bad lighting, producing mediocre photos at best, and so decided to throw in the towel instead of filling my instagram feed with pics I didn't even want to upload. With so much already going on in any given day and so much to remember, trying to also remember to find an interesting-looking postbox to take a photo of was bottom of the list, and eventually off the list. 

I did take some pics of my own though...

If you also did the challenge and succeeded, well done! If you didn't and would like to try, here's the list for June and you can read more about how it works here. It's not restricted to instagram, so anyone can do it.

Have a fantastic weekend! :)

And don't forget to grab for FREE printable June calendar here.

Cute-Scary Digital Monsters by BAKEA

Friends, meet the monsters of Juan Carlos Paz, aka Bakea. These pretty much blew my mind and made me want to exist in other worlds. Bakea is an art director, character designer, digital illustrator and sculptor from Madrid, Spain. His fantastic creatures are made to inhabit real life landscapes, which really adds a magical element to his work. I cannot get over the characters themselves - the colours and shapes, some with a kind of cute-scary mix that could be terrifying if you met them for realzies late at night in a dodgey alley. 

Each character is so superbly original and individual! Check out more of his work here and here. 

Free June Calendar Printable

June is fast approaching and everyone's all like "half the year's gone by, I gotta start getting my shit together!". Or maybe that's just me. Either way, here's a free June calendar printable download for you! Hope you like it :) I'd love to know what you think of it in the comments below!
If you have any suggestions for future downloads, do let me know.

June Calendar Free Printable

Right click and "save links as"

Do you have Motherflipping Big Ideas? There's a notepad for that (or there will be, soon!)

If you follow me on instagram you might have seen some sneak peeks of some new stuff I've been test printing... here it is! I plan to have these available as A6 notepads, along with the to-do list I did a while ago.

The Watercolour Gems will only be available as notecards, but the Green Leaf Notes and Motherflipping Big Ideas will be notepads. What do you think? Would you be interested in these? Would love to hear your thoughts :)

Pinterest Faves from the past week

1. The Sweetheart - a 1920s toaster. Isn't it just beautiful? I'd love to have one of those!
2. Adorable DIY handmade clay pots
3. Beet and Goat Cheese Jewels - almost too pretty to eat!
4. A food colour chart to make the most beautiful shades of icing
5. And a piece of bluntly humourous advice that I really enjoyed :)

Are you a Pinterest addict, too? You can follow me here!

Check out the awesome new Parc. Cafe

So last week I stumbled across another new Durban cafe - and what a gem it turned out to be! It's right next door to the Glenwood Bakery, which is a relatively quiet little spot so it's a great escape from the hustle of everywhere else. Great decor: simple, clean, great colours and furniture. Free WiFi. Great people: Brett Gentles, the friendly owner and "one of the best creative chefs to come out of Durban" (to quote an article in the Mercury!), has worked at the 9th Avenue Bistro and has now started Parc. Cafe with his sister Lara. And the foooooood...

“Our name is a bit of a pun, ‘parc’ in French means park as in with trees and grass - we wanted to create a sanctuary in the city (like a park). It also came from ‘park off’ as in come chill.”

 ...the food is fantastic. Such unique flavour combinations that are really like a surprise party in your mouth. I tried the wintermelon, coconut, ginger and chocolate gazpacho (yes, just look at that ingredient combo!) and it was awesome! Each flavour distinctly present and amazing.
Then I had the roast beetroot, radish, green apple, lettuce, avo, lentils and goat cheese vinaigrette - my word. Deeeelicious. And I could have gone on coz I wanted to try so many more things, but I managed to not pig out and save some for next time, which will be very soon.

How awesome are these little cup jerseys? Too flipping cool, and handmade by Brett's mom! They're for sale at R65. 

Check it out, you won't regret it :) For more info you can check out their website.

Moments of Happiness 04

Haven't done one of these in quite a while! And looking back there have been many happy moments. Here are a few...

I finally got the old embroidery stuffs out and got back into it! SO glad I finally got round to taking that first step (I've been meaning to for literally over a year!)... now to continue. Really enjoying it. 

I got some impromptu beach time one beautiful Durban winter morning, which was just so calm, peaceful and soul-warming.

This made me really happy: I went to the Botanic Gardens tea garden for their famous ah-mazing crumpets one day and there were these hadedas lurking around for food. So I threw them some crumpet bits and noticed they were getting pretty close, so I held some bits out and they actually started eating out of my hand! That seriously made my day :) I feel like we're friends now. Pity I won't recognise them next time.

Really loving this jersey top I bought, even though it's kinda kitch. Feels like wearing a thin comfy blanket and the print makes me happy. 

I got a really great stash of classic second hand books from the last SPCA market I went to. I've got such a big pile waiting to be read now! Less internet reading, more book reading!

What made you happy recently?

A Song I've Been Loving Lately... Oh Sailor

I've been loving this song lately, particularly the lyrics above. If you haven't heard it before, give it a listen below! Just feels kinda comforting. Hope you like it, too :)

Recent Work - an Illustrated Writing Map for Sandy Places

Writing Maps are illustrated maps with writing prompts and exercises on them to get the creative juices flowing and inspire stories, created and written by Shaun Levin. It's a  really cool portable tool for aspiring or practising writers. 

I got to work on the map for sandy places, Write by the Sea. It's an A3 map that folds down to A6, and was such a cool project to work on and a great concept to be part of!

“Writing Maps are a portable, practical and inspiring guide through the wonders and perils of writing fiction and memoir.

Each illustrated map contains at least 12 extended and thought-provoking writing exercises that will help you explore the city, the home, characters in fiction and memoir, the writing process, and life in general.”

“Writing Maps are devised to inspire stories, spice up your writing routine, expand your work, develop work-in progress, or just make sure you have writerly fun in ways that will surprise you.”

I was very lucky to have been chosen to work on a project that features so many talented illustrators that I admire. You can check out the other maps on the Writing Maps site, and if you're a writer or even  just like writing for fun, these are such great tools to use.