May Free Printable Calendar

I had an idea for something I wanted to play around with, so I decided to try it out with the May calendar. I experimented with painting elements in watercolour, then cutting them out and physically assembling the whole header and taking a photograph of that instead of doing it all digitally. I feel like the all-blue elements have a hint of a Delft feel to them, which I like. Hope you like it, too. Here are some detail shots of the process, and your download is below.

• Download Printable May Calendar in Colour • 

• Download Printable May Calendar in Black & White •

I love it when people share pics of their calendars in use, so please feel free to share how you use your calendar planner via twitter, facebook or instagram :)

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Cool Kids' Fashion Photography by Hello Shiso

This is unusual content coz I'm not much into kids' stuff, but I came across this site and was so pleasantly surprised with their photos! The company's called Hello Shiso and they're a small design studio and workshop based in Berkeley, California, that makes accessories for kids. It's a small family business and the spunky kids in the photos are the owner's children. I just love the styling of the photos, it's like a kids' version of a quirky, fun magazine shoot. 

Isn't it great? Their accessories are awesome, and they have some for adults too. Go have a look at their site.

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Wild Animals in Magical Scenes by Russian Photographer Katerina Plotnikova

I absolutely love this beautiful photography by Russian photographer Katerina Plotnikova. You might justifiably think the animals are photoshopped in, but they're actually real live animals shot as is with the help of professional animal trainers. How exciting to be those models and get that experience with these incredible animals!

That raccoon face is too funny. See more of her work here.

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Monday Meow • 17

1 cat art print  •  2 cat cushion cover

3 recycled DIY cat planters  •  4 cat vans

Happy Monday!

Hope you've had a fantastic weekend! My weekend was pretty fun: I took part in Nadia van der Mescht's Trinkets & Treasures Thrift Sale, selling some old stuff, and also bought other people's beautiful old stuff. It was great to see so many familiar faces in the shoppers and stall holders and really enjoyed some friendly chats. I also has some stationery on sale that I haven't mentioned anywhere else yet that I'll be showing to the Lucky Packet subscribers in the newsletter this week! (Psst! If you haven't subscribed yet, sign up now! Read all about why you should here.)

Here's wishing you a fantastic week ahead!

Enjoyed this post? Click here for more weird & wonderful Monday Meow posts.

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Hoxton Street Monster Supplies at the Pop Up Snot Shop

This is possibly one of the coolest branding and marketing concepts I've ever seen! It's put together by the creative team at Liberty, with art direction by We Made This, and brings the fantastic products of Hoxton Street Monster Supplies to Liberty. There are peepholes outside the shop at different levels for anyone to look inside before they venture in...

Images and info via We Made This.

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Trinkets & Treasures Thrift Sale

If you're in Durban there's an awesome thrift sale happening this Saturday at Spiga D'Oro, Florida Road. It's put together by the lovely Nadia van der Mescht, so you know it'll be good! 

I'll have a table and there'll be other bloggers and creatives selling their pre-loved goods as well, so pop by and say hi and tell everyone you know :)

Find all the details below:

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Durban Bloggers Unite!

This past Saturday was the first ever proper Durban Blogger's get together (#DBNbloggermeet). It was co-ordinated by Michelle, Verushka and Nicola who did an outstanding job of organising it, getting amazing sponsors and just keeping it running smoothly.

We each paid R50, which was donated completely to Kitten Action, and we were all asked to bring along some kitten food to donate as well. The venue was Hashtag, a new restaurant, and was fully sponsored with a lunch of individual pizzas and a dessert choice of chilli chocolate or banana fudge spring rolls. I went with the chilli choc (I love chilli choc anything) and it was definitely something - a crispy springroll with liquid chocolate inside that has a slightly aggressive chilli kick. It was delicious!
On arriving our tables were decorated with lots of edible goodies including cupcakes, macaroons and cake pops. There were speakers including Mandy, who started Kitten Action, The Fry's Guy, Lenovo, who gave away two of their tablets which they demonstrated for us.

Throughout the event there were giveaways for everyone, and the grande finale was the goodie bag - it feels silly to even call it a goodie bag, it was more like a goodie truckload! Seriously, I think we were all in disbelief for a while when they started bringing them out, it was the closest I've ever gotten to an Oprah "look under your chairs" moment, and I'm pretty sure everyone felt the same. The bags were massive and contained such a wealth of stuff, not just in quantity but quality as well. Here's some of what was in there...

It was great to meet new people and just have a good time.
Thanks to all the generous sponsors involved and mostly to Nicola, Michelle and Verushka for taking the initiative and doing such a great job with it. They've set the bar pretty high for any events we'll be attending from now on!

Sponsors: Hashtag DBN, Smith's Bake Shop, Drakensberg Chocolate Memories, Zomato, Le Creuset, Anna Louise Sleepwear, A New Weigh, Consol, Fry's Family Food, Lenovo, Blend Box Body Products, Swee & Moo, Clarins, Essentials Magazine, Filo Yoghurt, Golden Cloud, Rubybox Beauty, Greenleaf Olive Oil, Huawei, Ice Box Colors, John Freida, Stila Beauty, Lou Harvey, Madame Macaron, MyScoop, Oh So Heavenly, Optiphi Products, Penguin Books, Cooee, Debonairs, Pilosophia Botanica, Ponds, Rebelink Studios, REN Skincare, Rondavel, Royal Dansk, Elephant Shoe Stationery, Second Treasures Decor, Synergy Hair Products, Tasha's Fudge, Thierry Mugler, Thrift Collection, Uber, Wakaberry, Washi Bug, YW Couture, Grazia Mag.

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Happy Friday!

I keep thinking about this video and it makes me laugh every time. I thought you might enjoy it too :) Kristen Wiig is so awesome.


This weekend I'm looking forward to the Durban Bloggers Meetup (#DBNBloggerMeet) tomorrow, a braai, and the Bulwer Park market on Sunday. And hopefully some cold weather (wishful thinking). Yay :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

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