Karen Barbé's Work is Sew Sew Fun!

I absolutely love the work of textile designer, Karen Barbé. I have always had a thing for embroidery and sewing crafts, and have been wanting to get back into it for a long time now... time to dust off that needle and thread and have some fun! Her stuff has really added to my inspiration to get going again. 

How fun is that cross-stitched face?!

A Package from Guard the Vintage!

Check out the awesome little package I received from Guard the Vintage! I'm pretty sure I actually had my eye on this at the last market... What a happy end to the week! :)

They're such a great online vintage store - reasonable prices and good quality, judging by the stuff i've bought from them so far. Check them out here.

Shop Local Online with Hello Pretty

If you haven't heard about 'em yet, there are some cool new online shops supporting local talent that you should know about! 

Hello Pretty is a cool new marketplace for South African independent creatives. It was started by five friends with an appreciation for South African design. You can find all kinds of goodies on there, from food, to vintage good, to art and lots more. Check it out here. 

Spree is also an online marketplace for independent creatives, including designers, artisans, craftspeople, illustrators, photographers, artists and vintage collectors. Check it out and support local talent here.

Society6 isn't local, but I wanted to throw it in the mix coz it's been a favourite of mine for a few years already. It's specifically for artwork, and the great thing about this site for sellers is that you upload your artwork and they produce and ship the products on your behalf, making it super simple.
It's a site I frequent regularly for inspiration because of the awesome illustration I always find there.

I've started selling some prints and things on these sites, too. Check out Happiness is... on Hello Pretty, Spree, Society6.

Hope you find something you like, and if you have local products to sell, get your stuff on there now! 

Do you have any favourites that I should know about?

Hey Jude, illustrated

Stefano Agabio is a communication designer from Italy , and he's put his print design and data visualization skills to good use. He illustrated all the lyrics of Beatles song Hey Jude with Pantone markers  - it's awesome!

More here.

Gotye's mashup of covers of their song on youtube - It's awesome!

Ok, so you've heard this song a zillion times, but this is just such a hauntingly beautiful mashup mix, I just had to post it. It gave me goosebumps. Gotye put together a mashup of the cover versions of Somebody that I used to know on Youtube... and it's just lovely.

This is the original video, and here's the 5-person Walk Off the Earth version.