I think I've found heaven on earth...

...in the form of Japanese Cat Cafés. I missed my calling in life, guys , this is so what I'm meant to be doing!

I just came across the concept on The Cherry Blossom Girl blog (pics are all hers - she visited one!). Cat Cafés have recently become all the rage in Japan. Most Japanese apartments don't allow pets, unless it's a large family apartment, so this is why a Cat Café is a popular concept there. As the name suggests, it's a coffee shop filled with cats where you pay by the hour to get to spend time with the feline furries! Many people use it for stress relief and companionship.

If you don't hear from me for a while, I may have moved up there to open my own.
If you're interested, read this article on the phenomenon, it's really quite interesting. They visit one, explain all about it and how it applies to the Japanese lifestyle and social culture, and they even interview a few cat café visitors.

Here's a random video that shows a bit about it...

Images by The Cherry Blossom Girl.

Graffiti just got delicious!

This is a piece of street art created by Montreal artist, Shelley Miller. What makes this unique, fantastic and lickable is that it's completely made of cake icing! The juxtaposition of something so yummy that's usually confined to its specific use against something as harsh and rough as brick and concrete exterior urban surfaces is really so clever and unexpected. I love the style of the designs used, the intricate tile and mural patterns that at a glance are so well created that you wouldn't realise they weren't what they seem.

Pics via here.

New in my Etsy Shop - Stock Illustrations

In the course of my work I often have bits and pieces left over that weren't used in the final product, but that I still like and enjoyed creating - I'm going to be selling some of those bits and more on my Etsy shop as stock illustrations for you to use! This is the first set that's available, perfect for party invites or birthday cards.

If you're in South Africa you can contact me for non-PayPal payment options. If you have any requests, I'd love to hear them! What do you think of these?

Dominique Falla's Tactile Typography

Dominique Falla is a freakin talented Australian designer and artist who creates tactile typography pieces out of all sorts of different mediums. It's so awesome and inspiring to be able to have the dedication, patience and skill to not only to that, but do it ridiculously well. Watch the video at the end of this post to watch some of her process and check out her site to get the full effect of her creations.

So I impulse-bought some calligraphy pens...

I've never attempted proper calligraphy before and don't know the first thing about it really, so if you're a calligraphy master don't go getting your judgy pants on! I thought they'd be fun to play around with and might produce some interesting results. They came in a pack of three, each with a different width. These are some quick doodles I did with them (above), and I worked it into a watercolour pattern I'd created previously (below). What do you think? 

Looking forward to playing around with them more :)