Alphabet bags

Of course I'm a fan of anything type related. I might have used a different font per letter though. Nice bold alphabet bags here.

Beep Beep

Embroidered text messages and other interesting things at Gingeranyhow.

Before and after:

I've always liked the photography of Lyndon Wade. His work is sometimes bizarre but interesting and often humorous. I've suggested bringing him out to South Africa to shoot a job for us but our budgets are not often large enough to use overseas photographers... and after all we do have so many great local people to choose from. I had to share these crazy images.

Juliette has a gun

Juliette has a gun has launched a new perfume - Citizen Queen. The creator of this brand is the great grandson of legendary couture designer, Nina Ricci and the perfumer Francis Kurkdjian. The packaging really caught my eye and I love the typography.  "Miss Charming" and "Lady Vengance" are the other scents from this house. Great names. 

Imminent disaster

Oh dear. Image by Curtis Johnson.

Elliot Erwitt

Eliot Erwitt, absolute genius photographer and a favourite of a collegue who will be leaving the fold on Friday. Here's to following your passion, his involving capturing great imagery. Best wishes Dave!

Something sweet

Gorgeous creations by Vicky Crease. The collection of iced biscuits in the first image is my favourite - I think its also the styling on the different plates that I like so much. I used to favour all white for crockery but for a while I've been coveting a set of mismatched floral and patterned plates. Hmmm... Milnerton market here I come...

Fibre Trade

I really like the fabric and products designed by Lou Harvey. The bold and bright nature of the work really appeals to me. The fabric is also available laminated which opens up a whole new range of possible uses.  

'Updos'

You can't call the people who designed the below hair stylists. They're artists. I wonder how long it took? Longer than the horses I'm sure.

Seen at ZooZoom. Photography by Claudia Goetzelmann.

See more craziness at Hair hats.

Kate Rush

Very cool styling by Kate Rush.

Cholesterol overload.

I'm flabbergasted. See more here. Read more here.

You are what you touch.

My husband thought I would like this. I do. He knows what a germaphobe I am! Seen on ffffound.com and ads of the world.

Food, Glorious Food.

I'm not a very specific cook. I experiment, measure inaccurately and substitute frequently. It's all part of the creative process for me. I'll consult a recipe and then go ahead and embellish till my hearts content. Even though I employ these erratic cooking methods I'm fortunate that my experiments usually yield decent results. 

Cooking for engineers is a site for the more analytical cook but I find it fascinating - subjects including egg plant taste tests and the best way to cook bacon. Another wonderful series of analytical cooking is Heston Blumenthals 'In Search of Perfection' where he explores many classic dishes. I'm a great fan of his molecular gastronomy but am not sure I'd be a fan of his snail porridge or bacon and egg ice cream.

Heston has captured the multi sensory food experience in his restaurant in inventive ways - one example is by playing patrons the sound of waves crashing to accentuate their seafood meal. By creating the right environment the dish becomes more enjoyable. Find some of his recipes here if you have the time or inclination to devote to this type of cooking.

I think the next dinner party I host should be 'Seven Sins'. Here's an example of one such dinner. The courses are supposed to be representative of the vices of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. The best idea I heard was that for the envy course you should find out each guests favourite meal and serve that to the person next to them! Wrath would have to be something spicy and hot and pride brings to mind a stuffed bird.

Another interesting dinner idea could be a recreation of the last meal aboard the Titanic. I little macabre maybe, but there is something that appeals to me about the recreation of a historical meal. I'll post the results after I've decided the next gastronomic experience!

I simply fell in love with the above image by Béatrice Peltre of La Tartine gourmande.

Jonas Buntenbruch

By Done. A daily design workout. 

Coke Zero?

I've heard that it's aimed at men - Coke Light/Diet Coke was too female in packaging etc. Fun from Toothpaste for dinner.

Happiness is...

...being reminded to smile by Wren.

...the arrival from Kalahari of a book I've been wanting to read (and the fact that it only cost me delivery fee as I had a voucher). Packages are so wonderful. 

...feeling healthier after antibiotics and blood tests and coughing up half a lung. Now if the tinnitus would just disappear I'd be ecstatic. 

...looking forward to seeing a stage production of my favourite musical this weekend.

...a blog award from Solveig. 

...the fact that it's Friday. 

There really is so much to be thankful for. 

Because it gets everywhere...

This poster was inspired by a quote from comedian Demetri Martin and is by Because Studio. Definitely appeals to my sense of humour!

The Absence of Water

Gigi Cifali Photography. A beautiful series called the absence of water. 

Seen on Polar Inertia.

No Worries.

I wish I felt like this. I need to learn to stop worrying. 

From the The Happiest Book. By Alex Ostrowski.

Lucky

Thanks for your 'get well' comments. I'm almost completely back in the land of the living. 

I had one high point during the feverish episode of the past days and that was when my package from LuckyScent arrived. I can barely smell my lovely samples due to a blocked nose but Perfect Veil is one that I think could be a new favourite. Another of the samples is described as the perfumer's vision of a flower with leather petals, dark, intoxicating and sublimely sophisticated. I'm impressed by LuckyScent - they shipped promptly and have given me access to a world of bespoke fragrance that I can try in small doses first.

Charles & Marie

I had a laugh at this cake mould from Charles & Marie. They do wonderful "curated shopping". Check out the 'bling' band aid and the sweet little matchstick garden.

All the pretty horses

Images by Julian Wolkenstein. Apparantly the hair styling on the horses took about 4 to 5 hours!

M.I.A

I've been horribly sick, hence the lack of posts over the last while. Just so you know. This post doesn't even get a picture - that's how little fun I am at the moment. 

Dirk Rees

Lovely stuff shot by Dirk Rees can be found here. As usual it's the personal stuff that's great and the Advertising that comes across as fairly staid and boring (not his technique but quite often the concept.) Sigh. Particularly enjoy this shot of Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay. Thanks to Jillian for the heads up on this photographer.

Conscious cloth

Have you heard of conscious cloth? Organic clothing all made from natural fibre silk, cotton, linen and cashmere. Apparantly the designer has woven or 'encoded' sacred symbols and words into the cloth which are meant to bring harmony and light to the wearer. Could these really be feel good clothes?

Can you spot a fake?

I love these bags from Mind what you wear. 

Much more fun than pretending that you're sporting the real thing.

1 September

Officially the beginning of Spring. There was a snowfall on the mountains of Greyton this weekend and huge storms in Cape Town so I think there is still a lot of thawing to do before we pack away those winter coats! 

But in the spirit of all things bright and beautiful I wanted to share with you the vibrancy of Heather Bailey. If you haven't come across this creative talent before she is a fabric and accessory designer. See more on her flickr. I needed to visually feast on some colour and her blog was perfect to counteract the grey day. 

All images copyright Heather Bailey.