I saw this display yesterday on ‘milk tooth’s rain‘ and thought it was such a clever idea.

So, I took my old and plain brown clipboard and decided to ‘make it pretty’ too. I have a bit of a wrapping paper fetish (if I see one I like, I buy it. I have a collection but sadly they always get damaged before I can use them. My idea is to get architecture draws (but they are like hen’s teeth to find) and my papers can all be stored safely in them). Anyway, I took one of my favourite wrapping papers, cut the outline of the clipboard, coated the clipboard surface with a thin layer of wood glue, carefully stuck the cut out wrapping paper down and then coated the surface with a clear varnish.

It was as simple as that and now I have a beautiful and fun clipboard.

As many of you know, I sadly said goodbye to my mom’s 20 year old Elna sewing machine about a month ago after it was badly serviced by Elna. My new machine is good but it is taking some time to trust and love and events have not helped: my first machine stopped working every time I got home so two days later it was exchanged for another new machine. Last week (exactly a month later) this sewing machine (the second one) went phoOF-bAng-grRRrr and stopped. The belt had come off becuase the screws had not been tightened properly when the machine was assembled. They also discovered several other ‘niggly’ faults which got ‘fixed’. Now I think it sounds funny but I also think that might be in my head.

I have discovered the hard way that the brands you trusted becuase of years of sewing happily with them are not always the best anymore. This brings me to my mission: To find out what the BEST NEW sewing machine is to buy. I know the old machines are still BEST (kind of like the classic VW Beatle) but if you have to trade-up or need a new one, what is the BEST make to buy?

I asked the Etsy forums and got some great feedback. Click here to read the discussion and to add your comment/recomend a brand/share your sewing story.

For the past two weeks my shop has been rather empty but no more becuase Fatimah and I have been sewing like mad and here are the latest creations:

From top left: Stripe and Floral Big Town Bag, Origin Organic Coffee Sling Bag, Penny Leaf Gray Small Town Bag, Pink Olive Leaf Big Town Bag, Purple Stripe Organic Coffee Sling Bag, Asian Elephant Organic Coffee Sling Bag, Deep Red Olive Leaf Small Town Bag, Gentle Two-Tone Leaf Big Town Bag, Soft Bourbon Organic Coffee Sling Bag and Ethiopia Organic Coffee Sling Bag.

Visit my shop to say hi to these newby’s.

If you want to buy a bag as a Christmas present and you live outside South Africa you need to do this by the 25th of November.

If you want to order a bag for Christmas and you live outside South Africa you need to do it by the 20th of November (at the latest).

International postage usually takes between 5-10 working days to arrive but to be on the SUPER SAFE side the Post Office advise that all Christmas items be posted a month before.

The Organic Coffee Sling Bags have been selling really well (faster than I can stock my shop). So for those of you who are wanting a Coffee Bag and are waiting for me to post some new ones up, why not select your own coffee sack and lining colour and I will make it up for you.

Below are photographs of some of the coffee sacks that I have. Each one is special. Of some I have more than one and of others, only one. To ensure that you get the one you want, send me an email asap with your order.

For the lining colour you can choose from (picture below, from top right): Stone, Off-white, Navy Blue, Black, Rust, Cream and as of next week there will also be a Military Green option.

You also need to let me know what length strap you would like: an extra long (over the head and across the chest) strap or a normal length (over the shoulder) strap.

Have fun!

This weekend I went camping at Beaverlac. It is about a 2 hr drive out of Cape Town and then over the Cederberg mountains (you need a ‘proper’ car get to down the steep dirt track). Once there it is beautiful: hot dry air met with cold refreshing spring water.

We took lilo’s and floated away starring at the fish swimming below. There was no cell phone signal so I suffered a bit from ‘internet-lessness‘ but that added to the relaxation factor.

At the one waterfall there was a very cute Wagtail that hung around.

Later we discovered that he had nested right next to the waterfall. See the tiny red arrow in the picture below (far right).

It was a wonderful weekend but now I am back running around and sewing till midnight.

I have two near addictions on Etsy: The Treasury’s and Pounce. They are to me like playing tetris or solataire is to others. Mindless, interesting and pointless …but sometimes that is what you need, some time out.

Wallpaper’s are back in fashion. They were big in the 70’s and then they disappeared under layers of paint. Now they are back and some of them are so beautiful, interesting and down-right brilliant. I even bought a book on them last year! Here are some that I have found over the last few weeks that I added to my inspiration book.

This giant calender (above) is by Christiaan Postma. It offers a very different prespective on time and sadly to me, reminds me of how fast a year flies past. But still … a very clever idea. I wonder if I should paint a calender on my wall … ummm

This wallpaper (above) is called ‘Adopt a monster’ and is by Sonja Schneider. I think it is so cute and fun. I would want to colour each ‘monster’ in and name it.

Such a beautiful and classic pattern (above) …but wait… upclose it is made up of ants! Brilliant! It is designed by Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi.

I love toiles and this one (above) is such an irony. A toile is sophisticated and ordered showcasing classic scenes of peasants in fields and so on. This design is called China town. Do I need to any more ….

I do not know what it is about this wallpaper but it is transfixing (above). The wallpaper, designed by Jenny Bergstrom aims to create an image that radiates disaster, beauty, fear and calm at the same time. This it does. I could stare at this wallpaper for hours.

Two gorgeous new fabrics for bags: “The Purple Disa Big Town Bag” and “The Folk Leaves Small Town Bag“.

The extra long strap Organic Coffee Sling Bag (”The Coffee Hunters”) is perfect for using on your bicycle or if you just like having a bag that can fit over your head and sit across you chest. The print is beautiful too and the light brown on the reverse side matches the rust hemp lining perfectly!

There are also two normal length strap Organic Coffee Sling Bags: “Mount San Francisco” and “ElBorbollon”

…and not to put the least last but there is also a new “Cute blue Bird Pouch” in my shop.