Real Wedding

As I got home from visiting some clients, checked my inbox and find out that my friends' wedding for whom I made the whole stationary and wedding rings (amongst other cute little stuff), was featured on the South African wedding site SA WEDDINGS. 

So nice and rewarding to see such a beautiful article where my friends thank me for all my effort (not that it was very difficult... they are one of my favourite people ever).

You can read the article here. Hope you like ♥♥♥

The Esruboza Experience ♥♥♥

My good-old-friend Sol is getting married in December :) I'm so excited about it as I'm traveling all the way to Uruguay to share such a special day with her and Luis. Also really happy that my boyfriend is also coming and finally will get to meet my friend of whom he've heard so many stories!!!
Here's the digital Save the Date I designed for Sol and Luis... As they are not getting married in Buenos Aires but in Punta del Este, Uruguay, I thought it would be nice to do a travel styled invite...  The original design had details in old-vintage looking pink; Sol asked me to brighten them a bit... I think that the fuccia plane and boat look great!!!  I hope you like it too...♥♥♥

Wedding Postcards

People love postcards! And they give them different uses... Specially in weddings. 
They can be used as Save the Date, Main Invite or even Thank You cards
Here are two clean and simple postcards I designed for Charlotte's and Richard's wedding and for Kat and John's weddings.

Pearls and a great inspiring story

So last week a classmate from my jewellery course, invited us to her shop to learn how to knot pearls…

I don’t know if it’s because Pearls nowadays are not that in fashion or it’s only our “grannies” that seem to wear them with pride, that I never really appreciated them as I should. But as I never refuse learning new things or a big-fat-girly-chat, I joined my mates and we went to visit Sharon at her shop Kaqala. 

Now I can say: What a great experience!!! I came out of the shop with a big smile, happy that I’ve learnt so many new things about pearls and a great life story.

I knew Pearls were made by some kind of mollusk in shells underwater but there’s so much more to it than that. Did you know that Pearls are “alive” and in order to keep them that way you need to wear them? If you keep Pearls in a box for too long they die loosing its shine and colour. They need to be in contact with skin and fresh air to keep its beauty… In old times servants would wear the Pearls of the house Lady in order to keep them “alive”. Interesting, don’t you think?

Another story is the one from Mr. Kokichi Mikimoto, a Japanese entrepreneur who believed that Pearls had special health benefits and healing powers. He ate two small Akoya pearls every morning and lived to be 94. He also ate 5 to 8 bowls of rice daily...

But this is not all I learnt on this day… I’ve also learnt that it’s never too late to start anything in life. For instance, Sharon, (whom I hope doesn’t mind me writing about…) only really found what she wanted to do at 45. After divorcing her first husband and working mainly in the pharmaceutical industry, then met her new-husband-to-be, resigned from her job and started traveling all over the world buying beads. She then opened her shop, which nowadays it the biggest beads shop in Southern Africa… And she didn’t stopped there… After 8 years of running an amazing company, she is now designing her own fine-jewellery line and I'm sure she will definitely do amazingly…

Great and awesome story! I wish you could’ve heard her and all her funny anecdotes… 

My little post doesn’t do justice to everything she has taught us…

Thank you Sharon for opening the doors of your shop and life to us! You really are a role model…

And girls: on those days that you feel frustrated and not fulfill with your job or life and even feel it’s too late at 30, 40 or even 45… it’s not!!!! ♥

Have a great weekend!!! 

My new Phone

So changed my phone and even though I’m missing the BBM, I’m loving the new application I got: Hipstamatic… It’s so cool; is like shooting in different retro lenses … Is really nice because you can “swap” or scroll the different lenses. I’ve been playing around with colour and different lighting and it’s amazing what you can get… I would say: Goodbye Photoshop…

Here’re are some random pics I’ve taken… I  hope you like…

Inspiring thoughts for the weekend...

Hi there!
Normally when I take a break from work and have some tea, I like surfing the web looking for interesting stuff. I love reading others people's blogs and columns and checking out what else is out there and what creative and awesome stuff other people are doing...
I wanted to share with you this article by Austin Kleon (if you haven't read it before). This guy is a writer and artist and here he writes about how to "become an artist" and about following your gut and getting to know yourself.
"Don't worry about what the rest of the people will say. Just focus on your task, enjoy the process and make it the best you can do."
But I'm not gonna tell you more than that... If you have 5 extra minutes you can read the complete article here and get inspired... Then, if you want more, you can also buy his book "Newspaper Blackout" as I did, hehe...
Have a happy weekend! ♥

Puppy Love ♥

Last weekend, a friend of my housemate asked us to puppy-sit Bella, a beautiful 9 week staffie… 
such a cute, cute little dog… but also very naughty…

I couldn’t missed out the opportunity of taking some snaps of her and Cody who has grown up so much in the last weeks. He behaved so well, like a big brother always giving the example… 
I just needed to share this with you… they are so beautiful!!! ♥♥

Hand-made books

Ok, so I'm totally in the handmade vibe... Being doing all my own stuff, from cushions to cards... and having lots of fun...

One thing that I've been struggling with in the last few months is finding a reliable supplier that does hand-stitched book binding and that can offer a good service. Normally I just print one of a kind book or signature book for weddings and unfortunately haven't found someone that can give me a competitive price and good finishes.

So here, once again, I started experimenting myself on how to hand-stitch and bind books. Here is the first ones I've done... Hoping to do lots more....

Heart Cards ♥♥♥

Good Morning everyone!!! Here're some pics of the Heart Cards I made this weekend using different papers and embossing technique... Hope you like them and make you smile...
Wishing you all a lovely week... and much love...

Home made Guiso

It's cold, it's rainy and this seems to make me soo hungry...
Last night I was inspired and made my first stew ever! I love cooking but for some reason never got to try to do a stew or guiso (in Spanish). I can do great lasagnas, delicious potatoe bake, and really tempting schnitzel or milanesas. But a stew?! For some reason never tried before...
So first, I googled many recipes to know what to use. They all suggested different steps and ingredients so kind of got an idea of what to do and just went for it.
I bought some ingredients but mainly used what I had at home...
. I put in a big pot some chopped onions with a bit of olive oil.
. When the onions went to a goldie transparent colour, added some bacon cut in cubes.
. On the side, in a small pot, heated some water and put some cubes of stock plus mixed herbs.
. Then added to the main cacerole, lentils and a can of mixed beans. I also included some potatoes and carrots cut in cubes and green beans. 
. Every few minutes I would add stock and not let it dry.
. I cooked for about 10 minutes and finally added some cus-cus in replacement of rice that I didn't have at home. This was definitely the best thing  I could do. It gave the stew the perfect taste and texture.
. Once all the vegetables were soft and the mix had a nice consistency (30 minutes), I dished up and sparkled some fresh coriander to give it more color and flavor.
. On the side, fresh farm bread and ready to go...
Stew for winter days!!! Very easy, no measure cup needed, no specifications... just mix and experiment, put a bit of love and somehow you can create amazing meals... ♥ ♥ ♥ 

 I paired the stew with a Long Neck, Pinotage, vintage 2006 wine... A South African classic.
And for dessert my own version of the pavlova: in between the merengue and the whipped cream,  included a layer of creamy dark chocolate. My boyfriend stoked!!!

Robyn and Warren ♥ ♥ ♥

This is the SAVE THE DATE for Robyn and Warren's wedding!

They were looking for something very romantic with a french country garden feeling and wanted it to look like a postcard.  They also wanted to incorporate a photo in the invitation.  For this design I used a soft color palette: cream, vintage pink and light olive green with some vintage texturing and grading. 

The gorgeous photograph they sent me, worked just perfectly with the design and didn't  take long to blend it in: just a bit of blur on the background and emphasized of the sun rays that were soft in the pic.

I hope you like it!!! ♥

Amazing Art

It's Friday, yeay... So happy the weekend is finally here!!! 

Here is a link I would like to share with you, a mural made by two amazing artists -Supakith and Koralie. I hope you like it and get inspired from it as much as I did...

Happy weekend for everyone!!!

Weddings and more weddings!!! Loving it...

What started  just like a once off project -designing the wedding stationary for one of my best friends-, might have just turned into something a lot bigger... I was contacted by Victoria from Evention, a company in Cape Town that does events coordination focusing mainly on wedding planning. They saw the designs I made for Amanda-Darren's and Justine-Caleb's weddings and said they loved them!!!
So I'm starting to help them with the stationary for some of their weddings. That makes me so happy!

I'm really excited to work in such awesome and special projects!

This is the digital Save the Date card I designed for Cedric and Kirsty.
They were looking for something very clean and simple but with elegance. I made this design typeface based and combined only 2 colors -champagne and dark olive green-. I hope you like it...

Shooting Stop F-R-A-M-E

One of the things I like doing besides designing in my computer, is shooting stuff... specially stop frame. Sometimes can take quite a long time, but I like it very much.... and sometimes I even get paid to do it :) heheh
Last week we worked with Inka from IIIEIIIE motion on a project for Pam Golding, one of the biggest property and Real Estate company in South Africa. Our job was to make a business presentation (which normally can be quite boring showing lots of numbers and statistics) look FUN!!! How did we do it? Simple: by using lots of stop frame and giving it a more tactile and friendly look, instead of something cold and very corporate.
Here're a few pics of one of the scenes we shot. Basically it represents a community and how it grows. We got some paper laser-cut and constructed a little town. I think that it looks awesome specially the shadows of the people and houses reflected on other objects. Once we finish editing the footage, will show you the final work.
Have a happy day!!!

I made them!!!

Yes: here is my first set of cushions 100% handmade with love...
I used different  recycled fabrics, most of them with african patters and nice stitched details. I also hand-screen-printed story on the back. I definitely learned a lot because even though it doesn't seem that difficult, giving the cushions a perfect finish takes some time.

I really enjoyed this project and I'm already thinking on doing some more, specially because all my friends that have seen them, love them and have asked me to make more for them: perfect birthday present! I hope you like them too!!!

Our puppy, Cody,
couldn't wait for me
to finish taking photos
of them, for jumping
and feeling how soft
and puffy the cushions are!!!