...more lovelinesseses...

...more goodies which will make up the 'hamper-of-loveliness',
donated by heloise, vicky, leila, tessa and jesse.

seriously, if you want a chance to win this entire hamper,
all in the name of charity, get hold of us via this blog to buy
a raffle ticket...

...behold the awesomeness...

...these are but a few of the lovelies that will make up our raffle hamper,
thanks soooo much to design kist, hilda and tjou-tjou,
to buy a raffle ticket to win this entire hamper, please contact us
via email sweetandsoutie@gmail.com
(ALL of the money will go toward the red cross children's hospital)...

...we can't resist a plea for help...

...so, the red cross children's hospital approached kristen recently and 

asked her if she'd be interested in 'sponsoring' a wall in the children's hospital, 

she was chatting to us about it and we thought that this would be an amazing 

opportunity for us sweet and soutie girls to flex our community spirit muscle.

kristen has graciously offered yo donate her design, she has chosen her lekkertjies wallpaper, we just need to raise the money for the printing as well as the application of the wallpaper onto the wall at the hospital.

the costs involved is a measly R2000, and so we thought that we could 

definitely get involved to raise this money for such an amazing cause.

so, how can you help? well we figured if all of our members would donate one 

teeny tiny piece of their own work, we could put together an amazing 

'hamper-of-loveliness', which we could then raffle off.

as the 'things of loveliness' hamper will be soooo awesome and incredible, 

we thought that a reasonable amount to sell the raffle tickets for would be R50, 

'FIFTY RAND' you say in alarm - when what you should be saying is 'ONLY fifty rand, 

for a chance to help the red cross hospital, oh and win this amazing hamper!'

so at R50 per ticket, if we just sell 40 tickets in total, hey presto we'll have more 

than enough to make the wall a happy beautiful space for these poor kids who 

will be spending their christmas in hospital, often away from their families, 

pack your bags you're going on a guilt trip! ;)

so if you can help by donating a 'lovely' and then are keen to buy a ticket yourself 

for a chance to win ALL the 'lovelies' please let us know, we would REALLY appreciate 

if you could try sell a ticket or two to your friends, family, co workers etc, 

cheeky i know, but it's for the children after all ;))...     ~ c&h

...and ol' nameless finally gets a name!...

...thanks all for sending in name suggestions for jesse's adorable monster, 

we put all the options in a box, drew one, and as promised the winning name 

will receive this amazing up cycled plastic bag, donated from tanielle... 

...ironically...

...the winning name is actually the one jesse suggested, so well done jesse
for naming your own little monster, percy...

...a monster badge with a difference...

...sticking to the theme of exquisite creature corpse, we simply looooove 

the googley eyed monster badges that margaret created, wearing mine

with pride today again...

...and the second winner is...

...our newbie michelle was the lucky winner of a porcelain bowl, donated by me, enjoy...

...and the first winner is...

...thanks to tanielle from forget-me-knot for the awesome recycled giveaway...

...our second last meeting for the year...

...dim sum, ice tea and baked berry cheesecake, mmm oh yes, 

and some design 'business' too...

(next meeting's the picnic :))

...kom ons speel raai-raai...

...see if you can guess...

...love it...

...found this on pinterest, but had to change the hideous yellow
to a far sexier purple...

...an ode to sweet and soutie...

...nuff said ♥...

...don't look now, but we're famous...(again)

...go check out the article on big city life about sweet and soutie,

lots of pics of our meetings and projects and an interview about

how we got started and how the group works... 

...and whitewash was his name-o...

...this unfortunate monster was left in the bleach a few hours too long,
from now on just remember to separate your colours from your whites...

...from jellyfish to octobird...

...tanielle giving it a beak, some accessories and some more legs...

...o, nameless one...

...meet ol' nameless, jesse started it, and now h has added the quirkiest little face,
so, to choose a name we have decided to run a 'name-that-monster' competition,
so comment below with any suggestions and the winner will not only get to name
one of our famous monsters but will also win a hand crafted, designed with love...
...something-something, made by one of our members...

...nameless...

...please oh please give me a name, somebody out there,

anybody out there, make a suggestion, oh please. 

this quirky little guy received a sweet little face from vicky of mocholoco...

...re-cycled, up-cycled...

...lovely jessie from jezze prints, with pain staking care has created this cute little guy 

from recycled wool, h has him now and can't wait to see him 'grow up'...

...jellievis...

...legs, legs and more legs. h started ol' jellie here and leila from bo peep 

added some peepers, can't wait to see the legs keep coming...

...rock chick se moer...

...meet our darling: christina monroe, related (cousin of a cousin of a cousin) to the famous marilyn, but doesn't want to talk about it. she's rock chick personified and you don't want to cross her headband. she's kinda awesome...

~ jana

...our small hands...

...well done to all the sweet 'n soutie girls for doing something
good in design week, thanks to carmens initiative and hard work
in putting it all together we managed to make a dreary safe room
at ons plek girls shelter a slightly prettier space.
go check out some more pics and info on carmens blog...

...spreading some love this creative week...

...we are doing our very own sweet&soutie project for 'ons plek'. 'ons plek' is situated on albertus street in the fringe. they are an intake shelter for girls only, meaning they take girls in that have been living on the street.
'ons plek' has asked us to revamp their *safe room*. this is a room where girls go when they can not be with other girls because of a wide range of factors. one selection for the room is used as a wash room and bathroom. we have been asked to make the room feel safe and positive for the girl who has to be in it, and we were requested to design a mural.
here is a little scamp that i came up with for the colour and mood of the murals. watch this space for more about our creative week project...

~ carmen

...mmmmmonster...

...kristen's monster, from a grey baby outfit has the coolest googly eyes,

with h's addition of crazy blue hair, all we need now is some legs and the rest 

of its face, any takers...

...hello mr rubber lips...

...when receiving Herbet Hue Bell II, I was intrigued by his jagged teeth prodruding from his denim pocket and decided that some rubber lips and a lip smacking tongue would compliment his teeth. I took inspiration from the Roling Stones single "Angie" from 1973 and obviously from Mr Rubber Lips himself Mr Mick Jagger...

~ lorraine

...lucky packet from roule...

...we were green with envy when margaret won the lucky draw at 

our 7th get together. roule put together a tote bag of goodies 

including some beautifully illustrated post cards, and a lovely locally

designed and produced colouring in book (also illustrated by roule),

lucky lady in red!...

...our 7th yummy lunch date...

...as usual our get-together was awesome, thanks to isabeau for our 

knot-so-lovely badges, roule for the stunning goodie bag that margaret won, 

and welcome to a fab new member vicky...

...oh nameless one

...our first sock monster, yay, thanks to margaret for adding a new member 

to our little laundry moister family. sadly at the moment he is nameless, 

if any one has a suggestion for this little guys name, let us know...

...this is knot our 7th badge...

...isabeau did knot make it, we did knot hand it out at our 7th get together, 

and we do knot love it...

...mad skills and inspiration...

...aaaaaaah, we asked one of our amazing students from our vc1 class 

if he would mind putting a few ideas on paper to inspire our laundry 

monster project, this is what he did for us, in his OWN time, so sweet, 

and some mad skills in illustration, thanks christie!

so hope these inspire you as they have us...

...and check out his blog to see more of his amazing work..

...a glimpse of our next badge...

...mmm badge 7, interesting...

...jean pant monster...

...meet herbert hue bell the 2nd, who ironically is our second laundry monster,

tanielle has been a busy busy bee, we love the recycled jean pant!

anyone keen to add a lil summing summing?...

...me monster - grrrrr...

... 'pink monster made from an old t-shirt, and stuffed with anything i could find'

yay our very firstest monster, thanks to tanielle from forgetmeknot

now all we need is a volunteer to add some pesonality to ol' pinkie, any takers?...

...a collective sigh of relief...

...what an amazing experience to meet up with our charity,
'Die Skiereiland Maatskaplike Dienste', (Peninsula Social Services)
in Elsies Rivier.

they were so excited and appreciative of our donation. h and i sat down
with them over a cup of tea and chatted about who we were (s&s)
and what they are doing for the community. hundreds of abused and
abandoned children and babies pass through there every year,
and it was so nice to know that we have lightened their burden,
even if just for a month or two.

makes all the hours spend by all of us lovely ladies worthwhile,
so now with that chapter closed, it's laundry monster time...

...mmmm badge 7, interesting...

...isabeau is teasing us with these first pics of our next badge,
with skill like hers we're so damn excited to see what she is up to...

...diy ~ jars of yummy...

...the expresso show on sabc3 has been featuring our members

in their craft slots, here mandi shows us how to create these 

quick simple jars which are great as gifts for friends

materials: 

blank sheets of ready made stickers of different sizes.

colour paper

wrapping paper by unwrapped

page of ready made stickers

ribbon

straws of different shapes and colours

a scooper/spoon

sweets

scissor

stanley knife

ruler

paper glue

hand held punch

elastic

coloured pens

tissue paper

large consol glass of any size 

doily

step-by-step:

1. take your blank page of stickers, take the lid of your consol glass, place this on the sticker page and draw a circle around the circumference of the lid making a sticker template for the consol lid, cut another sticker this time in the shape of a square. you can purchase small circular stickers, which i have today for the label.

2. with the coloured pens write and draw to your hearts content anything pertaining to sweets on the large circular sticker. on the square sticker again use your coloured pens to write 'candy jar' or 'sweet jar'  and the small circular sticker write 'eat me' and again decorate however you so choose.

3. once the stickers have been created, cut them out and place them in the correct areas on the jar, the large sticker on the lid, square sticker on the front of the jar and the small circular sticker on a label which will be used around the neck of the jar

4. take your tissue paper and doily and cut a small square from both, and place them together and wrap them around the jar, securing them with an elastic. from then take your ribbon or twine and tie them around the elastic band and make a bow/knot.

5. neck tag: cut out a circle from the coloured paper of your choice, so that it sits a little bigger than the small sticker, making a 'boarder around the sticker. with the sticker you made earlier that reads 'eat me' place this in the centre of the coloured paper, punch a hole and thread through the ribbon or twine and secure this around the neck of the jar. (this i am going to make before hand, this alone will take a few minutes)

6. to finish it off place a spoon or sweet scoop behind the elastic band holding it in place to scoop up the sweets. 

...a new year, a new project of love...

...after the success and just plain fun of the 'exquisite bunny corpse' project, this year, we are partnering with ilovemylaundry, our fav dim sum & coffee spot, and decided this year to create 'laundry monsters', and call the project the 'exquisite creature corpse'

we want to create fantastical creatures with over sized features, deliciously long arms, distorted little bodies and even just maybe a craaaaaazy eye.

the idea is to use that lonely sock that has lost her partner, those little ziplock baggies of buttons that you get with a new cardi or jacket, your once white dress that is now streaked in pink thanks to hubbies sport t-shirt that 'somehow' got mixed in with your delicates. then add a little sewing, knitting, crocheting and some fabric and ribbon remnants and 'hey omo you have a creeeeeaaaature!

ilovemylaundry is happy to host the auction and as usual all the proceeds will go to a charity that supports babies and kiddies, yay so have some fun and help some less fortunate kiddies, it really is a win-win...

...and the bunny corpses are still alive...

...look-see, look-see the urban edge mag  for june 2012 did a stunning article on the~exquisite~bunny~corpse~auction...

...a thank you from astrid...

...this little thank you note made us smile. only us girls will thank our shoes. check astrid's shoes out here...

...jesse's surprise...

...we were all so jealous when lorraine won these stunning hand printed buttons donated by jesse at our last get-together...

...crocodile tears and goosebumps...

...this is the state kristen has left us in, an ugly mess...

                                     ~ c&h

"my thank you is to the sweet and soutie girls:

when i first received an invitation from "tjoutjou" on

twitter, whom i'd never met in "RL," to join a sweet and

soutie lunch, i was in a self-inflicted bubble of isolation

working days, nights and weekends on my business.

i had the social life of a quagga.

admittedly, i was super nervous to pitch up at a lunch

where i knew absolutely no-one, but i found myself

at ease in the midst of a group of colourful and like-minded,

i'll stress the word "genuine," women.

with different ages and backgrounds,and a peppering

of "sweet" and "soutie" personalities, we are all connected

by our need to express ourselves creatively and purposefully. 

this lunch was the starting point of some special friendships.

sweet & soutie has not only opened up a wealth of

creative opportunities for us, but also nurtures in numerous

other ways. whether it's for business or emotional support

or the sharing of joyful news, there is always a sweet and

soutie girl to reach out to!

after saturday's lunch of awesomeness, anja, a new member,

said: "i needed that." i couldn't agree more. 

so thank you, sweet and soutie sisters. i feel very blessed

to be a part of something so special."

 ~ kristen

...we love my laundry...

...coffee, wine, dim sum, and a chocolate fondue...

wtf ~ is this the best group to be apart of or what?,

saturday at ilovemylaundry  was awesome, and we also loooooved 

the badges from anja, she rocks! yay can't wait til the next one...

...badge of gratitude...

...we absolutely love our badge of gratitude and appreciation, 

anja made these awesome badges out of clay, debossed each letter 

individually by hand, painted them gold and delivered them with love, 

so to anja, we all say thaaaaaaanks...

...thank you mommy! thank you for taking me to Ireland with you, to go to a wedding. 
the wedding was such an incredible experience. and all the sightseeing and 
touristy-things we did after the wedding, i enjoyed just as much. i am so proud of you. 
i know you specialize in the fine arts of reading, writing and sleeping but you took to 
walking the streets, the sights, the beeches and even the mountains of ireland with 
such gusto. even that horrible 9 hour stopover at dubai airport on our way back, 
you took in your stride. you graciously went along to see and do things - like the birds 
and looking at mummified bodies - that weren't of your choosing. 
and we were such a team driving ourselves around! i am so grateful for this shared 
experience we had.
THANK YOU.
your daughter, anja...

...FYI...

...at last i have a chance to post this 'thank you'. in the spirit of our latest theme, carmen made these stunning thank you cards that we handed out to every one that came to our exquisite~bunny~corpse~auction...

~ c&h

ps. carmen jy is 'n ster!

...as good as gold...

...whoohooo, another teaser. a golden badge as sweet&soutie's sixth badge. mmm, we love gold, can't wait to hear anja's thinking behind the concept of the badge...

~c&h

...huh and huh again...

...sjoe, anja is really good at keeping a secret. we have no clue what the next badge is going to look like. we wonder what she is doing with the gold paint...

~c&h

...sigh, they are gone...

...and it's all over. the bunnies all have good homes, we did not kick or harm a bunny and we made over R6000 for our charity. our sweet&soutie members rocks big time...

...snip-cut-past and ta daaaaa...

...just figuring out whom to give them too. will take photos when it happens...

~ carmen

...'n m*#@rse dankie...

...one of my favourite briefs that i do with my learners is called 'delicious monster'. the brief introduce visual communication 1 learners to the anatomy of typography. my stunning class produced such fabulous work this year and was an absolute pleasure to work with on this brief. i do not think that any job can be more rewarding when learners work so hard with you as a lecturer...

a m@#*rse dankie/thank you goes to the aaa school of advertising's visual communication 1 learners. you guys rock!

~henriette

...if you don't come, we're gonna kick this bunny...

...so you've been waiting to do something good, but didn't know how or who to help. we've just made it really easy. we've found needy kids, made these amazing bunnies, organised the auction, all you need is to rock up and buy one.

our exquisite bunnies are finally ready to be revealed to the world at the lovely Haas in Cape Town. all money raised will go towards the Peninsula Child Services {Skiereiland Maatskaplike Werke} for purchasing essentials for abandoned and abused babies and kids in Elsies Rivier.

rsvp  NOW or we might REALLY have to kick this bunny! 

rsvp before 1 may 2012 to: info@haascollective.com or tess@haascollective.com.

to get involved email: sweetandsoutie@gmail.com

this bunny will definitely be glad to see you at the auction...

~ c & h