..folk artsy illustration...

...a few years back i bought a wonderful book for my learners, called 'illustration play'. i just fell in love with the idea of combining 'folk art' with illustration. the years past and i never came up with a way to use stitches in my work. over the december holidays i came up with two ideas for my 'memory wall'. 

this is the beginning of my search for a new illustration style...     

                                                                                          ~ henriëtte

...more design indaba madness...

...i’m busy making some stuffed characters for our colour africa proverbs stall at the design indaba expo. {this is our first stall and we are learning a lot, at every step. we’re busy designing and implementing the different parts of our stall, trying to make it beautiful without spending a fortune}. they are kind of odd, but i think they’ll bring lots of colour to our little stall. now that i’m thinking about it, maybe this was inspired by our exquisite bunny corpse project...

 ~ roulé

{roulé works for d4d and colour africa proverbs is her project, she did all the illustrations and layout of the book}

...jesse's new studio...

...a shot of my new studio space, at 114 lower main road in o bs. I'm sharing with 2 screenprinters, and plan to be there most mornings at the least, so do pop in if you're in the area. totally unplanned - i heard about the space, went to look, took it. so the decor is makeshift; but it's a workshop rather than a shop...

~ jesse

...sorry skip me this time, or not...

...oh my lands would love to, but seeing as how i am absolutely spinning with the new potential (and new potential insanity :O) of getting ready for my first design indaba.... not from me this time, i am afraid. i wonder if it is normal to feel slightly vomitty ALL the time?!!

hmm, i guess you could actually post that - and if there are any words of wisdom from the more experienced and calmer members - rock 'em to me. that and a good supply of brown paper bags. (for hyperventilating, not for puking. this should be said)

pip pip, off to run around like a headless chicken...   

 ~ tessa

{ after this frantic email from tessa, i asked for pics and, voila }

...crochet needle up, and go...

...a friend of mine fell pregnant after some serious complicationst and i've decided to celebrate it by trying my hand at crochet. so, one baby blanket coming up! i'm very slow so hopefully by the time the baby is born i will be done! this is how far i am...
                                                            ~ ronel

...jana follows her dreams with zero budget...

after ticking 'published author' off my to-do list, i was immediately on to the next challenge: writing and directing my very own play. so i met up with a great friend and writer buddy, martin venter, and we started working on 'trappe van vergelyking' in july 2011. after many failed emails to try and get a sponsor, i decided to go on my own and ended up at the stage, where i met sophia wessels. she loved the script, wanted to act in it, helped us with auditions and more or less six months later we are seeing it come alive. my dream is becoming a reality!

i've never done this before and at times i'm shit-scared, but so far it's been extremely rewarding. our lovely little play opens at the stage in durbanville on 23 february. the poster above – designed by friend and fellow-sweet-and-soutie-mate carmen schaefer – is our only marketing material and i think it does a fantastic job! thank you s&s for the support and all the friends of jana-who-follows-her-dreams-with-zero-budget. more info on the play is avails on our facebook page.

hope to see you all there ~ jana

...new branding for leila's shop...

... a new year and a new look for leila's shop. she's been very busy during january applying her new look to her website and online shop.
look-see, look-see we love it...

...kristen's goal: to master this machine...

...creatives tend to lean towards busy, often chaotic lives, leaving little time to fulfill those desires to do "all the things". thanks to sweet & soutie's latest theme of "starting something new," we are MAKING time to master new skills and do all the things we've been meaning to tackle.

after having my christmas wish list fulfilled, i am at a good starting point to learn 

a skill i have wanted to learn since forever - how to go beyond "auto" on a fancy pants digital camera.  

introducing: my new rebel T2I

i've started with trying to photograph my fabric range. it's tricky because colour accuracy is imperative, and i don't have great lighting in my studio.  i usually gravitate towards learning through trial and error instead of reading manuals, but i am committed to doing things properly this time. so i've been reading the manual, (to my husband's disbelief!) and i've found some useful tips in this pdf: here  

still a long way to go, but, fingers crossed, a year from now i will be shooting like a pro. my first attempt is above. 

good luck to all the other s&s gals on their "something new!"...

                                                                                         ~ kristen