Happy New Year

Paper Heart Garland DIY

I love this DIY paper heart garland posted by Honeybee Vintage. It is so cheap and easy to make and so absolutely effective.  I might have to make one for the boys' room while we wait for our furniture to arrive in Aus.

Little Ceramic Humans

On the theme of little humans, here are two delightful pieces by Cynthia Consentino and Magdolene Dykstra.

Little Wooden Humans

I am an avid image collector. Seeing that our house is all packed up now I have tried to stack up posts to keep you inspired. I will be doing posts every now and then, featuring the work of artists and crafts people I admire. When ever I find an image I try really hard to find the artist's name, but sometimes on Pinterest, no matter how far back I go I cannot find the source of the original image, so I really apologize when it is missing. Today I feature the work of artists who make little wooden humans. In order of appearance the work of: Claudette Schreuders, Claire Oswalt, unknown artist and wooden Santos figures.

A Portrait of Me ONCE Upon A Time

When I first started working at the DUT, about ten years ago (I was pregnant with Leith at the time) the KZNSA Gallery put out a book about Durban Artists. It was a beautiful book because they got wonderful photographers to take the portrait photographs of the featured artists. I was lucky enough to have Angie Buckland take my picture. When I popped into Buzz Art the other day I was given the original photo taken of me.

How Small We Are

Does this not make you feel small and filled with wonder? I found these beautiful photos of the frost flowers in the arctic ocean on This is Colossal. Apparently they are teaming with life.

Merry Christmas

What I Want For Christmas

Not a small ask at all, but I really want one of these beautiful paper dresses by  ELISABETH LECOURT.

Sigh. Oh well, maybe next year.

Oh Reindeer

Lovely mutations on Santa's herd by Les Deux Garcons and Rachel Denny.

Xmas Shop Windows

I am so excited to be in Melbourne next Christmas so that we can take the boys to see the Myer's Christmas window. Myer is a big Department store in Australia, with its flagship store on Bourke St, in Melbourne. The Myer Christmas Window, is Myer’s gift to the city of Melbourne, and this tradition celebrates its 57th year in 2012, with the highly anticipated unveiling this year’s theme, a beautiful tribute to a much-loved children's book, Rob Scotton's "Russell's Christmas Magic".
Other years have featured The Nutcracker Suite and Olivia Helps With Christmas - we were in Melbourne that year and actually saw it and it was superb.
Here are some pics of the Myer's Christmas windows and some other beautiful Christmas windows from Liberty and Anthropologie.

Xmas Lights

When I was a little kid my parents would drive us down to Durban town to see the Christmas lights. Wow they always seemed so amazing to me. Maybe when you are little your bar for amazing is quite low, or maybe the lights have become much more lame than they used to be. Anyway, here are some pics of Christmas lights in cities around the world that are far from lame. If you download the pics the title of the image will tell you where they are from, all except one of them for which I could not find a reference, sorry.

Unusual Xmas Trees

I have been looking at some unusual Xmas trees on the internet. These are some of the images I have found. If you click on the images to download them, the file names will tell you where they came from.

Coke-a-Cola Gammon

I think this is a Nigella Lawson recipe originally. But I learnt it from Tom who learnt it from Sam. It is so easy and so yummy and you should try it now while there are plenty of Gammons around, outside of Xmas it is more difficult to get hold of them. So: get a gammon (Woolies or Mr Mozzies are good places). Place two liters of Coke-a-Cola  in a big pot. Bring the gammon to the boil in the Coke and then turn it down and allow to simmer for two hours. Drain and place in a roasting pan. Coat with any marinade you like (I used a mixture of teriyaki sauce, honey and spices) and roast for 20 - 30mins at 200 degrees centigrade to crisp and glaze. This is great for a summer evening meal and sandwich lunches. 

A pic of what my gammon looked like when done.

Durban Family Xmas

Well the packers are in today and so this is probably the last "live" post I do, however I have set up scheduled  posts until January to keep you entertained. There will be a bit of a radio silence after that, but ONCE will re-emerge in February in a whole new land with a whole lot more to offer.
Here are some pics of our Durban family Xmas party that we had a few days ago. Once again thanks to Darren (who actually features in some self portrait pics he took) for the lovely photos.

So Lucky

My little ones were so spoiled with these special little wall titles made by Jess and Jack. Aren't they marvelous?

Leith's Baby Quilt

I am trying to get all of our quilts and blankets washed before they get packed away and sent off on the high seas. I found this little quilt that I made while I was pregnant with Leith. What a long time ago that seems.

Buzz Art @ The KZNSA

I popped into Buzz Art at the KZNSA the other day and there were some beautiful things on offer. If you have not already done your Xmas shopping it is well worth the visit.

Fat Tuesday

Fat Tuesday remains one of my most favorite shops in Durban. The owner Shannon, has excellent taste in all things from fine art to stationary and works hard at keeping her shop a really unique experience. This is really the perfect place for Xmas shopping.