Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I'm so crafty at midnight...

I have a bunch of extra "supplies" (read trash) just hanging around my apartment. I also have a "partiality" (read addiction) to cereal. I also have a "small" supply of "vintage" (read just plain old) magazines...
Put them all together at midnight and you have a crafty-cereal-box-magazine/trash-supplies holder!! Let me show you how:




Step one: obtain empty cereal box. If you don't have one of those.... Well let's just say it's unlikely that we'll ever be friends. On the other hand I do have a few "couple" (read fifty) extra that I can offer.

Step two: cut a "flappy" (read angled and then straight) shape in the cereal box. Just like this:



Wow it's so easy. Especially considering it's midnight and most normal people are probably sleeping.
Step three: Find a "vintage" (read old) magazine and find a cool advert or picture you like. I am limited since I only have magazines sent to me by dear mumsy and aunt - I tend not to buy korean magazines since it's all "annyang, kamsahamnida, pigoney, nampion-chotgo-iseyo, suel-sajuseyo" (read hello, thank you. I'm tired, I'm looking for a husband, buy me a drink) as you can tell my korean is pretty limited hence not buying Korean magazines which I clearly will not understand. Anyway, I digress, back to cereal boxes. I decided to stick with black and white magazine pictures. Usually perfume adverts are pretty good.
Step four: find good perfume add and then rub advert all over your body. You don't want to waste the free magazine sample. Like so:



Step five: use glue to cover the cereal box with the magazine. You may even try talking to the cereal box in a sexy way if you think it might be attracted to your new scent.



Good idea: use glue to stick.



(yeah, see the way she's looking at me. It's the scent, I told you.)


Step six: Next you can cover the box with black and white tape (if you live in Korea and have access to awesome black and white tape.) If not, I'm sure you could use black bags or black paper... Just cover the whole box. Or not. Whatever works for you.


This is the back side. Note the awesome black and white tape.

Step seven: this is the bonus optional extra awesome step. If you have made it this far without killing yourself or the box sexually-harassing you, you have done well and you may attempt awesome additional step seven. Depending on the use of your "MAGCOREAL BOX" (read magazine-covered-cereal-box) you may want a smaller pocket (to hold smaller things.... obviously.) (did you really make it to step seven?) anyway I will be using my MAGCOREAL BOX to hold papers and cards and embellishment type things, so I would like the smaller pocket (for smaller things). If you're making the MAGCOREAL BOX to hold magazines or files or something then you don't need the smaller pocket (for smaller things).



Fold a piece of magazine in half and tape it onto the inside of MAGCOREAL BOX. then you can use it for smaller things so that they don't get lost all the way at the bottom.

Step eight: cover the entire box with clear box tape... The big thick sticky-tape kind. This will protect it and make it shiny. THEN... fill your box with all your treasures...







the end me and the box are now off to bed. But don't tell the magazine.

I'm LIVE!

I have been working on a Freelance portfolio site indieArtworks for my design work... It's still a work in progress and I'm certainly no HTML-guru (urgh) and I'm still working on getting all my portfolio stuff up - but here is the site that went live today! CLICK HERE or HERE. and let me know what you think :)

Monday, November 29, 2010

Run Run

It is getting colder and colder in South Korea and yesterday we had some more snow. This whole cold/dark/snow thing makes it exceptionally more difficult to make it to the gym. So I would like to introduce you to my magical mix that gets me through the treadmill. 
(yes, I realise that most of these songs are super-cheesy and lame-old-school. but you can save your judgement for someplace else  - i really don't care. it works for me.)

Ok so treadmill-tracks:


Track 1: You're my heart, You're my Soul - Modern Talking. Good for starting - nice easy warm up..
Track 2: Eye of the Tiger - Survivor. great steady beat - good for getting into some hills. Also, this music video is super-awesome - haha
Track 3: In the Ayer - Flo Rida good running song but mainly because it reminds me of this night:

(yes, that's a pole.)

Track 4: O Saya-Ar - Rahman/MIA This song is simultaneously slow and fast. i dont know how, it just is. it tricks you into working harder than you think you are. 

Track 5: We're Alive - Paul van Dyk This is just an awesome song. And it also reminds me of the 12 hour spinning-marathon that a bunch of us did for the Rhodes University gym - where i worked - to raise money for charity:
(little bunch of champs - and that's me. in the pink. with the pink water bottle.)

Track 6: This aint a scene it's an arms race - Fall Out Boy - just to pick up the pace a little...
Track 7: Here in your arms - Hello Goodbye - something fun and its a good happy jog-along beat :)
Track 8: Paper Planes - MIA - slower beat - good for hills...
Track 9:  Harder to breathe - Maroon Five - by now it is probably getting harder to breathe.
Track 10: You're a superstar - Love inc nice and easy - you know.. for coming down the hill and picking up the pace...
Track 11: Lift me up - Moby. Moby is just always good for exercise. 
Track 12: Maneater - Nelly Furtado. yes, i warned you about this.
Track 13: Sin Sin Sin - Robbie Williams yeah.. im not sure why...
Track 14: Disaster Button - Snow patrol. I just like this song. and once, i made actions to go with the entire song. i was bored.
Track 15: Dog days are over - Florence and the Machine. Reminds me of my brother and great for the running especially.. "run fast for your mother, run fast for you father, run for your children, for your sisters and brothers..."
Track 16: Dakota - Stereophonics. always a goodie to me.
Track 17: Deep inside of you - Third eye Blind - starting to wind it down...

* and there's your running-workout. done. *

now get your lazy bottom to the gym.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

I found this

I found this image on this tumblr blog and i thought i'd share it since... well... you see that girl? yip... i'm right there in the middle...

Dear North Korea, 
We didn't like that little gift you sent us on Tuesday-
Please stop that.
Sincerely,
SoKo.
xoxo

7 things

Seven things I've learnt this week:
  1. Marshmallows and carrots make an exceptionally good combination. you should try it.
  2. People are generally most thankful for family and friends and people. this is truly reassuring for mankind.
  3. If you need a new excuse for not getting out of bed when the alarm goes off, feel free to use one of the excuses I learned this week:
    * It's cold.
    * I went to bed very late.
    * Maybe i will start the 'getting out of bed early' thing on a Monday.
    * My snooze button feels sad if i don't hit it.
    * just... meh...
    * It's very dark. (my newest latest favourite)
  4. Dedicated and involved parents make the world of difference to children in the classroom.
  5. Putting just the smallest amount of effort into things often yields very good results.
  6. South Park actually started out with the animators cutting out pieces of cardboard and photographing each scene.
  7. Cheese cake, pumpkin cake, chocolate, coffee and pumpkin pie are all very delicious. simultaneously.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Somethings Saturday...

(found via we heart it)


A few pretty somethings for your Saturday - 

 - A soft and beautifully illustrated 2011 Diary from Frankie

- Vintage floral downloads for digital art works from Pugly Pixel

- Empowering women's stories on My First Time

- Some good music from Goodmorning and Goodnight

- Cute hand-drawn save the dates from Oh so beautiful paper

- Amazing journal pages from Teesha Moore

First Snow!

Today is the day of First Snow in Paju, South Korea. (Actually it's more like ice-balls. really.)
I'm South African, snow is very exciting. For the first five minutes. and then it's just cold. and I want to be in bed. It's official, as from today I shall be appearing like this:

Friday, November 26, 2010

How to cook carrots

So last night I attended a gloriously indulgent thanksgiving dinner hosted by my lovely American friends. I was in charge of the carrots. This. Is. Petrifying. Hostess-with-the-mostest gave me a recipe to follow involving carrots and marshmallows. (me: marshmallows? Really?! Are you kidding? Don't joke with me about things in the kitchen because I have no idea.) no, they assured me, it's a real thing. Ok. Marshmallows and carrots. This should be interesting.
Fellow thanksgiving guest came over to my house after work to go over the recipe again in point form and says "you know, this is actually quite a simple recipe- I really don't think you can go wrong."
oh, trust me, I'll find a way... After friend left my house I received Text from hostess-with-the-mostest asking if I needed to borrow her peeler for the carrots. I presume she knows I already had a peeler and was just sending a friendly "don't forget to peel the carrots Che" which is just as well since I had not factored that into the recipe.
Anyway I decided to start 2 hours early on the carrot cooking since it's always very embarrassing to be late for a thanksgiving dinner because your kitchen is on fire.
Ok.
HOW TO COOK CARROTS. STEP 1:



Carrots. The most vital.

HOW TO COOK CARROTS. STEP 2:



Cut the carrots. Now realise why I was assigned the task of carrots. Sneaky american friends.
HOW TO COOK CARROTS. STEP 3:



Wash cobwebs off pot and eat marshmallow.
HOW TO COOK CARROTS. STEP 4:
Switch on stove. Try switch on stove again. Try again. realise stove is broken. Panic. Run to neighbors house screaming HELP! HELP!! CARROTS ARE IN JEOPARDY!! HELP!!!
Neighbour: maybe you should try plug the stove in.
Me: oh... Right.
HOW TO COOK CARROTS. STEP 5:



Realise your sugar is actually a shiny crystalline artifact. Harry Potter is probably looking for it.


Butter and sugar in a pan. Yeah, I'm also not really sure what going on here.
HOW TO COOK CARROTS. STEP 6:



Add carrots and marshmallows.


Watch out for sneaky strays.
HOW TO COOK CARROTS. STEP 7:


Cook carrots and put them in a bowl. Make some sort of decorative attachment to distract people from the carrots.
And voila! Carrots-ala-marshmallow!
Attend thanksgiving dinner and hope nobody dies...

















Aaaahhh it was a glorious amount of feasting!!
Ok... So let's go round and say all the things we are thankful for-
Me: I'm thankful for family and friends and that my brother passed his first two exams. I'm thankful for creativity and growth and I'm extremely thankful that carrots won't kill you If they're raw...

I hope everybody celebrating thanksgiving had a wonderful day. Thank you to my fabulous American friends for making us part of this special celebration.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thankful

I just wrote an entire blog post on iFriend about the gloriously indulgent thanksgiving dinner I've just gotten back from when iFriend decided to delete it.


I am thankful that it is too cold for me to get out of bed to smash iFriend against the wall. Oh, and spicy pumpkin cake.


More to come... Happy Thanksgiving American friends and thank you for a lovely evening!

WeLove

If you're a coffee-holic or a pseudo-sushi-snob or just want to share awesome things and places with awesome people... then i have the site for you. WeLove is a South African based website that allows you to share delicious-secret-coffee-haunts and fabulously-sexy-sushi-joints with the world. You can upload pictures of your favourite lovable things and places and post reviews about the things you absolutely love. Basically it's facebook "like", on steroids. (the awesome kind).
Currently they are running a competition ending 22nd December (sorry - only open to South African residents :( sob), where you can win a Canon 550D camera or a HP notebook. You can check out the WeLove site for more details...


Go ahead. Declare your undying love. CLICK HERE.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Etsy Love

I received an email from a reader telling me about her friend's blog and jewellery store on Etsy - (actually the exact words were (related to this post):"don't know if you would be interested in reading it at 2am?"
Anyway I went to check out her blog here and then found some of her Etsy treasures in her store. These are my favourite!
Check out her site and Etsy store :)
Thanks for sharing.

What if Wednesday


What if you stick the cue-tip in too far?

clean your ears.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Epic earring count...



So... Last night I did an epic earring count to determine the winners of the fun giveaway. There is quite a story behind this and there will be a cartoon to follow-just right now my Internet decided to die (that's unfortunate) lucky I have iFriend.

I would like to inform the interweb-world that I have a total of 137 bracelets, 128 earrings and 43 rings which makes a grand total of 308. (I also have 4 watches, 3 nose rings and 1 toe ring if anyone is curious) Anyway the winner of the fun giveaway is Jacci from Cape Town who guessed 313. Second place goes to Jade from the blog Kiss This Twice
Here is a sneak peak of what they will be getting...








Congrats y'all and thanks for entering :)

Monday, November 22, 2010

How do I get myself into these things?...

So today I have been part of an epic photoshoot for a really awesome beanbag company- ambient lounge who have been really successful in the UK and Australia and they are bringing their range to Korea and Japan. So anyway somehow I have landed up at their beanbag photoshoot... as the model. here are a few pics of the day so far...








Definitely more on this to follow... Hahaha

Sunday, November 21, 2010

giveaway

fun giveaway of awesome korean stationery, 2011 calendar and other designery-things ends tomo :( ... enter here :)

enter the fun giveaway for a surprise package in the post from indieBerries.
yay for packages.