Lapin & Me

I just have to share this site with you on this wonderful sunny Friday.

I started following Lapin & Me on Instagram early last year & the daily inspiration of bunny & dolly delights that they post bring much happiness to my days. They are in fact going to be my #100happydays post for today.

Lapin & Me are a UK based company who manage to combine vintage & kitsch in delightful chubby-cheeked bunnies and toys that are carefully sourced from around the wall.

Lula (/me) is already the proud owner of a cherry red Deidei Doll (bought locally in Cape Town but I see originate from Ghana) & a gorgeous Lapin Light (which, no joke, I coveted for about 3 years until finally I managed to order one online from Bodie & Fou & get delivered to a friend in UK for my hubby to then bring back on his last trip there)..

Deidei Dolls

Lapin Light

Next on my wish list one of these bare-bottomed cuties, the Baby Lapin in soft grey

♥

Wall love

I remember growing up in a house that was covered in crazy 70's dark swirly wallpaper. My parents soon tamed those psychedelic rooms by applying wood chip wallpaper over them & painting them 'magnolia' - it seemed so modern at the time to go so neutral.
Eventually it just felt safe & boring!

Then when Warren & I moved in to our own 1st house, all we wanted was clean plain white walls. Everything had to be white.
And I still love that. It's such a light & fresh solution.

We recently moved in to a new house & I'm desperate to give it a facelift.
I'm craving a bit of pattern again & am desperate to get some wallpaper up on a wall somewhere.

In our previous house we had a wall of Cole & Son Woods in our bedroom which we loved & sadly had to leave behind when we moved.

I must say, I do miss our white floors from our old house. And our Siamese Bangers :( 

Anyhoo. Do we go for the same trees again?

I feel we should try a different one but can't seem to find any that I like quite as much?
Here's a few that I love

 

 

1. Chevrons
2. Dog Parlour
3. Oversized florals
4. Fabulous Polka Dots
5. Fun Flamingoes
6. Botanical pages
7. Anthropolgie Enchanted Forest. LOVE!
8. Anthropologie C'est Magnifique

An alternative would be to make a wall installation (if I had the patience for such a project?):

1. Origami
2. Paper board origami (DIY)
3. Paper triangles
3. Polystyrene tiles can look incredible

Or even paint a design directly on the wall (if only I was arty like that!)

Titi Freak Installation

Interior wall 

Black & White illustration

To be continued with our progress (hopefully)……..

Franks stuff

I became a fan of artist Frank Van Reenens work a few years after I arrived in South Africa.

Back in 2005 (ish I think) those clever boys Justin & Cameron of The Neighborhood Market (& general leaders in bringing a long-awaited market culture to Cape Town) opened a little Cape Town gallery in Hope St.
The What If The World Gallery was a small space between a laundret & hair salon and they transformed the tiny room into an inspiring & engaging platform for young artists & Capetownians to meet & display their talents. It's purpose if I remember correctly was to exhibit unique, original pieces & sell them at affordable prices to benefit give new local talent exposure as well as make art accessible to all by pricing everything under R1000.

It was one of my favourite spots & I went to nearly all their opening nights and subsequently own a little Senyol , an ALFALFA screen print , Dom Sable illustration & stunning LED lamp-shaped light.

They then moved to larger premises in Woodstock, hosting bigger exhibitions, & it was there that I bought my 1st "Frank".

It was Blue Dog.
In 2007.
I saw him sitting there amongst the other sculptures and canvases & fell in love with him instantly. I used my Xmas bonus & bought him without hesitation.
It was the 1st time I'd really purchased anything of value for myself, and it felt so exciting & a privilege to own the pastel blue, curvey hound.

Now that years later we've become friends, it was funny to hear that this particular blue dog was supposed to be his wifes. They were surprised & happy to find him chilling in our bedroom window alcove - literally across the road from the studio he was 'born' in.
(Luckily Tracy now also has her own Blue Dog who was returned from an exhibition in New York.)

A year later, I treated myself to one of the classic Shy Girls. So adorable.

               

Then when Frank showed me his work-in-progress of Skater Boy earlier this year, I knew that I'd have to have one. With Warren's recent love of skate boarding, it was too appropriate not to. It was the perfect Xmas present for him.

Now we have Skater Boy & Shy Girl. A reflection of Warren & I? (ok not quite!)

I also have to confess to 'borrowing' Lula's 4th B'day pressie. It's just so perfect for our bedroom picture wall. But she's smart (and has good taste!) I thought she might forget it was hers, but every so often she reminds me & asks if it can go in her room, to which I always reply "of course - just as soon as I get some more nails my darling" (terrible mummy I know)

I love the solid ice-cream colours and smoothness of the enamel, & the humour that is in each of the pieces.
It's art that makes me happy.

My other favourites are:

"Puppy Love"

"Soft Toy Love"

and "Pretend Pretend"

See more of his gorgeous works here

♥

Spare Bedroom Revamp

We moved in to our new house just over a year ago, and have slowly (very slowly) been settling in to our new space & working out what we want & where.

The rooms are big & the ceilings high, which I love in old Victorian homes like ours, and I'm naturally drawn to Scandinavian and B&W interiors. (My current lust is B&W decor with copper or gold accents & natural leather/wood styling.) But until we have collected more furniture & arty bits & bobs it's tricky to get a good balance between simple & clean and just sparse & lacking personality!

Our spare room was falling victim to that a bit. We had painted the en suite bathroom white & hung a pretty mirror & I made a cute curtain from some IKEA fabric I had to cover the window from the road, but the bedroom had been left a little sad & empty.

So I decided to embark on a quick & simple revamp and have created a simple head board. I was inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest ages ago & wanted to create my own washi tape skyline wall.

Super cheap, super quick & super cute.

I bought some black electrical tape for R10 from the hardware store & used a scalpel knife to get clean edges. That's it!

(In hindsight I should have probably mapped it out & drawn it lightly in pencil 1st, but I've never been good at spending time on the prep & once I decide to do a project usually just jump right in!)

And it's as simple as that. Create your city outline to the size of the bed & add a hill or 2 if you like.

It reminds me a bit of Cape Town - a city nestled next to the mountain.

I ♥ it!

To complete the look, I made a sweet little cloud & rainbow hearts wall hanging (using felt hearts from my rainbow bunting)

Now I just need Warren to hang the floating shelves that we have from our old house & attach some LED lights underneath. I think it'll look fab.

Next thing to do will be to get a couple of rugs, make a new blind - we want to print something on it so we need to brainstorm that one a bit more still. And if I'm feeling brave, I'm dying to try & make a Koushi light!

x

Our Family Portrait

As soon as Lula was born, we became obsessed with photographing her.

Like all new parents, I don't think you can ever get bored of recording every angle, every smile and every moment you experience together, and with Warren being a photographer, there really are millions.
It helps that she was a super cute baby (but everyone thinks that about their own, right?!)

Anyway, despite having duplicates & triplicates of images, I also wanted to have an 'art piece' made of her. I had a look around & liked the simplicity that you can achieve using a pop art approach..

So I did my own version, which I still love & is hanging on the wall in her room.

                              

              

I took a pic of Lula, overexposed it to get the definition in the shadows, photocopied that a couple of times to get the minimum detail required and then painted it in flat colours with a solid black outline.

Then  last year my mum turned 60 & I wanted to give her something really unique & special & with a touch of South Africa to represent her African Babies.

So I asked a super talented friend Alwine, to do an illustration of us. And I love the results. Mum & dad have the original us up back in UK, but I also decided to make a copy for our home - it's just so cute.

x

Here's some other pretty ideas that I've spotted which are a lovely alternative to traditional photographed portraits.

I love the idea of making Martha Stewarts cross-stitched portraits as gifts for friends (eek need more time to get through the ever increasing project list!)

1. Embroidered necklace 2. Stencil portraits 3. Paper Dolls 4. Graphic illustration 5. Family stamp 6. Paper Cut-outs 7. Cross Stitch 8. Wooden dolls