Gift Ideas - Inspired Living SA

Cape Town Lifestyle, Design & Decor, Gift Ideas, Gift Stores, Lifestyle, Proudly South African

Skinny laMinx by Heather Moore

I am always inspired by the creativity that surrounds us in South Africa, amazing local design talent that is right here on our doorstep! One such very talented lady is Heather Moore. Heather is a self-taught illustrator and designer from Cape Town, with a design label called Skinny laMinx.

I like to cut designs from paper & produce screen-printed textiles, and really, I just like to make things. I have a lovely husband, two angelic kitties & quite a few bicycles. ~ Heather Moore

Skinny laMinx products are fun and quirky with a definite South African flavour. Skinny laMinx products are 100% South African, with design inspiration lifted from nature and everyday objects. You will find gorgeous Wild Flowers, Pincushions, Duikers and Flower Feilds in shades of Framboos, Blueberry, Cocoa to name but a few. Truly unique and exceptional designs at very affordable prices.

I thought I would share a few of Heather’s inspired designs with you, especially seen as Christmas is just around the corner and you may be needing some gift inspiration!

Scatter Cushions R260

Aprons from R245-R365

Tea Towels R115

Table Runners R275

Bags R325

There are also super cute products available in the Mini laMinx range perfect for the little-ones in your life!

Mini Chef Aprons R195

Wipe-clean Placemats R80

Smock Dresses R195

The one item that really caught my eye are these clever Ovenfire Transfers, shown below. If you are feeling crafty or looking for something for the older kids to do during the holidays, they are perfect! You will get an A5 sheet screen printed with a two-colour selection of ceramic transfers that can be applied to any glazed, commercially bought ceramic item, and then fired in a home oven for 20 minutes.

Skinny laMinx Ovenfire Transfers R60

You can visit the Skinny laMinx store & studio in central Cape Town, at 201 Bree Street. Opening hours: Mon-Fri 10am – 5pm & Saturday 9am – 1pm or have a look at the on-line store on the website by clicking here.

Celebrations, Christmas, Lifestyle

Blogger Secret Santa My Wishlist

This year I am taking part in Blogger Secret Santa, which is happening over at The Stiletto Mum. As you may have guessed by the title it’s a secret, so you do not know who will be buying for you or what you will be getting! I promise I have been good, so no coal please!

Each person has to come up with a wish list of goodies, to help their santa shop, the gift has to be under the value of R100 (pre postage) yikes that could be tricky but here goes with my wish list:

Anything pretty from Typo, they have amazing stationery, ribbons and home décor items – my favourites colours include red, pink & blue (black & white is also an option). I also quite like their Owl figurines.

I love scented candles but preferably vanilla or lemon grass – no rose or lavender. Candles like these below in pretty containers or jars and votive glass candles, are also a winner.

Any decor items from Isabelina, which is one of my favourite gift stores and they have some rather reasonable items!

As I mentioned earlier any pretty or unusual stationery items such as gift tags, ribbon, washi tape, transfers or wall art. I love hearts or images of nature i.e. Proteas

Vanilla body products, preferably body butter or bubble bath. I do love the Woolies Vanilla & Brown Sugar range.

If you are in Cape Town – any bath products from Lush, again as long as it’s not floral!

Last but not least I do not have a sweet tooth so no chocolates please – champagne on the other hand is quite acceptable!

Well my secret santa I hope that this helps! Happy shopping and here’s to a very happy Secret Santa experience!

Cape Town Lifestyle, Design & Decor, Gift Ideas, Gift Stores

Typo Cavendish Square

While in Cavendish Square on Saturday, buying a new printer, my girls and I happened upon Typo, a new rather exciting addition to the centre, enough to make “Mr” breakout into a cold sweat! Typo is an amazing treasure trove of awesome goodies, I could spend hours there but we did not have too much time on Saturday but we still manged to come away with the gorgeous decor goodies above! My girls are redecorating their bedrooms and fell in love with the beautiful canvasses they had on display, they each picked one but I think we will be back for more. We also found great scatter cushions for their rooms and the best thing of all was the price and the sales assistant even threw in a funky water bottle for free! {That’s mine! 🙂 }

Typo has gorgeous stationary all colour coordinated, beautiful lap top covers and myriad of other knick-knacky bits. As I said we did not have much time, so a second visit is definitely in order! The store is on the 1st floor in Cavendish, next door to Timberland and they also have a store in Canal Walk, so if you have not been yet do yourself a favour and get there!

Design & Decor, Lifestyle

We Heart This

I love nothing more than finding beautiful treasures and filling my closet and home with them. I find that a bit of retail therapy is always good for the soul – maybe not the bank balance but c’est la vie! Making retail therapy even more accessible are the amazing on-line shops that are becoming rather popular in South Africa at the moment.

A recent, on-line discovery of mine, is newcomer, We Heart This. We Heart This is an online treasure trove of beautifully crafted, handmade & locally designed items, selected personally by owners Megan Kenney & Debbie Reabow. Their unsuccessful search for beautiful products available on the web, led them to start their own on-line store, combing South Africa & surrounding areas for unique items that they would love to own themselves.

We hope to create a store that is easy to use and exciting to shop in. ~ We Heart This

All locally inspired, designed and made, We Heart This stocks items from over 30 talented suppliers – their aim being to showcase the best of South African design and gifting. You will find beautifully hand-crafted jewellery, stunning home-ware items and luxurious body treats to name but a few gems available on their site. Your purchases will be packed with love and shipped direct to your door.

So if you need a bit of retail therapy or are in search of the perfect gift, it is all just a click away! Pop over to We Heart This and discover their amazing array of gorgeous goodies.

Be Inspired, Featured Posts, Gift Ideas, Interviews, Lifestyle, Real Women.Real Life, Websites

Heart and Home Online Gift Shop

This week my Real Women – Real Life feature focuses on Kathryn and Vanessa Rheeder, from Heart and Home. Vanessa gives us a bit of insight into the lives, of two local Cape Town mom’s running an online business.

Tell Us A Bit About Heart and Home?

Heart and Home is an online gift shop that was launched on the 9^th of February this year. I (Vanessa) was working as a finance manager in the corporate field and wanted to do something a little more creative and flexible as I am a mother of 2 boys, Josh and James. Kathryn is going to be a mom in September and our online gift shop provides us with the flexibility, of having a business while still allowing us to spend time with our children.

We both share the love of products that are unique, charming and reasonably priced. Our goal was to source products that aren’t readily available in South Africa, to ensure that we offer something different to our customers. We also want to support local suppliers so we have included some local products, which fit our signature brand and style.

Tell Me About The People Behind Heart and Home?

Kathryn and I both live in Melkbosstrand, Cape Town and are sisters-in-law, business partners and long-time school friends. As mentioned above, I am a mom of 2 boys and Kathryn is expecting her little boy in September. Kathryn is consulting full-time at the moment and I used to work as a financial manager for a listed company.

We found a great deal of inspiration from overseas websites when we were designing and developing our brand and website. We love products from the UK, Scandinavia and South Africa of course. We also love visiting food and craft markets in South Africa.

What Are Your Favourite Products & Why?

We stock both local and imported products. We especially love the local, handmade babushka dolls, owls and tepee tents which you can find in our handmade section.

We have only been trading for a month so our bestsellers change all the time but at the moment, the jumbo shoppers are our bestsellers. They come in 4 designs and are made from recycled plastic bottles so they are eco-friendly too, which makes them a practical and unique gift.

What Would You Say Your Personal Décor Style Is?

My personal style is more contemporary with a touch of classic, while Kathryn’s is more classic with a touch of vintage chic.

What Advice Can You Give to Women Starting Their Own Business?

My advice to women, especially mom’s, starting up their own business is to ensure they have a proper support system in place and a separate office to work in. My eldest son gets dropped at crèche in the mornings and my nanny looks after James. I work upstairs in my office and I’m available to spend the afternoons with the boys.

[quote style=”1″]Ask God for a creative idea – He knows you the best and always gives you something original and helps you along the way![/quote]

Make sure you spend time on research, draw up a formal business plan with financial forecasts. It’s important to know where you are going. Ensure that you implement the proper systems for your business. Use reputable service providers for website design, development and hosting. Use good quality images and descriptions for your products as your customer relies heavily on this.

What Was The Biggest Challenge Setting Up Your Business?

The biggest challenges I faced was not earning a salary for the last 12 months and learning to have patience as it takes time to set up the website and to make it profitable. Kathryn is still working full-time so she has had to juggle the business and her full-time job!

Where Do You See Heart & Home in 5 Years?

We would like to increase our product base in the near future. We have to manage our cash flow so we will only introduce new products as and when we can. We have a 3 year financial forecast which we hope to meet. Our vision is to be one of the leading online gift shops in South Africa.

Thank you to Vanessa from Heart and Home for sharing a few of your business and life insights with us. I wish you every success with your business and hope you achieve your goal of becoming one of SA’s leading online gift shops!

Heart and Home are offering a 15% discount off your initial purchase when you sign up for their newsletter, check their website here for more details. If you like their Facebook page before the 31^st of March 2012 and you could win a R350 Heart and Home gift voucher.

Images: Photography by Leigh-Ann Cooke of Love Life Photography