Marisa Girardi Presents

My first time in a glossy mag and I’m so thrilled! Ok, so you might have to use a magnifying glass to spot my work, but there it is nonetheless , so rush out to buy your November copy of House and Leisure, in which is featured a photo shoot of various lovely items you will be able to find at Kamersvol Geskenke (on this week from Wednesday to Sunday).

Though you would swear it hadn’t, it has in fact. I have never made it out to see the carpets of flowers that appear only for a couple of weeks every year in Namaqualand. But out on a walk near Kommetjie to a derelict WWII radar station last weekend, we did see plenty of sweet little pop-ups (spring blossoms) and that was good enough for me.

I never had a special desire to live within viewing distance of the ocean, but since moving to Kalk Bay 3 years ago and living literally across the road from it, I am smitten with all things that smack of the sea. Not only is there plenty of sea here, but there is also a working fishing harbour to make it a little less wild and scary (which, frankly, the sea is very) and I am enamoured of all the little vessels that come and go and I imagine having a little sail boat myself that I would absolutely not vomit over the edge of, because in my imagination I fortunately have no tendency for sea sickness.

Here are some  favourites from the treasure chest:

1.Sinking Ship by Limedrop

2.Sailing by Geninne

3.Anchor by Bride and Wolfe

4.Ships Ahoy Wallet by myfavouritedress

5.Steamboat by Nate Duval

6. Front Gate at The Save Our Seas Shark Centre, Kalk Bay

7.Underwater Circus Screenprint by Jamie Zollars

Etsy feature on the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab at the Rhode Island School of Design- as creepy as it is amazing. I could spend a lot of time there…

Spirited Away… one of my all-time favourite movies - and I sat entranced last night watching it again. I remember when I was younger, after reading a book or seeing a movie that had a particularly impressive effect on me, I would draw the characters and scenes from the story, either how I imagined them to look or as best  I could remember. It would allow me to relive the stories and almost become a part of them. Sometimes I still get that feeling of wanting to be inside the story, or the creation of it.

Here are some amazing creations inspired by Spirited Away:

No Face - possibly my favourite character. For sale on e-bay by cute art

Various Spirits who visit the Bath House. Apparently this set is “long sold out”

I must admit, I didn’t see this one coming… so cool, by Anna the red, an expert kyaraben bento-ist, an art I was entirely unaware of.

A tiny felted bath house by Rita Pizza

And the cutest little soot-sprite! By Ruby Misted Eyes

I imagine I must have some dust-sprites living under my bed, who look exactly the same except they’re grey.

And finally, because who could resisit this fabulosity, a paper assembly of Howl’s Moving Castle, from the movie by the same genius that is Hayao Miyazaki (not to mention the original fabulous author of the book - Dianna Wynne Jones)

You can download the files (part 2 here) to make this yourself. I’m very tempted…

I love going to the little beach across the road from where I live in Kalk Bay and scouring for bits of driftwood, little spiral trapdoors (operculums), the odd bit of ceramic fragment and smooth pebbles of sea glass. I  imagine from what corners of the world they have come, for how long they have rolled in the waves so that their sharp edges become so softened. Most likely a lot of them are from booze consumed on the very same beach, but it’s nice to wonder… You know, I hate littering with a passion, but isn’t it wonderful how ugly and dangerous pieces of smashed bottles can be transformed into these little jewels.

Head over to Emmarie Designs where you can win this lovely clutch purse by The Wren made from recycled fair-trade coffee bags.

One of my favourite Etsy artists is the featured seller at the moment. Her name is Danna Ray, her Etsy shop is Groundwork and she paints the most heart-achingly beautiful fragments of nature. There is such a delicate air of silence and solitude in her paintings of those magical moments that you may be lucky enough to stumble upon when you visit nature.

My sister lives near Wilderness in the Garden Route on the South coast of South Africa, just under 500km from Cape Town. My mom also stays near by and I try to visit 3-4 times a year because I need to see my family at least that often and also because I looove the area and fantasize about living there again (I also lived there for a couple of years) one day.

My sister is super artistically talented and has her own business making leather goods. She uses epoxy clay to decorate many of her items and carves incredibly fine detail into it. I also used to work with the same clay and have no idea how she does what she does.

As I have confessed before, I’m still new to blogging and sharing and having a presence on the web so it is very exciting for me when I am featured in someone’s Etsy treasury or their blog and I can’t very well keep it to myself, so I will be sure to be using my blog as a boasting platform, if you don’t mind. Hey, you have to take your fame where you can get it!

So here are the 2 most recent:

On Little Pink Pebble’s Etsy Finds

Littlepinkpebble is an illustrator and I just love this painting from her Etsy shop:

I’m sure I must’ve had this dream / fantasy. It reminds me of The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I just couldn’t wait for them to find that library. Imagine what’s in those books… ancient stories, accounts of faeries, lists of names, amazing inventions, secret societies… I feel kindof funny looking at this painting and thinking about it.

And then my heart brooches were featured on Wren’s blog too - hooray!