Marisa Girardi Presents

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…

If you’re in Kalk Bay, you can find my brooches and lots of other beautifully handcrafted items at Blossom in Colyn Rd.

Here they are in the shop.

I felt these gorgeous scarf rings - they’re sooo soft and I’m sure they would feel wonderful against the skin on the neck  - unlike many awful scratchy fabrics and labels in winter.

I’ve been wanting to do an embroidery using a hoop as a frame for a while now. I’ve also had a little design I’ve thought about putting on a t-shirt or painting, but when I realized how perfectly it would go as an embroidered piece, I had to sew it up immediately. I’m so pleased with the result and it was such fun that I’ll definitely do more.

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!

Growing up in a creative family, our unspoken motto was “why buy it if you can make it”. Over the years we exchanged many handmade birthday (and other) cards as well as gifts,  and if  I have the time and a good idea, I still prefer to make a gift.

Here are the two most recent.

My friend Justin had a mexican themed birthday dinner and so I brought along a leetle friend for him.

I also printed a card with Signor Mustachio in front of his crumbling hacienda.

For my sister, I found a tea box in a charity store, sanded it down, painted a lovely poem by Su Dong Po on the lid and filled it with yummy teas.