And the winner is...

And the winner of a very pretty package of stationery is..

Well done Jowhara! Please get in touch with your postal address, and I will send your package off to you very soon.

And to every single one of the 151 people out there who entered my giveaway, THANK YOU for entering.

My online store will be up and running {SOON} and then you too can have a slice of pretty-ness. I am fighting with the postal service in South Africa (that is the holdup) everything else is up and ready to go. As soon as I win the battle, you will all be the first to know.

Have a wonderful weekend!

x

DIY Advent Calendars {Christmas Inspiration}

Christmas is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate the end of another year and the lead up to Christmas than with a home made Advent Calendar. Christmas isn't as big here in South Korea as it is back home in South Africa, we even work right up until Christmas eve and only have Christmas day off. So, to get into the spirit, my lovely friend and fellow South African blogger Caitlyn has organized a ladies craft morning next weekend where we are all going to me making advent calendars for each other. I am very much looking forward to it, and of course I am armed with gorgeous pieces of stationery (and washi tape...don't forget about the washi tape!). 

Here are a few ideas for you, so that you too can get crafty. Don't forget to enter my Stationery Giveaway {CLICK HERE} where you can win your own pretty package of special stationery all the way from here in Korea!

{A Bubbly Life}

{A Merry Mishap}

{A few Things from My Life}

{Stylizio}

{AntiLight Craft}

This week marks the start of our {Creative Business} series! Today Caitlyn is sharing 'What's the most important question to ask yourself before starting your own business?' on Caitlyn de Beer Life Coaching. Make sure to pop on over there today.

You can connect with Caitlyn on Twitter @caitlyndebeer and on Facebook.

Happy Weekend!

Dear lovely readers,

I found this quote floating about on the interweb and really had a good giggle when I read it. So I thought I'd pop it on a photograph of some delicious vanilla almond shortbread I baked earlier this year. I hope it makes you smile.

Happy weekend everyone!

Don't forget about the wonderful {Creative Business} series starting on Monday, where nine lovely South African ladies will share their advice on starting your own creative business!

And of course, if you haven't done so already, make sure get your entries into my stationery competition {CLICK HERE} to win a pretty package of some of these goodies:

An{other} update & a GIVEAWAY! {CLOSED}

Dear readers,
Is inevitable that when starting your own business there will be many bumps and hiccups along the way. I have had lots of computer trouble lately (and not the small kind either, I'm talking the hundreds of dollars or thousands of rands kind of trouble) and I am still without my glorious machine.
And, I have run into a few issues with the South African postal service too.
BUT I am still determined to get my site and shop launched soon, so please do bear with me. I want it to be perfect :)

So, to say thank you for your patience, I am hosting a giveaway! Yippee!

But, this giveaway is going to a surprise of sorts, think of me as your Secret Santa (not so secret as you do know who I am, but secret as you don't know exactly what I am going to be giving).

I WILL tell that you that it will be filled with {pretty-ness} and could contain any of the below:

To enter  simply use the fabulously easy entering system below.
The winner will be drawn on the Friday 22nd November. This giveaway is open to international entries too!

Also stay tuned as this week I will be introducing you to a wonderfully exciting new series starting here on the blog next week. It's going to be all about Starting your Creative Business, with tips and advice from 9 wonderful South African ladies who are all doing what they love! Not to be missed! x

Hosting a Giveaway using Punchtab

Recently I hosted a giveaway here on the blog with the sweet Sarah of Polkadot & Stripes. It was wildly successful. Why? Part of the reason was the wonderful goodies up for grabs, but I think what made it so successful was my choice of giveaway platform.

I tried out PunchTab, which I found to be super easy (and free!) to set up, and even easier for my readers to enter. You can upgrade on the site by paying a fee, but I found my basic account to be more than adequate.

There are a number of other platforms out there which offer a similar service (such as Rafflecopter and Wildfire). I haven'r tried out these two platforms, but from the research I did, PunchTab seems to have impressed a lot of people. 

Unlike the traditional method of people commenting on your blog post to enter, with PunchTab, users have a variety of methods with which to enter. The more ways they enter, the more entries they get. You get to customize exaclty what you would like your readers to do (tweet about the giveaway, answer a question, like you on facebook etc). And the best part, you don't have to manually count and enter each entry into another server like RandomOrg to choose a winner. As soon as the giveaway is over, with the click of one button, PunchTab automatically picks a random winner. Its so easy! You can also choose to download a list of emails that your readers used to enter your giveaway to add to your monthly newsletter or to send out thank you emails etc. 

Here are some stats I thought would be worth mentioning about the giveaway I ran a little while ago:

For my little blog, my readers churned out a total of 631 entries. Ok, the total number of people who entered was 112 but that means that they each must have entered at least 2 or 3 times. The reason they were able to was because I made it easy for them. 

There's nothing more frustrating than a complicated list of instructions for entering a giveaway. Help your readers out and make it easy for them. And save yourself a lot of time in tallying up all the entries too!

Have you tried PunchTab before? Can you recommend any other platforms that have worked well for you in the past? Drop me a line below, I'd love to hear from you!

Giveaway {Winner}

Oh my goodness! 

I was completely overwhelmed at the response for the WashiTape Giveaway held last week with Sarah from Polkadot Stripes. For those of you who took the time to enter, thank you. Thank you for the tremendous support you've shown this little ol' blog of mine. 

The winner of 5 rolls of lovely washi tape and a gorgeous wooden washi tape dispenser is....

Well done lovely lady! I will be popping you an email shortly, and Sarah will be in touch with you soon to get these goodies sent to you.

Thank you again to everyone who entered. I have some more exciting things in the pipeline as far as stationery goes (follow my Instagram feed for more lovely stationery inspiration!) so stay tuned.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

x

Washi Tape {Giveaway} CLOSED

As hinted last week, I am very excited to be hosting a giveaway today of lovely washi tape goodies from Sarah at Polkadot & Stripes. 
There are literally hundreds of different ways to use washi tape, and here is your chance to get crafty with your own supply of 5 pretty rolls of washi tape and a lovely wooden washi tape dispenser.

To enter, use the giveaway button below. You can enter through a variety of methods to make things easy for you, and each method is another entry. Good luck! {I am using trying out a new giveaway platform called Punchtab for this giveaway. Please let me know if you are having any problems with it. There are many ways to gain extra entries ie leaving a comment/following me on facebook/sharing with your friends. It should walk you through each step and be very user friendly. Please do let me know if you have any problems!) Good luck! x Competition closes Friday 30th August.  {Please note this giveaway is only open to South African readers}

1. Cake Bunting // 2. Power Adaptors // 3. Journals // 4. Glass decal // 5. Tea light candles // 6. Cookies

Washi Tape {Giveaway} coming soon!

Just a little snippet of what's to come up here on the blog next week...

 

Stationary Giveaway {WINNER}

And the winner of a gorgeous collection of South Korean stationery bits and pieces hand picked by me is...

Well done Nicola! Please drop me a tweet/email/comment below with your postal address and I will get your goodies off to you right away! Thanks so much to everyone who entered! xxx