Third Times a Charm

As a bride you should not need to wear a watch, its your day to shine, why worry about the time, others however may wish to keep charmed when waiting for people or in queues. The watch face is attached to a chain and charms are added to create a charm bracelet.

Studio 47 House of Fashion Fabric

I got a chance to explore Studio 47 House of Fashion Fabrics in Woodstock this weekend and its large stock of fabric. I found spandex for R20 cheaper than the rest of Cape Town and a couple of other awesome stretch fabrics. They also have some wonderful lace and a large selection of stretch satin. You must however be prepared to browse and hunt down what you want!

Hair Pins

Beautiful hair accessories are hard to find in pearls and crystals. The hair pin featured is centred around a clay flower and wire is twisted to create fronds.

This particular pin is made with Czech crystals and glass pearls but can be made with freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals.

These flowers can also be made into brooches to wear on a blazer lapel.

Earring Commission

The other day I was asked to do a pair of earrings to match a necklace the person had been given and had been unable to find anything suitable.

The result was two pairs of earrings, one medallions and the other rhombics?

As I side note, I love photographing jewellery on Hessian (burlap), it provides an interesting background.

Touristy Weekend in Cape Town: Part 2

Sunday:

• Butterfly World
• Fairview (visited in Feb)
• Joostenberg (visited before)
• Bo-Kaap (visited in March)
• Rhodes Memorial
• Chapmans Peak
• Signal Hill (night photos)

Butterfly World is a wonderful outing for adults and children. For a measly R 48, one can explore the tropical enclosures filled with exotic butterflies in beautiful blues, greens, oranges, reds and blacks. There are roughly 20 species in the garden at any one time, depending on the season and availability of pupae that they can import.

yum banana

The place is kept at 70% humidity for the butterflies, which takes a while to get used to, especially when the air outside is rather dry.

Surrounding the garden is a series of other enclosures filled with lizards, snakes, bird and spiders. I loved exploring and had a chance to say hi to the Iguana that was lazing about on the path :)

Outside there is a Meerkat that watches the traffic go by and greets people parking for Butterfly World

Fairview is an old favourite, though we just popped in a bit to restock the cheese supplies, no lunch this time :(

I love this Steampunk(ish) sculpture that sits outside the tasting room, makes you want to sit on it and go vroom, vroom.

Chapmans Peak is a beautiful scenic drive from Hout Bay. If you are only planning on picnicking or taking photos, you can ask for a Picnic Pass and it is FREE! (Please excuse the terrible photo taken with my phone, it was slightly hazy)

See Part 1

Touristy Weekend in Cape Town: Part 1

This weekend has been a whirlwind tour of Cape Town to introduce a family friend to the delights of the Mother City. Our itinerary was rather packed (and I wasn't feeling great), to include scenic routes, interesting new things and vistas of the city.

Saturday:

• Cape Town CBD
• Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
• World of Birds

The World of Birds is the only place I haven't visited in the last year. I originally thought the R 75 entrance fee was rather steep, but realised by the end that with running costs of approximately R 500 000 a month, for vets, food, staff, maintenance etc., it is actually rather cheap.

The place feels slightly neglected, in need of some serious renovation and cleaning, however the variety of birds to see is phenomenal. There are circular walks for General Aviaries, Birds of Prey, Owls etc.

PhD: Chapter 6, 7 & Conclusion

Chapter 6: Decision Frameworks for Added Information Use

Chapter 7 & Conclusion: Seasonal Forecasting Decision Frameworks