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Win with A Thousand Paper Cranes and Hello Pretty

You guys have been asking for this for a while - and here it is. Another awesome thing for you to win, and this time there are cats involved which makes it doubly cool.

Meet the newest member of the A Thousand Paper Cranes family:

He (or she?) has two coats that he wears - a pink one and a black one - but no name. Shame.

A Thousand Paper Cranes is giving away one of her cat cushions this week, and it could be to you! Here's how you can enter:

Like Hello Pretty and A Thousand Paper Cranes on Facebook
Leave a comment on this post telling us what this cat's name is!
Get an extra entry by tweeting @HelloPrettySA and letting us know in the comments below.

Once a winner is chosen, they will get a cat cushion of their very own, and the cat cushion will be christened with the name that they suggested.

I'm so looking forward to hearing your ideas! I can't vote, but if I could I would suggest Sebastian, after my own cat.

Entries close at 10am on Friday 7th November. Hello Pretty's standard competition Ts and Cs apply.

Granny Goose - a little slice of heaven

Nice way to start a post hey? With all those yummy food pics?

Now that I have all of your drooly attention (and may be drooling a little bit myself), I will regale you will tales of Granny Goose.

It all started one morning when a lone slipper arrived at my doorstep - and what a slipper it was! It was the fluffiest, warmest slipper in all the land. I insisted on wearing it, even though my other foot was lonely and cold. And with that slipper came a pearly invitation to reunite it with its mate at the Claremont Sleep Lab.

So off I went - who am I to stand in the way of true love? (That is, the instant love I felt for these ah-MAZING slippers)

On arrival I was welcomed like an old friend, handed a cappaccino, and introduced to various bloggers and fancy industry people, including the likes of my girl crush Marcia Margolius (who has met both Tom Dixon and Philippe Starck in person - I shook the hand of the person who shook their hands. Be still my little fangurl heart).

We were introduced to Gaynor Walkey, the founder of Granny Goose, and she told us how she started her business with one cushion and one duvet. She would invite people to lie on them in her lounge, where she would manually add or decrease the feathers until you were your own brand of Goldilocks and it was Just Right. And BAM! Now it's a nationwide powerhouse. You go Gaynor.

(FYI, y'all can relax - the fancy bedding industry is a by-product of the meat industry. No live beasties were harmed in the making of this piece of floaty heaven.)

The customising of Granny Goose goodies stayed with Gaynor throughout, and birthed the concept of the sleep labs - we were soon all taking our shoes off and climbing into the dreamiest bed, (I ended up in bed wih Talya Goldberg - hay gurl haaay) testing out pillows.

To those of you that are worried, we learnt that down bedding is rarely the cause of allergies - dust mites are the nasty culprits, and they don't actually dig down very much. And if you want to wash your bedding, use half the amount of soap (to avoid loads of foam wrecking havock on the feathers), tumble dry just short of being dry, and then leave to dry naturally (not in direct sun though).

The staff were so helpful and friendly and generally lovely, phoning me a few weeks later to check in on how my new pillow was treating me - both in store and after sales service is truly impeccable.

Check out some behind the scenes videos here and here, and some FAQ's at the end of the post.

Now as I type, both feet are comfortably encased in fluffy down foot duvets, and are the most toasty. Winning.

Frankie Spaces Volume 2

We were recently surprised by an awesome present in the post, all the way from Frankie magazine!

As long time fans of this gorgeous craft bible, we were soon oohing and aahing over their latest issue of Spaces in amongst the shredded packaging (think birthday girl at the gift table).

257 pages of beautiful spaces by super creative people - these aren't the super styled interiors you'll see in an edition of Vogue Living though. They're actual, real homes, carefully crafted with love and over time, and reflect decor as unique as the people that live there.

Each detail tells a story, which makes this all so much more special. Not only do I want to pack my bags and move in - I actually want to be besties with the owners, hang their art in my lounge, and talk about foreign cinema over hazelnut lattes on a Saturday morning. (Truly - they don't know it yet, but they're all my spirit animal and we're meant to be bff's. Every single one of them. I'm not crazy.)

They sent us some beautiful professional photographs of the issue and of some of the content that does it quite a bit of justice. Grab a cup of something and just sink into their prettiness. AND, while you're at it, there are two totally swoonworthy videos about featured homes, here and here. Watch them, really. You won't regret it.

Then once you're done mentally revamping and refurnishing your entire house, order yourself a copy - it's gigantic, beautifully printed, and basically belongs on your coffee table: http://www.frankiepress.com.au/shop/frankie/spaces-volume-two

*sigh* So many feelings.

Winter Neutrals with Hello Pretty

Winter has us in its grips, and we're eyeballing anything warm and fluffy.

Pamper yourself with some winter warmers from the site:

Stay warm everyone!

Black, white and gold home

My latest obsession is all things black and white. One of the rest of the planet's latest obsessions is the triumphant return of gold, after its long exile in I'mnotsilverland. I for one couldn't be happier. I'm draping myself in my grans old jewellery and am unleashing my inner magpie. (I have a keen eye for all things shiny.)

Naturally all this obsessiveness leaks out (ok gushes out) into my decorating style. And my decorating style is obviously fabulous so I'm sharing it with all of you! I've chosen all of my favourite monochrome and gold goodies from the site for you here (How nice am I? Right?):

Pretty great no? Go on, clickety click!

New Moon Africa's iKapa Coat Rack

The current object of my affection: New Moon Africa's iKapa coat rack. Trying to work out how to fit this into our studio apartment - I must have it! Don’t remember the name of the store right at the moment but I know that there is a place at the Old Biscuit Mill who carries them and if memory serves they are in the region of R350.