travel, Uncategorized

Make The Most Out Of A Week In Johannesburg With These Useful Travel Tips

South Africa is one of the most exotic and action-packed family holiday destinations in the world. It comes with the promise of adventure and thrills. There are so many facets and sides to this fascinating country that for the first-time visitor, it can be hard to know where to even begin.

If you’re planning to visit the nation’s capital Johannesburg, you’re no doubt brimming with a mixture of excitement and nerves. It’s a city that’s often spoke of in legendary tones, it is rich in history and steeped in culture. If you’re heading there for a holiday and you’re not quite sure what to expect, check out our guide with the top tips for spending a week in Johannesburg.

Unsplash photo from
Kwena Mashale

Be on your guard

Johannesburg has long held a reputation for being a city awash with crime and social problems. While the city certainly has a checkered past, it’s no more or less dangerous than many other major metropolitan hubs. That being said, you must remain vigilant at all times. Criminals anywhere see tourists as easy and attractive targets, both for their unfamiliarity with the local area and for their habit of carrying around valuables like cash, passports, or cameras.

Busy areas like the city’s main train station, Park Station, can be hotbeds for pickpockets and thieves. Keeping your valuables in a money-belt secured under your clothes can be an effective way of protecting them from pickpockets.

Before you set off, ensure you’re covered with a travel insurance policy. For example,  a travel insurance company like Staysure will cover you if your valuables are lost or stolen, as well as offering cover for cancellations, lost baggage, or medical expenses.

Where to stay

Johannesburg is an enormous city, with a metro area population of 6 million, it is the largest land-locked city in the world. It is made up of several distinct neighbourhoods and areas, each with their own unique characteristics and quirks. Where you choose to stay will depend on the type of holiday you’re looking for.

Rosebank and Melrose are probably the cities safest areas, perfect for a relaxing holiday with no worries. If you’re looking for a little more culture, consider staying in Bryanston or Randburg, there you’ll find plenty of stores, coffee shops, restaurants, and museums. 

For younger people looking for something cooler, Maboneng is trendy neighbourhood with art installations, live music, and rooftop bars.

The language barrier

You will find English speakers in South Africa. However, you’ll also encounter many more dialects, as the country has an incredible 11 official languages. The most common of these are Zulu, Xhosa, and English, so it will be worth your while learning some words and phrases before you head off.

nomvula-moepya-botanical gardens Johannesburg via unsplash
Botanical Gardens (Nomvula Moepya)


Using the native language will help endear you to the locals in the area. It will demonstrate that you’ve made an effort and that you are appreciative of their hospitality, you should be pleasantly surprised to see that effort returned in kind.


Conclusion

Johannesburg is a city with many sides. It has been somewhat unfairly maligned in the past, deemed an unsafe, dangerous place where walking the streets is not advised. While, like any major city, it does have some riskier areas, there is so much Johannesburg can offer no matter what kind of holiday you’re going on. To make the most of your time there, choose the best neighbourhood to stay in, learn a few phrases in some of the many local languages, and be aware of your surroundings to guarantee yourself a memorable stay.

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Summer Fashion with SimplyBe

Planning your summer styling

Vi writes:

“I’m not  sure about you, but I am well and truly in holiday planning mode! Our summer  holiday is the highlight of my year.  I only need to feel some sand between my toes to have had a great holiday!
With the days getting longer and evenings lighter, I can almost feel summer on the way! Like many people, I like to have a wardrobe update for summer, and when SimplyBe.co.uk got in touch I couldn’t resist starting my holiday shopping!”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Simply Be (@simplybeuk) on

Choosing your holiday fashion.

Family holidays can be chaos, so I like practical yet fashionable clothes to wear. I always pack a couple of summer dresses, as they can be thrown over a bikini, or teamed with a pair of heels! And travelling in the UK – I always pack a lightweight cardigan or jumper too…
One dress can be worn multiple ways, and it saves on all important luggage space!

What to wear while you travel?

Whether you’re travelling by plane or car, comfort and style are essential! I like to keep my style simple, so I usually opt for linen trousers or my favourite jeans combined with a vest top and a jumper. I love this brightly coloured jumper, it is really flattering to wear and the colours are so summery!

Summer Jumper

Bit too warm for jumpers? Opt for a tunic instead, ultimate comfort with your leggings and perfect to sling over your swimsuit poolside! I love the detail on this one from Joe Browns;

Image: simplybe.co.uk

Summer Dresses

I always pack dresses as they are so versatile, just add accessories and one dress can have
multiple wears! If you’re on a budget when buying, opt for one classic style and a then a fun style too.

I chose this beach dress as it is lightweight – perfect to stash in your hand luggage in case of lost luggage. It also means it can be hand-washed easily – important if you have small children armed with ice creams while you’re away! (It machine washes nicely too!)

Image: simplybe.co.uk

The palm print is fabulous, last year palm prints seemed to be really fashionable, and I have a feeling it’s a trend which will continue for this summer too! It’s an easy to wear dress which is really flattering!

A linen dress when I go on holiday is essential, it’s my go to for city visits. Linen keeps me cool, but smart too. Add espadrilles or your favourite sneakers for the perfect sightseeing outfit!

Image: Simplybe.co.uk

This dress is a linen mix which makes it less likely to crease, when you come to pack it roll rather than fold it to keep the creases out! This is a great value dress at £22, and as a classic style it can be dressed up or down as you need.

 

 

This article was written in collaboration with SimplyBe, Vita was gifted a selection of garments to review.

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Kitting yourself out for the 2017 Autumn Season

Kitting yourself out for the 2017 Autumn Season

Autumn LeavesNow is a good time to quickly get the warmer clothes that you own out of your wardrobe and double-check whether it all fits. It is already getting chilly, so you do not want to leave it too much longer to prepare yourself for the colder Autumn months. Once you have done this you will be in a position to make a list of what you need to buy and go shopping. Most retailers are already stocking autumn coats, jumpers, boots and shoes. If you go shopping now, rather than leaving it for a few weeks, you will get the best choice. Usually, the best items sell out quite fast, so shopping sooner rather than later for what you need really is the safest option.
Photo credit Alex Wing

Coats and jackets

This year, there is a particularly good choice of coats and jackets available. A lot of designers have taken classic coat cuts and had a little fun with them. Combining the old with the new has produced some really great results. For example, traditional parkas that are made from bold floral fabrics.

Kitting yourself out with hats and scarves

Scarves-by-kelly-sikkema-72695However, if you do opt to buy one of these unusual jackets you may find it quite hard to buy a hat and scarf that matches. Fortunately, items like this are not hard to make yourself. In fact, making a scarf is a good first project for someone who is new to knitting. If it comes out a bit wonky it does not matter. No one will really notice when you are wearing it under your new coat or jacket.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema

Jumpers and cardigans

If you are more experienced you may want to have a go at knitting yourself a jumper. There are some really good patterns around for knitwear items. However, if you want a coatigan it might be worth buying one instead. The fact that they are as long as a regular coat means that knitting one could take you a few weeks. Often, it works out cheaper to buy large of items of knitwear from the shops rather than make them yourself.

Jeans

It is always worth having at least one pairs of jeans in your wardrobe for the colder months. These versatile items of clothing are ideal for keeping you warm so that you can continue to enjoy outdoor events and activities through the colder months.

This year, many fashion designers have been inspired by the fashions of the 80s. That means that the jean cuts are a lot looser than they have been for the past few years. Today’s, high-waisted tapered jeans are really comfortable to wear as well as looking great. They look just good worn with a t-shirt and a homemade jumper, but work just as well when paired with a suit-style jacket.

Dress trends for 2017

If you prefer to wear dresses, you are in luck, this year. Many of the warmer fabrics are back in vogue. Jersey is a particularly good option for the autumn. It is soft and comfortable as well as lovely and warm.

For a special event or party, a nice velvet dress is perfect, and they are more widely available than they used to be. However, you do need to be careful how you take care of velvet clothing. This short video tells you all you need to know about caring for this lovely fabric.

crafts, create, halloween, monster, Uncategorized

How to make a Halloween Leaf Wreath

How to make a Halloween Leaf Wreath 

Thank you for visiting, this marvellous craft can now be found HERE

autumn-leaves-wreath_incredibusy-square-copyright

Pen for writing on conkers – available here in the UK, here in the US

Well; that’s the weekend… conkers and scary skulls; this is what I’ve been doing with 12yo whilst 13yo seems to be drowning in homework – hardly fair right? So we’ve left him to it at home and walked up to tennis; the weather is wonderful and we’ll be scrumpy-ing some little apples we’ve spotted on the way home… Oh incidentally: we have a “plan” for our conker skulls; will keep you posted… Meanwhile do keep your #halloweencrafts 🎃 coming for judge @innerchildfun #kidscrafts101 and your #sgiew_potplant shots too so that @komoonko can find them 🌿 . #sgiew #conkers #autumn #littlestoriesofmylife #flatlayforever #fromwhereistand #potplant #cactus #cactuslover #slowlivingforlife . Hosts – we should have a party! @babbledabbledo @redtedart @willowdaygram!

A photo posted by Ali Clifford (@incredibusy) on

autumn-leaves-wreath_incredibusyAli also writes at aGreenerLifeforus.com

halloween leaf wreath skulls

education, Uncategorized

BritMumsLive 2016 Instagram Panel

So, this year I’m back at BritMumLive…

BritmumsLive Instagram workshop

And at 14:50 in the afternoon of Saturday 25 June 2016 I shall be joined in stage by some rather lovely friends – we’ll be talking about Instagram,

Our team:
@incredibusy – that’s me, Ali 
@redtedart – Maggy  www.redtedart.com
@coldatnight – Sian www.coldatnight.co.uk
@paintsewgluechew – Diana  www.paintsewgluechew.com

I’ve known Maggy for a long time, we are good friends and neighbours with similar creative and social media interests, and we also curate a craft blog together, click here.

Our instagram feeds are similar, yet quite different – I think this is perhaps due to the age gap between our families? And Maggy crafts and creates a WHOLE lot more than I do… Plus, I spend time creating and curating content for my clients’ instagram feeds too, so we perhaps don’t dedicate the same time to to our accounts as each other! (I’ll be wearing a couple of them – www.Po-Zu.com and www.BryonyandCo.com so make sure you follow their instagram feeds for me!!)

I was late to instagram, well, two and a half years ago I didn’t have a phone that supported the app, and experimented with my iPad – if you scroll back through my account, you’ll see I was having fun with filters and frames, and although I cringe at some of these shots, I’m loath to delete photos, as each tell #littlestoriesofmylife – and my family’s life.

This garners a couple of questions – do you delete old photos?? and do you feature photos of yourself and your kids??

Maggy and I both share an interest in themed photo challenges – we co-host #KidsCrafts101 and #SGIEW – two weekly hashtagged instagram challenges which we’d love you to join in with – go find the hashtags, and see what this week’s challenge is, we’d love you to join in!

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/kidscrafts101/

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sgiew/

For me, this has been an amazing way of finding new accounts to follow and connect with, it’s also been a wonderful prompt for me more recently, to be creative, as my own boys have grown older, they are less inclined to ‘craft’ yet have really enjoyed creating stop motion animation – so we’ve been experimenting with that too!

It’s about evolution – your own evolution, perhaps as your kids get older, or indeed, just looking back at how your feed has developed and changed. I don’t particularly have a theme or a style, and neither does Maggy – however, if we turn to our other panelists, and look at their instagram feeds, you will see that both @coldatnight and @paintsewgluechew have definite styles, and consistent feeds…

I’ve invited Diana and Sian along to #BML16 to share their own experiences of instagram, so if you’re lucky enough to catch them ‘live’ on Saturday, you’ll find out more about them – needless to say, I hadn’t met them before the introduction of instagram in my life, and now have a little look at their feeds every morning, to see what they’ve been up to, and to say hello, good morning, and sometimes good night too! I’ve been to stay at Sian’s amazing place, Fforest {luxury camping and outdoor living at its very best} and would recommend it, an amazing space – and great for the kids….

So – at BritMumsLive we’ll be focusing on:
How each of the panel have grown their channel, their instagram philosophies and working practices
How they make their feed look fantastic plus any photo styling tips/props
We’ll be asking the panel to share their favourite instagrammer/s…
Their best tips on gaining followers. When they were growing what strategies did they use?
What they use to edit pictures
Their use of hashtags, and favourites
Which Instagram communities they love

Here’s a link to each of our panel’s most recent photo:

[ so good in every way ] #sgiew theme… #sgiew_BISCUIT ☕️ Oh we are LOVING a bit of baking at the moment, so we thought you might like to join in with this week’s #sgiew theme to join in with is “BISCUIT” – some comfort in this the first week of summer, yet we’re wearing wellies and grumbling about the clouds… 🌧🌧🌧Join in by following your hosts, @incredibusy @redtedart @willowdaygram and tagging #sgiew #sgiew_BISCUIT – PLUS, biscuity-bonus, we’re delighted to welcome an old friend to be our guest judge – @NikkiMcWilliams! Nikki will select x9 at the end of the week, to feature on the @sogoodineveryway grid – and you have until Midnight Sunday to join in, so whether it’s a cookie with your coffee, or a biscuit with you breakfast tea we want to see them! Oh and we might just have a little prize this week too; more on that later in the week☕️ can’t find the tea cup emoji but it’s something to do with that!! Thank you @teapigs 💛. . #littlestoriesofmylife #cookies #biscuits #mymonthofsundays (if you are following me on snapchat you’ll know we made these on Sunday morning!) #aquietstyle #coffeelover #string #coffeecam #coffeeandseasons #flatlaylover #flatlayforever

A photo posted by Ali Clifford (@incredibusy) on

More reading on Fforest:
fforest-gather-2016

fforest-and-welsh-woven-blankets

switch-off-enjoy-fields-silence

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Guess the celebrity – children’s drawings

In this era of technology led creativity for our kids, we should totally embrace our own children’s drawings. Start them really young, with big fat crayons for their little hands, and water based paints in the garden in the sunshine – get them drawing!

SunLife-Guess-the-celebrityMy earliest memory of my own kids drawing a PERSON – a recognisable figure, was in the bath with bath crayons (totally the best early birthday gift from friends).

My son clearly drew a figure, a round face, with arms sticking out where the ears should be, but totally a ‘person’ and it was that relaxing time in the bath that engaged and excited him to start drawing – He’s never looked back!

So when you take a trip on the train, or to a restaurant, don’t take the iPad, no… please just pack some paper, or a notepad, and a selection of pencils and pens – believe me, this is so much more rewarding, and you can even join in yourself…

I’ve taken to asking my kids to ‘draw Mummy’.

So looking, and then putting pen to paper – just like these kids have done over on this little fun quiz here – so can YOU guess who these celebrities are meant to be? Massive hints, and five more to guess over HERE 

Celebrating the blossoming creative talents of several nursery school children and challenging your artistic eye and knowledge of the latest celebrity glitterati with this fun quiz. See if you can guess who these nine celebrities are, based on the creative interpretations of toddlers! click here
This post is brought to you in collaboration with SunLife!

 

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Chaos writes:

So who knew, pop-up books have lasting appeal! We received a couple of lovely things through the post this week, one of which was the THE SUPER SCIENCE BOOK by Kate Petty and Jennie Maizels.

Well, 10yo couldn’t put it down, initially he rushed to look through it, turning each page with a smile, and a twist of this, a turn of that, as each spread revealed with pop-up wizardry and fabulous illustrations, the principles of Physical Science.

An hour later, he was back, pouring over each little illustration and

Molecules, atoms, elements and compounds have never been so much fun. This is a fantastic book, whether your child wants to be a scientist or not – he or she will love it!

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Button styles through the ages

Button styles through the ages

According to one historian, the first recorded use of buttons was for ornamental purposes, rather than practical, similar to some upholstery buttons we see today.

Buttons date back to prehistoric times, and were originally fashioned from materials such as shell, ivory, bronze, gold argent and even bone. As far back as 1600 BC, buttons were found to be a luxury garment decoration which adorned kings of Mediterranean civilisations such as the Greeks.

antique buttons 2Look at this prehistoric stone button with its hole pierced for suspension purposes. It is thought to date back to 5000 BC, and was discovered in the Syrian, Anatolian region of the Middle East.

The Middle Ages saw the introduction of a flatter design, often decorated with stones. By the time of the Crusades (1200 AD), it had become common to wear clothes closer to the body, meaning the practical use of buttons came to the fore. Some medieval buttons were made from cloth, and others from metal. Usually this was determined by the status of the wearer.

antique buttons 1These viking buttons are demonstrative of the geometric style of patterns that were common at that time.

Fast forward to the 1500s, and there is evidence to suggest that covering buttons with fabric became a popular practice. During the Renaissance, buttons, often decorated with jewels, commonly adorned hats, sleeves and shirts of the wealthy, while the lower classes were more likely to wear buttons manufactured from wood, copper or leather. Whatever the material, it is clear buttons were very much the thing to wear during this period!

With the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, button styles changed with the introduction of machinery capable of mass producing products. This is widely acknowledged to have led to a decrease in quality in button manufacturing, but someone who wasn’t short of quality buttons was Queen Victoria herself. The buttons she wore in mourning after Prince Albert’s death in 1861 were seen as being held in such high regard that they were widely copied for years afterwards, usually using black glass instead of jewellery. The style is still copied today, as shown by this collection sold by a US retailer.

Moving into the modern era, the style of buttons becomes more complicated. With so many waves in retro fashion, the button has retained the decorative use of old, but there is no predominant style. Buttons are also still essential practical items which are very much here to stay.

For more on buttons, click here

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BritMums Live 2015: Social Media Optimisation – doing it all at once (yes, you must!)
Facebook tweaks its algorithm and suddenly nobody sees yours posts anymore. Pinterest fiddles with its feed and your referrals go from 1,000 to 100. It’s no longer good enough to be excellent on one social platform; you need to be working them all.

social media optimisationSocial Media Optimisation

Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, G+, Twitter all at once? Yes, you must! The why and how

Social media is constantly changing. We don’t *own* our social media platforms, third parties do. To effectively use social media for your blog or small business, you must keep up and evolve with the platforms. Myself, Ali Clifford; and Maggy Woodley, Red Ted Art presented a session at BritMums Live, 2015 focusing on Social Media Optimisation.

We shared our strategies and talked about how to cope with the various platforms, use the right tools for the job and make the time you spend on social work for you. CLICK HERE for a slide show of the presentation

BritMums Live! is the UK’s biggest and best social media conference and blogger event, where lifestyle bloggers and social influencers gather to meet and socialise, network with brands, improve their skills, and fire their creativity. BritMums Live has grown out of BritMums, the UK’s largest parent blogger community, made up of nearly 8,000 influential bloggers who create content about lifestyle, crafting, food, health, travel, education, tech, style and more.