Hello, Darling

It's a super long weekend in South Africa and we've spent part of it with some friends in a little town called Darling, just off the West Coast of the Cape. The cottage we stayed in had the most beautiful garden - lots of succulents and lemon trees - but the interior was rather dismal. However I did spot these lovely cushions and a pretty Fire King casserole dish...

By the way, that's The Toddler sabotaging my shot :-) Please excuse the mullet - he's overdue a haircut!

Garland love

Just a little bit in love with these felt garlands by Little Nest Box! They're just what I need to brighten up my home on this grey and gloomy day. See more here and while you're at it check out Charmaine's lovely blog here.

1. Triangle garland,   2. Rainbow garland

It's my owl!

I love spotting my vintage fleamarket finds (like these owls) online and in magazines. Yup, I'm a little bit sad like that ;-) I've just seen one of these brass owls on Etsy here and in print here (for sale for a whopping 10 times what I paid for mine). Aren't they sweet (and in need of a very good clean)!

Have you heard of

...Zü? This French store is filled with a whole lot of loveliness! See more here.

1. Bear postcard,   2. Family Drop cushions,   3. Stickers,   4. Thank you cards,   5. Cloud pillow

A bird named frank

It was my birthday this week and I received not one but TWO stunning necklaces! They're by local designers, A Bird Named Frank, and yup, just like that cloud I have a rather big grin on my face :-)

abcdefg...

I'm really loving hand drawn lettering these days. My very first design job involved designing packaging for a major South Africa retailer and I often used to hand draw the titles. Fun, when there were only 3 items in the range. Not so when there were 20 :-)

1. Tshirt by Two String Jane,   2. Embroidered hoop by The Merriweather Council
3. Night light by Owly Shadow Puppets,   4. Print by Littletree Designs

Hello Olive must have

...this cushion from Skinny Laminx's brand new fabric collection, Flower Dreams, which launches this week. Love it! See more here and here.

Pretty patterns

I'm loving the pretty patterns of these hand printed textiles. Don't you agree that they all work so well together even though they're (mostly) designed by different people? You can see more lovely patterns and fabrics on my Etsy Treasury here. Happy weekend! x

1. Belbird by  Melbomba,   2. Flying Geese by Sara Lee Parker,   3. Lemon & 4. Sky Blue by Heute Schmidt,
5. Confetti  by Maze and Vale

Have you heard of

...Slide Sideways? I'm really loving these products designed by husband and wife team, Jacqui and Scott. I particularly like the colours (a bit of a departure for me as I usually prefer bolder shades). See more here.

1. Cotton pouch,   2. Linen tea towel,   3. Silkscreen poster

And the winner is...

of Little Buckles (as selected by Random.org)! Congrats Andrea :-)
Please pop me an email with your address to helloolivedesigns [at] gmail [dot] com

Thanks so much to everyone who entered, and a big welcome to my new followers!

Easter bunnies

It feels so festive and holiday-ish in Cape Town at the moment (we take our public hols very seriously!), and we've been having the best weather too: fresh and crisp in the mornings, and lovely and warm in the afternoons. It's also been so busy as The Toddler has had a play date every day (he definitely has a more active social life than his parents!) so I haven't been able to get online as much as I'd have liked. So just in case all the chocolate I plan to eat gives me a tummy ache, I just want to wish you all a Very Happy Easter now :-) Hope you like all my bunny finds - I love the engraved locket.

(And if you haven't already entered the Flowermill giveaway, you can do it here.)

1. Bunny rattle,   2. Ceramic Bunnies,   3. Bunny locket necklace

It's a Flowermill giveway

I'm so excited about this post today because it's about my Very Clever Friends and it's the first ever Hello Olive giveaway!

My lovely friends Robyn, Ingrid and Deborah are the brains behind Flowermill, a designer stationery company here in Cape Town. A few years ago these ladies decided to stop complaining about the quality of the stationery available in South Africa (it's generally rather bad), and do something about it. So they put their ad agency backgrounds (Robs and Ing also run Eleven, a successful design agency) to good use and designed and produced their own range of gift wrap, tags and cards. This all-girl team is all about doing things locally, which is why everything is designed and printed in Cape Town, and on on recycled paper too.

Below is a little peek of some their gorgeous products. To see more, click here, and don't forget to enter the giveaway! The entry details are at the end of this post.

To win a selection of these fab cards, gift wrap and tags, all you have to do is:

1. Visit the Flowermill website here and then leave a comment on this blog telling me which is your favourite range of greeting cards.
2. If you're not already a follower, follow my blog with either Hellocotton, Bloglovin' or click 'follow' at the top of this page (if you have a Google account).
3. For extra entries you can Tweet or blog about the giveaway but be sure to add a separate comment with a link if you do.

The giveaway closes next Monday, 9 April, and is open worldwide. Good luck friends, and thanks Flowermill for giveaway goodies! x

This giveaway is now closed.