Our Authors

She is a regular guest on lifestyle TV programmes and radio shows, and features as celebrity chef in several books and magazines, both local and international. Quite deservedly described as “a cook with a velvet touch for good food”, she is inspired and propelled by an undying urge to share with everyone who cares to partake of the sensuous tastes of Cape Malay cooking, what she calls, “food from Africa”. Several stints in the restaurant business gave her ample opportunity to experiment with fusion food and giving traditional favourites a contemporary twist. Few people have done more than Cass to ensure that the culinary delights of the Cape Malays find their rightful place among the ethnic foods of the world.

After the birth of her son she decided to turn her jewellery making and teaching into a full-time career. Kathleen is often invited as a guest teacher to prominent craft and corporate events, having taught many students in Cape Town and surrounds. She has done extensive work with local magazines presenting a large variety of workshops. Designing is still a passion and she manufactures once-off jewellery for boutiques and exclusive ranges for formal wear fashion designers. Kathleen’s bead studio is in Claremont, Cape Town where she designs, teaches, consults and advises her clients. You will be able to find her jewellery, project kits and favourite beads from around the world there.

Preferring to design projects which appear to be traditional, she pushes the boundaries by introducing other forms of needlecraft into traditional techniques, exploring further in everything that she does. Along with designing, she runs a busy website from home. She teaches at her home studio, in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, and travels throughout South Africa and to Australia teaching embroidery and fine beadwork. She is a regular contributor to South African and Australian embroidery magazines and is a columnist for South African Stitches Magazine.

Hazel Blomkamp has an active mail-order business for all embroidery and bead requisites related to her designs. It is possible that, from time to time, bead and thread colours are discontinued. If you are unable to find specific threads and beads for any of the projects in this book, please email Hazel at info@hazelblomkamp.co.za and she will be able to send requisites to you or, in the event that they have been discontinued, will be able to suggest viable alternatives. Screen-printed fabric panels, bead packs and thread packs for all of the projects in this book are available from her website.

This dynamic duo’s scrapbooking classes were immensely popular owing to their teaching style and ideas (which they bring through into their books). They continue to experiment with different crafts, often using interesting techniques across media. In all their applications they have always followed a less-is-more approach, believing that over-decorating detracts rather than enhances. All their books have prooved to be very popular thanks to their elegant and stylish projects.

In 2001 she began to sell custom finishes to the fashion industry and went on to supply designers like Marianne Fassler, Stoned Cherrie, Black Coffee, Marion & Lindie and many others. She has produced custom dyed fabrics that have gone all the way to the New York Fashion Week. Currently she is teaching those same fashion designers about production requirements for dyeing and printing so that they can produce their own custom finishes.
The focus of her company, Slipstream Fabric Finishes cc, is on training, products and books. She also teaches into the skills development and educational craft space through NGOs, skills centres and colleges. Melanie works mainly in Johannesburg and crafters and quilters in the area are enjoying the benefits of her “show and tell” culture and regular demonstrations. She writes articles about printing and dyeing for craft magazines. This is her first book. Slipstream unlocks the infinite potential of fabric with handcrafted colour.

Janice first joined in and later helped with the teaching until she moved to East London where she soon started her own classes, as well as offering a wood-cutting service. Her own creations are sold at a local craft store and Christmas markets. With no formal training themselves, Janice and Judy have become adept at creating new designs and adapting and changing templates, styles and techniques to suit the project they are working on. They are always encouraging their students to follow suit and develop their own particular style, and this inspired them to write this book. Their students have been their main driving force, demanding and expecting the impossible, and then getting it.

She is passionate about helping parents connect with their children. Nikki is highly regarded among parents and educators alike and is well-known for her many dynamic presentations including Future-proof Your Child©, Parenting on the Run©, Connecting through the Noise & Clutter© and more. 

Trained to run Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) she has developed and presented workshops on a host of parenting related topics for many years. Anne is a popular speaker at schools, parenting workshops and on radio and TV shows. In her work she places a strong emphasis on problem-solving and life-skills training, and her workshops for children on topics related to self-esteem, peer relationships and assertiveness are very popular. Anne is married with four children and four grandchildren and lives in Cape Town.

During this time she started a weekly column for the local weekly, District News, followed, since 2003, by a regular gardening column for Die Burger. This column has been published nationally since 2010, now also in the weekend supplements of Beeld and Volksblad. She is a regular guest on SABC’s lifestyle programme, Pasella, featuring as their gardening guru.
A stint as gardening editor of Home and Tuis, was followed by her appointment at Lonehill Trading’s The Gardener/Die Tuinier where she writes features about all the pleasures of gardening and works as assistant editor of Die Tuinier.

Her thesis evaluated the trauma debriefing model that was introduced to the SAPS in 1992 and this work earned her a cum laude. Following several years in human resources in retail, Norma started a private practice in 2000. Her current specialization is career guidance and forensic career assessments. Her previous book, Choosing the right school subjects – A practical guide for Grade 9 learners and their parents, was published in 2008. Norma is passionate about helping young people realize their potential, focusing on the many opportunities in South Africa and elsewhere. She lives and works in Blouberg, Cape Town.

Monique and co-author Angie have been friends all their lives. Now living in different parts of the country, they stay in touch, still sharing
knowledge and experience. Both really enjoy teaching and working with people, following their journey of self-discovery through
creative expression. They have a huge fan base and remain a popular choice to teach at national workshops and have presented
some of their striking projects on TV. they have written eight books.

Her passion is to inspire kids to become involved in crafts from a young age. The inspiration for her company, Sugarbloom Studio (Pty) Ltd, comes from her two young daughters, with the Kidazzle™ brand focusing on children’s crafts. The Kidazzle™ Kids Craft Club exposes kids all over South Africa, to a variety of crafts in a way that is convenient and affordable to parents. Kidazzle™ also distributes creative activity kits to restaurants and hotels. Monica is married and lives in Paarl.

Her novel approach to learning has resulted in developing Mind Dynamix® Profiling – groundbreaking work to identify learning barriers. She regularly hosts workshops, is a frequent guest on radio and TV and much in demand as a keynote speaker. She is the author of Mind Dynamics, Mind Moves and BabyGym and listed on the American Biographical Institute as one of the Great Women of the 21st Century.

Since picking up a needle at the age of six Nicola Delport-Wepener has barely put it down and over the years has developed her own considerable skills in the field with Lesley as her main tutor. Nikki has attended numerous courses (Royal school, Embroiders Guild and City and Guilds) and qualified in different styles of embroidery. Her many years of experience as a school teacher in South Africa and the UK made the switch to embroidery teaching easy and she has presented several accredited embroidery courses in the UK. Nikki currently lives and teaches in Hong Kong. Having written several books, Les has worked very closely with Nikki on JUST STITCH, a joint venture. Rich in inspiration and different techniques, the book is a reflection of how they present their classes.

Her path led her to study life coaching in the UK and since then she has been professionally coaching and clutter clearing. Additional studies in NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) ensure she is equipped to assist the most difficult of clients who look to her for help to shift their lives.

She is a prolific writer of articles and is constantly called on by the media in some form, be it TV, radio or contributing as an expert in magazines and newspapers. She is hands on in clutter clearing homes and offices locally and abroad, is a sought after inspirational speaker and offers support through her innovative online courses, mastermind groups and one on one coaching.

She presents lectures for sensory integration and infant sensory integration specialisation courses and other professional development lectures. She has presented at the Erikson Institute, Chicago, for the SI Network in London, the NCT in the UK and for SAISI and WCAIMH in South Africa.
Megan writes articles for numerous local and international parenting magazines and has been published in professional periodicals. She is an active member of SAISI and the secretary of the Western Cape Association for Infant Mental Health. She is the co-author of the bestsellers Baby Sense, Sleep Sense, Feeding Sense, and owner of the Baby Sense company.
Megan is married with three children and lives in sunny Cape Town.

Angie and co-author Monique have been friends all their lives. Now living in different parts of the country, they stay in touch, still sharing
knowledge and experience. Both really enjoy teaching and working with people, following their journey of self-discovery through
creative expression. They have a huge fan base and remain a popular choice to teach at national workshops and have presented
some of their striking projects on TV. They have written eight books.

Deservedly regarded as one of our top gardening photographers and writers, she has been honoured by the nurserymen, plant growers and other players in the industry several times for her unique and special contribution to gardens and gardening in South Africa. Her books are a manifestation of her affinity with nature and gardens and the beauty that comes from the good earth. She still writes for various magazines and her photographs have been used in publications all over the world.

Along with the joy of her work involving what she loves, Barri Sue enjoys the opportunities to teach and meet others who love embroidery. Barri Sue’s other hobbies include knitting, painting, friends and being outdoors. After raising two sons, Barri Sue moved to a tiny mountain town in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains named June Lake. She lives there with her husband Ron, a dog and two old cats. She has recently opened a stitchery and knitting shop in Bishop, California named, ‘Sierra Cottons & Wools’.

Her children are the main driving force behind this since they are forever in need of gifts to give friends and teachers. Alet usually makes several items at a time so that there is always something special available when an event or occasion requires a gift to be given.

Her interest in cottage woodcraft was triggered by an article she saw in an American magazine. She stated small, cutting and painting simple figures, but she soon tackled more complicated projects and decided to do a woodcraft course with Judy Bunce in Durbanville to learn more about special finishes. Before long she was exhibiting at the major Cape craft markets and she could hardly keep up with the demand for her work. When she is not exhibiting, she attends as many craft fairs as possible looking for new ideas and inspiration.

The age 0 – 3 years is the time when the foundation of development is formed. She did research on the needs of this age group as part of her studies for a Master’s Degree. In her work with children she was also involved in many aspects of family life and advised parents in many aspects of parenting, including family dynamics. She is currently an accredited occupational therapist who finds ongoing training valuable. She is qualified in sensory integration and recently attended courses in Therapeutic Listening, DIR / Floor Time techniques and Sensory Profile Theory. She has developed and presented several training programmes for day mothers and day-care centres in an effort to improve the quality of care and stimulation of babies and toddlers in care.Marga lives in subtropical Brisbane, Australia. She is married, raised three children, and is a proud grandmother. To be a parent was and is one of the most delightful aspects of her adult life. Marga writes articles for Sensible Parenting and publish in various parenting magazines. She works at a multi-disciplinary private practice in Brisbane as part of a dedicated team of paediatric professionals. She concentrates on sensory integration and sensory processing to improve the outcome of children with sensory processing problems, learning disabilities, emotional issues and children on the autism spectrum. She is registered to work with mental health issues. She initiated an interest group, Bayside SI, to encourage paediatric professionals from different disciplines to liaise and share their interest and knowledge of sensory integration and sensory processing. Through her clinical work and her website she provides advice and support to parents. Sensible Stimulation is a guide for parents to prevent developmental and sensory processing problems in their children but also to identify possible problems areas to ensure early intervention.

Always looking for something new to try, she started working with pewter about ten years ago. She took classes with one of the doyennes of pewter work, who stopped teaching for personal reasons. At that stage there were no other pewter teachers in Cape Town nor was there much in the way of the written word. So she spent many hours experimenting with and teaching herself the craft of pewter before starting to teach others. Sandy has a studio in Devils Peak in Cape Town where she teaches pewter and her other passion, fabric painting. She also runs a children’s craft class. She is married, and has a daughter who inspires much of her own craft.

During his life, Jay has been an author, editor, publisher, bookseller, school librarian, actor, barman, journalist, reviewer, furniture salesman, traveller, wine writer, broadcaster, film director and storyteller in the circus ring. He was a founder member of the South African Children’s Book Forum (SACBF) which is now IBBY SA. Jay has attended many IBBY Congresses, being a speaker at several. For eight years he served on the Jury of IBBY’s Hans Christian Andersen Award, first as a jury member and then as president of that jury. He was the organiser of the 2004 IBBY Congress in Cape Town. Jay is the author of many books for children and about children’s literature.

Her passion for sewing quickly grew after her sister, Rosalie Quinlan, encouraged her to give it a try, and only 12 months after starting to sew she began designing under the pattern label Melly & Me. Melly’s goal was to develop a range of contemporary sewing patterns that included bright and quirky toys, wearable purses and lively, modern quilts. Her aim is to design items that are original, fun and achievable in a day, as well as being completely usable in everyday life. In 2010 Melly launched a second design label, Sew Little, which includes patterns that are aimed at the baby market. The same year also saw Melly launch her first two fabric collections – ‘Little Menagerie’ for Windham Fabrics and ‘Where the Wind Blows’ for Creative Abundance. Melly draws her inspiration from her two young children, childhood memories and her love of colour.

He is also the author of the best-selling Get The Most From Your Digital Camera (David & Charles, 2004), now published in seven languages.

Anneke Kearny worked as a radiographer both locally and abroad until 1995 when she decided to use her hobby, photography, to earn an income. She assembled a portfolio and contacted anybody who had anything to do with photographs and publishing. Her first picture was published in a woman’s magazine in 1997, and since then her photographs have graced the pages of most local magazines. The Botanical Society used her photographs for their official calendar for 2002. The calendar was then continued annually as Flowers of South Africa, sold country wide and much sought after by locals and tourists alike. A Cats and Kittens calendar, first published in 2003, has also become a popular gift.

Lelani Koen has been scrapping for many years. She studied marketing at Stellenbosch and worked in advertising and graphic design before starting an online scrapping club – Get Scrapping – to turn her favourite hobby into a business. She loves needlework, beading, knitting and music or being creative in other ways. She is also quite sentimental, which makes scrapbooking the perfect hobby. Her motto is, “life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.” She recently launched Lilly K, her own line of craft embellishments, décor and gifts.
Lelani is married and lives in Paarl where she enjoys raising her two boys.

She loves needlework, beading, knitting and music or being creative in other ways. She is also quite sentimental, which makes scrapbooking the perfect hobby. Her motto is, “life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.” She recently launched Lilly K, her own line of craft embellishments, décor and gifts.

Lelani is married and lives in Paarl where she enjoys raising her two boys.

She has always found flowers irresistible, but her real love and appreciation of their beauty developed during her stint as a freelancer with Okasie in Stellenbosch where she was studying food science. Here she learnt that there are no limits when it comes to flower arranging and choosing materials for floral design. She currently uses her creativity and training in her job as product developer for a baking concern. In her free time she does flowers and baking for weddings and special occasions.

She joined the Cape Embroiders Guild and learnt the art of embroidery, canvas work and lace making, which, in turn, triggered her interest in beadwork. This interest grew to the extent that she joined the British Beaders’ Guild. She loves playing with colour and texture and can explore both elements through beading and design. Heather has taught beading and canvas work all over the Cape for many years, and the ever-growing waiting list to join her classes is testimony to the infectious enthusiasm with which she shares her amazing talent and skill. Her first book, DARE TO BEAD, has reprinted several times both locally and abroad and won her international acclaim.

Armed with a degree in Sports Science from the then University of Durban Westville as well as several related diplomas and certificates, he has been working in this field for over 10 years and is very much in demand as a personal trainer. As a high performance athlete himself who represented South Africa in duathlon, culminating in a second place at the Africa Championships, he understands the demands of training and staying in shape. Former holder of the trophy for the best combined time in the Argus Cycle Tour and the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon, his focus recently moved to off-road racing where he regularly finishes in podium positions.

She started the Helderberg Embroiderers’ Guild seven years ago and chaired it for five years. She is current chair of the Cape Embroiderers’ Guild and regularly gives talks on canvas work, goldwork, crewel work and 17th century samplers at several guilds in the Cape Province. Via runs her own business hand-dyeing embroidery thread under the label Chameleon Threads, distributing to shops all over South Africa as well as Australia, New Zealand, Norway, France and the UK. She has written four books.

Helen was the producer of the morning show on Radio Good Hope with Allan Barnard for two and a half years, has been a restaurateur, a tutor, and a stay-at-home mom. She is is married to a high school teacher and has six children.

She started off working at the Postnatal Depression Support Association, where she facilitated support groups for many years. Several years ago she started a private practice where she continues to run support groups for mothers as well as see individuals who are managing fertility difficulties, pregnancy loss or termination and depression/anxiety during and after pregnancy. She has travelled to many hospitals throughout South Africa training maternity staff in postnatal depression. She is on the board of PNDSA. She is married, has two children and lives in Cape Town.

She constantly furthers her education by attending international conferences, and enjoys teaching. Having completed specialised training in cognitive behaviour therapy in Boston, USA, she trains colleagues in the use of this therapy. She was the consulting psychologist for MNet’s Starmaker programme and has also appeared on 3 Talk, the Cosmo show, the Nataniël show, the Toasty show, Great Expectations and Take 5, among others. Colinda has been happily married for 15 years and juggles a busy Johannesburg practice with taking care of young twins.

She feels passionate about SENSORY INTELLIGENCE™ and believes that it is an unknown and underestimated part of our daily functioning. She is an astute observer with excellent facilitation skills and enjoys teaching and motivating others. Annemarie does corporate, parent and couple workshops using sensory intelligence to explore and enhance personal relationship dynamics. She also does occupational coaching for individuals, addressing life and performance issues with regards to their work and life roles. She is married and has two sons.

Teaching and freelance work has played an important part in her business. She designs, makes and creates patterns and pieces for designers, knitting magazines and pattern books, and her clients have included John Rocha, Rowan yarns, Simply Knitting and Knit Today magazines, and publications such as Collective Knitting and Holiday Knits. She has taught both machine and hand knitting to people of all ages at Greenwich Community College, Loop, and the Cockpit Arts. Dolls, fairy tales and fantasy played an important part in Laura’s childhood, a childhood full of happy, everlasting memories. It is for this reason that she has developed a collection of childhood characters, knitted creatures and dolls with a personality all of their own.

As director of Sew Easy Needlework and Craft Schools she founded 15 schools throughout South Africa within five years. She currently heads up Wilson & Maclagan Wholesalers, importers of needlework and craft products supplied to the retail trade throughout South Africa and Namibia.

Over the past nine years she has worked in private practice with parents and children with a variety of feeding difficulties, as well as helping new moms navigate through the wealth of information available on baby feeding. Katherine has been a regular speaker at the Baby Sense seminars and frequently talks at events on child and infant nutrition. She has lectured to post graduate students on feeding babies with special needs and written articles for local and international magazines and journals. Katherine is married with three children and lives in the beautiful city of Cape Town.

A keen traveller who wanted to see the world ever since she can remember, she left for London shortly after her African adventure. Three years working and travelling in Europe taught her to become self-sufficient and fix whatever needed fixing. After working as a freelance book designer in Cape Town for many years, she finally joined the family business and currently heads up their satellite office in Johannesburg.

Working as an independent specialist consultant, he is a popular speaker, known for his excellent presentation skills and clear, concise writing. He has a special talent for explaining highly technical concepts in plain language and making them accessible to a wide audience.

Her jewellery now incorporates knots from all over the world and from all periods of history, and she complements the knots with the unusual and exotic beads she has collected on her travels.

She and her husband now live in Wales very close to their daughter and grandchildren. She occasionally teaches and continues to make original jewellery and wearable art using knots and macramé.

This dynamic duo’s scrapbooking classes were immensely popular owing to their teaching style and ideas (which they bring through into their books). They continue to experiment with different crafts, often using interesting techniques across media. In all their applications they have always followed a less-is-more approach, believing that over-decorating detracts rather than enhances. All their books have prooved to be very popular thanks to their elegant and stylish projects.

She belongs to several educational institutions and is involved in the development of programmes for gifted children as well as children with learning difficulties.

Whilst flicking through a magazine she came across a simple embroidery project for a sheet or a blanket. She decided to try it and was amazed by how therapeutic she found the simple act of stitching to be, how easy it was, and how beautiful the finished product was. She was hooked and soon began to work out her own fun and funky designs. Friends received embroidered presents, and before long she was being commissioned to embroider for other people. This led to her starting a small embroidery business, dealing mainly in bed linen and soft furnishings. She also does embroidery projects for local magazines.

Frustrated by the fact that she had to wash her hands every time she wanted to embroider, she decided to move on to fabric painting and before long couldn’t keep up with the demand for her painted articles. Her work earned her an invitation to the Nottingham Arts and Crafts Convention in the United Kingdom. Currently specializing in freestyle decorative painting, Issi enjoys this because there are no rules and no limitations. She decided to share her trials, tribulations and successes in this craft form with a wider market. Her competitive nature drives her to be the best in what she does, therefore she is forever looking for shortcuts and easy ways to achieve the best possible finish.

In 2006, Rosalie teamed up with her sister, Melanie Hurlston, to set up a second design label, Melly & Me, which gave her the opportunity to explore fun and zany designs rather than more traditional work. Rosalie is also a regular contributor to various Australian and international quilting magazines, and in 2009 she embarked on designing textiles for the Japanese company Lecien, recently releasing her second range of fabric titled ‘Sweet Broderie’.

Passionate about her work and dedicated to ensuring that parents have the necessary knowledge to enjoy and rejoice in their children, she regularly lectures to both professionals and parents on various baby and childcare issues, in particular the effects of the sensory system on infant behaviour, and the management of sleeping disorders. Her specialisation is the treatment of “difficult babies and toddlers”, in particular those with feeding and sleeping disorders. She is a regular contributor to nursing journals, internet sites, childcare publications, TV shows and magazines. Ann is married to Ken, and has 2 daughters, Ellen and Maeve, and lives and practices in Johannesburg. She also co-authored Baby Sense and Sleep Sense.

“Consulting with Ann Richardson on Toddler sense has enriched a friendship born from common interests. Our shared mission was to empower parents through knowledge in understanding their children’s sensory system and its impact on their development.”
Kerry Wallace (Occupational therapist)

Author of the international bestseller MASSAGE, she is a regular contributor to various health magazines and journals. She is now resident in Scotland where she runs a Psychotherapy and Hypnotherapy practice and is currently reading for a Masters Degree in Cosmology, Cultural Astronomy, and Astrology at the University of Wales Lampeter. She consults in Scotland and London.

Although jewellery-making is her first love, she loves paper and has always made her own greetings cards. Dabbling in many other crafts, including pewter, scrapbooking, glass painting and encaustic art, she belongs to several craft groups and is a regular teacher at expos and other gatherings. She has written seven books.

To learn more about garden design, she enrolled in a practical design courses at Lifestyle College for Garden Design. Receiving a gold certificate for her first garden project inspired her to pursue her career in garden design and landscaping and when the opportunity arose, she joined Louise in her venture. Suzette is married with two children and lives in Northcliff.

She is an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) and also practises as a professional doula. In this role she has attended hundreds of births over the past five years. Being present at birth enables her to observe and guide mothers’ first breastfeeding experience minutes after birth. She stays in touch with her clients and knows their concerns and the challenges they face. This experience and her role as childbirth educator at a maternity hospital stand her in good stead when she presents workshops to mothers, doulas and prospective lactation consultants.

Simon has been in private paediatric practice since 1996 and has interests in vaccinology, pulmonology, allergies, epilepsy and the ketogenic diet and ADHD. He has developed a passion for teaching and delivers lectures to parents, general practitioners and paediatricians. He is a regular contributor to magazines and attends many local and international medical congresses.

Simon lives in Johannesburg with his many children and is a very proud grandfather of a healthy little boy.

Lesley currently lives in the Southern Cape in South Africa. Since picking up a needle at the age of six Nicola Delport-Wepener has barely put it down and over the years has developed her own considerable skills in the field with Lesley as her main tutor. Nikki has attended numerous courses (Royal school, Embroiders Guild and City and Guilds) and qualified in different styles of embroidery. Her many years of experience as a school teacher in South Africa and the UK made the switch to embroidery teaching easy and she has presented several accredited embroidery courses in the UK. Nikki currently lives and teaches in Hong Kong. Having written several books, Les has worked very closely with Nikki on JUST STITCH, a joint venture. Rich in inspiration and different techniques, the book is a reflection of how they present their classes.

She is a certified Demartini Method facilitator. Ilze is well-known for her popular parent and teacher talk, How and When to Tell Your Kids about the Birds and the Bees as well as Powerful Parent Powerful Child among many others.  She is a director of Bella Vida Centre in Johannesburg. Bella Vida Centre is an expression of her life vision and mission to have a healing and teaching centre where a team of dedicated therapists combine their passion, knowledge and energy to bring massive shifts in the world.

He wrote Anton, a play on the life of the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov and in January 2005 he produced, directed and starred in its performance at the Greenwich Street Theatre in New York. He returned to South Africa after 18 years of globetrotting and now lives in Stellenbosch where he creates South African stories for film and theatre relevant to a worldwide audience and teaches performance creation to students from previously underprivileged groups.

Retha is married with three children and lives in Randburg.

His articles on the development of mathematical skills in children are regularly published in magazines and newspapers, and he is a frequent guest on radio programmes on education. Johan is the official educational consultant for HIP2B², an organization striving to develop South African children’s maths, science, technological and entrepreneurial skills. Based on his many years’ experience and research in brain development, he specializes in training parents and teachers in the optimal preparation of children for school and formal learning.

She is regularly invited to teach at needlecraft conventions overseas and her best-selling books have been translated into many languages. Crafters from all over the world visit her interactive website: www.dicraft.co.za. Di loves to teach and is always willing to answer questions about her books, products, techniques and stitches. Her mission is to teach silk ribbon embroidery, integrating it with other crafts such as card making, jewellery making, knitting, crazy quilting, fibre art and dress design and to show just how easy, enjoyable, and rewarding this hobby really is! Di has written ten books on embroidery.

Each garden is different and her philosophy is to try to realize her clients’ vision and dreams of their garden. She finds it very satisfying to see each garden develop, inspiring people to spend more time in their own sanctuary. She feels that gardening allows her to work with the most beautiful of God’s creations and brings her closer to mother nature and God. Louise is married with four children and lives in Randparkrif.

After completing a four-year degree in home economics at Stellenbosch University she worked in the catering industry for several years, where she became involved in wedding planning and commercial baking for weddings and parties, among others. After her own wedding she started marketing her original wedding and party cake designs from her website, to leave time for helping out in her husband’s business, and being full-time stepmom to his three boys. Her first book, Katrien’s cakes, is a bestseller both locally and abroad.

She has featured in various local and international online media, the Show me how craft programme on the Home channel of DSTV and writes several blogs. She specifically develops projects around new tools and has won many prizes for her creative work. Most of her time is spent with photographs, paper and glue in her craft studio, or in the kitchen where she enjoys her other passion – baking. Her mean carrot cake is to die for. She also owns and runs two small businesses. Jaclyn is married and lives in Centurion.

Writing this book is part of her desire to help more people to discover the beauty of encaustic. She has written numerous articles for craft magazines and regularly gives demonstrations for art societies and groups. She was also invited to appear on Top Billing, a lifestyle TV programme, to demonstrate this rewarding art. Jann lives in Cape Town with her husband, son and daughter.

Tanya started gardening at a young age, helping her dad in the veggie patch, and to this day she loves growing her own vegetables for the kitchen. She also nurtures an impressive succulent collection and her collection of grasses is expanding (although she acknowledges that doing all her day jobs leaves her with precious little time to spend in her own garden). Tanya built on the experience she acquired during those very early days in the garden by studying horticulture at what was then Natal Technikon. After qualifying as a horticulturist she began her working career in a garden centre, learning the tricks of the trade and expanding her plant and business knowledge. After a respectable nine years or so in the green industry she moved on to join the world of publishing. She lives in KwaZulu-Natal with her partner, Lyn, and her yorkie.

Greetings cards bearing her work are widely available in Europe and the US and her prints are sold throughout the world. Janet Whittle has received awards from the major UK art groups, including the Society of Botanical Artists’ Founder President’s Honour, the St. Cuthberts Mill Award for a picture of outstanding quality, and the Society of Floral painters’ Award for Excellence.

Later that year a Pretoria Club was also launched. Her career as PR Consultant requires her to be very organised and the idea of a Crafter’s Daily Planner was born from the need to be able to combine everyday responsibilities with creative activities. Her motto is if you have to stick to to-do lists, at least let them be written on pages that inspire creativity!

Monean is married and lives in Durbanville. She has two children, a busy PR career and a Craft Club to manage, so a daily planner is a must in her life. But heaven forbid you’ll find a boring one on her desk …