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Vida e caffé - 10th BIRTHDAY shoutOut on 6/9/11 by DuncanBoxie in peeps

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HAPPY 10^TH BIRTHDAY VIDA!

Wow how the time has flown, can you believe our beloved Vida e caffé has already turned 10 years old? It seems like literally yesterday that I was ordering my first Con Panna and got sent into hyperactive orbit.

Vida e caffé first appeared in Cape Town back in 2001 and has since exploded into one of South Africas most prolific coffee institutions. Their unyielding dedication to bringing us all the best coffee imaginable and crushing the “insipid mass coffee culture” which permeates out great nation, was a serious leap in the right direction for SA coffee.

Vida e caffé is synonomous with attracting a fresh and funky crowd, who not only take their coffee seriously, but also enjoy a coffee spot with a more energetic vibe.
Their staff are always singing and making jokes with the customers, which I really like. There is nothing worse than getting some dull eyed, slack-jawed ‘worker bee’ on the other side of the counter.

These days you can find Vida e caffé's awesome dark stuff in 50 stores all across our beautiful green Earth. Recently vida expanded their chain out to Angola and the UK.

This is undoubtedly the best coffee house to work for in South Africa. Their massive crew of 500 full time staff members have huge incentives, possibilities for internal promotion and staff housing...not to mention lots n lots of great coffee.
Now that is really awesome!

Thats not even mentioning their baristas who are uplifted through vida’s own internal programme. Their training is on the same level as that of the “strictest European extraction techniques”, which is seriously the best in the world.

These dude are no slouches. Vida e caffé bars serve, on average, around 700 customers every single day. WHOA...that is a lot of thirsty people!

I love that they constantly have interesting initiatives to involve the public. Such as their ‘Cup Sleeve’ design competition which they held not so long ago.
The winner won an entire years FREE VIDA coffee...WOW, now that is the ultimate prize for any vida apprecianado.

Vida e caffé means ‘coffee is life’...and it is obvious to see that South Africa has made Vida e caffé a part of their daily lives. I have friends who wait tensly outside their doors every single morning for their fix of the “good stuff”.

Let’s celebrate 10 years of awesome coffee with Vida, raise your cups and salute them.

Obrigado Vida e caffé!

PS: you can become a fan by checking out the Vida e caffé Facebook page.

Positive Heroes designs - Time to vote shoutOut on 5/9/11 by DuncanBoxie in wordUp

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Hi there one and all,

The Positive Heroes submissions have been coming through thick and fast, with plenty of serious design talent to choose from.

We have already had quite a few designs come through from some of our more ‘well known’ designers. NEN101, Dewedhe, BarmalisiRTB and UncleHani have all subbed some really cool stuff, which I’m sure you are going to like. We even have Springleap veterans such as VickyLee who are back with some great work.

Please remember that voting has already begun!
So you can check out all the amazing designs, which have come through thus far and show your favourites some love by voting them up.
CLICK HERE TO GET VOTING :)

This may also help other designers to better understand what exactly Positive Heroes are looking for in their winning design.

We are still accepting submissions up until 03 October.
You are allowed to submit up to 5 designs. So even if you have sent through a design you are more than entitled to send in a few more and increase your chances of winning.
CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT

You may notice that the closing date for designs has been extended slightly. This is due to the date of the Positive Heroes fashion show being moved by a week.

We hope that this does not inconvenience you in any way. In fact it should give you more time to come up with the perfect concept and send through some submissions.

With a crazy awesome US$1250 grand prize, there is no way you can afford to not get involved in this awesome competition.

This truly is a competition theme with a conscience.
The designs that have come through have had such a strong message of togetherness and encouragement for those afflicted by HIV.

Thanks to everybody who has submitted to Positive Heroes. It really is great to see so many designers taking an interest in this fantastic theme and wanting to spread the word about Positive Heroes. We applaud the work you have all done, well done!!

We can’t wait to see more of your designs coming through.
Good luck to all the designers taking part!

Choose our new hoodie design - WIN shoutOut on 2/9/11 by DuncanBoxie in wordUp

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Wacom Inkling shoutOut on 1/9/11 by DuncanBoxie in peeps

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Wacom just made my day...if not my year!

Recently I acquired my very first digital tablet and have gotten so much good use out of it!
However, in the back of my mind I kept thinking how cool it would be for me to sketch directly onto paper and somehow record it digitally.

In the past the closest you can come to capturing your artwork which is sketched onto actual paper is with a good old fashion scanner. The problem with this is that you still have the mission of getting the scan just right, importing it properly and then recreating the lines.
This can be a bit of a pain in the bum!

Well boys and girls, it’s time for the next generation in digital drawing technology.
Enter the new Wacom Inkling.

The Wacom Inkling basically makes the dream that I mentioned above, possible.
Simply attach the Inkling to any piece of paper, whether it be a single sheet, or your sketchbook, and let loose with some creativity. The pen itself is ballpoint, so the experience and ‘feeling’ is totally authentic.

This amazing device records your every stroke and movement, whilst translating 1024 levels of pressure. Seriously, that is freaking off the scale brilliant!

Another amazing feature of the Wacom Inkling is the ability to tap a button and instantly create a new layer. This is helpful on so many levels...it just depends on what exactly you are sketching. For example you may be sketching a little surfer character. Once you have given him his basic shape you can then hit the ‘new layer’ button and then work on the wave, then hit it again and work on shadows, and so on and so forth. This makes separating your various elements in Illustrator, or Photoshop that much more hassle free.

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of this Inkling is the fact that it breaches the gap between traditional and digital artists. This device is going to open up the world of digital to a whole new legion of artists that are schooled in more traditional methods. This is what Guido Möller, product manager professional brands at Wacom Europe, had to say about the Inkling, “inspiration comes from a desire to give artistic people the freedom to draw on paper and to provide an easy way to transition the drawings to digital media”.

These bad boys are selling for £149.99
This means the price in South Africa should be around R1500, however I envisage this product being double that price by the time it gets down to this neck of the woods.
I am seriously considering getting my hands on one of these little gems. Sketching is one of my favourite things to do and I always get annoyed when I have to now start recreating in my program of choice. PROBLEM SOLVED!

Christmas is just around the corner, so maybe I can start throwing some not so subtle hints out there to my loved ones....bring forth the Wacom Inkling, it must be MINE!

For those of you who are wondering just how the Wacom Inkling works with your sketchbook I have embedded the ‘set-up’ video below.

So what do you think everyone? Is this some next gen technology or what?
Maybe you think it’s just another fad which will be usurped into a complete Wacom device next year....kind of a Wacom tablet Inkling hybrid thingamajiggy!

Regardless this is some highly impressive work from Wacom. Well done on keeping it hush-hush for so long!

Happiness is the new Wacom Inkling!

GO GET ONE!

OPEN THEME AUGUST 2 shoutOut on 4/8/11 by DuncanBoxie in wordUp

on 30/8/11 by charmainrackham

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Meet the dream team!!! shoutOut on 16/4/10 by Danya in peeps

on 30/8/11 by charmainrackham

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Holla Springleapers!!

This is your official introduction to the new and improved Springleap squad!

We asked our peeps: WHAT CAN YOU DO THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN??

So here’s what they had to say…

Eric - AKA The Big Cheese

“I’ve now spent 15 minutes thinking about the question, and can’t answer it. Everything I can do, someone else can do - probably better than me! Maybe that’s why I’m the Big Cheese! :) Next Question please? Perhaps what is different, is that I make things happen - quickly. When I find something is a challenge, I become obsessed to resolve it and sort it out quickly! And because I think micro and macro at the same time, and I love the art of negotiation, results happen! So what can I do that no one else can - delegate, delegate and delegate some more!”

Eran - AKA The Man With The Plan

“Wow – something I can do that no-one else can? To be honest there are very likely a wealth of people who can do anything I can A LOT better. But here are one or two decent party tricks I can do : I can put my hands on the floor, knees on my elbows and flip into a handstand and do inverted push-ups. And I play Shakuhachi and Hocchiku – Japanese flutes.”

Catherine - AKA The Sales & Operation Master

I have a colourful assortment of many talents – while most of my skills are learnt from others - perhaps as a collective the following make it onto the ‘unique package deal’ wall of fame… I manage to throw great dinner parties where my guests cook, clean and entertain for me while I ‘gather recipe info’ and taste wine. I can greet (and swear) in nine different languages. I can change a tyre, format a hard-drive, carry furniture up multiple storeys and read a map (which many people say girls cannot do!). As a manager, I can pretend to not be listening when I am and have eyes on the back of my head and the unnerving ability make people work at a pace slightly slower than mild hysteria. Other than that, I can burn rice, fall up stairs (as opposed to down them) – and paint a pretty darn good canvas while reading a book in front of the television. Just don’t ask me to knit, or sing. Many people do that badly. I can do an even more spectacular job of doing it worse! And finally, I let cars into the traffic in front of me (‘terms and conditions apply’). Not many people do that!

Mehul- AKA the Musical Manager

“I could probably win the contest for the person to watch the most hours of Star Trek uninterrupted!”

Amy- AKA The PR and Marketing Princess

“I can whip out a magic wand and make the whole world a better place. I can also whip out Guitar Hero in my sleep and beat my own scores :P
According to Urban Dictionary Amy is just about the most coolest person you’ll ever meet.”

Chloe- AKA The Empress of Production

“I’m the most SAILORIFIC sailor there ever was…. & I have the power to MIND CONTROL your mom. OH. I also make an invincible paper airplane. ;)”

Duncan- AKA Community Manager

“I can be happy when I’m not actually happy. And I can spontaneously combust - and survive. My over active mitochondria rarely give me a break.”

Nadean- AKA Nadz PR Intern

I am Nadean Edith Burns, but I am known as Nadz among most of my friends and family. I matriculated in 2007 and I am currently studying Public Relations Management full time at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. When I am not at work or studying I enjoy reading books, listening to music and spending time with my friends and family. My role model is my mother, she always tends to motivate, inspire and influence me in a positive way. My long-term goal for the future is to own a PR consultancy and travel the world!

Well there you have it peeps. That’s us!

We all love hearing from you so get in touch with us soonly!

Ciao for now Springleapers!

loving these pics!

shoutBack on 21/11/10 by Eric

you better come visit lolly!! hehe

shoutBack on 19/4/10 by Zave

Dream Team indeed! This was super entertaining!
Makes me miss you guys…so I’ll be back for a visit soonest :)

shoutBack on 17/4/10 by Lokololly

This Springleap team is just AWESOME!!
GREATNESS!!!!

shoutBack on 16/4/10 by Zave

RADNESS

shoutBack on 16/4/10 by amyabrahams

TOP 10 Marketing and Social Media tips for Designers shoutOut on 11/8/10 by amyabrahams in wordUp

on 30/8/11 by charmainrackham

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Before we get started, have you used the Springleap share bar??

Tip #1

Email your friends and ask them to vote on your design

- Attach the image of your design in your e-mail – tell a story underneath and give people a call to action!
-If they’re not a Springleap.com member tell them to register and provide the link:
http://www.springleap.com/register

-Give them easy directions where to vote for your design by providing the link to the voting page:

http://www.springleap.com/designs/vote

-Include the closing date for the voting process
-Add your own personal note

Tip #2

Make use of your Facebook page

-Upload your design to your Facebook page and ask friends to comment on it. This way you can hear their feedback firsthand.
-Add the link of your design on the Springleap voting page

Example: http://www.springleap.com/designs/view/my-design

-Tag your friends in your design so it comes up on their profiles too
-Send your friends to your profile page
-If you’re really serious about designing, create a fanpage for your work and get as many people involved as possible. Be creative!

Tip #3

Social media groups

-Create groups or write blog postings on various sites about your design
-Network with different types of people to gain maximium exposure for your design

Here are some networking sites you can make use of:

Blogger
Delicious
Digg
Friendfeed
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
MySpace
Netfriendships
Ning
Stumbleupon
Secondlife
Reddit
Yelp
Tumblr

Tip #4

Upload your design to photo sharing sites

Photo sharing is the publishing or transfer of a user’s digital photos online, thus enabling the user has to share them with others (publicly or privately). This can be loosely applied to the use of online galleries that are setup and managed by individual users, including photoblogs.

Here is a list to get you started, remember to include the link to your design on the Springleap website and the caption “VOTE FOR THIS ON SPRINGLEAP”

Flickr
Fotolog
My Opera
Picli
Zoomr
Fotoki
Linkinn
Photobucket
Tagmee

Tip #5

Get onto an existing blog

-Send the administrator a quick email about yourself and your design
-Be sure to include:
1. An image of your design
2. A link to your design on Springleap.com
(include the name of the competition you entered)
3. All the important competition dates

You can also target blogs dedicated solely to t-shirts.

Here’s a list of a few:

T-shirt review
Print Liberation
Busted Tees
T-shirt Legends
Shirts on sale
T-shirt Casserole
T-shirt Advocate
T-addict
Pop culture Tees
Cottonable
T-shirt Talk

If this isn’t enough for you here’s a list of blog directories. You’ll find thousands of sites where you can submit your design to and ask them to do a write up about it.

Blogorama
Top rank blog
Blog catalog
Bloggapedia
Bloggingfusion

You can also try sites like:
iFashion
iMod
2oceansvibe
SA Rocks

Tip #6

Tweet about your design

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets).

If you don’t already have a Twitter account, you can join and ask a whole lot of people to follow you, send out a message with a link to your design on Springleap.com, asking people to vote for your design
OR
If you know somebody else that is already on Twitter, ask them to tweet your design for you!

Tip #7

Social Bookmarks

Social bookmarking allows internet users to store, organize, search and manage their favourite web pages on the Internet. Users save links they want to remember and/or share with specified people or groups.

Check out some of the sites below, tag your design and say vote for this. Ask your friends to do it too, the more people that tag your design the higher it will be ranked.

Backflip
Delicious
My Bbookmarks
Chipmark
Zurpy

Tip #8

Be creative – upload a video

-All you need is your phone or a digital camera to get crazy and creative by
-Find some inspiration and make your own funny catchy video
-Post it on Facebook and Springleap.com’s website.

Here are some popular video sites on the web - you’ll be able to use them to find all sorts of free videos, movies, and documentaries, as well as short films and viral videos.

Zoopy
MySpace Videos
LiveLeak
Break
Daily Motion
Metacafe
YouTube
Video Sift
MegaVideo
Yahoo Video

Tip #9

Keep trying and designing

Carry on designing, submitting and sharing your work on the Internet and amongst friends and family!

Tip #10

Keep your profile page updated and comment

Springleap is a place where people come to discover amazing designers – so take good care of your profile page –show it some love! This is where people get to see your work. Post links, add your facebook details, stay current and comment a lot.

Commenting and keeping your profile current makes for great content and engagement. It’s the perfect way to discuss, learn and share.

GOOD LUCK!

The Springleap.com Team

Corporate and Promotional Printing shoutOut on 11/8/10 by amyabrahams in wordUp

on 30/8/11 by charmainrackham

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Springleap.com is all about supplying T-shirts and other new and exciting products that don’t compromise on quality on any level.

When it comes to quality, Springleap strives to always stay ahead of the pack.If your organization requires promotional printing on the highest quality T-shirts, then you have come to the right place!

Springleap.com specializes in providing finished products that live up to the very highest standards that you have come to expect from us. Whatever your requirement is, whether it be corporate, brand or promotional printing, Springleap has everything you need and more.

We provide a range of services from helping you source the designs you require, to printing to a finished product. It’s the kind of garment that people love to wear day-in, day-out.

Our t-shirts are amazingly comfortable 145g pre-shrunk shaped/fitted Combed Cotton garments with a contrasting backneck binding. We produce at a minimum of Woolworths certification and quality to ensure that the garments look and feel incredible.

Take a look at this awesome example of our corporate printing on the CA Global team t-shirts below.

Why print on a garment that no-one wants to wear? Why besmirch your brand with low quality products and associations? Why take the risk that the garment will look like a mess or deal with the hassles?

Springleap provide corporate garments to a variety of top-end brands ranging from Apple, AMD (International), WooTHemes, Saatchi Saatchi, Jupiter Drawing Room, Truth Coffee and more.

If you would like to see more examples of our amazing corporate designs, please CLICK HERE

To find out how we can help you bring your promotional and corporate printing requirements to life, contact us by going to our CONTACT US page

We look forward to hearing from you!

Hi Claire

Thanks for your enquiry. Please drop me a line with your artwork and proposed quantities so that I can take a look and give you an accurate quote. catherine (at) springleap (dot) com. Look forward to hearing from you!

shoutBack on 21/6/11 by CathRon

Hi ,

please can you send me a quote to have my a t-shirt printed with a vegetable growing theme and my company logo.

Thanks
Claire - Reel Gardening

shoutBack on 21/6/11 by clairereelgardening

Hi there Matsika.

If you can please get hold of Catherine at: catherine@springleap.com

She will assist you in your inquiry :)

Please let her know quantities and supply the image that needs printing.

Have a great one!

shoutBack on 7/12/10 by DuncanBoxie

Hi, i have some designs that i would like you guys to put on some of your great blank t-shirts. how much would it cost and how long would it take. what other information would you need? thanks.

shoutBack on 3/12/10 by matsika