we need names please!

Hello! We need your help to find us some cute names!

Here we are with Sam (blue), Pip (pink), Lucy (orange) and Charlie (green)

Hello everyone! How you doing? Today I'd like to ask for your help, if you could spare a few minutes :) I've finally finished the last two little friends who will come hang out on the wall at an upcoming art exhibition.... but I'm really stuck for names! I've already introduced you to Lucy, Charlie, Sam and Pip, who are all having some fun out on a field trip together. I would be ever so grateful if any of you lovely peeps would like to share any ideas for names for these two new friends :) I hope you are all having a fab week so far! Cheers! xxoo

a bit of friday night fun

Ello again! Just a real quick one to share something that might bring a bit of fun to your Friday. My favourite Cilla Black song... yes, I admit it, I'm a Cilla fan! Just you try not to get a bit of a bop happening whilst you listen to this.. I dare you! Happy, happy weekend to you all.

happiness is a warm slice

Hi all! How has your week been? I've had a busy one, but I always try to make time to do some baking. I find cooking or gardening are great ways to have a little time-out from illustrating work whilst still being productive! This week I baked this yummy Cinnamon Date Slice mmm! It's really easy, and as far as cakes go, its not too super naughty either. The recipe is from the Country Women's Association recipe book, which has so many awesome recipes contributed by women in country towns across Australia who have been creating and collecting recipes for decades. I've written the recipe below - I highly recommend you give it a try. Have awesome weekends, wherever you are :)

Oh and stay tuned, next week I'm starting a new little segment - hopefully regular - where I do a mini-interview with an artist or crafter who's work I really love... You'll LOVE the super talented lass I have lined-up for next week... can't wait to share with you all! xoxo

Cinnamon Date Slice

125g butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup SR flour
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt

Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
Slowly mix in all other ingredients.
Pour mixture into a greased and lined slice tin and bake in a moderate oven 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

friends for lucy

 Lucy and Charlie

Sam and Pip

Happy weekend everyone! Today I thought I'd share with you a little preview of some works in progress. Remember Lucy? I created her for our monthly illustration challenge over at We Love To Illustrate. Well, I thought Lucy might like to be a part of an upcoming exhibition I'll be participating in very soon. So I created some wee friends for her so she isn't lonely up there on the wall all by herself! Meet Lucy, Charlie, Sam and Pip. They're having fun on a field trip together. They will hopefully be joined by one more friend... if I get enough time to create another one before the exhibition! Still some details to add and tweaking to do, but these little guys are almost finished. I'll post exhibition details soon. Hope you all have lovely weekends! xo

all you need is love, it's true

A beautiful thing happened today... I was walking in the city and it had begun to rain. As I approached the train station I noticed a homeless man, sitting against a wall, trying to keep dry. Up ahead of me a small group of schoolkids - maybe 14 or 15 years old - were approaching the man. I thought they were about to give him a hard time when one of the boys reached into his schoolbag, took out his umbrella and offered it to the homeless man. It nearly brought a tear to my eye! What a simple, beautiful act of kindness. Imagine what a wonderful world we could create if EVERYONE took a second to make a random act of kindness each and every day :)

hello naomi

Image copyright Hello Naomi 2010

I was thrilled recently when the lovely Naomi of Hello Naomi got in touch with me asking to use my Magic Bunny party invitations for a photo shoot for SHOP Girl magazine. Naomi is a super-talented baker, cake decorator and party stylist...check out her AMAZING cupcake designs here, I guarantee you will be 'oooh-ing' and 'aaahh-ing' over them all! Naomi also has a beautiful blog and has shared a very sneaky preview of a few photos from the shoot. Can't wait to see them all!

some sunshine

Happy, happy Friday everyone! How has your week been? Are you ready for a nice relaxing weekend? Or will you have a busy one? I'm in for a busy one, but I have some really fun illustration projects on the go so I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into them! Here is an illo I did for this month's challenge over at our group blog - We Love To Illustrate. This month's theme is 'Dog Days'. The challenge is open to EVERYONE, and we'd love for you to join in. So head on over here and post a link to your own illustration or crafty thing with a Dog Days theme :)

winter in my garden

Hello all! Just a quick stop to bring you a few snapshots I took in my garden today. It's been drizzling and misty here all day (as per usual at this time of year up in the hills!) but the drizzle stopped for a bit this afternoon and the water droplets on the flowers looked stunning. So here are a few different Camellias (we are lucky enough to have some very beautiful old Camellia trees in our garden) and some winter vegies - Broccoli Raab (a relative of Broccoli) and Broad Beans. Hope you are having a top week :) xo

wall art

Howdy everybody! Wowsers - where has the week gone? Friday already?! Have you anything fun planned for your weekend? I'm off to the pub tonight with some friends... looking forward to my first beer in about 2 months mmm can't wait hehe! Anyway - here is a work in progress, the plan is to make it into a large wall canvas, which will be available for sale through a fab children's wall-art company... It's a very exciting project and I hope to update you on it some more soon :) Have a great weekend everyone! xxoo

still here!

Hellloooo lovely people! Just a quick post to apologise for being a bit absent on the bloggy scene lately. I have missed reading your blogs and will catch up with all your lovely news really soon :)
You know how sometimes life likes to get a bit tricky? Well I've had a bit going on recently and have been unable to get to my blog or yours for a little while but I'm back in the saddle now and looking forward to catching up with you all!
Thanks so much for all your lovely comments, it makes my day every time to read them. Cheers everyone and I'll come visit your blogs real soon! xoxoxoxo

mr fox gets hitched!

 FRONT

BACK

I've just done a custom wedding invitation for a client who really loved my Mister Fox Party Invitation. So here it is! Mister Fox has found himself a Missus :)

the ink house

Hello lovely people! How has your week been? I hope it's been fab... nearly the weekend yay! I'm very excited because my good friend (and very talented illustrator) Liz has started a fabulous blog and I think it's a really great read! Why not pop on over and check out some of Liz's super amazing illustrations, great arty crafty finds and inspiring images?  You can visit The Ink House here. And stay tuned, Liz will be re-opening her gorgeous Etsy store in the future too... can't wait!

lucy

Happy Friday everyone! Do you have much planned for your Friday night? I'm having a nice quiet one with Marty - it's freezing and wet outside so were are getting comfy on the couch with some movies and a nice curry for dinner! This little lady (above) is called Lucy. I created her for the monthly illustration challenge over at our group blog, 'We Love To Illustrate'. The theme this month is 'picnic'. We would LOVE for you to join in the fun and get creative with an illustration or crafty thing of your own on the subject of 'picnic'. Please head on over to 'We Love To Illustrate' to check out the details and join in the fun!

envelope project

Morning all! I just found out about a fun little project happening over at Meet Me At Mikes - the Envelope Project. It works like this:

* Send a decorated envelope to Meet Me At Mikes with a few cute little papery or crafty things inside it. Be sure to add your address on the back.
* Your envelope will be displayed in the Meet Me At Mikes shopfront window. They will take all the things out of your envelope and take a photo of what they receive each day.  They will upload that daily image to Flickr.  They will keep the project going for six weeks.
* At the end of that period they will draw one random envelope : and send that person ALL THE THINGS they received in the mail!  Every single thing.

Yay how much fun! I stuffed my envelope with a selection of my Little Beehive greeting cards :)
If you'd like to take part in this super fun project, head on over here and get the details.

P.S. One of the illustrators whom I admire very much, Ingela.P Arrhenius, has joined in the fun all the way from Sweden! You can read her blog post about it here.