I think I’m finished with my little bear cat scenario. It looks like they are playing a game of hide and seek in the shrubs!

I’m having so much fun with watercolours at the moment! It reminds me of my school days when we had painting classes, I would sit with my friends and we would paint and chat about silly things.

I think I might do another small painting on Oli’s book before I pass it onto Jan….

Olivier’s book arrived in my mailbox after Karena’s awesome collage work.

I’m super excited to draw on Olivier’s book because he’s rebound his moleskine with watercolour pages, which means I can try using watercolours this time. I’m also very nervous because it has been awhile since I’ve painted and to test it out on Oliver’s book…well…let’s just say it’s all very daunting!

I put on Oli’s chillout playlist yesterday evening, and started flipping through his book to see what I could sketch. I kept coming back to the lady with the look alike bear ears. And before I knew it, I was sketching a bear, and some leaves and flowers, and a cat sticking out of the shrubbery!

I’ve started adding colours to this shrubbery madness…

I will post more pictures when I’m finished!

Some polaroids from our Easter break. It was a good one. Niina and I were a bit obsessed with flying on that day!

Today on my playlist I am listening to Iron and Wine.

My little octi is finished! I coloured him while chatting with mum on skype, so thanks for keeping me company mum.

Hello. I am still here…just working on a few collaborations lately!

One of them is the Moleskine sketchbook exchange. I received Niniji’s book in the mail and her book has a Luna Sea theme to it. She also included a soundtrack with her book, played by the Japanese Rock Band called Luna Sea.

I put on the soundtrack today and started sketching my idea of a mysterious Luna Sea!

So yes….a smiling octopus, floating cherry blossoms, and very strange seaweed plants! I’ll share more pictures when I’ve coloured in this crazy image!

I’ve discovered that my husband has a hidden talent in the kitchen! He has strong hands. Good, strong, baker hands! It all started with the pancake batter, I noticed that he could whisk it quite fast into a smooth batter.

So I put him onto the task of making simple flat bread. In the past whenever we made bread, I would either under-knead or over-knead the dough and the bread would end up a little too tough and chewy. But my husband, seems to have mastered the technique of kneading the dough in a quick, strong and efficient manner.

Last night we cooked dhal for dinner and rich made some naan bread for dipping. He made the bread all by himself. This is coming from my klutz of a husband who can’t tell the difference between light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, or sesame oil and olive oil, or name all the herbs correctly in our garden.

But as you can see, bless him…he makes good bread! It was baked golden brown on the outside and when you pulled it apart, it was all soft, light and fluffy in the inside!

Richard’s homemade Naan

Makes about 6-8 medium naan
300g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
4 tbsp milk
4 tbsp plain yogurt
15g butter

- Place a baking sheet on the tray and preheat the oven to its highest setting.
- Mix together all of the dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle and add wet ingredients with 85-90ml of water. Combine by hand and knead quickly until smooth.
- Pinch off small handful of dough and roll into a teardrop shape. Place onto the hot baking sheet and cook for two to four minutes until spots of brown appear on the surface.
- Brush the surface with butter and serve hot.

I took out this Eco Lifestyle Handbook from the local library a few days ago. It’s quite an interesting read with lots of eco tips for your home, garden, business and well being.

Here are some of my favourites:

- Use fresh herbs or flowers ideally cut from your own garden to fragrance your home than synthetic air fresherners. Indoor plants act as natural air conditioners and can remove up to 87% of indoor pollution in 24 hours.

- Wash your fruit and vegetable in a bowl rather than under a running tap. Re-use the bowl of water on your garden plants.

- Once a week have a candlelit dinner to save energy. Use vegetable-based candles.

- Grow mint in pots around windows. Mint is a natural insect repellent. Make a package of cloves, eucalyptus and peppermint to hang in kitchen cupboards and drawers as a deterrent.

- Every time you boil an egg, make sure you save the leftover for your house plants. The nutrients released from the shell of the eggs during cooking are particularly beneficial. Let water cool before using.

- Bake your own bread. Go back to a simpler time when bread was made of flour, salt, water and yeast. You will be able to avoid additives and preservatives found in shop-brought bread.

- Substitute pulses (legumes) for meat. Add them to stew, casseroles, soups and sauces. They are high in fibre, helps to lower blood cholesterol and is a good source of iron.

- Buy free-range, organically raised meat and poultry products. The animals will have been raised humanely and on untreated feeds, resulting in chemical-free food. You can also be assured that the soil from these farms is treated well, reducing the impact on wildlife habitats.

- Avoid products with “meat protein” in the ingredient list, it means you’re buying heavily processed food.

- Water is the best toner for your skin.

- Buy local and handmade.

- Plan a green picnic or a healthy and green holiday. Enjoy nature!

I’ve been admiring the works of Indigenous artist Jeannie Mills Pwerl for some time, especially her Anaty collection or also known as the Desert Yam.

I love Jeannie’s bold and colourful strokes of the Bush Yam. Every artwork is a different variation of colours, from earthy tones to pink and purple hues. It was love at first sight when I saw this piece.

We had the canvas stretched before we decided to hang it up by the dining corner.

I find that the problem with me marrying a tall husband (or him marrying a short Asian wife) is that we can never agree on the perfect height to hang anything. What may be the perfect height for him, always seems so high up for me. This problem is of course bugging me slightly…so if anyone has any tips and advice on how to hang a picture up at a “reasonable” height, please let me know.

But still…the painting is very sweet, yes? I would like to hang a cuckoo clock somewhere near the painting and bookcase. I hope we can find one during our Euro trip. I also hope that Rich will hang it up for me a tad lower this time!

There is little sign of Autumn in Perth as it’s still unbelievably hot over here! On hot days I’m always clueless on what to make for dinner, though we try to cook something light and simple.

A few days ago, I sampled some rice paper rolls from a local cafe and tried not to balk at the price. If my mother had been there she would have been adamant at making our own rolls instead.

So I did that today…mostly with ingredients from the fridge.

Ingredients for filling:
1 cup of cooked shredded chicken
1/2 cup of thinly sliced capsicum
A handful of fresh mint leaves
A handful of fresh coriander
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
2 tablespoon of lime juice

A packet of Vietnamese rice paper rolls.

Other optional ingredients that you can use or add:
Thinly sliced carrots, chinese cabbage, beansprouts, tofu, prawns, chopped nuts or vermicelli noodles to fill up your rolls.

Mix the ingredients well.

Fill a tray or shallow pan with warm water. You don’t have to use too much water, just enough to submerge the rice sheets.

Place one rice sheet in the water for 20 seconds, then gently lift the sheet out and place onto a tea towel. The tea towel helps to absorb the extra moisture. Be careful not to oversoak your rice sheet in the water for too long, as it will get soggy and difficult to handle.

Top your ingredients onto the rice sheet. Make sure the tea towel is laid on a flat surface which helps with rolling your rolls.

Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my owl post I loved all your names and I wished I had drawn a parliament of owls so that I could use all of your suggestions! Well maybe in Little Mo’s world there is a parliament of owls nearby!

Thanks to Michelle who came up with the name ‘Peanut’, for the little one. I fell in love with the name as soon as I saw it. That was pretty easy for me!

The older owl was a little hard for me to decide. I liked Jaymii’s suggestion of ‘Otus’ and Tegan’s suggestion of ‘Ninox’. And I also liked the name ‘Pip’, because ‘Pip and Peanut’ has a nice ring to it! So there you go, my owls have been named! Please say hi to Pip and Peanut! The newest addition to Little Mo’s family!

Jaymii and Tegan, I’d still like to give you one of my owl prints…let’s just say you girls were runner ups I’ll be emailing all three of you for your addresses.

I hope you have a cute spot to hang your owl print! Thanks so much!