I’ll be stocking my shop this weekend with lots of fun and colourful goodies. Just in time for some Easter shopping!

First to be added into my shop, are my cute animal bookplates. It was my first time colouring a star-filled night so I’m really happy at how the colours have turned out!

There are 6 fun stickers in each pack; Starry Owl and Rabbit Hugger. Have fun sticking them, and let me know your feedback!

My first chilli pod!

Remember when I was given a baby chilli plant for my birthday last year? Well, it started fruiting! All I can see is just one pod…but I’m hoping and wishing that there will be more to come!!

I’ve designed some bookplates for Easter! I hope you like them! I’m trying to make a few boyish ones for the little boys out there!

I think bookplates or book stickers make great companion gifts with books! While growing up, I was given books for birthdays and Christmas (some of my favourite reads were The Enchanted Wood series, The Famous Five and The Circus series), and sometimes tucked inside my books were little book stickers for me to stick on! Such a treat!

These cuties are off to the printers, so check my shop next week if you want to pick up a pack!

We drink a lot of tea at home: Green tea, Chinese tea, Black tea…even Bubble tea! We buy them in loose leaves so that we can brew it in our teapot.

Today while tea shopping, I saw this tiffin carrier at an Antique shop and thought, ‘I could use this to keep our tea stash!’

It’s a lovely piece with cranes and dragons and gold accents around it. Very Chinese. I think even my parents would be pleased with my purchase.

Actually, when growing up I used to cringe at my parent’s taste for oriental furnishing. I never fully appreciated the intricate handiwork and carvings. I kept thinking everything looked so Chinese! This is me…circa 80′s…I am crawling around my house which looks like a Chinese museum.

But how times have changed now. I find that as I grow older each year, I’ve learned to embrace my roots…which has made me a little more sentimental and nostalgic about my past. I also find myself appreciating and liking the same kind of decor or artifacts that my parents like! Though if I were to decorate my home, I think it would be a mixture of the current things that I love and also the Chinese soul in me.

And lastly…as we’re on the topic of tea (which was supposed to be a short post!). If you like tea, I’d recommend that you try the blooming tea. They are tea leaves, flattened and shaped into a ball. When you drop the ball in the teapot, it blooms into a flower! A very pretty sight.

A new art print from me this week. Do you like it? I haven’t decided on a name for my owl friends…but maybe you can help me!

Leave as many suggestions as you like and I’ll pick a favourite name and send you this hoot friendly art print. It will come signed and wrapped up prettily:)

A bit of drawer’s block this morning. I found myself staring at the screen for a good hour, trying to decide what I could do with my bunny doodles. Also, it’s been so hot these couple of weeks that I find my energy level dipping really low.

After putting on some music, I managed to keep my cool together and coloured one of the bunnies…and then worked on a new sketch. I figured I would do a few ‘boyish’ animal designs this year. I think this owl and baby owl reading a book might make a cute art print for a boy’s room or a cute addition to my bookplate collection. What do you think?

I’ll share pictures once I’m finished with my little owl friends!

Currently on my playlist today is the fabulous Apricot Rail.

My brother and his family are back from visiting my mum in Germany. I’m probably going to miss seeing my nephew in his earflaps.

Tris is wearing his Teddy Bear earflap hat from the lovely Beliz.

Last year I.M magazine featured me on their July issue. It was a really awesome feature and so nicely put together. I couldn’t be happier. I love that the cover of the magazine kept with the theme of my website and logo.

At first I was a bit embarrassed to blog about my feature because I’m used to seeing snippets of Little Mo and Friends, not pages of write ups and illustrations. It was my first time having such a big feature story. I only told Richard and a couple of friends. I don’t think my parents even knew about the write up!

What made me hesitant to show the story off was that I didn’t want to come across sounding as if I was a very successful illustrator. I feel that I’m far from hitting the ‘big time’ and I know that I still have lots to learn and grow with my business.

Now that a few months have passed, I think I at least owe this feature story to my mum and family, and those of you who have followed my journey and blog faithfully. I realise that I should try to be more open and brave, which includes telling people about my handmade business and my drawings. I should learn to be proud of my achievements too and promote my drawings as much as I can, especially if I want to see an increase in my business sales this year:) !

So anyway…I love this write up (I’m proud to say so myself) and I’ll even forgive the team for including a large photo of me.

You can read the full interview here. Or check out more photos on my facebook album. Thanks so much for your support and staying by Little Mo’s side! I can’t wait to see what my third year of business will bring!

I made Bubur Cha-Cha for a friend’s party. It’s a traditional Malaysian dessert made of various sweet potatoes, yam and taro, cooked in creamy coconut milk and brown sugar. Bubur means porridge and Cha-Cha (sometimes pronounced as Che-Che in Penang, Northern Malaysia) means abundance.

I have many fond memories eating this dessert in my parents kitchen…and you may have probably seen this dish cooked a few times on Masterchef, no doubt by the Malaysian contestants.

Ingredients:
1 medium size gold/yellow sweet potato (cut into cubes)
1 medium size purple yam (cut into cubes)
1 medium size taro (cut into cubes)
8 cups of water
1/2 cup tapioca pearls (sago)
3 stalks of screwpine leaves (pandan leaves)
400 ml coconut milk
Sugar to taste
Rock salt

1. Boil the yam and taro in water with the screwpine leaves.
2. Once the yam and taro are slightly soft, add in the sweet potatoes and tapioca pearls. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to medium.
3. The sweet potatoes usually cooks fast, so to prevent it from being too mushy, I usually scoop them out into a bowl and set it aside. You’ll also notice that the tapioca pearls will start turning translucent whilst cooking.
4. Add in sugar to taste. I used about 3 and a half blocks of brown sugar pieces.
5. Add in coconut milk and a pinch of rock salt. Bring to a boil.
6. Add the sweet potatoes back into the pot and remove the screwpine leaves.

This dessert can be served hot or cold. I usually like to eat it warm when it’s freshly cooked. And then eat it chilled the next day!

A year ago, my friend Emma and some drawing buddies started a Moleskine Sketchbook Exchange (or attempted to), but everyone was so busy that we had to postpone it. I don’t think any of our moleskines got to experience its first travels. Though I’ve heard recently that the project is now back on track!

Yesterday I took out my moly book and coloured in my year old doodles.

I’ll be posting my book to Jan, and I’m looking forward to having it filled with lots of drawings! You can follow the rest of our moleskine journey here.