Get ready for lots of new Mo collection coming soon in my stationery shop! When I think of parties, I think of cakes and colourful banners! So to start off the celebration, I want to show you my Mo Buntings!

I actually made these for Sunday Best, to dress up my stall…but then I thought they were so cute and I was really happy with them. So I printed a few extra sets and packaged them nicely in little packets. You can get my Play Time banners and my Garden Friends banner from my shop.

You can also get them with my limited edition Love Hate Zine pack. The zine has quirky Love / Hate illustrations by me and my Aussie illustrator friends! We call ourselves the Six South! I love the name. It reminds me of my favourite book South of the Border, West of the Sun.

I only have a few of these banners and zines, so enjoy them! And may you have a happy festive celebration in your home!

2 more weeks to go for Sunday Best by Unwrapped.

Sunday 6 September 2009
11am – 4pm
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA)
Perth Cultural Centre, James Street, Northbridge

Little Mo and Friends is thrilled to be a part of the great line up of designers selling at the 2009 Perth Fashion Festival. There will be new mo products too! Are you excited?

When I think of Sunday Best, I remember my grandmother nagging me to dress my best for Sunday school. And although I was quite a tom boy then and wore mostly jeans and tee I did try! I made sure I scrubbed my face clean and combed my hair..hehe!

So for good times, I will make an effort to dress up my Little Mo stall for Sunday Best and make it twice the fun and colour! Yahhh! Come down and visit me, check out my new mo stationery and all the other cool stalls and their handmade wares!

Thanks for supporting handmade art!

With my blue sneakers that Big mo bought for me. Thanks bearz!

And my blue owl pins by Michvanetta.
Have a nice day everyone!

This is my latest artwork of Little Mo swimming under the Maple trees. I’ve called it fun times because it reminds me of those wonderful carefree moments when one is enjoying a splash on a fine day. Especially at the end of summer, when the leaves are turning golden and brown, and the sun rays are still warm and long.

I’ll be using this illustration for a new set of greeting cards available in my shop soon. And I will also be using this piece for my 2010 calendars (which will include other Little Mo settings). I’m excited about the Mo calendars and I hope it will look like a picture book when it is all printed out, ready to keep or hang in the room!

Apart from Little Mo and Friends, I also work as a freelance producer on documentaries and short films. This is a Music feedback anti-stigma campaign video that we directed and produced for the West Australian Department of Health.

It features interviews by Roly Skender, Gyroscope, Justin from End of Fashion, Birds of Tokyo, Abbe May, The Kill Devil Hills and The Yabu Band.

Watch part 2, 3, and 4 here to see the rest of the band interviews.

Personally, I enjoyed working on this project because we were using a unique platform like music and documentary to reach out to young people who could be suffering from mental health issues (and who probably look up to some of these musicans for inspiration). The objective of this campaign was to promote mental health and challenge the prejudice and stereotypes attached to mental illness.

Let us know your thoughts! Scroll down the video page here for more.

In case you didn’t know you can get free cd/dvds of some great West Australian musicians just by filling out this form here. It’s free and the music is great, I listen to the cd while I draw!

A delayed post that I’ve been meaning to share with you guys. Some pictures from the Condor Tower car park Launch. You can see more pictures from their website and read about the adventures of ololo. These are some of my favourites.

We had a fun time walking all 5 levels of the car park and witnessing all the lovely wall art painted by a whole heap of talented Perth artists. We should have more public spaces adorned with great art. Just a thought.

Lots of people asks how I make my origami display tree. I make all my origami using my recycled wrapping paper. You can get them from my shop in a set or individually. Today I am going to show you how to make a cute gift box.

You will need to cut a square sheet of wrapping paper. The bone folder is optional (I use it to press down my paper/ creases firmly, you can use a ruler or your fingers).

Flip the paper over so that you start with the white backing. Fold paper twice so that you have these lines.

Using the 4 lines as a guide, take each corner and fold into the centre.

When all 4 corners touch, it will look like this.

Now take bottom edge of the paper and fold into the centre.

Do the same with the top edge. It will look like this..

When your top and bottom is folded. Fold your left and right sides in the same manner as above.

When you open up your paper, it should have all these creases. Don’t panic, this is good!

These creases will guide you into folding a box (that’s why it’s important to press firmly when you are folding the paper because it helps!)

Keep folding.

Getting there!

Yaay you have a box! You can fill it with candies, loose change, buttons etc. To make a lid, just repeat all the instructions above BUT use a slightly bigger square piece of paper, at least 0.5cm larger. This is to enable the lid to slip on and off easily.

For pretty packaing, I used a strip of coloured paper and some silver strings. I think lace, rik raks and vintage paper would be lovely too.

With this tutorial, you can make ANY size boxes, it all depends on how big your square pieces of paper are! Large squares make large boxes, and small squares make small boxes! Have fun!

I made curry laksa for dinner, a rich coconut based curry soup eaten with yellow mee or bihun. In Malaysia we have the best curry laksa in town and we also have a variety of laksa; curry, sweet and sour or chinese laksa. Infact each state in the country will most likely have it’s own unique laksa dish. You can read more about it here.

One of the best laksa dish I have tasted was during our travels to Borneo and after a day of hiking, I sampled their Sarawak laksa. It was totally different from the normal curry laksa I was used to and the burst of intense new flavours in my mouth was too good to be true! I nearly cried!

So tonight I am having two bowls for dinner because this reminds me of home!

I finished a custom illustration for Kirsty today, you can see more pictures here. Kirsty is an avid photographer who runs filmless photos. This is my impression of Kirsty, a curious and inquisitive girl, who is always with her camera.

This illustration will be used as a gift tag and a folded notecard for Kirsty’s packages. I hope you like them Kirsty, it was my pleasure to draw this custom artwork for you!

This project also got me thinking that one day I would like to draw other friends for Little Mo, not animals but real girls and boys. It is something that I may consider doing in the future. I’m going to let the idea brew in my head for awhile so that I don’t act on impulse. Drawing characters in their own environment with their own character traits, is something personal to me and I like to make sure that I convey the right tone and message with my drawings.

Ok one down. Another custom artwork to go. Stay tuned for pictures.

A market is always fun when you meet other artists…

And you buy some of their handmade goods!

I bought the zine that I worked on with Niina and the girls (I actually have the same pile of zines sitting in my house waiting to be listed in my shop!). But Niina’s Love/Hate badges kicks ass and they only come exclusively with the zine. So I feel like royalty now. The badges belong to richard but he has given me permission to take photos.

A lovely almond and carob bar from Karen who runs newearthsoaps.

The cutest comic ever from Jessica McLeod. I am such a big fan of her quirky drawings. It was hard to decide, so I picked Mungo Bean. I want more!

We also got a lovely owl print from our neighbour, Campbell Whyte who is an awesome artist. Can you see me at my booth in the background? Campbell and his partner makes dreamy whimsical artwork. Check his site out! We love his work!