I’d like to introduce you to Julie from We’ve Got Paper.

Julie and I met on Etsy and we have quite a lot of things in common. We make handmade stationery, we love snail mailing and sushi!

Julie wrote me a very sweet letter about her life in Canada. She has a son, Louis-Justin who has the sweetest blue eyes ever. Reading her letters, I felt like I was transported into her home, and surrounded by all the things she wrote.

She also sent me a pack of postcards featuring some handmade stationery designers from Etsy. My Little Mo paper plane writing set is included in the postcards. So if you see one of these cards in your packages, don’t forget to check out some of these talented stationery designers. Get yourself some fun stationery and start writing some letters to me!

This is mum looking like a supermodel in Leanne’s scarf. I asked her to take some photos so that I could blog about it. I bought mum an earth tone scarf for her birthday, it was hand dyed by Leanne in warm colours like autumn. Apparently mum’s chinese name is autumn moon. Did I get that right mum? Take a peek in Leanne’s shop: Rainbow Revolution her new range is gorgeous!

Goodbye summer! I miss you!
Mornings were always sweet with you around
I hate the thought of long winter nights
and cold bathroom tiles.
So please summer, come back quick!

This is my first attempt at tackling the DUST Storm flyers. At first draft.

It took me awhile to find the right colours to match the DUST header and DUST logo. I finally went with a rustic red palette. I think the Ayers rock and the aboriginal art were my key inspiration.

It still needs re-working so any comments much appreciated.

I found something sweet in my mailbox this morning. Remember my Golliwog post sometime back? Niina came across this Golliwog postcard and remembered how much I love Golliwogs. She bought me this cute postcard and sent it to me, what a darling! The animals are having a picnic! With marmalade! That’s got to be the cutest picture ever!

She also popped in one of her sweet postcards that she illustrated for the Bunbury Made On The Left Market. I remembered telling her how much I loved the artwork she did for MOTL, and that I would love a copy of the poster (I still want one!). I love this illustration, because it’s a little strange, surreal and whimsical!

Thanks so much Niina for making my day super sweet!

Here is my zine illustration for the Love/Hate zine, put together by the Aussie Illustration Team.

I think Emma’s piece totally rocks.

While it’s autumn in Australia, it’s spring time elsewhere! And it’s also cherry blossom time in some countries like Japan and Korea.

Around this time last year we went backpacking in Korea, starting at Seoul and making our way down to Busan. We ate Korean pancake and drank potent rice wine under the cherry blossoms. It was one of those good feeling moments where you sit quietly and watch, as nature smiles back at you.

I was so taken with the pretty flowers that when I returned home, I illustrated my own cherry blossom notebook and cherry blossom wrapping paper. For the romantics, I hope you will enjoy a little piece of my cherry blossom.

Honestly…why even consider buying from retail giant outlets when you can choose to buy from an independent designer and get a really beautiful handmade item?

I wouldn’t expect myers to send my goodies with a handwritten note to thank me for my purchase, and also include bunny drawings (because the seller obviously knows I have a bunny obsession). On top of that the seller also made me a very crazy rabbit brooch to accompany my skirt, which looks half Frankenstein and half rabbit. I’ve named it Franco by the way.

I don’t think the pictures do any justice to this cute skirt, sorry Franz…I tried to do a Lyptis pose but I just can’t!

If you’d like a Lyptis outfit too, why don’t you check out her shop? Speak to Franz about her colour swatches! I picked mine in blue grey.

Not what we would expect to wake up to on a Sunday Easter morning.

Instead of bunnies, we were greeted by angry black clouds of smoke from a bushfire near our place. And instead of raining chocolate eggs, it rained grey ash on our lawn. It felt surreal to be standing in our garden watching white flakes falling from the sky…almost like snow but not quite.

We have chillies growing in the garden! They’ve finally turned red so I plucked two pods and threw them into my hot pot to spice things up!

Hot pot recipe (for lazy people):

- 1 litre chicken/vegetable or beef stock. Use any ready made liquid stock or boil your own stock with chicken bones.
- Use any vegetables you like; carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes, peas or potatoes.
- Chop into cubes.
- Combine everything into the pot. Boil and stir..
- Add half a jar of tomato paste
- Add garlic salt and pepper to taste.
- A dash of Worcestershire sauce
- Throw in two handfuls of pasta shells. Or you can also use mixed beans or lentils
- Add fresh parsley and thyme.

Serve with buttered rolls.
* Chillies are optional!

If you have a chilli recipe, please share with me…I’d love to know whatelse I can make with my chillies!