a little zhushing...

I just spent a couple of days away, leaving my wonderful husband to look after our six kids. They were well fed, adequately dressed, and all had a wonderful time. But the house was apparently looking a little worse for wear when Joy dropped in on the afternoon of the second day to give my hubby an hour off. So, she did what only the best sisters do, and whizzed round the house making it look respectable. Joy even managed to zhush up the table in the entrance hall by adding a whole lot of colour. She unearthed this pretty vase that I had bought at an op shop years ago, and found some of our butterfly tags to complement the cheery colour scheme. Thanks for brightening up my arrival home, Joy!

soft and muted...

Often we work with bright, saturated colours, so it was lovely to enjoy playing around with softer muted shades today. The vintage paper butterflies, taken from a damaged 1966 botanical book, look ever so pretty and delicate - just like the beautiful roses picked from Clare's new garden. Wish you could smell how delicious they are!

back together and loving it...

Happy New Year! Clare has managed to set up our new mondocherry studio room in her new house, and so this morning Joy dropped round for an hour to have a look. 8 hours later we have made a huge mess, thought up some new ideas, and have lots of new artworks on the go. It is so good to be back together - we totally inspire each other and work so well bouncing ideas around and feeding off each other's creativity. With Sue arriving from Dubai in a couple of days, the mondocherry trio will be complete once more and we are looking forward to being very productive and just getting to spend time together again!

One of the new projects we have on the go is a totally transformed online shop which we hope to launch sooner rather than later! These Liberty of London fabric buttons will become part of our new collection of artworks and we are loving the gorgeous colours and prints. We are also working on new fabric designs, as well as a fresh new paper artwork range. Our heads are so full of ideas that we can't get our fingers working hard enough!

teacher presents and gingerbread houses...

Although our mondocherrry work has slowed down considerably as we prepare for Christmas, it hasn't stopped me from stitching, beading, cutting and wrapping as I prepare some little Christmas thank you gifts for the wonderful kindergarten teachers that have taught my children this year. I created the packaging by folding baking paper and stitching up the sides to make a little envelope. I love wrapping with baking paper as I adore the sort of semi-see-through effect it creates. The little birds tags, created from recycled vintage illustrations, also look great hung from a twiggy branch in a vase. You can purchase these from our website if you are interested!

Feeling well and truly in the holiday spirit I decided to attempt my first ever gingerbread house yesterday from scratch, after lots of pleading from my son. An epic fail!!! The gingerbread was too soft, the icing wasn't sticky enough and the walls caved in....those things are tricky! I would love to hear any tips you have on gingerbread houses for if I am feeling brave enough to attempt one next year!

Off to the Christmas carols tonight to take time with my family to stop and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.

Joy

merry and bright...

We are packing our wares and heading off to the Twilight Market at Portside Wharf, Brisbane tonight. Why not come and do some Christmas shopping in the cool night air? We will be there form 5pm to 9pm, so you even have time to have dinner, put the kids to bed and then sneak out! The fairy lights will be twinkling and we will be having a merry (we love meeting our customers and fellow bloggers) and bright (we will be surrounded by lots of colourful artworks and cushions including our new 'watermelon red' colourway) evening!

Don't forget that we will also be at the Boutique Christmas Markets this Sunday, 11th December from 8am to 3pm.

playing with purple...

We have been playing around with various shades of purple this week and have lots of new artworks on the go in both our vintage and fasbric button ranges. We also received a sample of our fabirc printed in a purple colourway and it is going to look fab!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

...the Christmas version...

Not long after I posted my cupcake case garland this morning, the postman knocked on my door to deliver the candy-striped cases I had ordered. I ignored the rest of my ironing (any excuse!) in my eagerness to see how this Christmas version would turn out. Displayed with a red vintage chair, a new artwork, cute red boots and a smattering of green, I'm loving this little festive corner of my house.

our new small 3d paper heart blossom artwork...

off to Mathilda's...

Tomorrow morning is the last Brisbane Mathilda's Market for the year and we have been busy packing lots of our artworks, cards, tags, decorations and cushions ready for display on our stall. This special Christmas market is held at the Brisbane Racecourse at Eagle Farm, Ascot from 9am to 1pm, and entry and parking is free. With over 100 stall holders, yummy food and entertainment for the kids, Mathilda's Markets is undoubtedly Brisbane's finest shopping destination for the littlies. For a sneak preview of what you will find head over to their website.

Here are a few photos of just some of the mondocherry products you will find there tomorrow. If you aren't a Brisbane local, we have a range of products on our website or you can email us to order a custom artwork. We are still taking orders for Christmas but better get in quickly!!

Beaded fabric alphabet card, green 3d blossom small artwork, vintage botanical gift tag, liberty button large artwork...

Beaded fabric gift tag and pink cushion...

frankie and swiss...

I enjoyed a very inspiring afternoon with the lovely girls from Frankie and Swiss boutique textiles. I popped into their gorgeous studio space, in between kindergarten drop off and pick up, to colour test one of our fabric designs in a red colourway (very festive!). I didn't want to leave as I was having so much fun admiring the fabric samples from other designers and gazing at the pretty little displays around the place - piles of scrummy books, vintage tea cups, and thread spools.

This pile of books would keep me happy for days...

Pantone colour sample charts...almost too many options...

fabric designed by Victor Fox...

a colourful dress made by Cindy from Bug and Pop, design based on lemon spaghetti by Dawn Tan...

our mondocherry fabric provides a colourful backdrop. We have several new fabric designs on the go which will all co-ordinate with each each other as well as with our artwork collections. Stay tuned!!!

You can see lots more Frankie and Swiss images on Michelle's blog Leni and Rose and keep up to date with all the latest news until their super-duper new website gets launched soon.

our cushions have arrived...

The light was fading fast, but Joy managed to snap a few photos of our first batch of cushions when she received them yesterday afternoon. Creating these has been quite a process - sketching our designs, converting and transforming them on the computer, playing around with colours and then (the most exciting bit) seeing them printed into fabric by the wonderful girls at Frankie and Swiss. Sisters, Jacqui and Michelle have been so helpful, even printing out a stripe in exactly the right colours for our piping, and it has been such fun getting to know and working with them.

These mondocherry custom made cushions co-ordinate perfectly with our latest collection of blue, green, aqua and pink artworks, all of which will be showcased at the Boutique Markets in Hawthorn, Melbourne this Sunday. They will also be appearing on our new-look website which is coming soon. We've got more cushion designs on the way...

...oh, for a few more hours in the day!

we can't get enough of...

We can't get enough of aqua, turquoise, sea green, celeste, cyan, sea green, jade and duck egg blue this week. We have been busy creating a range of artworks based around this fresh pallet for the Boutique Markets in Melbourne on the 30th October. They are such happy shades to work with and it is amazing how a dash of one or more of these colours can brighten up a room and give it a summery, carefree feel. More photos coming soon...

through the door - lazy Sunday afternoon...

With my husband off doing a 200kms charity bike ride and my children happily pottering around the playroom, I enjoyed a lovely couple of hours flicking through some of my favourite style books with my feet up on the sofa. Bliss! Hope you enjoyed your weekend too.

colour love - blush...

One of our favourite shades of pink is this beautiful blush colour - so pretty and feminine don't you think?

Gorgeous Moroccan tea glasses...

Pretty bangles displayed on a vase...

A 3-d floating blossom artwork we created for a nursery (available for order) - one of our very favourite pieces...

Don't forget to come down to the Boutique Markets, Portside, tomorrow morning where there will be lots of pink in support of the National Breast Cancer Association.

busy bees...

We have been very busy cutting, sticking, sewing, beading, arranging, packaging, framing and cleaning this week, all for the wonderful Boutique Markets which is on again this Sunday at Portside Wharf, Brisbane from 8am to 1pm. This month the markets are supporting the National Breast Cancer Foundation with a special pink ribbon event. With more than 50 art, craft and design stalls, along with some yummy gourmet food, it is a great place to start your Christmas shopping and enjoy a morning out.

We've made lots of new beaded fabric cards (like these sweet little girls), vintage cards, tags and decorations, and a range of new artworks which we hope you are going to love as much as we do. Hope to see you there!