Last week I finished my new book.

After Botania, I’ve been working on a few book ideas and this is one of them. It’s called Spooky Furries and it’s filled with ghostly creatures and poems written by me.

The book has a comic feel to it and is quite different from my usual work but in a good way! As an artist I’m always up for a challenge and looking at ways to explore and grow my style.

Here are some behind the scene sketches of Spooky Furries before I launch it this month.

And here are my final proof pages! Like Botania, I’m making this book eco-friendly by printing on recycled paper stock. So far I’m really happy with the colours and there’s still another hurdle to cross with the final book printing. Fingers crossed!

Stay tuned for more details about my book launch, coming very soon!

If you’re on Instagram and Facebook follow me there as I post very regularly on it. You can see more sketches and illustrations from the links above.

THANK YOU to all who have purchased a copy of Botania. My Botania book launch was a success! I sold over 100 books during my online launch. Really overwhelmed by the support you’ve shown for my first book. I’m so happy and grateful to be sharing my art with everyone this Christmas. Thanks for believing in me and my work!

I spent last weekend packing up book orders and wrapping fun Mystery Art packages for my customers. If you’ve ordered my book, they should be in the mail to you, so look out for your package!

Each book comes signed with a fun doodle!

A big thanks to my husband Big Mo who helped with the mammoth task of sealing and checking all the book orders. Throughout my book journey, he’s been by my side giving me lots of encouragement and hugs and refilling my cup with hot tea on the late nights:)

For those who purchased a custom portrait with my book, I had so much fun inking the pieces and I can’t wait to see them framed up! Will share a few more in my next post.

Finally, here are a few snaps of Botania. I think my printer did an amazing job! The books are printed on recycled card and the inner pages on recycled paper stock with a slight heavyweight to it.

Really tempted to post more pictures of the book but I want to keep some element of surprise for those who are waiting to open their books on Christmas day. Will definitely share more pics after the holidays:)

For those who have missed out on my book launch and would like to get your hands on a copy of my book, you can purchase Botania from my online shop.

Feel free to send me pictures of your book and your inked pages! Let me know the pens or pencils you’ve used! I’m creating a Botania gallery to show off everyone’s inked pages and I’m also going to join in the fun and colour my copy! You can email me at info(at)littlemoandfriends.com or message me on my Little Mo and Friends Facebook page.

Once again, thanks so much! Moving onto my next book and new adventures!

Love,
Helena/ Little Mo

My first book! Botania! A very detailed and playful colouring book featuring lots of nature and animals. There are 25 pages of hand drawn illustrations, all super detailed and very fun to colour in or to be enjoyed as it is!

Botania took me a year and a half to ink all the pages! I counted and there are at least 150 animals plus insects lost in lush botany! Can you spot them?

Now that Botania is completed, I’m crowdfunding through Pozible to get it printed. Please pre-purchase a copy of my book to help make this happen! Play my video to see inside the book:)

Thanks to my husband (big mo) who filmed and edited the video for me! I was super camera shy but he encouraged me along the way and calmed my nerves down! Thank you everyone from the bottom of my heart. Can’t wait for you to enjoy my first book this Christmas!

Love,
Helena/ Little Mo

Hi everyone! I know I haven’t been actively updating my blog, that’s because for the whole year I’ve been working on an epic project! Yep it’s epic!

Those following my art will know that every Christmas I try to make something special for my online shop and markets; like my limited edition dolls, cushions and calendars. This year’s product hint: it is nature themed with many pages. You can expect lots of trees, animals and crazy fun!

I gave myself a deadline to finish this project in time for Christmas so that it may be enjoyed by everyone over the holiday season. And the last few months have been really intense, just juggling between work and finishing it up!

The good news is, I’ve now completed my special project! I also had a look at a sample test print at the printers and it looks fabulous:)

I’ll be launching my special project this Saturday the 18th. I can promise you that this Christmas will be so much fun! Come back here to check it out!

SEE YOU ON SATURDAY 18.10.14
STAY TUNED!

If you’re on Instagram and Facebook feel free to follow me as I tend to post there quite regularly. You can see some of my works in progress and other cute illustrations! Click on the links above to follow my art!

The thing about shooting with film, it’s a longer process as compared to taking instant shots on a digital camera. I usually make my roll of film last longer by shooting a couple of pictures and then saving it for another special occasion. I don’t get to see the photos until it’s developed many months later!

I’ve got to say that the SuperHeadz slim is one of the easiest film camera to use. The wide angled lens makes every photo look effortless and beautiful. The camera doesn’t do well in dark conditions but as a day camera, it’s perfect. The camera is so light weight and compact, it’s quite possibly my favourite camera at the moment!

Film stock used: Lomography 400ASA

Next week!

When researching on places to visit, we decided to take up the challenge of climbing Mount Kinabalu on the island of Borneo, in East Malaysia. We’ve always loved the outdoors and we’ve done some hiking and jungle trekking in the past but neither of us have actually climbed a mountain. Not one that is 13,455 ft high! Obviously we love the challenge and we’re convinced this climb will be a great experience.

In preparation for our hiking adventure, we’ve been doing lots of stair climbs and morning hikes. Every week we’ve been climbing up and down Jacob’s Ladder!

The view on the hill after our climb is always amazing. We get a free cardio workout with a breathtaking view of Perth city!

On other days we go on hikes around Kings Park. And this is why I love being outdoors. There’s so much to see, smell and enjoy. I’m so grateful that we have this mass of park space to explore and take in all of natures beauty!

So…we fly off next Thursday and begin our mountain trek on my birthday, 6th June. We’re hoping to reach the summit within two days. Although a little nervous, I’m also keen to celebrate my birthday on a mountain for the first time. Wish us luck! And stay tuned for a mountainous post about it:)

So I hope your Christmas was magic and blessed with family, friends, love…and good food! On Christmas Eve, Rich and I had a quiet dinner together. We put all our presents under the tree and bought a bottle of wine to celebrate. I think with the excitement of having our first tree this year, we may have got a bit carried away with the presents. Although half of the presents under the tree are for his family too:)

In the evening I prepared steamboat for dinner, we had slices of meat, vegetables, tofu and noodles to simmer and cook in our hot pot broth.

We ate so much! After dinner, we sat by our tree and gave presents to each other. Rich spoiled me with so many gifts! I will have to do a separate blog post on it because it’s just so awesome.

On Christmas Day we went down to his family’s place and we had more food and presents! I’m always amazed at how much effort people put into Christmas over here. Growing up in Asia, Christmas is just like an extra public holiday. It isn’t as festive and merry (although we do decorate the streets with tinsels and lights and occasionally put up the Christmas tree). More often we just have a quiet family dinner and maybe attend Christmas Mass at the local church. We never gave out Christmas presents at home, it just wasn’t a tradition at my house. But I can see how excited people get over here at Christmas time, especially Richard and the boys. I guess to him this is like his family tradition and he’s grown up celebrating Christmas in a loud and merry affair. The wonderful thing about this occasion is that there’s a lot of giving and sharing…and a lot of family and friendship bonding.

Ok, I’m sure by now you’re just itching to see some of the wonderful gifts I got this Christmas

A duck teapot from my sweetest friend Niina. She also gave me a gorgeous vintage casserole dish with a warmer stand (I will share that in my next post).

A gnome painter kit and cutest planter from my lovely friend Allana. Some gnome picture books from Richard.

Another gnome from my father-in-law and a new chili plant. My vegetable corner garden is coming along quite nicely this Summer.

He also gave me a new planter with some tomato plants!

Everything is just so awesome and everyone knows me so well! I always get excited when I receive gardening or kitchen gifts! Thank you so much for celebrating Christmas with me this year!

I really love this time of the year because I get to wrap up pretty presents and indulge in lots of papery goodness! I like collecting paper and usually buy one or two to add to my stash. This year I decided to stick with my DIY theme and make my own wrapping paper.

For my Christmas wrapping project I used a roll of brown paper, a white marker pen (my favourite new pen), twine, doilies, assorted papers and stickers.

It’s pretty obvious I have a special fondness for gnomes so I couldn’t resist drawing some smiley gnomes this year! They don’t look too bad (I think)! Happy wrapping everyone! My illustrated gift tags and stickers are available on my online shop.

I decided that this year I really wanted a tree! We’ve never had one before as a couple…and we always assumed that every Christmas we’ll spend it at our parents place (they have their own tree). But I didn’t want a fake tree…and I didn’t want to chop a tree down either…so what were my other options? A friend suggested the old tree branch idea and I was sold!

The very next day I went hunting for my dead branch and found a huge pile of chopped up branches on the verge. I’m sure people who saw me scavenging around the wood pile must have thought I was a loony!

I also picked up some pinecones and gum nuts and sprayed them all white with a $2 spray can from Bunnings.

For my tree ornaments, I hung up some baby pinecones with bakers twine. The rest of the ornaments are vintage treasures or gifts given to me.

I found a red flower pot in my father-in-law’s shed and filled it up with sand. Then I decorated the pot with more pinecones, gum nuts and tinsels.

So there you have it…my first ever DIY Christmas tree! What do you think? Hehe

In the beginning of the month we had our first day of summer. It was crazily hot.

I took a detour to the garden aisle at our local shop…

And came back with a tub of purple creeping flowers for our balcony.

Aside from flowers, my gnome family seems to be growing. The latest member being Santa gnome, a gift from Richard’s aunt.

This week rich took the train and picked me up from work.

We met a mermaid…

And watched the sunset together…

And just the other day…while catching the train home a bear sat opposite me! I kid you not!