beach finds...

If you follow our blog you will know that we mondo cherry girls love 'collections' (a trait we undoubtedly inherited from susieq). While we have searched for and hoarded a variety of items, including white jugs, blue and white china, vintage tea cups, decorative birds and glass cloches, some of our most satisfying collections have been free. We have many wonderful memories of beach holidays spent with our heads down searching for shells, pretty pebbles, feathers and pieces of coloured glass that have been smoothed by the sand and sea.

We love to display these beachy finds in our homes - somehow it seems to bring a bit of the holiday home. JJ picked up this driftwood on her recent jaunt to northern New South Wales. It looks just lovely sitting as it is on her sideboard, but she has big plans for it.

Shells in a vase create a timeless display and certainly last longer than flowers!

JJ bought me this beautiful framed shell picture from a gorgeous shop called Signature on Hastings St, Noosa (an absolute favourite of ours). I just love the rows of pretty white shells and the handwritten verse.

This is a page from the inspiring book "Coastal Style" by Sally Hayden and Alice Whately which has many gorgeous images of shells, stones and other natural finds displayed in stunning ways (along with a few houses to die for!)

a floral rainbow...

Some people have a real knack for flower arranging - it really is an art and can take years to perfect. We, unfortunately, do not possess this gift and therefore usually stick to buying a bunch of just one type of flower to make things easy for ourselves.

However, this is a quick and easy way to arrange a mixed bunch of flowers that looks fabulous displayed along a table runner or on a window sill. Just line the flowers up according to colour and tie a matching ribbon around - here we used the cute little bottles that you can buy in Delicatessens with peach nectar in. I can never bear to thrown them away!

flower power...

A few blogs back, we wrote about the large black and white Marrimeko canvas which I plan to hang in my dining room. Today we wanted to show you one of the most recognisable of these Finnish fabrics called Unikko. This graphic floral fabric is also one of our favourites. This gorgeous design comes in an amazing range of colours and sizes, some of which are illustrated by the pretty postcards JJ has made into a "Marrimekko mood board". Shown below is one of our fabric covered canvases with some mondo cherry sparkle.

It is just such a happy print, don't you think?

too much water...

The skies have opened over Brisbane this week and there was water everywhere. I spent Wednesday morning as I normally do, dropped the kids at school and kindy and popped into the shops for a birthday present or two, then came home for a rest to see a suspicious amount of water in the carport and the rain teaming down. I opened the door to our lower level and out gushed water, shoes and the odd puzzle piece. Flooded! Thankfully the damage to the house itself is minimal, and most of what we have lost is easily replaceable - things like mattresses, books and games. Still, the clean up has taken the better part of a couple of days even with wonderful family helping out. We have got most of the muddy sludge out (not to mention all the worms!) and things are drying out down there. Thankfully we still had power so I have had the washing machine and dryer working overtime, and it certainly was an effective way of prompting us to unpack the last of the moving boxes! The photo shows my hubby clearing the drains next to where the water was flowing in the house in his best suit trousers after my rather hysterical phone call to come home. Our hearts go out to the many people in Brisbane and surrounding areas who have suffered much more damage than we have.

To completely change the subject, a very Happy Birthday to my darling 2 year old, Jemima who is much loved even though her busy Mummy didn't make her a proper birthday cake!

shades of blue and green...

There is something about rows of paint chips in a hardware store, so beautifully arranged by colour, that draws us to them like mice to cheese (very appropriate analogy for today as we saw a real mouse this morning - eek!). We can't help pocketing a few little samples as we like to use them for colour combination ideas and just because we find them so inspiring. Our latest little collection of blues and greens are so fresh and pretty and they prompted us to flick through our vintage paper collection for more subtle shades of these colours. Here they are as 3D blooms with white fabric covered button centres ready to be framed and added to our website.

mondo in a magazine...

We were extremely surprised when, a few months ago, Joanna contacted us from the American magazine, Romantic Homes. She asked if she could do an article about mondo cherry to include in their feature on artisans in the June edition. Of course, we were more than happy to oblige! It was so exciting to receive our copy and see some of our work in print. Talk about a buzz. Thank you so much, Joanna, for the lovely things you have written about us.

for my wall...

We are often so busy creating artwork for other people, that decorating our own walls is put on the "to do later" list. However, this is one mondo cherry artwork that is staying at my place. I have a blank wall in my new dining room that will be perfect for this very large canvas (over 2 meteres long). Covered with a beautiful black and white Marimekko fabric that we all fell in love with, it has been given the mondo cherry signature hand stitched sequins and beads to add lots of texture and sparkle. Talk about a labour of love - my arms nearly fell off trying to reach the middle parts! Now I just need to get the very blue walls of my new house painted so we can hang it up.

and baby made 3...

May is a very busy month for birthdays at my place. 11 years ago today I gave birth to my first baby, a little boy who we called Lachan. Born 4 weeks early, he looked a little like a drowned rat, but I thought he was the most gorgeous baby ever! I think there is a lot of anticipation with first babies as to what half of Mum and half of Dad is going to look like. After all the work I put in being pregnant and then the fun of labour, Lachlan resembled me not at all! As he has grown, Lachlan continues to be more like his father, except for his negotiation (otherwise known as argumentative) skills and the way he always has his nose in a book. Sorry for passing that on Lachie.

Thanks for being neither too old nor too cool to give your Mum a big cuddle - long may you stay that way. Happy Birthday!

from this...

to this...

you are an inspiration...

Happy Mothers Day to our darling Mum, susieq. We wish you weren't so far away so we could give you a big hug and tell you in person how special you are. Thank you so much for always being there for us - for the loving arms to run to when we hurt ourselves, the times you woke up at the crack of dawn (or before) to support us while we finished assignments we had left to the last minute and the way you pop in just to say hi and end up working your way through our ironing baskets! We miss you so much.

loads and loads of love

cb and jj

a special present...

A huge happy birthday to my darling Hannah who turns 8 tomorrow. We will have a fairly relaxed day as we decided a few years ago to only have parties for our children every second year and 2009 is a 'family fun' year. Makes for less work for me and the kids seem to appreciate the parties even more.

It was very exciting to have a little girl after two boys, especially being able to shop for pink clothes and all the pretty hair accessories for a change. Having a daughter changed the dynamics in our family, and I can remember my husband walking around the room with her at about 2am a few days after she was born whispering "I don't think I am going to be able to get cross at you like I can with your brothers"! He has however managed it occasionally...

The thing Hannah most wanted for her birthday was a little desk for her room. So JJ and her husband have painted up an old one with a great shape and it looks fantastic, even without the handles and finishing touches. We are going to hang a pretty vintage mirror above it and the fabric covered chair will add a touch of colour. They are going to be very popular Auntie and Uncle!

a little burst of colour...

Armed with some new fabric and NO KIDS to distract us (thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law and JJ's hubby taking some time off work) we really enjoyed mondo-ing this morning. Apart from fulfilling some work orders we wanted to make a gift for someone special. The best part about this was working on a smaller scale, 16 little fabric covered buttons fit perfectly in this 23cm square frame, and we were really thrilled with the end result. We love the little burst of colour surrounded by white. We haven't got anything quite like this in our shop but, as always, we are happy to make to order.