MooBeeView #9: Little Mo and Friends - plus Amazing Giveaway!

Welcome to the June MooBeeView with Little Mo and Friends.  The creative tour de force behind Little Mo is Helena Tay.  Helena has a wonderful ability to create artworks which endear themselves to both adults and children, and her range of stationery is a must have for all ages.

As well as answer MooBeeTees' Fabulous Four Questions, Helena is offering a discount and Giveaway especially for MooBeeView readers.  Just click on the 'Giveaway' tab to see how you can enter :)

So sit back and enjoy a few minutes with Little Mo and Friends...

1) As you know I always start with the difficult questions first - and this time is no different. WHO is Little Mo? Is she someone you know? Or perhaps a combination of characters? Do tell...

Little Mo is sort of like an imaginary character who loves dressing up, having magical tea parties, playing in the garden and climbing up tree houses. I think if I lived in a storybook world, I’d love to be like Little Mo.

 






2) You have a very diverse background in the arts - lots of experience in various print and electronic fields. Do you think Little Mo and Friends expresses your work at its zenith or are there still fields you want to explore? Please share...

I come from a graphic design background so working in web, animation and print are areas that I’m comfortable in. I think ideally I’d love to explore my ‘crafty’ side, as in getting my hands dirty with paints or sewing and woodmaking.

 

3) Tell us a little about your creative process. I'm interested to know if you produce 'originals' (e.g. pen and ink) of your artworks or do you create them entirely online?

All of my works are originally hand drawn with pen and ink. I later scan in my sketches and colour them digitally.  I’m mostly inspired by four season and foliage colours.

 

4) Have you had any thoughts of expanding your business to produce non stationery items, e.g. fabric? Can you let MooBeeView readers in on any upcoming secrets??

I have just finished working on some nature illustrations and a lot of my blog readers have requested that I turn them into fabric patterns. I may try that! 

(MooBeeView Note: I have to say that this excites me no end!!)

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I'd like to thank Little Mo and Friend's Helena for taking the time to answer my questions and letting us in to her beautifully illustrated world.  If you want to learn more about Little Mo and Friends, please visit one of the following online sites:

 

Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/littlemoandfriends
MadeIt: www.madeit.com.au/LittleMoandFriends
Twitter: www.twitter.com/little_mo
Blog: www.littlemoandfriends.com/blog/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/littlemoandfriends?ref=ts&v=wall

MooBeeTee's Four Word Review:  Fabulous Friends For All!

 
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Giveaway

And now for the Giveaway!  

Click on the 'Giveaway' tab for your chance to win a Little Mo Tote Bag and how to claim your special Little Mo discount :)

 

Fun Times Greeting Card Set

  

Happy Days Letter Set

Fabulous Friday Finds...

Today's finds are brought to us by the word LICHEN.  Please enjoy :)

With the Greatest of Ease... : LaurelsBench

 

Forest Floor Set No. 1 : NatureMandalas

 

Lichen . aqua handknit scarf : KnotOriginal

 Driftwood and MOSS Candle Holders : NaturesCabinet

New Items Available at MooBeeTees

I have had a busy listing day today, so there are lots of new items in both my Esty and MadeIt shops (depending on where you would prefer to shop).  Here is a little sneak preview of some of the items listed:

 Lola Ballet Cat

 Percy Pig

 Cloche Hat

Knot Beanie

Can You be Inspired by Toddlers and Tiaras?

As frightening as it sounds, on Saturday night MooBee and I settled in for a night of watching Toddlers and Tiaras.  There is nothing we like more, as a mother and daughter, than sitting back and feeling somewhat superior to all of those poor children and their Stage Mothers who take part in Beauty Pageants.  Would we ever indulge in something like this?  NO WAY! 

Let me take you back about six weeks.  MooBee and I attended the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championship.  MooBee loves gymnastics and I thought it would be a great opportunity for her to see how the big girls do it.  The minute we walked in to the arena foyer we were assaulted by glittering leotards in every colour under the sun.  It was a true SQUEEEEEEE moment for MooBee.  I thought she was going to explode being confronted by so much glitter and textile colour.  AND they came with matching scrunchies!  After checking the price tags of a few of these wondrous outfits I quickly diverted MooBee's attention (Goodness, was that Hannah Montana?).  I was being the responsible one (of course) and making sure she was here for the sport - not the glitz.

Best intentions as they say...

We did watch all of the finals and MooBee sat still for four hours - however there were moments when critiquing the leotards and hairstyles snuck their way into the conversation.  Why did they choose that colour?  What were they thinking when they used a sunset as a background?  Orange???  To pony tail or not to pony tail?  The endless important discussions of the day.

At the finish after dragging MooBee back past the leotards, I thought the glitz side of things would be forgotten.  But no.  I found myself googling bling leotards - imports from the US - could I get them cheaper over the internet?  Is bling OK if you don't have to pay $200 for it?

And then a pivotal moment in MooBee's life.  I entered her into her first invitational competition.  This would mean a club leotard and hair.  For the last three weeks MooBee has put that leotard on at any given moment to parade it for friends and family.  Silver and aqua glitz - what more could you want?

A matching scrunchie!

With a week to go MooBee decided that she must have a matching silver scrunchie to go with the leotard.  Could it be any silver scrunchie?  Oh no.  It had to made from the same fabric as the leotard.  This meant driving to the factory where the leotard was made and asking for a scrunchie to be 'created'.  I experienced my first 'Stage Mum' moment when I made them find the exact fabric match for the scrunchie - "I don't care that it's silver, I want the right silver."

For the next week I found myself turning into Coach, Fashion Consultant and Sports Pshycologist leading up to the competition.  Point those toes, you know you can't win everything and pony tail, don't hold the hairspray!

Well, it all happened yesterday.  My future Olympic Gymnast was cool, calm and collected for her first competition and I was going through the routines in my mind.  Remember to hold for two seconds, don't flap your arms, remember to present properly to the judges and so on.  Fortunately MooBeeGran was there to place an arm across me as I prepared to sprint out onto the floor to demonstrate the move that should have come next.  How will she go?  Will I MooBee cope if she doesn't win a medal?

And then the competition was finished as quickly as it had begun.  Level 1 gymnasts were awarded their medals and my MooBee ended up with not one medal but FIVE!  Five third places.  One for each of the apparatus and one overall.  MooBee was beside herself.  And then I learned a lesson.  My little girl applauded every single recipient of an award.  She hugged the little girls who came first and those who came sixth.  She smiled through the whole competition and was beside herself by the end of it all.  When I asked her about what the best part of the day was she said:

"Watching everyone have fun mummy."

Not the hair, not the leotards, not winning.  Having fun.  I have now retired my Toddlers and Tiaras Stage Mother Crown and have learned a lesson from my seven year old.  I'm going to make some leotards (I do sew after all!) and from now on it's about enjoying the experience :)

By the way, MooBee competed against two other teams ;-)

Fabulous Friday Finds...

OK.  You've found me out.  Technically it is 10:23 pm Thursday night, but I figure it will be a busy morning, so I might as well strike now!  Today's Friday Finds are brought to you by the word 'Grail' (you open the dictionary stick your finger on a page to find an inspirational word - who would have thought!!).

Brown Travel Journal : ThePhoenixHaven

 

Grail : Padmey 

 

Grail Knight Button Set : thorazos 

 

 Monty Python and the Holy Grail Vinyl Decal : stickerella

I hope you enjoyed these finds.  Who knows what next week's word will be (let me know if you have any thoughts!).

Cheers!