The Girl with the Bird's-Nest Hair

Hands up those who were not fans of having their hair brushed when younger?  I hated the before school rush-hour routine with my long hair being yanked into pig-tales before riding my bike to the bus stop (sorry Mum....), so this picture book by UK based author and illustrator Sarah Dyer has instant appeal! Sarah's lovely childlike drawings tell the story of a little girl whose unbrushed hair soon becomes a nesting place for a variety of birds, until the day a very large peacock moves in and her bird's-nest becomes a little more than she can handle.  

The Girl with the Bird's-Nest Hair is published by Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2009.

Sarah Dyer's other published picture books include

Five Little Fiends (2002) , Clementine and Mungo (2005), Princess for a Day (2007), Mrs Muffly's Monster (2008) and A Monster Day at Work (2010).

Take a look at Sarah Dyers blog here .

Colourful children's bedroom inspiration

These colourful spaces can be found on the UK House to Home website. I love the vivid yellow paint colour used in the top image - so cheery.

Hiccups out and about

Here is the new Hiccups design 'Tree Habitat' as seen in the lovely homewares shop Britt + Bec in Williamstown, Melbourne.

And this is the new Hiccups printed bed linen design 'Beautiful Balloons'.

These images of the boy's and girl's ranges were taken in the Myer Miranda store in Sydney.

Today in the studio

Today in the design studio I had a new Hiccups assistant (aged 6) creating many colourful masterpieces. A future artist in the making!

Love these lanterns!

Very cute Japanese fusen paper lanterns from French online shop Mes Habits Cheris .

A favourite photographer - Sussie Bell

I have previously posted about UK based Sussie Bell's charming images before - but there is so much to love about her interior photography....

This one especially!

A visit to the Australian Gardens

I had a lovely day yesterday checking out the Australian Garden at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Cranbourne , just south of Melbourne - a great place to get inspired for a new season of botanical painting and textile design. So many weird and wonderful species - its going to be hard to choose a subject matter. I definitely won't be tackling the banksia just yet....

Hiccups in Junior Magazine

A few months late... but last night at the newsagents I was happy to spot the Hiccups Russian Doll applique throw making an appearance in the March 2010 edition of Junior Magazine !