apart from the hot sun and the strong glare that comes with it, the shoot went really well.
with plenty of laughs and jokes all around, it was a relaxed and fun session. a gorgeous family to say the least!
young j, big brother, z, mum, k and dad, d.

we met at the abbotsford convent and started shooting in the gardens along side the yarra river and ended up at the famous old ‘bois and charbons’ sign near the collingwood children’s farm. it was so hot by the end of the session, the kids were fading but oh so well behaved the entire time.

it was a joy to meet and photograph the blue eyed four!
z made a fabulous assistant, helping me find great little corners about the place.
here is what we came up with.

thank you for the opportunity jzk&d!

once upon a time, m was invited to her friends 15th birthday party, where each girl was given a character.
a beautiful idea, although we were a little unsure where to find a costume that didn’t cost the earth!

my gorgeous friend ‘the pied piper’ offered to lend us her six year old daughter’s outfit! i must admit i had my doubts as to whether it was going to fit?!
but sure enough it did. you might say more of a ‘this decade’ look to say the least! thank you so much sumi and rubi! we are both so very grateful.

i think m made a fine snow white!

i love it.. i love her.. i love that she applied her makeup all on her own and got it so right.. and i love love love that she made her friend a birthday cake… her own ‘summer’ version of nigella lawson’s ‘autumnal birthday cake’.

an extra special beautiful job m.
you make me ever so proud…

…and they lived happily ever after.

i’m only sorry i didn’t get to try that cake!

cake!

merry christmas to you and your loved ones and may 2012 bring all you desire.
mx.

i’ve never been one to be organised for Christmas. you know.. 1. save and put money away in a special little kitty and 2. buy Christmas gifts for family and friends during the year and pop them in a special cupboard. i know there’s amazing people like that out there. i am in awe of you all. i’ve even tried it. i’ve seen the perfect gift for a friend, popped it away.. and yep, i’ve forgotten about it and/or where i’ve put it, i’ve then gone and bought another gift only to find the original months later.

personally, i like flying by the seat of my pants.. last minute.. the pressure. i’m good for it, really and it’s not because i don’t care. i care. in fact, i care enough to be ocd about it.. and down to the wrapping my friends.

all that to say… since starting my own little corner here, i’ve had to be super organised. design, make and prepare products for the coming celebrations months in advance. so i thought to share the ‘celebration’ collection for those of you i am in awe of and for those of you, like me, wait until the last minute.

i hope you love them and perhaps inspire a ‘less is more’ Christmas this year, to make yourself and/or buy locally handmade with love and environmentally friendly products. let’s say Merry Christmas to Mother Earth this year.

wishing you all the best with your preparations!
mxo

for beautiful gift ideas, please visit my products page here, my image catalogue here and online shopping here. all images can be applied to any of the products i make: the t.lighthaus, the luMierebox, gift cards, gift tags and notebooks. the ‘claudia’ range is limited to 12 images. you can view these in the catalogue.

‘freedom angels’ gift tag printed on 100% recycled stock.

‘someone’s been eating my porridge’ set of 8 gift tags printed on and wrapped in 100% recycled stock.

‘freedom angel’ gift tag and card, ‘follow that star’ set of 8 gift tags and card, ‘peace hope love’ set of 8 gift tags, ‘from afar’ t.lighthaus and gift tags. tags and cards all printed on and wrapped in 100% recycled stock.

‘wish upon it’, ‘blessings to you’, ‘love and light’ t.lighthauses, ‘love and light’ gift card, ‘follow that star’ set of 8 gift tags and gift card. printed on and wrapped in 100% recycled stock.

‘freedom angels’ set of 8 gift tags printed on and wrapped in 100% recycled stock.

‘from afar’ t.lighthaus and set of 8 gift tags printed on and wrapped in 100% recycled stock.

this has been a long weekend for us in melbourne.. melbourne cup day to be exact, a huge affair for those interested. i, however, am not, not in the slightest and i’m proud to say i still haven’t a clue who won. i’m awfully glad it’s a public holiday though! it’s a treat to have the whole family at home four days in a row.

with that said, we didn’t get up to much but did a spot of clothes shopping for my girl, bought myself a lens and had lunch at alimentari on saturday, enjoyed a delicious lunch with my parents, my brother and his gorgeous family on sunday, i can’t even remember what we did yesterday [?] and cleaned out the garage today [when we probably should have been watching horses race around a track].

i thoroughly enjoyed staying at home today. yes.. of course i phaffed but i also worked on a few m2matiz orders and i can’t tell you how truly blessed i am. i love my work, love that i create and make from home, love that i walk from the house to the studio and check the veggies, take out a few weeds along the way and talk [and shoo] the girls [chickens] away from the veggie patch. the very best part about having my studio in the very back corner of our backyard, is the outlook. it really does brighten my day, rain, hail or shine but today, the spring sun poked her head out every now and then and really did enhance every corner. blessed.

i hope your [long] weekend was as blissful.
mxo

i see a heart

lobelia

studio in the back corner

my outlook from the studio

two of our five [feathered] girls, ebony and fifi

i’ve added just a few more images to the celebrations series… images i hope you love. three of the same image as t.lighthauses would look beautiful down the middle of your Christmas table. the native flower images, complete with australian stamp and 1912 december postal stamp would be the perfect gift for friends overseas [or indeed friends close by] as either a t.lighthaus, card, gift tags, luMierebox or maybe a notebook!

the full celebrations series below…

simply click here to go shopping!

have a beautiful weekend and if you’re in melbourne… i hope your team wins as long as it’s collingwood!
i must add, i have no interest in the game, i married into it so i feel rather obliged. my boys are at the final!

mxo

have a glorious weekend. mx

soft blue skies.

… once a loving home for young spring chicks.

a rainbow of freesias on our table at alimentari café in brunswick street, fitzroy.

pansies in our back garden.

our lemon tree is laden.

flowering rosemary in our back garden.

to celebrate the arrival of spring in the southern hemisphere, i feel another giveaway is most appropriate.

simply comment below to be in the running for a t.lighthaus© of your choice [valued at $25.00].
a winner will be drawn at random on wednesday 7 september.

click here to view my catalogue of images.

good luck! mx

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update: 07 september 2011
thanks so much for commenting here everyone.

THE WINNER IS….

…..hennley [the lucky last to comment!]
please send your image preference and postal address to mariana@m2matiz.com
and a t.lighthaus© will be on its way to you very soon.

thanks again to all for taking part. wishing you a glorious spring [or autumn].
i haven’t forgotten about you gorgeous folk in the northern hemisphere!

love, mx

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i went in somewhat blind you might say, i’d never attended this particular market [usually situated either in malvern or st kilda.. the other side of town for me] and i was pretty nervous in the lead up, fearing my stand wouldn’t look nice enough.. well, you know, be up to par with the others. as you can see from their website, magnolia square is not just any market!

with an early start on saturday morning, mark [hubby] and i spent an hour or so setting up.. moving things here and there until it was ‘perfect’. i was continually asking mark for reassurance.. ‘does it look alright?’ .. he gave me the ‘don’t be ridiculous’ stare. i guess, a bit like ‘does my bum look big in this’. you only want to hear the ‘right’ answer and even then you are not really sure and wonder why you asked in the first place. mark did really love my stand though [ok, biased?!].. he’s ever so encouraging and supportive.

i digress.

here are a couple of photos of the m2matiz stand just before the crowds headed in. iPhone quality… apologies.

and a close up of my little freesia display… a few customers were interested in those!

the theme for this market was ‘colour’ with fabulous colour popping displays by jane hall and heather nette king, two very talened interior designers [among other things]. i recommend you click on their names and check out their blogs for inspiring posts.

i was so busy at my stand i didn’t get time to take photos of the many gorgeous stands and products. take a peek at the magnolia square snippets for images and news to come, as well as inspiring interviews with the creatives behind the scenes.

so… after feeling somewhat nervous and apprehensive about the big weekend.. i needn’t have worried! it was a huge success for m2matiz on both saturday and sunday with t.lighthauses, cards, card sets and luMiereboxes flying out the door! i can’t tell you how surprised and happy i was with the turnout. thanks to all who stopped by to say hello and /or made a purchase.. i was so overwhelmed with the positive feedback and interest. i’ve no business cards left!

a HUGE thank you to my gorgeous friend sharon, a talented creative herself [click on her name to find out more]. sharon popped in on sunday afternoon to keep me company and give me a much needed hand [or two]! thank you s! you’re a bit of a lifesaver. x

oh.. AND… there were prizes to be won! and gah… i won the ‘wow factor’ award for best looking stand!! thank you so much jane and heather [who has coincidentally mentioned the t.lighthaus© here a few weeks prior]! totally overwhelmed and needless to say, it was the icing on my delicious cake this weekend!

i’m very grateful to both Nic and Metka [the organisers of magnolia square].. a hard working duo!
thank you very much for the opportunity and hope to see you soon!

mx

the pied piper and i were at it again in july. i had the pleasure of photographing more gorgeous children at another kindergarten.

while sumi played, chatted, giggled, laughed and kept busy with them, i clicked away in the background and
did a bit of playing, chatting and giggling myself.

with 70 children to photograph, it was sometimes a little tricky capturing the perfect moment! it was, i think, a successful shoot and an absolute joy hanging out and photographing these beautiful children.

a huge thank you to the parents of the children whose images appear below for allowing me to share these photos with you. take a look…. these kidiwinks are super cute!

i’m looking forward to another kinder shoot in september!
mx