Poor old creative monsoons been a bit neglected of late. But I'll be getting back into it in a big way, I have loads of updates for my artwork that need to be done, and at the end of last year we bought a big old Queensland just crying out to be renovated.

So the first job is the kitchen. The current kitchen is the sort of thing real estate agents call 'authentic', 'original' and 'full of character' - basically really old and falling apart. It seems to be the original kitchen that was built with the house in the 1930s. It's going. And the first big project is going to be replacing it. I've got the design worked out in my head, now it't time to get things finalised.

We have a new family member this week. Bruce, a cute as a button, 8 week old Bull Mastiff. Getting along well with Cookie our Beagle.

The state bird of washington is the goldfinch and we've added this pretty little print to our etsy shop.

A new print added to the etsy shop today, just in time for Christmas. A London pigeon with a vintage map of the city. Available from the creative monsoon etsy shop.

When I think of recycled car tyres turned into planters I always shudder and remember those tacky swans - you know the ones, all the rage in the 80s. But on a trip on Melbourne last weekend I came across these very stylish pots which remind me of La Chamba cookware. They are available from UBeauty Pots and Plants.

I managed to pic up two big old atlases this weekend at a garage sale. Plenty of pages to play with so keep an eye out for some more artwork soon. Love this idea of covering one of those cardboard deer heads with maps. Unfortunately the link for this wasn't working so I'm not sure where it came from originally.