Cupcakes and easy Pizza!!! In that order

I've worked on a few custom order signs lately, well in the last week, 7 to be exact, a busy time! So in between I like to have fun and create new stuff. Here's the latest addition to my website, inspired by all the fun creations we do in our swaps! I wouldn't have imagined I'd become so obsessed with creating crepe paper ruffles, but there you go!

It has raised glitter spots! Got this textured glue that I looooooooove to use!
Then more cupcakes, these are for an order though in addition to the signs. I did quite a lot of these on ebay last year and some for private orders too. I love doing them on old timber!!! Even if the timber isn't old, I love to paint and distress it so it appears that way. Something about the contrast of old and chippy mixed with fancy REAL Swarovski crystal rhinestones... and something about pink and green together, can you tell I love the combination?

Look what came in the mail yesterday!!!!! I am soooooooooo spoilt!!! Rosalyn-Sue of The Little Bluebird Diaries, one of our matchbox swappers, was waaaaaaaaaay too kind and sent me a gift just for hosting the matchbox swap! Can you believe it! That is just so kind of her, and totally unexpected and unnecessary. BUT I love it!!! She remembered reading that I love the Rachel Ashwell Simply Shabby Chic printed tissue papers and that when Heather sent me some as wrapping I carefully unwrapped and kept it! So she thought I could do with my very own new pack!! Thank you so much! I think I will cover a box with a combination of these to start with!

Check out the adorable card she made, with stitching on fabric, a work of art in itself! Sorry I think I have it turned sideways, but you get the idea! It's gorgeous!

Some swappers have asked for my postal address so they can send a hostess gift. I tell you I am so surprised at peoples' generosity and really I didn't organise the swap to receive stuff for doing so! Thank you for your kindness, it's totally unexpected!

NOW onto the Pizza as mentioned in the title! I took these pics a couple of weeks ago now, while I was making what I think is one of the easiest pizzas in the world to make! I'm going to share my tasty recipe with you now. It's a lot lower in fat & calories than regular pizza too... which is handy!!!



START by pre-heating the oven to moderate to high 200 degrees Celsius, or 392 Fahrenheit. (Lower for fan forced ovens! mine is a fairly old electric one)

1. Get a pita bread or flat bread or Lebanese bread or souvlaki bread, whatever it is they call it wherever you are. Place it in a pizza tray that has holes in it, so much better than a regular tray, cooks your pizza more evenly.

2. Spread some sauce over it. I use my mother's fabulous pasta sauce which she makes with garlic, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. But you can use the bought stuff, or one you make, or a very thin spreading of tomato paste, or a fresh tomato chopped up into little pieces or canned tomato... whatever you like, I know not everyone is lucky enough to have my mum give them jars of pasta sauce!

3. Here's my secret tip to make the pizza taste extra delicious. Sprinkle some grated PECORINO or PECORINO ROMANO cheese on it. It's different to parmesan cheese, it's got more kick and doesn't smell as bad. I love it and use it on any pasta dish and in my risotto too.

4. Grate some tasty cheese over the top, you can use the pre-grated stuff but I prefer to grate my own for this dish, because I use the low fat Vintage Tasty, not just plain tasty cheese and they don't make Vintage Tasty pre-grated. For my Aussie friends, I use the Bega So Slim Vintage 25% reduced fat one.

5. Then put a bit more of the Pecorino....

6. Add some dried oregano. To put it on, if the oregano leaves are still a bit big, crush it between your fingers so it is fine. Not too much or it will take over the whole taste. For me, that is it. I only like plain pizzas. Sometimes I might add some shaved ham (not the awful shredded stuff, but shaved like you are going to put it in your sandwich, but break it up into small bits). Or I might add fresh slices of mushroom. But it's great as it is or you can use this as a base for all your toppings.

7. Set your timer for about 16 - 18 mins (check it at 15 mins to see how it is going).

8. Make sure it is not too close to the heat source, put it on the top level.

9. Don't burn yourself taking it out! Like I did once, forgetting to put on my oven mitt!!!

VOILA! Done. Delicious!!! I usually make one of these per person, seriously! They are pretty thin so it's easy to eat a lot of it!

Happy cooking! Enjoy!!!

Natasha

Pretties & Tribute to an Awesome Footballer!

Please humour me... I am so excited about the football this Sunday. The most awesome footballer running around in the whole AFL is going to play his 300th game. That is HUGE. Really HUGE.

At my club, North Melbourne (AKA the Kangaroos), in the whole history of the club we have only ever had one player do that. ONE! He played 306 games, and with some good fortune in the injury stakes, this awesome current player will surpass that record this year. NOBODY deserves it more than this guy.

You just have got to understand how great he is. I have watched every game he has played, since 1992. Whenever I have met him at the club, after a game, club functions, training etc, he has never ever ever ever ignored a fan, or me, and has always given anyone his time willingly and generously. He is who every footballer should aspire to be... and lots of us too, if the world were full of GLENN ARCHERs it would be a better place. Seriously! This guy, out of the goodness of his heart, went and bought the struggling footy club (yes we don't have any money at North!) a VAN! YES a VAN, out of his own pocket. Because he loves the club. And we love him. Adore him. He has been voted by everyone as the toughest footballer around and boy is that right. By ALL fans and football opponents, not just us at the club. He is respected and rightly so.

Glenn Archer, a true champion and I am so proud to have seen him play and I hope there are other Glenn Archers to come in the future! I hope he has a killer game on Sunday and I will be there to witness history. Here's hoping the boys bring in a win for Arch!

Ok so this is a link to an article written about him. It is one of the best articles I have ever read about a footballer, please read it if you have a spare 10 minutes to get an idea of what an uplifting and wonderful person he is, even if you have no idea what Aussie Rules football is, or if you follow another team. Click here to read it.

Now onto the pretties!!!

First up is a sign I recently painted for a special order. I love the colours my lovely customers requested. A Pardalote is a cute little bird! It hangs from a combination of vintage trims, the flocked tulle is from Holly, thank you Holly! These customers are so lovely, they pick up their goodies from me and we have a huge big long chat every time, they follow my football team (GO KANGAS!!!) so already they are right up there with my favourite people!!! I love it when they come to visit!! We have such fun.

Next is a frame I have been working on. Normally I work on the frame after the painting, but this time the frame I bought has the back permanently attached already so I have to paint within it. I painted the rose appliques in tonal shades after I saw how pretty it turned out on the Pardalote Place sign. This painting is going to be a gown or tutu or ballerina, that was the overwhelming majority winner with my giveaway vote a while back, so I'll work on it and keep you posted!

My mailman came with a gorgeous parcel yesterday from Holly ~ this is her swap item for a small fairy swap we did with Heather and Karla. I adore it Holly!!!! It's a beautiful box she made and covered with one of my favourite vintage wallpapers.

Outside the box is a gorgeous set of tags with my initial N glittered on them, tied with vintage seam binding.... so beautiful! Holly knows how much I love mint green, as much as I love pink!

Close up detail of a sweet vintage millinery velvet flower...

Look inside! Wonderful sheet music!!!! AND a gorgeous pink ballerina fairy! Nestled in her own beautiful bed of PINKNESS!!!!

Here is the pretty fairy Holly created very cleverly!

And lastly, had to share a pic of my kitchen table with the most gorgeous bunch of flowers! I got the roses for a whole $5 yesterday, the shop seemed to think they were worth discounting down from $14 so who am I to complain! And I couldn't resist the jonquils, I love the scent. Reminds me of Spring! Which I would love to have come around really quickly as we have been having cold windy and rainy weather this week. Really feels like Winter. But BOY do we need the rain desperately in our water catchment areas. I am not going to complain about the rain one little bit! Just the cold I can't handle, and it doesn't even snow here!

Enjoy the rest of your week!!!! Thanks for reading and humouring me!

Natasha xo

Belle of the Ball

Thought I'd share with you a new piece I have just finished, a gift for a friend. I am really enjoying these collages!!! And my home and my face are covered in glitter!!! No matter how many times I vacuum and mop, or scrub my face, there's always glitter!!!

Hope my friend will like it!!! I am really pleased with the way it turned out!

Well back to the packing station, I have a ton of things to package including swap items, website sales and gifty things.

A little thanks to everyone who joined the matchbox swap, there are some fabulous matchboxes arriving now, be sure to check out the flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/shabbychicmatchbox/ and join it if you took part in the swap and showcase your boxes!!!

Enjoy!!!

Natasha xo

Fun stuff

Yay at long last I am catching up with my orders and swaps!!! Wanted to share some of my newest swap pieces, won't say who the swap partners are in case they check this out!

This first ATC turned out cuter than I expected! I love that by total coincidence the words "Free from care" are showing on the sheet music! I would like to say I designed it that way and scoured through all the words trying to find the right phrase but I can't take that credit. It was just a fluke!

By the way, that chubby little baby is yours truly!!! I had on the cutest spotty stockings and the dress had a feathered hem!! I tell you I was the best dressed baby with a mother who knitted everything, a grandmother who sewed everything and a grandfather who made my shoes! I just realised that I actually have the little shoes in this photo.

Next pic, with a background sheet taken from an old Brothers Grimm fairytale book from the story of Hansel & Gretel (or GRETHEL). The girl on the left is actually my great aunt who is now in her late seventies. What a pretty thing she was and still is a real looker! Not sure who the other girl is.

And a little hanging collage with the same cute pink fairy image I used for Rosanna's sweets fairy (my previous blog entry). She got the spotty paint treatment and the stripy sock effect!

Something new I forgot to mention last week! I have started selling these "Creative Packs" on my website, (great value!!!), that consist of rosy printed vintage cotton fabric (good sized piece), 4 of my most popular paper design sheets with 3 co-ordinating spot papers, 6 double sided sheets of vintage sheet music, 2 yards of blue vintage lace, 2 yards of mushroom vintage lace and 2 yards of pink satin ribbon! They've been popular already which is great!

And totally off the subject now... is anyone else fascinated with Google Earth?? If you don't know what I am talking about you can download it here, I use the free edition. I tell you, I have learned more geography in a few hours of playing on there than I did in school! (I wasn't all that attentive in Geography class to say the least!). I am totally fascinated by it, and speaking with so many people all over the world, all I have to do is type in the name of their home town and whoosh, the earth spins and whips me over to there for a satellite aerial view! The freaky thing is I can actually see my own house, yes and the skylight in the kitchen, the pool next door... the tree that we don't have any more (pics on Google earth are updated every 'so often'), my Dad's car in his driveway.... it's bizarre and scary and cool and fun at the same time! I love to visit places where my overseas friends live, it gives me a perfect understanding of where they are in relation to say New York City or places I could find on a map without second guessing.

By the way if you have your speakers turned on, I have added a video clip to the bottom of my blog, my fave album at the moment and just loving this song! My 3 year old knows lots of the words, it's hilarious watching him sing along so seriously! It's Paolo Nutini and the album is "These Streets", he is Scottish of Italian descent, and only 20 and it's FAB!!!

Ok well better run now, more swap things to make and a couple of orders to finish tonight.

Have fun making the matchboxes and remember to post pics of them on the flickr group here ! We have over 50 people participating, it's great!!!
Enjoy your day everyone!!!

Natasha xoxo

PS. Some 'good' news, or more like relief really, the suspect in the shootings I mentioned a few posts ago, handed himself in to police this afternoon.

Photo Fest - Come back with a cup of coffee in hand

WARNING to Karin and Catie Ann ~ your swap goodies are down below so don't scroll down if you want a surprise!!!!

Well I have managed to do it again, and got behind on my blogging. Sorry!!! So get ready with a cuppa in hand, there's a photo fest coming up!!

Heather, Holly, Karla and I did a Fairy Swap between us recently, after Karla was sad to miss out on Mel's Fairy Jar swap. We sent items to all three people so here are the beauties I received from Heather and Karla!!

First up is Heather's divine fairy cone made with vintage papers & trims, glitter, tulle.... it's oh so perfect on my hook hanging here, now the hook sold today so I need to make something else to hang it from, I love looking at this fairy in the most used doorway in our home, she makes me smile!!! Check out Heather's Boutique for better pics, (she sells them now!!!!) sorry the lighting has been shocking with our miserable weather lately!

Karla's package arrived wrapped up in all sorts of fairy goodness! She even included some charms that she made, one of the charms is on the packaging. Karla was so kind to include bits of ephemera and pieces of fairy papers and all sorts of yummy stuff!!!
I just adore this beautiful fairy tag, that she hand painted! I love the friendly happy face on her, check out the expression!!! There was also a fairy charm attached but I realise I didn't have a great shot of it. This tag lives in front of me as I type, just on the shelf where my monitor sits, so I am looking at her for a good part of the day and night! Love her to bits!!!
These sweet tags, well I had to buy them didn't I?! I know I make tags myself but there's something about ones that other people make isn't there!!??!! I love the yoyos on these and the shopping girl is just so gorgeous! These are made by lovely Ele, she sells them in her Etsy shop too!!! Mum received one of these today on her birthday present, Happy Birthday Mum by the way!!!
Now I had the best fun making this crown for Karin of Creative Chaos. Karin is so fun!!! She is so witty and clever and creative. I am a bit nervous about sending her this as she is the queen of crowns and gave a tutorial on how to make them so I am sending it to the expert, fingers are crossed that it passes Design HQ! We got chatting and we are also doing a Kid Swap, I misunderstood and thought she wanted to have Leroy sent over for the Summer and she would send Carlos over for our Winter. I had a passport made for Leroy and had his bag packed and everything! Even managed to find a box big enough to post him in, he's 20kg so it was going to be a few hundred dollars, but hey, cheaper than the airfare. But turns out we are swapping things from our countries.... so Leroy doesn't get an American Summer after all and I don't get to meet Carlos. Oh well.... Hope he isn't too heartbroken when I send his parcel of Aussie things, LOL they are mostly Made in China, how hilarious! Is anything Australian made any more that looks like an Australiana type of product? Sadly I doubt it...

Made this crown using my own paper designs, decorated in all sorts of fun stuff, I loved working with the feathers but my black clothes thought I could have worn an apron or something. I added Swarovski crystal rhinestones wherever I could, the pink ones I added to the glittery stars, the clear ones I added around the K.

Love the new tulle trim I found for the K circle.

Inside back view, my latest obsession, old sheet music.

So the lovely Rosanna saw my crown pics on Flickr and asked if I would make her one too, with an R of course, and using my cherry cupcake paper! It came out so cute if I do say so myself!! Happily, Rosanna loves it!!! I am going to make a few to sell on my website now, they are FUN!!!

Now a departure from my usual colours that's for sure!!! One of my dearest and oldest friends, my maid of honour and our son's Godmother, Katrina, turned 30 on Sunday. I wanted to make her something special. She is not into frills and frou frou and she and I are opposites in so many ways but we get along so well. So I rummaged through my trims, the bags of stuff I don't normally use because I know there isn't any pink in the bag, and found all sorts of vintage laces from my Grandmother, fabric, old papers and I put together this collage for my travelling buddy.

I stamped travel related words & the words that Babel Fish Translator tell me mean, "Home is where the heart is, but I must see the world". Which sums her up perfectly. Travelling any time she can, finding new places, meeting new people but always coming back home and loving it.

For the sides I used pages from a book "Europe by Eurail 1982" and used pages of the places she had been, like Dublin shown here. She loved her present and it really suits her place! Happy Birthday sweety!

Back to Rosanna again, the lovely lady!!! She ordered a jar fairy like I made for Heather in Mel's swap and also a "sweets" themed jar fairy. So this is what I came up with. Another one I love and I think she is so cute! I used a vintage image for the fairy inside, added lace to her skirt, put pink fluffy yarn inside, a couple of my teensy tiny cupcakes I sell on my website... the wings are silver foil cupcake papers (thank you Heather for the idea!!!) and there are little pink decorative toothpicks in there too. My favourite part is the lid with the teensy tiny cupcake on top with glitter on the base.

Super talented Jenny is hosting a Bits & Pieces Collage swap. My partner is the lovely Catie Ann ~ she sends me fabulous emails and it has been wonderful getting to know her! She mentioned she likes frills at one point and so I ran with that with the border on this piece. It is totally different to how I imagined, actually with this one I don't know what I imagined, I just went with the flow and used different media ~ acrylics, oil pastels, and collage of course. I do hope she will like it!!!

My fave part, the pleated "thingamabob" and the ruffled butterfly...

Back view

PHEW, so are you exhausted? Are you still there? LOL!!! So that has been part of what I have been up to this week. When it rains it pours, sometimes I am quiet and have only one or two custom orders and some weeks I get 6 emails in one day asking for a custom something! This is one of those weeks! Which is great, I thrive on being busy like that! Add to that 4 birthdays in a row, our niece, then Katrina, then our dog Ernie turned 8 yesterday and Mum's birthday today.

So now, I have some swaps with some talented Flickr buddies that I need to get onto tonight, I have neglected them long enough.

Enjoy yourselves and take care!!!

Natasha xoxoxo