Giveaway time again!

Lots of things to celebrate in this house! My camera is home!!! I missed it so much.


So now I can show you decent photos, lol! I've just added a brand new product I am so excited to offer in my boutique and my Etsy today (yes, lol I also have an etsy shop I haven't used in ages!). It's a set of three postcards featuring prints of my gown paintings. Not just on sheet music but these are printed on what was hand written sheet music (by my grandfather in 1937) so they are super unique! They're professionally printed in colour front and back and have a chandelier painting print on the reverse, so they could be framed in either direction, how is that for value, LOL!

So to celebrate the camera being home and the postcards being printed beautifully (thanks Heather Bluhm for organising it all and doing the pretty layout on the backs!).... I'm offering one set of these as a prize!
Just leave a comment on THIS POST and you'll go in the draw to win a set. I'll random-number-generator pick a winner next week on Wednesday June 4th (Aussie time). Make sure you have a way I can contact you, either a link to your blog or your email address or something!

********************PLEASE NOTE!!!********************

If you've already purchased a set of these, or are thinking about purchasing a set, and you are the eventual winner, I will send you an alternative prize (or another set of these if you choose!)

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And in other exciting news to celebrate...... It is official, I'm coming to America! Most of my flights are booked and paid for! YAY I am now officially excited!!!

Bye for now,

Beyond fashionably late for the parties!

There's a point where fashionably late becomes ridiculous! My camera is STILL being repaired more than 3 weeks later so I held off photographing inside the house for two parties. Sadly, no camera so the phone is on the job again, and I missed the parties! So I'm beyond fashionably late but here goes, bad photos and all...

Rachael had a party for her 100th blog post, congratulations Rachael! We were to show where we blogged from so come with me..... and enter the MESS zone..... and keep in mind this is TONS neater than what it was this time last year when i could barely walk into the room!

The room I blog in is the room I also store heaps of craft 'stuff'. I also do business paperwork in here for my own business and hubby's business so there's stuff everywhere....

At the door you're greeted by a gorgeous vintage prom gown and cowboy hat, but of course!!!

And my messy desk (actually, this was after a quick tidy up, normally I can't see desk surface....)

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And the other party I am beyond late for was Marina's party about what you love about your home's decor.

This is my fave old hutch/buffet. It holds all my mismatched china and vintage linens. It will look so much better once the walls are a decent colour rather than the yellow we painted 10 years ago!

Something you would notice if you came to my home is I have a thing for vintage gowns. I have them hanging all over the place like artwork. Some are prom gowns, some are antique lace petticoats belonging to my great-grandmother. If it's pretty and it's a gown, it goes on the wall. I really do need a mannequin, it has become rather ridiculous!!!

My front entrance has a really sweet side table where I keep my faux cupcakes and an Anna Chandler limited edition plaster wall hanging.

The hallway where you can see glimpses of my great grandmother's lace petticoats, and one of my favourite chandeliers.

And my piano top, with the lace piece that was hand made by my grandmother back in Italy when she was just 16 years old. When I get the camera back I'll take close up shots, it's so intricate and beautiful.

Have a great week, I'll catch up with you soon!

A few important things

I'm not a political activist in the slightest but some things lately have either made me so mad, or affect me or got me wondering 'what are they thinking?'. So if you have a moment, these are some petitions that are very near and dear to me and I'd love if you would support these with me if you agree with them or can.

1st one makes my blood boil - it's a 'Name them and Shame them' petition for my state government to change laws that currently protect convicted serious sex offenders. Here, we don't have "MEGAN'S LAW" like my friends in the US. (I wish we did!). The way the law is here right now, these lowlifes come out of jail and it is ILLEGAL to name them, show photographs of them let alone announce where they live. For reasons that are beyond obvious, I'm horrified to think these people could live across the road from my son or live near a school or teach children.... it's unthinkable... You can find the petition to sign here:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/name-them-and-shame-them.html

2nd petition is one that affects me personally - there's an airport near my home that was once a quiet barely used airport, that was supposed to be phased out of operation. They've now applied to accept international jets and not have a noise curfew! Currently it's supposed to be noise-free between 11pm and 6am. The plans are going all over the place and opposite to what was supposed to be a closed airport, not an expanded one. The fumes will suddenly be so dangerous and it is scary to think it will be so close by. This was not the case when the homes were built in the area. So if you are able, please sign this one, we need all the support we can get.

http://www.gopetition.com/online/17755.html

3rd one is a proposal to build a theme park at Werribee Zoo. This zoo is amazing, it's an open range zoo, on 225 hectares of land. The animals roam free. To see them you are taken in a safari bus. None are in cages, and they do so much research there. They have helped save some breeds of animals from extinction. Now there's a proposal to build a huge theme park along the lines of Disneyland, or like the ones in Queensland (by the way, I love the ones in QLD don't get me wrong). Theme parks are great, fabulous fun, but to build one right at an open range zoo is crazy. It contradicts the purpose of the zoo and the environment they are creating for these magnificent creatures. I hope they do build a theme park in my state, I'd be one of the first ones there, but the proposed location is totally wrong.

So you'll find the petition for this one here:

Please note you do not have to donate to sign the petition, please don't be put off by that.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveourzoos/

Lastly not a petition but a little helpful website that I found the other day - seems lots of people know about it already, but in case you are like me and didn't know - check out this one - it dispels all the myths and rumours and shows you the top hoax emails going around. So all those 'help me by forwarding this email on and AOL or Microsoft will give 5 cents per email' are nonsense... and you can find out here:

http://www.snopes.com/

I'm closing comments for this one - it's just a hopefully helpful post for you in some way and one where you can hopefully help out and sign the petitions. Some catch up posting coming very soon!

Thanks for your time and support,

Natasha xo

I love the smell of pine cones

Hubby actually had a whole two days off work this past weekend so we thought we'd go for a drive in the country, out near where he lived as a child. The fire in the fireplace (prev post) brought on this nostalgia - he came home to the fire I had made and said he loved the smell, it reminded him of his childhood. So Sunday morning we went out to collect pine cones for the fire.

It was rather chilly out there, but the day before it had snowed, only very gently, we got the warmer day. See it does snow and get cold here, lol!

Took a while to find pine trees with pine cones under them that were not on private property but in the end we managed a few box fulls and got a few bugs, earwigs and spiders as an added bonus.

And we ended up on a road that became a track all the way through one of the state forests. It was beautiful but kinda worrying, with no phone reception out there, what would happen if we got a flat tyre?!!!
We found a country pub and had a lovely lunch afterwards. It was so nice to spend time with hubby and little mister all together, we don't get enough time all three of us.

Oh and hey this is the new 'do'. I had the full 'bangs' done yesterday and not just the swept-to-the-side-pretend-fringe I used to have. Makes me feel like a little girl!

Ciao for now,

Come on baby light my fire

Brrrr it was cold today. Well, cold by my standards anyway... I just looked up the weather in my area and they give you an actual temperature and a temperature of what it "feels like". So right now it "feels like" 5.7 degrees Celsius/centigrade, about 42F. For me, that's pretty cold! So I didn't get much achieved today except to get a roaring beautiful fire going in our fireplace.
Our fireplace is really quite large, it's hard to see in the pic (again sorry for the phone photos!) - it's almost twice the width of old fireplaces. Our mantel is a huge old railway sleeper, and our whole wall and hearth is made of bluestone. It's a rather interesting feature! We need to get a proper wood fire installed with a fan and all, at the end of Winter when they aren't so expensive, because the chimney was designed really badly when the house was built - it tends to let the heat straight up and the smoke inside if we have a windy day! But today it was nice and toasty...
Hard to see but can you spot the blue PEEP in the pic above on his way to an untimely death by toasting? mmmmmm these peeps are very yummy toasted!

Little guy was toasting ice-cream shaped marshmallows from my friend Holly while watching TV.

Winter is upon us! And football season is well underway..... my boys won tonight, yay!

Tomorrow promises to be warmer at 15C, or 59F. My friends in the US are probably laughing their socks off at me now saying I have no idea what cold is, right?!!! (Trust me it sounds hot but it feels every bit as cold as when I was in Europe in the heart of Winter in 1995 and that really was c-c-c-c-cold!)

Bye for now, I'm heading back to the fire, it's chilly here at the computer end of the house!

Lovin' my new outfit

Don't you just love that feeling when you buy a whole new outfit and you wear it for the first time? It's all fresh and lovely and gorgeous! Yes you are at the right place, I've got a beautiful new "gown" so to speak, thanks to Heather Bluhm. Isn't she talented? Deep down I am really a lover of green over pink.... I do love pink but green just does it for me so much more. The two colours together, perfection. You can find Heather's blog by clicking here. Thank you so much Heather, I adore the whole new look and feel like a million bucks!

This above pic really has no relevance to anything except I love the photo and the gorgeous fabrics - I took this photo months ago ready to write about it but never got around to it. So it has come in handy while my camera is STILL at Sony being repaired. I've got grand plans for those fabrics, and they involve FINISHING a quilt I started 5 or 6 years ago and giving that quilt to my Mum for her birthday in a month. I'll keep you posted on the progress (when I get the camera back.)

Some other things I have forgotten to mention lately....

Miss Lawrence is having a One Day Holiday Event - with the theme of buildings and architecture from your home town. The details are HERE

My friend Marina in Argentina is hosting a party where you share photos of what you like best about your home and its decorating. You can find the details HERE

My friend Mary has passed me the Prayer Candle, thank you for the honour.

The idea…it’s a game of tag with a difference, rather than looking inwardly, we look outside ourselves and bless, praise and pray for 3 blog friends. By participating in this endeavour we not only make the recipient of the blessing feel valued and appreciated, but we are having some fun too. We’re going to see how far the bloggin’ blessings can travel around the world and how many people can be blessed! Recipients of a bloggin’ blessing may upload the above image to their sidebar if they choose to. If you receive a bloggin’ blessin’ please leave a comment on this thread here so that we can rejoice in just how many blessings have been sent around the world.

I see this one all over blog land so if you have not received it consider the candle yours - every comment and email and blog I read gives me such joy so please accept this candle with my gratitude xo

Lovely Penny has given me the Arte Y Pico Award. The rules for this award are:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.
4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico’ blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. To show these rules.

So I better not break the rules!!!

• I'll pass this one back to Penny because her blog is so warm and informative, and her creativity is wonderful!
• Jenn for the same reasons, love the blog and love the whimsical creations
• Cheryl for her fun blog and creativity and for her Yummy Mondays where she shares gorgeous goodness from cyberspace with us
• Karla for her lovely posts and thoughtful creative ideas
• Karin for giving us a good ole laugh while checking out her creativity

And check out the goodies I won in the One World One Heart giveaway from Angie! These are gorgeous and fab, you gotta check out her blog HERE. Thanks Angie!!!

Ciao for now!

A Night off!

I'm taking the night off tonight! My special orders are complete (sadly no detail photos since I am still photographing with my phone...). Hot chocolate and a movie awaits! I feel like a kid wagging school (AKA playing hooky to my US friends).

This one is on its way to someone's friend as a gift - it's my client's friend's wedding gown

The chandelier is also in transit - I'm going to make some lovely cards, tags and prints from this, already working on other colourways so stay tuned

A tutu painting heading overseas

And lastly a sneaky peek at something I've been working on for someone you would probably know.... I'll let her reveal it when it is ready to go...

Oh and watch this space! Soon.... a whole new look! Heather Bluhm has been weaving her magic behind the scenes... I can't wait to show you her beautiful work!

But for now - I'm going to watch La Vie En Rose on one of the cable channels so for tonight it is over and out from me!

Mothers & Lavender

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day. Ours was really special. Even though the camera is still being repaired, my trusty phone did the job so I'm able to share our day with you.

Leroy and I took my mum and her friend to lunch in the country. We missed the best colours of Autumn by a few weeks but it was still beautiful. And cold. We started out at a flea market of sorts, in Daylesford.

A pretty and old home in Daylesford - this cottage is typical of the historical housing style in the area and in the rest of my state really. Love the RED tree!

Then off to the Lavender Farm - my favourite place to visit when in that region. The yummiest food, prettiest scenery and most gorgeous scents! Above is the suspension bridge that you walk across when the river below is so flooded you can't get your car across. Yes you are seeing right, there is no water in the river at all. So no chance of flooding.

We ate at the trattoria they have at the old barn. We had our delicious minestrone, and lavender lemonade followed by lavender scones "al fresco" under the trees. Just beautiful! In springtime this is amazing because they have daffodils growing through the grass all over the place.

There's my gorgeous mum on the left, my little guy and I. Isn't mum a cutie? Who would believe she is almost 58? (sssssshhhhhh!!!)

And there's mum's friend Carla (another gorgeous one).

Some gorgeous scenery at the Lavender Farm

They even have an Italian bocce whats-it-called - the square thing with the sand on it - anyway - there's bocce there for the kids. Leroy had a ball, think his Italian genes came out to play!

Speaking of the little devil, he had a blast in the autumn leaves!

And he went rolling down this little hill countless number of times getting leaves stuck all over. Remember those fun days? I joined him and got all leafy too! Ah to be a kid again!

Interesting leaves and berries and things. We have different coloured autumn leaves here in the city - I wonder if it is because it isn't as cold here. The colours in the country are so much more vivid and bright.

This gorgeous home is Carla's house in Trentham. It is also a B & B that she and her husband run, which was once an old convent - they have done so much work to the gardens, the decor and it is incredibly beautiful and luxurious inside! If you want to take a further look click here to see their website.

Sweet little nook hidden in the gardens

The back view - Carla's husband Colin has paved this himself and the fine grass on the left has actually been made as a putting green for keen golfers! Seriously!

One of the lovely rooms
And the lovely double spa for that room.... love to be in it right now!

And meet Lucky and Lulu. They're Galahs (yes they are pink birds!) native to most parts of Australia (and are pests to farmers). They were both rescued and Lucky had little chance of survival. He was nursed back to relatively good health but unable to make it in the wild so now they are the best fed and most loved galahs in town!