Shaking off the Winter blues

In one hour and twenty one minutes, Winter is officially over here in Australia. I love Spring!

It gives hope, freshness and happiness.

• It is all about colour, life after hibernation and getting out of ruts that I shouldn't be in.
• It makes me want to wear clothes other than track suits and runners
• It makes me straighten my hair and wear lip gloss!
• It makes me not skip my gym classes.
• It gives me days where I can take the little guy to the zoo, just for fun.
• It takes away the excuses for not walking the dog.
• It gives hubby and I a date night every so often that doesn't involve home delivered pizza or Chinese because it's just too miserable to go out at night.
• It gives us blossoms.
• It makes me smile!

We've had a busy weekend- I won't mention football again, I seem to jinx my team each time I say here "wish us luck". We got handed a big can of whoop-a$$ yesterday... ugh so frustrating!!

Since I'm on the pre-school committee, Friday all day and night I was busy setting up, preparing and serving at the bar at the annual Art Show fundraiser for parents only - lots of fun, lots of cheap "Passion Pop" and people laughing that I would drink such a "teenager" type drink (heck, it TASTES good so I don't care!), lots of money raised for the pre-school. Hubby and I actually got a picture together (above), he was the auctioneer, it was so funny! He was told to give up trucking and get into real estate, HA! (BTW isn't he a hottie?!!!)

And meet my Dad, the frame maker extraordinaire - that man above in the pic with me, being a total goose with the painting by Leroy that he purchased. Don't we look alike?!
Oh of course, the masterpiece by Leroy himself - "The Kangaroo". Can't tell you how much I love this. I can't get him to draw anything that isn't a truck or a scribbly roller coaster so to see him draw and paint an actual animal, and his teacher said he chose to do it and didn't want any help, makes me so proud and so happy! He's branching out a bit!

We won the bid for the group drawing where all the kiddies contributed - it was supposed to be Australian animals, so Leroy even drew a dingo poking out his tongue (lol), a giraffe and a panda bear. Yeah, someone kinda mentioned to him that the latter two weren't Australian but his answer was hilarious - "Yes they are, they're here at the zoo!" I guess four year olds have an answer for everything! And technically, he was right!

So now onto the last project reveal for Sweet Six Studio. Here's our superb seamstress Cheryl's, beautiful creation - this is a hanging pillow pocket - is this one of the most adorable things you have ever seen or what?! I can't wait to make this one, I have my fabrics lined up and ready to go! New ones came in the mail and this is the perfect project for them. We'll learn how to make this and how to create the sweet cupcake applique too, all of it!

Sweet Six Studio starts in only a couple of days!!! I can't wait! There's still time to sign up!

Ok so one last thing I want to share with you. You know how sometimes, like once in a blue moon, you hear a song and it just resonates with you - the lyrics, the rhythm, the beat, the sounds, the voice.... you know - just a super COOL song - well, this is my latest "one of those" songs, and you can click on the play button to hear it. Starts a little slowly but really gets moving and it's one I can't get out of my head! I don't want to get it out of my head either! Please enjoy....with lyrics like these..

There’s a place I go

When I’m alone

Do anything I want

Be anyone I wanna be

But it is us I see

And I cannot believe I’m fallin'

That’s where I’m goin'

Where are you goin'

Hold it close won’t let this go
Dream catch me, yeah

Dream catch me when I fall

Or else I won’t come back at all

Spring is almost here, and I am so thankful and so pleased....

Life is beautiful....

Thank you for stopping by and adding even more beauty to my life and giving me more reasons to count my blessings.

Natasha xo

Pretties (and a winner)

Hello there! I've been rather snowed under lately - I love it though! So much on my plate right now but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way...

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Just a special note - I've put notices up on my website, emailed my subscriber list and put a permanent note up there on the top right of my blog sidebar - but if you didn't notice it - I'm not taking special orders after August 31st for a while... or at least, I'll take them but can't guarantee any placed from September 1st will get to you until some time in December!

I really need to get my shop organised for Christmas goodies before I go to the US in October. And I need to get organised with supplies and packing and gifts for Silver Bella. Not to mention the new stuff I have in store for my shop.... add to that regular everyday life, and working on the orders placed before end August, and you will probably then understand why I have had to give that cut-off date - with me being gone almost all of November - hence the December delivery date possibility....

...and then it is Christmas and Summer and I close my shop for January.... at some point I am going to stop taking custom orders until the new year. It will depend on how much more snowed under I get beforehand.

If you've been thinking of putting in a custom order, there's only a few days left to do so!

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Now with that said, I'll show you some of the things that I've been working on, things that have kept me busy lately!

Last year I made one of these, very similar, for my friend Heather's birthday present. You can see it on her blog here. I've created two new ones finally...yeah... a year later.... that might make it to my shop.... will let you know if they are available, I'll find out soon...


And this big painting below... remember the frame my dad made, back in this post? Well it took me a while, but the painting is finished and this whopper (3 feet wide) is on its way to the US right now. It's going in a new baby's nursery. I love getting to know my customers and where they will place their paintings, or who it is for. It makes it more special to know these details, don't you think?

Now speaking of pretty like the title suggests.... how PRETTY are these babies??? Oh my goodness, my chin just about hit the keyboard when Heather emailed these photos of her first project for Sweet Six Studio. I mean, come on, have you ever seen anything quite like these???! She's soooooooo clever and creative... I don't know how she comes up with these wonderful beauties! They are made from LANTERNS! Yes, LANTERNS! Like the kind you can get at the party supply shop, or in Australia, we have these a lot at the Asian import shops, and they are dirt cheap to buy - who would have thought decorating them could make them into these most beautiful creations??!!! So if you've signed up, search out your party supply shop or Asian importer for a lantern OR use an old lampshade frame. You can find more info here.
Heather's going to teach us the tricks she worked out in decorating these in the most beautiful way.... I can't wait to do these....

And now we're left with one more project reveal, coming shortly - Cheryl's lovely project... and Sweet Six Studio starts NEXT WEEK!!! Can't wait!!!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I've drawn a winner for the giveaway below... number 29 came up... that would be Sandy of Lu Lu's Fluffy Ruffles! Congratulations Sandy! Please email me your shipping address and I'll get that lollipop painting out to you soon! (you can email me via the link on my sidebar)

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you have a lovely rest-of-the-week.

Spring is coming next week and to me, that means Football Finals.... my team is playing for fourth place this Saturday, the last round before the finals - wish us luck!!!

Natasha xo

Yummmmmm

(If you're looking for the giveaway post, it's the one below this!)

I've been a really lucky girl lately! I won Victoria's giveaway on her blog Vintage Tea - a bunch of goodies from Venice!!! I can't tell you how much I love them.... here's a shot that I just love of some of the fabulous candies made in the old fashioned way... don't they just look so perfect? The pink box disappeared in minutes!

What a haul! So many lovelies here, thank you SO much Victoria!!!

And my itty bitty book arrived - so many cute sweet little houses in it! Here's the front of the house I did... the door opens and the little doggie door opens too. Thank you Bridget for all your super hard work on this!

And here's the back - I drew the back as though it was the inside of the house, and put my dog Ernie in a basket. LOL silly me!Ooooh I have to show you this sweet thing!!! Kirstie of Adeline Country Cottage has a booth/shop at a market about 15 mins from my home and when I went to see her last time, I nearly died when she GIFTED me with this absolutely beautiful stand! It's got a shelf underneath where I keep the current magazines and my notebook, and the top is covered in the sweetest vintage printed bouquets... wow, gorgeous!

Thanks so much Kirstie, I love it and am humbled by your sweet kindness!!!

I'm a little behind in sharing with you some more gorgeous projects coming to Sweet Six Studio! If you haven't signed up already (lol most of you have!), get in quick! It starts next week!!! You can still join up through September but it would be fun to follow along as we go.

These utterly adorable cute little creations are cupcake toppers by Jenn of Sweet Eye Candy Creations! They are seriously sweet - imagine doing these for your little one's next birthday?!!! I know I will be!

And a cute little girl version! Loving these!!!!

AND Miss Analise of Sugar*Sugar, has come up with the most fun, whimsical and sweet fabric flower brooch. I have some gorgeous new fabrics that arrived last week and I can't wait to work on these little beauties! I have a feeling these are going to be addictive and I'll need to make them in MANY colours....!

We've got two more projects to share with you from the talented Heather of Pretty Petals, and Cheryl of Rosey Posey Confections.... and that will be all for the sneak previews.... the other 6 projects we'll be doing will be revealed at Sweet Six Studio's Online Art Retreat.

Hope you have a great week - and remember, the giveaway below - a few more days to go so feel free to enter if you haven't already!

Bye for now,
Natasha xo

200! (yup this is the giveaway post)

ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED! WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!!!

I was reading a blog last week having a giveaway to celebrate 200 posts. So I thought I had better check, when was I due for my 200th post? What I was shocked to see was, I had just written my 199th post, how fluky is that!

So I figured I wanted to do something a bit different... on my 100th post I had a giveaway of 100 prizes. I can't do that this time, so I thought I'd gather together photos of my work from the past few years and see if I could get to 200 photos! (in mosaic format of course!). Well, I had to leave SO many out in the end. I didn't realise how much work I have done in that time!

Here's what 200 photos looks like.....

Ok, ok, enough torture! I'll stop being so self indulgent and show you the giveaway prize....
Well, the picture says it all! Just leave me a comment, on this post only, and you're entered! I'll ship it to anywhere in the world, everyone is welcome to enter.

And be sure to pop back in a day or two, there will be some more project reveals for Sweet Six Studio that you are going to just LOVE!

Thanks for the fun times and for reading my blog! It's been a fun ride so far!

Natasha xo

One of the Sweet Six Studio Projects

I'm so excited to share with you one of the projects I'll take you through, step-by-step at our online art retreat at Sweet Six Studio, starting September 2nd.

I love making gifts for people, especially friends and family who love them even more because they know the gift was made just for them, with love and care.

So with that in mind, my first project I'll be teaching is how to make this lovely decorated bath bottle - going through each step with you... even how to make the crystals to fill the bottle!

The label is one I designed and illustrated myself, specially for this project, so you won't find it anywhere else. It will be available to download and print, to use on your own bottle.

I'll also give any tips and suggestions for alternative trims to use, and a few ingredient alternatives for the bath crystals too.

Hope you'll enjoy making this one... see you at the "retreat"!

Natasha xo

Delicious!

Wowee thanks so much for the super overwhelming response to Sweet Six Studio! We're completely and utterly over the moon that you guys are all so excited about it and so many of you are going to play along!!! You'll get a look at one of the projects in a moment... but firstly I want to share a delicious recipe with you!

It was one I read somewhere, that I have slightly adapted. Can't remember where I read it, I just go by my own measurements each time I make it... I'm into quick and easy and tasty food so if you are too, you will probably LOVE this!

Cherry Tomato Ricotta Pasta

So you'll need the following as shown above:

• Fresh ricotta
• A couple of punnets of cherry tomatoes (I do one punnet of grape tomatoes cause they taste great but it's up to you, they might not be available where you are)
• A couple of cloves of crushed garlic (or however many you can handle, up to you, less, more, whatever)
• A little oregano (dried or fresh, up to you again... or you could use fresh basil)
• Extra virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 regular sized packet of pasta of your choice - macaroni, penne, rigatoni, spaghetti, fettuccine, anything.

A little tip - I use a wok to do my Italian sauce and pasta cooking, it's really helpful!

1. Cook your pasta and while it is boiling make the sauce.

2. Heat the wok/pan/pot, with a little oil, and add the garlic

3. Wash then cut up the tomatoes into halves or quarters if they are big.

4. Add them to the pan, along with the oregano or herb of your choice - make sure it is medium-hot.

5. Stir with a wooden spoon until they start to caramelise as you see below. Juices start to flow, that's when you know it is ready.

6. Add some salt and pepper.

7. Then add the ricotta. Use as much or as little as you like. I usually use about half to three quarters of a container. It adds creaminess without you needing to cook with cream! Ricotta is pretty low in fat, so it is a great alternative...

8. Turn down the heat to low and stir the ricotta through.

9. Add the now-cooked pasta that you would have drained, to the sauce. Turn off the heat and stir it through. It's ready to serve!

Serve with parmesan if you like, or, my own preference is to use a cheese called Pecorino or Pecorino Romano. It's got more bite than parmesan and doesn't stink so much, lol! It's sheep cheese, and you can find it at a good Italian deli/grocer. This is SO delicious... and see, it was SO easy!

Speaking of DELICIOUS..... have you popped over to the Sweet Six Studio blog in the last day? Our talented friend Holly has shown photos of one of her projects she is going to teach! Here's a couple of pics of it but for more info and photos, please click HERE to visit the Sweet Six Studio blog. They're amazing embellished photo boards.... oh my they are so gorgeous, I just can't WAIT to learn along with everyone, how to make these! Holly is going to give us full instructions and alternative supplies to use too.

Seriously, how gorgeous is this idea??!!!

Hope you've had your delicious fix for the day! Let me know if you make the pasta won't you! I'd love to hear if you thought it was super tasty!!! And again, thanks for the support for Sweet Six Studio, we appreciate it SO much!!

Ciao for now,

Natasha xo

Letting the cat out of the bag!

Hello! So sorry to be such a tease last time... I can finally let the cat out of the bag! What you saw was a snippet of this divine banner..... (don't ya love it - thanks Heather for creating it!)

I'm so excited to be able to announce a fabulous new place that some friends and I have created ~ Sweet Six Studio ~ an online art retreat that will run through for the whole of September ~ packed with wonderful, DOable art workshops with full instructions, giveaways and much more! There will be something for you every day of the month!

As the name suggests ~ there are six of us ~ Heather of Pretty Petals, Holly of Holly Doodle Designs, Analise of Sugar*Sugar, Jenn of Sweet Eye Candy Creations, Cheryl of Rosey Posey Confections, and myself.

We've been working super hard at making sure you'll have a wonderful place to create, and the 12 projects are super sweet!

It's more than just workshops and you'll see why....

A month long subscription can be purchased over at the Sweet Six Studio blog, which costs US$22 and gives you private access to this wonderful-ness! You can purchase anytime from now, and access to the workshops will become available as they are released, from September 2nd. A welcome letter with all the necessary info will be emailed to you within 24 hours of payment. (I'll mostly be emailing those letters so please allow for a probable different time zone since I'm in Australia!)

So, to celebrate and kick off in style ~ out of the six giveaways we'll be sharing with Sweet Six Studio subscribers, the first giveaway is open to EVERYBODY ~ and thanks to Analise, this is the wonderful prize! Just head on over to the Sweet Six Studio blog, and leave a comment on the Giveaway post to be entered!

And feel free to snag this button for your blog!

Please take a few minutes to read the very beautifully written introduction and a more detailed explanation of what this is all about, on the blog. Sit back, relax, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee..... it will conjure lovely images in your mind and take you to a happy creative place.... (thanks to Cheryl!)

Enjoy!

Natasha xo

Peek-a-boo!

I hate to be a tease.... but I will be! Only for a few more days.... What I can say is we're having lots of fun with the finishing touches.... yeah - I am a tease - that doesn't really give you any clue does it?

Remember this image from my last post?

More will be revealed this week, only a few days, I promise!!!

Natasha xo

Sparkly silver buckles and ..... what's this???

Thought I'd share a few photos of some special orders I've been working on.... I really enjoyed doing something fun and fresh - I was asked to do a couple of paintings of a Marie Antoinette styled hat and shoe ~ I couldn't resist adding Heather's pure silver glass glitter in creating buckles for both!

Hmmmmm what's this you see?..... You'll have to wait a little while longer ~ what I can say is that it is super exciting and you're going to just LOVE it!!!! I can't wait to spill the beans!!!

Have a great weekend,

Natasha xo