Unexpected colour

I don't know about you, but my TO DO lists are not only full of things to clean, but so many things to sort. It seems like a never ending job.

Sometimes I just wish those people from those TV shows who come and organise your home for you, would just come and do it!

This cupboard is one of the many storage cupboards I have for all my things. It lives outside, under cover on our patio. For a few years now, it has needed sorting... just so I can find stuff!!!

I managed to get the top and 2nd from bottom shelves done ~ yay! The top shelf was hiding so many new paint brushes, palettes, pastels and paints!

Now look at that same shelf. It makes me sigh, a happy sigh. Aaaaahhhhh.....

Check out all the palettes I found!

The colours and textures of the old paint ~ some oils, some acrylics ~ were so pleasing to my eye

That green just screams "happy happy joy joy!" to me!

And my pastels ~ which are basically fancy chalks.... oh I love them....

I haven't used them in such a long time. I used to use them all the time, but then moved onto acrylics and never seemed to get back to the pastels. They tend to make my hands really rough and grotty no matter how much I scrub.... but I am missing them...(see here for how messy they can get!)

Don't you just love their crumbly beautiful texture and the gorgeous shades?

So even though it was an ugly job, sorting and organising that top shelf, at least there was some happy colour to brighten my day, and some inspiration to get me started using pastels again.

Have a lovely weekend!

Natasha xo

PS. In case you are wondering, I saw New Moon the morning it came out, and I loooooooved it! If you're a fan and haven't seen it, what are you waiting for?!! I'm going back, at least another two times... at least!

New Moon... oops, I mean, New Ornaments!

I've been working on these Christmas ornaments for several days now, trying out different ways to add the mercury glass beads, and incorporate a flower, and some ribbon.... there were many "back to the drawing board" moments.... maybe I was distracted by.....

.....the thought that in precisely 11 hours and 10 minutes....

.... I'll be watching the newest Twilight movie, New Moon!

You see, that little counter on my sidebar, telling me there's like, a day and 16 hours to go, doesn't consider that I am in Australia, and we're ahead of time! We're living in the future.... so it's already the 19th of November!

I'm like a silly schoolgirl..... excited and not able to sleep!!!

Go Team Edward!...

.... oh, and {insert shameless plug here} go stop by my shop if you would like one of these OOAK ornaments that you see in this post :-)

Eeek I'm so excited.....!!!!

Natasha xo

The Accidental Gardener ~ and her cute partner in crime

I've mentioned a few times that, while green is my favourite colour, it doesn't apply to my thumbs.

Well, it seems it is time to rethink that....

Leroy and I decided we'd plant a little vegie/herb garden. It's his job to water it every day. (Read, my job to remind him!)

We have a few half wine barrels on the back patio ~ our back yard is very small, so container gardening is the way to go for us. That pic above was taken only a couple of weeks before this next pic ~ and you can see how much the herbs are thriving!

Amazing what happens when you water them.... it's a revelation to me!

We're growing "golf ball carrot", tomato, a few varieties of lettuce, Continental parsley, basil, and one more thing I'll share with you at the end of this post. It's a really cute story :)

See that pot above? I thought it was full and thriving one week ago, but in that short time, it has grown so much!

We've had a few dinners already with home grown organic salad. It's a wonderful feeling being able to grow something you can actually eat, and that you know is really organic. (I'll share with you our unique and sure-fire bug/pest control solution in a sec....)

But first, some seeds that had apparently expired 7 years ago, which we didn't expect to grow, sprouted..... and are growing every single day! They're Bells of Ireland (green flowers, of course!).... hopefully ours will get to that long tall beautiful stage, without me killing them first...

In our little gardening frenzy, I re-potted a cactus and wanted to show you a few interesting containers you can grow things in. It's fun to think outside the square!

Firstly, I came across this imported cherry tomato can at an international deli.... I didn't buy it for the tomatoes. I bought it for the fabulous can, and the graphics on it! Sad, huh? Incidentally, the cherry tomatoes were really great in my pasta sauce.

I just punched a few holes in the base for drainage, added some rocks and left the cactus in its little plastic pot. Placed it inside the can, and covered the top with more rocks. Sweet!

A container-in-waiting ~ now that I'm confident enough to plant things that might actually grow, I'm going to plant something edible in this too. I love oil cans! The graphics on the Spanish and Italian large olive oil cans are always fabulous. Why throw it out?!

My dad cut the top of the can off, then I used pliers to fold that sharp edge down onto itself. A few nailed drainage holes, and this will be ready for potting mix, and probably some cherry tomatoes.

I had this old rickety wicker chair under the house, that I was going to clear out in a moment of sadness/madness. But I figured, if I'm prepared to just get rid of it, why not just put it in the garden, and not worry about it getting more ruined?! So it is now the home of some orchids that my Ernie can no longer do his business on~!

The little urn was just a reproduction one that I very roughly spray painted. It has become more cracked and weathered naturally... I love it! It houses some succulent cuttings that I haven't managed to murder yet!

This sweet little guy belonged to my grandmother ~ who was born with green thumbs, so it's no surprise that things grow out of this!

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So, wanna hear our fool-proof, no-spraying solution to keep the bugs and pests away?

Leroy came up with this all by himself. When I got upset that a caterpillar had started eating one of the basil leaves, and I said that I might have to give in, and spray them, his whole face lit up, literally.

"MUM! I've got a GREAT idea!!!

"Why don't I make some MONSTERS for the garden to scare the caterpillars away?!!!"

So we found some flat rocks, got the permanent markers out, and Leroy made some three-eyed angry faces, some jagged-toothed ones, and finally, this one below.... which has a caterpillar in its mouth, blood dripping, just to really show those caterpillars what can happen when those monsters get hold of them!

Talk about adorable!!!

OH, and the other thing that grows in the wine barrel?

"MUM! I forgot to water the garlic bread shoots today!"

Reminds me of that line in Wall-E where they say they'll grow "Pizza Plants"!

Who would have known, that a simple few pots full of herbs and vegies, could give us those two precious memories?!

Until next time,

Natasha xo

A stitch in time...

I'm not sure why it is that I love hand sewing so much. Most of the time, I like to get things done as quickly as possible. I seem to run around like a chicken with my head cut off!

Yet, hand sewing, beading, and hand embrodiery, have always been close to my heart.

Maybe it's because I wasn't allowed to use a sewing machine until I was about 12 years old, because my great aunty had sewn through her finger and my grandmother the dressmaker (my Italian "Nonna"), was very protective of me.

She made sure I knew how to not rely on machinery, and to hand sew. She was so proud of me whenever I took it upon myself to make something, rather than her suggesting it. Many a Cabbage Patch Doll outfit was made by these hands!

And my mother is a quilter. She makes the most wonderful traditional American quilts. What's even more special about her quilts, is that he HAND SEWS every single little piece together. And then, she HAND QUILTS it all! Not a machine in sight, until the first side of the binding comes along.

My mother also taught me how to quilt, and how to piece, and how to get every little join absolutely perfectly matched. That's something you cannot do on a machine, no matter how hard you try. And even though a quilt takes many, many months to complete, (or, in my case, several years), in the end, they are one-of-a-kind heirloom pieces, that bring a smile to my face, every time I look at them.

So, I guess hand sewing is in my blood.... on both sides of the family. Don't get me wrong, I love glue ~ I really do! But some things are just more beautiful and delicate and precious when you take the time to put that needle and thread in and out of the fabric.

The pictures you are looking at here, are a 100% hand sewn and hand beaded, One-Of-A-Kind lace bib style necklace that I have created.

It will be in my shop shortly, in the Original Jewellery Designs section...... working on the listing as soon as I finish this blog post, so take a peek in maybe 20 minutes...

(Update - here's a direct link)

(approx 12.30pm Thursday AEST, 9.30pm Wednesday Eastern time for my US friends... and so forth)

It was inspired by another necklace I made, for myself, a month ago. Mine has less bits of lace added, I didn't have as much time to create my own one as I did the new one.

So tell me, do you find yourself creating things in the most satisfying way to you, rather than the quickest way? I'm interested to hear how you work, and what you enjoy. Is it just me who sometimes enjoys that there are ways that can take longer? Maybe it's that I'm enjoying the process and I don't want it to end, do you feel like that?

Natasha xo

Out of the mouths of babes...

Leroy made a card for our Summertime beach neighbours, because he heard that his favourite friend, their beloved dog Sasha, died this week.

(Click on each pic to see enlarged detail and to read the inside...)

(the two yellow things are dog bones, Sasha is in the cloud, the yellow coloured-in shape is a boomerang, my dog Fluffy has the green ears, and the little dog behind her is another dog in doggy heaven.)

Precious.... xo

Shop Update

For those who would like to know, all that fun new stuff in the post below, is now listed in My Shop!

The shop has also had a little tidy up. There's a new section "Sold Items Gallery for Custom Orders". If you are after a custom order, that's a good place to start to get inspiration. There's also a new "Press" section to take a peek at.

Bye for now,

Natasha xo

Getting my mojo back!

Thank you SO much for the wonderful warm well wishes on my last post! You guys rock! You sure know how to make a girl feel loved and all warm and fuzzy inside :)

Sorry I've been slow on the replies, it's with good reason.... you see, I've been working like a mad woman, because I got my mojo back! I've painted some new gowns {which, I have to say, are my newest FAVES}, and rolled off some new prints and things!

{click any picture to enlarge}

They should be added in the next two days ~ sorry I can't give an exact time and day ~ Wednesday is my day of helping out at school, so my computer time is limited. These things are going to take me quite some time to list!

And I did get a little Christmas creating done too....

My most favourite new creations are these super sweet {if I do say so myself!} green leather ice skates!

Oh what a labour of love they were... they're made from a vintage piece of leather that was my grandfather's {he was a shoemaker}, which I punched with his leather hole punch {and got bruised hands in the process!}...
...and I hand cut them, hand stitched the thread and bow... and there's genuine Swarovski crystals on the blade, and mica flakes depicting ice shavings!

Let's not forget the vintage cotton pom poms in the most wonderful shade of soft green...

and the vintage teeny tiny ric-rac hanging loop!

I've also been working on some cupcake paintings and boards, so hopefully, they'll make their way into the shop soon too!

You see, I really have been a mad woman!

Ok well it's time I got off the computer, my eyes are becoming square shaped!

If you'd like to be emailed when all the goodies are listed, please join my mailing list, which you can find on my right sidebar. I will send an email out to my subscriber list as soon as everything is up and ready to go :)

Natasha xo