Merry Christmas!

I just checked the clock and realised it's 12.30am so it's officially Christmas here.

We went to church at Leroy's school earlier and sang Christmas Carols & then ended Mass with a rendition of "Happy Birthday". It was a lovely service and the kids all sat up on the altar the entire time {trying not to misbehave too much}!

So I'll take this opportunity to wish you the most wonderful, joyous and peaceful Christmas this year...

...and a safe and Happy New Year 2010!

Thank you for visiting my blog this year, it has been a thrill "meeting" you...

...and thank you for your kind words and support throughout 2009.

We're heading off to the beach in a few days, as it's Summer time here in Australia. We have some friends staying here at our home, babysitting it while we are away. But if you email me, don't worry ~ they won't have my inbox open, so I'll be able to access any emails via webmail at the internet cafe that I'll be visiting once or twice a week.

... and I'll be updating my blog and visiting as many blogs as half an hour at the internet cafe allows me!

These past few days have been stressful {and for reasons unrelated to shopping, I was actually organised in that department}, so I can't wait to get away from it all for a while.

I'll be taking along my supplies, and have some orders and new things to work on, as well as some "just for fun" stuff like making pom poms and knitting skinny tube things with my new little tools. I'm even going to attempt making felt ball beads!

Best of all, hubby has just over a week off so he can rest. {I hope I didn't just jinx it...}

Until next time,

Enjoy Christmas this year, and have a lovely New Year!

Natasha xo

"I'll never bake again!"

In my last post I showed you a Christmas Village faux Cake I made, while making some gift cakes. So I thought I'd better show you one of the gift cakes {scatter brained me forgot to photograph the other before it was given!}

This one went to a girl after my own heart ~ one whose favourite colour is green, and who loves it combined with pink.

All I had to do was make a cake that I would love, to know that she would love it!

She is always baking, trying out new recipes and cooking old Italian ones passed down through her family. She has a glass domed cake stand on her bench, and likes to always have it filled with something, hence the constant baking!

However, now I think I created a problem for her hubby and daughters...

She loved it so much that she excitedly proclaimed, "I'll never bake again!"

Oops!! Sorry family, I only meant for this to fill the space when she didn't feel like baking...

Until tomorrow {Christmas Eve!},

Natasha xo

Christmas Village Cake

While making a few faux cakes & cupcakes this year as Christmas gifts, I decided to make myself a cake to keep, a Christmas Village Cake. I'm loving how it turned out!

I made little hills and mounds and added piped bits of white to add to the "snowy" look. Ironic, since it's Summer here in Australia!

I'd love to spend one Christmas in the snow. I think that's all I could handle of that white cold stuff though!!!

I know I'd get pretty sick of something that takes away my choice of leaving the house!

How do you guys cope with so much snow? I've seen tons of it on blogs these past few days, like 21 inches thick of it...yikes!

For now, I think I'll stick to the faux stuff, and enjoy the beautiful Summer weather we're having.

Have a lovely few days before Christmas, and I'll do my bestest to come back tomorrow. Not sure of my chances since we have niece & nephew sleeping over. I hope I am a patient and kind mother and aunty tomorrow!

Bye for now,

Natasha xo

So in love....

Oops, I know, I already broke my pact and missed a day of blogging... I was totally exhausted yesterday, to the point of going to bed by 8.30pm. Those who know me, know that is insane for me, who is often up at 2am... even 3am... we've had Christmas functions, and other things on, as most people do.

One other thing in our weekend was attending the wedding of one of my most beautiful friends that I met while studying at University. She's the last of our little "group" to tie the knot, and one of the most deserving of happiness.

She was one of the most stunning brides I have ever seen in my life. I was so happy for her, that she has found such love and happiness in her life.

See how beautiful she is? She's also completely adorable on the inside, and would do anything for you. She and her groom were always smiling happily at each other throughout the church service and at the reception. They are so in love, it's so beautiful.

This was actually the first time I've ever met the groom! How's that, you say? Well, he lives on the other side of the world for a little while longer! My friend has been living part time here, and part time in London. I found out through the bride's mother's speech that it's only the 2nd time she has met the groom. It shows what a wonderful loving couple they are, that her family are so comfortable with her marrying him.

First impressions sure do last, and he really did impress!

Her dress was totally gorgeous. All hand beaded and divine.... she is such a beautiful character, that even the dress designer became her friend and was invited to the wedding.

It was a 20s themed wedding, and people looked wonderful. The reception was at a beautiful place in the heart of the city. Really elegant and classy

The floral arrangements and the bridal party's flowers were all done by one of her friends {yes, she's a professional florist!}. Absolutely gorgeous!

O.M.G. have you ever seen a cake like this before? Out of this world!!! The little cakes had little silver cachous on them, some with the bride's and groom's initials. So adorable.

The lovely, loving couple...

Cool nine piece band, Frankie Wants Out {click on their name to hear them play on their myspace page} played swing music and had people dancing in their fringed dresses all night

More of the beautiful bride in that divine dress...

Uni pals 15 years later

{and a shot of my cute hubby there on the left}

So I mentioned I was going to wear the bride's original shoes, that made her too tall for the groom, in my last post. That's them on the left, the gold ones with the designer's famous red soles, 6" heels in all their glory.

Well, they lasted some of the night, and I didn't fall in them! I alternated between them and the flip flop flats next to them. This was so that I could actually be able to walk the next day! Our uni friend two pics up gave up on her black heels too. We ended up with a pile of shoes for a while there!!

All in all, a wonderful day. I'm so happy for the bride and groom. The bride is such a dear sweet person, who deserves all the happiness in the world, and more. She gives so much, it's time for her to have her turn at a happy life. And he seems the perfect guy to give her that.

Until next time,

Natasha xo

20% off all Christmas Items for 4 days only!

For 4 days only, I've taken 20% off all Christmas items in my shop here. They'll be mailed 24 - 31 December. Happy Shopping!

My favourite vintage ornaments

I know it's after midnight {2.30am to be precise}, but I'm counting this towards my "one post per day until Christmas" pact I have with myself. I've been up finishing off a painting for a wedding gift tomorrow. Of course I left the details until the last minute!

So today, I'm going to show you some of my very favourite vintage ornaments. I don't have a lot, since they are very hard to come by in Australia. But the ones I do have, I love to pieces. They all live on a white tree in our bedroom's bay window, which gets lots of afternoon sunlight ~ about as white a Christmas as we'll get here down under!

Enjoy the vintage ornament parade!

Tomorrow, I'll let you know how I went wearing a borrowed pair of Christian Louboutin 6" heels to my friend's wedding. They were supposed to be her shoes but she was 3" taller than the groom in them, so I get to wear them to her wedding for her. Oh gosh, the things we do for our friends... ha!!!

Until tomorrow!

Natasha xo