Gift Vouchers for Christmas

I think Gift Vouchers can be life savers sometimes. Some people are difficult to buy for and to them it would be exciting to browse the shop knowing it won't cost them anything.

On the sidebar there is a button for Gift Vouchers to be used in my Etsy shop. It is via Paypal. All you need to do is click on the button, fill out the particulars on who it is for and how much you would like the voucher to be for and submit. Paypal will make it easy for you.

Featured Seller for December

Elegance is Timeless. That is what drew me to Tatvakala's Etsy shop. So stylish; handmade therefore not mass produced and most importantly, well made. It sets your mind in motion on what combinations you could make, not having to buy a whole set. They make a great Christmas gift as part of a hamper or on their own as a feature pillow.

Tatvakala also has quilted bed sets and is very willing to talk custom in regards to size and colour.

www.tatvakala.etsy.com

I love my work

Jewellery designing is a very competitive business and if I had to live on that alone I'd be scouring people's bin's for scraps lol

About 15 years ago, while sitting in an office, trying to plan my escape from answering phones, filing and typing, I decided to do night school and learn make up artistry. As with most of the starry-eyed students, I had plans of doing theatre, television etc. etc. - but that doesn't pay the bills so I did Wedding make-up for approx. 3 years. That wasn't bad, but my eyes lit up when I saw children's facepainting. Now this would be great fun. So I practiced designs and tried my luck basically running my finger down a list of Facepainters with their own business and cold called. I was in luck! The best move I ever made. Children are so forgiving if you're having a bad day, and just such a delight when they see their faces in the mirror. I can paint for hours and not realise the time has passed.

Breakfast in Venice

This is a beautiful Treasury made by http://www.scintillate.etsy.com/ It captures the mood of Venice perfectly. I was very happy to be a part of it with my Black Venice earrings.

Here's a sneak peak....

Flower Power

I love flowers in everything, fabrics, fashion, photographs ..... so why not jewellery!

Make an Aftershave for the Man in your life

Essential Oils are a must-have in my household for so many reasons. The best book on the uses of these great oils is by Dr. Valerie Ann Worwood, The Fragrant Pharmacy. She covers uses from dealing with skin problems/care, to sickness, to pet care, garden, sports injuries, household cleaning etc. They are super effective, so much cheaper and often times less harmful than off the shelf products. Essential oils are to be used as described in her book though, not more drops than she suggests because they are very concentrated. Most especially if using them for children (can be dangerous to use more oils than suggested). She has a great book dedicated to kids called Aromatherapy for the Healthy Child.

Here is an Aftershave Splash which you can adjust to your own olfactory tastes.
20ml Witchazel
60ml Rosewater
10ml cider of vinegar
10ml tincture of benzoin
Bay Ess Oil 6 drops
Lemon 6 drops
Lavender 2 drops
Rosemary 10 drops
Lime 3 drops

Add the essential oils to the benzoin and shake well for at least a minute. Then add the witch-hazel and shake again, then the rosewater and vinegar and shake again.

Introducing Madam Cachoo !!

First it was my sister sewing from Vintage patterns now it's my niece, Rebecca! She will soon be opening up her funky shoes, clothing and accessories shop with the fantastic name of Madam Cachoo. Her shop is in renovations at the moment but get a sneak peek here on her Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Madam-Cachoo/78779312542

New Idea for Home Parties

Do you do home parties to sell your craft? My sister hosted a party for me yesterday, asked all the primary school mums to come along, 8 confirmed 5 turned up. Not bad. I've done parties before where 20 people were invited and not one person turned up, the sound of crickets was deafening.

I've altered the way I set up a party now because as someone who doesn't actually like attending them (over Tupperware, Nutri-Metrics etc), I tried making it easier to attend. Making it open house between the hours of say 2pm to 4pm, so people can turn up within that time frame, more flexibility and they don't have to listen to a loooonnnng introduction spiel. Handing out business cards so that they can view my shop prior to coming.

Now though, I'm thinking up a new plan and that is to do a home party where the host doesn't have to go to the trouble of preparing nibblies and clearing a space for my jewellery. They still get the benefits you would if you held a party at your house but they can ask, for example, 10 friends to have a look at my website and let her know if they would be interested in buying. The hostess then would get 10% of every $100 sold plus an initial $20 worth of jewellery (on the proviso that there are at least a certain amount in sales reached). Does that make sense? Still mulling it over in my head.

MUSIC!

Who doesn't love music. As someone who's main passion is dance, they go hand in hand. I am often drawn towards music that I think would suit choreography so I like certain Soundtracks. The modern day classical composers. One of my favourite Composers is Hans Zimmer. He has such a broad range. He doesn't seem to get stuck in a rut. I love that. This soundtrack is from the fantastically fun new Sherlock Holmes movie with the gorgeous Robert Downey Jnr. It's called Discombobulate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zIzy3laQck

And here's another Composer well worth listening to, suggested by http://www.etsy.com/shop/brightcircle . It's James Newton Howard who did the score for movies like The Village, King Kong http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzHpN63nOns&feature=related I could easily listen to this while working on my jewellery.

Beautiful New Zealand

My sister and I took a trip to New Zealand approx. 3 years ago. I wanted to go somewhere that firstly, we could afford, and secondly where you were awe struck by the grandness and beauty of the nature. I live in flat lands and so I'd never seen vast mountain ranges before and the first thing we did when we got off the plane was to take a train trip from the North/East to the North/West of New Zealand. It was a chilly cold day but we stayed most of the trip in the outside carriage (I felt like a dog with its head out the car window lol). It was an amazing experience for me. I'm surprised I didn't swallow a fly, my mouth was open for most of the trip. It felt like the beginning of time and I was waiting for dinosaurs to pop their heads around one of the mountains. Here are a couple of photos.

RECIPE DAY - Maltese Sweets

As promised I'll be posting Maltese recipes that my family have made down the years. Today's recipe is a very mildly sweet chocolate pudding. I don't know about you but I like my sweets to be 'not soooo sweet'.

1 Vienna loaf
4 Tablespoons of Cocoa
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 tbsp of jam (you can mix different jams)
1/2 pkt of chopped walnuts
2 tbsp dessicated coconut
1/2 pkt mixed fruit (I personally use less of this)
1/2 cup custard powder
3/4 cup of sherry
Level tspn of mixed spices

First cut the bread into small cubes and then soak in tepid water till soft and mushy and then squeeze the water out of the bread. Blend all ingredients together using your hands. Place a layer approx 2 inches thick.

Preheat oven to 180C then cook for approx. 30 minutes or until firmly spongy. Once cool sprinkle with icing sugar.

Then, most importantly, eat.

Photography Before and Afters - Getting Clever with Props

Etsy really does keep you on your toes. I'm constantly reviewing my photos as I realise that the number one attraction to your site is your photography. So I was umming and ahhhing the other day thinking, what else can I do to make my pictures look sharper, more interesting and I decided to use Props!

I have to say, I'm quite happy with how they turned out. I'll post some before and after shots.

The most natural and affordable Skincare Treatment

All from your kitchen and bathroom cupboard!! How's this for easy and affordable and if you don't mind a bit of egg on your face, apparently effective. Doesn't cost much to try.

Make-up Remover - This is a make-up remover I created for myself at home. I use a 50ml glass bottle that I can clean and re-use. I fill it up a third of the way with Rosewater (I buy from middle eastern food shop to use in my cooking and coffee), 2 tspns of natural shampoo which is free of harsh chemicals bought from the health food store. 1 tspn of Glycerine (to mobilise the make-up) and the rest water. Don't shake the bottle but move it to blend. Try a cotton bud and see if it works at removing your caked on mascara and if not you may need to add a little more glycerine or shampoo. Super effective and Cheap!

Exfoliator - Just mix Honey & Salt and apply! How easy is that?

Mask - Slap a bit of Yoghurt on your face, leave for 5-10 minutes and then rinse.

Dark Circles - Boil some Tea (doesn't matter which kind) add sliced cucumber pieces and then put in the fridge to chill. Then apply the cucumber slices to your eyes.

Moisturiser - Olive Oil, Lime Juice and 1 egg. Mix together and apply!

Next week I'll add other recipes using base creams, the marvellous Rose Hip Oil and essential oils.

A Vintage Treasury

I just made another Treasury. Wanting to help out my sister showcase her work so I made a fabulous Vintage collection of must haves.

Knitting Magic

I don't know what it is about knitting, but somehow whenever I try to make anything extra stitches magically appear on my needles, and then just as I'm close to finishing 100 rows, I find a hole in the 2nd.

Anyway, my sister is very happy with her short, hole filled red pure wool jumper I took 3 years to make.

Now I'm attempting to make my little niece the plainest of dresses, so nothing can go wrong can it? lol Except I'm stuck at the armhole, need to find myself a knitting guru who can translate pattern speak.

I found a fantastic website with the most gorgeous knitting patterns that are modern and fashionable. So often knitting patterns tend to be daggy remnants from the 1950's New Idea magazines. It's called Rebecca-Online Magazine. You can download individual patterns (they even have quite a few for free) or you can order the whole magazine which is packloaded with patterns. Definitely value for money. They also allow you to browse about 10 pages of each season's magazine so you can see what your getting. Addicted!

RECIPE DAY - Maltese

As you may be able to tell from my surname, I have Maltese heritage. Most people know Italian, Indian, Greeks recipes but I wonder how many know Maltese? So I've decided to have a recipe Saturday (or Friday depending on where you live).

QASATAT (? sp) It's pronounced Us-ah-tut (I think lol)

Ingredients

Short Pastry
3 medium onions
1 bunch silverbeet
4oz anchovies
1/2 lb green olives (chopped)
mint
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
parsley
2 tins of minted peas

Fry onion in oil then all other ingredients. Add 1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice and some chopped parsley. Taste the ingredients and if necessary add salt.

Cut pastry with a saucer sized circle cutter (you could cut around the outline of the saucer itself). With the left over pastry roll and cut into smaller circles. Wet the edge of the larger circle, add some filling and then gather up to meet smaller circle and pinch closed. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for approx 15 minutes or until golden.

Scrumdidlyumptious!

Introducing Leonora's Boutique

http://www.leonorasboutique.etsy.com

My sister Leonora has just today posted her first item for sale in her new Etsy shop! She makes all the clothes herself and with some items, as with the top in the photo, she uses Vintage patterns. She's planning on adding a mix of different styles of clothes, for women, children, babies. At the moment she's working on the most gorgeous baby shoes in vibrant colours. I can't wait to see her shop filled up.

Personalised Photo Pendants

A great way to commemorate special moments. A keepsake to pass on to family or maybe you want to add a picture of your newborn baby or your beloved pet.
16mm Sterling silver on Sterling Silver chain.

My Latest Jewellery in a YouTube video