I shit you not; tonight I built a lasagne in less than 10 minutes.  It's Cubs night for the sprogs which means we have a little under an hour and a half to eat, do homework and get them washed and dressed and ready to go.  I'm horrid at planning for these things so I'm constantly lacking frozen chicken nuggets and french fries and things that smart mums would have in their homes in order to accomodate these things.  It's also two days before payday so there wasn't enough dosh in the cellar to dole out for take out.

Here's the recipe:

1 large can of whole tomatoes, drained
1 medium onion
5 cloves of garlic
1 handful fresh parsley
1 handful fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp chipotle peppers

Toss the lot of that into the food processor and whiz for about 2.2 seconds. Line the bottom of the pan with that. Add a layer of oven-ready noodles (I make so much more lasagne since I've discovered these). Add a layer of meaty/vegetably goodness (I used leftover, thinly sliced, roast beef from last night). Top that with more sauce. Add another layer of noodles. Top that with cottagey/ricotta cheese (I used a blend of the two plus a handful of parmano thrown in because it reduces the soggy factor). More sauce. Repeat and stuff. Top with a pantload of mozza and shov'er in the cooker for about 30 mins at 400.

Yay Lasagne!

Looking to have a good time and a drink.

Whoa!  A what now?  Where does one find one of these 'teflon stickers'?

I've been itching for a teflon foot for my husky for ages but they're so bloody expensive - if I could just buy 'stickers' I would be a very happy camper indeed.

That is too cute. 

oooOOOooo...I love Billy.

Did you make the stencil?  I have a red American Eagle skirt I've been wanting to stencil Billy onto but haven't found the right stencil.  If you'd share I'd love you forever.

I love this corset recon.  I particularly like how you used your machine to embellish it and the contrast in colours. 

That completely rocks. 

I love the green one.  Using your dress form as a model was a great idea too.  I'm going to steal it for next time, if you don't mind 

Hi y'all.  The following projects are the first beaded jewellry projects I've ever done.  I'm usually the seamstressy type craftster, but I scored a bunch of stone beads at a trade show and got inspired.  

Sorry the pics are crap...I used my sister's digicam as I lost the USB cable for mine =(

I'm all about randomness and colour (I can't follow a recipe or a sewing pattern and my mum says that 'consitency is the key to success' so I thought I should probably not bother with beading.  Maybe one day I'll work up to those fiddly designs.

This one is the first I did.  Carnelian, jade teardrops and ivory seadbeads in a necklace and bracelet for my red-headed mum:



Next is for my Dad's girlfriend.  She's got whiter than white hair and a beautiful youthful face.  It has quartz cubes & purple seedbeads but  I'm not sure what that pinky coloured stone is.  It may be rose quartz but it's more purple (though the pic makes it look brownish) and smokey than any rose quartz I've seen.



And last one is for my kids Dad's girlfriend.  She's very hippie and brunette and is always wearing sweaters, so I thought something long and dangly which could be worn in a variety of ways would be nice.  I'm not sure I like the length (it's very long - I can wear it as a belt with lots to spare) but I'll leave it as is for the moment.  She gets this lariat style necklace (modelled by my sister) which has green lace agate diamonds, goldstone chips and lemon jade spheres:



That's it, that's all.  Feedback is certainly appreciated.

Kate Bush wrote a song called (originally enough) 'The Red Shoes' based on the Hans Christian Anderson* story.  If you can dig up the video, there's some really stunning imagery and inspiration.







*leave it to me to correct a literary reference