Artwork..... with love ......from Spirit

How incredible is this! Over the past year I’ve seen my lovely friend Wendy van der Laan deliver these beautiful spirit guide and elemental artworks to their recipients with awe and admiration.

It wasn’t until yesterday when I picked up the beautiful piece she had channelled for our family (yes there are spirit guides and messages in this for myself, my husband and my children) was I blown away by the pure unconditional love emanating from her artwork. 

There are faces upon faces upon faces, so much to explore and her skill in bringing the drawings to life is exquisite. 

This is the kind of artwork that promises hours, upon hours, upon hours of staring time. 

Wendy explains her spiritual artworks of charcoal and pastel chalks are visual messages of love, guidance and healing from your own soul. She works in meditation from a photo of you and allows the images and layers to evolve over several hours. 

I feel such a strong connection with my piece. I had intended it to go in my hallway , towards the entrance, like a beautiful welcome home and soul blueprint for our family. But when I saw it I knew it must go straight to my sacred space, where I meditate and give Shiatsu, in the back studio. This artwork needs room to breathe, and to be viewed while seated comfortably, rather than on foot when passing by. Wendy suggested I sit back and meditate with it, and see if any messages come through. So far I’ve sat for a short amount of time with this portrait, I’ve felt so much love from one being in particular and my heart expands immensely connecting with the energy. There’s so much more to explore, so many more beings to connect with. Whenever I see it I feel tremors of joy shimmering through my body.

It’s a treasure I’ll never part with. 

Wendy can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/artfromtheheartbywendy 

Eggplant and Lentil Casserole

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 1 brown onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• a generous pinch of mixed dried herbs
• 1 large or 2 small eggplants, chopped
• 1 zucchini
• 1 bunch silverbeet
• 1 tin lentils
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tin tomatoes
• dash of red wine (optional)
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 350g of Ricotta
• 2 eggs
• 1 ball of mozzerella
• Salt and Pepper to taste, fresh basil or parsley to garnish

1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Chop the onion and garlic. Chop the eggplant in 1 - 2 cm pieces. Pour a glug of olive oil in  large casserole dish on the stove top and turn heat to medium,.
3.  Pop in 2 of the garlic cloves and saute for 30 seconds. Add the eggplant and stir to coat in oil. Add 2/3 cup of stock. Cover with lid and let simmer, stirring occasionally.
4. When the eggplant has reduced by 2/3 scrape off the bottom of the pan and remove. Add the onion and brown, adding a pinch of salt and the herbs after a few minutes with a little bit of the the stock. Add in the other garlic clove, tomato paste, the tin of tomatoes, the wine. Let it simmer a little, add in the zucchini, and silverbeet. Simmer and stir for about 7 minutes until the silverbeet has completely wilted and cooked, add in the lentils and return the eggplant back to the pot. Mix up and cook through.
5. Meanwhile beat the eggs into the ricotta cheese, and tear up the mozzarella. You can start adding bits of the mozzarella to the casserole dish and stir through. When the whole mixture is bubbly, take off heat and sprinkle some mozzarella over the top, covered by a thick layer of the Ricotta mixture, add remaining mozzarella to the top.
6. Pop in the oven for 30 minutes.  Season to taste and garnish with fresh herbs. Your casserole is ready to serve.

Beautiful Home: Make a meaningful cushion cover (for busy women)

One of the beauties of living is that we can continually reinvent ourselves and our surroundings to better reflect who and what we are in that moment.

 They say a change is as good as a holiday, right?

I was bored of my couch cushions and looking for an update. I found I need not look further then my cupboard. Inside was an old torn sarong, gifted by a past lover. The affair was fleeting but the sarong has been hanging around for almost 12 years. Its purples and blues have faded beautifully, and the texture so soft and perfect for resting a weary head.

I wrapped an existing cushion and was pleased with the way it perched on my couch, oh so hip. For the next couple of weeks I continued to wrap the cushion, remaking the couch daily and also adjusting other various throws and pillows, all of which my husband would swipe into the corner nightly as he settled in for some TV time.

This would not do. I was tired of picking up and re-wrapping cushions. This sarong needed to become the cushion cover it was pretending to be, for real.

So this is the busy mamas guide to whipping up a slap-dash cushion cover that looks super cool like it cost at least $89.95.

You need:

• A cushion you would like to recover. If you don’t have one try an op-shop, or inserts can be purchased from fabric and ‘haberdashery’ stores.

• Fabric: Use anything that is cushion appropriate as long as you have enough fabric to cover it, like your baby’s clothes that no longer fit, an old dress, anything beautiful that catches your eye. You know what you want in your home, seek it out.

• Sewing pins, sewing scissors, a sewing machine, thread.

• A zip that is slightly smaller then one side of the cushion. You may need to measure this with a ruler or measuring tape.

Instructions:

Remove current cushion cover.

Pin cover to fabric.

Cut a around three edges of the cushion cover leaving about an inch (2.5cm) leeway for hemming. No need for measurements here, you have eyes after all.

This is the hard part: You need to unpin the cushion cover and then flip it over ON THE SIDE THAT YOU HAVE NOT YET CUT. Don’t bother about the inch hem allowance for the edge you have just flipped over, because you don’t need it.

Pin the cushion cover down again, and cut around the other three edges, leaving the inch allowance for the hem on these outer edges.

You should now have a rectangular cutting that is twice the length of the cushion cover.

Decide which side is the ‘right' side meaning the side that needs to be on the outside of the finished product, and then fold the fabric so the right sides are facing each other. To repeat that again, face the right sides inwards.

Pin two edges together, and sew them, Use up most of your inch for the hem, but not the full inch. I’ll let you be the judge.

Stitch down the sides again for a doubly strong cushion (if you care for such formalities, If you’re too busy, bah).

Ok this is where we attach the zip. You will have one side of the cushion that is completely open. Turn down each raw edge 1cm, pin and and sew. This will make it look nice and neat when you attach the zip.

Unzip the zip, and pin one side of the zip to one of the edges, taking care to place the zip exactly where you would like your zip to be.

Use the zip foot of your sewing machine. Sew that side of the zip that is pinned. Good Ok, now you need to pin the other side of the zip, When you pin, pin from the base of the zip to ensure the zip is flat once you have finished sewing. If you pin from the top of the zip your cushion zipper could get a bit bunched up and bubbly.

With the cushion inside out, make sure all edges are finished up, snip away excess threads, turn out the right way, insert your insert, close your zipper and viola! Throw it on the couch and admire your good work.

You’re gorgeous, and so is your home.

PS. My husband blew his nose of the fabric scraps and gave me the idea of turning the remainder of the sarong into hankies. Genius.