Wedding invitations and stationary by MamaTita

Summer months are ideal for weddings. Beautiful weather, flowers and the overall vacation mood make summers a perfect time for a wedding. With these thoughts in mind I came across a talented artist Nadezhda from MamaTita who makes wedding invitations and stationary. Nadezhda was very kind to talk to me about her art of making paper cutouts for weddings.



Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Nadezhda and I currently live in Latvia, Europe. I’m a very creative and artistic personality, although I don’t have a degree in either design or art. On one hand I’ve always dreamed about becoming a professional actress and an improviser. On the other hand I always longed for a family and children. Being a realistic person I perfectly understand that it’s hard to be a successful actress and a full time mom at the same time. After having my son I’ve shelved my theatrical plans and devoted myself to my family. All my creativity and artistic inspirations are now being channeled into my wedding invitations and stationary business.



How did you start making paper cutouts?
I always loved paper. Paper is a very rewarding material. Its flexibility and functionality opens up a lot of possibilities for creativity. The supply of art paper on the market is unbelievable and it very much helps in making the creative process more productive and rewarding.

The art of origami always fascinated me as well. As a hobby I buy tones of books about origami and create very sophisticated and intricate origami pieces.



What inspires you?
I’m always looking for new card stock and paper. There are so many amazing paper products out there and they serve as a huge source of inspiration for me.

Once I have a new idea in my head I rush to turn it into a finished product. I cannot usually wait till all the details of a new project sort out in my head. I need to act immediately. I create new designs step by step fixing and improving them on the go.

I’ve recently started experimenting with self hardening clay. I create cake toppers and other items for weddings out of the clay. Clay objects have very smooth surfaces and the material is very nice to touch and work with.



Thank you, Nadezhda!

Coconut Macaroons recipe

These yummy and simple to make coconut macaroons were baked by Andrei Utkin. An inspiration came from David Lebovitz recipes book "Ready for Dessert".

You will need:
8 egg whites
2 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
5 cups dried unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan we mix together egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut, flour and vanilla. We cook the mixture gently over a medium-low heat until the bottom just begins to sizzle. Let the mixture cool a bit.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. With your fingers form 1 and 1/2 inch pyramids out of the mixture and place them on the baking sheets.

Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway during baking, until the macaroons are evenly deep golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let macaroons cool on the baking sheets.
The recipe makes about 60 macaroons.

Bright red spring flowers and jewelry

On my way back home I picked up a few beautiful red flowers. They look a bit like roses but have no scent at all. I just finished creating my new red earrings and those flowers were a great match in terms of color and shape. Assembled next to each other both flowers and my earrings look bright and juicy.

The red clear beads I used for creating the earrings are made in Czech Republic. They are of a very interesting cut and look rather like huge rubies. I totally fell in love with them and will spend next few weeks thinking about other designs I could incorporate them in.

Red Berry summer bracelet

I love bright colors of the summer: red as a berry, blue as the sky or the ocean, yellow as a sunflower. They bring so much positive energy and create a happy attitude. Besides we usually wear bright and airy dresses in the summer and it's always nice to complement them with equally vivid accessories. Bracelets are wonderful additions to any outfit as they are non-distractive and easy to wear. One can put a few of them to experiment and mix of colors.

I usually make my bracelets of wire and Czech glass beads. I should admit the Czech beads are the best as they are of very good quality and come in huge selection of shapes and colors. This time I created bright red berry bracelet that looks fantastic on one's hand. It's not flashy but stylish, elegant and fits one's hand just perfectly. It could be a great wedding accessory or something a woman or a girl could wear every day.

Sponge Cake with custard and fruits on top

I would like to share a recipe for a very easy, yummy and beautiful sponge cake with custard and fruits.

For the sponge cake you will need:
- a few kiwis
- a pack of strawberries
- a pack of Dr. Oetker's organic custard
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of flower

I start with mixing eggs, sugar and flour together. Since my recipe is an easy one I don't complicate the process by mixing eggs with sugar first and later carefully adding flour. I mix everything right away. You won't get a pie 5 inches tall but you'll still get a nice cake! It takes good 15 minutes to mix everything up well. The goal is to double or triple the original volume of the mixture.

I bake the mix for around 30 minutes at 365F and when the pie is ready I let it cool and cut it horizontally in half. While my mix is in the oven I cut fruits and prepare Dr. Oetker's custard.

After the pie is cool and cut I pour warm custard on one half, cover it with the second half, pour the rest of the custard on top and nicely arrange pieces of fruits on the very top. After 30 minutes our cake is ready! Bon Appetite!



For those who like baking I would like to share a link to a recipe of a pizza with anchovies and blue cheese . I recently came across the recipe on a blog of Lana living in Argentina. I've never bakes anything like that before. It sounded super yummy and will be my next baking project!

Felted flower pin in wine and fuchsia

Felted flower brooches and pins are my favorites. I create them in my spare time when my kids go to beg at night. They don't take too long to create and yet such brooches can completely change the way one looks. If you wear a neutral or gray colored sweater to work one day and add a brightly colored felted flower brooch to the very same sweater the next day your colleagues will notice the difference! Brooches are wonderful accessories and they make a huge difference in the way one looks!

Cheese bread Khachapuri from Georgia

Have you heard how delicious Georgian (a beautiful country in the Caucuses) cuisine is? With a wide variety of meat and vegetable dishes spiced with unique herbs it is one of the most appetizing cuisines in Europe.
The Georgian dish we like to cook is called "Khachapuri" which means farmers cheese with bread. It somewhat resembles cheese pizzas, cheese bread and calzones all together and is cooked using salted cheese or feta.

To prepare the right dough one should use Kefir a fermented milk drink available in most supermarkets across the U.S. Adding Kefir to the dough will make it soft and partly fermented. The stuffing is prepared from any type of salted cheese preferably Feta which is also available in most supermarkets. There should be enough cheese as the total volume of the stuffing should twice exceed the volume of the dough.

Khachapuri or Georgian cheese bread is cooked on frying pans one at a time. They fry very fast (approximately 5 minutes on each side) and, thus, don't require much cooking time. In Georgia Khachapuri is very popular as a fast food dish either at home or in numerous fast food restaurants all over the country.

Mojito east treasury

It's getting hot and our favorite Mojito is turning into a lifesaver! Just mix some mint, lime, sugar, rum, refreshingly cold ice cubes and you will get a party perfect Mojito! Hurray!

I've included the following talented fellow Etsians in this new and fresh Mojito treasury:
EightSeasons, yevgenia, Lori411, JuliaFelt, TonyaUtkina, Arctida, VitalTemptation, MyWayToSay, JaneBoFelt, printube, thequietcanadian, lucysnowephotography, lightkeeping, littlebugjewelry, herbolution, NeroliHandmade