Nothin' Says Lovin' Like Somethin' From the Kachelofen

Huh?  Let me begin at the beginning.  I received Lee's Marie Antoinette journal a few weeks ago but only got to it this week.  Her sub-theme is recipes and events where the recipe would be appropriate.
Here's how my brain jumped from thought to thought to.... I made up a story in my mind that Marie would at times like to play at being a commoner, and serve up some treats for her kiddies that she herself prepared.  I don't have a clue if this is true or not, but it's a nice idea, so I ran with it.
Then.....I remembered that Marie was not actually French, but Austrian.   This took me back several lifetimes ago to a summer spent wandering about with a Eurail pass and a copy of  Europe on $5 A Day. 

A few wonderful days were spent in Salzburg,  and I definitely remembered touring a castle and gawking at these huge and gorgeous tiled stoves.  I did a little google search and found many beautiful examples.  From this, my pages were born.

A recipe for Parisian macarons, and  Marie with her hand in the oven  kachelofen, getting ready to remove a tray of the dainty morsels for her hungry offspring.

Again, a disclaimer....I made this all up.  Did Marie actually grow up in Austria with kachelofens?   Did she miss them and have one brought to France?  I don't know.  But it made for a good story in my head and I thought, some fun pages to do.

So, here's cookin' with Marie:

Both backgrounds were done with Stampin' Up paper called Presto Patterns.  The paper looks blank, but when you add color (I used Adirondack Colorwash in eggplant and Perfect Pearls Mist in forever violet), the "hidden" embossed pattern emerges.  Makes for an easy and beautiful background.

The recipe (thanks to Martha Stewart, LOL) was printed on vellum.

For the kitchen page.....I printed a photograph of an actual old kachelofen, added color with glaze pens and pastels, and a lot of bling with german scrap, crystals, stickers and enamel accents.

Marie herself is a graphic I snagged from Val (my go-to gal for great images), and I dressed her with ribbon and flowers and bling.

My little narrative (remember, all a figment of my imagination) was also printed on vellum.  The title banner above it is a cool embellishment left over from one of the cruise projects.  It's from Pinkpaislee, and it is a rubbery product, originally white.  I used copper paint on it and some brown ink to age it a bit. 

More Shabby Chic

I enjoyed this week's Compendium of Curiosities challenge so much, I did another....this one with a twist.

The base color is denim, the top coat lettuce.  The stamp is from a Martha Steward bird set.  What's the twist?  I overpainted with some mica paints for a little sparkle.