July 2007 – Page 2 – Karla's Cottage

A Bounty From Beth, Baubles and Blooms

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, flowers, jewelry, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2007

Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ had so many great things for me today in our swap!!!! Old wallpapers, a cool box full of stuff, pictures, post cards, a how to paint roses book (love it) a scrapbook, old lace rolled up on a clothes pin, cards, Valentines, and three mini bottles to decorate. She suggested I make "purse fairies" to put in them, so I’ll always have a fairy with me.

And look! Old photos of lovely ladies!

I know I tend to go on about being a Lucky Person, but I do think I am lucky to have a friend like Beth. Not only does she have cool stuff (and she shares it)- we can talk for hours about anything or nothing and have a great time together.

When we are old, we’ll still be buddies like these guys.

I’m afraid we didn’t get around to making our Silver Bella projects today, we got caught up in Estate Sales in Kansas City and couldn’t stop.

I bought these two necklaces that are along the lines of what I collect. I rarely find them for such good prices anymore, so don’t buy very often, these were $20 and $25! (they are sitting on a table that I faux finished)

So, we got to talking about jewelry, (along with gossiping about our blog friends and what they are all doing and who said what and who showed what on their site this week).

Beth showed me these pieces that she got from her Grandma. Even better, hers are sentimental. But, I have never seen her wear them, she isn’t a jewel person.

I, on the other hand, AM a jewel person! Love the old stuff, or hand made things from old pieces. Here are some I pieced together myself with old bits that I collect.

I really like this green one, but I never wear green. Sometimes I wear the necklace with a black tee shirt and jeans since I don’t own green clothes.

The pink Chzeck glass necklace is the first I bought, and it is just as I found it, didn’t need any redoing at all. It is my favorite and started the whole obsession with these glass stones. I wear this one all the time, it seems to match everything I have!! When I bought it, I was worried that I had spent too much, and felt bad about buying something so expensive for myself for no reason, and 20 years later, I am still wearing it, and am so glad I got it! And it wasn’t that much, only $45, but at the time, that was quite extravagant and I almost didn’t get it. All of the others cost under $30.

Sissy gave me the round purple pieces that I used to make the chain for this one. She made earrings for me from them too, and they are my one of my favorite things. I don’t own purple clothes either, but I do wear this color jewelry a lot with white or black tee shirts (I have boring clothes).

These two I bought at a flea mkt this spring, and will probably clean up and sell instead of keep. I have plenty! And I work at home, and usually wear paint clothes, so don’t always have a place to go to wear jewelry.

Although I did have somewhere to go tonight! I was invited to a Lawrence Art Guild party at a friend’s house.

She had the most beautiful, wild, rambling gardens!

I spent some time chasing down this butterfly.

Pam has a funky old wooden ladder that she uses to brace her holly hocks.

I loved the chaos of the garden, it all seemed so natural and unplanned, but she has a degree in horticulture, so I do think that she spent time planning it!

We had a nice evening of sipping wine, exploring the gardens (oh there are lots more than these!) and talking art with friends.

Sister Swaps, Buddy Swaps, and some Freebies for you

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, give away, how to's, paintings, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 18, 2007

I have had the best day! I missed having time on my own in the studio in the last couple of weeks. Now, I loved the guests and I loved the trip and babysitting the fairy grand baby is a beautiful way to spend time, but man, I missed my studio!!

I worked all day (well, since noon at least, I had errands to run this morning) and my husband is out of town, if I want to, I can power up with a power bar and work all night too.

I am in the Art Doll Hat swap hosted by http://craftingbycandlelight.blogspot.com/ and have been making plans for that, but also, my sis and I decided to swap art doll hats, both using the same picture.

So, here is what I made for her. Sissy loves to collect, wear, hoarde, and buy tons of jewelry, so I decked out my doll in jewels.

She likes holographic papers too, so I used a gold holographic party hat for a base. The over skirt is my favorite scrap booking paper, a blue with roses. Over that is a bit torn off of an old curtain I found in a dumpster, I thought it tied in with the upper part of the dress in the picture.

I added some gold glitter to compliment the holographic base.

The crown/hat on the doll’s head is also scrapbook paper that is glittered up with a rhinestone button added. The button was given to me by my great aunt Caroline who just turned 99 this week.

I gave the doll some vintage flowers to hold and wrapped them up in ribbons to match her dress. I hope that Sissy likes the hat better than the Dorkies did. Twinks refused to wear it and Sparkle wore it grudgingly.

Here is the doll that Sissy made for me, look at that great skirt! And the magic wand!! I love it!!

Lets see, what else did I get done today? I made mailable art for Michelle Wards challenge this month. http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/ I wasn’t going to participate this month, because it isn’t my style, but I saw envelopes I really liked at http://pennyrabbitart.typepad.com/penny_rabbit_art/2007/07/gpp-crusade-mai.html and thought I’d try the spray paint technique.

Here is the front, (and I bought pretty stamps to use too). Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/gathering_dust/2007/07/beginner-mail-a.html is also doing this challenge, and she is offering to give hers away. Part of the challenge is to actually use them in the mail.

So, if you want one (ask Beth for hers, she might still have some) or ask me. I’ll mail them to the first 4 people who ask for one. Who knows, maybe there will be a little something tucked inside them??? Also, leave a comment if you want to enter July’s drawing for a Cottage Collage Kit.

Speaking of Beth, she and I are doing a crafting day tomorrow in her new studio. We are also swapping bags of paper goods.

Trouble is, SHE HAS EVERYTHING. What do you trade to someone who has the best selection of craft goods on the planet???

A letter from the School for the Feebleminded written in 1931. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she already has one.

I also got two rolls of this textured, paint-able wallpaper border at Goodwill today for 99 cents each. I cut off a length with 3 medallions, glazed it in umber, and added roses to the middle oval. I included a couple single ovals too, she can add a picture, or who knows what, these are COOL for collage work!

Ipacked up some odds and ends of old papers for Beth and while I was at it, I made up more Cottage Collage Kits for Etsy. These four are all neutral colors.

I included some of the glazed wallpaper pieces, papers from 1913-1930, a millinery flower, old buttons, pictures, lace, quite a bit actually. I haven’t listed them yet, if you want one they are $14 plus shipping. Oh, I made up 3 aqua themed packs too. It is surprising how long and involved that process is.

Then, I set the table for Friday’s Mini Spa Day at Home for the new mom. Yes, I know I am early, but I won’t be using the table and setting it up is so fun.

People have mentioned to me that maybe the new mother shouldn’t soak in the tub. But, she and her mother are both RNs, so I am not worried about it, they know what is safe to do. I have an assortment of bath enhancers, she can decide for herself if she wants to use one or not, or just enjoy the jacuzzi as it is. I like to use the Vaseline Intensive Care Bath beads. I think it is pretty gentle, but I’ll leave it up to my guest. Thanks for caring about her and warning me.

Well, I need to pack up a bag of stuff to take to Beth’s to work on tomorrow. We are doing Silver Bella stuff!! Yay, Bellas!! Can’t wait.

Cherubs, Dolls, Fairies, and a real life Dollbaby

Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 17, 2007

What a nice day I have had. I spent most of it with the fairy grand baby, then took my niece to see Harry Potter. On the way home, I rented a copy of Miss Potter to watch tonight, and thought maybe I should eat a Pot Pie with it. But I am way too full of popcorn from the matinee to even think about dinner.

I found the German die cut cherub that I thought I had lost when packing up for the trip, isn’t she a pretty one? And I had the price wrong, she was only $2, frame and all.

While going through things that should be sorted, sold, or something, I came across this little box of vintage doll clothes.

I might keep some of the most lacey ones for making fairy dolls and sell the rest on Etsy. I am sure there are plenty of doll makers who could use them. Aren’t they sweet? I’d say they must be handmade. Look at the beading on the little pink one!

And the tiny little handmade flowers on these.

They are enough to make me wish I was a doll collector. But honestly, I collect enough stuff!!!!!!!

I do like to take old dolls and repaint them and turn them into fairies.

But these elfish babes are not dressed in real clothes, I glue bits and pieces of stuff together to make their dresses (I hate to sew). Maybe the doll clothes would be wasted on me. Although, I can see a couple of them framed as part of an assemblage.

What I like best about making fairies, is adding the tiny details, like this button "crown" on her head.

Speaking of little dolls, I am celebrating my newest niece’s 2 week birthday on Friday by having her mother over for a mini spa at home day! Her sister and I will watch the baby while she soaks in the tub and relaxes, then we will fix the new mommy a special lunch and give her a pedicure. It will be Madison’s first "Girls Day Out". I had thought about trying to surprise the mama, but then realized if she was soaking and relaxing, she might want to bring fresh clothing, and we need to plan around the baby’s feedings. So I told her about her mini spa day and she is looking forward to it. I think I’ll bake up a casserole or two for her to take home for the weekend, also.

And while I am talking about treats, remember to enter my July drawing for the COTTAGE COLLAGE KIT giveaway. Here are a couple cards I will slip into the packet of vintage papers.

All you have to do is leave a comment to enter, as many times as you would like.

By the way, Beth is having a great giveaway too! (actually she is having two!) http://bethleintz.typepad.com/

There’s No Place Like Home, but Okoboji isn’t bad

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, give away, Sugarwings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 16, 2007

It feels good to be back in Kansas!

We are back from our family reunion at Fellenwarth Beach, Lake Okoboji, Iowa. I felt like I took a trip back in time, or was on the set of Dirty Dancing at the Kellerman Lodge! This place was built in that era and has been updated, but still had that old fashioned feel. (but no Patrick Swayse, drat)

There was the cutest little amusement park next door, called Arnold’s Park. Sugarwings rode on her first carousel horsey and her Uncle Ryan won a prize for her in the bottle toss.

She had her first taste of ice cream.

At first she wasn’t sure what to think, and the cold didn’t make her very happy.

But once the flavor hit her taste buds, she decided Ice Cream is the best!!!

It wasn’t the cheapest place to stay, and I’m afraid that we made it even worse by pulling our boat up there, along with my BIL bringing his boat. If the nation experiences a huge gas shortage this week, it is because we used it all up in those two trucks. We could have spent a week in Florida at the beach for what we spent on a long weekend in Iowa.

But seeing relatives from all over the country made it worth it. It was great to be there for Little Joan’s 75th birthday (oh, and she liked the photo album I put together for her.)

I snuck away with baby brother, Randy and his husband, Kevin for a bit and we did some junking. Both of them are avid antiquers and that Kevin has a great eye and so much knowledge about what he sees. I just look for what is pretty, he knows values, and the history of what we come across.

I only had an hour or so to shop and there were SO MANY antique places up there. I was hoping to take more time junking, but just couldn’t be selfish during family time. But I did find lots of cool old papers, this album full of anniversary cards was $8, the kids books were $2, the kitten post card with glass eyes (how cool is that??) was $1.

I found a few other little pretties,

the white dog salt shaker- $2
shell vase $1
an oval frame with a German die cut cherub – $4 (and I seem to have packed that away somewhere in the vast luggage that isn’t unpacked yet)
But my best find, was these two cardboard courthouse record keepers, from 1917-1930.

They were jammed packed with correspondence, typewritten, and hand written!!

I’ll be adding some of these pages to the July Cottage Collage Kit giveaway. There are some wonderful pieces in the boxes, I can’t wait to have time to sift through them all. (the boxes were $15 each, but I was only going to buy one and then my BILs surprised me with a second one, how sweet)

Back to normal life, houseguests are gone, the vacation is over. I have so much unpacking to do and errands to run.

I went to the store to get soap to do up the mountain of laundry I brought back from Iowa, returned our books on tape that we listened to on the drive, and of course had to get some of the $1.99 bunches of flowers that are on sale every Monday. And Peaches were on sale for 88 cents lb. If they are good, I’ll go get more and make a pie or two.

Then, I swung by the Vet’s office to get my pile of Dorkies, and all of us worked outside, watering the garden and flowers. The little dorkies are all as happy to be home as I am!!

Where is all the stuff hiding???

antiques/junking, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, how to's

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2007

My fairy grand baby has loved meeting her Wyoming cousins, and we are all looking forward to the rest of the week together up at Lake Okoboji in Iowa. I probably won’t be posting for a few days, I’ll check in if I can, but most likely won’t have access. You can still enter my drawing if you want to leave a comment, you can enter to win a Cottage Collage Kit, with vintage papers and other pretties.

People have been asking me what I do with all my stuff in the studio when I set up the room for a family reunion.

I hide it all!

This little silver metallic colored wash stand that I painted is full of doll making supplies and trims, the cosmetic case is more lace and doiles, and the wicker basket holds all my original greeting cards. (this piece was free, Beth, http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ gave it to me and I fixed it up.)

And of course, all these baskets are full of supplies too.

I have all my jewelry making goods in the (free from my niece) wardrobe drawers, with mosaic materials in the side door of it.

Drawing and collage supplies are on the shelves ($15 at a garage sale, then I repainted)- and you really don’t want to see behind that screen! ($3 at at garage sale) That area is where the avalanche of junk is hiding.

My sewing machine is in this cute little $5 cabinet that I painted and added a ceiling tin top and a wooden wreath to, and the candy dish is full of seed packets. (and that is my typewriter sitting on the shelf, not sure what I am going to do with it yet)

Two sets of Home Depot basic cabinets ($50 each) are stacked up and placed back to back then filled with more and more junk.

This is all scrap booking goods packed away into these drawers. The dresser was $20 at an auction, it didn’t have a bottom drawer, but I like it this way. I used to keep a tv on top and the video equipment on the open space.

I have stuffed this french vanilla painted wardrobe (that I paid $15 for and rebuilt) full of vintage fabrics and water color supplies. There are more fabrics in the German trunk above it. I don’t really sew, but I sure am a sucker for gorgeous old fabric. Someday….

This glass doored hutch holds some inventory that I am eventually going to sell. I thought I’d set it out and enjoy it until I found new homes for it, instead of storing it in boxes. (This hutch was only $50 at an auction!)

You probably won’t believe this, but this narrow chimney cabinet is empty! Not a thing in it, but I did cover the shelves in old paper, then glaze them in umber, and edge them in vintage lace.

I paid $5 for it at a garage sale, but don’t really need it. I just have a soft spot for storage pieces and cabinets!

This buffet sits near the head of the table, but has nothing to do with food service. It is full of fairies and fairy houses that I made, and vintage jewelry. (it was $75, but needed work too)

So, this room isn’t perfectly set up as a dining room, it still has a studio feel to it, but I really can seat a lot of people at tables in the center of the room, and it is nice to be able to all sit together even if we are surrounded by inventory and supplies!

I’m off to start the dishwasher again. I didn’t have to cook tonight, my brother-in-law made chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes and black bean salad! I had 2nds.

I contributed a carrot cake from a mix, that I dumped a can of mandarin oranges, red grape raisins, flax seed, sunflower seeds, extra brown sugar, cream cheese, yogurt and an extra egg into. I kind of cook like I craft, off the top of my head and what ever sounds good at the moment.

Temporary Studio Makeover and a Dog full of Glitter

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2007

Entertaining at the cottage is going well this week. We had 21 for dinner tonight and my studio was set up as a dining room, all the kids craft projects and my work was hidden away.

I have discovered that when you are feeding a bunch of people, it doesn’t pay to plan too exactly, you need to go with the flow. Tonight I made the mistake of setting a big table up for all the adults, and a couple smaller tables for the kids. But of course, people just sat wherever they wanted and adults had kid silverware and kids had white table clothes under their BBQ! Oh well, you do what you can, but the most important part of a dinner is making everyone comfy and not bossing them around, so they can sit where ever they want. It is casual here at my cottage. People fix thier plates at the stove and carry them to the table. I keep it as simple as possible so I can enjoy the day too.

Flowers from the gardens, along with some china flowers from a flea market are on the table in a variety of vases, with votive lights in teacups for atmosphere. Very few of the chairs match each other, and neither do the salt and pepper shakers. The room itself is a bit of a hodge podge of stuff.

Here are a couple of my guests, Emma (who is so dainty and tiny, I call her a Mini M & M) and her baby sister, Rosebud, who seems to have glitter all over her somehow.

Speaking of glitter, if you look carefully, you can see just how much glitter Twinkle and her "trainer", Luke, have on them too. Click on the photo to enlarge it to see better.

Don’t forget to enter the drawing for a Cottage Collage Kit! Just leave a comment to enter.

Stolen Moments and Quickie Crafts

Etsy Goodies, fairies, how to's, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2007

My friend, Karla http://sugarbeardesigns.blogspot.com/ bought one of my cottage collage kits, how sweet of her. So I had to add some extras to it before I mailed the package. I made her a bookmark/tag from the plastic garden tags that I found, and then gathered up a few little things I thought she’d like.

How did I manage to have time for this while we are having a reunion? Well, the kids and I decided to make some bookmarks from a kit.

So between my panda and my monkey, I squeezed in a pink tag for Karla!

My charms from the swap hosted by http://mymothersdaughter-maryb.blogspot.com/ arrived! The hostess herself made 3 of them, and all are wonderful little treasures. Of course, I am prejudiced towards the ones from friends:

Beth of http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ and http://mizsmoochielips.blogspot.com/index.html. I haven’t had time to go through and enjoy all of them yet, I didn’t bring in the mail till after midnight, then we all sat up and talked for a while. I am stealing a few blogging minutes while my husband is picking up more guests at the airport and everyone else is asleep. Yes, I know I should go and unload the dishwasher! but I can do that while we all stand around the kitchen and talk!

Everyone wonders how I have time to blog with all these guests, but I am pretty quick. I write off the top of my head, like I am talking, and I am a bit of chatter box, so it is natural. Not much thought goes into what comes out of my mouth.

One more super quick project I did yesterday- my darling Mother-In-Law, Little Joan, is having her 75th birthday. She is extremely hard to buy for, since her needs are so few. But this year, she became a great-grandmother 3 times!

So, I took this album (from a garage sale for $1.50, and still in its wrapper!!) and jazzed it up a bit.

I kept the pages as they were and added a few personal touches,such as the "great grandchildren" on the front, as well as braided some eyelash yarn and ribbon, and attached a hand painted charm to them.

This went inside the front cover.

Sugarwings was her very first great grandchild (and what a great one she is!!)

The album is the kind with die cut frames, so she can just slide the photos into the ready made places. I will add a few of Sugarwings and Madison Catherine. Little Joan isn’t crafty, or scrap booker, but she will easily be able to keep this album up, since it is practically on auto pilot. As her grandkids have babies, there are places ready for their pictures.

These are a bit fuzzy, but since I am on borrowed time, its all I can do! I hear a car door now, that means there are travelers arriving that need hugs!! Gotta run——

ps- don’t forget to enter July’s Cottage Collage Kit drawing by leaving a comment

I decided what to offer for the July Giveaway!

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 9, 2007

Well, we have a houseful of people, kids, and dogs (Twinkle is still being "trained" by Luke), so I am not able to do any craft or art work. But I did manage to put together a few more Cottage Collage Kits (or scrap packs) to sell on Etsy.

Here you can see Twinks getting a lesson in going down the blow up slide in the wading pool. Luckily, she seems to be enjoying all of the so called "dog training". Her feet haven’t touched the ground since the kids arrived.

This visit has been so busy, that we all forgot that we were supposed to have an ice cream buffet last night!! There is a lot going on, when kids forget ice cream!

Once the kids were tucked in, and the guys were settled into a card game, I went to the studio to play with paper (my cleaned up studio!)

I made up bundles with over 30 items in them, including sheet music, vintage wallpaper, copies of my art, pages from old books, a page from a steno manual, a millinery flower, some posies, old buttons, vintage gift wrap, and on and on.

Its so fun to pick through my stash and try to find goodies I think someone might enjoy using.

This tone on tone wallpaper is actually silk.

Anyway, I listed 6 of these on Etsy last night for $14 each. I got to thinking, that maybe a similar one would also be a good giveaway for July. So, if you are interested in a variety mix of a Cottage Collage Kit, leave me a comment and I will enter you in the drawing at the end of the month.

Here is one of the old wallpapers, pretty, huh?

These are from packs I made last week with a blue theme, that have already sold out.

I’ll be sifting through my goodie cabinets and finding some pretties to add to the giveaway, when I get a nice packet together, I’ll show a photo.

Now, I’d better go and see how Twinkle’s training is going!

Rose Moss, Red Birds, Cleomes and Rosebud

family, flowers, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / July 8, 2007

Most of our houseguests are here and the visit is in full swing. My brother-in-law and his family, including a 5 year old who has decided to be Twinkle’s trainer (they have met their match in each other, both are constantly in motion) and a 5 week old baby. Life is exciting around here right now!

I did get all the cleaning done in my studio and transformed it into a dining room before they arrived. But barely! I was up til 4:30am, and they showed up at 7:30, after having decided to drive all night instead of stopping at a hotel. At least we were all equally tired!

While our cottage guests are out doing a bit of visiting, I took a calming, quiet breather in the garden and watered some plants. I was happy to see how big the rose moss in the bird cage was getting.

The rose moss has some filling in to do yet, but is getting a good start. I chose that to plant because I knew it could tolerate heat and didn’t need a lot of moisture, since this was a shallow planter. I always plant rose moss in my vintage cement swans for the same reason.

To make a bird cage into a planter, all I did was line the bottom with coconut fiber and fill it in with dirt. I dug up some good compost from the garden, added quite a few plants, maybe 10? and then put in a couple of old cement red birds, one is missing a beak, but I still love him. I could easily become the crazy old lady with too much yard art and more junk in the flower beds than flowers if I am not careful!

And look, my cleomes have started to bloom! Definitely one of my favorite garden flowers. They are so sturdy and easy to grow, and always reseed themselves. Yet, they have such a dainty look about them.

Here is a photo that Sissy sent to me of her cleome garden. Doesn’t it look like a fairy land??

Well, I hear the sound of 4 small children and a baby getting out of the car, the guests must be back. I get to go and hold the little 5 week old girl now. Her name is Sydney, but she has such a sweet little rosebud mouth, that of course, I have to call her Rosebud. She still has that little old man look about her, but with that mouth, I can tell she’ll grow up to be beauty. And she is a cuddly girl. With 4 older sibs, she gets passed around a lot!

Madison

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2007

Remember how I waited till the last minute to clean my studio and turn it into a dining room for company? Well, something else came up and it still isn’t done.

But it was a very good excuse for not cleaning, Madison (named for Madison, Nebraska- hometown of the Nathans) was born tonight! We spent most of the afternoon and evening at the hospital waiting for our niece to give birth.

The whole family was there waiting for her arrival. We played cards, laughed, made bets on who’s family would have the first baby, ours or the other people waiting that we made friends with. (We won!!) We had baby races with Sugarwings and another baby there with her family.

Finally, Madison came, and we all went back to see her. Sugarwings is enthralled by her new cousin.

So, do you think I’d clean the studio when I got home??? Nope, I fixed up a spice rack that I got today at a garage sale for $1 (including all the bottles) so I could use it to hold all the glitter that I bought today at the same sale (a bagful of glitters, sequins, buttons, and bows for $2).

I used a lot of the goodies I got in the mathcbox swap from Debra at http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ including the doll baby at the top (appropriate for today!). Whenever I glitter something up, I will think of Madison and the day she was born.

Hey, organizing the glitter was a very important part of cleaning up the studio!! How can you have guests over if your glitter is in plastic bottles and laying around helter skelter???

Well, maybe I should try cleaning up a bit now. No more excuses.

PS- All of the vintage paper packs I had listed on Etsy have sold, but I will be making up more soon.

ppss- Thanks for all the feedback on the loading speed of my blog. I’m glad to hear it is faster. If anyone is still having trouble, would you please let me know

pppsss- I really will have a give-away this month. I am counting all comments made in July and will let you know what the drawing is for as soon as I figure it out! (open to suggestions!)