December 2007 – Page 2 – Karla's Cottage

Oh, Fudge!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, Food and Drink, give away, holiday decor, Moving to DC, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 10, 2007

It’s almost time for our "What do you LOVE about your holiday home?" party!

I’ll do my post later Tuesday evening and start linking up as comments come in.

Please remember that you have to leave a comment on THAT post, the Holiday Home party, or I will miss you and won’t link.

And what have I decided to send as a prize? Well here is one of them, this great book, Crowns & Tiaras. I’ll have more party door prizes for guests that day too.

I will have separate drawings for bloggers who participate and for readers who leave comments about what they love about their holiday homes too. I just want to make sure some one from each group gets a prize.

Here is one little tidbit I love about my own holiday home. This welcoming pink glow in the breezeway, where I have wrapped pink lights around an iron garden topiary frame and set it into a wicker plant stand. People get an idea of what to expect from the rest of my house when they are greeted by this!

And there is more to love around here, my dorkies of course. All cozied up by the wood stove on a fluffy pillow staying warm while an ice storm rages outside.

The weather makes it a perfect night to stay in and make holiday candy. I am a fudge creator. I make tons of fudge each year to give away. Beth claims that my fudge is the reason she had to join the gym

I make the short cut, simple to do, nothing to it variety, always perfect, and quick. All it consists of is melting a bag of chips into a can of sweetened condensed milk and then beating it till it is fluffy and pouring it into a pan. Best, creamiest fudge ever. And everyone thinks you slaved over it. Oops, my friends won’t think that anymore, will they? My secret is out. I’m bad with secrets, you can tell by the way I run on and on, I tend to blabber about everything.

I bought these ceramic pans at a garage sale this summer for 25 cents each, never used, still in packages from the store! They are oven and freezer safe, and I will fill them with fudge and wrap them up pretty and give them to friends this year.

So, tonight, I make 14 batches of fudge. I have to have plenty to give away and to feed the family when I host lots of holiday get togethers! I have a 6’4" nephew who is a size 28 waist and can really pack away the peanut butter chocolate fudge. He’ll get a batch all of his own.

Yesterday I showed the 3 slate tables I bought for our Eastern apartment, but didn’t show why I got them.

The tables are to remind my husband of our home here, they match this floor in our entry way.

I laid this tile myself. I don’t know how to use a wet saw (and am afraid of those anyway, I nicked a knuckle on a power saw once and still get the heebie jeebies thinking that I could have lost my right hand!)

Since I couldn’t cut the pieces, I made a mosaic with small stones and 4" tiles throughout the 12" tiles. It really was pretty easy to do, except for the kink in my back from crouching on the floor so long.

I also did some of the trim in this area- it is barn wood we tore out of our 100 year old barn that couldn’t be saved. (That is how I caught my knuckle on the power saw. ) I sure prefer less dangerous projects like painting, or gluing wallpaper!

Twinkle just can’t understand why she shouldn’t be in every photo, so I just humor her.

This snowman tree is from Paula Kay’s home. She was a door prize winner at our last party and sent me a photo of the tree she created this year.

I am really looking forward to our party tomorrow. If you’d like to take a peek at the last one we had, it is here: http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/2007/09/what-do-you-lov.html

Here is a photo of something my neice loves about her holiday home- Baby, her cat peeking out of the tree. Twinkle just wishes she could do that with ours.

Hope to see you all Wednesday!

Macho Decor and close quarters

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, family, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, hand painted signs, holiday decor, Moving to DC, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / December 9, 2007

We are home from our relocation trip. I didn’t see much of DC at all, we were in the burbs the whole time apartment and furniture shopping.

At first, I thought it looked like Anytown, USA with all the chain restaurants, apartment buildings and strip malls, but then realized, that the East is very different.

Burbs in Kansas City or St Louis SPRAWL. Outside of DC, they build UP not OUT. The buildings are high and all the people stack up and squeeze in.

I got a bit homesick for the spaciousness of Kansas, but will learn to live with the high paced, jammed in life style there.

We got a bit homesick for the fairy grand baby too, and went immediately to pick her up when we got back from the airport to take her out to lunch. Of course, we’d been out to eat for every meal since Thursday, but there was no food in the house and it is always a good excuse to go pick up Sugarwings and her family and take them out to eat.

We find ourselves coming up with so many of those little bribes, I mean excuses, to see her.

OK, this doesn’t look like my style, but I took my husband into consideration while furnishing the new place. At first we were going to go with rental stuff. then used, but decided to buy some decent pieces for his place because it is going to have to be his home away from home for a long time.

I got a slate top dining table and matching living room tables for the apartment. All the colors are earthy and the look is slightly rustic. No girly roses at the East Coast Bachelor pad.

I shopped like a woman possessed trying to find the cheapest, yet still stylish things I could find in just a day. It will all be delivered on Jan. 2nd when we go back to get settled in.

Do you have any idea what kind of pain it caused me to buy brand new things from a furniture store and have it delivered???? I just don’t do that. I buy the things no one wants and fix them up.

I know that I could have gotten a sofa table for $3- $20 at a garage sale in Kansas instead of $159 there. Really painful.

But here were my concerns:

no time
no truck
no tools

Of course, also my husband wants it all simple and easy to care for and doesn’t give a durn about Pretty.

He doesn’t notice stuff like in this photo of our Kansas living room, a cabinet from a junk shop ($35) repainted and set on top of a small table from a garage sale ($15) that was painted to match.

Or the mirror from the dumpster above it. Or the free lamp given to me by Beth. I foofed its lampshade and painted it, then set it next to some old chippy paint finials that are serving as candle holders ($5).

So- I know how cheaply I can find things and what can be done.

I am still in pain from going to a furniture store and decking out most of the apartment in one swoop.

Oh well, it will work out. It is stuff he likes and will make him comfy there.

Now on to something more interesting. Joy and Roses!!

I’ve decided what to send the winner of my November drawing, Joy. I know I am a bit late, but with the trip and the open house, she was very understanding about it.

I am also behind on Etsy shipping, but will get all of it caught up and in the mail tomorrow. Thanks so much to everyone who shopped there and thanks also for your patience.

I am sending Joy a JOY sign. It is made from the end of a magazine rack that came from the same dumpster that mirror in the earlier photo did.

She seems to be a person who enjoys salvage and sees the possibilities in a discarded piece herself and I thought she might like this hand painted wreath on something rescued. If you’ve read her blog, you know she has a great eye for redoing things herself.

Don’t forget that we will have more gifts during the What do you LOVE about your Holiday Home? party on Wed. the 12th and that all comments are entered into the giveaway for December too. I love to try to match the gift to the winner instead of just naming something that will be given away at the end of the month. Joy will also receive a little pack of ephemera and doodads for projects.

I had sent Natasha some vintage and hand painted ornaments as well as a Noel banner made up of vintage papers for our trade in the Deck the Halls Swap hosted by Monica. I love the way Natasha has displayed the ornaments on a springlike vine to complement the Australian weather at Christmas.

But wait till you see what she sent to me!!

And to Sugarwings too. Of course, Twinkle thinks everything that the baby gets is half hers.

There is a possibility that Twinks will be wearing this cute little crown that is meant to hang on the tree as a gift to the fairy baby. Either one of them would be adorable wearing it!

And look what else she got- a Santa on a Kangaroo! She thought it was hilarious. That kid has a sense of humor that makes her have deep belly laughs when she sees something funny, and this little santa really struck her funny bone.

She was also given a book about Santa’s summer Christmas, so much fun to read to her and tell her about Christmas in other parts of the world.

Natasha had everything wrapped up so sweetly. And yes, I saved every pink rosebud!

She made a wonderful wooden banner with a matching snowman in glitter, the pink rose bud "cookie", and the 3 little glitter framed wallpaper pictures to go on to the tree.

And she sent Tim Tams. Which we discovered are the world’s best cookie. And I cant find any more around here, I was hoping World Market wold carry them.

And thats not all. A blown glass angel ornament that I immediately hung on my white and gold tree.

Thanks, Natasha! and Thanks to Monica for hosting. What a fun swap. I made out like a bandit on this one. But I do say that bloggers are the most generous people around and if you get a chance to swap with one- DO IT!!

Little Miss Maddy Cat came by to have her Christmas photos taken at my house to use the painted bench as a back drop. I had some trouble with the red eye on this one, but as cute as she is, it didn’t matter.

She and Sugarwings are starting to interact now that Miss Maddy Cat is getting bigger. Sugarwings leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek and it looks like they are about ready to plan a cousins play date together.

Wow, I’ve ran on long enough. I’d better go and mail those packages. Thanks again to all of the shoppers who went to my Etsy Shop and to Natasha!

Big changes

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, jewelry, paintings

By Karla Nathan / December 5, 2007

I think I am done. I might not be, but I think I have all my hand made Christmas items listed on Etsy. I don’t even know how many I listed!

All I know, is that I took a LOT of photos and did a ton of editing and wrote and wrote and wrote descriptions.

I’m afraid most of my backgrounds are all the same, not as interesting as I usually try to make them, but this was a 3 day marathon event!!

I wanted to get all these up on the Etsy site before we went to DC tomorrow, so people could have time to shop for holiday items. Anything sold this week will go into the mail on Monday after I get back.

In between the listing today, I took time to look at apartments online.

Yep, we aren’t just going to DC to visit, we are apartment hunting! Rich has taken a new job that will have him based there, for at least a year.

I was so afraid we’d have to move!!! We are really lucky that it worked out so that we can live there part time and Kansas part time. Actually, my husband will go back and forth a lot more than I will.

How on Earth could we have sold our cottage and left Sugarwings to go live in some big city???? I would have just died to have to leave our wonderful, happy life here behind.

So it is my sweet husband who is making the sacrifice and living way out there, far from Sugarwings. And you can tell how he dotes on her from this photo, it won’t be easy for him to be away for a week or so at a time.

The new company will let him have an office at home for part of the month, and he will spend a lot of time racking up frequent flyer miles.

I think I have mentioned over and over in this blog, how lucky I am. I should spend time in casinos, I really do have a good luck streak going these last few years.

It won’t be easy to have two homes and to be apart that much, but it is a great job that he deserves and we will make it all work.

I’ll still get to have my studio so I can make all of these fun things to list on Etsy. And we’ll still be around for our kids, friends, nieces, nephews, and fairy grand baby. Oh and the garden and Dorkies!!

I’ve been promised a laptop so I can write my blog from way out East and I also plan to take along water colors so I can paint there, at the dining table.

Knowing me, I’ll probably get ten times as much work done in my Kansas studio than I do now, since he will be away so much!

People ask me how I can manage to get so much done- well, I am just really, really fast. And I don’t have a day job, this is it. I get to make pretties all the time!

Didn’t I say I was lucky???

I’ve never liked the name I chose for my blog, I should change it to "lucky me" or something like that. Of course, that could be cursing myself and about then, I’d break a leg or something.

I haven’t always been lucky. There have been major tragedies in my life, lots of ups and downs. That just makes these good times even better.

I’ve been really poor, I’ve broken my back and had years of chronic pain, I almost lost my sweet son to meth addiction and had to fight to get him back.

So, I don’t mean to sound like a Pollyanna, I honestly have many reasons to be thrilled with my life right now and to enjoy every moment to the fullest.

Sometimes you have to wrangle all the happiness you can get out of the world and hold onto it tightly.

I’ll be away until Sunday, and will come back with photos from the trip. See you then!

In the meantime, don’t forget about the party coming up on Wednesday next week. Invite all your readers and any other bloggers you think would enjoy it.

I will have drawings and prizes and will be sure to set some goodies aside for non-bloggers who leave us comments about their own holiday decor as well as other bloggers who link up for the party.

A List a mile long

Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, I do tend to run on, don't I?, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 4, 2007

I spent as much of yesterday as I could listing on Etsy!

I got quite a few things up (at lower prices so they will disappear) until about mid-day. Then, I had a break and when I went to go back to listing more, the light was gone and I couldn’t get any more good photos.

Natural light makes such a difference in a photo. Like this one of a hand dyed vintage linen bag. Isn’t it pretty how the sun comes in the window from the left side?

I try to never use flash in my pictures of my art work or shop listings.

This bag was done with fiber reactive dyes, I have a huge set of dye colors. Before Sugarwings was born, we had a baby shower that was a tie dye party in the garden. Everyone brought something white and we dipped and dyed all after noon. She has a whole wardrobe full of tie dye clothing, which is perfect for her since her mom is a hippie chick.

Our fairy grandbaby came home from the hospital in a tie dyed ensemble.

I get the dyes out and make something every once in a while. I like to dye my t-shirts that get a coffee stain on the front so I can still wear them.

Today, I am taking all my photos first, then listing throughout the evening. Its a Sugarwings sleepover night, so I can’t say how much I’ll get done…….

My afternoon break was from some shoppers who called and asked if they could come over to look around. They verified my guess that the reason my sales were down on Sunday was because it was too crowded.

All of them said that they just couldn’t see to shop and wanted to come back and look without the crowds.

I have more people coming in the next couple of days, but I did warn them it wasn’t set up as pretty as before. Actually, the studio kind of looks like a bar the day after New Year’s Eve.

At least my house is still clean! But the baby isn’t here yet. Give it a couple of hours and it will be looking quite lived in.

Which reminds me, I walked into my house from the studio during the home tour to find someone going through my kitchen drawers!!! She was telling her husband that real people did live in the house. Well, what did she think it was?? So, I said, yep, this is MY house and she turned red and walked away. Really funny, I was laughing and thinking maybe I should have cleaned out drawers too??

After the whole thing was over, I saw that the shower curtain had been pulled back too. I guess that means, I should have cleaned the shower. Geez, who would have though that people would be peeking in places like that???? There were hosts around to keep an eye on that kind of thing.

Oh well, they got an eyeful of mess is what they got. I only cleaned what I thought was going to show!! I hope they enjoyed the view of the pile of wash rags and an empty shampoo bottle on the floor of the shower. Did I mention that there were tiny little, muddy dog foot prints on the shower floor? Twinkle loves to play in there.

These photos I am showing are of what I did get listed yesterday. Some have sold already! thanks!

All are listed at lower prices than I have had on similar items before.

This is another photo of some of Beth’s contributions to the shop.

I’m not sure how much of these she sold. I do remember ringing up the little pink angels. The weekend really was pretty non-stop crazy.

Beth and I figured out what was weird about Sunday- with all those crowds, we didn’t get our giggle and gossip time.

Usually if you aren’t selling much, you are all alone at a sale, no crowds. So we hang out and talk and usually have so much fun, we don’t care about sales. But with hordes of people walking through we never got to relax and kick back. It was just weird. But I would do it again, I enjoyed my weekend and sales weren’t bad. And I am donating $500 of the sales to the charity that sponsored the open house tour. They are a free clinic that helps people with no health insurance, and that is a great cause to me. When my son broke his elbow, they were great. He has no insurance, much like many young people his age.

Now, I need to go Christmas shop from my pile of leftovers to find presents for my blog giveaways and for my family.

The rest I need to photograph before we go out of town, we have a trip to DC coming up this week.

So, I’m off to shop in my own studio, then list more things before the baby comes to play. Nothing gets done while she is here, except some tickling, hide and seek, and made up stories about fairies in the woods.

When she is older, I will write some down and illustrate them for her, so she will have books of her adventures in the forest as a fairy with sugar pink wings.

What do you do with the leftovers?????????

Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, parties

By Karla Nathan / December 2, 2007

Beth and I survived the sale! It was up and down and surprisingly we didn’t do very well during the day of the open house. Hundreds of people came through and all had nice things to say, but I think it was just too crowded and congested for shopping.(Here is a table full that Beth brought)

We had a lot of inventory, hand made or vintage.

And although, sales weren’t THAT bad, there sure seems to be a lot left over!!

See how cute this stuff that Beth made is? Why is it still here?

And I still have a treeful of ballerina fairies.

We had our theories on why the sales were so up and down. Friday was great. All of our regulars from the mailing list came. They always show up when we open and want to be first in line!

Saturday, the weather was terrible, plus there were so many activities going on around town.

On Sunday, the home tour was for 4 hours, with 7 homes to see and people were rushed. The ones who did stay and linger, bought some things. I ended up selling furniture on Sunday and my husband was sweet enough to load it up in one of the trucks from his collection (we have 3 for some reason) and follow the lady home to deliver a dresser.

I should have taken a photo of the packed room, and you’d see what I mean about it being too crowded to shop. We sold a lot during lulls when the room was bearable, but when hordes came through, we simply passed out treats and chatted as they filed through. who would have ever thought that having too many people at your sale was a bad thing?? A lot of women were asking what my hours were so they could come back again when they could shop more comfortably. But I doubt I I’ll be doing this again for a few months.

I’ll be listing a BUNCH of stuff on my Etsy shop tomorrow and at bargain prices too!

I can’t say the day wasn’t a success. People were so kind about my home and had so many nice things to say. And I got my house cleaned up! Every room all at the same time. Of course, it won’t be that way tomorrow……

I had people asking if they could hire me as a decorator. That was flattering.

Of course, all my stuff is from a garage sale or a dumpster or a flea market, I called it the recycled house. I take things no one else cares about and make them into something pretty.

My husband’s office was open for show today too. I didn’t decorate much up there, just some berry vines on the lights and above the windows.

And to me, this is one of the prettiest things I saw today, my little boy, Ryan.

I took tons of photos and will show more later if you are interested.

Plenty of blog-fodder for the "what do you love about your Holiday Home" party on the 12th!

And don’t forget about our monthly drawing!

I’m a couple days late, but things have been crazy around here. I picked a name from the comments left this month and it is:

Joy

What a fitting name to draw for a holiday prize!!

Joy, please send me your address and I’ll send a giftie to you up there in Canada.

All comments left are eligible for the drawing each month. Thanks to everyone who comes by to visit, I enjoy hearing from you all.

Oh, here are a few more wonderful things Beth brought, and she did sell out with these, I think. And what a cool display she brought for me to hang them on.

I think she’ll be listing some leftovers on Etsy too.

You know, the sale really was fine, and the home tour was fun, I didn’t mean to complain. I am simply so PROLIFIC in what I produce, that sometimes I feel like I am drowning in stuff. I still have a studio full after the sale. But there was just so durn much to start with!!

I was giving stuff to friends who came by after the event to drink a glass of wine and tell me about the other homes they saw on the tour. My last few shoppers were getting extras thrown into their bags for free too. I just wanted it GONE at that point. I am ready to move on and make more stuff, not just keep staring at the stuff I made last week.

I have an idea! Another giveaway. For my Party on the 12th, I will have special prizes. All comments that day will go into a drawing and I’ll use you guys to dump my excess inventory on- ( I mean, I will give gifts to readers and participants that day)