December 2011 – Karla's Cottage

Best wishes for the new year, and some class announcements

By Karla Nathan / December 31, 2011

The class I taught in California at Kim's house went well and the ladies made some very pretty wire wrapped wreaths. I enjoyed it so much, I'll be doing a few more of these workshops, with variations on the theme. This one is called "Song of Spring" and features springtime colors with a turquoise egg. I'll be teaching it at Paper Cowgirls this spring.

I've also made one up in pinks with two nesting love birds for Valentines Day, called "Song of Love". If you'd like to make one with me here at the studio, please email me for details. It will be on Saturday, Jan. 14th at 10am. I'll fix up some lunch and tasty desserts, and we'll spend the day playing with my vintage goodies.

Everything you need to make one will be included in the kit, but I'll also have tables of goodies to chose from so everyone can personalize their creation. I love it when no two come out the same. We'll add some crystals, charms, and decorated tags to the trailing ribbons too.

We will wire wrap and bead the wreath itself, and add a nest made of ephemera. The two birds will also be decked out in old papers, and then surrounded with lace and velvet leaves.

And at my house, a project isn't complete till you slap a few millinery blooms on it. I hope I'll see you here for the playdate! $75 for the class (includes lunch and treats) and all you need to finish your own wreath.

And if you'd rather come to play in the studio for a whole weekend… Sign ups for Birdsong 2 begin soon! On Jan. 1st, returning guests can reserve a spot, and after a week, we will be welcoming new friends to our flock of Birdsong friends!

My resolutions for the new year?

1- I will have more classes throughout the year. And I'm going to make sure I follow through with that right now, this is one resolution that won't be broken. I was so happy to be able to teach and travel in 2011, I want to do more of that.

2- Use the Good Stuff (well, I already do that, but I have to push myself to not hoard it. I won't that that for granted, it needs to be a resolution again this year.)

3-Share the wealth! Yes, I'll make sure all of my arty kits for classes are brimming with the Good Stuff that I love.

4-Enjoy the moment. I won't be freaking myself out about upcoming events, and will enjoy what is right in front of me NOW.

I'd add something about gettting to the gym or eating better, but I know not to push it.

. I used to think resolutions were silly things just waiting to be broken, but over the years, I've learned to take the new year as a time to reflect and honestly plan out what I want to see happen in the upcoming seasons. I make a promise to myself to do better, or accomplish something I'd like to do. It helps.

I wish you the best of luck with your pledges for 2012, too.

A closet full of fun

fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / December 30, 2011

With a house filled with helpers staying with me for Christmas, I thought it would be the perfect time to do a little end of the year clean up. We emptied all of the dress up clothes from the girl's closet and hung about 30 hooks all around it, right at their height.

We still need a solution for the pile of hats and other things that we didn't have enough hooks for. For now, they are tossed into a too-small tub. I need a couple of baskets to hold them all.

I didn't realize just how many dress up clothes we had, I just knew that they always ended up in one big pile at the bottom of the closet after all the sprites were done playing with them. Now, they have hooks to hang them up on, and so far, its been much tidier. After the holiday bash, clean up went much smoother in the dress up area.

My favorite place to find fairy princess garb is at garage sales. Most of this closet full of fluff is all second hand, the rest is thoughtful gifts from friends who know how much we love to play with wings and fairy dresses.

You are never too big to be a princess.

Or an elfish prince.

Around here, even the dolls get in the act. For Christmas, our Gypsy gave all the little girls a doll from the Goodwill that she made over into a fairy queen.

The nicest thing happened to my son's Gypsy Beloved on Christmas Eve. She went to the Goodwill to buy supplies to make gifts for her 6 little ones and a guy stopped her in the parking lot to give her a $100 bill.

What a thoughtful Santa!

And she made Dewdrop this sock monster doll, with sockies the little baby has out grown, and a onesie that I had painted for her.

I made some creatures myself, these gifts were sent to the Guncles.

I'd seen the cutest little birds with pine cone hats that I knew Guncle Randy would love, and of course, I decided I could make my own instead of buying one. The elf and the birdie are both paper clay.

If you need some vintage goodies to trim out your own creations, don't forget there is a sale in both of my shops right now.

Everything is 30% off in the Boutique if you use THIS LINK.

And the small print says: The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days. You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words- happyholidays – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

For Etsy, use the same code word- happyholidays -to get 30% off there too.

And by the way, a Very Happy Holidays to you all!

Wigged out for the holidays

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / December 28, 2011

This is my favorite holiday photo from our weekend. Little Dewdrop snuck up onto the table while her elfish father was fixing dinner. He wore the hat and cape for most of Christmas and I thought it added a festive touch.

We spent a lot of our time in the kitchen, and having it be one, big open space was just great. Now, why didn't we think of this years ago? Its made our house such a cozier place.

We had one wonderful meal after another, and since the kids were staying with us instead of driving back to the woods and going to their yurt each night, we even went all out for breakfast in the mornings. On Christmas Day, our Gypsy made this fluffy, puff of deliciousness for us from a recipe we saw in the Sunday paper that morning.

Poor Sugarwings had been pretty sick all week leading up to the big day, and stayed here with us for most of the time, with her parents having sleepovers with her at our cottage. She rallied by the time Christmas Eve came around, but was still not quite herself.

We were sad to see her so weak and tired, but It was nice to have a houseful for the whole week, instead of just seeing them for the dinner and present times.

This year, between Sugarwings being sick, and me travelling, I was behind on gift buying. I did a whirlwind shopping trip, throwing things into the cart as I buzzed down the aisles. By the time I got home, I wasn't even sure what I had for who, I just hoped it was done. And for some reason, I bought wrapping paper, not bags…. silly mistake! If you wait till the last minute to buy gifts, there is no time for wrapping, those late gifts need to be slipped into bags.

That was NOT the highlight of my week.

But watching these little fairies tear through that paper was.

Dewdrop was very fond of her new toys. She was busy giving all the dollies lots of kisses and hugs.

She wasn't quite sure what to think about the dress up wig that her big sister got though.

I think it added a lot to the festivities, as she wore it to pass out the gifts.

We had two celebrations, all gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, and Santa's presents on Christmas Day. My husband's family has always done it that way, and it has become our tradition too.

I grew up with being able to open one gift the night before, saving the rest for the main event. I was always disappointed that the one preview gift was PJs every single time. I thought it was just plain old bad luck that I always picked the one gift that was not fun at all, when there was a sparkling pile of things waiting under the tree for me.

Of course, now I know that Mom planned it that way, so that I'd have new jammies on for Christmas morning when I woke her up at the crack of dawn. But at the time, I was crushed that once again, I got pajamas, not a Barbie on Christmas Eve.

Now, I am pulling my own version of the jammie trick, and let the girls each have one gift to open after dinner, before bath time and the rest of the gifts. Yep, they each had a new pair of matching PJ's as their sneak peek gift just like I did when I was a kid.

We had a third holiday bash on the day after Christmas, with the rest of the family (at least the ones in this part of the world) over for dinner, and all 26 of us fit into the new kitchen.

The house seems really quiet now with everyone gone. I've kind of gone into hibernation, with a good book and a box of kleenex (I caught Sugarwing's cold). I've not even checked out the post holiday sales yet, and don't know if I will. Although I keep thinking about all that clearance price Russell Stover chocolate…. out there, just waiting for me, all marshmallowey on the inside and shaped like chocolate Christmas trees.

But I'm kind of enjoying being snuggled up with a book and staying home in my jammies. I think I'll pass on the sales and go have another slice of that white chocolate peppermint cheesecake that I made instead. By the time I leave the house, the only thing that will fit me will be my elastic waist jammies.

If you are into holiday sale prices and don't want to leave your comfy home either, I have a sale in my Boutique and now on Etsy too. And yes, it covers tutorials, millinery, charlottes, and all of the other vintage goodness in my shops.

Everything is 30% off in the Boutique if you use THIS LINK.

And the small print says: The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days. You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words- happyholidays – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

For Etsy, use the same code word- happyholidays -to get 30% off there too.

And by the way, a Very Happy Holidays to you all!

A new holiday tradition?

celebrations, Dew Drop, fairies, family, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 26, 2011

We had a Fairy Merry Christmas, and I hope that you did too. On the Day Before the Night Before Christmas (the title of one of our favorite songs around here), we had the girls here for a sleep over.

They decorated bottle brush trees in the studio, then decided to fix up the Gingerbread house for the fairies that live on our Fairy Berry Trail through the woods.

It got a whole new set of furniture, made of graham crackers.

After the painting/gluing in the studio and the icing/sprinkle excitement in the kitchen, we decided a bubble bath was in order. I poured them all (plastic) flutes of sparkling juice and filled the tub with Sugar Plum Fairy bath salts.

Calliope said that she felt like a princess. That gave us the idea to surprise them all with a princess party after their soak. The Hippy Chick ran upstairs and found some dress up clothes that were appropriately royal and had them laid out for the girls to slip into when they were done bubbling.

Of course, our girls lean toward the fairy side of "fairy princess".

Our tiniest sprite got to play a little dress up, but fell asleep before the other festivities began.

It was girl's night at the hot chocolate party.

One of the fun parts of the party is mixing your cocoa just the way you like it. We serve warm milk in teapots, and pass around Giradelli chocolate, mini marshmallows, shaved white chocolate with peppermint, candy canes, and for the moms, some Kaluha.

It was special. I'm lucky to have all these little girls to play dress up with. They are pretty sweet.

and now for the winner of my Christmas Secret Surprise Giveaway! Its a hand painted and decorated box with a nesting, ephemera covered bird on it. Pretty for the holidays, but not so Christmassy that you can't leave it out all winter. I'll fill it with some home made bath salts and send it to…..

Deborah Woodrow

And remember, if you have Christmas gift cash to buy yourself a gift, come on by the Boutique. Everything is 30% off if you use THIS LINK.

And the small print says: The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days. You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words- happyholidays – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

Merry Christmas!

celebrations, fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday is filled with lots of singing, dancing, and joy!

And big hugs from someone you love.

(Info about the secret Santa gift drawing and the 30% off sale in the Boutique can be found in the previous post, if you scroll down, but that is enough "business" for now. I'm off to get in on some of those hugs!)

Pretty, pretty, pretty, I love Kim’s house! plus a Boutique sale and a giveaway

Food and Drink, give away, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, Travel, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / December 23, 2011

Everything at Kim's was pure perfection, she has major decor, design, and detail skills.

And the ladies who came to spend the day were such fun! I hope they enjoyed my two classes as much as I enjoyed sharing the tips with them.

There were gifts galore too. Kim gave us all the table decorations she used to foof our seats, I already have these wings on display in my own holiday decor.

And the generous attendees all included me in their swaps, even though I didn't have time to participate. (photos to come, you'll be impressed with their work!)

Kim's house was sooooo pretty. I said that word so many times, that I sounded like a broken record. Or a dimwit with a pitiful vocabulary.

Can you blame me? Pretty was everywhere.

Kim was attempting to show me around when I arrived, when I caught a glimpse of her studio through the open doorway and I was magnetically pulled into the prettiness of the room, with no hope of stopping myself. I just had to explore that space.

But it wasn't just the studio. The whole house is that great. This is the bedroom that Jessi and I shared, Kim's daughter, Kate, gave up her room for the whole weekend.

My main project was a wire wrapped wreath, with lace leaves and a nesting dove. I brought a table full of "extras" for everyone to play with. Ribbons, lace, beads,glitters, etc. When I teach a class, I think its only fair to include everything you need in the kits.

But- its good to have an option to personalize the piece and have some bonus goodies to dig through.

Don't we all love to dig?

Everyone's project was unique, no two just the same. Just the way I like it!

We also played with paint, and I explained some of the techniques for short cut painting tips that are on the side bar of my blog. I'll have some pictures of that later, as well as a bigger sample of the work. Kim and I painted her nightstands using the same steps that we did on the small wooden boxes that I brought for the class.

When I arrived, she had a pristine, newly painted, chalk board door.

And I had the honors of supplying its first drawing.

Kate has tamed a feral cat and it adores her. So, my thought was to add the kitty to the picture, and have it play with the ribbons dangling from the wreath that we were making that day.

I have more photos to share after Christmas, but for now, I really need to get shopping and wrapping! Sugarwings has been ill since I got home and a lot of my time has gone to snuggling instead of prepping for the big event this weekend. I hope Santa can find my chimney, because no one in this house should count on gifts from me…. I'm not prepared!

Speaking of gifts- don't forget that you have till Christmas to win a special, surprise gift from me. Any comment this week, any post counts.

Also, if you have Christmas gift cash to buy your self a gift, come on by the Boutique. Everything is 30% off if you use THIS LINK.

The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days. You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words- happyholidays – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

Merry Christmas!

Book club holiday party gifts and decor and treats

Books, celebrations, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / December 22, 2011

Last Monday, I hosted our annual book club holiday gathering.

All of the dining table chairs were moved into the living room for the guests to gather in a circle and the dining room table was covered in a vintage velvet quilt and filled with goodies.

If I didn't have old lady eyes and needed the over head lights on, I'd keep my house lit with ambient lighting instead! I love the glow of all the small lamps tucked around the room. And of course the Christmas trees add a beautiful glow to it all too.

December is the perfect time to add lots of little mini lights. I love to use them under old lace curtains on the buffet.

The fairy lights add a nice twinkle to everything sitting near them.

This little paper weight was a gift from my sisters. Bobbie Sue added a photo of the three of us to an old paper weight that Sissy had. She made 3, so we each got one.

For book club, we all wrapped up a book we'd enjoyed that year for a trade. I got extremely lucky! There was a book I'd read in my 20s that I LOVED and wanted to re-read. I've looked for it for 30 years, but didn't remember the author's name or title. And it showed up that night at the swap!!! Its from 1978 and is called "The Mirror".

The book I gave away that night was "Room" and its very disturbing, so I wrapped it extra nice and added a brooch to the package.

The night before guests came, my son's Gypsy Beloved helped me make some gifts. We whipped up goats milk bath salts with a vanilla rose oil scent, and some brown sugar scrub too.

Sorry, no real recipe, I kind of made it up as I went along. But each are sooooo easy to make, I'll give you the ingredients if you want to wing it:

Bath salts:

Box of powdered milk (goat or otherwise)

epsom salts (whole bag)

cup or so of sea salt

scented oil to your own taste

Sugar scrub:

Half pound of brown sugar

Full bag of epsom salts

cup of sea salt

about 2 cups of coconut oil

about a half cup of glycerin

scented oil to your own taste
The scrub is great for rough, dry, winter skin. And the milk bath is really relaxing. I use both regularly.

I wrapped them all in small plastic bags sold at Michaels in the cake decorating aisle, and tied up the bath salts with white lace and a mini bleached tree or wreath. The sugar scrub got wrapped the same way, but tied with rick rack and a tag made from an old Shiny Brite box.

It was wonderful to have my new, big kitchen to host a party in. I can't begin to tell you how much I love that room.

The treats that night were pumpkin cheesecake, fudge, german chocolate brownies, pumpkin muffins, a veggie tray, pita chips, flax seed chips and salsa.

And of course wine!

I hope that your holiday has been filled with special occasions and more to come. Its a festive season, and I can't get enough of it.

And please don't forget, I'm picking a winner of a Holiday Surprise gift.

Just leave a comment between now and Christmas to enter.

Short Cut layered Fudge with Belguim Chocolate

Food and Drink, holiday decor, how to's

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2011

For more than 30 Christmasses I've been making short cut fudge, the same way every year. But in the last few, I've noticed that it wasn't going as well as it used to. I blame the products, I think that they have changed gradually and just aren't as good. Nestle Toll House Chips just weren't working the way they used to over the years when I made up batches and batches of treats.

I think that they maybe aren't as pure as they were decades ago. I wonder if more paraffin has been added to keep the costs down?

Anyway, I believe that you don't get good results without good ingredients, so when I bake, I Use the Good Stuff, just like when I create in the studio.

Now, I've switched to only Belguim chips, and the results are worth it!

Here is how I make them:

One and one half bag of chips plus one can of sweetened condensed milk (I use low fat, yes, I know its still a sugary, fudgy concoction, but I think every little bit helps, and if it tastes good, go ahead and cut out a little bit of fat when you can!)

Warm the milk in a pan, then add chips.

Melt the chips.

With a mixer, beat on high speed for way, way longer than you think you should have to! The fudge will lose its sheen and get thick, then you'll know its time to pour it into a greased pan.

I make about 3 batches at once, so you can double or triple the recipe, easily,

Here is what makes it extra special- buy dark,white, and milk chocolate, as well as Reece's peanut butter chips and make multi fudge flavor layers.

This one is dark on the bottom, sprinkled with pecans, and ground white chips (I dump them in a blender to chop them up). After that, there is a layer of milk chocolate fudge that is again sprinkled with more white chocolate crumbs.

There is also peanut butter layered with dark chocolate picutured here.

The layers look impressive, but its an easy and tasty trick.

Of course, presentation is important. Doesn't everything look better under glass?

Please remember that I am having a giveaway, of a special surprise.

Just leave a comment between now and Christmas, all posts, any posts, as often as you'd like.

Gifts and Giveaways and free images, Happy Happy Holidays!

Books, free images, give away, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 18, 2011

Last week, friends came by to help me practice my "Song of the Season" class that I am teaching at Kim's. As a thanks, and a Happy Holiday, I made up a little goodie bag for each of them.

These great scented candles from Bath and Bodyworks were on sale for 5 or 6 dollars, I can't remember, but it was a very good deal, so I bought a bagful to pass out this season. Each one got foofed up for the person it was going to. My pal, Angie loves pink roses as much as I do, so hers is topped with a circle of my favorite wallpaper in the world, and I wrapped a coordinating old, gold striped paper around it, tied it with a pink bow and added a millinery rose and a bit of sparkle.

Beth and Karla are both accountants, so their candles were decked out with pages snipped from a 1910 math book.

A bit of glue, a scrap of paper, and some foof, and they were quickly personalized to suit the giftees.

(the scent I chose was Vanilla Peppermint, and it reminds me of the happy evenings Sugarwings and I have spent with our cocoa parties by the Christmas tree. We like to stir the hot milk with candy canes, and then either add a spoonful of shaved chocolate, or a squeeze of vanilla agave syrup to our cups)

There is still another gift for Beth, but I didn't have it ready for her that day. She brought a Christmas present for me, and of course, I did NOT wait till I had one for her before I opened this. It was wrapped way too pretty. And even if I did pretend to be polite and wait, I'd have opened it as soon as she left anyway, then would have had to scramble to re-wrap it for when I had a gift ready for her and we could officially trade.

Her present was layers upon layers of gifts! A tattered old corsage and a hand made, ruffled scarf as a bow topped it all off. Under that, old wallpaper in gray and sage (I've already made something with a scrap of it, too).

Inside were two books, one was a 2012 planner done by local talent, Greg Johnson.I've never owned one before, but have always wanted one of his annual creations. I stole this photo from my friend, Debbie, she sells them in her Curious Sofa shop. You can get one for yourself, here

The other book is a flower child book from 1910. In the cover it says:

"To every child-flower that blooms within the curious garden that we call home, this little book is lovingly dedicated"

Its going to be a favorite of Sugarwings and I! Way too nice to cut up and use for projects, but I'll be scanning and using the pages, for sure.

These pages are for you. Just click to open in a larger size, save to the computer from that window, and print.

My dear friend, Shanna brought this beauty to me. She is a stained glass artist and makes wonderful Christmas ornies. My tree is full of her creations. This one is a new design, a tussy mussy, with hand painted enamel designs.

Now some more gifts for you! I picked three names from the comments this last week, and they have a choice of a dress form class or a cuff class online.

The winners are:

1-Debbie Jullirat

2-Wanda Contrears

3-Nancy Thompson

Will the 3 of you please email me to get the info for the tutorials?

Since its Christmas and I love making and giving presents as much as I love getting them, I'll do another giveaway too.

Between now and Christmas, leave a comment and I'll draw a name to win a surprise prize.

Hitching up the reindeer, hopping in my sleigh and taking a trip!

holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / December 16, 2011

This weekend is going to be really special! I'm on my way to sunny California to hang out at Kim's and be a guest artist at her holiday gathering.

Its not easy for me to be away from home this close to Christmas. I'm a homebody all the time anyway, but December is when I really settle down into my nest!

But this weekend will be a wonderful, holiday happening, so that will help me feel less homesick for my own Christmas tree.

I've been to two of Kim's large events at the Belmar in Manhattan Beach, and they were over the top fabulous. I love attending her themed workshops. I'll be going to Breakfast at Tiffany's this spring too.

Knowing how wonderful all of her arty gatherings are, I am thrilled to be teaching at this private one at her home.

I'll be away from my computer for a few days, but have prewritten some posts to pop up while I am away, so please do come by. And all orders between today and Monday will be sent on Tuesday the 20th.

The class will be this wintertime wreath, with a nesting bird. I'll be teaching a spring time version of the same wire wrapped wreath at Paper Cowgirls in March, too. Maybe I'll see you there?