February 2014 – Karla's Cottage

Explorations

By Karla Nathan / February 27, 2014

It's been a long, long, coooooold winter. But before the last big blast of unrelenting cold, we had a break, one beautiful day not only above freezing, but NICE. Sunshiny and warm. Springlike! So nice that Sugarwings and I stepped outside to take a peek at the sunshine and never went back in the house. We were still wearing jammies and didn't even care.

We decided to explore the back part of our land, we have about 10 acres, but only use about a third of it. The rest is hard to get to. requiring us to cross a couple of creeks and I don't like battling the weeds and underbrush during the summer growing season. In the winter, the brush has all died back and it's possible to walk through the woods without getting all tangled up but it's usually too cold for me to want to check it out.

But on this warm, winter day we could also walk right across the frozen creeks. It was an odd feeling to be outside on a day toasty enough to not need a jacket, but still walking on solid ice.

In the first photo, you can see the log that makes the bridge over the creek, which is how we usually cross. I'm not a fan of it, so was glad to slip and slide across the ice instead of dangling over the water on that log. As a person with no sense of balance at all, walking on ice isn't easy, but it's easier than clinging to that dead tree and scooting along it an inch at a time.

Sugarwings found lots of club houses out there. Here is a ring of trees on a hill that we are sure that the fairies planted just for us to play in.

Now that we have a John Deere Gator, my husband has major plans to drive across the creek, harvest firewood to bring back, and also clear some trails. I hope that we'll be spending more time back there as the seasons turn, now that we will have better access.

I love that we "reclaimed" part of our land to create our Fairy Berry Trail. Especially as the girls get older. They will enjoy exploring out there.

It would feel good to have use of the whole property. Sometimes there have been years when we haven't even crossed the creek to visit our own land.

The winner of a copy of Where Women Create is

Pallas.

Please send me your address, Pallas, and I'll get it out in the mail. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to enter. I enjoyed your comments.

The ugliest pictures I have ever posted or how to make roving from angora goat hair

how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / February 24, 2014

My niece has a friend who raises angora goats and at our Valentine Fairy making party, she asked if I'd like some angora to use for the doll hair. Oh my yes!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't quite realize what I was getting myself in for when I said yes. The "raw" fur didn't exactly look like these perfect pink curls.

This photo is of the finished product. The long, angora soft, curls are wonderful, and quite pretty. But I have to warn you, the rest of my photos aren't as nice to look at.

Of course, I didn't realize that it came complete with all this, this, well, we will call it detritus…. that had to be picked out.

Some hay, no big deal. Some burrs, a few sticks, sure, no problem. A bit of unidentifiable something or another. Sure, I'll dig that out. I won't even think about it maybe being a poo clot.

Actually it wasn't bad at all. I started out being very careful and conservative, and as I went along I became more ruthless. Instead of picking out the little bits, I tore away hunks around the little bits.

After that, it gets rinsed. And rinsed. And rinsed, a handful at a time. The instructions said to do it outdoors with a hose. I didn't have that option in our below zero weather, so used my sink. I was pretty surprised to see how easy it was to do and how little mess it was. The stuff clumps to itself and doesn't go all over the place. The clump stays politely where you set it while it is being rinsed.

Next, I tied up all the picked and rinsed hair in a net bag that had held onions.

The bag went into a pot of almost boiling water, that I added a ton of dish soap to. Then, I set it in the sink with a lid on the pot, stirring every once in a while and letting it soak for an hour.

At this point, the whole counter top and the sinks got bleached and scrubbed. Like I mentioned, it wasn't messy. The hair sticks to itself and didn't clog drains or float away. It stays where you put it. It was mostly the germs I was going after when I cleaned up.

After that, I rinsed it, then put the bag back in the pot with equally hot water, no soap, to soak again.

While it was still wet, I took it to the studio and dyed it with fiber reactive dyes. I was going for hot pink and raspberry colors along with some blond.

Parts of it look great, but the color did fade as it dried where the hair was more gray to start with.

And some of it was clotted, and clumped, not soft like wool roving, so I cut those out. I think that maybe it was supposed to be pulled and treated somehow, but I didn't want to disturb the nice, curling parts that were silky, so I just used what I liked and not the rest.

Much of it, where the gray was too strong to cover, will be good to save for witch or crone hair. Or to make a grammie fairy? But some of it was sweetly curling hot pink.

All in all, an interesting experiment. I've been told that I can get more hair from her if I'd like, but I'm not sure if I like the gray goat color. If it was white and I could dye it pastel shades, it would be ideal for my Birdsong fairy class. But for the gray that I ended up with, it isn't a color I'll need much of. I think this bagful will do.

PS- if you'd like to sign up for a chance to win a copy of Where Women Create, please leave a comment on my previous post I'll announce the winner on my next post.

Sweethearts and some card making tips

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, holiday decor, how to's, Sugarwings, Valentine's Day, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 21, 2014

I hope you had a good Valentines Day? We sure did. Actually, a week of it! My Handsome Husband took me out to dinner one night, then the next, we all got dressed up and went out for a fancy meal with Sugarwings, her mommy and her mommy's sweetheart. And this was all before Valentines ever arrived. On the day of, I had the grand fairies and we decided to play with food coloring out in the snow.

Of course, not all of the artwork can be hearts and love notes when you are creating with a 3 year old, and most of it all got trampled. When Ryan came down his stairs later as it was starting to get dark out, he thought there had been some sort of massacre in the snow from all the red squirted everywhere.

Sugarwings took off for a weekend with her mommy while Dewdrop spent some time with us. We got all dressed up with her and went out on the town again, to do a little dining and dancing while a friend's band played.

Then, and yes there is MORE. My husband and I went out to dinner AGAIN with some friends. I think I might just forget how to cook. I could get used to this life of restaurants and celebrations.

Except it all came to a crashing end when I had more gum surgery on Monday morning. No more dining for me for a while, it's jello time now.

Between galas and bashes and dinners and celebrating, I made up some cards to send out. These are a little different for me, not all elements are pure vintage. I had this rose print paper, and thought it was perfect for the holiday.

To start, I folded a chocolate brown sheet of card stock to make the card, and inked all the edges inside and out. Next, I cut out the rose paper to fit on the card, and with an exacto blade, cut slits in the faux picture frame on the paper, to slide in a Victorian die cut cherub.

To make the frame a bit more 3d, I used a soft brown marker to outline the inside of the frame and create shadows.

Around the card, I doodled with a metallic gold ink pen. The message inside the card is with the same ink.

To finish, I glued two sets of millinery petals, and added a red rhinestone to the center.

This card was made in much the same way, then I added velvet ribbon, a crepe paper ruffle, a painted brass piece and a millinery leaf to the edge.

For the brass, I used Martha Stewart craft paint that is made for metal, painted it on and wiped it off.

This time, the card also features a painted metal piece, that I've tied ribbons to. On top of it, I glued some vintage butterfly wings and on those, a pink cake topper lady, who is now a fairy.

I had another pink lady, and used her over some die cut butterfly wings that my friend, Hope, had given me. I layered her over another painted brass piece and some lace.

This one was made after I ran out of the pretty rose paper but was still in a card making mood. I cut sheet music into a heart, inked the edges and added a crepe paper ruffle to the back.

Onto the card, I added a Victorian die cut lady. Her dress had been baby blue, but I changed that with markers for a more Valentiney look. Her wings are two different butterflies printed onto vellum paper, and slid under her shoulders.

I added some millinery and a touch of sparkle with Stickles glitter.

I just love the way vellum paper looks with images printed on it. This photo is on vellum, and I cut a heart out of sparkly, white scrap book paper to layer underneath, then put both over a tan mat for contrast. It went into a frame, not onto a card.

If you'd like to try the snow painting, it is simple as can be. A small amount of food coloring in a jug of water is all it takes to make the paint. Then, put it into squirt bottles. It is surprising how fast it goes, though, so be prepared for a lot of refilling.

PS- if you'd like to sign up for a chance to win a copy of Where Women Create, please leave a comment on my previous post, or on FB.

WHERE WOMEN CREATE giveaway

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / February 19, 2014

Jo Packham offered me a couple of extra copies of Where Women Create to share. I have a giveaway on Facebook for one, and am giving another away here.

Please leave a comment on THIS POST if you are interested. And feel free to sign up in both places. Thanks!

Happy Birthday Mom

family, flowers, free images, paintings

By Karla Nathan / February 16, 2014

Today is my mom's birthday. I always miss her, but even more this time of year.

She was creative and funny. Silly and loving. Goofy and full of laughs.

(to use these two postcards yourself, click on the images to open in a larger window and save them to your computer to print)

When I visited my sisters, we looked at some of Bobbie's old family pictures. One was this of my grandma.

You are welcome to save this picture to use in your artwork if you'd like. Grandma was crafty too, as well as most of our family.

She liked to make things, so while she might think it was odd that people would want to use vintage photos of strangers in their artwork, she would probably understand the love of creating.

Mom died a few years back, and Bobbie had some photos from the funeral. I'd painted the casket for Mom, and I know she'd have been so tickled.

When I was a single mother, struggling to get by, mom took me and the boys in to live with her. We both loved seeing the first irises of spring, and bringing them in to put in vases all around her house. Painting the blooms became one of my obsessions. That made the flower become her favorite and she'd pre-ordered a big bouquet of them to be at her funeral.

She was quite the planner, the whole memorial service was lined out, payed for and planned to the tee years before she passed away. Complete with photos of her next to the casket she picked out and next to her grave plot.

The casket wasn't decorated in irises though. I sure wish she could have seen that. She'd have loved it.

There is a factory in our home town that makes caskets and hers had been ordered there. Luckily, they let me come in with my brushes for a couple of hours and embellish the top. They didn't even bat an eye at my request, either.

Bobbie also had this picture at her house, not a photo, but my original drawing of our other grandma, this one on Dad's side.

It was from a high school art class, and had been hanging at my Daddy's house since then. When he died, it stayed there with his wife. She passed away awhile back and recently, Bobbie went to get it for me. I have no way to get it in a suitcase (it's huge) so I asked her if she wanted to keep it.

She also gathered up this watercolor of a barn my dad had helped build. I think it is his brother's barn, not the family homestead. This is hanging in my sister's guest room too. Or "my room" as I call it.

I enjoyed seeing paintings hang in there, and looking through photos too. And the best part was that I was with people who share the same memories that I do.

It's great to reminisce with family.

I think that today, in honor of her birthday, I'll see if I can find some iris at the florist for my dining room. Mom would like that.

Hold fast to dreams

magazine pictures or articles

By Karla Nathan / February 13, 2014

This issue of Where Women Create is out now and I'm so thrilled to be a part of it. I've done many magazine articles over the years, but this one is standing out as special to me.

Probably because I love my studio so much!

I was so worried about getting the room just right, that I didn't bother much with myself. I had Halloween fingernails, since the photos were taken at the end of October. But compared to how my hands normally look, green was better than natural, I guess.

My dark roots were showing too. If I had it to do over again, I think I'd have applied some darker lipstick and had my hair done. I just wasn't thinking about how I'd look.

For the article, I was asked to include a quote. I'm just not a person who remembers quotes. I love hearing them, but they go in one ear and out the other.

When I was in Indy recently, my sister brought up our grandma's middle name, Belle.

Belle!!???

I was thrilled! I love that name. I had no idea that is what her name was!!

Till we realized that I react that way every time I hear it. I'm easily pleased because it is all new to me. Oh my, I've just admitted that I am an idiot, didn't I? Anyway, you can see why quotes (or names of people I've been introduced to ten times, let alone related to) don't stick with me.

It was rough finding a quote. At first, I was going to use "April showers bring May flowers" because the article was originally set for spring and that is something my mom used to say to me a lot when I was little. My birthday is in May and it always made me feel special. And flowery.

But that didn't work for January. So, I looked through famous quotes and grabbed this one from Langston Hughes because he is from Lawrence, KS and it mentions birds.

"Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird who cannot fly"

And it is really a good thought too. Not that I'll ever think it again, but it fit with the article okay, since I talk about the dream of working toward getting my own studio.

Thank you for all the kind words and sweet compliments that have come my way over this story. I love sharing the room with friends. Hopefully I'll see some of you here in the future at a class?

And thanks to Carol for the great job on pictures, and to Jo Packham for including me in her magazine.

Valentine Fairies

antiques/junking, bird song art event, fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / February 10, 2014

Our family day Valentine fairy workshop was very special to me. I simply do not get enough time with my sisters and their kids. Not all of them could be there, a couple of nephews are far flung, like I am. Because of they are not nearby, it was a good day to be together, we found out that my oldest nephew's son was going through a crisis and wasn't expected to live. I was glad to be with family as the story unfolded, and even more glad to be there when we got the news that he was recovering and was going to be fine.

Bobbie's home is the best place to be for a Valentine party, the dining room's color scheme was ideal! And she had plenty of space for all of us to gather. We had kind of an open house seating, with nieces coming and going through out the day to make fairies with us.

I'd brought all the supplies and turned everyone loose with them to see what they'd come up with. The best part of a class is the variety of styles and creative ideas that show up in the end products. Dang, I don't know how I missed getting a picture of Hannah's basketball fairy, it was a cutie!

Bobbie put her own face on her doll. It's fitting, because her last name is Valentine!

Here is the three of us posing with our dolls. The cheery, cherry wall was a good place to pose, and the rose painting was a good match for our Valentine theme too.

Doesn't it look like Sis is wearing a magnificent floral hat tho? So, I had to put a hat on too. Sadly, all that was near me was a skein of yarn. Not a fancy as hers.

Sissy brought some curly wool roving in deep tones that made ideal hair.

I'd dyed wool and crepe paper in pinks and reds to use.

Then decided that my wool was too pink and redyed some yellow over it to make it more fleshy. Great for the dolls, but in a pile, it looked like intestines or worms.

I sewed up some strips of sparkly tulle for dresses petticoats too. You should see the drifts of glitter left behind in my sewing machine, when I opened the bobbin compartment.

I'm not sure that is good for it…

The more fairies I made, the more I got the hang of it and came up with tricks and short cuts.

Whenever I do a class or tutorial, I need to make a bazillion prototypes before I figure out the very best way to tackle the project. My studio is going to be knee deep in fairies by the time I'm ready to host the class.

For now, I've got the pretties hanging off my dining room chandelier for the holiday.

These will differ from what we are doing in Birdsong, since for one thing, they are all pink and red Valentines, but for another, I used some new flowers instead of all vintage millinery.

While experimenting with the new petals, I ran into a lot of trouble with my glue. I've always used the Ultimate, and love it. But when it came to these brand new petals, it just wouldn't stick, they were slipping and sliding right off of the skirt. I asked around and Fabric Tack was suggested. It did the trick, worked great on the new materials. My fave, the Ultimate was used on the rest and also on the old flowers.

I've come up with lots of different shoe styles for the fairies, I always like to have a lot of options to show the class attendees.

I even have extra face options. Dogs, cats, cherubs, ladies. No dorkies, though, durn it. I wish I could find some Victorian scrap Yorkshire Terriers!

After making a quite a few red and pink girls, I was ready to try some other colors.

And I ended up with a few witches.

Bobbie's witch had a face from Oz.

Sissy moved onto using her wool for another purpose and felted a scarf. And when my niece, Stacey, saw what we were using, she offered to gather some angora from her friend's goats. I can't wait to felt and dye that soft, fuzzy wool. I'll show you the steps as I do it. Of course, it could be a "don't try it this way yourself" version of instructions, because I've never done it before.

One thing I tried didn't go so well. I thought that maybe the sprites would look better with more rounded bodies. So, we tried wrapping the wool over cotton balls, only to find that the dolls looked like cinched in pillows, not curvy fairies. The one on the left is an example of how NOT to make one.

I'm excited to make more and get my kits made up in soft springtime colors for our Birdsong gathering.

And I'll enjoy memories of our family weekend filled with fairies while I am making kit after kit after kit.

A special surprise

antiques/junking, bird song art event, celebrations, family

By Karla Nathan / February 8, 2014

When I got an invitation to my niece's surprise 50th birthday party in Indiana, I couldn't say no. As soon as I finagled the kiddo watching schedule and made sure my turn was covered, I cashed in frequent flyer miles and packed my bag.

My niece, Shelli, has always loved mermaids, so I made this one as a gift for her. It's the same pipe cleaner and wool roving as the fairies we will be making in Birdsong, but with shells and a tail instead of clothes and legs. A little more complicated, but not much. And harder to sit up, so I packed a sea shell in the gift bag too, now the little mermaid has a seat.

This mermaid is holding a heart shaped coral from the Maui beach and her seahorse wand is a cocktail pick from our dinner cruise there. And my family wonders why I fill my pockets with "junk" sometimes, it's not junk, it's supplies!

My flight arrived in time for a lunch out with my sisses and the birthday girl. She didn't realize there was more in-store for her birthday the next day and had no idea I was there just for her. She thought that the lunch was the celebration itself, along with dinner out with her husband and kids that night.

So, the evening after her birthday, when everyone surprised her at the party, she was looking over her shoulder trying to figure out whose shindig this was.

It was cute to see her face when she realized everyone was there just for her.

My sisses and I were able to fit in a little antiquing the first day, just enough to score 3 floral hats and a few other tidbits, not a lot, but it scratched my junking itch.

Mostly I was there for family time, and glad to have it.

Our cousin even drove all the way down from Northern Indiana in the snow to join us for craft day.

Everyone consented to be my guinea pig students for the Birdsong fairies. This is Sissy's Valentine fairy, I'll have more to show later.

**********************

ps- have you seen the Facebook movies that have sprung up over night? At first I wondered what the heck they were, then thought they were hokey, and soon after got sucked in to looking at them all.

Some are off a bit, like showing exes from years ago, or odd pictures. But some are golden. I even got a little teary eyed at a couple, including my own. Yep, I went along like a lemming and posted one.

Here is the page it is on.

They are fun to look at, but it's also creepy to see how fast they spread. In one day, it seemed like every other post was a fb movie. Like a zombie epidemic.

Blizzards and bliss

Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / February 5, 2014

It's cold in Kansas! And staying that way for a while, it looks like.

The newspaper says we got 12", but it seemed like a lot more at our house. These photos were near the beginning of the storm, another forty or fifty feet (or so it feels) fell throughout the day.

When my husband bought this toy tool, to haul firewood, I thought it was a bit extravagant and it would be cheaper to just buy wood. But after seeing it keep our driveway cleared, I kind of love it myself.

I suggested we name her Ally Gator (she is a John Deere Gator), Sugarwings said she liked Emily better. So, Emily Gator, it is.

My husband would rather have a more macho name for his machine, but I sure get a kick out of calling it Emily.

While I was in Indy for my neice's birthday, Sugarwings met a new friend at the shoe store and her Pop Pop invited her over for a play date. School was cancelled due to the blizzard, and our little one was heart broken that she wasn't going to see her new pal due to bad weather.

So, after Emily plowed out the drive, my husband got out the big old truck and drove through the snow to pick up the whole family to come over to play in the snow.

There were plenty of giggles and fun, it was worth getting out to go and get them. No matter what my worries were about the whole situation. First of all, I had no idea what this family, met in the shoe store was like. And what if they got here but couldn't get out again? Were we going to be snowed in for days with the shoe store people??? What would I talk to them about while the girls played? (I'm a notoriously bad small talker)

But they were really, really nice people, and even if they weren't, Sugarwings was so excited to have a friend come over, that we would have welcomed ogres if necessary. She even cleaned her room. And fretted over which pretty tea cups to set out for a cocoa party after sledding. I let her count the forks, get out the plates, chose the table cloths, and plan the whole party.

And I tell you, when you are snowed in with a bundle of energy like Sugarwings, it takes a lot of activities and planning to get through the days! I was happy that she had such a good time planning her party and then looking out the window for her friend to arrive.

And my worries about what the heck I'd do with the parents while the girls played left as soon as I spoke to them. We chatted away for a couple of hours while the kids had a giggle fest blast. These two girls were like two peas in a pod.

Even their names matched, Lee Lee and La La. Cute!

Sometimes, you just need to get out of your comfort zone, bundle up and do something different, huh?

Kansas vs Maui

drawing, paintings, photography, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 3, 2014

Happy February! Man, what a cooooooold, brrrr-ey winter. I was so lucky to get away to Hawaii and escape the worst of it, but I still feel like I've been a human popsicle most of the season. Some of it is because of the propane shortage, the price of heating our house more than doubled, and I've been keeping careful track of thermostat settings.

Geez, I thought Hawaii was expensive. At least a vacation is a memorable, relaxing, and worthwhile way to spend too much money.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love a cozy, warm house and know it's important. But I'd sure rather pay half as much to do it.

Normally, we prepay for our gas for the entire year way back in August, to get a set price. If I'd had the foresight to do that last summer, we wouldn't be paying double now. But I'd still be cutting back and turning down the thermostat, since there is a shortage. It's scary to think of running out! Our firewood supply is low too.

Maybe we should turn the heat to a minimum, pack up and fly back to paradise, spend the money there instead of on propane!

I wish.

For now, I'll enjoy my album from Maui. I printed the finger painting water color sketches I'd done on my iPad, and used those in the book along with a few mementos and some pictures.

The ap doesn't allow a lot of detail, so printing them, and adding hand drawn elements and words with ink really gave them the punch they needed.

Here is one directly from the ap. I don't think it needs any further detail, Dorothy Rosebud's furry mess of a hairdo is bad enough without more clarification. But the shaggy layer is helping her keep warm, so it will have to stay til either spring comes or the price of propane comes down!