March 2014 – Karla's Cottage

Charlotte Bunny Baskets

By Karla Nathan / March 30, 2014

Do you ever have a day that just flows happily through you? Where time just melts away because you are so involved with what you are doing that all of a sudden you realize it is evening only because your tummy reminds you that dinner should be served soon, but you are happy because you know you don't have to be responsible for that dinner?

I don't get those as often as I'd like. Usually, there are too many interruptions where every day life gets in the way.

But recently, I had a DAY ALL TO MYSELF.

About 12 hours straight of not talking to or seeing another person. I took advantage of it by working in the studio.

And the first part of the day was used to finish all of my Birdsong kits. That was a happy feeling right there. Then, I mindlessly sewed crepe paper ruffles. While that might sound boring, and sometimes it would be for me, on this day, when I had all the TIME in the world, it was almost like meditation.

After sewing all that crepe, I was ready to play with it, and figured out a way to turn Charlottes into Bunnies.

Then, I used that crepe paper to embellish some vintage nut cups. And line them with the moss scraps on the table from making the fairy kits for Birdsong. Most of the supplies were stuff that I hadn't cleaned up yet from making the kits (which means that my workspace was about 10").

It felt great to have no time limits, and nothing calling me away from my desk. I didn't have to pick anyone up, take anyone someplace, or even feed anybody. I just had a glorious, long stretch of TIME all to myself to work play. And to use the Good Stuff. Creating with soft, old velvet, faded millinery, and sweet Charlottes was a balm to my stressed soul.

And even better? My sweet son dropped by with Dewdrop about dinner time with a pizza. I had the best of both worlds, not only did I get all this TIME to myself, I still got to end the day listening to the giggles of a 3 year old and I got a dinner that I didn't have to cook.

Now, I have the resolve to tackle my taxes and all the other stuff piling up. I needed that TIME, uninterrupted, to be creative and get recharged.

And I even got these listed in the Boutique, if you'd like one.

Fairies under construction

bird song art event, fairies

By Karla Nathan / March 28, 2014

I've been working away on kits for my fairy project for Birdsong 4. To get to the point to even start thinking about kits, I had to make plenty of little wool roving fairies to figure out the very best way to get them done and to explain to others how to make them.

And of course, I made sooooo many, that I simply couldn't chose just one color for the kits. I loved them all. And I really love variety.

So, I made up packages with the different types of fairies that I had created. There are neutral or green toned Woodland Fay, Pastel Pixies in softer colors, and Bright Sprites for the ladies who like things a little splashier.

I also had to dye a lot of wool. And dye then sew crepe paper ruffles, by the hundreds of yards. And sew ruffled tulle for the skirts too.

I like it that I don't have two dolls that turned out the same and I can't wait to see dozens of fairy ladies in all the pretty colors when my Birdsong friends make their kits.

And of course, if you know anything about me, I'm sure you know that I like to give people choices. I even have a bunch of dog and cat faces that can be subbed for little girls faces on the fay dolls.

I'll also have bags of colored feathers, and a rainbow of wool roving out to play with, so that individuality can explode in a blast of colors that day.

We'll be making peat pot swings for the fairies to hang out in. I'd tried a ton of other ideas for swings and all were kind of interesting, but there is something extra cute about peat pots, at least to me.

Gosh, I wish the photos of the fairies looked as good as they do in real life. They just aren't something that photographs well. Each has a lot of sweet details that make it special.

It was fun to plan the color schemes and fill the kit bags with tiny pretties, snips of lace, and itty bitty bouquets that when mixed with a dollop of creativity, will become a studio full of fairies when Birdsong comes around!

By the way, I know that this craft isn't something I invented. I simply figured out the best way to make them for myself, but they have been around since Victorian times. Does anyone know the real name of these dolls? They were often made into Angels for Christmas trees. I keep calling them wool roving fairies, but would love to know if there is something I should be calling them instead.

Spring Cleaning (for the dogs)

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), yorkies

By Karla Nathan / March 27, 2014

I don't know why I don't have my dogs groomed more often. They look so cute when they get home from the doggie salon! They get their teeth brushed and nails trimmed and the stink washed away too.

We'd let the poor things get so shaggy, no one in the family could tell the little fur balls apart.

It is just really nice to have freshly groomed puppeesh around and to see their faces once more.

And they enjoyed the trip to the salon too. Our neighbor, and puppeesh litter mate, Scruffy was there on the same day, unplanned. The groomer said all the dogs seemed to be great friends, but she had no idea they were related until Scruffy's family came to pick him up. What a fun coincidence!

St Paddy’s Day Parade

Dew Drop, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 24, 2014

We had a perfect day downtown Lawrence for the St Patrick's Day parade. Sugarwings danced the day away, awash in the joy of it all.

And with her brushes with princesses and beauty queens. Who knew Kansas was so chock full of royalty?

We had all of the parade court go by, one at a time, Miss Kansas, Mrs. Kansas, Miss Lawrence, Miss Douglas Co., Miss Topeka, Miss Johnson Co. and more.

Sugarwing's own crown broke early in the day, but she had to have it on every time a princess came by. Her grandfather was happy to hold it in place for her so she could greet her fellow royal friends. And so many of them were so sweet to her, making sure to greet her, eye to eye and say something.

My husband had the brilliant idea to go downtown early and park our truck so we could have a base to hang out in. We picked up a bag of green crap beautiful holiday decor, to deck out the truck and make it festive.

I let the girls do all the decorating themselves. We had green tinsel and leprechaun window clings everywhere.

Being there early, turned it into an almost all day adventure. We had a picnic, did some decorating, went for a walk, but mostly just hung out and had fun together.

Dewdrop didn't get the whole Irish concept, and insisted on wearing pink. But did consent to wear a green mermaid tale costume. And every once in a while would put on a hat. But mostly, she was enthralled by green moustaches and beards on the guys. And thought that leprechauns were Santas.

Personally, I was into the green thing. I got a hat from the dollar store and spent a couple minutes glittering it up and added some old millinery flowers with a couple safety pins.

And my witchy socks were called leprechaun socks for the day.

Sugarwings was all rainbows and green sparkles from head to toe. And used one of the dollar store hats to gather tons of candy that was being passed out.

She was very good about not eating it, and when Fin came by from one of the floats, she gave most of it to him. And that guy tossed it to the crowds when he got back on his bus. I was proud of them all for being good sharers. For them, it was more about the collecting and tossing than about a sweet tooth.

Our favorite entry in the parade, was of course, the Hoop Mamas. Sugarwing's Hippy Chick mommy and all of their friends ran over to give hugs.

They won 3rd place this year. Not bad, considering how much time and effort went into so many floats. These girls won with their dance routines.

We thought this garden center float filled up with baby fairies, was adorable.

That one got Dewdrop's vote. I think she appreciated that the fairies also preferred pink.

Downtown was pretty crazy and the traffic was bumper to bumper after it was over, but I don't think I'd ever want to go to this parade without the pickup again. We loved having a home base, and seats.

We were up high and had a great view from the tailgate. And when our friends came right up to the truck with their horses, Dewdrop had plenty of space to run away from them.

Funny, that kid loves "My Little Pony" more than anything, but when a real horse came up to see her, I practically had to peel her off the roof of the truck cab.

Downtown Lawrence is such a pretty place to spend a day. No matter what day of the year you go. But St Pat's is a big deal around here and they sure know how to celebrate it.

This year it was even better, with the weather cooperating, and the 17th fell during Spring Break for all the local kids.

I hope we have the luck of the Irish again next year! I already can't wait. What fun.

Bottoms Up KC, MO

antiques/junking, bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / March 21, 2014

The first Friday of every month, the Old West Bottoms warehouse district in KC is a treasure trove of antique shops. It started out with just a couple, and over time has grown into a bustling district with more than you can even get to in one day. In nice weather, it's almost like a street fair, with sidewalks and empty lots full of flea mkt goods, and food trucks parked everywhere.

Gwen McClure is one of the reasons this whole area is such a big success. Her shop is Bottoms Up and is floor upon floor of high quality antiques.

I always enjoy her own spot there in the mall. She and her sister haul back cargo loads full of finds from France.

Of course, I'm drawn to the ephemera to use in my work.

When I was visiting with her, she offered to sponsor a giveaway for my Birdsong peeps who are coming in June.

She is going to give us a drawing prize of a $50 gift certificate good for shopping anywhere in the shop.

I'd probably be tempted to spend it all on these $3 bags of lace, myself. I can't wait to see what the winner picks out, I hope she brings it with her to Birdsong to show us her purchase.

I've set the date for our gathering so that anyone who wants to can shop in the West Bottoms on Friday before our weekend classes, so I'll be holding the drawing ahead of time and the winner can pick up her prize there.

THANKS, GWEN!!!!!

Sponsors who give us little prizes for the gift bags or something for the drawing will be added to the side bar of my blog until the next Birdsong. Plus, I'll show off your kind gift on my blog.

And you will make the Birdsong peeps very happy! If you want to be a sponsor, please email me at:

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

There are so many shops in the district, that I haven't even seen them all. My friend, Lori, and I spent most of the day and saw about half.

Not all are open only on the First Friday, some are available every weekend.

(notice all the floral hats? I had a lucky hat day, and came home with SEVEN wonderfully, flowery ones!)

My friend, Sarah, has a booth at Restoration Emporium.

And Lesa Daily had a temp spot set up at Bottoms Up for Easter. She will be there first Friday of April too. Then back again for Halloween. I treated myself to one of her birdies, and chose one with pink polka dots. I loved the bunnies too, but I am very, very fond of her special birds. They have so much personality!

One thing I appreciate about the shopping is that if you need a piece of furniture, you can find almost anything, and often redone and ready to go. Much of it is painted, and in trendy tones. You also can get many crafty items that are well done and in good taste, done with vintage materials. There are great uses of salvaged goods, like this centerpiece too.

Plus, the antiques of course.

Prices run the gamut from one store, or booth to another, but I've usually filled a bag or two (and I am cheap). And a couple times, even a truck. Springtime there is a perfect time to find white wrought iron garden pieces.

Glittered peat pot baskets

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / March 18, 2014

I've been in an Easter egg kind of mood. This little paper mache one is painted metallic with glitter, inside and out, then decked out in its Sunday best with lots of millinery blooms.

Because, seriously, can you have too many flowers? Even on a tiny egg, I like to pile them on.

This one has a stand made of an old tart tin.

And this has a peat pot nesting spot.

I thought that properly foofed up peat pots would make sweet Easter baskets.

Some I filled.

This one has a nest with a felted chick.

And some I left empty to fill with treats.

They aren't necessarily for Easter only, they could be sweet May Day baskets, too, don't you think?

But when they are all together in a group with the eggs,they sure do make it look like the Bunny is on his way!

These are available in the Boutique.

An antique picture frame redo

antiques/junking, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / March 14, 2014

A while back, I found the coolest old frame at a flea market. But it certainly needed a redo.

This is how it began. I liked that it wasn't perfect, was a bit beat up and looked its age, but the pictures sure weren't my style, and I like things much lighter.

I've done a lot of painting over the years, and have many how to's listed HERE. For different looks, you paint things in different ways. For this, I wanted it white, but not "clean" white. So, instead of priming, like I suggest in most of the tutorials, I lightly sanded it. When I coated it in white satin latex paint, some of the wood tones bled through.

If I had used a primer, I'd have lost a lot of the wood grain that I wanted to still see. This paint was pure white, but also because I didn't prime, the wood wasn't sealed. The natural oils of the old wood stain caused the paint to darken.

I did a purposely semi-sloppy paint job, didn't get all the edges, left the indentations in the trim dark. But I was careful to always make my brush strokes the same direction as the wood grain so it didn't look messy.

The frame sections weren't typical modern sizes, so I didn't have pictures that would fit without having mats cut to fill out the frames. And since I didn't want the formal look (and expense) of mats, I layered cut out pictures of my fairy grand daughters over sheet music.

This is not a technique I would try on something that was in heavy duty use, like a table top. Unless I applied a ton more elbow grease into the sanding. But for a decorative wall piece, the light bit of sanding was plenty.

Once I was done taking a picture of the pictures, the dorkies insisted that I photograph them. They patiently waited by the bench while I took the frame's picture, then jumped up for their turn as soon as I moved it.

How could I say no to them? Little hams!

Another person’s trash….

bird song art event, holiday decor, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 12, 2014

As I've been gathering up fairy making materials to fill kits for Birdsong, I've taken a few breaks here and there to make a couple of other things too.

Beth came over for a craft day and brought me a bag of her trash. Now, that might sound odd, but she throws away stuff that I am thrilled to get. Like a stack of old books, half started projects, piles of ribbon, doilies, sewing supplies, all sorts of stuff that she cleaned out of her studio.

We thought the little fairies were going to join us for craft day, but they were busy outside all afternoon.

This cardboard box lid was in there. She'd lined it with the bird print on text and some ribbon, then quit. I couldn't leave it like that. I added beeswax to the background, more trim, some rhinestones, a nest and more birds.

It reminded us of that challenge on Top Chef where the chefs go from station to station doing the next step in a dish others started.

I'm setting this aside to use for a drawing prize for Birdsong 4. I'll be using the doilies she brought over to wrap up drawing prizes too. I'm already setting things aside to make up bundles of gifts to pick from when I pull a name out of the flowered hat during our weekend.

And I have a bonus gift too, from Gwen McClure She is giving us a $50 gift certificate to Bottoms Up!

Sponsors who give us little prizes for the gift bags or something for the drawing will be added to the side bar of my blog for a year. Plus, I'll show off your kind gift on my blog.

And you will make the Birdsong peeps very happy! If you want to be a sponsor, please email me at:

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

This was made with trash from Beth too, or at least some of it. She tried out the hot wax I was using on the bird piece, but didn't like the technique. So, I rescued her waxed French postcard and layered it with lace, flowers, and this baby picture.

The wax was interesting, but I doubt if I'll make much use of it. I am too impatient to get it hot enough, and it was gloppy and hard to work with. I like things I can do without thinking about ahead of time or planning.

Gee, that sounds lazy.

Is it that hard to warm up a pot of wax before I need it????

I've added the baby collage to the Boutique, along with a few Easter Eggs on stands too.

What A Wonderful, Wonderful, Day It Was

celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 9, 2014

If you have a little Oz fan (or a big one like me) in your family, she will need to get to Crown Center in Kansas City to see the 75th anniversary celebration display. And on different weekends, you can meet some of the characters.

We were lucky to be there on Glenda's day to visit.

Her costume was perfect in every detail! I really wanted this necklace she had on.

While standing in the (very short) line to meet the Good Witch, Sugarwings confessed that she was getting nervous and didn't know what to say to her.

But it didn't take her long to get over her nerves. She was thrilled to meet the gracious witch who took plenty of time to greet and visit with each kid.

Down the hall, was the Oz playground. Every single inch of the space was hand painted.

Starting with Auntie Em's old house, all at a crazy tilted angle from the twister.

Complete with the Wicked Witch's feet sticking out from underneath.

If you press the red button and look through the window, you can watch Miss Gulch fly through the storm on her bike. Throughout the exhibit, there were lots of interactive things like that for the kids.

We were some of the biggest kids there. I wore my striped socks and witch hat, but didn't go all out witchy. I still made a friend who believed I was the real thing, though. A little boy followed me around throwing pretend buckets of water at me, so that I'd do a lot of melting. And more than one itty bitty girl thought that Sugarwings was really Dorothy.

I was impressed with Wizard's giant head, and all the details of the Emerald City, from the green lighting to the floor painted with emeralds.

And behind the curtain, the mechanics of making the giant head come alive, with buttons, levers, and pumps for the kids to control.

I've been to Crown Center for a kid event one other time and this same room was all hand painted every bit as cool and done up as a fairy tale land.

It's been too long since I revisited, I need to become a regular there with my girls, this place is so cute. We want to go back on the weekend that Dorothy is there to greet everyone, and I hope that Dewdrop gets to come along then.

We missed her this trip, I know she'd love it as much as we did.

And did I mention it was all free? This is set up in a downtown mall, owned by Hallmark (headquartered in KC) and there are lots of other attractions there for kids, plus shopping, movies, and food.

We ate at the Crayola Cafe, and surprisingly, had a very good meal. I was especially glad to see the heathy eating tips aimed at kids on the menu. And a side of "apple fries" which was an apple cut up like french fries and flavored with cinnamon, crispy and fresh, not fried at all.

There was also a lot of activities (free) in the Crayola gift shop.

As well as art supplies to buy. We got a couple little things, and also bought this Dorothy dress and ruby slippers at a shop there, but if you don't want to spend money, they even provide a place for you to eat a bagged lunch you can bring for yourself.

We were glad to see that there were dresses to buy, because we'd had a Dorothy emergency that morning. Sugarwings has had a progression of Dorothy dresses from infant size to 5, and we realized that she'd outgrown her latest one. I looked everywhere downtown Lawrence to get one for the day, with no luck. She had to wear a Toto tee shirt and a gingham apron.

But being the sunny child she is, she was fine with it.

My husband said she looked like a laundress.

The dress was a big improvement and she was thrilled to get it. But she is pretty much thrilled with anything and everything.

Which is why every day is an adventure with her, no matter where we are heading.

A new queen of the castle?

Dew Drop, dogs, kitties

By Karla Nathan / March 6, 2014

We have a new family member. Dewdrop was very sad that when her mommy moved, they left her kitty behind. I hear it was actually the neighbor's cat, but she thought it was hers. So, I dropped by the shelter to see who was there, and this little kitten (that looked just like my cat when I was a child) was waiting for me.

Plus she was wearing a collar with a name tag that said "JOY". Sugarwings' middle name and one of my favorite words.

I knew she belonged with us.

She wasn't so sure. The minute I opened her crate, she ran and hid under this wall, to a boxed off area under the porch

. For two days.

I slid her food underneath the wall until she was ready to come out and get to know us. In the meantime, we laid on our tummies and looked at her with a flashlight while talking to her softly and sweetly.

The only thing that enticed her to come out was our ancient, tough old farm cat who hates almost everyone and all animals live in fear of.

For some reason, he adores her. She rubs all over him, purring and happy. Once he got her to come out, she started becoming our friend too.

But not the dogs' friend. That might take time. We hold her and let them observe. She will curl up and sleep, completely ignoring them but they remain hyper-vigilant, ears cocked, eyes staring.

For now, she seems quite content with living in the breezeway and coming in when we can hold her and protect her from the dorkies. But poor Dorothy Rosebud, she can't seem to realize that non-stop barking out the window at her is NOT required.

Joy Joy Angel Joy Nathan (named by Sugarwings) doesn't seem to mind the barking. In one week, she has gone from terror filled and hiding, to taming the meanest cat on the block and dismissing all the yapping that comes from the dogs.

I have a feeling that she is going to rule the place soon.

I've tried putting them altogether with me, and all of a sudden, the dogs lose their bravery. See how Twinks keeps her distance? And the Puppeesh hide behind me? None of them will even look at her if she is close. But man, if she (and her hissy voice) are across the room, they are fascinated.

It's been quite the show around here lately.