October 2014 – Karla's Cottage

Lawrence Zombie Walk

By Karla Nathan / October 31, 2014

The Lawrence Zombie Walk seems to get bigger every year. This season, there were about 1,000 ghouls lose on the sidewalks downtown. Each dead guy pays a fee to get all gorey and join in the march of the corpses, and the money goes to help the Humane Society.

This year, the weather wasn't the best. We like to eat dinner somewhere with outdoor seating and watch the show as the hoard takes over the sidewalks.

But, as we ordered our food, the first drop of rain fell on our heads, so we moved indoors to enjoy our meal. It worked out well, there was live music in the restaurant from Mustard, of one of Sugarwing's favorite bands, Dumptruck Butterlips.

So, we took our time, relaxed, enjoyed the music and the meal, then took a stroll with the walking dead.

We didn't see all 1,000 corpses, but what we saw was plenty spooky.

Some of them had been dead for a very long time.

Here are a couple of blog posts from past Zombie Walks, 2011 and 2012.

There are plenty of zombie families on parade. And lots of strollers. Sugarwings was wishing she was in it. Maybe next year. I enjoy watching it so much, I don't think I'd enjoy being in it as much as being a bystander.

The walk of the dead is earlier in Oct. but I thought I'd save the photos for Halloween. Spooky, huh? Hope you have a spooktacular holiday!

A Fabulous Fall

Dew Drop, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 28, 2014

Around our house, princess frocks and fairy get ups are daily clothes. But the grand fairies still wanted to wear their pink ball gowns to some Halloween parties.

Our Hippy Chick and I both fancied up too. I was a white witch, she was a pixie.

My costume makes more sense with the hat, right?

We headed to the annual Ghost and Giggles party at Lions Gate Country Club.

Where Sugarwings was chosen from the audience to be Lulu the Clown's helper, and insisted that her baby sister come along.

It made my night to see her share the props for the magic trick. Since Dewdrop wasn't officially part of the show, there weren't enough glasses to go around.

It;s good to have a big sis to watch out for you and share.

We had a hay rack ride, games, a clown show, with balloon animals, and of course, great food. I always love the menus at Lions Gate.

It has been the most lovely fall. My flowers are blooming like crazy, tomatoes are still ripening on the vines, and we've had one party after another.

The city of Lawrence sponsored an Enchanted Forest at the nature center with woodland characters along a trail through the woods, and ponies to pet when your walk ended.

It was only $3 to attend and everything there was as cute as can be.

This was one of my favorite characters, a bald eagle in a giant nest, who had a bucket for kids throw stuffed fish into. There was also a Big Bad Wolf roaming the trails, challenging all the kids to a howling contest.

I think I might have won. Dewdrop and I both had a pretty good howl, though.

Afterwards, we had a little gathering to watch the Royals. I'm not a sports fan myself, but my husband sure is.

When I arrived in Florida for my sister trip, the shuttle driver who took me to my rental car asked where I'd flown in from. I told him, and he said, "Kansas City! That is HOT right now" I told, him, no, it was warmer in Florida. He spent the rest of the drive lecturing me on having some pride in my local team.

So, on the shuttle ride back to the airport at the end of my trip, when I ended up with the same shuttle driver and he asked where I was going, I went along with Kansas City being HOT and didn't bother to mention I hadn't noticed.

My husband sure noticed. He is loving the Royals. So, I fixed him a special meal, for his little get together and even wrote "K C R" on the pastry wrapped, rosemary brie, with rosemary leaves.

While I'm loving every minute of the fall parties, perfect weather, and cute costumes, I'll leave the sports watching to him.

But I did eat my share of the baked brie.

I hope that your Halloween week is an enchanting one too.

With lots of laughs.

Plenty of silliness.

And time to slow down and enjoy watching the leaves float down from the trees before you have to start raking them all up.

Customized Nature’s Blessing Journals

Books, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 26, 2014

When packing for my trip to Florida with my sisters and the wedding in New Hampshire, I decided that my sisses and I needed travel journals to work on during down time.

So, I customized a couple of the Nature's Blessing journals for them in colors and styles I knew they would like.

(By the way, there are still a couple left if you'd like one too. $30, US postage included. Or if you'd like a customized one too, please add $15 to pay for the bumped up supplies)

Bobbie's last name is Valentine, so all things "hearts" was a sure thing for her book.

I also packed markers, papers, glues, etc for working on pages beach side.

If you'd like a custom book, let me know what colors you like and I'll add some extras to your cover- old jewelry, more flowers, extra charms, and those sort of special touches.

I made a very special one for the guncles as a wedding gift too. This is a one of a kind book, since I used the original painting on it. The cover is an old book, covered in vintage papers, and painted with metallic gold, then dry brushed with taupe, and inked in forrest green. Over that, I layered the other elements, and coated it all with a water based, clear varnish.

The wedding took place during leaf peeping season in NH, so, I used that theme on the book too. These velvet leaves were green, and I inked them up to make them more colorful.

Here is the back of the book.

In my online class, Creating Art Journals, I have a segment about making a journal from an old book, if you are interested in making one yourself.

Here is the inside cover. And the pages are all cold pressed watercolor paper. I can't wait to see the happy pictures that Randy fills this album with!

Kittens and corn

Dew Drop, family, kitties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 24, 2014

We have not had the best luck with kitties lately. Poor Terrance Snowball disappeared. Our other cat, was distressed and lonely, so we got a kitten for her (and for Dewdrop, who is a major cat person),

Dewdrop named her Cocoa and loved her. Then, one morning, I woke up to find the tiny baby dead. We don't know why. I was able to maneuver Sugarwings out the door, and off to school without seeing the body, so that we could sit down and talk about it later, not right before class started.

When Dewdrop and I went to the pumpkin patch, she had spent a lot of time holding this kitty with the pumpkin colored eyes and heart shaped nose. So, I called Pendleton's Country Market to see if they had any kittens available and found out that this kitty was looking for a home.

Sugarwings and I took a trip out to the country to get the new cat, and of course, spent some time playing while there.

Her favorite part was the corn bath. It was an extra large horse tank filled with shucked kernels, and she couldn't get enough of it.

First of all, it is great for jumping in.

And you can bury yourself in it, roll in it, or just sit back and enjoy it.

I played in there for a long time with her, but got a bit itchy after a while. She was enthralled and stayed about an hour.

I'm afraid I got a bit slap happy while she dwaddled in the vat of corn.

I was finally able to coax her out by mentioning the slingshot. This place is a year round, working farm, not just a pumpkin patch. Farmer John culls the veggies that are going bad from the good stuff he takes to market and has the bad ones in baskets by the sling shot, so that you can test your skills in flinging rotten apples or eggplants.

There were some issues with getting the cat into our carrier, but all in all it was a great day. And Dewdrop has named her new kitty, Pumpkin Pie. She remembered her from the previous trip there and was thrilled ot see her.

Her little heart is broken over losing Terrance and Cocoa, but having Pumpkin Pie to snuggle has helped. I hope this sweet kitty is here to stay, and is still around for ages like our previous, old barn cat. It hasn't been easy to go through this revolving door of kittens for the last couple of years, after having the same old tom for over a decade.

Wish us luck, please. And Pumpkin Pie too, she probably needs it more than we do.

Behind the scenes of the Nature’s Blessings Swap Journal

Books, swaps

By Karla Nathan / October 22, 2014

It will be nice coming back from my trip to a clean studio. For weeks and weeks before the trip, I was up to my ears in the Nature's Blessing swap.

I had three tables filled with stacks of pages from the artists.

And this table set up with towers of journal covers, and a small, cleared area where I could sit and put the pages into the books.

Another table was set up for wrapping the books to get ready to ship. Then, there was a pile of packages waiting for labels by the computer and boxes of packages ready to go to the PO by the door.

And yet one more table set aside for choosing complimentary groupings.

Which is very complicated since there are two sides to each set of pages.

Of course, with soooooo many artists and hundreds and hundreds of pages, there is a huge mix of styles and the books can't "match".

Plus, it's only right that each swapper receives a variety, no one wants back exactly what they sent in.

They join a swap to get a sampling of pages back in their own books.

But, I do think that there has to be something cohesive about each book, so that there is some sort of flow as you flip through it.

I do my best to gather together 6 pages that look nice together.

Of course, with so much bounty to chose from, that is not a hard job!

I probably take way too much time doing this, but each book is special to me.

I love looking through each stack and picking out the pages that I pull together.

It is such a treat to have this bounty of creativity overflowing my workspace!

I just wish I could sell tickets to the room, to give tours of the pages. I'd be rich.

I'm sure there are easier ways to do the swaps. If I'd open six packages at a time and swap those six out with each other, keeping the other packages boxed up til I was ready for them, I wouldn't need to use a whole room to do this.

But I just don't think the results would be the same. I like piecing each book together, with as much care as each artist put into their own pages.

I hope the artists love the books they receive as much as I do.

And I want them to know how much it means to me that they trust me with their creations.

There is some beautiful work here, isn't there?

Amazing amounts of detail…

Lush and lovely supplies…

Adorable whimsical thoughts…

Layers of loveliness…

Innovating ideas…

Charming charms…

Little surprises…

Pages and pages of pretty!

Are you impressed? I know I am.

Thanks again to all of my swappers! And to those of you who had to drop out and ordered a blank book to fill up with blessings at a later date, a big thank you. That was kind. Making dozens and dozens of book covers, white washing and tying on charms, took me weeks to do. I appreciate my time not being taken for granted. It was nice of the people who signed up, but couldn't finish the swap to still purchase the book that I had taken the time to make for them.

A mini redo, white on white

cottage, Hand Painted Furniture, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / October 19, 2014

Before I went on my trip, I had one night alone. Totally alone. No girls, no sons, my husband was out of town, I was on my own.

I thought about going to a movie. Instead I decided to paint the kitchen.

But I bought the world's worst paint and only got as far as the mud room part of the kitchen. Here is the after, pure white walls. I've always wanted a white on white room, but I usually tint everything ivory or tan, or cream.

Here is the before, see, the walls are tan, with a green ceiling. It's now white with a faded birds egg blue ceiling.

I used the same pure white to paint the cabinet/pantry door in that area.

Here is the before, ivory with a coffee colored wash over it, and a topiary painting. Some of the trim had broken off, that had been bothering me.

Once the trim was repainted, the missing pieces didn't show. I did the center in chalkboard paint (mix plaster of paris into any paint color to make some). I'd love to repaint all of the kitchen cabinets pure gloss white, I think I'm ready for all white cabinets. But first, I'll keep an eye on this area to see if I still like it after a while, or if I only like it now because I wanted a change.

The same chalkboard paint was used on the girls' table in hopes that they wouldn't redo my cabinet door for me. But they already have, as well as Dewdrop deciding the floor could be drawn on too. Not a big deal, it wipes off, but still a bit messy.

I think I'll paint their table back to normal, the chalkboard paint isn't the best choice for it. They use that table for play dough, making cupcakes, and all sorts of activities. A fresh coat of white might be better, and I'm already tired of the chalk dust.

High gloss pure white from Behr was what I used on the trim, cabinet, and kitchen table top (over bonding primer for the cabinet, since it was previously done in oil paint) I used the paint and primer in one, and have always LOVED Behr paint. But when I used the new, one coat paint and primer called Marquee in eggshell for the walls, I absolutely hated it. Instead of one coat, it took 5-6 for white to cover soft tan. Crazy! and exhausting. An afternoon's work turned into two days.

I love having my table redone in a clear clean white! But it was a little too bright, so I flicked some splatters of tan on it with a toothbrush before doing a clear, protective top coat.

This is the original painted surface on the table.

This is what it is now, white with speckles. I left the chairs and table legs as they were, it is only the table top that needed a freshening up.

I also painted the inset area behind the kitchen sink the same blue as the slanted ceiling in the mud room to the right.

Maybe I'll paint the kitchen walls pure white (eggshell) like the mudroom too, I really like it. But I will never, ever use that Marquee paint again. I'll go back to the regular Behr paint or even switch to Valspar.

When I paint, I don't tape off or use drop cloths, I've had a lot of practice, and with good paint, there aren't many drips. But the Marquee brand from Behr flew everywhere when I used a roller and dripped in huge blotches, ran down the wall and was a total wreck.

I only had time to paint one part of the kitchen instead of the whole room. Which I guess will give me a chance to decide if I want to repaint it all white or try something else when I get around to doing it again. Without Marquee. Or as I was calling it, Machiavellian.

And I had thought about trying the chalkboard markers for a tidier sketching experience. But from what I hear, they are hard to remove unless you are drawing on real slate chalkboards. Regular chalk is already looking messy on the door, so I might have to make some changes here too.

I could paint the bottom half white again, and just have the chalkboard part higher, so the smudging from little fingers is less.

Fall leaves wedding centerpiece how-to

celebrations, family, free images, guncles, how to's

By Karla Nathan / October 16, 2014

This is a big week for me. I'm away with my sisses on a trip to Sarasota to relax on the beach for an entire week of sister time. From there, I'll be flying directly to New Hampshire to meet up with my husband and attend his brother's wedding.

We are both standing up with the couple and I am thrilled! I've never been in a wedding, and this one is extra special. The guncles had a commitment ceremony 15 years ago, and have been an ideal couple, deeply in love and devoted to each other.

But in Florida, their ceremony isn't recognized. So we are all flying to NH where it is legal for them to wed, and I am double thrilled to be a part of it.

I'm helping with the decorations, here is a prototype of a centerpiece that I have mailed to the guncles to approve. And while I'm in Florida, my sisses and I will have a bachelor party/craft day with Randy at sweet Karen's Kozy Kottage in Mt. Dora to create the rest of the decorations for the wedding.

The plan so far, will be to get some fall vines from the hobby store, sponge paint them gold and add glitter, to make a few centerpieces and a garland for the mantle in the room they are renting for the event.

The day of the party, we will add some fresh flowers to the arrangements.

We have 10 of these tins to use to make a banner to hang from the garland. I added a K to this one as an example, but I don't know what we will be spelling yet.

I thought of using the light weight, paper mache boxes to hold the floral arrangements because they have to be mailed. These would cost a fraction of what it would cost to ship vases. Plus, Randy adores photos, so this is a way to use photos in the decor. He has already made up place cards utilizing pictures of the attendees, so this will look nice with those on the table.

The boxes are decoupaged in old, French text, then glittered in a sheer crystal glitter. Over that, I've added a fall colored scrapbook paper framed out in Dresden foil and holding cut out picture of the guncles and their beloved pets.

The leaves are stuck in oasis foam, and there are two small skewers, painted gold holding up the mini banner, "Happily Ever After" printed on heart shaped leaves covering chipboard.

Here they are if you'd like to use them for a project too. Click on the image to open in a larger window and save that to your computer to print.

When I get back, I'll have pictures of the finished decor, along with the happy couple too, of course!

ps-

I'm out of town now, but the tutorial is still available for purchase, if you are interested in making an art journal

Real life vs magazine shots

cottage, magazine pictures or articles

By Karla Nathan / October 13, 2014

This has been a lucky year for me as far as publications go. First, Where Women Create, and now Shabilicious and Romantic Country. I've also got an upcoming feature in Country Sampler, but I think that might be 2015. The Country Sampler article has already been written, and the photos will be from the same batch as the Romantic Country article, but different photos.

I was so pleased to see that the writer of the Romantic Country article was kind enough to link back to my blog. And since I wrote the other two articles, I blathered on plenty about my blog and the art events that I have in the studio.

Who knows if that creates any extra blog traffic? But it's worth a try. Although I don't really know why it matters… I haven't had a chance to add anything to my shops in a while, so I don't need my blog to advertise that, I haven't got much to hawk at the moment. So sometimes I wonder how I even justify having a blog. anyway.

Wait! I've got an Art Journal tutorial for sale right now!! Yay, justification!!

So, it isn't pure vanity that makes me spend two weeks cleaning, rearranging, and foofing my house for photos.

Right?

It was for business reasons that I put myself through the grueling turmoil of making my house spotless (which is far from its normal condition).

Although, I have to admit, it is a lark, to do a magazine shoot. Even though, sometimes, between the stylist rearranging things and the editor tweaking the color on the photos, it doesn't even look like my cottage did to start with. And it is a LOT of work to get the house ready, then even more work after it is over.

After a stylist going through cabinets to find the items that fit her needs to make the house look more interesting for photos, and moving stuff from one room to another, by the end of the day the home ends up looking like someone picked it up and shook it.

And what isn't changed physically that day, can later be changed when the pics are edited. In real life, this quilt is a faded blue, but in the magazine, the saturation was turned up for a brighter look.

This is the color of the quilt before it got tweaked for the magazine.

And in real true life, this quilt belongs in the linen closet to use when we need an extra blanket in the grand fairy's room, and my bedroom is all very, very neutral colors, with no pink rose pillows on the bed.

This is how it really looks. See, too boring for a magazine photo. Darling Fifi gave me a new look for the day to make the room more photogenic.

Here is a link to the blog post I did last summer after her photo shoot with some details about how she worked her magic.

And here is a picture of what my living room really looks like on a daily basis (but probably not that clean, there are usually toys everywhere along with some weird thing that Sugarwings decided she needed to play with, the curtain over the TV is always open, and the kids have knocked most of the pillows onto the floor) I also have to keep rugs put away because the horribly untrainable, nasty mongrols puppeesh think it is a pee pad.

This is where the rose pillows from the magazine picture of the bedroom came from, along with some from a bench in the studio too.

And this is what it looks like after being styled for pictures. The pillows are moved back in from the bedroom along with the ones from the studio, a pink rug from the grand fairies' room is brought in, and all the flowers from other vases in the kitchen are added to the table top.

This is a photo I took of Sugarwing's bed (before I painted a mermaid on it).

And here is how it looks in the story, with the colors deepened, and no longer faded.

The original colors are more pastel.

It is an honor for my house to be published and I enjoy seeing it all special-ed up. It looks different in the same way my head does after I get home from the salon. I look in the mirror after getting my hair dyed and cut, knowing that it is in a style that I wouldn't normally wear, or possibly couldn't replicate if I wanted to. But it is fun to see and a very nice change.

I've worked on, written, styled for, or had my home in quite a few magazines over the years. Here are a few on a shelf in the office part of my studio.

I don't know if anyone noticed me in them, but I did enjoy the process and it is nice to have a record of how my style has changed over the years. (or in some cases, how the stylist who set up the shot liked my home to look, but still it is my stuff she is arranging, so it is still me, I guess?)

Kansas City Renfest 2014

fairies, family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / October 10, 2014

The mermaids at the Renfest have a new grotto. Last year, they were plopped into a sad tank of water.

Now, they have a magical pond along a woodland trail.

Complete with a treasure chest filled with baubles to share with princesses who come to call.

As always, the Renfest provides the perfect backdrop for Sugarwings' fertile imagination. It is a beautiful location in a hilly wooded area, with a fairy tale village amidst the trees.

With fairies to meet.

Who like to frolic with guests.

And queens who love to dance with with visiting royalty.

We spent a lot of time playing a board game with the hand blown glass marbles.

And visiting the livestock.

This pony was named Sugar. That seemed to be a good fit.

I'm afraid I didn't catch the name of this lady.

Poor Sugarwings always ends up poisoned by some bad apple, every where we go.

Luckily, she felt better and was able to have a turkey leg for dinner.

Her Daddy was there, selling hand made magic wands and alchemy pendants.

In his free time, he and Miss Tree did some acrobatic yoga.

Sugarwings joined in.

I did not. But I did share the turkey leg.

There was dancing around the maypole too.

And pirate wenches in pink.

The only thing missing? Little Dewdrop. I hope to get a chance to take her this year too. She and Sugarwings have matching gowns, and she is just dying for a chance to rock hers too. (These pink gowns are from TJ Max and only $29 each. What a steal. Knowing Dewdrop, she will be wearing hers nonstop till it looks more like the "before" version of Cinderella's dress instead of the one the fairy godmother gives her.)

Sugarwings' dress already is heading that way….

Abundance

Books, swaps

By Karla Nathan / October 8, 2014

My pal, Angie, and I decided that we needed a junking day out.

Before we left, I showed her the wonderfulness of the Nature's Blessing Journal pages that were taking over my studio.

Tables and tables filled with pages.

And there were towers of empty books waiting to be filled.

I'd made up a blank book for her as a gift, and she asked if she could make pages and join the swap. After seeing the studio filled with the amazing art, she couldn't resist!

And it takes forever to put this many books together, so she had plenty of time to make pages. I was so glad she joined, she has a lovely, vintage style.

And when she delivered them, she brought cookies!!!!!

How could she resist wanting to have some of this gorgeousness of her own? It's remarkable to see it all in person. I often am overwhelmed by the mass of creations and wish I could share the experience with more people. In person, they are quite something.

Here is one side of the pages for the first book, all laid out and ready to be tucked into the covers.

Here is another set.

When I am working on sorting the pages as they come in the mail, I try to arrange them on the table in groups that look pretty together, so that when I pull out six to tie into a book, I chose from the groupings, hopefully creating books with pages that are complimentary to each other.

Here is the flip side of that last set.

I'm trying to get photos as I compile the pages. But I don't think the photos do justice to them. You almost have to be here to soak in the abundance. Kind of like seeing the Grand Canyon instead of seeing a photo of it.

Here is another set.

And its flip side.

By the way, if you are in the swap and reading this, don't freak out and think I am way behind. I write my posts in advance, sometimes I'll write five or six in one quick setting. I whip out a few when I'm in the mood and postdate them like bad checks.

I'll be in Florida and New Hampshire for a while and plan to have lots of Blessing pages to share with you while I'm away.

Want to make your own journal? I have step by step lessons, in this tutorial for $15.

Here are a few more pics of the books for the swap in progress.