June 2017 – Karla's Cottage

First vet check, and trying to convince the doods to get in the crates

Dew Drop, dogs, family, puppies!, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2017

Getting the pups to the vet for their 6 week shots required a couple of side kicks to help me load them up.

These guys are not yorkie pups, that is for sure. When Twinkle had babies, all 9 could go in one carrier. These ginormous fur balls generously filled 2 crates with three in each. In many ways, golden doodles are easier to raise, they are hardier and more independent. Yorkies are such tiny, delicate babies that they require more hands on care. This litter, lives in the breezeway with the door open so they can take themselves out to potty. Twinkle's pups lived indoors, in a wading pool, and I picked up the itsy bitsy poops to keep the area clean. I still have to scoop up after the doods, but at least it is out in the yard. Those pups are great about not going anywhere near their nest, since they have a full run of the yard.

It has been a lot of work, though. The first hour of every day was spent cleaning up, changing bedding, disinfecting their area when they were younger. Now that they are older, I'm still out there every morning, cleaning up, but it is with a grabber, picking up piles from the yard. And I'm doing it over and over throughout the day to make sure they have a clean area to play in.

And each day, those dogs get larger.

And larger.

You can almost watch them grow.

But they are laid back for pups, pretty easy to take care of. When my assistants and I took them to the vet, they cooperated very well, none ran off or caused too much mischief.

The doc gave them all good health reports. None cried when it got a shot, either.

Sugarwings took notes during the appointment for us.

It was all pretty cute. A crowd gathered around at the office, smiling and laughing a the scene we made carrying in the passel of pups and getting them weighed.

Here is a little video of the girls loading them up for the trip. (Please excuse the messy garage.)

I hope you aren't sick of all the pup pics, just in case, here is one of some roses I am painting.

Pros and cons

dogs, puppies!

By Karla Nathan / June 25, 2017

There is a looming decision to be made.

To keep her, or not to keep her. I've put it off for about as long as I can. The litter is scheduled to go to their new homes the first week of July.

CONS:

I have FOUR DOGS ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!
We travel a lot.
Twinkle is still angry about us getting Honey two years ago.
I just finished raising Honey for her first two years of rowdy puppyhood and she is a sweet, calm, adult now, it would be hard to start over.
There is way too much dog poop to scoop DAILY already.
It is a big commitment of time and resources, and I am already stretched with all the kids and dogs and chickens and the yard and on and on….
I just spent two months tied down to raising puppies and need a break.
The little dogs and Honey are just learning to tolerate each other and not fight.
Her hair is silky, not poofy and curly like the other pups, what if she grows up to shed???? There is no guarantee with a first generation golden doodle that they won't shed.

PROS:

What is one more? We have a lot of land, and big areas are fenced.
My adult son has an apartment here and watches animals while we travel.
Honey doesn't have a pack of her own, since the Yorkies don't like her, she deserves a buddy.
The grand fairies adore her. So does Ryan.
THAT FACE!
She is a very sweet pup.
I'll have a big hole in my life and in my heart when the puppies are gone to their forever homes. Having a baby to keep will fill that hole back up again.
When she was born, she almost didn't live, and I had to revive her.
She is the softest, silkiest dog, and loves to be snuggled.

Golden summer skies and goldendoodles

Dew Drop, dogs, family, Garden, puppies!, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2017

Sugarwings keeps a ladder under the mulberry trees for the whole berry season, for easy access when she needs a snack.

What on earth is better for a kid than running in the clover fields with puppies and climbing trees to eat berries on a sunny, summer day?

The grand fairies and the babies raced across the field, collapsing onto the ground for wriggling hugs when they got worn out.

It really doesn't get any better than this.

Perfection!

PS- Happy birthday, Guncle Randy!

Lesa Daily certainly makes lovely things!!!!!

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2017

I am honored to have Lesa Dailey teaching a class here for A Snowbird's Song in November. She has her example created and sent me this sneak peek.

Oooooh, those angel wings on that bird!!!

When I create mine (Yep, I sit in on classes as much as I can and love learning from the other teachers) I know that this little gal, "Tweet Tidings" will have a prominent space in my future holiday decor. I'm already in love with just the thought of her! And I can't wait to make one of my own.

Yay, Lesa!! Thank you!

Dewdrop and the doggies

Dew Drop, dogs, family, puppies!, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 17, 2017

While Guncle Randy was here, pet butlering and then hanging out in the studio with me, we had a room full of pups, along with one grand fairy. She saw us taking photos of pups (and being a bit of a ham herself,) she scooted off to her dress up closet and wriggled into a gown that would be properly eye catching for a photo shoot.

Nope, not exactly a wallflower, huh? She was into posing.

And made an adorable model, huh?

Her furry friends were slightly cute themselves.

Oh, this baby looks so sweet and tiny here! The puppies are growing so fast! This was such a short time ago, but they look nothing like this now.

Time with babies is precious.

The time slips away so quickly.

The golden doodles at 5 weeks

dogs, puppies!

By Karla Nathan / June 14, 2017

Oh my goodness, we are enamoured with the puppies! As their time with us gets shorter and shorter, I get more and more worried about how we will all react with them leaving.

See what I mean?

Such cuteness. And goofiness. They are keeping us laughing too.

And they are getting into trouble. A suicidal chicken came over the fence for Honey to capture, and being a good mama, Honey shared with her pups. I came outside to find one of the pups, appropriately named Hunter by his new family, sitting on a dead hen with the proudest look on his face that any dog could ever have.

We quickly replaced dead chicks with squeaky ones.

Five are sold, and I am debating keeping the last little girl, the runt, a black pup.

There are inquiries for her, but I am not pushing any of them yet. We adore her. But I keep telling myself I'd be crazy to own FIVE DOGS.

Right?

Please stop me, I don't know if I can stop myself…………………..

Help!!!

A creekbed fairy in Missouri

family, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / June 11, 2017

The Steve Miller concert and Sacred Circus acts were cancelled due to monsoons, but the weather didn't dampen our whole weekend. By Sunday morning the rain was gone, and we ventured out of the little trailer we'd tucked ourselves away in all night.

The rain was gone but left behind plenty of mud. Which the grand fairies found as soon as they left the camper.

There was a creek right by us, so we went down to rinse off.

And stayed most of the day!

Sun had come out, the humidity was shooting upwards, but the cool creek bed was shady and inviting.

There were about a dozen kids playing down there, and I offered $10 to anyone who could find a heart shaped rock.

The winner?

Sugarwings!

She found a few other ones too.

So did my son, who stacked them up in a gravity defying tower.

I found the right rocks to make a fairy on the mossy shore.

With some help from Dewdrop.

It was quite disappointing for the family to miss out on performing due to weather. And I hated not getting to see the Space Cowboy.

But the weekend was still magical. I'll take rockin it with the grandfairy babies over rock and roll any day!

But it was nice to get home to our other babes after the adventure was over.

Cleaning, and redoing

Books, studio tour

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2017

The studio had kinda gotten away from me. It hadn't had a deep cleaning in a while. And most of the furniture had been in the same spots for years. Some of it needed a shuffling, because I was bringing the cabinet that used to be in my dining room out to the workshop after replacing it in the house with this one.

I think I'll like that piece out here. It is now a home for all of my journals and albums, with space underneath for supplies to use in future books.

It is nice to have freshened displays on the wall too.This framed piece of flocked wallpaper now holds a treasured piece by my BFF. And I've hung my own needlework attempts from it with stick pins.

This is a bit from a broken cabinet, and was too pretty to toss. I used the runner for the drawers to hold three little frames (that still need photos in them)

Here is a close up of the needlework from Beth.

And one of the gals in the corner. One wears the angel wings I'd made to hang over the fireplace for Christmas. The other has on a wedding dress that I snip lace off as needed for projects.

I'll leave you with pictures of the inside of the new (to this room) cabinet.

But what is the best part of my studio??

Leaving the door open on a beautiful day as I work and the pups play till they are too sleepy to move, then make a cuddle puddle on their fluffy pillow.

Randy the Pet Bulter

dogs, family, guncles, puppies!

By Karla Nathan / June 4, 2017

Deciding to have pups is a major commitment of time. We had a window of time where we had no travel plans, the weather was warm, and it was ideal for babies, and we decided to go for it.

Then, my son and his Sacred Circus family were asked to perform at a big music fest, right after one of my faves, Steve Miller!

So, what do you do, when you are knee deep in fur babies that need constant care, but your human baby has a big deal show that you HAVE to see?

You call the Pet Butler!

I knew the babies would be in better hands with him than just about anyone else, including myself. He was great, just as I expected. We had some airline points, so flew him up from Florida and we were free to attend the concert with no worries.

(Although, we should have been worried about weather, storms canceled the show and we arrived at the tail end of a huge storm, that turned into a constant drizzle for the rest of the night)

All of the puppies were in good hands while we were gone, and Guncle Randy stayed on a few days for some fun time too. Although, he was still mopping up after, cuddling, and feeding puppeesh even though he was no longer on the clock.

We had time with grand fairies, and got in lots of studio time too. A perfect visit.

I always love it when my baby bro comes to craft and hang out, but everything is even better with puppies.

Another little wallpaper cabinet, I might be obsessed

cottage, Hand Painted Furniture, studio tour

By Karla Nathan / June 1, 2017

Can you have enough of these little storage chests? I sure don't think so, I'm more than slightly obsessed, they are all around my studio. I have directions on how I recreate them here. The ones covered in gorgeous, old cabbage roses can be pricey, but I've been quite lucky in finding a variety of little drawer chests, some in perfect condition, some that need work. Some that need a total redo like this one ($10 at an estate sale).

This might be one of the nicest I have. It is a sturdy, wooden one, not cardboard as many are. (oopsy, almost forgot the before pic!) Here is my latest one, in progress. I painted the base and edges of the drawers with blue chalk paint, removed knobs, glued paper to the drawer fronts, sanded and distressed it, then sprayed the base with a poly clear coat in satin.

I happened to have a box full of porcelain knobs, that are older, but not vintage.

I did have three alike, but preferred this mismatched look to go along with the patchwork wallpaper patterns.

The chest is filled and by my desk, I've done a studio clean up, and it was perfect timing for me to have a new piece to add to the room.

You didn't think I was going to leave you without a puppy picture, did you??

The two black puppies are still available, all others have sold. Please contact me if you're interested in one of these sweeties.