September 2017 – Karla's Cottage

Another set of sister trip books (that almost didn’t happen)

By Karla Nathan / September 30, 2017

For the last few years, my sisses and I have been meeting in Siesta Key, FL each fall for beach time, craft time, and lots of laughter filled, silliness time.

(front of Bobbie's book)

I pack my portable photo printer, a bag of supplies and three hand made books to work in, we sit at the huge picture window over looking the Gulf, and create all week long. This year's books are embellished with cameos of 3 sisters, and are done in beachy scrapbook paper with vintage elements.

I've been swamped with getting my last kits for A Snowbird's Song finished before going out of town and decided to use a journal I'd made a while back for my own book, adding a matching cameo to the cover.

But I wanted to hand make special books for my sisters, it is a tradition.

After playing hookie from work for a morning to estate sale with Beth, we stopped at Michaels to get some scrapbook paper and she invited me to come into her craft room and borrow her book binder to quickly stick the papers together and get one more job marked off my list of to-dos.

GREAT IDEA!

Or so I thought….

I whipped up a couple sets of covers to decorate later, cut and folded all of the interior pages and was ready to bind.

Then, we couldn't remember how to use the binder.

(front of Sissy's book)

We smashed the coils too tight, and belatedly thought maybe we should look up directions.

Yep, got it figured out, tried again.

This time, the coils were too small and the pages wouldn't turn.

Oops, no larger coils left to use.

Next plan- I cut the holes made by the binding machine off the edges of one of the sets of pages to change the way it was put together from coil bound into one made with 2 rings.

So, I punched all new holes with the Crop-o-dile, but did it without a template, thinking, "Heck I SELL tutorials on how to make books, I don't need to follow directions, I can do this on my own. I MAKE MY OWN DIRECTIONS."

Kind of how Walter White said, "I am the One Who Knocks n the door" right before his whole drug empire fell apart and he lost everything.

You can probably guess, I punched those holes badly.

The rings didn't fit through the wildly spaced holes, and when Beth held it up to look at, we both lost it. Our laughing was more out of control than those goofy looking holes I'd punched.

That could be fixed, right? I was just going to cut the left margin off past the misplaced holes and repunch them correctly.

Oh my! Some of those holes were beyond wildly done, to the point of looking like a drunk did them. And no, there was not any wine at craft day. Just my own whining about how crappy of a job I'd done.

Once I'd trimmed off enough of a couple of pages, I realized that they were now too small to hold a 4×6 photo.

More rolling on the floor laughing, came at that point. Then, more whining.

So, next plan? I covered the holes in glued on coordinating strips of paper, and repunched the holes using a template as I should have done in the first place. And as Beth mentioned many times that I was crazy not to do.

(butterfly paper for our mom who loved butterflies, and ice cream paper in recognition of how much of the frosty stuff we snack on while we are in Florida each fall)

That worked just fine.

But was too much to go through for both books, so I decided to make use of the holes punched by the binder on the second book.

The binder had them perfectly measured and even for me already, I just didn't have a coil to put through them. But a blunt needle and some twine worked just as well and was pretty quick.

(back of Bobbie's book, her last name is Valentine and I always make something with hearts for her)

If you tie enough ribbons and charms to the albums, no one sees the binding anyway, right??

A trip to Sparks and White Cloud with friends

friends, Travel

By Karla Nathan / September 27, 2017

I didn't think going to visit my friend, Karen, meeting Becky, and staying at a hunting lodge near my favorite flea market could get any better.

Till I saw these! The lodge came complete with a batch of 6 week old puppies.

They got some cuddling while we were there.

And did you notice the view??????

We were up on a bluff, overlooking a bend in the Missouri River. In the mornings, it was covered in fog, for an extra dreamy effect.

We stayed in the Land of Antlers.

Actually, it was called, Rawhide Camp Outfitters.

But you have to see what I mean when I called it that.

What a collection!

The place was homey, comfy, and friendly. The owners hung out and we talked Homecoming courts and Tayiah's chances of being queen, with the teenage daughters.

Meals were provided and we even got a lesson in making pasta from scratch.

My new buddy, Becky, created this framed image for the family as a thank you. It fits in perfectly!

I loved the place, and the company too.

And the location can't be beat! Just around the corner from my favorite flea markets.

Sparks and White Cloud need to be seen to be understood and appreciated. This is one scene from our day of shopping.

You never know what you'll find, I loaded up on $4 millinery and $1 jewelry. After shopping and a good dinner, we had some craft and movie time, with wine of course.

And spent the next day at the Old West Bottoms district in KC.

These two got to continue the non stop laughing and fun for a couple of more days, but I had to head back to family time, which wasn't bad, since I had a couple of grand fairies waiting to hang out with me.

Thanks Becky and Karen for including me in one of the funnest getaways I've had in a long time. And to Dana for letting us use her home and introducing us to her family.

By the way, Tayiah win Homecoming Queen! Congrats!

Painting smoke detectors

cottage, paintings

By Karla Nathan / September 24, 2017

When we added the new room last year, and had an electrician around, I had him do some updates here and there in the rest of the house. One was replacing smoke detectors. This one was white when installed and I ignored it for a year, much like the one up high in the 15' peak of the space we built.

I don't know why I didn't fix it right away. It is such a simple thing to do.

The trick is to not paint very heavily. I use a chip brush dipped into my paint, then wiped off slightly to have a dry brush effect. Lightly, lightly, with barely any paint on the brush, I daintily add a little color to the detector.

Then let it dry, and do it again, slowly building up tint. But not clogging or blocking anything.

I can promise you that the appliance still works, because when I burn cookies, it screams at me, even with a coat of paint on it!

And it almost disappears on the wall now.

The new slipcover, is actually a duvet cover. It is too big so is tucked under the cushion, but not in a very tidy way. I still love it with the soft tones of my vintage fabric pillows.

And since I'd washed the previous slipcover on the steam setting of the washing machine (oops!) I needed a quick replacement and had no time to sew.

Hopefully, everyone will be gazing at the new and improved smoke detector and not even notice the messy job I did.

HAHA!

See you later!

flowers

By Karla Nathan / September 21, 2017

I'm headed off for my annual sister trip, but will have new posts scheduled to pop up while I'm away, so please check back!

(I won't be able to mail any packages til Oct. 1st if you are shopping in the Boutique)

Hanging some salvaged trim

cottage, Hearth Room

By Karla Nathan / September 18, 2017

A friend gave me this carved wooden trim. She got it from an old church, and had it for 20 years without using it. When she visited me and saw the new hearth room, she thought the trim would be perfect in there and I think she was right!

My son tore down the trim the builder had put up when the room was done, then he hung the primed carved pieces (they'd started out gold).

I should have repainted the pieces completely, but I thought they might get messed up while being hung. They didn't, so I could've saved saved some trouble by doing it ahead of time. Oh well. The areas where the previous wood strips was had to be repainted anyway. And the painter who worked for the contractor when we built the room did a slightly crappy job of painting the old corbel, so while I had a ladder I wanted to redo that too.

Plus, the smoke detector had bothered me. It was white, but looked gray against the pure white color of the walls. So I used the opportunity to dry brush it to match.

Looks better doesn't it? It felt good to have a ladder that reached the peak of the 15' ceiling, because that smoke detector had bugged me for a year.

And I LOVE my new trim.

Thanks Margie!!

And thanks, Adam, for hanging it.

Sugar’s new do

dogs

By Karla Nathan / September 15, 2017

Sugar graduated from puppy school with top grades. That pup has an old soul, you'd think she was an adult, not a baby. This dog is not going through the typical puppy issues I had with her mom. Honey put me through two years of tears and troubles. I'd heard that golden retrievers had a protracted puppyhood, and she sure did. She was boisterous and busy, until we bred her at 2, and she grew up over night to become a gentle girl.

Still curious and on the go, but slowed down and easier to live with.

These two are best friends, and love to play. And when she isn't playing with her mom, she is docile, quiet, and thoughtful. She learns fast, remembers everything, and is as sweet as her name.

But all of those curls were made of velcro. She picked up every twig, bit of grass, piece of rubbish, leaves, burs, everything she got near! So we shaved her down short and she looks like she is made of crushed velvet.

And she still looks pretty cute!

More roses on the wall

flowers, paintings

By Karla Nathan / September 12, 2017

While I had my paint brush out, I thought I'd do a few more flowers. This "WISHES" sign is done on an old cabinet door.

The word seemed to call for some sparkle. So, I accented it with silver glitter.

Here are some close ups of the rose vine I showed in my last post.

I hated to put away my brushes and paint, but it was time to move on, I have a lot to do to get ready for the holiday season, with Snowbirdsong coming up as well as a Christmas home tour.

Both of which I am looking forward to, but it was still hard to stop painting!

Although, I do have a few more of these egg ornaments to do, so it won't be put away for too long.

Hand painted roses

flowers, paintings

By Karla Nathan / September 9, 2017

Last year, I dropped a quart of red paint in the studio. It splattered so far that I am still finding spots I didn't see before.

What a mess!

I cleaned up as much as I could, touched up paint on doors, cabinets, etc, and ignored the main sploosh that went up the wall and onto the ceiling, it was too much to face.

Eventually, I knew I had to deal with it, but since I didn't have any more paint in the wall color, it would mean that I had to repaint not just this red splotch, but the entire west wall of the studio, behind the computer, my storage, and the big, heavy, wardrobe I use as a treat cabinet.

As nice as fresh paint in a new color would be, I decided it was too much work. So I painted over the red blotches only.

And I am happy that I did! I really like having a rose garden in my workshop.

While the ladder was out, I touched up the red freckled ceiling with white, so everything looks tidy again.

Now, I just wonder why I lived with that ugly bunch of blotches for that long before I thought of this save.

Festival Faces

family, paintings, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / September 6, 2017

There is a 50% off sale in the Boutique!!! To access the bargain prices, type in

LABORDAYSALE

at the checkout, and hit "recalculate" and watch the amount drop in half.

I'll be out of town and away from my computer and out of touch for a few days, so shipping will be next week. Please remember that the postage prices will be adjusted when I get the actual total from the USPS as I box the goodies up to send to you and I will refund excesses.

www.karlascottage.com

At the Darkening of the Sun festival my kids performed at, I was asked to help with the face painting.

The theme was tribal that night, and they didn't want to appropriate native designs, so we went with an Avatar/tribal look, with lots of blue.

I probably painted a dozen or so faces, and am afraid it was done so fast, I barely got photos. I thought I'd get them after the show, but the light was bad and people were busy.

(that is our Hippy Chic in the background, doing hair for the show, she is a master braider)

Here is one of our practice looks before the show and I had more time to do it, plus had white. I didn't have any white with me for the performance, which I think made the designs not as vibrant from the crowd.

But the troupe has asked me to do butterfly faces in the future for an act Sugarwings has in mind, where the aerialists start out as eggs, and morph from caterpillars to cocoons to butterflies.

I'm excited about that, I love butterflies. And it is nice that they are asking me to help again. I loved doing it, even with the rush with less than perfect results, they were ok with what I did.

I was afraid I'd let them down.

We used eye shadow for the shading and eye liner for the designs. I think I'll have to throw in some white paint too for more distinction.

The makeup help up well, so much so that with no hot water, a lot of the performers woke up in their tents the next morning with the look intact.

I was curious about how that effected the sun screen situation…. When they went up on the hilltop in the bright sun to watch the eclipse, did they end up with a sunburn in a tribal pattern?

I've got plenty of shots of Sugarwings in her makeup, since she hangs around on our laps as much as she can.

And Sylvan's face was done first, so the light was good and the line of performers hadn't gathered yet for me to work on them, so I took some of her.

Avahni was the only other picture that I took.

I gave Sugarwings my leftover paints and she has been face painting everyone who will sit still for her. Maybe she and I will go into business together.

Sacred Circus at Darkening of the Sun

celebrations, family, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / September 3, 2017

There is a 50% off sale in the Boutique!!! To access the bargain prices, type in

LABORDAYSALE

at the checkout, and hit "recalculate" and watch the amount drop in half.

www.karlascottage.com

Our kids were performing in Missouri, inside the path of the full eclipse.

We love watching their performances, and hanging out with the grand fairies, so we packed up our little camper (I call it the world's biggest rolling suitcase, instead of the world's smallest camper) and headed toward the Darkening of the Sun.

Most of the family goes early to set up the village and rigs. So we had little ones all week, for back to school and Sugarwings' birthday too.

Which was pretty nice for us.

There is a ton of work to be done, this group doesn't just show up, do some tricks and leave, they set up an entire world of their own inside the music festival. They've got two 23' high rigs, that get covered in parachutes for shade, and multi colored lights for rainbow fun. There is a geodesic dome for sound therapy, and another big tent for workshops and then there is a vending area too.

It is all done artistically, and comes out quite beautiful when they are done.

As I walked through the venue, I realized that these guys had transformed the entire event into something really spectacular.

I'd been to festivals they throw themselves, so had seen their set up before, but had not really seen just how much they do at other people's events. (this photo is just part of the set up)

Of course, they also bring some great entertainment to fill those tents!

The show just gets bigger and more exciting every time I see it.

They have the two rigs with aerialists in each, fire dancers, hula hoopers, a guy on stilts, and dancers floating about, as well as my son spinning his songs.

Plus, there are workshops all weekend for attendees of the festival, who get to show off what they learned on the last night. It is adorable to see they little ones up there feeling proud of their accomplishments and being part of the circus.

All of the parents and grand parents out in the audience, enjoy that showcase as much as I do, I'm sure.

Well, it is all great to watch!

Next to the Sacred Circus was the main stage, and my husband spent a lot of time there. His favorite performer was the headliner, so he was pretty happy. Even happier when he had a fairy to perch on his shoulders to watch with him.

Of course, times without a kiddo climbing on him over the weekend were few and far between.

I'll leave you with some more photos from the parties. This is my son with his crystal singing bowls. (I'd love to sneak one away and fill it with water, fish, and a fountain for my back yard, these bowls are beautiful up close)

I'll leave you with some photos of the party.