June 2024 – Karla's Cottage

An appreciated gift

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2024

I went to the nice shop where I had my fancy violin appraised to see if they sold unrepairable instruments to use in craft projects. They said no, but they’d give me some when they got them! In the meantime, they had a few bits and pieces.

With some hooks added to the back of the half violin they gifted me, I could use it as a necklace display.

The necks add some class to the shelf too.

Here is the overall display, without the lights turned on. When lit, this baby glows. I’m so glad I bought it.

Other things I bought that I’ve been especially happy with? Silver and stone rings from the Gem Show. So much so, that I was going to pick up a generous amount of them at the June wholesale event. But durn, it was cancelled. Well, I looked up my invoices and got ahold of the guys I bought from then ordered a few over the phone. I also tried wholesale lots direct from India, it will take a while for those to arrive.

Maybe in time for First Friday weekend in August?

Our mall allows a mix of goods. Vintage, handmade, market. I don’t really deal in market items, but I do like to have brand new jewelry to sell. But only good stuff, real silver, genuine stones, not a bunch of cheap costume stuff. But still affordable.

I also appreciate being able to offer my handmade pieces. For those, I have similar rules for myself, only “good stuff” in the materials, silver, stones, and vintage bits.

Previously, I displayed them on separate levels of the same unit as I had my old jewelry sat up. But now that I have TWO!! delightful, LED shelving units, I can have vintage on one side of the entry, hand crafted/newer items on the other.

It makes sense because each attracts a different shopper. This way, the browsers have space to linger over what they want to see.

Both the left and right get the vintagey treatment, though. I don’t want a sleek, modern, jewelry store look at all. I try to fill the shelves with display items that are unique or old.

Seems like I am continually looking for a more enticing way to show off my goods. But that is what makes having a booth fun, I get to play with all the stuff. If I was simply plopping it down til it sold, then replacing it with more inventory, this wouldn’t be an enjoyable activity for me.

Finding one little treasure is enough to inspire a whole redo built around it, and that sure does bring me joy.

A kinda vacay

Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / June 26, 2024

Rich is doing short time job in Lincoln, NE and I took a quick trip up to visit over the weekend. Since he’s been gone, I’ve not been cooking much. So when he wined and dined me in the restaurant of the club, it was quite a treat.

I felt very spoiled with the delicious food.

And it was a fun getaway with my guy. Although, I guess it wasn’t a getaway for him… I felt like I was on vacation, but he works there.

We stayed in his apartment by the golf course, but I kept calling it a hotel. I spent some time at the mini water park, worked on a pile of velvet mushrooms that are in progress, and took the dogs on lots of walks.

On our walks, I spied a couple of hearts.

You never know what you’ll find while on a walk. When I got back to the cottage, there was a bunny making itself at home in my planter.

My empty planter.

I think he had a snack too.
Well, I hope he enjoyed his meal as much as I did my delectable ones at the club.

A gilded afternoon

friends

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2024

Days off seem to be far between for me, but this one made up for a lot of missed ones.

I spent an afternoon being spoiled.

First, a luxurious lunch with friends.

Then cake with champagne in gilded surroundings that were filled with remarkable collections of vintage beauty.

So much magnificence to see that I could’ve used up an entire iCloud storage allotment on my phone with photos.

Every inch was filled with something even more elegant than the space next to it.

And then, there was more.

And more.

Each displayed with artistic genius.

And with the thoughtful eye of an experienced collector.

All set out with a true love of special things.

Thank you, Marilyn, for your generosity and hospitality. Thank you, Melissa for the lovely luncheon, and to the whole group for a delightful day of laughter and fun.

Sugarwings is good at making a day special

family, Ryan, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 18, 2024

Sugarwings is spending the first half of the summer in NC. Before leaving, we add some extra nice days together.

On the anniversary of Ryan’s death that sweet Grandfairy offered to help cook dinner (including this Jack Skellington pie, wow!), then wanted to watch a zombie show with me, like Ryan and I used to do.

To go along with the meal we were making together, I ordered an onion blossom at Texas Roadhouse. We had one together on Ry’s last birthday, and he had decided that we should make a tradition of it.

Rich doesn’t want to make the day we lost our boy a day we mark, he wants to focus on birthdays instead. Which of course, I sure get, but no matter what, May 24th is a day we cannot gloss over. The date haunts us all week, even when we say we will go about our business and plan other things.

So this year, I decided I was going to honor Ryan with some of his favorite foods and shows. Sugarwings was there for me and every bit as sweet as that artistic pie.

When I picked up the crunchy onion, country music was playing on the outdoor speakers at the restaurant. Then, as I walked to the car, my boy’s lifelong, favorite song, Footloose, began to play. At that moment I looked down to see this heart rock, standing out from the other stones in the flowerbeds.

I was so glad I’d made plans with our Grandfairy to celebrate him that day. And grateful for the kid by my side while we honored him.

We also had some crafting days, I made some coffee filter roses. Not because it was one of the many jobs I need to get done, but because it sounded pretty.

Sugarwings worked with polymer clay and made blueberries for me. It’s hard to tell which of these is the real one the others were modeled upon, isn’t it?

We also saw a movie, and wore matching jammies to it so we’d be cozy.

Another day, we took the dogs to the park and saw this heart shining through the dappled shadows made by the trees.

I am missing this kiddo who enjoys small adventures with me. But I have even more reason to look forward to their return. There is a shot that Dewdrop will be tagging along to spend some time here in Kansas for July.

I think I see a few more adventures coming up in the second half of the summer.

An indoor garden party

celebrations, Food and Drink, friends, Garden, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 14, 2024

Two dear friends, Angie and Beth, had birthdays in June so I threw a party for them.

It was a landmark number for Angie, so a large celebration was in order.

The party itself was on Beth’s actual birthdate.

The birthday girls made the guest list, and also helped with some treats and wine. I told them I was throwing the party FOR them, but they wanted to help, which was very nice.

Both brought wines too. And Beth put her husband, Jeff, on ice duty. Don’t you hate to buy bags of ice? Paying for ice is a weird pet peeve of mine. I just hate buying the stuff.

Beth said she had a good ice maker (mine is so tiny) so Jeff dumped it into gallon bags everyday til she was able to fill a cooler with so much ice she could barely carry it.

A couple weeks ago, I’d gotten lucky at an estate sale and scooped up dozens of teacups for twenty bucks. The plan was to use pretty cups and saucers for the herbal fruit and lavender ice tea, plus for the wines.

And I got to welcome back the Treat Cabinet! This large wardrobe spent many years in my studio, filled with goodies during get togethers. When we redid the room, it was moved to the breezeway for a boring job of storing patio cushions.

But for this one day of glory, the cabinet was back in its element, filled with tea party essentials.

I hung this old, embroidered, tea towel on the inside door of the wardrobe. It had been free in a box of junk a friend was discarding. Perfect!

This birthday celebration as meant to be a tea party in the garden.

I’d had lovely weather all week while tending to my flowers and getting ready for guests.

Then, bam, the night before, a heatwave came with a vengeance.

I’d always planned on keeping the food inside the house anyway, but I was disappointed that we couldn’t have the garden as a place to hang out.

(Angie made this trifle. Why are they called that when they are not mere trifles, these types of dessert are magnificently lovely).

If I’d known in advance that the heat index was going to be in the danger zone, I’d have brought chairs and tables indoors. But friends made do, and used what they found. I carried in a few extra seats from the yard, but many had made themselves comfy on kiddie chairs already. They didn’t seem to mind.

We had a full house, but in a good way.

So many delightful people! And flowers! Many sweet friends brought bouquets, so it was like an indoor garden party with all of the pretty blooms.

Including blooming cookies from Catherine.

We filled the studio too. I had a mini craft project set up for everyone, so guests were spending time out in the workroom to do those. Once again, I could’ve brought in more chairs, but we seemed to make do with what was there. With my bad shoulder, I’d have needed help before the party to bring in extra seating. Rich had helped me set up the patio, but he was out of town when temps started going way up into unbearable numbers.

The project was making fairy garden stakes. It was self explanatory, and simple to do, so the ladies were on their own making them. I wish I’d taken photos of their pretties when they’d finished. There were lots of sparkly wishing wands completed.

Another timely garage sale find was this metal picnic basket. I used it for the cheese and cracker display. I think that now that the party is over, I’ll be filling it with teacups and taking them to Good Juju to sell in July’s First Friday weekend.

Although, this get together was such a good time, maybe I should keep them all and use them again for another party?

Preserving dandelion wishes

Garden, how to's

By Karla Nathan / June 10, 2024

Dandelions are not considered weeds in my world. They announce spring with their burst of sunny yellow, then fill up the yard with wishes just waiting to happen. In summer, their deep taproots help the soil, and I never pull them up from my garden. The leaves are a tasty snack for our baby chicks, we gather up a few to toss to the girls, and all the chickens come running to get a bite.

If you saw our yard, you’d be very surprised to learn that my husband spent his career running country clubs. It would make sense to use the knowledge learned in supervising the upkeep of the greens to make our grass just as nice as the professionals do.

But at the cottage, I encourage dandelions, clover, and whatever else wants to pop up. I like the textures (and the lack of chemicals).

When I heard you could easily preserve the puffs of fluff, I was pretty excited. I tried all the instructions I could find on line, just to realize that it isn’t as easy as it sounded. At least I had a never ending supply to work with.

I tried dying the buds before they opened, but the color barely showed it did sorta work, but not enough to go through this step.

I tried floral wire inserted into the stem and then the head of the puff. Well, it seemed fine, but a few days later, as it dried out, it didn’t want to stay in place. So I squirted a lot of glue up inside the ball to reattach it to the wire stem.

Hairspray was a suggested preservative but didn’t seem strong enough to me. My spray of choice was white spray paint topped with clear glitter while still wet.

They look pretty and hold their shape well.

Keeping them airtight should help too. I filled some cloches and jars with my new collection of wishes, then decorated them. Fingers crossed that they last.

June at Juju

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2024

Remember the pre-lit shelving I got from Amazon for jewelry? I loved it sooooo much, I bought a second one. I have placed one on each side of the entrance to my space. This one is used for vintage jewelry, the first one now has my hand crafted or sterling pieces in it.

This is the first one, still covered in the fabric I use between sales to prevent dust.

Both came with open backs and black metal. I’ve painted them and added panels covered in vintage paper to the backside to prevent the inventory from slipping off. The panels are made of the styrofoam packing that came in the box!

Recycle and reuse, right?

To keep them in place, I first tried wire, but the styrofoam simply split apart. Now they are securely velcroed to the frame.

The height of the shelves gives me enough space to use a variety of display pieces.

But the best part is the jewelry store quality, well spaced lighting! It makes everything I set out look better.

As always, I have a selection of my handmade mushrooms. I was lucky to find this set of vintage mushroom stuff to compliment them.

There are more schroomies mixed in with the garden display.

I do love a pretty garden display. (Oops, I have gone all Game of Thrones blooperish, there is a water bottle in this photo)

More lucky finds? I got TWO of the stained glass windows, hoping to use them in my own home, but they didn’t work out where I’d hoped. They sure class up my booth, though.

Another “I wish it worked my cottage” piece is this sweet granny chair covered in white cotton.

The headboard leaning against the wall actually is from my house. At first, when it was maple toned, it was in Ryan’s room. When we got him a new bed, this was painted for the guestroom, then Sugarwings used it for a while once the two grandfairies wanted separate rooms. There is a new color theme in that space now, I figured that the headboard was better off being sold than stuffed into the shed and left to rot away.

It’s pretty well hidden though, I hope it even gets noticed. Next month, maybe I should hang it on the wall.

Although it would fill most of that entire wall.

Every inch of my space is pretty filled up, but I do enjoy the switcheroo and change ups when it’s time to mix it up again.

Right now, my redo skills are lacking due to a rotator cuff tear. I have had these spring flowers up for the season and want to change them out to some white ones for summer, but overhead jobs are not exactly easy right now.

This chair up on my top shelf won’t be moving anytime soon. Which also means that the cabinet its leg rests on needs to stay right where it is for a while. At least until I get a few more PT sessions under my belt. I’m doing everything I can to avoid surgery even if it means I cannot do major rearranging at Juju for a bit.

Some red, white, and blue for Good Juju’s First Friday weekend, with a side of Father’s Day goods

antiques/junking

By Karla Nathan / June 4, 2024

The mall is decked out in patriotic tones for 4th of July decorating. Of course, since this is retail, we need to be ahead of the season so you can have a chance to gather up our finds to use for yourself.

That is the same reason I am making brooms and painting ravens now, so they will be set and ready to go in August and September for Halloween.

Our July sale will be on the 5th and 6th, so now is the time to display these colors.

My garage is filled with stacks of clear storage tubs and throughout the year as I find treasures, I coordinate them into those. Some containers are themed by holiday, others by season, the rest by colors. So my red tub of goodies is ready to delve into for the 4th, Christmas, and for Valentines.

It’s good to have items in a shade that goes well with the holiday without being only for that date. You can see here that there are very few flag pieces, I’m suggesting the theme just with the colors of the day.

The space was done and ready to go when I realized, I’d almost missed out on another important holiday. Father’s Day was just around the corner, so I squeezed in a few tidbits for the dads and topped it off with a Moose Lodge hat on the bust I had repainted. The statue was previously flat brown, with beat up marks showing the white plaster underneath.

Typically, I am all about messed up areas that show age, but this one was all wrong. The white starkly glared through the dark brown, in places it shouldn’t, like his nipples.

Nope.

So I repainted it to look like cement, and added it to my garden area before turning him into my Father’s Day spokesperson. In front of him is a basket with dad friendly items, keys, pipes, money clips, etc. Hopefully there is something there that will make a thoughtful gift for pops.

I’ll have more pictures of the girlier side of the booth in my next post.

Speaking of important men in our lives, this guy turns 64 today on 6/4. Happy birthday, my love!

Fairy dolls

fairies

By Karla Nathan / June 2, 2024

Last month, I made a few new fairies for Juju’ First Friday Weekend.

And I hope to make a few more for the summer.

I do love my soft colored, sweet, baby sprites.

And my sassy granny fae.

Aren’t they fun?

This is how they begin. I bought a boxful of these handmade (from the 80s?) old biddies. I think they have the potential to be something cool, but am not fond of their current style. The rest of them will be witches for Halloween. My crafty mind is already turning to fall and winter, I’ve started on a few things for spooky season and the Christmas holidays.

I’m definately a holiday person when it comes to making stuff. I am excited to get started filling my studio with goods for my two favorite holidays.