Karla Nathan – Page 179 – Karla's Cottage

A mid summer zero dollar decorating redo

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, redos

By Karla Nathan / July 8, 2012

Dang, its hot. Feels like it has been hot forever. In Kansas, we typically get a stretch of 100 degree plus days, but not this early in the year. It makes me quake in my boots (or flip flops) just contemplating what July and August will have in store after June blasted us with this heat.

To get the temperature off my mind, I decided to cottage-up my living room a bit. Ithought strewing some roses about would be a cheerful summery thing to do.

I'm afraid this photo doesn't look as cheery as it should, I took it at night, and the windows are dark.

Since my walls and furniture are neutral, its easy to change the whole look of the room with a few accents. Throw pillows, curtains, and knicky knacks make a quick change when you start with an all ivory room.

It probably took longer for me to get the wrinkles out of the old curtains than it did to redo all of this. I popped these rose curtains in the dryer on fluff while I took down the vintage lace ones, and packed away all of the pillows and a few other things from around the room as they were fluffing up.

When the curtains were ready, it was a fast redo, because we were due to meet friends on the lake. This was a spur of the moment plan, and I only had about 30 minutes to spare.

Over the years, I've made a few different slip covers for my big sofa cushion, and have collected curtains and pillows at clearance sales and garage sales. I keep a linen closet full of cheap, but pretty extras to switch out when the mood hits me.

This time, I tried draping the bottom of the couch with a bed skirt. The front ruffle shows, the rest is wadded up under the cushion. Hopefuly it will stay in place, it might not.

The look I was going for was an "explosion" of roses. I think I got it… Few match, but I like the way they go together anyway. You can't really tell from the photos, but the brown slip cover on the big cushion has pink roses and blue pailseys on it, so it matches a bit better in person than it seems to in the picture.

This chair was in the studio. After bringing it in, I topped the garden table with a floral drape panel, and added a couple rosey elements to the arrangement on top.

The sheer panel on the other small table (previous photo) is also a curtain. I had three of these panels in my breezeway and they were shredded by raccoons. So, I trimmed off the bottoms that were ragged, used one on the table and the other two in the windows. As long as I don't move the couch, no one will know about the shredding.

Well, I guess that's not true, I just told everyone about the rips…

My china cabinets are over stuffed anyway, so these items won't be missed in it and they add to the flowery feel of the living room now.

It didn't take much, a couple of pieces for each table arrangement gave me the rose garden effect I wanted.

I think I'll hang a framed rose print on the window frame and pin a big, fat millinery bloom in red to the lamp.

In the fall, I'll want to change it around again, so wasn't striving for perfection. Its a temporary, fun look that I didn't take very seriously. I do love my white on white/ivory room most of the time, but I appreciate it more when I change it up a bit sometimes.

So, this redo took about a half hour, using things I had around the house or packed away. The only cost was $2 for the bouquet of roses. My local grocery store has markdown roses for $2 a dozen every week.

Whats new in the Boutique and more free Fairy images

free images

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2012

We spent our 4th of July out on the lake. No, we didn't get food poisoning from our picnic, this picture is just of something I added to the Boutique.

There are a bunch of these listed in the shop now. I think this one is my fave, aren't those great graphics?

Of course, the tins are cool too. Maybe I'm attracted to the green?

I debated leaving the pills in the boxes, some were really pretty. But, I figured that it would be smarter to dump them out and take them to the pharmacy to be disposed of properly.

Who knows what on earth was in those pills? These were from way before such things were regulated.

Its been awful hot lately, but was so nice out on the lake. Sugarwings and my husband took a long swim from the cove to the shore, and he says she told him "it was lovely" out there on the lake.

She was right, "lovely" was the perfect word to describe the sun setting over the trees while a warm breeze blew across the lake.

It was all around, a good day. I hope your holiday was a good one too.

We made fruit salad and baked bread to take on the picnic, (still loving that bread maker) then I foofed up the living room a bit before hitting the lake in the late afternoon after the worst heat of the day had passed.

Everything around here was so dry and brown, that I wanted to brighten things up indoors by adding some roses around the room. I'll have pictures of the mini redo in the next post.

I even managed to do a little work on my Faerie Book Swap. Which is still open if you'd like to join.

This image is the cover of a box of old birthday candles. To print it, click on it to save from a larger window.

Here it is again, edited to sepia.

Hope to see you in the swap! We are up to 75, there will be a great selection of pages for me to make the books with!! Its getting exciting and the pages haven't even started to arrive yet, I'm just giddy with anticipation!

How to trap fruit flies

Food and Drink, Hens, how to's

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2012

Thanks for your comments about my friend's place in Omaha. I sure would recommend it if you need a place to stay when in Nebraska!

Talking about wine reminded me about this little trick to get rid of fruit flies. This year has been awful for the horrid little pests. I discovered that they really love wine, more than anything and every evening when my husband poured a glass of his (purely medicinal-ha ha) red he'd end up with floaters.

So, instead of throwing out this bottle when I was done, I left about 2" of wine in the bottom, and covered the top with Saran Wrap, and taped it down tightly.

With a toothpick, I punched some tiny holes.

The insidious creatures can't resist the wine, fly in the tiny holes, and then get stuck. I don't know if its that they drink so much, they are too drunk to get out, of if they get fatter while in there, or if they find their way in by scent but aren't led out that way.

Whatever reason, it works. Of course, I could tidy up the plastic wrap and make the bottle look nicer, or use a better bottle of wine, not a $5 one from Trader Joes. But I still think this looks better than fruit flies on the bowl of produce I have sitting out!!

But you don't want to make it too attractive, it would be awful to mistakenly pour this into your wine glass!

Now, if I could just get the chigger problem under control outside. The hens don't seem to be making a dent in my daily itch quotient. But they do pick grasshoppers off my begonias.

Strohm Vineyards, An Omaha Oasis

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Food and Drink, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2012

Over the weekend, we visited some of my husband's college friends for a mini reunion. And I can't imagine a better place to stay than Strohm Vineyards.

My buddy, Lori, has always had a good eye for design, and has a beautiful home, a log cabin in the hills a few minutes North of Omaha in Fort Calhoun.

I've always loved staying with them, John and Lori are excellent hosts, and lots of fun. They are do-it-yourselfers who are always adding on, remodelling, and basically working their butts off to make their place better and better all the time.

Lori is a talented junker. She finds the coolest pieces at garage sales and knows how to display them. (the blue chest in the first photo was only $10!!)

And now their homestead, the "Strohmarosa" is even better than ever, with the addition of a vineyard and a new winery building.

The winery has a fledgling B&B too! Upstairs, over the grape room is a cozy space that we hung out in.

If you are looking for a place to stay while in Omaha, and want to feel like you are NOT in Omaha, this is the perfect getaway. It felt more like visiting a resort in California than a farm in Nebraska!!

This is the view from the bedroom window. We spent a lot of time sitting out in the courtyard, listening to the fountain and enjoying the breeze in the evening.

The Strohms rent out rows of grapes to individuals who want to tend them and then make their own wine.

If I lived closer, I'd want to get a row for myself, just so I could sit up here on the hill and soak up the view after working on the vines.

There are cute little seating areas all around the property, this one features a bonfire pit.

I met the Bluebird of Happiness there! Lori has bluebird houses all around the property and everywhere I went, there were happy bluebirds flying by.

Plus Yorkies too!

That is my fault. I gave them this guy, Walker, 14 years ago and he started a dynasty of pups. I got to visit my grand-dog and great-grand dog.

This winery building is new, and they will still be fine tuning and adding on. I think there are plans for renting the space out for events, and they are planting and landscaping around it with out door dining and weddings in mind.

Don't you love the labels on the wine? Their son is a photographer and created the design.

The wine is not for sale yet, they don't have a liquor liscence. I will be first in line to buy a case when they do. There was a sweet, white one that I really liked.

They have set aside a room in their home for wine storage, and that is where we sat down for meals, its also the dining room.

LIke every room in the home and winery, its warm and welcoming.

With wine themed details everywhere, like this old book.

The weekend went by way too quickly. Omaha is only 3 hours away, my husband and I need to make more of an effort to get up there. I love Old Town for shopping, the zoo is one of my favorite places to go, and we have these wonderful friends there too.

Heck, why did I say you might want to visit Omaha and not feel like you are there? I love Omaha, its got a LOT to offer. Anyone would love a getaway to that city!

Fairy pages

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2012

Before I left for our weekend getaway, I whipped up a couple of fairy pages for the swap. Some people had asked for examples.

I wanted to show that its okay for ribbons. lace, etc to trail down and over the edges.

And you don't have to make all of your pages the same (unless they want to). All 8 go to 8 different people.

Sorry, no promises that you won't get one of your own pages back.

Please, keep all 3-D goodies away from the left hand side, I'm not sure exactly how I'm binding it yet, but don't want anything in the way for hole punches.

And the color theme is totally up to you. When I assemble the books, I'll chose pages that look pretty togehter, but there will be a wide range of colors and styles.

I'll have more examples to show when I get back from my little trip. If you want info on how to join the swap, please click on the button at the top of my side bar.

I can't wait to see what everyone creates!!

Yummy Bread Machine bread – too, too good

Dew Drop, fairies, family, Food and Drink, Hens, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2012

This week has been a hodge podge. I repainted a fairy, finished another, signed up a TON of people for the swap (yay! This will be a fun one!), babysat my own little fairies, and baked a TON of bread. I might just weigh a TON more now that I've experimented with my new bread machine a bit…

As the smell of fresh baked bread fills the house, my Sister-In-Law, Sandy, and I do all we can to stop ourselves from standing over it, each clutching a stick of butter in our greedy little paws.

You know you've baked too much, when you realize the 5 lb bag of flour is empty.

I'm not a measuring type, but I've tried to approximate measures, so that the machine will be filled with the right amounts, and not overflow. And I've learned that as much as I love the pure whole wheat flour, it can be a bit heavy for most people. I've switched to mostly whole wheat, and about a 1/3 bread flour. Its lighter and breadier.

Pure whole wheat does make a good, solid, filling peasant type bread though.

Here is my favorite made up recipe (sort of- my own measurements are eyeballed)

Yummy Bread (as Sugarwings calls it)

1-1/2 cup leftover coffee, still warm, not hot (I drink Starbucks Vanilla)

1/2 cup organic clover honey

3/4 cup dried mixed berries

1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds

2 cups whole wheat flour (organic)

1 cup unbleached organic bread flour

2-1/4 tsp bread machine yeast

Dump into machine in that order. From what I hear, you want the liquid on the bottom and the yeast on the top. I don't know why.

Bake on the whole wheat setting.

Stand by with your stick of butter so you are ready when the bread is done! (notice that I didn't add oil or butter to the mix? I forgot to, and liked it better this way, it was moist and soft, and I put enough butter on top while its hot, that I do not need any inside the loaf too)

Bread machines are too, too easy to use. It takes me less than five minutes to make a loaf of deliciousness. If I keep this up, I will become housebound, too big to fit through the front door.

On Thursday, it got up to 107 degrees. In June. Yes, 107. Dang!

I had both little girls here, and we really did try to play outside. We turned on the hose, made mud pies and stayed in the shade till almost noon. I was proud of myself for staying out that long. As soon as lunch time came, I had the perfect excuse to give up on the great outdoors and get into the air conditioning.

Then, we did the same thing we do on blizzardy days. We built a fort of blankets over the dining room table, filled the floor with pillows and climbed in to watch movies and read books. We also brought markers, and drew all over the under belly of the table. Sugawings traced her foot and I dated it.

It was too hot for the chickens today too, when I turned on the hose to water the flower beds, a couple of them dove in to cool off in the water.

There hasn't been a lot of time for making things other than bread this week. I did finish a few book covers for the swap, I need to keep on top of that and make a few here and there, so I'm not swamped with too many at the last moment. We are at about 60 or so right now.

I hope you'll join us if you haven't yet.

Believe it or not, I actually made time to list some millinery packs in the Boutique!

Including some Halloween/Autumn tones.

And one magnificent double white rose with white velvet ribbons!

Painting fairies

Books, fairies, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 26, 2012

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This week, I've done a lot of painting. Still not sure, but I think this might be the right fairy for the book swap covers.
I'm experimenting with different copy sizes and papers. When I make the covers, no two will be exactly alike anyway, even if I use the same image. I'm using vintage millinery petals and leaves for the wings, and trimming the bottom with a variety of laces and ribbons. The wallpaper under the title will be changing too. I'll have an assortment of florals that I'll be cutting from.

The back of the cover will be done in vintage wallpaper too. But I like the text behind the fairy. Or do I? Maybe I'll do some with wallpaper too.

When I have to make dozens and dozens and dozens of something, I need some variety as I go along. So a few changes here and there make the work much more interesting.

(by the way, thanks to all of you who signed up!! I'm excited that so many of you wanted to play fairy with us- and I have room for plenty more if you haven't signed up yet.)

The painting I did has a flower on the fairy's head, but I'm gluing a teensy millinery bloom over it.

She also has some wings, and a painted background, but I like the idea of cutting out the figure and adding 3-D wings.

I'm not one hundred percent positive that this will be the cover yet. I'm in a painting mood, I might do a few more girls and see which I like best. There is also no reason why I have to do all the covers the same, either.

If you'd like to join the swap, please do! Email me me with your name, blog name, and email address ( you do NOT have to have a blog to join, of course) Details here.

A girls weekend

Dew Drop, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 25, 2012

Dewdrop had a sleepover with us this weekend. And while she was here, she wanted to help me in the kitchen with everything I did.

I learned with Sugarwings, that few things entertain a baby longer than playing with water. A bucket and a plastic fish, a sink full of bubbles, or a sponge and a bowl, all were endlessly entertaining to her. Looks like her little sis feels the same way.

The only difference is, now I have wooden floors instead of tile. Which changes my carefree attitude about sloshing around.

We still enjoy splishing and splashing, but I have to be a bit more vigilant about where the puddles end up. Dewdrop was surrounded by a pile of towels today while washing dishes for me. It didn't interfere with her fun, but it saved some sogginess for my flooring.

Both girls came to spend the day, and I can't imagine a better way to spend a Sunday.

I did manage some time to work on a painting, but its not something I can show you, till the person who commissioned it shows it herself. I hate having something new and not posting it! That's not like me. I write my posts the way I talk to my friends, the minute something crosses my mind, I say it, usually without filters. Not showing something is a lesson in self control that I could probably use…

I've also started a couple more fairy paintings, I'm on a painting kick right now. I've got some more vintagey ideas for the Faerie Book Swap cover.

If you are interested in joining, click on the button on my side bar for more info, or scroll down a couple of posts and read about the details.

Winged friends

fairies, Hens, paintings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2012

Things are going well with the Ladies. They are feeling enough at home that we can leave their doors open all day, and they return to the coop to lay their eggs.

We have 8 boxes for them, but there are only two or three that they like. And they deposit the eggs together in the same nest all day. The next day they might use a different box, but all will use the chosen box of the day.

The Rhode Island Reds are about as lovable as a chicken can be. All run up to me when I step outside. I'd like to think its genuine fondness, but I think they are just greedy pigs and wondering if I might have a treat.

What surprises me about hens, is how soft they are. And that some of them actually seem to like to be petted.

Our other four ladies, the Americaunas and Red Stars, are not nearly as friendly, but I hope that changes. They are much larger, louder, messier, and squawk at me like I have no right in the coop. I am kind of wishing I'd stuck with just the Rhode Island Reds, since they are so sweet, adorable and act like they are thrilled to see me.

I guess its time to tell the big, noisy, messy birds that they are too juicy and fat to not at least pretend to like me. Because I love fried chicken more than I love hens who act like I am an annoyance in their lives… No, thier eggs are too pretty to give up on them. Sugarwings and I enjoy the blue eggs they produce.

Don't forget, we are having a Faerie Book Swap! Scroll down a couple posts for details. I painted this fairy as a possible part of the collage for the cover, but I'm not sure I want to use it. I think I'd rather have a more vintagey looking fairy.

What do you think?

I found Hat Heaven (and the giveaway winner)

antiques/junking, flowers, give away, junk, Travel, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 21, 2012

Our trip to NC was just perfect.

A highlight was a shopping day with my sis-in-law.

Actually, we had TWO fun afternoons of junking. Our first was at the Vintage Village, and I was captivated the minute we got out of the car.

And the best part of it all was Susanna's Antiques, where I went to meet my blog friend, Jenny.

She and her mom have a cute as a bug shop together- filled with too much to fit in my suitcase…

(yep, my eyes are closed in this photo, of course)

Another friend, Becca, took a break from work, and came by to visit too.

The mall was just wonderful. If I needed a light fixture, I'd be looking there for it. They had the best selection of old chandies at good prices that I have seen in a long, long time.

And the atmosphere of the whole area was just plain fun. I loved all the little cottages and piles of junk out doors amid the plants and flowers. The best part was a fresh fruit stand where we bought ripe Carolina peaches and washed them in a garden hose to eat while we walked around.

I had some great food while on our trip, but those peaches were hard to beat.

Then, I saw the hats. Hats, hats, hats everywhere!!!!!!!!!

Hat Heaven.

If you need floral hats, head to see Jenny. But wait a bit, I cleaned her out for now.

Don't worry, she has plenty of other pretty things to buy.

I don't know why I didn't buy this print.

But I did snag this story book for my grand fairies.

Jenny had some of her work there for sale too, she makes these vintage brooch bouquets for brides.

And how sweet is this? This bracelet was a gift from her.

The next day, my sis-in-law, Sandy, and I went to the flea. There is one every weekend at the fair grounds, and it was a good one. I bought a ton more flowers and hats, as well as bags full of broken rhinestoney jewelry.

I bought so many hats, that I had to pull all the flowers off to make them fit into my suitcase. Sandy was horrified, she collects old hats and thought I was too ruthless. But she ended up helping, and we sat on the balcony of her son's home drinking wine, plucking hats and playing with her little Yorkies.

Now that we are home, Sandy, Dixie, and Daisy have come to stay with us for a while. They'll be good for Twinkle, she misses her Agnes Rosebud.

That is, if she doesn't try to rip their cute, fuzzy heads off. She doesn't like many dogs.

After a few days with family in Raleigh, we drove to the Outer Banks. This was a work trip for my husband, I was just tagging along, which is a nice way to travel. For me at least, my poor husband had to work all day while I goofed off on the beach.

He was able to be done working in time for romantic walks on the beach, and watching the sunset on the sound. Then, stuffing ourselves with locally caught seafood.

We stayed in Duck, NC and it was a very peaceful, quiet beach. I wonder why there weren't more people there? It was beautiful.

Oh, I forgot to announce the winner of my giveaway!! This collage goes to:

Linda Owen Postma

Author name: Karla Nathan