Karla Nathan – Page 273 – Karla's Cottage

Waste not want not, and some belated resolutions

Etsy Goodies, fairies, jewelry, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 15, 2008

I can’t let anything go to waste! This recipe page was too cute to not re-use some how, and the swap book will already have a copy of it inside, so I turned it into a Fairy picture to hang on a wall.

After taking advantage of the big sale at the UPS store on copies (29cents, not 19, but still good!) I had copies of my fairy painting done.

I used an exacto knife to cut around the hand painted roses and the wallpaper hearts over the recipe, and made a slit to slide in the portrait that was cut to fit.

Then, I made a new banner, with the word "Fairy" cut out of and old fairy tale book and added a ruffle and a sheer organza ribbon to hang it from.

It is now listed on Etsy, but I wonder if I should have kept it and hung it in my studio? I do have a thing for that fairy tale wallpaper I used and have to get over the miser in me who wants to keep my greedy paws on every scrap! SOLD

I also changed one of my book covers yesterday. I had to add this German foil crown that I got in the mail from Speckled Egg. I ordered a bunch of pretty things from her, some brass heart charms, die cuts, more crowns.

One of my belated New Years resolutions is to use more hand painted elements in my paper collage work. Here are the backs of the covers I have done so far. I am finishing the backs of all of them, I do think that is important. If it is pretty wallpaper, I am leaving it, but if it s more simple, I am adding some flourishes.

I painted a few lockets too.

Some I am going to tie to the recipe covers.

The rest, I am using for other projects like this button jar. SOLD

I just listed it on Etsy too.

I thought I had more of the heart lockets, but I could only find a handful to paint. I am trying to be productive and work on what is in FRONT of me (another resolution!) instead of spending all my time hunting around in my stashes for something I think I just Have To Have.

Another resolution I made, just this morning (yes, very belated) is to only use my fabric scissors for fabric. No paper, I want to keep them sharp.

And along those lines, I will not use my regular scissors for cardboard or WIRE. Only for paper. That might be the hardest to keep.

I also resolve to take down my Christmas Tree before Valentines Day. Or at least I sure hope to. I am beginning to avoid my own home and just hide out in the studio to avoid all the dusty, holiday decor. Of course, there are Xmas trees out there too, but I am used to that room being a mess.

This last cover that I made yesterday is a bit different. My friend, Jen, who is in the swap too, came over. We were going to work on the project, but her time was shorter than she planned, so we ate chocolate cake, had coffee and hung out.

I dropped my piece of cake on the floor and broke a favorite plate. But I do that sort of thing a lot, being a klutz. The thing is, I always feel like no one will believe that I didn’t actually eat the whole cake, or the last piece of lasagna or what ever, that I really dropped it. That sounds like such an excuse- like something I’d make up to cover up finishing off the whole thing myself. (I was glad to have a witness!)

Anyway, she did have time to go through my stuff and pick out what she wanted me to put on her cover. I hope she likes it.

Well, now I am off to Beth’s, we are going to work on covers for the swap today, then I am going to do my dreaded shoe shopping while I am in the big city.

Oh- guess what!! Lucky, Lucky me- I won the contest from Remember my Childhood

and won a hand sewn skirt for Sugarwings!! Here is a photo of one of the skirts from her website.

I told her that I’d be happy with any skirt that had pink flowers on it and she could chose one and surprise me with it.

Thanks, Clarice for hosting this giveaway! The fairy grand baby and I will have a dress up tea party and she will wear her new skirt and her pink wings from Carol, and I will of course take tons of photos of her, because I can’t help myself.

Aren’t digital cameras great? You can take all the photos you want, plus you don’t have to have the camera right up to your eye, you can still be a part of what is going on.

Ok, I’d better pack my glue and my sparkly things, I need to go make pretties with Beth! This will be a great day!

Sweet Treats and Roses plus a Sweet Invitation

celebrations, fairies, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 14, 2008

Have you ever had a project that almost defeats you? Beth was asking on a post the other day, if you :

1-gave up on a piece that was going badly

2-set it aside and got back to it later with a fresh eye

3-do as Tim Gun says and "make it work"

I am a "make it work" type. I don’t give up, but on the other hand, I also normally work pretty fast and don’t dwell on any one piece too much.

This one, my recipe page for our Sweet Treats and Roses Recipe Swap just about did me in today!

The problem was trying to copy it. Since I used 3D items it wouldn’t scan well and most photos I took of it made huge shadows.

I must have photographed it 200 times or more, trying to get a copy where you could actually read the recipe! This is as good as I’ll get it, I guess. I should have used a larger font, that might have helped.

I’ve emailed this image of it to the UPS Store, they have a 19 cent color copy special right now. Which helps if you are making 42! (actually 21, with two per page)

I got a few covers for the recipe books done today, but not as many as I would have liked, since my recipe ate up most of the day and I refused to let it beat me down!

One of our swappers, Sarah Huckman, included some pretty scraps and bits and pieces for Beth and I to play with when she sent in her pages. I used some of them on this one, over the back ground of vintage wallpaper.

This one includes a great old, floral playing card that Beth gave me to use (sorry about the glare, but after hours of trying to get a good picture of the recipe, I was willing to let this one go as is!).

The Victorian scrap art bird was from Beth too. The bird is wearing a crystal heart necklace attached with a millinery flower.

There is another of those pretty playing cards on this one. Beth left a few for me and I plan on using them all, I love the way they work on these covers.

The pink rhinestones are actually a pair of earrings, that I cut the back off of. My darling niece, JoRenda (yes, that is really her name, it was taken from a fairy tale about JoRenda and JoRingle. We are glad our JoJo wasn’t a twin, because you know what her twin would be named! Which might be a bit much, if there were two of them, but JoRenda is the perfect name for this girl and it suits her.)

Where was I? Oh, yes, JoRenda gave me a big bag of prom style crystal and rhinestone jewelry that had been on clearance at Claires. I have been chopping it up and gluing it like crazy. Sparkly things to glue on stuff?? How sweet of her, I am thrilled with it.

This is my favorite cover so far, I am in love with this pink and brown flocked wallpaper. I only had a little piece of it, and it was just enough to make two covers. I hope the person who gets this appreciates old wallpapers as much as I do and understands the sacrifice of using this stuff instead of hoarding it!

Oh-oh, more glare on this one too. I used up my entire quotient of editing patience today on the recipe page. Sorry.

This one is pretty simple, I used the old, pretty paper with just the added heart made of German text and another wallpaper. Then, I drew vines and leaves all over the background in gold ink.

I might add some rhinestones and crystals. But I do like the simplicity of this one.

I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked, due to the copy problems and the fact that I had to go shoe shopping.

And not only just regular shoes, I need SANDALS for a trip I am going on. That isn’t easy to find in Kansas in January. Especially when my feet are shaped like Fred Flintstone’s. That limits my choices.

I don’t enjoy shoe shopping and tend to wear shoes until they fall apart, because they are so hard to replace. I can usually find something in the little girl’s department, my feet are short and fat. But I am going to a ritzy place and think that child’s shoes won’t be appropriate. I need glamor! I need big girl shoes!! I need -oh no- high heels!! I have to wear a dress too. This will be hard for me too. Did I mention that I had Barney Rubble legs to go with the Fred feet?

We are going to Palm Springs and it is with the new company my husband works for, so I can’t show up with kid’s sneakers on with jeans.

Ironically, I was invited to a Romantic Homes launch party for their new book, Vintage Vavoom, next week in California! How often does a Midwesterner just happen to be in CA?? I was really tempted to go to this, since I will (hopefully) own a new pair of shoes and a DRESS. But, the timing wasn’t quite right, plus, going to a country club and spa will be enough of a stretch for me for one week.

It would be interesting though, wouldn’t it??

A Fairy Princess and a Weird Old Lady

Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, I've been tagged, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 11, 2008

I had a wonderful day, a Sugarwings day. That is the best kind. She cuddled up on my lap and watched a whole movie with me, while we played with Twinkle’s soft ears.

Then, this evening, I had time to do this watercolor sketch after making a pot of homemade turkey noodle soup.

Not a bad day at all, a cuddly baby, a dog with soft ears, homemade soup, and time to paint!

This little painting is a cartoon of my friend Rachael’s little Princess. I am going to send it to her as her prize for my December Giveaway.

I like to figure out what the prize for my monthly giveaway will be AFTER I draw the name, that way I can do something custom.

This isn’t a perfect likeness, only a quick caricature done while I watched an episode of What Not To Wear. Do you see Stacey London’s influence here? The little fairy is wearing an empire waisted dress. Stacey is always pushing those.

I’m so glad that Rachael won last month, I have been wanting to paint her beautiful daughter for a long time, and this was a great excuse to finally do it.

Now for another thing that makes me happy -7 weird things! I was quite addicted to that rage when it went through blog world before, and read them all, from one list to another to another. I’d get lost in all the stories and insights into my fellow bloggers. Now, the game seems to be going around again and I’ve been tagged another time myself, this time by Michelle. Here is the last one I did, at the end of this (typically) long and rambling post: http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/2007/09/beth-birdies-be.html

I LOVE the weird lists. Whether I know the blogger or not, I can’t stop reading all of them. I’ve done this a few times myself, but feel like I have enough weirdness to fill a few lists
On my trip home from apartment furnishing out East, I brought home a suitcase full of bubble wrap and cardboard that our new purchases came wrapped in. How could I waste all that wonderful, precious bubble wrap???
I had 2 suitcases on that trip, and weirdly enough, I filled the gym type bag without wheels full of clothes and heavy stuff, while the nice wheeled piece of luggage was filled with bubble wrap. I don’t know what I was thinking.
My wallpaper addiction is becoming serious. I am forcing myself to cut it up, use it, sell it, enjoy it, not just hoard the stuff.

These 3 drawers are full of rolls, and that is just the tip of it all.

Here are a few sample books, I love working with these, so easy, no ironing like the rolls!

I save every little scrap, you never know when that little strip of old paper will be the PERFECT touch to finish an artwork!

There is more, it is taking over my studio. I am thinking of papering one wall in it, but small bits, like a crazy quilt. So I can stare at it and enjoy it all. See, weird. It is an obsession.

5. I keep one of Sugarwings sockies on my bedside table when she isn’t here, because it is so tiny and cute and reminds me of her. I snuck a pair of her little pink sockies into my husband’s bag so he would find them when he unpacks at his apartment.

We are both smitten with her.

6. I wear my paint clothes all the time. I am a slob. My family is used to it and I used to get strange looks from people sometimes, but don’t so much anymore. My theory is that people don’t notice middle aged women much. We are invisible.

7. I can’t get enough popcorn. Sometimes I go to movies I don’t even care about just to eat the popcorn. I love to go to late movies all alone and get a bucket of crunchy, salty goodness and relax. Its not the same at home, no matter what brand of microwave corn I buy, the stuff at the theater is the best.

I met Orville Redenbacher at the Indiana State Fair when I was 12 or so, and it was before he was famous, he was giving out samples of his new popcorn (pre-microwave days) and I always remembered that funny man, and recognized him when I saw the commercials later. I just love Orville and am glad they brought him back from the dead to do his commercials again, even though it is slightly freaky.

Thanks Michelle, that was fun!

I finally picked up a copy of the new Somerset Life. What a gorgeous issue! But all of their magazines are wonderful, I love them all.

This one has an article about kits and they have featured one of my kits for sale on Etsy.

Its an honor to be a part of such an interesting and well done publication!

I hope to spend some time tomorrow making some more collage kits to list on Etsy. I have a few up right now, but I have some ideas for more.

But I also need to work on those swap recipe book covers, my year end quarterly taxes, and did I mention that my Christmas tree is still up, as well as my whole house is still decorated for the holidays???? I might just need to add some pink and red hearts to the trees and forget about it till after February!

So much to do. I think I’ll go to a late night movie! I need to RUN so I don’t miss the last show, I hear that bucket of popcorn calling my name!

Gifts Galore, The Antique Store, and whining no more

Food and Drink, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Moving to DC, parties, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 10, 2008

What a lovely day I had!!

Carol and Beth came over to play. Carol worked on a cute book she was making out of envelopes- great idea. I want to try one too. Beth and I worked on our Sweet Treats and Roses Swap recipe book covers.

But first, we had a light lunch. I made a salad and some prime rib stew (well maybe not so light, huh?) with ruby gold potatoes and a crusty bread from the bakery downtown that uses a wood fired oven.

I took all 3 leaves out of the dining table so it would be cozy, and moved around some of my centerpiece stuff left over from Christmas to give it a new look (Christmas is still not put away yet around here, will it ever be????)

Just in time for the lunch, I received this cute as a button, wire cloche from Crystal as a giveaway prize from her blog!! I always say that every thing looks more important under glass, but now have to revise that to under a "cloche"- it doesn’t have to be a glass one! I also used the wallpaper book that Beth made for me as part of the display, it would dress up any vignette.

So, I have my gift of a new cloche and this great book Beth for made at Christmas. I am feeling pretty special to have gotten such nice presents. Then– Beth and Carol both brought stuff for me!!!!

Beth picked up this candelabra at our favorite auction house last night. (I used to raise peacocks, and love anything with a peafowl on it- but never had a pink one before)

She thinks it is gaudy and apparently everyone else did too, she says no one bid on it. She knew it would be just gaudy enough for me to love.

Carol brought this royal bar of soap (available on her blog, if you want some- it is hand made and smells wonderful!) and these rhinestone embellished white gloves.

Just my style!

But that is not all! Our swap members are sending in the pages of recipes for the Sweet Treats books and a couple of them came with GIFTS for Beth and I. Kathy senrt us the tags and the "Beauty" collage, is from Sarah and it came with a pretty painted card.

The other side of it says:

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old (Kafka)

I think I will keep this as my motto for my 5oth year celebration that is beginning now and going till my birthday in May. It is quite appropriate for me.

Remember, there is a gift for comment # 5,558 (my birthday, May 5, 1958) I also have my one year blog anniversary coming up on Valentines Day. I will need to do something special for that, too. I get so many things, I want to share the good fortune. I love presents, don’t you????

Blog giveaways are so generous. Here is one you should check into if, you have a little person in your life. A choice of hand made pants or a skirt. I think my little Sugarwings would be cute as pie in either! (by the way, thanks for all your input on her photos, #4 was the big winner)

You can enter at Clarice’s and while you are there, wish her pretty young lady a happy birthday. You can also enter a great giveaway at KJ’s, she is throwing herself a surprise 50th birthday party and has presents for us!

Carol, Beth, and I did a lot of chatting, but we did manage to get some work done too. I made a few covers for the swap recipe books. (take a peek at the recipes in so far, here on our flickr page)

This one is from a copy of a De Longpre rose.

And this one is from some floral vintage wallpaper that Beth brought.

Why is it so much more fun to use someone else’s supplies than your own??

This one is on some old shelf liner paper I found in my garage last night when I was searching for supplies to make a magic wand ( pictures later!).

I also prepped a lot of covers, with some vintage wallpapers, ready to embellish and foof up.

Nice, cheerful Valentine reds on these.

Pretty pinks and chocolates here.

And some romantic neutrals with a touch of roses (the lavender one will be going to my pal who shares my 5-5-58 birthday, Barb , who is found on Lavender Lollipop Lane.

Remember how I have been whining about all the shopping I have had to do to set up our apartment outside of DC?

Yesterday, I actually got to pop in to the local antique mall and take a deep breath of that glorious musty antique store aroma and it was heaven! I didn’t buy much, but a few little OLD doo dads sure made me happy after the time I had to put in at retail shops and discount stores and mattress outlets!

But- I think I owe all of you an apology. I did whine a LOT last week about having to shop so much.

With all of the real problems in the world, that isn’t such a big one, really, is it?? Poor me, I had to buy 2 brand new flat screen TVs, 3 rooms full of brand new furniture, and all new kitchen stuff. What a bitch I am!!! Sorry.

But I just like old, or hand made things, and it was hard to get excited about filling a place with new stuff, plus it had to be done so fast, it was a marathon of never ending discount stores, plus, I was sad about my husband and I having to be apart so much.

Oh no, here I go again, whining. Sorry. I know I am LUCKY and I do appreciate what I have. I hope I didn’t offend anyone by my weasly whines.

Sugarwings Sugarcookies

how to's

By Karla Nathan / January 8, 2008

I am trying to figure out what recipe to use for the Sweet Treats and Roses Swap, and I am afraid, I just don’t do recipes much.

I decided to try a recipe for hand painting sugar cookies.

You add food coloring to clear Karo Corn syrup to make your "paint".

I used coffee stir sticks to mix the colors.

After baking a batch of sugar cookies from a mix, I spread white canned icing on one at a time as I was ready to paint them. If you ice them ahead of time, the icing sets up too hard to paint on.

I dipped a brand new paint brush into the food coloring and started to paint.

For a rose, I used the red food coloring in the clear syrup, and swirled it around, mixing it with the icing itself, which made some areas pink. I went back with a dot of red on my brush to add a center of the rose.

Using the green and yellow colors, I added leaves and vines.

On some cookies, I used colored sugar sprinkles on the edges. (that also needs to be done while the icing is still soft, not set up)

Keep a glass of warm water handy to rinse the brush out often, it will get clogged up with globs of icing.

After rinsing, make sure you dab off all excess water before dipping into the paint again.

You can also paint direcly onto the cookie, without icing, for a different look.

I start with the lightest colors first, and add darker ones as I go.

When you are finished painting, colored sugar lightly sprinkled onto the cookie is a pretty touch, a little like adding the glitter to a collage project!

I didn’t have a butterfly cookie cutter, so I free handed the shape with a knife and cut it out of the dough. I suggest using a cookie cutter instead!!!!

I like to store my painted cookies under a glass cake dome, but before I do, I let them air dry for a couple of hours at least so they don’t stick together.

On Thursday, Beth and Carol are coming over to have a craft day and play with papers. I HOPE to still have a few cookies to share with them. But, Sugarwings and her family are coming over tonight, these cookies might be gone fast.

Speaking little Miss Sugarwings, I have a favor. There is a cute baby contest I hope to send her photo into (don’t all grandmas think that their own little cutie will win?? but hey, look at those eyes!!!)

I took a few pictures of her and would appreciate your vote on which I should use.

I like this one, she is looking right at the camera and her dimples show.

#2- a sweet fairy

#3- really fun, but I don’t know if her eyes show up enough

#4- sweet smile and her eyes look good, but she is not looking at the camera, will that matter?

I might take some more tonight after dinner, unless she is too smeared up with cookies after she eats!

Please let me know what you think is the best photo to submit. I have a couple of days to send it in and would love your input.

Finally, I have a December winner, just a little bit late. At least I picked a winner before I got around to taking down the Christmas tree!

give away

By Karla Nathan / January 7, 2008

We’re home!! And what was the first thing we did when we got back to Kansas? We ran right over to see Sugarwings and tell her we missed her.

Her parents were kind enough to let us take her home for a sleepover, so we have been enjoying a fairy style tea party.

There has been lots of giggling and cuddling. I think she might have missed us. A week is too long to go without seeing a fairy grand baby, even with a couple of web cam visits in between!

While the baby napped today, I decided to paint some cupcakes for the book covers of the Sweet Treats and Roses recipe swap that I am doing with Beth.

She will make half of the covers, and I will make half, so not all will have cupcakes. And I doubt if I will use cupcakes on all of mine, either. I just wanted to get some painted and ready to have the option of using them.

They fit the theme for Valentine’s sweet treats, and I even added hearts to a few of them.

I of course, had to indulge Twinks, she never believes the photos are of anything but her!

I am a bit loate, but I finally was able to pick a name for my December giveaway winner.

The custom present goes to:

Rachael of the Rose Room, way down under!

I have a surprise in mind to make just for her, and will let you know when it is ready, if it works out… till then, it is a secret!

Remember you can enter my monthly giveaway by leaving a comment any time. All comments count.

I have received 5115 wonderful, chatty and friendly comments so far and decided that my special giveaway will be at 5558, since that is my birthday, May 5, 1958. Yes, I am almost FIFTY. And I plan on celebrating it all year long! This will be my first big celebration, and I will have a present for one of you for it.

I love presents!!! Aren’t they fun???

I shopped till I dropped and I don’t want to have to get back up!

Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2008

The marathon shopping trip is finally done!

I have shopped myself ragged this week, and didn’t really have the perfect car for it. We jammed in as much as we could, and I actually did end up with my knees against the dash and lampshades in my lap at one point!

On that trip from Marshall’s, we bought so much for the apartment, that we broke a table leg trying to get it all in the car.

Oh well, at least it feels less "new" now!

All this newness is hard for me. I love the aged patinas and well worn edges of the treasures I find at 2nd hand places and flea markets.

See what I mean?? It doesn’t look like me at all. If we hadn’t brought these lamps from home, this room would have no personality at all.

We also have Sugarwing’s photos everywhere. I found inexpensive frames at Michaels and IKEA for the 8x10s of the baby to cheer up the bare white walls.

And of course, we have pictures of Ry, Adam and the cute little hippy chick around the room too.

My husband didn’t want any clutter, stuff, or knicky knacky fun things around. And since we’ll have this place temporarily, and we are doing it on a budget, I had to agree–no matter how much it hurt– to not fill up the rooms with pretties!!

Like I said, the lamps my friend, Shanna created sure do save the room from total boringness!! One sits on a cute little $12 table from Marshall’s, the other is on a $7 wooden TV tray from Wal-Mart. The TV tray is behind the couch, so doesn’t even show. I certainly didn’t want to spend much on a table that no one saw.

Rich brought one of my paintings, this was done from the balcony of our hotel room during a vacation to Destin, Florida a few years ago. Hanging it is a reminder of a romantic and lovely week we spent together.

I thought it was touching that he packed it.

Another homey touch, is this photo I found at Homegoods for $18. It reminds me of the time we spend on the lake back in Kansas.

I found a serene, blue curtain on clearance there for $9 and a matching runner for $14. The rug is chenille, and very fluffy, a touch of luxury in the plain bathroom.

One totally unnecessary, but fun thing I bought for the bath was this sparkly soap dish.

This is the guest bath, and I will probably use it when I come to stay, so I had to have ONE girly thing in the apartment!!

I saw this large picture, done totally in Glitter! I wanted it, for the sheer gaudiness of it, but knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. Isn’t it fun, though? I wish I could have done the apartment in funky fun things and make it a great get away place for us.

Instead, I was a good girl and decorated the place all neutral, comfy and BLAH.

Actually, it isn’t bad and I shouldn’t complain. You’ve seen my house and know that my poor husband has to live knee deep in roses. I can stand macho decor when I come to stay in the apartment with him, I can be brave and make it through one week a month with out my pretties around me!!

Especially if I have plenty of photos of my fairy grand baby to stare at! She is prettier than any rose.

We bought a couple of lamps on clearance from Marshall’s for around $60 for the two. And this frame was only $6.

The one on my side of the bed has beads, so that makes me happy! This little table was another Marshall’s purchase for $11.

I bought the sheets, fleecy, soft blanket and quilted cover there too. The cover is a neutral tan, all the rest are calm white.

Its almost like a hotel room.

Rich picked out the furniture for the bedroom himself. He spent a bit more than I would have, and got the wrong size bed frame, but it really is a nice set. He has good taste. And I think the room could actually be nice if I could paint the walls a deep rich color to compliment it all.

We brought this from home too- a welcome mat that makes us feel right at home. A Kansas University Jayhawk will greet us everytime we walk in the door.

The main furniture we bought last month, and had delivered this week. We’ve spent a lot of time waiting for cable and delivery guys. The rest of the time was shopping-shopping-shopping. It takes a lot to fill up an empty apartment!!!!! I’ve been to Wal-mart 4 times, Target 3, Best Buy 3 Marshall’s twice , Home Goods, KMart twice, furniture stores, mattress stores, grocery stores, not to mention buying a new wardrobe at Macy’s for my husband to start his new job! (he runs golf courses and all of his shirts had logos of the old company, not the country clubs from this one)

I’ve managed to do it all on about $6,000 so far. That includes stocking the cabinets, buying shampoo, nail clippers, coffee maker, trash cans, new clothes, shower curtains, every little detail of starting a new place. Whew.

I drove from place to place looking for sales and comparing prices. My husband says I might have spent more on gas than stuff.

I didn’t include meals out in this. We ate dinner out every night, and that has been wonderful. Some was on an expense account, but not all. This mural is from a Texas Road House we ate at tonight, I loved seeing the founding fathers BBQ ing!

I can’t believe we are done. There are two more deliveries next week, but I am going home tomorrow and Rich will handle the rest. I am worn out and slept for about 12 hours last night, did I mention I have had a sinus infection for a few weeks now and haven’t had time to go to the doctor about it?

I look forward to getting home and seeing my Sugarwings and Dorkies and pretties that I like to keep all around me. I hate leaving Rich behind here, but have tried to make it as homey as possible for him and I’ll come back to visit a lot and he’ll be in Kansas a lot too. The next year won’t be easy, but I am lucky to have a wonderful man that works so hard and puts his family first and has landed this dream job that he deserves so much.

And of course, I am lucky to have my blog friends who put up with my running on and on about everything I do and keep me company while Rich is away!

I’ll draw for my December giveaway winner as soon as I get home, and will be working on some projects, so will actually have something pretty to show you instead of ugly, over stuffed recliners and macho stuff! Thanks for your patience and for being there for me!

Eastward

Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / January 3, 2008

December has only been gone a few days, and it seems like ages. We’ve been so busy trying to set up a new apartment in a new city, all from scratch.

Sissy had this pretty book set out in my room when we visited on our drive Eastward. I’m afraid we didn’t get to stay long, one night, with a family get together, then on New Year’s Eve, we had big plans for crafting all day, then having a champagne toast and homemade veggie soup (like my Daddy used to make) welcoming the new year quietly with family and friends.

Crafting started well. I made this page (it still needs words, Sissy will add them with her lovely writing). I took inspiration from the book above.

It is so much fun to delve into someone else’s craft supplies! Like the first day of school and a brand new box of crayons (or crins, as I called them)

The background was done with those eye shaped chalky ink pads (Sissy had ALL the colors to play with!!!). I used pink, periwinkle and white to make swirls, with the white over the top to blend. Then "aged" the edges in brown.

I drew the bird and branches in glitter ink and got to try out her embossing glitter on the branches.

This one was done with the same chalky inks, smeared around and then blended over the top with a gold ink pad.

Then, I stamped green fern like fronds onto it, edged the sides in brown for aging again, and drew swirls and vines around it in brown ink.

My niece, Shelli, brought a calender we could cut fairies out of, I added a naked sprite from it, sparkled her with shimmering gold ink, and drew gold swirls around her head, accented with rhinestones.

Shelli used glitter and images from the calender for this page.

Then, she did a similar chalky ink pad background on this one. I drew some swirls on it for her and she added pictures from the calender.

My other sister, Bobbie, brought us an embossing tool to try out and Shelli did the design across the top with that.

Then, her husband came in and mentioned an ice storm on the way. I shot out of my chair, packed my bags, ran down the stairs and to the car and was GONE before the storm hit!

We had a safe and dry drive and were glad we cut our visit to Indy short, as sad as it was to leave. I don’t even remember if I said goodbye or not, you should have seen me rush out of there. No veggie soup, no champagne toast, I didn’t even get to finish my pages!!

And here we are- my new (part time) home, sweet, home!

The huge load we carried out in the car didn’t go very far in filling up the space. It isn’t easy starting from scratch, this week has been a shop-a-thon.

The big, ugly recliner that my husband has daydreamed about his entire life arrived. But the table was missing hardware and the couch was the wrong one. More deliveries tomorrow.

My husband doesn’t shop, but made an effort to buy a bedroom set on his own last time he was out here. For his very first shopping trip, it went well. Mission style, really nice. But- the wrong size. He didn’t realize beds came in different sizes????

Oh well, the new mattress I bought will go in the guest room and I’ll buy another one for that set, in a larger size. I’m just proud that he shopped all by himself and bought something really interesting.

I’d been hearing that IKEA was the best things since sliced bread (oh my,that phrase makes me sound old).

We didn’t much care for it. Some things were a bargain, others were just CHEAP. Thin towels, rickety tables. And not my style at all.

What was sweet, was that it wasn’t my husband’s style either. I thought he wouldn’t care, but he really did, and wanted homey, not stark, like they carry there.

We loaded up on simple things, like 49 cent dish towels, 99 cent trash cans, 99 cent toilet bowl cleaners, 42 rugs, and a $2 sieve. A few 59cent mugs and bowls too.

Then, we drove around the wharf in Baltimore searching for a good restaurant. Lost, in the dark, looking like tourists, with the light on in the car, looking at a map instead of the road.

We found a place called the Rusty Scupper. I thought, it had to be good, it had a hand painted shark in the lobby!

And I was right, plus the view was even better than the food. We managed to spend every thing we saved at IKEA by eating a $100 crab cake meal. I figure we broke even, since we had saved so much on toilet bowl cleaners!

I’m afraid my camera doesn’t do justice to the beauty of the wharf at night, and it was so cold out there, I didn’t really care to adjust it. I snapped a photo and ran to the car.

Well, more shopping tomorrow, then home on Sunday. I’ll get some photos of the end results of our buying binge!

Heading East

Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / December 28, 2007

More snow here!

Twinkle loves chasing the red birds who stand out so pretty against the white snow. The other dogs are staying by the wood stove and keeping warm.

This is the view out the back door of my studio, where I have been working away on TAXES- urgh. Everyone asks me how I manage to get so much creative and decorative stuff done. Well, I don’t do the things I should, like keeping up with quarterly taxes!!

I waited till the end of the year to do all of them at once. Did I mention that the State of KS has been calling to chat with me about it???

The thing is, since I have so many on line sales, I owe very little to Kansas, so I put it all off. They don’t like that, as I am finding out.

I am also working on the list for packing up and driving to DC to move into the new apartment.

My husband made up the list, and I see it includes a painting I had done on a Florida vacation and the painting I did of our barn (that used to sit behind our house, where this photo is taken. We made a garden in the old foundation)

It also includes a stained glass lamp a good friend made for us, a cribbage board, his guitar, and a bottle of Captain (rum). That is just the start of the list. Plus a lot of his clothes, an extra computer, and tons more.

The thing is, he wants to drive HIS car out there, across country in the winter.

His car is sporty, and doesn’t do well in bad weather or hold much. Those stained glass lamps will take up the whole back seat. And we sure aren’t pulling a U-Haul with his car!

Hopefully our luck will hold out and the roads will be clear and I can balance a lamp on my head the whole way there.

You know how I am always going on about how lucky I am? This car is 5 years old, and a week before the warranty was up, we took it in for a small problem that they couldn’t find, so they replaced the ENTIRE ENGINE!! We drive our cars until they turn to dirt (at least 10 years), then give them to our kids, so this one just doubled its lifespan by getting a new engine!!

We leave on Sunday, and Ry will stay here and take care of the house and the Dorkies. He has been known to build them a nice warm fire to lay by, even though he lives in the other end of the house in an apartment, and gets no heat from the wood stove over there for himself.

That guy has a soft heart.

I am trying to get some goodies listed on Etsy before I go out of town, and mark down some Christmas items already listed.

I made up 18 Cottage Collage Kits filled with ephemera to sell. Somerset Living magazine is featuring one of my kits in the next issue and I HOPE to sell some from my Etsy shop after they are seen in the magazine.

So I thought I should have some there to sell, just in case!

I’d like to get the computer set up in DC and try to write on my blog from there, but I am not sure how it will all go.

It will be a big job to set up an apartment from scratch! And there will be shopping to do for all the things that will NOT FIT into the car on the way out.

As Sugarwings says all the time now, "Oh My!"

I don’t know if I am up for this move.

We are breaking up the drive by staying in Indianapolis with Sissy. Luckily, that is about 1/2 way there. So we are hanging out there for New Year’s Eve, to have a quiet evening with my sister’s families.

I think I should be able to announce my December drawing winner from Sissy’s house and post there.

Also, I am very close to receiving my 5,000th comment!!!!!!!!!!! Again, to borrow from Sugarwings– "Oh My!"

Thanks so much for all your comments, I love to hear from you.

I will try to think of something special for that. But if I am not near a computer, I might have to wait and do a special giveaway for the 5,555th comment. I like the sound of that lucky number.

Speaking of lucky, look at the sweet gifts I received from Sandy (snowman and snowflake, plus a pretty "K") and from Betty (the lovely rose tag)!! thanks, ladies!

By the way, Betty is hosting a nice giveaway right now, you need to go and enter!

Here are a couple more pages from the book that Beth made for me as a Christmas gift (along with a subscription to Victoria!!!)

Notice she took all the pages out of the book before she covered them, then went to the trouble to punch new holes and re-bind it all? That was something we learned in a Silverbella class. I thought it was way,way too much work, but I sure like the way it looks!

Well, I am off to mail taxes and pack up lamps and rum. We have two parties to go to before we leave, so I’d better get my work out of the way and leave some time for fun.

A perfect day

family

By Karla Nathan / December 26, 2007

What a perfect Christmas we had! I hope yours was too.

How can things go badly when you have a giant box of gifts arrive in the mail, a new Care Bears outfit to wear and a best friend to share it all with???

My buddy, Beth, came by for brunch on Christmas day and brought the most beautiful hand made book for me.