celebrations – Page 21 – Karla's Cottage

Prairie fairyland classes and pretty scenery

celebrations, Chandeliers, Once upon a dream, parties, Travel

By Karla Nathan / November 2, 2011

I wish I could teach more often. Its a blast. Of course, I am a bit of a ham, and I talk too much, so its wonderful to have a trapped crowd listening to me…Actually, its just plain old FUN to do. When I make something, my brain works in How-To Steps as I go. Its natural for me to break down the process of creating something.

I find myself telling people steps of something when they give me a compliment, which is silly, most people don't care, they are just saying something nice about it. I can see their eyes glaze over when I go into too much detail, so its nice to have people who really do want to know how something is made.

The class I taught for Jenn was a mini "workshopette" for opening night, so I only had an hour. I needed to package it up so that it was easy to assemble. It seemed to be just the right timing, the ladies had time to finish and come up to the supply table to embellish with glitters and mica flakes too.

I had felt like it was so simple I didn't need written instructions, but then started to freak out and worry that maybe I was wrong. And yes I was. So, I'm glad I scribbled out some in the bar the night before. The front desk printed them out for me and I was glad to have them for the class.

One of my favorite things about the class was seeing all the variations people made on the prize ribbon. Individuality is important to me and I made sure no two kits were exactly alike, but the fairy ladies took them even a step further to make each unique.

Amy mentioned that she would love to make hers into a magic wand and wished she had a stick. I suggested gluing two glue sticks together and wrapping them with paper. It turned out really cute!

If you'd like to make your own, I had some materials left over to make a limited amount of extra kits. They can be found for $11 each in the Boutique

The projects at the event were all such fun! This is Dee's and she provided cool images to use.

Mine ended up a bit different. I wanted to use one of my mushrooms that I made for the centerpieces. It still needs a little sumthin sumthin… maybe small prize ribbon rosettes on each side, in neutral colors?

This is my chandy from Natasha's class. There were a few changes on mine too, I had strands of rhinestones with me and wanted to use those instead of the beading she gave us in the kit. I also wrapped the wire in tulle and lace.

Then, I added a few dangles.

Well, durn, I don't have a photo of Andrea's lovely necklace kit. She packed up the best stuff to make the bracelet/necklace. Lots of semi precious beads, that really made it special. If you know Andrea, you know she has exquisite taste. (Plus she is sensitive, sweet, kind hearted, and beautiful)

My pal, Tiffany, taught about taking better photos, and I learned a LOT from her. She fixed the settings on my camera and I didn't even know they were wrong.

My roomie, Lori, had a fun class too. I didn't get to sit down and make it yet, because I was walking around and helping with it. Her kits were packaged really special, and I do have mine to make later.

On our welcome night classes, the acoustics were a bit off, so all the teachers pitched in and walked around to help, since we couldn't be heard as easily as we'd hoped. Their help made the classes a success. I was sure glad to see them all come to my aid!

Suzanne was another roomie, and is always a delight to spend time with. We also got to share a table on work day.

Our buddie, Kana was at our table too. She was our 4th roommate. I've never shared a room 4 ways for an event like this, but it does make it even more fun. Twice the giggles late at night than you get with just one roomie.

And three people to tell me to stop snoring. They said I was a polite snore-er and would stop when told. Suzanne taught everyone that if they snap their fingers I roll over and shut up. Its a good trick. I felt like I should have gotten treats for it, though.

I've heard that if you pin a tennis ball to the back of your jammies, you won't roll onto your back, and I snore only on my back. But I didn't have a tennis ball, we had raquet balls, and golf balls. One was too soft, one was too small, but I tried putting both into a sock and pinning it to the back of my sleep shirt.

The trouble was, the sock was too long and it swung around and whacked me in the face, and did no good at keeping me off my back. I was actually more comfortable on my back, with the sock-o-balls on my shoulder, and I would dream it was little Agnes Rosebud nestled up on my shoulder as I slept.

The details at each place setting were as wonderful as everything else Jenn does.

She didn't miss any opportunity to make even the smallest detail into something special. This is the seating chart!

Our table was the "Water Sprites" which of course reminded me of my little Sugarwings who thinks she is a mermaid.

Jenn had wonderful photo ops set up for us, this wall of frames was sooooo pretty. And so is Valerie (wearing one of the crowns I made)

This vintage angel was a great spot to pose too. Doesn't Natasha look like an angel herself too? Well, while she is nice as can be, she is also far from angelic, that girl is full of fire, is stunningly funny, and always ready with a great story. But she sure pulls off the angel look!

It was great to see old friends, make new ones, and play dress up while surrounded by such stunning scenery. I'm honored that Jenn asked me to teach, it meant a great deal to me to be part of this one of a kind event.

Thanks, Jenn for everything you did to make us all feel like pampered princesses right out of a fairy tale for this enchanted weekend

Zombie Invasion

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 31, 2011

We live in a great town, it has everything, a good school system, community arts, a vibrant downtown, loyal Jayhawks, great food, and zombies.

Yep, real live zombies. Not the dead kind.

We went downtown for dinner, and snagged a street side table to watch the annual parade.

At first, Sugarwings was enjoying the site as the zombies arrived and made their way to the start of the parade.

But soon, we were in the middle of HUNDREDS of the walking undead.

That is when she dove under the table.

I have to admit, it was pretty freaky.

I thought about joining her under there!

But she could see we were having a lot of fun with the parade and we'd been talking about costumes and how zombies aren't real, so she came out and joined us for dinner.

But she did stay on her Pop Pop's lap.

The food was great, the weather was perfect, what a great night to sit outside and eat a big ole juicy steak as blood drenched corpses walked by.

This was a fund raiser for the Humane Society.

It was $15 to join the parade, and I'd love to know how much the shelter made, there was a huge turnout.

Zombies of all ages participated.

Brides seemed to be very popular.

And the local costume stores must have sold out of fake blood.

We saw the Skipper and his Lil Buddy, Santa, Batman, Superman, you name it, that zombie was there.

And many were ready to stop and chat at our table.

Some of the acting was really impressive.

And some of the costumes were almost too scary.

One little zombie boy stopped and gave our Sugarwings a flower. She was really warming up to it all by then.

Soon, she was hiding under the restaurant's menu board and jumping out to scare people herself.

But her bravery didn't last, one zombie pulled the same trick on her, jumped in her face and growled. The poor kid was terrified after that and just sobbed.Luckily the parade was over and it was time to go home.

I felt so bad for her. She'd been having so much fun watching the hoarde go by, til that one girl jumped into her face.

My mom raised me to love horror movies, and my boys watched them growing up too. Sugarwings has always been attracted to the scary characters in every fairy tale and story, she is a big fan of flying monkeys, witches, and trolls.

But I don't know if zombies will be very high on her list of faves.

We'll see. If she takes after me, she'll be fond of them.

Halloween decor, cheap and simple

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 25, 2011

Note: Pixie Pie is still in the hospital, and in a lot of pain. Thanks so much for the cards you sent, her mom has them all hanging by her bed where she can see them, and she enjoyed having the nurses deliver them to her. The site was easy to use, wasn' t it? Very simple and quick, its a nice service for the hospital to provide for the kids there.

Our little Halloween party was such fun. And it was a good excuse to show off the new kitchen!

Complete with its new spooky decor. This beaded cob web was one dollar at a thrift store, and the shabby chic witch is the one I made at Sissy's house last week.

She has a paper clay head and jet bead eyes pushed into the clay while it was still wet. I made her hat from pink velvet millinery petals and it is sporting a beaded spider made with an old button for the body.

I made another one to climb on my white pumpkin. The big ole punkin is sitting in an old wash bowl and is the center piece for the dining room table. Or should I just call it the kitchen table now? There are no longer two rooms, its all one space!

Our local grocery store had the fancy schmancy pumpkins for the same price as the orange ones. I'd never tried cutting one before, but this white one was soooo much easier to carve than the traditional ones. It was more like slicing honey dew than a jack o lantern.

When I redecorated after the remodel, I kept everything pretty simple. Well, simple for me at least. It seemed like all the stuff I had out before was way too cluttery in a big space, I guess because your eye takes it all in at once. In the small, divided spaces I had before, I liked more stuff out than I do now in the bigger area.

I thought it would be the opposite of that, I was surprised.

The Halloween decor I added is simple too. Just a few touches here and there, mostly black and white.

These crows are from the dollar store, I'd like to add some glitter but haven't had a chance.

Normally, I try to seat everyone together, but that is one more thing I didn't have a chance to get done. I set up room for about 10 in the studio, some people ate in the kitchen, some in front of the football game playing in my husband's office, and a few outside. We were lucky to have beautiful weather.

Still, NO rain though, so that meant no bonfire.

This was a quickie center piece, the boot, baby head, and flowers all came from the same garage sale and were $1 each. I just stuffed the witchy boot with paper, and sat the head in it, then tucked the flower in the laces and added a feather.

And this doll head is modelling the witch hat I made for a bonus tutorial on Romantic Gothic Ghosts.

(scroll down on the workshop page if you are interested in taking the class, White Christmas is also on that page, both are $25)

This one broke my no orange rule. I bought the hat for its pinky flowers, but after plucking them, I thought it was ideal for a stylish Halloween hat, with a bit of black ribbon on it to cover up the globs of glue left behind when I tore off the flowers.

Speaking of breaking the no orange rule, the garage was an explosion of orange and purple.

Well, with black and white ghosts. They are cut up, paper drop cloths left over from my kitchen redo. I stuffed their heads with newspaper, tied a ribbon around the neck, and painted a cutey pie, kid friendly face on them. They serve the purpose of hiding a closet with no door on it.

Sugarwings planned the decor and helped with it. We painted a tarp with glow in the dark paints, to hang over some more garage mess that I was too lazy to move, and when we started throwing the paint for a splatter effect, she had the idea to climb up a ladder for a better aim. I told her that was how Jackson Pollack did it, and started calling her Action Jackson while she was at work.

Most of what is in the room was hand made by the two of us, from the dollar store, or a thrift store. My advice for party decor (for kids) is to shop the dollar store first, get as much as you can there, and then look at thrift stores.

The lighting was the only expensive thing, and the strands of lights were on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and I can use the lights again and again. I would NEVER buy black light bulbs again, they were my biggest splurge and were useless. No effect at all, and I spent $9 on three bulbs to add to the clamp lights that I hung by the ghosts.

The other expensive thing was glow in the dark paint, about $10 worth, and it wasn't dark enough in there for it to glow. But we had fun smearing it on everything!

I'll leave you with some scenes from the party.

Its so fun when grown ups get in the spirit and dress up too! Beth and the other Karla got their husbands to play along.

They were "gang green".

Beth had to give the "dur" sign a lot when she explained it. It was pretty cute.

I hope you have some spooky good times ahead for your Halloween too. Are you dressing up?

Patsy the Monarch Butterfly

celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 19, 2011

Lawrence is a great place to live. We love it here for so many reasons. One is Pendleton's Farm, where you can spend an entire afternoon playing with butterflies, petting horses, going on a hayride, and tagging and releasing Monarch Butterflies. All for FREE.

(there is great shopping too, we always buy some fresh veggies, or local made jams while there so they can stay in business and we can keep coming back)

There is a butterfly garden that is nurtured all summer, then the flittery little bugs are tagged by guests, and taken outdoors to float away. Sugarwings met a butterfly named Patsy that she released into the wild.

There is a lot of fun, farmy activities there, like a corn bin to waller in, a tricycle dirt bike track (yes, I raced a trike too), a corn maze, a pumpkin patch, and other stuff we didn't even get to because the corn was so much fun.

A local winery was doing tastings and there were samples of fresh goat cheese too.

Yes, I tried the wines. But that isn't why I jumped in the corn bin.

I'm just a giddy grammy, wine or not.

Happy Grandparent’s Day!

celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 27, 2011

Did you have a wonderful Grandparent's Day yesterday? Its one of the biggest, most important holidays of the year, I hope that you celebrated it big time!!

We were invited by Sugarwing's school to come in for a grandfolk's breakfast and got to stay and play a while afterwards.

We all got dressed up for the event, my husband insisted on wearing a jacket. I always nag at him to never wear clothes that have to be drycleaned when he is not at work. But I am cheap, so personally I don't own a single thing that needs to be drycleaned. Most of my clothes are from the thrift store or a clearance rack, it was be silly to pay more to clean them than I did to buy them.

But he was right, it was an important occaision for our little fairy and she enjoyed helping us pick out just the right outfits this morning before school. Its nice to have a reason to foof up a bit. I've been wearing my paintin duds every day lately, whether I'm doing any of the remodel work or not.

This is actually the very first time we have celebrated this day. It was so nice of the school to do something like this, and there was a huge turn out. The parking lot was filled, and overflowed onto the streets. The rooms were packed with doting grandparents wearing dopey smiles as their little ones gave them hand made cards and sang songs to us.

Yep, a beautiful day.

PS- the link to the winner of our craft day giveaway was not correct. Sorry, here it is again. You'd love to see Maggie's illustrations, so please check her out.

KC Renfest part deux

celebrations, fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / September 17, 2011

When you enter the park of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, one of the first things you see is the fountain. Every year, Sugarwings makes a beeline for it, and would probably be happy to spend a good part of the day right there by the water. As much as she loves fairies, she loves mermaids and water even more.

I nick named her Sugarwings before she was even born, I would have gone for a more mermaidish name, if I had waited to get to know her first. But as I've said before, there is just something very WRONG about "Sugartail".

(By the way, thanks for all of your concern about our little fairy. She is now settled back into the Montessori preschool she was in before we took her out and test drove Kindergarten. She is happy to be there, and is in a pre-K program, that should help a lot. )

Kids are always so attracted to these painted wooden pieces that you stick your face in. I am not always a fan of them, but these are extra well done and I love the artist's work.

There is so much attention to detail at the park. From the costumes to the scenery, its just magical. The location helps, its in a hilly little park full of shade trees and cute buildings.

And not really that expensive to attend. We go on the weekends that are buy one get one free with a food donation.

Since we've had a grandchild, I go more than once a season. In the past, it was something I'd attend every two or three years. But watching it through a kid's eyes makes the magic seem so real, that I never get tired of going.

And I never turn down a chance to see some Jack Sparrow style eye candy.

(although, I think this pirate looks a bit more like McDreamy in dread locks than Jack, don't you? Still pretty either way)

Normally, the men in tights are pleasing to the eye too. This year, Robin Hood has some extra junk in the trunk though.

Although, who am I to talk? I wonder if my tiny wings make my butt look even bigger? Maybe I should go for a giant pair next year…

Sugarwings was very taken with the fencing and thought she'd challenge the knights to a duel with her magic wand.

Instead, she was invited up to take a fencing lesson and be part of a duel with a nice foam sword.

There is a petting zoo too, with sheep and goats to feed.

We had a hard working little Cinderella with us, who was ready to muck out the stalls.

The petting zoo was pretty laid back, we were the only ones in there, so the girls took their time and made some friends.

My handsome husband enjoys going so much that he gave up a golf game to join us all. I think he went knowing that some opportunities for baby snuggles would come up. He can't resist them. (and he got to play golf the next day, so he didn't miss his weekly golfing fix)

Yes, just looking at these photos, I'm ready to plan another trip there.

Sugarwings was about a year older than Mayara when we took her for the first time. I can't wait to dress this little snuggle bug in a fairy dress and watch her dance with the sprites.

This year, our Hippy Chick and I got out and danced with the fairies too. Luckily, I am the one with the camera, so there are no shots of me tromping and clomping around out there like an ogre. I'm not much of a dancer, but it was sure fun to do.

I wish I was as graceful as Miss Calliope, she twirled and danced with these ribbons beautifully.

If you ever get a chance to come to Kansas City in the fall, I highly recommend a day at the festival. It goes for 6 or 8 weekends, starting on Labor Day. Each weekend has a different theme, and you never see the exact same thing twice no matter how often you go. Discount tickets are available at Subway and at local grocery stores, plus there are buy one get one weekends with a food donation. We bring in some snacks and drinks to save a little, but the food vendors have tasty treats too and are hard to resist.

Maybe I'll see you there? I'll be the one in the ginormous wings so my butt looks small by comparison.

Scenes from the renfest part 1

celebrations, dogs, fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / September 11, 2011

As it is every season, the Kansas City Renaissance Festival was just magical last weekend. We had family in town visiting, so the whole group went along with us. We didn't all stay together, but got to meet up here and there throughout the day. The park is so big and diverse, everyone wants to see something different.

Its as much fun to people watch as it is to see the shows and events that are offered.

Or should I say, 'dog watch'?

But my eyes, and my camera are always drawn back to my girls.

And what pretty girls they are. This is Calliope.

And Clover. They both came as gypsies like their mom, this year.

Mayara didn't dress up. She came as herself, a smiling little cuddle bug.

My daughters were gypsies too. I'd made everyone a fairy ringlet to wear in their hair the night before, but some of them were tossed out of the wagon (along with bottles, papers, and a few assorted other tidbits) by the littlest sprite. She is at that "oh-oh" stage. You know, the one where babies loved to throw things down just to watch them fall?

Pixie Pie was there too.

She even got brave and danced with the fairies around the maypole.

Sugarwings, on the other hand, needs no courage, she thinks she is one of the fairies and runs right to them. She deserts us and joins their group as soon as she sees the fay.

And takes flight! See her feet? She is up in the air, flying off to be with her fairy family.

My sis-in-law treated herself to a gown at the festival. I think the clothes are lovely, but personally, I don't get much shopping done there. Besides the giant grilled turkey legs and cold drinks, I don't buy much. But seeing Terri looking so pretty in this gown made me wish I did.

(her fairy laurel is made of old millinery in peach and gold to match her lovely auburn hair)

Mayara loved this floaty tent.

They have a couple of them hanging from trees, and we always stop to play in them.

While we are in them, I always daydream about making one of my own. I can see how it could be done… Wouldn't a pink one make a sweet play house in my yard? They hang from a hook on a tree branch and sway in the wind, with all the chiffon billowing in the breezes.

There are more festival shots to show you, I'll have part two later this week. Remember, if you want to be in a drawing for the Craft Day Giveaway package of ephemera and pretties, please leave a comment HERE.

Sugarwings 5th birthday

celebrations, fairies, family, Food and Drink, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2011

Thanks for your interest in photo editing. I know I said my next post would be more tips and tricks, but I wanted to show you pictures from Sugarwing's birthday party first. The soft color editing tips will be on Friday instead.

We had quite a week with our fairy child. We took the entire bunch of 7 grands and their parents to a water park in Kansas City on Thursday to celebrate a few of the birthdays, then my husband and I snuck our little one away for a weekend at a Holiday Inn water park (we had a free Priority Club room to use) and a day at the zoo in KC too.

She's pretty proud of her two wrist bands from the parks and refuses to take them off.

She also had a sleepover with me on Sunday night, and since I got to have her most of Monday, we decided to throw a party. A fairy tea party luncheon with Pixie Pie.

We got up early on Monday morning and started baking cupcakes, then made mini pizzas by rolling out the dough and cutting it with a star shaped cookie cutter. The stars were topped with Trader Joe's marinara sauce, cheese, a broccoli nose, red pepper slice smile, and green pepper eyes.

I'd show you photos, but when a soon to be 5 year old works the cookie cutter and makes the faces, they aren't always recognizable as smiling stars. They just kind of looked like pizza blobs. But she loved them anyway.

Next, we set the table with pretty dishes and linens, got the tea pots out, and put on our fairy dress up gear.

It wasn't quite time for Pixie Pie to arrive, but Sugarwings was pretty excited and wanted to sit at the table and wait there for her.

Waiting can be the hardest part.

We were trying something new that day, some all natural rock candy sugar. It made the tea even more fun to stir.

When her cousin arrived, the girls scampered up the stairs to get her all decked out in her fairy wear too.

I think that Sugarwings is wearing my all time favorite selections in this picture. She layered herself in multiple skirts and a lady bug costume, along with great ruby slippers from Aunt Sissy. Of course, the water park wrist bands just make the outfit.

Did you notice that Pixie Pie is soon to be a big sister? Her mom is due any minute, and is expecting a boy. I hope he likes tea parties.

After lunch, I turned them loose with cupcakes, icing tubes, and sprinkles and let them go. It quickly became Sprinkle Palooza, we were knee deep in tiny, tasty, tidbits that made crunchy sounds when we walked through the kitchen.

When I was a young mother, I never let my poor boys go wild with the sprinkles like this. I was probably on too tight of a budget to allow such waste and on too tight of a schedule to clean up the mess. And too tightly wound myself to be able to relax and just enjoy the show of sprinkles and icing flying everywhere.

Its so nice to be a grammy. I can't imagine anything better. I wish I'd been as happy go lucky with my sons as I am with these girls. I have to say, all the arthritis and creakiness and backaches and wrinkles are worth it. Getting older is getting better. I love being a little old lady.

Oh, the boys and I had fun when they were little, of course. I was the master of finding free things to do. If there was a grocery store grand opening, we were first in line to get a balloon and free hot dog and play any carnival games they offered. We hiked, we swam, we pinched pennies and saved up to have special treats. But life was harder then, I was a single mom with three jobs for a while, times were tight, time was scarce and money even more so. I spent more time worrying than playing and didn't realize how fast it would all zoom by.

But with Sugarwings, I'm old enough to know how precious and limited these times are.

Sugarwings might be a bit spoiled by all she gets to do and the places she gets to go, but she doesn't act like it, she is the most appreciative kid around. She always has a big smile and an "oh my goodness" or "thank you, Grammy!!!", or a "thats sooooo cuuuute" ready whenever we do something special. And she flings herself at us with unlimited joy and wraps us in her arms. Her middle name is Joy and it is perfect for her. She overflows with it.

And we still are careful about spending, all of her dress up clothes are from garage sales and goodwill stores. We buy sprinkles by the truckload, but mostly with 40% off coupons at Michael's.

She might be a bit over indulged by grand parents who are smitten with her, but honestly, I think that I am the one being indulged, not her. I love every minute of it.

Its hard to believe she is five now. I've been invited to walk to school with her on her first day tomorrow with all of the rest of the family, and I'm just not sure that I can do it. I might just sob thinking about how fast she is growing up.

But I also can't wait to go through each and every stage of it all with her. Today she was planning her future wedding. She will either marry a blue M&M or Prince Navine. I sure hope that when that day comes, I get to help design and set up her reception. And I also hope that we are still best friends then like we are now. Because it will be here before I know it, I can almost hear those wedding bells.

Holding Space Open House

celebrations, family

By Karla Nathan / August 4, 2011

The Holding Space open house last week was a success, despite the heat, and the poor function of the air conditioning there. I think the unit was just overwhelmed by the 112 degrees outside and crowded room inside.

The heat didn't dampen the joy and dancing.

The event is just the beginning of a series of seminars and workshops they hope to hold in the future.

Including one to do a mud/plaster treatment on this wall. My son soundproofed it with old carpet remnants nailed to the drywall, then he attached this bamboo to give the mud something to adhere to. It looks pretty good like this, but he'll be adding the mud/clay/plaster and it will really be something then. Its a green technique, and I'm looking forward to being there to watch and learn how it is done.

They will also be featuring local art, and participating in the Final Fridays Gallery Walk downtown every month.

Before the room filled up, I snapped some pictures of the finished rooms. I've shown you the faux finishes that I did there, but the rooms weren't done yet. I think they've turned out beautifully. And the kids did it all with NO budget.

Everything is second hand, some things were found along the side of the road. I gave them some hand me downs and paid for the paint.

My dear niece in Utah, had earlier shipped them her massage therapy equipment that she no longer used. (thanks again, Alicia!)

The kids were creative with their decor, making the most of what they already had, and using lots of elbow grease to make the rooms look warm and welcoming.

I'm very proud of what they accomplished.

Family and freinds came to play music throughout the day, and vendors were there to share information about what they had to offer for the community.

Some local artists brougth their work, there was chair massage, hand writing analysis (I was told that the point on my T's means that I can be sarcastic and like to tease, but in a friendly way, not mean, and that I am very social and empathetic), tarot card readings, and a lot more.

The evening featured a Kirtan, which is kind of a singing meditation. This one was done by a woman with a really pretty voice, Jerri of Heartsong Pathways.

The best part of the whole day was watching my son in his element. I was glad to see how he had found a place for himself in this world. He had a rough road through the years, to get to this point, and as any mother knows, there are few joys bigger than seeing your grown child find his way and find his heart's desire.

My husband and I wanted to show our support for the open house, so we bought the stuff to make treats, and I baked 6 batches of cookies to set out along with some iced tea.

When I bake, I don't use a recipe. But heck, if you've ever made a cookie, you know the basics and there isn't much more to it. I do the basic- butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla all creamed, add the eggs, add the flour/salt/baking soda then embellish each batch a little different.

One batch was chocolate chips, another peanut butter with Reeses Chips and chocolate chips. When making these, I switched out half the butter for chunky peanut butter and used a little less flour.

The third was a granola cookie. For that, I added cinnamon, flax seeds, dried fruits, oatmeal, almonds, and sunflower seeds, then lessened the amount of flour. To keep those from being too healthy, I threw in chopped up white chocolate chips.

One of my tips for baking, is to chop up the chips. I put a half bag at a time in the blender on chop and grind the chips up before adding them to the dough. You need half as much, (saving a little tiny bit of calories) and every single bite gets a taste of chips in it.

I baked way too many cookies, but they freeze well. The trouble will be how much the bags shrink in the freezer… if you know what I mean. Those bags of cookies saved for a future purpose just never last.

Tru-Blood premiere party at the guncles

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, guncles, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 2, 2011

Uhm, did I mention that the guncles and I had a good time? With lots of silly fun? The weekend went fast, but we managed to pack in a lot of goofiness, including a Tru Blood mini marathon.

With HBO Go on my Ipad, we were able to watch the second episode of the new season after the premiere. So, of course, we made a PARTY out of it!

Because everything is a party at Randy and Kevin's house!

I drew some Tru Blood labels that we added to some empty bottles, and we drank out of red, crystal goblets, and painted our faces to look like vamps.

Since the guys bought my plane ticket, I wanted to treat them to dinner. We talked about getting dressed up and going out, but decided it was more fun to get dressed as vampires, watch our favorite show and eat in. So, I bought some lobsters and we had the best meal ever.

Crusty bread, still warm when we bought it, a crisp lettuce wedge with Kev's home made dressing topped with a chopped, fresh tomato, and giant, lovely, delectable lobsters.

I was disappointed in fairy land on the show, were you? I've come to terms with the fact that the show doesn't follow the books. And since they do stay true to the actual characters themselves, I don't mind, and actually enjoy the surprises that the show wouldn't offer if it did follow the books.

But man, the fairy land is NOT what I had hoped for at all. And Bill is King?

But that's okay. I still love me some Sookie and am a loyal fan.

I love me some guncles too.

Every night, the suppers were so good. One night was seared scallops in a vermouth and heavy cream redcution.

And another meal was grilled flounder with fresh asparagus and fingerling potatoes roasted in butter and onions. See why I was worried about my zipper still working? Did I mention homemade German chocolate cake?

Oh, and please remember, that there is a giveaway for one of my Mini Dress Form online workshops. If you win, and have already purchased the $15 class, I will send you a kit full of vintage goodies to make the dolled up dress form with.