celebrations – Page 30 – Karla's Cottage

Being Thankful

By Karla Nathan / November 25, 2009

Today, Sugarwings and I spent a few hours in the kitchen, working on getting goodies made up to fill the treat cabinet for our guests.

We made 2 pumpkin pies, a pumpkin cheesecake, brownies, pecan cheesecake, fudge, and pralines.

This recipe, torn from a 1933 magazine has been on my desk taunting me for weeks. I don't typically make food from recipes, I make up my own, but this, well, this one looked special. Plus, I loved the idea of recreating something from 70 some years ago.

Also, my favorite candy store in the world, Savannah Sweets in St. Augustine, FL has pralines that look just like these and I adore those yummy, rich, pecan treats!

Not owning a candy thermometer didn't stop me. I like doing the "soft ball" test. I kept a glass of ice water by the stove to check for the right temp. But honestly, if you've ever made fudge from scratch, this is similar and you can about tell by looking at the bubbling goo to see if it is ready to remove from the stove or not.

One thing I changed from the original recipe was to add Belguin chocolate chips.

Another change was to use this silicon pan instead of buttered aluminum foil or wax paper. I got this one at Target for $9 and use it like crazy. Nothing sticks, and all the desserts or muffins look so pretty when they come out.

See? Nice little squares. I dropped the brown sugar mixture over the chocolate chips and pecans that were waiting in the sprayed pan, and pushed it all down into the squares. The recipe said it only made 9 servings, but using mine ended up filling two of these pans. I used more nuts, broken up instead of 3 big ones per piece of candy.

And I'm glad I added the chocolate. Wow, these are good!!!

I hope you all have a sweet holiday, with plenty to be thankful for.

I know what I am thankful for. I'm extremely lucky that my life has turned out the way it is, with healthy, happy sons, a husband who makes me laugh, and Sugarwings to snuggle with.

Life wasn't always this good, we've seen some major bad times.

I've broken my back and didn't know if I'd ever over come chronic pain. I've lost both parents in recent years, and I thought I'd lost my son to addiction. My husband and I have lost jobs, beloved dogs, and savings accounts, but have never lost each other.

Yep, I'm VERY grateful.

Plus, I got my studio clean and am ready for guests!!!

I'm really thankful that is behind me. I'll leave you with a few pictures of the cleanup and of the dinner table. I used white bottle brush trees down the center of the table along with all the other things I am taking to sell at Miss Frenchie's next week. After the holiday, I'll just stick price tags on it all, pack it up and I'm ready to go.

The Vendor Faire, more bella-ness

celebrations, Silver Bella

By Karla Nathan / November 18, 2009

What was the highlight of Vendor night for me at Silver Bella? Baby Bella coming to help! Here she is trying on my apron that I foofed up for the Night of 100 Aprons.

She might have gotten a little bit of attention that night. And loved it! She was telling everyone she saw "Hello Bella!" even Pop Pop Bella and Daddy Bella who were also there to help.

Having my family drive 3 hours to come and help was just amazing, and so sweet. Have I mentioned lately that I am about as lucky as anyone can be?

The evening was a great success and such fun. Well, dur. Everything about the entire weekend was nothing but fun.

Carol was my neighbor again this year, but the way our booths were facing, I didn't get to talk to her as much as last year.!

My booth looked even better with Jessi in it, she brightens up everything she goes near!

My best bud, Beth was just on the other side of the curtain from me, but we were too busy to hang out during the sale. I was so glad that she came up a day early so we could spend some time together.

I think that my son, the massage therapist could have made more money than all of us put together if he'd had a chair set up!

Of course, there is a TON of stuff left over! I've started, slowly but surely to list some things in the shop. There are a few bottles of vintage Diamond Dust in the Boutique right now.

And I am in the middle of hand dying and glittering more Christmas trees to list on Etsy. The few trees that I had left from Silver Bella are in there now, but there will be another bunch coming soon.

I'll leave you with some photos of the booth. Its not as pretty as I'd like, there was an awful lot jammed into a small space!

So many people commented during the sale that this little vintage doll with dark hair looked like Jenn, that I had a friend sneak it into her room and place it on her pillow to surprise her.

Do you see the similarity?

I’m a Big Bella

Books, celebrations, Silver Bella

By Karla Nathan / November 13, 2009

I'm pre-posting this for you while I am up in Omaha at the big Bella bash.

Did I mention that I had a little sis? In my family, I'm the baby of the girls (funny that I say "baby" and "girls" about women in their 50s and 60s) but at Silver Bella this year, I've got a little sis.

Veteran Bellas are adopting newbies and helping them out, showing them around, and answering questions. My lil sis is Robin, who is my East Coast Buddy. When I go out to VA to stay at our apartment, Robin and I try to get together. So, I was happy to have her as my sis.

While shopping at Lucketts this summer, I found this book that was just perfect to alter for the occasion. It was old and beat up (just the way I like things!) and only a couple dollars, but filled with the sweetest, pastel sister pictures ever!

So, I cut it apart and reassembled it, adding glitter, flowers, and sparkle. Of course, since it was for Silver Bella, each girl got a tiara to wear. The book has lots of blank space, and empty pages simply decorated with a die cut robin or rose, so there is plenty of space for her to use it as an art journal or photo album.

Not only did I find the perfect book to make this, I also found the perfect wrapping paper! Old sheet music titled, "the Robin's Return".

This morning, I've been wrapping up all the gifts I've made to take along. For Marilyn, who is opening her home for me to come and shop in, I've packed a couple of my bottle brush trees.

Marilyn's business is actually called Hannah's Treasures, but in my mind, it will always be Wallpaper Heaven! She has thousands of rolls of vintage wallpaper and its overwhelmingly wonderful for an ephemera junkie like me.

More little trees are packaged up for roomies. Yes, it looks like a lot of roomies, and no, I'm not sleeping 8 to a room.

Jenn, Tiffany, Lori, and I made plans to go in a day early to go to Wallpaper Heaven. They are all roomies, and are letting me sofa surf that night since my reservation is for the next day.

For the rest of the weekend, I was supposed to be sharing with Heather Bullard, in a connecting room with Carol and Shelly. But, Heather had to cancel, she just didn't have time to come to Omaha. You should have seen me scrambling, trying to find a new room mate at the last minute! No luck, so I am paying full price instead of sharing a spot. Oh well, it worked out, since Sugarwings will stay with me one night when the family comes up to help me set up my Vendor Faire

And hopefully, Carol, Shelly, and I will have connecting rooms. I'm perfectly capable of staying on my own, but Silver Bella weekend is all about being social and I like the late night giggle fests that go on. So, a roomie is a good thing to have.

Carol, Shelly, and I are co-hosting the Glitter Lounge. Last year, we invited friends up to our room for a kick off toast to start the weekend on Thursday night. It was such fun, that we are making it a tradition and hosting again this year. I've got my disco balls all packed up and ready to go!

But now I need to get some cupcakes made to take too, I'd better get cookin.

Witching Hour

celebrations, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / October 29, 2009

While we are in Jacksonville, we'll be staying with my brother-in-law, Randy and his husband, Kevin. They are two of my favorite people in the world, and I wanted to make something special for them, since they are going through some trouble baby proofing their house before we arrive with Sugarwings. These two guys collect valuable pottery, and their house is pure, vintage perfection. Not exactly a perfect playground for a 3 year old….

Randy loves fairies as much as I do, so I fixed up this antique hankie box for him, using lots of sparkly elements, and his face cut out of a photo and attached to a flower fairy cut out out of a book. I tell you, it was not easy to size the head to fit the body… it took a few trips to the printer to finally get the size copied right.

Since I am going to be away from my computer for a few days, I thought I'd leave you with some spooky pictures for Halloween. Although, this sweet witch (my niece, JoRenda) is way to pretty to be spooky, huh?

After spending some beach time with Sugarwings, I am going to meet up with my sisses and help our cousin go through some of Great Aunt Caroline's things. It will be an emotional trip, but there will be lots of fun too.

My little Fairy Grand Baby is going to go to a Halloween party at Sea World on Friday, with my husband while I work on the house. We are going to get her a mermaid costume to wear, so she'll fit right in there. She pretends to be a mermaid most of the time, any way. I have a feeling she is going to love Florida.

Thanks for all your interest in the pastel bottle brush trees and the Grumpy Fairy book. More Christmas trees will get listed when I get back. The shop is open, of course, while I am gone (ya gotta love online shops!!) but the purchases won't be sent out until after I get back, November 2nd.

(these two photos are from my favorite antique mall, Rusty Chandelier- they can sure decorate with style at that place!)

This is a photo I took of a votive holder my Sissy bought on our last trip to Florida when we went to Great Aunt Caroline's funeral the day after she would have turned 101. The shot is as is, I don't know why the lightning is shooting out of its eyes, but love the effect!

In person, this guy was much cuter. In photos he kind of looks like flaming poo with eyes. But I did think he fit in very well for my spooky Halloween post.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and that any witches you run into are the sweet kind.

And remember, the most wonderful day of the year comes the day after Halloween- HALF PRICED CANDY DAY!! I'll be hitting the store before I even unpack my suitcase to snap up some M&Ms and Reece Cups!

40 ways to say happy birthday

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Food and Drink, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / September 29, 2009

This morning, we celebrated a friend's birthday with a brunch at my house.  It was a simple meal, organic vanilla yogurt, fresh fruit salad, and Rhodes cinnamon rolls hot out of the the oven, with a birthday candle stuck in them.

Since she was turning 40, a group of her friends came up with 40 charms for me to make into a bracelet for her.  We've done this for a couple of other pals in our circle on their 40th too.

Since 8 different people bought, or made the pieces, it really looked like a charm bracelet full of tidbits collected over a lifetime.  Some had special meaning, like her kid's photos, a coffee pot (to symbolize our regular coffee gatherings), a bowling pin (from bowling dates together), her initials, etc.  But some were just cute little things that were "filler".  

Since she owns two dorkie pups from one of my dog's litters, I really tried to find a Yorky charm for her.  But, one of her dogs is a giant, king sized terrier, that I swear is half golden retriever (we had goldens at the time too, so I really think that is possible…), so I figured that this over-sized blue dog looked enough 
like him to work.

To make the charms with her kid's photos:
 I bought frame charms from the craft store, and cut out at plain bit of green paper to fit them (her favorite color).
Then, I found photos of her kids on my computer, edited them to black and white, and emailed them to the copy store with instructions to reduce them so that the faces were just under 3/4" inches.
Color photo copies seem to work better under paper glaze than the pictures I make with my own printer. The ink never runs with photo copies.
I cut out the faces and glued those to the green paper, and covered it all with a layer of paper glaze. Love that stuff! It is self leveling, so you don't have to be perfect with it. You do need to watch it as it dries, though and pop any bubbles that form. (use a pin)

After it was all assembled, I wrapped the bracelet in a green, vintage hankie and put it into a decorated cone.  The Dollar Tree store was selling packages of these gold or silver cones 6 for a dollar! 
They were pretty as is, and make great favor wraps, or small gift packages.  I added a medallion with her initial, and then pinned some festive ribbons to the bottom with vintage brooch that she can take off and wear on her jacket.

This photo is a bit redundant, since I've already shown you the bracelet, but hey, look at my new lady!!  She is from Rusty Chandelier 
one of the BEST antique malls, EVER.  She isn't named yet, or finished. I am thinking about covering her in old French ephemera like I did the hand that Robin gave to me.

Especially since this gift just came in the mail!  Zita sent these French Canadian books to me and the pages are just perfect for redoing the face of my new lady, huh?

She'll be wonderful for selling hats and necklaces, plus will class up my booth a bit!

Before I get to work on her, I need to go and tidy up after the brunch. I never mind the after party mess, its usually a time to think about who said what and what funny things came up, and to enjoy the pretty dishes and bowls as I am washing them up.

Just like picking up after Sugarwings. Her leavings often give my heart a little tug, like this pile of her favorites set on the stairs waiting to be carried up to her room.

Flights of Fancy

celebrations, fairies, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 13, 2009

We all loved the Kansas City Renfest
on Labor Day weekend during the camp-o-rama family reunion. Sugarwings, especially. Although, my husband and I were pretty happy, just following her around and smiling at her happiness. (which just about sums up what our life around here is on a daily basis anyway.. her smiles mean the world to us we. We spend most of our time just watching her with goofy, indulgent grins on our faces She'll either grow up to be secure and filled with well being and love, or an insufferable brat.)

Sugarwings wasn't the only fairy, my nephew's baby, Kaydence, wore her "toot toot" (tutu) and wings too.

(It brings tears to my eyes to look at her picture, knowing that her daddy is leaving to serve in Iraq, and that he won't be with her for an entire YEAR!)

My Sissy made these hair garlands for everyone to wear, aren't they lovely? And so is my niece, Shelli.

When Sugarwings saw the bag of garlands, she immediately asked, "Who made these?" She is so used to everything being hand made around here, it doesn't even occur to her that some people buy such things from stores. She just assumed that if there was something pretty at our cottage, then someone must have made it.

Kansas City has a scenic location for their annual event, its in a shady valley, with lots of permanent structures that lend the place an air of authenticity.

And magic.

Even more magical, seeing it through my fairy grand baby's eyes.

To her the baby dragon that hatches from this egg, is as real as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Of course, I'm every bit as enchanted by the dragon as she is. And yes, I am one of THOSE people who wear a costume to the festival. I don't consider myself a Renny or a weirdo, I just think it is fun to wear fairy wings.

Or maybe I am a weirdo? Who cares?! Life is short, wear fairy wings and be silly and have fun!!

We all work too hard, we should take some advice from the fairies, and be light-hearted, do some dancing, and be in the moment. Because those moments go by too fast to waste them.

I'll leave you with a few more fairy photos. I hope you get to kick up your heels and have some fun too!

Sisterhood Magic

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

By Karla Nathan / August 25, 2009

My sister's birthday party and sleepover was even more fun than I had hoped.  The invitation said to come as a fairy, or dress witchy and magical, or be comfy cozy.  I made myself a witch hat, but couldn't resist being a fairy.  Sissy, who is about as wide as a stick of gum, had this skirt for me to borrow (she wears it with LOTS of safety pins).  

Cousin Paula fair-ied it up too. She found the hair extensions at her local dollar store on clearance for 11 cents!!!  We added some wings to her from Sissy's collection. I thought Sugarwings had a lot of sparkly wings and dress up clothes, but my sister has her beat.
 

Everything is magical at Sissy's house.  Everywhere you look, there is something that sparkles.  
 

Her home was the perfect location for  a magical birthday party. We only had to gather up pretties that were already in the house to decorate with. 
 

There were enough crystal balls to start her own magic shop…
  

Of course, we had to add some edible glitter to the pink cupcakes!
 

Plus confetti on the counter tops. And on the table tops. And on the floor. And on each other….  Sissy will be vacuuming those up for weeks.
 

We each lit a candle and made a wish for Bobbie for the upcoming year.
  

The weekend didn't last nearly long enough, but was one big slumber party the whole time. We stayed at Sissy's, had the big event for Bobbie on Friday, then on Saturday, we honored our Mother on the anniversary of her death.  
We decided to do things she loved to do with us. We went to Goodwill to shop, saw a scary movie and at popcorn at the theater, then went out to a restaurant she enjoyed (and one that we had a coupon for, to save money!)
Mom would have loved it.  And the fairy party too, you are never too old to enjoy laughing and being silly with people you love.

Fairies for all ages

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

By Karla Nathan / August 23, 2009

Fairy parties aren't just for kids!  When my Sissy turned 60, she threw herself a fairy themed slumber party.  Now, my sister, Bobbie Sue is turning 60 this week and Sissy is having us all to her home for another sleepover, BYOFW (bring your own fairy wings)
While I am in Indiana for Bobbie's celebration, I thought I'd leave you with some pictures from the earlier event.

Sissy's home is a perfect location for a fairy gathering, she collects sparkling objects, glittery trinkets, and crystal balls. Things like that are everywhere, like the ones hanging in the window behind this year's birthday girl, Bobbie Sue.
(yes, I am wearing Tinker Bell jammies, with a sparkly tuxedo jacket)
 
I had some stick on crystals on my nose, but after seeing this, that might have been a mistake, they look more like growths…
My husband's brother came to the sleep over, he's pretty close to Sissy.  Having a gay brother is almost like having a 3rd sister. Plus, he lets me draw on his face.
 
And he knows how to dress up for the occasion, too!
 

Connie is a life long friend of Sissy's and is also practically one of the sisters. She conducted a ceremony in honor of the birthday.
 

Candles and fresh flowers were just as important in the decor as all the glitter and crystal balls.

Each of us had something to say about the honoree, then about a woman in our lives who had been meaningful to us.

I convinced Bobbie Sue to let me teach her how to belly dance. Of course, I had no idea how to myself, and I dance about as graceful as a hippo. But there is something to be said for not caring how the dance looks and just going for it anyway!
 
Did I ever mention that I used to raise peafowl?  I have a lot of peacock feathers from Percy (our papa bird) and have been making fans from them with vintage millinery and ribbon added.  I thought one of the feathers would be just right to make a magic wand for Bobbie's Birthday.  
It has hot pink, curly feathers from an old hat, some silk ribbon, and a millinery bloom topped off with a jewel pried from a broken vintage brooch.
Now, for a dash of fairy dust to get the magic kicked in gear, and its ready to wrap up and give to her at the party. I can't wait!! (maybe there will be more dancing..)

A flock of Fairies

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

By Karla Nathan / August 20, 2009

 
We flew my husband's mother from Wyoming to North Carolina for the wedding last week, and then brought her home with us for a few days after.  So, in honor of Grandma Joan's visit to Kansas, I threw her a fairy tea party with her great grand daughters.
 
Sugarwings was still in the party mood, after all the birthday celebrations this week.  She and little Pixie Pie have had a wonderful time together with so many family gatherings going on all week while Grandma Joan was here.
 
Even the big girls got into dressing up as fairies, although we couldn't convince their boyfriends to wear wings….
 
Our little ones were patient while we took some pictures before the party started. But not for too long.  At 2 and 3, waiting times are limited when there is something exciting scheduled to happen.
 
We served blueberry and cranberry herb teas, but the tiniest fairies were more interested in the spoonfuls of sugar they could add to their cups.
 Sugarwings drank cup after cup, just so she could pour more. 
 
For Sugarwing's birthday, I let her help me decorate the dining room with Dollar Store garlands.  Yes, gaudy and over the top, but she is in love with them, so we left them up for this party too.
 
We just added some fairies here and there. I happened to have a few around to use….
 
We served:
 cherry tomatoes from the garden on toothpicks with grilled chicken breast
 cherries and grapes with mandarin oranges
 crust-less cucumber sandwiches
 red cabbage with cream cheese rolled up in green tortilla shells
  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the littlest ones.  
 
These are my fairy shoes, saved for special occasions like this.  
 
Luckily you can't really tell here, but my makeup job was a bit like Baby Jane.  Remember that scary Betty Davis movie?  I got carried away with the eyeshadow, not a pretty sight after 50… 
I'm on my way now to Indiana for my sister's 60th birthday party.  I'd better pack my fairy wings and hit the road.  The parties never end around here, huh?

Painting roses and a balloon hunt

celebrations, Food and Drink, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2009

Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes for Sugarwings! I think she had a fun day, at least I know that I did!!

She and her daddy picked us up at the airport, and that was the best homecoming ever, to see her face light up as she ran to us. Well worth getting up at 4 am to fly home to spend the day with her.

When we got back to the cottage, she and I baked some cakes. I used a regular brownie mix, but added a can of pears in light syrup (whirred in the blender) and a cup of applesauce, and 2 eggs, no fat or water. She got to push all the buttons and do all the mixing herself, so she didn't care if I was trying to healthy it up a bit.

We also "painted" roses. We used some clear corn syrup and food coloring, then she got to dip away, and add colored sugar sprinkles to each one.

These are the white icing roses that I saw Andrea show on her site, and had her take me to find some for myself when we were out shopping one day, the are really pretty and I just love using them!

.
When her little cousin, Pixie Pie came by to help decorate, they got pretty serious with getting the cakes just right.

But it is hard to stay serious when there are sprinkles to shake! Most photos are a blur of hands whirring through the air and sprinkles flying everywhere.

And so much for adding healthier ingredients to the cake itself, the tops were so goobered up with colored sugars, three kinds of sprinkles, marshmallows, squeeze tube icing, and painted roses that you could explode in a burst of sugary happiness just looking at them!

Sugarwings took her cousin on a walk along the Yellow Brick Road, but most kids her age aren't as informed obsessed about Oz as our fairy baby, so Pixie Pie wasn't too impressed with that after all the icing fun.

She did enjoy the Fairy Berry Trail, though. There was a butterfly balloon for each of them tied to branches out in the woods.

But first, they had to search for them.

The balloons were from the Dollar Store and I don't think there could be a better bang for the buck than the joy we got for $2 out on the Fairy Berry Trail with these balloons.

It was certainly a fun way for me to spend my fairy grand baby's birthday. I can't imagine a better party. Not big, not flashy, just some simple sugary pleasures and a walk in the woods. I think I want to spend my next birthday on the Fairy Berry Trail too….