celebrations – Page 33 – Karla's Cottage

Packing it Up, and more about the SPARKLY SURPRIZE GIVEAWAY

celebrations, give away, parties, redos, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 11, 2008

The bag I needed to pack my supplies in turned up! But after a summer of being filled with sunscreens, picnics, and carried to the lake, it looked a bit rough.

To cover some blotchy spots and stains, I squirted the canvas with glimmer mist. Is is washable? Who knows? Will I have blue running down my arms if I get caught in the rain while carrying it? Could happen.

I also added silver Stickles glitter and a few crystals. So, if the color runs away, at least the sparklies will stay around!

Hey, did you see that Hobby Lobby sells Stickles now! Yippee!

While there, I picked up a few things for the trip. I feel like I am getting ready for the first day of school, with all of these new supplies! I treated myself to all these new goodies, it just makes it even more fun. There is nothing like the feeling of opening a brand new box of crayons (or color crins, as we always called them) and seeing those sharp points that have never been put to paper yet!

Sugarwings gave me one of her new glue sticks. I thought Belle was appropriate for the occasion!

The hotel we are staying at has a free breakfast, so I will be well fed in the mornings, but thought it wouldn’t hurt to have some easy to grab food with me when there isn’t much time between classes for lunch.

What else goes in the bag? Trinkets that sparkle, a book of wallpaper samples, some French sheet music, jewelry tools, mats, and doodads.

Last year, I took a lot of extras with me and was glad I did. This year, the instructors have asked us to bring some extras along.

Plus, it seems like there are a lot of items called for this year, like books, frames, game boards, etc.

This ballerina pin and card are coming along just because I like them. I have no idea if they will fit into the theme of any of the classes!

Now, the classes all sound really interesting and I’m sure they will be great to take. But- the photos of the projects are more like sneak peeks, and it is honestly hard to tell just what they will be like when done. At least for some of the artwork.

Sadly, I didn’t join in any of the swaps this year. But my friend, Valita offered to trade some wallpaper and photo album mats for vintage crystals! I jumped right on that.

So, her trade is packed, as well as some special orders and gifts that I am bringing.

Tomorrow, Heather and Natasha arrive! I decorated some little boxes for the presents I made for them, as welcome gifts. While I was gluing paper, I fixed up this mini chest of drawers for my roomie, Carol.

If she hadn’t agreed to share a room with me, I might not have decided to go to Silver Bella because the costs were just too high. I owe her! So, I made her a thank you gift and then fixed this up to package it in.

When I clean house, I tend to get side tracked. While mopping the dining room to be ready for house guests, I just got to thinking how much I hated the table top. It was a blah wood, that was dinged up and cups left rings on it every time we used it.

I love the table and chairs, and really didn’t want to repaint the whole set.

That problem was solved by painting the table top kind of to match, but not too matchy-matchy. I used metallic champagne paint that I had left over from a previous project, then a gold glaze over it, blending while the paint was still wet.

I like the shimmer the metallics make, and am glad I stopped to do this. It was so much more fun than mopping the floor.

Lets see, supplies packed, house cleaned, table painted, gifts made, truck loaded with my wares, and these wine charms made to give as party favors tomorrow night.

I think I am about ready to go!

These are wine charms that Gwen, Carol and I made up earlier for the Glitter Lounge. I still need to pack the pink sugar with edible glitter to rim the champagne glasses for our party. The Godiva chocolates are in my bag, and ready to be sprinkled with glitter too!

I also need to pack my clothes. Ugh. The worst part. Did I mention that 10lbs snuck up on me?

After packing, I need to run to the post office and mail this silk outfit to my Sissy. She left it with me to tie dye for her and I want to mail ti before I go out of town. I hope she likes it, it started out a butter yellow, and now looks kind of mermaidy. Silk takes the dye different than the cottons I am used to, so it was a bit of an experiment.

This formerly white shirt goes to her too. I have a raspberry dyed shirt for myself to wear this weekend too.

I’d better get to packing it, I still have a dinner party to get ready for too.

I don’t know when I’ll get to post again. Hopefully after the party tomorrow night, but maybe not till after Silver Bella.

I promise to bring you a souvenir! This month’s SPARKLY SURPRISE GIVEAWAY will include some of the edible glitter to sprinkle on your holiday treats, and something, who knows what? from my weekend in Omaha.

Leave a comment to enter!

And please excuse me, if they don’t get answered. I’ll be away, then have company, then need to get caught up, unpacking and re-opening my shop. I will read and enjoy each and every comment, but I am sorry I won’t be able to answer.

A Glittering Gala

antiques/junking, celebrations, Food and Drink, give away, holiday decor, I do tend to run on, don't I?

By Karla Nathan / November 7, 2008

We had a magical night at the Curious Sofa. Or Fofa as Carol and I called it after a funny typo. Well, maybe you had to be there, but it struck my funny bone.

Maybe I found it so funny because at the C. Sofa, every detail is pure perfection.

Deb is extraordinarily talented in the art of display, and there is never a mistake of any kind allowed on her property!

Even things that seem to be imperfect, are NOT. They are either made to look distressed or actually aged to perfection and chosen for that quality like the paneling in this powder room.

Pearl was hard at work greeting everyone at the entrance that was flanked by stacks of firewood. Who knew I was so trendy, I have firewood stacked in my breezeway by the door too! If Deb is doing it, it must be COOL to do!!

We had a fun group, and sat in the rustic cabin display and chatted after exploring the store. Here is Beth, Carol, Gwen and I from left to right. Gwen had recently returned from a buying trip in France and we were drooling as she was telling us all of the details about the trip.

By the way, if you will be at vendor night at Silver Bella, Gwen will have fresh off the boat, French ephemera for sale. Please do me a favor and say "Bon" to Gwen. I promise, she will laugh….

Plus, she has GREAT stuff and you’ll be glad you dropped by to shop! I put in a pre-order for 20 bucks worth of old French postcards. I wanted to be first in line!!

And here is the Queen of Styling, Deb. What a great hat!

This is something I fell in love with! I’m jonesing for that crown.

This big headed girl caught my eye too. I didn’t buy her though, but am kind of wishing I had, now. I got a few trinkets and will show photos of them after I recharge my camera battery.

Notice the books wrapped in old papers? And the fabulous colors of pearls? There is never a jarring note in that store, every inch is coordinated and well thought out.

Deb is an expert at sticking to her palette. She adds hints of color here and there, but it is always faded to a remnant of its original shade.

And there were sparkly things everywhere!

I don’t know what kind of glitter went on these roses to make them look like they were kissed by an early frost, but I want a jar of it. A BIG jar.

Don’t you wish you could pull up a chair to this table for a dinner party? Well, I did, but only because Carol dared me to. I didn’t mess anything up, I just sat and ate my dinner and felt pretty pampered while doing it! All chairs should have angel wings like these do!

And what a dinner it was!!!!! Champagne with Dean and Deluca catered deliciousness.

I tried to not make a pig of myself, (remember I was complaining about the 10 lbs I put on?). But honestly, LOOK at these platters. I had to have some of each.

But this platter is the one that got my heart racing (and not just from high fat treats, but from the beauty of it!). If I only had that Cannon Rebel camera that I wanted so bad, you could see the detail of this. The pink bon bons are covered in glitter. Yes, glitter. The Real Deal. Edible glitter that looks like GLITTER not sugar, because it really really is real glitter!!!!!!!!

Does it show up any better in this picture? I swear, the stuff is magical pixie dust, not just sugar. It is sheer, fine, holographic and as beautiful as the stuff Martha Stewart sells to craft with. Sugarwings and I were on a quest to find the stuff today and Dean and Deluca sent us to this cute little bakery where they sold us some magic pixie dust of our own!

Everything in there looked tasty and rich. Sugarwings was convinced these goodies were snowmen. I tried to tell her that they were tuxedos, but I don’t think she gets the concept of what a tuxedo is.

I am so thrilled to find this pretty glitter, and can’t wait to start sprinkling it around! I have big plans for frosting the rims of the glasses we will serve the Glitter Tinis in at our Glitter Lounge in Omaha! My roomie, Carol and I are having a mini kick off to Silver Bella before the group craft night starts and I think that I will have to sprinkle the magic fairy dust on the Godiva chocolates too.

I will be using this stuff everywhere! Heck, I always have glitter in my hair, on my face, all over my house, grandchild, dog, and husband. I might as well have it in my food too. And on purpose!

Thanks, Deb for such a fun party last night. And for feeding me glitter cakes and starting a whole new obsession for me!

I think that what ever my giveaway for November will be, I will add some pixie dust for the winner to sprinkle onto some of her own holdiay goodies too. Don’t forget, there is a giveaway going on. I know, lets call it a secret surprise goodie bag giveaway! You won’t know what it is until you get it in the mail! But I can guarentee, it will be sparkly.

400th Post and a slew of giveaways including “Karla and Carol’s Romantic Country Celebration Giveaway”

celebrations, Etsy Goodies, give away, magazine pictures or articles

By Karla Nathan / September 24, 2008

Thanks for all of the kind comments and emails about our article! And a big THANKS to the Fabulous Fifi for working with us on it!!

If you get a chance, please leave Fifi a comment and tell her you liked it too!

If you haven’t seen Carol Spinski’s (of Raised in Cotton) creations in our article for Romantic Country yet, here is a peek.

I fell head over heels for these sculpy pumpkin head bottles she made! So she brought over some sculpy and showed me how to make some. white pumpkin with dark bottle is sold, thanks!

And if you’ve ever read this blog, you know that if I make one of something, I make a BUNCH. I just get going and can’t stop!

So in honor of Carol’s cute as a button idea, and how much fun we made creating a table scape around them for the article, I want to give one away as a gift to you.

This is also my 400th post! So a gift is doubly appropriate, isn’t it?

this bottle is sold, thanks

I will count all comments all month for this give away, and they will also count toward my regular monthly treat, too.

And since I have quite a few of these glittery little punkins, I will be listing them in my Etsy shop soon to sell also.

For now, they will be for sale through this blog, for $18 each for punkin head bottle and $22 for the raven.

the raven is sold, thanks!

No two are alike, each is hand made. The bottles are OLD, (f you remember, I bought them at an auction and experimented in how to get them cleaned up, denture tablets worked pretty good).

The Raven does not come off the top of the bottle, and the pumpkin with the purple flower is permanently attached too. The other gourds are simply perched on top, with indentations in their bases to stay in place.

I used lots of vintage goodies and some fall type pretties on each of them.

Postage will be Priority Mail for $4.80, in the USA. If you’d like a bottle, please leave a comment about which one you want. And remember that each comment is also an entry to win one!

(I have more too, they just aren’t photographed yet, and it is almost time for Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model, so I am done with photos for the night!! Gotta have priorities!!)

Oh, but wait! There is more! Carol also came up with the idea to make these charming crowns. Some were used on statuary, some on pumpkins, and the rest as votive holders.

I wrote a how-to up in the article for making the crown votive, if you’d like to make your own.

Or maybe you’d like to win a kit to make your own??

Yep, Carol and I are giving away a kit with instructions too. Details on entering this one to come.

In the meantime, I have a few $10 kits to sell. ($2.50 postage in the US)

They include precut and painted and glittered screens, trims for the points of the crown and the base as well as frippery’s and doodads to make the tiara special.

This one, "crowning Glory," is painted golden.

The screens are cut with some extra length so you can wrap them around your own little votive cup to fit. Or- leave it larger and use it as a crown for a small bust, or statue? sold

The colors of the screens aren’t showing up well, this one, "Pink Princess," is pink with pink glitters. pink princess is sold, thanks

These two should go as a pair, I just think they look too pretty together to split up, so I will sell them two for $18, so they can stay together!this pair has sold, thanks!

Wouldn’t they be lovely around white candles on your Christmas buffet?

I call this set "Snow Queen". It is silver glittered screen with pearly accents to glue on.

And remember, I am having my Sweet September giveaway too.

all comments, on all posts count

eek! I need to go, my shows are starting!!

PS- I have a "bonus" giveaway of one of our Romantic Country inspired creations that will go to a Silver Bella participant. If you are attending Silver Bella this year, please mention that in your comment and I will enter you into the seperate drawing.

Two Tasha Tudor Tags

Books, celebrations, paintings, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 28, 2008

Isn’t Tasha Tudor an amazing woman? Her work is so sweet and simple, but her lines say so much. She certainly had a way with a brush and a pencil!

To check out other bloggers who are posting about Miss Tudor on her birthday, visit Clarice for more info.

In Tasha’s honor, I did a couple of quick little drawings in her style.

I’m not trying to be a copy cat, just doing an homage to sweet characters in my favorite book of hers.

I’ve made the drawings into tags, and decked them out in my own style.

The book that I love so much is "1 is One" and a blogger friend mailed it to Sugarwings last year on her 1st birthday.

I keep it stored out of her grabby, little, rippy hands for now. I only take it down to read it to the fairy grandbaby when I can hold onto it, so it stays in one piece.

Two year olds and cherished books don’t mix well.

This is the back of my tags, they are covered in pink flocked wallpaper.

I didn’t copy the pictures exactly, just used elements of the pages to make my own picture.

One tag is a gift for a friend’s daughter. The other one is for sale.

I’ll be out of town, so won’t have a chance to list it on Etsy tomorrow. If you are interested in my little tag painting, it is $18.

Please leave a comment or email me if you want to buy it.

While I was making the two Tasha Tudor tags today to treat…..OK, sorry, that was going a bit far with the alliteration.

Anyway, I made more tags from the same materials. These have a Silver glaze on the front, and lots of silver accents, and are pink flocked on the back.

I’ll add some silver glitter later on. It wouldn’t be Silver Bella without Glitter! But I’m out of time tonight.

These hand painted cupcakes on a silver background will each be tied to a Silver Bella Pre Swap package.

Notice that my friend, Carol has a chocolate cupcake? She isn’t a pink girl like most of the swappers.

Silver Bella has been a great way to meet new friends. Carol and I got to know each other there last year and this year, we did a magazine article together.

Jen Hayslip is another Bella, that I have gotten to know. She is having her home photographed for Romantic Country and I will be writing the article about it for Fifi. I’m excited, this will be a fun one to do! Gee, I am lucky to have this article lined up, along with all of the others I have coming out. I certainly don’t take them for granted. And I seem to be on a roll lately!

Putting together a baby shower while babysitting a grumpy baby

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 16, 2008

For a while today, I didn’t think I’d be able to pull off tonight’s baby shower!

Sugarwings spent most of yesterday and today with me, and while she was very helpful making birthday cupcakes for her mommy yesterday, today, she was a bit of a challenge.

That is not like her at all, and had me worried. I hope it is just a phase she is going through.

But I kept things very simple for the party and served ready made foods, like a mix of pink jelly beans in a cut glass dish.

And a basket full of mixed nuts with dried fruits.

Then, Beth brought a cheese cake and someone else made brownies and treats. All I had to do was set the table, make some herbal tea/punch and open wine.

Setting the table looks much more complicated than it is. I layered pink flowered table clothes (the baby is a girl!), and borrowed one of Sugarwing’s vintage doll cradles that I had painted roses on to hold the plates and napkins.

The plastic silverware is sitting in her fluffy bunny basket (from Easter) that is lined with a floral napkin.

I snipped a few flowers from my garden and tucked the blooms into child’s tea cups and popped a little ballerina in with the flowers. Since I didn’t have time to go to the store and buy flowers, these little rose buds and a handful of pink baby’s breath from my yard were the only bouquets I had.

I’ve found that, making myself be creative with what I have is much better than going out to buy something ready made. At least it is cheaper!

A few nesting tea cup birds from my Etsy stash of stuff for sale, and some birdies I got from Robin and Lori, and I was done.

I wrapped up a few more packets of bath salts to give as party favors.

Then, placed a doll crib in the living room to fill with presents.

Oh- and I also hung some pink glittered birdies from my Sissy on the chandelier along with a tussie mussie from my friend, Heather. I love the long, dangling ribbons on the cone, and might just leave it there for a bit and enjoy it.

Of course, the fun part was when the doll bed was filled with pretty pink presents for the expecting momma to open! (she was a good sport and wore the party hat I made for her too, even though it was kind of top heavy, but I think that at nine months pregnant, she is used to being off balance by now!)

Sparkle joined the party and spent most of her time on Aunty Beth’s lap.

Beth gave Shanna the cutest gift. She is planning on knitting a blanket for the newborn, but it wasn’t done yet, so she made a tiny one and wrapped it around a dolly as an IOU.

I gave Shanna my all pink version of the Sugarwings and Twinkle book, and added a hand painted cupcake to the teaparty page, along with a teacup that I drew onto rosebud paper and cut out.

I wanted it to have some special touches.

Here are a couple of the names that are being considered for the new little girl due this week:

Lizzelle and Audry– How pretty!! I like them together, Audrey Lizzelle.

Tomorrow is Sugarwing’s 2nd birthday, and I certainly hope she is back to being herself again so she can enjoy her party. It is so sad to see her unhappy and grumpy. I feel like we’ve been given a changling and someone is hiding our sweet little fairy girl!!

Attack of the Seven Pound Monster

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 8, 2008

The house seems pretty quiet now that I have taken my childhood friends to the airport and their visit for our Fabulous Fifty Birthday Celebration has ended.

We had a lively week full of tiaras and champagne!

Because a good bottle of champagne can make any occasion special, even if it is just a dinner of egg salad.

It was a week of simple pleasures, like just sitting on the porch and talking.

Of course, we couldn’t leave the Dorkies out of the party.

Twinks just isn’t the type to let herself be left out of anything. Even though Sandy wasn’t exactly a dog person.

Twinkle couldn’t get it through her fuzzy little head that Sandy wasn’t crazy about her and she wouldn’t leave the poor woman alone all week.

But the dorkies got plenty of attention and even got to model some of the tiaras themselves.

We also did a bit of shopping downtown Lawrence. No luck on finding a prom dress to fit.

My pals aren’t the vintage type, but they were good sports about poking around the old dresses and helping me in and out of the ones I got stuck in.

It wasn’t the first or the last sticky situation these two have helped me with over the last 40 years.

After saying goodbye to my dearest friends, I came home to finish the scrapbook of Sugarwing’s second year. Her Hippy Chick Mommy’s birthday is this week and I wanted to give her a completed album of her baby’s adventures.

On Friday, 8-8-08, there is a big birthday party for all of the August babies. Sugarwings and her Hippy Chick Mommy are both Leos, as well as a few of their friends, so they are having a blow out party to celebrate.

I’ll be packing up my face paints and glitter and going off to join the kids tomorrow.

But the best part is, that Sugarwings and I will be leaving early and she will be staying all night with me. Now, that is something to look forward to, and to keep me from being too down about my child hood friends leaving today!

Gifties Galore!

celebrations, family, give away, paintings

By Karla Nathan / August 1, 2008

edit- aparently there is a bug with Sitemeter now, and it is blocking all typepad blogs. I just deleted mine, I don’t use it anyway. Sorry if you tried to visit and weren’t allowed to!

Just a quickie here between family fun events. Everyone is out on the lake right now and I am taking a break to clean up and run some errands. Then I am picking up all the teenage types that are visiting and taking them to see the Batman movie this afternoon before we have another cookout tonight.

But now- time for giveaway prizes! I added a sweet little blue rose pin from my trip out to Karlapalooza.

For the July Garage Sale Bling Bargain Blowout Bag-

JEAN EAKIN

is the winner. Please email me with your address, Jean.

And the Christmas in July gift goes to:

Lolly

Whats up for a giveaway in August? I never plan ahead much, and kind of like to see how the month goes and what interests me. But, so far, I have decided to give this pretty brooch from Karlapalooza.

I’m sure more will be added later on.

And look here, I got a giftie too!

Lori Karla, one of my Karlapalooza buddies, sent me this adorable collage.

And as if that weren’t enough, she added MORE to the package of treats.

Lori had cut out this little girl picture and instead of using her in a project, I stuck her into a bingo thingy. What are these called anyway? The cage that the numbers go in to be spun around and then pulled out to call?

This baby might get some wings later, but I think she is pretty cute just hanging out in the thingy with some millinery flowers. (a 1 minute project, if that long!)

Lori also cut out this girl and sent her, along with the butterfly crocheted doilies.

As much as I like vintagey girl pictures, I like them even more CUT OUT already! Wow, they are snipped and ready to go into what ever project I want to do with them.

Heck, I think she looks pretty cute just on the table as she is with the doilies and the gift wrap ribbon!

But there’s more! Sweet Lori had sent me this rolled pack of papers with an earlier package (yep, she is a generous soul).

At Karlapalooza, I had asked her a about the buckle she uses on her packaging, I like the way all of her goodies come, wrapped up so pretty with old ribbon and a shiny buckle.

She sent me a handful of these buckles to use for my own outgoing packages too!

Boxes are starting to arrive on my doorstep filled with swap goodies from the Pre-Silver Bella Inspiration and Get Acquainted Swap that I am hosting.

And what pretties there are! How exciting that I get to get the first peek at all the special things first! Especially from this list of ladies:

1-Heather http://www.prettypetals.typepad.com/

2-Cheryl Dack http://roseyposeyconfections.blogspot.com/

3-jennifer hayslip http://sweeteyecandycreations.typepad.com/

4-Jessi Nagy http://www.scrappyjessi.blogspot.com/

5-Kim Caldwell http://www.artisticbliss.typepad.com/

6-Holly http://www.hollydoodledesigns.com/shop/

7-Natasha http://www.natashaburns.blogspot.com/

8-Analisa http://www.leesiebella.typepad.com/

9-Andrea http://velvetstrawberries.typepad.com/andreasingarella/

10-Cheryl Stoneham http://www.insidethebubble.typepad.com/

11- Tiffany www.shabbyscraps.typepad.com

12- Carol Spinski – http://raisedincotton.typepad.com/

Cheryl and Tiffany included totally unnecessary (but lovely) little hostess gifts.

I feel totally spoiled rotten this week, after my trip to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, with all the dinners out and shopping and blog friend treats! Now, piles of goodies coming to my door? Wow.

I also won this FABULOUS tank from http://marvellousmousedesigns.blogspot.com/

Actually, some one else won the giveaway, but she is giving a second away, because she says she enjoys making people smile. How sweet is that? I like it so much, I am ordering a white tee shirt with pink crystals on it saying

"Karla Bella"

in what she calls a "swirly girly" script. How perfect will that be for Silver Bella??? (by the way, she does custom orders)

I have had NO time to work on anything since I got home, besides restocking the fridge and trying to find the stench that developed in my house while I was gone for a week (it was a potato gone bad- how can one potato make a whole house stink that much?)

But before I left VA, I had about 10 minutes as my husband was gathering up last minute details before we left to the airport and I added a dollop of color to one of the pages I am doing for Sugarwing’s birthday book. I’ll work on it more next week.

I won’t be posting much this week, there is a BIG BIRTHDAY BASH with my childhood friend starting Sunday!! Can’t wait.

Why that dress won’t zip

antiques/junking, celebrations, Food and Drink, Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / July 31, 2008

I still have a few of my little watercolor simple sketches available for $10 each, including postage (US). Thanks to all of you who bought one! shoe and little girl’s dress sold, thanks!

Today, we go back to Kansas, and it will feel good to get home. Its been a great week, but you know the famous line about Kansas— "THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME".

When I get there, I’ll have a morning to unpack, clean up, stock up the fridge, tend to the flowers, and get ready for guests! Family is coming for a couple days and I will be feeding about 20 people tomorrow night.

As soon as family house guests leave, I need to get ready for my childhood friends to arrive for 5 days of non-stop birthday celebrating. We all turned 50 this year, although I don’t think Sandy will admit to it. So, please forgive me, if I don’t answer emails and comments, I will be happily swamped for a while!

This has been a wonderful, pampering week! Beautiful country clubs to visit, and great food, as well as getting to see blog friends and shop.

This is the view from Treesdale country club’s deck, where my husband took me for our 23rd anniversary celebration.

The dinner was prepared by a former White House Chef, Walter Scheib, who has a book out now about his time serving the Clintons and Bushes. I bought an autographed copy of the book, can’t wait to get time to sit and read it!

He told the BEST stories.

And he made the BEST food!

That guy was a charmer. Cute as can be and funny too.

Chef Walter had a story about each dish and the White House family member who inspired it.

My favorite was Chelsea Clinton’s sweet potato soup. Hilary had asked him to teach Chelsea how to cook before she went away to college so she wouldn’t eat in restaurants all the time and this is a recipe that they worked on together.

This specialty ice cream had a hint of honey and fresh lavender in it. Maybe it was even better than the soup….

There are plenty of reasons right here at this table for me to not be able to zip that dress in the last post!

We ate at Treesdale another night too, and I had Chilean Sea Bass with a truffle infusion. With Key Lime Pie for dessert. I’ve had dessert every night this week, including TWICE on Sunday when Heather served cheesecake for lunch, then I had apple pie after dinner that night.

It will be a huge change for me to go from being fed gourmet meals to cooking for 20 tomorrow night!

And I don’t think I ever want to break this dessert habit that I have gotten into!

The shopping habit and the dessert habit really should be put to an end.

But how could I resist going to Lucketts while I was in Virginia?

Eventually, I am going to have to get out and explore some other towns, I always head straight to Leesburg when I am in the area. Next time I come to our apartment outside of DC, I should try to visit somewhere else.

I was pretty proud of myself for resisting these cute crowns. They were only $12 each, but I thought I had spent enough.

Sightseeing without even buying much is fun at a place like Lucketts.

I’m doing a delayed post for this, writing it Wednesday morning before we head back to home, so it should post on Thursday while I am preparing for guests.

I will be away from the computer for a bit, busily entertaining, snuggling up to Sugarwings, and having a good time, but will pop back in to announce the Christmas in July and the regular August giveaway.

Happy Fourth!

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2008

Happy 4th of July weekend! I hope you are all having a good one. Mine is filled with Sugarwings, boating, yard work and pickle making.

This is my first ever attempt at canning, and it seemed to be way too easy. There must be some botulism lurking somewhere in these jars, because it just seemed too simple to do.

My biggest problem in canning was getting the labels right. These are too big, I’ll need to make more if I do more pickles this week.

And what do you do with a baby while you are trying to make pickles and she wants to help?

We sat up her art table in the kitchen and gave her some cucumber stump "stamps".

I cut the end of a cuke, carved a design in it with a knife, then let her ink it up with her washable markers.

They really made pretty stamps, with a watercolor effect. And it kept the fairy grand baby pretty happy while her daddy and I chopped and pickled.

This year, fireworks were shot off over Lake Clinton where we keep our boat. The air was cool, the stars were out, and the water was calm, a perfect evening for watching the exploding colors in the sky.

We parked far away from the dozens of boats tied up together, so it was like a private light show of our own.

Now, off to do some yard work and take advantage of this unexpected mild weather, not typical at all for July in Kansas!

How to become a fairy, and the Hat Whisperer strikes again!

antiques/junking, celebrations, fairies, family, how to's, Silver Bella, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2008

At a sweet shop in St Augustine, I picked up a bag of Key Lime Pie hard candies. I can’t belive I still have this many left, they are so good and they remind me of the beach every time I pop one into my mouth!

I miss the beach!

So while my mind is still lingering in vacation mode, I made some scrapbooks to send to Bobbie, Sissy, Randy and Kevin as a momento of our trip.

By the way, the bikini babe is my Sissy who is in her SIXTIES. She’s always been a teeny tiny thing.

One day while sitting on our balcony and watching a storm roll in across the ocean, we saw a rabbit hop across the sand.

That is why I turned these pages into "beach bunnies". I didn’t know there were rabbits on the beach. I thought that all those long eared hopping rodents lived in my yard and were busy at home eating my plants while I was on vacation.

I filled the books with lots of memories of the trip.

This cute, scallopey edged card stock comes in a package at Michaels. One $9.95 package made 4 scrap books, with some left to make at least one more.

I used my binding machine to put the pages together into a book after they were decorated.

Here is how I turned us into fairies:

I made 5×7 copies of a picture of Randy’s garden and wallet sized copies of a photo of the three of us, then cut us out.

Hosta leaves in the garden photo were cut away with an exacto knife. I cut around the plant, so that I could lift the foliage and slide our picture underneath.

Before gluing the photo down, I spritzed Glimmer Mist on watercolor paper, glued the cut out picture of us to it, then drew on wings and cut it all out.

Once the wings were done, I slid the sister picture under the hosta leaves in the garden picture and glued it all in place, then glittered and dood dadded it up.

On Bobbie Sue’s album, she is holding a magic wand, on Sissy’s she has one to hold. I used vintage stick pins for wands and just poked them through the photo at an angle and added a drop of glue.

I tried to add a lot of hand drawn elements, like lady bugs and vines on the pages that show us setting a bag of lady bugs free in the garden to control pests.

Randy raises butterflies, so can’t use any chemicals out there.

I used a lot of Glimmer Mist some pages before adding photos, and did all the writing and drawing with metallic or sparkling pens, so the books have some shimmer to them.

While in St. Augustine, I put my Hat Whispering skills to work.

Most vintage hats I saw in this touristy area were EXPENSIVE. $38-$200!!! My goodness. Lots of hats were in these antique shops, but few were in my price range.

While in one fancy antique mall, the hat search looked hopeless, but I told my sisses that I felt one upstairs, and walked up the stairs, around the corner and into a back room right to it. Loaded with pink and red velvet roses, it wasn’t cheap, but it was affordable and beautiful and some how it had called out to me.

I bought only 3 hats all week, for $4, $9, and $15. But, it does go to show that even in a high dollar shopping area, with the right hat hunting skills, millinery flowers can be affordable!

I kept my souvenir shopping to a minimum. 3 hats, lots of candy, these two shells, and a handful of old charms. Oh, and a pink St. Augustine hoody. I love trashy tee shirts and sweat shirts from tourist trap shops.

The shell necklace pictured IS NOT from a tacky shell shop!!

It is hand made over 80 years ago by my great aunt, Caroline. The lovely box was hers too. She gave me those years ago, along with the turquoise pendant that was her mother’s and the wonderful green glass bead necklace that her grandfather made. Yep, lucky, lucky me!!

Speaking of lucky- I got all the classes I signed up for at Sliver Bella! I was at the keyboard the minute sign ups began. Here is what I signed up for:

Secret Santa Diary/Pam Garrison, Saturday 1:00pm

Home for the Holidays/Pam Garrison, Friday 11:30 am

Christmas Pageant/Teresa McFayden, Saturday 8:30
am

Soldering For Virgins/Sally Jean, Friday 8:00am

Winter Faerie Shrine/Kim Kwan, Saturday 1:00 pm

Total 510.00

Yes, the price went up this year, but it is worth it!! If you haven’t booked your trip yet, do it now before it is full, I can promise you it will be FUN.