Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers) – Page 24

Puppy Love

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / January 6, 2009

Sugarwings is as infatuated with the new babies as the rest of us are.

Twinkle is happy to share the pups, and is being a good Mama. A little nervous, but loving. She is such a good natured dog, I shouldn't have expected anything less from her.

And when Sugarwings heard us talking about one of the babies having a star on its chest, she started to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and brought one of the wooden stars from her craft supplies as a gift to the newborn.

She doesn't realize it yet, but these puppies have a gift for her too. Since Twinkle is her dog, all the money from selling pups will go into a college fund for the fairy grand baby. Thanks, Twinkle!!

Guess who is here!!!?!!!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers)

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2009

Puppy time!

Yesterday afternoon, Twinkle decided that in front of the wood stove on a fluffy pillow was the best place to have the babies. Bookie and Sparkle were caught unaware and dozed through the first part of it all.

But when they realized what was happening, Bookie took off to hide under something (anything, just HIDE, Bookie, HIDE!!!) and Sparkle sat nearby to offer moral support and keep an eye on Twinks.

Poor Twinks, I was worried about her at first. She kept staring into my eyes, asking for help. Then, when the first baby came along, she was exhausted and took a little nap. But when she woke up, she was ready for business and at full attention to the babies. All it took was one little squeaky toy sounding peep from puppy #1 to make her realize these guys were hers and they were pretty interesting.

Who wouldn't fall in love with this?

And good thing she figured it out after the first one, because 5 more little squeaky toys came along soon after.

All girls!

This morning, Twinkle can't be convinced that the babies would be happier kept in a box, she keeps taking them to the sofa or to MY bed. While I find them totally adorable, I also find them stinky and messy. So I have a feeling that she will not be getting her way, these girls will be staying in the box for the next couple of weeks until we set up a play ground for them to romp in.

Since I finished my book yesterday, I might need a project I can work on in the house, and stay near the new mama, she is a bit nervous and I don't want to be out in the studio for long. I'd better get back in to them now, please forgive me if I don't answer emails today.

Holiday Girth

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers)

By Karla Nathan / December 27, 2008

After all the fudge and tiramisu and ham and cookies and turkey and the rest, I feel a bit like Twinks looks right now.

No puppies yet, but the way she was complaining last night, I thought they might be on their way. Nope, false alarm. Sugarwings is fascinated to hear about the puppies in her dog's tummy, she doesn't quite get the whole thing. But she did bring Twinkle a book about puppies from her toy box.

Lots of people are asking, so I wanted to let you know, there will certainly be updates and baby pictures as soon as the little ones arrive.

And maybe a name the puppy contest??

OK little girl, let’s give someone else a turn!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, holiday decor, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 23, 2008

We took Sugarwings to see Santa today and she wouldn't leave him alone. She sat there on his lap and waited for the Mermaid doll she asked for. Finally, she got down for the bribe of a candy cane, but then went back and got another candy cane to give to Santa. Then went back for another sit on his lap. Then for another hug. It looked like St. Nick was enjoying her visit, I think it might be nice for him to have someone with no fear come to hang out a while.

I think this little one loves Christmas as much as her Grammy does.

She stopped to speak to every single Santa she saw at the mall.

And she didn't think it would hurt to put in a word with the giant cow for that doll she wanted.

When I got back from my trip, there was a stack of packages waiting for me! One was from a sweet reader pal, Jean, who lives in Virginia.

Not only were there surprises for Sugarwings, she sent me some treats too, including a box of these white doves.

I've added the glass doves to the dining room chandelier along with other birdies and some snowflakes I have received this year. They might just all stay there a while after the holidays as more "winter decor" than Christmas decorations.

One of the snowflakes was from Tiffany, a Silver Bella pal. I'd ordered this cute little bottle of Christmas wishes from her shop, and she sent along lots of pretties, including this card. It brings back memories of a class we took together in Omaha, where she was helping me with using hot wax over parts of my project. I really like the way she has applied wax over the scene in the center of the card.

Previously, I had shown you some of my little paintings that I was making into cards. Here are a few (of the dozens) that I made while in the hotel room.

And in case you were feeling sorry for the poor dorkies, at home alone while I was out on a fabulous vacation, they had some fun while I was gone. Twinks was invited over to stay at the farm where her true love, Teddy lives. And the other two dogs were so happy to have Twinkle away and not bothering them, they felt like a queen and king with the whole house to themselves. (Twinks can be a little bossy)

I'm off to go work on my Christmas shopping. Typically, I am not a last minute shopper. When my kids were little, we used to love to go to the mall on Christmas Eve and eat lunch at the food court while we watched all the crazed last minute buying, and I'd bask in a warm glow from the knoweldge that my packages were wrapped and under the tree. Not this year!

I hope all of you are having a lovely holiday week. Merry Christmas to all of you from Sugarwings and I.

I’m loving my pretty little Christmas!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 15, 2008

Have yourself a pretty little Christmas!

Heather is having a holiday gathering for us to show our pretties. I had a "What do you LOVE about your Holiday Home?" party last year and am so sorry that there is no time for me to squeeze that in this year. So, I am so glad that Heather is doing this, I love parties, and any party Heather throws, has to be an extra pretty one!

Since time is short with shows I've had, and trips I'm taking and a two year old that I am running after, my decor is about as "edited" as I've ever seen here at my cottage.

Sugarwings has her own little pink tree in the living room, right at her level, so she can foof and refoof it all she wants to. I've kept my hands OFF of her tree, trying to teach her that I won't mess with her stuff if she won't mess with mine. She has been in complete charge of her tree, but does still tend to want to get into my things when she thinks no one will notice.

So, this year, there is no big tree in the living room. A few small, white trees are set out, and kept pretty simple too.

Using what I have and adding some embellishments really appeals to me. For the top of this armoire, I plopped some white trees into urns, and draped them simply with ropes of beads (the beads don't show up as well in the photos, sorry). Then I set out a wintry branch, with a single white ball next to it.

Fast and easy!

Another little tree with beads and no ornaments sits by the sofa. If tiny little fingers decide to explore this one, there is nothing breakable to worry about.

But I was missing the pretty lights that would have gone onto a big tree, so I filled an urn with white lights and topped it with clear, plastic balls. Its not the same, but does have a nice glow.

All of the rest of my pretties went up high, like on this cabinet in the kitchen.

The vintage tree is a music box that plays Jingle Bells. Sugarwings likes for me to wind it up while we visit the reindeer. The deer represent Pop Pop, Grammy and Sugarwings. Hmm, I should add some rhinestone jewelry to the Grammy deer. Or at least a millinery bloom.

Now, I do love snowmen, and Santas, and angels, of course. But my favorite at the holidays is the deer. Oh, and the elves! Santa's little friends and helpers!

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And I am big on using my regular decor and just spiffing it up with a few little additions.

Like filling my kitchen window with pink roses and sweet pixies.

Yes, there were dirty dishes in the sink in the last picture I showed. But look at how pretty they are! Beth got dishes she didn't want in a box at an auction and passed them along to me. Of course, I wanted them!

There are many more pixie pals lurking in the boxes under my stairway. Lots of well loved ornaments and beautiful things, that I just didn't unpack this year. I do miss all the elaborate displays, but on the other hand, I am really enjoying my "Pretty Little Christmas". Heather's title for her party really touched on my feelings for my house this year.

Normally, I am all about being Over the Top. (yes, with capitals)

But this year, my compromise with the fairy grand baby with the the time constraints has made me happy.

There is a little something in every room. Just enough to make me smile and know that Christmas is just around the corner. Not enough to have taken up much time or to have been any trouble at all.

2008's decking of the halls probably took less time to finish the whole house than I usually spend on one tree.

Well, that right there is enough to make me smile!! Is there ever enough time? I might make this year's streamlined Christmas a new tradition!

Remember I was saying how lucky I was to meet so many wonderful friends through blogging? One of them sent this dainty fairy pin to me. Later, she'll go on a jacket, but for now, she perches in the dining room centerpiece. Thanks, Hannah!

And thanks, Heather, for hosting this get together. I look forward to having time to follow the links and visit all the homes participating.

Also, thanks to all of you for your overwhelming shopping spree for my Christmas special on Etsy! The shop is half gone, but there are still some goodies left. Please check for details in the previous post if you'd like a chance to win a present from me, while you are visiting my Etsy store during my "thanks to my readers" sale-a-thon!

Please remember to ASK FOR AN INVOICE FROM ME.

Sneaking a peek at the presents

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, Miss Frenchie's

By Karla Nathan / December 9, 2008

What's this?

Your present for December. Well, at least a little peak of it! Isn't the suspense of "what's in the package" one of the exciting things about this time of year? So, I decided not to show you the entire giveaway item. I might have a couple more hints between now and the end of the month, because I know I used to love the hints my Mom would give me about my presents, years ago!

Little bits of Christmas are starting to show up around the cottage. I am supposed to be cleaning up my studio and getting ready for a craft day with friends, but I have been distracting myself with a few minor holiday trimmings. I set a couple of things in the breezeway, and others up high. All out of the reach of ~~Little Miss~~ ~~Grab and Smash,~~uhm, I mean, sweet little Sugarwings.

And when I say minor, I mean really simple. I was unpacking some displays fromMiss Frenchie's sale and thought I'd redo them a bit to set out around the house. This crate had been full of bottle brush trees, the branches were strewn about my booth for atmosphere, and the silver tree had held tussie mussies.

So, I piled the branches into the crate next to the tree, added the paper stars I'd made at our Thanksgiving craft day, and in a matter of minutes, it was ready to set on the breezeway table.

Filling boxes and baskets with vintage ornaments and branches is one of my favorite holiday tricks. For this tool caddy, I added the branches first, then piled in shiny ornaments, and a few pine cones, tied on a large jingle bell, and topped it off with a glittered dove. Instant sparkle!

Did you notice Twinks in the background of the breezeway photo? She can't believe that I want to point the camera at anything but her. So I indulged her and took a photo of her tummy full of puppies. Yep, she is expanding, we should be having teeny little dorkies sometime between Christmas and New Year. Now, where I will keep their nest is an issue. With a two year old running around, I need to keep the babies safe, but let Twinkle still have access to the doggy door. I don't know, they might all just have to live in the studio, and Twinks will have to give up some of her freedom and ask to be let out.

Motherhood is like that. Sometimes you have to BEG to be let out of the house. She'll be finding out soon enough.

This bit of holiday cheer is thanks to my pal, Carol. She embellished the box with transparencies, isn't it lovely?

Here is a close up. I wish I knew how to do that… its really cool. If you'd like one of your own, I think she has some for sale.

The embellished box Carol gifted me with was from Miss Frenchie's. Where I also got this table, that I haven't made use of yet. I bought it from Elizabeth and it has the most perfect marble top. I paint furniture myself so can appreciate what a good job she did painting the base of this little French piece. It was a total indulgent treat for myself, since like I said, I do paint furniture myself. But there was something about the lines of this one, and the fact that the weekend was such a special time, I wanted to buy something special for myself as a memento.

Plus, you know, when you are at a craft/antique show, the money you make doesn't seem real until you get it all home. Its easier to spend it away while you have cash in your hands and are surrounded by things you love and want! (once again, I'm glad my husband rarely reads this)

And speaking of things that don't seem real- look at the size of these grapes!!!!!!! They remind me of those big, glass globe grapes from the 70's. Didn't every coffee table in the Midwest have a bunch of these sitting on it back then?

A “Family Tree” How-to

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, how to's, how-to projects, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / November 28, 2008

Did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving feast? Sugarwings and her sweet little Pixie Pie cousin sure did. But in hindsight, this idea of using the baby's craft table for their dining wasn't the best. It was a food free-for-all, with two little toddlers up and down and knocking each other over and dumping plates. I can already see that at Christmas dinner we'll be using a duo of high chairs instead.

At my house, we craft before and after holiday dinners. I prepped the meal way ahead of time, making mashed potatoes in the crock pot, and had noodles slowly simmering on the stove all day, while the green bean casserole (from scratch, no canned soup) and turkey were ready to pop in the oven when the time came.

Guests brought side dishes made at home, so we had time to play instead of slaving away in the kitchen! The guys were watching the game and playing pool, so we went to the studio and started cutting and gluing.

We were making the Christmas stars in two sizes, large for tree toppers and smaller ones for ornaments. Or wouldn't they be cute clipped to a ribbon and made into a garland?

We decided to use family photos on the ornaments, so we dressed the cousins up in their Christmas gowns and snapped a few quick pics of them to print out onto silver, holographic paper.

I wish the photos showed how pretty this shiny paper is.

A lot of you asked for how-tos for this Christmas star, so I thought this would be a good day for it. If you have a houseful of family together for the holiday weekend, this is a fun project you can all do together. Take photos of each other for the centers of the stars and you can make a "family tree" for Christmas.

Card stock works best. I wanted a vintage image, so copied this sheet music onto parchment colored card stock. You can use scrapbook paper, or heck, even plain card stock, what ever colors you like for a background.

Cut a piece of paper in half lengthwise and then fold both pieces in accordion pleats.

Then do a second piece to match.

Staple all four pleated sections together.

I suppose that for a tidier look, you could use glue, if you had an issue with not wanting staples to show. But if you do, you'll be wishing you were an octopus. I quickly switched to staples, after starting out using glue.

This is what it should look like.

You will need to cut 2 pieces of card stock to fit the back and the front of the star to hold it in place. Any shape, any paper that pleases you for your design.

For this tree topper, I used plain white on the back.

For the front, I used flocked wallpaper glued onto the card stock, then cut into an oval. After gluing, weight the paper down for minute or two till it sticks good.

That is a good time to take a break for a quick cuddle with someone furry and cute.

After the glue dries, you can trim the edges to get a star shape. Then with a paint brush (or fingers, like I use) add glue to the clipped edges and sprinkle with glitter.

At this point, it is ready to decorate however you'd like. Streaming ribbons, photos, flowers, sparkly things, whatever suits you.

If you think you'd rather make the smaller size, instead of the tree toppers, use one piece cut into 4 equal strips lengthwise instead of 2 pages cut in two strips.

And if you'd like extra sparkly edges, use Stickles as the glue that you add glitter to. (by the way, Stickles is now available at Hobby Lobby!!!)

There are actually some new things listed on my Etsy site. Some hand dyed bottle brush trees (more to come) and I am about to list some glittering vintaeg doves that I do-dadded up.

There are also some of my flower packs listed. If you need a specific color that isn't listed yet, just ask. I might have it!

You also have a couple more days to enter the giveaway for November. Good luck!

Believing in magic

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 20, 2008

We interrupt this coverage of Silver Bella 08 for a local Sugarwings update!

Are you bella-ed out yet? I am still on the glitter high, myself, but thought I'd take a break between the billions of Bella pictures and show you Dorothy. Sugarwings has only had this doll for a few weeks and they are inseparable. The trouble is, this is a cheapo, airport souvenir doll, not meant for non-stop lovin. Her head is falling off, she is disintegrating right before our eyes. Since we make regular airport runs, I thought I'd ask my husband to pick up a new one so I could sneak trade it out with the beat up doll. Well, my husband bought the wrong doll, he thought Dorothy had a plastic head, not cloth. I really didn't think we could pull this one off at all.

Luckily, two year olds are gullible, (or guggabo, as Sugarwings says it) and I wrapped both dolls in a towel, then started singing "Scrub, scrub here and scrub, scrub there, that's how we while the day away in the Merry old Land of Oz". Remember that scene where all of them get makeovers in the Wizard's palace? I pulled the new Dorothy out of the towel and my gullible fairy grand baby thought Dorothy looked very pretty. It worked!

I guess we are in luck, as these expensive, but cheaply made souvenir dolls fall apart, we'll be able to keep replacing them. I just hope we can get more than two weeks out of each one, because I figure that will cost me about $30 a month that way. I'd better be restocking my Etsy shop fast, so I can keep Sugarwings stocked with Dorothys…..

A Modeling Career for Sugarwings and an answer to the MEAN comment

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), holiday decor, magazine pictures or articles, Silver Bella, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 5, 2008

Wowwee! Have you seen this yet? Somerset has done it again, this magazine is just so, over the top, good! Kudos to Jo Packham, the editor.

The quality of the photos and stories are every bit as good as the book that preceded it. Impressive. Here is a link to Jenny Doh’s blog with her post about this issue.

Now, I am really overwhelmed to think that my studio (!?) will be featured in a future issue of this publication. Heck, my head might not even fit through the doors of the studio after that, this is a cool thing to be in!

I’m extremely proud to be included in this issue, for this little corner on the back page. A photo I took of Sugarwings helping me face paint at a birthday party was used.

She is not wearing a shirt, so I am hoping this won’t be a big career move for her. I’d rather not see her featured topless in any more magazines as an adult.

And yes, I KNOW I should be cleaning and getting ready for company, packing up supplies for my Silver Bella classes, but I ended up making more bottle brush trees, and while cutting apart the strands of old mercury glass beads, I decided to bottle a few of them.

If I don’t end up selling these, I think they’d be cute as a bug in my kitchen replacing the spices on my rack during the holidays!

The teeny blue ribbons and gold and white labels are some that I got in a mini swap with my Dutch pal, Lili. Sbella_booth_256

Sugarwings ended up spending the evening with me, so I stopped gluing goodies to trees and took the advice of my friend, Valita, who said I should sell bottle brush tree decor kits at Silver Bella.

I bagged up some trinkets to add to trees, each bag is different and most are best suited for the taller trees, although I’d say that if you were decorating a bunch of little trees, the stuff could be spread out among a few. The old clip on earrings (that I cut the backs off of) are great to use as ornaments on a bigger tree, but work better as a single tree topper on the tiny trees.

This tree is one of the larger ones, so it could handle a handful of old earrings glued to it.

Tomorrow, Beth, Carol, and I are going to visit Deb and check out the Curious Sofa Holiday Open House. Deb has quite a way with display, this should be fun! Plus, dinner after with my two buds will be a nice way to spend an evening and avoid cleaning my studio.

And I seem to be very fond of dinner lately… I gained TEN POUNDS since I turned 50 six months ago. Is this what being old does to you? A complete shut down of the metabolism?????

By the way, I got my very first MEAN comment yesterday by someone who thinks Twinkle should not be having puppies.

This person left an purposely incorrect email address, so I couldn’t answer her. So, I’ll say it here-

Yes, I know that there are LOTS of dogs and cats without homes in the world, and I have taken in my share of them plus donated time to our local shelter, as well as donating art to fund raising auctions and free murals that I painted on the walls of the building.

Just because I raise pure bred Dorkies doesn’t make me a bad, uncaring person. These babies will go to people who will love them and give them good homes.

I believe in helping the less fortunate dogs, and have been the mastermind behind some adoptions of homeless dogs, numerous times. But I still like my Dorky babies and will always have them around. They bring joy to me and to many others.

Just like I believe in recycling and buying as much as I can second hand to help lower my own carbon foot print, but that doesn’t mean I am not going to buy something brand new and shiny here and there too.

I heat with wood as much as I can, turn off lights, put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat, run as many errands as I can at once so I won’t waste gas. I do what I can to save the planet. But that doesn’t mean I won’t drive across country to take a trip or spend a day driving from garage sale to garage sale.

I guess what I am trying to say, is that I believe in being a responsible inhabitant of our planet, and I do try to do good things. But life is give and take. You cut back here and there, help out when you can, but you have to live it and splurge on the things you enjoy.

Twinkettes??

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers

By Karla Nathan / November 4, 2008

There is no place like home! It feels good to be back, so good that I have not been working on being ready for Silver Bella (countdown is one week from tomorrow till Natasha and Heather get here!).

Instead, I have played with some of the stuff I bought at the Big Flea in Virginia, and foofed up this bottle brush tree, and went to spend a long morning getting caught up with friends over coffee.

When you hear me whining about not having enough time to get ready, please remind me of the time I wasted spray painting my pumpkins and sticking jewels onto them.

Orange is not my color, and since Silver Bella is around the corner, I thought it would be fun to have silver, crowned and bejeweled pumpkins by the door next week for my dinner party in honor of my Bella guests.

Whats that fuzz ball in the front?

Thats Sparkle, I am making her hang out with me, even though she’s old and would rather be laying on a pillow thinking about what she’ll be eating next. (sounds like what I’d like to be doing, actually)

Twinkle, my normal buddy, who never leaves my side all day, is on a DATE. I left her at her boyfriend, Teddy’s house while I was out of town and I haven’t picked her up yet.

Hopefully, this is what we’ll be seeing soon, Twinkle with a bunch of little Twinkettes following her around!

Of course, only in my dreams are the puppies rhinestoned and pink….

Did you remember to vote today? I am looking forward to watching John Stewart and Stephen Cobert tonight with their top notch election coverage.