Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers) – Page 4

A Recycled Gingerbread House Tradition, and a Home for the Fairies

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / January 21, 2015

We've had some nice weather this week. And Sugarwings has been here with me to share it. We took advantage of the break in the cold to deliver our Gingerbread house to the Fairy Berry trail.

It is now a home for the woodland fairies that live out in the woods behind the cottage.

Lucky little fay!

The dogs were happy to get out and explore too. You can hardly see them, they are as grey and brown as Kansas is in winter.

This week long break in the winter has been exactly what I needed. That and having my buddy around a lot, Sugarwings and I have had quite a bit of girl time. Nothing beats the January blahs like a ray of sunshine and a dose of little girl smiles.

I've also started some redos around the house. My son ripped up the carpet in the guest room and I gave the walls a fresh coat of sunny day blue. He will be laying a dark hickory floor for me, and then I get to fill the space back up, after shifting furniture from room to room and figuring out where I want to place what.

There is something about January that makes me want to shuffle my belongings and brighten up the house. I guess, at other times of the year, I'm outdoors a lot more. Being cooped up in January during the cold spells, after all the sparkle of the holidays is packed away, lends itself to redos.

Although, I do need to get into the studio… I've got to make prototypes for my Birdsong classes. If you'd like to come visit the Fairy Berry Trail yourself (when the grey days of winter are gone, and spring makes the woods inviting again), there are spaces available for Birdsong 5.

Project pics from me will be coming soon.

Pretty Puppeesh

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), puppies!, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / September 27, 2014

Albie is crazy about his sister. She is the center of his world, and he shows his devotion to her. If he could, he'd probably place a crown on her head himself.

But this time, it was Sugarwings who did it.

The dorkies finally got their hair cut mid September. Poor pups, I should have shaved them earlier when it was hot out. At least they are ready for the "dog days" of summer and any last blasts of heat wave that Kansas might throw our way.

Redoing the Fairy Berry Trail tree house

Dew Drop, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, Hand painted, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 21, 2014

We haven't had access to the Fairy Berry Trail for a while. First, a big storm turned some dead branches into widow-makers, dangling from the top of the trees. Then, my husband and son did some dangling from the treetops with the chainsaw, and trimmed it all up, leaving piles of debris blocking the trails.

This week, we cleared it up and repaired the Fairy Tree House by rebuilding its walls from the downed limbs and some grapevines.

It kind of looks like a big brush pile behind those two large trees.

One of those trees has grown crookedly down, to form a roof. We entwined branches into a dome shape over the crooked branch, creating kind of a igloo shaped structure.

Here is a picture looking through the archway "door" into the room. And a picture of one of my dogs sniffin the other's butt, apparently. Sorry.

After all the branches were in place, we wove fresh grapevine in and out of them to anchor it all. Hopefully, as the vines dry, they will keep the branches in place. The vines were laden with clusters of grapes, so I'm crossing my fingers that they will drop seeds and more vines will grow up the walls that we built today.

The grand fairies have always loved their tree house, but it is even more beckoning now. Very cozy, with full walls and a roof, made up of woven branches with sunshine peeking through. And I created an archway entrance out of grapevines, that is low enough that an adult needs to duck to get in, but just right for the kiddos.

After a day of construction, well, most of a day. We trimmed up some other trees and cleared the paths in the woods while we had the chainsaw out, but a big part of Sunday was needed just for building the tree house.

Anyway, once it was done, I decided it needed a little something. So, got my paints and thought I'd turn the big knot hole by the entrance into a face.

Then, I thought, no, some eyes looking out from the darkness.

That morphed into two sets of eyes, with the lower ones looking up.

And that made me think of the two fairy girls who will be playing in that tree house.

So, I thought I'd make the faces into those girls. This green sprite is supposed to be Sugarwings.

And here is Dewdrop.

Wild Kingdom in the Breezeway

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), kitties

By Karla Nathan / April 17, 2014

Our kitten won't be happy when I finally fill this planter with flowers. She likes to sleep in it.

It's mostly up and out of the reach of dogs. The pupeesh go running full tilt through the breezeway to the studio without even glancing up. But their mom, Twinkle has found the cat's hiding place and often stops for a visit.

But she is wary of those tiny claws and is always ready for a quick retreat!

Spring Cleaning (for the dogs)

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), yorkies

By Karla Nathan / March 27, 2014

I don't know why I don't have my dogs groomed more often. They look so cute when they get home from the doggie salon! They get their teeth brushed and nails trimmed and the stink washed away too.

We'd let the poor things get so shaggy, no one in the family could tell the little fur balls apart.

It is just really nice to have freshly groomed puppeesh around and to see their faces once more.

And they enjoyed the trip to the salon too. Our neighbor, and puppeesh litter mate, Scruffy was there on the same day, unplanned. The groomer said all the dogs seemed to be great friends, but she had no idea they were related until Scruffy's family came to pick him up. What a fun coincidence!

What a year, wowzers!

cottage, Dew Drop, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, guncles, magazine pictures or articles, Nathan Family Fairy Food Forest, parties, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 1, 2014

For 2014's shiny new beginning, I thought I'd look back at 2013's biggest events for me, and show you some of my favorite photos.

Sugarwings starting first grade was major stepping stone in our lives last year.

In my mind, I always picture her like this. Darn the calendar! The pages flip too fast.

I think the biggest event of 2013 for Dewdrop was the day she received this "fincess" dress. She has hardly taken it off since October.

(we love that she calls 'princess' 'fincess', because her brother is named, Fin)

Of course, starting a sustainable food forest with a fairy playground on our land was a HUGE move.

When it was in full bloom, and veggies were popping up everywhere, it was the prettiest garden I've ever seen. And to know that this is only the first year, of a lifetime plan, fills me with excitement.

The year began with a longed for trip to Hawaii with my husband's sister, Terry and her husband. It was the first of many visits with her. I had a GREAT year of trips and visits with family and friends.

Wow, I'd say it was a record setting year for sistering. My sisters came here to see me twice, and I went to Indy to see them.

I got to visit darling Guncles, seeing my little bro, Randy FOUR times.

Starting with the pure fabulousness of going to Karen Hillman's Cozy Cottage to teach a class as a surprise birthday gift for her friend.

I got to introduce Fabulous Karen to Fabulous Randy, and it all led to a Fabulous Black Velvet Christmas party in Jacksonville.

And seriously, I probably didn't say the word fabulous enough, that word was written just for Karen and Randy. It should never be used to describe anything else, it belongs to them.

I saw Terry again in California when I taught at Kim's Enchanted Affaire, where I met up with good friends that I love like family too.

Painting the mural for the event was a biggie, I loved working on it so much, that I really put myself into it, and every day that I painted was like a little trip to a fairy tale forest. After the workshop, Kim mailed it back to me and it is now chopped up and stapled in the fairy girls' room

Before it was sliced up, I also used it at Birdsong 3.

Which was another big highlight of my year. Oh my, sooooo many nice people came to play at the cottage. I can't wait for BS4. Yep, 4, I can't believe it is coming up. I'd better get to planning, huh?

After the CA trip, I went to Disneyland with Terry. Then, for the Hippy Chick's college graduation, we took her and Sugarwings to Disneyworld in Florida. It was a Disney-rific year.

But I have to say that one of the best things I did all year, or maybe in the last ten years, was to take a summer off to be with the kids.

We went to zoos, parks, carnivals, boating, beaches, all sort of things.

We played dress up.

We blew bubbles.

We had craft days. Lots of craft days.

We invented a new game, called "Hoppity Hearts". It is a bit like Hopscotch without the boring squares.

Summer spilled over into fall, and we kept on playing. We saw the Renfest twice.

Even Uncle Ryan came along, just two weeks after his heart attack. His illness was the bad spot of the year, but I have to say, it brought us closer together.

I also got to see good friends again in October on a trip to Georgia. (and yes, that same shirt I'm wearing has been in three other of these photos,I'm surprised it isn't in more. Looks like I got as much use from that shirt as I did from the Enchanted Forest mural)

It was also a year of parties and more classes. I had a small, Valentine workshop in the studio.

And then another group of friends came by for a Christmas ornament making workshop.

I was in a few publications too. My Tiffany's mural from Kim's Affaire at Tiffany's the year before was in Mingle. I wasn't named as the artist, but I still think it counts, don't you?

And it was so special to me to see my Birdsong projects in Jewelry Affaire. I was in that one earlier in the year for another project too.

Fifi came out to shoot my cottage for Romantic Country.

And my pal, Carol was here to shoot the studio for Where Women Create.

I must have made hundreds of little birdcages prepping for two classes and an online class I have offered.

And I even did some redos on the house this year. I made new slip covers for the sofa and pillows for the bedroom. Spiffed up, repainted, rearranged rooms, and recovered a wall.

Yep, 2013 was one for the record books.

No wonder I'm tired…

Where Women Create

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), magazine pictures or articles, photography, studio tour

By Karla Nathan / November 4, 2013

What a fun day!

Carol came out to shoot my studio for Where Women Create. After me cancelling on her TWO times due to illnesses. One nasty sore throat bug and another was when I swallowed a string from a grilled tenderloin, and ….. well, it's an odd story and ended up with my esophagus being scratched, then irritated, then dilated at the hospital through a scope… but anyway, finally, I was able to reshedule Carol's visit to Lawrence.

It wasn't easy, she is a busy lady (and rightfully so). And the editors gave us a deadline extension, so all should be set for the January edition.

Unless I broke Carol's camera. She did her best to get some portraits of me for the article. But posing isn't my strong suit. She had great directions for me to follow, but when I am told to do something with my body, I seem to be totally incapable of doing it, and do the opposite instead. You should see me in something like aerobics. I'm the one turning right instead of left and hopping back or into the next person. No grace, no skill. Kind of the way I dance.

Which is about as good as my singing…

When she asked me to drop my shoulders, lean forward, cross your legs, put your weight on your back foot, relax my forehead, lower my chin, all it sounded like to me was, "pretend that you are Quasimodo."

Carol had me laughing, so most looked like this, or if it was any good at all, my eyes were closed, of course.

I watch America's Next Top Model, but it didn't seem to help. To "smize", you need your eyes open.

I offered to throw in a few booty tooches.

But do you know who is a good poser? Tinks.

That dog was a real ham, and a hard worker too. Whenever there was a "hole" that needed a styling fix, we plopped in the dog. And she was pleased a punch to help out.

When we tried to get photos of the two of us together, Twinkle followed Carol's direction, cocked her head, smiled, kept her eyes open. Too bad she had eaten a pile of cat poo earlier, her breath wasn't too sweet when we were up close and personal for the shots.

By the end of the day, she was worn out from all the hard work and was done with helping out. She'd filled holes in several shots and I think made for some really cute vignettes.

We were all tuckered out at the end of the day, and finally stopped for a lunch break about 3. I picked a couple handfuls of greens from the garden and warmed up some soup I'd made for Sunday dinner. It had started out as vegetarian chilli, but I kept adding to it. Our garden had too many goodies still growing in it that I wanted to use. I even added pureed pumpkin, and it was pretty durn tasty.

Isn't soup always better the second day?

I've got a billion or so photos that I took with my camera, but I feel like I've shown my studio a billion or so times. You might think they are all kinda redundant. I guess if I don't get any other pictures taken this week, I'll show them. I mean, these are new and different angles and not boring at all….

Details about the winter workshop, Romantic Cottage Christmas, here at the studio are on my side bar.

If you'd rather come to see the room in person, I'd love to have you join us!

A couple of customized furniture painting tricks

cottage, Dew Drop, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Hand Painted Furniture

By Karla Nathan / August 25, 2013

Sugarwings' mom has recently graduated from nursing school, is working at a Big Girl Job as an RN, and moved into a Big Girl house. As a birthday gift, I thought she might enjoy a custom piece of furniture, something nice and solid, kind of a start on Big Girl furnishings.

I bought it a few years back as a tan colored cabinet from Nebraska Furniture Co. I rarely buy new pieces, but I think I've mentioned before that for TVs, it's hard to find the right cabinet to fit them and their components if you don't buy something made for a television.

I repainted it white with roses when I got it.

When we got a different TV, I had to find something else and was able to customize an old book shelf to fit our flat screen.

The original telly wasn't bad, we only replaced it so we could get something bigger to see from the kitchen. So, we offered it to our Hippy Chick for her new place. Trouble is, the roses on the cabinet we had it in didn't suit her at all.

So, I thought I'd surprise her with a new look on it for her birthday. These knobs from Hobby Lobby were the inspiration for the redo.

Dewdrop helped chose them, she is a big fan of going to Wobby Blobby, as she was calling it. There was a slight argument when she thought we should get the pink knobs, and she doesn't like losing arguments at all.

But in the end, I convinced her that Auntie Cake, (aka Hippy Chick) would like rainbows.

Since I was the person who painted the cabinet before, I knew that I'd primed the factory finish and used latex paint on it, and another few coats of more latex paint would adhere just fine. So, no bonding primer. Although I did use Behr's paint and primer in one simply because red is such a horrid color to work with. It doesn't cover well and takes a lot of coats. By using the primer/paint mix, I cut down on a few applications. It still needed three coats plus touch ups.

The main body was painted cherry red, satin. Then I painted each square and frame around it a different bright color.

At that point, it was beginning to look like Rainbow Brite vomited all over a preschool.

Very primary colored and very bright.

So, I washed each square and frame with a different shade.

The wash coat of color was brushed on heavy in the corners of the squares, and was wiped into the center with a damp rag. It was dry brushed onto the frames.

(light blue over green, red over orange, orange over yellow, purple over dark blue, etc, a nice mix up)

The base of the cabinet took almost a quart of interior paint. For the accents, I used 2 oz bottles of acrylic craft paint.

The finish on the craft paint is flat and the red paint is satin. I could have covered the accents with a satin clear coat, but I liked the contrast in textures.

The interior was left as is, except for the interior of the doors. When the TV is on, those will show.

I think the faux finished gave the cabinet the appropriate, custom look I was going for, instead of just blocks of bright colors.

You can tell by the floor that I have done a tad of painting out here… I used to paint furniture practically daily.

Often, like with this table that was sitting in the garage, I'd use a poly top coat mixed with walnut stain. I think it leaves an attractive finish.

But for the rainbow cabinet, I left it as it was, no walnut aging affect. Hippy Chick likes her colors vivid.

Here is the shelf of the black table. It's a bit dirty from the garage, but I think you can still see the walnut top coat. To do this, I used Minwax stain/poly that comes premixed. I'd pour about 1 cup into a bowl, add 1/4 of paint thinnner, and slip on some gloves. Then brush the mixture on the piece, and wipe off with an old, soft, dry tee shirt scrap.

Work on one section at a time, and wipe off gently. It looks really pretty over solid black, too. This trick riches up the color and gives it a custom feel. Just like adding the faux finish to the rainbow colors turned a preschool looking palette into colors that would suit a Big Girl piece of furniture.

A Romantic Country Photo Shoot with Fifi, or the Adventures of the Pink Flowered Rug

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, magazine pictures or articles

By Karla Nathan / August 11, 2013

Last week, Fifi came to my home to do an article for Romantic Country magazine. We had worked together in the past on a few small projects but I'd only met her briefly at our friend, Carol's home. It was a joy to spend the day with her and I was happy to have her come and visit the Cottage. She's cute as a bug and filled with interesting stories. Accompanying her was photographer, Mark Lohman, who was witty as well as talented. He made me giggle quite a few times during the day, with his teasing comments.

He also showed me a photo he had taken of his dogs, that has to be the most beautiful pet portrait I have ever seen. His two Shih Tzus are running toward the camera, with their hair flying in the wind, happy looks on their little turned up nose faces, and a blurred out, elegant garden behind them. That guy is an artist. What a picture.

Fifi and Mark made my home look lovely, I was impressed with their work. And I enjoyed not working on the story myself, just stepping back and letting the pros do it. In the past, with numerous articles, I've been the stylist or was writing the story. This time, I was just the home owner, and that was nice.

I never really considered myself a professional, even though I was involved in dozens of published articles. It was all a bit of a lark, and I like having it on my resume (if I actually had a resume, which I don't), but I never considered it a real job.

Since I have worked on past stories, I did know how to be prepared for the chaos of styling and how to be ready when Fifi and Mark arrived.

If you are going to have your home photographed, here are a few suggestions:

1- Don't try to pre-style it, you don't know what the camera angles will be.

2- Don't have your heart set on a certain look. Things WILL be moved, rearranged, shuffled, changed, and might even be a totally different take on the room than you'd ever thought of.

3- Have fresh fruit and flowers ready to go, but don't put too much time into flower arrangements, chances are they will be redone more than once throughout the day. Have extra vessels handy for switching blossoms around to reuse in different rooms. You don't need a ton of flowers, because they can be recycled from room to room. (and save your receipt, the flowers are usually reimbursed)

4- If you own extra pillows, throws, rugs, china, etc, have them handy. The stylist will have ideas on making the house fit the magazine, and a color theme she has planned, and it helps if she has access to your extras to bring her ideas to life.

5- Have a place to stash the coffee maker, toothbruses, and other mundane, daily used, objects. But don't put it away too soon, you might want to offer a pot of coffee while everyone is working.

6- Clean up as you go, because the messes just get worse from photo to photo, as things get pulled out of cabinets to be used, or items get stored to one side of the room to be out of a shot. If you save all of the pick up for the end of the day, it will be too much to handle!! But do be careful not to put away things that might be used again. Like the pink flowered rug I brought down from the girl's room, it ended up in almost every shot, all around the house.

7- Don't be insulted or hurt if your home doesn't look like your version of your home in the pictures!! Its all your stuff, just rearranged. You might even pick up some good design tips from the experts and leave your new look in place.

Here is my bedroom after some of Fifi's redos.

Here is how it looked when they arrived.

bedroom BEFORE

My home was a little too neutral for what Fifi wanted, but it was easily fixed with throw pillows from the sofa, and the studio along with a pink rug and quilt from the girl's room.

bedroom AFTER

I love this look, but couldn't leave it this way, or my sofa would not have any cushions…. And in "real life" if the chair was in the middle of the room, you couldn't walk through to the bathroom. Or see the TV, which is high on my list of importance.

AFTER

My two footstools got a work out, as well as the chippy chairs that the kids use, all were used in other areas too. And see the pink rug again? Like I said, it made it into almost all the shots. The floral can filled with lilies was the bedroom trash can.

The surprise lilies are growing in abundance right now, and we could gather an armload for her to use in this shot. They were plopped right on top of the remnants of trash in the bottom of the can. Glamorous, huh?

Kitchen BEFORE

living room AFTER

There is that pink rug again!

In "real life", if you had that many pillows on a sofa, there would be no room for your backside. But it looks nice for the magazine, doesn't it? I could be tempted to leave it this way, but I think I'd get too many complaints from the family.

I didn't hear the dogs complaining about too many pillows, though. They'd be happy if I left all of those on the couch.

living room BEFORE

This isn't quite my "real life" look. Because the pupeesh think that rugs are pee pads, I don't usually have one on the living room floor. I swiped this one from the upstairs. And that half wall is actually a dog pen. I keep a gate across it, and the dorkies have access to the fenced in yard through a pet door in the corner. For the occaision, I took down the gate and put away all the dog bedding.

The pupeesh were also banished for the day, but forgave me when they got plenty of snuggles when Fifi and Mark finished.

I'm afraid I didn't get photos of the styling upstairs. Sugarwings will be sooooo thrilled to see her room in a magazine. She was counting on them taking pictures of it, even though I told her that it wasn't a done deal, we'd have to see what Fifi chose to feature. Plus, I'm not sure she even knows what a magazine is, but she was excited about it anyway.

A photo shoot ain't for sissies, that's for durn tootin. After a day of housework to prep, and a day of pictures, plus the clean up that goes along with it, I was beat.

But no matter how exhausting it can be, it sure is fun to see the spread when it's published. Plus, Fifi and Mark make the experience delightful, they are such nice people to spend a day with.

Sewing a vintage slipcover

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers)

By Karla Nathan / July 21, 2013

Lately, I've been on a home fix up kick. Just little things, like new pillows and touching up paint. (yes, those a doggie pee pads on the other side of the couch, those little brats are hard to train! They'd rather use a pad than go out their dog door. And they think rugs are pads… so no rugs)

Sometimes cleaning up means more messing up. I could go out to the studio to sew, but since I was making sofa cushions, it was more convenient to bring the sewing machine into the kitchen.

I'd been collecting old drapes and fabric for years and finally got around to redoing my couch cushions with them. I'm not a big fan of sewing, but I can make a simple pillow case for my cushions and pillows, and get a whole new look for the room with some garage sale fabric and a straight stitch.

I don't really measure, I just lay out the fabric, put the pillow on it, cut around, then turn the fabric inside out, pin together and run it through the machine, hoping the bobbin lasts through the session. I use whatever color of thread was last put on because I am a total loser at changing threads and bobbins.

It's far from a pro job, but I'm usually okay with the results. The whole job took me a couple of hours and less than $60 in materials.

Some of the fabric was too bright, even though it had to have been at least 50 years old, so I flipped it over and used the backside for a more faded look. I also bought pieces that were far from perfect, and just cut around the holes or stains and used only the good parts.

The pink silk brocade on the seat cushion is from an entire roll of old fabric that I'd found at an antique mall for $9. I doubt if I could buy a yard of cloth that nice for that kind of price at JoAnn's or any where else, brand new. The roll was in good shape too.

And funny, after I found this, I ran across a half roll of a slightly darker version of the same cloth at the Salvation Army ($5)! So, I used it to coordinate with the lighter brocade and the different floral pattern curtains I'd been gathering. I used it on the backside of all the pillows.

It doesn't show much, but looks nice when you sit on the couch and it peeks out when the pillows are mussed around. Which, with two little girls and three dogs in the house, they usually are.

While I was at it, I moved the furniture around. Then a week later, I put it right back where it used to be.

I think the new pillows look better with the bark cloth drapes behind them than with the emphemera covered wall.

The dogs don't care, as long as I point a camera in their direction, they are happy. Especially if it involves being on a soft pillow.

Do you ever have little things around the house that bug you, but you try to ignore? Since I hung these curtains (years ago), I'd been irritated that some of the clips were dark brass and some were painted cream. I finally grabbed a brush, and stood on the buffet with a capful of paint and quickly made them all match.

It only took a couple of minutes. Now, why did it take years to do??