fairies – Page 26 – Karla's Cottage

The ZONE

antiques/junking, Chandeliers, Etsy Goodies, fairies

By Karla Nathan / October 5, 2008

Aren’t these yummy colors? I just listed two packs of these luscious old trims in ice cream colors.

It seemed fitting to add these Neapolitan colored old buckles to the shop too.

I hope some the same person buys both, I just think a project made with these would be so pretty. all are sold, thanks, and yes, the buckles went with the trims!

You probably don’t hear me mention thread and needles much around here, but yesterday I actually got some out and sewed this old millinery bloom to this vintage silver bag!

My mom would have been so proud of me! I used thread instead of glue.

Supposedly, yesterday was my tagging and organizing day, but I ended up making stuff too. (and I did get some tags made, by the way)

Ever had one of those days when you just are in the zone? I had no interruptions, no phone calls, no family around. So, I was in my studio from about noon till 11pm. I didn’t even eat, I just focused.

Those days don’t come by very often. Good thing, because the day after, I feel like I have a hangover from it all and can’t get anything done at all.

Aging sucks. A super productive day means a lazy day coming up next.

Let’s see, how did those zone hours go? I made these two fairy dancers, finished up and tagged 6 wallpaper journals, bagged and tagged a lot more millinery blooms, drug out my Christmas decor items that are for sale, dug through vintage Xmas cards, and sorted some jewelry.

Well, that doesn’t sound like it was worth missing dinner for does it? It felt like I got more done than that….

There was some blog hopping, and Ebay shopping involved in my day too. As well as a few little things here and there, clean ups and touch ups and so on.

Basically, the day just flowed. It was great. One thing after another, I was like a machine cranking out work and completing jobs left and right.

Before I got swept away with studio fever, I hit a couple of garage sales and did a little shopping.

I found this doll house/bookshelf at a local cool junk store.

Great Silver Bella display, huh? It will add much needed height to my table tops, and I can turn it on its side and use it for a box to pack stuff in to get them up there.

And how cute is the back of it?

I was thinking about covering the shelves in vintage wallpaper, but I will most likely be giving the piece to Sugarwings for her dollies when I am done with it. 2 year olds and vintage papers don’t mesh well.

See this note, "just because"? It was from Scrappi Jessi and was a package with the cutest and most thoughtful presents. "Just because" she is a punkin!

Two cute ornaments were in the box, and both went immediately onto the chandelier that hangs over my computer.

This chandelier is filled with mix matched colored crystals, and lots of sentimental things. A picture of my mom on a glittered star, tags and gifts I have received, a stuffed Dorkie from Sissy, my collection of K’s, a picture of my fairy grand baby on an ornament from Barb, a wooden angel from Beth.

If I keep adding to it like this, soon, all the pretties will drown out the light!

A Kitchen redo and the beginnings of the October Goodie Bag

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, Food and Drink, give away

By Karla Nathan / October 2, 2008

Sugarwings not only has her own art studio inside my art studio, she has her own kitchen within my kitchen.

But it was really bugging me, that hers was pretty shoddy looking.

So, yesterday, (when I should have been working) I painted the mini kitchenette the same color as my own cabinets (a creamy ivory).

I didn’t repaint the red sink, though, because we fill it up with soapy water to play in and I wasn’t sure that any paint would stand up to that, even that spray made for plastics.

The interior of the fridge was still in really good (and cute as a bug) condition, but the insides of the cabinets were just plain fiberboard, so I painted the shelves too.

My niece (also known as the Imitrex Fairy) sent Sugarwings some Faux foods to play with, and I can’t wait for our little sprite to come back over and see her surprise!

Of course, she probably won’t notice it was painted, or has pretty curtains, but I know she will get busy right away serving up plastic ice cream in her frying pan.

Not much else got done, I had a lot of errands to run. But while watching Top Model, Top Design, and Project Runway, I glittered up and finished a few odds and ends.

Everyone has asked me for ravens, but I am more of a dove person…. I love their pink tummies.

And I created a "flight" of fairies with some little plastic figurines that Carol gave to me. They were a yucky orange fleshy color to start with, so I painted them all white and pink and glittery, then fairyed them up.

Each saucy little gal has a unique hat or crown.

The sculpy pumpkins that Sugarwings and I made got a coat of paint and glitter too.

The silver one in the front is going to Sheila as part of the Sweet September Prize pack.

And the tall white one in the back will be part of the October prizes.

Here is what I have going so far for October. Black and white roses printed on a set of 4 vintage linen napkins and a white glittered pumpkin.

I’ll probably find something else to add as the month goes on.

This morning I listed this pumpkin topped bottle (inspired by Carol’s design for our Romantic Country article) for sale on Etsy.

Here is what I said for the description, instead of writing it twice, I’ll copy and paste from Etsy!

This bottle and crowned pumpkin has a French Vanilla theme, it is all done in tone on tone shades of warm whites. The pumpkin topper is not glued down, if you’d like to actually use the bottle to store something you could. Or you could take the pumpkin top off and store it away after fall is over until next year and display the bottle with out it.

I’ve made the label from old sheet music, book pages and taupe velvet ribbon, accented with a bloom I plucked from an old hat. The neck of the bottle is rimmed with rhinestones and the crown is ringed with more of the same, plus velvet ribbon and a rose pried from old jewelry.

about 8 1/2" tall to the tip of the crown

This is as far as I have gotten on the other glittered trophies. I’m in love with the pink vintage cars!

FOUR winners!

Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, holiday decor, magazine pictures or articles, Silver Bella, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 1, 2008

Yesterday, I had a brunch for some friends and decided that I should set out some of the fall decor I have, and some of the pumpkin bottles I have been making.

I turned a white tussie mussie from Heather upside down and it became a hat for my white glittered pumpkin, I think that is my favorite part of the tablescape.

Sugarwings was in "Extreme Two Year Old Mode" yesterday and EVERYTHING on the table top was her favorite.

That girl was so quick at getting into stuff all day long, that every photo I took of her was a blur.

Am I finally going to have to give in and baby proof my house? I usually just tell her "that is Grammy’s that is yours, you play with your stuff, not mine" but yesterday she was swinging a lamp by the cord and hiding the phone under the bed.

I guess I can’t really put all the lamps and phones away, as well as wrapping my whole home in bubble wrap. She is just acting like she is a two year old and I need to be an eagle eye around her to keep her away from my stuff and directed towards her own things.

Of course, having sparkly witches on the table is enticing for a baby girl.

And she really enjoys playing with these little pumpkins. I do too. We take the tiny crowns off and put them on our fingertips to turn our fingers into princess puppets.

This little witch’s hat was a gift from my Sissy when she was here. She made it herself and it has a jingle bell in the stuffing.

The fairy was a present from my sister, Bobbie Sue, isn’t it cute? And her colors seem just right for a fall display. She’s an earthy fairy. My neice, Shelli also brought me a special gift. A package of Imitrex! I get migraines, and on our insurance the meds are $200 a package, but on hers it is $15. So she gives me her extras.

Sugarwings and I made more scuply pumpkins yesterday. I let her paint them all herself when they were cooled off, so maybe now that she has her own pumpkins, she will be content to not play with the ones on the table?

No, I am kidding myself there. No such thing as a contented two year old, they want to touch everything they see!

Yet another reason why I don’t use much real glass glitter. I cut myself enough with that lethal stuff, I don’t need the baby getting hurt on it!!

Oh, but now, I am sure you are interested in hearing which one of you is going to get your own hands on a crown? Here are the winners for "Karla and Carol’s Romantic Country Celebration Giveaway"

Thanks for all the comments to Carol about how wonderful her crown and pumpkin ideas are! The name I drew from her comment log to win a crown kit is:

Cammi

And the winner of a pumpkin topped bottle from my Silver Bella bonus drawing goes to

Bella Wanda.

Now, ANOTHER winner of a pumpkin topped bottle (not this bottle, it is listed on Etsy, I don’t have a photo of the one I’m sending handy).

The Winner is:

Bobbi

But wait, we aren’t done yet! I have one more giveaway to announce!

My Sweet September Prize Pack goes to:

Sheila

I think I’ll add a little glittered pumpkin to it too.

Remember, I constantly have a giveaway going.

Aren’t they fun? I sure like doing them! I’m not sure what October’s prize will be, but all comments starting today, will count for it.

These are some more Silver Bella creations I am making. Lately, I have been buying trophies, inspired by a gift of a nesting bird in a teeny trophy from Robin last spring.

I have a boxful of vintage automobile trophies that I can’t wait to froof and doodad up.

Before I go and get back to work on my trophies, I want to thank Sara Duckett of Sadie Olive for helping me de-clutter my blog a bit and add my latest magazine covers to the side bar.

If you notice, now the blogroll is on a separate page that you can click on to go and visit.

I spent a little time redoing the blogroll while Sugarwings was napping, but didn’t get very far. I need to organize the rest of the names and add a TON of fun places that I go to. I will let you know as I get more added.

My links have not been exactly true to the blogs I read the most often and I want to add some of the dozens of addictive places I visit!

Pretty Pretty!

fairies, give away, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 25, 2008

A box bursting with happiness just came to my door! I swear, this Pre-Bella Swap is one of the most fun swaps, ever!

All of the women involved have extraordinary style and the packets of goodies they made up show it.

This came today from Jennifer. And it is sweet, sweet eye candy indeed, plus some real candy!!

And, oh my gosh, look what Holly sent!!!!!!!!!!

Those velvety flowers are amazing, lovely, and lush.

Not all the packages are here yet, but the table sure looks filled up, huh?

New homes have already been found in the art studio for some of the presents Holly and Jen sent along to me, I’ve used them in this centerpiece.

And when I cleaned the studio this week, I found the perfect storage spot for my unplucked old hats. (the plucked flowers are already sorted and stored elsewhere). They are all smooshed into the glass doored buffet in the alcove. The one with the crookedy candlesticks.

These sweet girl from Jen is actually a bell. I see fairy wings in her future…..

Look at that heart shaped little smoocher.

Her sis is nestled into a compote of flowers I received from Andrea.

And Taaa Daaa!! My studio is cleaned! I’m done, I’m done!! Just in time for Sugarwings to have a sleepover tonight and play in her new mini studio.

I’ve been working on this for almost a week. Hopefully, having this hopefully more functional arrangement will make me more productive and hopefully make up for the week I spent on it…. hopefully….

Everything is out in the open, easy to see and find, or at least the drawers have tags so I can remember what is where.

I don’t know that I am crazy about having a plastic table cloth over my folding tables, it might just get in the way. I think I’ll remove them, but for now, don’t the pink clothes brighten up the room?

While I was cleaning, I cleared out drawers, boxes, and junk. Ever notice how much stuff you forgot that you had? I came across this little painting from about 10 years ago, and decided she shouldn’t be shoved into a dark drawer, poor fairy.

So, I glittered up a mat for the painting, and added millinery, ruffled wallpaper, and a sparkling butterfly.

Recently, I was asked to post a how to on ruffling, but this is the first ruffle I’ve glued down in a while, and the light wasn’t good last night at midnight when I decided to make it.

I’ll show the steps next time.

While cleaning, I also found some pearls, as I promised to add to my August giveaway, the 50’s Housewife Kit.

leave a comment to enter

By the way, here are a couple of Before the Great Clean Up pics.

Babies, babies, babies

Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 12, 2008

I’ve been ensconced in my studio all day, and although the book is coming along, it is slow going.

So I took a little break from painting my baby to fix up this baby.

I had the perfect bittersweet colored silk dress for her, to match her auburn hair, but as soon as I put it on her, it shredded.

Sometimes, there is such a thing as TOO vintage.

So, I found this little silk number and gaudied it up for her. Here is what I said on Etsy:

"This darling little red head came to me needing some help, wearing nothing but a pony tail and a Made in Japan stamp.

I found a pretty silk dress in my collection of vintage play things, but it was a little boxy and didn’t really flatter her. So, I created an apron with old trims and pale pinkish seam binding ribbon, and it suited her much better. Custom fitted clothes are always so much nicer than "off the rack". (Although, I am sitting here in a ripped tie dye shirt and gym shorts, so I really wouldn’t know what custom fitted clothes are like)

Her long, flowing, pony tail was in good shape, but the hair on her head seemed a little sparse, so I gave her a ringlet of old millinery flowers. She liked them so much, I added some to the hem of her dress.

A few coordinating ribbons in her hair and a vintage, glass, floral button on her dress and she is all ready for her new home.

She is about 5 1/2" tall and her body is a very soft, pliable rubbery material. She’s Made in Japan, so is old, but over all has held up well for her age. Better than I have."

Four paintings are finished for Sugarwing’s birthday book. Two more to go.

Plus the backgrounds for the text.

I’ll take them to a copy shop tomorrow and start making up books, or at least I hope to.

This is my favorite of them all, its number 5. I need to paint it, and then do one more tomorrow morning so I can start working on embellishing the copies. I hope to make another one to give as a gift to a friend. I am throwing her a baby shower on Friday night, she is expecting her first daughter.

Or is that odd, to write a book about my own little girl and then give copies to another little girl? My friend has Dorkies too, actually puppies that are children of my oldest dog, Bookie.

I’m impatiently awaiting the day that Twinkle becomes a puppy momma, she should be ready very soon. And although Bookie is no longer capable of being the father, I have a neighbor down the road with the cutest little 4 pound Dorkie you’ve ever met and he has a bit of a crush on Twinks.

Maybe before winter comes, I’ll be a gramma again! I miss having little puppies running around, I just can’t wait!!

OK, back to painting. I’m running out of time, I’d better keep working. I just wanted to take another break and visit blogland a bit.

PS- I’ve had no time to add to the August giveaway, but promise to when I get caught up.

grumpy

Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / August 11, 2008

My birthday book for Sugarwings is not going well today. Very little got finished this afternoon.

The tea party page is done as well as the text page to go next to it.

I painted a light background, scanned it, and then printed it with the words on it.

I’m sure that if I knew how to do digital scrapbook techniques, or just plain old, how to add text to a picture, this part would be easier!

The plan is to scan each page, then print and glue and embellish and sparkle them all up after I make them into a book. That way I can make multiple copies, with no two exactly alike.

But on this page she looks way too grown up. It’s not good enough to use. Luckily, not much time went into this picture, that also might explain why it isn’t very good??

Since painting wasn’t going well today, I took a break to add some things to my Etsy shop.

I seem to have piles and piles of crap, I mean finished art, around the studio that needs to be moved out of here!

So, I listed a few, but never seem to get many listings done.

I wondered if it was because I take so long with the photos, but from the looks of this one, that can’t be it, I didn’t even bother to comb this poor fairy baby’s hair before I took her picture!

Two fairies got listed and are ready to go to new homes.

And I dithered on whether or not I wanted to sell this wallpaper journal. It seemed like it should be a keeper, it is made with such pretty, old papers. But, I can make more if I need one later on.

It could be a scrapbook, or a journal, it is all vintage pages (9" x 11") ready to be filled with whatever the new owner feels like doing. It also comes with a scrap pack of coordinating wallpapers to use for further embellishments.

And lastly, this 8" x 4" tag.

Five items, is that all I listed today???? Geez, I am really not getting much done. I have a goal of 100 items, but have trouble keeping it at 50. And even though sales are not bad (thank you very much!!) they are not the reason I can’t keep up.

It is because it would take me a solid week to list another 50 items to get it up to that point! And I get bored doing it.

Its so much more fun to make things than to try to sell things.

Leelee_book_010 Sorry about the whining. Too much time off coupled with not enough time to finish a project that isn’t going well can do that to a person.

And maybe I miss my buddies who were here all week? It is sad to see them fly back to Florida and California. We’ve been friends since we were 11. Here is a picture of Sandy and I in our 20s, looks like we were hanging out in a bar…. probably were.

Plus, today is my 23rd wedding anniversary, and even though we had a wonderful celebration early, I felt a little lonely today, with Rich out East and me here.

Here we are with the kids that day, and my, we look like kids ourselves!

Doesn’t Sugarwings look like her daddy, my youngest son?

Thanks for listening to me be down a bit. Blogging friends are good to have. I’ll cheer myself up by blog hopping around and seeing all the beautiful eye candy out there on my favorite sites!

Before I go, here are a couple things I added to the August giveaway. A pair of pink vintage earrings and a Victorian calling card to go along with the brooch with the blue stone.

More goodies to come, you deserve it after putting up with my wallowing in self pity tonight!

ps- thanks to all of your kind wishes for my fairy baby. She is doing much better now.

Gone by in a blur

fairies, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 9, 2008

A little bit of painting got done today, not nearly enough. I only have a few days to finish this book for Sugarwing’s 2nd birthday!

Her party is one week from today. Its hard to believe she will be 2 already, but on the other hand, I feel like I have known her forever and can’t even remember what life was like before she came along!

Instead of making more illustrations for her birthday book, I puttered about instead. I did little projects like hanging my rolls of ribbon from a ribbon on the spool shelf I store my supplies in on the desk.

The ribbon ties to the spindles and can untie to change spools. It really only took a couple of minutes to do, so I can’t say what happened to the rest of my afternoon. It was a blur of non-productivity!

On 8-8-08, Sugarwing’s Hippie Chick mommy had a Leo birthday party and I went to face paint for everyone.

I was a bit early, so the fairy grand baby helped me get set up and tried out the paints. She wasn’t quite herself, and I realized the poor thing had a fever, so I took her to my house for a sleepover and her parents got to stay and enjoy their party.

We cuddled in front of a movie, and every once in a while, she’d turn to me and say, "I sick". She just was not feeling well at all.

Maybe being up checking on a feverish baby throughout the night explains my lack of accomplishments today?

Oh, I have a thank you to mention- look at these pretty butterflies! A kind hearted reader, Caitlin, sent a rainbow full of them for me to use to make fairies.

I will be making some little sprites, but for now, I had to hang a few of the butterflies up to enjoy.

With company and trips and everything else going on for the last two weeks, I haven’t made up a prize for the August giveaway yet. Any suggestions?

There is one going, of course, all comments count.

We just don’t know what the prize is yet, except for this little vintage brooch with a blue stone.

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!

Why I most likely will not be wearing a prom dress to Silver Bella

antiques/junking, fairies, family, Moving to DC, paintings, Silver Bella, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 30, 2008

You might have heard that at Silver Bella this coming November, there will be a vintage prom night.

Well, I saw this pretty pink confection at Lucketts today, for a bargain price, and thought, just maybe this one would work for a ‘more mature’ prom princess.

It wasn’t quite as frothy as most of the 50s dresses I’ve seen, and had a bodice that seemed a bit easier to wear for someone who didn’t have the shoulders of a 15 year old.

I also thought it didn’t look quite as tiny as most of the vintage gowns out there.

oops, I was wrong.

Not only am I past having the shoulders of a 15 year old, my waist and butt aren’t anywhere near that age group either.

But I bought it anyway! It might be right for another Bella, if not, it will look nice on my dress form and I can use it to display the jewelry I make and plan to sell at Silver Bella.

I also found these hand made, old Barbie prom dresses, 3 lamp shades for 40% off, and a hat loaded with scrumptious pink blooms.

I spent a total of $38 today. Which really isn’t much for how much I got, but is quite a bit if you look back at all of my recent posts and see just how much shopping I have been doing lately….

This Jack and Jill book from 1948 has the sweetest fairy illustrations and was only a dollar, and I got a bag of velvet ribbons for $2, but these pictured are the prettiest of the colors. (I don’t care for the oranges and bright blues, but will find a use for them, I’m sure)

To stop myself from buying more, I came back to our apartment in Centreville and worked on Sugarwing’s birthday book.

I started a tea party sketch, here is a rough draft.

Then I started to refine it a bit, and add ink. Later, I’ll do watercolor tints to the picture too.

This page will say:

"When there is a tea party, Sugarwings and Twinkle serve delicious, pretend treats. Twinkle doesn’t understand why she can’t see or taste the cookies that her sister is eating, but would really like to have one." Luncheon

Speaking of tea parties, here is Heather’s dining room set up for our luncheon on Sunday.

Everywhere you look in her house, there is something pretty, and sometimes it is looking right back at you, like this birdie!

Or the pretty porcelain ladies that she has scattered about.

If you read her blog, you already know about her sense of style. Everything there is pretty, just like her name says, "Pretty Petals".

I had some trouble viewing her site from the hotel lobby computer! It was blocked due to "adult content"???? I wrote her and said I was afraid she was one of those Internet predators my husband is sure I will run into at any moment.

So, I told her that if she picked me up Sunday morning in a big white van like serial killers always drive, or was wearing a trench coat, I was not going with her!

But all was well, she didn’t try to kill me, and we had a lovely day at Karlapalooza, and a great time at her house afterward.

I’m just a girl who can’t say no to sparkles!

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, paintings, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 29, 2008

More from Karlapalooza- here is a picture Heather took of me, buying- what else?? Gems! Sparkling gems. I was like a magpie that day, constantly stopping for every sparkle I saw out of the corner of my eye.

This guy had piles of boxes of jewels and I couldn’t leave his booth. No prices were on them, he said they ranged from $1 to $7. I told him I’d make a pile and if anything was over a dollar, he could pull it out.

At first, I was trying to be polite and not hog all the good stuff from my friends, but they made their choices and moved on, so I piled it high!

He actually charged me much less than $1 each, because I bought so much. I ended up spending $35 there, not all of this is from that booth. But I didn’t spend over a dollar on anything here but that crystal stoppered bottle, it was $6.

I bought a few baggies of jewels for $3 a bag, and picked out the ones I wouldn’t use. We went to a friend’s house for a cook out last night and I knew his little girls would love to have some jewelry to play dress up with. I promised to bring them more next time I come too.

Heather Karlawski made the most lovely tussie mussie for me, and I thought that was just another example of how much we had in common, since I brought a tussie to her too!

And Kitty Karla had rolled up and decorated pretty vintage papers for us. I haven’t been able to bring myself to unroll it yet, it is too pretty as it is!

And yes– I found some hats! I pulled the flowers off of them and kept the flowers, leaving a couple of the naked hats behind for Heather to work her magic on and foof up. Have you ever seen how pretty Heather makes her hats?? Wow, they are beautiful.

I also bought old calling cards- notice the "Bella" card? I foresee many Silver Bella projects with that image!! And the two dolly dresses are for Sugarwing’s babies. I think that all of her toys at her Grammie Karkie’s house should vintage.

My favorite find of the day was the cake plate all these pretty purchases are sitting on.

It is a metal cake plate music box. When you wind it up, the plate turns and it plays "Happy Birthday"- plus it has roses on it and was only $4!

Sugarwings calls every cake a "happy" since they are often served with a serenade of "Happy Birthday".

She has her 2nd birthday coming up and I can’t wait to bake a cake with her and set it on this cake plate so we can sing along.

I miss my little fairy grand baby!!

I decided that for her birthday on August 16th, I would make a book to give her.

Here is my first sketch and this is the text that will be on the page:

"Sugarwings has a best friend, named Twinkle. Twinks is actually a dog, and Sugarwings is a little fairy girl, but these two think they are sisters. Isn’t it nice when your sister is your best friend?

Of course the two do fuss and argue sometimes. Often they want the same cookie or toy, but they have learned to share."

I have plans for paintings of them at a tea party, with Twink’s head cocked at an angle because she doesn’t understand why the baby is eating pretend cookies and is wondering where the real cookie is. And another page of the the puppy getting Sugarwing’s toes. A total of 6 illustrations and 6 pages of text. Not a big book, but just right for a two year old.

I didn’t take as many photos at the flea market as I should have. We were enjoying the day too much and didn’t stop for photo ops often. Here is Heather and Lori admiring some cute dolls.

I did take LOTS of

pictures of Heather’s home- and by the way, it is even prettier in person. When you walk in, you just feel tranquil, with all the soft colors and pretty things around.

I’ll show more next time!

And remember my TWO giveaways end in a few days, and it is not too late to enter. I will add a piece of the jewelry I bought at Karlapalooza to the prize pack of summertime bright color jewels I have wrapped up for the August giveaway.

And if you are interested in any of the little watercolor sketches from the previous post, the two pink cupcakes and the dove are spoken for. Thanks, Amy, Ruby, and Bobbi!