family – Page 41 – Karla's Cottage

A fairy tea party for grandma

bird song art event, cottage, fairies, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 21, 2014

The day after Birdsong ended, my week was just gearing up! We had family in town visiting, and a new kitten joined our family. His name is Terrance Snow Bell Song Bird Nathan. (Terrance was in the Tinkerbell movie)

The monsoons resumed, and the girls made use of the piles of umbrellas we'd had out on the porch earlier.

Guncle Randy, Karen Hillman, and Crafting Queen Regina were in charge of dinner, while my husband grilled chicken. He had rigged up multiple umbrellas and tarps to grill under, and didn't give up, no matter how soggy the day got.

After a quiet-ish day of hanging in the studio and running people to the airport, we had a big family feast. And the next morning, the grand fairies threw a tea party for Great Grandma Joan who had come to visit them.

They had been talking about her visit for months. And had big plans for the tea party. I'm so glad that I didn't listen to my tired body, and that I rallied for this. It meant a lot to the little ones and a person like Joan deserves being the guest of honor at a fairy feast.

She is a dear lady.

Karen and Randy had whipped up a baked squash dish and a pan of roasted potatoes for our dinner the night before. I remade the leftovers into an egg casserole, made home made cinnamon rolls, asparagus wrapped in ham, and fruit salad (left overs too). Just about everything was a reconfigured dish.

The cinnamon rolls were even topped with extra raspberry icing I'd made for the cake I served for dessert on Sunday.

Did I mention that I bought WAY too much food for Birdsong? Luckily, I had a hoard of hungry nephews drop by to visit me on their way to a white water rafting trip. I filled their cooler with cookies and picnic food.

The little girls set the table for me, tea parties are a great learning experience for tiny fairies. Between their enthusiasm (and the smell of fresh baking bread) we had a table full of guests for our party. At first, it was just going to be a handful of us, no one else could make it.

Festivity can be contaigious, and even my Handsome Husband got into the feel of the event. He went and put on a jacket and tie for the party.

With his cargo shorts.

Regina, Guncle Randy, and Karen all delayed thier trip to Kansas City to stay and toast Great Grandma Joan with herbal tea.

I think this photo is hilarious. The breezeway was pretty much trashed, from Birdsong, a big dinner the night before, and the box of empties from the parties hadn't gone out yet. But it just goes to show that you don't have to make everything perfect to have a good time.

If I'd had to completley clean up from the previous parties, I doubt if I'd been able to squeeze one more occasion out of my hospitality drained soul. So, I just ignored the remnants of it all and partied-on.

From the look on this little fairy's face, a bit of mess wasn't even noticeable to her.

Sugarwings took this photo of us saying goodbye.

It was a fun way to see eveyone off and say thanks to the family and friends who had helped me so much all weekend.

Easter at the cottage

family, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 21, 2014

I hope you had a good Easter? Ours was so nice, it was great to have wonderful weather and to be outside enjoying it.

Sugarwings takes after me and doesn't bother with the silly, wire egg dipper. We both end up with dyed fingers, even more colorful than our eggs.

Sugarwings had a friend over to dye and hunt for eggs. Around here, we use dress up clothes instead of aprons for messy work, so the girls dug through the princess dresses to find something festive and to keep the dye off their regular clothes.

I should have put on a royal costume too, because my brand new, pale blue jeans ended up with more than a few smatterings of purple on them.

I love the snow boots with the pink dress! She chose those because they are the boots she was shopping for the day she met her best friend at Famous Footwear. They have been buddies since then.

Lee Lee and La La, forever friends.

After the eggs were dipped, we moved on to decorating cupcakes. Normally, we are very careful to keep food coloring out of Sugarwing's diet, but we figured a few sprinkles on a holiday wasn't going to hurt. I did bake gluten and dairy free cupcakes, otherwise known as bricks, and purchase organic, natural colored jelly beans to fill the plastic eggs.

Oh my god, those were the most expensive jelly beans I've ever seen! I filled a bag at the bulk food aisle, and am still in sticker shock at the price tag. My bagful of beans was over $20. And to think of all of those bags of regular jelly beans going on sale the day after Easter for a quarter, really puts it into perspective.

But when your little one has difficulties, any price or amount of trouble is, of course, worth it to help them.

I would spend my last penny to see this smile.

Sadly, we didn't have a crowd this year for our annual egg hunt. We are doing a bit of out door remodelling and our patio is ripped out, and the yard is a wreck, so we didn't have a big party. Dewdrop was with her other siblings and mom for the day and they weren't able to attend.

We were glad that her friend was able to spend the day with us, and even more special was that this was La La's first ever, egg hunt. She'd never dyed eggs either.

Sugarwings also got to meet up with an old friend at the egg hunt the nursing home her mom works at held on Saturday.

Many of the residents delighted were by the party.

This bunny's face might seem a bit creepy, but I can promise the kids loved her! It was a cute event at the nursing home. I'm all about cute, I possibly enjoyed the day even more than the kids.

I was just kind of wishing I had my own bunny costume. And I'd probably rather have vintage one that was slightly creepy. I love this one.

Experiments

family

By Karla Nathan / April 12, 2014

We are getting our first greens from the Family Food Forest and it tastes like Spring! We're also receiving about 14 eggs a day from the ladies. Our original plan was to get a farmer's market booth to sell some of our excess, but honestly, till after Birdsong, I'm swamped.

So, my son is looking for locals who want weekly eggs, and produce as it comes along. In the meantime, we are all enjoying the goodness ourselves! We had a big family dinner the other night, and the salad was the highlight of the meal for me.

While dinner was cooking, the fairy grand girls and I tried an experiment. I'd heard that tonic water glowed under a black light.

And someone who drinks vodka tonics left a few bottles of the stuff here a year ago. I hate to waste things and didn't throw it out even though I knew none of us would ever drink it.

When I heard that tonic glows, I was glad I was a hoarder and I had a bottle tucked away. I filled a bucket with tonic water, and set it in the tub. Our bathroom hasn't got any windows, so with the door shut, it was perfect for the experiment. We got our black light (it's actually called the "Pee Finder" and is a flashlight to hunt down dog pee with, so is battery operated, not plugged in), and hung it from the faucet above the bucket of tonic.

Dewdrop didn't really care, but Sugarwings loved seeing which toys would glow and throwing them in the tonic. Next time, I think I'll have a few glo sticks handy to toss in.

St Paddy’s Day Parade

Dew Drop, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 24, 2014

We had a perfect day downtown Lawrence for the St Patrick's Day parade. Sugarwings danced the day away, awash in the joy of it all.

And with her brushes with princesses and beauty queens. Who knew Kansas was so chock full of royalty?

We had all of the parade court go by, one at a time, Miss Kansas, Mrs. Kansas, Miss Lawrence, Miss Douglas Co., Miss Topeka, Miss Johnson Co. and more.

Sugarwing's own crown broke early in the day, but she had to have it on every time a princess came by. Her grandfather was happy to hold it in place for her so she could greet her fellow royal friends. And so many of them were so sweet to her, making sure to greet her, eye to eye and say something.

My husband had the brilliant idea to go downtown early and park our truck so we could have a base to hang out in. We picked up a bag of green crap beautiful holiday decor, to deck out the truck and make it festive.

I let the girls do all the decorating themselves. We had green tinsel and leprechaun window clings everywhere.

Being there early, turned it into an almost all day adventure. We had a picnic, did some decorating, went for a walk, but mostly just hung out and had fun together.

Dewdrop didn't get the whole Irish concept, and insisted on wearing pink. But did consent to wear a green mermaid tale costume. And every once in a while would put on a hat. But mostly, she was enthralled by green moustaches and beards on the guys. And thought that leprechauns were Santas.

Personally, I was into the green thing. I got a hat from the dollar store and spent a couple minutes glittering it up and added some old millinery flowers with a couple safety pins.

And my witchy socks were called leprechaun socks for the day.

Sugarwings was all rainbows and green sparkles from head to toe. And used one of the dollar store hats to gather tons of candy that was being passed out.

She was very good about not eating it, and when Fin came by from one of the floats, she gave most of it to him. And that guy tossed it to the crowds when he got back on his bus. I was proud of them all for being good sharers. For them, it was more about the collecting and tossing than about a sweet tooth.

Our favorite entry in the parade, was of course, the Hoop Mamas. Sugarwing's Hippy Chick mommy and all of their friends ran over to give hugs.

They won 3rd place this year. Not bad, considering how much time and effort went into so many floats. These girls won with their dance routines.

We thought this garden center float filled up with baby fairies, was adorable.

That one got Dewdrop's vote. I think she appreciated that the fairies also preferred pink.

Downtown was pretty crazy and the traffic was bumper to bumper after it was over, but I don't think I'd ever want to go to this parade without the pickup again. We loved having a home base, and seats.

We were up high and had a great view from the tailgate. And when our friends came right up to the truck with their horses, Dewdrop had plenty of space to run away from them.

Funny, that kid loves "My Little Pony" more than anything, but when a real horse came up to see her, I practically had to peel her off the roof of the truck cab.

Downtown Lawrence is such a pretty place to spend a day. No matter what day of the year you go. But St Pat's is a big deal around here and they sure know how to celebrate it.

This year it was even better, with the weather cooperating, and the 17th fell during Spring Break for all the local kids.

I hope we have the luck of the Irish again next year! I already can't wait. What fun.

What A Wonderful, Wonderful, Day It Was

celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 9, 2014

If you have a little Oz fan (or a big one like me) in your family, she will need to get to Crown Center in Kansas City to see the 75th anniversary celebration display. And on different weekends, you can meet some of the characters.

We were lucky to be there on Glenda's day to visit.

Her costume was perfect in every detail! I really wanted this necklace she had on.

While standing in the (very short) line to meet the Good Witch, Sugarwings confessed that she was getting nervous and didn't know what to say to her.

But it didn't take her long to get over her nerves. She was thrilled to meet the gracious witch who took plenty of time to greet and visit with each kid.

Down the hall, was the Oz playground. Every single inch of the space was hand painted.

Starting with Auntie Em's old house, all at a crazy tilted angle from the twister.

Complete with the Wicked Witch's feet sticking out from underneath.

If you press the red button and look through the window, you can watch Miss Gulch fly through the storm on her bike. Throughout the exhibit, there were lots of interactive things like that for the kids.

We were some of the biggest kids there. I wore my striped socks and witch hat, but didn't go all out witchy. I still made a friend who believed I was the real thing, though. A little boy followed me around throwing pretend buckets of water at me, so that I'd do a lot of melting. And more than one itty bitty girl thought that Sugarwings was really Dorothy.

I was impressed with Wizard's giant head, and all the details of the Emerald City, from the green lighting to the floor painted with emeralds.

And behind the curtain, the mechanics of making the giant head come alive, with buttons, levers, and pumps for the kids to control.

I've been to Crown Center for a kid event one other time and this same room was all hand painted every bit as cool and done up as a fairy tale land.

It's been too long since I revisited, I need to become a regular there with my girls, this place is so cute. We want to go back on the weekend that Dorothy is there to greet everyone, and I hope that Dewdrop gets to come along then.

We missed her this trip, I know she'd love it as much as we did.

And did I mention it was all free? This is set up in a downtown mall, owned by Hallmark (headquartered in KC) and there are lots of other attractions there for kids, plus shopping, movies, and food.

We ate at the Crayola Cafe, and surprisingly, had a very good meal. I was especially glad to see the heathy eating tips aimed at kids on the menu. And a side of "apple fries" which was an apple cut up like french fries and flavored with cinnamon, crispy and fresh, not fried at all.

There was also a lot of activities (free) in the Crayola gift shop.

As well as art supplies to buy. We got a couple little things, and also bought this Dorothy dress and ruby slippers at a shop there, but if you don't want to spend money, they even provide a place for you to eat a bagged lunch you can bring for yourself.

We were glad to see that there were dresses to buy, because we'd had a Dorothy emergency that morning. Sugarwings has had a progression of Dorothy dresses from infant size to 5, and we realized that she'd outgrown her latest one. I looked everywhere downtown Lawrence to get one for the day, with no luck. She had to wear a Toto tee shirt and a gingham apron.

But being the sunny child she is, she was fine with it.

My husband said she looked like a laundress.

The dress was a big improvement and she was thrilled to get it. But she is pretty much thrilled with anything and everything.

Which is why every day is an adventure with her, no matter where we are heading.

Explorations

cottage, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / February 27, 2014

It's been a long, long, coooooold winter. But before the last big blast of unrelenting cold, we had a break, one beautiful day not only above freezing, but NICE. Sunshiny and warm. Springlike! So nice that Sugarwings and I stepped outside to take a peek at the sunshine and never went back in the house. We were still wearing jammies and didn't even care.

We decided to explore the back part of our land, we have about 10 acres, but only use about a third of it. The rest is hard to get to. requiring us to cross a couple of creeks and I don't like battling the weeds and underbrush during the summer growing season. In the winter, the brush has all died back and it's possible to walk through the woods without getting all tangled up but it's usually too cold for me to want to check it out.

But on this warm, winter day we could also walk right across the frozen creeks. It was an odd feeling to be outside on a day toasty enough to not need a jacket, but still walking on solid ice.

In the first photo, you can see the log that makes the bridge over the creek, which is how we usually cross. I'm not a fan of it, so was glad to slip and slide across the ice instead of dangling over the water on that log. As a person with no sense of balance at all, walking on ice isn't easy, but it's easier than clinging to that dead tree and scooting along it an inch at a time.

Sugarwings found lots of club houses out there. Here is a ring of trees on a hill that we are sure that the fairies planted just for us to play in.

Now that we have a John Deere Gator, my husband has major plans to drive across the creek, harvest firewood to bring back, and also clear some trails. I hope that we'll be spending more time back there as the seasons turn, now that we will have better access.

I love that we "reclaimed" part of our land to create our Fairy Berry Trail. Especially as the girls get older. They will enjoy exploring out there.

It would feel good to have use of the whole property. Sometimes there have been years when we haven't even crossed the creek to visit our own land.

The winner of a copy of Where Women Create is

Pallas.

Please send me your address, Pallas, and I'll get it out in the mail. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to enter. I enjoyed your comments.

Sweethearts and some card making tips

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, holiday decor, how to's, Sugarwings, Valentine's Day, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 21, 2014

I hope you had a good Valentines Day? We sure did. Actually, a week of it! My Handsome Husband took me out to dinner one night, then the next, we all got dressed up and went out for a fancy meal with Sugarwings, her mommy and her mommy's sweetheart. And this was all before Valentines ever arrived. On the day of, I had the grand fairies and we decided to play with food coloring out in the snow.

Of course, not all of the artwork can be hearts and love notes when you are creating with a 3 year old, and most of it all got trampled. When Ryan came down his stairs later as it was starting to get dark out, he thought there had been some sort of massacre in the snow from all the red squirted everywhere.

Sugarwings took off for a weekend with her mommy while Dewdrop spent some time with us. We got all dressed up with her and went out on the town again, to do a little dining and dancing while a friend's band played.

Then, and yes there is MORE. My husband and I went out to dinner AGAIN with some friends. I think I might just forget how to cook. I could get used to this life of restaurants and celebrations.

Except it all came to a crashing end when I had more gum surgery on Monday morning. No more dining for me for a while, it's jello time now.

Between galas and bashes and dinners and celebrating, I made up some cards to send out. These are a little different for me, not all elements are pure vintage. I had this rose print paper, and thought it was perfect for the holiday.

To start, I folded a chocolate brown sheet of card stock to make the card, and inked all the edges inside and out. Next, I cut out the rose paper to fit on the card, and with an exacto blade, cut slits in the faux picture frame on the paper, to slide in a Victorian die cut cherub.

To make the frame a bit more 3d, I used a soft brown marker to outline the inside of the frame and create shadows.

Around the card, I doodled with a metallic gold ink pen. The message inside the card is with the same ink.

To finish, I glued two sets of millinery petals, and added a red rhinestone to the center.

This card was made in much the same way, then I added velvet ribbon, a crepe paper ruffle, a painted brass piece and a millinery leaf to the edge.

For the brass, I used Martha Stewart craft paint that is made for metal, painted it on and wiped it off.

This time, the card also features a painted metal piece, that I've tied ribbons to. On top of it, I glued some vintage butterfly wings and on those, a pink cake topper lady, who is now a fairy.

I had another pink lady, and used her over some die cut butterfly wings that my friend, Hope, had given me. I layered her over another painted brass piece and some lace.

This one was made after I ran out of the pretty rose paper but was still in a card making mood. I cut sheet music into a heart, inked the edges and added a crepe paper ruffle to the back.

Onto the card, I added a Victorian die cut lady. Her dress had been baby blue, but I changed that with markers for a more Valentiney look. Her wings are two different butterflies printed onto vellum paper, and slid under her shoulders.

I added some millinery and a touch of sparkle with Stickles glitter.

I just love the way vellum paper looks with images printed on it. This photo is on vellum, and I cut a heart out of sparkly, white scrap book paper to layer underneath, then put both over a tan mat for contrast. It went into a frame, not onto a card.

If you'd like to try the snow painting, it is simple as can be. A small amount of food coloring in a jug of water is all it takes to make the paint. Then, put it into squirt bottles. It is surprising how fast it goes, though, so be prepared for a lot of refilling.

PS- if you'd like to sign up for a chance to win a copy of Where Women Create, please leave a comment on my previous post, or on FB.

Happy Birthday Mom

family, flowers, free images, paintings

By Karla Nathan / February 16, 2014

Today is my mom's birthday. I always miss her, but even more this time of year.

She was creative and funny. Silly and loving. Goofy and full of laughs.

(to use these two postcards yourself, click on the images to open in a larger window and save them to your computer to print)

When I visited my sisters, we looked at some of Bobbie's old family pictures. One was this of my grandma.

You are welcome to save this picture to use in your artwork if you'd like. Grandma was crafty too, as well as most of our family.

She liked to make things, so while she might think it was odd that people would want to use vintage photos of strangers in their artwork, she would probably understand the love of creating.

Mom died a few years back, and Bobbie had some photos from the funeral. I'd painted the casket for Mom, and I know she'd have been so tickled.

When I was a single mother, struggling to get by, mom took me and the boys in to live with her. We both loved seeing the first irises of spring, and bringing them in to put in vases all around her house. Painting the blooms became one of my obsessions. That made the flower become her favorite and she'd pre-ordered a big bouquet of them to be at her funeral.

She was quite the planner, the whole memorial service was lined out, payed for and planned to the tee years before she passed away. Complete with photos of her next to the casket she picked out and next to her grave plot.

The casket wasn't decorated in irises though. I sure wish she could have seen that. She'd have loved it.

There is a factory in our home town that makes caskets and hers had been ordered there. Luckily, they let me come in with my brushes for a couple of hours and embellish the top. They didn't even bat an eye at my request, either.

Bobbie also had this picture at her house, not a photo, but my original drawing of our other grandma, this one on Dad's side.

It was from a high school art class, and had been hanging at my Daddy's house since then. When he died, it stayed there with his wife. She passed away awhile back and recently, Bobbie went to get it for me. I have no way to get it in a suitcase (it's huge) so I asked her if she wanted to keep it.

She also gathered up this watercolor of a barn my dad had helped build. I think it is his brother's barn, not the family homestead. This is hanging in my sister's guest room too. Or "my room" as I call it.

I enjoyed seeing paintings hang in there, and looking through photos too. And the best part was that I was with people who share the same memories that I do.

It's great to reminisce with family.

I think that today, in honor of her birthday, I'll see if I can find some iris at the florist for my dining room. Mom would like that.

Valentine Fairies

antiques/junking, bird song art event, fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / February 10, 2014

Our family day Valentine fairy workshop was very special to me. I simply do not get enough time with my sisters and their kids. Not all of them could be there, a couple of nephews are far flung, like I am. Because of they are not nearby, it was a good day to be together, we found out that my oldest nephew's son was going through a crisis and wasn't expected to live. I was glad to be with family as the story unfolded, and even more glad to be there when we got the news that he was recovering and was going to be fine.

Bobbie's home is the best place to be for a Valentine party, the dining room's color scheme was ideal! And she had plenty of space for all of us to gather. We had kind of an open house seating, with nieces coming and going through out the day to make fairies with us.

I'd brought all the supplies and turned everyone loose with them to see what they'd come up with. The best part of a class is the variety of styles and creative ideas that show up in the end products. Dang, I don't know how I missed getting a picture of Hannah's basketball fairy, it was a cutie!

Bobbie put her own face on her doll. It's fitting, because her last name is Valentine!

Here is the three of us posing with our dolls. The cheery, cherry wall was a good place to pose, and the rose painting was a good match for our Valentine theme too.

Doesn't it look like Sis is wearing a magnificent floral hat tho? So, I had to put a hat on too. Sadly, all that was near me was a skein of yarn. Not a fancy as hers.

Sissy brought some curly wool roving in deep tones that made ideal hair.

I'd dyed wool and crepe paper in pinks and reds to use.

Then decided that my wool was too pink and redyed some yellow over it to make it more fleshy. Great for the dolls, but in a pile, it looked like intestines or worms.

I sewed up some strips of sparkly tulle for dresses petticoats too. You should see the drifts of glitter left behind in my sewing machine, when I opened the bobbin compartment.

I'm not sure that is good for it…

The more fairies I made, the more I got the hang of it and came up with tricks and short cuts.

Whenever I do a class or tutorial, I need to make a bazillion prototypes before I figure out the very best way to tackle the project. My studio is going to be knee deep in fairies by the time I'm ready to host the class.

For now, I've got the pretties hanging off my dining room chandelier for the holiday.

These will differ from what we are doing in Birdsong, since for one thing, they are all pink and red Valentines, but for another, I used some new flowers instead of all vintage millinery.

While experimenting with the new petals, I ran into a lot of trouble with my glue. I've always used the Ultimate, and love it. But when it came to these brand new petals, it just wouldn't stick, they were slipping and sliding right off of the skirt. I asked around and Fabric Tack was suggested. It did the trick, worked great on the new materials. My fave, the Ultimate was used on the rest and also on the old flowers.

I've come up with lots of different shoe styles for the fairies, I always like to have a lot of options to show the class attendees.

I even have extra face options. Dogs, cats, cherubs, ladies. No dorkies, though, durn it. I wish I could find some Victorian scrap Yorkshire Terriers!

After making a quite a few red and pink girls, I was ready to try some other colors.

And I ended up with a few witches.

Bobbie's witch had a face from Oz.

Sissy moved onto using her wool for another purpose and felted a scarf. And when my niece, Stacey, saw what we were using, she offered to gather some angora from her friend's goats. I can't wait to felt and dye that soft, fuzzy wool. I'll show you the steps as I do it. Of course, it could be a "don't try it this way yourself" version of instructions, because I've never done it before.

One thing I tried didn't go so well. I thought that maybe the sprites would look better with more rounded bodies. So, we tried wrapping the wool over cotton balls, only to find that the dolls looked like cinched in pillows, not curvy fairies. The one on the left is an example of how NOT to make one.

I'm excited to make more and get my kits made up in soft springtime colors for our Birdsong gathering.

And I'll enjoy memories of our family weekend filled with fairies while I am making kit after kit after kit.

A special surprise

antiques/junking, bird song art event, celebrations, family

By Karla Nathan / February 8, 2014

When I got an invitation to my niece's surprise 50th birthday party in Indiana, I couldn't say no. As soon as I finagled the kiddo watching schedule and made sure my turn was covered, I cashed in frequent flyer miles and packed my bag.

My niece, Shelli, has always loved mermaids, so I made this one as a gift for her. It's the same pipe cleaner and wool roving as the fairies we will be making in Birdsong, but with shells and a tail instead of clothes and legs. A little more complicated, but not much. And harder to sit up, so I packed a sea shell in the gift bag too, now the little mermaid has a seat.

This mermaid is holding a heart shaped coral from the Maui beach and her seahorse wand is a cocktail pick from our dinner cruise there. And my family wonders why I fill my pockets with "junk" sometimes, it's not junk, it's supplies!

My flight arrived in time for a lunch out with my sisses and the birthday girl. She didn't realize there was more in-store for her birthday the next day and had no idea I was there just for her. She thought that the lunch was the celebration itself, along with dinner out with her husband and kids that night.

So, the evening after her birthday, when everyone surprised her at the party, she was looking over her shoulder trying to figure out whose shindig this was.

It was cute to see her face when she realized everyone was there just for her.

My sisses and I were able to fit in a little antiquing the first day, just enough to score 3 floral hats and a few other tidbits, not a lot, but it scratched my junking itch.

Mostly I was there for family time, and glad to have it.

Our cousin even drove all the way down from Northern Indiana in the snow to join us for craft day.

Everyone consented to be my guinea pig students for the Birdsong fairies. This is Sissy's Valentine fairy, I'll have more to show later.

**********************

ps- have you seen the Facebook movies that have sprung up over night? At first I wondered what the heck they were, then thought they were hokey, and soon after got sucked in to looking at them all.

Some are off a bit, like showing exes from years ago, or odd pictures. But some are golden. I even got a little teary eyed at a couple, including my own. Yep, I went along like a lemming and posted one.

Here is the page it is on.

They are fun to look at, but it's also creepy to see how fast they spread. In one day, it seemed like every other post was a fb movie. Like a zombie epidemic.