family – Page 52 – Karla's Cottage

Cuff bracelet tutorial

Dew Drop, family, jewelry, Mayara, Sugarwings, Tutorials

By Karla Nathan / November 4, 2011

The cuff bracelet tutorial I promised is up and running. There is a button on my side bar to click on for more info, or click here.

Its a $6 class.

The class is online, in blog form, and holds written instructions lots of photos of the steps that I use to make my own cuffs.

(why on earth don't I ever think of polishing my nails before I do one of these???)

Here is a button for the class if you'd like one.

Its up and running, with no end date. So you can refer back to the blog in the future for a refresher.

I've also made up some kits for sale. You can find them in my Boutique, on this page.

The tutorial is included in the kit price.

There are a few kits listed and I am waiting on a bulk order of the aluminum cuffs to make up a few more. For now, I have the 1-1/2" size, next week I'll also have the 1" cuffs. Today I found some toasty, cream cotton velvet too, won't that be pretty?

And if you aren't in the mood to make your own, I have listed a few that I made myself too.

You can find some here, and some in the Etsy shop, here too. (Yay, I got it reopened! And have big plans to restock it for the holidays)

I've got another half dozen cuffs to photograph and list, but today was busy with putting packages together. I've been in bed with a cruel stomach bug all week and haven't had a chance to get my orders filled. But if you are waiting for a package from me, thanks for your patience, its on its way now!

Little Dew Drop and the rest of these photos don't have anything to do with the stomach bug, I figured they were much prettier pictures than anything along the lines of what I was talking about. Its been a rough week, but with a trip to the ER for fluids to revive me, I am on the mend.

Seems like the worst part of being sick (beyond losing a week of work, when I am trying to fill my shop for the holidays) is finally crawling out of my dark, depressing, sick room to find the house a mess. Now, I'm not blaming my sweet husband, who spent the night sitting up in a stiff chair at the ER while my veins were pumped full of that wonderful IV nectar that made me better, and who watched Sugarwings on his own while I was out of it.

He was just great. He was helpful, he was loving.

But he just doesn't notice messes.

I honestly think he doesn't see them.

So, when I finally was able to get up on two legs and left the bedroom, instead of just crawling from the bed to the bathroom, I was a bit down to see how things had piled up around the cottage.

But the worst part was that I passed the bug on to him and to Ryan and then had to take care of them, while I was still feeling like noodle legged mush myself. Not to mention taking over the care of an energetic Sugarwings for the night.

The two girls were already exposed to the bug last week when their Daddy and his Gypsy were sick, and haven't caught it yet. I'm hoping they don't. Its awful. I feel guilty enough that the guys picked it up while bringing me juice. They were very brave and are paying for it now. So, I'm off to go check on my menfolk, and see if they need a refill.

I hope all is well at your house. WINTER IS COMING (that Game of Thrones quote stays with me) and so are the bugs. Dang, I miss the summer bugs, as much as I hate mosquitos, they are better than the stomach flu!

Zombie Invasion

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 31, 2011

We live in a great town, it has everything, a good school system, community arts, a vibrant downtown, loyal Jayhawks, great food, and zombies.

Yep, real live zombies. Not the dead kind.

We went downtown for dinner, and snagged a street side table to watch the annual parade.

At first, Sugarwings was enjoying the site as the zombies arrived and made their way to the start of the parade.

But soon, we were in the middle of HUNDREDS of the walking undead.

That is when she dove under the table.

I have to admit, it was pretty freaky.

I thought about joining her under there!

But she could see we were having a lot of fun with the parade and we'd been talking about costumes and how zombies aren't real, so she came out and joined us for dinner.

But she did stay on her Pop Pop's lap.

The food was great, the weather was perfect, what a great night to sit outside and eat a big ole juicy steak as blood drenched corpses walked by.

This was a fund raiser for the Humane Society.

It was $15 to join the parade, and I'd love to know how much the shelter made, there was a huge turnout.

Zombies of all ages participated.

Brides seemed to be very popular.

And the local costume stores must have sold out of fake blood.

We saw the Skipper and his Lil Buddy, Santa, Batman, Superman, you name it, that zombie was there.

And many were ready to stop and chat at our table.

Some of the acting was really impressive.

And some of the costumes were almost too scary.

One little zombie boy stopped and gave our Sugarwings a flower. She was really warming up to it all by then.

Soon, she was hiding under the restaurant's menu board and jumping out to scare people herself.

But her bravery didn't last, one zombie pulled the same trick on her, jumped in her face and growled. The poor kid was terrified after that and just sobbed.Luckily the parade was over and it was time to go home.

I felt so bad for her. She'd been having so much fun watching the hoarde go by, til that one girl jumped into her face.

My mom raised me to love horror movies, and my boys watched them growing up too. Sugarwings has always been attracted to the scary characters in every fairy tale and story, she is a big fan of flying monkeys, witches, and trolls.

But I don't know if zombies will be very high on her list of faves.

We'll see. If she takes after me, she'll be fond of them.

Ariel, Ursala, and some odd witch thing

family, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 29, 2011

Ariel and Ursala the sea witch were also guests at our Halloween party last weekend.

Sugarwings has been a huge fan of Ariel since before she could even talk. Dorothy and Ariel have been a in tie for her affections for her entire life, she has loyally loved both forever.

I found this dress at TJMaxx for $9, because it was part of a whole princess set, but was missing the rest of the pieces. I bought it because I knew we could always use another pink princess dress, not even knowing it was meant to be Ariel's. Lucky find, because our little princess was thrilled.

They kind of look alike now that Sugarwings has the firey hair do, don't they? Of course, by the end of the evening, her hair was a tangled mess, and the red spray had it sticking up every which way, her face was all dirt, and her gown was too. She looked like ghoulish Ariel after playing flash light tag in the woods and sword fighting with the boys for hours.

And we have one pink chair from where she rested after getting worn out. Happily, it was the recliner in my husband's office. I hate that chair. You know, recliners can be pretty ugly, but a little bit a pink helps makes it look like it really belongs in my house.
After playing fairy dress up all weekend in Asheville earlier in the month, I was still in the mood for getting my fairy gear on. But since it was Halloween, I took it up a notch and added green/blue eyeshadow to my face and lots of glitter.

And some witchy socks, too. No one knew what I was supposed to be, and I really didn't either. A witchy fairy? That is probably close.

We all love dressing up. I'm lucky to have this little sea sprite to play dress up with anytime we want to.

Its been a while since I had a chance to do any creating. So, I was happy to have some time to make this Halloween tag. Its a good example of "Using the Good Stuff". All the supplies are filled with vintagey goodness.

And what did I do with it? I tucked it into a package that I was packing for a very nice customer. Its fun to surprise people.

I hope your Halloween is filled with the spirit of fun too!

(don'cha love picnik?-what fun for Halloween!)

Halloween decor, cheap and simple

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 25, 2011

Note: Pixie Pie is still in the hospital, and in a lot of pain. Thanks so much for the cards you sent, her mom has them all hanging by her bed where she can see them, and she enjoyed having the nurses deliver them to her. The site was easy to use, wasn' t it? Very simple and quick, its a nice service for the hospital to provide for the kids there.

Our little Halloween party was such fun. And it was a good excuse to show off the new kitchen!

Complete with its new spooky decor. This beaded cob web was one dollar at a thrift store, and the shabby chic witch is the one I made at Sissy's house last week.

She has a paper clay head and jet bead eyes pushed into the clay while it was still wet. I made her hat from pink velvet millinery petals and it is sporting a beaded spider made with an old button for the body.

I made another one to climb on my white pumpkin. The big ole punkin is sitting in an old wash bowl and is the center piece for the dining room table. Or should I just call it the kitchen table now? There are no longer two rooms, its all one space!

Our local grocery store had the fancy schmancy pumpkins for the same price as the orange ones. I'd never tried cutting one before, but this white one was soooo much easier to carve than the traditional ones. It was more like slicing honey dew than a jack o lantern.

When I redecorated after the remodel, I kept everything pretty simple. Well, simple for me at least. It seemed like all the stuff I had out before was way too cluttery in a big space, I guess because your eye takes it all in at once. In the small, divided spaces I had before, I liked more stuff out than I do now in the bigger area.

I thought it would be the opposite of that, I was surprised.

The Halloween decor I added is simple too. Just a few touches here and there, mostly black and white.

These crows are from the dollar store, I'd like to add some glitter but haven't had a chance.

Normally, I try to seat everyone together, but that is one more thing I didn't have a chance to get done. I set up room for about 10 in the studio, some people ate in the kitchen, some in front of the football game playing in my husband's office, and a few outside. We were lucky to have beautiful weather.

Still, NO rain though, so that meant no bonfire.

This was a quickie center piece, the boot, baby head, and flowers all came from the same garage sale and were $1 each. I just stuffed the witchy boot with paper, and sat the head in it, then tucked the flower in the laces and added a feather.

And this doll head is modelling the witch hat I made for a bonus tutorial on Romantic Gothic Ghosts.

(scroll down on the workshop page if you are interested in taking the class, White Christmas is also on that page, both are $25)

This one broke my no orange rule. I bought the hat for its pinky flowers, but after plucking them, I thought it was ideal for a stylish Halloween hat, with a bit of black ribbon on it to cover up the globs of glue left behind when I tore off the flowers.

Speaking of breaking the no orange rule, the garage was an explosion of orange and purple.

Well, with black and white ghosts. They are cut up, paper drop cloths left over from my kitchen redo. I stuffed their heads with newspaper, tied a ribbon around the neck, and painted a cutey pie, kid friendly face on them. They serve the purpose of hiding a closet with no door on it.

Sugarwings planned the decor and helped with it. We painted a tarp with glow in the dark paints, to hang over some more garage mess that I was too lazy to move, and when we started throwing the paint for a splatter effect, she had the idea to climb up a ladder for a better aim. I told her that was how Jackson Pollack did it, and started calling her Action Jackson while she was at work.

Most of what is in the room was hand made by the two of us, from the dollar store, or a thrift store. My advice for party decor (for kids) is to shop the dollar store first, get as much as you can there, and then look at thrift stores.

The lighting was the only expensive thing, and the strands of lights were on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and I can use the lights again and again. I would NEVER buy black light bulbs again, they were my biggest splurge and were useless. No effect at all, and I spent $9 on three bulbs to add to the clamp lights that I hung by the ghosts.

The other expensive thing was glow in the dark paint, about $10 worth, and it wasn't dark enough in there for it to glow. But we had fun smearing it on everything!

I'll leave you with some scenes from the party.

Its so fun when grown ups get in the spirit and dress up too! Beth and the other Karla got their husbands to play along.

They were "gang green".

Beth had to give the "dur" sign a lot when she explained it. It was pretty cute.

I hope you have some spooky good times ahead for your Halloween too. Are you dressing up?

Prayers please for Pixie Pie’s speedy recovery

family

By Karla Nathan / October 23, 2011

Dear little Pixie Pie is ill. She is in the hospital with meningitis.

Her mother posted on Facebook that the hospital has a site where you can make a free card for her, with a message that the staff will print and take to her. She is 4 and loves to get cards. If you'd like to send her one, it just takes a couple of seconds to do, and I'm sure she will enjoy getting one.

It breaks my heart to think of her in pain.

If you want to send her a card, please contact me for her info. The site is here

Patsy the Monarch Butterfly

celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 19, 2011

Lawrence is a great place to live. We love it here for so many reasons. One is Pendleton's Farm, where you can spend an entire afternoon playing with butterflies, petting horses, going on a hayride, and tagging and releasing Monarch Butterflies. All for FREE.

(there is great shopping too, we always buy some fresh veggies, or local made jams while there so they can stay in business and we can keep coming back)

There is a butterfly garden that is nurtured all summer, then the flittery little bugs are tagged by guests, and taken outdoors to float away. Sugarwings met a butterfly named Patsy that she released into the wild.

There is a lot of fun, farmy activities there, like a corn bin to waller in, a tricycle dirt bike track (yes, I raced a trike too), a corn maze, a pumpkin patch, and other stuff we didn't even get to because the corn was so much fun.

A local winery was doing tastings and there were samples of fresh goat cheese too.

Yes, I tried the wines. But that isn't why I jumped in the corn bin.

I'm just a giddy grammy, wine or not.

Happy Grandparent’s Day!

celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 27, 2011

Did you have a wonderful Grandparent's Day yesterday? Its one of the biggest, most important holidays of the year, I hope that you celebrated it big time!!

We were invited by Sugarwing's school to come in for a grandfolk's breakfast and got to stay and play a while afterwards.

We all got dressed up for the event, my husband insisted on wearing a jacket. I always nag at him to never wear clothes that have to be drycleaned when he is not at work. But I am cheap, so personally I don't own a single thing that needs to be drycleaned. Most of my clothes are from the thrift store or a clearance rack, it was be silly to pay more to clean them than I did to buy them.

But he was right, it was an important occaision for our little fairy and she enjoyed helping us pick out just the right outfits this morning before school. Its nice to have a reason to foof up a bit. I've been wearing my paintin duds every day lately, whether I'm doing any of the remodel work or not.

This is actually the very first time we have celebrated this day. It was so nice of the school to do something like this, and there was a huge turn out. The parking lot was filled, and overflowed onto the streets. The rooms were packed with doting grandparents wearing dopey smiles as their little ones gave them hand made cards and sang songs to us.

Yep, a beautiful day.

PS- the link to the winner of our craft day giveaway was not correct. Sorry, here it is again. You'd love to see Maggie's illustrations, so please check her out.

KC Renfest part deux

celebrations, fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / September 17, 2011

When you enter the park of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, one of the first things you see is the fountain. Every year, Sugarwings makes a beeline for it, and would probably be happy to spend a good part of the day right there by the water. As much as she loves fairies, she loves mermaids and water even more.

I nick named her Sugarwings before she was even born, I would have gone for a more mermaidish name, if I had waited to get to know her first. But as I've said before, there is just something very WRONG about "Sugartail".

(By the way, thanks for all of your concern about our little fairy. She is now settled back into the Montessori preschool she was in before we took her out and test drove Kindergarten. She is happy to be there, and is in a pre-K program, that should help a lot. )

Kids are always so attracted to these painted wooden pieces that you stick your face in. I am not always a fan of them, but these are extra well done and I love the artist's work.

There is so much attention to detail at the park. From the costumes to the scenery, its just magical. The location helps, its in a hilly little park full of shade trees and cute buildings.

And not really that expensive to attend. We go on the weekends that are buy one get one free with a food donation.

Since we've had a grandchild, I go more than once a season. In the past, it was something I'd attend every two or three years. But watching it through a kid's eyes makes the magic seem so real, that I never get tired of going.

And I never turn down a chance to see some Jack Sparrow style eye candy.

(although, I think this pirate looks a bit more like McDreamy in dread locks than Jack, don't you? Still pretty either way)

Normally, the men in tights are pleasing to the eye too. This year, Robin Hood has some extra junk in the trunk though.

Although, who am I to talk? I wonder if my tiny wings make my butt look even bigger? Maybe I should go for a giant pair next year…

Sugarwings was very taken with the fencing and thought she'd challenge the knights to a duel with her magic wand.

Instead, she was invited up to take a fencing lesson and be part of a duel with a nice foam sword.

There is a petting zoo too, with sheep and goats to feed.

We had a hard working little Cinderella with us, who was ready to muck out the stalls.

The petting zoo was pretty laid back, we were the only ones in there, so the girls took their time and made some friends.

My handsome husband enjoys going so much that he gave up a golf game to join us all. I think he went knowing that some opportunities for baby snuggles would come up. He can't resist them. (and he got to play golf the next day, so he didn't miss his weekly golfing fix)

Yes, just looking at these photos, I'm ready to plan another trip there.

Sugarwings was about a year older than Mayara when we took her for the first time. I can't wait to dress this little snuggle bug in a fairy dress and watch her dance with the sprites.

This year, our Hippy Chick and I got out and danced with the fairies too. Luckily, I am the one with the camera, so there are no shots of me tromping and clomping around out there like an ogre. I'm not much of a dancer, but it was sure fun to do.

I wish I was as graceful as Miss Calliope, she twirled and danced with these ribbons beautifully.

If you ever get a chance to come to Kansas City in the fall, I highly recommend a day at the festival. It goes for 6 or 8 weekends, starting on Labor Day. Each weekend has a different theme, and you never see the exact same thing twice no matter how often you go. Discount tickets are available at Subway and at local grocery stores, plus there are buy one get one weekends with a food donation. We bring in some snacks and drinks to save a little, but the food vendors have tasty treats too and are hard to resist.

Maybe I'll see you there? I'll be the one in the ginormous wings so my butt looks small by comparison.

Scenes from the renfest part 1

celebrations, dogs, fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / September 11, 2011

As it is every season, the Kansas City Renaissance Festival was just magical last weekend. We had family in town visiting, so the whole group went along with us. We didn't all stay together, but got to meet up here and there throughout the day. The park is so big and diverse, everyone wants to see something different.

Its as much fun to people watch as it is to see the shows and events that are offered.

Or should I say, 'dog watch'?

But my eyes, and my camera are always drawn back to my girls.

And what pretty girls they are. This is Calliope.

And Clover. They both came as gypsies like their mom, this year.

Mayara didn't dress up. She came as herself, a smiling little cuddle bug.

My daughters were gypsies too. I'd made everyone a fairy ringlet to wear in their hair the night before, but some of them were tossed out of the wagon (along with bottles, papers, and a few assorted other tidbits) by the littlest sprite. She is at that "oh-oh" stage. You know, the one where babies loved to throw things down just to watch them fall?

Pixie Pie was there too.

She even got brave and danced with the fairies around the maypole.

Sugarwings, on the other hand, needs no courage, she thinks she is one of the fairies and runs right to them. She deserts us and joins their group as soon as she sees the fay.

And takes flight! See her feet? She is up in the air, flying off to be with her fairy family.

My sis-in-law treated herself to a gown at the festival. I think the clothes are lovely, but personally, I don't get much shopping done there. Besides the giant grilled turkey legs and cold drinks, I don't buy much. But seeing Terri looking so pretty in this gown made me wish I did.

(her fairy laurel is made of old millinery in peach and gold to match her lovely auburn hair)

Mayara loved this floaty tent.

They have a couple of them hanging from trees, and we always stop to play in them.

While we are in them, I always daydream about making one of my own. I can see how it could be done… Wouldn't a pink one make a sweet play house in my yard? They hang from a hook on a tree branch and sway in the wind, with all the chiffon billowing in the breezes.

There are more festival shots to show you, I'll have part two later this week. Remember, if you want to be in a drawing for the Craft Day Giveaway package of ephemera and pretties, please leave a comment HERE.

Welcome back??

family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 5, 2011

This is the scene that greeted Sugarwings and I the other day when we woke up.

The raccoons are back!

They will not give up on trying to steal this guy's food, and knocked over everything on my porch trying to get to through the window. They also left me the empty cat food jug, that they had stolen last week. I guess they brought it back to taunt me with it.

Sugarwings has a theory that they want to get into the house and get her toys. So, she brought me a cooler with a Barbie in it and asked me to write a note for her. Not exactly how I figured we'd get rid of the coons, but I thought it was worth a try.

(I'm leaning more towards something a bit more vicious myself)

She thought that if she shared one of her special Barbies with the raccoon's babies, they would not try to get in our house.

The logic of a 5 year old is pretty special too.

I hope you are having a good Labor Day weekend! I'll have a giveaway for you this week, a little something from the CraftDay Club, so please check back for details.