family – Page 53 – Karla's Cottage

Home from some family fairy fun

antiques/junking, fairies, family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / August 13, 2011

Its soooooo good to be home. But I'm still not caught up. I wish I really was a fairy and could wave my magic wand to make everything get done!

While visiting my sisses in Indy, we had some fairy dress up time together. I probably play dress up with them as much as I do with Sugarwings. There is nothing like having family that never out grows their playfulness!

Although, there is an age range when not everyone finds it as much fun as we do. But the kids indulged us and let their fairy grandma grant them wishes with her wand while I took their picture. A couple of the girls even put on some fairy wings and posed for me too. But look at little Jaythan's face, he is the one sitting in the grass in a white shirt. Poor kid, he must be wondering if Mamaw is going to be taken away and locked up somewhere. He is worried she has snapped!

Yes, I complained about being busy, busy, busy since I got home, but I did take time to edit some of the photos. A person needs to have their priorities straight.

Plus, picnik is a super fast, easy way to edit. While doing a couple of the pictures, I took an extra bit of time to write out the steps on how I did it. I'll be posting a couple of tutorials next week with the step by steps if you are interested.

My trip was just great. Its the first time I drove there by myself in years and I was a bit worried about it, but I had a wonderful time. I was having so much fun talking and singing to myself and planning projects in my mind that I didn't even turn on the audio book that I'd downloaded. Sometimes, 10 hours alone can be quite therapeutic. I think I needed that.

On the way, I shopped a bit, but not much. This has been the year of NO JUNK around here. How sad. I miss my junking trips. We were too busy in Indy to get out much either, we had some Very Important Family stuff to do, so barely shopped, and most of it was not vintage. We did hit one Goodwill, where I found an amazing old, old skirt to take apart for the fabric.

I got home in time for my son and his family to fix us a big anniversary dinner and spend the evening on Tuesday night. Since I knew they were coming, I limited my stops at antique malls on the drive home.

We even got to have Sugarwings stay all night, that was the best welcome home I could get and was worth zipping right on by antique stores along the way to get home in time to see her.

For years, I've been searching for a pretty alarm clock for by my bed. One that didn't need to be wound up. There are plenty of those to be found, but few electric ones. In Columbia, MO I came across this beaut. Also the gorgeous beaded fabric under it. It was originally a dress, but is in shreds, so is great for cutting up to make crap out of.

There were some pretties to add to the Boutique too. And believe it or not, I actually took photos and got them listed. Its has been way too long since I took care of my business. Its not a lot, but its a start.

While I was at it, I grabbed a couple of things that I'd made months ago and never had time to list. There are TWO TUBS of stuff that has piled up, waiting for me to take pictures of and try to sell, and I simply have not gotten to it.

Yesterday, instead of working, we took all 7 of the grand kids and their parents to a water park to celebrate some birthdays, and this weekend, I have Sugarwings. But- I'll be forcing myself to stay on task in the next week, and hope to have more listed between a few other projects I have lined up.

Wish me luck, I plan on spending an hour each day on nothing but the Boutique and Etsy, then making things the rest of the day. Well, except some Sugarwings birthday time. She and I have a date for Smurfs, I think.

When I got back from my trip, Direct TV was out. No TV, no saved DVR programs. I thought about not even getting it fixed until I was caught up on my work, but then I started to shake and experience withdrawal symptoms and had to make the call within minutes of finding out I was TV-less.

Already, I missed out on the finale of Falling Skies and So You Think You Can Dance. But luckily, I saw True Blood at Sissy's house. Ooooh, that is a heartbreak diverted.

Well, instead of complaining about not getting any work done, I'll go do some. Please check in Monday for editing tips if you want to play hooky from work and goof off with picnik like I did!

Oh, and the winner of the dress form online tutorial is:

Sherry

And THANKS so much to all of you who are buying the class! Its just about my only income since I've neglected my store so much. I appreciate your support and I hope you love making the dress forms as much as I do. I'll be adding a Halloween dress form idea to the class, soon (free to those of you who already signed up) as a thanks.

Speaking of Halloween, don't forget, that if you purchased our online tutorial, "Romantic Gothic Ghosts" you can still use that class and all the cool papers we downloaded for you. If you didn't get all of the projects made last year, now is the time to make some for this upcoming spooky season.

Or if you didn't take the classes yet? You can still purchase it. There are tons of patterns, how-tos, ideas, decorating, and goodies for you there. All in a low-color romantic style.

You can see some of it here Just scroll down, the Romantic White Christmas class is at the top, the Halloween one is below.

Slowed down for summer

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 7, 2011

Last week, Beth, Mary, and our other Karla came by for craft day. Of course, Button came along with Beth to play with Agnes Rosebud. Here they are in Beth's supply tote.

I hear that at home, Button rules the house. But when he comes to see Grammie, he gets a little shy and hangs out on his mom's lap as much as he can.

Mary worked on her glue book, Beth and Karla did needlework, and I dithered. Seems like I am spinning my wheels lately and not getting much of anywhere.

I hope to knuckle down and get something accomplished after my Indy trip. Is it the heat? Something has sapped the productivity right out of me.

Its much more fun to be playing out in the sunshine with the sprinkler and Sugarwings.

That could be the problem. Or, it is that I have so much I need to do, none of it is taking priority, I am just feeling swamped? Which isn't like me. The heat kinda makes me feel like I'm wading through molasses.

I do always seem to have too much on my plate, but I'm good at mental lists and working my way through things as they need to be getting done.

Hopefully, the trip away from the piles of to-do work will refresh my mind and get me focused.

Isn't that why we take vacations?

Or could it be that I've had so many trips that I can't quite get caught up when I get home any more?

Oh well, it all gets done somehow. And I'm lucky to get to spend a few days with loved ones. See you when I get back!

Please forgive me if I don't answer comments while gone. My sisses and I will be junkin, making stuff, and hanging out, non-stop this week.

But please do leave a comment, it will enter you in the drawing for either a free online dress form class, or a kit to make the dress form if you've already paid for the $15 class.

Packages will be shipped after I return, but if you order the dress form class, I can send the password to you on my Ipad, from Indiana.

A message from Mayara

family, Mayara

By Karla Nathan / August 5, 2011

Grammy Karkie is away this week. I know she'll miss me. We have fun together. I love it when she takes me to a restaurant and gives me the lemon from her ice water while we wait for our food.

What is a lemon, anyway?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well, not so bad once you get used to it.

Holding Space Open House

celebrations, family

By Karla Nathan / August 4, 2011

The Holding Space open house last week was a success, despite the heat, and the poor function of the air conditioning there. I think the unit was just overwhelmed by the 112 degrees outside and crowded room inside.

The heat didn't dampen the joy and dancing.

The event is just the beginning of a series of seminars and workshops they hope to hold in the future.

Including one to do a mud/plaster treatment on this wall. My son soundproofed it with old carpet remnants nailed to the drywall, then he attached this bamboo to give the mud something to adhere to. It looks pretty good like this, but he'll be adding the mud/clay/plaster and it will really be something then. Its a green technique, and I'm looking forward to being there to watch and learn how it is done.

They will also be featuring local art, and participating in the Final Fridays Gallery Walk downtown every month.

Before the room filled up, I snapped some pictures of the finished rooms. I've shown you the faux finishes that I did there, but the rooms weren't done yet. I think they've turned out beautifully. And the kids did it all with NO budget.

Everything is second hand, some things were found along the side of the road. I gave them some hand me downs and paid for the paint.

My dear niece in Utah, had earlier shipped them her massage therapy equipment that she no longer used. (thanks again, Alicia!)

The kids were creative with their decor, making the most of what they already had, and using lots of elbow grease to make the rooms look warm and welcoming.

I'm very proud of what they accomplished.

Family and freinds came to play music throughout the day, and vendors were there to share information about what they had to offer for the community.

Some local artists brougth their work, there was chair massage, hand writing analysis (I was told that the point on my T's means that I can be sarcastic and like to tease, but in a friendly way, not mean, and that I am very social and empathetic), tarot card readings, and a lot more.

The evening featured a Kirtan, which is kind of a singing meditation. This one was done by a woman with a really pretty voice, Jerri of Heartsong Pathways.

The best part of the whole day was watching my son in his element. I was glad to see how he had found a place for himself in this world. He had a rough road through the years, to get to this point, and as any mother knows, there are few joys bigger than seeing your grown child find his way and find his heart's desire.

My husband and I wanted to show our support for the open house, so we bought the stuff to make treats, and I baked 6 batches of cookies to set out along with some iced tea.

When I bake, I don't use a recipe. But heck, if you've ever made a cookie, you know the basics and there isn't much more to it. I do the basic- butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla all creamed, add the eggs, add the flour/salt/baking soda then embellish each batch a little different.

One batch was chocolate chips, another peanut butter with Reeses Chips and chocolate chips. When making these, I switched out half the butter for chunky peanut butter and used a little less flour.

The third was a granola cookie. For that, I added cinnamon, flax seeds, dried fruits, oatmeal, almonds, and sunflower seeds, then lessened the amount of flour. To keep those from being too healthy, I threw in chopped up white chocolate chips.

One of my tips for baking, is to chop up the chips. I put a half bag at a time in the blender on chop and grind the chips up before adding them to the dough. You need half as much, (saving a little tiny bit of calories) and every single bite gets a taste of chips in it.

I baked way too many cookies, but they freeze well. The trouble will be how much the bags shrink in the freezer… if you know what I mean. Those bags of cookies saved for a future purpose just never last.

Grandma Downey and Aunt Alma

family, Food and Drink, free images

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2011

This week, I'm heading to Indiana to see my sisses and their families. While there, I am attending the annual family reunion of my dad's side of the family. We always call it the Downey Dinner (I grew up as Karkie Jo Downey)

My sister, Bobbie Sue, has been collecting recipes all year from cousins and aunts to compile a cook book, and I got to make the cover for it, and named it "Downey Dinners".

She has filled the pages with old family pictures, stories, and illustrations, and I can't wait to see it all together. When I get to Indy, we'll be assembling the books, and then bringing them to the big event to pass out to relatives.

For my cover, I did a small pencil sketch from a photo of my Grandma Downey, as she was holding up a fish she had just caught. I changed the fish to a wooden spoon, added an apron to her dress and set her in front of a table filled with bread dough in progress. She was renowned for her home baked bread. (Bobbie Sue inherited her skills in bread making, I did not)

I had to add a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, because that is how I always remember her.

After I finished the sketch, I scanned it, edited it in sepia, then printed it on mat photo paper.

Next, I used Copic markers to add some color, and white ink to add highlights, then cut out the image.

My cuz, Paula (who was in our tag book swap), sent me a scan of her dad's grade school report card with Grandma's signature on it. I used this as the background for my tinted drawing, and then layered it over some kitchen-ey old wallpaper, inking the edges of each layer for depth.

Then, I scanned it again, and added the words in Picnik.

(feel free to use these images in your own art, if you'd like. I'd be honored to see Grandma Downey in someone's journal or on a tag somewhere!) Just click on the picture to open in a larger window, save to your computer, then print.

My Aunt Alma had sent me a recipe for my very favorite pie and I offered to do an interior page with it. At the time, we were going to divide up the book and cousins were all going to do some of the pages, but Bobbie Sue was brave enough to take on over 130 pages on her own. I did end up still doing this one page, after all. But it was a very last minute project. I was hoping to find a better photo of my aunt, but none was available right then, so I had to use a snip from a group shot. Its a little blurrier than I would have liked.

This page went together really fast, maybe 15 minutes because I was running out of time to get it to the copy shop Saturday afternoon. I used a favorite wallpaper background, the photo of my aunt that I slipped into a mat from an old album, the recipe card she had sent to me, and a clipping from that day's paper that just happened to mention that Sugar Cream pie was the Hoosier state pie. Who knew? And how serendipitous that it happened to be in my local Lawrence, Kansas paper the day I was making the page.

I finished it off with a hand drawn vine and rushed both pages off to the UPS store to be copied. I think they do the best job for the price. I'm always happy with the color and quality there.

Before I head East for my trip, I want to announce the latest winner of the $15 online dress form tutorial.

Debbie of Romancing the Bling

If you'd like a chance to win one, please leave a comment on any post. If I draw your name and you are already taking the class, I'll send you a kit full of vintagey goodness to make the doll from.

Please forgive me if I dont' have time to answer comments. I will keep up with dressform tutorial orders and can send you the passwords from my Ipad. I'll ship all order from the Boutique on Thursday the 11th.

family

By Karla Nathan / July 29, 2011

The weather is still smoldering and sizzling around here. I've been indoors avoiding it, with the excuse that Sugarwings was ill and I needed to cuddle her, and that I had tag books to do. The heat has had me house bound almost as much as a big snowstorm would mid-winter.

The dogs and I have barely shuffled outdoors long enough to move the sprinkler, which has been running pretty much non-stop daily. Its good to live in the country and have well water, I'd hate to see a water bill after this heat wave.

But I've had enough of being held captive by the weather! This weekend, we are hitting the shores of Lake Clinton and getting some splash time in.

There is nothing like playing out in the water to make the most of a hot summer day.

(That is Sugarwing's daddy and his Gypsy Beloved doing aerial yoga while being pulled along behind the boat.)

I hope your weekend is a good one and you find some ways to beat the heat too!

Ps- I'm going out of town on Wednesday. If you are still sending tags and haven't got them to me, TUESDAY morning, I'm making the LAST books!! So, over night them if you are serious about being in the swap and just didn't have time to get them here. And please contact me so I'll expect them.

Holding Space

family, holding space

By Karla Nathan / July 27, 2011

This girl is just getting cuter and cuter. She seems to think she is big enough to keep up with her sibs and likes to chase Sugarwings now.

And when all the big kids got balloons at the ice cream shop, she had to have one too.

She likes hanging out at her parent's new business, Holding Space. There is plenty of room to crawl around, a big mirror she can meet another baby in, and lots of bright colors.

I painted the rooms for my son, according to his feng shei designs. The entry is all metallic, the treatment room is blue and purple swirls for water. This room is "fire", so I did my version of a sunset.

We painted the top 1/3 of the wall red, the bottom 1/3 yellow. Then I brought up some yellow rays into the center, and around that, I painted the middle of the wall orange. (I saved money by mixing the red and yellow to make the orange, instead of buying another can of paint)

With a torn up tee shirt, I dabbed on, and blended some bright colors of acrylic craft paint.

The lower part of the wall is very colorful, but as I worked my way up, I changed to accenting with just a couple of colors.

There are high ceilings with a skylight, so its the perfect environment for plants.

The whole place is so inviting, I love the bright colors, even if they are the opposite of what I do at home. I used to do murals and faux finishes for a livng and kind of miss getting to lots of things that I wouldn't do for my self. Its fun to experiment with the bright side.

I gave up doing this full time because it is such hard work, and I felt like I was crippling myself doing it. But now that I rarely do decorative painting, and have a son who is a massage therapist, it isn't as painful as it used to be. After i finished this work, my sweet boy gave me an hour's treatment on my neck and shoulder and I felt better after that than I did before I'd even started painting.

Kind of makes me think his business will be a success, since he is so good at making aches and pains go away!

If you are in the area and need to feel better, give him a call.

We still have work to do, at the Habitat resale store, we bought a $5 window to put in this opening to give the massage room more privacy. After that, we'll paint the trim. Around the doors, I painted the trim with bronze glaze in a dry brush technique. For this, I'm not sure yet. I'll have to see how the window turns out, we are going to paint the glass with a mandela pattern.

Canvas drop cloths are waiting to be dyed and made into curtains and Sugarwing's Daddy has some other green/low cost decor planned too, but the space is already functional and open for business.

I gave them one of my favorite lamps, made by a friend. I hated to see it go, but it looks so good here, I just had to. I've got some hand blown glass lamps that I'm sending over too. I love them, but right now, they are just hanging in my shed, which is a silly waste of their beauty.

His Gypsy Beloved will be making her "Freaks", for sale. She makes funny little fairies and sock dolls too. Plus, she will be doing guided meditations. There is already a good following building up for her Wednesday night group sessions.

And my boy will be selling his silver wrapped jewelry. He has some skills, doesn't he? I love seeing the detail in his work.

Of course, I think these are his best creations.

He also travels to festivals to do massage and energy work, so I made a sign that he could easily transport. Its an old door panel, that I painted blue, flicked with white, then did some swirls on. This looks complicated, but takes only moments to do.

I dip my rag in multiple colors and do quick swirls with it.

Over that, I did some lettering, making the "o" a planet. My writing is far from professional, but suited the theme.

To get the watercolor look on the lettering, I let the white dry, outlined one side with black, let that dry, then outlined the other side with blue. While the blue was still wet, I used a brush loaded with water to bleed the color over the white paint.

I hope to do a larger, more permanent sign for the business too, but need to wait till I get caught up on a few more projects. Tag books for one… a painting of my grandma for a family cookbook, some decor for Jenn Hayslip's event in the fall, and about a billion more things. If you were wondering why I hadn't been making my little pretties or adding new goodies to the Boutique that explains it!

Thank goodness this is still selling each day! Thank YOU to all of you who are signing up for the $15 online classes. And I'm sorry I haven't had more kits to list, the ones I put in the Boutique went fast. I'll try to make up some more, I have a table top of supplies set up to go…. But- there is only so much time in a day. And not quite enough of it.

If you have any questions about the classes, feel free to ask. And I'd love to see what you make. Maybe we should have a linky party and show our creations? No two turn out the same.

Seems like this is becoming my "Summer Giveaway" too. I'm giving one away for each drawing I do. Leave a comment if you'd like to have a chance to win.

Thankful for family

family, flowers, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2011

Our family getaway to Utah was very special. It was good to see nieces and nephews we rarely get to visit and to catch up on laughs with some of my husband's sibs.

We'd never been to his sister's newer home, and it was a beautiful place to stay, full of original artwork that was right up my alley.

I never got tired of walking through the house and admiring the paintings. Especially the fairy themed ones.

They also had family portraits that were so beautiful, they held as much magic as the sprite and fey paintings did.

Even the pets were represented in oil. What a dreamy place! The artist of many of these works is Lynn Lupettii and I have to say, I'm quite a fan.

But the magic wasn't all just paint, we muggles spent some time visiting Hogwarts too.

Quite a few of the group headed to the theater about 5 am on Thursday to watch a Harry Potter marathon that ended with the midnight showing of the latest flick.

Due to flight delays, I didn't get to join them quite that early, but I made it for movie #4 and was surprised at how fast 3 am came and it was all over with. We had blankets, a ton of snacks and food and drinks, and it was such fun to be part of the large crowd saying a fond farewell to Harry. The very last movie was just as moving to me as the book was. I sobbed again just like when I read the happy ending to the series. Even knowing what was coming up, I still cried like a baby when**************************.(sorry, don't want to mess up the end for you, but I can't quite believe there are Harry fans who haven't read the book yet!!)

Its one of the best series endings I've ever read. Heck, I have tears in my eyes now just thinking about it.

But the real, honest magic of the trip, was Utah itself. Everywhere we went, there was beauty. And not much is more beautiful than Thanksgiving Point.

Its kind of a botanical gardens, but it is very user-friendly and almost like taking the kids to the park for the day. A very special park!

(this photo of Grandma Joan is NOT doctored up, the colors were that vibrant there!!!)

Kids are allowed to run and play, and even to roll down the big hill. The grass was a thick, cushion of plush green, nothing like around my house. Better than any golf course I have seen too. Plus NO CHIGGERS! Its been years since I have sat down in the grass out of chigger fear. I was so drawn to this lawn that I even tried rolling down the hill with the little girls.

Since I weigh quite a bit more than the kids, I took off rolling a bit harder and faster than they did, and after about 2 turns, was dizzy and ready to stop. But gravity had other plans for me, and it felt like an hour on a roller coaster later when I finally stopped, although it was probably only a few feet. It made me so dizzy that I even feel slightly nauseous looking at this photo, although the picture doesn't really capture just how steep it really was.

This park reminded me of Disney-world with no rides. It was over the top, and the detail was amazing.

The whole weekend, I kept seeing things Sugarwings would have loved, and I missed her terribly. I knew she'd have had a good time with her 2nd cousins.

And this park was a perfect setting to play fairy. She'd have been deep into her imaginary world if she'd been there.

I can just picture her having a conversation with this dragon. Its the base of my sis-in-law's mailbox! Her home is filled with dragons and fairies and gnomes.

The back yard was two levels, with a curving downhill path following a series of waterfalls.

The pool at the base of the falls was lit up and misty. Of course, Sugarwings is what we politely call a "hands on" child. It would have been an non-stop challenge to keep her out of the waterfalls.

But I was pretty content to sit out there to enjoy the veiw adn the sound of trickling water. In Utah, we had zero humidity, and could open our windows at night and listen to the creek as we slept. Not like the 110 degree heat index we have today in Kansas.

That fountain alone would have been worth the trip! I had to change from the upstairs deck to the downstairs porch back and forth, I couldn't make up my mind which had the best view.

Still, the very best part was getting to spend time with my husband's sweet family. What nice, generous people they are. It was a lovely trip.

I know how lucky I am to have a husband I love so much, but I'm also lucky that he has a family that I love too.

Next post, I'll announce another winner of my online dress form tutorial. If you have already purchased one of the $15 classes, (thank you!!), then I'll send you a kit of vintage goodies instead if I draw your name.

Leave a comment if you want to be entered, you still have a couple of days to enter while I am waist deep in Bird song swap tags!

the best kind of girls weekend

family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2011

We had a sweet time babysitting for our tiny fairies. That baby is about as mellow as they come. She fusses a bit if she is wet or hungry and that is about it. Goes right to sleep when I lay her down, and wakes up smiling and playing with toys in the crib until someone picks her up.

We thought it was going to be a piece of cake, after a fun family evening at Pixie Pie's birthday party, and peaceful night with the little one sleeping almost 12 hours and waking up as happy as can be.

Sugarwings was helpful and not at all jealous of the time we spent with her sis-star.

The dogs and the baby had a mutual admiration for each other, and spent a lot of time together. Twinkle adored her and didn't care how much her ears were pulled or twisted.

Agnes Rosebud liked to be near her if she was eating, since only about 20% of the food went into her mouth, and plenty went onto the floor. And she was happy to cuddle up and visit, but when the ear pulling started, she jumped down.

Twinkle never even acted like she wanted to get away.

What a good dog.

Of course, Twinkle was probably just waiting for a photo op. Since she thinks all cameras are pointed at HER only.

Our littlest fairy was content to crawl around, stick out her tongue and laugh for most of the day.

Then, about mid-afternoon, she started to wonder where her mom and dad were. I could tell by the way she was looking over my shoulder and was beginning to fret.

By evening, she was in tears. She'd never been away from mommy that long and was missing her too much.

So we hopped in the car and drove out to Camp Gaea where her parents were teaching workshops and she joined them for the rest of the weekend.

We still have Sugarwings, so she and I will be doing some painting together and will see a movie this afternoon. It seems quiet without the baby, and we are already looking forward to our next time to have her back.

Sugarwings is helping me write about our weekend with her sister and it was her idea to have purple letters.

Who is this woman???

fairies, family, give away, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 8, 2011

Can you guess who this photo is of?? If you guessed Karla Nathan, I just don't know if you are right or not.

Someone named Carla Ross, on Facebook, says it is her. She is using it as her profile picture. I'm a bit freaked out about the whole thing. I reported it to Facebook, and heard nothing back. I left her quite a few messages, asking her to remove it, and heard nothing back.

Yep, I'm more than a bit freaked out about it.

I've changed my profile photo to this one, and changed my password too. Honestly, I don't think there is much more I can do. Except hope that Carla Ross is just camera shy and borrowed a photo, and that she isn't really some weird, creepy, guy out to steal identities.

Now. onto a much more pleasant, happy subject- Romantic Homes has a blurb about my wallpaper obsession collection on page 26-27.

This is one of the photos they used. I was squeamish about doing my own photos for them, since I am not a real photographer, I'm just a picture taker. My camera is a nice one (and I LOVE it), but not a great one, and I don't use big girl editing like photoshop, just picnik. I'm good enough for blog pictures and scrapbooks of fairy babies, so was really worried about doing a magazine shoot, even a mini one.

(that bench was built by my son, from a Victorian headboard that I painted)

I'm still plugging away on the tag book covers. My God, what is wrong with me, that I offered to make 135 covers????????????????? By the way, the swap is at full capacity now, thank you to those who joined.

I promise I am not really cursing you all as I glue trim onto yet another in the never diminishing pile of tags. They will get done. I know they will. I can do it. right?

That is, if I live through this weekend… I am babysitting the tiniest fairy grand baby for the first time.

For 3 days while her parents are teaching their zen and energy stuff at some festival. I will have Sugarwings too, and she is a full time handful when she is here, so it could be exciting. Did I mention that the baby is still breast feeding and has never been without her mommy over night?

Maybe I will have to use this as my new facebook picture after doing 135 tag covers and watching the girls for the weekend. I'm feeling hagard just thinking about it.

Honestly, it will be a good experience for us to have both girls together. And we need to spend more time with our littlest one, she hasn't been over as much. I remember lots of late nigths cuddling baby Sugarwings and rocking her when she couldn't sleep. This will be my first shot at it with her sis-star.

Wish me luck!!!!!!

Oh, I almost forgot- the winner of the dress form tutorial is

Kim Caldwell

That was such an easy giveaway, I think I'll do it again!

Leave a comment if you want a chance to win.

I'f you've already purchased the $15 online class, and you win the drawing, I'll send you a kit. ( I really do have kits made, I simply have not photographed and listed them yet. It has been crazy around here.)