family – Page 62 – Karla's Cottage

My fairy grand baby’s room

fairies, family, flowers, Hand Painted Furniture, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 13, 2010

While I am away from my computer for a few days I thought I'd leave you with some photos of the cottage. I'll be back on Sunday, and will have trip photos as well as some new listings to add to the shop (well, hopefully, I'll have some successful shopping while away!!) Any orders while I am gone will be sent out on Monday the 14th.

This is Sugarwing's room. She's pretty proud of the fact that she is big enough for her own night light (shaped like a tea pot) next to her bed. Her closet doors are painted with a mural of fairies in the flowers, and our dog, Sparkle.

Since she only comes to stay, and doesn't live her full time, the closet didn't need to be filled with her regular clothes, so it holds all of her dress up and play clothes. I'm always on the hunt at garage sales and thrift stores for fairy wings and princess dresses that are cute and cheap.

The ceiling and the area above the shelf are both painted like the sky. The shelves hold a collection of fairies and pixies, and little bird houses covered in vintage wallpaper for them to live in.

Her princess bed is vintage, I found it at an auction, and painted it white with pink glaze (instructions on my short cut paint technique are on my side bar under "tutorials")

Since the room is upstairs in an old house, it tends to get stuffy, so we had to add a window air conditioner. It doesn't exactly look great there, but it keeps her comfy.

There are white sheers on the windows, then above them, I screwed painted and glittered branches to the wall and tied trailing ribbons to them. We've clipped little butterflies and dragonflies to the ribbons and dangled fairies from the branches.

When Sugarwings was tiny, these pastel pails hung over her changing table and held her lotions. Now they hold fairy dolls that readers have sent to her.

I painted the fairy to look down at her on the changing table and she used to love to coo and talk to her while getting diapers changed.

I've painted LOTS of murals in nurseries over my lifetime and one thing I always make sure of, is that the pictures are interactive for the kids. In places where the baby spends time, like the changing area or crib, I was careful to add something of special interest for them to see. And in the rest of the room, all the creatures had friends. No matter what the theme was, fish, dogs, teddys- they all were in conversational groups.

One night when my fairy grand baby was just learning to string sentences together, we were laying on the floor of her room playing and she said "Grammy has pretty stuff". I told her, no baby, this is all YOUR stuff, this is YOUR room. She was speechless for a moment, probably for the only time in her chatterboxing life.

I think she likes her space.

Who is the Dork?

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, Sugarwings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 8, 2010

We are heading out of town again, this time to see my sisses in Indiana where I grew up. I've decided to take the pups with me, Sissy is being brave about a house full of little Stench Monkeys, as we call them sometimes. I should be packing, especially gathering up the dog paraphernalia and stuff to entertain Sugarwings on a 9 hour drive.

Instead, I'm playing in the studio. This photo of Sugarwings at the water park was just calling out to me, I had to turn it into a fairy collage for my photo album.

Especially after Beth pointed out that this water spray looks like a dorky! I printed the picture and drew over it, following the dog shape in the water, then cut out the puppy.Okay, so now you know what you suspected, I am totally dog crazed. Maybe I am the dork, not the dogs. But Beth saw it first, so its not just me.

Between playing with the dogs and imagining dog shapes in water fountains, I listed some new things in the Boutique.

But since I'll be away, I can't mail any purchases till Monday. Thanks for your patience!

All the pups are spoken for now. I decided not to sell ANY of them after all!! Each is going to family or friends. I'm delivering one to Indiana to my niece, and another will go to my MIL in Utah. This will most likely be our last litter ever, so I wanted to keep them as "family". I just got too attached.

Between listing and gluing this morning, I also made some puppy pillows. I had a pair of rose patterned flannel PJ bottoms that had ripped, and I couldn't bear to toss them. So, I cut the legs into squares and stitched up little pillows, then tossed them in with all the pups. I'm hoping that when the pups go to their new homes, taking a pillow that smells like their siblings will help with the transition.When Teresa picked up her Lily a couple weeks ago, I sent a rosy pillow home with them too. I'm NOT a good sewer, and the pillows are simple as can be. But I think they are a cute idea for the babies.

Twinkle and the other big dogs will stay behind on this trip, with Ryan to watch them. Its great to have a grown son around to dog sit! Plus my dogs have a fenced in yard with a doggy door to let themselves out whenever they want. Ryan only has to fill their bowls once a day and say hi to them.
He lives in an apartment above my studio, so when I am away, the house is not empty.

Well, as much as I dread packing, it can't be put off much longer. I'd better start wedging stuff into my poor little car. I have 3 adults, a preschooler, 3 puppies, luggage, puppy gear, toys, and a cooler to fit into a Scion. My car is roomy for a small car, but this could be pushing the limits!

How much fun can you fit into one day?

antiques/junking, celebrations, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, I do tend to run on, don't I?, parties, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2010

Omaha was great, we had such a nice trip! Don't I have the world's sweetest husband, to chose a weekend at the zoo and the Holiday Inn's water park with all the kids as his 50th birthday celebration?

We LOVE this little water park in Omaha, its in a newer Holiday Inn that has great service, and free meals for kids. The indoor pool area is meant for smaller children and has never been crowded or busy while we are there.

Plus, the hotel is located near the Old Town area, with great food and shopping. While the kids napped between swimming in the morning and zoo time in the afternoon, I escaped to 2nd Chance. Where I found a pile of floral hats for under $7 each.

Plus a pile of Victorian scrap and old photos. I'm planning on making some fairy ornaments (hopefully a make and take at Silver Bella in November.) Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find just the right photos to make into fairies? You need to make sure you get both feet, a standing or sitting position that works well when the person is cut out of the photo, and no fingers to have to cut around.

Well, you don't want the person to be fingerless- you just don't want the fingers to be splayed and beyond the edges of the girl's dress. Its just easier to not have to cut out each tiny finger.

Normally, when I am on a family trip like this, I don't get in much shopping. This time I also got to stop at Rusty Chandelier in St. Joe on the drive home. It was a quick trip, to stretch legs and for my husband to fill up the car while Sugarwings and I looked around antique mall.

But I just knew that I had to stop, and I was right, my hat whispering skills had led me to a couple more hats that were waiting there for me.

How PERFECT is this sequin top hat???? Silver Bella's theme this fall will be hats and Teresa has been using a cute top hat as the symbol of the event this year. I found not only this hat, but this bit of Victorian scrap with this little girl wearing a top hat herself. There are some possibilities for that rolling around in my head right now!

So much for my theory that pictures for fairies need feet. I can see her as a little sprite, can't you? She might be the foundation for my design for the make and take for vendor night.

And there are a few pictures of Sugarwings that I might make into a fairy for my photo album.

We had lucky weather while in Omaha, there was sunshine and a light breeze at the zoo. Sugarwing's Daddy and his new family (well some of them, not all the kids could make it) came along for the trip and I discovered that its even more fun to have extra grand kids to spoil and play with!

Before the trip, I bought the girls matching dresses, and a coordinating red shirt for the little guy. Corny? Yep, but I thought it was adorable, plus it made them so easy to keep track of all day. We knew that the red blurs running up ahead were ours.

Our hotel was around the corner from the Qwest Center, where Barnum and Baily Circus happened to be for the weekend. We hadn't planned on attending, but the kids had never been, so when the zoo closed at 6, we swung by for the next performance at 7.

The morning started at the pool, then napping, then zoo, then circus, then ended at the pool again. Whew! That was one jam packed day.

But, my husband and I decided at the last minute to play hooky and just buy tickets to the circus for the rest of the group. He and I snuck over to Old Town and had a romantic dinner, then walked around holding hands and enjoying the evening.

As ideal as the kids were all day, sweet, polite, and fun- it was nice to have a night out with just the two of us. When we got back to the hotel, we joined the kids at the water park, where I taught them how to play shark tag, and let the parents go have their own little get away dinner.

I think my handsome husband had a fantastic birthday, I hope he enjoyed the trip as much as I did! He's a great guy and deserves a good celebration!

Still, its nice to be back home with our puppies again.

More Puppy Pics and a lost and forgotten giveaway

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, give away, jewelry, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 1, 2010

We had such a nice holiday weekend. Of course, any weekend when we get some Sugarwings time is a good weekend.

Add in some pups, and there couldn't be a better way to spend some time.

Then, today was craft day and we took a few puppy breaks outside to enjoy the day. This little tiny girl is the one we have decided to keep. She was going by Glinda, which we like, but since we won't have a whole passle of pups any more, we won't really need to stick with the Oz theme, so we might change it.

I've kind of liked the name Agnes. That was my Grandma's name, and my cousin suggested it for the Name the Puppies contest. I had told her that I loved the name but would save it for a baby we keep some day, not one that was for sale. At that time, we didn't realize we were keeping one.

Since Twinkle got so ill, I simply had to keep one. We might never have pups again! I'd kick myself for not snagging one for myself if there were not any more coming in the future. I also decided that Beth needed one. Her birthday is coming up but I just couldn't wait til then to surprise her, I had to tell her today.

We are going to have a blast taking the two pups with us everywhere. Can't you picture us pushing our flea market carts with the dogs in them when we go to Sparks and White Cloud to shop? Its going to be so much fun to have the puppies play together under our work tables while we cut and glue.

Beth is not ready to take one home yet, her husband has a trip planned and they want to wait till he gets home to be a part of settling in the new baby.

Its so fun to have a houseful of them, I'm glad I get to have Beth's pup around for a while too. The other two are for sale now and it will be too quiet around here when they leave.

They are so funny right now, running and fighting and wrassling. Quite a few of my photos were just blurs, since these guys move so fast.

Not everyone around here is as impressed with the babies as I am, though. Our old tom cat has eaten rabbits bigger than these guys. He can completely ignore how cute they are when they try to get his attention.

Not me. I'm smitten. You might have noticed by my blog becoming a Dog Blog. Sorry guys, bad news if you are sick of puppy pics, they are still coming. And by adopting Agnes Rose (or Agnes Fae?) into our lives, that means we'll have a never ending supply of fuzz ball photos.

See what I mean?

It might seem like it, but I don't spend ALL my time giggling in the garden with Dorky Babies and Fairies. I've gotten quite a bit of new things made lately. This is the May Giveaway Prize. Kind of late to announce, it, huh? If I was trying to drive my readership by offering giveaways, this is not the way to do it. Announcing it after the giveaway was over would be pointless.

But I do them because I enjoy them and I have tons of crap, I mean- cool stuff- in my studio to share.

So this little mini book goes to:

Joanne

There is new stuff in the Boutique too. I took a few hours to list a ton of it the other day.

A few of the vintage paper pieces that I made, but not all. I'll add more of them later.

Quite a few pair of earrings that I made from vintage pieces.

And some junk jewel bags for you to make something with.

Some junkier than others.

By the way, there is a JUNE GIVEAWAY starting now. All comments, all month count. I'll come up with a prize and let you know. Hopefully not after the fact again, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Happy Memorial Weekend!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / May 28, 2010

Have a lovely Memorial Day weekend! We started celebrating early by taking today off to play with Sugarwings and take the box-o-pups to her school for all the kids to see.

We plan on movies, boating, and BBQs for the rest of the weekend. I hope yours is a fun one too!

My new Flip Camera has been a blast! So easy to use, and I think I've figured out how to add a video to my blog. If you can't see it here, you can go to Youtube to watch it. Its of the pups and the fairy grand baby playing in the Fairy Tree house.

Sugarwings is wearing a Cinderella gown that I bought at a garage sale for 50 cents Saturday morning. She is snacking on mulberries that grow along the Fairy Berry Trail, so by the time we were done playing in the woods, her dress was purple polka dotted.

She is also asking me if "they came back" when I said ALL the puppies came. I didn't realize what she was asking me until I watched it back. She is worried about the two pups that went to a new home.

Double Dorothys

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / May 15, 2010

So much for cleaning my studio and getting stuff listed. Instead, I have been playing with Sugarwings and the pups. Or shall I say, with my Double Dorothys.

Sugarwings had a sleepover here last night, and I don't think all 6 pups were ever in their nest at the same time. One had to be held at all times. (Most often, her favorite one, Dorothy)

Even while she was helping me re-caulk the bath tub. Which isn't an easy job to do anyway, but try adding a 3-1/2 year old and a puppy to the experience…

The pups are extremely tolerant of her and actually run to the side of their puppy pond to greet her when they hear her coming. I think they like the attention. This one didn't seem thrilled with a doll dress, but on the other hand, is such a laid back baby, I doubt that much could upset her. This big gal has a name, thanks to Sugarwings. This is the pup she calls Dorothy. And is her favorite of the group.

If you read my blog last year, you might remember Millie. She was our big, cuddly pup from that litter and I am already worrying about the heartbreak from the day Millie left reoccurring with Dorothy.

So, I try to encourage her to play with all the tiny dorkies, not just Dorothy. Its going to be hard enough for me to say goodbye, I don't like the idea of breaking Sugarwing's heart too.

Of course, she'll still have her best bud, Twinks. But I can already see pain ahead for us all when the babies leave. We are just enjoying them way too much!! No way we can keep any, since we already have 3 dogs. And one of those dogs is elderly and incontinent. Which keeps me mopping.

Remember I mentioned litter box training these guys? It is sure going well! I'd say they use the box 75% of the time, and that is only after a couple of days with it. Now, if I could just teach an old dog new tricks and get that 16 year old Bookie, who is peeing on the floor to try a litter box.

So, out of the 4, two have names. Dorothy and Bella. I'll be having a contest, with prizes for you (that I have yet to make) to name the 3 boys and the other girl. There will be pictures posted of them when I get the contest ready to go, so be thinking about it, but don't send your names in yet if you want to enter.

OKay, now I really need to get some work done. I'm hosting a Creative Cottage Girls Weekend next Friday and my studio looks like a 3 year old has been painting and cutting in here.

Bag-o-pups

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, I do tend to run on, don't I?, jewelry, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / May 11, 2010

The sampler that Beth made for my birthday is so beautiful! I have been moving it from one place to another until I decide where I'd enjoy it best. I'm in the middle of some redos (again!) so this is good timing for finding just the right spot to show it off. I will have some photos of it later, for some reason the ones I just snapped didn't come out so good, and I am short on time right now, we're getting ready for a craft day in the studio with friends.

The pups come over to the studio with me every day when I go to work. I load them up in a bag and haul them all together to the work space. In the evenings, they come back to the main part of the house with me and live in a wading pool that takes up a big part of the kitchen.

Here is their studio home, they have a bed (on a heating pad to keep the chill of the cement floor away) and next to that is a chair that Twinkle can jump onto to escape them if she wants a break. And don't all moms deserve a break? I remember when my boys were little and I was day dreaming of the time when I could finally close the bathroom door and not have someone on the other side demanding to be let in.

Speaking of potty time, I'm experimenting with litter box training these guys. At this age, they are learning not to pee in their nest, but have such tiny bladders that they have to go just about as soon as they climb out of it. So, I placed the litter box right next to the bed, and it seems to be working. I do have some papers down too, but most of the mess is going in the litter.

Its hard to believe that something this tiny and sweet can produce so much pee and such a mess. I'm hoping the litter idea works, because I have been changing newspapers all throughout the day. And am already getting a bit tired of that part of the experience.

My husband is going to Nag's Head on business this week and invited me to tag along to the coast with him. Instead, I am home with an ocean of puppy pee. I probably could have found a dog sitter for a few days, but honestly, we have these guys for such a short period of time, I hate to miss any of it. I promised my husband I'd go anywhere with him at all when he travels in June but I just didn't want to miss any puppy time now.

So, it looks like I'll be tagging along to Pittsburgh in June instead of the Outer Banks in May…

Do you blame me for not wanting to miss a week of the few short weeks we have these guys?

Plus, I still have Sugarwings a few days a week until her Daddy gets out of school at the end of the month. I didn't want to leave them in a lurch for a babysitter. (and I don't want to miss out on any of my special days with her either!) Once June is here, I don't know how often I'll have her with me.

My poor husband really is on the road a lot. We try to make up for it when he is home by making the time as fun as possible, but I need to also make an effort to travel with him more. I'm such a home body, its hard for me to pack up and go. Seems like last year, I was taking one trip after another and it really wore me out. I don't know how he handles traveling so often!

I'm going to have to be a bit more supportive and travel with him when I can. We usually have enough Southwest points for a free flight, so tagging along with him is pretty cheap. And we do enjoy our trips together once I force myself up and out of the house.

For now, he understands about these guys and my ties to them. He's such a wonderful guy to work so hard for all of us and sacrifice his time away from home to do it.

While he is away, I put in as much studio time as I can, so that we can hang out while he is here. And I can spoil him with his favorite meals.

I'm still embellishing the tee shirts from Wal-Mart. I wish I could buy two in every color, I swear, these are the most comfy tees I have ever worn.

For this salmon pink shirt, I made a rose from ribbon and a cut up hankie. The kerchief was cut into half, and I used just one of the halves to make it. I cut it into equal squares, then pinched each together from the center of the square and put a stitch there.

After that, I put all the pinched and stitched squares together and sewed them into the rose. I'm not much of a sewer, but this was really easy.

Since I didn't have pinking shears and was afraid the edges might fray, I sewed the rose to a pin instead of directly to the shirt, then tied the ribbons to the pin.

I took scissors and rounded off some of the corners, to make them look more petal like after it was done.

Yes, I am still yammering on…. here are a few packages of purchases from my Boutique that I wrapped up yesterday.

These vintage flocked wallpaper pouches are becoming an obsession with me. And some are getting a bit fancier than others.

If you order anything from my shop that fits in one, that is probably how your purchase will be wrapped up. I've made quite a few for that purpose.

If you are wondering whats new there, I'm adding some vintage new stock necklaces. Man, are they something! Each is close to 100 years old, and has been packed away, never worn. YOU would be the first to wear one of these beauties!!!

I listed a few yesterday, and have more to get in the shop. So please check back!

I’m a lucky mom!

celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day!

Sugarwings and I started the day by pampering her mommy. This is the first Mother's Day without Nanny, and I was feeling very empathetic for her, I remember my first Mother's Day after my mom passed.

We had planned to take a basket of goodies to their home, but both of the girls had a sleep over with us last night. Instead I gave her the basket of croissants, jams, jellies, coffees, lotions, flowers, and chocolates to enjoy later.

The fairy grand baby helped me wrap up a dark chocolate bar in a photo of the two of them together, and we put ribbons and bows on all of the treats to make the basket festive.

Since the girls were here, we fixed up breakfast in bed, and of course, Sugarwings was ready to hop up and join in, so I brought her a plate too. She is only allowed to eat at the family dining table or at her little table, so this was a BIG deal to her.

We had chocolate dipped strawberries, blue berries, cinnamon rolls, and eggs scrambled with roasted yellow peppers, spinach, and cream cheese. I don't make the rolls from scratch, the frozen ones from Rhodes are just too good and too easy. Sugarwings and I snazzed them up a bit by putting organic butter, brown sugar, chopped pecans, and sunflower seeds in the pan before adding the rolls and baking them.

I just adore having girls around to do all this kind of stuff with, and its fun to spoil them. Now, boys are wonderful too, of course. And my two are the sweetest and most loving men you'll ever meet. Ryan never leaves a room without kissing me on the head. Adam is Mr. Zen, calm, thoughtful, sweet, and caring. Both have quirky senses of humor and can make me laugh.

Mother's Day is a good time to reflect on family and think about how lucky I am to have these people in my life.

Its also a good time to announce the newest, upcoming family members! Yep, grand baby #2 is on its way!! But I should say grand baby # 7, because this tiny little sprite is already a mommy to FIVE kids! Where did that little slip of a girl keep them???

This means more family to spoil and love on for me.

I'm going to surprise the expectant mom today with a little bundle of gifts, including a onesie with a tree painted on it. Since she and Adam are avid tree huggers.

And another onesie with a frog and some dragonflies, along with a couple other gifties.

This little mama got some extra treats today for her Mother's Day too. She got a serving of eggs with cheese. Later today, I think she might be in for some peanut butter on dog biscuits. She deserves it, she's been working pretty hard lately!

I think my sons and husband are going to do yard work for me today. I bought 6 fruit trees for Earth Day and my Mother's Day gift will be them doing the hard work of planting them. I might go get a few more trees while they have a post hole digger rented for the job. I also am hoping to get the new Charlaine Harris book as a surprise today. I've left a lot of hints, plus out right told my husband that I want it. I usually wait for paperback versions of books, but Mother's Day seemed like the perfect excuse to get a hard cover. And its just too hard to wait to see what is next in the adventures of Sookie. Its bad enough that True Blood won't be on again till June! If I don't get it as a surprise, I'll just go and buy it for myself this afternoon.

If you didn't get everything you wanted for Mother's Day, there are new sparkly things in the Boutique right now!

I'll leave you with some photos of what is new.

Plants, Pups, plus the Broccoli Queen, oh, and two winners!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, give away, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / May 6, 2010

Thanks for all of the wonderful birthday wishes! I had a good day, and the garden is planted! My son and Sugarwings, as well as a few pups were there to help.

We had big plans for going out to dinner, but while we were on a roll with the garden, we just kept working. My birthday ends up being the hardest working day of the year, because my family offers to pitch in and help with a big job. I never fail to take them up on the offer, its good to get some manpower put to use out in the landscaping! Since my husband was going to be out of town for the day, he helped me in the flowerbeds over the weekend.

So after days of "help" I am exhausted from all the yard work!! Its good to get the place cleaned up and get flats of flowers and herbs out to enjoy for the rest of the season. There is still more to do, but these last few days really took care of the major chunk of the work.

Sugarwings is a natural gardener, she loves nothing more than being wet and dirty. Her job was to play with and misplace the tools, and spray everything with the hose.

We crowned her the broccoli queen when she decided to wear the garden marker as a necklace and it was too small, so got stuck on her head.

I figured I wouldn't need a marker to recognize a head of cabbage, so made her a necklace to wear from that marker.

I was as wet and dirty as she was, and it was getting late, so my sweet son whipped up one of his great dinners for us while Sugarwings and I got cleaned up. His cooking is better than going out to dinner anytime! He made spinach and red pepper fettuccine with crab. Not bad for something he just whipped up in a few minutes while I showered.

We had a mini birthday party in the afternoon, before my son came by to help. Some friends dropped in to say Happy Birthday and have some carrot cake and blueberry ice tea on the patio and a walk on the Fairy Berry Trail.

They brought their kids, so I enlisted them help feed pups. We made up a bowl of puppy cereal and all the kids got a spoon to feed the babies with.

It was a birthday full of fun, friends, sweet babies, and help. Not to mention all the thoughtful well wishes I got from you. Yep, I'm pretty lucky!

Walmart has never been my favorite store, but it seems like sometimes you just gotta go there. When I do I usually find some spectacular deals. Like these tees. They are pure cotton and soft as if they had been worn for years. And only $4. I treated myself to a stack of them for my birthday and today I am embellishing a few with some of the trims I got from my Great Aunt Caroline's estate.

As much as I dislike sewing, I seem to be doing a lot of it lately, and I have to say, its been kinda fun…

Of course, my sewing is as simple as can be. Straight stitches only! And nothing that has to be perfect. Only decorative things like these pouches made from flocked wallpaper, or embellishing the tees, nothing that is measured, fitted, or complicated.

Speaking of these pouches- I need to announce the April Giveaway winner. The prize goes to:

Holly

She gets the pouch on the right, that is filled with my shard necklace.

Also, I have another 50 sign ups for my Google Friend Connect and need to give away a Peat Pot Pretty for that. I'll give away another at 250.

Please note that if you are already signed up for Friend Connect, you are in the drawing. But if you are a follower else where, I don't have a list for other following sites to draw from. If you want to enter, you have to sign up for Friend Connect.

The winner of a Peat Pot Pretty is:

Rose

Around the May Pole

antiques/junking, celebrations, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Sugarwings, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / May 3, 2010

What's the only thing better than scoring over a dozen floral hats at a flea market? Playing with them when you get home! Especially when you have friends who want to play too.

These little guys are starting to get interesting. They all try to come to me (but are still kind of stumbly) when they hear my voice now. It has not been easy to get any work done today, its the first day that the pups really seem to want to spend as much time with me as they do with their mom. Its funny to see how fast they develop and change. Just yesterday, they were mostly sleeping and today they are crying until they get picked up!

Between snuggles, I've been plucking hats. My hat storage is overflowing, so I needed to make space by pulling all the flowers off the newest arrivals. Finding 15 in one day is kind of amazing, even with my hat whispering skills. But I have to admit that I had a little help at the flea mkt, Beth pointed a few out to me and was nice enough to let me at them.

She and I are good shopping partners. I try to point out things I know she'll love. Even if I love them too. We kind of let things go to who ever has the most passion for the item, or take turns with the greatest stuff, or even share. We started a wallpaper pact years ago to prevent jealousy. If one of us scores big on wallpaper, we always share with the other.

(The hat with the brown ribbon only had a few flowers on it, but LOOK at that fabulous dotted Swiss ruffled ribbon that rims it!!)

See why I can't resist these guys? They are finally starting to look around and observe their world and its so cute when they just stare into my eyes. I don't know if I've ever been more in love with a batch of pups… its going to be hard to say goodbye in just a few weeks!

Its always hard to say good bye to the flowers too… I fall a bit in love with each bloom. I was reading Jenny's blog the other day and drooling over some flowers she used on a May basket, then she mentioned she had bought them from me!

Its never easy to say good bye to Sugarwings when she goes home to her mommy or daddy either, but its easier knowing that her parents are generous with letting us have time with her and with them too. We are so blessed and lucky that our extended family can all "share" her and get along. Even though her parents aren't together, we are all still family. I'm hoping that her Daddy's new family will be able to blend with us all too.

My theory is that you can't have too many people to love.

We celebrated May Day together by going to a carnival at her school, then my handsome husband and I did hours and hours of yardwork.

The school is out in the country, and was a lovely setting for all of the events. The big kids did a May Pole dance, there were arts and crafts, live music, and a hula hoop class. (That's my husband showing his moves)

Our tiny little hooper had a blast.

Especially with the glue and scissors. Sometimes I wonder if she really cares about creating anything, all she cares about is cutting and gluing. That kid is obsessed with scissors and glue.

And when I buy her clothes at Goodwill (this is a $4 dress) I can relax and enjoy watching her go wild with the glue.

I probably shouldn't go so many days without posting, I tend to have too much to say as it is, when I post every day or two! It was such a busy and fun weekend that there is just too much to blather on about. Flats of flowers, working in the garden, redoing a guest room, parties, boating, puppies to play with, May poles and more. No wonder I didn't have a chance to do a post!

I'll leave you with some photos of the flower packs I added to the shop, stop running on and on!