family – Page 67 – Karla's Cottage

40 ways to say happy birthday

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Food and Drink, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / September 29, 2009

This morning, we celebrated a friend's birthday with a brunch at my house.  It was a simple meal, organic vanilla yogurt, fresh fruit salad, and Rhodes cinnamon rolls hot out of the the oven, with a birthday candle stuck in them.

Since she was turning 40, a group of her friends came up with 40 charms for me to make into a bracelet for her.  We've done this for a couple of other pals in our circle on their 40th too.

Since 8 different people bought, or made the pieces, it really looked like a charm bracelet full of tidbits collected over a lifetime.  Some had special meaning, like her kid's photos, a coffee pot (to symbolize our regular coffee gatherings), a bowling pin (from bowling dates together), her initials, etc.  But some were just cute little things that were "filler".  

Since she owns two dorkie pups from one of my dog's litters, I really tried to find a Yorky charm for her.  But, one of her dogs is a giant, king sized terrier, that I swear is half golden retriever (we had goldens at the time too, so I really think that is possible…), so I figured that this over-sized blue dog looked enough 
like him to work.

To make the charms with her kid's photos:
 I bought frame charms from the craft store, and cut out at plain bit of green paper to fit them (her favorite color).
Then, I found photos of her kids on my computer, edited them to black and white, and emailed them to the copy store with instructions to reduce them so that the faces were just under 3/4" inches.
Color photo copies seem to work better under paper glaze than the pictures I make with my own printer. The ink never runs with photo copies.
I cut out the faces and glued those to the green paper, and covered it all with a layer of paper glaze. Love that stuff! It is self leveling, so you don't have to be perfect with it. You do need to watch it as it dries, though and pop any bubbles that form. (use a pin)

After it was all assembled, I wrapped the bracelet in a green, vintage hankie and put it into a decorated cone.  The Dollar Tree store was selling packages of these gold or silver cones 6 for a dollar! 
They were pretty as is, and make great favor wraps, or small gift packages.  I added a medallion with her initial, and then pinned some festive ribbons to the bottom with vintage brooch that she can take off and wear on her jacket.

This photo is a bit redundant, since I've already shown you the bracelet, but hey, look at my new lady!!  She is from Rusty Chandelier 
one of the BEST antique malls, EVER.  She isn't named yet, or finished. I am thinking about covering her in old French ephemera like I did the hand that Robin gave to me.

Especially since this gift just came in the mail!  Zita sent these French Canadian books to me and the pages are just perfect for redoing the face of my new lady, huh?

She'll be wonderful for selling hats and necklaces, plus will class up my booth a bit!

Before I get to work on her, I need to go and tidy up after the brunch. I never mind the after party mess, its usually a time to think about who said what and what funny things came up, and to enjoy the pretty dishes and bowls as I am washing them up.

Just like picking up after Sugarwings. Her leavings often give my heart a little tug, like this pile of her favorites set on the stairs waiting to be carried up to her room.

Bubbling over with buttons

antiques/junking, family, Sugarwings, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage

By Karla Nathan / September 21, 2009

Yesterday, I met Beth at an auction to just hang out and visit. I couldn't stay long, and had no plans to buy anything.

But how could I pass up this marble lamp for $20?

Actually, I was pretty proud of myself for only buying a lamp. I love auctions as much as Sugarwings loves ice cream. Or as much as I love ice cream, too.

Just the thought of ice cream makes us both jump with joy.

Usually at auctions, I go home with buyer's remorse, because I lose control and bid on things I
shouldn't, or even worse, had not inspected very well. My advice on auctions, is to get there early enough to take a really good look at whats for sale. If you don't see it up close, you might miss out on a flaw that could make it worth much less than you thought.

Yep, speaking from experience there.

Luckily, I kept my bidding under control, well except for the one time when I was telling a story to Beth and gesturing widely, almost bidding $35 on feed sacks that I didn't want.

I'm so glad I didn't over-buy. Because just the day before, I was struck with button maddness at an antique mall and bought 3 big jars of buttons (did I mention that I have a few buttons already? Well, only a few buckets full, I guess). So today, I am sorting, cleaning and bagging buttons.

I made up three cauldrons full of Halloween colored buttons for craft packs, and adding vintage flowers to the pots. They are in the Boutique now if you need any.

These are the same as the cauldron I glittered and filled with brooches for the September Giveaway.

My only other new listing is this hand made, painted and glittered pumpkin topped bottle.

This is probably it for me and Halloween. I've got to move along to Christmas and getting ready for Silver Bella. Right now, I have little Putz houses spread out on my table ready to create sparkling villages. I'd better get to them. The halls don't just deck themselves you know.

A random rambling and a secret surprise giveaway

family, give away, how to's, how-to projects, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage

By Karla Nathan / September 18, 2009

Do you have a favorite children's book author? Mine is Stephen Johnson.  He is a local, Lawrence, KS artist who has done a series of interactive kid's books.  Now he is working on one called "The Princess Purse" and came over to my studio to borrow sparkly things, vintagey boxes, and pretty wallpapers all to use as props.  
Stephen brought this taxi book for Sugarwings as a gift.  She's going to have a whole collection of his books, lucky kid!  His latest is about fire trucks and will be out very soon. You can find it and his others at many major book stores. And they are really cute!

Some of you were asking about the mudding I had to do for the dry wall. Well, we took out a closet and used the space to enlarge my husband's office.  The new dry wall was smooth and the old walls were textured. I had to fake a texture to blend it in.
After the dry wall guy (my sweet brother-in-law) got the walls done, I used a sponge roller (meant for faux finishes) to roll on joint compound. Then, took a trowel and knocked the points and highest spots off of the rolled on mud.

After painting, I think it looks pretty good. 
What I don't like, is that Home Depot gave me the wrong box of floor covering!  I had picked out a grayer color that blended well with the existing carpet.  But instead I got this dark sienna, that the guys didn't realize was wrong and installed anyway.  I should have looked in the box myself.  It matches the walls ok, and isn't horrid, it just isn't what I wanted.
When we get the room all put back together, I'll show you some more shots. I'm also redoing Ryan's room, it was his walk in closet we stole to make the office bigger. So I owe him…

Just how hodgepodgy can I make this posting?? I'm flitting about from one thing to another even more than usual!
Sweet Zita  offered to mail an old French magazine to me after reading my last post about how I loved working with that kind of paper.  Did I call her sweet Zita? I meant Adorable, Darling, Generous, Magnanimous, Delightful, Kind, Gracious, and Wonderful Zita!!
So, I made her one of the prize ribbon medallions that I was using the French ephemera to make.
 
While I was at it, I made up 3 more for the Boutique.  Each is made of vintage ribbon, French paper, millinery flowers, and old crepe paper.  I added parchment cardstock to the back for stability, and also made a small diamond out of it to add your initial to.
The initials are hand drawn, no patterns or stencils. 
 
No two are exactly alike, but all are the same, if that makes sense. When things are hand made from vintage goods, you get some variation.
I've also added a brooch pin to the back, so the ribbon is ready to pin where ever you'd like to use it.  
 
And maybe you can help me with this? I've listed these in the shop as sports medals, but I really am not sure if they are or not. I wondered if they were military medals? They kind of look like track and field prizes to me, especially since there is silver, gold and bronze. I doubt if the Army gives out 1st, 2nd, and 3rd when they award a medal.
 
The old ribbons with the pins on the back are great! I used a few to make these crown pins. 
 
 I took the medals themselves off to save for another project. Maybe a charm bracelet?
 
One of the medals could be clipped to Twinkle's collar, she is missing the rhinestone piece that she used to wear.  I could award her a gold medal for being such a good dog.  
 
Well, the month of September is more than half over already! You still have plenty of time to ente

r the giveaway for this month.  The change of seasons has inspired me to fill this little sparkled witch's caldron with brooches.  When fall comes around, I am always looking for cute brooches to wear on my jackets.  
One is an enameled butterfly in fine fall colors. Another is a leaf in the same tones.  To that is a flower petal wreath and a rhinestone pin that reminds me of a snowflake.  I'm not exactly a fall person. I can't enjoy the season without dreading snow that comes soon after.
Leave a comment, any post, all month to enter.  I do enjoy hearing from you, but I know that leaving a comment can be a hassle. I had about 1500 hits yesterday, but only 20-some comments on the post!  I certainly don't leave a comment on every post I read either, especially since I started using Google Reader. It is so easy to zip through one blog after another, that I don't pause to go to the site and comment much. Sorry.
 
But- you never know when I'll have a double secret giveaway prize waiting for you!  Ta- da! Here is a little tag book ready to embellish that is going out to my 20,000th comment. 
And guess who the 20,000th commenter was??  Remember when I had a prize for 12,000 and my husband was the commenter? Well this time, since Typepad was doing that wierd comment response thing and my replies were going into the comment log, the winner is:
ME
Yep, I win.  So, I went to number 20,001 and the real winner is my pal from Macon, Angela

 This is a tag I made from a French game card to send out to a shopper in the boutique, Melissa. She bought this jewelry from me and I knew this little matching rose needed to go to her.
The thing is, why did I spend extra for FRENCH EPHEMERA, when it is a single letter?? Not a word, no one actually knows it is French, now do they?
Well, I need to go back upstairs to the torture chamber my husband's office and finish painting the walls.  Its a BIG room.  
 

French Ephemera is a handy thing to have around.

family, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 16, 2009

Craft day was not only fun, but productive, that is just the best. We had a nice lunch (aren't pitch in meals the most fun? I enjoy the variety of what everyone brings) then a walk on the Fairy Berry Trail before getting to work.

When I went to Savannah during Jenn's retreat
I found a French magazine from 1901 that I fell in love with, but felt like it was way to expensive to buy. My pal, Tiffany, got one and reminded me that the price averaged out to only $2.50 per page, so I splurged and bought one. Now that I am doing a swap with these friends from our trip to Georgia, I am so glad I bought the magazine, the cafe au' lait cover was perfect for the center of these medallions I am making with all of their initials.

This side of the swap page is all vintagey goodness. Old crepe paper, and ribbon, wallpaper, and millinery. And of course, the cool, French ephemera. The only new thing on this, is the initial. I cut diamond shapes (thanks for the shape idea, Marilyn!) out of parchment card stock and drew the initials in metallic inks and markers.

I was so enthralled by my new trick of making these, that I used one as a label on this package wrapped up for another Silver Bella swap. (the glue is still wet in this photo)

These medals, or medallions might be cute made into pins too…

Like I don't have anything else to do. Today, I am mudding the new dry wall for a mini remodeling project and tonight I'll be painting the walls as they dry. Tomorrow, I am having a group of friends over for breakfast and we are making a few charms.

And of course, it is the hey day of the garden season. Last night, we picked a couple sinks full of tomatoes, so I made up a LOT of sauce to freeze.

Its Sugarwing's job to pick the littlest tomatoes and put them in her bucket. They seem to get dumped in and out a lot, but if a few get stepped on here and there, it doesn't really matter. I'm being over run with tomatoes anyway, I kind of feel like stepping on a few myself. It would be that many less to clean, cook, and freeze.

One of our plans was to make and can salsa. Somehow, it just is not happening. We have the ingredients, just not the time to learn how to can.

Ah, aren't gardens wonderful? I might complain about how much work it is, but I am loving the results!

But now, I have something to really complain about, I have to go and do dry wall mud. ugh.

Flights of Fancy

celebrations, fairies, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 13, 2009

We all loved the Kansas City Renfest
on Labor Day weekend during the camp-o-rama family reunion. Sugarwings, especially. Although, my husband and I were pretty happy, just following her around and smiling at her happiness. (which just about sums up what our life around here is on a daily basis anyway.. her smiles mean the world to us we. We spend most of our time just watching her with goofy, indulgent grins on our faces She'll either grow up to be secure and filled with well being and love, or an insufferable brat.)

Sugarwings wasn't the only fairy, my nephew's baby, Kaydence, wore her "toot toot" (tutu) and wings too.

(It brings tears to my eyes to look at her picture, knowing that her daddy is leaving to serve in Iraq, and that he won't be with her for an entire YEAR!)

My Sissy made these hair garlands for everyone to wear, aren't they lovely? And so is my niece, Shelli.

When Sugarwings saw the bag of garlands, she immediately asked, "Who made these?" She is so used to everything being hand made around here, it doesn't even occur to her that some people buy such things from stores. She just assumed that if there was something pretty at our cottage, then someone must have made it.

Kansas City has a scenic location for their annual event, its in a shady valley, with lots of permanent structures that lend the place an air of authenticity.

And magic.

Even more magical, seeing it through my fairy grand baby's eyes.

To her the baby dragon that hatches from this egg, is as real as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Of course, I'm every bit as enchanted by the dragon as she is. And yes, I am one of THOSE people who wear a costume to the festival. I don't consider myself a Renny or a weirdo, I just think it is fun to wear fairy wings.

Or maybe I am a weirdo? Who cares?! Life is short, wear fairy wings and be silly and have fun!!

We all work too hard, we should take some advice from the fairies, and be light-hearted, do some dancing, and be in the moment. Because those moments go by too fast to waste them.

I'll leave you with a few more fairy photos. I hope you get to kick up your heels and have some fun too!

Paper dolls

Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 11, 2009

If you aren't following Daisy Cottage
(well then, you must be one of the only people who aren't) you are missing a treat. Kim has the cutest cottage, in the most cheerful colors ever. When she ordered something from my Boutique, I knew I needed to make the package extra special to go to such a special home, so I added some wallpaper, ribbons, and trim to the lid of this little tin to use as the packaging.

Five minutes and no expense (I bought the tin for the buttons that were in it, and the rest of it was lying around the studio) and I had a quickie gift wrap fit to go to live at Daisy Cottage.

But then, I always enjoy the wrapping part of sending out purchases. I guess I was in an autumn mood when I packed these.

Today, little Sugarwings was feeling ill and stayed home from school. I managed to photograph and clean some old jewelry while she was napping, and got a few listed on Etsy.

Not as many as I would like, but I have all day tomorrow to add more jewels.

Poor Sugarwings was so freaked out by spewing her breakfast across the dining room, that she insisted on keeping a roll of paper towels next to her all morning. I helped her out by turning the towels into a baby doll to hold.

One side is sleepy, the other is happy. Kind of like the moods of a sick kid, they seem to perk up and feel fine for a while, then crash and need to take another nap.

Yes, the paper towel roll seems like an odd doll baby, but it really did comfort her. And when you are three (or fifty one) anything can become a toy!

She is feeling much better tonight, and luckily the paper towel baby doll didn't have to be deconstructed and put to use. Here is a photo of her last week at the Kansas City RenFest, I don't want to leave you with a sad, tummy ache photo of her. So here is a happy one.

I'll post more Renfest photos of our happy, dancing fairy soon.

Here are directions for foofing a tin:

Turn the lid upside down and trace a circle onto the paper you want to use, then cut it out.

Using "The Ultimate" (my favorite) glue, adhere the circle of paper to the lid

Rub a dark ink pad around the edges of the paper, to age it.

Cut a length of ribbon to fit around the lid, and run a bead of glue around the edge to attach the ribbon

I glued a tiny crocheted daisy cut off of a doily to the end of the ribbon.

To the center of the top of the lid, glue down a matching button.

To the center of the button, add an embellishment. I used a daisy snipped from some old trim.

Cousins

family

By Karla Nathan / September 8, 2009

Even Twinkle enjoyed meeting cousins at the reunion. You can tell by the blur of her tail in motion that she was glad to have Boomer come and stay.

She and Elphie didn't get along so well, though. Maybe she was just jealous because Elphie was too durn cute?

Except for the Elphie/Twinkle feud, and one little minor meltdown that I had while trying to hurry home from an afternoon on the lake, run to the grocery for more food, and get dinner started before all the hungry kids got back from the boat (not so pretty while it lasted, sorry, family!!), the camp out was a success. At least it was on my end, but then, I was sleeping in my own soft bed, not out in the yard….

If you can measure happiness by bags of empty marshmallows, we had a 4 star (bag) weekend. The bonfire pit got a workout and became the gathering area we spent the most time at. Lots of s'mores were consumed.

Along with some other junk.

When I have a houseful, I'm not constantly picking up. Piles accumulate and I don't worry about it. So this is the view of one corner of my kitchen for most of the weekend. With that many people around, its easier just to go with it and enjoy the company, I can enjoy a tidy kitchen when I am home alone and have nothing better to do. But while family is here to play, I want to be playing too, not clearing messes!

And all the important stuff gets done, with plenty of help!

I made sure I had plenty of time for neice cuddling, this is my nephew, Aubrey's daughter, and she was as snuggly as can be. Her dad is in the military and has served a few tours in Iraq. It breaks my heart to pieces to imagine him having to leave her to go overseas, but he is being sent back again in October.

FOR A YEAR.

He is a braver person than I am. I couldn't do it. Not just the war and the danger, but leaving behind his two babies, who are some of the sweetest kids ever.

We are lucky to have guys like this that are there for all of us. Aubrey has grown up to be a great guy and I am so proud of him and so lucky to have him and his sweet babies and wife as part of my family.

And Twinkle is thrilled to count their dog, Boomer as her cousin too.

We had perfect weather all weekend, with just a few drops of rain at the Renfest on Saturday (I'll have photos from there later) So, we were able to eat most meals outdoors. It could have been a disaster if we'd had rain all weekend!

I hope the rest of the group loved our tent city as much as I did, and will come back to set it up again. The yard seems empty with everyone all packed up and gone.

PS- I had to add codes to the comment log, sorry, I hate that. I like it to be easy for you to leave comments, but all of a sudden, I was inundated with hundreds of bizarre and BAD language robotic comments and needed to block them. I'm sorry if this makes it take more time for you to comment, but you really wouldn't want to see those….

Also, please remember, all comments all month count toward the giveaway, which I'll look around the studio and scrounge up a little giftie for this week.

Too much fun

family

By Karla Nathan / September 5, 2009

The Camp-or-ama weekend is going great! Here is a corner of my yard…

But after all the bonfire and Renfest excitement, we are all feeling a bit like Sugarwings does in this picture. I'm off to bed to rest up for another day packed with fun.

Hope your weekend is great too!

Welcome!!

family

By Karla Nathan / September 4, 2009

Have you ever seen the Once Upon a Time scrap book paper?  Its so pretty, and has the perfect mood for a Renaissance Festival scrapbook.  
 

The pages are filled with fairies, mermaids, knights, castles, all tipped off with hints of glitter.  
 

Normally, I'm all vintage, all the time. But I love this stuff and it is soooo right for these albums to commemorate the family reunion.  I  made a cover from glitter paper (cool stuff too, but it "sheds" so I spritzed it with clear poly spray) and drew up a label, made color copies of it and added some glitz and sparkle to each one to make them all a bit unique.
My sissy is coming with her four kids and all of their families, so I created 5 books for them.  All are pretty simple, and ready to add photos of the weekend to.  I foofed only a few pages in each book, with pockets, and other little touches. When you use this paper, its so cool, you don't want to do too much to it.  
Its great as is.
The tag on the page in the photo is only glued down on 2 sides, so it is a pocket to slip ticket stubs or other mementos into.
 

I tied a golden photo mat inked up with sepia to age it, and filled with a fairy picture of my Sis to the albums.  To that, I added a little pewter dragon charm.
Now, I am wishing I'd made one for myself too….  
  

There will be lots of photo ops this weekend!  One of my nephews is a professional photographer, I'm hoping to get some good family group shots from him.

Today, I am doing last minute spot cleaning to be ready for everyone.  The yard is cleaned up, floors are mopped, laundry is done.
 
The bonfire pit is being cleaned out and a fresh load of logs will be laid out and ready for the campers.  Yep, we'll have a tent city in the yard, at least 4 or 5 tents will be set up for the party.  Looks like the weather will hold too, we got lucky.  Now, I just need to get to the grocery store and getting chopping and dicing and cooking to have the house filled with food and treats when they arrive.
 
I can't wait!

A bonus giveaway to share the joy

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

By Karla Nathan / September 2, 2009

Yesterday was such a good day! One for the record books.

* Lovely weather

* Family helping with yard work, getting things trimmed and tidied, and enjoying being outside together

* A bonus of a few extra, unexpected hours to play with Sugarwings

* The look of joy on my fairy grand baby's face when she saw the new additions to the Fairy Berry Trail

* A thoughtful, surprise gift in the mail from a reader (thank you, Susan!!)

* Giant mums in bloom, on sale for only $5.99 (I bought 6!)

* A delicious meal whipped up from our garden, by my son

* The happy anticipation of getting ready for the big family reunion this weekend

* A furry friend, who is always happy even when I have to pick tons of burrs from her silky hair.

* Time to spend in the studio making up some pretties

It was one of those days that make me happy and grateful for my life.

It was such a good day, that I wanted to share some of my good luck, and draw two names for the August giveaway instead of just one. Plus, I realized it was my SIX HUNDREDTH post.

So, here are the two winners, each get one of these hand painted charms.

And the second winner is:

Gabrielle

Bur dog 115

Yep, yesterday was a beautiful day, and you know, today is starting off pretty good too. Hope yours is also!