family – Page 69 – Karla's Cottage

Kansas Countryside

celebrations, family, flowers, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / July 27, 2009

Kansas Julys are usually miserable. I'm a summer-lovin person, but even I get burnt out by the blasting heat of late July in Kansas. But not this year! Its been as sweet as June all month long. We went to a friend's for dinner over the weekend and were lucky enough to get to sit on their country patio and enjoy our meal along with the scenic views.

Of course, I always have to get pictures of the food…. its as pretty as the view from the porch!

And their view is more than a little special. This stream is right in front of the deck of the log cabin that they built themselves.

The stream looks natural, but the home owners built it too. My husband went out and spent a day helping move rocks to form the creek bed a couple years back. Which, he would never do at our house. Funny, he'd do anything for a buddy, but when it comes to gardening at our own cottage, well, he's not that into it, I guess would be the polite thing to say…

So, do I have a little bit of creek envy? I have to admit that I do. This yard is ideal. It is all landscaped into flower gardens up by the house and the rest of the land is left to go in native grasses that never need mowed or watered.

Most of the areas are left to natural landscaping.

And other areas were steered into that direction. Some native plants that spread and become ground cover make this hillside a no-care delight now that they are all established.

This makes me miss living in the country! When we bought our farm years ago, we were in the middle of no where. Now we have civilization on three sides of us, with just the back acreage that we own still wild and free.

But I'm feeling the farmhouse vibe now, anyway. Its time to put up corn for the winter!

I'm doing it the short cut way. We shucked a few dozen ears, dumped them into the sink, then poured a pot of boiling water over them, and iced it all down after.

Then, we cut the kernels off with a simple corn cutting tool from Bed Bath and Beyond, that made the chore zip by quickly.

The kernels went into freezer bags, and one of the bags was marked Thanksgiving , another was marked Christmas. We save up big servings of fresh frozen corn for holiday family dinners, because there is nothing like the taste of Kansas summer in the coldest part of winter!

There is lots of new stuff in the Boutique right now. I've been playing with the millinery flowers and made up some deluxe, rosey collections!

Also, I did snag a little something to add to the JULY GARAGE SALE GIVEAWAY PRIZE PACK. I just haven't had a chance to get photos.

I might have time to get some photos tomorrow. I've had Sugarwings a little bit extra this week, so we've been pretty busy with the other things I found at garage sales this week, princess dresses and tea party toys!

A fine feathered mess and some mosaic madness

antiques/junking, family, Food and Drink, give away, parties, Sugarwings, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2009

Sugarwing's Princess bed is coming along… but there have been a few hold ups. Its painted and pretty, that part was easy. But- a regular crib mattress wouldn't quite fit, so I am custom making one. Now, I might have mentioned that I hate to sew- but I seem to get stuck doing it a lot. Well, as long as it is a straight stitch and there are no zippers or buttons involved, I can do it. But I complain a lot!

Add in two bags of feathers and 3 bags of poly-fill fluff, and I have to tell you, it does become any more fun. I am sewing a giant, fluffy pillow for her out of waterproof, flannel backed fabric and trying to get more feathers in it than on the floor. (I bought two down filled pillows on clearance for $7.99 at Tuesday Morning and am using that for part of the stuffing. The pillow cases that came on them are going to be cut up into ribbons, they are silk!)

After that, I'll need to custom make the sheets! I think I'll go with giant size pillow cases.

Oh, but she is worth it!

Before our trip to the zoo, we threw a fairy tea party for Sugarwing's little cousin, Pixie Pie, who just turned two this week.

Then, all the grandparents took the cousins to the zoo. Because the heat was so bad and there had been storms earlier in the day, the place was deserted, like a private playground for these little fairy babies.

I don't know why this was set up at the zoo, but we came around a corner and there sat a jump house. Like I said, the park was our own private play ground, so we wriggled in under the flaps and jumped away. Mostly we just fell down and laughed till our sides hurt.

There is nothing more fun than being a grandma.

Well, garage sailing is pretty fun too.

I had sugarwings till almost noon today, so could only get to a couple sales. But I found some goods, and at one estate sale, I had a long conversation with the family after seeing a billion old patterns. Now, I am not a pattern person myself, but I love old trims. I figured if there were patterns, there were sewing supplies, and they said yes there was. They just didn't think anyone would want them! They said they would give me a call and get a box to me.

For the July Garage Sale Giveaway Prize Pack, I found a little bit, not much. A doily, a bag of buttons, and a pretty button card. I also bought a bunch of ribbon roses, not new, but still nice to use. I tied up a bouquet of them to add to the giveaway. All comments, all month are entered, and I will add more to the package each week.

See, these ribbon roses aren't the same as the vintage millinery that I love so much, but they aren't bad at all. I'm just a bit spoiled by finding old ones so often.

There was a big bag of buttons at a small sale that didn't even look like it was worth stopping at. But since I hadn't been to many at all and it was late in the day, I wasn't being picky, and I stopped anyway. I was glad I did, not because I particularly need more buttons, but because they are always nice to find anyway.

I listed this bunch in the Boutique. There are some sweet ones in the group.

These miniature farm animals too. Aren't they cute? I kept part of the set, some little wooden houses. I want to paint them up and glitter them to use in Christmas decor. I think they are pretty old from the looks of the other things at that sale, but can't say for sure. The person selling them said they were her Mom's and she played with them as a kid.

OK, gotta go. stupid Typepad keeps locking up my screen! Plus, I can't ignore that giant pillowcase waiting to be made so that Sugarwings will have a new Princess bed waiting for her. (I found floral king sized sheets for 15 cents each today too, and am using those to make the sheets for the new bed).

Damsels in Distress

antiques/junking, fairies, family, flowers

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2009

The trip to Florida wasn't all sad stuff. My Aunt's funeral was uplifting, so many people had such good things to say about her. She was gracious and kind and a wonderful role model to live up to.

While down in the Sunshine State (where we were just about guaranteed a big blast of heavy rain every afternoon), my Sissy and I road tripped it from coast to coast and saw family (and antique shops) all the way.

We stayed with baby bro, Randy, and his family in Jacksonville. This mosaic is of my furry little niece and nephews. (Yep, that represents more Picassa fun time there, I learned a few more editing tricks!)

Randy and Kevin's garden is set up as an open invitation for fairies to come and play in the flowers.

Butterflies too! The yard is pesticide free, so the soon to be butterflies will be safe.

The place was so inviting, all I wanted to do was explore all the nooks and crannies, because there were such delightful surprises tucked in under the blooms!

And what did I buy on the trip? Well, I have to say that my hat whispering skills were top notch!

It was heart breaking to see that Mt. Dora is no longer chocked full of antique shops. Even so, we did manage to keep busy and I over filled my suitcase. To the point that it was over the weight limits, and I thought I'd have to stuff my carry on bag full of the heaviest stuff (5 rolls of gorgeous old wallpaper for $2.99!!!) But the Southwest Airlines agent let me leave it as is and didn't charge me for the overweight bag. SW is always the BEST.

These girls were so wrong, they were right. They caught my eye right away, well, with those garishly bright colors how could I miss them? But I saw potential in them, even if they are so unattractive they are too embarrassed to look at the camera as is.

First thing I did was cut those extra long, monkey styled arms in half! Then, on this one, I pulled off the brightest of the trims, and added some pretty pastels. Old crocheted lace, millinery flowers, a new hat (made from velvet flower petals), and of course, some fairy wings!

Now she is feeling self confident in her appearance and is saucily looking right into the eye of the camera.

Her formally red, white, and blue sister (who looked a bit too much like Wonder Woman to start with) really had a beautiful design of sequins, I just couldn't live with the colors. So, a little bit of spray paint with glitter sprinkled on while the paint was still wet gave her a makeover.

She also got a flower petal hat, more flowers on her gown, jewelry and a magic wand made from a hat pin. And of course, no more monkey arms. She has dainty little fairy wings, that don't show in this photo.

Sometimes I wonder about what I spend my time on. I am so far behind from being gone on one trip after another and I know I need to get caught up, get things listed on line and clean up my Etsy and Boutique, but I couldn't help myself. I saw these poor ugly ducklings and had to be their fairy godmother and turn them into swans!

I'm also finishing up the books I promised to list and will add all the new items to the shop at once and have a much needed makeover there too.

For now, it is back to my job as a fairy godmother, there are a few of those girls still waiting for my help!

Oh, and the winner of the June giveaway is:

Becca of Bluebirds and Roses. She was one of my very first blog friends, how nice!

Don't forget, a new contest starts today! All comments, all month are in the drawing for whatever the heck that prize will be.

Ghosts of the past?

family

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2009

We're back! Great Aunt Caroline's funeral was simple and touching. She chose everything in advance herself. Lots of pinks, whites, and roses, all just as lovely as she was herself.

It wasn't easy, but I got up to speak at the funeral. Because my mother adored her aunt so much, I felt like I needed to say something from my Mom, since she has passed away and wasn't able to tell everyone how much Caroline meant to her. And since I was talking about Mom, and thinking about times with her, it was doubly hard to speak without sobbing. I was facing lots of overwhelming emotions, but it was something I had to do.

Whether anyone in the funeral home could understand what I was saying through the tears or not, at least I said it.

Sissy and I stayed on the beach in Sarasota, taking a memory tour of places I used to go with my grandma years ago. One of my favorite places in the world when I was a kid was Siesta Key Beach and I was glad to see that the sand is every bit as soft and powdery as I remembered!

We walked on the beach at night as the sun was setting, then drank wine on the balcony and ate a feast of breads, cheeses and fruits for a picnic. When we left the hotel room in the morning, this outline of my fat little Fred Flintstone shaped foot was on the carpet outside the door.

We also hunted for and found the old trailer that Grandma used to live in! At least we think this is it….

Before the trip, I had my hair colored, trying to get it back to natural. I thought the highlights had gone so far, that they looked more sun damaged than sun kissed. Sugarwings noticed right away and said, "Grammy did you get more hair?"

I'm not sure about the color yet. It might need to be brigther, or darker or redder or something less boring.

One thing I remember about my Grandma's trailer from when I was a kid, is all the lizards in the yard. And this abandoned trailer had plenty of lizards. I thought about trying to break in to see inside, but couldn't get the doors open. And when I saw this guy trapped between the window and the glass, I had 2nd thoughts about going in anyway.

Maybe it was all the talk of the past and people who were long gone that influenced my Sissy when we checked into this gorgeous old hotel in Mt Dora. She was feeling "not right" about it. We checked right back out again and moved to another place.

The place seemed quaint and inviting to me, but I could tell she just was not happy there at all. Maybe it was haunted? That is my theory! I might have enjoyed staying with ghosts.

It all worked out for the best, the hotel we moved to was where my other sister and her hubby were staying. There was a free breakfast, and a little gazebo on the lake right outside our back door, where we could sit and sip wine and watch the sunset again. Of course, that is a big part of vacationing for us, sipping wine and watching the water.

And the hotel was not far from the funeral home where we said goodbye to our Great Aunt. Family had laid out photos of her, including this one taken in her 90s. I hope I take after her at least a little bit! I'd love to look this great in my 90s!!!!!!!!!!!!

We don't know what year this photo is from, only that it captures some of the tranquility and beauty that was such a part of her.

Thanks again for all of your condolences. And once again for all your help last year in making the hundred plus cards that helped mark her 110th birthday!

Farewell

family, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 24, 2009

There's no place like home, there's no place like home….

I'm getting ready for my trip to Florida and have been busy chasing down the details and making reservations. I snuck in some time to make a few little pretties too.

Here are a couple sneak peeks at what I've been doing. There are a few odds and ends left to finish on them yet, and since I leave for the airport at 4am tomorrow and haven't packed yet, well, I guess I won't be finishing up the batch of pretties and listing them in the shop till I get back.

I've pre-written some posts that will pop up while I am away, so please do check back. And when I return, I'll let you know who the winner is for the June Giveaway- which you can still enter, of course.

Thanks for all of your kind words about Great Aunt Caroline. She will be missed.

Blue Birds, Blue Berries, and talking about beautiful gifts till I am Blue in the face!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, show and tell, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2009

Thank you for all your kind comments about the passing of my Great Aunt Caroline. She was a gracious lady who led an interesting and full life. I hope I can inherit some of her longevity genes! Not only did she live to just a few days short of 101, she did so in excellent health up until the very end. And she passed away quietly in her sleep with no trauma. Not a bad way to go, at all. Lucid and no pain.

My flight to Florida is Thursday, and I am trying to get caught up before I go. I added this pearl collar to my Boutique, and have been making some projects to add too, but most likely, will not be able to till I return.

One thing I needed to be caught up on was showing off the pressies I've been getting! It has been feeling almost like Christmas around here lately and I haven't had a chance to get pictures of the lovely loot till now.

My friend, Jenn Queen of the Garden Fairies sent me this Millinery School book. I wish I could really go! And not to a modern one, I want to go back in time and attend this school and play with all the flowers and trims there.

And at our Blogger's Shopping Day in Leesburg, VA, there was a flurry of gifts being exchanged. Amy Powers created the sugared and framed bluebird, that is so cute next to the minuscule flowers that Robin crafted from coffee filters and sticker dots. Can you tell what she has used for a vase? The lid to a spice bottle!

Andrea gifted us with gift tags, all sparkly and pretty and packed in a tin.

Please excuse Twinkle's vanity, but she insisted that I pay attention to her instead taking photos of everything else…

Most of these gifties have been used already, so I can't show you how cute Heather and Stephenie's little straw basket was when it was filled with blooms, or the hand knit wash cloth that Bethmade. I saved the packaging she made for it, (the tube covered in ephemera) but the wash cloth has been hard at work already. She has given me a few of these over the years and I just love to use them. I keep one in the kitchen to wipe the fairy grand baby's face after meals, because the cotton yarn is just right for a baby's soft skin.

In a previous post, I mentioned the great idea that Pamela had for the travel folders, filled with tags to tie to our packages, room for receipts and business cards, etc. And Hope gave us post cards from her shop, that I just can't use, I will save in the folder Pamela made along with other mementos of the day.

You are probably thinking that is all I have to show you???? No way!! It has been a gift-a-thon around here!!!

In today's mail, these wonderful Blue Bird plates arrived from Jenny!! I quickly filled them with fresh, hot blueberry muffins. Don't things taste even better off of pretty plates? It was so thoughtful of her to send these to me, after she saw the post about my mini collection of this china.

Jenny has an antique shop in Raleigh, and I just found out that my husband has that city in his region now. Hopefully soon, I'll be able to travel with him there and check out her store and thank her in person.

And there is more…..

Andrea sent a voluminous bundle of beauty my way! Full of vintagey tidbits and treasures. Including a hand made frame, for a photo of Sugarwings. And out of old pastel wallpapers and glitter. Now that even more yummy than a fresh muffin!

But wait, I am still going- yes there is MORE. How lucky am I?

First of all, pretty lucky to have a friend like Beth, who sent me this wallpaper pack from Holly's shop after I mentioned how much I loved the chocolate brown paper. I am beyond lucky, don't you think?

And so lucky that Sugarwings is fine, no problems from her episode of mushroom munching in the grass. The poison control center thought that the mushrooms were dangerous and sent us to the ER, but a specialist in mushrooms happened to live in the area and came in to inspect them and told us that they were a safe variety.

Thank you all for your concern about her. And now, she has a fairy guardian on the shelf above her bed, a gift from Lori,that is just about as precious as little Sugarwings is!

Thanks, everyone for the fantastic gifts! And don't forget that I have one for you, this month's gift drawing will be on the 30th and is one of my tag journals.

Remembering

family

By Karla Nathan / June 21, 2009

This time last year, I was gathering up the 100 plus cards made for my Great Aunt Caroline's 100th birthday and heading down to Florida for the birthday bash. She was to turn 101 on the 26th, this week. I have my plane tickets ready to go, so I could be there for the big day.

Sadly, I got a call today, saying that she passed away last night. I'm still traveling to Florida this week, but now it is for a funeral instead.

She was a gracious and classy lady who could really tell a story and had a lot of stories to tell. I'm so sorry that I won't get to hear another one from her.

Thanks again to all of you who sent cards last year. They were a huge hit at her party! If you'd like to see the cards that generous readers made for Caroline, click here.

Today, I am also remembering my dad. I love this old photo of him from my scrapbook. He sent it to me years ago, with a note on the back telling me how many crappies he'd caught at his favorite fishing hole.

Its been an up and down Father's Day weekend for us. Lots of fun times, out on the lake, but also the sadness of losing Caroline and remembering Dad. But we had a frightening moment too, when Sugarwing's mom told us she had been snacking on mushrooms growing in the yard! After calling poison control, we were told to bring in a sample of the mushrooms to the ER (and the baby led us directly to them in her mommy's yard).

A mushroom expert examined them and said they weren't poisonous, but the Dr. had Sugarwings drink charcoal in chocolate milk.

She's fine now, just a few tummy rumbles here and there. It could have been much worse, I shiver just thinking about anything bad happening to my fairy grand baby! She doesn't even LIKE mushrooms, and will not eat them on her plate. What goes through kid's heads when they put stuff like that in their mouths? Or noses for that matter, she had a big marble up her nose yesterday too.

I told her to never, ever, ever eat mushrooms out of the grass, because then the fairies will not have any place to sit.

I hope all of you are having a good Father's Day, and hopefully one less eventful than ours.

Flower bed visitors

fairies, family, flowers

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2009

Finally! I was able to do some yard work. Normally, I am way too early with my plants because I just can't wait to get the blooms started. This is the latest I have ever been in setting out annuals. But I discovered if you wait till this late in the season, all the plants are half price! That made me feel a bit better about it being so far behind.

Sugarwings was quite the helper. She discovered how easily the plants popped out of the ground and right back into the divided plastic trays they came in. So, we had to elaborately tuck the new flowers into their "beds" and pat the soil around them to distract her from replanting them right back into their previous containers. After giving them plant food and a drink, I think she got the picture.

Did you notice this unusual planting in the first photo? My first reaction, was, "oh no, the Lamb's Ear will be smashed!". Then I realized just how prolific this flower is, and how hard to kill. Plus, who could blame her for wanting to pull off her dress and sink down into soft, fluffy leaves of Lamb's Ear?

In the past, I've been quite a flower lover, but for now, I think I'd rather spend my time growing fairies.

It was the day for soft and fluffy.

This little guy was hopping around in the flowers too. We held him for a while, then sat him down to hop on home to his family. That wasn't easy to do, Sugarwings was pretty fond of him. When I asked her what his name was, she said it was "Mine".

Sweet Sioux

family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / May 28, 2009

We're back from Sioux City, and it was an emotional trip, as well as being filled with all sorts of Sugarwings Fun.

When I was a young, divorced, and penniless, mom with two rambunctious sons, my Mom took us in. She had been transferred to Sioux City, so my sisters packed us up in Indiana, and drove the boys out to her home in Iowa, since I didn't even own a car at the time.

My Mom has been gone a few years now, but I will be grateful all of my life for the help she was to us when I really really needed her. She not only took us in, she helped take care of my wild and crazy boys while I worked and got back on my feet. To do that, she sold her cozy little one bedroom cottage, that was just perfect for her, and bought this beautiful, old brick palace with space for a family.

That house was so stately and special. Going back to see it again was heart wrenching, but was the first thing I had to do when we got to town. The house meant a lot to Mom too, she'd been through some rough times, and not so nice men in her life, so owning a house like this and being able to support us when we were desperate for help, was a boost of confidence for her. She was so proud of how hard she had worked and this house was kind of a symbol of all she had done for herself to get to that point. And was she was even prouder to be able to say that she did it "without a man".

Dear Abby and Ann Landers had been raised in this house. (I'm sure I could have used some of their advice at times while I was a single mom) And it had once been a fantastic neighborhood. But the area seems to be going down hill, now. It made me very happy to see "our" house so well cared for and tended to. It looked like a huge, and multi-generational family lived there now, with a grampa in the garden and babies on the porch. That seemed fitting.

While in Sioux City, we visited Palmer Candy. Sugarwings was pretty happy with that part of the trip….

We bought a case of their Cherry Twin Bings, as souvenirs to give to family and friends here at home.

Down along the river, a monument to Lewis and Clark has been built in the years since we lived in that town. The fairy grand baby figured it was part of the playground equipment.

Since we were doing a lot of driving around and sightseeing, we promised to stop at all the parks we passed for Sugarwings to get out and stretch. My husband's mom is a kid at heart too and she was happy to do more than just stretch when we made park stops.

Traveling with a two year old meant lunches at places like Chuck E Cheese instead of quaint roadside diners my husband usually prefers. Usually, we tryto eat local cuisine, like Iowa loose meats, but for this trip, it was a lot of hotel food and kid friendly restaurants.

Honestly, we didn't care what the meal was, just spending all that time with our little one and doing things she loved to do made this trip one of the best of our lives. Finding a hotel with a water park was the best part of the trip for her, we stayed at a Holiday Inn downtown Omaha that seemed to be empty except for us. We had the whole pool area to ourselves.

And right now, Holiday Inn has a special. Stay 3 nights at any hotel they own, and get a 4th free in August. We plan on going back to Omaha in August for Sugarwings birthday to stay at this one again. I threw my back out on this trip, and didn't get to play in the water park. I sure enjoyed the hot tub, though. When we go back in August, I look forward to splashing around on all the slides.

Since I hurt my back, I won't be going to see Aunt Caroline this week. Thank you all for the well wishes and prayers for her health, it sounds like she is doing well. I hope that I can go to Florida to see her for her 101st birthday in June instead.

The Blue Bird of Happiness has moved in with us at the Cottage

family, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 21, 2009

Today felt more like Summer than Springtime, and while I was hit with guilt about not having my bedding plants out yet, I was sure enjoying the perennials and so glad that we have such well established beds that can be completely and totally ignored and still look good (well, that is if you look away from the grass growing in the iris)

It was such a pretty day, we took lunch outside to eat.

Doesn't everything taste even better outside? Especially when served off of a princess plate.

The day was too nice to stay sitting at the table, Sugarwings wanted to explore.

And of course, she had to make sure that Grammy was following her. This is a wooden bridge that I found in a dump 15 years ago (don't ask how I drug it out and got it home myself). I always liked the little bridge, but this fairy grand baby just adores crossing it. She always stops to check underneath of it for trolls.

If only iris bloomed all summer…. I just love this time of year, I'll miss these when they are done, they bloom and fade too fast.

Sugarwings is learning the names of the flowers, she calls quite a few of them iris or snowball bushes, though. She thinks that the peonies are snowballs like the viburnums. I have to agree with her, they do look like big white snowballs.

But the peonies smell better.

The best part of summer coming? We can paint outside! (yes, she is still a paint taster, although it looks like she has moved on from blue to black paint now) Last year, there was a photo of her printed in "Where Women Create" all covered in blue paint.

But now, it is MY turn to be a model!

Yep, I am gracing the pages of a trade magazine that showcases New Holland Tractors, along with my niece, Shelli. Hmm, should I add this to my list of publications that I've been in? Probably not…

As if things weren't happy enough around here, most days, at least- look at this! The blue bird of happiness has come to live with us. Its a gift from Cindy and I just love it. Thanks, Cindy!!