family – Page 74 – Karla's Cottage

A Tale of Two Gallbladders

Etsy Goodies, family, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 14, 2008

Well, this week started out nice. I was able to make some things, then had lots of Sugarwings time.

This picture is a copy of an old postcard that I crackled and aged, and popped into a frame.

And my book club meeting on Wednesday night was fun, with an interesting discussion. (the book was Housekeeping by Marylin Robinson)

Of course, I am always thrilled with an excuse to entertain and make trays of goodies.

But about midnight, I started to feel pretty awful, and was up all night, ill as could be. There has been a nasty bug going around and I am afraid it bit me too.

So, when Ryan called at 6am to tell me he was having stomach pain, I told him to take some Pepto Bismal and try to rest, I couldn’t have much sympathy for him, when I had spent the last few hours wondering when the room would stop spinning,( and if I had passed the bug along to all the guests who had been to my house that night).I figured he had the same thing.

But finally, hours later, when I took a look at him, writhing in pain and turning funny shades of green, I realized he had more than a virus.

I chugged some more Pepto Bismal myself, and helped him dress and got him into the car and to the hospital.

The ER found a gigantic gallstone and an infection. They kept him over night and scheduled surgery the next day, after a round of IV antibiotics.

While Ryan was in surgery, Sugarwing’s hippy chick mom made a trip into the ER with pain also, to find out that she had an inflamed gallbladder.

Ry’s surgery was not as easy as expected, his infection was pretty serious, and the gallbladder was gangrene, no wonder he was writhing in pain (as I ignored him). Tonight, his fever is down, and he is finally resting comfortably in the hospital and will be there a couple more days.

Of course, surgeries and ER tests don’t go quickly and there is only so much you can do to entertain an energetic little girl while the whole family is going back and forth from the waiting room on the surgery floor to the ER waiting room.

She got lots of shoulder rides from her Pop Pop, up and down the halls.

She made wishes and threw coins in the lobby fountain until we had no more coins to pass out, no matter how pretty she begged.

She found some wheelchairs to be pushed in while she yelled "Go! Go! Go!"

She thought that the glass elevator was not bad entertainment for a few rides too. And she found the buttons inside very compelling.

Luckily, my bug was a 24 hour thing and I was up to the task of turning a hospital into a playhouse for 8 hours. But it feels even better to have Sugarwing’s mom out of the ER, back home, and not requiring surgery, and to have Ryan losing that funny shade of green and to ask for a cup of broth for supper.

I’m afraid that THIS does not make me feel so good. Oops, I haven’t had a chance to mail out my St Pats Two Tag Swaps. I am so so sorry. But at least my excuse is valid and not some lame, my dog ate my homework excuse. Although, Twinkle would be thrilled at a chance to chew these up!

I am exhausted and way behind on getting stuff out in the mail. My Etsy customers have been left in the lurch too, I’m afraid.

I promised to have them sent out in time for the swappers to receiveby St Pats, but now I hope to just get them in the mail by St Pats instead. Please forgive me, and I will send all 20 of my swappers some extra swatches of pretty vintage wallpaper as an apology.

Tonight, my husband is sitting up with Ryan and I am getting some sleep so I can go up to the hospital in the morning. Thank goodness Ryan is better, that fever had me worried, and it was so awful to seem him in such pain. I will spare you and not show the photo of the nasty, green gallbladder that the Dr gave to us as a memento. Even though the color would go nicely with the St. Pats theme….

I usually am really good about mailing things and also at answering Emails and comments. Please understand if I don’t respond to comments this week.

I really didn’t need to go shopping today, but wow!!

antiques/junking, collections, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 9, 2008

Don’t I have enough hats yet? What is wrong with me??? I can’t resist.

Truth is, I do use the flowers in my projects a lot. But even if I used them daily, I probably have enough millinery flowers to get me through the next decade or so.

Yet, today I buy 4 more hats. One has a large, single velvet rose, nicely smashed with age (for $2- how could I leave it behind??). The others are LOADED with flowers and were $4 each.

I might have bought a few buttons too…… There are some not pictured also. Lots of cute shapes and rhinestoney ones in the jars, so I just had to get them at about $5 a jar.

Scranton and 4-Corners, Kansas are small towns in the middle of nowhere, but they have some great antiquing bargains!

Most things were cheap to start with, but there were also sales, of 25-50% off a lot of booths. Except for the hats and buttons, everything in the picture here was $2 or under, including the glass jar. I think I’ll use it for my paint brushes. But on the other hand, I do have plenty of buttons to fill it with!

And how many vintage photos can you get in 4-Corners, Kansas in a bag for $5? I stopped counting at 50.

Of all the things I got today, these are my favorites. Oh, I can’t wait to get started on these projects!! Don’t they look like Marie Antionette?

One project will involve these figures, some small round boxes, vintage wallpaper in soft pastel colors, lots of millinery flowers and more than a few rhinestone buttons.

The frame, I will paint white and put a different picture in. I will be needing this print for the lining of one of these boxes that these mini Maries will be perched upon.

What a sweet baby photo this is. It was in the bag of old pictures that I got today and I think it might be my favorite of the bunch. Feel free to copy and use it in your own projects. This baby needs a loving home! How sad when family photos are lost to the family and for sale in antique stores. I always feel like saving them.

There certainly is no worries that my little fairy grand baby’s pictures will go neglected!

I had a little scrapbook party on Saturday and between fixing a big dinner, playing with babies and just plain old hanging out, we managed to get a few pages done.

Sugarwing’s cousin out grew this dress and it was torn. Her mom had the idea to use it for our pages of the little girls.

I cut out a square to make a pocket out of it, with the dress ruffle at the bottom. Then glued the buttons down the side and added sparkly flowers to their centers. The velvet bow was part of the dress already.

When I put photos in pockets, I always glue two back to back, or glue scrapbook paper to the back of one, to make them sturdier. I also punch a hole in the corner and add a ribbon to use as a pull to take the photo out of the pocket.

This page of a summer day on the lake with the family is laid out on a piece of paper that I did a water color wash onto.

I added a frog cut from a copy of one of my paintings. Its only in black and white, maybe someday I’ll tint it, but I doubt it. Once I move on from a project I rarely go back, no matter how good my intentions are.

I accented this picture of a couple of my friends and I with a paper doll dress that Beth gave to me.

I like to use tags, ATCs and other art that I have been given in my scrapbooks.

Not only are they usually well done and attractive, but they are sentimental to me too and I love to keep them somewhere that I can enjoy them.

Speaking of friends, my pal, Carol, and I are collaborating with the Fabulous Fifi on an upcoming project! Fifi called last week, and she is every bit as wonderful to talk to as her blog is to read. No details yet, but here is a teeny sneak peek of something Carol is whipping up for our prospective article.

Another pal, Heather featured in an article in Romantic Homes. How cool. I can’t wait to pick up a copy. Heather and Carol are both buddies that I met through Silver Bella, and blogging.

And my poor pal, Beth, is under the weather. The pitiful thing is suffering from a horrific knitting injury. Actually, I think it is just tendinitis, but she was achey enough to miss Scranton and 4-Corners today. If you get a chance, wish her a get well soon.

My Sissy sent these St Pats tags in for the Two Tag Swap I am hosting. You wouldn’t believe the pile of pretties I get to go through and send out to people! Such great tags came in the mail this week, I can’t wait to play with them all.

Oh- I have been tagged by Connie to list seven things about myself. I know I’ve done the 7 weird things many times, but don’t seem to run out of weirdness to write about.

This time, I’ll keep it simple:

1- I am a serial painter. It is a serious mental problem, I am sure. I really can’t control it, I paint, and repaint rooms all the time. Right now I am considering blues for my bedroom.

2- I work really fast, and can get quite a bit done in a short amount of time. My studio is drowning in finished projects. I think it takes longer to try to sell them than it does to make them.

3- When we have a litter of kittens or puppies at our cottage, I pick a theme and name them all to match. My favorite Dorky puppy names were herbs, I had Rosemary and Dilly in that batch of pups.

4- My Great Aunt Caroline is about to turn 100 and I plan on taking after her and living at least that long. I have a lot I want to make or paint and it will take me till then to do it all.

5- I fell off a horse and broke my back 15 years ago this summer, and never thought I’d be without pain, but really am doing very well now.

6- I no longer own horses!

7- I never get tired of these 7 things lists, but I am bad about those award things. Louisa gave me a couple and I want to thank her for them. And instead of passing them on to another blogger, I’d like all you readers out there to be winners. Thanks for coming by and listening to my rambles and obsessions, and for keeping me company.

Oh, before I forget, I wanted to remind everyone about the Birdhouse Blinging we have going on March 27th. Join us here and at Beth’s, please!

And everyone, blogger or not, is invited to show birdhouse pictures on our Flickr group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/692795@N22/

Marty Jo and Karkie Jo

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, give away, swaps, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / February 16, 2008

Happy Birthday, Mom!

She’s been gone a few years now and it still seems like just yesterday. I am always thinking of reasons to call her, and then am sad I can’t pick up the phone and let her know about the latest thing going on in my life, the funny things Sugarwings just said, or just to complain about how cold it is outside.

My mom spoiled me when I was little. Spoiled me rotten. She used to make the best silver dollar pancakes and feed me breakfast in bed.

On school days. Now who does that???? My boys were lucky to get a Pop Tart on their way out the door.

She made homemade play doh and finger paints for me, as well as sewing one Barbie dress after another for my dolls as I sat under the sewing table and played. She always had time to take the scraps from her projects and turn them into doll clothes.

Mom was a quilter and a wonderful seamstress. I wish I had inherited some of that skill from her.

She made this log cabin quilt for me in the 80s. Luckily, it isn’t trendy and dated, it is as pretty now as it was when she first made it. I guess I have always loved these colors.

I had a blast going through her sewing room, picking through her fabrics for just the right combos to make this quilt. Her sewing room was the heart of her house and when she died, I could hardly bare to go in to it. I remember sitting on the cement basement floor in there sobbing as I held onto a pile of fabrics.

That room had so much of her in it. I wish now that I had scooped up and saved more of it for myself. I’d love to see a pile of her materials stacked up just one more time.

Of course, Mom always got carried away with projects. If she was making a quilt, she would make a bunch of pillows from the scraps. Never just one or two.

hmm, who does that remind you of?? I do take after her in a lot of ways, even if it doesn’t involve sewing.

She was funny, too. She loved to be SILLY. There was nothing on earth she enjoyed more than being goofy with my sisters and me.

I find myself singing the same silly made up songs to my dogs and to Sugarwings that my mom used to sing to me when I was little. I hope that someday my kids remember me as silly and goofy and fun the way I remember my mom.

I hope they remember the little ways I spoiled them too. And that they will cherish the things that I have made for them over the years the way I cherish hers. I hope they will always remember me, the way I will always remember my mom.

Moving on to happier thoughts- I need to announce the winner of my OWOH giveaway and thank Lisa again for her gracious idea and the time she put into it.

The winner is:

Heather of Blum Studios.

And the winner of my one year blog anniversery/Valentine’s prize is:

Jessi at Wild Rose Stamper

Thanks to everyone who commented and came by to visit. I still have the February prize to come and all comments for the month count in it. Also, I am giving away a couple of birdie houses.

One for the tutorial and one for the day of the party I am co-hosting with Beth.

And you still have a couple of weeks to enter my St Pats Day Two Tag Swap. All you need to do is send two Irish themed tags to me with a self addressed stamped envelope. (or put a dollar in the envelope to cover postage if that is easier for you)

And I will take two tags from two different swappers, put them in your SASE and send them back to you.

If you will have them to me by March 5 ( Friday), I can slip them back into the mail over the weekend, so they go out on Monday.

I am having a great time in the DC area and found the BEST antique shops!! Photos later.

A heart here and there

family, give away, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / February 14, 2008

Of course, now that it is too late to make use of them for Valentines Day, I found a bag full of heart charms! Some really pretty ones too.

On the other hand, when would I have had time to make enough Valentines to use all of these up? Its not like I haven’t been making things every day anyway. When would I have made something more? Sometimes I have to just realize that there is only so much time in the day!!

And they certainly don’t rot, so I’ll set them aside for next year. Also, a heart here and there is always nice year round. Especially in my Sugarwings Scrapbooks.

She certainly has my heart!

I adore this Sugarwings Valentine that was made by the other Karla, Sugar Bear.

You know what else I love? Strawberry Malted Milk balls. How sweet and pretty they are, so tempting and pink and crunchy.

Valentine’s Day is the anniversery of the day my husband adopted our boys. We always celebrate with a family dinner out. But this year, we had to have our bash early, due to Rich’s travel schedule. So I am going to DC with him and we will have a romantic Valentine’s getaway togehter, for the first time in, well, let me see, 20 years???

I will be posting from DC and will announce the winners of the OHOW giveaway as well as my one year blog anniversery drawing from our apartment out East. I will mail the gifts when I get home next Monday.

For my anniversery (has it really been a year??) I have this large shipping tag with a sweet vintage birdie on it (in honor of my "bling your Bird House day" coming up soon)

There is also an embellished matchbox, with a rose and glitter theme, and some heart charms for the holiday.

I included the matchbox because it reminded me of one of the first swaps I was in as a blogger, Natasha’s Shabby Chic Matchbox Swap.

I’ve loved all the swaps I have been involved with over the last year. Even though, when I first heard about swapping, I thought it was a weird thing to do. But man, try one, just one, and you are hooked forever. What is it about them that is so addictive?

If you’d like to enter my Begosh and Begorra Two Tag Swap, details can be found Here. Please make sure I send you my address, if you have already said you’d like to be in and I didn’t give you my address, will you please contact me again? Sorry if I forgot to give it to you.

Same with giveaways. When I first saw one a year ago on someone’s blog, I wondered why on Earth they’d be giving their stuff away for no reason. But I just had to try that once too, and hey look at me! I am the queen of giveaways. I always have at least one going at a time, usually more.

I get such joy from wrapping and sending presents. I think I’ll add another giveaway now!!

For my Bling your Birdhouse Day that I am co-hostessing with Beth, how about if I give away one of the little birdhouses I just made?

I’ll give two away!!

I’ll give one away on the day of the party and another on the day of the tutorial. Dates here

It is my 50th birthday year and i have a LOT of celebrating to do! Expect more gifts from me in the future. And thanks sooooo much for the last year, it was the best. I appreciate all your visits and support. Its nice to know that I am not just sitting here typing to myself. Although, I’d probably do that anyway, it is hard to shut me up.

Thanks everyone! I’m glad to have all of you as my Valentines!

Sugarwings, scrapbooking, and soup

Etsy Goodies, family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 5, 2008

The flu bug is still attacking me, but I think I see an end in sight, finally. I am starting to feel more like myself. But not good enough to babysit for Sugarwings today.

She went to play with friends today, and I got out some of her photos and made a much delayed start on a new photo album. It has been forever since I sat down and ‘scrapped’.

I started with an album I had decorated earlier, it was waiting for me, ready to fill with pictures. I tied a tag onto it that came from my friend, Karen . I plan on using a lot of the tags I received as gifts from our Sweet Treats Swap in the scrapbook. On the back of Karen’s tag, I glued a photo of the fairy grand baby.

I like to use a lot of pockets in my albums too. The one on this page, is simply a pretty envelope I had received from someone, that I glued to the page.

Tying a ribbon to the corner of a picture before tucking it into a pocket makes it easier to take out and look at. I also make sure to either glue two photos back to back, or to glue pretty paper to the backside of the photo, for stability. That way the hole punched for the ribbon is sturdy and won’t tear.

It might be hard to tell from this picture, but the photo of Rich and I is in a greeting card. I save cards that I get and use them as folders in my albums.

The ticket inside the card is one that Sissy made for me, it says "wishes".

I embellished the page with scrolls drawn with a blue marker and added a German die cut that went with the garden theme on the first picture.

I haven’t done any scrap booking since Sugarwings turned one in August! I have been trying to keep organized, and setting aside things I wanted to use in the new album, and the photos I needed to put into it, all in a Rubber-maid container.

It was getting kind of full!

I am keeping up with my New Years resolution to do more hand drawn or painted things in my collage work. I’ve added lots of simple scrolls and posies to these pages, and hope to get my paints out tonight when I do the next few pages.

Speaking of hand drawn work, these cards came in the mail today from Jen R.

I won them in a contest on her blog, but they felt like a get well present today! Thanks, Jen, they are so pretty.

I stayed in bed most of yesterday and today, trying to get over this cough and sore throat. But I did get this wallpaper book finished, and listed on Etsy after finishing it.

I used one of the wooden cut out birds I had covered in blue flocked wallpaper on the cover, and painted a branch for her to nest in, then built her a nest from shredded wallpaper.

Inside the book is a whole collection of my favorite papers, and it also comes along with a scrap pack of wallpapers I had used when making the book, to use in your own project.

I can see these as art journals or scrap books. Can’t you just imagine a photo of someone adorable on each page? hmmm, maybe I need to keep one just for Sugarwing pictures!

I sold the one I listed yesterday, and plan to list a couple more, but don’t know how many I will be making. If you are interested, feel free to email me about any of them in the previous post.

In case anyone’s paper doll has a Valentines Ball to attend, I listed this ball gown today too. It is made of a great wallpaper of brocade silk, one of my all time favorite papers. I had actually bought the paper to do a wall in my home and never did. I had it packed away for about 20 years, and am glad to have it for projects now, because as fickle as I am about home decor, it would have been torn off the walls years ago and replaced, and wasted if I had actually used it as wallpaper.

Has anyone seen the Mermaid swap that is going on now??? I am crazy about Mermaids. You can see all the photos at this Flickr Site. It is yet again, another great swap I missed out on joining!!

This is one that I made (last year), she is a German porcelain doll that I dooded up. Her hair is a fluffy yarn that I dyed to match the fabric I bought to make her tail from.

I don’t sew, that made the tail a challenge for me. I figured it out somehow, and made the thing tail-like by sewing a long pipe cleaner inside it to give it shape, then filling it with beans to give it form.

She was then glued onto a starfish that I added pearls and tiny shells to.

And of course, I had to glitter up the starfish.

It has been days since I have felt like eating, even tho my sweet son Ry, bought me a can of soup. But today, I must be doing better, because I have some chicken simmering on the stove, ready to make my own soup.

Well, that and the fact that my other son, Sugarwing’s Daddy, has caught the same bug, and I need to make soup for him, since he is my baby. I need to get it done and take it across town to him before the big snow storm starts (yes ANOTHER one!).

A perfect day

family

By Karla Nathan / December 26, 2007

What a perfect Christmas we had! I hope yours was too.

How can things go badly when you have a giant box of gifts arrive in the mail, a new Care Bears outfit to wear and a best friend to share it all with???

My buddy, Beth, came by for brunch on Christmas day and brought the most beautiful hand made book for me.

She and I are both avid collectors of old wallpaper, and she made this book to showcase her collection of papers.

Inside the cover, was this sentiment, a rule that I live by!

Our Christmas was about all the simple pleasures-

finding just the right gift for someone you love-

Leaping into the air with excitement over an unexpected surprise-

Laughing with your family-

Being cozy by a warm fire with some great companions-

Building a snow princess, complete with crown and magic wand-

(then getting into a snowball fight, see it about to begin?)

Having just THE PERFECT dress to wear for the occasion-

Playing a game of pool with your favorite cousin-

Cuddling up with the world’s sweetest great grandma-

A big bowl of festive punch-

Gathering together with friends and family for a feast-

Like I said, it was Perfect.

Its starting to look like Christmas!

fairies, family, holiday decor, how to's, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 22, 2007

The view from my studio window is a blizzardy one today.

But the view inside is improving!

I actually got the studio cleaned and HALF of it is set up for my 3 big Christmas party meals coming up.

Did you notice the amazing painting on the wall??? A gift from my sister-in-law’s family.

She commissioned an oil painting of her mom and had copies on canvas framed for everyone in the family.

Look at this detail!!!! Right down to the hearing aide in Little Joan’s ear and the nub of the eraser on her mechanical pencil.

The artist is Lynn Lupetti, and I was so impressed with this portrait, I had to look her up online.

Apparently, I am not the only one impressed with her, she has paintings hanging at the Smithsonian, The Vatican, and the White House!

Now, I am stunned by this gift. Not only does it capture the sweet nature and kind face of our Little Joan, it is from a renowned artist. I loved it before I had any idea who did it.

I’m sure it was expensive and so is the frame, but do you think anyone would care if I painted the frame white?? You know it is going to happen. Maybe more of an ivory.

I placed the painting in my studio for now, so we can all enjoy it during the holiday meals I have planned for out there.

I have this side of the room set up and ready to go, and the other side is close.

I got side tracked and made some Christmas cards while trying to set up the unfinished side of the room.

I’d already had Sugarwing’s painting copied into four per page, and cut them out, some around the body, but others, just as a rectangle. All of the cards are different.

I buy note cards on clearance to use as background, this one was a teddy bear design thank you card.

I glued a piece of vintage styled scrapbook paper over the teddy, and across the back of the card to cover the writing on it. Then, I added snowflake stickers, some swirls of black glitter ink (I thought I had a silver pen, oops! but black is OK, at least it is glittery)

Then, I glued a sepia toned copy of Sugarwings onto it- and was done.

These are being kept extremely simple. I did a couple dozen this morning and now will stop and add addresses those before I do any more. I want to be sure I can get some mailed to relatives and not get carried away with cutting and gluing and having too much fun, then not have time to address or mail them. (The vintage wrapping paper is from Beth ‘s stash)

This one is on old wallpaper that has a star pattern in gold. The paper wraps the back of the card too, so you can appreciate the vintagey goodness of the print, and so it will cover the writing, since I am using premade note cards and don’t want that to show.

I cut a snippet of holiday ribbon to glue down and embellish with a brass snowflake and that is it on this one.

I keep wanting to do MORE to them, but figure that friends and family would rather get one like this, than nothing at all. And if I spend too much time on them, I wouldn’t get any out.

Plus, I really need to get back to work on the studio/dining room and get it set up completely. Looks like I will have 22-27 on Christmas Day and this side of the room is only set for 12.

The bleached and dyed bottle brush trees didn’t go as far for a centerpiece as I would have liked.

I added sugared birds, reindeer, cake plates and compotes, as well as some candle holders. Lots of clear glass and tea cups with millinery flowers or tea lights in them.

I always serve all my meals as buffets, so I can fill the center of the table with pretties and have the food set up in the kitchen where it is convenient to clean up and put away afterwords.

I don’t know how I will decorate the other side yet. Funny, that 4 packages of 21 bottle brush trees only fills one table. But they are so tiny, they need to be clustered for any impact.

See there is progress on this part too! When I finish my Christmas cards, I will stash all the supplies behind the screens and arrange them to hide the messes, foof up the tables, scrounge around the house for chairs, and as Tim Gunn says, "make it work". I might need another table squeezed in somewhere……

Hope your holiday preparations are going well too!

*<];{> Santa comes early for me with pretty pink birdies and a fairy land delight!

fairies, family, holiday decor, how to's, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 21, 2007

I got pretties in the mail!!!!!

My Sissy made these pink paper birds for me, and I ripped open the package immediately. Hope I wasn’t supposed to wait till Xmas!

Aren’t they sweet????

And look at the cute box that Barbara sent to me. This is a whimsical box as it is, and who would have thought to use something this fun to mail a package in??

But look at the magical creation inside!

Twinkle and Sparkle Fairies, in a glittered floral wonderland.

Next to the princess of all the fairies, Sugarwings!

Every detail is perfectly wonderful from the rainbow paper the banner at the top is made of to the vintage pink ribbon bow.

I hung this fairy filled glitter ball of delight on the silver wreath next to the other gifts Barbara sent a while back, silver snow flakes that say Twinkle and Sparkle. Oh, I owe this lady big time!

Christmas is catching up to me and I know I won’t be able to make something for her by then, but Barbara, watch out when Valentine’s Day rolls around! And thanks so much!

Here is an update on how far behind I am in getting ready for Christmas. My studio is a jumbled up mess from the sale I had in here the 2nd. I had over 600 people come through here and haven’t recovered since.

I do have a menu for Christmas day brunch and for dinner that night, but I don’t have any place to seat the people till I get a bulldozer and shove some of this out of the way.

Here is my menu-

a professional ham (that is what I call food from Vermont Street BBQ where my son works)
4 pans of Rhodes cinnamon rolls (yum)
fruit and cheese by Beth
sausage gravy and biscuits (not from a can)
egg casserole from Lori
tomato salad from our garden tomatoes that I have been babying along to ripen by Xmas and made it just in time! And they really taste good too.
fudge and cookies (if I don’t eat them first)
maybe more desserts or muffins or something??

juicy juice boxes, bottled water and coffee in to go style cups

all served on paper plates with plastic forks

and most important- a Forest of bleached and hand dyed bottle brush trees as a centerpiece

At least I have my priorities right- the trees are done! Sugarwings and I made 4 packages of them the other night.

They were not easy to glitter.

I ended up dunking them into a can of water based poly and then holding them upside down to drain off, then sprinkling them with glitter.

The problem was that after being left to dry overnight, the poly still dripped onto the craft table, and dried the trees solid to its surface! I had to pry many of them up. ooops

But, back to the mail- I ordered myself a little Christmas gift. Beautiful wallpapers from Donna Layton on Etsy. Mess_060

Can’t you see me using some of these for the covers of my cook books for the Swap that Beth and I are doing for Valentines Day??

I wish I had time to play with them now, but Christmas is getting closer and closer and closer and I am far from ready. (see above studio photo!)

This big box of goodies came from my brother-in-law Randy in Florida. That cylindrical shaped package on top is for ME. I am crossing my fingers that it is more vintage wallpaper, from the heft and shape of it, my chances are good.

Randy’s husband, Kevin, is a master junk shopper and I think he might have found a roll for me. I’ll wait til Christmas and won’t peek, but it will be hard. Mess_035

Sugarwings and I have been having some tea parties. She is very good at feeding imaginary treats her teddy bears. Mess_040

And the fairies on her tea table Christmas tree.

I am off to run errands and mail packages.

Oh- I put Sugarwing’s room on HGTV’s Rate My Space.

That site is addictive, so I try to stay away from it, it is too much fun. Here is the site, if you want to give her a rating:

http://ratemyspace.hgtv.com/SNC/GroupSearch.aspx?pguid=6db6be3f-1720-4ba3-a081-999042c09b6b&username=karlascottage

Twinkle has a go at helping decorate the studio

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Food and Drink, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 19, 2007

Its a relief to be feeling well again and back to getting ready for the holidays!

I am feeling all well now, thanks for all your kind thoughts and wishes!

My flueyness was gone and I was able to go to my cookie exchange party last night. The best part was that I got the dates wrong and made up fudge to take to it last week instead of this.

Which was great, because this week, I would have been sick and couldn’t have done it!

The flu-germ-free fudge was made a week ago and frozen, ready to add tags to before the party.

My Aussie pal, Natasha had sent me some wonderful, old, textured wallpaper that I made simple tags out of, and added a snowflake sticker to and then tied to the dishes of fudge.

I like giving treats out in containers that people will use and keep and enjoy, a gift in a gift. For bake sales, I always put my goodies on vintage plates from garage sales, they are so cheap to find around here. As little as a nickle quite often.

I love living in the Midwest!! Mess_014

Every year, I think I am going to go all out and wrap gifts so beautifully and they all will match and be breath taking. But, I never do. I wrapped all these yesterday and towards the end, the were lucky to get stuffed into a bag with a bit of tissue.

What’s my favorite thing in those bags and boxes? This sweet little dress for Sugarwings! Can’t you just picture her playing in the garden and getting all muddy in it this summer?

Maybe we can dress her in a long sleeve onsie and tights underneath it, so she can wear it this winter too.

Our swap is full! And a great mix of artists, bloggers, friends and fun people are in it, we are so lucky to have them join. Thanks everyone!!

Doesn’t Twinkle look like a sweet little angel? That girl thinks that her only job is to pose for the camera.

Well, that and CHEW things. My favorite chair!!!!!!! And now that she has had a taste of it, she won’t let it go. Any tips on stopping a dog from chewing your furniture??? I’ve never had a Dorkie as hard to handle as this one. She chews, she licks, she jumps, she hams it up every time I try to take a photo. She is one tiny,wriggling, bundle of desperate need for attention.

I am still feeling sentimental today. This table was one of my mom’s favorites and was made for her by a friend. No, actually, I think her friend made it, and her husband got it as payment for a poker debt at some bar. Oh well, what ever its origins, it is hand made and she loved it and now I do too!

The drawing was done by my great grandmother in 1906, and is another treasured possession of mine.

Notice the alarm clock?? I found a non-ugly, electric clock on Ebay, finally.

Then it quit working after about 6 weeks. So, I am back to looking, if anyone has any leads, I’d love to hear them.

People are still visiting our "What do you LOVE about your Holiday Home?" party and I am still adding links. Feel free to visit here for some holiday decor ideas and pretty things to see. I don’t even know how many sites I have linked, but I know there was a lot of beauty and warmth out there!

I want to thank Sara (Sadie Olive) for adding my latest magazine to the line up at the left. If you ever decide to have a blog redo, I have to tell you that she is so reasonable, helpful, talented, and easy to work with!

Sara is going to add my next few issues too. I have a collage kit shown in Somerset next month, and another in the next issue.

I am always surprised and thrilled when something gets published, since I am not a professional writer. All my articles have been just lucky strokes for me. A right place, right time, type thing.

Oh, and thanks also to my friend, Gail, who always takes time to visit and comment, has entered my Sweet Treats and Roses swap, PLUS bought this desk from me!! Thanks, Gail!!!

In the few minutes that I have sat here at my computer writing my blog for the day before I go run holiday errands, this sweet angelic little dorkie of mine as done-

THIS.

Oh man, just that much more I need to clean up before I can turn this mess into a dining room for 3 big dinners, at Christmas.

I am having a Christmas Eve prime rib dinner for the immediate family, then have invited about 28 people for Christmas Day Brunch and will have about 18 for Christmas dinner that night. Do you think they will enjoy dining in Twinkle’s decor and my mess from the sale??? I really need to get to work………. but for now, I am going out to lunch and playing with Sugarwings!!

don’t forget every comment is an entry to my monthly giveaway!

A red and green (with only a hint of pink), sentimental journey through Christmasses past

family, holiday decor, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 18, 2007

Throughout my kids’ lives, I have painted an ornament each year for them to hang on our tree. Ry is still a bachelor and lives in an apartment we built onto our home, so he shares our tree, (plus most of his apartment is a home gym, with punching bags and weights, not exactly Christmas tree friendly).

But Adam lives with his pretty little hippy chick and Sugarwings, so I think it is time to pack up all of his ornaments and send to his own happy home.

The teddy on the rocking horse was an early one for him, painted in 1981.

But his all time favorite was the pink Care Bear. My little guy was never afraid to be fond of pink toys. He had a pink water balloon named Pinky that lived for over a week and went every where with him when he was four. He wrapped Pinky up in a towel "blanket" to cuddle it. (the towel came in handy when Pinky met his demise)

This was one rough, tough, little boy, but he had his sweet side too, and that might be why he is such a great dad now.

This Care Bear ornie is even more special now, because Sugarwings is a huge Care Bear fan, and her uncle Ryan is giving her a big stuffed pink Care Bear for Christmas.

Some of the balls that I painted over the years are satin, most are glass.

When I was a single mother, working as a waitress, I used to buy all the kid’s Christmas gifts with money I made by selling hand painted ornaments for $3- $5 each. And my hand painted ornaments were the gifts I gave to everyone else. I still do a few dozen each year as presents, as well as selling them.

I also used to paint these pre-made ceramic pieces too. These two horses were painted to look like our own horses, Scooter and Fairy Belle. I think these were made for Adam in his Jr. High years.

Here is a cartoon of Adam as a high school wrestler.

And a moon face for the year he had his bedroom done up in gargoyles.

The marble looking balls were some that he and I made together, by pouring and then swirling acrylic paints and glitter into clear glass balls.

Sadly, not all the ornaments survived, we’ve had a few mishaps over the years. But I have quite a few to pass on and to hope he will pass on to Sugarwings someday.

Some of them do make me cringe, looking back at them. I think I was lucky to sell my work for five bucks back then! They were all cute, but maybe not that good.

I enjoy seeing the progression of my style over the years. And I am glad I didn’t trash the ones I painted when I was young, no matter how bad they look to me now.

Some of my sentimental things always make it into my holiday decor, things that aren’t necessarily Christmas items.

Like this scrapbook, that I made last year of Sugarwings. I have it opened to the page of her first Xmas.

(of course, I made the book so thick, it never closes anyway!)

The book that Mr. Snowman (the doll is not sentimental, only 50 cents at a garage sale) is reading was written by a friend, Vicky Howard. And the apron covering the chair was sent to me by my great Aunt Caroline who is turning 100 this next summer.

I had painted this little wooden box for my mom one year. And she didn’t really like cats, so i don’t remember why I painted a kitten for her.

I think I was just in a kitty phase and was painting a lot of kittens in late 80s.

I always have family things on display year round and dedicated one wall in my stair way to paintings and photos of people I love.

The background of the oval painting of my mom is of a quilt she made for me. And I hung the necklace she wore in the painting to a nail I put into the frame. It is a charm necklace that I made for her, and she used to wear it a lot.

Here is a painting I did of my husband’s grandmother, and also used a quilt she gave to me as a background.

Her name was Gladys, so I added a gladiola to the painting.

I used her quilt top as a table cloth in the library and set out more family scrapbooks on it.

One page is open to Grandma Nathan’s picture in a cabinet card. The background is "quilted" with strips of paper, and I tied a teeny sewing machine charm to the flap of the photo cover.

And the card opens up to the photo I did the painting of.

Well, I’d better get to work. I have a studio to clean up and turn into a dining room.

Does this look like a place you’d want to eat Christmas dinner?????

I have packed up a few things, sold a few, gave some away, and then the rest of the things from my sale are just shoved here and there and every where. I have to do a major transformation, plus buy gifts for my family and wrap them. And did I mention that not a single Xmas card has been made or sent??? I’ve been in bed with the flu and have severely fallen behind.

Heck, I’ve shown you bad artwork from my youth, the total wreck of my studio, I’m sure you’d love to see the ultimate in NON-eye candy photos- me recovering from the flu. Ugh. Now, I have probably chased away all my readers for good!

At least I have Twinkle by my side through it all.

Now, for a shower and back to work. Or maybe a nap.

PS– here is a little tidbit of decorating advice from my funny freind, Beth. She was sick too, and stayed at an auction long enough to buy a transferware bowl before going home to bed, and I said, at least she had a pretty puke bowl to keep by her bed.

"That’s a pleasant thought- maybe you should write an article about how to keep living a lovely life while you sick- pretty puke bowls, arrange your pills in the shape of flowers, use antique lace hankies instead of kleenex to blow your nose, take your cough medicine from a sterling silver spoon"