flowers – Page 11 – Karla's Cottage

A Romantic Country Photo Shoot with Fifi, or the Adventures of the Pink Flowered Rug

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, magazine pictures or articles

By Karla Nathan / August 11, 2013

Last week, Fifi came to my home to do an article for Romantic Country magazine. We had worked together in the past on a few small projects but I'd only met her briefly at our friend, Carol's home. It was a joy to spend the day with her and I was happy to have her come and visit the Cottage. She's cute as a bug and filled with interesting stories. Accompanying her was photographer, Mark Lohman, who was witty as well as talented. He made me giggle quite a few times during the day, with his teasing comments.

He also showed me a photo he had taken of his dogs, that has to be the most beautiful pet portrait I have ever seen. His two Shih Tzus are running toward the camera, with their hair flying in the wind, happy looks on their little turned up nose faces, and a blurred out, elegant garden behind them. That guy is an artist. What a picture.

Fifi and Mark made my home look lovely, I was impressed with their work. And I enjoyed not working on the story myself, just stepping back and letting the pros do it. In the past, with numerous articles, I've been the stylist or was writing the story. This time, I was just the home owner, and that was nice.

I never really considered myself a professional, even though I was involved in dozens of published articles. It was all a bit of a lark, and I like having it on my resume (if I actually had a resume, which I don't), but I never considered it a real job.

Since I have worked on past stories, I did know how to be prepared for the chaos of styling and how to be ready when Fifi and Mark arrived.

If you are going to have your home photographed, here are a few suggestions:

1- Don't try to pre-style it, you don't know what the camera angles will be.

2- Don't have your heart set on a certain look. Things WILL be moved, rearranged, shuffled, changed, and might even be a totally different take on the room than you'd ever thought of.

3- Have fresh fruit and flowers ready to go, but don't put too much time into flower arrangements, chances are they will be redone more than once throughout the day. Have extra vessels handy for switching blossoms around to reuse in different rooms. You don't need a ton of flowers, because they can be recycled from room to room. (and save your receipt, the flowers are usually reimbursed)

4- If you own extra pillows, throws, rugs, china, etc, have them handy. The stylist will have ideas on making the house fit the magazine, and a color theme she has planned, and it helps if she has access to your extras to bring her ideas to life.

5- Have a place to stash the coffee maker, toothbruses, and other mundane, daily used, objects. But don't put it away too soon, you might want to offer a pot of coffee while everyone is working.

6- Clean up as you go, because the messes just get worse from photo to photo, as things get pulled out of cabinets to be used, or items get stored to one side of the room to be out of a shot. If you save all of the pick up for the end of the day, it will be too much to handle!! But do be careful not to put away things that might be used again. Like the pink flowered rug I brought down from the girl's room, it ended up in almost every shot, all around the house.

7- Don't be insulted or hurt if your home doesn't look like your version of your home in the pictures!! Its all your stuff, just rearranged. You might even pick up some good design tips from the experts and leave your new look in place.

Here is my bedroom after some of Fifi's redos.

Here is how it looked when they arrived.

bedroom BEFORE

My home was a little too neutral for what Fifi wanted, but it was easily fixed with throw pillows from the sofa, and the studio along with a pink rug and quilt from the girl's room.

bedroom AFTER

I love this look, but couldn't leave it this way, or my sofa would not have any cushions…. And in "real life" if the chair was in the middle of the room, you couldn't walk through to the bathroom. Or see the TV, which is high on my list of importance.

AFTER

My two footstools got a work out, as well as the chippy chairs that the kids use, all were used in other areas too. And see the pink rug again? Like I said, it made it into almost all the shots. The floral can filled with lilies was the bedroom trash can.

The surprise lilies are growing in abundance right now, and we could gather an armload for her to use in this shot. They were plopped right on top of the remnants of trash in the bottom of the can. Glamorous, huh?

Kitchen BEFORE

living room AFTER

There is that pink rug again!

In "real life", if you had that many pillows on a sofa, there would be no room for your backside. But it looks nice for the magazine, doesn't it? I could be tempted to leave it this way, but I think I'd get too many complaints from the family.

I didn't hear the dogs complaining about too many pillows, though. They'd be happy if I left all of those on the couch.

living room BEFORE

This isn't quite my "real life" look. Because the pupeesh think that rugs are pee pads, I don't usually have one on the living room floor. I swiped this one from the upstairs. And that half wall is actually a dog pen. I keep a gate across it, and the dorkies have access to the fenced in yard through a pet door in the corner. For the occaision, I took down the gate and put away all the dog bedding.

The pupeesh were also banished for the day, but forgave me when they got plenty of snuggles when Fifi and Mark finished.

I'm afraid I didn't get photos of the styling upstairs. Sugarwings will be sooooo thrilled to see her room in a magazine. She was counting on them taking pictures of it, even though I told her that it wasn't a done deal, we'd have to see what Fifi chose to feature. Plus, I'm not sure she even knows what a magazine is, but she was excited about it anyway.

A photo shoot ain't for sissies, that's for durn tootin. After a day of housework to prep, and a day of pictures, plus the clean up that goes along with it, I was beat.

But no matter how exhausting it can be, it sure is fun to see the spread when it's published. Plus, Fifi and Mark make the experience delightful, they are such nice people to spend a day with.

How to make a tincture of lavender oil

flowers, free images, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / August 6, 2013

The girls and I made some lavender extract/oil recently. We experimented, after I read through lots of online how-tos and picked out the easiest parts from what I saw.

Hopefully, my jimmy-rigged attempt will work out.

This is the first year that my lavender has really taken off, so I had a beautiful bush of it. Well, I don't know if they are condsidered bushes. But this was so large, it practically was a shrub.

I filled a vase with some, then, we set up an assembly line of cutters and crushers to make the oil.

Sugarwings was in charge of the scissors, Dewdrop had the job of throwing the blooms into the bowl. We all took turns using the pestle.

It was then shoved down into a clean, glass jar. (vintage of course!)

We covered it with vodka to soak. (to me, this seemed less likely to cause bacterial problems than soaking it in oil might, although I'm sure if done right, oil is fine) At that part, my husband walked in the door as I nabbed his bottle of Gray Goose, and he was wondering if trying to make this concoction with the help of the two little fairies had driven me to mid-morning drinking.

Once I explained what we were doing, he thought I might be wasting the good stuff (I don't drink vodka, but once the price was explained to me, I quickly looked in the cabinet for something cheaper)

Here is how we are making it, I'll let you know how it all turns out:

1- Trim most of the stems off, but you don't have to take the blooms off completely, just cut the stem off at the base of the buds. (I placed a few cut off long stems in each trash can around the house, as air freshners)

2- Lightly crush the blooms, just to release the oils. Don't smoosh them to goo.

3- Fill a clean, glass jar with the lavender, cover with vodka cheaper than Gray Goose.

4- Tighten the lid, and shake.

5- Shake a few times a day for a week or so, and store in bright light. My bottle looks pretty on the windowsill.

6- Pour the liquid through a sieve into another clean, glass container.

7- I used the sieve as a lid over a big, glass measuring cup and let it sit for a few days so the alcohol could evaporate. Cheesecloth is what you are supposed to use, but this seemed fine.

8- When it is done, I hope to have a concentrated tincture of fresh, organic lavender oil to use in my cleaning supplies and to scent bath products I like to make.

9- Store in dark bottles. Make sure you make a pretty label for your bottle!

You are welcome to use this one if you'd like.

One site I looked at for making herb tinctures seemed good, But I only used parts of it and parts of a few others, so please google tinctures and oils before you make your own too, you might find other ways that suit you better.

Hugelkultur food forest update

dogs, family, flowers, Food and Drink, Nathan Family Fairy Food Forest, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2013

When my son and our Gypsy started the landscaping, we trusted them to grow some tasty, organic meals for us. We provided the land and the financing, and turned them loose.

What I didn't expect was the pure beauty that was created out there.

I have to admit, I didn't really get the concept of sustainable gardening. Well, I knew what they meant and it sounded great, but when it came to grass or weeds popping up in the middle of the veggies, I really didn't get the need to leave them as is.

Or the vast mix of plants together. I was raised by an avid gardner, and my dad was concise on his measured rows and spaced plants. Of course, he also used lots of Sevin Dust, Miracle Gro, and weed preventer.

This way of gardening by passes all of that. There are flowers scattered throughout that repel bad bugs or draw good ones.

Food, flowers, herbs, all sorts of plants are grouped in "guilds" of related vegetation and the ground is completely covered to prevent erosion and to attract the right bugs, and lots of other jobs that they are busy doing.

It would never have occurred to me to plant a ton of clover around the baby perennials to feed the soil and keep the ground covered.

Or to add Borage to the melon patch. It does something or another. But mostly is plain old pretty.

My son has collected exotic and heirloom varieties of plants, including this curly stick tree that will produce magic wands. And the whole thing is irrigated by swales and trenches that are filled with gravel and look like trails.

They are lined with the daintiest little wildflowers I have ever seen. As well as some grass that apparently should be left to protect the earth there until the trees grow more and create shade, then the grass will naturally die out, along with the other ground covers he has added to keep the dirt safe till things start to take off.

Until the trees get big enough to block some sun and the area truly becomes a forest, we are using the beds for our regular garden too. Tomatoes, peas, beans, heck, just about everything, is growing among the perennials.

In a few years, we won't be able to use this space for our annual plantings, because by then, it will be all fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, vines and other food producing vegetation.

This archway of branches will soon be covered in kiwi vines and grapes, but for now, I'm enjoying the stark beauty of it as it is. And at night it is lit with twinkling solar lights.

The produce is beginning to come in, this year, just a few handfuls of berries, but next year, and the year after there will be more and more.

This is a garden that will grow over time, bigger and better. It will not need to be tilled in the spring like my Dad would have, it will develop and change, but once established will take care of itself, with plantings that cooperate and take care of each other.

The mounds are known as hugelkultur, and make for a beautiful layout, as well as a healthy growing space.

Our regular garden is a masterpiece this year too.

It's lush, full, and delicious.

Daily, we have been eating every variety of lettuce you can grow, plus kale, chard, spinach, herbs, and other things that my son sneaks into salads. He is quite a cook and also has been foraging in fields for wild thistle to saute as a side dish. It is every bit as good as asparagus (which we also have growing).

My Dad would be fascinated, I wish he was here to see it. He'd wonder about the lack of rows, but I know he'd love the vast harvest we've been picking! I do too.

PS- Don't forget that Google Reader is closing soon! If you are
reading this from that site, you need to make a change real quick or
your list of blogs will be gone.

I've tried Feedly myself and basically all you do is sign up and it
will import all your Google Reader sites in the click of a mouse. Very,
very, very simple.Bloglovin is another good one.

You can also follow my blog through Networked Blogs and read it on
FaceBook that way. There is a list of different reader site buttons on
my sidebar that you can click on to follow me in.

Hope I'll still be seeing you around!

Spring cleaning in the garden

bird song art event, flowers

By Karla Nathan / May 13, 2013

Having an arty weekend at your home is a good incentive to get some yard work done! When we had some trees removed this winter, the sunshiney areas in my courtyard tripled and I've had a chance to add some roses to the area.

We've never had enough sun back there before to grow much other than ground cover and begonias. So, this week, I planted some knockout roses and a few miniature roses. Knockouts are so easy to take care (you don't have to do anything much more than watering as needed) I can't get enough of them. And they always go on sale at Home Depot for $10 around Mother's Day.

I'd hoped to replace a drooping deck this year, but we ran out of time. (I don't even want to talk about budget, we'll just say there was no time to do it).

The boards are warped and some stick up. My temporary solution was an outdoor rug under the tables. I found one on sale at Kohls for $85, which is much quicker and cheaper than ripping out a deck and replacing it. I saved soooo much money on the deck issue, that I splurged and bought a colorful new umbrella from World Market too ($99) and a couple cement birds from TJMaxx ($6 each). I really should have taken the photo with the cushions on the chairs (sky blues) and the umbrella open (blue, pink, orange, green paisleys on cream).

Don't you just love it when bloggers basically say, "here is a crappy picture, please use your imagination, I promise it really looks better than the photo"?

I've been rearranging the tables and chairs too, and now have two groupings that I like, one on the gravel and one on the drooping deck.

In my dream world, the whole area is redone in paver stones, with moss and thyme peeking between the stones, and there is a fountain trickling in the center of it all.

In real life, I have second hand furniture held together with wire and a deck that trips people in one area and a pile of gravel in another.

But instead of dilapidated, I chose to call it charming. And when the court yard is filled with my friends at Birdsong, it will be so cozy and fun! (as long as no one trips on that dang, droopy deck)

In the Guncles’ Garden and some travel woes

family, flowers, guncles, Travel

By Karla Nathan / April 7, 2013

On my trip to Florida, I didn't even make it anywhere near a beach. As much as I love staring at the ocean, on a quick trip, I'm so happy at the Guncle's house I don't even remember that the Atlantic is nearby.

Their home and garden are so inviting, and they are so welcoming, it's a joy to be there and part of their little family.

After the cold Feb. and March we've had in KS, I was happy just to see some sunshine. While I was there, it was snowing up a blizzard back home. I thought my timing was great for the trip when I heard that. Originally, I had planned to go home on Sunday, but there was such a huge difference in ticket prices, that I changed it to Monday to help out Karen, who was gifting me with the ticket.

And it snowed at home on Sunday, so I thought I'd made the right choice, I had a craft day with Guncle Randy and some time to hug the doggies.

But the snow caused major airline delays on Monday too. I sat at the Jacksonville airport for hours before it was confirmed that I was not getting home that night. My cold had turned into a pounder of a sinus infection and I wanted my own bed more than anything else.

The guncles are the best hosts ever, but I needed to get home somehow and if I stayed overnight again in Jacksonville, I wouldn't be able to catch a flight till the next evening, plus the guys would have to work, so I wouldn't even see them till time to catch a ride to the airport.

Normally, I am pretty tough. But I think, being sick for a few days away from home and trying to pretend I wasn't sick through all the social activities that were too fun to miss, had worn me down. I am embarrassed to say that I called my husband crying when I found out I was stuck at the airport.

What a big baby.

And of course, tears do NOT make a sinus problem feel any better. The pounding became a steady wallopping.

So, my husband got online and found the quickest route home, through nashville, away from the snowy places, then early the next morning, back to KS and home by 8:30 am. He arranged a hotel and shuttle for me too, and I felt much better.

Now, all that is stuff I could do myself with no trouble, but it was sweet for him to take over and take care of me. It's sure nice to have someone who cares enough to take charge when you are down.

And it doesn't hurt to let someone take care of you sometimes. As moms or grammies we tend to always be the ones who take care of everyone else, don't we?

Craft day with Carol Spinski, Debbie Dusenberry, and Amy Barickman, woo hoo!

flowers, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / January 14, 2013

Last Tuesday, Amy, Carol, and Debbie came over for a craft day and lunch. It was a fun day of catching up, creating, and chatting.

Amy's friend, Cindy, came by for a while, it was nice to meet a local Lawrence lady who was a big shot blogger (Skip to my Lou). I had no idea. Wow, 2,000,000 hits a month?? Not only was she a big time blogger, she was sweet as can be, which is appropriate since she has a store called Sweet.

In the kitchen, my dining table was set with a drop cloth cover, white mismatched linens, cream plates, and white salad plates with tiny rosebuds. I added matt white pottery vases with bright roses (on Mondays, my local Kroger marks leftover flowers down to $1.99 so I snaf up armloads, then feel greedy and put back all but two to take up. Happens every time. I see the sale price and start grabbing, then stop myself).

The look of the room inspired me to get out some Valentiney themed and colored papers to add to the all neutral books we were making. I loved the look so much, in the room and in the book I made that I thought it would be fun to have a workshop to create Valentine journals. The details are in the previous post and I'll have some photos coming up in a couple days with more info.

Knowing that
Carol and Debbie were both fans of "low color" style,I'd set out a
studio table full of neutral ephemera so that we could sift through and
pull together pages that we wanted to use in our books.

I'll be providing similar for the books we will make in class. As a matter of fact, I probably won't be putting these away, I'll leave the piles out for us to work with.

At a flea mkt last fall, I scored an 1800s receipt book stuffed with fantastic writing and logos. We all used pages of it in our books that day.

Of course, an afternoon with these three ladies is pretty durn inspiring in and you know that they can put together something scrumptious no matter what supplies they have on hand!

I had some ticking stuck away and pulled it out knowing that Debbie would use it in an interesting way, and she did, fraying the edges of strips to make ribbon, and lining some pages. She generously left the book here to use for ideas during the workshop.

Amy's book is a sweet pink tone.

And she generously left some of her books behind too. These are copies of two of her latest books and she gave them to me to offer as giveaways.

Vintage Notions and Fabric Flowers.

While I am away in Hawaii, I'll have some fresh posts done up ahead of time for you, so please come back. Leave a comment on any post between January 14 and 28th for a chance to win one of two books.

The third will be given away during my workshop on Saturday, Feb. 2nd to an attendee.

How to Create a fairy garden and some mini terrariums

flowers, how to's

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2013

Its snowy and blowy outside as I write this, and to cheer up some winter blahs, I've added some fresh greens to my home. Sugarwings helped me with it, and while we were at it, we made a few to give as gifts too.

This one is in an antique serving bowl. When making an indoor fairy garden or a terrarium, you can use pretty dishes or bowls and not worry about drainage holes, like you'd need to for an outdoor planter. Just use proper layers and the plants should be fine.

We filled quite a few of these glass ornaments.

After the holiday, I took the ornies off the tree, pulled off the top, and exchanged it for a cork. Then, set the balls on top of candle sticks.

Maybe you can see through the glass and tell what I mean about layers?

Here is how you layer:

1- small rocks for drainage

2- charcoal for keeping the water filtered and fresh

3- soil for a growing medium (use soil meant for the type of plants you chose)

4- plants, with roots down in the soil, then a bit more soil over it

5- moss to keep in moisture

A crystal creamer was properly layered and planted with baby's tears. That is the same plant I used in the balls too. This one is perched under a vintage dome with a tattered velvet base.

Sadly, this one didn't live, I thought the rusted metal tea cup was cute. But it wasn't under glass. I think the baby's tears are too delicate for the dry January air in my house without a covering to hold in the moisture.

If you are planting succulents, use a cactus soil over the rocks and charcoal.

In this one, I added a wrapped wire "garden arch" and pinned a vintage butterfly brooch to it. Below the arch is the plant and an old fairy figurine.

It's accented with millinery blooms that match the sugar bowl it's planted in. The top of the cactus soil is sprinkled with rose quartz chips.

When making a fairy garden, keep scale in mind. Use small plants that compliment any little figurine you add to the mix. Also, try to create a scene with the rocks and plants, like the pathway leading to the pewter fairy in this bowl.

I found some great crystals at a rock shop to use in this one since it was a gift for someone special. Sugarwings and I also gathered up some pretty stones from the yard, but I wanted a few meaningful chunks in there too.

The sign is a bit of brown grocery bag. I cut out a large square, folded and glued it in half, then did that a second time, so that it was sturdy. The second time, I glued it over a bent wire that was stuck into the dirt after writing the message.

Something I noticed while assembling this, was that the cactus soil is very loose and dry. The pieces and plants wobble around easily, since the dirt isn't compact, it doesn't anchor anything very well. So I had to wedge a rock over the base of the fairy to keep her from toppling over.

Behind her, is an extra pretty crystal to help keep her in place too, and her base is buried in the sandy, rocky dirt.

The pathway is made up of peridot and moss agate chips. Sugarwings chose these and sprinkled them over the top of the soil to make the walkway for our fairy.

Tiny bottles of semi precious stones can be found at rock shops for $1 each. I used two for this garden path.

Making a woodland sprite

flowers, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 17, 2012

My home at Christmas makes me so happy!

Joy, Merry, and Happy are words that I have all around the house.

The decor is warm white with hints of pretty, soft colors.

I even have some red, but it's a faded tone.

Every year, when I buy a pink poinsettia, I cut the flowers and make bouquets of them with roses to pop into vases instead of leaving them on the plant. But this year, I had made this planter at a ceramic class and was excited to have something to put in it.

I might buy another pink poinsettia to cut flowers from, they are usually only $3 or so for a small one at Walmart.

Some friends were taking a class from a local artist and invited me to come along. I really didn't have time, and have no background in ceramics, but it sounded like such fun, and I'm glad I made time, it really, really was!

It was an interesting class, and was much easier to do than I expected. Our instructor, Jan, had the clay rolled out and ready to go, we took the slab, wrapped it around either a paint can, jar, or cylinder, and then embellished and added to it as we wished.

Jan is also a painter, and had a lovely gallery of her work in the studio.

It was a cheery place to spend the afternoon with good friends.

All of us went for completely different looks. Shanna had taken ceramics at KU, and showed me how she did her great textures, by rolling lace and other odds and ends onto the clay.

I went with a woodland fairy look, so I stepped outside to pick leaves to roll onto the clay like we did the lace.

For the holidays, I'm calling her and elf, not a fairy.

We came back a week later to glaze, and that sure can be a crap
shoot, can't it? I was going for "white velvet" on the base with
metallic gold on the textures.

The gold was more espresso than metallic.

So, I added some Rub'n Buff with my fingertip to accent the veins in the leaves and some of the other areas. I used bronze, silver, and gold. Those helped quite a bit. I've used it
on furniture before, but wouldn't have thought of doing it on a clay
pot. Jan had a selection of colors of it for us to try.

Jan is offering the class again next spring. I plan on being one of the first to sign up to make another head!

Happy Thanksgiving!

celebrations, family, flowers, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / November 23, 2012

Did you have a good holiday?

Ours had its missteps here and there, like any family gathering. But for the most part, it was a lovely day.
A 20lb fresh, organic turkey baked with garden herbs and olive oil went into the oven early and I got to hang out and play with the kids. I thawed corn that we froze this summer, baked bread and pies the day before, made mashed potatoes early and plopped them into a crock pot to stay warm, and I was FREE.

Setting the table is part of the fun, so I don't count that as any of the work of getting ready. Plus, I did it pretty simply, like the rest of the day, a few pretties in the center of the table and moving some furniture around to set up a second table, and it was done.

Ten of us went to see a matinee of Wreck it Ralph, which made me cry. That was a cute movie, and so much more than I expected. I don't care for video games, so didn't really want to go, but promised little Finn that I'd take him. I'm glad I did.

Afterwards, we played outside and in the studio. Perfect weather and perfect company. Who cared that we were doing this a day early? Everyone had the day off on Wednesday, and the date itself didn't matter to any of us.

All who came brought side dishes, that only needed warming up once they arrived. That was a delight! Every time I took a lid off a pan to see what was inside it was like a mini surprise party, and each one made me so happy. I love pitch in dinners, its so much tastier to try everyone else's favorites.

And I didn't spend all day in the kitchen.

This year, we tried to start a new tradition. Usually, I coerce everyone to say what they are thankful for before we eat. This year, I decided to do a "blessing tree", so diners could write their thankful thoughts onto a paper leaf and add it to the tree.

That way, those who didn't feel like speaking up could still contemplate their blessings and think about the reason for the day, beyond just snarfing turkey.

Sugarwings, Finn and I went out on the Fairy Berry Trail to gather up some leaves to use as templates.

I put all the kids to work producing enough leaves for the whole group.

Each person got a leaf and a glitter pen to write on it.

I made the mistake of using a base that was too light weight for the tree and it toppled a few times, but no harm, even when it dove into a candle.

If this is going to be a tradition, next year, I'll get a better pot for the tree. Maybe even bring in a living potted tree…

This is Sugarwing's leaf. (before the glitter got so thick you couldn't read it). I think it says it all, don't you?

Romantic Gothic Ghost Weekend

family, flowers, holiday decor, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / October 10, 2012

Our ghostly weekend was a real treat. I just hope my guests enjoyed it half as much as I did! We had such a lovely group, and it was so fun to have a family reunion along with the class, I'm thrilled that my family got to meet some of my friends and see what I do.

This envelope was in a scrap pack of ephemera that Pam won as a door prize, and look at the date! Our class was exactly 103 years from the day this was written.

Another ghostly oddity of the day, was that every single picture that I took of a person had a glowy smudge look to it. At first I thought all my photos were ruined, then I decided to just go with it and enjoy the ghostly effect, and edit them even more ghostly.

I looked on my lens and saw that there was a real life smudge, not a ghost doing it. I'm lucky that I got any photos at all from the weekend!

The close ups of things around the room weren't too bad.

And except for some halo around the lights, the whole room shots weren't either.

But portraits sure had some spookiness to them.

I loved every minute of the classes. Beth's was so much fun, I had to drag myself away to make lunch.

I served quiche that day, instead of making it up ahead of time, I wanted it fresh as can be, with eggs just gathered, so waited till it was time to go into the oven to make it up.

We also had green salad with cranberries and candied pecans, and a fall veggie mix of squash and sweet potatoes.

And of course, way, way too many desserts! Carmel apple cupcakes, lots of brownies, and these white chocolate witch hat cookies.

I set up an extra table for seating in the living room.

And decorated it with a 25 cent black lace shawl from a garage sale, and $2 bunches of roses that were marked down at the grocery store. I cut them short, and made an arrangement with the stems too. Remember how Morticia and Gomez from the Adam's Family always put the stems in the vase and threw away the flowers? I wasn't up to tossing the roses, but I did arrange the stems.

With a family reunion going on this week too, it was handy to have that table in the living room, I left it up the whole time, and it got used a lot.

Normally, the studio is where we have our family dinners when a big group is here, but this time, the studio was occupied with all of the set up for my Ghoul Friends and the classes.

Sugarwings came to spend the day too, her mom was studying and our fairy girl kept herself entertained while we all worked in the studio. She is getting so grown up!

Before our guests arrived, she wanted to get all dressed up in her wings and her new fairy dress from Aunt Bobbie, because she said, "Grammie's friends think I am a real fairy, so I'd better wear my wings!"

The puppies joined the party too. They missed all the attention after everyone left! I miss all of our friends and family as much as they do. The house seems so empty now that its over.

Time to plan another party…. While the studio is decked out I think I'll throw another Halloween bash and have my buddies bring their kids over for a craft day to make masks.