flowers – Page 15 – Karla's Cottage

New traditions

celebrations, family, flowers, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 9, 2011

How was your Mother's Day? Mine started off a bit weepy, thinking about my mom, but it turned around real quick when my girls arrived for a day of fun. My husband took Sugarwings for the day and was happy to do it. I think it was his happiest Mother's Day of all time. No pressure, just fun with the apple of his eye.

She rode on his shoulders while in line to buy tickets to see a kid flick. He says that she turned around to everyone in line and said, "This is my Pop Pop."

Then, she added, "And I am a Princess".

And then turned one more time to tell the crowd behind her, "Because my Pop Pop says I am!"

Yes, she knows that in her Pop Pop's eyes, she's pure royalty and just eats it up.

My Mother's Day was not bad at all, either. Typically, my sons and husband help me with a big job in the yard as a gift. It always turns into the most exhausting day of the entire year, with all of us working till we drop. (me too)

They are sweet to do it, and for non-shopping guys, it was pretty good. But I've decided to change the way things are done for the next generation of moms in the family. No more hard labor on Mom's Day!

Our plan for this year was to have a girly day out.

The littlest fairy wanted to be with her mom for the day, so she got to tag along. And since all she does is nurse, sleep, laugh and smile, she was a welcome guest.

We went out for seafood and steaks with bellinis for lunch then went to Liberty Hall, our local theater that has been around since Civil War days and started as an Opera House. Its always beautiful to see a movie there, and you can sip wine while you watch a show. We chose Jane Eyre, great for a girl's day.

I can see a tradition beginning, this was the best Mother's Day ever. Relaxation, conversation, a cuddly baby, and wine!!

And did I mention NO hauling mulch???? NO digging holes?? Yay!!!

It was a weekend of celebration, with friends over on Saturday night to share some good wine and sit by the bonfire. As if that is not enough, we also had Sugarwings for 3 nights in a row. Yep, it wasn't just a good Mother's Day, it was a GREAT Mother's Day weekend.

I'm feeling pretty lucky right now.

Its time that I pull a name for the winner of a Birdsong souvenir. I promised last week, and then forgot to do it. The present goes to:

Kim Allen

Today I've been taking photos of some flowers to list online for my April Showers Bring May Flowers sale.

My birthday is in May and my mom always used to tell me that little rhyme and tell me I was a May Flower. So I decided to have a sale in the Boutique and Etsy with FREE shipping on all millinery for the month of May.

On Etsy, the shipping is already marked FREE. In the Boutique, you'll need to pay for the shipping and I will send you a refund for the postage you paid. (USA only, sorry)

Right now, I'm in the middle of adding flowers. Etsy has some new ones, the Boutique will soon. Thanks for looking!

Happy birthday happy birthday – cha cha cha (as Sugarwings sings it)

celebrations, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 6, 2011

What a great birthday I had yesterday! Carol and Debbie treated me to lunch at Julian's in Brookside, owned and operated by one of the cheftestants on Top Chef Masters. And I am such a TV junkie, that I'll eat up anything served by someone on one of my "stories".

Luckily, this place was cute as a button and over the top delicious.

Friendly, casual, and affordable too. Celina Tio, from the show (and formerly on Iron Chef) greets everyone at the door and is nice as can be. Pretty too. The TV show doesn't do her justice, she's much cuter in person.

I had some things to deliver to Carol and Debbie and we decided to meet for lunch. I said, why not Thursday, since it was my birthday, so the poor girls might have got a party ambush. But I love birthdays and am upfront about telling everyone its my day.

Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes! I had some prime baby holding time too, so it was a good day.

I'll leave you with some photos of what's new in Boutique. I've added a few millinery blooms, and have photos taken of more to add.

For the whole month of May, I'm giving you free shipping (United States) for all millinery. Pay as normal, and when I pack up and ship the item, I'll refund your shipping fees.

There will be more blooms added next week too.

I'm just out of time today, we get Sugarwings tonight. So, no more working, time to play!

April Showers bring May Flowers Sale in the Boutique

bird song art event, flowers

By Karla Nathan / April 27, 2011

Are you tired of my Nesty/Birdy blathering? I tend to be an enthusiastic person and I'm pretty excited that Birdsong is just around the corner! So there will be a few more posts with more stories of Birds coming.

I'm almost ready for it, and am so far right on schedule. So I'm taking Thursday off to head to my favorite flea market with Beth.

Today, I'll pack goodie bags, and finish little odds and ends. Friday is food shopping and cooking.

One of our sponsors is Mary Green, Queen of Ephemera. I asked her if she had any game cards with letters for sale and she showed up with a whole bagful of alphabetical cards and had separated out all the N,E,S, and Ts for me to give to the students to use in their banners.

My plan for the mini vendor night was just to wrap up a few millinery packs to sell. But- once again, I got carried away. Since I had to move so much out of my studio to make room for classes, I decided to use vendor night as a clearance sale so I didn't have to move as much stuff back into the studio again.

Most of it, is stockpiles of things that are waiting to get their photos taken so that I can list them online…. so if they don't sell during our party, I can always add them to the Boutique. Others are things that just need to find new homes, since I am not setting up and doing shows like I used to. I've got lots of less than 1/2 price items to sell, and plenty of $1 things too.

Not to mention those flowers that I originally planned to sell that night. And since that is what I do, I made up way too many packs of flowers. I'm adding all of these to the shop today.

I won't be able to ship anything till after this weekend, which fits right into a special I am going to have. My April Showers Bring May Flowers Sale. Free shipping on all millinery for the month of May, with more flowers being added throughout the month.

Just purchase your posies as usual, and I will refund the postage after packing them up to mail. Sale starts NOW.

I'm off to go and work on adding flowers to the Boutique and fine tune some details for Birdsong. I'll leave you with some pics of Sugarwings hopping down the Bunny Trail on her Easter Egg Hunt last Sunday.

It was too chilly to dress her in a frilly dress, so she is wearing a warm, brown sweater and pants. I called her my little Chocolate Bunny.

When the heck is Easter anyway?

celebrations, Chandeliers, collections, flowers, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / April 19, 2011

My Easter decor has been up way too long, already. And when is Easter even coming? Its late this year, and I got all geared up for it way too early, back in March.

Mid March even.

Every year, I'm excited to pull out the fluffy bunnies and pastel pretties to welcome Spring. Its kind of a spring cleaning ritual for me, and I like to decorate my chandelier for the season, as I wipe down the crystals on it.

Its always a fresh, clean, exciting feeling to have all the decorations out, but this year, I think it was a bit soon for all this fluff and I'm tired of it before the bunny has even come to hide his eggs.

Most of it is stuff I love, and more springlike than Easterish.

Usually I use my springy decor for the whole season, and just add the vintage bunnies, lambs, chicks, etc to it for the holiday itself. But I guess I didn't realize I was more than a month early for all the bunnies and their pals, and added the pastel guys way too soon.

Why is it that I adore having Christmas decorations up for as long as possible but not Easter? And last fall I had pumpkins (white glittered ones) every where for months and loved it. I never got tired of either.

But I'm ready to rip the ears right off the rabbits by now.

Yet, at this point, I need to just ride it out. Easter is finally just around the corner.

Plus, Sugarwings loves it all so much. She wouldn't like seeing Grammie go postal on the holiday decor.

One thing I really am enjoying is Picnik's "bunny tone" editing tool. Pretty, huh? I loved this photo of Sugarwings and my handsome husband, but it was blurry and dark. Using Picnik turned it into a keeper.

I have a feeling that when I get to fill Sugarwing's basket and hide her eggs, that my Easter Joy will return. But for right now, its a struggle to not gag when I see a china lamb.

Maybe I need some Cadbury eggs therapy. Nothing like an infusion of that elusive, annual treat to make a person appreciate Easter time!

Please pardon me for not visiting with you. I'm busy as an early bird chasing worms trying to get ready for my Birdsong art workshop coming up.

Thanks so much!

flowers

By Karla Nathan / January 16, 2011

Thank you all for your nice messages and prayers. We gave my father-in-law a great send off and had a fabulous family gathering to say farewell. I have to say, that man sure had some wonderful kids. I'm lucky to be a part of such a family.

They came together with lots of love, caring and laughter, and made this week one to always remember. Sometimes the saddest occasions can also be the happiest. When you belong to a group of people like these!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, flowers, holiday decor, Silver Bella, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 29, 2010

Well, my halls are all decked and our cottage is festively foofed. My husband says it looks like Christmas threw up all over the place. We've had Sugarwings quite a bit over the weekend, so not much else has gotten done but play with her. All the Christmassing happened while she was asleep (I decorated trees till almost 4am). No photos yet, I'll be getting some soon. When I recover.

So, while she is in school today, I'm busily getting caught up on cleaning up my Boutique (deleting sold goods and adding a few new things, marking some other stuff down) and adding more goods to Etsy, as well as fine tuning the Romantic White Christmas Ezine.

Beth and I had a new post every single day while the classes were ongoing. Now that they have been completed, I had to go back and rearrange it all so that it started with the first posts, not with the newest posts. You know how a blog runs from newest first to oldest last? That is how the classes were set up. Which was great while we were adding daily.

Now that they are all up and running, I needed to put them into an easier format to read as a class. We learned some lessons while doing our first class, the Romantic Gothic Ghosts, and made this Ezine a little easier to tweak at the end than that one was.

(all of these pictures are of the little "extra" projects we included in the classes that aren't listed on the sign up page)

We also added catagories for each posting, so that you can click on the lesson you want to look at and go directly to it.

It looks to me like it is pretty easy to follow and find your way around. I'd love some feed back from anyone who has signed up.

If you are in the class, and have posted any of your projects on a blog or flickr, I've got a place to add a link on my blog roll to your pictures. Please send me an email with your info if I can link to you.

On Friday, I avoided the huge crowds of early shoppers and headed to a flea market with Beth instead. There was a lot of millinery available, but most a higher price than I like. I got a couple of hats, then found a few more at one of my favorite antique shops, plus I'd picked up a few on my trip to Omaha for Silver Bella.

Agnes Rosebud seems to like old flowers as much as I do… I've listed some flowers in the shops, and have big plans for making this with others. There is a banner I am working on that will need a few, and I'm hoping to make a purse tomorrow.

And there will be plenty of sparkle to chose from for the purse! Got this bagful at the flea too.

I like to save the tiniest flowers for projects like these.

Itty Bitty flowers are so sweet on these Christmas trees I decorated (they are in my shops now).

My favorite bloom of the bunch has to be this rose, pure velvet!

Well, I'd better get back to listing things. There will be some new items added this evening too, I'm getting more photos done now while the light is good and will post some trinkets in the shop later.

The chocolate and sepia trees are already listed. How nice that the first ones I made were such a hit, I had to whip up a few more.

This set is Neopolitan: milk chocolate, creamy strawberry, and French vanilla.

I'll leave you with a few more pics of new goods. And if you want something from both shops, I do combine shipping and always refund any excess that is more than a couple dollars over actual postage.

The happiest of Thanksgivings to you all!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, flowers, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / November 24, 2010

I probably don't even have to say how thankful I am do I??? You guys all know that there were worries about the baby long before she came, and her poor momma was having a rough time. I couldn't be more thankful that both are happy and well now.

And I'm so thankful to have a new litle fairy to add to my flock!

Not only do I have my own two little grand fairies, and great niece Pixie Pie to play with, I've also grown to love Adam's Beloved's little ones. And no one appreciates a make believe game of dress up more than Miss Clover. What would I do without her in my life?

And this little sprite-let? I can't tell you how much I love her. She is quite the handful, and keeps us hopping, but the moment she leaves to go to back to her parent's home, all we can think about is when we get to see her again, no matter how tired we feel after playing with her. There is so much personality packed into that tiny little body that she wears out anyone near her, but it is a wonderful exhaustion. Kind of like a day of gardening, when the sun is shining, there is a cool breeze, and your flowers are blooming and looking great. The day was a lot of work, and you are ready for a rest, but the feeling is a good, satisfied tiredness, a happy one.

My fingers are crossed that her baby sister will take on some of the qualities of her second middle name, Zen. I don't know if I can chase two kids with the bounciness of Sugarwings….

But I'll do my best. Grand babies have a way of keeping you young, all these little ones are bringing out the kid in me. I love seeing things through Sugarwing's eyes. Today, a lonely leaf blew across the parking lot of the grocery store and she told me a long story about his family that he was trying to get back home to.

Tiny little things that I would walk right by with my own 52 year old sensibilities become magical, beautiful things when I look at them with a 4 year old's perspective. We amble every where we go and are always on the look out for a fuzzy bug, or a twig that might really be a wand with special powers. Simply walking across the back yard can be an adventure when I have this little person with me.

Yes, a lot to be thankful for. A handsome, funny, husband who was told at his checkup today that he was in tip top condition.

Two sons who tried their best break me in their teenage years, but grew into strong, kind hearted men that make me proud.

Sugarwing's smart and sassy Hippy Chic mommy who is my baby girl now. And Adam's Beloved Gypsy who is a kind and gentle soul, with a lovely outlook on life. I hope she considers me her mom too.

Sisters, and neices that I love like the best of friends and best friends that I love like sisters.

And a house full of Dorkies. There is nothing more cheerful than a stampede of tiny little feet running to greet me when I come in the front door.

Oh, and how can I leave out my STUDIO!? Its a dream come true, after a life time of using dining room tables, folding tables, or whatever corner I could find to set up my stuff?

Please forgive me for being schmaltzy. But this is a time of year when I get sentimental. I'm still a little teary from watching the touching scene in Glee last night…. New babies do that to you too, its easy to tear up and get emotional when there is a newborn in your life. When my kids were little, I thought it was the hormones that made me cry at TV commercials, but now I know its just the nearness of a little cuddle bundle that does it to me.

I hope all of you get a chance to count your blessings tomorrow. In between all the hectic meal prep and clean up, take a moment just to look around at faces you love and breathe in the happiness.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Its beginning to look a little bit like Christmas

fairies, family, flowers, Silver Bella, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 22, 2010

Over the weekend, I spent a little time lightening up the living room. (I was going to say de-flowering, but that just sounds wrong)

For the summer, I'd hung rose pattern curtains, scattered rosey pillows around the room, and set out some floral plates and trays as accents. Since the basics of the room are neutral, its really easy to switch out looks by changing accessories.

I hung my Target Shabby Chic white velvet drapes, duct taped an old velvet duvet cover over the sofa cushion, and took out anything pink or rosey.

No, not all rosey things! Agnes Rosebud stayed, of course.

After covering the couch cushion, I stuffed a crocheted table cloth under it, to peek out a bit, and got out my neutral pillows.

But the best part of the change over is the banner! My side swap from Silver Bella got hung up too. I used bits of lace tied together to hang it from.

And for the Holidays, I think I'll add some glittered letters to spell JOY.

And Suzanne Duda.

Great swap, huh???

And at the Silver Bella Vendor Faire, I was also lucky enough to get one of Lesa Daily's beautiful birds. She sells out FAST at any show she is in. That lady has some skills!

I'm kinda decorating for the holidays, but not quite. Just a hint of whats to come. Its fun to do it gradually.

For now, I've just set out some of my Silver Bella projects and the Romantic White Christmas things that I made for the online EZine (which reminds me- if you are showing any of your work from the class on your blog, please let me know!)

My plan during classes in Omaha was to make all the projects coordinate. I packed lots of white, silver, gold, and neutral and made everyone of my classes into something Christmassy to use in my home.

Usually, I have a vending booth and my free class period is spent in a craze of setting up, and this year I didn't vend. So I spent some of my free period in the hotel room puttering around on finishing stuff up, but I got lonely. So I took a walk downstairs and popped into other classes to visit and see what everyone was making. In Kari Lynn's class, I saw a bunch of friends, so they invited me to pull up a chair and visit. Someone gave me some wire, so I made this little door (with bird) for the cage I had already made in one of Kari Lynn's previous classes.

I was in two of her classes, then crashed this third one. Then, on Sat. she sat next to me in another class and as we were working away and chatting, I turned and introduced myself and said I didn't think we'd met. She said "YOU WERE JUST IN TWO OF MY CLASSES! " Ooops. I told her that her classes were so good that I was concentraiting on the project, not her face!

After that, she started calling me Dory. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" (from Nemo) At least its not as bad as the year I asked Mary Englebrait to take my picture with someone, not knowing who she was…

Thing is, Kari Lynn's classes were wonderful and I just adored them and her. She is teaching at Kim's next wonderland, and that is one of the reasons I am going. Well, her and Colleen, who I got to know too. I really enjoyed them both.

I'll show the other projects when I finish my Christmas decor. I ran out of time, we had family over to meet the new baby on Saturday night.

Sugarwings and Pixie Pie had some dress up fun.

I can't believe how grownup this girl is getting. But all of a sudden, all my babies look HUGE, since we have added the tiny, newest fairy to the flock.

On Sunday, I got some more trees done and a few are in the Etsy shop now, more to come! Thanks for all the tree love.

These are a little something different, I tried some sepia ones. I like them, they fit well with my neutral living room. I hope people don't think they look like trees left up way too long.

I'll leave you with some new Etsy goods:

Redos and repairs

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, flowers, holiday decor, parties, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 5, 2010

Wow, thanks SO much for the response to our Romantic White Christmas e-zine! I've been working away on it, and actually wrote 11 posts in 2 days. Whew! Plus making more stuff for it. I have a habit of not being able to stop once I get started….

I've got a couple of "bonus" projects made and a couple of other extras too. Just some simple little pretties for the holidays.

Today, I started cleaning up mystudio to get ready for a dinner party and was able to use some of the Romantic White Christmas things in my decor. These aren't over whelmingly screaming CHRISTMAS, they are just sparkly, vintage and festive.

Well, this one kind of does. At least it screams "NOEL"!

When Beth and I shot photos for the classes, we had all the things we made on display, and I liked the look of this up in the window so much, that I'm leaving it. I already missed the Romantic Gothic Ghosts banner, the window felt naked without it.

I might just be a banner adict now. I'll need one for every season.

We took everything off the top of this buffet and redid it in whites and silver as a back drop for the projects and I liked it so much, its staying this way. It had been a pink explosion before, now there is just a hint of blush here and there.

Sadly, when I started putting the tables together and pulled out my favorite table cloth, this is what it looked like. Its really old, and the fabric is just falling apart. I am too lazy to was afraid to try to sew it, and thought it was a goner. Then, I remembered Kay Ellen's Sealah Tape. The stuff is amazing!

Its a two sided tape that her mom invented and is so easy to use.

A few holes here and there don't bother me, but that was big enough to lose a dinner plate in. So I covered up the bad place with a few bits of lace and some tattered silk.

While I was at it, I covered up a few more rips with lace. (These girls don't realize I am taking a photo of the table cloth. Please don't tell them. They think cameras are only meant to focus on them)

Today I made time to finish up my hat for Silver Bella too. Here is a little bit of it. Its a bit different as far as head wear goes….

A fine, feathered friend and a few goblins that need a friend too

celebrations, family, flowers, Food and Drink, holiday decor, parties, Silver Bella

By Karla Nathan / October 28, 2010

I am just glowing with happiness! You know why? Dawn of the Feathered Nest has agreed to join Lisa of Tarnished and Tattered and Carol of Raised in Cotton to come and teach at my May Day art gathering at the Cottage!!

Sorry, no details yet, besides a Save the Date, and a theme. Springtime, May Day, and Birdsongs all wrapped up into a back to nature crafting weekend in my studio for about 20 guests. Expect more info after Silver Bella.

Right now, I'm trying to get ready for this big event and a houseful of guests coming to visit and play before the Omaha wonderland begins. Teresa is selling these tees ahead of time, which is a good idea. Mine has already arrived and I've got it all glittered up and ready to wear.

And I'm also in the middle of pulling together another online class with Beth. She and I are working on A Romantic White Christmas, and I've been scanning and editing images to fit the bill.

My stash of vintage goodness is filled with holiday ephemera. But, not all is appropriate. LIke this page, really cute, but "cute" isn't the theme. I'm picking out the gorgeousness that is lurking in my old book pages and cards and photos.

You can click on the calander to enlarge, then save it to your own computer to print. Its a good one, just not the style I'm going for.

Romantic, soft colors, lots of neutrals is what I'm scanning for the classes. I've edited 50 so far and still have a stack to go through. Beth will also be adding images, so you'll receive quite a selection of backgrounds, photos, flowers, and text. More than you'll need for the projects, there will be plenty left to play with and make into more than just what we have lessons planned for.

We'll have the class ready in plenty of time for you to make things for the holidays!

I hope you'll join us, our last class was a lot of fun. I've enjoyed my Romantic Gothic Ghost banner, and it was a part of my decor for the Kid's Halloween Bash and Pumpkin Gala last night in the studio.

But so much for my goal of an orange-free Halloween, huh? Well, inside the house, its all Romantic and Gothic, but for the kid's party, I oranged it up. My mother-in-law sent us this floral display and I decided to take advantage of its cheery colors and decorate the table top to match it for the party.

The little guy sitting in the flowers, is made from paper clay, painted and glittered, then glued to a bit of old trim.

For all the kids, I made up craft packs for them to work on that night. For all the moms, I made up these goblin face pumpkins.

The kids each got plain pumpkins to paint, since I knew they'd like to paint their own faces on them. These are made of paper clay too.

There are a few extras, when I make things, I get carried away and make a LOT. The guy on the left is for sale, $10 if you are interested. His name is Boris.

The fellow on the left in this one is Edgar. He's also needing a home – $10

"Peek" is the little cutey on the left in this photo. He's $8.

Please leave a comment if you want to purchase one of these guys, and tell me which one by his name.

They were so fun to make, I think I'll be whipping up some snow ladies soon. NO WAIT! I need to focus. I have a long list of priorities that I need to stick to.

Don't you wish you could just sit and make things and not worry about the rest of your obligations?

Sometimes I just drive myself batty trying to do too much. I want to do it ALL!

Usually I fit a lot into my life, so I shouldn't complain. This afternoon, I'll be going to the gym, picking the last of the garden veggies before the frost forecasted for tonight, and tackling the mess left behind from the party!

None of it is very fun or productive, just stuff I need to get done. But afterwards? I'm heading to the Curious Sofa for Debbie's Holiday Open House. Now, that is quite a big carrot to dangle in front of me to stay focused while getting all my tasks finished this afternoon!

And tomorrow? Maybe a bit more Sugarwings time, if I'm lucky. See why my online class isn't ready to go and I don't have details for the spring fling up yet??