flowers – Page 3 – Karla's Cottage

Genuine gemstone mosaic

By Karla Nathan / February 22, 2022

This mosaic backsplash felt like a huge job, but actually was completed in bits and spurts over the course of a week.

The boards were set out on my table like a jigsaw puzzle that I pieced together whenever I had a spare hour of time.

First, I measured the spot, then I had Masonite cut to fit the area. I drilled holes where I wanted to screw it into the wall, and left those spots blank while adding stones.

Then, I used a sharpie to draw a design that I promptly ignored and started placing stones in posy shapes.

I started with the largest flowers, working out from the center of the board, where the faucet of the sink would be. Then spaced large flowers throughout the Masonite.

Next came medium flowers, then small ones, and finally the darker pearls, petals, and leaves.

The stones are glued down with silicone. After the adhesive dried I brought the mosaic in to see how it was going to look and decide on grout color. I had been proud of myself for having a continuous design in the corner from piece to piece, but didn’t allow for the thickness of the beads.

oops

When I first measured the materials, the boards butted up against each other, now with grout and beads, they don’t. Oh well, caulking fixed the crack, and it doesn’t really bother me too much that the backsplash is about a 1/2” longer than the vanity top.

Grouting was HARD. Really hard, because of the different heights of the stones.

I worked on 6” sections at a time so I could get each bit polished up nice before it dried too hard.

The grout is Bone, and I used a matching caulk to seal the Masonite, trim out the edges, and cover the screw holes. Honestly, I think the flowers would’ve stood out better with a darker grout, more like the color of the board they were on, but I needed it lighter to flow with the rest of the room. And that was important.

Grout can be such a mystery to me. I don’t do enough mosaics to know exactly how the added background color will affect the piece. No matter what color though, it sure makes it look finished and professional. Adding grout to a mosaic is the equivalent of adding mulch to a flower bed. It just makes it look more pulled together.

My sis, Terry, has recently moved and cleared out her craft supplies before going. She gifted me with an amazing stack of jewel filled boxes, that inspired this creation. I had many of the beads myself, but getting her largesse gave me the idea to make a project with it instead of necklaces.

I thought I’d feature a few flowers and use mosaic glass as a background. But once I got going, I loved the gemstones so much, that I made the entire piece with just those. I found bags of real pearls and some other extras at an antique store nearby, and that was just what I needed to complete it. I would hate to know what these gems would cost retail! Terry and I had both shopped wholesale markets and catalogs for the ones we had. Still, this would’ve cost me a pretty penny if I hadn’t been gifted with such pretty beads. Thanks, Terry!

Here is a list of what I used:

labradorite
opal
moonstone
mother of pearl
pearl
larimar
herkimer diamond
quartz
agate
amazonite
topaz
aquamarine
shell
flourite
abilone

In praise of gallery walls

cottage, family, flowers, Hand painted

By Karla Nathan / January 13, 2022

As an artist, I seem to have a proliferation of stuff to go on my walls. As a person who enjoys taking pictures, and has very cute grandfairies, I also want their photos up there too.

So, groupings are how I usually handle that. The trouble is, I hate to get rid of old pictures that I love, but new ones keep coming along. On this wall, I added a few of our family fairy pictures to the existing collection.

We are in the process of redoing Rich’s office. My talented son put this floor in over the holiday, and it has been a huge improvement over the old carpet.
Previously, Rich had a gallery wall of barn wood framed family photos that he wants back up again. While they are down, I’m sprucing them up and switching a few out. (Photos to come when the room is done.)

Then, he had another request.

He wants our parents and grandparents on display too.

It is sweet of him to want this, so I have been working on a display that complements the other family wall but doesn’t match it.

I’d had big plans for painting some large landscapes to hang up there (we are out of room everywhere else) but like I said, this is sweet of him to want. He also wants to hang work mementos that I thought would be leaving, so I guess I won’t be painting landscapes for the room.

Looks like I’ll be sticking to roses to hang elsewhere. He deserves a space that is just as he wants it, since he deals with my stuff running rampant through the rest of the house.

And I have learned that he has some good ideas, too. I hated the thought of getting this dining table, to replace my all white one, and now am happy to have it.

Rich had a favorite tree fall down, and wanted to keep a piece of it forever, so we had this made.

See what I mean? He is very sweet.

Happy Thanksgiving

flowers, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / November 25, 2021

I hope you are having a day full of gratitude and blessings.

And a tummy full of pie!

I did get a photo

flowers, Painting with thread

By Karla Nathan / November 17, 2021

On an earlier post I showed this shirt in progress and said I didn’t have a finish of it completed. But then, I saw this one and realized I was sorta wrong. There is more to the design, with leaves and embellishments on the other side of the shirt too. But at least I did have a picture of this flower finished.

Pink Roses Galore

flowers, Painting with thread, paintings

By Karla Nathan / November 4, 2021

I’ve been on a pink roses kick. This one was done this week.
(The rose on the left side, second row down needs work, huh? A bit wonky)

Here is a close up. I like the layers and depth in this one. It’s a little different than the others I painted before my trip.

This shirt got an embroidered rose. But not pink!

I didn’t get a final picture before giving it away, this is a “during” photo. You can see the drawing, done in water washable marker, but as I work on these things, I don’t always follow my sketches, so it turned out a bit different.

I can’t remember if I showed you some of the other paintings.

As you can tell, they all kinda look alike. I showed one to Kia and she said, “Didn’t you just paint that one last week?”

The WRONG Way to Dry Hydrangeas, oops

flowers

By Karla Nathan / October 2, 2021

This season, my hydrangeas did poorly.

Not just poorly- they sucked. Most didn’t survive the winter, even though I brought pots into the breezeway, and the newer plants hardly produced blooms.

But look at what my sister let me picked from her bushes!

I harvested them, smashed the stems and put them into water for a few days. It should’ve gone well, and the color would’ve held since they were picked at just the right time.

But…

While trying to protect the delicate flowers, I ruined them.

Wouldn’t you think that a hard sided cooler would keep them safe on a long drive? Uhm, no.

Apparently the moisture content along with being in a closed space in a hot car, was the wrong way to go. They were a soggy, dripping mass of brown when I freed them from the humid box.

Dang it.

But they did dry and keep their shape, they just lost that beautiful, fall toned glow over night. Still pretty, but not gorgeous like they were.

Dang it.

(The two larger China pieces were found on my trip, $10 each!)

My favorite planter

flowers

By Karla Nathan / September 6, 2021

Quite a few years back, we took out a couple of trees. Being thrifty, we left the stumps, because if you’ve ever paid to have two trees removed, you’d understand why we were feeling the need for thrift.

At first, I used the stumps as platforms to set planters on, but after decaying over time, they started to sink inward.

So I filled the hole that was developing with dirt and plants.

Over time, it kept sinking and rotting til it evolved into losing the entire front part of the stump. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, so I stacked rocks to build a wall and prolonged its use a while longer.

It was honestly much prettier this spring before the baby pups learned how to climb the rocks like a ladder to dig in the dirt. I’m surprised that any of the begonias survived at all. As fall approaches, I’m thinking about switching to mums in this, but I cannot kill the flowers that are still hanging on. Maybe I can transplant them to a new pot.

Because this would look great filled up and blooming bigger.

And this might be my last year to enjoy this particular stump, there might not be much left of it after this winter.

Pretty stones

Corona virus, cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, Ryan

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2021

When Twinkle passed, I brought her home from the vet’s office to show her to the other dogs. I knew they would look for her if I didn’t. You might think it’s odd, but we showed Ryan’s body to our pets too. They were overly excited about a room filled with paramedics and other professionals during a pandemic when they hadn’t been around many people, so it wasn’t exactly a moving moment.

But at least they knew why Uncle Ryan wasn’t around for ear scratches and walks any more.

It would’ve been easier to have Twinkle cremated, my husband was out of town and it was 100 degrees that day. But I hated to think of the other dogs always looking for her and not knowing where she was.

I buried her next to Ryan’s memorial tree.

A dear friend and her daughter had engraved and painted rocks for me and I’d been planning on placing them by this oak. I am glad I hadn’t done it yet, they were just what I needed to top Twinkle’s grave.

I used some of the rocks in planters too.

Ryan is never out of my thoughts, but I still like to have little trinkets and mementos of him around me.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

cottage, flowers, sewing?

By Karla Nathan / May 1, 2021

My birthday is in May and Mom used to say “April showers bring May flowers” to me when I was little. I loved it, and thought she made it up just for me.

This year, May will be hard, but I am focusing on why I have always loved this month and will try to get outside and enjoy those flowers and everything else springtime brings.

While visiting Indiana, my sister gave me her curtains since she switched to new ones. I thought the lovely, rosy pattern on my favorite blue would be just the splash of spring that I needed, so I turned the curtains into slipcovers for my sofa.

Maybe calling them slipcovers is too generous of a term…. they are just pillow cases, no closures, darts, or anything that takes skill. Simply rectangles sewn together on three sides with couch pillows in them.

But cheerful, right? Thanks for the curtains and inspiration, Sissy!

There is more to Florida than beaches, seafood, and amusement parks?

dogs, flowers, Travel

By Karla Nathan / April 14, 2021

Usually, when I go to Florida, it’s either beaches, Harry Potterworld, or Disney. And I go to lots of seafood restaurants. On this visit, I saw more of the inner parts of the state, but I did make drives to the beaches on most days, and still ate more than my fair share of seafood.

Our plans changed and our trip was delayed because we got our Covid vaccines, a happy reason to reschedule. But because of that, I couldn’t book the best camp spots we wanted and had to make the best of it since the reservations were last minute.

We accidentally stayed AN HOUR from the beach in Bradenton. It was a great KOA, but much further away from the water than I wanted to be.

We were in the heartland, and the campground felt almost like we were back home in Kansas. I guess I didn’t realize just how large Bradenton was, and only thought of it as a gulf town. (Maybe I should’ve looked at the map, huh?)

Hunsader Farms had a lot to offer, even if it wasn’t what I had thought I was getting.

I have to admit, that I was a tad bit cranky when I realized exactly how isolated the place was when we arrived. But after hanging out, it grew on me.

There was a U Pick Em zinnia field and strawberry patch, and I not only got to eat juicy berries to my hearts content, and fill the camper with fresh flowers, I was able to walk the dogs to the colorful field and get some portraits of them.