flowers – Page 3 – Karla's Cottage

Gideon’s Bakeshop and a Jam Packed Disney day

By Karla Nathan / March 20, 2022

We had a whirlwind trip through Orlando. No, more than that, it was like a Kansas tornado going through!

There wasn’t a lot of stopping to enjoy the flowers during our one day at the parks, but our evening before and morning after were pretty mellow.

The visit was a later add on to our trip, we had planned on being home about then. But, Sugarwings was starting spring break, and her dad offered to meet us in Florida, so we flew the grand fairy on their very first solo flight and met the brave kid (who did just fine) in Orlando.

And if you know me, you might have noticed there is something about Orlando that I just love. Yep, I indulged myself with a Disney visit. We camped at Ft Wilderness, on an off and on rainy couple of days. The temps were warm, and we had ponchos, plus the rain thins out crowds so we were just fine. The pool was practically empty, and not a single other person was in line at the food truck we went to.

Terry met us at Epcot and the frenzy began the next morning with an early entry for resort guests. And man, did we ever hit the ground running. We “rope dropped” (going to the most popular rides early before lines got to be hours long) then between Terry’s and my booking skills and Disney knowledge, we became power mad. Scheduling and layering ride reservations faster than a bluebird can find a Princess who just broke into song.

Seriously, we over did it. Our prowess in maneuvering ourselves out of standing in lines had us pushing ourselves to the limit to ride every single thing we could at Epcot then buy a park hopper pass over to Magic Kingdom.

Now, I am not saying I didn’t enjoy our adventure, it was amazing! But in retrospect, it might have been slightly crazy to start at 8 am and go to midnight, non stop.

We had a blast.

And we stopped when the kiddo wanted to, Terry and I enjoyed sitting while Sugarwings explored some areas. It wasn’t complete competition to set a record for most rides rode in one day. Terry hung in with us til evening, and I was skeptical about staying ourselves, we had a few moments of exhausted irritation, but we rallied, snacked, and kept rolling. I’m glad we did. Late nights at Magic Kingdom, when the crowds thin after the fireworks are pretty, well, magical.

There was very little shopping til the rides closed at 11pm, and stores stayed open til midnight. But we aren’t there for souvenirs.

(By the way, the two little buildings on each side of the castle, make for ideal photo ops)

Here is our breakdown:

Over 25 rides

Over 33,000 steps

16 hours

2 parks

And yes, I woke up slightly tired the next morning. But we had some time to spend between when we had to leave the campground, drive to St Augustine and check into our rental house.

Disney Springs has RV parking around back, and seemed like a good place to while away an hour or so.

It was still early, and Gideon’s Bakeshop was just opening, already with a 30 minute wait. Later it becomes so long that they take your name and call you back, sometimes hours later. Really? Hours to wait for a cookie?!

Oh, but it is quite wonderful inside.

Quite.

Since we avoided lines all day at the parks, I figured 30 minutes for a cookie wasn’t bad.

I would show you the cookies, but they were so good, they disappeared before I got a photo.

If you get a chance, you should get one. And one to share is probably plenty because they are 1lb each.

Genuine gemstone mosaic

cottage, flowers, how to's

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!