The wild phlox is blooming out in our woods! And was blooming down in Southern Missouri where we went for the wedding too.
Sugarwings picked some for Miss Tree's bouquet.
It was a non traditional wedding and this was a last minute idea by my grand fairy. Quite a good one, too. Pretty, huh?
Coffee filter roses seriously took over my life for about a week over Valentine's Day. I had no reason or need to be making them. But once I thought about doing it, I had to try.
And once I tried one, I had to do more.
And more.
And then try little tricks to make them better.. I found that adding a narrow roll of paper to make a bud really brought the blooms to life. As did using watercolors to deepen tones along the edges of the petals.
I never did perfect the use of floral tape. That stuff is high on my list of nemesisses. It doesn't even respond well to glue. And I actually got out the hot glue gun, that is not a typical tool in my crafting arsenal.
This called for the Big Guns.
Although, I did find that the tape was ideal to cut into pointed strips and use around the buds and at the base of the flowers. It was not at all easy to attach, I glued each piece on, then added more glue over it with strips of tape wrapped around that . And glued it down on the ends.
Still, the tape has an ethereal quality and naturally curls up when cut in the strips. So, while it wasn't easy to do, it was worth the effort.
Eventually, I had to force myself to stop making coffee filter flowers and get on with my life. I gave some away to loved ones, and made a couple vase fulls for myself, and then tucked away the supplies with a promise that I'd dig them out again when I had more time.
Because I am not done yet, those blooms are addictive.
Having the Farewell to Downton book to work on was helpful to get my mind off the roses. Also, planning the trip to San Diego got me into gear. There is nothing like a deadline to pull me away from an obsession.
If you'd like to be a part of the art journal swap, please email me at: karlanathan@sbcglobal.net
I'm in CA for a nice, long, visit, but will return your emails and sign you up when I return.
There is no reason why I should be complaining. None at all. The week the weather was hovering at zero, I was in Florida. At the end of February, I'm going to California. And most of our winter has been pretty mild.
But Kansas is soooooooo gray in the winter.
Soooooooooo gray.
I have to keep looking around to find reasons to not let winter get to me. Buying some new houseplants to give my kitchen and living room a shot of green, was a good start. Especially since it gave me an excuse to finally purchase one of those terrariums that I always walk by in Hobby Lobby and day dream about owning. Heck, they aren't expensive, and even go on sale for half price on a regular basis. But I'm glad I waited til the mid winter blahs struck before indulging myself. It feels good to have some live plants cheering up my space now when I need it.
One of the very first things I do every single morning is stand at my back window and look out into the yard as I brush my teeth. In the spring, I'm on my toes with excitement watching for the latest blooms, and I love seeing what new flowers have popped up to greet me. Summer is just pure enjoyment, because all of the plants are at their peak. And fall holds all sorts of changes daily with the trees changing.
But winter?
Mostly gray.
We haven't even had much snow this year. Still, I love looking out the window, contemplating the new day as I scrub my teeth, whether there is much new to see or not.
But every once in a while, I get a view like this- BLUEBIRDS GALORE!!!!!
Ahhhhhhh, that was just what I needed. And near them, were redbirds. Little flying flowers, all throughout my trees.
You've got to look for happiness, sometimes it is right in front of you and if you are not paying attention you'll miss it.
I had jury duty recently, and from my seat in the juror room, I could see this Happy Tree through the slats of the blinds on the window in our semi-basement room. It was a windy day, the branches were blowing, and the tree looked like it was talking to me.
Of course, I didn't mention the talking tree to the rest of the jurors, I thought I might lose my position of head juror, or even get kicked out of the box if they knew I was slightly crazy.
Because this is what I saw all day, in my own mind.
Yep, it is the reminder of spring that green plants bring, elusive bluebird sightings, and silly little things like this that keep me sane during the long, GREY, winter months.
Or am I?
To celebrate the holiday, Sugarwings asked if we could throw a craft day party. I try to do these for other occasions too, some years we have one for every holiday, other years are hit and miss. It is always a good excuse to clean up the studio and hang out with good friends. so if I can make a party happen, I'm glad to do it.
And it is such fun to see Sugarwing's excitement and to watch her little wheels turn as she plans a soiree. We made a couple of trips to craft stores, and she picked out all the supplies needed to make cards.
The menu was all her idea too. Of course, Conversation Hearts were a main treat.
Along with Ghirardelli chocolate dipped strawberries.
Sadly, about an hour before the party, I got a call from her, in tears because she was ill. Our poor, fairy baby had a fever and had to cancel. Luckily, her Nurse Mommy had a day off, and was there for her.
Which meant she was in very good hands. (Here comes a bragging moment, and a big one-) Her mom, our Hippy Chick, is on the nominated list for "The Best of Lawrence" voting for Best Nurse in town!
And that is a big deal, isn't it?
After talking to Sugarwings, I talked to her daddy and discovered that Kia, my Faux Granddaughter, was ill too. So, no family for the big party. Dewdrop is in NC with her own mommy, and the rest of the bunch were taking care of sick kids.
I was down for a bit, sad that my girl couldn't come to the party she had planned out, but I'm leaving it all set up and letting her throw another one for her family, and I had a lovely day with my good friends and their kids.
Lots of cards to spread Valentine love were crafted, and we also made some coffee filter flowers.
Here is a vaseful at a point when I thought they were done.
But, I decided that they needed something more, and figured out that a kid's marker dipped in water was great to give the petal edges some color.
Watercolor paints work well on the petals too.
I added some leaves pulled off my favorite old hats too.
Much better!
They were so much fun to make, that I'm also having one more coffee filter craft day too. Plus, I have dyed HUNDREDS of filters…
Twinkle really needs to learn to not be so curious when I'm dying things. She always ends up with a polka dot on her head.
It's been a few days and the color is barely fading.
I bought two packages each of small, medium, and large filters, and dipped them in fiber reactive dyes. Once they were done, the amount seemed to quadruple.
I'm going to need more friends to help me use these up….
Or I could just sit and make flower, after flower, after flower. (this is the same flower I showed painted and using a marker on. Big difference, huh?)
Because they are addictive and beautiful. I seem to have the best luck with peonies, I wish my roses turned out better. And I find it hard to work with the dang floral tape.
Why is it even called tape? It has very little stickiness, which is basically tape's main ingredient.
But the flowers are really pretty easy to make, we all had some beauts. The kids might have even out-flowered the adults.
The hardest part for me was adding the wire stem with the floral tape. I discovered that it was better to use artist tape to hold the flower onto the wire, then cover it in the green tape.
It still wasn't perfect. I'll need to do some research before friends come back to make more flowers with me.
If you want to make some, there are so many how-to videos and guides online, that it probably isn't worth my time to give you any directions. This site has links to many different tutorials. I tried a variety of styles, some easier than others. I gave up on the Martha Stewart ones. They are unbearably beautiful, but not a quick process.
The joy of the other directions was that they are so simple and look like you spent a lot of time on them, when you really didn't.
I'll let you know if we figure out any good shortcuts or tips when we make more. I'm glad to be having more parties!
If only our gravel drive and walkways always looked this good! Too bad it is so costly to have fresh rocks delivered, or I'd do it every year. We usually keep it to every four years. Heck, for what we spend over time, we could probably pay for concrete.
Maybe not, we have a LOT of driveway.
And walkways.
Now, you might think this is a blah subject for pictures. But to me, it is a heavenly site to see a big, expanse of newly spread rock with no weeds or grass growing through it (yet). And lush, green, overgrown landscaping. After years of draught, I forgot Kansas could be pretty in August. Not much is in bloom, but it sure is green this year!
I love the fresh, clean, weedless expanse of a newly spread load (or three) of rock.
So do the grand fairies. Although, it doesn't look quite the same when they have had their fun with it.
All of this new rock was unplanned. We had a torn up area in front of the house from digging some gas lines, and needed to repair it. Originally, there was gravel to the left, a propane tank hidden by a decades and decades old lilac bush, then wild, overgrown ground cover to the right and center.
Taking out the gas lines and the propane tank left this mess and wrecked the lilac.
At first I was discouraged by the look of it all.
Then, I saw the opportunities. Why not turn this spot into two parking areas instead of one? We do tend to have a lot of guests.
And I turned the ripped out lilac into a pile of prospective broomsticks for the witch kits I'll be making for Romantic Gothic Ghosts.
Since we needed new gravel for the front of the house, we had extra delivered and did most of the rest of the trails and drives too. I kind of wish we had done this one, but we just mow it every once in a while and it stays okay.
But this area was a challenge. The gas line redo had left mounds of dirt where our sump pump drains into the yard and it would cause the water to back up into the basement again.
So, I dug a long trench from the house to the driveway, filled it with river rock, and created a flower bed around it before the gravel guys came out.
Not knowing that the gravel guys could have just graded it for me with the bobcat.
Now, they had to work around the area I had slaved over in the heat!!
Sometimes it sucks to be a know-it-all-do-it-yourselfer.
I do like the new flower bed, though. I didn't line the bottom half with bricks or stones, because I know that cars would just run over them and knock them loose. I've seen it happen here. Also, I plan for the ground cover to spread over the edges by next year.
Along the wall of the house, I made another bed. I've put in shrubs, but need one more. I had to wait till the gas meter was installed so the bush wouldn't be in the way.
The local nursery was having a 50-75% off clearance, and I skedaddled over there to load up on flowers and plants. It has been a moist summer, so I think it is safe to plant. Normally, the ground would've been hard as stone in August, but it was pretty easy to slip Russian sage, weigela, phlox, lemon grass and daisies into the ground.
So easy, that I went back to the nursery and bought 18 daisies and painted daisies to add in front of the studio. I can't wait to see if they bloom next year!! At $1 each, if only half bloom, I'll still feel happy about it.
Speaking of the studio, new gas lines went through it too. I had the option of ripping up drywall, or just adding an ugly black pipe through the room.
I chose the pipe, painted it white, and hung plates from it. The plates were up there on nails before, so it isn't a huge change in the look of the room, but I think they look pretty hanging from the pipe instead. Plus, the soffit really needed a fresh coat of paint, it had been about 10 years.
And it was much easier than repairing drywall!
Last week, Sugarwings and I made a trip to Gage Park in Topeka. We've often gone to the zoo and the Discovery Center, but this was our first stop at the gardens.
Many times, we have ridden the train around the park, and I always say, "I'd like to go walk across that pretty bridge someday," but till now, we have never taken the time. We usually hang at the zoo, playground, or carousel, and since I don't go there without grand fairies, I stick to things they prefer. But this time, I figured Sugarwings was old enough to do some exploring with me.
She can now walk by a fountain, without having to be pulled out of it. At least on a most days….
And she was happy to take a detour through the rose gardens on our way to the Discovery Center. I don't think she was just humoring me, it seemed like she enjoyed the flowers as much as I did.
Of course, the bridge was an attraction for her too.
And the pond is so pretty. But the best part was watching a school of tiny, black fish as they twisted and turned in the water, they almost seemed to be trying to spell something out for us. And I swear, at one point, they all joined in to form a heart shape as they swam by.
Anywhere that I go with this girl is a magical place.
Through her eyes and imagination, I see all the possibilities of magic being real in a public park in Topeka, Kansas. We could have been over the rainbow and it wouldn't have been any more special than it was right here in the midwest on an ordinary, overcast Tuesday.
You can find magic anywhere if you keep your eyes open. Not only were the fishies making heart shapes for us, I came across a mossy heart in the cracks of the pavement too.
We looked around, took photos, talked about flowers, watched the fish. It was a simple kind of entertainment, aren't those often the best?
She offered to take my picture too.
And, like usual, my eyes were closed in each one.
We did some of our regular kid activities too. She rode the merry go round a few times ($1 a ride, no lines, no crowds), we played in the black light room at the Discovery Zone a couple of hours, until my eyes were crossed, and we had lunch at the zoo.
After years of riding by the pretty, little, stone bridge, I was so glad that we stopped and explored the park. It was such a small thing, such an easy thing to do, but such a big adventure for the two of us.
ps- here are some newbies to my Boutique. And if you are here for the studio tour, you can find it here.
We had quite a nice holiday weekend. Not at all typical for us, no parties, no people, no fireworks, no trips.
The weekend started on Friday with a performance at Theatre Lawrence, from the workshop Sugarwings had attended there.
It was very impressive to see how the teachers could corral all of these little ones and get them to understand the workings of being in a play, learning lines, songs, and choreography in just one week. And it is great for the kids to have a chance to be on the fancy stage.
Sugarwings is very serious up on stage, but does sneak looks up to where family is sitting, to make sure we are watching her. And at one point, she broke out in an impromptu, improvised tap routine that had nothing to do with the show.
Maybe tap lessons should be the next class she takes…
Her favorite part seemed to be the way her sparkling cape could swirl with some twirling in the lobby.
The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back. My husband and I did some hiking at the lake each morning, then spent the rest of the days doing yard work around the cottage.
Now, my husband isn't exactly a yard work kind of guy. At least as far as flower beds go. He is more of a chainsaw type, but when I mentioned that my rose bushes had become so overgrown that they weren't blooming the way they should and were more like thorn bushes than flowers, he was right there with a chain to wrap around them and pull them out with the John Deere Gator.
The roses were planted in bad places, that seemed fine when the plants were little. One was by the patio of the studio, and three were along the side walk to the front door. As they grew, they needed major trimming to stop their thorns from snagging unsuspecting people walking by.
I've not got a lot of experience with roses, but it seems to me, that the more you trim them, the woodier they become, and the less they bloom. These were turning into giant thorn trees with woody trunks, not green bushes with flowers. So, out they went, and the one by the studio was replaced with a hydrangea instead.
For the sidewalk area, I purchased 2 azaleas and a topiary. But the topiary wouldn't work, because there is a bedrock of gravel under the bed, and we couldn't dig through it. The base of the topiary was just too large, but the smaller pots of azaleas were just fine. So, the tree is in a temporary basket for now, and I'll set it in a pot when I find one later (it's time for some good 75% off sales at the greenhouses!)
We also dug out mulch and added a row of gravel along the foundation, due to some termite issues we are having. My husband got to fill his Gator with gravel and use the dump truck function to fill the trench he'd dug.
We also worked in the veggie garden, and had to pull some vines down from the walls. A vine covered cottage is a beautiful thing, if you don't care about termites and damage to your siding. If I could let them go, I sure would. Especially since they just start climbing on their own, it looks so charming and natural. But, nope, they had to be ripped away.
Lots of hard work got accomplished, and we had a good time doing it. I really can't remember the last time the two of us were on our own, and hung out together all weekend. We tend to have a lot of separate interests and many other people that take our attention from each other. This was nice.
I hope your weekend was a memorable one too. I thought I'd work in the studio and add some things to the Boutique, but didn't get around to it til Monday.
And I didn't mind at all.
Here are a few things that I listed.
If Beth and I look slightly delirious with joy, it is because we most certainly were. And Sugarwings was here to capture the moment.
We had a very good reason to be soooooo happy. Our pal, Carol had posted a photo years ago of some beautiful, gorgeous, dreamy, scrumptious, silk flowers and it was one of those pictures that stayed with me. Then, for some crazy reason, but lucky for me, she posted that she was selling them all! In one big, giant lump of unbelievable beauty.
Beth messaged me when she saw it, and I had a little stab of jealousy, but then was happy for my friend. Then, she said she was waffling and I asked it if would help to split it.
Yep! She shared the bounty! And I contacted Carol before the treasures were scooped up and we missed out.
Carol lives just down the road, and dropped it in the mail box, by Priority, that afternoon. The next day, Beth and Sugarwings were here for craft day and the box arrived. Perfect flowers and perfect timing!
See why we squealed??? This is new, old stock. Never used. Here is how Carol described them on her blog. And she also says she has more goods to sell in the next couple months, so if you are wanting some very special things, keep an eye out for what she'll be offering!!
Over the Summer, I’m going to be offering for sale a select few of my very special and very vintage stash of goods.
To start will be my collection of Vintage Millinery Flowers and Trims that I’ve kept tucked away for several years. This amazing old store stock, is from the Emery, Bird, Thayer Department Store of Kansas City, Missouri. Handmade of vintage fabrics, ribbons and some velvets including many flat appliqués and trims in gorgeous muted shades of color. A few still have the original EBT sale tags. There are over 100 pieces to this collection, some range from very delicate petite to large size flowers and trims. If you’re a collector or crafter of vintage millinery, you know how rare it is to find a grouping of embellishments such as these.
There was bag after bag after bag of these beauties in our box of delights. Plus some cool trims. They were easy to share, too. We opened one bag at a time, and between the, "Oh my gosh, look at this one" and the "Oooh"s and "Oh my goodness"es, we managed to take turns picking out what we wanted, one piece at a time, till the piles were gone.
Then, we found a bag that had slipped off the table and landed on the floor, and the squealing resumed.
Sugarwings took a thousand or so photos, which took her away from her own work, but she was having fun watching the old ladies be silly.
She wasn't allowed to touch our blooms. She was deep into her own Project Runway style creations and had a tad of paint and glitter on her hands.
Earlier, we'd hosted a Birthday Luncheon for Beth and Angie, with Sugarwings as my co-hostess. She decorated all the cupcakes, and set the table using her favorite trick. Here is what she does-
Make an a-okay sign with both hands.
Notice that the left hand looks like a "b"
The right hand looks like a "d"
The "b" stands for bread plate and goes to the left, the "d" stands for drink and goes to the right.
That is a quick way for a kid to learn about where things go at a table setting, and she enjoys doing it so much, she makes the a-okay sign each time she sets the items down, even though, she already knows where to put them.
The day was so much fun. And while I am supposed to be getting caught up after Birdsong, and trying to put the studio and garage back to normal, while also selling leftover kits (first offered to sponsors and past attendees, soon to the rest of our friends), it was nice to have a day just to laugh. All day long. And that is what we did.
Sugarwings was glad I didn't have the studio back to normal yet. I still had the big tables up, her small ones weren't back out yet, and the larger ones were still covered in paper.
Instead of doing a project on the table, she made the paper covered table her actual piece. It was a fashion themed day for her, and she had previously drawn dozens of gowns in chalk on the patio, side walks and breezeway floors, for us to take a walk through her "fashion museum".
Then, the table cover became a full length ball gown, covered in red glitter and embellished with sparkling tape.
Afterwards, she cut it out, and we hung it up in the studio. I love to see her creativity run amok. She was into this for hours.
My project for craft day was working on Lesa's kit. I'd already made one of them, and someone gave me their kit to finish, and I was happy to do it, I love these little birds. And again, perfect timing for the flowers to arrive, just when I needed them to make this special birdie, extra, extra special!
Thank you for parting with the blossoms, Carol, and thank you, Beth for sharing with me.
All of Lesa's kits are sold now. I have a couple of Lori's and I made quite a few extras of my own. I'll be marketing them as soon as all the Birdsong Peeps have had a chance to get first pick at them. So please do check back if you are interested in one. I'll also have some posts about Birdsong coming up soon.
We've done a little yard work recently, and the yard is looking happy and bright. Roses are blooming, iris are straight, tall, and majestic, and the peonies put on a great show this spring. It's wonderful to have established gardens and perennials to depend on for color, even if maintenance is still a lot of work, in keeping things slightly tidy… very slightly…. At least there are hard working favorites popping up out of the ground all on their own with no effort from me.
I clean up the beds a bit, and fill the pots with annuals (this year a lot reseeded itself!), and we are set for springtime. This season, Sugarwings has wanted to help, so I gave her a tiny garden of her own to tend.
I had a low, wide, cement pot that was just the right size to turn into a fairy garden for my own little fairy to work in. I placed 4 mini plants in it, made a garden arch from wrapped wire and let her figure out the rest. We had this iron fairy, and she debated using it, because this garden was for REAL fairies not pretend ones. She ended up putting it on display there as a "statue" for the young fairies to look up to.
After it was planted, she watered it with a little teacup.
After getting to this point, she decided it needed a bit more. Like some signs, and a swing. So, she dutifully ate up a popsicle, to get a stick she could paint to turn into a swing. Her thoughts were that the youngest fairies would like a swing hung from the arbor more than just a plain old arch to look at.
So a pink, popsicle stick swing now hangs from the arch with blue ribbons. And the iron fairy statue has been removed to make space for a tea party area. I have a feeling that these are the first of many changes. This garden will probably be the focus of quite a few redesigns.
For the tea table, Sugarwings painted a large spool pink, and we glued a playdough can lid to it. The painted spool stools and table all have straws glued inside, so they can be poked into the ground to solve the problem of them toppling over and spilling the tea.
Dewdrop offered to blow bubbles for the fairies.
Around here, school gets out at 1:30 on Wednesdays. And if I'm lucky, that is my day to play hooky from work in the afternoon and pick Sugarwings up. Since this Wednesday was Earth Day, we decided to plant something in honor of our planet. And what better to plant than some poppies along the Yellow Brick Road that we had been fixing up?
Sugarwings was excited to see the Lily of the Valley crowding its way out of the ground, she thought it looked like mini cornstalks and decided that when we got our Scarecrow made, it should go right there in the midst of the lilies.
She also had some ideas about getting yard art gnomes to use as munchkins, which sounds do-able. But when she started in on some sort of idea about big emerald gates, I told her it might be out of our reach. I was answered with, "You are an artist, you can make it work, just think about it."
hmmmmm……
This tutu was $2 at a garage sale recently, it is actually a dance costume for a much older girl, but with a few safety pins, it made a lovely Glenda gown for my little sprite.
I think this was the first time I'd ever seen her give up the role of Dorothy to play another part when she is imagining Oz. It didn't last long, though. Soon, the story became that Glenda (or Ga-linda if you are a Wicked fan) gave Dorothy a magical gown, and Sugarwings was back playing the starring role, just not in blue gingham.
