Food and Drink – Page 17 – Karla's Cottage

Angels, fairies, and snow princesses

celebrations, fairies, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, parties, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 16, 2010

We had a Kid's Holiday Party yesterday and the little ones indulged me with a little dress up play and modelling.

I tried to make the photo part quick so they would think it was fun, then got them back to the main event- goodies, and art projects.

We had hot cocoa with all the fixins, eggnog, brownies, pumpkin bars, veggies, and rollups. It was an early out day for school, so the party was from 2-5, so these weren't meant for dinner, just after school snacks.

We had a couple different projects to do too. I picked up a dozen Santa hats from the dollar store, and a bagful of half price holiday floral pics from Hobby Lobby. There really is a lot of fun stuff on those wire picks, jingle bells, flowers, pretend candies, glittered leaves, etc. I just took some wire cutters and separated all the big sprigs into individual pieces, easy for gluing on to the hats and set out a few other fun tid bits for them to have at too. There is always plenty of extra goodies around the studio to share.

They got to make some chip board ornaments too, and all the mommies each made a couple of those for their trees too.

We ended up not getting photos of all the kids. The boys weren't as interested in posing, and my fairy grand girls were busy with playing and artwork. I can catch them later for pictures, though.

A few years back, I painted a Christmas tree mural on plywood and had cup hooks on the tree branches to sell ornaments off of at antique shows. Now, I bring the mural in from the shed and set it in my living room for the holidays. With a few other props in front of it, it made a good backdrop for the pictures.

This morning, I've been doing some editing to the pictures. I LOVE PICNK!!!!!!!!

Playing with hand tinted photos is almost as much fun as painting, but easier and quicker! And way, way too addictive.

I should be out doing some Christmas shopping instead of playing with pictures.

But can you see why I love doing it so much, when I have such gorgeous little models to work with?

I'll get some prints made and maybe these can be some of my Christmas gifts this year.

Its been a hectic, busy, Christmas packed couple of weeks. Before the trip, I had my book club bash, then while we were in Virginia, we were treated to a holiday office party dinner out with my husband's co-workers.

Since I've been back, I have had Sugarwing's school play, craft day, and his little kid party. Plus a couple of Sugarwing Sleepover nights, and those are a party in themselves….

Tomorrow is a party at a friend's and Saturday I'm having another dinner party.

And do I have presents purchased and wrapped? Heck no.

I thought about shopping while in Virginia, but my family is not easy to buy for. I can't just pop into JCPenny and buy a gift for any of them. They like specialty items, dance costumes, art supplies, hand made stuff, or recycled goodies. So, I've put it off.

Those hand made items are going to be biting me on the butt if I don't get moving on them…. I have hopes to do some small paintings for the kid's rooms.

Waiting till the last minute, then throwing one party after another might not have been the smartest holiday plan…

I'm afraid that by the time I get done with all my parties, and its time to do that last minute gift rush, I'll be feeling like Sugarwings was last night after the party!

(no editing can help this little model, I'm afraid- she partied hard)

Did I mention that there was face painting at the party too? I painted the kids' and they reciprocated by painting mine.

My hair is still a bit crisp from the paint.

One of the few gifts that I bought and have ready to give, has to be returned! I bought matching fairy gowns for Pixie Pie and Sugarwings at Tuesday Morning for $10 each, and Pixie Pie showed up wearing the same dress for the party!

She looks so beautiful in it, I just knew it was the perfect dress for her. But now, what do I give her?

While we are talking about gifts, I need to announce the winner of the 1,000,000th visitor giveaway.

Thanks so much for leaving all the kind comments about my milestone! I wish I had a gift for you all (but as you just heard me complaining about- I don't even have gifts for my family for Christmas yet!)

This gift goes to:

Pat Spone (no blog) Pat, please send me your address and I'll get your gift in the mail.

Bookworms partying

Books, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Food and Drink, give away, holiday decor, parties, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / December 7, 2010

Last night, I hosted our book club's holiday party. It happened to fall on a dear friend's birthday, so we got to sing and have cake too. How festive!

Now, I'm trying to remember what books we have chosen for the upcoming year…. I know that one was Cleopatra, I heard a reveiw of it on NPR and was interested in reading it. Lets see… something about freaky cows by a local professor, A Tale of Two Cities, and an apocalyptic book called …. uhm…. Hand Made World? or something like that There are a total of 6, but I can't remember them.

I was most intersted in that last one, I'll have my fingers crossed that there are zombies. I'm sad that the AMC series, Walking Dead is done for the season. Wow. It was like a new horror movie every Sunday night, so well made and scary. Of course, that is what you can count on from AMC, very well made, not always scary though.

We also each brought a wrapped book to trade, and played that game where you can open a gift or steal one from someone else instead. My pal, Shan, brought a wrapped book for me, I was such a loser this year in the reading department that I had nothing to give away. I read too many novels that weren't quite up to book club standards and didn't want to look like I had low class taste.

Not that I was embarrassed, I just didn't want to give a book that no one wanted.

I guess what I mean, is that my books this year were not high quality literature, they were just books that I loved. The only "good" books I read were the same ones that we read in book club last year, so everyone had already read them.

Novels that I enjoyed- the latest Sookie (and can't wait for the next!), the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, the latest from Jennifer Weiner and Sophie Kinsella, and not much else. I used to read at least a book a week. Now, I'm down to about one per month.

TOO MANY GOOD BLOGS OUT THERE TO READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the club books that I read:

Edger Sawtelle

The Worst Hard Times

Something about gay rights at Stonewall

And… well, I've forgotten again. I remembered first two because I loved them so much.

My friend not only brought me a worthy book to give away, she made this stain glass star for Mayara! And tied it to a bottle of wine!!

Its just perfect for my little Star Brite's first Christmas ornament. Hey, that seems to be a good nickname for her….I like that. Sugarwings and Starbrite.

My living room was a bit crowded, with 13 people in it. We all squeezed in anyway and everyone was so nice about it. They all said they would come back next December for our holiday party even if we had to practically sit on top of each other.

My old house has the original living room, and its small. We have a big house, just small rooms in the old part of it. But I have space where it really counts- the studio!! I could have had the party out there, but decided to stick with the main part of the house since it was decorated more.

Plus my studio is knee deep in stuff again.

And I waxed the living room floor! That rarity deserves to be noticed and enjoyed!!

For the party, I set up a coffee service, with home made, fresh whipped cream, shaved light and dark chocolates, orange peels, cinnamon sticks, decaf, and a bottle of 150 year old Grand Marnier.

When I go to schmancy dinners with my husband at restaurants his company owns, they always impress me with the goodies that come with the coffee. You don't need to order dessert there, the coffee treats are dessert enough. So I wanted to set up something similar.

I think I'll do it again for my next craft day. But I doubt if the orange liqour will be as popular at lunch time as it was for this party. Everyone drives in from Kansas City, so there isn't much in the way of drinking going on at craft day.

The cart is a vintage one from my garden that I brought in to use. On the bottom, I set out these glittered letters that were meant to go on a garland that never got made.

Agnes liked it. She thought it was a great place to hide, hoping for food to be dropped down on the floor.

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for a few days in Virginia, and this will be my first time leaving Agnes home alone for long. We have a great system for the dogs, they get penned up in the living room where they can get to a doggie door and a fenced in yard. And my oldest son, Ryan lives here too, so he'll be taking care of all the dogs.

She is just getting used to the set up, and is now an expert at running in and out of the swinging door. But I think we'll miss each other.

I've preposted for the rest of the week while I am away. Each day, there will be Christmas decor from another room of my home, so please check back.

All comments will be entered into December's drawing, but if you want to enter ther 1,000,000th Visitor Giveaway, you need to leave it on THIS POST by the 14th

Sugarwings and I made crustini for the party, by cutting leftover bread slices with her holiday cookie cutters, and brushing them with a little melted butter and olive oil, with garlic. Then, we slow baked them till they were crunchy. I'm going to take the leftovers and smash them up to make bread crumbs for my next turkey meatloaf.

Well, I'll be back this weekend, and will be checking messages on my phone, but its just not that easy to answer everyone that way. so please forgive me if I don't get back to you.

And if you'd like to skip seeing the blog posts and see the holiday decor at my cottage, I've loaded it on HGTV's Rate my Space.

I'd love to get your votes!

Here is the living room

Dining room

Kitchen

A new holiday tradition?

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / December 5, 2010

When my boys were little, we had a tradtion of hanging candy canes on the Christmas tree, one for every day until the big day came. In the evening, we'd take one down, share it and read a story together, sitting by the tree.

This year, Sugarwings thought of an improvement to our holiday rituals. She saw a cup of cocoa with a candy cane in it, on the pages of her Rudolf book, and wanted to give it a try.

Life with little girls gets a bit fancier than with boys. We weren't just going to sit by the tree, we had to create a pretty party!

She and I moved her little table next to her pink, glowing tree (that she decorates and undecorates herself, over and over) and had a hot chocolate party, in the dark while we sang Christmas carols together.

We had French vanilla marshmallows shaped like snowmen, and chocolate mint candy canes to add to our drinks, and pulled out the good tea party dishes to serve it on.

This cocoa party was so fun, we did it again the next night she stayed with me. I make the hot chocolate with organic milk, a little melted Belguim chocolate and some honey, so its a bit of a healthier snack than packaged cocoa. Yes, the marshmallows and candy are full of HFcorn syrup, but hey, its the holiday season and we need to splurge sometimes!

We also discovered that Dorkies love candy canes. And can climb up on the little table to steal them if the treats are left unatended.

A tradition that begun last year was the never ending gingerbread house. When she comes over to stay, she adds to it with more and more goodies and icing. I have to help with the can of icing, but Sugarwings does great with heaping on the candies.

She and I agree that there is no such thing as too much when it comes to decorating. And she also knows this house isn't for eating. I was impressed with how fast she learned not to snack on the house. We have plenty of other treats around, but this is a "pretty" and way too much fun to destroy by eating it. I've told her that if she eats the candy, we won't be able to keep adding on to it, and that solved any issues with sneaking treats off the rooftop.

We might have another new tradition. I've always been a fake tree person, I like pink, white and silver. But there is something quite wonderful about the smell of a fresh cut tree, for sure.

This year, my fairy grand baby kept talking about chopping down her pink tree and gluing it back together. At first I thought it was just a craft project she had in mind… then I realized that she wanted a traditional tree, and wanted to go pick it out and cut it down herself.

So, I found this tiny little seedling growing in my flower bed and gave her the clippers.

There wasn't much to it. She probably could have taken it down with nail clippers.

The little guy is so tiny that I had to support it with a wire. I added a metal star and jingle bell to the top of the wire, the tree wouldn't hold much in the way of decorations itself.

We stuck it down into a flower pot that was on the porch, added some moss and a hint of silver tinsel, then a bow.

Since decorating is an ongoing thing around here, we redid the pot with a teeny vintage glass ball on a strand of tinsel and took off the bow. We liked this better.

The star has a rhinestone jewelry remnant on it. Do you ever use The Ulitmate? I love that glue! After the wire was in the dirt supporting the tree, we thought the star needed something, so I glued this jewel on. It was too late to lay it flat to dry, but that glue is super tacky and held the piece in place as it was.

If you'd like to enter the giveaway for my ONE MILLIONETH vistor (yippee! thanks guys!!) please leave a comment HERE before the 12th, when I will draw a name for the lacey trimmed bag full of holiday cheer.

Sticky door knobs

family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, parties, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 30, 2010

We managed to fit in one trip to the Pumpkin Patch before the season ended. Sugarwings and I spent almost 3 hours there, just talking to pumpkins and meeting new fuzzy friends. She certainly is a nature child and is happier playing with dirt than toys most of the time.

Here she is in a quickie little video of her naming her newest buddy.

We found a few little pumpkins to adopt, and it was hard to convince her that the caterpillar couldn't come home with us too. She was satisfied when I told her that next time we went there, she could visit him again and he would be a butterfly.

We did a little shopping at the local Salvation Army too, where I got her a big bagful of new clothes for 20 bucks. Isn't this little outfit cute? It was a pale blue, but I dyed the shirt and floral overalls in a fuchsia dye to brighten them up. The whole outfit cost $2.00. (I'm not counting the cost of the dye, because I bought it to dye the sheets for the Gypsy Fairy Wagon Bassinette and just threw these in with them)

Kids clothes are so expensive, and fit for such a short period of time, that I am always on the lookout at thrift stores and am thrilled to get hand me downs for her too. Plus, since she is such a dirt aficionado, its nice to not worry about what she is wearing. I might not be as quick to let her wallow around, happy as a pig in mud if I'd spent $20 on one outfit instead of on a whole bag of outfits. Plus, have you looked at the price tag on kid's clothes? $20 wouldn't get me very far!

This has been a particuarly fun Halloween season, with Sugarwings big enough to really get into it all. She loves the Monster Mash as much as I do, we've been singing and dancing to it all week.

For our party, I set up a caramel apple making station in the treat cabinet, and I think that the adults enjoyed making their treats as much as the kids did.

My fairy grand baby was as happy to make a caramel apple as she was to do her very own witchy face makeup.

Pixie Pie liked them too. Seems like anytime you give kids an oportunity to do something themselves, they are pretty happy. We do a lot of "make your own" parties- mini pizzas, cupcakes and tacos are all fun for kids to put together. And with 4 little dorkies in the house, the floor doesn't get too bad while kids are creating their plates. The dogs hang out under the table and are enjoying the party more than anyone else.

We set up a pumpkin decorating station outside the kids were given paints and brushes. I had big plans to clean off all the seeds and roast them, but there was just too much going on and a bit too much paint mixed in with the pumpkin guts to do it.

When Sugarwings and I carved our own pumpkin earlier, she helped me pick out all the seeds. I'd never roasted them before, but there wasn't much to it, here is how we did it:

First, we washed the seeds and got all the strings off.

Then, tossed them with sea salt and a splash of olive oil, then spread them out on a cookie sheet to bake at 350 until they started to look about half way done.

I melted a 1/4 stick of butter, added just a little cinnamon and sugar and a cup of pecans, Sugarwings stirred them altogether and we both spread the mix back out on the pan again. I cooked them till they were crunchy.

I wasn't sure how long they needed to bake, so just checked on it every few minutes. When the seeds started to explode and pop, I figured they'd gone long enough! I wasn't expecting that.

We've been eating them on salad all week. They are only lightly sugared, and its pretty tasty that way. They'd be good on ice cream too.

It started to turn cold later, but was still pretty nice for this part of the evening.

We still haven't had our first frost yet! I'm thinking about hauling my potted topiary rosebush into the studio while it is still blooming.

My aqua eyeshadow as face paint was popular, lots of us ended up with an unearthly blue glow.

The kids painted mini pumpkins and made ghosts too. Its always funny to me, how serious the kid's faces are while they are working.

Yep, it was a fun Halloween week for us here at the cottage. Now, if only I could whip up a magic spell that took away all the sticky hand prints from my door knobs… I've been finding remnants of the caramel apple extravaganza everywhere!

Today, I'm still scanning and printing images for the Romantic White Christmas, and Beth and I are working on a banner for the class. Its still in progress, but here is a peek.

While I was scanning images for Christmas, I found these pumpkins for you. Just right click, save the larger image in the window to your computer and print.

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??

The pink side of the baby shower and news for next spring

celebrations, fairies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, parties, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / October 27, 2010

No baby yet, but I have more pics of the shower last week. Earlier, I showed you the bright colored dining tables set up in the studio. In the house, I used the dining room to set up a dessert buffet and decorated in there with pink and white.

Not all the treats are set out yet in these photos, I had a pumpkin cheesecake to join the brownies and strawberry shortcake. I'd made home made whipped cream for the first time in my life, and sadly, I fell madly in love with the stuff. I want to make it all the time, and my previous fave, low fat CoolWhip will never be good enough again.

For the centerpiece, I scanned old photos of babies and turned them into shower fairies by giving them wings and parasols.

The are hung from spray painted and glittered branches potted in my pink gum ball machine. I just took the top off of the machine, wrapped a chunk of oasis floral foam in pink shredded paper and slid it in. Then, stuck the branch into the foam and started hanging fairies.

A pink toy trunk from my studio was used to set the fairy tree on. And Sugarwing's doll bed was lined with old doilies and used to hold napkins, plates, and silverware.

Her room got raided again for a doll bed to use for dispay too.

I turned the dining table sideways and pushed it up to the window, then sat the chairs around the room in seating groups. This vintage bedspread was used as a table cloth, but it was too short and both ends of the table were open and naked. So, I draped two lace curtains across the ends of the table.

All of the flowers were from my garden, or a friend's yard, and all of the decor was stuff I found around the house or made in the studio. So it cost me nothing (but the price of the food) to make the room pretty for the party.

And yes, the friend said I could pick her flowers.

The poor tree branch that I used for the fairies is from my dearly departed Weeping Pussy Willow that died this summer. I snapped the top off of the tree to keep, since it was such a pretty shape, and it was ideal for spray painting and filling with fairies. (if you count the $60 tree, I guess my display was not cheap after all!)

Here is a little tip from me:

If you decide to make a banner to hang behind your table for a party, you should probably do it BEFORE you have everything set up.

I was all done with my table and felt like I was missing something, so ran out to the studio to make this banner and had to squeeze behind the table and tippy toe stretch to hang it.

The banner is 4 squares of chipboard covered in old wallpaper, with a crepe paper ruffle across the bottom. I then used a decorative punch to cut out ledger paper shapes, glued those down, and wrote the letters B A B Y in glitter on the centers of the shapes. It still looked bare, so I popped a millinery bloom in the center of the crepe paper. Very fast and simple. Holes got punched in the tops and I hung it from a length of pink tulle.

It was a lot quicker to make than to hang on the window! Of course, if I'd hung it before setting up the table, it would have been a heck of a lot easier.

The tree confused my poor husband who only asked me a couple of times who all the babies were. He seems to think that anytime I use a cabinet card for making something, it must be a relative. Because why on earth would you have pictures of strangers in the house?

Of course, he is the same guy who was showing photos of our house in a magazine to his mom. When I looked over his shoulder, I saw it wasn't even my article, or our house. If it was pink and white, he figured it must be ours.

Its amazing that he can be so good natured about me working in the studio so much, since he really doesn't get what I do at all. In his mind, I must be out here just playing demented paper doll games and painting everything I can get a hold of white.

Luckily, I have my Sugarwings, who thinks that everything I have is the COOLEST. And soon, I'll have Mayara, and I'll start teaching her to have fun in the studio with me. Its nice to have some one who GETS ME. Like my fairy baby and my blog friends do.

Hey, if you'd like to come and play in my studio world,too- I'm planning a workshop out there on May Day weekend of 2011. I've got a couple of great instructors lined up and am still working out the details.

My friend, Lisa and I were chatting back and forth this weekend, and one of those, "wouldn't it be fun if" conversations turned into "Lets do it on May Day and have a Spring party!". I emailed Carol and she is in too. (if you get a chance, go by and tell Carol Happy Birthday, she is celebrating this weekend)

This class will be small, less than 20 people. (if I'm lucky enough to get 20, that is!!) Simple, casual, fun, and laid back. Just the way I like things.

I'd love to see you here in the studio next spring…. I meet the nicest people in blogland. Rachael sent us a doll she made of Sugarwings, inspired by my paintings in the Grumpy Fairy book! Isn't it adorable?

Save room for dessert!

antiques/junking, Food and Drink, Travel

By Karla Nathan / October 5, 2010

The Dorothy tag books have kept me so busy that I almost forgot to show you one of the BEST parts of Roundtop- Royers!

This yellow brick road was right up my alley. And it leads to some great food.

On our first evening at the flea market, a food stand was pointed out to me and people mentioned eating there. Well, I'm not big on fast food, or fair food, and really wanted to sit down with a nice meal and some air conditioning and was glad when my friends agreed, that a cocktail and cool air was tempting. So we went to a steak house instead.

The next day, they wanted to eat at the food stand for lunch, even though the line was a mile long. I'm usually pretty easy going and can fit in with whatever plans everyone has, so I said sure. Thinking that I could always just eat a power bar if the food didn't look all that good.

But DANG! It was amazing. I had a grilled shrimp salad that was so good it could have been served in a fancy dancy restaurant with starched white tablecloths.

Now, I knew why everyone was raving about Royers. They had a shack set up in the midst of the flea market, as well as their main restaurant down town. So, the next day, we decided to try the main diner, and went early before it opened to put our names in. Good thing we did, when it opened, it filled. In a snap.

Its colorful, funky, funny, charming, and delicious. The second lunch was even better than my first. I had the same grilled shrimp, but this time on top of a tender hunk of salmon. With black eyed peas and fresh vegetables. Lunch wasn't cheap, but it was worth it, and the service was great. Happy, smiling people at both establishments.

I want to go back next spring just for another piece of their peach pie….

Gifts for me and gifts for you

antiques/junking, celebrations, Food and Drink, parties, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 1, 2010

As wonderful as the shopping was in Roundtop, the best part was the people. Of course. I just love meeting up with blog buddies, and finding out that they are even more fun in person than I expected.

Lisa and Jodie came with gifts too, that's always a big plus when your buddies are artists!!

And I got to meet the beautiful Elizabeth, who'd I'd heard so much about on her Mom's blog.

Sandy also brought her cute daughter, Jen, who I had wanted to meet. Sandy and I have shared stories and worries about our kids and hate it that we live so far apart. If we didn't, I'd be playing matchmaker for Ryan and Jen!

Lisa and I got into the theme of the night for Sweet T's party. We were supposed to come up with unique serving ideas made from junk.

I brought my crown "cloche" for a plate of crackers to go along with her doll head dip holder. The winner was a pair of mellons in a bra, but there were some great ideas. The lamp shade behind our dishes has a plate of treats on top of it, and there was also a chandelier with the votives filled full of strawberries.

And Yay! I got to meet Cindy. Who is not only talented, she has the prettiest complexion you'll ever see. If I ever get down to her Paper Cowgirls event some day, I'll have to drag her skin care secrets from her.

Sandy made these cheerful booties for my new grandbaby. Tonight we are going to the baby shower, so I'll be bringing them to the expectant mom, she will just love them!

And there were gift bags filled with treats from the French Cupboard. From all the gifties and treats, that everyone was giving out, I could have gotten by without doing any shopping at all. But….

Of course I shopped! At Cole's, Lisa found these French net curtain panels, but didn't get them. I scooped them right up as soon as she turned them down.

Heck 2 years ago, I didn't know what French net was, but now I can't get enough of it. I guess I'd always seen it and loved the look, just didn't know the name. Its a very delicate lace, with flowers over a fine netting.

That kind of lace can run really high, but I've been lucky. These were slightly damaged, but I didn't care. The four panels were $125, which is cheaper than buying lace panels at Target. And these are Victorian. Since they were made for some old, elegant, turn of the century mansion (well, at least that is where I've pictured them) they are LONG. Like 9 feet or so. I've just draped them over a tension rod and clipped them in place with a curtain hook.

There was a tent in the "fields" that had vintage linens in mounds on table tops, for great prices. They also had them for sale by the pound too.

I bought decorated scarves, some as gifts and a chiffony one in gray with rosebuds to use as a runner on my dining table. It was 5 bucks!

I found a few more odds and ends, as I unpack I'll take some photos. But the biggest bargain of them all was this basket of flowers.

I'm choosing two winners from the guesses, no one got it exactly right. There were 89 bundles of flowers, and Sue guessed 88.

But if I count the individual blooms, there were over 250!! Cheryl guessed 135, that is the highest guess I got, so she'll get a corsage too.

Thanks for taking the time to guess. Its surprising to see just how many there were. I was shocked when I actually counted them out.

Wow, is it really October? I have to announce the winner of my September giveaway, one of the projects from Romantic Gothic Ghosts. The tutorial is still up and running, you have time to make some Orange-free, romantically inspired Halloween decor for your own home.

Or if you just want to win something to decorate with, leave a comment any time this month. I'll be giving away another one of my creations for October!

September's winner is: Elaine (Etta Rose)

Bella Playdate in the Cottage

celebrations, collections, Food and Drink, Silver Bella, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 19, 2010

Yesterday was just the BEST. I had a roomful of Bellas here to get to know each other before the big event in November. It was a small group, but the attendees are so spread out across the country, that its not easy to get a lot together at once. Julie drove down from Chicago, and Lori came up from Arkansas, which really meant a lot to me, for them to make that much effort. Jamie, Carol, and Nora are all kinda local, they are from the Kansas City area.

The best part of the day? Being able to talk about Silver Bella all day long and not having anyone roll their eyes at me. All of these people are as excited to go as I am, and none of them are sick of hearing about it like everyone else around me is.

The cuffs I made were used as napkin holders, then were the party favors that I gave out as a thank you for them all coming to see me.

Lunch was a pitch in, and my husband grilled salmon for us, which was really sweet of him and kept it so simple for me. I wanted to relax and have fun with everyone and not spend all my time in the kitchen. It worked out great that way. I set the table and marinated the salmon the night before, so I didn't have much to do but enjoy my guests while they were here.

Carol came early with her super dooper camera and took photos of the table to send into Somerset. They had a call for dinner party ideas, and since I was serving artists, I decorated the table all in things from my studio- old lace, pearls, rhinestones, sheet music, and millinery flowers.

With Carol doing the photos, the editor will have to love it. Carol makes anything look good!

Plus, she is a hoot. This is a person that can really make you laugh.

There were laughs to be had all day. And since Silver Bella's theme this year is hats, we all played in my stash of millinery after working on projects and chatting.

Lori and I came up with the BEST plan for my own head for the event. It involves me foofing up one of her cast offs from the day. Which is perfect for me, I love to recycle things other people don't want, especially art by the talented, Lori Oles! I'll be thrilled to wear her "trash" on my head that night!

Its soooooo nice to have the studio all cleaned up and cleared out. I feel like I am getting over the nightmares I had after watching Hoarders. Now that the room isn't so cluttered, I'm recovering from the horror of that show.

I doubt if I'll ever watch it again, though!

At each person's place at the studio, I laid out some little treats and supplies for them. I found this great die cut of a little girl in a top hat, and copied it onto some of my favorite old wall paper. It went so well with the Silver Bella hat theme that I had to share it.

Now that the guests are gone, I need to fold up the extra tables and put them away before I fill them up with clutter. I've noticed that the more space I have the more I use. And having one or two tables filled with my crap is plenty. All extra tables need to be stored away until company comes again!!

But its so tempting to leave them up…. Think of how much I could spread out.

Here is one table that I wish was always in my studio! Sugarwing's Daddy, Mr Zen, came over the night before the party with his massage therapy table and gave me a treatment. No more back pain! That guy is really talented.

Sugarwings was here for the day while her parents worked, and she kept popping in to visit,and see what we were making, and visit the cookies in the treat cabinet. I promised her some craft time as soon as everyone left, and for a four year old, that is hard to wait for. Throughout the day, she came in to see if it was her turn yet.

So, at the end of the day, I took off my apron and let her wear it – not for crafting, this one is nicer than any dress I own! And it fit her for a dress, so she wanted to play Bride in it.

I won this gorgeous hunk of fabric as a door prize at Kim's event this summer.

Doesn't she look pretty in it?

She stayed for a sleepover and we did get some crafting time in. After removing the elegant apron, she got to be elbow deep into glitter and glue.

Yep, a great day, from beginning to end.

A little Zero Dollar decorating, a cute puppy, a give away, and an adorable baby in a flowered hat

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Food and Drink, Sugarwings, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / April 16, 2010

Its been kind of lonely around here for me, Twinks hasn't left her babies for more than a minute or two. I'm used to having her at my feet all day. Right now, she has a few little guys at her feet instead! She's a happy mama, and honestly seems to enjoy her pups. I've had dogs that are good mothers, but for them it was all business. Twinkle likes the company of her babies.

Luckily, I still have this buddy to keep me company. I scored a bumble bee and a lady bug costume at garage sales today for $2.50 each (both still were in the packages and marked $34!). So we dressed up and went for a walk in the woods. I got to be the lady bug. The dress didn't quite fit, so I had to go with just wings and antenna.

(and my clothes, of course, that didn't sound quite the way I meant it. No one wants to see a Lady Bug Grammy naked in the woods)

Does blog surfing inspire you to make changes? I had a colorful, pastel, faux finished guest bathroom that was perfectly fine. But every time I saw photos of gray or white rooms on someone's blog, I'd sigh and wish it was mine. The guest bath seemed to be the easiest place to make a big change with just a few adjustments and very little cash.

So, I mixed up a dove gray for the walls, and a mushroom color for the floor. Then I took down the floral shower curtain and put up some dumpster drapes after repainting the room. I dug these out of a dumpster a few years back and have used them over and over in different areas. There had been 12 panels at one time, and I sold most of them. These are the last three and I'm glad I kept them, they were just what I needed to finish this room on a budget. Since they are lace, and were a bit too long, I just folded them over on the top to shorten them and looped the curtain ring right through the lace.

(they are pretty old and kind of tattered, but I like that look)

After painting the floor that mushroom shade, I realized it would always look filthy. So I splattered some dark flecks around to camouflage any dirt we track in. I might distress it with sand paper a bit too.

The ceiling stayed a soft purple, the door is painted gray like the walls, and the trim is bright, shiny white. I found a rusty ceiling tin piece in the shed and sat it on top of the built in cabinet. It could use some thing else up there, but I'm in no hurry. I redid the room for the cost of the paint, so far, and really don't want or need to spend much more on it. Maybe I'll find something cheap but fabulous at garage sales.

I guess I'm in the spring cleaning mood and ready for some more Zero Dollar Decorating like I was into right after the holidays.

I'll leave you with a few photos from our Cupcake Tea Party, that turned into a walk down the Fairy Berry Trail and to the creek. It was such a beautiful spring day!

Please don't forget that we have the regular monthly giveaway going, a china shard necklace is the prize. Its open to anyone who leaves a comment.

If you want to win a Peat Pot Pretty, please sign up as a Google Friend Connect follower.