Hearts

Our Valentine’s Day and the loved ones we remember

By Karla Nathan / February 13, 2025

Sugarwings and I cannot resist a holiday themed cocoa party.

So we picked out some special mugs and coordinating Jammie pants to be ready to celebrate in style.

I gathered up hearts and roses to decorate our cocoa station. But, the bottles of flavored syrups that I’m hooked on had ugly labels that did not look festive, so I made some prettier ones on my computer for them.

We also dug out the recipe book that my sister, Bobbie had compiled with family favorites in it. Her specialty was a buttermilk sheet cake.

The Grandfairy and I will be making that together in honor of Bobbie, whose last name was Valentine. She passed on the 16th, my mom’s birthday. And Ryan was adopted by Rich on the 14th, so we have loved ones to honor this week.

There will most likely be a few tears when we clink our mugs together and have chocolate cake while thinking of the ones we miss. But my kiddo and I will be making new memories and traditions together that I hope will carry into the future.

Heartfelt

Good JuJu, Hearts, Painting with thread, sewing?

By Karla Nathan / January 22, 2025

January’s sale at Good Juju was cut short due to horrid, terrible, awful, nasty, cold, blizzardy weather.

Surprisingly, we had quite a few customers brave the oncoming storm and shop with us. I was quite pleased and thankful that those guests came to see us.

Still, it wasn’t quite a full crowd.

Typically, holiday goods are sold in advance of the actual month of the celebrations, so January is when most of my Valentine inventory would be on display. Since we didn’t have our regular, larger turnout, I’m using that as an excuse to keep making heart themed crafts and bringing them in, even though the sale is only one week before the holiday.

Honestly, I love making hearts. And in my opinion, they aren’t seasonal. I figure I can keep bowls of velvet and lace hearts out year round. Right now, they look like they are blatantly Valentine’s Day items. But without the candy boxes and other decor around them, I think I can keep on making these to bring in.

But not this one, it is going as a gift to someone special.

Embroidered hearts

Hearts

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2025

It’s only one day after the New Year has begun and what am I doing? Making hearts for Valentine’s Day.

Gotta stay a few steps ahead of the calendar if you want to be in retail!

I don’t mind, I love holidays. As soon as one ends I am excited about the next. And I love all things heart shaped.

Typically, I’d have been finished with Christmas and working on hearts before Santa even arrives, but this season, I’m lagging in my production. I’ll get there though.

Even if it involves needle and thread. (Although I did use a lot of glue too).

A Kansas Sunflower stone mosaic entryway

cottage, Hearts

By Karla Nathan / December 1, 2024

When is the best time to take on a project? Why, when the rest of the house is torn up with an even bigger project, of course!

Actually, that was true for me. When the guys first started on the under the house project, I couldn’t be of much help. We had plans to do the entire bathroom floor in little stones, so I wanted to try them out on the repaired (but not finished) entryway. I also wanted to see the grout color after it dried. I’m glad I did, because it was too dark, I switched to a lighter shade for the master bath.

I’d also hoped to use some of these marvelous, labradorite stones in the bathroom. Sadly, we decided they were too dark for that area. And the vendor I’d previously gotten these from at the gem show I attended did not bring any of their sliced stones this time. So I didn’t have any more options. I’d hoped for a warm moonstone, but it wasn’t available without special ordering, and time was short.

See what I mean? The bathroom colors were too golden for the labradorite stones. But we did manage to sneak in a few crystals.

Even with the golden flashes these had in the right light, they matched better by the door. So I used all of them up there. And love it! Labradorites and moonstones are both from the quartz family and tough enough to hold up in foot traffic. I guess I’ll just have to find another area to pave with moonstones slices, huh?

I did sneak a pretty, stone heart into the entryway. It’s a little thicker than the other rocks, so sits higher. I placed it back in the corner where that won’t matter. The grout I used in this spot is Cocoa, with Light Buff in the other space. There wasn’t a huge difference, but enough to matter overall.

It’s very good to have both areas done. And was hard to live through, but worth it. At some points, I was laying out flat on the floor to stretch my back out as I grouted and there might’ve been some Advil involved too.

Big jobs! But a big blast of design once it was done. I love them both!

The best found heart, ever

family, Hearts, Travel

By Karla Nathan / August 1, 2023

This could be the best heart I have ever come across.

I’d walked on this road across from the Hawk and Hawthorn a few times and never noticed this pothole.

On my last evening, after a rainstorm, I took another stroll, and found this perfectly formed heart reflecting the clearing clouds above it. It is large, too, at least a foot across

Perfect timing, perfect heart shape! At that moment in time, I was just where I needed to be. A little less rain, or a single car driving over it, and the best found heart would never have been found.

There were a few more finds during the week. My boy took us up to Mineral Springs to look for garnets. See the polka dots in this heart?

Garnets!

These two are mica and garnet in granite.

And this one has some shiny quartz.

We parked ourselves at a little waterfall in the stream, then sorted and sifted through the water and stones to find treasures. I could spend hours looking at pretty rocks, and we did.

The first few times, I gathered lovelies to take home. I wanted some for my garden and also larger ones to add my mushrooms to as well as smaller ones to put in the moss at the base of my schroomies.

But then, there was the accident.

We had driven two cars across country to get one to my son. He had been driving Ryan’s Jeep and it needed a transmission. So, we were to haul the Jeep back to KS for repairs.

But, oops. We were also in NC to help Rich’s mom after a fall. He had just left her side and pretty wrecked himself, so when the truck also got wrecked mere blocks from the hospital, it was very understandable. It left us with no vehicle at all, so my 2-3 tons of rock souvenirs needed to be left behind.

We bought a suitcase, booked a flight, and rented a car in KC. Now, I’m in the process of car shopping while hoping the truck isn’t totaled and that I won’t be shopping for a replacement for that too.

So our truck and my rocks are out east. We are home safely, Rich is fine. Rich’s mom is in her rehabilitation center and he will be heading back to see her when he is no longer truck-less. Then he’ll haul the Jeep and my mountain of shiny stones back to Kansas.

The reasons for being there, as well as the accident did not make for what you’d call an ideal vacation.

But we managed to have lots of family time and a peaceful visit to the retreat at Hawk and Hawthorn. Throw in a few hikes and spectacular dinners with the fam and we decided that it was going to work out fine.

Overflowing

Good JuJu, Hearts

By Karla Nathan / February 3, 2023

Holiday Decor is My Fave!

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, Hand painted, Hearts, holiday decor, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / January 28, 2023

Lately, I have been leaving jewelry making supplies out on one studio table. That way, when I feel the whim, I can quickly make a piece without dragging out boxes. The room is a wreck anyway from using a chunk of it as storage, so I have kind of given up on keeping my poor studio tidy.

My most recent creations have been Valentine themed. Either with hearts, or just an air of dress up and romance.

The last few months at Good Juju have been absolutely delightful for me. I simply adore decorating for Christmas, Valentine’s, and Halloween. I tend to be into flowery and over the top, romantic, even gaudy stuff that isn’t exactly what the crowd there loves on a regular basis. The venue leans toward rustic or primitive and my corner screams “fussy” to a lot of the shoppers.

I do throw in lots of neutrals and even natural woods and browns, but they end up buried under my foofiness. And holidays were a good reason to have the exception.

I guess I still have Easter to look forward to…. But after that, it will be a long stretch til fall when I have an excuse to make things my way. Till then, I’ll try to reign myself in a little and focus more on neutrals.

Bejeweled Hearts

antiques/junking, Hearts, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / January 18, 2023

As much as I loved the jeweled trees at Xmas, I might be loving the hearts just even more!

My only worry is that I will delete my decades of flea market scrounged sparklies and I will have to stop!

So far, all is going okay. I typically mix in some newer pieces that I have aged too, using a selection of really old, very antique, merely vintage and slightly new all together.

Running out of frames has been an issue also, but those are more easily replaced. Goodwill and estate sales have come in handy for that, although sometimes I have to add a bit of paint or distressing.
Good jewels aren’t as easy to find. Luckily, I’ve spent many, many, many years looking out for special pieces!

Hmm, I could possibly be seeing jeweled flower baskets coming this spring.

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, Hearts, jewelry, paintings, Valentine's Day

By Karla Nathan / January 6, 2023

I'll be having lots of hearts and wings in my booth at Good JuJu. This canvas has plaster texture in a heart shape with the roses painted inside. I have a few more, not sure if I got pictures. All are unique.

And remember the jewelry trees I did for Xmas?

I loved doing that so much, I could not stop!

So, I turned my shape from a tree to a heart.

This one is a combo of the textured canvas with a button collage. And in front you can see some of my wings. They are made from a 1800s ledger and I swear, that book was one of my best ever purchases. I have sold rolled up pages from it, used it to line shelves, decopauged it onto table tops, backed collages with it, and now have made wings and hearts.

And there is still some left!

I almost didn't buy it because it was not cheap. But man, that handwriting! Wow, so pretty. I am glad I went against my cheapskate instincts and bought it anyway.

I also beat out my cheap side and decided to keep these wings that my son helped form instead of selling them.

Since my booth is chocked full of wings and hearts I doubt if one set will be missed. Heck, I’d be thrilled to have even half of the ones there sell out.

And I sure do love making them.

More hearts

Hearts, Ryan

By Karla Nathan / October 11, 2022

We all need someone to lean on sometime, don’t we? Ryan was my rock, and I used to lean on him a lot. These hugging, rock hearts made me think of how he used to be that for me.

I mentioned in my last post that the puppy sitting job was good for my soul. Besides the wreck and worries about the horrendous hurricane, I have been missing my boy so much lately.

I always do.

He is there in my heart at all times. Some weeks, grief is just a low key, background noise. Other times, it’s an all encompassing heartache, and others, a sweet little smile to myself over a memory or a moment I know he would have enjoyed.

Lately, his loss has been heavy. I try to pick out reasons why this happens, like waking up in the morning and piecing together what that weird dream I’d just had was about.

The stirred up grief can be from so many elements. I think they are now called triggers, but I dislike that term. It sounds harsh and scary.

After feeling extra bereft, I decided to take a walk on his favorite trail, which I had been avoiding for months. As I turned the corner around the pond, I remembered why I never go that way. There is a wet area that never dries, even in a drought, that section of the path remains slimy and slippery. Ryan always took my elbow as we crossed there. Now, I know I am getting older, but I’m not a frail little old lady and I used to tell him I didn’t need any help. He responded the same way each time- “You are my mom, and I love you.”

As I stepped across the mossy slime this day, without Ryan by my side, (and sobbing because he wasn’t) Sugar spotted a goose and lunged for it, pulling the leash and pulling me behind her as I hydroplaned through the gucky spot.

It was surprising that I didn’t fall and get yet another concussion. And as I was thinking how lucky I was I looked out at the pond and saw many floating hearts made of clumps of algae.

Maybe Ryan had still been protecting me after all. And left a sign that said he loved me.