holiday decor – Page 39 – Karla's Cottage

Cold toes, warm heart

antiques/junking, celebrations, holiday decor, Miss Frenchie's

By Karla Nathan / December 6, 2009

What an event! Miss Frenchie's was once again, a beautiful place to be! The barn was magically transformed into a winter wonderland of treasures.

Sadly, our friend, Elizabeth wasn't able to set up for the sale, but she did drive in from St. Louis to visit and shop. Her over the top, brilliant displays were missed, but we were glad to see her. Willow's Nest stepped in to fill the barn annex where Elizabeth was before, and I have to tell you, they were amazing. My chair was situated so that I had a view of their wares and GORGEOUS set up the whole weekend, and it was all I could do to stay in my own booth. I felt drawn back to their space to wander around and drool on things.

I certainly hope that for our next Miss Frenchie's event, we get both Elizabeth and Willow's Nest! Wouldn't that be something magnificent???

Why, oh why, did I not buy one of Linda's sweet vintage coin purses with a millinery rose tucked in, so I could hang it on my own tree?? She only had a few of them and they were really reasonable ($10). I'd be kicking myself if my feet weren't still so cold. I'm afraid a toe would snap off if I tried to kick anything.

Once my feet get cold, they just don't warm up, no matter what I do. I slipped my gloves onto them, and borrowed a rug from the entry way to keep off the cold cement, but did not dip them into my hot coffee like I really wanted to.

Debbie, of Curious Sofa, was serving delicious soup that warmed me up from the inside out, that helped. And we were so busy, that most of the time I forgot how cold my toes were.

Carol, of Raised in Cotton, was my near neighbor and her spot was a joy to the eyes too. Plus, she is always ready for a laugh or a story. Its always fun to be near Carol.

Near us was Angela, of Angel Court, who brought sparkly beauties that matched her outgoing, and sparkling personality.

Linda, of Willow's Nest, is an astounding individual with a sense of style like no one else. Even when dressed like a Snow Queen, she has a warm personality that draws you near. And a wealth of information about antique shows!

I really enjoyed being her neighbor for the day and seeing her creations. She was a Silver Bella vendor too, but I didn't get a chance to talk to her then, so was really glad to be set up near her for this show.

Another new friend from this show, was Joyce. I've bought things from her at my favorite antique mall in the world, Rusty Chandelier, but had never met her before.

And yes, she sold me the curtains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've already hung them up, it was the first thing I did when I got home last night. I still had my coat on, and was climbing up on a chair to play with the fabulous, old, French netting before I even said hello to Twinkle. I'll have photos of my new kitchen look soon.

Beth was my next door neighbor on the other side, but the way our booths were set up, we really didn't get much of a chance to hang out. We'll have to schedule a craft day for some catch up time.

Her booth was a hit, she not only makes cool stuff, she searches out and finds the coolest, old things imaginable by attending every single auction and estate sale that she can find in the greater Kansas City area. Then she marks it up about 2 or 3 cents over what she paid for it and people swarm in to buy it!

(she's a brilliant accountant, so I'm sure she is making a profit somehow, but man, her prices are so good, it doesn't seem like she could be!)

Here is another view I had from my spot. Barbara Farmer's rich colored, sequin fruit was a splash of vibrancy that kept drawing my eye all day.

And what on Earth is wrong with me, that I didn't snap up one of Lesa Daily's birds???????

She makes the most magical creations. As soon as my feet warm up, I'll need to give myself a kick for missing those too.

Here is a bit of French by Design's goodies brought back from their European sprees. I don't think I can show you my booth today, after all these exquisite treasures.

Mine are all from rural Kansas garage sales, not world class antiques….

Have I mentioned how LUCKY I am to be a part of such a great show? Its not just the event itself (which is quite wonderful, beautiful, and lucrative!!), its the atmosphere of being around such talented and giving women that make the weekend so special for me.

No matter how cold my toes are.

Frenchie’s preview pics and shop updates

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Miss Frenchie's, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / November 30, 2009

While I've been busy gathering goods up for Miss Frenchie's sale this weekend, I've taken a break to package up some of that great wallpaper I told you about.

I just loved playing with all the pretty papers and making packages for you to use! I package them in a few different ways, one is all coordinated, another is a varied selection. Also, I try to make varied sizes, some jam packed and others a bit smaller, to fit all budgets.

You can find them in my Boutique, and it looks like they are already selling before I've even had a chance to tell you about them! Thanks, guys, its good to see that I'm not alone in my wallpaper love!

Also, just wanted to let you know that there are only a few Crystal Crown Rings left. I'd better slip in and get one for myself before they are all gone!

The trees are re-stocked in my Etsy shop too. Why do I have the trees in a different shop? Laziness. I sold them there last year, so now, I just have to renew the old listing, not take all new photos and relist. Simple and quick.

Well, the bleaching, dying, gluing, glittering, packaging part isn't quick, but the listing is, and I'll take any little bit of help I can get!

Sugarwing's Daddy helped me cut wallpaper. He's the sensitive, artist type and is always happy to help in the studio when I need him. I was freaking out about my major budget blow out on all the paper I'd bought and how little time I had to get it packaged, with Miss Frenchie's sale looming. So, he jumped in and started chopping.

We sliced two sizes, 8 x 10 and 11 x 14. But, I don't have the clear envelopes to fit the larger sizes!! Someday, I'll have a chance to sit at the computer and look up glycine sleeves and get some ordered, then will list the bigger pieces. Sorry! They are sitting here waiting for me to make time.

Twinkle is wondering when I'll have time to spend with her too. As excited as I am to be going to Miss Frenchie's and as lucky as I am to be included on such a FANTASTIC, premier sale, I'm getting tired! I'm ready to kick back with Christmas music on the stereo, a frosty glass of egg nog in my hand, and the Christmas tree twinkling in the dark. Don't you love evenings by the light of a Christmas tree? Especially if there is a fire lit.

And we always have a fire lit, we heat our house mostly with wood. Now, I just need the tree and the time to set it up and enjoy it!

This is why I am slightly exhausted. I'm setting up my "trial run" for Miss Frenchie's, and getting it planned, tagged and packed.

I'll leave you with some scenes of my table. I'm heading over to it to pack it up and get it ready to load in the big red pick up truck on Thursday.

Shameless hawking of wares, Artist Class Ala Carte, a mini Tutorial, and prizes!

Etsy Goodies, family, give away, holiday decor, how-to projects, I do tend to run on, don't I?, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 27, 2009

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, with lots to be thankful for yesterday!

We had a smaller than usual group this year, and WAY too much food. I've already made turkey soup from leftovers for supper tonight. While cleaning up the kitchen and putting away the food, I have a pot simmering on the stove that veggies, turkey, and broth go into. I throw in a few handfuls of rice, and some seasonings and by the time I'm done with the kitchen clean up, the soup is ready to be cooled and put away for the next day.

Family brought side dishes, and we had the meal all under control on auto pilot, so while the guys watched football and played pool, some of us made paper doll dresses for our Christmas trees. We kind of have a family tradition of doing projects together while the turkey roasts. I keep the day low keyed and simple, so we can all enjoy it and not feel pressured or rushed. The meal is all served buffet style right from the stove top, so when its time to eat, all we do is line up. I can play with glitter and glue right up until its chow time!

This year, I had actual patterns ready for the guests to use, thanks to the tutorial I did for Mary's Artist Class. I enjoyed seeing how the "class" went in person, and they seemed to like it.

Artist Class is still available to purchase as a group of 12 projects, with lots of extras (use my Karlascottage code to save $10) and now, Mary is also offering an ala carte menu to pick and chose a few classes here and there too.

Click HERE to order the paper doll tutorial that I did.

You will receive the dress patterns, the hand drawn doll that the dresses fit, directions, and ephemera to down load and print out to make your creations. This class, on its own is $15.

I will be listing some more ephemera kits with extra patterns in my Boutique soon too. Along with that gorgeous wallpaper that I am slowly, but surely getting cut!!

Here are some of the creations that family made yesterday with the patterns. Its great to see the range of styles that some simple patterns can become!

This is one of mine, made from that wallpaper that I'm so far behind on getting packaged to sell! I've got a few rolls of it cut, but have about 10 more to get through. Thanks for your patience. I'd planned on doing it today, but when Sugarwings asked me to take her to a movie, how could I say no? Wallpaper will just have to wait, fairy grand babies take precedence!

If you'd like to make your paper doll dresses into ornaments to hang from the tree, here are some simple steps to do that.

First, punch holes in the shoulders.

Next, select your ribbon.

For holiday sparkle, I chose this vintage tinsel that was a gift from Beth.

Cut about 7-8"

Thread the ribbon through the holes from the front (although, you can tell from the floral dress I made, that I put the knots in the front, that is OK too)

Tie knots on both ends, then trim off any danglies.

To Christmassy-up a couple of these dresses, I added some glitter. Simply brush your finished dress lightly, with white glue, and sprinkle on glitter, then tap off. I used the vintage crystal "Diamond Dust" because it has such a pretty shine. Make sure you don't use something metallic or heavy that covers up your work completely! You want to use a transparent glitter and apply in a fine sheen, not thick or gloppy.

The dresses I've shown are available in my Etsy shop for $6 each, if you are interested.

And now, after what sounds like a lot of hawking of my wares-( but hey, I have to make a living here, don't I??), I have some gifts to announce!

The winner of the original, hand drawn and painted paper doll goes to:

Laurie Jackson

And an ephemera kit for making the dolls goes to:

Sandra Thompson

And of course, everyone who leaves a comment anytime this month is entered into the

November Giveaway.

While up at Silver Bella, there was a discussion among some friends about giveaways. A lot of people don't care for them and think there are too many. I know I have a lot, and yes, some of it is just to bribe you guys to leave comments, but that isn't the only reason I do it.

For one thing, I have so MUCH. And I like to share. I find good deals and I'm able to giveaway pretty things without hurting my pocketbook.

And also, to quote Kurt to Finn on Glee, "I honestly love you". My blog, and blogfriends that I've met through it mean a lot to me. There are billions and billions of blogs out there for you to visit and I just want to say thanks for you to take the time out to come and see me, and bother to leave a comment.

So, yes, there will be more giveaways here. And lots of them. Its appropriate to say at Thanksgiving time that I have a lot to be thankful for. So, I just wanted to let you know that!

New in the Shop and a super sweet Sunday

Etsy Goodies, flowers, holiday decor, Moving to DC, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, Travel

By Karla Nathan / November 24, 2009

In case you hadn't heard, Mary is extending Artist Class by selling the classes individually. If you'd like to order one or more classes, check here.

Our trip to Virginia was a nice break, that included a lazy Sunday where we just took off for a long drive to see what there was to see.

We ended up in Annapolis, and in this adorable neighborhood. It was late in the day by the time we got there, so I didn't do much shopping, but that wasn't the purpose anyway. We were just out looking around, enjoying the sunshine and each other.

And of course, lunch! We found buttery crab that we could eat while enjoying this view. As delicious as the seafood was, any meal is improved with a view of the water!

Since we got home, I've tried to get caught up with the Boutique and Etsy.

I know, I know, you are waiting for floral wallpapers! I promise, they will be ironed, cut and packed up soon, but that is such a big job, I need an afternoon to devote to it, and today, I was only able to snag a bit of time here and there, so I listed a few little things in both shops.

Thank you so much for your interest in the gorgeous old papers! I love hearing that you understand and share my fascination with beautiful wallpaper!

In the Boutique, I've added some tussie mussies filled with a prettily packaged bottle brush tree.

And I came across a big stack of vintage Christmas cards, so will be including one with each purchase from either shop.

Some of you asked about the crystal crown rings that I had for sale at Silver Bella. There are some of those in the Boutique now, in assorted sizes.

And I have a few bottle brush trees listed too.

There is more to add, so please keep checking back!

Pink roses and fall leaves?

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, holiday decor, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 8, 2009

We are having amazing weather here. Its been in the 70s and beautiful, good time for raking up some of leaves that are being tracked throughout the house by my dogs. They are little leaf magnets and must bring in a bushel each every day.

We don't bag or burn, instead I push them off into flower beds or into the woods behind the house to naturally decompose.

We'll also scoop up a few trailer loads and throw over the garden fence to enrich the soil there too. But for now, I am still gathering tomatoes from the garden!

We've yet to have a hard enough frost to kill off the flowers and some of the garden plants. I don't think I've ever had a November when I've had pink roses blooming next to the changing leaves before.

The tomatoes I've brought in aren't all that wonderful, but they are good enough for cooking, so I'm planning home made tomato soup tonight. Maybe with a hand full of wild rice and some spinach thrown in the pot.

I appreciated all your comments about Aunt Caroline's treasures and want to announce the two winners for the bundles of trim.

Suz Reaney

and

Joanna

And since the trims are such a popular thing with so many of you hoping to win some, that I'll offer another bundle for my November Giveaway. These won't be from my Aunt, but are just as nice. I think you'll like them!

I rarely decorate much for fall, just because my house is not typical fall colors, and because it seems to be so busy around here, I don't get a chance. Here is the total of all the autumn decor, post Halloween flowers on clearance for $1.99 a bunch at the grocery store this week.

I kind of like the splash of bright color, and it is reminding me of this November's odd weather. Fall colors against the pale shades just like in my garden.

Silver Bella Bound

antiques/junking, holiday decor, Silver Bella

By Karla Nathan / November 6, 2009

Since returning from our Florida adventure, I've been knee deep in Bella preparations. I've set up 3 tables, as a practice run to see how everything fits and what I need to bring. Since we have a SHORT set up time and I have a LOT of crap, I mean, beautiful and precious things, I needed to do a dry run.

One table is all jewelry and foofy stuff. One is all Christmas and hand made stuff and the third is supplies.

After setting up the displays, I tagged everything and started packing it all up in a way that would be easy to pull out and set up quickly. Well, at least that is the plan… I'm crossing my fingers that it works that way!

All lighting, table clothes, tools, tapes, extra tags, calculators and cords go in one container.

Last year, I made a lot of display mistakes that I think I might have corrected for this year. But who knows. I'm crossing my toes as well as my fingers that all goes well.

For 2008, I'd stocked too many flower packs in one small area. Now, I have less, and have them divided into two containers, easier to shop through.

I'm also bringing a lot more supply type things, like the big 4" x 8" shipping tags that I like to use myself. I have cases of them, so might as well put some out. They are a great size to work with.

And do you remember the vintage glitter that my friend gave to me? I reproduced the label of the can and added some of the glitter to jars with the "old" labels. I had more than I'd ever use. And they make such a cute display on this spice rack that I got from the Good will and painted white.

So, 2 tables are packed and one to go. I'm getting close! Now, I'll have a few days to enjoy gathering up supplies for the workshops, and gifts for friends. I'm meeting a bunch of people a day early, and then going to Wallpaper Heaven again!! Can't wait.

But I've got to run now to make it to the PO before it closes. I'll announce the winners of Aunt Caroline's trim bundles next post. Your comments can still count on this one too.

Witching Hour

celebrations, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / October 29, 2009

While we are in Jacksonville, we'll be staying with my brother-in-law, Randy and his husband, Kevin. They are two of my favorite people in the world, and I wanted to make something special for them, since they are going through some trouble baby proofing their house before we arrive with Sugarwings. These two guys collect valuable pottery, and their house is pure, vintage perfection. Not exactly a perfect playground for a 3 year old….

Randy loves fairies as much as I do, so I fixed up this antique hankie box for him, using lots of sparkly elements, and his face cut out of a photo and attached to a flower fairy cut out out of a book. I tell you, it was not easy to size the head to fit the body… it took a few trips to the printer to finally get the size copied right.

Since I am going to be away from my computer for a few days, I thought I'd leave you with some spooky pictures for Halloween. Although, this sweet witch (my niece, JoRenda) is way to pretty to be spooky, huh?

After spending some beach time with Sugarwings, I am going to meet up with my sisses and help our cousin go through some of Great Aunt Caroline's things. It will be an emotional trip, but there will be lots of fun too.

My little Fairy Grand Baby is going to go to a Halloween party at Sea World on Friday, with my husband while I work on the house. We are going to get her a mermaid costume to wear, so she'll fit right in there. She pretends to be a mermaid most of the time, any way. I have a feeling she is going to love Florida.

Thanks for all your interest in the pastel bottle brush trees and the Grumpy Fairy book. More Christmas trees will get listed when I get back. The shop is open, of course, while I am gone (ya gotta love online shops!!) but the purchases won't be sent out until after I get back, November 2nd.

(these two photos are from my favorite antique mall, Rusty Chandelier- they can sure decorate with style at that place!)

This is a photo I took of a votive holder my Sissy bought on our last trip to Florida when we went to Great Aunt Caroline's funeral the day after she would have turned 101. The shot is as is, I don't know why the lightning is shooting out of its eyes, but love the effect!

In person, this guy was much cuter. In photos he kind of looks like flaming poo with eyes. But I did think he fit in very well for my spooky Halloween post.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and that any witches you run into are the sweet kind.

And remember, the most wonderful day of the year comes the day after Halloween- HALF PRICED CANDY DAY!! I'll be hitting the store before I even unpack my suitcase to snap up some M&Ms and Reece Cups!

Tending to my Christmas tree farm

collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), holiday decor, redos, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / October 20, 2009

Progress is being made on the Christmas trees. All are bleached, dyed, and glittered, and a few are foofed.

This year, I am trying something new with the glitter. I used a high gloss poly spray to mist each tree, then rolled it in a snowy glitter. After that, I spritzed it with a spray can of silver glitter/poly, hoping that would seal it.

Now, some of the glitter always flakes off no matter how you put it on, so there will be some molting, but it seems to be working very well.

The cold weather snap is over and yesterday was beautifully fallish. I had the doors and windows open, and sat outside in the rocks to spray trees. Is it ironic that I was enjoying the warm weather so much that I started on a Christmas project?

While I was feeling the holiday spirit, I started on a few putz house remodeling projects too.

It involved repainting some of the more garish colors, adding wallpaper, glitter, fake snow, and some of my teeniest dyed trees. Also, some little vintage characters, snowmen and deer that I glittered up.

These houses are now ready to display as is, or for me to use on some ephemera covered boxes I want to get started on.

My table is looking like Santa's Workshop!

Of course, I don't have any of that cheap elf labor, its all me doing the glittering and gluing. The only helper I know that would work for candy canes is Sugarwings and she has a bit of a heavy hand with the glue… I've known her to use a half a bottle on one bird house, so I doubt if I'll let that little pixie be my assistant on this.

Beth did help me out, though, she GAVE me a lot of the boxes that I will be covering with ephemera and topping with houses, plus a ton of the old bead garlands!!

Normally, I collect those old mercury bead garlands all year at garage sales, flea markets, etc, but this year was a bit of a dud. Not much luck on the strings of beads, no matter where I looked. (at a decent price, at least)

There were some left from last year and I did buy 4 strands, but I go through quite a bit of them at the holidays. So, Beth was a great help, but then, she always is.

By the way, Beth is having a wallpaper giveaway, you should go visit her!

She is owed a lunch for her generosity, at least, huh? I think I need to treat her to our favorite place, Pei Wei, on Friday when we hang out together. She is always giving me the best stuff.

We are planning on estate sailing on Friday in Kansas City, then crafting at her house, but it all depends on how this little guy is doing. This is Bookie, you rarely see photos of him, because he is old and likes to spend his days sitting on the porch all alone, or laying on his pillow.

The poor little guy has been attacked, by something, I have no idea what, or when. He is such a loner in his old age, that some days, I hardly see him, he is like a shadow around the house. We have a doggie door and a fenced yard, so he comes and goes as he pleases. So, I'm not sure when he was hurt. I know he was fine on Saturday when I gave him a treat.

But on Monday, I noticed he was covered in blood and was ill!! I rushed him to the vet, and was told that something had bitten his head and that it was infected pretty bad. He had a fever, and his head was horribly swollen. He might have a broken leg too, but was in too bad of shape to be put under for an X-ray.

What could have done this to him?? A possum? A raccoon? Our mean farm cat? That cat hates Bookie, it could be. It has to be something that could get over the fence. It terrifies me to think that there is a creature out there on my property that is attacking my mild mannered, sweet, little, guy.

Back to normal

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, flowers, holiday decor, show and tell, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 27, 2009

Its so nice to have everything back to normal, with Twinkle home.  Sugarwings is no longer telling everyone "Toto has wunned away" and the two of them are happy to be reunited.  Since she is convinced that she is Dorothy, she has also decided that Twinks must be Toto.  Which works out fine, because she can't say "Twinkle", she always says "Ankle" instead. 
Yes, Toto sounds like a cuter name than Ankle. And that dog will answer to anything. 

Thank you for all of your kind words about my little dorkie taking off.  I really don't deserve them, it was ALL MY FAULT.  Poor dog. But, she is home now and I am making sure she stays this time.

Over the weekend, I finally broke my losing streak in hat gathering. Lately, I've not done well at all, and Beth reminded me that I had created my own shortage by buying all the hats up in the surrounding area.  But I did manage to find a few this weekend and might be able to reclaim my hat whisperer title. I thought I'd have to retire it, I'd been on such a long dry spell of hatlessness.

Most are already stripped naked and packed up, ready to fly out of here.  I love this little bouquet of about a dozen white flowers with a scattering of purple velvet posies. When I saw the hat with those next to the ugly green and orange hat, I knew that together, they'd be great for Halloween decor or crafting. 

It was an estate sale blast this weekend!  One here in my town was amazing, a beautiful, newer home on the golf course isn't usually the place to find old things, but it was jammed with a lifetime of great stuff. I was so surprised to see all of it. I was glad I didn't blow it off, like I normally would a house in that neighborhood.  I bought boxes and boxes of sheet music and a big stack of these spooky old napkins. So, I made up little craft kits with some of these things and have them listed here.

 On Friday, I explored the unexpected treasures at the country club house, and made a big haul.  Then, Beth invited me to Kansas City to shop with her on Saturday. And how could I turn that down? She is an estate sale master and knows where to go, what to avoid, and how to find the best deals.  Plus, I was still an emotional wreck from the Twinkle-less week and wasn't feeling too creative. I thought some more shopping therapy could help.

And of course, it did!  Isn't a bit of junking is good for the creative soul?  Sometimes, buying some new, old crap is just what I need to get me wanting to hunker down in the studio and work away.
I'll be getting out the jewelry making supplies and playing with all the rhinestones that I've been lucky enough to find lately.  

Don't you think that this picture is just trying too hard?  Its a great example of Photo Styling Gone Bad.  Too much loot, too much trying make it look cute in a picture. Just because I found pink Christmas lights, does it mean you really need to see them? 
 Sometimes I wonder about how I spend my time….  I'd better go do something productive, I'm off to the jewelery making tools and getting to work!

 And don't forget, if you want to win some vintage jewels, you still have till the 30th to enter by leaving a comment on any post. 

I’ll stick to glue

Books, Food and Drink, holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 15, 2009

Today is craft day, some friends are coming over for a day of cutting and gluing. I can't imagine a prettier day, the weather is ideal. But most of this summer has been that way. I guess it isn't summer any more, but typically, September in Kansas is still muggy and hot, I guess that is called the "Dog Days" of summer. But not today, it is a glorious fall day. So, we are lunching out doors and taking advantage of the sunshine.

My garden is bursting with tomatoes, and they are the heavy, meaty kind, the ones that are just right for slicing into a salad, so I chopped up 3 kinds of basil and layered them with an olive oil, garlic, sea salt and balsamic vinegar dressing. Since all that was sounding so fresh and wonderful, I thought I'd go all out and make fresh mozzarella to go with it.

I read up about it online and it seemed pretty easy. The tips I gleaned were to use un-chlorinated water (and I have well water, so that was no problem) and to use local milk, as fresh as possible.

Sugarwing's Daddy and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen together, and he was excited about trying to make some cheese too. He's one of those all organic, all the time type of hippy guys and won't even eat anything that goes into the microwave or gets stored in plastic. So homemade cheese was right up his alley. He's hard to cook for, but since he loves cooking so much and is so great at it, he can be as quirky as he wants. Because that means he does most of the cooking and it is always fantastic.

The trouble is, he and I are both the type that cook without recipes. We throw it all together and guesstimate amounts. But for cheese, you have to pretend to care about temperatures and timing and measurements.

So I bought a digital thermometer (which brought my total for expenses up to almost 40 bucks). After studying and printing off lots of recipes, we saw that 55 degrees and 105 degrees were both very important numbers in the art of cheese.

Well, we aren't chemists or scientists or even semi good at following recipes. This is the mass that I salvaged from the batch. It was supposed to be kneaded like bread dough, and I thought I did, but I guess, not so much.

Adam is a massage therapist, so he worked his healing magic on the lump I couldn't repair and actually turned it into a series of little cheese balls.

4 hours into making what was called a 30 minute recipe we had a very small series of very little, very rubbery, cheese balls.

$40 worth?

Well, the olive oil with fresh herbs they are marinating in is tasty at least. I poured some over pasta last night. But I've not been brave enough to eat the cheese yet. They were so expensive to make I feel like keeping the little lumps of gold in a lock box.

But I'd probably be better off using them as toys and bouncing them around with Sugarwings.

Somehow, I don't think that I'll be serving today with the tomatoes and basil….

Well, my pot of cheese didn't do so well, but this little witch's cooking pot filled with pretties is much better. Its the giveaway for September and I added a fall colored enameled butterfly pin to go along with the leaf and rhinestone brooches.

Why am I feeling so fallish? I'm a warm weather person and hate the thought of winter approaching. I also love soft, sweet colors, and am not usually so attracted to the fall tones. Maybe its that perfect weather that is winning me over. Any way, I whipped up this Raven's Wreath and enjoyed working with the old millinery in the rich, Halloween colors.

Well, dur, it was still old millinery! I love that stuff in any color!

(the wreath is available in my Boutique)

I kept on using the deep, rich, colors on these book covers from Mary. Each is filled with water color and other art or journal pages, cut to fit. And they are tied up with hand dyed silk ribbons that I tinted to match each cover.

On some, I used inks and markers to embellish the existing pattern on the covers. I'm always happy when I get to play with markers.

Now, I'd better go shove the crap off my craft tables and make room for guests to join me today. But first, I need to run to the grocery store for some fresh mozzarella…