Moving to DC – Page 3 – Karla's Cottage

Why I most likely will not be wearing a prom dress to Silver Bella

antiques/junking, fairies, family, Moving to DC, paintings, Silver Bella, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 30, 2008

You might have heard that at Silver Bella this coming November, there will be a vintage prom night.

Well, I saw this pretty pink confection at Lucketts today, for a bargain price, and thought, just maybe this one would work for a ‘more mature’ prom princess.

It wasn’t quite as frothy as most of the 50s dresses I’ve seen, and had a bodice that seemed a bit easier to wear for someone who didn’t have the shoulders of a 15 year old.

I also thought it didn’t look quite as tiny as most of the vintage gowns out there.

oops, I was wrong.

Not only am I past having the shoulders of a 15 year old, my waist and butt aren’t anywhere near that age group either.

But I bought it anyway! It might be right for another Bella, if not, it will look nice on my dress form and I can use it to display the jewelry I make and plan to sell at Silver Bella.

I also found these hand made, old Barbie prom dresses, 3 lamp shades for 40% off, and a hat loaded with scrumptious pink blooms.

I spent a total of $38 today. Which really isn’t much for how much I got, but is quite a bit if you look back at all of my recent posts and see just how much shopping I have been doing lately….

This Jack and Jill book from 1948 has the sweetest fairy illustrations and was only a dollar, and I got a bag of velvet ribbons for $2, but these pictured are the prettiest of the colors. (I don’t care for the oranges and bright blues, but will find a use for them, I’m sure)

To stop myself from buying more, I came back to our apartment in Centreville and worked on Sugarwing’s birthday book.

I started a tea party sketch, here is a rough draft.

Then I started to refine it a bit, and add ink. Later, I’ll do watercolor tints to the picture too.

This page will say:

"When there is a tea party, Sugarwings and Twinkle serve delicious, pretend treats. Twinkle doesn’t understand why she can’t see or taste the cookies that her sister is eating, but would really like to have one." Luncheon

Speaking of tea parties, here is Heather’s dining room set up for our luncheon on Sunday.

Everywhere you look in her house, there is something pretty, and sometimes it is looking right back at you, like this birdie!

Or the pretty porcelain ladies that she has scattered about.

If you read her blog, you already know about her sense of style. Everything there is pretty, just like her name says, "Pretty Petals".

I had some trouble viewing her site from the hotel lobby computer! It was blocked due to "adult content"???? I wrote her and said I was afraid she was one of those Internet predators my husband is sure I will run into at any moment.

So, I told her that if she picked me up Sunday morning in a big white van like serial killers always drive, or was wearing a trench coat, I was not going with her!

But all was well, she didn’t try to kill me, and we had a lovely day at Karlapalooza, and a great time at her house afterward.

Sugarwing Themed gifts (the best kind of sweetness!)

antiques/junking, Books, Moving to DC, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / April 28, 2008

I just got home from our East coast apartment, and look what was waiting for me in the giant, overflowing basket of mail that came while I was away!

Talented Miss Lori Karla sent this along with her Card for Caroline as a random act of kindness.

Isn’t it the cutest? Such a perfect collage for this picture of my fairy grand baby.

And lucky me, how scrumptious is this???

My Centreville, VA blog pal, Robin made this frame from an old clock for my birthday.

We met up for coffee, the she offered to take me to own of her thrift store faves. (well, maybe I coerced her a bit)

I bought a cart load of goods for $13.90, between that trip and my Leesburg shopping adventure, I completely filled an extra suitcase for the trip home.

These two ladies’ creations sure are special to me. Not only do they involve pictures of my sweet little Sugarwings, they are such thoughtful and talent filled works of art.

I just love ’em to pieces!

Not everything is unpacked yet from my trip. Instead of putting away suitcases, I went through the cards for Caroline that came in the mail, and I have to tell you, there are some beauties there!

I’ll get organized and photograph them soon, and have a whole post devoted to just that, along with the list of updated names.

For now, I’ll show you a couple of pictures of the book I made in Debbie Shue’s class on Saturday.

The flowers on the cover are from some of my souvenir hats I purchased on my shopping day with Debbie.

She furnished rub ons and stickers, but I ended up doing doodles and added glitter instead of using them.

Debbie had a great kit with all the papers cut and ready to go. The whole book was assembled in the 2 hour class (that is impressive, that she can time it so perfectly and know just what to show everyone)

I changed mine a bit, and tried to make it part art journal/part scrapbook. I also purchased some Glimmer Mist and tried that for the first time.

I have to tell you, that stuff is FUN! I bought Robin’s Egg and Pineapple and plan on getting a lot more colors.

Don’t forget you can still enter my giveaway for this month.

EVERY COMMENT IS ENTERED for the entire month.

And all comments until May 5th are entered into my special 50th birthday celebration giveaway.

Is it a SMALL world? Or a GIANT blogosphere!?

antiques/junking, celebrations, Food and Drink, Moving to DC, parties, Silver Bella

By Karla Nathan / April 26, 2008

How weird is this???

While I am here in Virginia, I spent a free afternoon in Leesburg to shop and check out The Cottage, a store I’d heard about but never been to, its about 30 minutes from our apartment.

While I was chatting with the co-owner, Ann, Pam walked in and she recognized me. Behind her was Debbie Shue who was in town from NY to teach classes at the scrapbook store where Pam works.

Now, what are the odds that we would run into each other? Pam and Debbie both went to Silver Bella last year, and I know them through that and through blogs. (sorry about the blurry picture, but also, what are the odds that we take dozens of photos and none of the ones with all of us are any good?)

I am from Kansas, Debbie is from New York, none of us were staying in Leesburg, we just all decided to go to a store there at the same time.

If I had stopped for lunch first, or if they had gone to Lucketts before The Cottage, we’d never have met up.

Lucky that we did! Not only was this a cute and cottagey shop that I fell in love with and had a great time browsing through (I’ll post my beautiful bargain finds later), Pam, Debbie, and their pal, Kitty, invited me to hang out with them for the day.

We spent quite a while in The Cottage, and all found fun things to purchase. We visited with Ann, who was nice as could be and seemed to enjoy the coincidence of our meeting as much as we did.

Istn’t this store so pretty? I could have just moved into any of these cozy displays she has set up.

After the Cottage, the three gals asked me to go to lunch with them, and on to some other antiquing.

While out shopping, I came across some of the prettiest hats I’d ever seen, with tons of dainty flowers on each. But- they were a LOT more expensive than what I usually buy. ($15- $28, but LOADED with blossoms)

I decided that the rule about not spending more than $7 on a hat doesn’t apply on vacation or during my birthday week.

Not only did I find a new store I absolutely love and 3 flowery hats that I couldn’t resist, I had a fun day full of laughs, shopping, and lunch, PLUS, Debbie was able to squeeze me into the class she was teaching the next day.

And my new pal, Kitty offered to lend me supplies, since I didn’t have any with me.

I thought I was borrowing scissors and glue, but she showed up with the fullest, most professional scrapbboking kit I’d ever seen. It was a joy just to poke through it all.

Shopping, crafting, great food, fun people, romantic dinners with my husband, I may never go back to Kansas! I love it here!!

My husband surprised me with one of the fanciest schmanciest dinners ever at a private dining club. The Tower Club at Tyson’s Corner.

The service there is so outstanding and detailed, they even had our name on the mints at our place settings!

We were greeted with complimentary champagne for my birthday. I had the Maryland crab appetizer (you just have to order that when you are in this part of the country) and as gourmet-licious as the whole dinner was, my favorite part of the meal was the white chocolate and lemon surprise birthday cake.

"Happy Birthday" was written in dark chocolate on a sheet of white chocolate and the whole cake was covered in curled bits of the white.

A tray of tiny desserts came out with the coffee along with a goodie assortment of coffee mix-ins. Orange peels, cinnamon sticks, real whipped cream and shaved cocoa.

I was so impressed, I almost couldn’t eat it, it was just too lovely. But I did.

I have the BEST husband.

Last night, dinner on the 17th floor with a view over looking the capitol, tonight dinner at Piedmont Country Club with this view out the window. Yep, not a bad kickoff to my birthday week.

I don’t think turning 50 years old is looking too bad at all. I have a pretty lucky life! I am looking forward to the next 50, I plan on living as long and as well as my Great Aunt Caroline that you are all making cards for!

The Hat Whisperer (or the crazy lady, you decide)

collections, Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / April 24, 2008

Do you ever come to my blog and think to yourself, "oh no, more flowers" Or, "That Karla must be crazy. Why does she keep buying old smashed flowers, almost daily, and then showing them to us?" "What is wrong with that woman?"

I do tend to fixate on things and make or buy TONS when I am on a roll.

Right now, I can’t seem to stop buying hats (and the flowers that bloom on them). I am developing some sort of millinery ESP, where I am going about my business, and out of the blue, I hear them call out to me. I stop everything, and drive myself, in a dazed state to the store I feel the bonnets beckoning to me from. Then, I walk right up to the hiding place of a floral bargain bonanza.

Of course, if I happen to come across a pile of rhinestone buttons for $1, cabinet cards for 50 cents each, or rose postcards for 75 cents each, I am not too deep into my millinery stupor to scoop those up too.

After a day of running errands and playing with Sugarwings, I sat down to make another bracelet and get some work done for my much neglected inventory for the upcoming art show.

One bracelet was finished before I started to hear the silk and velvet’s siren song, calling me from Scranton and 4 Corners, (great little antiquing towns about an hour from here). I knew I shouldn’t go, I had a lot of reasons not to go: the stores would be closing soon, I had work to do, and it was raining so hard I could barely see to drive.

But I also knew that it wouldn’t take long. I didn’t need an all day shopping trip, I could go right to those tempting trinkets, buy them and leave. They were calling out to me, I had no choice, I knew they were there waiting for me.

I was right!! I bought $3 and $5 hats, plus a BAGFUL of flowers, for only $10.

Do I look crazy? Or simply psychic? As a matter of fact, I think I hear one now…… yes, there is a $4 hat in Leesburg calling me now. I think I will have to go to visit my husband in Virginia.

I am looking into plane tickets for tomorrow night, so if you don’t hear from me, I am on my way there.

Please continue to leave comments, each one is entered into BOTH giveaways (details in my previous post). I’ll catch up as soon as I hunt down the source of that mesmerizing sound. The one whispering to me "I’m here… I’m waiting… I’m waiting for you here, with my lovely scrunched petals… you know you want to find me…. "

Oh, and please continue to send your cards for Caroline’s 100th birthday, Ryan will bring in the mail while I am gone and they will be safe.

If I have time, I’ll post from our apartment there. But I could be pretty busy, hunting down that hat that is calling me plus I am going to insist that my husband whisk me away to romantic dinners and nights out to celebrate my 50th birthday. It is only 12 days away, I seriously need to start celebrating. I might start by finding the perfect hat and treating myself to it!

I prefer white furniture to the White House

antiques/junking, Moving to DC, Travel

By Karla Nathan / February 17, 2008

I’m having a lovely time in our apartment out East. Although it is hard for me to not have anything to do…. I am used to keeping busy. I need to set up an art studio next time I come out or I will go crazy. I’ve done some shopping, some sight seeing,and I filled the freezer with ready to go meals for my husband. I must be bored, if I want to spend the entire afternoon of Vaelntines Day baking and freezing food.

Luckily, Robin, a blogger friend, met me today to keep me company.

We met at Starbucks, and both got phone calls from our husbands to check on us, the guys were worried we were meeting up with internet predators instead of blog friends!

I made sure to get a photo of the guy behind Robin so I could show my husband and pretend that he was right.

Here he is, my new buddy, Thrifty Miss Priss. He does look a bit shifty. But he seemed so nice on the blog!

The REAL Robin was such fun, we ended up talking for 2 hours. She brought me the cutest nesting birdie in a trophy, I promise to get photos of it when I get home, what a perfect gift!! She made one for my buddy, Beth too. Beth and I are getting together on Thursday for some co-craftiness, so I’ll take it to her then. In the mean time, I’ll set them both on my computer where I can enjoy them and try to decide which one I can part with!!

I am in love with the antique shops around here!!! I wished I had a truck with me instead of a camera while shopping. This is the dining set I have been day dreaming about forever. But it would be a bit complicated to get it back to Kansas, and my luggage is already full.

I bought a set of these little plastic plates for Sugarwings and I to play tea party with. That is easy enough to pack.

And when I bought a few of these old blue bottles, I thought, that isn’t so bad either, they’ll be fine in my bags.

But then, I found more bottles. And some paper mache buckets. And some more bottles. Then I found even more bottles.

I’m sure I’ll figure a way to get them all home, and turn them into decorated button jars. Yes, I am just sure I can make them fit. Somehow.

Did I mention that I also found some old hats?

This seems to be the land of prom gowns and flowered hats. Everywhere I look, I see gorgeous, feminine, flowery things.

The hats I bought should be fine, if smashed, I bought them mostly for the flowers, I peel them off and glue them onto other things. And these hats I found are ENCRUSTED with flowers!

I’ve found so many curly-q, carved chairs too. All of this furniture is just my style.

I need a truck!

It causes me pain to go home without this $89 table that just screams my name! I just don’t find stuff this cool at these prices back home. And here I always brag about shopping in Kansas and the low prices. Well, yes we have great prices, but our stuff is more country looking, or primitive, or traditional.

Of course, there is stuff in this style back home too, but not in the abundance that I’ve seen it here, or at the prices I have seen here.

Also, I came across more than one store that was predominately pink and white!

Heck, I feel like canceling my flight home and renting a U-haul and buying a load of stuff to redecorat my house.

One thing I could take home with me, was an IDEA. Look at these stairs!!

I have a plan to pull up the ugly carpet from my stair way, and cover each riser in a different vintage wallpaper, then paint the steps white. Trouble is, my stairs were built to be carpeted, and are very unfinished looking. It will take lots of bondo (meant for car repairs, but great for painted furniture repair too) and sanding. I’ll have to router the edges too. The steps at my house are plain boards, builder grade, not cool, old stairs. I now, HAVE to make them LOOK like cool old stairs. I have a mission!

Here is another tempting piece from Lucketts. Just a bit big for my suitcase. Heck, I am wondering how I will make hats fit, what am I even doing thinking about buying salvage?

In the spring, Luckets has an outdoor flea market. Oh, I will be back for that! The outdoors is pretty cute and fun to poke through now, just picture this area filled with 60 different dealers.

What a pretty thought!

I also went to downtown Leesburg. It was quaint and wonderful, but I didn’t have much time. A lot of the decor there is more traditional or formal like I expected this area to sell.

And OLD. This is a gown that might have been worn by Dolly Madison, from the looks of it!

We ate dinner at Rivercreek Country Club over looking an extraordinary view of the Potomac while in Leesburg. My husband had to work there for the day, I had tagged along and gone on the shopping trip while waiting for him.

We also took a train into downtown DC and looked at dinosaurs and monuments and the White House.

But of course, to me, nothing downtown DC compared to the dining room table I saw at Lucketts! Am I shallow? I was defiantly feeling like Becky Bloomwood in the Shopaholic NY book, when she pretends to go on a museum tour and ducks out to shop. If I could’ve gotten away with it, I would have gone back to that antique mall and skipped all the dino bones. Yep, that is shallow, alright.

Maybe it was because it was such a chilly gray day, and I was bundled up like a cocoon to keep warm as we walked the city. If I go back in the spring with the cherry blossoms in bloom, maybe I will get into exploring the city more.

Some how, I think I’d still prefer the white, ornate furniture to the White House!

I’m spending a lot of time blog browsing too, since I haven’t got any work to do. And Ebay browsing, which can be dangerous when you are bored and killing time!

But here is a blog that will keep you from boredom- check out Angela’s pink round up for Valentines, so many pretty pink links to visit.

That is where I am going now.

Begosh and Begorra and be ready for a new swap! Yep ANOTHER ONE!

Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, Moving to DC, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / February 13, 2008

I’m going to Virginia tomorrow to stay at our apartment there for a few days. I’ve posted a bit ahead and they are timed and ready to go. I’ve never tried that before, but it sounds like a good idea! There just seems to be more to photograph around here than in the bachelor pad my husband lives in part time.

I still haven’t packed for the trip yet. This photo might explain why. Sugarwings spent the night with us and I had her till 6pm today.

We discovered a new trick- Grandmama’s studio floor is perfect for chalk!

My little budding artist also discovered that if you chew up and spit out the blue chalk, it makes a great paint you can smear around on the floor with your fingers.

Sounds like something I would try to do myself.

The fairy grand baby also helped me to make this today. Of course, she mostly wanted to put the blue eggs in her mouth. I hope my swap partner doesn’t mind getting eggs that have been slightly chewed on.

My partner is Heather and her blog is Jeweled Elegance, so I knew I’d need some sparklies on this nest.

I added a crown covered in jewels and glitter, a sparkly robins’ egg, and some old flowers that I sprinkled with the sparklies too.

The swap is hosted by Heather at Speckled Egg. I have NEVER gotten into one of her cool swaps in time, I was so glad to squeak into this one at the last minute, thanks, Heather!

Plus this was a quick one to put together. Sugarwings and I made this while chasing her around the studio today testing out my supplies. I had all the elements glittered up all ready to go, all we did was glue them into place in this Johnson Bros. tea cup.

Speaking of birds and their homes, I started a flickr group for our Birdhouse Bling Day. (details for the swap in my previous post).

Here is the Flickr site. It is open to the public, feel free to post birdhouse photos whenever you’d like! You don’t have to write a blog to use this, its open to all.

And speaking of swaps– is anyone interested in a St Pats Tag Swap? Just a simple quickie.

A reader, Jenny, asked me if I knew of any St Pat swaps and I hadn’t seen any around, so I asked her if she wanted to do a one on one tag swap. Come to find out, she is a newbie and hasn’t had a chance to swap yet. So I thought, we should do one and show her how!

All you need to do is make 2 tags, any size, any shape, any old way you want as long as they have a St Patrick’s Day theme. Send it to me with a self addressed, stamped envelope (make sure that your postage is covered, this might weigh more than one stamp’s worth). I’ll swap them around and send you two back.

Quick and easy, no large packages and tons of stuff involved, just send a couple, get a couple.

Have them here by March 5th (Friday) and I’ll get them out to you in time to slip under your pillow on St Pat’s eve for good luck, and sweet dreams of green beer.

Also, help yourself to any of these Irish images I scanned. I thought I had more, hmmm. This tag thing could be harder than I thought if this is all I have to work with.

Sissy, do you have any Celtic type things you’d like to send along and share?

While I was scanning, I copied the cover of Somerset Life and sent it to Sadie Olive (who beautifully laid out my blog for me). She added this one to the list of magazines to the left. Thanks, Sara!!

As promised, I made up some Cottage Collage Bird House Bling Kits and listed them on Etsy for $10 each. There are 3 left I think.

I might be able to make up a few more when I get back from DC.

I also listed a few more things, tried to stock up before I go out of town.

But I’m afraid all orders won’t get mailed till after I get back on Monday. Then, Tuesday is my Sugarwings day and not a lot gets done when she is around! They will be packed up that night after she leaves. Unless you don’t mind having your things slobbery and chewed on, I don’t think I should let her help.

Well, no more excuses, I need to go and pack for my trip!

Gifts Galore, The Antique Store, and whining no more

Food and Drink, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Moving to DC, parties, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 10, 2008

What a lovely day I had!!

Carol and Beth came over to play. Carol worked on a cute book she was making out of envelopes- great idea. I want to try one too. Beth and I worked on our Sweet Treats and Roses Swap recipe book covers.

But first, we had a light lunch. I made a salad and some prime rib stew (well maybe not so light, huh?) with ruby gold potatoes and a crusty bread from the bakery downtown that uses a wood fired oven.

I took all 3 leaves out of the dining table so it would be cozy, and moved around some of my centerpiece stuff left over from Christmas to give it a new look (Christmas is still not put away yet around here, will it ever be????)

Just in time for the lunch, I received this cute as a button, wire cloche from Crystal as a giveaway prize from her blog!! I always say that every thing looks more important under glass, but now have to revise that to under a "cloche"- it doesn’t have to be a glass one! I also used the wallpaper book that Beth made for me as part of the display, it would dress up any vignette.

So, I have my gift of a new cloche and this great book Beth for made at Christmas. I am feeling pretty special to have gotten such nice presents. Then– Beth and Carol both brought stuff for me!!!!

Beth picked up this candelabra at our favorite auction house last night. (I used to raise peacocks, and love anything with a peafowl on it- but never had a pink one before)

She thinks it is gaudy and apparently everyone else did too, she says no one bid on it. She knew it would be just gaudy enough for me to love.

Carol brought this royal bar of soap (available on her blog, if you want some- it is hand made and smells wonderful!) and these rhinestone embellished white gloves.

Just my style!

But that is not all! Our swap members are sending in the pages of recipes for the Sweet Treats books and a couple of them came with GIFTS for Beth and I. Kathy senrt us the tags and the "Beauty" collage, is from Sarah and it came with a pretty painted card.

The other side of it says:

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old (Kafka)

I think I will keep this as my motto for my 5oth year celebration that is beginning now and going till my birthday in May. It is quite appropriate for me.

Remember, there is a gift for comment # 5,558 (my birthday, May 5, 1958) I also have my one year blog anniversary coming up on Valentines Day. I will need to do something special for that, too. I get so many things, I want to share the good fortune. I love presents, don’t you????

Blog giveaways are so generous. Here is one you should check into if, you have a little person in your life. A choice of hand made pants or a skirt. I think my little Sugarwings would be cute as pie in either! (by the way, thanks for all your input on her photos, #4 was the big winner)

You can enter at Clarice’s and while you are there, wish her pretty young lady a happy birthday. You can also enter a great giveaway at KJ’s, she is throwing herself a surprise 50th birthday party and has presents for us!

Carol, Beth, and I did a lot of chatting, but we did manage to get some work done too. I made a few covers for the swap recipe books. (take a peek at the recipes in so far, here on our flickr page)

This one is from a copy of a De Longpre rose.

And this one is from some floral vintage wallpaper that Beth brought.

Why is it so much more fun to use someone else’s supplies than your own??

This one is on some old shelf liner paper I found in my garage last night when I was searching for supplies to make a magic wand ( pictures later!).

I also prepped a lot of covers, with some vintage wallpapers, ready to embellish and foof up.

Nice, cheerful Valentine reds on these.

Pretty pinks and chocolates here.

And some romantic neutrals with a touch of roses (the lavender one will be going to my pal who shares my 5-5-58 birthday, Barb , who is found on Lavender Lollipop Lane.

Remember how I have been whining about all the shopping I have had to do to set up our apartment outside of DC?

Yesterday, I actually got to pop in to the local antique mall and take a deep breath of that glorious musty antique store aroma and it was heaven! I didn’t buy much, but a few little OLD doo dads sure made me happy after the time I had to put in at retail shops and discount stores and mattress outlets!

But- I think I owe all of you an apology. I did whine a LOT last week about having to shop so much.

With all of the real problems in the world, that isn’t such a big one, really, is it?? Poor me, I had to buy 2 brand new flat screen TVs, 3 rooms full of brand new furniture, and all new kitchen stuff. What a bitch I am!!! Sorry.

But I just like old, or hand made things, and it was hard to get excited about filling a place with new stuff, plus it had to be done so fast, it was a marathon of never ending discount stores, plus, I was sad about my husband and I having to be apart so much.

Oh no, here I go again, whining. Sorry. I know I am LUCKY and I do appreciate what I have. I hope I didn’t offend anyone by my weasly whines.

I shopped till I dropped and I don’t want to have to get back up!

Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2008

The marathon shopping trip is finally done!

I have shopped myself ragged this week, and didn’t really have the perfect car for it. We jammed in as much as we could, and I actually did end up with my knees against the dash and lampshades in my lap at one point!

On that trip from Marshall’s, we bought so much for the apartment, that we broke a table leg trying to get it all in the car.

Oh well, at least it feels less "new" now!

All this newness is hard for me. I love the aged patinas and well worn edges of the treasures I find at 2nd hand places and flea markets.

See what I mean?? It doesn’t look like me at all. If we hadn’t brought these lamps from home, this room would have no personality at all.

We also have Sugarwing’s photos everywhere. I found inexpensive frames at Michaels and IKEA for the 8x10s of the baby to cheer up the bare white walls.

And of course, we have pictures of Ry, Adam and the cute little hippy chick around the room too.

My husband didn’t want any clutter, stuff, or knicky knacky fun things around. And since we’ll have this place temporarily, and we are doing it on a budget, I had to agree–no matter how much it hurt– to not fill up the rooms with pretties!!

Like I said, the lamps my friend, Shanna created sure do save the room from total boringness!! One sits on a cute little $12 table from Marshall’s, the other is on a $7 wooden TV tray from Wal-Mart. The TV tray is behind the couch, so doesn’t even show. I certainly didn’t want to spend much on a table that no one saw.

Rich brought one of my paintings, this was done from the balcony of our hotel room during a vacation to Destin, Florida a few years ago. Hanging it is a reminder of a romantic and lovely week we spent together.

I thought it was touching that he packed it.

Another homey touch, is this photo I found at Homegoods for $18. It reminds me of the time we spend on the lake back in Kansas.

I found a serene, blue curtain on clearance there for $9 and a matching runner for $14. The rug is chenille, and very fluffy, a touch of luxury in the plain bathroom.

One totally unnecessary, but fun thing I bought for the bath was this sparkly soap dish.

This is the guest bath, and I will probably use it when I come to stay, so I had to have ONE girly thing in the apartment!!

I saw this large picture, done totally in Glitter! I wanted it, for the sheer gaudiness of it, but knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. Isn’t it fun, though? I wish I could have done the apartment in funky fun things and make it a great get away place for us.

Instead, I was a good girl and decorated the place all neutral, comfy and BLAH.

Actually, it isn’t bad and I shouldn’t complain. You’ve seen my house and know that my poor husband has to live knee deep in roses. I can stand macho decor when I come to stay in the apartment with him, I can be brave and make it through one week a month with out my pretties around me!!

Especially if I have plenty of photos of my fairy grand baby to stare at! She is prettier than any rose.

We bought a couple of lamps on clearance from Marshall’s for around $60 for the two. And this frame was only $6.

The one on my side of the bed has beads, so that makes me happy! This little table was another Marshall’s purchase for $11.

I bought the sheets, fleecy, soft blanket and quilted cover there too. The cover is a neutral tan, all the rest are calm white.

Its almost like a hotel room.

Rich picked out the furniture for the bedroom himself. He spent a bit more than I would have, and got the wrong size bed frame, but it really is a nice set. He has good taste. And I think the room could actually be nice if I could paint the walls a deep rich color to compliment it all.

We brought this from home too- a welcome mat that makes us feel right at home. A Kansas University Jayhawk will greet us everytime we walk in the door.

The main furniture we bought last month, and had delivered this week. We’ve spent a lot of time waiting for cable and delivery guys. The rest of the time was shopping-shopping-shopping. It takes a lot to fill up an empty apartment!!!!! I’ve been to Wal-mart 4 times, Target 3, Best Buy 3 Marshall’s twice , Home Goods, KMart twice, furniture stores, mattress stores, grocery stores, not to mention buying a new wardrobe at Macy’s for my husband to start his new job! (he runs golf courses and all of his shirts had logos of the old company, not the country clubs from this one)

I’ve managed to do it all on about $6,000 so far. That includes stocking the cabinets, buying shampoo, nail clippers, coffee maker, trash cans, new clothes, shower curtains, every little detail of starting a new place. Whew.

I drove from place to place looking for sales and comparing prices. My husband says I might have spent more on gas than stuff.

I didn’t include meals out in this. We ate dinner out every night, and that has been wonderful. Some was on an expense account, but not all. This mural is from a Texas Road House we ate at tonight, I loved seeing the founding fathers BBQ ing!

I can’t believe we are done. There are two more deliveries next week, but I am going home tomorrow and Rich will handle the rest. I am worn out and slept for about 12 hours last night, did I mention I have had a sinus infection for a few weeks now and haven’t had time to go to the doctor about it?

I look forward to getting home and seeing my Sugarwings and Dorkies and pretties that I like to keep all around me. I hate leaving Rich behind here, but have tried to make it as homey as possible for him and I’ll come back to visit a lot and he’ll be in Kansas a lot too. The next year won’t be easy, but I am lucky to have a wonderful man that works so hard and puts his family first and has landed this dream job that he deserves so much.

And of course, I am lucky to have my blog friends who put up with my running on and on about everything I do and keep me company while Rich is away!

I’ll draw for my December giveaway winner as soon as I get home, and will be working on some projects, so will actually have something pretty to show you instead of ugly, over stuffed recliners and macho stuff! Thanks for your patience and for being there for me!

Eastward

Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / January 3, 2008

December has only been gone a few days, and it seems like ages. We’ve been so busy trying to set up a new apartment in a new city, all from scratch.

Sissy had this pretty book set out in my room when we visited on our drive Eastward. I’m afraid we didn’t get to stay long, one night, with a family get together, then on New Year’s Eve, we had big plans for crafting all day, then having a champagne toast and homemade veggie soup (like my Daddy used to make) welcoming the new year quietly with family and friends.

Crafting started well. I made this page (it still needs words, Sissy will add them with her lovely writing). I took inspiration from the book above.

It is so much fun to delve into someone else’s craft supplies! Like the first day of school and a brand new box of crayons (or crins, as I called them)

The background was done with those eye shaped chalky ink pads (Sissy had ALL the colors to play with!!!). I used pink, periwinkle and white to make swirls, with the white over the top to blend. Then "aged" the edges in brown.

I drew the bird and branches in glitter ink and got to try out her embossing glitter on the branches.

This one was done with the same chalky inks, smeared around and then blended over the top with a gold ink pad.

Then, I stamped green fern like fronds onto it, edged the sides in brown for aging again, and drew swirls and vines around it in brown ink.

My niece, Shelli, brought a calender we could cut fairies out of, I added a naked sprite from it, sparkled her with shimmering gold ink, and drew gold swirls around her head, accented with rhinestones.

Shelli used glitter and images from the calender for this page.

Then, she did a similar chalky ink pad background on this one. I drew some swirls on it for her and she added pictures from the calender.

My other sister, Bobbie, brought us an embossing tool to try out and Shelli did the design across the top with that.

Then, her husband came in and mentioned an ice storm on the way. I shot out of my chair, packed my bags, ran down the stairs and to the car and was GONE before the storm hit!

We had a safe and dry drive and were glad we cut our visit to Indy short, as sad as it was to leave. I don’t even remember if I said goodbye or not, you should have seen me rush out of there. No veggie soup, no champagne toast, I didn’t even get to finish my pages!!

And here we are- my new (part time) home, sweet, home!

The huge load we carried out in the car didn’t go very far in filling up the space. It isn’t easy starting from scratch, this week has been a shop-a-thon.

The big, ugly recliner that my husband has daydreamed about his entire life arrived. But the table was missing hardware and the couch was the wrong one. More deliveries tomorrow.

My husband doesn’t shop, but made an effort to buy a bedroom set on his own last time he was out here. For his very first shopping trip, it went well. Mission style, really nice. But- the wrong size. He didn’t realize beds came in different sizes????

Oh well, the new mattress I bought will go in the guest room and I’ll buy another one for that set, in a larger size. I’m just proud that he shopped all by himself and bought something really interesting.

I’d been hearing that IKEA was the best things since sliced bread (oh my,that phrase makes me sound old).

We didn’t much care for it. Some things were a bargain, others were just CHEAP. Thin towels, rickety tables. And not my style at all.

What was sweet, was that it wasn’t my husband’s style either. I thought he wouldn’t care, but he really did, and wanted homey, not stark, like they carry there.

We loaded up on simple things, like 49 cent dish towels, 99 cent trash cans, 99 cent toilet bowl cleaners, 42 rugs, and a $2 sieve. A few 59cent mugs and bowls too.

Then, we drove around the wharf in Baltimore searching for a good restaurant. Lost, in the dark, looking like tourists, with the light on in the car, looking at a map instead of the road.

We found a place called the Rusty Scupper. I thought, it had to be good, it had a hand painted shark in the lobby!

And I was right, plus the view was even better than the food. We managed to spend every thing we saved at IKEA by eating a $100 crab cake meal. I figure we broke even, since we had saved so much on toilet bowl cleaners!

I’m afraid my camera doesn’t do justice to the beauty of the wharf at night, and it was so cold out there, I didn’t really care to adjust it. I snapped a photo and ran to the car.

Well, more shopping tomorrow, then home on Sunday. I’ll get some photos of the end results of our buying binge!

Heading East

Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / December 28, 2007

More snow here!

Twinkle loves chasing the red birds who stand out so pretty against the white snow. The other dogs are staying by the wood stove and keeping warm.

This is the view out the back door of my studio, where I have been working away on TAXES- urgh. Everyone asks me how I manage to get so much creative and decorative stuff done. Well, I don’t do the things I should, like keeping up with quarterly taxes!!

I waited till the end of the year to do all of them at once. Did I mention that the State of KS has been calling to chat with me about it???

The thing is, since I have so many on line sales, I owe very little to Kansas, so I put it all off. They don’t like that, as I am finding out.

I am also working on the list for packing up and driving to DC to move into the new apartment.

My husband made up the list, and I see it includes a painting I had done on a Florida vacation and the painting I did of our barn (that used to sit behind our house, where this photo is taken. We made a garden in the old foundation)

It also includes a stained glass lamp a good friend made for us, a cribbage board, his guitar, and a bottle of Captain (rum). That is just the start of the list. Plus a lot of his clothes, an extra computer, and tons more.

The thing is, he wants to drive HIS car out there, across country in the winter.

His car is sporty, and doesn’t do well in bad weather or hold much. Those stained glass lamps will take up the whole back seat. And we sure aren’t pulling a U-Haul with his car!

Hopefully our luck will hold out and the roads will be clear and I can balance a lamp on my head the whole way there.

You know how I am always going on about how lucky I am? This car is 5 years old, and a week before the warranty was up, we took it in for a small problem that they couldn’t find, so they replaced the ENTIRE ENGINE!! We drive our cars until they turn to dirt (at least 10 years), then give them to our kids, so this one just doubled its lifespan by getting a new engine!!

We leave on Sunday, and Ry will stay here and take care of the house and the Dorkies. He has been known to build them a nice warm fire to lay by, even though he lives in the other end of the house in an apartment, and gets no heat from the wood stove over there for himself.

That guy has a soft heart.

I am trying to get some goodies listed on Etsy before I go out of town, and mark down some Christmas items already listed.

I made up 18 Cottage Collage Kits filled with ephemera to sell. Somerset Living magazine is featuring one of my kits in the next issue and I HOPE to sell some from my Etsy shop after they are seen in the magazine.

So I thought I should have some there to sell, just in case!

I’d like to get the computer set up in DC and try to write on my blog from there, but I am not sure how it will all go.

It will be a big job to set up an apartment from scratch! And there will be shopping to do for all the things that will NOT FIT into the car on the way out.

As Sugarwings says all the time now, "Oh My!"

I don’t know if I am up for this move.

We are breaking up the drive by staying in Indianapolis with Sissy. Luckily, that is about 1/2 way there. So we are hanging out there for New Year’s Eve, to have a quiet evening with my sister’s families.

I think I should be able to announce my December drawing winner from Sissy’s house and post there.

Also, I am very close to receiving my 5,000th comment!!!!!!!!!!! Again, to borrow from Sugarwings– "Oh My!"

Thanks so much for all your comments, I love to hear from you.

I will try to think of something special for that. But if I am not near a computer, I might have to wait and do a special giveaway for the 5,555th comment. I like the sound of that lucky number.

Speaking of lucky, look at the sweet gifts I received from Sandy (snowman and snowflake, plus a pretty "K") and from Betty (the lovely rose tag)!! thanks, ladies!

By the way, Betty is hosting a nice giveaway right now, you need to go and enter!

Here are a couple more pages from the book that Beth made for me as a Christmas gift (along with a subscription to Victoria!!!)

Notice she took all the pages out of the book before she covered them, then went to the trouble to punch new holes and re-bind it all? That was something we learned in a Silverbella class. I thought it was way,way too much work, but I sure like the way it looks!

Well, I am off to mail taxes and pack up lamps and rum. We have two parties to go to before we leave, so I’d better get my work out of the way and leave some time for fun.