parties – Page 8 – Karla's Cottage

Flaming Fall Fun

Etsy Goodies, Food and Drink, holiday decor, parties, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 13, 2008

Between throwing a party and hauling our boat in from the lake for the winter, I managed to sneak in a few minutes of crafting time.

These tags are listed for sale at my Etsy shop now if you are interested. I certainly have been neglecting that shop lately….

The wallpaper they are laying on came in the mail Saturday, isn’t it gorgeous!! I can’t wait to make something with that. Maybe I’ll get to tomorrow, I am having a craft day with some friends.

The weather for our bonfire on Saturday could not have been more perfect!

I think we had about 20 or so for dinner, I pulled a bunch of tables and mismatched chairs together from the patios and studio and set it all up out in the courtyard.

All the rectangle shaped tables were covered in white table cloths, and I put my only fall colored one on a round table in the center of the line.

(you can tell I didn’t waste any time ironing them!)

My centerpieces were a hodgepodge of whatever was around.

This white, glittered pumpkin is one that I have used over and over, it is from Hobby Lobby and I added glitter to it.

The rest of the centerpieces were just vases of flowers I picked from the garden, a few votives,gourds, and some real pumpkins. Simple and easy, no money spent, not much time put into it.

This pumpkin (from a garage sale) I sat in a flower pot and placed on a tray full of gourds and a vase of flowers. It really has a cool glow in the candlelight!

So does my pretty friend, Angie.

Here is the aftermath, once the food was gone and we moved on to the bonfire.

Dinner was simple and easy too. Well, at least it was for me! Everyone brought a side dish, I just made a spaghetti squash casserole (from my garden) and the cupcakes that Sugarwings decorated for me.

My husband grilled salmon and chicken, all I did was set out the food and plates buffet style in the house. I love parties that are effortless. I’m never shy to tell people to bring something with them, for one thing, it is fun to taste all the different things that people make. For another, I want to be able to have fun and be part of the group, not stuck in the kitchen.

(to Beth’s left is her handsome husband, Jeff. Too bad you can’t see his face, he is a cutey. But you can tell he is a cyclist, look at that physique!!)

I don’t know why we don’t use our bonfire pit more often. When we, sadly, had to take down the old barn, we kept the foundation and filled it with gravel, then added a curving gravel pathway back to the area. The big, gravelled space in the clearing of the woods makes a perfect area for a fire.

For parties, I string white lights along the path on one side and set out candles on the other.

The evening was one of those nights when it wasn’t so cold that you HAD to have a fire to stay warm, the fire was more of an accent to stare at and enjoy.

Although the flames did get a little hot when I decided to throw an old chair onto them. We all had to back away for a bit till the heat let up.

My husband thinks I have too much junk and he is thrilled when I surprise him and burn some of it at a party. Well, you do what you can to keep them happy, huh?

Sweet as Pie

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, Food and Drink, parties

By Karla Nathan / July 28, 2008

Well, this photo kind of sums up my trip so far- Yummy!

This pie is actually a special recipe by Jack Nickolaus, that is only served a couple weeks at year at Firestone Country Club, when the PGA tournament is playing there.

Of course, I had to order some! And yes, it is as good as it looks, creamy, with a coconut crunch.

I don’t and NEVER will play golf, but I can certainly enjoy the beauty of the courses and the gourmet food and pampering service you find at a private club! Firestone was particularly interesting because they were getting ready for the PGA event. There was not a blade of grass out of place anywhere.

We have had a lovely time so far, but one of the best parts was when my husband surprised me with a bouquet of my favorite flowers.

We’d seen Queen Anne’s Lace growing in the ditch beside a restaurant we were stopping at (no, not at a golf course NO WEEDS there!!!)

He snuck back out side and picked some, then had the waitress set them on the table without me knowing.

As much as I adore roses, this lacey weed, will always be the prettiest flower to me. And now even more so.

But I am simply not cut out for a life of luxury and hanging out at country clubs or shopping while my husband works. By day 3 of my trip, I was ready for something to do, and stopped at Michaels to pick up some art supplies for in the hotel room.

The trouble was, I didn’t have my work glasses with me. So, the paintings I did had to be VERY simple, since I couldn’t see the details well.

But, you know, simple is fine, and not every painting needs to be a "serious" one. Watercolors can be quick and cute.

These are all about 4"x 6" and I think will trim down to fit into a 3"x5" matt nicely.

When I get home from my trip, I might list them on Etsy for, what, maybe $10 each?

If you’d like one, feel free to leave a comment or email and I will save it for you, $10, no postage. the dove, long pink gown, teacup with the dark background, and the two pink cupcakes are sold, thanks!

I can’t mail them till I get back though.

The whole trip has just been the best, and Karlapalooza was such fun! In case you were worried, you’ll be happy to hear that Lori found her hat full of flowers and it is a beautiful one, lots of old velvet blooms!

And isn’t she cute as a little pixie, herself?

I’ll have more flea market photos later, and pictures of Sweet Heather’s sweet house. By the way, Heather has to be about one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. She was a joy to talk to.

We had a fun day of chatting and shopping, with Heather’s mom, Kitty, and her friend, Stephanie, then Heather fixed a tasty lunch at her home for us. There will be photos, I promise. Her home is as warm and welcoming as she is.

And if you are looking for a macaroni salad recipe, I’d say ask Heather! Hers was really good.

Like I said before, a YUMMY TRIP!

Karlapalooza!

antiques/junking, parties, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 23, 2008

Oh my, I just wrote this post and lost it. Now, if it pops back up and I have two similar ones, please forgive me and ignore the extra one until I get a chance to delete it.

I will be away from my computer for a bit, and am trying to pre-post articles to publish later during the week, but I just might be screwing it all up.

What is Karlapalooza???

It started like this:

Lori Karla, (Faerie Window) saw a comment that Karla Natale (Sugar Bear) left on Heather’s blog (Pretty Petals), saying that she wanted to visit and go to the flea market Heather does so well with.

Lori Karla thought I had left the comment and emailed me saying that if I was going, she was going.

I said, I am in! where are we going?

My husband was travelling to Pittsburg on business, so I am tagging along and meeting up with these blog friends at the flea market!

Since we had: Karla Nathan, Karla Natale, and Lori Karla, we started calling our trip, Karlapalooza and changed Heather Kowalski’s name to "Heather Karlaski."

Unfortunately, Sugar Bear Karla can’t come. But Heather’s mom, Kitty (Reflections from the Stone Nest) can make it.

So, we’ll have to call her "Kitty Karla."

These artworks were created by two of my favorite Karlas-

Heather Karlaski did the tussie mussie and Lori Karla made the birdie box and cute tag.

This trip should be such fun! And there will be photos when I get back, for sure.

While I am away, my husband is taking me out for dinner to celebrate our 23rd anniversary a couple of weeks early.

Bill Clinton’s White House chef is going to be preparing a special meal for the members at Treesdale Country Club, and we are going to go!

That is the good news, the bad is that I need to buy a dress, urhg. I’d rather spend my money at the flea market.

But more good news- my SWEET and handsome and generous and funny husband of almost 23, (almost all great) years, called me to say that his foursome won a golf game today and his prize was $250- which he is giving to me for extra shopping money on the trip! EDIT- I was wrong, my husband didn’t win the golf game, I was a bit surprised that he did. The prize was from some other part of the meeting! The golf course they played was Firestone, where a PGA tournament will be next week, so winning on a tough course like that would have been quite remarkable for him! Anyway- I still get the $250 American Express gift card, so I don’t care where he won it!!

After the Pittsburgh flea market, and big night out, we are driving to Virginia to spend a few days at our apartment there.

So, I will not be around for a week, I will try to do the pre-post thing, but really, should be packing instead…..

I won’t be able to answer emails or comments, but feel free to leave a comment if you want to enter my two July giveaways. I definitely will enjoy reading all comments later on!

ooops, another one frittered away and gone

family, parties, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 9, 2008

There is a party here tomorrow. A craft day with blog friends, that I am really looking forward to. But, somehow, today got away from me, and I haven’t got my craft room picked up yet.

I might just be saying, "Welcome, kick some crap out of your way and make yourselves at home!"

I did make little giftys for the crafters coming. B for Beth.

(why it is such a wintry tag, I don’t know, maybe I had the air conditioner too high today and was chilly??)

And an M for Marilyn.

S for Shawn.

And Gwen gets a G. I haven’t met Gwen yet, she is an antique dealer at the mall I used to be at. Beth has a spot there too, so they have met. I am looking forward to meeting her, Ive seen some stuff she has made and love what she does!

My speakers are finished, covered with wallpaper and neatly tucked under the new cabinet. I was afraid they might look cheesy, but I think they will be fine. I also painted the cords so they disapear too.

The rest of the day was put into making a scrap book for Sugarwings.

Have you seen this site on flickr where you can make your name in a variety of letters? I did that for the fairy grand baby, then wrote something about her for each letter.

Too bad there are no C’s in her name, because she is very Cuddly and Cute.

This photo of her hard at work on her painting is mounted onto the artwork she did that day.

I found this cool Wizard of Oz paper and couldn’t wait to use it to back Sugarwings in her Halloween Dorothy costume.

(the opposite photo of her with Twinkles, says "every Dorothy needs her Toto".

Aren’t these papers fun?

I used a close up of the baby’s ruby slippers on the first page, then inside the card on the second page, is another picture of her in her costume.

Am I obsessed or what? Here I am cutting out pictures of the baby all day instead of getting ready for my craft party!

Oh, but isn’t she cute and cuddly???? Do you blame me at all? Looking at her photos was a beautiful way to fritter away a day.

A NON-virtual Blogger’s Tea Party in the Garden

antiques/junking, celebrations, parties

By Karla Nathan / June 11, 2008

We had a sweet little Blogger’s Tea Party in my garden yesterday in honor of Becca who was driving across Kansas and stopped to visit.

Since her blog is called "bluebirds and roses" I used that theme in my table decor. See the blue bird nesting in the etched glass compote with chocolate eggs?

I decorated bottles to give out as party favors, and used lots of roses and birds on the labels that I made.

This is Becca, myself, and Marilyn. It is so nice to meet blog friends in person, I have never been disappointed when I do.

Since it was mid afternoon, I kept the refreshments light, mostly snacks and goodies.

Instead of sitting down around the table, we pulled up chairs to the patio table and took our plates outside to enjoy one of the loveliest days of the whole season. What luck, to have a garden party on such a pretty day.

Especially when so many people across the country are battling terrible weather conditions.

My pal, Barb in Wisconsin is really having a stretch of bad luck, with family health problems, and now floods on top of it. I am sending her a package of crafty goods to create with, because her craft room flooded and she lost so much. With all the bad stuff going on, I knew that she could use a break from it all to be creative and rest her mind from her worries a bit.

I don’t like to take my good luck for granted, days like this should be appreciated because not everyone ends up like this. Not only the weather, but the friends who came by to visit, plus the fact that I am lucky enough to have a great life where I am able to take a sunny day and turn it into a porch party.

Becca made a "Twinkle" stuffed dog for Sugarwings, who loves presents more than anything. She is at that age where she thinks that everything is for her anyway.

Isn’t this just the cutest? Thanks, Becca!!

And thanks to Beth, Carla, Marylin, and Shawn for coming out to party on the porch with me and meet Becca.

Carol is also a Kansas City area blogger, but couldn’t make it yesterday to the garden party.

I needed to interview her for the article I am writing for Fifi for Romantic Country. So, we went junking in St. Joe, MO for the day, and then at the very end of the trip, we did a 3 minute interview in the parking lot!

I’ll have to email some more questions to her as they come up, but this was a great excuse to get out and play while pretending to work!

I might have bought a few hats today…….. I don’t know how many. I don’t want to know. But look at these!! Doesn’t the green one look like a mossy nest? It has birds and butterflies in it too.

And that pin cushion doll looks like she might have some fairy wings in her future if she hangs around me for very long.

And see the beautiful blue spread??? Twenty bucks and exactly what I was looking for to redo my bedroom!

It is vintage-ish, kind of older, but not old-old. And in perfect shape, plus the exact blue I wanted. On the way home, I bought two gallons of paint to match it to repaint the walls.

I am going to STOP myself from painting quite yet. It is hard. Very hard. Every cell in my body is telling me to stay up all night and paint the room. I have little elves dancing on my shoulder and whispering in my ear, "open the can, dip in your brush!! It will be sooooo pretty"

But- now that I am 50, maybe I have developed a bit of common sense and discipline??? I need to photograph all the cards for my Great Aunt’s 100th birthday and get that flickr site filled! Plus count them up and draw a prize winner. Or a few prize winners from all the kind people who made a card for her. I also have a mural to do on a business downtown and a commision paint job for a freind. So, no new wall color for me till I get my work done. I have to have my priories straight.

That painting job will be waiting for me as a reward for getting my work done. How is that for a grown up attitude?? Oh, but first, one more junking day, tomorrow is Beth’s birthday party, and we have a day out!

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!

Count down to the big birthday bash, but Oh-Oh, what bash?????

antiques/junking, celebrations, Etsy Goodies, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / April 18, 2008

Once again, I got very little done today. Sugarwings and I snuck out for lunch and a trip to the nature center to look at snakes and fishies.

Before I left, I did make a few tags, I wanted to try something new, I kind of made a big collage sheet, glued tags to the back of it and cut them out, so that they were parts of a crazy quilt type pattern.

The first step was to print my Vintage Workshop images for the swap Beth and I are co-hosting, after editing them in sepia tones.

Since I use an ink jet printer, I always spray my copies with matt finish clear coat before I work with them, so the ink doesn’t run.

I made multiple copies of the same images in various sizes and cut off the white edges so they wouldn’t show in the collage.

Here is my collage sheet, everything is glued to one of the wallpaper patterns printed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper.

And if you think my odd collection of tags that I glued to the back is kind of unusual, you are right.

I save all tags that come on stuff I buy, and cover them in paper. Yep, there is a tag from a garden trowel, a file box, and a pair of jeans, among typical shipping tags.

After they are glued into place, I cut around them with an exacto knife.

This was a pretty quick process, I did a whole passel of tags in one swoop!

After cutting them out, I darkened the edges with a walnut ink pad, and started to embellish the tags with millinery flowers, crystals, velvet ribbons, jewels, and some complimentary wallpaper.

Beth had shown me some brown and blue things she was working on and I loved it so much, I wanted to try to keep my palette simple, with just these colors too.

This one is done with the same collections of images, but printed in color instead of sepia. I’ve really had a good time with the printer and changing settings to try new tricks.

If you want to play with Vintage Workshop images too, you can join our swap. Everyone gets the pictures from the 3 collections we are working with for the Birds and Bonnets screes, plus one free download of your choice for signing up!

Did I mention there were also lots of prizes? I’ll be giving out some of these tags, there are purses, and gift certificates, and who knows what all we’ll be giving away. We like presents!

Join up fast, the clock is ticking!!

Here is what the backs of the tags look like. Some were done with the left over patch work pieces cut to fit, others are of a single pattern. Mostly, I was using what ever scraps were on the table.

The blue velvet is from the bow on an old hat.

I stopped to visit a friend’s shop today after taking the fairy grand baby home, and look at the goodies I found! For $24 I bought these photos, 4 rolls of old ribbon, and a bagful of blooms!

And these are perfect blossoms, I love working with the tiny ones.

Since I had way too much ribbon (well, honestly I have to admit that it does happen, I keep buying more than I will ever use!)- I made up some packets of it to sell on Etsy.

I listed 5 of them, if you are interested.

I made one more stop at an antique shop where I had a fascinating discussion about flocked wallpaper with the store owner. He thinks he knows where he can score some for me.

I feel like an addict with a new dealer.

He sold me this grab bag of jewels for $12, as a "taste". I’ll be going back, I can’t stop myself.

Yesterday’s post was my 300th and I didn’t even realize it! Blogging has become such an everyday part of my life, I don’t even notice the landmarks anymore.

Another landmark coming up for me is my 50th birthday. I am throwing myself a party, but have no details yet. I should have planned it sooner.

It will be a hectic week, I have to pick my husband up at the airport, go to the best flea market in the area, participate in an art show, have a family birthday celebration and throw a big party for myself too.

I’ve been making calls to various places to figure out where I want to have the party, because I just don’t think I want to try to fit in cleaning my house to the rest of that schedule.

I’d like to do something special and unique, but the fact that I forgot to plan anything till 2 weeks before, kind of puts a dent into that idea.

Here are some suggestions from Beth for the event. Do you have any ideas?

Ps- most of these are private jokes, that probably won’t even make any sense to you, but hey, it is my birthday and they entertained me, so I am showing them!!!

Chuck E Cheese
Skateland
Cruise the Kaw
Rent Saturday Night Fever
Build a Bear party at the mall
Dairy Queen
Rent a red convertible
BBQ party catered by Vermont St BBQ
kegger & a bonfire
grown up sophisticated cocktail party
party with ballon animal man
rent a stretch hummer and party while cruising the Flint Hills
antiquing in Texas
OK, antiquing in Sparks
all you can eat desserts at Andres
call yourself queen for a day and make everyone curtsy before you
glamour shots
paint ball party
Outward Bound experience (don’t invite me!)
ask Padma and Tom if the Top Chef crew can cater your party
fly to Paris on the Concorde
change your name to Karkie
ok, just change your blog name to Karkie
rent an inflatable bounce house for a party
do whatever Oprah did- I think she devoted a whole magazine to it
have a party and make everyone wear bunny ears
put you business card in 500 helium balloons with a message that tells the finders that if they comment on your blog, you’ll enter there name in a drawing
start training for a triathlon
rent a chocolate fountain
paint your house pink
OK, just help your friend paint her booth
square dancing party in your barn—oops, too late
snipe all the good wallpaper auctions ending about 10 days before your birthday, so you get a butt load of wallpaper on your birthday
Weiner roast with marshmallows

A winner, A feature, A first auction, and A redo

family, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, parties, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 30, 2008

First of all, I want to thank everyone who came to the "What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s Home" party that Beth and I had on Thursday. What a fun turnout, lots of blinged out birdhouses to see! Wow, thanks so much for coming by and for creating such palaces for us to enjoy.

I had forgotten to show this one that I made, it is a music box, jewelry box, and used to be a Swiss Chalet. I faked the birdhouse part, by adding this tiny blown glass bird and the piece of black onyx jewelry to represent a hole and a perch.

Thanks also to everyone who bought a birdhouse from me! If you buy one from that post, it is only $15 each. I will be listing them on Etsy for slightly more later on.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that one goes as a gift to a commenter during the party? The winner is:

Denise

And on Tuesday the 1st, I will draw a name for the monthly prize, so you still have time to enter that. The prize is a secret. (Because I haven’t picked out a gift to send yet)

I also want to thank the group at the Snooty Women’s Club (they really do seem nice, not snooty as their name implies!) for featuring me this week. Thanks, ladies! Good luck with your new site!

It has been a bit hectic around here, Sugarwing’s poor little Hippy Chick mommy had her gallbladder out this week, so I have had the baby staying with me.

We went up to see her mommy in the hospital a few times, went for walks in the park, played with Twinkle, had tea parties, mostly just stayed very busy so she wouldn’t be asking where Mommy was too much.

I even took her to her first auction! Here she is with Beth, we just popped in to visit and eat her pretzels. Beth got a ton of great stuff and I was a bit jealous, but staying to bid wasn’t really an option with my little helper along.

While at the hospital, my son pointed out one of my paintings hanging in the office!

I didn’t even know that the hospital owned it, they had purchased it at a benefit auction I had donated to a couple years ago.

What a nice surprise to see it hanging there.

Look at what I have been doing while the baby napped or after she went to slept at night! Organizing, big time!

I’ve taken every single piece of paper in my studio and FILED or stored it!

Tuesday Morning had all these pretty desk organizers on sale and it inspired me to try to pull the whole room together.

I hung all my past blog banners on the wall along with my business card template and a photo of my grandma and some rosey plates.

Well, that lead to repainting my furniture so that the pieces matched each other, and looked more pulled together, then rearranging it all.

I made used of all my old wallpaper storage items, and turned this vintage shoe rack on its side, then used it to file scrapbook goods into.

I didn’t repaint the black and white cabinets with the roses on the door, thinking I might like the contrast, but now am not sure. I might paint it lighter (but leaving the roses on the doors).

When I didn’t have enough storage containers, I made some by covering Girl Scout cookie boxes in old wallpaper. Don’t ask why I had so many boxes….

I moved some rolls of vintage wallpaper close to my desk and stored them in this old trash can holder. I think it was meant for a park, to keep animals out of the trash. I found it at an antique store and have been using it for bubble wrap, but I like the rolls of paper in it.

The front part of the room got a clean up too.

There is only so much I can do with this room, it isn’t easy to tidy. I keep so much out there and it has so many uses, that even with about 1000 square feet, it is jammed full.

And no matter how much I tidy up there will always be a card table set up full of junk to be sorted, mailed, put away, or made into something, etc.

Just like, I think I am going to write a post that is tidy and everything looks pretty together, and next thing you know, I have done this- run on and on and on about a dozen different things and then the posting is all messy and run together.

My life tends to be like that, lots going on at once, and all the pretty things jammed in with the clutter and mess of it all.

But I love it that way, there are some sweet little details jumbled up in that mess and they are worth sifting through it all to get to!

Time to preen your feathers and Bling that Birdhouse!

Etsy Goodies, fairies, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / March 27, 2008

sk! What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s home??

Welcome to our Self Linking, Self Swapping, Self Marketing party! Yes, Beth and I are lazy hostesses, she says this is the equivalent of inviting people over and asking them to bring all their own food and drinks, then clean up after themselves.

The rules are simple: you can buy, sale, or trade, if you like, just let people know in your posts, or on the flickr site if you want to moving the real estate.

I will be giving one house away today to someone who leaves a comment.

The rest are FOR SALE!

And for a special price too, any of these cuties, big or small, simple or ornate, blingy or elegant (who am I kidding, these are all blingy and gaudy!!)—if purchased this week from this post— are only $15 each plus postage.

Ok, so those are my personal specs for sales. Make sure you state yours if you want to sell or swap a home during the party. I am also up for a swap…… I could use a special bird house for some fairies to move into up in Sugarwing’s bedroom.

The birdhouse with the kitty is sold to Louisa

Now, for the party linking rules. Like I said, we are pretty laid back about this one!

All you do is leave a comment, on my blog, Beth’s blog or BOTH.

In your comment, tell people that you are inviting them over to see your creations. Birdhouse_201

Make sure you leave the URL or link to your blog, or you can show the birdhouse on our flickr site if you don’t have a blog.

Everyone is invited to play along! Flickr is free and easy to do, so jump in and give it a try.

Birdhouse_203 Simple huh? Leave a comment, join the party!

Now, if you want to party hop and visit all the homes on display for our feathered friends, all you need to do is read the comments on my blog and Beth’s blog.

Not everyone who reads my blog leaves a comment and if you haven’t because you don’t know how, here is what you do:

At the end of the post, the small print says the time it was written, a list of categories, and then "comments". Click on that word.

Then, you get to read all the previous comments. Usually, you can click on the author’s name and it will take you to their blog. Sometimes, you can’t.

If there isn’t an active link, then you can copy and paste the URL that the birdhouse blinger has left for us to find them and see what they have made.

Any questions, feel free to ask. Email me or Beth and we’ll do what we can to help you get to visit everyone or to help you invite people to visit you. Fairy Banner house sold to Betty

Fairy houses count too, right? I’m sure that if a bird wanted to share the rent, they’d be allowed to move in.

The postage might be a bit higher on these fairy homes I have made. A couple of them are covered in stones, glass, beads, and trinkets, which tends to weigh more than the vintage wallpaper I put on most of the houses.

All the fairy homes come complete with a nest ready for the fairy to curl up on.

As you can probably tell, I got a bit carried away, like usual. I tend to make more than one or two when I try something…. I might have a done a couple dozen houses or so.

I could just keep going and going, these are such fun to decorate! I hate to have this challenge come to an end.

But I am sure I will feel exactly the same about the next project I take on. Don’t you just love to experiment? In the last year of blogging, I have had opportunities to participate in so many fun swaps and challenges and each one I did, the nests, matchboxes, tiaras, doll hats, all of them, I just wanted to make more, more, more!

Blogworld is such an inspiring place to be. Always a new project or idea to sample.

So, Beth and I decided to sponsor another swap. Details to come, but it will be through Vintage Workshop and we have permission to feature their images and offer free samples to our swappers to use!

We’ll let you know when we get it all worked out and are ready for sign ups.

Please check back later if you are interested in our Spring Swap.

And for today, thanks so much for coming to Our Bling Your Birdhouse Day and please go and visit some of the other bird abodes that our friends came up with!

Frilly Things, Blings, and Butterfly Wings

fairies, family, holiday decor, how to's, parties, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 20, 2008

I was invited to a fairy tale party with Sugarwings yesterday and of course it was right up our alley. We got to wear our wings and frilly things, plus do some blings !

The party was at our local HyVee grocery store promoting the release of "Enchanted"

All the little girls got craft packs to decorated crowns and wands, that of course came with a ‘poisoned’ apple, since they were all fairy princesses. Sugarwings decorated me with most of her glittery stickers instead of putting them on her tiara.

Afterwords, when I went grocery shopping to get some forgotten items for the dinner for 18 I was cooking that night, I looked very sparkly in the store with my extras the baby added to my fairy grandmother outfit.

They dined on mini pizzas. Dessert was a chocolate fountain with lots of goodies to dip into it. So, she wasn’t too hungry for my build your own burrito bar that night for the big family dinner. I don’t blame her, its hard to come back to reality and eat a burrito when you have spent the afternoon as a princess and being served chocolate from a magical fountain.

With company here, gallbladders going bad every where I look, and tax season approaching, there certainly has not been much creative time at my cottage lately.

I was able to squeeze in an hour or so yesterday and made 3 eggs. I’d seen these made at Amy’s and hers are so much better, but I chose to use throw away materials, not anything wonderful like her velvet ribbons and rhinestones.

The trim I used was just snippets of crepe paper and tinsel. I was too cheap to use the ‘good stuff’

Heres a quick how to:

Start with the large sized plastic eggs

pick a paper you want to cover the egg in, tear in small strips and soak the paper for a moment in water

brush glue onto one side of the egg, add paper strips, mushing them down well with your fingers, then brush glue over the top and sprinkle with glitter (I used the kind that looks like sugar)

Repeat with the other half of the egg, being careful to get close to the edge but not interfere with the lip.

Glue trim along the edge to cover the rims, so they don’t show when the egg is put back together.

I’d keep these out of candy baskets, because of the glitter, but they make a pretty display and I will put a gift card in them to give to the bigger kids.

I also got started covering my Swiss Chalet music box. Not exactly a birdhouse, but it is a house and I will add some birds, so I think that if I get it finished, it can come to our Bird House Bling Party next Thursday.

Check out the details if you’d like to be a part of it. And remember, you don’t have to be a blogger, you can get a free flickr account and upload photos there too.

This chalet is barely begun, but I think that the pink polka dot ribbon might be jarring. I usually go for all vintage trims and maybe this one is too new looking?? The velvet is a scrap from a rocking chair I redid for Sugarwings when she was born. I found some white velvet, and was able to do a soft pink marbley look with fiber reactive dyes. Her little Hippy Chick mom loves tie dye, so this was done just for her.

Today will be a craftapoolza- Beth is coming to play! We will be making birdhouses all day to be ready for next week (I hope you join us! Feel free to add the button to your blog too). We’ll also be plotting our next swap, so I hope you’ll join that also.

We aren’t the only ones planning a party, there is always something fun going on in blogworld. Sandy is hosting an Easter Parade today and is asking us to show our Easter Bonnets. Here are some of my latest purchases, in a basket on the fairy grandbaby’s piano. She likes to wear one while she serenades me.

She is going through a hat phase right now and luckily, I can keep her supplied with plenty of rosey ones to show off in.

Thanks, Sandy!

And over at the Part Tea Planner’s there is a tea party welcoming the first day of spring.

Enjoy the celebrations!