Sugarwings – Page 24 – Karla's Cottage

Sugarwings 5th birthday

celebrations, fairies, family, Food and Drink, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2011

Thanks for your interest in photo editing. I know I said my next post would be more tips and tricks, but I wanted to show you pictures from Sugarwing's birthday party first. The soft color editing tips will be on Friday instead.

We had quite a week with our fairy child. We took the entire bunch of 7 grands and their parents to a water park in Kansas City on Thursday to celebrate a few of the birthdays, then my husband and I snuck our little one away for a weekend at a Holiday Inn water park (we had a free Priority Club room to use) and a day at the zoo in KC too.

She's pretty proud of her two wrist bands from the parks and refuses to take them off.

She also had a sleepover with me on Sunday night, and since I got to have her most of Monday, we decided to throw a party. A fairy tea party luncheon with Pixie Pie.

We got up early on Monday morning and started baking cupcakes, then made mini pizzas by rolling out the dough and cutting it with a star shaped cookie cutter. The stars were topped with Trader Joe's marinara sauce, cheese, a broccoli nose, red pepper slice smile, and green pepper eyes.

I'd show you photos, but when a soon to be 5 year old works the cookie cutter and makes the faces, they aren't always recognizable as smiling stars. They just kind of looked like pizza blobs. But she loved them anyway.

Next, we set the table with pretty dishes and linens, got the tea pots out, and put on our fairy dress up gear.

It wasn't quite time for Pixie Pie to arrive, but Sugarwings was pretty excited and wanted to sit at the table and wait there for her.

Waiting can be the hardest part.

We were trying something new that day, some all natural rock candy sugar. It made the tea even more fun to stir.

When her cousin arrived, the girls scampered up the stairs to get her all decked out in her fairy wear too.

I think that Sugarwings is wearing my all time favorite selections in this picture. She layered herself in multiple skirts and a lady bug costume, along with great ruby slippers from Aunt Sissy. Of course, the water park wrist bands just make the outfit.

Did you notice that Pixie Pie is soon to be a big sister? Her mom is due any minute, and is expecting a boy. I hope he likes tea parties.

After lunch, I turned them loose with cupcakes, icing tubes, and sprinkles and let them go. It quickly became Sprinkle Palooza, we were knee deep in tiny, tasty, tidbits that made crunchy sounds when we walked through the kitchen.

When I was a young mother, I never let my poor boys go wild with the sprinkles like this. I was probably on too tight of a budget to allow such waste and on too tight of a schedule to clean up the mess. And too tightly wound myself to be able to relax and just enjoy the show of sprinkles and icing flying everywhere.

Its so nice to be a grammy. I can't imagine anything better. I wish I'd been as happy go lucky with my sons as I am with these girls. I have to say, all the arthritis and creakiness and backaches and wrinkles are worth it. Getting older is getting better. I love being a little old lady.

Oh, the boys and I had fun when they were little, of course. I was the master of finding free things to do. If there was a grocery store grand opening, we were first in line to get a balloon and free hot dog and play any carnival games they offered. We hiked, we swam, we pinched pennies and saved up to have special treats. But life was harder then, I was a single mom with three jobs for a while, times were tight, time was scarce and money even more so. I spent more time worrying than playing and didn't realize how fast it would all zoom by.

But with Sugarwings, I'm old enough to know how precious and limited these times are.

Sugarwings might be a bit spoiled by all she gets to do and the places she gets to go, but she doesn't act like it, she is the most appreciative kid around. She always has a big smile and an "oh my goodness" or "thank you, Grammy!!!", or a "thats sooooo cuuuute" ready whenever we do something special. And she flings herself at us with unlimited joy and wraps us in her arms. Her middle name is Joy and it is perfect for her. She overflows with it.

And we still are careful about spending, all of her dress up clothes are from garage sales and goodwill stores. We buy sprinkles by the truckload, but mostly with 40% off coupons at Michael's.

She might be a bit over indulged by grand parents who are smitten with her, but honestly, I think that I am the one being indulged, not her. I love every minute of it.

Its hard to believe she is five now. I've been invited to walk to school with her on her first day tomorrow with all of the rest of the family, and I'm just not sure that I can do it. I might just sob thinking about how fast she is growing up.

But I also can't wait to go through each and every stage of it all with her. Today she was planning her future wedding. She will either marry a blue M&M or Prince Navine. I sure hope that when that day comes, I get to help design and set up her reception. And I also hope that we are still best friends then like we are now. Because it will be here before I know it, I can almost hear those wedding bells.

Slowed down for summer

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 7, 2011

Last week, Beth, Mary, and our other Karla came by for craft day. Of course, Button came along with Beth to play with Agnes Rosebud. Here they are in Beth's supply tote.

I hear that at home, Button rules the house. But when he comes to see Grammie, he gets a little shy and hangs out on his mom's lap as much as he can.

Mary worked on her glue book, Beth and Karla did needlework, and I dithered. Seems like I am spinning my wheels lately and not getting much of anywhere.

I hope to knuckle down and get something accomplished after my Indy trip. Is it the heat? Something has sapped the productivity right out of me.

Its much more fun to be playing out in the sunshine with the sprinkler and Sugarwings.

That could be the problem. Or, it is that I have so much I need to do, none of it is taking priority, I am just feeling swamped? Which isn't like me. The heat kinda makes me feel like I'm wading through molasses.

I do always seem to have too much on my plate, but I'm good at mental lists and working my way through things as they need to be getting done.

Hopefully, the trip away from the piles of to-do work will refresh my mind and get me focused.

Isn't that why we take vacations?

Or could it be that I've had so many trips that I can't quite get caught up when I get home any more?

Oh well, it all gets done somehow. And I'm lucky to get to spend a few days with loved ones. See you when I get back!

Please forgive me if I don't answer comments while gone. My sisses and I will be junkin, making stuff, and hanging out, non-stop this week.

But please do leave a comment, it will enter you in the drawing for either a free online dress form class, or a kit to make the dress form if you've already paid for the $15 class.

Packages will be shipped after I return, but if you order the dress form class, I can send the password to you on my Ipad, from Indiana.

Summertime

Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 22, 2011

Some of us don't mind this heat wave at all!

Hope you are finding ways to keep cool too.

the best kind of girls weekend

family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2011

We had a sweet time babysitting for our tiny fairies. That baby is about as mellow as they come. She fusses a bit if she is wet or hungry and that is about it. Goes right to sleep when I lay her down, and wakes up smiling and playing with toys in the crib until someone picks her up.

We thought it was going to be a piece of cake, after a fun family evening at Pixie Pie's birthday party, and peaceful night with the little one sleeping almost 12 hours and waking up as happy as can be.

Sugarwings was helpful and not at all jealous of the time we spent with her sis-star.

The dogs and the baby had a mutual admiration for each other, and spent a lot of time together. Twinkle adored her and didn't care how much her ears were pulled or twisted.

Agnes Rosebud liked to be near her if she was eating, since only about 20% of the food went into her mouth, and plenty went onto the floor. And she was happy to cuddle up and visit, but when the ear pulling started, she jumped down.

Twinkle never even acted like she wanted to get away.

What a good dog.

Of course, Twinkle was probably just waiting for a photo op. Since she thinks all cameras are pointed at HER only.

Our littlest fairy was content to crawl around, stick out her tongue and laugh for most of the day.

Then, about mid-afternoon, she started to wonder where her mom and dad were. I could tell by the way she was looking over my shoulder and was beginning to fret.

By evening, she was in tears. She'd never been away from mommy that long and was missing her too much.

So we hopped in the car and drove out to Camp Gaea where her parents were teaching workshops and she joined them for the rest of the weekend.

We still have Sugarwings, so she and I will be doing some painting together and will see a movie this afternoon. It seems quiet without the baby, and we are already looking forward to our next time to have her back.

Sugarwings is helping me write about our weekend with her sister and it was her idea to have purple letters.

Gilding

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2011

My computer is home safe and seems to be working. Even though it was all backed up, the Geeks had some trouble finding where all the stuff was hiding. And a lot of it, they restored in weird places. I'm hunting and gathering and finding odds and ends as I go along. My email files are a wreck, all jumbled and not in files anymore, just years of saved things smooshed together.

But it still feels GREAT to have her back.

While my computer was out of commission, I was kind of on a forced vacation from work. While I kept up with emails on my Ipad and still worked in the studio, I also did some puttering around, reading, entertaining, and playing with grandies.

It was good to have some extra cuddle time with this dumpling.

And I hitch hiked along on Sugarwing's class field trip to a farm.

But it wasn't all play time. A huge start was made on the tag book covers too. I did a little painting of a bird, on a page torn from an old book about birds. Then I had it copied onto premium card stock and I really like the way they came out, very vibrant.

In the original, all the bars of the cage are black. So, I am going over each cage, slowly but surely, with metallic inks or glitters, gilding the black lines. I get bored easily and keep changing up how I do it.

If I am ever When I am done with this part, I'll cover the backs with pretty wallpaper, cut them out, trim 'em up with lace, add a charm and that is it. They'll be ready to put together.

Which reminds me-

If you are in the swap, all the details, including my address, can be found on the swap info page. You can get to it by clicking on the button on my side bar.

Also, I'm taking a trip to see family in Utah on July 14th, so I'll be extending the date from the 15th till the 18th. But please do go ahead and mail your tags by the 15th, they will be here in time for me to start assembly.

But, even though I just told you my address and the fact that I will be out of town, don't think you can come and rob me. My son lives here and he is a weight lifter, very strong. His weightlifting friends hang out with him here too.

I also have 3 attack dogs. And an alarm system. So don't even try to come by and raid my hat collection while I'm away, its well protected.

Puppy lovin

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 10, 2011

Is there anything cuter than a sleeping little girl wearing pink ruffles?

Yes! A sleeping little girl with pink ruffles and hugging a puppy!!

Happy Birthday Rich

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2011

My husband had a birthday this week and Sugarwings helped me bake him an ultra healthy, low fat cake to celebrate. He has high cholesterol and really works hard at keeping the numbers down, but he also has a sweet tooth. So I came up with a guilt free cake for him. Well, semi-guilt free, at least, healthier than a double fudge chocolate cake anyway.

We took fat free, cranberry/orange muffin mix, and added 1/2 cup of applesauce, 1 cup of blueberries, 1/4 cup of ground, golden flaxseed, 1/2 cup of shelled and finely chopped pistachios, 3/4 cup of chopped pecans, and 3/4 cup of toasted coconut, then about 1/2 cup of water.

While it was in the oven, we cleaned and sliced strawberries. Then, I covered them with 2 spoonfuls of organic brown sugar and a 1/4 cup of lime juice.

After the cake was cooled we poked holes all over it and topped it with the strawberries and lime juice. (It was an ooey, gooey, moist cake!)

Over that, we added this mix, which is what really made it yuumy:

1 cup of Dannon Greek 0 fat plain yogurt- That stuff is so thick and rich, you'd never know it was low fat!!
1 block of low fat cream cheese
1 cup of fat free sour cream
1 tsp real vanilla
1/4 cup organic powdered sugar
splash of lime juice

That was fluffed with the blender and dolloped over the berry covered cake, then spread. To top it off, we served it with low fat Cool Whip.

Sguarwings had 3 pieces and shared a bite of hers with the birthday boy. I didn't feel bad about her eating so much cake since it was mostly fruit, nuts, and yogurt.

She also shared some messy kisses.

And thought it was funny to wipe the cream cheese topping off of his face afterwards.

Maybe all three pieces didn't make it into her tummy, she looked like she was wearing quite a bit of the dessert, so went right into the tub after.

Ps- all of the bird cage charms I listed in the Boutique sold out right away, so I have replenished the supply. If you are in the Bird Song Tag Book Swap, don't worry, I have plenty of pretties to adorn the books with! I've ordered more charms to paint too.

By the way, we are at about 120 swappers. I have room for a FEW more, since I haven't started making the covers yet. Email me if you are interested. Details HERE.

(I will be away, so please forgive me if I don't get right back to you)

Freebirds and a lifetime supply of lace

free images, Sugarwings, swaps, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / May 31, 2011

I hope you all had a memorable Memorial Day weekend! We went to a family BBQ and graduation celebration, saw a movie, planted the garden, I worked in the studio, and we also got to spent two afternoons on the lake. And even though the boat died in the water and we were stranded for a while, it was still a great time.

On Friday, we had both of our fairy babies over, it doesn't get any better than that. Not a bad kick off for a 3 day weekend.

While my husband played golf on Saturday, I was able to work in the studio a while. I'm making up some books to take to vendor night at Paper Cowgirls, but while I was at it, I made a few dress form tags too, since these gals have been on my mind so much while I am getting ready for the class in Texas and setting up the online tutorial. (by the way, that gorgeous wallpaper is one of the papers provided in the online class)

Details are in the previous post, or you can find them on my side bar, by clicking on the Dress Form Workshop button.

Thanks to all of you who already purchased the class!

Today, I start packing up my kits. And just in time, I got this order of vintage lace! Hundreds of feet of it. I think I might have plenty for the kits, huh?

There are 3-1/2 giant sized rolls of the stuff. These two are my faves. The others are a bit mundane, but useful anyway.

I'll be making up kits for the class itself, some to sell on vendor night, plus extra for the Boutique. I'll let you know when I get them done. Each kit includes a free entry to the online class, as well as vintagey goodies to make your dress form. No two will be exactly the same, since I am using ephemera, but each will be of equal value and style.

I'll be able to use up some of that lace to tie the Birdsong tag books together too. We are over 100 participants, but I still have room for more. If you are interested, details can be found on my side bar by clicking on the Bird Song Tag Book button.

Here are some scanned French chocolate cards with birds on them, for you to print. Click on them to save as a larger size first.

ps-My pal, Mary is having a sale on her online tute, and she is the queen of gluebooks if you are wanting to learn. Check it out here.

Shopping at the Habitat for Humanity Restore

family, Food and Drink, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 24, 2011

What a lovely weekend we had, but then any weekend with our Sugarwings is just the best. We spent Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market where I loaded up on fresh veggies and Sugarwings found a little "house" to play in.

At my cottage, I try to cook healthy things, local ingredients,vegetarian a few days a week, chicken and fish the rest, organic when I can afford it, or when it really matters. I think we eat okay around here.

But no matter how hard I try, I'll never live up to my son's family's guidelines for healthy eating. These guys are all natural. Recently they have gone vegan. So, we tried out some vegan doughnuts at the market, and I just don't think they were all that great. Just because its vegan doesn't mean its good for you, it was still a deep fried, greasy hunk of dough.

Sugarwings liked it, but she loves anything with pink icing.

Her parents are nice about letting me bake with her and give her treats, and don't insist on me following a strict diet for her at our house. I think they trust me to not let her fill up on Koolaide and junk food, and to feed her stuff that is good for her. So, they'll let me give her some sweet treats or a piece of chicken when she stays with us.

I like it when people are true to their own beliefs but don't try to force them onto others.

I like my kids.

Adam is working on opening an energy/healing center. He has the spot rented and is fixing it up, as greenly as he can. So, after the Farmer's Market, we went shopping for supplies. At the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, he found big rolls of carpet for only about $10 each, and will be stapling those to the wall for sound proofing.

Now, that sounds a bit like a shagadellic 70s look, doesn't it? But that is only the first step. Over the carpet, he will mix tinted plaster and clay-mud and trowel it on. It should look really nice, I'll get some pictures of the walls when it is done. Its "dirt cheap", green, and arty. I'm looking forward to seeing the process.

We also went to see the Doo Dads over the weekend. They are a band that plays rock for kids. And they have TWO bubble machines on the stage. Sugarwings and Pixie Pie were entranced by the bubbles.

And all the girls danced their hearts out.

Very little work got done this weekend, and Paper Cowgirls is fast approaching. It will get done, I still have two weeks, but I am starting to feel a little wriggly worry in the back of my mind. Once I get something completely done, like all of my kits packed, or the instructions written for the class, that feeling will pass. At this point, I have a lot of started, but not completed things going on.

The mini dress forms class that I am teaching in Texas, will also have an online class. I'd like to have it online before I go to Paper Cowgirls so I can give the link to all of my students there. That way, when they get home, they will have access to a refresher course if they need to finish their mannequin later, or make a few more of them.

My plan is to offer the class two ways. You can buy a (limited supply) kit in the Boutique and get a free link to the online classes. Or you can furnish your own supplies and just buy the instructions (they will include some images of vintage papers to download).

I'll let you know when its ready to roll.

But for now, I'd better get back to work on it while I can, because I never know when I'll get an opportunity to go play with the grand fairies. When that happens, all work stops!

A Springtime tea party

fairies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / May 16, 2011

The weather around here has been weird, which means, its a typical Kansas Spring. The air conditioner was in use on Monday and by the end of the week we had the furnace back on again.

Sugarwings spent some of the weekend with me and we were both sick of the cold weather, so we cheered ourselves up with a Fairy Tea Party. A big part of the fun was setting her table and planning treats that our guests would like.

We made cupcakes together, then I put her to work making cherry tomato and cheese kabobs on colorful toothpicks. (she preferred to make her tomatoes connected with multiple picks, and her platter of snacks looked more like an erector set than kabobs)

I let her pick the flowers for the centerpiece and she chose all yellow, which is odd for her, she loves pink even more than I do. But I think she made a good choice for the table cloth and the teapot that she chose.

Our guests were Pixie Pie and Lola (which means Grandmother in Filipino, Lola is Grandpa Ardell's widow). All day, while getting ready for them, Sugarwings refused to call them by their names, she would only refer to them as "our guests".

And after they left, she set and re-set her table for guests to come again.

The goodies went over well. I don't have a single photo where someone isn't chewing. Everyone was pretty engrossed in the meal. (that is Sparkle in the background waiting patiently to clean up the floor under the table after the meal is over, Agnes Rosebud and Twinkle aren't that patient, they are under the table already.)

The girls might think that tea parties are all about the food, but I am sneakily teaching manners as we chow down. They learn about passing the food around, pouring their own cream, and sharing food, but not sharing the spoons or double dipping. As well as polite conversation and asking each person how their day was.

There might have been a little bit too much sugar in the tea, so we bundled up and went outside to run some of the energy off. It sure looks like Spring with all the iris in bloom, but it was too chilly for me.

Promising them a bubble bath got the two little girls to come inside again so I could get warm They were happy running full speed through the garden trails while I shivered, but a chance to play in the big tub convinced them.

And a warm bubble bath was good for them too, they were cold and sticky.

Thanks for all of your sign ups for my Birdsong Tag Book Swap!

And there is room for more. Scroll down to the previous post for details if interested.