Sugarwings – Page 31 – Karla's Cottage

Some Tree House fix ups on the Fairy Berry Trail

By Karla Nathan / April 8, 2010

Somehow, Spring has slipped away again, and we are back to wet and chilly weather. But that didn't stop the fairies from sneaking in to Sugarwing's new club house out on the Fairy Berry Trail and adding some new decor.

Actually, it was me filling the branches with bright, sparkly things from Hobby's Lobby's 40% off sale, but Sugarwings is sure that the fairies came to visit and did all the work.

She was mesmerized!

The Fairy Club House is just the area under the over hang of two old Hedge trees. We piled up sticks and logs from around the area to make "walls" on two sides. The third side is formed from the hanging branches and grapevines. I can't wait to see it become a canopy of green this summer!

The fourth side is this opening between the trees. The area inside is cozy and just the right size for a fairy sprite to hide out in. So, for about $40 worth of doodads, and a couple hours of cleaning up and stacking wood, and a little bit of paint, our little fairy grand baby has her own tree house in the forest behind the cottage.

I hope to find fun things to add for her at garage sales all summer. It could use some cute furniture and toys. For now, she only has a bench, a chair a bucket and shovel. She likes to dig and seems pretty happy just that and using her imagination. That is what makes it all such fun for us, she has such a happy attitude and loves everything about of it.

As I was painting this face, it started to rain on me, so I stopped and it isn't exactly what I had in mind. I might work on it some more later, but Sugarwings likes it as it is. (the gold color is metallic paint)

She has already made friends!

I'm linking this with Fireflies and jellybeans , Thrifty Thursday

and Transformation Thursday

Check them out for more redos and bargains!

And remember, as soon as my Google Friend Connect hits 150, I'll draw another prize winner. Thanks for joining!

Hippity Hoppity Fairy Berry Trail

celebrations, fairies, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 4, 2010

On Saturday, we got our boat out of storage and took it to the Marina for the upcoming season. Sugarwings offered to help and since we weren't going to see her for Easter, the bunny hid a little basket for her on the bank of the lake.

But sadly, her mommy's plans for driving to see relatives in Missouri today changed when Sugarwings woke up with a fever. The two of them came over here instead, where they could cuddle up and watch movies and rest, but still be with family.

While the two of them were all tucked up on the couch, the we took advantage of the spectacular, 80 degree, sunshiny day and got to work on the Fairy Berry Trail. All the fairies came out of the shed where they had hidden for the winter. And the bunny came over to hide a few eggs.

The poor kid had a fever of 104 earlier, but was feeling a bit better, so we carried her down to the woods in her jammies to visit her fairy friends and the other creatures who live on the trail.
At first, she was so happy to see her favorite frog prince, that she didn't even notice the trails of carrots.

But she has spent enough time with her Grammy to always notice the sparkle of glitter and be attracted to it! So, she soon noticed some of the hidden plastic eggs.

She didn't want to eat any of the jelly beans inside because she thought the fairies might be mad at her.

Then, she saw her new play house. My husband is the world's best grandfather and we worked for a long time to put this together today, but forever and ever, the Easter Bunny will get all the credit for building her a "Glitter House" as she calls it.

We mowed a 12 foot area between two trees that were draped in vines. Then, I sprinkled glitter all around on the ground, and set up a little chair and table for her (later on, we'll get a picnic set big enough for all of us).

Then, we gathered fallen branches from all over the woods to build "walls" to make a little room.

Over time, we'll foof it up even more. But for a spur of the moment idea using what was laying around, its pretty fun.

I could possibly go broke if I try to keep the ground glitter covered, so I think we'll switch to mulch. I can't wait to see this with all the leaves budded out, it will really feel like a fairy house in the trees then!

After a few jubilant dance moves in her new play area, our poor little fairy grand baby was worn out and didn't even look for the rest of her hidden eggs. And she never did eat a jelly bean, so we knew she must be feeling pretty bad.

In the short time we had her out doors, her fever spiked back up and she said her back hurt. It got back up to over 104 again, so we took her to the ER, we could tell she was feeling awful. I'm glad we did, she has a urinary track infection and is now on antibiotics.

By the time we got back home, her fever was gone again and she was hungry. I whipped up an impromptu Easter dinner
with chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, asparagus and broccoli, while my husband grilled some ruby trout for the vegetarians of the group.

We were glad to see Sugarwings eat a bit, but she still isn't quite herself. She and her mommy will stay all night tonight and hopefully, she'll be up to hopping down the fairy trail tomorrow.

While its sad that she is sick, and she missed out on a family reunion with her mom, it certainly will be an Easter we never forget. I hope yours was a memorable one too!

ps- No pups yet! Twinkle kept up with us all morning clearing brush in the woods and foofing up the bunny trail. Maybe all that hard work will throw her into labor tonight!

Gifts, gifts and more gifts

family, give away, holiday decor, show and tell, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 2, 2010

Everyone was so complimentary about the shard necklace for the March giveaway, that I thought I'd offer one for the April Giveaway too. It is pink rose china with two dangly beads taken from vintage necklaces.

And by the way, the winner of the March Giveaway is:

Andrea of Freckled Star

I'm giving THREE gifts instead of two for all the friend sign ups, because I really appreciate having friends out there! I'll give away one Peat Pot Pretty for the first 100 sign ups, and then draw again at 150. Thank you to everyone who signed up, you are all still in the hat for the next draw.

The first one goes to:

Dawn of the Feathered Nest

And I'll send the bonus giveaway of a glittered egg to:

Jingle

Vicki's shadow box kit goes to:

Freda

I hope she has as much fun making it as we did making ours on craft day!

So far we have no plans for Easter. I'm hoping that Sugarwings will come over for an egg hunt. She and I have been making eggs all week.

We also made up goodies for the bake sale at her school.

We put a cupcake into a teacup and the granola bars on vintage plates. Since I go to so many garage sales in the summer, I never pass up cheap but pretty dishes. They are good for sending leftovers home with people after big dinners, or to use for bake sale goodies too. When I wrap up baked goods like this, I also like to include a list of ingredients for the buyer.

Notice the cute little "Spring" tag and the sweet, stuffed bunny behind it? Those gifts came to me from Freda, so I was really excited when I saw that I had drawn her name to send a gift to!

The pewter bunny was from my pal, Sherry.

There are a couple more gifts I need to show you, its been downright Christmassy around here with all the presents!

Sugarwings got these adorable gifts from sweet swappers who participated in the Alice Tag book swap.

She is a lucky kid, and has so much fun with the thoughtful things that have been sent to her. I wonder what she thinks of it? I can only imagine how impressed I would have been as a kid if my grandma's friends mailed packages to me out of the blue, and its not even Christmas!

This last gift was from Beth. I'm afraid I didn't get a good photo, with the sunlight coming in through them, the curtains don't show up as good as they could. I'll have to try again later, because these valances are worth a second look! She gave me a pair of French net toppers that I have tied together and hung over my studio window for now. I might put them onto a rod later.

I think I'm pretty lucky too. Sugarwings and I both are! Thanks!!

Shadowboxes, buddies, and tagging along plus 4- count ’em FOUR giveaways at once!

fairies, flowers, give away, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 31, 2010

This week is craft-o-licious! Beth came by all day Sunday and we had so much fun chatting and gluing and cutting that we forgot to even have lunch till 4pm. Then, on Tuesday, the regular crowd of snippers and gluers came by to hang out and have an Italian themed pitch in lunch. No way we'd forget to eat that meal, it was excellent.

Usually we all bring whatever we feel like making that day, but we tried a little something different this time and had a group project. Vicki has designed these shadow boxes and sent some for us to play with.

At the end of the day, there was plenty of oohing and awing. Vicki had also included collage sheets to use, and most of us used those plus a mix of vintage goodies we already had.

Clockwise these are done by:

all of us, Shawn (who made the lasagna!), me, Mary, Beth. I'm sad that I didn't get a good photo of Marilyn's hers was impressive. There are photos on her blog of all of them, you can see her masterpiece there.

Shawn's daughter, Bethany, bonded with Sugarwings over the jelly bean dispenser in the treat cabinet. Little Bethany has been part of the craft group since we started, but Sugarwings is a wild crafter and I get nothing done after she joins us in the afternoon, so she isn't there for the whole day.

Beth left her Cuttlebug with me on Sunday and I might have gotten a bit carried away making tags from old papers with it….

But what a great use of scraps! Plus, these will be wonderful to make into tag books, and to tie to packages I send out with orders from the Boutique.

One tag book is already done, and ready to list in the shop.

Its not listed yet, but if someone wants it before then, please contact me, its $20.

And here are all the giveaways I tantalized you with in the title:

1- Today is the last day to enter for the March Giveaway, a rose quartz and china shard pendant. All comments all month, any post are entered.

2 & 3- If you sign up to be my Google Friend, you are entered to win a prize, I am giving away two Peat Pot Pretties with vintage flowers. (details in the sticky post at the top)

4- We have one extra shadowbox from Vicki that I will offer to someone who leaves a comment on THIS post. Thanks, Vicki!! These things are really cute.

5- And hey, is this #5?? Yep, Officially, the April Giveaway starts at midnight tonight. And I'll do my best to announce what it will be soon, instead of forgetting till the 20th or so…

The Tiniest Dancers

antiques/junking, celebrations, fairies, family, parties, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 23, 2010

When I found these teeny little ballerinas, I was just charmed by them. At barely an inch, they are just as dainty and sweet as can be. I didn't get many of them, just a few to add to the shop along with some of their big sisses, and a few for me to use too.

It was a girly day for the Boutique. I added fairies, ballerinas, Charlottes and Alices.

Don't you just love the badly painted faces of the OLD cake topper ballerinas? So ugly they are cute.

This shipment of Charlottes is of all eensy weensy little girls. Each is every bit as dainty as that tiny ballerina, at about 1 inch long.

I scrubbed at a couple to see if the dirt comes off, and most of it will. But I am leaving it on, in case the new owner likes "patina" as much as I do.

They are just so tiny and sweet.

Kind of like these two, the sweetest little dancers ever.

We had a little tea party so Pixie Pie and Sugarwings could open the gifts that were sent to them by Debra Ganas. They loved them!! Thanks, Debra!!

Sugarwings loves her cuddly dog. But I made a mistake in my Swap Book notes and only wrote down that there was a gift for Sugarwings next to the giver's name, not what it was, because it wasn't open at the time. So, I won't know what is from who!

How rude of me. I'm sorry.

She has a couple more to open, and tomorrow is my Sugarwings Day, so she and I will spend some time enjoying the thoughtfulness of the givers.

You know that feeling after a holiday, or big event when all of a sudden, its over and you wonder what you are going to do with your time? That is kind of how I am feeling right now, I miss the Alice Tag Book Swap!

So, today I made up a book of my own tags, plus a few kits if anyone would like to make a book.

Confessions of a sloth

fairies, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 21, 2010

Sloth-dom agrees with me. While off of work this week, I've read Edgar Sawtelle plus a few back issues of Newsweek, rented Precious and A Serious Man, went to see Alice, She'd out of my League, Green Zone, and Shutter Island. Not to mention every single episode of anything that was waiting for me on TV in the DVR.

A few years back, I had tendinitis and learned the hard way that if you don't let it heal up, it can go on for months. So, I stayed away from work all week and didn't pick up anything besides a remote control or a book. I'm surprised at how easy it was for me to get out of my work-a-holic habits and just relax. It might have had something to do with the pleurisy, that kind of made me feel run down and yucky too.

Since it was spring break for Sugarwings and her Daddy, I didn't get any fairy babysitting in, which was a good thing, since I couldn't really lift her with my old lady achiness going on. But I did get to spend a day with the two of them at Crown Center in Kansas City. There was a fairy tale village sponsored by Hallmark, and it was cute as can be. Sugarwings was in princess paradise.

The event is free and so well made! Plenty of interactive stuff too.

She got to pull Pinocchio's strings to make him dance. That was a nice change for her, usually its my strings that she pulls.

Yes, she has had a lot of practice tugging on my heart strings.

Thanks again for all of your messages and nice comments. I'm trying not to type much, so please don't think I'm rude for not responding. I've enjoyed reading them all.

And if you want to be entered to win the March giveaway of this rose quartz/china shard/vintage crystal pendant, please leave a comment. Although it sure doesn't feel like March. 8 inches of snow on the first official day of Spring???

Thanks!

fairies, Sugarwings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / March 19, 2010

Thanks for all of your well wishes. I tried to return a few emails, but the typing is making my arm ache. I am enjoying reading them, and hope to visit soon.

So, for a few days, I'm going to try to keep myself out of the studio and away from the keyboard. NOT EASY!

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the tag books they received, didn't people send in some beauties? OK, I'm off to rest up some more. Its kind of nice, lots of movies, TV, and Sugarwings! Not bad. But I do miss my studio and computer.

March giveaway does really exist and some Tag Book Tendinitis

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, give away, jewelry, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / March 17, 2010

Happy St Pats! There is a great parade downtown Lawrence, but I had to skip it today. Sugarwings went with the rest of the family and I stayed home to rest.

Remember the Frozen Charlotte flu that knocked me out of commission a couple of weeks ago? It turned into pleurisy. But on top of that, I seem to have some tendinitis in my left arm, from making over 70 tag books and typing out the labels. Funny, when you are over 50 and call the Dr. to say that your chest and left arm hurts, everyone starts to panic.

But, I knew it wasn't a heart attack, I could just tell. But my Dr. wouldn't see me to say what it was, I had to go to the ER. And since my stubborn, doctor's office hating, husband has high cholesterol issues and a family history of heart problems, I knew that if I refused to go in to get checked, he would use this as an excuse to not get checked himself if a future chest pain ever came up for him.

Since I KNEW it wasn't my heart, I finished all the tag books (from the tags that were already here, I am expecting a few more yet) and got them to the PO before I went to the ER. The pain had been around for more than 24 hours, I figured that if it was an emergency, I'd already have been dead.

So, the tags are in the mail, I am feeling better, but am supposed to rest up. I might take a couple of days off from typing, this hurts!

Sometimes it sucks to get old. Things hurt more. And linger longer.

Just ask poor old Bookie and Sparkle, they know how I feel. Those two hardly ever leave their pillow by the space heater. But I did coax them out to pose in their St Pats finery.

I'm going to take today and tomorrow off to get cozy and rest up while I recover from Frozen Charlotte Flu induced pleurisy and Tag Book Tendinitis. I've got some reading to do for book club and need to go see Alice in Wonderland.

Before I go, I wanted to show you the giveaway for March. Yep, its once again past mid-month by the time I remembered to announce my month long contest….

This is a china shard pendant that I've made from a vintage plate, a rose quartz cab, two rose quartz beads, and vintage crystals. This giveaway is retroactive, all comments all month, all posts go into the hat.

Now, back to my ibuprofen. I hope you all find a lucky four leaf clover and a pot of gold today!

Woodland magic

family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 16, 2010

My cottage sits on ten acres. Lots of trees, a few fields, and I70 as a border. A bit loud out in the woods this time of year with no leaves to muffle the sound of the traffic. But this time of year is wonderful for exploration, there is no poison ivy and its not over grown yet.

In the summer we keep trails mowed to walk on, and call it the Fairy Berry Trail because it is lined with mulberry trees. But right now, the whole area is open and ready to explore. Sugarwings can run through the "deep dark forest" as she calls it like a woodland sprite and hunt for fairies, dance on fallen logs, and climb fences.

For years we had horses and they grazed the woods, but now they are gone, and the fences are drooping, and wouldn't hold a horse in for long. They were never very good, we were constantly mending them.After we quit keeping horses, I felt like we weren't even using our space. We rarely went out into the woods.

But since Sugarwings has fallen in love with the area, and we mowed the trails for her, it has been a joy to rediscover our land. Even if that is only a small area of it. We don't cross the creek, there is a few more acres back there that we still don't get back to.

There are also a couple of large, unused fields of brome grass. But now we have found a use for some of that too! Our niece is bringing out a group of young couples from her church and starting a community garden!! I'm so excited to see some of our space going to a good use.

It thrills me to see my fairy grand baby grow up with a love of nature and the outdoors. We are hoping to expand the Fairy Berry Trail this summer for her so she will have a large woodland play ground to enjoy. I want to add swings, benches, someday a tree house or little cottage.

Although, are the additions more for me or for her? She's happy with a twig that becomes a magic wand and a short cedar tree that can become a giant birthday cake with one wave of that wand.

Pretty girls

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / February 27, 2010

Pixie Pie and Sugarwings had a mini fairy fest last night with some new sets of wings. Now, my little fairies have plenty of wings, but there is nothing like a spankin new pair to get the fun going. Its kind of like when I have a room full of stuff to work with, but still get really excited about a flea market haul of new (old) supplies.

The little girls weren't the only ones who got treats yesterday. I splurged and took all three little Dorkies to the groomer. I usually cut their hair myself, but its easier to do outside in nice weather. I hate cleaning up all the hair after trying to cut it indoors.

Since I was splurging on groomer fees, I went all out. Twinks has painted toenails and a sparkly bow too.

It was so worth it. Look at that face! She deserves a hair cut that no one makes fun of. When I do the styling myself, there isn't much style to it. She is smart enough to act embarrassed about how funny she looks from my chopping. Last night, she was showing off, knowing she looked GOOD from the groomer's work!

Plus, she's going to be a mama, she needs some pampering.

Thanks for all the Charlotte shopping! I've been packing boxes for hours tonight. I think there are a couple left in the shop, not many. Man, those went fast. You'd have thought these girls had wings too, the way they flew out of here.

Thanks!