Sugarwings – Page 40 – Karla's Cottage

Babies, babies, babies

Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 12, 2008

I’ve been ensconced in my studio all day, and although the book is coming along, it is slow going.

So I took a little break from painting my baby to fix up this baby.

I had the perfect bittersweet colored silk dress for her, to match her auburn hair, but as soon as I put it on her, it shredded.

Sometimes, there is such a thing as TOO vintage.

So, I found this little silk number and gaudied it up for her. Here is what I said on Etsy:

"This darling little red head came to me needing some help, wearing nothing but a pony tail and a Made in Japan stamp.

I found a pretty silk dress in my collection of vintage play things, but it was a little boxy and didn’t really flatter her. So, I created an apron with old trims and pale pinkish seam binding ribbon, and it suited her much better. Custom fitted clothes are always so much nicer than "off the rack". (Although, I am sitting here in a ripped tie dye shirt and gym shorts, so I really wouldn’t know what custom fitted clothes are like)

Her long, flowing, pony tail was in good shape, but the hair on her head seemed a little sparse, so I gave her a ringlet of old millinery flowers. She liked them so much, I added some to the hem of her dress.

A few coordinating ribbons in her hair and a vintage, glass, floral button on her dress and she is all ready for her new home.

She is about 5 1/2" tall and her body is a very soft, pliable rubbery material. She’s Made in Japan, so is old, but over all has held up well for her age. Better than I have."

Four paintings are finished for Sugarwing’s birthday book. Two more to go.

Plus the backgrounds for the text.

I’ll take them to a copy shop tomorrow and start making up books, or at least I hope to.

This is my favorite of them all, its number 5. I need to paint it, and then do one more tomorrow morning so I can start working on embellishing the copies. I hope to make another one to give as a gift to a friend. I am throwing her a baby shower on Friday night, she is expecting her first daughter.

Or is that odd, to write a book about my own little girl and then give copies to another little girl? My friend has Dorkies too, actually puppies that are children of my oldest dog, Bookie.

I’m impatiently awaiting the day that Twinkle becomes a puppy momma, she should be ready very soon. And although Bookie is no longer capable of being the father, I have a neighbor down the road with the cutest little 4 pound Dorkie you’ve ever met and he has a bit of a crush on Twinks.

Maybe before winter comes, I’ll be a gramma again! I miss having little puppies running around, I just can’t wait!!

OK, back to painting. I’m running out of time, I’d better keep working. I just wanted to take another break and visit blogland a bit.

PS- I’ve had no time to add to the August giveaway, but promise to when I get caught up.

A rare treasure

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, flowers, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 11, 2008

You were all so thoughtful in cheering me up, thanks for your well wishes!

I am usually pretty upbeat, but I think I was suffering from vacation overload! I went from weeks of family and friends and travel to an abrupt stop and was feeling it. Isn’t that what makes blog friends so nice to have? They are always there to visit and company is only as far away as the keyboard.

Today’s sketches even went a bit better. Sometimes, sitting at my desk to work on my latest project can cure any worry or ill, but other days, it is just hopeless. And if it isn’t going well, I need to just walk away from the table and give it a break.

Yes, today was a good one, I was happy with the drawings, I heard from Fifi that the story Carol, Diane and I worked on turned out well and is set for the next issue of Romantic Country. Of course, she hadn’t given me any reason to think they wouldn’t use the article, but I am always reassured when the type is set and the magazine is final. Things get shuffled sometimes and it is good to know this didn’t.

Then, I heard from Jo Pakham that she could be interested in my studio for "Where Women Create". Of course, nothing is settled, it was only an inquiry, but I was flattered to be asked. I’ve heard a lot of positive buzz about this new publication, and I am honored to be considered.

I’ll spend part of next week taking a shovel to the room to make way for some sample photos!

I also kept to my deal with myself and listed more on Etsy today, another altered fairy and some flocked paper packs.

As if today wasn’t already a nice day, look what I found when I went out to do some yard work-

Surprise lillies everywhere! I adore these pink blooms that pop up over night sometime mid-August.

The fragrance outside my studio door caught my attention before I even saw the flowers. I picked an armful to bring in and scent my home too.

But there is more- Sugarwing’s Daddy came by to visit, just to hang out and talk. As close as we are, that just doesn’t happen as often as it used to, grown sons hanging out, one on one, just for the fun of it, is a rare treasure!

Gone by in a blur

fairies, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 9, 2008

A little bit of painting got done today, not nearly enough. I only have a few days to finish this book for Sugarwing’s 2nd birthday!

Her party is one week from today. Its hard to believe she will be 2 already, but on the other hand, I feel like I have known her forever and can’t even remember what life was like before she came along!

Instead of making more illustrations for her birthday book, I puttered about instead. I did little projects like hanging my rolls of ribbon from a ribbon on the spool shelf I store my supplies in on the desk.

The ribbon ties to the spindles and can untie to change spools. It really only took a couple of minutes to do, so I can’t say what happened to the rest of my afternoon. It was a blur of non-productivity!

On 8-8-08, Sugarwing’s Hippie Chick mommy had a Leo birthday party and I went to face paint for everyone.

I was a bit early, so the fairy grand baby helped me get set up and tried out the paints. She wasn’t quite herself, and I realized the poor thing had a fever, so I took her to my house for a sleepover and her parents got to stay and enjoy their party.

We cuddled in front of a movie, and every once in a while, she’d turn to me and say, "I sick". She just was not feeling well at all.

Maybe being up checking on a feverish baby throughout the night explains my lack of accomplishments today?

Oh, I have a thank you to mention- look at these pretty butterflies! A kind hearted reader, Caitlin, sent a rainbow full of them for me to use to make fairies.

I will be making some little sprites, but for now, I had to hang a few of the butterflies up to enjoy.

With company and trips and everything else going on for the last two weeks, I haven’t made up a prize for the August giveaway yet. Any suggestions?

There is one going, of course, all comments count.

We just don’t know what the prize is yet, except for this little vintage brooch with a blue stone.

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.

I’m just a girl who can’t say no to sparkles!

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, paintings, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 29, 2008

More from Karlapalooza- here is a picture Heather took of me, buying- what else?? Gems! Sparkling gems. I was like a magpie that day, constantly stopping for every sparkle I saw out of the corner of my eye.

This guy had piles of boxes of jewels and I couldn’t leave his booth. No prices were on them, he said they ranged from $1 to $7. I told him I’d make a pile and if anything was over a dollar, he could pull it out.

At first, I was trying to be polite and not hog all the good stuff from my friends, but they made their choices and moved on, so I piled it high!

He actually charged me much less than $1 each, because I bought so much. I ended up spending $35 there, not all of this is from that booth. But I didn’t spend over a dollar on anything here but that crystal stoppered bottle, it was $6.

I bought a few baggies of jewels for $3 a bag, and picked out the ones I wouldn’t use. We went to a friend’s house for a cook out last night and I knew his little girls would love to have some jewelry to play dress up with. I promised to bring them more next time I come too.

Heather Karlawski made the most lovely tussie mussie for me, and I thought that was just another example of how much we had in common, since I brought a tussie to her too!

And Kitty Karla had rolled up and decorated pretty vintage papers for us. I haven’t been able to bring myself to unroll it yet, it is too pretty as it is!

And yes– I found some hats! I pulled the flowers off of them and kept the flowers, leaving a couple of the naked hats behind for Heather to work her magic on and foof up. Have you ever seen how pretty Heather makes her hats?? Wow, they are beautiful.

I also bought old calling cards- notice the "Bella" card? I foresee many Silver Bella projects with that image!! And the two dolly dresses are for Sugarwing’s babies. I think that all of her toys at her Grammie Karkie’s house should vintage.

My favorite find of the day was the cake plate all these pretty purchases are sitting on.

It is a metal cake plate music box. When you wind it up, the plate turns and it plays "Happy Birthday"- plus it has roses on it and was only $4!

Sugarwings calls every cake a "happy" since they are often served with a serenade of "Happy Birthday".

She has her 2nd birthday coming up and I can’t wait to bake a cake with her and set it on this cake plate so we can sing along.

I miss my little fairy grand baby!!

I decided that for her birthday on August 16th, I would make a book to give her.

Here is my first sketch and this is the text that will be on the page:

"Sugarwings has a best friend, named Twinkle. Twinks is actually a dog, and Sugarwings is a little fairy girl, but these two think they are sisters. Isn’t it nice when your sister is your best friend?

Of course the two do fuss and argue sometimes. Often they want the same cookie or toy, but they have learned to share."

I have plans for paintings of them at a tea party, with Twink’s head cocked at an angle because she doesn’t understand why the baby is eating pretend cookies and is wondering where the real cookie is. And another page of the the puppy getting Sugarwing’s toes. A total of 6 illustrations and 6 pages of text. Not a big book, but just right for a two year old.

I didn’t take as many photos at the flea market as I should have. We were enjoying the day too much and didn’t stop for photo ops often. Here is Heather and Lori admiring some cute dolls.

I did take LOTS of

pictures of Heather’s home- and by the way, it is even prettier in person. When you walk in, you just feel tranquil, with all the soft colors and pretty things around.

I’ll show more next time!

And remember my TWO giveaways end in a few days, and it is not too late to enter. I will add a piece of the jewelry I bought at Karlapalooza to the prize pack of summertime bright color jewels I have wrapped up for the August giveaway.

And if you are interested in any of the little watercolor sketches from the previous post, the two pink cupcakes and the dove are spoken for. Thanks, Amy, Ruby, and Bobbi!

12 presents for you for 10,000 comments!

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, how to's, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 20, 2008

Wow! Thanks for the helpful ideas for filling up gift baskets for my childhood friends coming to celebrate our 50th birthdays together.

I’ve taken the picture frame idea, and made a couple of frames (photos later, after the glue dries and I can stand them up), and today, my family and I made bath salts to add to the baskets.

Oh- plus I got these two white baskets FREE at a garage sale this weekend, along with the chalk ware lady ($1)

And the mini dresser tray and two perfume bottles. ($1 also).

I wasn’t going to go shopping at all this weekend, after my big buys last week.

But…. I was driving by one… and saw a yard full of OLD things. How could I not stop??

This vintage ruffled slip was hanging on a clothes line in that yard, along with some of these antique lace panels.

I need to dress in a vintage prom style for Silver Bella, and am thinking that this slip could come in handy that night, and it was only $10 for all of the lace and the slip. But that was all the shopping I did, my total for the weekend was $12. I was proud of myself for holding back.

Have you ever made bath salts? I made up a recipe, using:

sea salt (two containers)

half of a box of powdered milk

about a 1/4 cup of baking soda

and approximately a third of a bottle of glycerin

We mixed in a handful of ground lavender fresh from my herb bed, and some vanilla/citrus essential oils I had made up a while back. I’m hoping it will be soothing and refreshing, it smells delightful.

Sugarwing’s Daddy did the mixing, he is much more thorough than I am, I would have just stirred it a bit with a spoon and been done.

He put on gloves and mixed each and every granule by hand for at least a half hour.

Of course, no project in the kitchen gets done around here without my expert helper. She likes to be in the center of everything we do.

I’d like to make some pretty labels up for the bags of bath salts we made up, probably will do that tomorrow.

And as a thank you, for the people who were so kind to leave comments with ideas for filling baskets- I want to give away 12 of my one ounce bags of the mixture to the first 12 people who say they’d like some.

So, here is what you need to do- if you sent me some advice about the basket, and you’d like to have a small pack (enough for one good, relaxing soak in the tub), leave a comment and let me know you’d like some.

This is to celebrate going over 10,000 comments on my blog during the last post! Thanks again for taking the time to stop and visit and leave comments, I love to hear from you. edit-thanks, I have 12 people who would like a sample of bath salts. I wish I could send some to everyone else too!

Here is my 12:

1-Cheryl

2-Karen

3-Robin

4-Heather

5-Donna

6-Connie

7-Joanne

8-Terri

9-Caitlin

10-Jodi

11-Beverly

12-Betty Lou

(still need addresses for the last 3)

This tag that I just finished is too big to use for the gift baskets, it is 8"x4". If you are interested in buying it for $9, (includes postage-US) just email me.

I loved all of the ideas, and will make use of quite a few, these free baskets will hold a LOT.

Here is what I think I’ll add:

*personalized tags tied to the handles

*the match boxes I already made, with mini candles

* CHOCOLATE!! (that was a popular suggestion)

* a magazine (rolled up and tied with a bow)

* decorated frames so they can display a photo of the trip when they get home

*snacks, like granola bars

* a water bottle with a pretty label

*bath salts (homemade)

*Bath and Bodywork’s lotion

I’ll line the basket with some of the vintage linens I bought last week.

Now, I have to think about the 50th birthday gifts I want to give them!!!!!

I haven’t had more than a few minutes to make stuff this weekend, Sugarwings has been staying with us quite a bit, and today FIVE of her friends came to play.

They were all calling me Grammy Karkie and wanting to paint, or play dolls or in the garden hose at the same time. It was hectic but fun. So hectic, I didn’t get a camera out!

The lake was beautiful this weekend. If you’d like to see a VERY short clip of Sugarwings making up a song while hopping on her PopPop who is laying back and relaxing on a raft, click here.

One of the strangest things happened to us at the lake!

About 6 weeks ago, we caught our anchor on something on the bottom and had to cut it loose, and buy a new anchor.

Yesterday, as we drove across the cove, our motor shut off, due to a rope wrapped around the prop. It must have been floating around, and we just happened to drive across it as it bobbed around the water.

As we untangled it, we thought it looked a lot like our half of a blue rope that was attached to our new anchor, and the we had some trouble getting the mess untangled because it seemed to be stuck to something. Well, we tugged, and found out it was attached to something- our OLD anchor that we had cut loose earlier this summer!

What do you think the odds are that it just happened to be US who got caught on the rope of our own anchor lost weeks ago??? That rope could have hooked any boat on the lake. What odd timing that it was us!!!

I wonder if that ladder we lost will be coming back soon???

A busy and brave day for Sugarwings

Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2008

The fairy grand baby came to have a sleepover and we were able to jam a lot into one day.

Since the weather was so nice, we did some yard work. I trimmed trees while she watered flowers. And herself. And me. And Twinkle. And the driveway.

Then, she discovered that the big old birdcage I use for a planter was a perfect doll house for a cast iron fairy that I keep on the porch.

Sugarwings spent a good deal of time tucking the fairy into the cage and telling her "night night" so I was able to prune my roses as well as the maple tree.

All the roses are now cut back. It was sad to cut all the blooms off, but I have company coming in a couple weeks, and have learned that if I trim the shrubs back ahead of time for a special occasion, they will be full of flowers when I need them to be.

After a morning of gardening and tucking in fairies, we went to the nursing home where her Hippy Chick Mommy works to go to a carnival.

I hope that someday, if I am ever in a nursing home, some cute little girl like Sugarwings comes to visit me. You should have seen the eyes light up around the room when she walked in.

I could identify with their need to hold this little sweetie on their laps and give her hugs. I saw these ladies arms automatically reach out for her as she came near them.

She did sit on a few laps, even the clown’s. That is one brave little girl, I don’t think I would have done that at her age. But you could tell this clown was someone’s grandma and pretty nice.

Yep, she is brave! I took her out on the boat after the carnival and she went tubing for the first time.

That kid didn’t even mind walking in the deep, ooshy mud of the lake bottom, when we pulled up to the campsite where she was camping all night with her family.

There was hardly anyone out on the lake. Lake Clinton is a pretty spot, 10 minutes from our house and rarely busy. Its Sparkle’s favorite place in the whole world. One of mine too. Especially when Sugarwings is there with me.

There hasn’t been much time to make things with my new pretties from all the shopping last week. I did squeeze in another tussie mussie, (listed on etsy) and made use of some of the loot.

Some of the vintage jewels were missing stones, and I have been gluing in new ones to replace them. Here, I used a pearl instead of another rhinestone, it seemed to go well with the style of the cone I had added it to.

I am itching to make stuff with all of my vintage bounty!

Some of my French ephemera from Gwen, and an earring from the garage sale went into wrapping this Etsy purchase.

And these matchboxes have some of the lace on them, as well as the French ephemera from my friend, Gwen.

Good friends from my childhood are coming out to celebrate our 50th birthdays together and I am making up gift baskets for the guest rooms.

Little decorated candles, treats, pretties, I am not sure what else will go in them. But I thought embellished match boxes would be a good idea to go along with the candles.

One friend lives in Sonoma County, the other on the beach in Florida. When we talked about where to meet up, they both chose Kansas!! So, I need to pamper them and treat them extra special, if they want to come to my cottage for our big birthday celebration instead of lying on the beach in Florida or touring wine country in California!

Any ideas on what would be nice to put into a guest room gift basket?

A lucky day (again!!)

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 16, 2008

Sugarwings will have to take my title as the "Hat Whisperer". We stopped at a couple of antique shops on the way to the zoo.

(that kid is happy anywhere I carry her, she will shop for hours and love it)

Her job was to find a hat. I wasn’t having any luck, and she was doing pretty good finding plain ones, or ones in photos on the wall. I thought that was what she was telling me about, a cowboy in a photo, but no, she saw this $3 beauty that I missed!

She is the one who found the box of old sewing supplies for 25 cents each too.

Did I need another hat?

I used to pull the blooms off and organize them by color. ( I have a similar, smaller box by my work table, too)

But lately, I have been on such a roll, I haven’t had time to sort through them all and pull off the flowers. Yes, this is a heap, there are hats on top of hats, on top of hats.

But, the way I look at it, these are only getting more and more scarce and I won’t always find them at such bargain prices, like Sugarwing’s $3 bonnet.

Especially when all of you out there tell me how hard millinery flowers are to find.

Same way with this stuff.

Yes, I found more deals on old jewels! All of this (and more not shown) came from 3 bags marked $4 each.

Would you hate me if I tell you that I found a 14kt gold piece, that I think has a real diamond in it?

These are far from perfect, but old and really cool! Ideal for projects and gluing.

I know I’ll be happy to have sparkly little reindeer at Silverbella to add to my holiday projects.

And I can’t wait to use the roses with colored rhinestone centers on something special.

Last night I decorated a few button filled jars with some of my new treasures.

I had sprayed a flower with walnut ink and it got on this old French book page, and look at how the colors bled and spread.

How cool, that walnut ink turned into a tie dye rainbow of colors on this paper! I made a label out of it and went with a hippy, flower power theme for the bottle.

This tiny jar already had the cutest rosey lid ever. I just added some goobers to the jar itself to foof it up, then tied on a vintage velvet bow and filled it with pretty buttons in colors to match the outside.

Yes, it was a very lucky, lucky day.

Sugarwings and I had a lovely day, with shopping and the zoo. Not many animals were around to see on such a hot day, but we didn’t mind.

Not many people either, it was later in the afternoon, mid week.

So the attendant let us play on the 100 year old carousel as long as we wanted, no one else was there to ride.

We sat on every single animal there, then when it was time to ride, we were told to ride as long as we liked.

I’m afraid I had to stop the fun early, I get motion sickness. My head was spinning for a while after a few turns. So we just played on the horses instead of going in circles.

By the way, do you know what a cowgirl says? According to my fairy grandbaby, it is "moooooooooo".

And maybe you can help me with this question-

Do you know what these shells are called? When I showed a necklace that my great aunt had made with similar shells, a reader pal said she thinks they are rare.

If you have any info, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!

Don’t forget to leave a comment to enter the Christmas in July giveaway and the regular monthly giveaway, if you’d like a few colorful pieces of old jewelry and some cute buttons!

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.

Happy Fourth!

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2008

Happy 4th of July weekend! I hope you are all having a good one. Mine is filled with Sugarwings, boating, yard work and pickle making.

This is my first ever attempt at canning, and it seemed to be way too easy. There must be some botulism lurking somewhere in these jars, because it just seemed too simple to do.

My biggest problem in canning was getting the labels right. These are too big, I’ll need to make more if I do more pickles this week.

And what do you do with a baby while you are trying to make pickles and she wants to help?

We sat up her art table in the kitchen and gave her some cucumber stump "stamps".

I cut the end of a cuke, carved a design in it with a knife, then let her ink it up with her washable markers.

They really made pretty stamps, with a watercolor effect. And it kept the fairy grand baby pretty happy while her daddy and I chopped and pickled.

This year, fireworks were shot off over Lake Clinton where we keep our boat. The air was cool, the stars were out, and the water was calm, a perfect evening for watching the exploding colors in the sky.

We parked far away from the dozens of boats tied up together, so it was like a private light show of our own.

Now, off to do some yard work and take advantage of this unexpected mild weather, not typical at all for July in Kansas!