Travel – Page 18 – Karla's Cottage

All guncle-ed up

By Karla Nathan / January 18, 2015

My trip to see Randy and Kevin was just delightful. Kevin promised they would "guncle me up." And they sure did. I was spoiled all day.

Randy and I had a whole day of hanging in the craft room.

Between eating piles of seafood, that is.

And after I slept in to an unbelievable hour. Due to a late start, and pure stupidity in taking a drastic wrong turn, I got in after 1am the night before, not dinner time like I had planned.

At home that is no big deal, I'm a night owl. But I guess the stress of the drive and being lost, exhausted me. I slept till, well, LATE. I never do that. Not in years. I hated to waste a vacation day snoozing till, well, way, way LATE. But it did feel really good. Although it was embarrassing too.

Back in the craft room, we watched their wedding video while we created. And Randy had a bunch of surprises for me, that Kevin had found while out junking the week before. We pretended that there were prize drawings like we have at Birdsong, but the name that was called over and over was mine.

There was a lot of squealing every time I won a prize. And I got lots of prizes, old lace, die cuts, Victorian scrap books, and more.

We took a break to go outside and pick some fruit. Even though it was cold out, they hadn't had a freeze yet this year and the sight of all that lushness was eye candy to me!

Randy thought his yard looked too messy for photos, but I loved every inch of it. Fresh fruit? Tall bushes of rosemary? FLOWERS??? Oh my.

Blooms in January left me feeling a bit giddy. There were dozens of angel trumpet vine blossoms hanging over head. They were so large and fragrant, I couldn't resist them. I was thrilled to bundle up in a borrowed sweatshirt and coat to check out the gardens. At home, January is grey.

Just grey.

As far as the eye can see.

Especially this year, no pretty snow to liven it up.

Just grey.

But things are lively in the Guncles' garden! This is a double camellia.

The angel trumpet doesn't make a good cut flower to put in a vase, it soon wilted.

But it sure smells sweet and is worth picking to wear on your head like a fairy's hat.

A while back, I painted the floor of the craft room. These mermen were at my feet all day while I worked back there.

Randy and I had done the walls together over the last 18 years or so. I'd visit and we'd add a few more sprites with every trip I made to Florida.

The company is pretty good there too. Doggies every where under foot or on laps.

This little guy, especially is full of sweetness. That could actually be a halo above his tiny head.

No, must not be. From this angle, it is over Randy's head.

And he ain't no angel.

Although it was pretty sweet of him to redo his dining room so I'd get the full Christmas decor effect. Much of it was still up, but some of it had been taken down and he actually re-decked it out for me and set this table back up like he'd had it for Christmas.

Including this cake stand filled with a winter wonderland. Martha Stewart had a similar idea on her magazine cover, but Randy had beat her to it, he arranged his before he saw hers.

It was pretty festive there.

And I was happy to see that the wedding centerpieces we'd made were part of the holiday scheme. They say they will use them year round.

For now, the top box is filled with a winter arrangement of branches.

And the little fairy I made is holding court in the greenhouse box. Or whatever you call that thing. It's from Pottery Barn and I want one. But I'm cheap…

I'll leave you with some pictures around the house. And I wanted to let you know that Birdsong is now open for registration. Please contact me at:

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

if you are interested in attending.

A quick trip to Ft Lauderdale

Food and Drink, guncles, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 17, 2015

My poor husband flies a lot for business but lucky for me, he flies so much, that he earned a companion pass for me to go anywhere he goes for free. When I heard he was flying into Ft. Lauderdale to play golf in Palm Beach, I decided to tag along and snag some Florida sunshine.

Well, I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but there wasn't a heck of a lot of sunshine. I didn't even need to unpack the sunglasses.

But Ft. Lauderdale was warm, or mostly warm enough. Better than Kansas, that is for sure.

Oh, there was some sun, and we had a whole day of exploring, walking along the beach, and dining by the ocean at H20 Cafe The food was great, the view even better.

And yes, my wine was almost empty before my food arrived, for lunch. It was vacation time!!

We only had the one day and night together there, but we squeezed in two ocean side meals. Dinner was at our hotel, and I fell in love with the back lit menus.

The veranda was a bit chilly, and other guests left to eat inside. But we were near a heater, and in a more closed off spot, so the wind didn't bother me, I just wore layers and braved it. When you only have one night on the beach, you just have to go for it and not complain about a little cool air.

Because it is OCEAN AIR!!!!!!!!

And worth a couple of shivers here and there.

This was my tip top, best ever, most favorite hotel to stay at. It was pricey. But, for just one night, we didn't mind. I loved all the details, our room had plantation shutters, lace curtains, gingerbread, and lots of white wicker.

Pretty furniture too. Oh, yes there was a mattress on that pretty bed frame.

But we moved it to the seating area, so we could prop the patio doors open and be near the ocean waves all night. The room was a little chilly (like my whole trip) and the outdoors was warmer than the indoors, so having the doors open warmed me up.

And nothing is as soothing as listening to the waves.

Cute entry ways to the rooms, huh?

I wish I could've stayed longer, but I was happy and lucky to get one night there. Of course, the rest of my trip wasn't too shabby either. I went to the Land of Guncles. I thought I'd hitch hike a free ride to Florida with my husband, "swing by" and visit family a bit, and enjoy being warm during the middle of a freezing Kansas winter.

Well……. while the Guncles have a heart warming and welcoming home, it was forecasted to be 25 degrees in Jacksonville. And "swinging by" to visit Jacksonville while in Ft. Lauderdale is like telling someone who is visiting Lawrence, Kansas that they should "swing by" St Louis while they are in town.

Which is not close.

But Jax from Ft. Lauderdale is even further.

And so worth the drive. I even got to pick some flowers and oranges from the garden before anything froze.

I'll have more pictures from the wonderful world of guncles next time. It was very festive there!

The Circus School and getting my act together

bird song art event, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 6, 2015

A couple weeks ago, we attended a school performance by teachers and students at the Last Carnival.

It was during the holidays and the kiddos were dressed up like little elves.

It was an interesting night out, and I was thinking about how lucky we were to live in a town with such a variety of things to do. I tend to be quite a homebody, but part of my quest to soak up every aspect of Christmas, had me saying yes to unique experiences. And I was glad that I did.

Of course, now that I've said I'm a homebody, and my last post was about just getting back from Texas, I have to mention that I'll be in Florida visiting Guncle Randy for a few days. Lately I've been on a roll. Like the rolling stone too busy to gather any moss, huh?

Or the artist too busy to start advertising Birdsong.

I haven't gotten my act together on that yet.

But I hope to soon. Sometimes I feel like I'm hanging upside down and spinning through the air like this lady. But I have a feeling she is in complete control and knows what she is doing. I'm just spinning.

Oh well, grab the fun when you can, say yes to adventure, and go for it. There is always a cozy chair, good book, or TV show to watch later when the spinning stops. Or maybe after the spinning stops, and I get my work done, then I can sit back and zone out in front of the TV? I do need to plan Birdsong, huh?

Will you be attending this year??

Family Vacations aren’t always what you’d plan them to be

Dew Drop, family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2015

Our trip to Texas wasn't exactly what we had hoped it would be. But it was filled with moments like this, and that is exactly what we wanted.

We packed up with excitement, hoping for 60 degree days. Knowing it would be too cold to swim, but planning on long afternoons reading on the beach while the girls played in the sand. And we were thrilled to be getting away from the deep freeze of Kansas.

But it was soooo cold in Texas, we were barely able to skiddaddle over a pier to get out to a restaurant on the water. We also had booked hotels with no indoor pools, so didn't have a sub for the sand.

Til we discovered that Schliterbahn water park was covered! We love the Schliterbahn in Kansas City and go every summer, so we thought that would be the perfect solution to battling the cold and it could save our vacation.

Once again, not exactly what we had expected. The place was draped in plastic sheeting and had heaters, but I wouldn't call it an indoor pool. And it was freezing that day, with winds coming through the gaps in the plastic. And with condensation from the heated pool that made big drips fall unexpectedly from the visqueen roof right down the back of your neck. Or into your drink. Or your iPad.

But there was a huge table of holiday crafts set up. The girls and I probably used enough glitter glue and pipe cleaners to make up for the ticket price to get in to the park that day. The grand fairies spent half their time crafting, and the rest in the heated kiddie pool. We were all too frozen to go elsewhere and ride the slides.

It ended up being a very fun day. I bundled up in a jacket, the littles stayed under water and kept warm, my husband and I sat in lounge chairs and watched them play. I heard that the raging river ride had artificial snow and was a lot of fun once you got used to the chill of the water temps, but I stayed bundled in three towels and a jacket and had my fun watching my little sprites enjoy themselves and make friends in the pool.

The park was decorated cute for the holidays, and they did their best, with themed activities and lots of space heaters. But the temps were about 20 degrees below average for that area for that time of year and I don't think the water park was meant to be used on days that cold. On a 55-60 degree day with sunshine heating up the plastic walls, it would probably be very nice. But I can't recommend it on a day in the 30s.

On our way home (all dry and warm thanks to "family dryers" that you all climb into and pay $3 to be blown dry together, pretty fun and the perfect end to a cold afternoon), we simply had to stop by the Gulf of Mexico for Dewdrop, who had never seen the ocean.

We ran as fast as we could, because it was about 40 and windy.

Because everyone knows that the happiness of being at the ocean, and plenty of giggling will keep you warm enough, temporarily at least, to visit the water.

And yes, the happiness and giggling worked.

At least for these two. They ignored the icy feelings and waded right in. Notice that there are no pics of ME doing that??? Nope, I didn't take off shoes or coat, or get too close. But I'm so happy that Dewdrop got to experience the waves.

And the sand.

And since they were wearing their Anna and Elsa jackets, they had to sing, "Do You Want to Build a Sandman?".

Because it was too cold to stay at the beach, we took them to the Rainforest Cafe, thinking that would be a real treat, but Dewdrop saw the flames shoot from the volcano on top of the building as I walked in to check on seating, and she thought for sure I'd met a certain death. So, a fun treat, became a torturous threat to her. Poor kiddo.

To make up for the lack of sunshine or warm weather in Galveston, we headed up to Grapevine and checked into Great Wolf Lodge.

Where Dewdrop fell in love with the "marshmallow bears."

And story time in the lobby.

Not to mention the constantly warm, 84 degree swimming area. Now THAT is an indoor pool! Not a space heater and plastic wrap sham of an outdoor pool pretending to be an indoor complex.

If we'd had any idea how well run, clean, friendly and wonderfully warm that place was, we'd have spent all of our vacation there. (and probably all of our money, it was not cheap for one night during the week between Christmas and New Years)

Sugarwings and I agreed that it was a lot like going to Disney. I thought it was interesting that she picked up on that. Great Wolf in Grapevine shares the same attention to detail and themes, plus caters to families and has the same welcoming service that Disney offers. It's of course, on a much smaller scale, but they sure do it right.

The lifeguards are attentive, the staff is constantly cleaning, picking up wet towels, smiling, and working hard. I can't recommend it enough.

Over the years, we've had plenty of vacation mishaps. Record cold in the Bahamas, a back thrown out in Florida, the flu on a cruise ship, and other small issues that could ruin a trip.

And of course, on every trip, there are always these moments too.

But it is the special, sweet moments on a trip that stay in your heart. While the mishaps just become funny stories that your family tells and retells over the years. Vacations aren't much different than every day life, just in a different location (and cost a bit more)

And when you have hugs like this, life is pretty good, no matter where you are.

Thank you so much to Christee, Caike, and Adam for letting us have this time with their tiny fairies. It was so nice of them to let us take them along.

Big, Fat, Travel Journal and how-to’s- Part Two and some digital photo vacation tips

Books, family, guncles, how to's, photography, Travel

By Karla Nathan / November 17, 2014

Where were we? Oh yes, in the middle of the travel journal. This book is made the way I did the Nature's Blessing Journals for the swap, and there are directions on how to make these type of books from scratch in my online tutorial, here.

In the tutorial, are ideas on finishing pages too, if you'd like more details to make one of your own.

This page is showing the inside of a card that Guncle Randy made for me. So I added pictures to it from our Bachelor Party Craft Day.

The polka dot and glitter tape borders are from the dollar bin at Target, what a deal!

Here it is with the card that he made for me closed. Greeting cards are great to add to journals and scrapbooks, you glue down the back and can add to the inside of them.

During our craft day in Mt Dora, we worked on Randy's wedding decor. So I used some of the fall toned paper from the projects to make this page. Over it, is a leaf (outlined in brown marker for a shadow effect) from the velvet hat he bought, instant photos from that day, a heart shaped shell I found on the beach, and one of the mini garlands we were making for his centerpieces.

I tied a bit of baker's twine to the two little wooden skewer sticks, glued them down, then glued the garland pieces right on to the string. For the centerpiece, I punched holes in the leaves with words and tied them to the string, but this way seemed to be a better fit for the book.

The words, "Mount Dora" were cut out of a brochure we picked up.

On the adjacent page, I used an October book page from a garden journal to make a background and pocket. I inked the edges in green, and highlighted "October" with Stickles glitter.

With Tim Holtz Distress markers, I drew a pink cottage and Karen's sweet poodle. I like those markers for this kind of work, because you can still see through them to the text below. For detail, I used a black ink pen and opaque white marker.

The pocket is perfect for business cards I gathered while shopping downtown.

Another way to use greeting cards, is to punch holes in them and tie them directly into the book itself, instead of gluing them down to the pages. At the Ringling Bros. museum, I picked up a couple circus cards and tied them into my journal. I covered the inside with brochure pages from the museum, added photos, and colorful rick rack trim.

I thought the polka dot tape was festive and circus-y too.

The sunshine yellow flower got a clown face center.

I thought that the outside of the card was plenty cute, and left it as it was. A few ruffles was all it needed. Not every bit of the book needs to be covered.

On the opposite page, I used the museum grounds map as a background for photos. The pictures are outlined with brown to make them stand out a bit.

This is a map of the coast, with a few photos, accented with polka dot tape. I cut the figures out of one picture and shadowed them by outlining with the brown marker. And added a ruffle and a half flower to the bottom.

When I do the backgrounds, I like torn edges, and keep it all a little rough, not perfectly cut. I also like to have lots of peek-a-boo bits like the ruffle and flower petals.

This one was fun. Bobbie and Sissy were posed in front of a giant lobster, and I slipped their cut out silhouettes under a netting from an old hat, and added my picture over it for dimension.

The netting is held down at the top and bottom with a piece of glued down ribbon.

Here is a close up to see the details.

I might have liked this one better if I'd used a blue background, but I layered it back at the hotel room, then when I got home and went through the photos, these are the ones I thought would be cute on this page. Brown is okay, and since it wasn't planned ahead, I had to make it work. But if I had it to do over again, I'd have used blue.

Sometimes it is nice to have some simple pages, like this travel brochure page with a ruffled ribbon and a single outlined photo, then an unadorned greeting card from the circus.

Here, I have folded a piece of paper in half, and glued down the back of it. Ribbons are glued to the front and back to make a tie, and charms we found at a Sarasota bead shop are added to the ends of the ribbons.

I bought a vintage photo album at a junk shop and the beach pictures from it were the perfect addition to many of my pages. One is used here with lace medallions as trim.

When the folded blue paper is untied and opened,you can see the picture inside.

Another full photo with a beach view is above it, and is outlined with blue. The figure next to it is cut out for variation. I find it more interesting to have different shapes and sizes of pictures than to show the same beach background over and over, exactly the same behind each person.

Now, I just love beaches to death, but for the sake of the art journal, this layout is a little more interesting than a row of same size, same background pictures.

A stip of polka dot tape makes a simple, and easy border. With a marker and white opaque ink, I've highlighted the words, "sea princesses" that I saw in the text of the old paper that I was using.

One afternoon of our trip was spent driving around and looking up past addresses of our Great Grandma Nellie, Great Aunt Caroline, and Grandma Smith.

When I saw this sheet music with Nellie in the title, I knew I wanted to use it for this day. I added a vintage ocean picture, and cut out three girls from very old magazine to glue over it, then wrote the addresses we'd looked up on the rest of the paper.

I doodled shells, and hearts around the words, and then added some glitter and a rhinestone.

Part of my trip included a flight from Florida to New Hampshire for the Guncles wedding. While it makes an odd color palette for the book ( sunny beach tones and fall hues) it was even weirder to pack the suitcases for both climates.

Here, I have some pumpkin themed tissue paper crumpled up and glued down as a background, and over that, I've added photos and some velvet flowers from a hat Randy found while we were out shopping in Mt. Dora.

The adjacent page matches, and has a banner cut out of the wedding announcement.

A photo from the ceremony is layered over the program, with some lace trim, and orange velvet ribbon, topped off with more blooms and an autumn butterfly.

This page is a plain, wallpaper backdrop, with four fun photos. I left all four of them intact, but notice that I did cut them to slightly different sizes? Each is outlined in ink to make them stand out a bit, and one page has some doodles down the side of the pictures.

Here are some tips I follow for digital photos while on vacation:

Pack your battery charger!
If you are using your camera phone, edit the pics with something like the Snapseed ap before posting them. Crop, brighten and sharpen for better photos.
For your phone or camera both, DELETE all noticeably bad pictures daily. Blurry, unfocused, bad angles, snaps should be cleaned out to save space, and to save time when you are ready to upload to your computer at home.
I email myself the photos I want to keep from my phone, then open them on my computer when I get home. I then delete most of the photos from the phone, so that I don't have so many on there that I can't find the faves that I want to see.
Take a lot more photos than you think you will need. This will give you more to chose from.
When you get back home and upload, be selective with the pictures. If you've taken hundreds, narrow it down to dozens. Really. I know it is hard, but honestly, you will enjoy having the best ones to keep and you don't need so many duplicates. Pretend you are at an optician's exam. Remember how the Dr. will ask, "This one? Or this one?" With multiple photos of the same scene, clean out by comparing them one at a time, to chose the best couple from the multitudes.
But watch out for hidden goodies! If you have a group shot and one person has made a face, another has her eyes closed, and a third is drop dead gorgeous, consider cropping the picture to be a close up beauty shot of just the stand out person.
Here is a big one for me, I tend to tilt my camera a lot. So, I have to be careful to straighten each picture before cropping. Its very distracting to see the ocean in the background sliding away to the side of the picture. A straight horizon line with water is very important. Same with ceilings and walls for indoor shots.
After straightening, figure out what needs cropped. Crop some pics in close, and leave the backgrounds in others. You'll want variety. But if there is a big expanse of ceiling showing, ten feet of driveway in front of your subjects, or a plain, boring wall, get rid of it. Keep backgrounds that are attractive, or tell a story about where you are. But if the backdrop is unnecessary, crop and focus on the subject of the picture.
I like Picmonkey for my editing. The site is self explanatory and easy to use.
When editing, use Tooth Whitening sparingly. Yes, make the subject more attractive, but don't make them look unnatural. Same with Eye Bright. And while I'm sure everyone would appreciate less wrinkles, please don't iron out the faces to look like the person is one of those bad, "After" pictures in a spread on plastic surgery gone wrong.
My favorite use for Wrinkle Remover is to blur backgrounds to really make the foreground pop.
If there is a glaring color that stands out in the background, like an orange sign peeking through a pretty tree scene or a bright blue shirt on someone walking by in the distance, I go to Eye Color, and chose gray to draw over the bright color and tone it down. I don't want the veiwer's eye to be led to something that stands out and distracts from the subject of the photo.
If you are planning on using the pics in a scrapbook like I did, make sure you leave room for cutting them down to various sizes after they are printed. If you overly crop, and then print them all the same size, you have no space left to cut them down to make some smaller for the album. And I think that the albums look much more interesting with a mix of sizes.

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ps- Want to come to my cottage studio for a Christmas class? I have two available, how to see you here!

Inside a big, fat travel journal- Part One (with LOTS of How to details) and a story of bravery

Books, family, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 14, 2014

In the last few years, travel journals have become a big part of my vacations. I like to take an empty book and a box of supplies (I used those clear plastic bins with snap on lids, that are about shoebox size), and gather tidbits of goodies along the trip to add to the pages.

Now that I have a retro style instant camera (from Michaels) I can add some pictures as I go. But I limit myself and don't put too many in, I save plenty of space in the book for other photos once I get home.

On these pages, I used a tourist map of the area, torn out of a free guidebook. I glued down shells from a shopping trip in Venice Beach, and a sunshine yellow flower from a hat my sister, Bobbie Sue brought to me.

(Can you see more blooms from this hat peeking out of other pages? What I've done, is to kind of stair step style, layer the flowers over the pages,so that they make a row of petal ruffles that show when the book is closed)

These two pages are covered in crumpled tissue paper that was in a shopping bag. I've covered a large tag with scrapbook paper, and added some lace, a flower, and birds that I brought with me.

The name of the restaurant we were eating at in these pictures is hand written because I didn't save anything from the restaurant guide that had the name on it.

It is fun to add little surprises that remind me of the events, like the tiny alligator I glued on here. The restaurant was on the bay, and my sisters were certain that a gator might climb up the dock at any time.

When I put down a background, I don't know what photos I will be using on it. Usually, I gather up papers from the trip, and pack some scrapbook paper and wallpaper, and while I'm relaxing and watching the water, I make backgrounds. Some pages get details while I'm on the vacation, others get finished when I get home and add pictures.

But I do try to keep in mind where we are going and what we are doing, and semi-plan some pages around the photos I took that day.

On this pocket, I've glued a beach scene from a vintage photo album I found at a junk shop we stopped in. It is lined in ruffled ribbon.

Trim on the bottom of the right hand page is crumpled tissue paper, lace that I brought with me, some shells I picked up, and millinery forget-me-nots.

I like the shells combined with the flowers, so I used that on a few different pages.

For one thing, I like the way it looks. For another, I think the flowers help keep the shells in place. Since the shells aren't flat, not a lot of their surface area makes contact with the paper. Gluing flowers to the shells and to the paper seems to make them have a more secure hold.

This shark tooth from Venice Beach, also is not flat, so to make it fit more securely, I stuck it into a blob of glue on a piece of brown paper bag. Then packed sand tightly into the glue to cover the brown paper and to hide the glue.

It was then added to a border of gross-grain ribbon that I tore off the yellow flowered hat my sis gave to me.

The background here is a place mat from the restaurant we ate at after shark tooth hunting. So, I decorated the page with that fossilized tooth, and photos of us from that day.

On the right page, I took polaroids of my sisses as we worked on our scrap books, and wrote down funny quotes from them. I won't show you the whole page, because those aren't the best pics. But I liked them and wanted to use them in the book. They are just private, not to share, since they aren't all that flattering.

The white paper is that pretty, sparkly stuff. It reminded me of the Sarasota sand and seemed to fit the picture of Sissy walking there.

The green netting border is the lining from that same yellow flowered hat. And I found a vintage bird book at the junk shop with the photo album. It was nice to have the old pics of beachy birds to add here and there.

More crumpled tissue paper from a shopping bag was used for the pages about the three of us sprinkling our Daddy's ashes. And I cut out the picture of the bottle Sissy carried the ashes in, instead of posting the whole photo of her holding the bottle.

Some of the photos are matted with sparkling teal paper, others are outlined with blue marker. I like to vary the size and shape of the pictures I add to the paper.

Bobbie gave me the seahorse sticker, as well as some transparent, sparkly, sticker pages. I cut a strip of that sheer glitter sheet to stick over the words I'd written onto text from an old fairy tale book about a sea maiden.

It says, "good bye," for our Daddy.

Pockets to hold brochures or receipts are handy to have.

And the mermaid scrap book paper was too pretty to cover up, so I just glued a picture in a corner of the page. And I cut out the silhouette of me on the rocks instead of adding the whole photo with ocean and sky.

I brought vintage swizzle sticks with mermaids for all three of us to use in our books. And the "beach mist" paper was a soap wrapper from our hotel.

Wrappers, labels, brochures, tickets, postcards are all good things to snag while on a trip to add a sense of location to a travel journal.

This page of old fairy tale text about mermaids was just ideal for my trip! I loved the three sisters in the corner, so left it as is, except for a hint of glitter (which doesn't really show in the photo)

At the top, I glued a napkin with three more mermaid sisters and embellished them with glitter ink, and rhinestones. At the bottom of the page, is a strip of more rhinestones, and another bundle of flowers and shells.

Handwritten messages are always special and will keep memories of a trip alive.

This one is extra special. I was so proud of my sisters. They love being by the ocean, but HATE getting in the water. They have always refused to even wade in the water. I tease them about ankle sharks, and then swim away and have fun on my own.

But on this trip, they over came their fears. Off the beach, there was a sandbar, that ran for hundreds of feet. I waded out to it, and walked around out there, feeling like I was on the edge of the world. Being so far out, away from the beach, but being in water only a few inches deep was just magical. It was such a beautiful experience, I wanted to share it with my sisters.

Now, I don't think I bullied them…. but I really wanted them to have the same joy I did. And our father loved walking on the sandbar years ago, and had asked that we take his ashes there.

I thought I'd be taking the ashes out on my own.

But they surprised me.

Our mom had raised us to fear everything, but I have forced myself to ignore that voice in my head. I don't know if they had realized just how fearful she had made us. Maybe hearing me talk about our fears helped? Maybe wanting to honor Daddy's wishes gave them courage?

At some points, the sandbar was 30 feet or more away from the shore, but we found a spot where the shallows were only about a 10 foot walk through waist deep water to reach. We stood on the beach, and Sissy led us in some Tai Chi deep breathing exercises, she said a blessing, and we all marched off into the waves.

I hope they felt the same magic I did out there. They seemed to have fun. And while I promised to keep an eye on them and help, they were so engrossed in shell hunting that they kept wandering off in different directions. I told them they were as bad as Sugarwings and Dewdrop and were lucky I didn't give them a time out for heading out in two different directions at once and making me follow them back and forth.

But then, I realized, they didn't need me.

They were exploring the gulf. Free from their life long fears. I don't know if I've ever been so proud of anyone before.

And look at this. The next day, Sissy was wading out and hunting for shark teeth at Venice Beach.

Yep, I was very proud. And happy to have been able to share the experience with them.

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ps- Want to come to my cottage studio for a Christmas class? I have two available, how to see you here!

And I wanted to let you know that I have some flocked, pink, tiny trees in the Etsy shop now. They are a bit different than the typical bottle brush trees that I carry.

And I have them in two colors of pink.

A Fall Wedding in New Hampshire

celebrations, family, flowers, Food and Drink, guncles, holiday decor, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / November 8, 2014

What a perfect place for a wedding! The guncles have been together for a long time and had a commitment ceremony 17 years ago, but now that they can be legally married, we gathered in NH to celebrate with them.

We had a rehearsal dinner the night before the event at Ipswich Country Club. And oh my! It was something!

Great appetisers.

Exceptional food.

Wonderful company. (this is just some of us, I don't have a group shot)

And a serenade from Carol Swarbrick Dries (Aunt Carol). She sang a song that had tears in all of our eyes. We begged for an encore the next day at the wedding.

The air was crisp, the leaves were colorful, and the site for the wedding luncheon and ceremony was ideal for the occasion.

And did I mention that there was carrot cake? My fave! And so pretty with the fall colors. There wasn't a cake stand, but I slipped a couple of box lids from our centerpieces under it and that made a quick but cute, make shift stand.

I was so pleased that the boxes we worked on together to make centerpieces looked so festive in the room.

We also glittered and sponge painted some packages of tissue paper leaves from the dollar bin at Target to sprinkle around the table. And Randy framed a picture of each guest to create name cards for the seating.

17 years ago, we had to take apart two bride and groom cake toppers to get two grooms. Now, the guncles had plenty of toppers to choose from with two grooms. All this one needed was some highlights in one groom's hair and it was ready to adorn the carrot cake.

I was honored to be in the ceremony. The whole time I was up there, I watched Kevin's face and was moved by the emotions he showed.

That man is a treasure and we are lucky to have him in our family, and seeing the love and happiness in his eyes that day, moved me to my core.

I spent the entire day with red, weepy eyes, but a huge grin on my face at the same time.

A Fabulous Craft Day Bachelor Party

family, guncles, parties, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / November 5, 2014

Our Sister Trip to sprinkle Daddy's ashes also included a bachelor party for the guncles. They live in Jacksonville, but were getting married the next week in New Hampshire. Our fab friend, Karen, has a home in Mt. Dora, which in my mind was about halfway from where we were staying in Sarasota.

In real life, it was a THREE HOUR DRIVE. And when gettting stuck in traffic on the way home, it was a FOUR HOUR DRIVE.

Still, the day in Mt. Dora was well worth the time in the car, (although I think I would have preferred a sleep over instead of doing it all in one day.)

We got to meet Queen Satine, one of the most delicate and delightful ladies I've ever known.

And experience the loveliness that is Karen's Kozy Kottage.

Not to mention a sneak peek at her new studio in downtown Mt. Dora.

Where prettiness abounds.

I was touched to see her little pink fairy from Birdsong sitting on a shelf there.

And a fabulously embellished angel on the wall that she made from a mini how-to that I did when I was visiting her another time.

Of course, everything about Karen is Fabulous. Just like Guncle Randy. When they get together, fabulousness starts emitting from them like shining bits of fire from a 4th of July sparkler.

The bachelor party wasn't a typical one. Instead of a wild party with cocktails and exotic dancers, we had a craft day.

We were working on wedding decor for the big event coming up.

These large wooden letters are for Randy and Kevin, we painted them metallic and covered them with moss.

Here is one as it was on the mantel at the wedding. We also found the perfect, old hat filled with fall colored velvet leaves and blooms, and took it apart to add a few pieces from it to the letters.

Guncle Randy found the hat on our jaunt downtown to do a little shopping at one of Mt. Dora's cute boutiques. What luck, it was just what those letters needed. And we had plenty of millinery blooms from it to use in our journals too.

My gift for the guncles was an album/journal for Randy to fill with wedding mementos. And I came across the perfect sheet music to use as backgrounds too. Here are a couple of them.

After the wedding, we had another craft day, and I used one to make this for their album.

The craft day bachelor party also included making a garland for the mantel at the wedding, and centerpieces, that I showed you before, here.

Plus home made goodies from Karen's pal and our new friend, Julie. She even made us jams and apple butter to take home.

Thanks, Karen, for the lovely day! And thanks, Julie for the lovely treats!

A Farewell to Daddy

fairies, family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / November 2, 2014

Our Sister Trip to Florida was such a relaxing getaway. Our condo was right on the Siesta Key beach, with its soft, white sand.

This is where we vacationed with our parents while growing up. Our Grandma lived in Sarasota, and I thought ALL sand looked like powdered sugar when I was a kid. I was sadly disappointed the first time I went to an ocean beach with ordinary, brown sand.

My dad loved Siesta Key too. When he died, he asked that some of his ashes were sprinkled on the sand bar. For years, my sisses and I have been trying to get together to take him there. This year, we just said, let's just DO it, no excuses, no more waiting till we had time.

And I am glad we did.

Sissy brought Daddy in a decorated bottle, and added some glitter. He was in her purse for part of the trip, and I'm sure he enjoyed going out to dinner with us. Daddy always loved a good restaurant meal.

I scrounged for shells to create an angel in the sand for him, then made a giant heart to center the angel in.

With the white sand, and white shells, the angel doesn't show up a lot in the photos. Especially with the sun glinting off of the glitter we added around her.

While shell hunting, I found a sparkling rhinestone earring, and a shell with a hole in it, that the earring poked into perfectly. That was her bodice. I also found an old, rusty PBR bottle cap, my dad's favorite beer. That was added to the top of the sand heart.

Her wings are created from shards of an iridescent lining of some large clam type shell. We also found two of those large shells, still intact, and when opened up they were heart shaped.

We opened one of them, and sprinkled Daddy's ashes inside, then let him float away as the waves came in over the shell.

Kansas City Renfest 2014

fairies, family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / October 10, 2014

The mermaids at the Renfest have a new grotto. Last year, they were plopped into a sad tank of water.

Now, they have a magical pond along a woodland trail.

Complete with a treasure chest filled with baubles to share with princesses who come to call.

As always, the Renfest provides the perfect backdrop for Sugarwings' fertile imagination. It is a beautiful location in a hilly wooded area, with a fairy tale village amidst the trees.

With fairies to meet.

Who like to frolic with guests.

And queens who love to dance with with visiting royalty.

We spent a lot of time playing a board game with the hand blown glass marbles.

And visiting the livestock.

This pony was named Sugar. That seemed to be a good fit.

I'm afraid I didn't catch the name of this lady.

Poor Sugarwings always ends up poisoned by some bad apple, every where we go.

Luckily, she felt better and was able to have a turkey leg for dinner.

Her Daddy was there, selling hand made magic wands and alchemy pendants.

In his free time, he and Miss Tree did some acrobatic yoga.

Sugarwings joined in.

I did not. But I did share the turkey leg.

There was dancing around the maypole too.

And pirate wenches in pink.

The only thing missing? Little Dewdrop. I hope to get a chance to take her this year too. She and Sugarwings have matching gowns, and she is just dying for a chance to rock hers too. (These pink gowns are from TJ Max and only $29 each. What a steal. Knowing Dewdrop, she will be wearing hers nonstop till it looks more like the "before" version of Cinderella's dress instead of the one the fairy godmother gives her.)

Sugarwings' dress already is heading that way….