Travel – Page 19 – Karla's Cottage

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….

Why we love the Topeka Zoo

Dew Drop, family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / August 1, 2014

We have such a good time when we go to the zoo in Topeka. For one thing, it is small, and easy to get around in. It used to be kind of sad and run down, but improvements have been made over the years and every time we go, it gets better and better.

Everything is clean. Everyone is friendly.

There is a 106 year old carousel in the park next to the zoo, and I've never seen it busy. Most times when we go, there are very few people there. This time, we were the only ones visiting this gorgeous, old ride, for about an hour or so. The cost is only $1.25, or 15 ride tickets for $15 (includes the train too).

It's so cheap, and there were no lines, so we rode over and over and over. Well, at least they did, I get a bit dizzy just watching it go around. If I'd joined in for multiple rides, I'd probably still be spinning around in my head today.

The attendants are always friendly to kids and since there was no one else there, the young man at the controls let the girls play on the horses, giant chickens, zebras, etc. trying each one out before choosing the perfect steed for the ride.

The adjacent park has rose gardens, a big community pool, a new play ground, trails, and a very, very old play ground made up of giant cement animals to climb on. When my kids were little, there were tunnels, but those have since been covered up. I'm glad the goofy animals are still there to play on.

And play in.

Once you get inside the zoo (only $15 for three of us for the day) it's an easy walk through it. With some interactive sites along the way, like this African bush camp. We usually can play jungle explorer there for an hour or so.

This zoo has had a checkered past, losing accreditation a couple of times. But major changes have been implemented and it is a sweet, little place to visit now and seems to be very well run and kept up beautifully. It is a quick get away for us, only 20 minutes from my house to the gate.

And how often can you find a place where you can hitch a ride on the king of beasts?

My grand fairies love having lions to climb on.

And a "cweepy" (according to Dewdrop) cave where you can visit the cats up close and personal.

Bigger zoos of course, have bigger attractions, but I don't think any of them can beat Topeka for price, accessibility, and pure charm.

Interested in the journal swap? Info here.

Free Fun in Kansas City for kids

Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 26, 2014

We went to Crown Center recently, and while you can spend a lot there, you can also have a completely free, yet still jam packed day.

There are a lot of activities there for kids, like the aquarium, which was a bit pricey, $37 for two of us. It wasn't big, but you could easily spend a couple of hours there if you wanted to. It is aimed at kids and there are plenty of things to climb on and in.

Plus how often are you encouraged to pet a star fish?

My tip is to take your time, it is small, so don't rush it, by following the crowd that is working its way through from one display to the next. Stick around and enjoy the displays, because there aren't that many of them.

But our favorite part of Crown Center is the interactive play area that changes themes a few times a year. When we went earlier, it was a tribute to Oz. I've not been very often, this is only our third visit. The first was years ago when the play area was set up as a fairy tale land.

This time, it was all about recycling, reusing, and saving the planet. Complete with bicycles to pedal and power a light post, a pretend farmer's market to encourage eating local foods, a little play house where you learn to pack a lunch in reusable containers, and a life size doll that you could try clothes on and sort to see what needed to be donated to a thrift store when they didn't fit.

Then, you could play dress up yourself in the thrift store, or sit and read the books that had been donated.

There was an energy efficient car you could pretend to fill with gas and check the tire pressure, and a laboratory to learn about water resources.

Sugarwings lives in a world of make believe, so when she saw all of these props, she was in heaven. We could have spent days there. Or at least she could've…. My limit was about a half hour. But we stretched it to about an hour and a half, because she was thrilled with every aspect of the place. And it was NOT at all crowded. When we visited the Dorothy exhibit, that was packed. A more popular theme, I guess. Plus we went on a Saturday.

Fridays at Crown Center this summer are also featuring a free concert and outdoor movie. We didn't stay for that, but did have a snack in the Crayola Cafe and shopped in the Crayola store, where we could do some free art projects.

There is also a free craft area called Kaleidoscope that we have never made it to. Next time, we will plan extra time for that. Hallmark supplies the materials and crafts, and from what I saw the other kids carrying around, they were high quality, good projects.

Interested in the journal swap? Info here.

Travel woes and something very scary

Dew Drop, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2014

Dewdrop rode home from Roots and Bliss with us since her Daddy's car was full to the brim with supplies he'd hauled down for the event.

After only a few minutes on the winding, hilly roads, she let us know that her tummy wasn't happy and she wanted out of the car. Silly me, I gave her the ipad to take her mind off of her problems.

Now, I've gotten carsick enough in the past to know that reading doesn't exactly help the feeling, so giving her the ipad to look at probably wasn't very smart.

Soon, she starting spewing out buckets and buckets of breakfast. We pulled over pretty fast. And luckily, had a car loaded with camping supplies, towels, wash wipes, clean clothes, etc. I was glad to have trash bags too. And paper towels to save the ipad.

All of her toys were, um, saturated…. And she wanted something to snuggle. My mom used to make wash cloth dolls for me when I was sick, I wish I could ask her how she did that. I twisted up a paper towel into a baby in a blanky for Dewdrop, but it just wasn't as cute as what my mom used to make.

Still, it gave her something to snuggle and she was happy to hold it.

This curvy road wasn't the best luck for us. As scary as that spewing baby was, this is worse. On the way to the camp, we had a frightening experience, I was glad we didn't have a baby in the car with us then! As we were heading south, a young woman jumped out into the road, waving her arms and crying hysterically.

We pulled over, to see if she needed help, and she screamed that her boyfriend was trying to kill her. She wanted in the car, but I was leery. I've seen the ravages of meth on a person's body before and she had the tell tale signs of that addiction, but still I wasn't sure. We looked around, didn't see another soul, so dialed 911 and told her to wait by the car.

After we had the police on the line, we got out to see if she was okay. My husband wanted to let her in the car, but I've seen enough horror movies to know that if you are in the middle of nowhere and a stranger wants in your car, you probably shouldn't let them in. And wasn't this the part of the country that Winter's Bone was set in? Or maybe, Cabin in the Woods?

Well, I wasn't heartless, just careful. With the police on the way, we gave her water, food, and listened to her story while we waited by the car for the cavalry to come.

Apparently, her boyfriend was a fugitve from the law, and had kidnapped her and kept her captive in the woods for days, beating her with a baseball bat, threatening to kill her. Then, he drove off with her, they ran out of gas, and she escaped. It was hard to understand much of the story, she was crying so hard, and so frightened. She seemed battered, but didn't look like she had any broken bones. We asked if we should call 911 again and ask for an ambulance, but she said no.

While we waited, and waited for the police to come (we were in the middle of no where!) I gave her motherly advice about guys who are trouble,respecting herself and not letting him back in her life, and handed her some cash. I'm sure she appreciated the cash, I don't know about the advice.

And then she pointed out the boyfriend's car up the hill. As he walked toward it with a gas can!!

That was when we dialed 911 again, and made sure help was coming. They had us ask her if the guy had a gun, she said no, only the bat and a big flashlight he had hit her with. We decided we should drive away with her if he acted like he was coming towards us, but everything happened so fast, we didn't have a chance. After filling up his tank, he zoomed right at us, and luckily, kept on going, probably knowing the police were on the way.

Soon after, they arrived. The officer was very familiar with the loser who beat her, and said they had been hunting for him. I felt bad about not getting the license plate number, but it wasn't needed, they knew the car. I didn't find out if there had been a missing person report on this girl, or how long she had been kept in the woods, she said a few days. I still think she was probably involved with meth, it would have taken more than a few days to look as ragged and bone thin as she was.

What would you have done? My husband said that if I hadn't been there, he would have put her in the car and taken her away to call for help. I just didn't feel safe letting her in. Although, if the boyfriend had a gun, we would have been easy pickings when he showed up, and maybe we'd have been smart to drive away with her instead of waiting there for the police. She kept begging to leave, because she thought he was coming to kill her. And I guess he could have killed us too.

Roots and Bliss

Dew Drop, dogs, fairies, family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 27, 2014

For the solstice, we drove to the Ozarks to go to the Roots and Bliss festival hosted at a campground on the river.

I'm not much of a camper, or a festival goer. But I knew that my littles would be there, and that their dad was a major contributor to the event, he'd been working on the venue for the whole previous year.

It was really quite nice to see him in action, and to see the respect and caring that he was shown by the attendees.

I didn't attend any of the workshops, but I liked listening.

And of course, playing with the grand fairies.

And splashing around down in the river.

My only regret is that we didn't bring dogs with us. We might have been the only people there without a pup. Well, not quite, but there were lots of furry friends around.

Funny, many of the dogs had at least one blue eye.

In the last few years, I've started a habit of making fairies on beaches I visit. At this beach, there wasn't much in the way of shells, so I didn't think about it, til I saw that mossy green, heart shaped rock and knew it had to be a bodice for a fairy dress.

Then, saw a skirt shaped rock to match. The head was easy too, then I was stumped with no rock wings or appendages. (oh, maybe "stumped" was a rude way to put it)

So, I cheated, and tucked the beach stones into my pocket for later. When I got back up to the camp, I poked around and found some sticks, and dead leaves that worked out pretty good and I was able to finish my little sprite.

The weekend was visually quite lovely, pretty lights, a winding, candlelit pathway, happy faces every where. Yep, we were very proud of our boy for his part in it all.

There was yoga, from the talented Miss Tree, who has travelled the world to become a master class teacher, and who thought up and started the whole Roots and Bliss idea. I'm glad they were blessed with beautiful weather and a good crowd after all the hard work that they put into the planning.

Sugarwings' mom was a fire dancer, and I was so mesmerized, I didn't even think of taking a photo. But here is the fam before the show started…

Did I mention that we were proud of our boy? And I'm a bit proud of myself for going. I had no intention of doing it. This sort of thing isn't my typical weekend, but sometimes you do need to get out of your regular routine and try something different, don't you?

I prefer books and TV or movies to live music, and get plenty of out door life in my own yard and have never felt the need to camp. So, the weekend was going to be a stretch for me.

At the last minute, I offered to join my husband (he wouldn't have missed it for anything, he'd been out of town and hadn't seen the girls all week. That man would have driven anywhere to see his grand daughters after a week without them). So I gathered my courage and decided I'd sleep in a tent in the wilderness.

Luckily, we got there and found a very nice, air conditioned, cabin to rent for the night and I didn't even have to unroll a sleeping bag.

But I would have done it! I was willing to give it a try.

And trying something different is kind of nice. Especially, when you are surrounded by such nice people.

ps- I'm having a Summer Clearance sale in the Boutique. I've neglected that poor little shoppette too long, I need to clean up, clear out, and refresh it all. You are welcome to soak up some summertime savings and help me get a fresh start, by using this link and getting 50% off everything in the store:

http://www.karlascottage.com/?code=Summersale

(You must use that address to get the special price. Going to the regular address does NOT take you to the 50% discount)

And please know, I will refund excess postage after boxingup your purchase and weighing it.