Travel – Page 23 – Karla's Cottage

Pretty, pretty, pretty, I love Kim’s house! plus a Boutique sale and a giveaway

Food and Drink, give away, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, Travel, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / December 23, 2011

Everything at Kim's was pure perfection, she has major decor, design, and detail skills.

And the ladies who came to spend the day were such fun! I hope they enjoyed my two classes as much as I enjoyed sharing the tips with them.

There were gifts galore too. Kim gave us all the table decorations she used to foof our seats, I already have these wings on display in my own holiday decor.

And the generous attendees all included me in their swaps, even though I didn't have time to participate. (photos to come, you'll be impressed with their work!)

Kim's house was sooooo pretty. I said that word so many times, that I sounded like a broken record. Or a dimwit with a pitiful vocabulary.

Can you blame me? Pretty was everywhere.

Kim was attempting to show me around when I arrived, when I caught a glimpse of her studio through the open doorway and I was magnetically pulled into the prettiness of the room, with no hope of stopping myself. I just had to explore that space.

But it wasn't just the studio. The whole house is that great. This is the bedroom that Jessi and I shared, Kim's daughter, Kate, gave up her room for the whole weekend.

My main project was a wire wrapped wreath, with lace leaves and a nesting dove. I brought a table full of "extras" for everyone to play with. Ribbons, lace, beads,glitters, etc. When I teach a class, I think its only fair to include everything you need in the kits.

But- its good to have an option to personalize the piece and have some bonus goodies to dig through.

Don't we all love to dig?

Everyone's project was unique, no two just the same. Just the way I like it!

We also played with paint, and I explained some of the techniques for short cut painting tips that are on the side bar of my blog. I'll have some pictures of that later, as well as a bigger sample of the work. Kim and I painted her nightstands using the same steps that we did on the small wooden boxes that I brought for the class.

When I arrived, she had a pristine, newly painted, chalk board door.

And I had the honors of supplying its first drawing.

Kate has tamed a feral cat and it adores her. So, my thought was to add the kitty to the picture, and have it play with the ribbons dangling from the wreath that we were making that day.

I have more photos to share after Christmas, but for now, I really need to get shopping and wrapping! Sugarwings has been ill since I got home and a lot of my time has gone to snuggling instead of prepping for the big event this weekend. I hope Santa can find my chimney, because no one in this house should count on gifts from me…. I'm not prepared!

Speaking of gifts- don't forget that you have till Christmas to win a special, surprise gift from me. Any comment this week, any post counts.

Also, if you have Christmas gift cash to buy your self a gift, come on by the Boutique. Everything is 30% off if you use THIS LINK.

The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days. You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words- happyholidays – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

Merry Christmas!

Tourist time

family, Food and Drink, Travel

By Karla Nathan / December 7, 2011

Wouldn't this be a good idea for gift giving? It would be sweet to slip a gift into a box that is a gift itself.

I made this box for another reason, but it kind of got me thinking of the possibilities.

Of course, I haven't even done my Christmas shopping yet, so I should probably stop thinking about what I'll put the gifts in and start thinking about what I'll buy instead!

There was a teensy bit of time to shop while I was in Palm Springs last weekend, but it was more sight seeing than shopping.

If I'm in an area where the stores are Rolex, Coach, and other high dollar specialty stores, chances are pretty durn slim that I will be buying my family any holiday gifts there.

These guys simply aren't the type to wear a watch that costs thousands of dollars.

Not that I am the type to buy one, anyway.

But it was fun to look.

It was fun to be a tourist and go sightseeing. At the stores as well as out and about. We took the tram up the mountain side, 8,500 feet up to catch the views one morning.

And drove to Temecula to do a little wine tasting after that.

My brilliant husband had a great idea, that I'd never have thought of. He said we should go to the lounge, sit down and sample there instead of standing in line to belly up to the counter in the crowded tasting rooms.

The four of us got to try a good selection from the winery, relax in comfy chairs, and share a cheese plate. That was much nicer than standing up at the counter in the crowds of other testers.

Isn't this a cute display for the holidays?

And I loved seeing poinsiettas growing outside! The weather wasn't perfect, we needed our coats, but it was still warmer than Kansas and I really enjoy seeing all the flower beds full and blooming in the sunshine out in California. Its probably my favorite part of the trip, because back home, my garden is brown and crunchy with a hint of green slime where the last plants froze and are rotting.

The whole trip was just beautiful. But its good to be home and have a couple of days with Sugarwings and Dewdrop. They both stayed over night the last couple of days, so I'm just now getting back to work. That was a great way to ease out of the vacation and back into the real world.

Two days of llittle girl cuddles was a welcome extension of my time off!

Now, its back to normal and back to work.

And thats not bad either! Its good to be home and I'm happy to be back in the studio.

Prairie fairyland classes and pretty scenery

celebrations, Chandeliers, Once upon a dream, parties, Travel

By Karla Nathan / November 2, 2011

I wish I could teach more often. Its a blast. Of course, I am a bit of a ham, and I talk too much, so its wonderful to have a trapped crowd listening to me…Actually, its just plain old FUN to do. When I make something, my brain works in How-To Steps as I go. Its natural for me to break down the process of creating something.

I find myself telling people steps of something when they give me a compliment, which is silly, most people don't care, they are just saying something nice about it. I can see their eyes glaze over when I go into too much detail, so its nice to have people who really do want to know how something is made.

The class I taught for Jenn was a mini "workshopette" for opening night, so I only had an hour. I needed to package it up so that it was easy to assemble. It seemed to be just the right timing, the ladies had time to finish and come up to the supply table to embellish with glitters and mica flakes too.

I had felt like it was so simple I didn't need written instructions, but then started to freak out and worry that maybe I was wrong. And yes I was. So, I'm glad I scribbled out some in the bar the night before. The front desk printed them out for me and I was glad to have them for the class.

One of my favorite things about the class was seeing all the variations people made on the prize ribbon. Individuality is important to me and I made sure no two kits were exactly alike, but the fairy ladies took them even a step further to make each unique.

Amy mentioned that she would love to make hers into a magic wand and wished she had a stick. I suggested gluing two glue sticks together and wrapping them with paper. It turned out really cute!

If you'd like to make your own, I had some materials left over to make a limited amount of extra kits. They can be found for $11 each in the Boutique

The projects at the event were all such fun! This is Dee's and she provided cool images to use.

Mine ended up a bit different. I wanted to use one of my mushrooms that I made for the centerpieces. It still needs a little sumthin sumthin… maybe small prize ribbon rosettes on each side, in neutral colors?

This is my chandy from Natasha's class. There were a few changes on mine too, I had strands of rhinestones with me and wanted to use those instead of the beading she gave us in the kit. I also wrapped the wire in tulle and lace.

Then, I added a few dangles.

Well, durn, I don't have a photo of Andrea's lovely necklace kit. She packed up the best stuff to make the bracelet/necklace. Lots of semi precious beads, that really made it special. If you know Andrea, you know she has exquisite taste. (Plus she is sensitive, sweet, kind hearted, and beautiful)

My pal, Tiffany, taught about taking better photos, and I learned a LOT from her. She fixed the settings on my camera and I didn't even know they were wrong.

My roomie, Lori, had a fun class too. I didn't get to sit down and make it yet, because I was walking around and helping with it. Her kits were packaged really special, and I do have mine to make later.

On our welcome night classes, the acoustics were a bit off, so all the teachers pitched in and walked around to help, since we couldn't be heard as easily as we'd hoped. Their help made the classes a success. I was sure glad to see them all come to my aid!

Suzanne was another roomie, and is always a delight to spend time with. We also got to share a table on work day.

Our buddie, Kana was at our table too. She was our 4th roommate. I've never shared a room 4 ways for an event like this, but it does make it even more fun. Twice the giggles late at night than you get with just one roomie.

And three people to tell me to stop snoring. They said I was a polite snore-er and would stop when told. Suzanne taught everyone that if they snap their fingers I roll over and shut up. Its a good trick. I felt like I should have gotten treats for it, though.

I've heard that if you pin a tennis ball to the back of your jammies, you won't roll onto your back, and I snore only on my back. But I didn't have a tennis ball, we had raquet balls, and golf balls. One was too soft, one was too small, but I tried putting both into a sock and pinning it to the back of my sleep shirt.

The trouble was, the sock was too long and it swung around and whacked me in the face, and did no good at keeping me off my back. I was actually more comfortable on my back, with the sock-o-balls on my shoulder, and I would dream it was little Agnes Rosebud nestled up on my shoulder as I slept.

The details at each place setting were as wonderful as everything else Jenn does.

She didn't miss any opportunity to make even the smallest detail into something special. This is the seating chart!

Our table was the "Water Sprites" which of course reminded me of my little Sugarwings who thinks she is a mermaid.

Jenn had wonderful photo ops set up for us, this wall of frames was sooooo pretty. And so is Valerie (wearing one of the crowns I made)

This vintage angel was a great spot to pose too. Doesn't Natasha look like an angel herself too? Well, while she is nice as can be, she is also far from angelic, that girl is full of fire, is stunningly funny, and always ready with a great story. But she sure pulls off the angel look!

It was great to see old friends, make new ones, and play dress up while surrounded by such stunning scenery. I'm honored that Jenn asked me to teach, it meant a great deal to me to be part of this one of a kind event.

Thanks, Jenn for everything you did to make us all feel like pampered princesses right out of a fairy tale for this enchanted weekend

Home from some family fairy fun

antiques/junking, fairies, family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / August 13, 2011

Its soooooo good to be home. But I'm still not caught up. I wish I really was a fairy and could wave my magic wand to make everything get done!

While visiting my sisses in Indy, we had some fairy dress up time together. I probably play dress up with them as much as I do with Sugarwings. There is nothing like having family that never out grows their playfulness!

Although, there is an age range when not everyone finds it as much fun as we do. But the kids indulged us and let their fairy grandma grant them wishes with her wand while I took their picture. A couple of the girls even put on some fairy wings and posed for me too. But look at little Jaythan's face, he is the one sitting in the grass in a white shirt. Poor kid, he must be wondering if Mamaw is going to be taken away and locked up somewhere. He is worried she has snapped!

Yes, I complained about being busy, busy, busy since I got home, but I did take time to edit some of the photos. A person needs to have their priorities straight.

Plus, picnik is a super fast, easy way to edit. While doing a couple of the pictures, I took an extra bit of time to write out the steps on how I did it. I'll be posting a couple of tutorials next week with the step by steps if you are interested.

My trip was just great. Its the first time I drove there by myself in years and I was a bit worried about it, but I had a wonderful time. I was having so much fun talking and singing to myself and planning projects in my mind that I didn't even turn on the audio book that I'd downloaded. Sometimes, 10 hours alone can be quite therapeutic. I think I needed that.

On the way, I shopped a bit, but not much. This has been the year of NO JUNK around here. How sad. I miss my junking trips. We were too busy in Indy to get out much either, we had some Very Important Family stuff to do, so barely shopped, and most of it was not vintage. We did hit one Goodwill, where I found an amazing old, old skirt to take apart for the fabric.

I got home in time for my son and his family to fix us a big anniversary dinner and spend the evening on Tuesday night. Since I knew they were coming, I limited my stops at antique malls on the drive home.

We even got to have Sugarwings stay all night, that was the best welcome home I could get and was worth zipping right on by antique stores along the way to get home in time to see her.

For years, I've been searching for a pretty alarm clock for by my bed. One that didn't need to be wound up. There are plenty of those to be found, but few electric ones. In Columbia, MO I came across this beaut. Also the gorgeous beaded fabric under it. It was originally a dress, but is in shreds, so is great for cutting up to make crap out of.

There were some pretties to add to the Boutique too. And believe it or not, I actually took photos and got them listed. Its has been way too long since I took care of my business. Its not a lot, but its a start.

While I was at it, I grabbed a couple of things that I'd made months ago and never had time to list. There are TWO TUBS of stuff that has piled up, waiting for me to take pictures of and try to sell, and I simply have not gotten to it.

Yesterday, instead of working, we took all 7 of the grand kids and their parents to a water park to celebrate some birthdays, and this weekend, I have Sugarwings. But- I'll be forcing myself to stay on task in the next week, and hope to have more listed between a few other projects I have lined up.

Wish me luck, I plan on spending an hour each day on nothing but the Boutique and Etsy, then making things the rest of the day. Well, except some Sugarwings birthday time. She and I have a date for Smurfs, I think.

When I got back from my trip, Direct TV was out. No TV, no saved DVR programs. I thought about not even getting it fixed until I was caught up on my work, but then I started to shake and experience withdrawal symptoms and had to make the call within minutes of finding out I was TV-less.

Already, I missed out on the finale of Falling Skies and So You Think You Can Dance. But luckily, I saw True Blood at Sissy's house. Ooooh, that is a heartbreak diverted.

Well, instead of complaining about not getting any work done, I'll go do some. Please check in Monday for editing tips if you want to play hooky from work and goof off with picnik like I did!

Oh, and the winner of the dress form online tutorial is:

Sherry

And THANKS so much to all of you who are buying the class! Its just about my only income since I've neglected my store so much. I appreciate your support and I hope you love making the dress forms as much as I do. I'll be adding a Halloween dress form idea to the class, soon (free to those of you who already signed up) as a thanks.

Speaking of Halloween, don't forget, that if you purchased our online tutorial, "Romantic Gothic Ghosts" you can still use that class and all the cool papers we downloaded for you. If you didn't get all of the projects made last year, now is the time to make some for this upcoming spooky season.

Or if you didn't take the classes yet? You can still purchase it. There are tons of patterns, how-tos, ideas, decorating, and goodies for you there. All in a low-color romantic style.

You can see some of it here Just scroll down, the Romantic White Christmas class is at the top, the Halloween one is below.

Thankful for family

family, flowers, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2011

Our family getaway to Utah was very special. It was good to see nieces and nephews we rarely get to visit and to catch up on laughs with some of my husband's sibs.

We'd never been to his sister's newer home, and it was a beautiful place to stay, full of original artwork that was right up my alley.

I never got tired of walking through the house and admiring the paintings. Especially the fairy themed ones.

They also had family portraits that were so beautiful, they held as much magic as the sprite and fey paintings did.

Even the pets were represented in oil. What a dreamy place! The artist of many of these works is Lynn Lupettii and I have to say, I'm quite a fan.

But the magic wasn't all just paint, we muggles spent some time visiting Hogwarts too.

Quite a few of the group headed to the theater about 5 am on Thursday to watch a Harry Potter marathon that ended with the midnight showing of the latest flick.

Due to flight delays, I didn't get to join them quite that early, but I made it for movie #4 and was surprised at how fast 3 am came and it was all over with. We had blankets, a ton of snacks and food and drinks, and it was such fun to be part of the large crowd saying a fond farewell to Harry. The very last movie was just as moving to me as the book was. I sobbed again just like when I read the happy ending to the series. Even knowing what was coming up, I still cried like a baby when**************************.(sorry, don't want to mess up the end for you, but I can't quite believe there are Harry fans who haven't read the book yet!!)

Its one of the best series endings I've ever read. Heck, I have tears in my eyes now just thinking about it.

But the real, honest magic of the trip, was Utah itself. Everywhere we went, there was beauty. And not much is more beautiful than Thanksgiving Point.

Its kind of a botanical gardens, but it is very user-friendly and almost like taking the kids to the park for the day. A very special park!

(this photo of Grandma Joan is NOT doctored up, the colors were that vibrant there!!!)

Kids are allowed to run and play, and even to roll down the big hill. The grass was a thick, cushion of plush green, nothing like around my house. Better than any golf course I have seen too. Plus NO CHIGGERS! Its been years since I have sat down in the grass out of chigger fear. I was so drawn to this lawn that I even tried rolling down the hill with the little girls.

Since I weigh quite a bit more than the kids, I took off rolling a bit harder and faster than they did, and after about 2 turns, was dizzy and ready to stop. But gravity had other plans for me, and it felt like an hour on a roller coaster later when I finally stopped, although it was probably only a few feet. It made me so dizzy that I even feel slightly nauseous looking at this photo, although the picture doesn't really capture just how steep it really was.

This park reminded me of Disney-world with no rides. It was over the top, and the detail was amazing.

The whole weekend, I kept seeing things Sugarwings would have loved, and I missed her terribly. I knew she'd have had a good time with her 2nd cousins.

And this park was a perfect setting to play fairy. She'd have been deep into her imaginary world if she'd been there.

I can just picture her having a conversation with this dragon. Its the base of my sis-in-law's mailbox! Her home is filled with dragons and fairies and gnomes.

The back yard was two levels, with a curving downhill path following a series of waterfalls.

The pool at the base of the falls was lit up and misty. Of course, Sugarwings is what we politely call a "hands on" child. It would have been an non-stop challenge to keep her out of the waterfalls.

But I was pretty content to sit out there to enjoy the veiw adn the sound of trickling water. In Utah, we had zero humidity, and could open our windows at night and listen to the creek as we slept. Not like the 110 degree heat index we have today in Kansas.

That fountain alone would have been worth the trip! I had to change from the upstairs deck to the downstairs porch back and forth, I couldn't make up my mind which had the best view.

Still, the very best part was getting to spend time with my husband's sweet family. What nice, generous people they are. It was a lovely trip.

I know how lucky I am to have a husband I love so much, but I'm also lucky that he has a family that I love too.

Next post, I'll announce another winner of my online dress form tutorial. If you have already purchased one of the $15 classes, (thank you!!), then I'll send you a kit of vintage goodies instead if I draw your name.

Leave a comment if you want to be entered, you still have a couple of days to enter while I am waist deep in Bird song swap tags!

A whimsical mantel redo

fairies, family, flowers, guncles, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2011

My Guncle weekend was just wonderful, as I knew it would be. Kevin bought my plane ticket as a birthday gift to Randy, lucky, lucky me!

It all went by too fast, we played all weekend, and got sillier as the days passed by.

Jacksonville is great, but we were having too much fun to get out and explore. We stayed in the craft room, garden or kitchen except for a quick run to pick up more seafood to cook or craft supplies to work with.

We got a bunch of these little wooden birds at Michaels and foofed them up for part of a redecorating project we wanted to do. This one is perched on a grapevine wreath that we turned into a nest for the display.

When I arrived, the guys mentioned that they were ready for a mantel makeover. Here is a Before shot of that corner.

And Ta-da! Here is the whimsical after. We turned the fireplace into a magical fairy land, by shopping around the house, arranging some silk flowers, and making a few little tidbits to add here and there.

After taking everything down, so we could start from scratch, we decided to remove the fireplace screen too. The logs are wrapped in mini lights, and we perched fairies with red glass wings, and some other fun creatures inside, then tucked lots of greenery all around.

Out in the garage, I found a couple of large, metal bread racks, one in this great red, the other with chippy white paint. We leaned these up against the ornate mirror that was hanging over the mantel, then started tucking things behind the racks and hanging other stuff on them.

Kevin just happened to find a big bagful of marble eggs at a garage sale that morning, and we nestled them all around, in mossy nests. (we were pretending they were fairy eggs)

He also found two of these old bird books, one we used for display, the other we greedily tore apart and made things out of in the craft room.

The guys had lots of fairies, elves, and sparkly creatures around the house and in the garden for us to add.

I'd brought them a Nest banner that I'd made, and we hung it right in the center.

At Christmas, Randy had made a glittering nest in this top hat, and for summer, we redid it with the little Fairy Frog Prince that I'd brought to him for his birthday.

And this magnicficent art deco piece is a light fixture that Kevin found along the road in the trash!! Randy arranged some flowers in it, since it neede rewiring before we could turn it on.

Yes, we know that its busy, and there is a lot going on. But to us, that just made it all that much more fun. More treasures to discover each time you looked through the display, more magic to enjoy.

Neither one of us really get "editing".

For me, it was such a blast to get to shop his house for all the goodies we used. And to do something so bright and playful, since my house is all pastels and creams. Plus, I got to play with my baby bro, and there isn't much better than that!

Moulin projects

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, Travel

By Karla Nathan / March 24, 2011

A quick note, to let you know that there are a couple extra spots opened up in my Paper Cowgirls class. Please email me for a special link to sign up. If you had approached me about it in the past, and there wasn't space, there is now. And I am sorry, that I didn't save the names of the people waiting to get in, because I thought it was already full!!

This is a photo my table mate took during Shea's class. We were making necklaces, and I was trying mine on while keeping it together with clothes pins. We used jewelry glue to layer pieces of filigree with a rhinestone piece, and mine just kept sliding off.

I made too many design changes in the necklace, using a vintage piece instead of the rhinestones provided, and it was too heavy. So, it didn't hang right, and I had to redo it. I adored Shea's design, and love the necklace, but I wanted mine just a little different than the rest, and that was a mistake. I got carried away and added way too much.

So, it got stripped back down again and I still used my own vintage pieces on it, but I followed our teacher's design so that it hung correctly. The silk ribbon that she gave us to use in the kit was meant for a certain weight limit and I'd gone way too far over that.

Mine ended up without the filigree pieces, even after all the work of gluing and clamping them together. I used that bauble on just a ribbon, so I actually got two necklaces out of the deal!

This choker is still Shea's concept, I just changed out the beads in the kit for some from my Great Aunt Caroline, and used vintage rhinestone flowers instead of the charms provided.

I've worn it a lot, and know that I'll get a lot of future wearings from it too.

Here is something else I've been wearing, a necklace from Lonnie. I bought it at vendor night, it has my favorite things in it, millinery, ephemera, pearls, and a dorkie.

Don't try to rain on my parade and tell me that is a Scotty, not a Yorkie. I'll put my fingers in my ears and sing, so that I don't hear you.

Yorkshire Terriers are hard to find, so when I find a cute Scotty, I say close enough and just lie to myself about what kind of dog it is.

Two of my other projects from Moulin Rouge have already found a permanent home in my cottage.

This is Kerry Lynn's dry erase board, but tweaked a bit with my own colors. She had such a brilliant idea for making this, that I just knew I had to change it to match my kitchen and use it as a grocery list.

The edges were meant to be finished in a blanket stitch, but I was too lazy, and simply glued ribbon on the edges. I also dodged the stamping, because I am not good at that either. But I did stick with the French theme and used text and pictures from a magazine given to me by Zita.

More of the French magazine was used to back this crystal, and the rhinestone Eiffel tower was from our goody bags.

Mine was getting done really fast, and I realized that everyone else was embroidering, stamping, sewing, and making frills. I was just plopping stuff in place and gluing it down. I didn't actually MAKE anything for mine! No wonder it went so fast.

And Kerry Lynn had some cool tips and tricks that I wanted to try. So, I used her wired seam binding idea to make a holder for my dry erase marker. Its now wired to the handle of the piece and dangles down.

My pal, Pam, was a handy neighbor. She is fluent in French and could decipher some of the French from my magazine. She also provided a pretty word for me to write on the board (with permanent marker), "Toujours" which means "always". That was the title of my mom's favorite song.

This was Colleen's can can girl class. She painted gold boxes for us to use as a stage, and sculpted all the dolls for us to paint and embellish! She also provided all the materials we needed, but I brought light colors to use for my stage and girl, and then, somehow my can can girl morphed into a ballerina fairy.

I gave her a flower petal skirt, butterfly wings, and a magic wand. If you hang around me too long, these things just happen to you.

The piece I made in Jenny and Aron's class got a little make over too. I used their painted pink cake, but for the background, I glued down a map of Paris. And I was soooo smitten with the graphics that Kim used for the event, that I just had to use her can can girls on the picture.

I finished it off with the red curtain material and gold foil trim that Colleen had provided for her class, and added a vintage pink, cake topper, dancing girl to the top of Jenny's cake.

Each class was such a fun idea and our teachers really came up with some great concepts and kits for us. I learned some good tricks and ended up with some things that I loved!

Thanks again, Kim, for putting it all together for us!

I have not unpacked yet, so don't know what my giveaway will be yet…. How about if I extend it? All comments still count toward the drawing. Whatever it is!

the best part is always the Best Buds

parties, Travel

By Karla Nathan / March 23, 2011

On my trip to CA last week, my flight was a tad late, and I missed the martini party, but I made it to Vendor night just in time to snap up a few pretties. I bought some posies from Michelle Gellar. I can never resist flowers.

And I wish I'd bought Colleen's bird!

Here is Lonnie's egg. She gave it away as a door prize. I didn't win, but I did treat myself to one of her necklaces. (no photo yet, I still have not unpacked!)

And I've been admiring Sherri Baldy's work online, it was great to see it in person. She is a lovely woman from head to toe. Look at these shoes she created!

Kim had gifts galore for us, every day something else. Candies, pretties, goodies, it never ended.

She had even arranged a professional photographer to set up and bring props for us to play with, as well as coupons for 4 free photos printed and ready right then.

Here I am with Jessi, Natalie, Stacy ,Cheryl, Lonnie and Michelle.

Of course, the best part of these events are the old friends you reunite with and the new ones that you make.

Here I am with Nat and Iva.

Yep, the people there were as great as the decor. The laughter never stopped. This is Lonnie, Kerry Lynn, Colleen, and Stacy, at dinner one night. It kind of looked like this every night.

I called these guys the bad girl crowd. They enticed me to play hooky from class to hang out in Venice Beach to shop and have lunch.

We walked the sidewalks and popped into a few antique shops, boutiques and galleries. My fave was Bountiful.

Not much in my price range and not much to buy, but the displays were WOW.

Cake plates were there in abundance. A bountiful amount, I guess you'd say.

Stacked all the way to the chandys.

The class I missed part of was Jenny and Arron's, but I made it back in time to get mine whipped together. I'll have photos of it later on.

By the way, photos of this girl do not do her justice. She has a mesmerizing quality to her, and such a glow.

On Sunday, I skipped the bus tour with the rest of the group and hung with the bad girls on the streets of LA. Lonnie, Stacy, Natalie, Colleen, and I went to the Garment district to find bargains.

Actually, poor Stacy was feeling ill with a migraine and we didn't want to leave her alone all day. So waved goodbye to the busload of can can girls, and went out to breakfast while Stacy slept in. After she got some rest and food, she was able to get out of bed and join us for a fun afternoon.

I don't even sew, but could have spent all day just looking through the fabrics at this one store.

These are all the photos I got that day! It was rainy and cold, and I was too worried about staying warm and dry and filling my bag with great deals to remember to take photos.

I'll have some coming of the projects we made though. Plus I have a giveaway to announce. I didn't go to the Long Beach Flea mkt, but I did find a little memento at the Garment district.

But for now, I've got to run. I haven't seen my fairy baby in days and am going to run to her school to scoop her up for some hugs.

Moulin Rouge at Manhattan Beach

parties, Travel

By Karla Nathan / March 22, 2011

Kim has once again outdone herself. Her Moulin Rouge art affaire was about as beautiful as can be. And her line up of teachers was tip top. Not only did we get four full classes, we also got a make and take from Christine to create these rose corsages from silk she picked up on her trip to Italy last month.

Learning how to quickly make a full fledged rose, from 3 squares of fabric is a trick that I will enjoy and use over and over. Thanks, Christine!

Kim has quite the touch. Everything matches the theme and is touched with beauty, including our itineraries.

Just beautiful. Over the top beautiful. I swear, if you ever get a chance, you really need to go to one of her events. Kim has mad skills. So does my pal, Jenn, who knows how to throw a shindig with beauty and class too. You cannot go wrong attending any arty party thrown by either one of them. Jenn still has some openings for her bash in October. Details can be found by clicking on the button on my side bar.

Neither of them spare any expense. And it shows. Kim's Moulin Rouge blew me away. And now I am even more excited about going to Jenn's this fall! I love these type of events, and when they are done this well, they are are work of art in themselves.

Jenn's theme will be Once Upon a Dream, and I know it will be just dreamy. And will have fairies!!!!!!!! I'm already in love with it.

I just hope that people who come to my party in the studio at the end of April are not disappointed. I am not even going to try to compete with the masters of detail, Jenn and Kim. My little gathering will be a whole different thing. No elaborate centerpieces, no costumes (or should I ask everyone to dress up like a bird?). Mine will be laid back and simple.

But after living in Kim's Moulin Rouge world for the weekend, I'm feeling guilty about not trying to build a themed environment!! It was so impressive.

More tomorrow. I didn't take as many photos as I should have, but I do have plenty to share.

Yes, I Can Can!

celebrations, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 20, 2011

This is a can can girl watercolor that I did for Kim, who is hosting the Moulin Rouge event I am attending in Cali.

I cut the lady (honestly, is she really a lady?? I suspect not) and glued her to a tag that I had made. At that point, before I added any baubles, I scanned it while it was flat.

You can click on it, save it to your computer and print it out, if you'd like to use the image for your own projects.

Here is the finished tag. I added a flocked butterfly and wrote the words "Moulin Rouge" onto some French text, added ribbons to the top, a feather and crystals to her hair.

Oh, and of course, some glitter.

Here are the gifties I made up for the goodie bags. Kim has 70 guests, but these didn't take me too long, it was pretty simple to stitch up the envelopes of flocked wallpaper, then I used the CuttleBug to chop up some butterflies of red flocked paper.

What's really cool, is that they are on adhesive backed contact paper, so the butterflies are now stickers.

I threw in a colorful feather and some rhinestones. Things that every can can girl needs in her supply kit.

I hope everyone likes them!