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Well, my computer is back.  And it works.  But- many of the things I paid to have backed up before it was wiped clean to get it running again are GONE. This is the only Paper Cowgirl photo I seem  to have (its one that Lisa emailed to me), but am hoping to find most lost photos in the history file of picnik.

I guess if I only have one photo, this one is a fun one to keep. It kind of sums up the great weekend we had, there was plenty of laughing the whole time.

Not that I feel like laughing now…. all of my email files are gone. What a mess. I'm hoping that the Geek Squad has hidden them someplace where I was too dumb to look.  So, back to Best Buy I go, trip #15 in 13 days. Good thing its here in town.  

Wish me luck!

Oh, and if you are waiting to hear back from me on whether or not I have you on the swap list, sorry. This has been so confusing for me. I've tried to keep up with my Ipad, but didn't have my files on it, and now my files are missing any way. So, if you HAVE NOT heard back from me, consider yourself in, but please send me a note letting me know so I can pretend to keep track of who is in it.  I have a printed record of up to #120, but we are closer to 135, so I might be missing a few of you…  But please only contact me if I didn't return your email in the last 2 weeks. If you signed up earlier than that, I have you on my printed list.

Same thing with the dress form classes. I sure hope I didn't miss anyone!! If you  have paid for the classes, and have not heard back from me with the passwords, please contact me.

Thanks for your patience!

And I have not drawn a name for the giveaway yet, do to this malfunction in my life. So, I'll extend the contest.  You will either win a free online class, or, if you're already in it, a kit to make the dress forms.  Heck, I'll do two winners. 

 

 

My poor computer is still ill. After only a few hours of having her at home with me, she started feeling bad again and had to be rushed back to the specialist.
Every day I go visit her at the Geek Squad with high hopes of bringing her home. They always say she is ready to go, but she never is. I don't give up, I keep hoping that someday soon, she'll perk up and be ready to come home to me.
Three times today I was called to pick her up, three times I went to get her. Three times she had relapses and wasnt able to leave with me, but at least I got to hold her and spend a few precious moments with her.
Her memories of me and all of our favorite times together are now gone. The Geeks say that she is strong and healthy and we can build new memories together. For now, they are trying to help her recover as much as they can.
I have lots of Paper Cowgirls photos to show you, but don't know how to do it with this IPad. Hopefully, I'll have a real post soon.

 

Paper Cowgirls was very, very Good! The Bad?  Well, my computer fell ill the day I was trying to pack and leave, and was supposedly ready when I got home.  But not really. 4 trips later to visit the Geek Squad again and again, it is running again, but- the Ugly part is that ALL of my email contacts are gone and my name is now Karla Natjan.   Apparently something odd happened while it was away visiting the Geeks.

But all in all, the Good outweighs the Bad. Mostly, I just liked that title, it seemed very "wild west" and suited for a Texas post.

  After my horrid day, where I spent 6 hours trying to get my computer to function before I could pack and leave for Texas, Beth showed up with a gorgeous art journal that my Bird Song peeps created for me! Talk about a cheer up.

I threw it in my bag and as soon as we got all settled in our hotel room, and got jammied up, I pulled it out to admire and examine. Its a masterpiece, thanks Bird Song chicks!

My roomies were the best.  Both are extremely talented artists and junkers, so there was lots of interesting piles of stuff to look through in the room.  Lisa brought goods from home to sell at vendor night and for a big parking lot sale Friday morning. Beth was vendoring too, and we all got first dibs on all the coolness before the big sale.

There was a huge talent pool at Paper Cowgirls. And each person was as nice as they were talented.  Ann Denise created this life size paper dress to welcome everyone.

 

Lisa Pace gave a helpful talk on our welcome night, but I was having camera issues when I got there, so have very few pics of that night.  I was feeling like the Tech Gods were out to get me. First my four month old computer goes all wonky on me, then, my camera refuses to focus.

But all is well and I was rescued by a helpful cowgal that knew some camera tricks. Everyone was soooo nice, about 6 different ladies tried to help me get it to focus, and that many more were suggesting people that could help.  It was a quick way to get acquainted to quite a few of them at once! 

Welcome night was also swap time, and once again, I was kicking myself for not joining any.  There were some beauts, this was from the name tag exchange.

And I was around when Beth made this apron for Ann Denise, so I felt like I was kind of a part of it.  I was so excited to see her open the package, you'd have thought it was my swap.  I love to watch and see what everyone comes up with, because at Swaptime, no matter what event you are at, all the generosity and skill comes out.

Everyone uses the  Good Stuff. Actually, for swaps, they dig even deeper and use the Best Stuff.

I've got a couple billion pictures that I can show you, but for now, I seriously need to get to work.  I've been without my lifeline computer, for 8 days and am seriously behind. 

If you asked me about joining in on the Bird Song tag book swap and I didn't get back to you, can you please re-email me?

 

 

The treats just keep on rolling in!  Hope sent these for our goodie bags.

Look at how pretty they all look together.  Each delightfully decorated match box is filled with presents too.

Heidi, has sent  these lovelies for us, and they were not only wrapped up beautifully,they came with a hand made card, and a sweet fabric rose for me.

Thanks, Heidi!!

Jeri decorated a small bag for  us, then added trinkets and papers inside each of them.

The generosity in blogland never ceases to amaze me!  I have a full list of sponsors on the side bar of this blog and of Birdsong.

My teensy story for Romantic Homes is done and turned in, I'll let you know when it appears. I'm honored to be in that magazine again.  Here is how I foofed up the treat cabinet for the article. Its not quite how I'll have the goodies displayed for Birdsong, but close. 

It feels good to have so much ready ahead of time, and my family was nice about helping with the set up, and patient with our garage redo, with all the items from it stored (in the way) out in the detached garage.

By getting the house ready so far in advance, I've been able to relax and  teach our little one how to play pool, and have Sugarwings come to stay for Easter weekend.  Its not easy to be a non-procrastinator, but it sure is worth the effort!

Sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking time to read them.  And I'll chose a name from commenters to give a Birdsong memento to later on.

 I'll be busy getting ready for BirdSong this week, please forgive me for not answering comments.  I'll be taking the time to read them, tho!

The two attic guest rooms are all aired, fresh linens are on the beds, and I'm ready for my guests.

During Bird Song, my pal Lisa who is teaching will be staying with me, as well as another good friend, Sherry.  I'm not sure yet, but another friend  might be joining the slumber party too.

I wish I could have invited more friends to stay, I love company. But it would be too hard to treat guests well, while trying to take care of the whole workshop, meals, and everything else that I'll be whirring around doing.

I've warned the ladies staying here that they'll be on their own, I'll be zipping about taking care of students all weekend.  But they are the sort of people that I know will be able to make themselves comfy and at home and I won't have to worry about.

Both of the guest rooms are in attic areas that we "reclaimed".  Finding unused space and claiming it as living space is a cost effective way to make your house bigger, especially if you can do some of the work yourself.

All of it was done on a shoestring budget, but we sure got a lot of bang for the buck.  We have lots of company, so extra rooms are good  to have.

Each room has a rose theme, mostly because I can't resist buying anything rosey at garage sales, and I paint roses on too many things, like this desk and the shutters.

And this chest of drawers.

There is an extra twin bed in Sugarwing's room too.

Notice that the chandelier is missing its shades?  It once had decorated shades, trimmed out in fabric roses.

But one night, while tucking my fairy grand baby in, she said, "Grammy, can I tell you something?"

I said of course, and sat on her little pink bed next to her, and she told me that when I left the room, the light became a monster. 

I said, "A monster? Honey, there are no monsters at Grammy's house. I don't allow that."

But she insisted and pointed at the shades. So I took one down and brought it over to show her.  She said it was pretty and that she liked roses.

 I asked if she was okay and understood that they were just lamp shades, and she said, "Yes, these are pretty.  But when you leave the room, they are monsters."

Well there is no arguing with that.  So down they came.

  

Sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking time to read them.  And I'll chose a name from commenters to give a Birdsong memento to later on.

All is going well with my prep for Birdsong. My studio is spiffed and rearranged to fit all the guests.  I've been doing some Zero Dollar Decorating around the room too. 

Today, Agnes Rosebud and I went out to the fence line and cut down some wild grape vines to wrap around Loucinda, and then I added some flowers and birds to the vines.   My goal is to make things nice without blowing the budget by using what is on hand to decorate with.

Soon, I'll be packing up gift bags and baking goodies.  That is, if I don't wrench my neck by trying to give myself a pat on the back for being so ahead of schedule….

These gifties are from my buddy, Lonnie. She packed up 25 jars of mica flakes for all of the attendees. 

And Miss Mitzi has gifted the girls with yellow yoyos.  Actually, they are not all yellow, I was just on an roll with my alliteration pairs and yellow just fit.

The generous bags are stuffed with all sorts of bright colored old fabrics to work with.

Thanks, Lonnie and Mitzi!

There is a full list of sponsors on the side bar of my blog and on the Birdsong blog.

Saturday, I spent the day with Beth and the Other Karla. We hit estate sales, went to lunch, then worked in Beth's craft room.

My big, to die for purchase of the day was this French Net table cloth.  oooohhh, its pretty.  And only 20 bucks!  I'm going to use it in the treat cabinet for the photos I'm taking for Romantic Homes.  I'm a big believer in using the Good Stuff, in my art and around my house.

It doesn't do you much good to own something then pack it away.

But, I'm not sure that I want to leave this glorious bit of lace in the treat cabinet to be dribbled on by coffee and red wine.  I think I'll fake it for the photos, then find a safer place to use this, its just too nice to let it get ruined.  And a table cloth needs to be washable. I use vintage, pretty ones, but they have to be something that I can wash a dropped brownie off of.

 

I also got some padded hangers in satin and velvet.  While I was in the middle of setting up the studio, I took a break to play, and foofed them up a bit.

Most are listed in the Boutique now.

I used the Good Stuff on these. Aren't they pretty flowers?

When Sugarwings and I go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby, we usually pick up a little kit for her to make. She has plenty of art supplies, but there is something about those little packages of goodies that intrigue us and always make us plop one or two in the cart as we go by them.

This one was a set of plaster Easter eggs and paint to decorate them with. But the eggs were just the starting point.  After all the eggs were colorful and bright, my fairy baby started in on a bag of shells that she had.

From, there, she moved on to the rocks in my flower bed border.  I don't blame her, who could resist turning this one into a Mr. Potato Head?

It didn't take long for her to start imagining that she was Alice and was helping the Queen's playing cards paint the flowers.

"Who dares to taint with vulgar paint, the royal flower beds?"

I think she has what it takes to be an artist, don't you?  She is definately orginal, and while she might start with a kit, the results look far from cookie cutter.  She's made the project her own.

Luckily, this one has quick little legs, or she might have been a rainbow pup.

 

Funny how one little bit of fabric can turn into the catalyst for a whole room makeover, huh?  I fell in love with a clearance shower curtain ($19) at the Victorian Trading Company's outlet store.  I figured that if I had no where to hang it, I could always use the fabric in projects.  ( I wish I'd bought two, so I had the other to cut up!!)

Plus, I've been wanting an ALL WHITE room. I figured the bathroom would be the place to do it, and was ready to give the white on white look a try.

But the curtain seemed a bit too white, almost blue, it was so white. I dipped it in a watered down bowl of tan Rit Dye, gambling on the outcome, I knew it wasn't all natural fiber and the colors could be all over the place from the different fabrics the curtain was made up of.

 And boy, was I right! But I love it!! There are shades of white, cream and tan and the white is a bit warmer than the glaring, pure white that it was before.  The gamble paid off.

The iron pieces hanging above the curtain were dark, and I dry brushed white and cream over those, then hung an antique French netting panel that was a gift from my BFF, Beth.  For no reason! She just saw it and knew I'd love it, and of course I do.

Here is a before shot of the room, I really liked it just fine and it had been photographed for Romantic Country by my pal, Diane Guthrie.  But the room had  looked this way for years and I wanted a change just for change's sake, not because I didn't like it.

Plus these two pieces were some of the only bits of unpainted wood in the house (besides old lawyer's book shelves in the library).  I don't care much for wood finishes.

Here are the old curtains.  I really did like them and still do. I've moved them into the studio for now.

But try as I might, I just couldn't do pure white.  I love it as an accent, but when I got the walls painted, it felt too…blah? cold? apartmenty? wrong? 

Honestly, I drool buckets over photos of all white rooms.  I want one really bad. But it just isn't in me to do it. I start warming up the colors and going cream/ beige/tan.

So, I faux finished over the white walls, starting at the floor with a bluish gray/green that is on the walls of the connecting bedroom.

I graduated the colors up from blue, to metallic gold, then tan and cream to the white at the very top. (I chose these colors because the cans were what happened to be in my closet at the time).

The faux finish is subtle. I blended it all together with the cream color.  Then I painted the cabinet, but I might leave the little table dark. What do you think?  A bit of contrast here and there is nice.

Like the iron candle holder and the chippy green mirror.

My plan was to paint the furniture and walls all white.  But you can see,  the vanity is lighter, but not white.  In the photo it looks similar the jewelry armoire I painted years ago, but when you are in the room, they look very different and unique. 

If you want, I can do a "how to" on the technique for the vanity.

I think I need to re-paper the roses on my Grandma Downey's floor lamp/towel hanger to a lighter color too. The bright roses stand out a bit too much now. 

 I might cover the center panel of the vanity door with a pretty paper too.

The poor dogs were just glad when I was done.  They had to be locked up to keep their little paws out of the paint.   I don't want little painty footprints all over my house. When I used to paint furniture, I'd work outside and would zip through a lot of pieces a day, not being all that careful while doing it, since I was in the garage. But one day, the barn cat walked through some spilled primer and jumped up into the open door of the van that I'd just unloaded.  We had kitty cat foot prints all over the van seats forever, because I use a good primer!

Inside, I'm more careful and I paint without a drop cloth, since I've been painting forever, I know how to be tidy when I want to be. But I paint barefoot just in case. That way if some paint does drop, you know when you step in it, and it doesn't get tracked around the room on the bottom of a shoe.

I'm still not sure if the room is done. While trying to be light as I could, I might have gone too sublte on the faux finish… I might need some warmer tan rubbed over it to tie in the color of the tiles.  But for now, I'm done. 

$19 for the curtain,  20 something for the white paint ( I use Behr, its always the BEST for the price), and about 8 hours of work, and I have a whole new look.  Its a drastic change, even if it wasn't what I'd planned on it being.

A  can of paint can make a big impact.

I think I like it.

 

Before I had a blog, I rarely got packages in the mail. My mom used to surprise me with things she'd made, and that was always a very special treat.

But blog world has changed my lack of mail.  I never know what to expect from the generosity of fellow bloggers.

There are contests, giveaways, and just plain old gifties always going on in the blog-o-sphere.

Recently, I got a couple of GREAT packages, these are from sponsors of Bird Song, coming up at the end of April.

Miss Sandy sent all this loveliness, a big, overflowing box of hand made goodies to give as gifts to the participants!

And, in the bottom of the box, this bit of gorgeousness, a collage to give as a door prize!

Celeste, sent a box-o-pretties too, here is a small sample of the generous supplies she sent for me to share with my guests.

My BFF, Beth, not only designed and provided the images for the gift bags that she also helped sew together, she has made these little nature inspired sachets to slip into the goodie bags too.

For a full list of the kind hearted friends of mine who are sponsoring the event, there is a list on the sidebar of my blog. 

This box, though, was a real surprise!  I had ordered another hundred or so 1860s Charlotte dolls from Germany and was really excited to get this package marked from that dealer. But when I opened it up, it wasn't cute little dollies looking back up at me, it was this!!

The original invoice was in the box, so I know who the rightful owner is and will send it on to him, some guy named Nathan in Minneapolis. But not until after I show Sugarwings, she'll love this.  That kid shares my interest in the spooky side of life.  Big bad wolves, witches, and goblins always make her happy. I might tell her these are goblin eyes…

Oh, and my Charlottes arrived safely, too.  And they are the big ones, I've not carried those before.  I'll let you know when I add them to the shop, but first I want to play with them and make a few things myself.

This package was much better, I won this hand made bag from Teresa.  Very, very pretty, and so well made. Its a really sturdy, heavy bag for as dainty as it looks.

And a kind hearted reader who knows my deep, true love of old ribbon sent this.  Thanks, Marilyn!

See why I skip happily down the driveway when I go to check the mail?  Its not just a mail box, its a treasure chest.

Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get treasures in person. My pal, Sherry (who will be a house guest during Bird Song) gave this cute packet of sequins and jewels to me at Moulin Rouge.

And my Moulin Rouge roomie, Kim, gave me this pretty package containing a sweet necklace that she made.

Poor Kim.  She didn't get the best deal in rooming with me. My snoring is back! My theory is that I need to lose a few pounds.  Because the surgery to stop the snoring worked before the holidays and all the treats that I ate kicked in. 

Plus, Kim doesn't have an once of fat on her body to keep her warm, and I tend to over heat at night, so we had some different views on the thermostat setting.  I was a night owl and she gets up before 6am, so we weren't well suited in that way.  Its a good thing she is such a nice person with so many fun stories to listen to!!  We had plenty to talk about and got along well, even with our differences. I hope I didn't annoy her too much.

Kim is holding two dolls made by Colleen, and she ended up buying the rabbit. 

Colleen is some one I really enjoyed getting to know. She drove us all over, to Venice Beach, In and Out Burger, the garment district.  So, I am sending her this little package of things as a thank you. 

I've found that its just as nice to send fun mail as it is to get it!

Over the last few years, you have heard me talking about all my little dorkies, and I have posted lots of pictures of Twinkle, Sparkle, and Agnes Rosebud.

Someone I haven't talked about much is Bookie.  He's the reason I call my Yorkshire Terriers "dorkies".  Because when he was just a pup, he was so silly, I'd always tell him that he was a big ol' dork.   He was such a goofy, little odd ball.

I don't have a lot of pictures of him, because he didn't like to be bothered.  And after fathering litters and litters of pups, I figured he'd earned his time to relax and be left alone.  Plus, the little guy was about 16, so he was around before I had a digital camera and was constantly snapping photos.

Last year, he was diagnosed with canine dementia, which is basically, doggie Alzheimer's.  The poor guy had been becoming more and more reclusive and confused. 

He started getting lost, in his own living room. 

He would go out the doggie door and not find his way back in, so that we'd have to check in bad weather to make sure he wasn't stuck outside on the porch freezing.

He didn't notice where he was peeing. One day he even lifted a leg and peed right on my foot, and didn't even see me standing there.

He'd pee in the other dog's food dish.  We got rid of every rug, and carpet, and kept vinegar and a mop nearby all the time, to clean up his messes. 

He had no teeth and had to be fed special food away from the other dogs who wanted to take it from him.

He always had a bad cold, and was congested and snotty, so he couldn't smell things very well. Which was lucky, because he was spared smelling himself, and he was always pretty rank.

There's more,  and its all sad.  The saddest part was that he lost that Dorkiness that made him so lively and cute.  He was just a worried, scared, little old man who just wanted to be left alone on his pillow by the space heater.

So, when he took a turn for the worse this week, and I decided that his time had come, and made a vet appointment for him to be put down, I thought it was the best choice and that I'd be fine about it. After all, I've complained and kvetched about his pee constantly for a couple of years.  And he was such a loner, that sometimes I forgot he was even around, until I had to get the mop out again, that is. 

If I tried to pet him, he'd panic.  I think he associated me with baths and hair cuts, things that he hated.  Plus I was always the one who took care of him when he was hurt, or sore, so when he remembered me, he remembered pain.

I've been  cracking jokes for two years about his odor and said that he already smelled dead, I nicknamed him Zombie Dog because he looked so bad. No matter how often I bathed him, he was crusty with drool and snot.  

It had been so many years, since he'd been my little fuzzy Bookie Bear, my original Dorkie, that I really thought I'd be fine taking him in to the vet today.

For over a year, I've been struggling with the guilt of wanting him to be gone.  I might offend other dog lovers with my honesty, but it really isn't easy living with a dog with that many issues.  And its such a hard decision, just how do you know when the time is right?  He wasn't still part of the family in a very active way, and he was a lot of work and trouble, but still, we owed it to him, to let him live out his life comfortably.  When you get a pet, its a big commitment.  Pet ownership isn't just for the adorable puppy stages, its for the smelly old man phase of life too.

But man, at what point do you say, enough is enough?  I was so paranoid about the pee, I was mopping 5-6 times a day.  This is for a couple of years.  That is a lot of mopping. 

This week, the question was answered when he wouldn't eat, and had some other problems come up. 

I was relieved.  I wasn't happy that he was not feeling well, but I was happy that the end had come.

 

This is how he looked on his last day.  And how he looked most days.  Beth said thhe nicest thing about him, that he looked like the Velveteen Rabbit who was all worn down from so much loving.  Much nicer than me saying he looked like a zombie.

I took him into the vet this morning and said all of his favorite words, things that I though might bring back happy memories.  I whispered, "Sparkle, lake, boat, go for a ride, newspaper, treat," and "cheese", over and over and over.   Words that used to make him jump up and down with glee and act like such a little dork.

And I cried.

And now I miss his stinky little self.