vintage paper/collage art – Page 27

Sweet Charlotte

Books, collections, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 25, 2010

EDIT: If you came by the Boutique looking for Charlottes and they were sold out, I added some more, so most are stocked up again. There are no more tiny ones or the largest ones, thanks SO MUCH!

When I made this Valentine fairy from an old Frozen Charlotte, I decided I wanted MORE of these little girls to play with.

So, I found a source to get a few…. well, maybe 140 of them.

These are dug up near the old German factories where they were manufactured between 1850 and 1900. Seconds were tossed in the heap, and are now being searched for in the ground like buried treasure!

I'm loving these cuties, even their dirty little bottoms. (which could probably be soaked clean, but I like the old patina from the dirt)

Some will be used in making my centerpieces for the photo shoot on Monday. But I sure don't need this many, so I have listed them in my Boutique.

They are $3.50 each, plus postage. If you order mulitples, I'll send you a refund for the excess postage, because they sure don't weigh much.

These little girls were fun to play with too. I'm repainting the tiny plastic figures into Alices.

And I am still making Alice tags! Even though I have plenty now…

Is this one too obscure? Its Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

This is my favorite one, so far. Its the doormouse in a teapot, that I painted. The ribbon under the label (cut from a chapter title in the 1923 book) is a snip of old, red velvet.

That book from Beth was ideal for this tag swap! I just can't imagine doing all these without it. I've loved looking through the illustrations, reading tidbits to get ideas, then snipping out words here and there.

I've also used the text as a background for many of my tags. And since it was such a thick book, I should have plenty of pages left to use wrapping paper for the completed tag books when I package them up.

Even though my 75 limit was met, (Yes, I know it was a 60, then a 70 limit first!), I'm still going to let a couple more people in if they want. I had #77 ask me to come in today. How could I say no, when I had 79 tag covers made, and I paid for plenty of little bottles and heart shaped keys to tie on the books?

So, if you are on the fence, you still have time to get in. Since I got a bit carried away in making the tags! Two spaces are available. Of course, when I get the 60th book put together, wrapped, packaged, and labeled, and still have almost 20 left to do, I might be kicking myself for this….No, I'll enjoy it! It is going to be SUCH FUN when all the tags start arriving at my door!!

Edit: The swap is filled up, as far as I can go! Thanks so much to all of you who joined in from all over the world. I just can't wait to see them all pouring in!

Here is a little something for you, if you are getting started on Easter projects. Click on it to enlarge before printing!

And remember, you can win an Alice Tag making kit by leaving a comment.

Also, I'm joining in on Cindy's Show and Tell Friday. Go visit her for links to other show and tells!

Alice Tags

Books, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 16, 2010

Do you know what the best part of craft day is? The food. Well, not really, I guess. The hanging out part isn't bad either. We have such a good time, just chatting away about this and that while everyone works on what ever they brought to do that day. But I have to say, the food is great!

Beth made chicken salad. Marilyn made a fruit concoction that was sweet and decadent. Shawn brought beer cheese soup with home made croutons. And home made pretzels! To pretend we were eating healthy before diving into a coconutty Italian cream cake, we crunched on a veggie tray that Mary brought.

No, Alice is not a zombie. I know it looks like her brains are missing… once the ribbon is tied on this tag, it won't seem as gruesome.

Today, I worked on my 6 tags for the swap. I always do a few extra just in case I count badly or something else goes wrong.

Mary brought gold gesso to play with, and I had fun using it on some of the tags. That and I used some red paint to make hearts that symbolize the Red Queen.

For most of the tags that I did today, I used the text from the old book that Beth had given me. To spiff up the black and white illustrations, I used markers, inks, and watercolor.

And of course, I can't make tags and not use vintage wallpaper! Since one of the stories in the book is about the cards painting the white roses red, I figured that I'd use plenty of my red rose wallpaper.

I'm also responsible for the covers of all the books, so I got a start on those too.

The swap isn't full yet, I've got space for about 60 total. That is how many little tiny bottle charms I ordered. Those will be tied to the books with the words "Drink Me" written on them.

If you'd like to join us in this tag book swap, the info is Here

Although, since I am the one making all the covers, I wonder why I am having such a high number of people allowed in??? I might just be kicking myself about when I start to make number 50 or so. Nah, I'll be glad I did it, this is fun!

Before everyone got here, I took some wallpaper photos and added a few to the Boutique. My wish is to get more listed tomorrow…. but I have Sugarwings all afternoon, that that could be a pipe dream.

Wishing the Happiest of Valentine’s Days to You!!

celebrations, fairies, holiday decor, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day! Today is not only my 3rd blog anniversary, it is also my 700th post! What are the odds that would happen??? So of course, I am celebrating with a giveaway. Today is the last day to enter to win a copy of my Grumpy Fairy book

This little painting is for Sherry. She has EIGHT grand daughters and has asked me to paint them each as a fairy, like I did for Sugarwings in the Grumpy Fairy book. I've had a lot of request for doing this, but have always turned them down. Now, I think I am ready to take on some commissions….

To see if I really wanted to go into the fairy painting biz, I did a few little sprite cartoons of some of my friend's children.

Of course, these will not be exact portraits, cartoon is the key word here. I have plans for some vintage wallpaper covered mats. When I have it all done and ready to mail, I'll show you the photos I worked from and the finished projects. I'll be interested to see what the moms say. I'll be relying on their feed back to see if I will offer this service in my Boutique. What do you think? Is there a market for this?

Each is a mix of ink, watercolor, acrylic, and glitter. There had to be glitter!

My little Sugarwings has been doing some artwork too. She needed to make 16 Valentines for school, so I turned her loose with my red and pink paints and some glitter gel. She was enjoying the job, but was even more excited to think about the cards her friends were making for her. Their party is Monday after Valentine's, which is lucky, because she was sick on Friday.

Speaking of lucky, I've been getting some wonderful gifts in the mail! An envelope full of vintage die cuts came from Ruth, (who is one of the participants in our Alice Tag Book Swap– its not too late to enter if you want to join us!)

This giant selection of red gummed labels came from Kathy, along with the cute heart collage and the round stacking boxes. I can't wait to gaudy up those babies.

I think that these labels will come in very handy on my Alice swap tags.

Then, I got a package from Sue

that was filled to the top with pretty papers for me and for Sugarwings! Along with lots of fun tid bits for my fairy grand baby to craft with, stickers, tags, and even sticky paper to make your own stickers with. She used some over the painted Valentines she made for school.

There was a set of fairy wings for a doll too! Sweet, huh?

But that is not all! My pal, Tiffany sent a beautiful card from one of her photos and inside it was this Glenda bookmark. Just because. And Jenn sent a cute Valentine, which was a sweet surprise.

And I can't forget to mention the Valentine calendar that my Sissy sent for all of us to copy and use (previous post). I ended up putting a copy in my scrapbook today, but instead of a photo, I added two columns clipped out of the newspaper this week. They are both written by Lori Carson, who was the host for the Romantic Decorating Tips I did for the local news station (here and here). She used the tips for her column too, and gave credit to my blog.

Yep, I'm pretty lucky. Thank you to everyone who comes by my blog to keep me company and to all the great blog friends that I've met. Thank you for 3 years of fun. My blog means a lot to me, and so does your company.

I hope you'll continue keeping me company as I blather on in the future!

A Valentine Calendar for you to print

holiday decor, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 12, 2010

How beautiful is this???? My Sissy made it for you. Click on the image to save it and print it. I am going to put a copy of it in my photo album and use it as a mat for a picture of Sugarwings in her Valentine dress.

My little fairy baby has an ear infection and fever, so we are having a cuddly movie day together, watching her buddies, Pooh, Nemo, and of course, Alice In Wonderland. I need to study up on that one to get ready for the big swap-a-roo.

The swap is still open, details in the previous post, just scroll down. We have about 30 people since yesterday! The more the merrier, I hope you join too.

And please remember you still have time to enter the drawing for a Grumpy Fairy book that I am giving away to celebrate 700 posts and a 3 year anniversary. (comment on any post to enter)

How cool that they are going to be occurring on the SAME POST! You can't plan those sort of things, can you?

Gotta run, there is a tiny little nose that needs help blowing.

Winter on the Fairy Berry Trail

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / February 6, 2010

Sugarwings and I had some fun in the snow yesterday. After all the snow we've gotten this season, I am surprised to say the words "fun" and "snow" in the same sentence! This winter's snowfalls have been brutal and cold, and mostly made me feel trapped. But this one! This one was just delightful!

Fluffy, fat, flakes, and 33 degrees. This was the kind of snow that just beckoned us outdoors and into the woods. So we bundled up and headed out to the Fairy Berry Trail (Sugarwings is wearing a Calvin Klein ruffled coat on sale from TJMax for only $10, and a scarf knitted by my favorite non-stop knitter, Beth)

We filled our pockets with little vials of glitter to decorate the snow fairies we had planned to make, but the fluffy snow wasn't cooperating, and the ground was so warm, that when we rolled a snow ball, it collected mud and leaves and the white snow didn't stay white for long. Even a full bottle of glitter wouldn't have enhanced those brown lumps we created.

It didn't matter. We had a blast crawling through the fallen trees and making a fort in the piles of wood. In the summer time we stick to the trail to avoid poison ivy and bugs and who knows what else, so it was a treat to step off the trail into the "wilderness" of the woods and do some exploring.

She wanted to explore this old shed too, but its so full of junk, I can't let her in there. Too bad I don't have it fixed up yet, it would have been a good place to use as a cabin on a snowy day. In the past, it was my once a month antique store, and there are piles of unwanted inventory everywhere. It needs a good cleaning, so I can make it into a play house for the little Fairy grand baby. She is sure drawn to the building every time we go out in the yard.

Its nice to know that she likes a lot of the same things I do.

After getting all wet and cold in the snow, I warmed her up with a bubble bath while I wrapped in a robe and sat by the tub to read. I'm in the middle of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Its well done, with using the original text, just adding ninja zombie killing moves.

Anyway, as I sat there with her, I started thinking about repainting the bathroom a robin's egg blue with a sheer gold wash over the top.

Now, why can't I just enjoy a snow day, without thinking about redoing the shed or repainting the bathroom?????

Did you notice anything missing in the snow pictures? No Twinkle! She has a "date" with Teddy. Its quiet around here without her around, but if all goes well, I'll be ankle deep in yorkies soon enough.

I'll leave you with some pics of what is new in the Boutique. I need to go take some more photos and get more listed, before Sugarwings comes back to spend the day with me again.

“Be My Fairy Valentine” Bird

antiques/junking, fairies, holiday decor, how to's, show and tell, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 30, 2010

What a good day! I attended a class that my Bella pal, Sheila was teaching today at a barn. Yep, a barn. But not any old barn. Yes, there were stalls, and horses and hay, but there was also a full kitchen, two bathrooms, a bedroom, living room, dining nook, and full work space!

No, not a typical barn at all. And the farm dogs were foofy, standard poodles.

The cute as a bug owner, Kelly, has set up the place for her design business and will be using it also for these class events. Along with the class, was shopping. Good shopping. Two of my favorite dealers from Rusty Chandelier had spaces here along with all of Kelly's gorgeousness. Clothes, jewels, and vintage tidbits filled the space, and I spent an hour before the luncheon was served exploring it all and picking out some treasures (photos later).

Sheila taught 3 classes, but Beth and I just signed up for one. And it was a doozy. What a cool idea she had to share! This is Sheila's class example, and she provided everything we needed to complete it just like this.

But I had some changes in mind…. For the bird, I brought ledger paper with pink lines, and made the wings and tail feathers from millinery petals. The eye is a crystal bead that Sheila provided. (I dropped mine, but Beth gave me hers to use) I used the Cropadile to punch an eye hole, then glued the bead inside, so that it was 3-d from both sides. And you can see through it in the light for a little glow.

Before making the wired branches as Sheila instructed, I wrapped the "trunk" in pink velvet ribbon. My theme became "Be My Fairy Valentine", so I used lots of fairy girls, pink flowers, and hearts.

One cool thing about these trees, is that you can take all the goodies off and change them with the seasons. So, next this can be a springtime tree.

There are pink velvet flowers wired onto my branches, so I am all ready for spring!

Sheila provided the oval chipboard, but instead of the photo she offered, I glued on some hand painted roses that I'd brought along.

Two little wooden hearts got covered in wallpaper on one side and that pink lined ledger paper on the other. I snipped a length of a broken pearl necklace off to tie into a loop at the bottom to hold a little rose bud. ( I should have cut the length longer, it was a bit hard to tie with the string that short)

To hang the heart, I twisted a bit of wire into a kind of, heart shaped hook.

The spool and wire were things Sheila gave us, along with instructions on how to make a little nest with three eggs in it. She is a wonderful, patient teacher and took time with each of us individually to explain the wire weaving to make the nests. I'd never tried one before, and really enjoyed learning that part. I can see lots of nests in my future…

The nest I made wasn't for birdies, though, its a fairy nest. I wired this frozen Charlotte onto the top of the spool and made wings for her from little feathers that were in our kit ( I used one under the nest too) and some velvet millinery petals. (Do you think she looks like she is hoola hooping? Maybe I should make her a tutu to cover the wire?)

To the front of the small spool, I added another wallpaper covered heart.

Before the class this morning, I glued a rhinestone heart to the front of this locket and made a tiny collage to put into it.

The fairy hanging behind it, is an old photo that I painted on. Then I covered the back in rose wallpaper, added ribbon and flowers to the bottom, and punched a hole to hang a crystal from (that Sheila had in our kits, she really provided some fun baubles for us).

This is also a locket, with a mirror on the other side. This is something that I hung as is. I added a framed ribbon rose by my friend, Natasha, too.

The tree was so much fun to make, that I almost can't wait to make more stuff for it and change the theme already! I will be first in line to head out to the countryside for the next Farmstead Style experience, let me know if you want to come too!

Again, I need to thank you all for making the wallpaper FLY out of my boutique! I've added a few more here and there and have tried to keep it stocked up, but some packets that are sold out won't be replaced. I did replace some scrap packs and added this selection. Hopefully, later in the week, I'll have a chance to add some more.

But I have to work on a little segment for our local cable news channel for Thursday. Which means cleaning my house for the cameras, and showing 5 projects about Romantic Decorating for Valentines Day. So, maybe the wallpaper will have to wait. My house is a wreck again. Didn't I just spend a solid week cleaning and redoing??????

Speaking of time flying, where did January go??? But, you still have a little time to enter the January Giveaway drawing for a little painted and glittered cardinal!

Making Memories Last

Books, fairies, family, how to's, show and tell, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 29, 2010

The last few days, I've gotten caught up on a year's worth of photos! January seems to be a good time for me to get organized. But it would be smarter to glue pictures into the albums throughout the year instead of dealing with a couple hundred at once…

Since I had so many to arrange, I kept the pages very simple, quick and easy.

Printing a page of collaged photos saved a lot of time! So did using the black pages as a background, and not trying to cover them up completely. On this page, I doodled some flowers in Gelly Roll ink in the corner and slapped some glue on the picture and stuck it down.

For Sugarwing's Snow Princess picture, I used a two sided card stock to make a card. One photo went on the top, and then I trimmed it in some of my Great Aunt Caroline's old lace.

I glued the back of the card into the album, and added another photo to the inside. Next, I glued down an envelope that holds a copy of the story I wrote for her when we had our Snow Princess Tea Party.

The pastel Gelly Roll pens really worked well on the black paper, so I made use of them a lot.

I don't really consider myself a scrapbooker. But, I do have tons of books that I've made (mostly about Sugarwings, but there are some other pics in them too) so I guess I am.

My goal when assembling an album is to get a lot done, fast, simple, quick, and cute.

First step is to sort the pictures. I arrange them in piles according to event or person. I work my way through, one pile at a time, and have a stack of papers nearby to coordinate. Normally, I don't use stickers, but these were just so right for this picture of Sugarwings in her Snow White dress, that I couldn't resist sneaking them from her supply stash. Sometimes, I think that kid has more art supplies than I do.

Instead of glue sticks, I use a bottle of Incredibly Tacky, and run a bead of it along the edges of each bit of paper, then zig zag it around the middle before putting it into the book. It seems so much more durable to me than a glue stick.

Hobby Lobby has booklets of sparkle paper cut in just the perfect, time saving, size to add a photo to. I made use of about a whole book full of those.

Cutting people out of some of the photos adds some variety too. I don't cut too many out, though, because part of the fun of looking at an album 20 years later is seeing all the backgrounds, and remembering a chair, or table or wall color from years ago.

Textured papers add some interest too.

The best part of doing this was enjoying all of my favorite photos from the past year.

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You can probably tell that I don't spend a lot of time cutting or measuring…. I eyeball the paper and snip away, and just don't worry about it being perfect. Like I said, cute and quick. (this is more sparkly paper, in a larger size)

Notice the beautiful card? It was one of the 100 hand made cards sent in to my Great Aunt for her 100th birthday. When she passed away this summer, I got a few of the cards to take home and thought the album would be a good way to save them and remember the occasion. This one was done by Nancy. I glued it down, and then added two more pictures of Sugarwings and Pixie Pie to the inside of it.

Cards are a good way to fit more photos onto one page. For the Christmas pages, I saved holiday cards that we got in the mail and used those to hold pictures.

Not all of the pages got much attention. Some were pretty simple.

Others had more going on. There are 4 pages about the Fairy Berry Trail and I wrote a little story to go along with it. It might have looked better if I'd printed it out, or at least wrote more legibly, but like I said, there were hundreds of photos and I was going for quick and cute.

After making 4 photo albums in 3 days, I think I've had enough for a while. I have a feeling that I will not be keeping up throughout the year after all. I'm a bit burnt out. I'll probably have another big stack to deal with next January!

Little Indulgences

Etsy Goodies, Food and Drink, magazine pictures or articles, show and tell, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 21, 2010

Today is kind of blah. Yucky weather, I woke up with a bit of a stiff neck, and I am still facing a pile of wall paper to finish chopping, ironing, photographing, and listing. But our days are what we make them, right?

So, I took a little break from the drudgery of making packets of paper to sell, and treated myself to a tasty treat instead of grabbing a power bar and eating while working. Sometimes, its the little things that cheer me, like serving myself on a pretty plate. It wasn't a fancy meal, but peanut butter and sunflower seeds on a toasted whole wheat bagel tastes pretty good with Italian soda, while reading a magazine. (and getting away for work for a few minutes!)

This issue of Somerset Life is available now, when I showed the advance copy, it hadn't been out on the stands yet and some of you had asked where to get it. I usually find them at Borders, or other book stores like that, or at Michaels.

Over the years, I've done lots of magazine articles. (Here or here is a list of a few of them) But I've never gotten so many nice congratulatory notes as I have for this one! Thanks, to those of you who noticed it and came by to say "hi".

I guess we all love Somerset, huh? I'm sure thrilled to be in it.

The magazine was a good one to indulge myself in while getting away from work for a while. The issue is full of inspiration to keep me going on a yucky day! And now, after treating myself kindly with a pampered little break, I'm ready to face the piles of papers waiting for me in the studio.

After rolling out the papers, cutting, and ironing them, I stack them up and press them flat.
These trophies have enough heft to help flatten the pieces. I feel like I deserve a trophy myself after all this work!

That doesn't look like much does it? But it represents a few days of grueling labor… The paper can be very delicate and difficult to cut into squares. Once they are cut up, it is much easier to work with, but the long pieces tend to split and tear if I'm not extra gentle and take my time. So, just as I relax and get on a roll, I'll forget to take it easy and have a big piece rip up on me!

That's heartbreaking, since each bit is beautiful and valuable to me. They don't make this stuff anymore! I save all the scraps and make sure they get used.

I'll have some scrap packs to list in the shop too. Scraps are good to have for small projects, like tags or ATCs, you don't want to cut into a 10" piece for just a 2" bit!

Okay, my break is over. Thanks for keeping me company while I rested up enough to go and face the exacto knife and ironing board again. I'll leave you with some photos of what I listed yesterday in the Boutique and on Etsy.

And don't forget, all comments, all month go into the drawing for a vintage bird that I've foofed a bit.

(this just sold)

These are flocked as well as glittered.

Just heavenly

celebrations, family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / December 14, 2009

My email is fixed!! Weird thing, it was the clock on my computer some how set incorrectly that was messing up my messages. Apparently, some computers thought I was some robot from the future trying to contact them and wouldn't allow my messages to go through. I finally just picked up the phone and called AT&T, and the nice guy there fixed it in a flash.

What a relief. I was having a heck of a time contacting anyone. Some of you had asked me to let you know when I listed more Heavenly Wallpaper. Hopefully, those emails made it through.

I've only listed a very few packets, but HOPE to gather up some more this week.

Before heading out the door to do some Christmas shopping (I'm getting a very late start this year!) I took some photos of wallpaper to list tomorrow when I have more time. This certainly is a hectic time of year, just too much fun going on. Last night, we went to a birthday party and Sugarwings got to play with her cousin, Pixie Pie. This blurry photo pretty much represents the whole evening, those girls were in constant motion, and no photos of them turned out!

Here they are jumping on the bed in Pixie Pie's cute room at her grandparent's home.

She has the best vintage pictures on the wall of her pastel room. Feel free to download and print them for your own projects, they are adorable!

See what I mean? How sweet!

This is my favorite. I'm going to go to the Art Center today and sign Sugarwings up for Ballet class. So, I'll print this one to make the tag for her present that will go under the tree, her very first ballet slippers!!! I'm so excited. Little girls are such fun to have around!!

Jumping with JOY about the new curtains!

celebrations, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 7, 2009

I love these curtains!

Right now, they are just draped over the tension rod, but I think they deserve better than that. I've got some better ideas for hanging them, later when I get time.

Today was spent decking the halls, I still haven't unpacked from Miss Frenchie's sale. There are more photos from that event to show but I just had to post about my dream curtains first!

When Carol and I did an article for Romantic Country, she brought similar curtains for us to use to style the photos. I fell head over heels in love with them, and since then have been looking for some of my own.

Here is one of Carol's curtains, that we draped over a garden chair. This is the back of the chair, tied up with flowers and a vintage bag.

At the time, I didn't know that these panels were called "French netting" but I knew I wanted some.

I'm thrilled to get a set for my kitchen, plus one extra panel that went into the bedroom.

Right now, I am surrounded by boxes of Christmas pretties and am trying to get my home all decorated for the holidays before some buddies come over tomorrow for a holiday/birthday brunch. I'd have been ready, but had a little side track this afternoon, Sugarwings dropped by and wanted to help with the decorating project. She's cute, but her home decor skills need work.

So, I've gotten a bit behind. Oh well, it will get done. Whats up is up, what isn't will get shoved back into the closet to set up later.

I almost missed book club tonight to stay home and finish my hall decking after Sugarwings left with her Daddy. But then, I realized how silly that was! My home is about my happiness, and shouldn't be about slaving away to make it perfect! The friends coming over tomorrow will enjoy their breakfast just fine with only one Christmas tree decorated. I have a feeling that they won't even know the difference.

So, I went to book club, had a fun evening, laughing with friends and sipping wine and now will make up some fruit salad and an egg casserole for the morning. Then, I'll see what decorating I can finish up, and like I said, the rest of the opened boxes of decorations gets slid right back into the closet. If I don't have a chance to get any more done, then so what? I had a beautiful time with Sugarwings, and such fun at book club.

Those are the memories I'll keep, not the ones about how great my tablescape looked this year.

Hey, I'm not saying that pretty doesn't matter. It matters a LOT to me. And its worth the extra time to make things nice. But- not worth stressing out about or missing out on other fun times. So, I'll pretty up and do it with joy. When it becomes work instead of fun, that is when I know I need to step back and take a break.

Two of my favorite words at the holiday are Joy and Merry. Words to live by!

I made this banner from vintage album mats, bits of lace hand chrocheted by my Great Aunt Caroline, and French alphabet cards (although, what does it matter if they are French, if they are only a letter, not a word?? Who knows??)

The rhinestone baubles I added reminded me of the letters on each card. What do you think? In the close ups, can you see the shapes of the letters in the jeweled pieces?

OK, I'm off to make fruit salad for brunch.