We’re having a party – Page 16

A little Zero Dollar decorating, a cute puppy, a give away, and an adorable baby in a flowered hat

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Food and Drink, Sugarwings, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / April 16, 2010

Its been kind of lonely around here for me, Twinks hasn't left her babies for more than a minute or two. I'm used to having her at my feet all day. Right now, she has a few little guys at her feet instead! She's a happy mama, and honestly seems to enjoy her pups. I've had dogs that are good mothers, but for them it was all business. Twinkle likes the company of her babies.

Luckily, I still have this buddy to keep me company. I scored a bumble bee and a lady bug costume at garage sales today for $2.50 each (both still were in the packages and marked $34!). So we dressed up and went for a walk in the woods. I got to be the lady bug. The dress didn't quite fit, so I had to go with just wings and antenna.

(and my clothes, of course, that didn't sound quite the way I meant it. No one wants to see a Lady Bug Grammy naked in the woods)

Does blog surfing inspire you to make changes? I had a colorful, pastel, faux finished guest bathroom that was perfectly fine. But every time I saw photos of gray or white rooms on someone's blog, I'd sigh and wish it was mine. The guest bath seemed to be the easiest place to make a big change with just a few adjustments and very little cash.

So, I mixed up a dove gray for the walls, and a mushroom color for the floor. Then I took down the floral shower curtain and put up some dumpster drapes after repainting the room. I dug these out of a dumpster a few years back and have used them over and over in different areas. There had been 12 panels at one time, and I sold most of them. These are the last three and I'm glad I kept them, they were just what I needed to finish this room on a budget. Since they are lace, and were a bit too long, I just folded them over on the top to shorten them and looped the curtain ring right through the lace.

(they are pretty old and kind of tattered, but I like that look)

After painting the floor that mushroom shade, I realized it would always look filthy. So I splattered some dark flecks around to camouflage any dirt we track in. I might distress it with sand paper a bit too.

The ceiling stayed a soft purple, the door is painted gray like the walls, and the trim is bright, shiny white. I found a rusty ceiling tin piece in the shed and sat it on top of the built in cabinet. It could use some thing else up there, but I'm in no hurry. I redid the room for the cost of the paint, so far, and really don't want or need to spend much more on it. Maybe I'll find something cheap but fabulous at garage sales.

I guess I'm in the spring cleaning mood and ready for some more Zero Dollar Decorating like I was into right after the holidays.

I'll leave you with a few photos from our Cupcake Tea Party, that turned into a walk down the Fairy Berry Trail and to the creek. It was such a beautiful spring day!

Please don't forget that we have the regular monthly giveaway going, a china shard necklace is the prize. Its open to anyone who leaves a comment.

If you want to win a Peat Pot Pretty, please sign up as a Google Friend Connect follower.

Twinkle’s shameful secret???

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, Food and Drink, parties, Sugarwings, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / April 14, 2010

Aren't they sweet? Yorkies are always born black with tan, like an itty bitty Doberman. You don't know until they shed their puppy hair and their adult coat grows in if they will be silver or black. Those are the only accepted colors for this breed. Sometimes as babies, they have a little white patch on their chest, but it turns tan or blond as they get older. There is not supposed to be any white on a full grown Yorky.

So, imagine our surprise when we saw this! My first thought was, "Twinkle, you dirty girl, what have you been doing? Sneaking out the windows at night after your family is asleep???"

This pup does NOT look like a Yorkshire Terrier at all! I've heard that a litter of pups can have different fathers for each baby, but she was not unsupervised at all, and Teddy is her only man.

After checking with Teddy's family to be sure they didn't have a beagle or some other spotted male hanging around, I surfed the web and read about Parti Colored Yorkies. These colored dogs are controversial and not very common. Looks like some people are purposely breeding them as designer dogs, but I don't think they are recognized by the AKC even though they are full blooded Yorkshire Terriers, they don't meed the breed standards.

They can turn up in a litter if both parents have the recessive gene for this abnormal color.

Here is a picture I snagged from one of the Parti-colored dog breeder's sites. I think they are just cute as a bug, and am excited to have one of these little "special" guys!

Yorkies have the funniest, goofiest, sweetest personalities. And there is something about the way they look at me with that silly expression on their face when they want to tell me something, that first made me tell one of our dogs that she was acting like a dork. Since then, I've always called them Dorkies.

I raise well loved, socialized, cuddled and nurtured babies. They aren't show dogs, they are pet quality dogs, and I do my best to give them a head start on being a wonderful pet. Lots of attention, lots of varied experiences. They play outside, they play with kids, they play with cats, they spend every day with me in the studio while I work, and are about as social and ready to face the world as any pup can be.

(Another pic from that breeder's site)

So, I don't mind that our parti boy isn't to breed standards on color. I don't expect any of my dogs to win any trophies. But I do expect them to adore their new owners and be great companions.

I have a feeling that this parti boy will get tons of extra attention and cuddles and be an even better dog than most of my babies. And I sure hope Twinkle forgives me for calling her a dirty girl.

Plus, we LOVE parties around here. So a parti pup is right up my ally. And we don't mind showing some individuality. He'll fit right in here at the Cottage!!

Our Cupcake and Tea Party was a blast yesterday. As soon as the pups are big enough for company, I'm going to throw another one, and make sure all the puppies get held and played with by the kids.

Sugarwings had a good time at the party. Since we were in the studio, she slipped over to her art table and did a little painting before coming to the table to create her cupcake. Funny, she worked so hard on making it beautiful, she didn't care a bit about eating it. A true artist!!

I'll have more party pictures and more puppy ones too, later on. For now, I need to go see who was voted off on Idol. That show is getting better, I'm glad I didn't give up on it earlier in the season.

Before I run, I wanted to let you know that Peat Pot Pretty C
harlotte Fairy kits are available in the Boutique now. As well as a new shipment of Charlottes!

Celebrating!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / April 13, 2010

Time to celebrate! I'm so glad Twinkle and the babies are home safe and settled. She is a happy little mama and won't let them out of her sight. I'm having a party today and will probably keep the babies away from everyone, Twinks is feeling a bit worried since we moved the pups around so much yesterday.

She actually tried to hide them under the porch this morning. So, I am giving her a lot of attention and have her in a quiet spot so she feels like the pups are protected, hopefully she won't run off with them again.

During the all night labor marathon, I stayed up with her and worked in the studio. I don't even know how many of these Peat Pot Pretties with Frozen Charlotte fairies that I made. (as well as 12 kits for you to make your own-6 are spoken for)

Some are going to Somerset Life (yippee!), some to the shop to sell, and a couple I will be giving away as prizes for people who sign up to follow me (Google Friend Connect on my side bar)

But for today, they are centerpieces for a Cup Cake and Tea Party that I am having.

The treat cabinet is filled with everything a kid will need to decorate a mini cupcake (or two).

Since Twinkle is being very nurturing today, I thought I'd try to leave her alone as much as I can, but I knew she wouldn't mind me taking one picture.

cute, huh!?

She is such a pretty girl. I'll have more pictures soon, probably more than you want to see!

Oh Baby, Baby! Twice the fun as just one.

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, Food and Drink, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / March 10, 2010

Surprise! Today is a surprise baby shower for our sweet as can be, friend, Andrea. She is expecting a little sister for her two boys.

So, a group of us are helping her celebrate by sending her some hand made girly gifts to Hope, who lives near Andrea and is gathering all the presents and surprising her with a shower.

My gift is a little cartoon painting of her two sons as elves, holding a newborn fairy girl.

Its done in watercolor with ink. And I added some pearl paint to the baby sister's wings, with a hint of glitter.

Her gift was sent wrapped in vintage paper, and I used very little tape, so she could reuse it for a project. Don't you hate getting some cool old paper and having it ruined by the tape?

Here is a section of the paper that you can click on to enlarge if you'd like to print it to use.

Please visit the other shower "guests" and see what pretties they have made! Here's a list of who is attending the shower today.

And of course, what is a baby shower without some yummy treats? I made a carrot cake up for yet another baby shower. Tuesday, we celebrated Shawn's upcoming addition with a Craft Day Baby Shower Tea Party at my cottage.

As a surprise, I made a fairy picture of Shawn's daughter, Bethany holding a new baby brother.

We really wanted an Alice theme for our tea party, but since I had the photo shoot the day before, my time was short. I was able to make a mini effort to Alice up the table. The party favors were little Charlotte babies that came along with a pig picture cut out of a vintage book. Since Alice was holding a bundled baby that turned into a pig.

And I cut out little "drink me" notes to put by all the tea cups.

Beth was the Mad Hatter (or Russel f
rom Survivor?) and I was the March Hare.

Shawn and Bethany came with Rabbit Ears too.

Shawn has more photos of the day here.
Shawn's baby is due after Twinkle's babies are coming, so I told everyone we had to squeeze in one more craft day and make it a baby shower for Twinks. (if you live nearby and want to come, let me know!)

For Shawn's gift, we bought her an album and each created a page for it. Her husband is an aquarium enthusiast, so I thought that a fish theme would be good for my page. I made a pocket out of watercolor paper that I painted like to look like water, with little purple fishies in it. I cut out fish shaped tags for her to glue photos to, and slid them into the pocket.

Next, I painted some colorful fish and grasses on watercolor paper and cut them out to glue onto the pocket for a 3-D effect.

For the back side of my page, I used sparkle scrapbook paper over reversible scrap book paper that I folded into a pocket page. I do like pockets in photo albums. The little card with the old fashioned baby picture opens up, so that Shawn can add a small picture there too.

But that isn't all the babies, or all the gifts! Our other friend, Holly, is expecting her 3rd son. I wanted to send a little something to her and since I am on a Charlotte roll, I thought I'd use one of them. Although her child is a boy, so we won't say Charlotte, we'll say Charles.

The carriage is made from a box that I have cut down and covered in flocked wallpaper, then lined with white velvet, and trimmed with ruffled ribbon. The wheels are mother-of-pearl buttons.

And geez, as if this post wasn't already long enough, I need to let you know that I've restocked the crown rings in my Boutique.

Also, I will be emailing everyone who asked me to save a Peat Pot Pretty with Fairy for them, and will have a couple left to add to the shop too. Thanks so much!

And congratulations, Andrea, Shawn, Holly, and Twinkle on this spring's new crop of little ones!

Welcome to the Glitter Lounge!

Silver Bella, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / November 17, 2009

Carol, her niece, Shelly, and I hosted the Glitter Lounge again this year, and I was so happy to see so many Bellas join us! Do you ever throw a party and fret that no one will show up? Its a big fear of mine, to be sitting all alone with a mountain of cupcakes (well, having all the cupcakes to myself doesn't sound so bad, I could probably handle that part) and no one coming to celebrate with me.

Luckily, it wasn't a problem, I was happy as could be when Bellas started piling in! We had adjoining rooms this year, so could double the fun instead of squeezing everyone into one room.

My silver table cloth was a curtain from a garage sale, and the floral topper was a throw that fell apart. The velvet lining had ripped loose from it, so it made a perfect sheer topper over the metallic piece. The disco ball-look "vase" was a plastic bottle cover from a thrift shop that I filled with china roses (also from a thrift shop) then topped with a crown and a fairy ballerina.

The deep pink disco ball is from the garden section of Hobby Lobby at clearance time. Hopefully, the decor looked deluxe, but all of it was thrown together with pennies. My favorite way to decorate!

The best deal in town for tossable wine glasses was Hobby Lobby with their 40% off coupon. Much cheaper than the party stores or even Costco. Then, I found packs of mini disco ball key chains at the dollar store to add to the stems as souveniers.

It was so festive to see the table all set up and ready to pour pink champagne and sparkling pink cranberry juice for our Bella guests!

(I mixed my two pink drinks, that was a sweet combo!)

Miss Sugarwings helped me decorate cupcakes the night before. She held each in the palm of her hand while I piped on the icing from a bag. She was giggly and happy while doing it, and was so impressed with the icing bag, having never seen one before. She kept saying, "Its so full of squishy pretties!" And her father said that she was developing a vocabulary like mine.

It was also her job to help me with the pink sprinkles and edible glitter. Can you see how the cupcakes sparkle? The lighting was too soft for it to show up much, so I kept telling guests to go and look at their treats under a light before they ate them, so they could enjoy the glitter.

Because what good is glitter if you can't get the full enjoyment of it??

For a swap page that I did with the En Le Jardin girls, I drew a Glitter Lounge cartoon, then framed it for the table top.

My fears of having no one turn up were groundless, thank goodness! We had two rooms full of fun.

Its hard to know how many will come and who will show. I sent invites to people whose email addresses I had, and told them to bring friends and roomies along. Then it gets complicated, because we don't know until I checked in at 4pm where the party was going to be at 5pm! So, no one knows what rooms to come to.

I hope that no one who wanted to come, missed us.

Carol is the one to thank for the pink champagne, she treated us all! Of course, she has one of the most generous hearts around. And between her and Tiffany, the laughing never stops.

Of course, Suzanne is a pretty funny lady too. Did I mention that my cheeks were sore from smiling so much???

I was happy to finally get to meet Kana, with her sweet, Southern drawl too. Its great to put faces with the names in emails!

And my buddy Beth came up from Kansas City a day early for her Vendor Booth, just in time for the Glitter Lounge, and to stay up half the night listening to all of Shelly's funny stories.

When I made up inventory to pack for the Vendor Faire, I purposely made more than I could ever need for the event, so I would have a lot left to sell online. So, I'm off to get busy photographing and listing some goodies.

Then, I'll tell you all about wallpaper heaven and the lovely loot that overspent on indulged in there. I went a bit over the top…. But- I have the most BEAUTIFUL florals ever, and will be ironing and cutting and making up packs to list soon. Because no on in their right mind could ever need the amount of wallpaper I have! And its all too wonderful to not be used.

For now, I have some 8 packs of flocked paper in the Boutique. They are gorgeous for Holiday projects!

For now, I'll leave you with scenes from the Glitter Lounge. I'll have more Silver Bella highlights all week, until you are all Bell-ed out!

Paper Dolls and other fun projects! Sign up to play along!!

vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 7, 2009

My pal, Mary, is hosting online tutorials that she is calling "Artist Class". If you sign up for her program, you get lots for your money, classes from a selection of artists, tips, tricks, photos, videos, downloads, patterns, on and on!

I'm lucky to be included in her group of teachers! My project isn't ready yet, to show you exactly what it will be, but you might be able to tell, that it will be paper doll dresses.

You can go to Mary's blog for details, but PLEASE use my code to sign up!!

karlascottage

(It has to be all one word, too.)

With my code, you get a $10 discount and I get paid per student!!

She will have lots of artists and all are doing something different.

Because I am going to keep track of "my students" and have special prizes and drawings for supply packs.

What will I have to offer for the lessons?

1. Detailed, step by step instructions with photos

2. Patterns of dresses to print and cut out

3. Vintage wallpaper scans for you to print and cut out to use for your dresses

4. One hand drawn paper doll, scanned for you to print

What are the prizes I am offering for those of you who sign up using my $10 discount code karlascottage?

1. Drawings for vintage paper packs and supplies to use for making the paper doll dresses. I will offer one pack per 10 people who sign up for Mary's classes who use MY $10 Discount Code karlascottage.

So, if 50 people sign up, I will give away 5 gift packs of ephemera. If only 2 people sign up, I'll give out one ephemera pack. But I really hope we get a big bunch!! I have plenty of old wallpaper, and am happy to share!

2. One drawing from the whole group of students who sign up using my $10 Discount Code karlascottage for the original hand drawn paper doll that I use to create the patterns.

I hope you will sign up and play along with me!

(Please note, that these dresses posted today, are examples of past dresses I have made, not the ones that I will be teaching you.) And thank you so much for using my $10 Discount Code karlascottage to join in!

Dollar Day

Books, Food and Drink, jewelry, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 3, 2009

Yesterday, I had a mini craft day. Beth, Mary, and I all had things to do for Silver Bella, so we decided to hang out and do them together.  I had a few little gifties for them, some ephemera and a chocolate from See's Candys. 
Beth brought a giant tub of jewels, a big box of buttons, and a stack of laces to tag and sort, one of those boring jobs that goes better with company.  Although, the jewels weren't boring to me, I loved looking through and playing with them.  
She even paid me a dollar to sort them out.  She also offered Sugarwings a dollar to sort buttons. Maybe Beth comes to visit for the cheap labor?  
 
It was a day full of finished projects for me, I am thrilled to be getting long neglected things completed!
For a while, I have been buying sewing boxes, jewelry boxes, and other vintage containers to foofify.  And hadn't touched them, they've been piling up and overflowing from the tub I had them in.  I felt like they were going to bury me in an avalanche if I didn't get around to them soon.  So, it was a relief to take an afternoon to whittle down the pile and get a few foofed.
 
There are a couple million dolls waiting for my attention too.  Some things, I just can't pass up while shopping, even though I should… Old dollies can be pretty cheap, and all they need is a bit of love, care, glue, cleaning, millinery and ironing.  Well, that does sound like a bit of work, no wonder I avoid them after I buy a pile of them.
But yesterday, I grabbed a couple of dirty dollies and got to work. And learned a trick from Beth.  She said that ribbons can be ironed on a lightbulb!!!!!!!
I had no idea, but it sure makes sense and really does work.
So, I pulled off a lamp shade and rolled a ribbon across the bulb, and that took all the wrinkles out immediately. I didn't even have to get out the iron and the board.  
So, I figured I'd try it on a doll skirt.  That worked great too, just open the skirt, drape it over the bulb and rub it around.  It looks very, very wrong while doing it (because the doll was stil in the dress), and elicited a few off color remarks, (I'll leave those to your imagination) but hey, it was easy and the wrinkles are gone!
I just hope these poor dolls don't feel too violated.
 
I got a good start on earring making too.  During the summer months, I collect vintage bits and pieces to remake into pierced earrings, necklaces, and bracelets for the fall art shows I do.
 
So, I'm planning on devoting most of this week to getting my jewels made up, tagged and ready to sell.
 
Isn't this a PERFECT display for them!?  I hope to have it all filled up by the end of the week. Then, I'll just close the lid, set it aside and it will be all ready to go when I leave for Silver Bella.
 
Sorting out Beth's jewels not only earned me a dollar, I found this little girl pin that was perfect to put on the cover of the Alice in Wonderland book I'd been working on.  Beth also brought me the rings to put the book together with.  So I got that finished too. 
Not a bad day of production!
 
When I was done, my son had this meal waiting for me! Roasted red peppers from the garden, rice with cilantro, and grilled tilapia.
Not a bad day at all.  Plus I made a whole DOLLAR. There are lots and lots of days that an artist can't say that!

Pet Parade Party

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / September 30, 2009

Oh My Gosh! I'm late linking to Keylee Katillac's fund raiser for animal welfare. And then, when I get started, I see that Twinkle has won first place!!

Since
the scarf we were to design for the fund raiser was a Lance Armstrong,
LIVE STRONG theme, Twinkle posed with a bike for her photo. Plus, the
scarf is so big on her, doesn't she look like a super hero? (I even
cut it in half for her, she only weighs about 7 lbs).

For her Live Strong scarf, I simply cut it in half, and laid out
some velvet flower petals on it, then sewed part of an old apron over
that to make a see through pocket to hold the petals. Its held on with
a vintage ribbon tie, and vintage millinery is pinned to the bow.

Since the apron is made of tulle, you can peek through it and see the Lance Armstrong motto printed on the yellow scarf.

Go
and check out the other dogs at the party, and make sure you leave a
comment, because each comment means a $1 donation to the shelter.
Also, you are entered to win a gift certificate for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS
to Hobby Lobby!

Please help Keylee help the dogs! She has already raised $2,000 through this campaign, lets get those pups some more money!

(Notice Twink's new tags, I feel safer for her now)

And while Sugarwings loves to play hide and seek, she was
so heartbroken when she couldn't find her Toto. If Twinkle hadn't lost
her tags, we wouldn't have lost her!

Also, please
remember, today is the last day to leave a comment here for a chance to
win the September giveaway. Wow, that month sure flew by fast!

Sisterhood Magic

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 25, 2009

My sister's birthday party and sleepover was even more fun than I had hoped.  The invitation said to come as a fairy, or dress witchy and magical, or be comfy cozy.  I made myself a witch hat, but couldn't resist being a fairy.  Sissy, who is about as wide as a stick of gum, had this skirt for me to borrow (she wears it with LOTS of safety pins).  

Cousin Paula fair-ied it up too. She found the hair extensions at her local dollar store on clearance for 11 cents!!!  We added some wings to her from Sissy's collection. I thought Sugarwings had a lot of sparkly wings and dress up clothes, but my sister has her beat.
 

Everything is magical at Sissy's house.  Everywhere you look, there is something that sparkles.  
 

Her home was the perfect location for  a magical birthday party. We only had to gather up pretties that were already in the house to decorate with. 
 

There were enough crystal balls to start her own magic shop…
  

Of course, we had to add some edible glitter to the pink cupcakes!
 

Plus confetti on the counter tops. And on the table tops. And on the floor. And on each other….  Sissy will be vacuuming those up for weeks.
 

We each lit a candle and made a wish for Bobbie for the upcoming year.
  

The weekend didn't last nearly long enough, but was one big slumber party the whole time. We stayed at Sissy's, had the big event for Bobbie on Friday, then on Saturday, we honored our Mother on the anniversary of her death.  
We decided to do things she loved to do with us. We went to Goodwill to shop, saw a scary movie and at popcorn at the theater, then went out to a restaurant she enjoyed (and one that we had a coupon for, to save money!)
Mom would have loved it.  And the fairy party too, you are never too old to enjoy laughing and being silly with people you love.

Fairies for all ages

celebrations, fairies, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 23, 2009

Fairy parties aren't just for kids!  When my Sissy turned 60, she threw herself a fairy themed slumber party.  Now, my sister, Bobbie Sue is turning 60 this week and Sissy is having us all to her home for another sleepover, BYOFW (bring your own fairy wings)
While I am in Indiana for Bobbie's celebration, I thought I'd leave you with some pictures from the earlier event.

Sissy's home is a perfect location for a fairy gathering, she collects sparkling objects, glittery trinkets, and crystal balls. Things like that are everywhere, like the ones hanging in the window behind this year's birthday girl, Bobbie Sue.
(yes, I am wearing Tinker Bell jammies, with a sparkly tuxedo jacket)
 
I had some stick on crystals on my nose, but after seeing this, that might have been a mistake, they look more like growths…
My husband's brother came to the sleep over, he's pretty close to Sissy.  Having a gay brother is almost like having a 3rd sister. Plus, he lets me draw on his face.
 
And he knows how to dress up for the occasion, too!
 

Connie is a life long friend of Sissy's and is also practically one of the sisters. She conducted a ceremony in honor of the birthday.
 

Candles and fresh flowers were just as important in the decor as all the glitter and crystal balls.

Each of us had something to say about the honoree, then about a woman in our lives who had been meaningful to us.

I convinced Bobbie Sue to let me teach her how to belly dance. Of course, I had no idea how to myself, and I dance about as graceful as a hippo. But there is something to be said for not caring how the dance looks and just going for it anyway!
 
Did I ever mention that I used to raise peafowl?  I have a lot of peacock feathers from Percy (our papa bird) and have been making fans from them with vintage millinery and ribbon added.  I thought one of the feathers would be just right to make a magic wand for Bobbie's Birthday.  
It has hot pink, curly feathers from an old hat, some silk ribbon, and a millinery bloom topped off with a jewel pried from a broken vintage brooch.
Now, for a dash of fairy dust to get the magic kicked in gear, and its ready to wrap up and give to her at the party. I can't wait!! (maybe there will be more dancing..)