yorkies – Page 12 – Karla's Cottage

Am I losing it?

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, Food and Drink, holiday decor, paintings, parties, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / January 29, 2009

Even puppies agree- there is nothing more cuddly than a puppy! These guys are hugging each other.

And they aren't the only ones who feel this way. We had a "Puppy Party" yesterday, and my friends brought their kids over for cookies and milk after school, to hug puppies. I'd say these pups will grow up to be well socialized and kid friendly. A lot of small dogs don't like small people and can be afraid of kids. But these little ones have been handled by kids since the day they were born and should grow up to be outgoing, friendly dogs.

Typically, I don't post recipes, because I make stuff up as I go along when cooking. But I was soooo happy with these cookies that I paid attention to how I made them, so I could tell you- here it goes:

Kansas Style Oatmeal Scotchies

MELT one cup (organic) butter

mix with a beater, the butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar, one cup natural sugar

add 2 (organic) eggs, a teaspoon of real vanilla, and continue mixing with the beater

In a separate bowl, fluff together:

1 cup whole wheat (organic) flour

1/2 cup flax seed

3 cups instant oats

dash of sea salt

1 teaspoon of baking soda

Stir the dry ingredients with the liquid mixture and then add 1 cup butterscotch chips and a cup of sunflower seeds (the Kansas State Flower, of course!)

Roll in balls and bake for 11 minutes on a non stick cookie sheet at 350

I made half on one of those air-bake pans and half on just a plain cookie sheet and honestly, the air bake pan was much better. I don't use it often because it is too big to fit into my dishwasher, but I will re-think that one, it does make a difference. The cookies on it were more evenly cooked and crisper.

What I liked about these cookies, was that I could lie to myself and pretend they were good for me. Sunflower seeds, flax seed, and organic ingredients made me totally overlook the butter, sugar and chips! I only used about half the amount of chips usually called for too, so that made me think I could eat twice as many.

While the kids were here, we started the Puppy naming contest. I took down their ideas and began a list. Are you ready to play? Here is Puppy #1, the first born and the tiniest. I'll get some photos of the other 5 girls and in my next post, you can start sending in the names. Details upcoming.

I've added my hand painted fairy box to my Etsy Shop.

The inside was in amazing shape for an old box. The exterior showed the wear you'd expect, but I wonder if anything was ever stored in it? The interior was about perfect. Of course, I had to foof anyway, I used flocked wallpaper, millinery flowers, crystals, all my faves on this little "royal emblem".

This box is listed in my Boutique. I plan on using both stores and going back and forth. Here is my criteria to decide which store to list what in (besides wanting a variety in each)- if the item looks better in a non-square shape, the photo will go in the boutique. If it needs more than the 3 photos allowed on the website, it will go in Etsy.

Okay, now if this post isn't already random enough, here is more. Am I going crazy? Lately my computer screen has been speaking to me through comment word verifications. Does this mean I am schizo? I don't actually hear it talk, if that makes a difference. Sometimes the words are very clear, like this one, "BLESS". Other times, they take some deciphering.

Like this one. To me, it says "mothering".

I might just be losing it. First, an actual, written recipe, not guesses and abouts, actual measurements. And now my computer trying to get messages to me?

The January Giveaway (finally)- you still have time to enter

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, swaps, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / January 26, 2009

The babies have moved into their new home and are now my studio buddies during the day.

When I go to work, they will come with me and play in the "Puppy Pond". So far, they are just barely contemplating the idea of running and playing, they still prefer their nest. At least they have the option now! In a few days, they will be glad to attempt to wander out and have some fun.

There is already a difference in their expressions. I can see some recognition when they look at me. And some interest in people, not just in their Mommy.

Fun times are ahead! I'm ready for them to come running to the edge of the Puppy Pond every time they hear me coming. Its such a wonderful feeling!

The movie date with my sweetheart was nice, but the movie should have been a rental instead. It wasn't exactly the best of the "Underworld" series. My husband didn't care for it much, he only goes to see these vampire movies with me because of Kate Beckinsale and she wasn't in this one.

I made time this morning to list this Valentine's Bird on Etsy, and also had a chance to create some thing, even with the distraction of puppies in the studio!

I bought two of these little jewel boxes on my last junking trip, knowing they would be perfect for foofing up as a Valentine piece.

This one is topped with a little Fairy painting I did a while back. The inside is pale pink and I dooded it up too, with old wallpaper, millinery and a glittered crown. I'd show you, but the glue is still wet and if I open it, it would fall apart.

When it dries, I'll get some pictures and list it in my boutique.

While I am on a Valentine's kick, I thought I'd offer this tussy mussy full of treats as my January giveaway.

The image on the front is a gift from one of the Puppy Love Tag Book swappers, Ruth. Thanks for the thoughtful gifts, Ruth, I'm already making use of them!

All comments from the first of the month are entered. All comments, all month long. (that is the easiest way for me to handle it!!)

Curious puppy not included…

Puppy Love

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / January 6, 2009

Sugarwings is as infatuated with the new babies as the rest of us are.

Twinkle is happy to share the pups, and is being a good Mama. A little nervous, but loving. She is such a good natured dog, I shouldn't have expected anything less from her.

And when Sugarwings heard us talking about one of the babies having a star on its chest, she started to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and brought one of the wooden stars from her craft supplies as a gift to the newborn.

She doesn't realize it yet, but these puppies have a gift for her too. Since Twinkle is her dog, all the money from selling pups will go into a college fund for the fairy grand baby. Thanks, Twinkle!!

Believing in magic

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 20, 2008

We interrupt this coverage of Silver Bella 08 for a local Sugarwings update!

Are you bella-ed out yet? I am still on the glitter high, myself, but thought I'd take a break between the billions of Bella pictures and show you Dorothy. Sugarwings has only had this doll for a few weeks and they are inseparable. The trouble is, this is a cheapo, airport souvenir doll, not meant for non-stop lovin. Her head is falling off, she is disintegrating right before our eyes. Since we make regular airport runs, I thought I'd ask my husband to pick up a new one so I could sneak trade it out with the beat up doll. Well, my husband bought the wrong doll, he thought Dorothy had a plastic head, not cloth. I really didn't think we could pull this one off at all.

Luckily, two year olds are gullible, (or guggabo, as Sugarwings says it) and I wrapped both dolls in a towel, then started singing "Scrub, scrub here and scrub, scrub there, that's how we while the day away in the Merry old Land of Oz". Remember that scene where all of them get makeovers in the Wizard's palace? I pulled the new Dorothy out of the towel and my gullible fairy grand baby thought Dorothy looked very pretty. It worked!

I guess we are in luck, as these expensive, but cheaply made souvenir dolls fall apart, we'll be able to keep replacing them. I just hope we can get more than two weeks out of each one, because I figure that will cost me about $30 a month that way. I'd better be restocking my Etsy shop fast, so I can keep Sugarwings stocked with Dorothys…..

A Modeling Career for Sugarwings and an answer to the MEAN comment

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), holiday decor, magazine pictures or articles, Silver Bella, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 5, 2008

Wowwee! Have you seen this yet? Somerset has done it again, this magazine is just so, over the top, good! Kudos to Jo Packham, the editor.

The quality of the photos and stories are every bit as good as the book that preceded it. Impressive. Here is a link to Jenny Doh’s blog with her post about this issue.

Now, I am really overwhelmed to think that my studio (!?) will be featured in a future issue of this publication. Heck, my head might not even fit through the doors of the studio after that, this is a cool thing to be in!

I’m extremely proud to be included in this issue, for this little corner on the back page. A photo I took of Sugarwings helping me face paint at a birthday party was used.

She is not wearing a shirt, so I am hoping this won’t be a big career move for her. I’d rather not see her featured topless in any more magazines as an adult.

And yes, I KNOW I should be cleaning and getting ready for company, packing up supplies for my Silver Bella classes, but I ended up making more bottle brush trees, and while cutting apart the strands of old mercury glass beads, I decided to bottle a few of them.

If I don’t end up selling these, I think they’d be cute as a bug in my kitchen replacing the spices on my rack during the holidays!

The teeny blue ribbons and gold and white labels are some that I got in a mini swap with my Dutch pal, Lili. Sbella_booth_256

Sugarwings ended up spending the evening with me, so I stopped gluing goodies to trees and took the advice of my friend, Valita, who said I should sell bottle brush tree decor kits at Silver Bella.

I bagged up some trinkets to add to trees, each bag is different and most are best suited for the taller trees, although I’d say that if you were decorating a bunch of little trees, the stuff could be spread out among a few. The old clip on earrings (that I cut the backs off of) are great to use as ornaments on a bigger tree, but work better as a single tree topper on the tiny trees.

This tree is one of the larger ones, so it could handle a handful of old earrings glued to it.

Tomorrow, Beth, Carol, and I are going to visit Deb and check out the Curious Sofa Holiday Open House. Deb has quite a way with display, this should be fun! Plus, dinner after with my two buds will be a nice way to spend an evening and avoid cleaning my studio.

And I seem to be very fond of dinner lately… I gained TEN POUNDS since I turned 50 six months ago. Is this what being old does to you? A complete shut down of the metabolism?????

By the way, I got my very first MEAN comment yesterday by someone who thinks Twinkle should not be having puppies.

This person left an purposely incorrect email address, so I couldn’t answer her. So, I’ll say it here-

Yes, I know that there are LOTS of dogs and cats without homes in the world, and I have taken in my share of them plus donated time to our local shelter, as well as donating art to fund raising auctions and free murals that I painted on the walls of the building.

Just because I raise pure bred Dorkies doesn’t make me a bad, uncaring person. These babies will go to people who will love them and give them good homes.

I believe in helping the less fortunate dogs, and have been the mastermind behind some adoptions of homeless dogs, numerous times. But I still like my Dorky babies and will always have them around. They bring joy to me and to many others.

Just like I believe in recycling and buying as much as I can second hand to help lower my own carbon foot print, but that doesn’t mean I am not going to buy something brand new and shiny here and there too.

I heat with wood as much as I can, turn off lights, put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat, run as many errands as I can at once so I won’t waste gas. I do what I can to save the planet. But that doesn’t mean I won’t drive across country to take a trip or spend a day driving from garage sale to garage sale.

I guess what I am trying to say, is that I believe in being a responsible inhabitant of our planet, and I do try to do good things. But life is give and take. You cut back here and there, help out when you can, but you have to live it and splurge on the things you enjoy.

Crowning Glories

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, give away, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / September 29, 2008

This has been a good weekend for "crowning around". Miss Sugarwings spent a big chunk of the weekend here with me and the crowns are a good project to do in the little spurts of time I have between bouts of chasing her. this crown is sold

This poor little cherub lost its arms when it got knocked over onto the cement, and I have had them buried in the gravel, reaching up to the air like zombies trying to come up out of the earth. The spot I put them in was by Ryan’s front door, since he is a big zombie fan, just like his mom.

And not for Halloween, I did this last Spring.

But this week, Sugarwings found the arms, and spent a good deal of time trying to re-attach them too the "ouchy baby" as she called her.

A good sized pile of crowns got done, but honestly, it isn’t much, and these aren’t even for Silver Bella. I had big plans to lock myself into the studio and not come out, since my husband is out of town.

Instead, I got slightly sidetracked by my fairy grand baby and we ended up working in the garden together and playing play dough, and making up songs. the two crowns on the bottom, back right are sold, thanks

Carol’s crown design is such a fantastic idea, I can’t get enough of them. I’m putting my own spin on them and making them in my colors and style too.

Remember, as part of "Karla and Carol’s Romantic Country Celebration Giveaway" you can win a kit to make your own. Go to Carol’s blog and tell her how much you like them! I’ll chose someone from her comments on the first.

And you can still win my Sweet September Prize Pack by commenting.

Plus I have two ways you can win a pumpkin topped bottle. If you are an 08 Bella, let me know, because one will be going to a Silver Bella attendee, and another will go to another reader.

Aren’t presents fun?

Earlier this week, before the little fairy baby came over to distract me with that dimply grin of hers, I painted this dove bottle and decorated it.

Did I say that Carol’s screen crowns were addictive? So was her bottle topped sculpy idea! Maybe it is all the hours I have spent with Sugarwing ‘s play dough that got me in the mood, because I am sure in love with sculpy! the dove is sold, thanks!

And if you are wondering what I do with all of the old wallpaper and vintage flowers I buy, here is a tiny little dent into my collection.

I’ve been scooping up old boxes all Summer at garage sales and this week, got a few decorated.

This one had the most beautiful knobs on the drawers, that I simply had to save it.

It has been painted silver and distressed, then the front of the drawers and the insides were covered in coordinating old wallpapers.

These roses were so pretty, they inspired the redo of this box. I made a corsage, and glued it down, along with vintage ribbons and an old pink buckle.

The inside is simply covered in old wallpaper, then trimmed with narrow, velvet ribbon.

And the smashier the better for me with old roses! I love to see them show their age. (maybe because I show mine?)

This wooden box was painted pink, and the top was covered in flocked wallpaper, then the edges inked to age it.

Inside, is more wallpaper, and some hand dyed velvet, left over from a chair I recovered for Sugarwing’s nursery.

I trimmed it out in old lace and buttons.

I’ve got a stack of boxes done, and more in the works, that I will be taking to Silver Bella. I plan on packing other things to sell inside of them, and using them as part of the display.

So even if they don’t sell, they will be handy to have to show off other things.

Today, I will try to list some of the crowns on Etsy.

But I am hosting a brunch tomorrow, and Sugarwings is spending the night, so who knows if I’ll get anything done or not….

Attack of the Seven Pound Monster

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

By Karla Nathan / August 8, 2008

The house seems pretty quiet now that I have taken my childhood friends to the airport and their visit for our Fabulous Fifty Birthday Celebration has ended.

We had a lively week full of tiaras and champagne!

Because a good bottle of champagne can make any occasion special, even if it is just a dinner of egg salad.

It was a week of simple pleasures, like just sitting on the porch and talking.

Of course, we couldn’t leave the Dorkies out of the party.

Twinks just isn’t the type to let herself be left out of anything. Even though Sandy wasn’t exactly a dog person.

Twinkle couldn’t get it through her fuzzy little head that Sandy wasn’t crazy about her and she wouldn’t leave the poor woman alone all week.

But the dorkies got plenty of attention and even got to model some of the tiaras themselves.

We also did a bit of shopping downtown Lawrence. No luck on finding a prom dress to fit.

My pals aren’t the vintage type, but they were good sports about poking around the old dresses and helping me in and out of the ones I got stuck in.

It wasn’t the first or the last sticky situation these two have helped me with over the last 40 years.

After saying goodbye to my dearest friends, I came home to finish the scrapbook of Sugarwing’s second year. Her Hippy Chick Mommy’s birthday is this week and I wanted to give her a completed album of her baby’s adventures.

On Friday, 8-8-08, there is a big birthday party for all of the August babies. Sugarwings and her Hippy Chick Mommy are both Leos, as well as a few of their friends, so they are having a blow out party to celebrate.

I’ll be packing up my face paints and glitter and going off to join the kids tomorrow.

But the best part is, that Sugarwings and I will be leaving early and she will be staying all night with me. Now, that is something to look forward to, and to keep me from being too down about my child hood friends leaving today!

Swept away by shades of pink!

Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, paintings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 24, 2007

Thanks to everyone who came by yesterday and shopped or visited.

And thanks to Phyllis for hosting the craft fair. Easiest one I have ever done! No packing or hauling or setting up.

Friday’s craft fair items will be available for sale till Thursday the 29th. On Friday my studio sale starts and I will include what ever is left in that. The snowman and the top left ornament are sold

Here are the ornaments that remain from what I got painted yesterday. If you are interested, or need to see a closer picture, just leave a comment or email me. They are $10 (normally $15) each plus $5 shipping for the first, free shipping on all others, or on any included items, just not the albums. (The albums are too heavy to pack in the same box with the fragile balls)

Anything in my Etsy Shop can be combined with the shipping of the craft fair items too.

I didn’t go out in the crazy shopping frenzy the day after Thanksgiving, but I did go the day before to get new shower curtains so the bathroom would be all spruced up for my open house.

I had the floral curtains already, but a plain white shower curtain was under them. I bought a Simply Shabby Chic set of soft white cotton panels at Target and hung them instead. I even took down my clear plastic curtain that was underneath and gave it a good washing in hot water and bleach so I can see through it again. We have such hard water that those things cloud up fast.

I had to replace the curtain for the other bathroom too. I’d painted the ceiling in lavender and pink, and dripped onto the plain white curtain that had been hanging there.

Why don’t I know better? I should have taken it down first, but I get impatient and just want to start painting.

This faux finish is one of my favorites. I did it a while ago and am not tired of it yet. It started as a lilac ceiling and aqua walls. I blended in other pastel colors over these two and made gradual changes in the color as I went down from the ceiling to the floor.

It transitions from the purple to a green, with lots of blues and pinks in the middle.

That watercolor on top of the cabinet is one I did of Dahlia, my first Dorkie. She was such a lively dog, we still miss her. She was a great mom too and always had 7 puppies at a time. That is sure not typical for Yorkshire Terriers.

She was stolen from our yard, and was pregnant at the time. I felt like I’d had 8 dogs taken instead of one.

On a happier note- look what else I found—- A PINK vacuum cleaner!!!

It was only $18 too. Will it be any good? I don’t know, but it’s pink!

Who is the Dorky One?

yorkies

By Karla Nathan / April 4, 2007

This week would have been the birthdays of Huberta Rose (Bertie) and Marty- two little Dorkies ( what I call Yorkshire Terriers) who passed away last fall with in a few weeks of each other.

This is Bertie on the bench in my studio, she kept me company while I painted.

Here are Marty and Bertie together in one of my last photos of him. He is named after my mother, Martha. She is named after my father, Hubert. Both of my parents are gone now, also.

My Dad always wanted someone named after him, and when I was born, he put "Huberta Josephine" on my birth certificate. My mother promptly changed it to Karla Jo. I go by Karkie most of the time, tho. Can’t imagine being a Huberta.

Once, when my sister-in-law was visiting from Tennessee, she and I had a morning of playing with her new camera and posing dogs for pictures . It really tickled our funny bones and the pictures got sillier and sillier as we went on. Sparkle (on the left, Marty’s mother) loved every second of the attention and would let us pose her any where. Poor Marty (right) barely tolerated it and this is the only photo we got of him. In this one they are in a basket on the floor of my studio by a salvaged door I used as a divider.

Poor Sparkle, this might be one of the worst places we put her, on top of the entertainment center in my living room. She was a good sport about it all. She was on the fireplace mantel, on the wood stove, in a hat, dressed in a tutu and pearls, all sorts of things, from one end of the house to the other. I guess that makes my visiting sis-in-law and I the true "Dorky" ones. But I do believe that a good dose of silly is good for everyone, and I seem to get my fair share of it.

Although, all of you who left kind comments on my last post about my guest room, saying you’d like to come and visit might have second thoughts when you see how my guests and I spend our time!