yorkies – Page 4 – Karla's Cottage

Special friends and a special day

Books, celebrations, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), parties, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 12, 2012

Before I left for my North Carolina adventure, I had a little party for some special friends. Kecia, who I met at Tiffanys in CA is on quite an adventure herself. A two month plus trek across the country, hop scotching from one friend, family member, junk shop, to another. She stopped to see me here at the cottage on her way across I70.

And my beautiful friend, Angie, was having a birthday. Two reasons to celebrate!

You know me, it doesn't take much to convince me its time for a party. I love any excuse to set the table and invite friends over.

And with two special occasions, I was raring to go.

I stole my buddy, Carol's tip about using vintage wallpaper as a table runner. And I just happened to have a few rolls to choose from…

Angie had another very important celebration, she is a first time grammie as of a few days ago! So, I broke out the extra special, hoarded, fairytale wall paper from the 20s and made a frame for her to put a baby picture in.

Instead of just having a dinner party, I invited everyone to come for the afternoon and have craft day too, and friends dropped by here and there for whatever time they could make it. Some just for craft day, some just for dinner.

My favorite way to spend a day. Good friends, good conversation and stuff to make!!

I'm still hooked on slopping modelling paste on my collages. So, I made some books with covers all textured up. (this one is in the Boutique)

On this one, I collaged the back too, but instead of texture, I dry brushed paint over the collage, then inked it a bit.

This book needs a slight re-do. I've filled it with pages and pages of old papers, and they are too delicate to turn with ribbon ties. I have to add some rings instead.

Here is the back of this one.

IIt will be a while before I burn out on this technique, I'm super into smooshing the modelling paste around over pretty papers!

Dew Drop's mommy, our Gypsy, made a journal this way too, Beth worked on some stiitching, the other Karla was doing needlepoint, Shanna had some painting to do in an enamelling project, and Angie was foofing up vintage bottles with messages and trinkets.

The great thing about craft day, is that everyone works at their own pace on whatever they feel like, and the conversation flows here, there, and everywhere.

Kecia arrived later in the day, and said she had not had a chance to create while on her trip, so I set her up with supplies to make a book too. I love the layers she put on her cover.

After dinner, when the other guests had gone, she and I went back out to the studio and worked till after midnight finishing our books.

Twinkle bonded with her, and we will both miss her, the visit was much too short!

The Summer of Salads, and Garage Sale Goodies!

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / May 31, 2012

Its the most beautiful time of the year. Garage sale season has begun! I went to a couple estate sales with Beth and the other Karla.

One was a gold mine of crafty, vintagey goodness! My favorite find was this box full of old starched lace Easter eggs for $2.75. The eggs are smashy, but the flowers are wonderful and so are the velvety trims on some of them. I've already harvested the best parts and have them set aside for future creations.

At another sale, I picked up this satin gown for my grand fairy for $2.

Her favorite thing about it, is the big skirt that poofs out like a cloud when she sits on the register in the floor.

On the way to Beth's, I stopped at a garage sale, and found an under the bed, Rubbermaid container full of dress up clothes for the kids for only 50 cents. Which I thought was a pretty swell deal for the carton alone, not to mention the piles of fun clothes inside.

After going through the costumes (M&Ms, clowns, fairies, hula dancers, flappers- it was full!) I found this fairy garland and thought it was kind of nice. On closer inspection, I realized that they were very old pansies pulled off a vintage hat! Yippee!

Those are going to MY dress up pile, not to the kid's. Twinkle was kind enough to model them for me.

This retro chic stove was at one of the estate sales we went to. I'm still in a Tiffany blue mood after my trip to CA, so I was really attracted to it.

There were lots of old bottles, some floral hats, for $3 a piece (yippee again!), not a bad haul.

I especially like this old rat poison bottle, it will be used in my Halloween decor this fall. Doesn't it look like the poison was so compelling that the rats tried to chew their way into the bottle?

Uhm, if you are wondering why my curtains are in a bowl of water, its because I accidentally squirted blueberry juice onto the delicate lace. I hurriedly grabbed a bowl of hot water with vinegar and dish soap in it, and tucked the stained bit into the bowl to soak. It seemed quicker than trying to take them down and wash them.

And I think its done a good job of getting the stain out. I've replaced the soapy water with clean water a couple times to rinse them, I was trying to treat the old lace as gently as I could.

And why was I squirting blueberry juice? Because last week I officially declared this the "Summer of Salads" and started off with a juicy fruit salad.

My goal is to have at least 2 to 3 fresh made salads in the fridge at all times. I chopped fruit, spritzed it with lime juice, and added a sprinkling of Trader Joe's cinnamon sugar, the kind that comes in a grinder.

I also made a carrot salad, using a bag of shredded carrots, a half cup of broken pecans, 3/4 cup big golden raisins, a cup of chopped celery, a pinch of sea salt, and enough dressing to moisten it all. The dressing I chose was a strawberry vinaigrette from Kroger's.

Simple to throw together with the prechopped carrots and bottled dressing, and great to snack on when I have a sweet tooth.

The third salad was a standard one we always have on hand. Equal parts of chopped cucumbers ( I like those baby sized ones), celery, and tomatoes with sea salt,cracked pepper and some balsamic vinegar with olive oil. This will be even better to make when our garden takes off and we have our own veggies to chop!

No, I'm not making a big bowl of yarn salad. This was something pretty that I saw at Beth's home.

This too.

Even prettier, this is some of the stuff I bought from her! She had piles of things ready to go to her booth at the mall. I of course, dove right in. She has the BEST stuff.

I'll leave you with some photos of what's new in the Boutique.

(yep, I actually got some work done! Its only a handful of stuff, but its a start.)

What we did on craft day

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), yorkies

By Karla Nathan / September 25, 2011

Beth came to a craft day and when we weren't playing with ephemera, this is how we spent our time. Playing with dorkies. But honestly, who is the dorkiest? I think we win for even suggesting this pose.

Down but not out, maybe spoiled a bit, but still grateful

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), yorkies

By Karla Nathan / May 20, 2011

Tuesday was a good day. Mary, the other Karla, and Beth came for a craft day, and of course, Button tagged along. Agnes Rosebud's ears perk up every time she hears the name Button, so she was thrilled to see him.

Beth brought along this tulle slip to cut up and make into something and changed her mind, so I bought it from her for $5 and am going to give it to Sugarwings for her dress up closet. Of course, that is after I use it for a background for dog photos.

Wednesday was not such a good day, nothing horrid, just one of those down days that happen sometimes where a few little things dampen my spirits.

It started off with some cancellations for the Paper Cowgirls class I am teaching, and then a bit of disappointment at Best Buy. I jauntily walked in, thinking I was going to buy myself an IPad with my birthday cash and some savings.

Well, those aparently aren't that easy to come by! Best Buy says they haven't had any for weeks, neither has Walmart or Target. Uhm, did I mention that while I was shopping, I looked down and noticed that there was poo all over the leg of my jeans? (I'd done some babysitting earlier and didn't realize I carried a memento with me)

I've been told that I can go to the Apple Store to get one (in KC) or order one online.

That evening, I found a bloody, dead mole tucked neatly into my fresh bedding. By Twinkle, I'm guessing. She seemed very possessive of it, and had actually unmade the bed and buried it in my sheets. Maybe that left me more grossed out than sad, but it seemed fitting with the rest of the day. A few other glitches here and there, and some other things I won't go into, just had me droopy.

Finding gore in my bed when I was tired and sleepy, and expecting fresh sheets right from the dryer didn't help.

(this is what Mary was working on for craft day, she is the queen of glue books)

Now, it would be really whiny and sound spoiled of me to be depressed about not getting what I want when I want it, and pouting about not getting my expensive new Ipad.

But still, I couldn't help being a bit let down to not get my new toy right then and there. But, I'm looking on the bright side- hey, I'm getting an IPad!!! How exciting is that??? Of course I want it NOW, but I'll be thrilled just to get one.

And the people who dropped the classes at Paper Cowgirl sound okay with getting kits in place of a refund. I'm packing up some detailed kits, so I think they'll like them.

And the gorey, gooey, bloody, dead thing? One less mole hill to try to rake over when I clean up the yard next time. Yay, Twinkle! Kill them ALL, they tear up my yard pretty bad.

At least my house didn't burn down. When I feel bad, its good to put it all in perspective. If all I have to be upset about is a delayed fun purchase and some creepy goo among some other little grievances, then I'm a pretty, durn lucky person!

My friend, Julie had a big fire at her house. She lost her beloved pets as well as her entire craft room. So, today, I'm packing up a big box full of supplies and vintage goodies for her and mailing them off.

My motto is, if you are having a bad day- make it better. Do something nice for someone else, think about the bright side of what has happened, do something to cheer yourself up. I'm on my way to get some baby snuggles in after I mail that box to Julie. I'm already feeling pretty happy just thinking about that chubby little sweetie (the baby, not Julie).

Yep, a day is what you make it. So make it good.

Queen for a Day

bird song art event, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / February 9, 2011

Yesterday, I had a studio full of helpers! Beth brought Button with her to work on the gift bags she designed for Bird Song.

But not only did she print out all the bird images on vintage fabric, she brought her friend, Karla, (who I call New Karla, although she and Beth have been buddies since they were just little kids) and the two of them helped me with my taxes.

Both are accountants and claimed that it was fun to sort through my Pay Pal info.

Fun?

It didn't sound like fun to me. It was wonderful to have someone get all the stuff ready for me to pack it up to take to my own accountant. I'd have worked on it for a week, but Karla did it in an hour or so.

But not only that, they brought lunch too.

And Beth brought me new velvet slippers. With an N brooch on them for "nest" or "Nathan", as well as a book of alphabet fonts for me to scan and print for the NEST banners we are making in Bird Song.

But wait- there's more! Not only did they do my accounting, feed me, bring me gifts and sew bags, they helped me push my son's car when it got stuck in the ice. And did I mention that it was a below zero day?

For once I didn't care how cold it was, it was a GREAT day! Aren't friends the best?? I felt pampered all day long. Especially since I was wearing new velvet slippers in a royal plum color- my feet even felt pampered.

Here is the bag that Beth made as a prototype. She hand stitched hers, but we used the sewing machine to make the 20 some gift bags.

The images she printed on to old fabric were from Dawn, the Graphics Fairy, Mary, and collages that Beth had done herself.

She used old linen from an estate sale, that she stuck to full sized Avery Labels, to run through the printer.

The bags are some that my friend, Andrea has used in the past and recommended on her blog. I Lightly dyed them in a small amount tan Rit dye, then soaked them all day in coffee. When they were dry, I threw them in the dryer to heat set. I like the crumply, aged look it made. And they are so nice and soft, too.

Beth had offered to make ribbon rosettes for each bag, like the one she did on her sample, but I just couldn't let her do it. She'd already done so much work on these.

I started to embellish bags myself with some different things. Old lace, brown velvet ribbon, millinery, jewelry.

Goodies are already starting to pile up to go into the bags for the students! I've got a few sponsors and am making some things myself.

So far, the sponsors are:

Beth

Dawn

Kay Ellen and her mom

Hope

Lonnie

Lisa

And if you'd like to be a sponsor, I'd love to have you! We would need either 25 items to fill gift bags, or a single gift as a raffle prize. Please contact me if you'd like to sponsor. I'll be doing a post showing all the gifts and linking back to the giver's blogs closer to the event.

Or if you'd like to come to the event itself, there are still spaces. Its the last day of April, first day of May and will be here in my studio. Two days of classes with Lisa, Carol, Debbie, and myself for $250 (includes meals)

I filled a bag with old millinery in colors Beth liked as a thank you, but I think I need to take those two helpers out to lunch, don't you? Not only did they do a ton of things for me, they just plain old made my day by being so nice.

There is no better way to beat the winter blahs than to be treated so royally by friends!

Speaking of treats, I need to announce the winners of the rhinestone bracelets that I'm giving away.

Natalie

Charlene

Cindy (who gave Sugarwings the cute dress she was wearing in the snow fort photos)

Rita Zink

Joanne

Bookworms partying

Books, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Food and Drink, give away, holiday decor, parties, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / December 7, 2010

Last night, I hosted our book club's holiday party. It happened to fall on a dear friend's birthday, so we got to sing and have cake too. How festive!

Now, I'm trying to remember what books we have chosen for the upcoming year…. I know that one was Cleopatra, I heard a reveiw of it on NPR and was interested in reading it. Lets see… something about freaky cows by a local professor, A Tale of Two Cities, and an apocalyptic book called …. uhm…. Hand Made World? or something like that There are a total of 6, but I can't remember them.

I was most intersted in that last one, I'll have my fingers crossed that there are zombies. I'm sad that the AMC series, Walking Dead is done for the season. Wow. It was like a new horror movie every Sunday night, so well made and scary. Of course, that is what you can count on from AMC, very well made, not always scary though.

We also each brought a wrapped book to trade, and played that game where you can open a gift or steal one from someone else instead. My pal, Shan, brought a wrapped book for me, I was such a loser this year in the reading department that I had nothing to give away. I read too many novels that weren't quite up to book club standards and didn't want to look like I had low class taste.

Not that I was embarrassed, I just didn't want to give a book that no one wanted.

I guess what I mean, is that my books this year were not high quality literature, they were just books that I loved. The only "good" books I read were the same ones that we read in book club last year, so everyone had already read them.

Novels that I enjoyed- the latest Sookie (and can't wait for the next!), the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, the latest from Jennifer Weiner and Sophie Kinsella, and not much else. I used to read at least a book a week. Now, I'm down to about one per month.

TOO MANY GOOD BLOGS OUT THERE TO READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the club books that I read:

Edger Sawtelle

The Worst Hard Times

Something about gay rights at Stonewall

And… well, I've forgotten again. I remembered first two because I loved them so much.

My friend not only brought me a worthy book to give away, she made this stain glass star for Mayara! And tied it to a bottle of wine!!

Its just perfect for my little Star Brite's first Christmas ornament. Hey, that seems to be a good nickname for her….I like that. Sugarwings and Starbrite.

My living room was a bit crowded, with 13 people in it. We all squeezed in anyway and everyone was so nice about it. They all said they would come back next December for our holiday party even if we had to practically sit on top of each other.

My old house has the original living room, and its small. We have a big house, just small rooms in the old part of it. But I have space where it really counts- the studio!! I could have had the party out there, but decided to stick with the main part of the house since it was decorated more.

Plus my studio is knee deep in stuff again.

And I waxed the living room floor! That rarity deserves to be noticed and enjoyed!!

For the party, I set up a coffee service, with home made, fresh whipped cream, shaved light and dark chocolates, orange peels, cinnamon sticks, decaf, and a bottle of 150 year old Grand Marnier.

When I go to schmancy dinners with my husband at restaurants his company owns, they always impress me with the goodies that come with the coffee. You don't need to order dessert there, the coffee treats are dessert enough. So I wanted to set up something similar.

I think I'll do it again for my next craft day. But I doubt if the orange liqour will be as popular at lunch time as it was for this party. Everyone drives in from Kansas City, so there isn't much in the way of drinking going on at craft day.

The cart is a vintage one from my garden that I brought in to use. On the bottom, I set out these glittered letters that were meant to go on a garland that never got made.

Agnes liked it. She thought it was a great place to hide, hoping for food to be dropped down on the floor.

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for a few days in Virginia, and this will be my first time leaving Agnes home alone for long. We have a great system for the dogs, they get penned up in the living room where they can get to a doggie door and a fenced in yard. And my oldest son, Ryan lives here too, so he'll be taking care of all the dogs.

She is just getting used to the set up, and is now an expert at running in and out of the swinging door. But I think we'll miss each other.

I've preposted for the rest of the week while I am away. Each day, there will be Christmas decor from another room of my home, so please check back.

All comments will be entered into December's drawing, but if you want to enter ther 1,000,000th Visitor Giveaway, you need to leave it on THIS POST by the 14th

Sugarwings and I made crustini for the party, by cutting leftover bread slices with her holiday cookie cutters, and brushing them with a little melted butter and olive oil, with garlic. Then, we slow baked them till they were crunchy. I'm going to take the leftovers and smash them up to make bread crumbs for my next turkey meatloaf.

Well, I'll be back this weekend, and will be checking messages on my phone, but its just not that easy to answer everyone that way. so please forgive me if I don't get back to you.

And if you'd like to skip seeing the blog posts and see the holiday decor at my cottage, I've loaded it on HGTV's Rate my Space.

I'd love to get your votes!

Here is the living room

Dining room

Kitchen

One in a million!? A giveaway and some winners

give away, sewing?, Sugarwings, We're having a party, Workshops, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / December 4, 2010

This week, I've caught the sewing bug. And I hate to sew. But embellishing ready made bags (vintage postal bags that I've coffee dyed) is simple and fun, and addictive. I gathered up some trims and flowers, sat down to the machine and before I knew it, there was a pile of decorated bags.

These bags were found in Texas at RoundTop, and had Kansas City, Kansas postal labels on them. I bought all that was left in the pile, and am just now getting around to using them.

I've had to make myself stop embellishing, because, I have too many other things that I need to do. These can wait… But I wanna play with these pretties!!

Do you blame me? I just love making them. Of course, I started it all while I had a little helper, the new baby was laying on a pillow under the table while her momma and I sewed. Now that she isn't here, it isn't quite as fun.

So, I can get back to my other duties, I've got an article due, and a few other projects with deadlines. Some of you are asking about my Cottage Art Event at May Day, and I really need to pull those details together. I'll be working on it this weekend. Info coming soon, I hope. Thanks for your interest!

See, how cute she is laying on her pillow under the table?? Of course, it was hard to concentrate on working with so much cuddliness nearby. But we managed to get a lot of work done, anyway.

Aggie Rose seems to be every bit as fascinated by this baby as Twinkle was with Sugarwings. We got Twinks when Sugarwings was 6 months old and they grew up together. I think doing it this way, with the dog a bit older than the baby is better. She is still a puppy, but not as fragile.

Here they are together on the day they met. Twinks adored her girl from the beginning and no amount of ear pulling or squeezing ever bothered her.

Twinkle has taken on so much of Sugarwing's personality, I have to wonder if AggieRose will be like Mayara?

Sugarwings and her pup are both fiercely loving, loyal, and happy, excited girls. Always exuberant and dramatic. Curious, bouncy, and packed with way too much personality to fit into their tiny bodies. So far, Mayara and Agnes both are pretty calm, laid back types. It will be interesting to see if they continue to be a match as they grow up together.

Or is it just odd that a grandmother lumps her baby doll's personalities in with the dogs?

I forgot to announce the winner of my Romantic White Christmas giveaway. This bunch-o-baubles goes to:

Sue Elseth

And my November Giveaway goes to:

Susie Q (no blog)

She will get Mrs. Santa's Slipper from our Romantic White Christmas classes.

For the December Giveaway, I'm not sure yet…. But please leave a comment, all comments all month go into the drawing. Since it doesn't mail out till January, I don't want the prize to be too Christmassy. So, I'll come up with something this month and let you know.

Guess what milestone I just passed? I'd been watching my stats knowing this was getting close, but it came and went before I realized it!

MY ONE MILLIONETH VISITOR!

Wow. When I started blogging, I sure never thought I'd even reach 1,000 people looking at my little on line diary. Thanks so much to all of you who come to visit. I enjoy the comments and the company.

So, since I missed out on seeing who exactly was number 1,000,000- I'll have a drawing here.

I'll fill up one of my decorated postal bags with some treats for you.

Some vintage angels, a brooch, mini bottle brush trees…

A frosted angora rosette…

A tiny test tube filled with mercury glass beads…

And a free entry into Romantic White Christmas ezine.

Deadline?? hmmmm… I'll give you some time. I'll draw a name next week when I get back from my trip to VA. Sunday the 12th. That way, the winner gets the little angels in time to enjoy for the holiday season.

Remember, all comments on all posts count toward the December Giveaway, what ever that will be, but for the 1,000,000th visitor prize drawing, please leave a comment here.

And thanks again for coming to visit!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, flowers, holiday decor, Silver Bella, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 29, 2010

Well, my halls are all decked and our cottage is festively foofed. My husband says it looks like Christmas threw up all over the place. We've had Sugarwings quite a bit over the weekend, so not much else has gotten done but play with her. All the Christmassing happened while she was asleep (I decorated trees till almost 4am). No photos yet, I'll be getting some soon. When I recover.

So, while she is in school today, I'm busily getting caught up on cleaning up my Boutique (deleting sold goods and adding a few new things, marking some other stuff down) and adding more goods to Etsy, as well as fine tuning the Romantic White Christmas Ezine.

Beth and I had a new post every single day while the classes were ongoing. Now that they have been completed, I had to go back and rearrange it all so that it started with the first posts, not with the newest posts. You know how a blog runs from newest first to oldest last? That is how the classes were set up. Which was great while we were adding daily.

Now that they are all up and running, I needed to put them into an easier format to read as a class. We learned some lessons while doing our first class, the Romantic Gothic Ghosts, and made this Ezine a little easier to tweak at the end than that one was.

(all of these pictures are of the little "extra" projects we included in the classes that aren't listed on the sign up page)

We also added catagories for each posting, so that you can click on the lesson you want to look at and go directly to it.

It looks to me like it is pretty easy to follow and find your way around. I'd love some feed back from anyone who has signed up.

If you are in the class, and have posted any of your projects on a blog or flickr, I've got a place to add a link on my blog roll to your pictures. Please send me an email with your info if I can link to you.

On Friday, I avoided the huge crowds of early shoppers and headed to a flea market with Beth instead. There was a lot of millinery available, but most a higher price than I like. I got a couple of hats, then found a few more at one of my favorite antique shops, plus I'd picked up a few on my trip to Omaha for Silver Bella.

Agnes Rosebud seems to like old flowers as much as I do… I've listed some flowers in the shops, and have big plans for making this with others. There is a banner I am working on that will need a few, and I'm hoping to make a purse tomorrow.

And there will be plenty of sparkle to chose from for the purse! Got this bagful at the flea too.

I like to save the tiniest flowers for projects like these.

Itty Bitty flowers are so sweet on these Christmas trees I decorated (they are in my shops now).

My favorite bloom of the bunch has to be this rose, pure velvet!

Well, I'd better get back to listing things. There will be some new items added this evening too, I'm getting more photos done now while the light is good and will post some trinkets in the shop later.

The chocolate and sepia trees are already listed. How nice that the first ones I made were such a hit, I had to whip up a few more.

This set is Neopolitan: milk chocolate, creamy strawberry, and French vanilla.

I'll leave you with a few more pics of new goods. And if you want something from both shops, I do combine shipping and always refund any excess that is more than a couple dollars over actual postage.

Its beginning to look a little bit like Christmas

fairies, family, flowers, Silver Bella, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 22, 2010

Over the weekend, I spent a little time lightening up the living room. (I was going to say de-flowering, but that just sounds wrong)

For the summer, I'd hung rose pattern curtains, scattered rosey pillows around the room, and set out some floral plates and trays as accents. Since the basics of the room are neutral, its really easy to switch out looks by changing accessories.

I hung my Target Shabby Chic white velvet drapes, duct taped an old velvet duvet cover over the sofa cushion, and took out anything pink or rosey.

No, not all rosey things! Agnes Rosebud stayed, of course.

After covering the couch cushion, I stuffed a crocheted table cloth under it, to peek out a bit, and got out my neutral pillows.

But the best part of the change over is the banner! My side swap from Silver Bella got hung up too. I used bits of lace tied together to hang it from.

And for the Holidays, I think I'll add some glittered letters to spell JOY.

And Suzanne Duda.

Great swap, huh???

And at the Silver Bella Vendor Faire, I was also lucky enough to get one of Lesa Daily's beautiful birds. She sells out FAST at any show she is in. That lady has some skills!

I'm kinda decorating for the holidays, but not quite. Just a hint of whats to come. Its fun to do it gradually.

For now, I've just set out some of my Silver Bella projects and the Romantic White Christmas things that I made for the online EZine (which reminds me- if you are showing any of your work from the class on your blog, please let me know!)

My plan during classes in Omaha was to make all the projects coordinate. I packed lots of white, silver, gold, and neutral and made everyone of my classes into something Christmassy to use in my home.

Usually, I have a vending booth and my free class period is spent in a craze of setting up, and this year I didn't vend. So I spent some of my free period in the hotel room puttering around on finishing stuff up, but I got lonely. So I took a walk downstairs and popped into other classes to visit and see what everyone was making. In Kari Lynn's class, I saw a bunch of friends, so they invited me to pull up a chair and visit. Someone gave me some wire, so I made this little door (with bird) for the cage I had already made in one of Kari Lynn's previous classes.

I was in two of her classes, then crashed this third one. Then, on Sat. she sat next to me in another class and as we were working away and chatting, I turned and introduced myself and said I didn't think we'd met. She said "YOU WERE JUST IN TWO OF MY CLASSES! " Ooops. I told her that her classes were so good that I was concentraiting on the project, not her face!

After that, she started calling me Dory. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" (from Nemo) At least its not as bad as the year I asked Mary Englebrait to take my picture with someone, not knowing who she was…

Thing is, Kari Lynn's classes were wonderful and I just adored them and her. She is teaching at Kim's next wonderland, and that is one of the reasons I am going. Well, her and Colleen, who I got to know too. I really enjoyed them both.

I'll show the other projects when I finish my Christmas decor. I ran out of time, we had family over to meet the new baby on Saturday night.

Sugarwings and Pixie Pie had some dress up fun.

I can't believe how grownup this girl is getting. But all of a sudden, all my babies look HUGE, since we have added the tiny, newest fairy to the flock.

On Sunday, I got some more trees done and a few are in the Etsy shop now, more to come! Thanks for all the tree love.

These are a little something different, I tried some sepia ones. I like them, they fit well with my neutral living room. I hope people don't think they look like trees left up way too long.

I'll leave you with some new Etsy goods:

A foray into film

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), holiday decor, Tutorials, videos, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 20, 2010

Yesterday, Beth came over for a puppy play date. Well, actually, we were working on Romantic White Christmas, but the dogs thought it was all about them.

We rearranged the furniture in my bedroom to make use of the mantel that I have as a headboard. The pups curled up on my bed and kept an eye on what we were doing as we foofed and decked the halls.

All of the projects we had made for the classes were brought out and displayed, then photographed for a talk on the basics of holiday display. (tomorrow's post on the Ezine)

We've tried to make sure that there is a new post everyday on that blog, and that we give lots more than just the projects listed. There are lots of extras, downloads, freebies, and ideas.

If you are in the class and would like to show what you've made, I've set up a Flickr page for us.

Also, if you have posted a creation from the Ezine on your blog, please let me know and I'll set up a link page to it.

While it was all set up on my mantel, we made a video of the projects. Using the Flipcamera editing software was a bit of a learning curve for both of us, but once we got going, it was much more simple than we thought.

I'm looking forward to doing some baby videos now!

You might have noticed that I still haven't shown Silver Bella pictures?? I'm still not unpacked yet!

Except for a couple of little things. I did unpack this lovely old print for my dining room. Its from our shopping excursion to St Joe on the way to Omaha.

And this purchase was from Sunday at Brass Armadillo with some Bellas.

They could almost be the same lady in the print, huh?

I am linking with:

Tinsel and Company

and

Common Ground