Karla's Cottage – Page 148

Easter at the cottage

By Karla Nathan / April 21, 2014

I hope you had a good Easter? Ours was so nice, it was great to have wonderful weather and to be outside enjoying it.

Sugarwings takes after me and doesn't bother with the silly, wire egg dipper. We both end up with dyed fingers, even more colorful than our eggs.

Sugarwings had a friend over to dye and hunt for eggs. Around here, we use dress up clothes instead of aprons for messy work, so the girls dug through the princess dresses to find something festive and to keep the dye off their regular clothes.

I should have put on a royal costume too, because my brand new, pale blue jeans ended up with more than a few smatterings of purple on them.

I love the snow boots with the pink dress! She chose those because they are the boots she was shopping for the day she met her best friend at Famous Footwear. They have been buddies since then.

Lee Lee and La La, forever friends.

After the eggs were dipped, we moved on to decorating cupcakes. Normally, we are very careful to keep food coloring out of Sugarwing's diet, but we figured a few sprinkles on a holiday wasn't going to hurt. I did bake gluten and dairy free cupcakes, otherwise known as bricks, and purchase organic, natural colored jelly beans to fill the plastic eggs.

Oh my god, those were the most expensive jelly beans I've ever seen! I filled a bag at the bulk food aisle, and am still in sticker shock at the price tag. My bagful of beans was over $20. And to think of all of those bags of regular jelly beans going on sale the day after Easter for a quarter, really puts it into perspective.

But when your little one has difficulties, any price or amount of trouble is, of course, worth it to help them.

I would spend my last penny to see this smile.

Sadly, we didn't have a crowd this year for our annual egg hunt. We are doing a bit of out door remodelling and our patio is ripped out, and the yard is a wreck, so we didn't have a big party. Dewdrop was with her other siblings and mom for the day and they weren't able to attend.

We were glad that her friend was able to spend the day with us, and even more special was that this was La La's first ever, egg hunt. She'd never dyed eggs either.

Sugarwings also got to meet up with an old friend at the egg hunt the nursing home her mom works at held on Saturday.

Many of the residents delighted were by the party.

This bunny's face might seem a bit creepy, but I can promise the kids loved her! It was a cute event at the nursing home. I'm all about cute, I possibly enjoyed the day even more than the kids.

I was just kind of wishing I had my own bunny costume. And I'd probably rather have vintage one that was slightly creepy. I love this one.

My $3 a day habits, or maybe I need to try harder to find some blog topics instead of just rambling off the top of my head about things no one cares about

Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / April 20, 2014

Recently I realized that I'd picked up a few habits. I don't know if I'm getting old and set in my ways, or if I'm just boring, or I just know what I like and go with it.

I've noticed that not a day goes by without these three things.

#1- a can of Mandarin Oranges. I eat fresh fruit too, but I've gotten in the habit of eating a whole can of these at least once a day. Sometimes I splurge and have a two cans day. When they are on sale for 99 cents, I buy a couple dozen cans at once.

#2 Peanut Butter Balance Bars. Oh my, I eat too many of them. My favorite snack, or meal replacement. If I lived alone, I'd probably eat bars and cans of fruit all day and have nothing else in my cabinets. Except maybe popcorn. But, if I lived all alone and didn't have other people to feed, I'll bet I'd go to the movies a couple nights a week and have popcorn for dinner there, so I wouldn't need popcorn in my cabinets.

Luckily, I have a houseful of people who require normal, regular, and balanced meals that don't come in a bar or a can, so I think I'll be okay nutrition-wise. I rarely get a chance to ignore mealtimes and most nights I'm busy chopping fresh veggies and cooking healthy meals.

My worst daily habit is #3- Toasty Toes. Now that Spring is coming, I can slowly wean myself off of these. But since my studio has a cement floor, my toes still get chilly and I have to force myself to stop wearing them even when the temp outside gets above 60.

. They are about a dollar a day for the warmest, happiest feet and worth every penny to me. The heat stays going for at least 6 hours, sometimes 8-9.

I've experimented with new Ugg boots, that I got on clearance at the end of the season, and the wool lining is helping to wean me off of the Toasty Toes a bit. Although I found out that wool socks, with Toasty Toes, down inside Uggs is pure heaven.

There is nothing better than sitting at my desk, with my feet warm and cozy, while snacking on a Peanut Butter Balance bar and a can of oranges.

Wild Kingdom in the Breezeway

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), kitties

By Karla Nathan / April 17, 2014

Our kitten won't be happy when I finally fill this planter with flowers. She likes to sleep in it.

It's mostly up and out of the reach of dogs. The pupeesh go running full tilt through the breezeway to the studio without even glancing up. But their mom, Twinkle has found the cat's hiding place and often stops for a visit.

But she is wary of those tiny claws and is always ready for a quick retreat!

Easter tree

holiday decor, kitties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 14, 2014

We dyed eggs last week, a bit early for Easter, but we'll do more closer to the holiday.

And while we had the dye out, we had a great idea to dye lace too.

After Easter last year, I bought a few boxes of Paas for 10 cents each, figuring that stuff is fine to save till the next year. Well, it's not. We had to grind the tablets up, we couldn't get them to disolve. And the colors never really took off, they stayed pastel. Which is fine for me, but Sugarwings like a blast of color in everything she does.

We'll buy some fresher dye for more eggs later on, but this batch was excellent for making ribbons to hang plastic eggs from.

And Joy Joy Angel Joy Nathan thinks that makes the best cat toys she has ever seen.

I wonder how many will still be hung from the tree by the time Easter arrives?

Chances are they will be all over the farm. Dew drop has already plucked the few within her reach.

But there is no way that Dewdrop and Joy Joy can reach them all. We have some pretty high up there.

Experiments

family

By Karla Nathan / April 12, 2014

We are getting our first greens from the Family Food Forest and it tastes like Spring! We're also receiving about 14 eggs a day from the ladies. Our original plan was to get a farmer's market booth to sell some of our excess, but honestly, till after Birdsong, I'm swamped.

So, my son is looking for locals who want weekly eggs, and produce as it comes along. In the meantime, we are all enjoying the goodness ourselves! We had a big family dinner the other night, and the salad was the highlight of the meal for me.

While dinner was cooking, the fairy grand girls and I tried an experiment. I'd heard that tonic water glowed under a black light.

And someone who drinks vodka tonics left a few bottles of the stuff here a year ago. I hate to waste things and didn't throw it out even though I knew none of us would ever drink it.

When I heard that tonic glows, I was glad I was a hoarder and I had a bottle tucked away. I filled a bucket with tonic water, and set it in the tub. Our bathroom hasn't got any windows, so with the door shut, it was perfect for the experiment. We got our black light (it's actually called the "Pee Finder" and is a flashlight to hunt down dog pee with, so is battery operated, not plugged in), and hung it from the faucet above the bucket of tonic.

Dewdrop didn't really care, but Sugarwings loved seeing which toys would glow and throwing them in the tonic. Next time, I think I'll have a few glo sticks handy to toss in.

Birdsong Peeps

bird song art event, sewing?

By Karla Nathan / April 9, 2014

The other day, I was invited to craft day at Tami's house. I was a BAD blogger and took almost no photos.

I started peeking around at her over abundant spring decor and got one little picture of this detail, then lunch was mentioned and the food was sooooo good, I could only think about that.

(you can see some of her spring pretties here)

Selfish of me, yes. To put dining above getting some pictures. Oh, and more selfishness, I did snap a couple of my own project. Tami provided a table top of fun items to play with. I love these shaggy acorn tops and made mine into a nest for this egg.

I had just happened to have a picture of a squirrel on the top of my pile of ephemera that I'd brought to work with, and thought with a tail-ectomy it could pass for an Easter bunny, so I cut open the paper mache egg and glued the de-tailed squirrel inside.

Here is the one and only photo I took of any of the friends. And is it a laughing, happy moment like the whole day was? Nope, but at least it shows some of the wonders of Tami's great studio and collections.

I sat next to Beth so she could teach me how to embroider. We are going to Kim's Downton Affaire and one of the projects is stitching. I knew it would be beyond me, so I asked Beth for a little jump on it, thinking that would help me keep up with the class better when the time came.

But I soon got very sick of filling the piece with stitches and started sewing things to the fabric instead of just doing embroidery.

I was very proud of myself for not resorting to glue, even tho I am a very poor sewer and it was rather torturous.

Even though I'll never be a relaxed and happy stitcher, I still had the most wonderful day hanging out with a group of my Birdsong Peeps. What nice ladies they are and I'm so glad we met! And how generous of Tami to have us all over. I need to take a turn and have a craft day myself.

But it will have to be after June. Between doing the banner for Downton Affaire, some major garden remodels, and getting ready for Birdsong, I'm a bit stretched to the limit. Like a piece of bubble gum that has been chewed up and spit out.

I'm very much looking forward to going to Downton in May (then on to Disneyland with Sugarwings for my birthday) and to seeing all the lovely Birdsong Ladies in June. Visions of fun with friends keeps me going.

The gifts from Sponsors are starting to come in. Suzanne Wingfield sent these vintagey egg cartons to give to everyone. Last year, she gave me a set to use and I filled them with a kit. This year, I'm not sure how I will use them, but thought they'd be fun to have.

She also included this silver mesh, which I think will be fun for fairy wings and other embellishments. And these vintage doily placemats. Sponsor gifts don't always have to be something for the drawing or the Tweet Bags, it was nice of her to think outside of the box (or carton?) and provide some things that will be helpful to have during classes. It's always good to be able to change out placemats after a gluey project, huh?

There was also this cuteness included. Her note to me was in this chick, along with some chocolates that the fairy grand girls and I devoured immediately.

If you'd like to be a sponsor, please email me at:

Karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

I'll add your name to the sponsor list on my side bar with your link and it will be there till the next Birdsong. If your gift arrives in time before June 1st, I'll take pictures to post on my blog. (after that I'll be rushed to fill bags before company comes to open them)

And you'll make our peeps smile when they see your gift!

A new view

sewing?, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 7, 2014

Before I put away my sewing machine after making hundreds of feet of ruffled, dyed crepe paper, I stitched up some curtains for the studio. I'm not much of a sewer, and don't enjoy doing it. I don't like to pin things, or iron them like you should before sewing. I don't measure. I just wing it. And this was such a simple project, winging it was just fine.

Although, from looking at my table, you'll have to wonder how I ever had space to sew these.

Basically, it is a table topper almost as wide as the window, a square shape that has cut up doilies patched onto it. The bottom is two ends cut off a runner and sewed to the bottom of the table topper, and a few other doilies were chopped up to add on.

I thought it would be much more elaborate, but when I got to this point, I kind of liked it and stopped. There was a big pile of doilies on the table waiting to be added, but I'll save those for something else. I'd thought I'd have more of a patchwork, all over design, but I'm happy with just a few small added bits over one big piece.

The curtain was too short, so I hung the rod lower, making the bottom of the curtain hit the sill. The panel wasn't wide enough, so I hung a vintage, white cotton, ruffle curtain on each side.

Above it, hangs a tea cup lamp made by Shanna Wagner, two hearts and a kite by Andrea Singarella and Lori Oles. and a pink dotted swiss ruffle valance.

But I don't want you to think I did this all alone. I had a helper.

Sugarwings came by to visit and offered to cut up and stitch doilies together. She likes hand sewing, unlike me. I don't do it unless forced. But she is pretty happy sewing together anything on her desk. When given some embroidered pieces to work with, she really had a blast.

Especially since it was her first day with her new glasses. These are reading glasses, the same type of drugstore magnifying lenses that I use.

She has constantly tried to sneak my glasses away from me when she is in the studio. I honestly thought it was just part of her 'artist costume'. Because for this kid, it's all about the costume for what ever you are doing.

I'd always told her that wearing other people's glasses could give you a headache and she had to take them off. Who knew that these were exactly what she needed and she wasn't just play acting when she wore mine?

Planning? Novel concept, but hopefully a good one!

drawing, flowers, paintings

By Karla Nathan / April 5, 2014

I've had a little more peat pot action going on here in the studio. These are those larger pots, about twice the size as the regular ones.

I'd decorated a few, figuring out how I wanted to do the pots for the Fairy Swings project for Birdsong, then made some extra to sell in the Boutique, just because they are fun to make. Then, I started in painting and glittering these bigger ones and adding ruffled crepe paper and vintage trims to them too.

But I stopped at two and decided I really needed to get the stuff done that HAD to be done, not just what sounded like fun to do.

It has just been too cold to work on my banner for A Downton Affaire!! I have to hang the canvas on my garage wall and before that could happen, I had to clean the garage. Because I didn't want to get any of the grit from built up salt and dirt on the floor on the canvas as I spread it out to hang it. And Spring is simply not cooperating with us.

Finally, we had a day warm enough to hook up the new power washer (Oh My Gosh, how did I ever live without one of these in my life?????? It's addicting, I cleaned EVERYTHING with it)

Now, the canvas is hung and ready to paint. But it got cold and rainy again! I'll need the garage door open while painting for good light, so I still have to wait for some sunshine to get the work done.

But at least I have a plan. I started a small painting to get some ideas on what I'd do for the large one. Here is the background of it. After looking through hundreds of pictures of Highclere Castle and its gardens, as well as even more pictures of English country gardens, I think I have a good plan.

Here is a corner of it.

I'm thinking about using the small painting to make my tags for vendor night. Or even cards to sell? What do you think?

Now, I'm itching to get started on the big banner. It's smaller this year than the one I did last year, only 10'

The one for last year's Enchanted Affaire was about 6' longer. And it was one that I did to keep for myself, but it was sooooo big, I didn't have a wall large enough for it.

So, it is now cut up and hanging in the girls' room. They love it, and so do I. I spent weeks on that piece, and a lot of love went into making it.

The one for Downton will be much smaller, not as tall, not as long. It should go quicker because I took the time to do a sketch, which isn't typical of me. But last year's painting got carried away. I painted and painted and painted, covering up the background with the foreground, changing colors and adding things, it was crazy. I felt like I was lost in that forest at times. It had become my second home, imagining myself out in those trees.

Hopefully, my planning ahead will stop my meandering through the woods in this scene. I worked a lot of it out on paper instead. Now, I just have to keep my fingers crossed for good weather, because I do not have weeks and weeks to get it done.

Please wish me luck!

Some Journalling tips and a day with Jay Pryor Coaching

Books, how to's

By Karla Nathan / April 2, 2014

Recently, I attended a Life Coaching seminar with some friends. I wanted to take notes that I knew I'd keep, not lose track of or toss. So I took my journal, a black marker, and a couple of metallic sparkle pens, and used those to write down what I heard that day.

It was an interesting day, and Jay had a lot of good things to say. I'd never been to anything like this, or read a self help book before, and was surprised at how many of these ideas were already a part of me. I mentioned in my previous post how much I'd needed a day to myself, and that mindlessly sewing crepe paper was almost meditative.

Jay suggests meditation, which I don't do, but I think that creative time, or gardening, even a boring task that takes no thought, like endlessly sewing strip after strip of crepe paper, is an excellent time to be alone with yourself and empty your mind.

Another bite of knowledge from Jay was to let go of negative thinking and be grateful. I know this one works too. If I have to call a repairman for a broken appliance, or pay for a replacement of something that fell apart, I find myself starting to grumble about the expense. But then, I stop, reconsider and tell myself that I am damn lucky to be able to afford that repair, or that I even own one of those thingies that broke down.

It does help.

The conversation was full of tidbits of how to refocus your thoughts to put you in a better space. I know I'll be flipping through my pages as a reminder of the day and re-reading the highlights when I need a refresher.

I'm glad I wrote them in a way that will be permanent, and I hope to add more to this journal as I go along.

Do you journal? I guess I kind of have been doing it for a few years now with my blog. World's best way to keep a diary! But, I've never taken an art journaling class. I've played around with pages, and made a few journals myself. Here are some tips I've picked up as I figured it out, in case you'd like to take some notes that are "keepers" or just feel out your thoughts on paper.

Use a variety of pens and markers. Different sized tips, and colors. I didn't want anything distracting, so stuck with gold, silver and black, but the black was fine point, the gold wide tip, and the silver had a nice shimmer.
Start with the main words or phrases, write them larger and spaced out on the page. Fill in with smaller thoughts or background words.
Have your hand drawn fonts fit the words. I wrote "bigger" BIG. Don't write something hopeful and loving in a dark or heavy way.
Between words, doodle. And be repetitive, using the same types of doodling styles around the page to tie it all together. My tie ins on these pages? Slashes and vines are repeated amidst the dots, scrolls, hearts, and other scribblies.
Use a variety of shades or tones. See how I've filled in the leaves, not just drawn them? That gives the page some pop by having darker areas. You will need some light, some medium,and some dark areas.
Use a variety of styles. Some heavy lines, some light lines. Some BIG words and some little words. Curved words, straight words, boxy words, softly flowing words.
Use a variety of angles. Straight across, diagonal, etc.
You can add pictures, drawn or cut from other paper. Since I wasn't in a crafting atmosphere, I had to stick with drawing. No scissors and glue were available.
Write or draw as you feel, don't bother to sketch or plan, let it flow. In the past, if I haven't been happy with something I've added (often to do with bad handwriting) I've glued something over it. On this day, I'd misspelled something. That turned into the black and silver bar all down the right hand side of the page. Yes, there is such a thing as screwing up, but there is always a fix. Be free with your ink and if you find you really messed up an area, just cover it with something else. Keep on going!
Along the lines of "keep going", enjoy your work. Usually a journal is a personal thing, not something you are doing for resale. So, make it your own, pour out your thoughts in doodles, make it mean something to you, and "don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else" (excuse the Sesamee Street quote there, please, but it did seem to fit).

When I make pages, I wish my handwriting was better. But hey, it's me. That is how I write, even when I try to make it nicer. It just isn't.

Which leads me to one of the things Jay told us, "Let it go". (Which, brought to my mind another kid's song, this time from Frozen. I seem to have a lot of kid's songs in my head on a regular basis)

In art, as well as in life, you just need to Let It Go sometimes. Yep, my hand writing kinda sucks. But overall, the pages look pretty and they mean something to me. A lot of artists focus on perfection and think what they do isn't good enough if it isn't perfect. I say, Let It Go. Nothing is perfect, enjoy what you do, embrace the imperfections and Just Keep Swimming (oops, another kid's show quote there)

If I'd been aiming at perfection, I'd never have got any notes taken.

This page shows making the words I draw fit the feeling they express.

Jay had us write out our issues, then write "I Am" statements that were positive and could help deal with the issues we needed to work on.

I wrote the first in metallic silver ink, that was kind of hard to read because I wanted the negative aspect of it to fade away. I wrote the positive statements in black ink, right over the silver. The positive takes over, and the negative is covered up.

This page isn't as pretty because I wasn't exactly following the guidelines I usually use on a journal page. See how the ink lines are all just about the same size and tone? Not enough variety. If I were to go over it and darken some areas for contrast, it would look nicer, but you know what? I think I'll just let it go. For what it is, it is just fine.

If you ever get a chance to work with Jay, I highly recommend him. He made a lot of good points that day. Another one that I try to use daily is "Be Present". Which to me means to try to notice what is going on around me NOW.

I do believe that planning ahead is completely nesseccary, just like learning from the past is too. But I need to take both of those places and use them in the present, and "be present" not worried about what I'm doing next or fretting about what has already happened.

I believe that you have to own the past and be prepared for the future. My husband thinks I worry, but I'm really just working it out in my head, getting ready for the next thing coming up. But while I'm doing that, I do try to enjoy what the NOW is too.

Always good advice. Thanks, Jay!

Charlotte Bunny Baskets

holiday decor, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 30, 2014

Do you ever have a day that just flows happily through you? Where time just melts away because you are so involved with what you are doing that all of a sudden you realize it is evening only because your tummy reminds you that dinner should be served soon, but you are happy because you know you don't have to be responsible for that dinner?

I don't get those as often as I'd like. Usually, there are too many interruptions where every day life gets in the way.

But recently, I had a DAY ALL TO MYSELF.

About 12 hours straight of not talking to or seeing another person. I took advantage of it by working in the studio.

And the first part of the day was used to finish all of my Birdsong kits. That was a happy feeling right there. Then, I mindlessly sewed crepe paper ruffles. While that might sound boring, and sometimes it would be for me, on this day, when I had all the TIME in the world, it was almost like meditation.

After sewing all that crepe, I was ready to play with it, and figured out a way to turn Charlottes into Bunnies.

Then, I used that crepe paper to embellish some vintage nut cups. And line them with the moss scraps on the table from making the fairy kits for Birdsong. Most of the supplies were stuff that I hadn't cleaned up yet from making the kits (which means that my workspace was about 10").

It felt great to have no time limits, and nothing calling me away from my desk. I didn't have to pick anyone up, take anyone someplace, or even feed anybody. I just had a glorious, long stretch of TIME all to myself to work play. And to use the Good Stuff. Creating with soft, old velvet, faded millinery, and sweet Charlottes was a balm to my stressed soul.

And even better? My sweet son dropped by with Dewdrop about dinner time with a pizza. I had the best of both worlds, not only did I get all this TIME to myself, I still got to end the day listening to the giggles of a 3 year old and I got a dinner that I didn't have to cook.

Now, I have the resolve to tackle my taxes and all the other stuff piling up. I needed that TIME, uninterrupted, to be creative and get recharged.

And I even got these listed in the Boutique, if you'd like one.