Karla's Cottage – Page 189

Pretty, pretty, pretty, I love Kim’s house! plus a Boutique sale and a giveaway

Food and Drink, give away, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, Travel, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / December 23, 2011

Everything at Kim's was pure perfection, she has major decor, design, and detail skills.

And the ladies who came to spend the day were such fun! I hope they enjoyed my two classes as much as I enjoyed sharing the tips with them.

There were gifts galore too. Kim gave us all the table decorations she used to foof our seats, I already have these wings on display in my own holiday decor.

And the generous attendees all included me in their swaps, even though I didn't have time to participate. (photos to come, you'll be impressed with their work!)

Kim's house was sooooo pretty. I said that word so many times, that I sounded like a broken record. Or a dimwit with a pitiful vocabulary.

Can you blame me? Pretty was everywhere.

Kim was attempting to show me around when I arrived, when I caught a glimpse of her studio through the open doorway and I was magnetically pulled into the prettiness of the room, with no hope of stopping myself. I just had to explore that space.

But it wasn't just the studio. The whole house is that great. This is the bedroom that Jessi and I shared, Kim's daughter, Kate, gave up her room for the whole weekend.

My main project was a wire wrapped wreath, with lace leaves and a nesting dove. I brought a table full of "extras" for everyone to play with. Ribbons, lace, beads,glitters, etc. When I teach a class, I think its only fair to include everything you need in the kits.

But- its good to have an option to personalize the piece and have some bonus goodies to dig through.

Don't we all love to dig?

Everyone's project was unique, no two just the same. Just the way I like it!

We also played with paint, and I explained some of the techniques for short cut painting tips that are on the side bar of my blog. I'll have some pictures of that later, as well as a bigger sample of the work. Kim and I painted her nightstands using the same steps that we did on the small wooden boxes that I brought for the class.

When I arrived, she had a pristine, newly painted, chalk board door.

And I had the honors of supplying its first drawing.

Kate has tamed a feral cat and it adores her. So, my thought was to add the kitty to the picture, and have it play with the ribbons dangling from the wreath that we were making that day.

I have more photos to share after Christmas, but for now, I really need to get shopping and wrapping! Sugarwings has been ill since I got home and a lot of my time has gone to snuggling instead of prepping for the big event this weekend. I hope Santa can find my chimney, because no one in this house should count on gifts from me…. I'm not prepared!

Speaking of gifts- don't forget that you have till Christmas to win a special, surprise gift from me. Any comment this week, any post counts.

Also, if you have Christmas gift cash to buy your self a gift, come on by the Boutique. Everything is 30% off if you use THIS LINK.

The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days. You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words- happyholidays – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

Merry Christmas!

Book club holiday party gifts and decor and treats

Books, celebrations, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / December 22, 2011

Last Monday, I hosted our annual book club holiday gathering.

All of the dining table chairs were moved into the living room for the guests to gather in a circle and the dining room table was covered in a vintage velvet quilt and filled with goodies.

If I didn't have old lady eyes and needed the over head lights on, I'd keep my house lit with ambient lighting instead! I love the glow of all the small lamps tucked around the room. And of course the Christmas trees add a beautiful glow to it all too.

December is the perfect time to add lots of little mini lights. I love to use them under old lace curtains on the buffet.

The fairy lights add a nice twinkle to everything sitting near them.

This little paper weight was a gift from my sisters. Bobbie Sue added a photo of the three of us to an old paper weight that Sissy had. She made 3, so we each got one.

For book club, we all wrapped up a book we'd enjoyed that year for a trade. I got extremely lucky! There was a book I'd read in my 20s that I LOVED and wanted to re-read. I've looked for it for 30 years, but didn't remember the author's name or title. And it showed up that night at the swap!!! Its from 1978 and is called "The Mirror".

The book I gave away that night was "Room" and its very disturbing, so I wrapped it extra nice and added a brooch to the package.

The night before guests came, my son's Gypsy Beloved helped me make some gifts. We whipped up goats milk bath salts with a vanilla rose oil scent, and some brown sugar scrub too.

Sorry, no real recipe, I kind of made it up as I went along. But each are sooooo easy to make, I'll give you the ingredients if you want to wing it:

Bath salts:

Box of powdered milk (goat or otherwise)

epsom salts (whole bag)

cup or so of sea salt

scented oil to your own taste

Sugar scrub:

Half pound of brown sugar

Full bag of epsom salts

cup of sea salt

about 2 cups of coconut oil

about a half cup of glycerin

scented oil to your own taste
The scrub is great for rough, dry, winter skin. And the milk bath is really relaxing. I use both regularly.

I wrapped them all in small plastic bags sold at Michaels in the cake decorating aisle, and tied up the bath salts with white lace and a mini bleached tree or wreath. The sugar scrub got wrapped the same way, but tied with rick rack and a tag made from an old Shiny Brite box.

It was wonderful to have my new, big kitchen to host a party in. I can't begin to tell you how much I love that room.

The treats that night were pumpkin cheesecake, fudge, german chocolate brownies, pumpkin muffins, a veggie tray, pita chips, flax seed chips and salsa.

And of course wine!

I hope that your holiday has been filled with special occasions and more to come. Its a festive season, and I can't get enough of it.

And please don't forget, I'm picking a winner of a Holiday Surprise gift.

Just leave a comment between now and Christmas to enter.

Short Cut layered Fudge with Belguim Chocolate

Food and Drink, holiday decor, how to's

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2011

For more than 30 Christmasses I've been making short cut fudge, the same way every year. But in the last few, I've noticed that it wasn't going as well as it used to. I blame the products, I think that they have changed gradually and just aren't as good. Nestle Toll House Chips just weren't working the way they used to over the years when I made up batches and batches of treats.

I think that they maybe aren't as pure as they were decades ago. I wonder if more paraffin has been added to keep the costs down?

Anyway, I believe that you don't get good results without good ingredients, so when I bake, I Use the Good Stuff, just like when I create in the studio.

Now, I've switched to only Belguim chips, and the results are worth it!

Here is how I make them:

One and one half bag of chips plus one can of sweetened condensed milk (I use low fat, yes, I know its still a sugary, fudgy concoction, but I think every little bit helps, and if it tastes good, go ahead and cut out a little bit of fat when you can!)

Warm the milk in a pan, then add chips.

Melt the chips.

With a mixer, beat on high speed for way, way longer than you think you should have to! The fudge will lose its sheen and get thick, then you'll know its time to pour it into a greased pan.

I make about 3 batches at once, so you can double or triple the recipe, easily,

Here is what makes it extra special- buy dark,white, and milk chocolate, as well as Reece's peanut butter chips and make multi fudge flavor layers.

This one is dark on the bottom, sprinkled with pecans, and ground white chips (I dump them in a blender to chop them up). After that, there is a layer of milk chocolate fudge that is again sprinkled with more white chocolate crumbs.

There is also peanut butter layered with dark chocolate picutured here.

The layers look impressive, but its an easy and tasty trick.

Of course, presentation is important. Doesn't everything look better under glass?

Please remember that I am having a giveaway, of a special surprise.

Just leave a comment between now and Christmas, all posts, any posts, as often as you'd like.

Gifts and Giveaways and free images, Happy Happy Holidays!

Books, free images, give away, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 18, 2011

Last week, friends came by to help me practice my "Song of the Season" class that I am teaching at Kim's. As a thanks, and a Happy Holiday, I made up a little goodie bag for each of them.

These great scented candles from Bath and Bodyworks were on sale for 5 or 6 dollars, I can't remember, but it was a very good deal, so I bought a bagful to pass out this season. Each one got foofed up for the person it was going to. My pal, Angie loves pink roses as much as I do, so hers is topped with a circle of my favorite wallpaper in the world, and I wrapped a coordinating old, gold striped paper around it, tied it with a pink bow and added a millinery rose and a bit of sparkle.

Beth and Karla are both accountants, so their candles were decked out with pages snipped from a 1910 math book.

A bit of glue, a scrap of paper, and some foof, and they were quickly personalized to suit the giftees.

(the scent I chose was Vanilla Peppermint, and it reminds me of the happy evenings Sugarwings and I have spent with our cocoa parties by the Christmas tree. We like to stir the hot milk with candy canes, and then either add a spoonful of shaved chocolate, or a squeeze of vanilla agave syrup to our cups)

There is still another gift for Beth, but I didn't have it ready for her that day. She brought a Christmas present for me, and of course, I did NOT wait till I had one for her before I opened this. It was wrapped way too pretty. And even if I did pretend to be polite and wait, I'd have opened it as soon as she left anyway, then would have had to scramble to re-wrap it for when I had a gift ready for her and we could officially trade.

Her present was layers upon layers of gifts! A tattered old corsage and a hand made, ruffled scarf as a bow topped it all off. Under that, old wallpaper in gray and sage (I've already made something with a scrap of it, too).

Inside were two books, one was a 2012 planner done by local talent, Greg Johnson.I've never owned one before, but have always wanted one of his annual creations. I stole this photo from my friend, Debbie, she sells them in her Curious Sofa shop. You can get one for yourself, here

The other book is a flower child book from 1910. In the cover it says:

"To every child-flower that blooms within the curious garden that we call home, this little book is lovingly dedicated"

Its going to be a favorite of Sugarwings and I! Way too nice to cut up and use for projects, but I'll be scanning and using the pages, for sure.

These pages are for you. Just click to open in a larger size, save to the computer from that window, and print.

My dear friend, Shanna brought this beauty to me. She is a stained glass artist and makes wonderful Christmas ornies. My tree is full of her creations. This one is a new design, a tussy mussy, with hand painted enamel designs.

Now some more gifts for you! I picked three names from the comments this last week, and they have a choice of a dress form class or a cuff class online.

The winners are:

1-Debbie Jullirat

2-Wanda Contrears

3-Nancy Thompson

Will the 3 of you please email me to get the info for the tutorials?

Since its Christmas and I love making and giving presents as much as I love getting them, I'll do another giveaway too.

Between now and Christmas, leave a comment and I'll draw a name to win a surprise prize.

Hitching up the reindeer, hopping in my sleigh and taking a trip!

holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / December 16, 2011

This weekend is going to be really special! I'm on my way to sunny California to hang out at Kim's and be a guest artist at her holiday gathering.

Its not easy for me to be away from home this close to Christmas. I'm a homebody all the time anyway, but December is when I really settle down into my nest!

But this weekend will be a wonderful, holiday happening, so that will help me feel less homesick for my own Christmas tree.

I've been to two of Kim's large events at the Belmar in Manhattan Beach, and they were over the top fabulous. I love attending her themed workshops. I'll be going to Breakfast at Tiffany's this spring too.

Knowing how wonderful all of her arty gatherings are, I am thrilled to be teaching at this private one at her home.

I'll be away from my computer for a few days, but have prewritten some posts to pop up while I am away, so please do come by. And all orders between today and Monday will be sent on Tuesday the 20th.

The class will be this wintertime wreath, with a nesting bird. I'll be teaching a spring time version of the same wire wrapped wreath at Paper Cowgirls in March, too. Maybe I'll see you there?

Lightening speed holiday decorating

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / December 14, 2011

I'm still on my never ending task of Christmassing up my house. Just when I think its done, I do a bit more.

Nothing big, or complicated. Today I stashed glittered stars in my potted plants on the windowsill.

And sat out a little angel. 2 minutes and I was done. And it makes me smile when I wash dishes.

This little cabinet has been sitting on my counter waiting to be decorated every since the remodel and I have not put it to use yet.

Now, its happily filled with little putz houses. There went another 2 or 3 minutes of decorating time!

This one was just about as quick. I had this feather wreath (from a garage sale), and after I hung it up, I was thinking it was looking a little molty. So, I grabbed a bagful of millinery blooms and stuck them onto it with pearl head pins. One pin for each flower, so it will be easy to take apart when I put the wreath away.

One more speedy project was adding a set of feather angel wings to this lamp. I tied a crystal to it too, this one was one that we made in the Romantic White Christmas online class last year, the back of it is covered with a vintage image and glitter.

Jen Rizzo is having a holiday party, I'm linking up there today.

And please leave a comment here if you'd like to win a Cuff bracelet or Dress Form tutorial.

Fumpity Fump Fump

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, flowers, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings, videos

By Karla Nathan / December 12, 2011

We were out shopping the other day and Sugarwings saw this sign on a stand and in her mind, it was the perfect microphone, so she started to serenade all the shoppers. The kid seems to have inherited my singing voice. And also the joy of singing out, loudly.

Its a short video if you want to watch it, and my favorite part is where she is distracted by something shiny and walks away just as she sings "look at Frosty go".

This year, the holiday month seems to be racing by faster than I can keep up.

Its happening too fast and will be over before I know it! So, I'm slowing down and making myself take in every minute of it. Sugarwings has been spending a lot of time with me and she agrees that we need to make the most of our days. We've had a hot cocoa party every night that she sleeps over, lit only by the lights of the tree.

We make an event of it, setting the table with our best china, filling our favorite tea pot with hot milk, and passing around tiny bowls of shaved chocolate, mini marshmallows, and peppermint sticks. Not only are we getting a delicious bedtime snack, we are learning about manners, polite conversation, and building memories to treasure.

We are watching all the holiday specials that we can cram into our time together, without losing out on time to create and cook too. As much as I love holiday baking, its even better with her.

There has been a ton of cookies and fudge being whipped up, as well as a gingerbread house we had to put together with hot glue before we could decorate it.

I'm trying to show Dewdrop about the joys of baking too, she held the mixer for us last week. Its a start! Soon, I'll have two little helpers.

With her Daddy being so busy getting the Yurt weather proof and ready to live in for the long, cold winter, and her Hippy Chick Mommy studying hard for her first semester of nursing school finals (I'm proud to say that she is an A student!), I've been lucky enough to have lots of holiday play time with my fairy girl.

Sometimes, we invite guests to the parties too, like Luna Moona, her Raggedy Ann doll.

Last week, Dewdrop came to her first bedtime cocoa party and I have a feeling, she will be a regular at them with us next year. She adores anything that has to do with food.

And for some odd reason, Sugarwings has been setting an extra place at the table for my sisters. She is fascinated by them and talks about them a lot. I guess she knows how much I love and miss them, even though she has only met them a handful of times in her short life and they live far away.

Yes, its been a sweet December!

Holiday French Ephemera labels, free images for you

free images, give away, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 11, 2011

Holiday decor is an ongoing thing around here. I thought I was done, and was going simple this year… but every day it seems like I think of "one more little thing" that I want to do.

We spend more time in the kitchen than anywhere else, now that it is all remodeled. Its homey and a great gathering place for the whole family. I've got a table top tree in there on the buffet, and the big tree in the living room is placed so that you see it from the dining table.

But the rest of the kitchen looked like it could be any old day of the year.

So, I made up some quickie labels using some French images I got from my pal, Gwen of Bottoms Up. They were chocolate cards, I digitally removed the words and added my own holiday themed ones, and then removed the colors and tinted them all slightly neutral.

I always print my images onto matt photo paper, the results are much prettier than just copy or laser paper.

The backs got a quick smear of glue stick, and the cut out labels were then pressed onto my everyday cannisters. You have probably heard me complain about glue sticks in the past, the glue never lasts. Which is perfect for this, because its only a temporary look.

And yes, if I was really going all out and doing it right, I'd empty the canisters and fill them with candy canes, cookies, ornaments and other holiday foof. But no, this was a very easy, very quick project just to add a vintage and Christmassy feel to this corner. In January, I'll just take a soapy, hot sponge and wipe the glue away, and with little fuss and bother it will all be back to normal.

If only putting away the tree was that simple!

In the spirit of the holiday, I'm also giving away some tutorials. Please mention in your comment if you are interested in one or the other of these.

Oh, and by the way, I'm still adding more and more trees to the Etsy site, and there are still a few in the Boutique.

Its nice to see that they are still so popular, since I enjoy making them so much. I've had to replenish the stock a few times, but it is getting late in the year, so probably won't be adding any more after this. Thanks so much for shopping with me!

**************************************

Here are the images that I used for my canisters. Just click on the image to open it in a larger size before you save it to your computer to print it. Some of the edges are cut off, but that didn't bother me, and it doesn't really show once they are all cut out.

A Christmas Angel mini dress form

give away

By Karla Nathan / December 9, 2011

One of my favorite things about the mini dress forms that I've been making all year, is the different ways to dress them up.

This one is an angel, to set out for Christmas.

She wasn't always an angel. She started out as just one of the gals that I'd made as an example for the online class.

But I saw these premade, white feather, wings at Hobby Lobby (half price this week, too) and picked up a pair.

I added some glitter to the body, and tinsel to the skirt, then slapped the wings on, and ta-dah! A holiday angel.

And if you'd like to win a dress form tutorial, please mention in your comment that you are interested. Or if you'd rather have a cuff one, please let me know. In the spirit of the holiday, I'll be giving away three more classes this week!

Using the Good Stuff with Sugarwings

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 8, 2011

Sugarwings and I have been creating.

Have you seen these plastic, snap apart ornaments at Michaels? They are a couple dollars, and come in clear of iridescent. Sugarwings calls them bubbles and when she saw that I had some, she wanted to make a snow globe with one.

The rainbow effect of the surface makes it hard for you to tell what it really looks like in the photo, but in person, its really cute. (I'm afraid that you can see my reflection better than the tree inside) She chose all the pieces to go inside, and placed them where she wanted them, then I used hot glue to adhere them into place.

It was her idea to make the white reindeer look like he was flying. He is attached with a pipe cleaner stuck into a bottle brush tree, so that he wobbles when you shake the snow globe.

We drizzled a little glue into the bottom, then she scooped in some mica flakes.Some of the mica is glued down, the rest flies like snowflakes when the ball is shaken.

It was my idea to glue the ball shut tight, then to add ribbon around the seam to keep it that way, but she chose the ribbon and helped press it into place.

I was impressed with her creation. But of course, she "used the good stuff". I think that by turning her loose in my vintage stash, she was able to really make something worth saving for years and years.

There is a big pile of these balls on my desk waiting for me to make stuff with them, but I might be running out of time, Christmas is coming, I have no shopping done, and I need to make up my kits to teach at Kim's on the 17th.

I've only made these two angel ones so far, and I decided to only use one half for each of mine, instead of sealing them back up with the connecting piece. Oh geez, doing it this way DOUBLES the amount of orbs I need to fill! Maybe I should pass these on to Sugarwings to decorate instead, she seems to be pretty good with them!

I've sent emails to the winners of the cuff bracelet tutorial and they are:

Gypsy Rose

Debbie Blanken

and

Kim Budash

If you'd like to win one, or the dress form tutorial, just leave a comment and let me know. I'll draw a few more winners next week.