Karla's Cottage – Page 35 – by Karla Nathan

A reunion

celebrations, dogs, family, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2022

It has been so busy around here. This could be the first time since I started my blog that I did not have a spare moment to post anything for this long.

I was busy getting ready for our Nathan, Neibaur, Nichols family reunion and while making up beds for 20, yes, 20 people, to sleep at our home and preparing to feed about 30, we saw our peaches were ready to harvest. And those beauties couldn’t wait, we needed to get them done before everyone arrived.

Then we realized the honey also needed to be gathered. Luckily the Guncles came early to the reunion and helped out.

I figured that I’d have time during the get together to do a couple of posts, but I was much, much busier than I had expected to be.

Truly, I don’t know if I have ever been busier. I was up by six every morning and then stayed up late for our parties. We had a dance party, a Pride Night fire show, karaoke, boating, ax throwing, BB gun competition, tie dying shirts, plus all of the cooking.

So much cooking!

Individual families took turns with meals. Did I mention there were lots of meals? Three big ones each day along with snacks and desserts.

It was all quite special.

And fancy.

I’d set up tables outside, but we were in a heat wave, so seating for 30 was squeezed into the cottage.

We made it work.

There were plenty of hugs too. My dogs were happy to have extra people around for lots of petting.

In their opinion, there is never enough petting. A crew of twenty sets of hands almost satisfied them, though.

Now that the festivities have ended, I hope to get caught up soon. But first, we will be disassembling all the extra beds and putting the house back together.

And before that? We have to deal with a issue I am calling Adventures in Sewage..

See the waterfall? Well, actually, there were a few waterfalls.

It required a weekend, emergency plumber. We thought the clog that caused the flooding was fixed and all was well.

Uhm, not quite. Adventures in Sewage, Part Two, was a second clog that caused an even bigger flood.

Wish us luck, this one is a bit more complicated. We will be tackling it tomorrow, and then, the resting up will begin. And I need that rest. I think that the weekend finale of fighting floods put me over the edge.

Adding real estate to an antique mall booth, things are looking up!

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, redos

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2022

Well, it didn’t take me long to become infatuated with the antiquing world after a few years off. I haven’t had booth space since 2009, or so, besides a few pop up Birdsong shops in my garage, and when I quit, it took me years to get over the itch to buy junk to redo and repurpose. I very much loved the business.

Over time, I got out of the habit of getting up early every weekend for garage sales and stopped yearning for ugly little tables to transform into cuties and even started clearing my house and storage out. Goodwill, friends, and family got all of my back stock when I cleaned out.

My friends still had spaces and sometimes I’d get my redo fix by helping them paint something or redecorate a booth. Finally, I gave in and joined them full time by taking on a wall at Good Juju at the Old West Bottoms. I was very, very worried about finding enough to fill it, since I’d gotten myself down to bare bones and had nothing to bring in. But a couple months of very hard work and hunting built my stash up enough that now, I’m taking on a second wall.

It is also thanks to Beth, as my first wall was. She had a bit more space than she needed, and offered to share. We’ve been partners in the past, and mesh well together, plus have lots of giggle fits and fun while doing it.

When I painted my original wall, I also painted a couple for her, and this is one of them. Here is how it looked when I took it over this week.

I like the color I’d chosen for it, so that worked out well for me. But I wanted it completed, without spending any money, so had my dear, helpful husband come in with me to add a shutter over the vertical missing plywood, and I covered poster board in heavy vintage wallpaper to cover the horizontal hole. It wasn’t quite enough, so we patched with a piece of ceiling tin and then a strip of leftover trim to finish it off.

Did I mention that my husband has been soooooooo supportive and sweet?

He also hung 3 chandeliers, put in a French door, hung a vintage window over my wall, and then made a shelf from hinged shutters.

The shutter shelf looked so good, I texted Beth to see if she wanted one on her wall too. So he put one up from a pile of shutters she had, and it immediately split and all the slats spilled out.

oops

But, I mentioned she had quite a few, right? So he pulled out heavier duty ones and switched them out. I’m glad it all worked, because they add so much to the space. For one thing, it extends our real estate, and we are making the best use of the area. For another, it just plain old looks good, and hopefully will bring people in.

With having this area to fill too, we are making the most of these tall walls and grabbing more spots to sell from.

Juju is such a cool place, people always come in, and there are so many dealers very talented with styling and design, so it’ll be nice if we can grab a little more attention. Beth has amazing finds and a great eye, so already has her regulars, but I could use a few of my own.

I know that poster board isn’t a very durable way to build a wall, unless maybe you are the 4th little pig and were left out of the story because it is even dumber than straw. But it was efficient and looks fine. I can change it any time I want, pretty quickly. But, so little of it shows, I probably won’t bother.

The French doors were some I used in the studio at home, and I also had the wallpaper (of course) but struggled to figure out a quick, cheap way to get it up over the hole in the wall. Then, I noticed that I had pieces of poster board on my table at my work space, and thought I’d try using that, by glueing the paper to it and stapling it to the boards.

It seems fine. We will see if it holds up.

Now that I have committed to more space, I am slightly freaked out. Honestly, I love the venue, hanging with my pals, and decorating the space, but I do worry about the time and commitment of keeping the space filled throughout the winter when there are no garage sales. I hope to be able to make jewelry and some other creations, not just hunt and gather.

Please wish me luck. I think I could use a bit of my own good juju.

Grandfairy Time

Dew Drop, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2022

It’s after the 4th and we just got our boat out on the water for the first time this season.

Partially because Rich has been traveling. He has been vacationing as well as shuttling kids across country for family visits. And look what we got in return! Yep, he brought Dewdrop to be here with us for a bit.

Between her time split up with other family in the area, I’m making the most of her being with us and getting out to go to our favorite places.

I always wonder if it is my last year to do our traditional activities, if they have out grown them or are heading towards that stage where they might be too cool for silly outings.

But then I think, hey, I enjoy this stuff and I’m 50 years older than they are! There is no reason to ever outgrow it.

We’ve filled carts with craft supplies at Hobby Lobby, and our stomach with popcorn at a 3D movie. We’ve shopped for clothes and for fireworks, and headed toward the zoo.

Before going into the Topeka Zoo, we stop at the 100 plus year old carousel, and I had a moment of thinking that the time I’d been dreading had come.

Had Sugarwings turned into a moody teen and was not enjoying our day? There was a very unhappy look on her face halfway through their ride and when they got off the ponies, I was asked to take them home and not go to the zoo!

Oh no!

Was it wrong of me to be relieved that the poor kid simply was feeling a bit ill, not bored? (Sugarwings feels better now, nothing major).

We followed our typical 4th of July habits of watching the neighborhood spend thousands of dollars on fireworks while we had a few snakes and sparklers. Then, Fin, who worked at a firework stand this year came by with rockets and set a few off.

Surprisingly, the dogs were fine with the never ending booms coming from surrounding homes for days. Poor little Twinkle used to be terrified, but without her this year, there was no need to comfort any dogs.

The kiddos and I have limited time to make plans and do our regular excursions, so I hope to make it back to finish our zoo day. Soon, we will have even more fun coming, though. We are hosting a family reunion starting next week and will have a houseful staying here with us.

Before they all arrive, I am trying to take advantage of having my little ones here together. Because I know how fast things can change. I have been blessed with so much fun with them and am enjoying seeing how they grow and change. Whenever I try to choose a “favorite age” I always go back to right now, because they just get better and better as they get older.

I am lucky they still like to go on adventures with their Grams, but am also enjoying watching them grow up and change their perspectives. Like after all those years of going to this merry go round, they just now noticed this extremely odd thing on the back of this wooden horse.

WTF?

And I appreciate them still enjoying an outing, but in a more grown up way like discussing the movie together after leaving it, looking at make up together while shopping, not just toys. Laughing about things that would’ve been over their heads when they were younger.

With Adam and Dewdrop both moving to North Carolina, we have limited time together. Kia has moved to Oregon. And now Fin, who I have been so happy to have back in our lives and living nearby, is moving away too and his adorable sister, Clover, is heading to college. There are rumors of Avahni leaving.

It isn’t easy to be grown up about other people growing up. And to be happy for them to move on and find their own happiness. The trick is to appreciate the time I do have with them. After losing Ryan, I understand how fleeting it could be. And watching them all grow and change becomes a delight when viewed properly.

But please, please, little grandfairies- always remember to look for the fun, don’t outgrow the ability to enjoy silly outings!

Happy 4th of July!

antiques/junking, celebrations

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2022

It was a festive weekend at Good Juju, and every month I am enjoying the venue more and more. I even got into the spirit of the holiday and put together a mini, red, white, and blue display to fit in with all of the other patriotic arrangements around the mall.

My itsy bitsy wagon with a couple red and blue doodads in it wasn’t much compared to the rest of the mall’s July tones. There were varieties of these colors used throughout the mall.

And Uncle Sam on stilts even came by to say hello to us.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the place, and then I’ll be headed outside to watch the colors in the sky.

We live right by the I70 overpass and every year, I walk up to the bridge to watch all of the neighbor’s fireworks being set off.

It’s a pretty low key way to celebrate, but it’s a tradition I look forward to. Sugarwings and I have been doing this since she was tiny.

As I get older, holiday traditions mean more and more to me.

I hope you are enjoying yours this weekend too.

Ready for First Friday at Good Juju

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2022

My space at the mall isn’t large, but it can sure hold a lot.

So much so that I was very surprised at how much I packed in.

The lower shelf on that table might not look very full, but that is because I am bringing in sterling silver jewelry, that needs to be kept packed up so it won’t tarnish. On Friday morning, that shelf will be as overfilled as the rest of the set up.

See what I mean?

Hopefully, it will tempt guests into wanting to treasure hunt and dig through.

This month, I was set up and ready way early, and did it all in one trip. Previously, I was just getting settled and figuring out my space. I had painting and construction to do, and wasn’t quite sure how things were going to fit. Between the concussion that was still lingering, and being overwhelmed trying to figure it all out from scratch, I was, well, like I said – overwhelmed.

But now that my head is better, thanks to PT and time, and possibly the CBD oils gifted to me by Treadwell Farms, I am ready to enjoy the process and have fun being with the creative people around me at the venue. Man, that concussion made me feel flat. And like I kinda had tunnel vision. I could only barely focus on what was just right in front of me.

I’m feeling more like myself now, but still not quite right.

While getting ready for my first month here, while I was still in pretty bad shape was it pretty tough, it was worth it. I am very excited to be a part of Juju, and am already looking forward to planning set ups for fall and for the holidays.

If you are in the area, come by and say hi. I am downstairs and to the right.

There is so much to see in this big mall, and in the surrounding warehouses, it is quite an event.

Good Ju Ju

1420 W. 13th Ter

Kansas City, Mo. 64102

816-421-1930

Some recent jewelry making

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / June 26, 2022

7

Someone special recently had a birthday and I knew she liked Italian micro mosaic and milliefiori glass.

I had some pretty beads, and a mosaic that was missing some bits. I did a repair on it by finding tiny quartz stones that fit into the holes and then filling in the rest with a clear coat, hard setting glue. It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t look like it is missing teeth now.

It hangs from the gold chain by a clasp that can be used to switch it out with other charms. My friend mentioned losing a lot of single earrings lately and I told her that she could take the earwire off of them and use this clasp to wear them as pendants instead.

I gifted her with some extra earrings too.

I had heard from others that they are also losing earrings, due to taking masks off and on. I thought I was pretty lucky to have never, ever lost an earring. Of course 90% of mine are made by me, and are easily replaced, so it was not as big of a deal if I did lose one, since I could usually make another. Still, I thought it was kind of interesting to realize that I simply do not lose any at all.

So, of course, I lost one.

And not one I made. The one time in my entire life that I splurged and bought some pricier ones for myself, because, look at that beautiful stone! It’s layered quartz over mother of pearl.

I spent more than I really should’ve considering I am a jewelry maker, and here I go, losing one of those.

I thought back to where I’d been and realized that my mask had been twisted up in Costco. People told me that I should call and see if it had been turned in, but I did not, thinking it wouldn’t do any good.

So, I did what I could to salvage my loss, and adding the remaining one to an opal p, pearl, rose quartz, and moonstone necklace I’d made.

Then, during a lull at Good Juju while sitting with friends, I dropped my phone from my pocket and had to reach under a cabinet to fetch it. There, by my hand was the missing earring! Weeks later, and after multiple sweepings of the space.

So I guess my record is safe. But I won’t be bragging about not losing earrings, or not ever breaking a phone. Oops, I hope I didn’t jinx myself on that one!

Sometimes a short cut repair is better than nothing

cottage, Hand painted, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2022

Our chicken coop/storage shed/cat dwelling sure was (and actually, still is) in bad shape.

Very

Bad

Shape

But with a few sheets of siding and less than two cans of paint, at least it isn’t an eyesore like it was.

Here it is as we got started. My husband had already began adding the siding to the bottom on the left before I remembered to get a photo. He also emptied it out.

Yep, he did a clean up on the inside too! That man is a keeper. (Unlike some of the spider webby piles of hoarded junk we found inside)

We know that the correct way to repair this structure would have been to pull all the siding off. It’s rotting. But- so is the rest of the building and we aren’t ready to tear it all down and rebuild. It’s still functional for what we needed.

What we did instead was cover up the worst part and paint the rest.

Paint is magic.

After adding a slice of siding over the bottom, we thought a strip of trim would help it look more intentional instead of just bandaged.

Rich also trimmed off the most ragged of the ends of the roof boards and I painted over them too.

See how bad they were to start with? Also, years ago when I used this shed as an antique store, I’d painted vines around the entry, added cute aqua shutters, and a barn door as a canopy over the entry. Well most of it rotted away with time, but those vines were still hanging in. I’d used oil based paint, which is why I think it held up so well.

To paint over them, I’d need to prime, but I still kind of liked them and the history of adding them, so instead, I got a small brush and painted around the leaves.

Same with the metal peacocks. They had hung on that building for 30 years, from way back when we used to raise peafowl. I had to leave those, they were history.

It isn’t done right, but it’s done good enough. Sometimes you gotta just slap some lipstick on a pig and get on with things, right? It’s better than it was. And at under $250 for the clean up, as opposed to the cost of demolition and rebuilding?

I’m pretty happy with the cosmetic improvements. This pig is much cuter with make up.

I’m proud of my boy

family, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2022

What a cool old barn! It’s an event center and my talented boy has been doing the carpentry there on the remodel.

But should it just be called carpentry? How about wood artistry?

Especially this pedestal sink!

It started as a stump, and he burnt out the center.

So that there was a hollow for the plumbing. And isn’t the trim on the bottom cool!?

And look at how he incorporated the twisty vines on this shelving.

This is such a creative space, and I’d love to walk through and admire the details.

I’m sure he doesn’t send me photos of all of it, but I really appreciate the ones I get.

It’s hard having part of my heart living so far away, but seeing what he is doing and knowing that he has found a place where he can use both his creative and wood working skill talents eases the pain. I’m so proud of him.

A special celebration in the country

celebrations, Food and Drink, friends

By Karla Nathan / June 16, 2022

Isn’t this deliciousness just beautiful? Well, EVERYTHING at Julie’s house was. Don’t ask me why I didn’t take more pictures, because I just don’t know.

I am kicking myself that I can’t share it all, every detail was more special than the one before.

From the moment we pulled into the drive.

The food, the displays, the home tour, the company, the gifts, well, on and on. What a delightful day. We gathered to celebrate Tami’s birthday and her buddies, Nora and Julie hosted this delectable day of friendship.

Julie not only has a perfectly edited and designed farmhouse filled with vintage treasures, she has a she shed.

And an event barn.

And a pond.

And well thought collections.

And gorgeous landscaping.

Do you know what I had? A camera that I barely used.

Here is a little bit of the event barn.

They host weddings and other parties there.

We sat in the barn for our bird nest craft. Nora provided silver vessels to choose from and moss to form a nest.

That’s it on the photos for the day. Take my word for it, absolutely everything was wonderful.

A friend’s garden and thoughts on house colors

flowers, friends

By Karla Nathan / June 13, 2022

Diane’s home was on the garden tour last year, and all of their hard work still shows, it looks like it permanently belongs on the list.

Before the event, some friends gathered to make mosaic stepping stones for it as a birthday gift for her.

The stones are interspersed with natural rock in the pathways.

The yard is laid out in such a welcoming design, it intrigues you to want see around the next corner. As all great landscaping should.

There is just the right amount of sculpture and yard art to add to the ambiance and not be cluttered. I tend to over do that and junk things up, but this yard has an understated elegance that I could probably never pull off.

The stained glass artwork hanging inside the window adds to the overall feeling of curated beauty too.

Sitting on the upper deck, drinking wine, and listening to the frogs in the pond is an ideal way to spend an evening. Adding a tour on top of it? Perfection!

They are remodeling the decks soon and making them larger, then painting the house. The cedar planks have always been stained in this natural look, but they are ready for a change. My suggestion of color was a grayed blue. Diane’s interior is filled with shades of blue, some more sky and aqua, but enough different varieties of blue that I can tell it’s her favorite. And at our regular mosaic parties, she tends to go for the blue pieces of glass.

That said, blue can be tricky on an exterior of this style of house. You don’t want to be too cute with it. There are some terra cotta bricks in the trim and chimney, natural stone around the house, with a roof similar to the stone color.

The closest neighbor’s home to the right is a medium gray, the next is a sage gray, I think. I can’t remember the color to the left, but there is an empty lot between, if that matters.

In my opinion, the right shade of blue would be a good companion to the terra cotta bricks, and also compliment Diane’s airy personality, while fitting nicely with this neighborhood.

While dark blue could also be a good choice, it seems to me like she needs a lighter, cheerier shade to reflect her more. Now, I like the house in it’s dark, natural stain, and I’m sure a navy would look good too, but I’m still leaning more towards a light, softer shade. Not true blue, but grayed and warmed a bit.

She has used blue accents throughout the the inside and outside of the home, so there is the thought that a color pulled from the landscaping stones would also give the house the lightness it deserves, while complimenting her blue touches and looking nice next to the terra cotta bricks.

And the brick color could be a fine choice, but to me, not enough of a change. Although, I’d pick that over a gray or a dark shade.

Of course, I love thinking about colors and this puzzle has kept me entertained. I can’t wait to see what she picks. What do you think?

I wish I’d gotten more photos of the yard and veggie garden, it was really a magical place to be on a pretty evening.