Karla's Cottage – Page 81 – by Karla Nathan

The countdown is on

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / December 19, 2018

Our family is on the countdown to Christmas and trying to fit in as many festivities as we can.

Sugarwings and I went to see the plays Elf, Rudolf and Annie…

checked out the holiday displays at Legoland… (although, Dorothy and Toto were faves, even if they weren't Christmassed up like the rest of the bricks)

we’ve sipped cocoa by candlelight and the twinkling of the tree…

are going to go to see the Nutcracker movie…

and have been making as many holiday crafts as we can.

We had a gathering to craft with friends too, and the group took a field trip to the Lecompton Territorial Museum to see the Midwest’s largest display of vintage Christmas ornaments.

Lecompton was important during the Civil War and is a town full of history.

And great, old ornaments!

In between, I’m trying to get things wrapped to place under the tree or in the mail and flying off to loved ones. Trying is the key word there- heck,I’ve not even finished shopping, let alone wrapping.

I hate to see the whirlwind wind down, I’ve been loving every minute of it.

But before you know it, Christmas will be here. And that means Dewdrop will be back from North Carolina to join in on our fun!

A Book Club Christmas party

Books, cottage, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 16, 2018

I couldn't remember if it was my 4th or 5th annual holiday book club party, so I looked back at my blog (which is my journal, and the only way I ever know when I did what) and saw that I'd started hosting these in 2011!

Here are some past parties:

This year, I was inspired by a pot of glittered, blue poinsettias to tend toward being a little more colorful than the typical gold and white color scheme of past parties. Our white tree has multiple settings for color choices. On a daily basis, I set it on white and twinkling. But the minute Sugarwings walks in the door, she resets it to rainbow. I thought I'd use her favorite setting for this night too.

Aren't the flowers wonderful? I always buy a pot of poinsettias, and try to purchase the one with the most blooms, and normally choose ones with just white. This year, I saw a glittered, ocean blue plant, and had to go for it. Especially since it had over a dozen flowers on it. (or to be correct, I think you are supposed to say "brackets" for these plants, not flowers, right?)

I always cut the blooms off and put them in vases, instead of leaving the plant as is. They last quite a long time and I can spread them around the house, using them in many spots.

And lately, I"ve been finding crystal wine glasses on sale for pretty cheap and they have been multicolored too. So, heck why not go with it? It ended up being a change that I really enjoyed.

I even added some pink and blue shiny brites to the gold and silver ones on the chandelier for the night and like it so much, I've leaving them for the season. They look nice with Sugarwings' favorite light setting on the tree, too.

Since the party was for the book club, I added some vintage books to the tablescape.

Dinner was a rainbow spiral pie (that suited the colorful room, didn't it?), baked parmesan chicken, greenbeans with potatoes and mushrooms.

And two kinds of homemade bread.

I had such a lovely time with these bright and interesting ladies.

After dinner, we draw names for gift wrapped, used books that everyone brings to swap.

I ended the night, looking around the room, and enjoying how clean and festive the house looked. I adore the holiday decorations and seeing all of the lights, but our cottage isn't always as tidy as it should be.

While decking the halls, I do a deep cleaning and at first everything looks sparkly and spiffy. Since I do the decorating early, messes have a chance to encroach December passes and having a party midway through the month is a great excuse to get a fresh start and bring back that sparkling feeling. It isn't often that the whole place is all cleaned up and shiny at the same time. We have 5 dogs, heat with wood, and have a craftaholic kid who creates clouds of paper flying around her like she is Edward Scisssorhands.

As I said goodnight to my husband, I commented on how happy I was to have had such a pleasant evening and to have clean, pretty surroundings.

Then, I woke up about 1am to a dog crying hysterically to go out. And then to be let right back in. And again a couple of times that night. I drug myself out of bed each time, half awake, not realizing that she had such a tummy ache that she'd made a mess, and paced around, walking through it.

Not so clean anymore….. I didn't even get a full 24 hours of spotlessness.

Mopping and sanitizing after a sick dog isn't nearly as much fun as cleaning and spiffing to get ready for a party.

The Plaza Lights- from a very special viewing point

celebrations, flowers, friends, holiday decor, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / December 13, 2018

Our pal, Angie lives in an apartment overlooking the KC Plaza with a glorious view of the holiday lights.

The view inside is pretty dang great too. Angie arranged a delectable feast of loveliness for us after a day out together, lunching, shopping, and laughing.

The city looked magical from her window.

It was a day filled with pretty things.

And fun photo ops.

With some silliness thrown in.

I wore my favorite, new Santa shirt (AGAIN, it seems to be my uniform for December along with my decade old, red velvet coat), and found a set of placemats to match it. But since they cost more than the shirt did, I didn't buy them. Actually, besides lunch, and a bag of old fashioned, hard candies, I didn't do much purchasing. Just browsing and enjoying the over the top, holiday displays the stores had out.

We went to the Kaufman center to see the trees and flowers, which are a major mood enhancer this time of year. When the Kansas landscapes are grey, brown, dreary, and dead, it is heartening to see flowers in bloom. I bent over and got some deep whiffs from the pots of white stock and the sweetness of the blooming plants really made me happy inside.

I'm rarely a red or green person, and don't decorate my home in these colors for the season, but I do love pops of these festive shades in jewelry or clothing in December. So, I made myself some silver earrings with red and green semi-precious gemstones. While I was at it, I made enough to pass out to friends too, and took some to lunch that day for Beth, Karla, and Angie to choose from.

In the past, I've painted ornaments as little gifties for friends, and it was nice to see that Angie has some of them on her sparkling tree.

Her home is perfectly coordinated, and she has such a gentle touch with decorating, it is always an honor to see something I'd made in her home.

She crafted gift bags filled with everything we'd need for a winter's night of relaxation at home. (Wine, chocolate, and a good book!) and topped the package with this sweet collaged image.

It was a special day, ending with an even more special evening. I'm blessed to have good friends who could take a day off to simply enjoy the season with me.

An ugly little tree gets a makeover

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 10, 2018

Beyond ugly, huh? I saw this at the flea market and couldn't walk away, because under the hideousness, there was good stuff lurking.

First of all, this is big time, VINTAGE.

Second, lookie at the OLD tinsel!! I love that stuff and it is becoming hard to find some this ancient to work with.

And of course, tiny, shiny brites cannot ever be ignored, right????

Yep, I bought and stripped the monstrosity. It was only $15, and in my guesstimate, there was that much on it in pretty bits to reuse.

Not to mention the faded, old tree itself. It is so old, the branches have become a taupe color, which you can see through to the original dark green here and there.

The tree itself is such a cutie, that I kept the decor on it simple. I plopped it into a white McCoy pot, and left the star on the top as is, then draped it in vintage pearl necklaces. A glass bird is clipped to a branch to coordinate with the flock of feathered birdies I've added to the mantle where the tree is sitting.

In the last couple of years, I've covered the paintings that hang over the mantle because they were too springlike for Christmas. This year, I left them up and incorporated the bird and roses of the artwork as a theme in the garland draped below.

Because I was too lazy to go to the effort of getting out a tall ladder and tacking up the burlap over the paintings. Because I wanted a new look.

Here is how the room looks with the burlap and wings up.

The pink mercury glass beads look nice with the pink roses in the paintings. And I'm always happy to have some birdies flitting about.

A better photo of the mantel itself would have been a good idea, huh? You can see the fireplace in the background of this kitchen picture, though.

Kinda.

The King and Queen of Hearts

celebrations, family, paintings, Valentine's Day, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 8, 2018

My sister, Bobbie Sue just celebrated her 50th anniversary with her husband and their darling daughters threw them a party, that truly surprised them.

Their last name is Valentine, and my silly sis LOVES goofy photo ops. So, I painted these cut outs for them to pose in as the King and Queen of Hearts.

Other party-ers had some fun with them too.

After measuring my largest suitcase, I cut plastic, corrugated poster board to fit the bag and primed them before painting the royalty with holes cut out for faces. Then, I flipped them over and painted the other side for double the fun.

The fairy and gypsy were done with lots of glitter and metallic paints for a sparkly effect.

The entire evening was a sparkling night of fun! My nieces rented a limo to pick their folks up at their farmhouse, and we all piled in for the ride "out to dinner". But instead of dinner, we went to greet the room full of family and friends ready to jump up and yell, "SURPRISE!!!"

It was all pretty cute, and the kids pulled it off with an amazing skill of twisting the truth around so no one guessed what was coming.

Personally, I was quite impressed with my own ability to spin tales. I possess a super power that until now, has lain dormant. Wow, I am a very, very good liar!!!!! I even had them pull up the online menu of the restaurant we were pretending to go to. And faked plans to visit old friends so I could sneak out and deliver the painted photo op boards.

The twisted untruth about meeting up with old friends, ended up turning around and becoming the real truth, and I got to visit some high school buddies I hadn't seen in years. That was the icing on the cake for this wonderful, but too quick trip to Indiana.

Well, not all of the icing. There was some delectable cake too.

And cousin time, that included seeing a long lost stepsister.

And of course, I never get enough sister time.

Yes, it was a beautiful weekend, and I was thrilled to be a part of the celebration of this love. These two are truly the King and Queen of Hearts.

Elfing around with pinecone pixies

fairies, friends, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 5, 2018

My pal, Tami, once again invited a group of local Peeps to her lovely home for a holiday crafting day. She is always generous with supplies and ideas to share with friends. This time, we were elfing around and making pinecone pixies.

Here are a few of the ones that I made. She provided a basket full of pine cones, and plenty of felt, along with the little wooden balls for heads and other tidbits to put together.

I'd brought this chunk of firewood, deer, and tree to make this display.

But this character looks more like a Yorkie than Santa's helper, doesn't he?

See what I mean?

Or maybe more like this?

We had a holly jolly time making these, and soon the room was filled with the fun lil guys.

It was hard to stop, even though all of mine didn't turn out as good as I would've liked. This poor sprite looks like she has smoker's wrinkles around her mouth where the ink ran. I can almost hear her throaty voice saying, Ho HO, Ho, between coughs….

Her sis turned out a little better. She is sitting on a spool.

Tami's halls were decked, her home is always so tastefully and vintagely festive. I do not know why I didn't get more pictures, dang it. But at least I took this pic, look at this unique and fashionable tree.

Between eating a yummy, pitch in lunch and assembling elves, we also worked on a few other projects. There were some butter pat plates available to work with.

I'm afraid my finished product is rather plain, but the plate itself was so simply sweet, I wanted to keep it pretty much as is.

I also made a little doggie ornie.

And a bottle brush tree snowflake too.

With all of the laughter, warm conversations, and of course- treat snacking, I don't know how I managed to get so many things made.

What a nice day! Thanks, Tami!!

A mermaid book for Dewdrop’s mama

Books

By Karla Nathan / December 2, 2018

I got to spend some time with Dewdrop's mother in North Carolina on our trip to pick up our snuggle fairy for Thanksgiving.

We went out for a lunch in Asheville and took our time, chatting and catching up.

Before leaving home, I made this book for her.

The covers are an acrylic paint pour. This is the back.

And this is one inside cover.

And this is the other.

Art from the past

paintings

By Karla Nathan / November 30, 2018

While in North Carolina, we visited my husband's mom. She had some artwork I'd done years ago, framed and hung on her walls.

This is a painting of the house she grew up in.

And this is the home her husband grew up in.

A watercolor iris.

And a butt.

A North Carolina Birthday Girl

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, Travel, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / November 28, 2018

My husband had a business trip to North Carolina, and while he was there, he offered to snap up Dewdrop from her Asheville home and bring her to KS for Thanksgiving. Since he'd be getting her on her birthday, I couldn't miss the event and had to come along to celebrate with them.

Before we scooped her up, we spent a night in Raleigh and ate a fancy meal at the City Club there.

(That last photo might look as tasty as the others, but is a light fixture, not candy. And the first one? That is candy! Cotton candy pork belly appetizers, wowzers!)

And we had a scenic drive to Boone where we passed through some misty, Christmas tree farms.

We stayed at Banner Elk, with Rich's Mom and brother, at their mountain house with this pretty view.

It changed to this overnight! Even prettier.

After our zig zag trip from Raleigh to Boone to Asheville, we drove to Charlotte and visited a nephew and his sweet baby. They made our Dewdrop feel very special with some birthday surprises.

They even treated us to a night at the trampoline play place. I didn't think I'd be doing any jumping, but once I saw how much fun the rest of the group was having, I had to start hopping around myself, and bounced around for almost an hour and a half, hating to end when it was time to go.

This is my new favorite thing to do!

The next morning, our thoughtful nephew made some Mickey shaped pancakes to keep the party going for the birthday girl before we flew home to deliver her to her family who had been missing her for way too long.

We will be seeing her again at Christmas, and while I'm heartbroken not to have her daily, I'm very happy to be able to visit with our North Carolina relatives when we do the kid-switcheroo. It was a lovely trip.

On the way to the wedding, a wonderful side trip!

friends, Travel

By Karla Nathan / November 26, 2018

When we went to The Other Karla's son's wedding, Beth and I made a stop in Des Moines to visit some of our Birdsong Peeps and have a crafting sleepover at a rustic, charming, and cozy, Airbnb barn. Our Peep, Nora, generously made up kits of felted wool for us to create these fab trees.

Beth and I sorta crashed their party, they'd made plans to go up to the flea market and stay at this charmer, and we asked to be included. They graciously let us stay with them. This was our room.

It had a uniquely curved, metal ceiling.

Okay, I'm going to have to use "charming" again, because that is what the whole place was.

We missed the dinner they shared, but were there for the tasty, overnight oatmeal breakfast.

Our dinner was at an Iowan diner where we had the local special, loosemeats.

After a night of laughing and crafting, we headed out for the Junk Jubilee.

And it was so festive!!! I loved the holiday decor everywhere. I thought this would be an ideal spot to get a selfie to show the room and the cute display at the entrance, but as you can see, our heads block most of it.

I think I could use a selfie lesson.

Overall, I sincerely think this is one of the best fleas I've been to, pricewise. It was also set up with gorgeous displays, the dealers made major efforts to have enticing booths.

Plus we ran into Peeps everywhere! (don't ask me why I don't have photos of them, pure carelessness, I guess- too busy hugging and being happy to see old friends to remember my camera!)

Thank you Tami, Gail, and Nora for your hospitality, and thanks Beth, for hauling me along on your trip. It was a raucous roadtrip. At our age, we don't get enough of those.