Karla's Cottage – Page 86 – by Karla Nathan

Mini Art Journal and kits

By Karla Nathan / August 16, 2018

This summer, I have been utterly hooked on "fluid painting."

Some, I have turned into doodles, some became oceans, or roses, and some I made with a more traditional pouring style.

Recently, I've also used the technique on book covers.

Which led me to making my own mini book covers too.

I couldn't resist melding my new obsession with some of my old and coordinating lovely, old, ephemera with the itsy bitsy books and teaming it all up into kits.

Each 3-1/4 x 4-1/2" hand made mini journal with painted cover comes with a matching tag, attached with ribbon, along with 3 small charms and a glass nugget done with a pour paint dip. There is an assortment of vintage wallpaper scraps, old text, illustrations, buttons, and millinery.

No two are alike, since they are made up of vintage bits and pieces, but each is of equal value. I've spread out and photographed each luscious pile of goodies separate, so you will know what your own kit will contain. The packages will be as shown in the pictures.

Here is a journal that I made myself with some of the materials.

The book that I have made is also available in the Boutique, as well as the kits.

I'll leave you with some pictures of the interior.

This book can be considered finished, or used as a head start to add more creations of your own.

It differs from the kits in that, I have used decorative card stock to build the book, the kits are made up of plain papers.

Art Journals from Altered books

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

By Karla Nathan / August 14, 2018

I've been on a book kick lately and have a towering stack of them on my desk now.

Many have fluid paint covers

This one has velvet and lace

This mini book is covered in flocked wallpaper.

This started as a 19402 reader.

And has rose wallpaper lining.

Each has special details.

And pages ready for you to fill

If you are interested, you can find them in my Boutique.

And please check back, I have some mini book kits ready to photograph and add to the shop too.

A trip to grammie’s house

dogs

By Karla Nathan / August 12, 2018

Yesterday, we had a visit from a couple of Honey’s pups. This gentle giant is Pup, and yes, he is twice the size of his sis, Sugar!

The other guest, Wolfie, isn’t exactly a petite flower, himself, but still isn’t as large as big, ol, Pip. Both boys are every bit as curly, cute, and lovable as Sugar, and I loved seeing my grand dogs again.

We need to arrange more play dates, it looked like all the dogs had a good time together. I know I enjoyed it.

They are a beautiful family, aren’t they?

Favorites

celebrations, fairies

By Karla Nathan / August 10, 2018

Today is our 33rd wedding anniversary!

Part two of my business trip to Florida and a Cocoa Beach Sea Shell Fairy

fairies, sea shell fairies, Travel

By Karla Nathan / August 8, 2018

I know, not my best fairy so far, but I had every bit as much fun making it as any of the others!

(Although I am a little sad about the dark, heavy wing that the poor thing has. I don't know how high a guy can fly with a wing like that)

My trip to Cocoa Beach was more of a pit stop than a visit. After leaving our luggage in Ft Lauderdale and having to drive from Orlando to fetch it, and right back again, I thought I needed to treat myself to a view of the ocean, no matter how quick the stop was.

These are shells that I gathered up in a few minutes while taking a break from the drive. It was only a slight detour, and worth the added time in the car. Anytime I can wriggle my toes in the salt water, I'm pretty dang happy.

I parked at Beach Place resort, to check it out. My sisters and I are going to stay there in October and I wanted to see it in person to make sure it was where we wanted to be.

Great choice!! It is lovely. The manager was kind enough to let me hang out for a while and walk around to explore, then traipse along their beach. I wasn't there long, we had dinner reservations in Orlando and now that I had the lost luggage, I was determined to put on some clean clothes and some makeup before going out.

We were dining at the Citrus Club, downtown Orlando and there was no way I was going to be late for a fancy night on the town!

The next morning, my husband had to be in Tampa, so we headed out nice and early. I was trying to plan what to do with my day while he worked, when it occurred to me that Weeki Wachee Springs was not that far away from where he would be.

And I'd been in the car so much already that I was in road trip mode anyway, what's another two hours?

So, I dropped him off and drove myself up north and went to watch the sirens of the seas.

When I was about six years old, we visited here and I've tried to get back to see it again since then, but it has never worked out.

I had time to watch one performance, and it just so happened to be "The Little Mermaid" which is a favorite story of mine, and of Sugarwings. I really missed her that day. I was having a great time being a tourist on my own, but she sure would have been a wonderful traveling companion that day.

This is a state park, it is $13 to get in, and once you are in, the boat rides, water park, and show are free. The water park is spring fed, crystal clear water and I was wishing I had time to dive in and play mermaid myself.

Before the performance started, they showed old movies of early shows from the 40s and 50s. The place has not changed much at all. The mermaids might dress a little different, but it is basically what I remember. Not that I was there in the 40s or 50s! My trip was probably about 1964.

I have to admit, I got a little teary watching it. Thinking about going there with my mom and dad, and how magical I thought it was as a child. I didn't realize just how much this show had influenced my life, until being there brought it all back. I'm a big believer in magic and mermaids, because as kiddo, I was shown that they are REAL. I spent a life time pretending to be a mermaid under water, every time I'd go for a swim, I'd try a few fancy moves.

And that hasn't changed. I still love swimming like a mermaid in swimming pools with my grand kids.

A stroll along the Ft Lauderdale Riverwalk and a River Bank Fairy

sea shell fairies, Travel

By Karla Nathan / August 5, 2018

Recently, my husband had some business to do in Florida and I invited myself to tag along. In my mind, I would be knee deep in waves and walking along the beach the whole visit. But, that isn't quite how a work trip goes. I needed to fit my schedule to his and he was downtown most of the time. I had the morning to myself while he slaved away, and since I've never been much for cities, and I decided to hop over to the ocean for a short visit.

But as I talked to the hotel valet, I noticed a sign that said Riverwalk and was intrigued.

So I thought I'd treat myself to a bit of culture instead of my typical beach bum style tourism, and I explored the area. Surprisingly, it was shady and there was a nice breeze. Not at all what I expected from downtown in a large, Floridian city.

And even though I was dressed for a walk on the sand, I was glad that I'd changed my mind at the last minute.

It was a pleasant change of pace for me, and I was feeling quite urban as I appreciated the views.

I fit nicely into upscale settings.

But I was starting to feel a missed opportunity to make a beach sprite.

Then, I saw a twisted bit of bark that reminded me of a fairy jumping for joy on the sidewalk, and right next to it, a bundle of pink blossoms. I thought those flowers would make a fine, little dress, and sat my 60 year old butt right down in the middle of that schmancy, urban walkway and made myself happy by turing that bit of bark into a fey creature.

All she needed was some leaves as wings and a head, which were pretty quick to find. My only problem was wind, this girl wanted to float off on the breeze, a problem that I've never had with shells.

I love making little sprites out of nature and when I do, I feel like I am showing appreciation for the beauty around me. It has almost become a compulsion to make these, I don't feel like I am on vacation without leaving one as a thank you.

Afterwards, did more city strolling and stopped at some shops. The area was more high dollar than I am used to, but these sandals were 90% off and just waiting for me to slip them on. Aren't they gorgeously gaudy? Yum.

Our hotel was on the Riverwalk, and was such a pretty place to stay. It was an old, Spanish style place and we had a big corner suite with a balcony overlooking the shopping district. I could get used to such nice accommodations, even without the beach view that I usually go for on trips!

We made it to the beach for a fresh seafood lunch before driving to the next stop on his schedule, Orlando. I hated to leave Ft. Lauderdale so soon, but was glad to have some time to explore some things I might not have gone looking for normally.

Little did I know that I would be right back in Ft Lauderdale again the very next day!

I'm afraid that when the valet at the hotel loaded our car, we missed a bag.

After a whirlwind trip to Macy's to find my husband more work clothes for the next day, we went out for dinner with some of his business colleagues even though I was still dressed for my interrupted trip to the beach that morning. No makeup, shorts, and hat hair.

And in the morning, I drove back south, gathered up the bag, and then headed north again, taking the scenic route back (7 hours of car time). It was a long, but interesting day. Not the day I thought I'd have, but a good one never the less.

Summer Fun

Dew Drop, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 3, 2018

The Grand Fairies and I had a little hitch in our summer plans, with my inner ear issues. We had to cut back a smidge.

Finally, I was able to get out of the house (and felt like I'd crawled out of a dark pit, after so long of feeling bad). They'd kept me company while I was down, we watched some baking competition shows and had our own contests with playdoh creations, and some ice cream concoctions. We had fun, but desperately needed a day out, I'd been in front of the TV for far too long.

So, when I finally felt up to driving, we headed to the zoo. And spent about 8 hours there.

It is a small zoo, too.

And we didn't even see all of it. But what we did do, we did thoroughly! We spent lots of time on the things we enjoyed, lingered over lunch while watching a baby giraffe, and they spent some time in the kids' zone, while I relaxed on a shady park bench with a good book.

The water flume where treasure hunters could mine for gemstones in bags of sand and gravel was a big hit. We also discovered that not all of the other kids were as dedicated to nabbing every last stone, and dropped quite a few in the mulch or in the bottom of the rushing water. Over the course of the afternoon, Sugarwings found as many crystals in the mulch as she did in the bag of dirt we purchased.

Yep, she was pretty into it.

We met some new friends too.

It was just the day out that I needed.

An Under the Sea paint pour doodle

paintings

By Karla Nathan / August 1, 2018

This painting wasn't very interesting until I looked closer and saw lots of creatures just waiting to be outlined with markers.

This is how it started out.

This is the first image I noticed. It is outlined with pink here so you can find it. See the fish????

And here it is after I drew on it, along with its mermaid friend.

It didn't take long to find another mermaid waiting for me too.

And these two? Yep, just waiting for me.

I Heart Succulents

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / July 29, 2018

This is my first year to attempt succulents. I don't know much about them, but so far they have done well. There is a chance that some of the plants aren't as winter hardy, as I had hoped they were. But I'll see what happens next spring.

The planter is an old water heater tank, I think. It came with the farmhouse when we bought it.

The tank is shallow and dries out fast. Over the years, I've tried growing different plants in it, but all have required daily watering. This season's choice has been much easier to take care of. It hasn't taken any care at all, actually.

I've added some fairy garden elements, and some tumbled glass as mulch.

There are lots of odds and ends tucked in among the plants. Here is some more glass, these are hand blown orbs that a friend made.

There are a few more fairies, some stone eggs, cool rocks, and sea shells too.

Since rosemary doesn't need much water, I included some of that, because, can you ever have enough rosemary??? We can't. I've been hooked on that for the last few years and add it to a lot of dishes.

My favorite part is the heart blooms on this little guy. Oh my! I didn't expect that!

Van Go

celebrations, family, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / July 26, 2018

Our town is lucky to have an organization like Van Go. Here is a snippet from their website that will explain them better than I can:

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS.

Our Mission

Our Mission: To improve the lives of high-needs youth using art as the vehicle for self-expression, self-confidence, and hope for the future.

Van Go is an arts-based, social service agency that employs at-risk youth ages 14-24, to make public works of art that are sold in the community. It’s holistic, year-round programming uses the ARTS to deliver in-depth mental health support, job training, health nutrition education, and life skills lessons. Van Go’s nationally recognized programming gives troubled teens a job, real world skills and opportunity to succeed.