Karla's Cottage

Making a fairy doll from sticks

School is out!  And for the next few weeks, it looks like Sugarwings will be spending some time here with me while her parents work.  We thought there would be an opening at her new school in June, but oops! I didn't follow up to double check before she lost her spot at the old school.

So, we are going to be doing lots of crafty things for at least 2 or 3 days each week while she is here with me. And I am hoping to take her to some gymnastic and dance classes, plus hire a tutor to work with her before Kindergarten starts in August.

This project was entirely her idea, not mine. Maybe I won't have to come up with plans, sounds like she could be in charge of that, not me. 

She read in her story book about kids making a fairy doll, so she found sticks laying around that were the right sizes for a torso, arms and legs to make one herself.

I was in charge of hot glue and ribbon to attach all of the limbs, then she picked out scraps for me to glue around her fairy to make a dress.

We added  wings from a hobby store butterfly, and she cut a Tinkerbell face out of her coloring book.

Next came lots of glitter.

And more glitter.

Then a bit more.

If you are looking for a good investment, buy stock in glitter. I see a huge jump in glitter consumption coming this summer.

It took quite a few applications of the coveted sparkly stuff till she was satisfied.  She'd stop, hold it up, and study it for a while, then add more.

Yep, we are definitely related.

When the glitter level finally met her approval, she picked a petunia blossom to add for the dolly's hat and her new best friend was ready to play with.

Nests and fairies and birdies and peeps

While I was in CA, I celebrated my 54th birthday, and it was a joy to be with friends that day.  A group of them took me out to lunch the day before, and Carol treated me to dinner that night.  

My roomie, Lori, even brought me a sweet little gift in bed when I woke up on my birthday.  Now, that is special treatment!!

Lori has some photos in Jenny Doh's new book, and one of them is of me! Well, part of me, at least.

As a thank you to my freinds for making my birthday so nice, I made up some wire nests (from my Twining and Twirling online workshop).

These are all on their way to my thoughtful buddies now.  Just a token to thank them for the great weekend.

(I've added a few nests to my Boutique also)

While we are talking nests, I thought I'd show you my banner from the Birdsong swap I joined. I wish I could have been a part of all of them, but I was a little overwhelmed at the time. There were some really great swaps, I was impressed. And so glad that I was in this one!  I usually try to join one swap whenever I go to an arty event, because I spend so much time oohing and ah-hing when I watch the trades getting opened and end up jealous over the beautiful loot everyone gets.

These letters were temporarily clipped to my curtain rod in the kitchen, but I kind of like them there, and they might hang out that way for a while.

This book is a Birdsong treat that I got from my friend, Tami.   

Its more than perfect, because when I send messages to the Birdsong group, I call them my "peeps".  Plus, I kind of like fairies a bit...

Its an adorable book, that Sugarwings and I fell in love with right away. Cute illustrations,and a fun little story filled with songs and poems and lots of fairies.

 She has been entranced by it, and after I read it to her, she sat and looked at the book for over an hour.

And this is a kid that doesn't sit still much.

The peeps who came to Birdsong were overly generous! Very thoughtful gifts came our way, what a wonderful bonus on top of the great weekend of fun that I had with all the ladies. 

I'll leave you with a scan of one of my favorite pages, and of the cover.  Click to open in a larger size before you save them to your computer to print.

Time with Tiffanys

Thanks for all of your input about blogs. I don't want anyone to think I am contemplating quitting! No way. I'll still be typing away my ramblings long after people have stopped reading them, its become my diary of sorts.

Two art retreats I went to this year both had this topic come up and I hated to think that blogs were considered passe.  I'm glad to hear from my friends that we don't agree with that sentiment!  Yay, blogging!

Kim out did herself with her latest party.  Oh my. That lady knows how to embellish every detail with sweetness and beauty!

Everywhere you looked there was something even prettier than what you'd just seen. An explosion of gorgeousness!

She plans down to the smallest detail and it all pays off in how smoothly her events run.

Yet, she is welcoming, friendly, and seems to be having a good time herself while she is at it.  The perfect hostess!

I was thrilled to have my painting as a backdrop for photos by the Fancy Farmgirl, my pal, Tiffany.
(yes, I had trouble keeping my eyes open for photos, as always!)

So, I told everyone just to give up and photo-shop some googly eyes onto my lids.  Picmonkey didn't have any, though.  I subbed buttons. I think that works nicely. Especially since they are Tiffany Blue.

We all had fun posing for pictures, and I was glad that my roomie, Lori, convinced me to borrow her extra black dress. I'd only packed jeans to wear. After Birdsong, I was BEAT, and didn't really care what I packed. I was thinking comfy and relaxing. But it really was a formal affair for the first evening, and it was nice that Lori had something with her that she could talk me into wearing.

I had the wrong shoes, and hairy, pasty white legs, but I still felt festive.

Lori is a good friend, and was a fun roomie. She even brought a gift for me to open in bed when I woke up on Saturday, for my birthday! 

It was the best birthday! A few of us rented a car and went downtown to shop in the garment district, and they all took me out for a special lunch.

One of my favorite parts of travelling is trying local restaurants, and this one was quite the treat. Really glam, I felt like I should be seeing movie stars around the room, but was having so much fun with my friends I forgot to look.

 

 

Lori and Andrea

Hitting the downtown wholesale areas was a good idea, all of us found some tidbits for our artwork.

I'll have some photos of the projects I made later.  The classes were fun, I learned some interesting tricks and came home with completed items that I was happy with and am already using in my home.  That is a plus! Not a single, "hmmm, what am I going to do with this thing?" piece.

  I like them all.

Dear Kim surprised me with this Tiffany's box inside a Tiffany's box as a thank you for the banner I painted.  Its a precious little thing, that will be a treasured memento of the weekend. Not that I need something to remember it by, It was a remarkable trip!

 

Thoughts on blogging

Lately, its been really hard for me to get back in the swing of things.  I'm so out of my normal routine that I can't seem to find my way back into it.

Its been a LONG time since I've taken care of my Boutique, and that poor little neglected Etsy shop... the poor thing, it is just going to whither up and die if I don't add something soon.

For the whole month of April, I was working on getting things set up for Birdsong, then had the event itself and my double the fun vacation at Tiffany's then onto Disney with the grand fairy.

Since that, I've limped back into production slowly, and not so surely.  My days have been more catch up than getting ahead.  I'm happy to say that I finally made something new, at a fun craft day with Beth a few days ago, and I actually listed some supplies in the Boutique.

These are new buckles that I oxidized to create a vintage looking patina on.

I've done the same with some pink rhinestone chain.

And some aurora borealis chain too.  Its not much, I really need to get photos of the piles of stuff waiting to be sold posted onto the site. 

But honestly, I've been just puttering my way through the weeks, not getting a lot done. Mostly goofing off stuff, like I think I'm still on vacation. We've gone to the zoo, had tea parties, I've done yard work, edited trip pictures, messed around with rearranging the studio, wrote in my blog, visited friends, sat in the yard and watched the new chickens, just fun little things. 

My blog is supposedly "work" for me.  Its how I sell things. But, if I don't have things to sell, its not really working, its just hanging out!

Which brings me to this- my buddy, Carol, gave a talk at Tiffanys.  She spoke about blogging, business, and related topics.

Here are some things that came up in the interesting discussion with the crowd.  Is blogging dead? Do people even read them any more?

If you blog, should it be all business? Some thought posts should be direct and short, and stick to a subject. That people only cared about photos, or only about Pinterest, not blogs.  But where do you get the photos for Pinterest if there are no blogs, I wonder?

  Others said they hate blogs that try to push shopping on you.  That they feel used if a blog is just used for self promotion. 

The way I see it, if I don't use my blog to sell some stuff here and there, I have no excuse to keep one and will have to get a (god forbid) REAL job (gasp!).

Even though I show photos of whats new in the  shop (when I get off my behind and add something to the shop, that is), I try not to cram it down the reader's throat. And its hard for me to stick to just business, although I think my family would prefer that I did.  Or to keep it short and simple.

What do you look for in a blog?

Do you think blogs are on their way out?

How do you read them, if you do- Facebook, Googlereader? 

 

Tea Party Time

Sugarwings and I decided to throw a tea party.  Laurie had given her some tiny cookie cutters and we wanted an excuse to bake!

I kept her home from PreK to bake treats, make sandwich roll ups, dips, and veggie trays then set the table pretty with me.  We had a great time planning and preparing. 

She also learns about counting from gathering the cups and saucers, as well as how to set the table.  So I didn't feel too bad about her skipping school, we had lots of learning opportunities throughout the day.

She was so excited about the party, she changed her dress 4 times. 

We'd invited about 20 people, but not all could make it.  And some forgot to come, but I don't think my fairy girl even noticed, since she was face first into the sugar bowl most of the meal. 

It was a special day for me with her, soon she'll be a kindergartner and I won't have the option to pull a skip day with her any more.  But.... Dewdrop was sure into the tea party herself. I have a feeling that my party days are just beginning!

Welcoming the hens to their shabby chic chicken coop

The ladies seem to be adjusting to their new home and are happy to be here. They came from a larger group of chickens, and I think they will like their extra space and room to roam.  Ariel appreciates the mirror.

They've been up on their perches too, and even like the chandeliers. I'll have to get a picture of them on one.

Sugarwings tends to think of the coop as her playhouse, but it hasn't been covered in poo yet. 

Soon, it will be much less appealing to hang out in.

Ariel, Small World, Unicorn, and Mator don't use their nesting boxes yet, though. The eggs (yep, we already have egg production starting the first day!) are nested under the table holding the boxes instead of in them.

We started with 4 Rhode Island Reds, and have room for lots more, so will pick up a variety of different kinds of birds later on. We found these on Craigs List for six bucks a piece, and the farmer met us halfway from his place in the country to drop them off.

I'd really like to get some that lay those pretty blue/green eggs.

And I look forward to the time when I can let them have the whole yard to play in and find bugs. For now, they are penned in till they adjust.

The other animals will need some adjustment time too.  Twinkle and the cats have been pacing along the fence trying to find thier way in to properly greet the new arrivals. I have a feeling that Twinks will need to be locked up whenever the ladies are having a promenade around the yard. 

Or the birds won't be surviving very long. I'm not sure about the cats.  Can a cat take out a hen? I know they want to.

We were told that our coop could hold 50 chickens comfortably, but we aren't interested in doing that. Maybe 10-12 at the most.   I don't want so many that I can't get to know them!