Karla's Cottage

To Twinkle, with love

Twinkle was born on Valentine’s Day and was my sweetheart of a dog.  Sugarwings was just big enough to grab her and giggle when the pup came to live with us, and from the very beginning, that little dog never complained about how rough she might be treated.  She kept running back for more, more, more.

 Tinks was the perfect pet for a rough housing kid.  She might have seemed fragile, since she was a Yorkie, but that dog was one tough chick.  She was always there just waiting to be included in any game her girl wanted to play with her.  They could spend hours together splashing in the water hose or digging in the mud together.


As babies, they shared toys, beds, and as Sugarwings would insist, no matter how hard I tried to keep the milk away from the dog, the little girl shared her bottle with the little dog.

Twinkle was devoted to us all, and one of her favorite words was ‘work’ which she knew meant we were going to to studio together, where she’d climb into this bowl of lace I kept on the floor.  Since she decided it was hers, not mine, I changed out the art supplies for a pillow and let her keep it.

She raised her children to love napping in the bowl too.  

And she had a lot of children!  

She was a great doggie mom.  She was meticulous in caring for her babies, still holding 8 year old Dorothy down to give her a good cleaning every evening, up until poor Twinks wasn’t healthy enough to be the caretaker.

She was a dog who lived to love, and was devoted to us all.  She was curious and excited about life, up for any adventure even if it was just a trip to the laundry room to check on the load of clothes in the dryer. 

And she loved to pose.  When she’d see my camera in my hand, she didn’t consider that I might be wanting a photo of a project or something to list in my shop.  She KNEW that the picture had to be of her.  I sometimes had to pretend to take one of her, so she would relax.

The only thing she didn’t like was Honey.  You can tell by the way she refuses to look at the camera, that she wasn’t too happy about us getting a new puppy.  Twinkle thought that she was one of our kids, since she was raised with the grand fairy, and didn’t think we needed to get a dog.

There were some battles for a couple of years between the two. But by the time Honey had her own puppies, they’d reached a truce.  Twinkle was allowed to wash those puppies and nanny them.

Honey must’ve appreciated the vast experience that Tinks had to offer.

But it wasn’t until the last couple of years that they actually became friends.  Twinkle had gone blind and discovered that Honey’s thick tail made an ideal bed.  

The first time she waddled over to it and laid down Honey seemed shocked.

 Then snuggled up to her.  

Since then, the truce was done and they became family.

Over the years, one of her favorite things was going boating.

The words ‘boat’ or ‘“lake’ would send her running to the car, ready for a day on the water.

Twinkle was more than just a dog to me, she was my friend.  
And a very good friend, not just to me.

 

A little bit of painting

While the cuddle bugs have kept me very busy, I still have managed to do a few creative moves.  I spent time pour painting again, and tried something very different.  I enjoyed crafting this circle of women so much, I think I could repeat the theme with winged fairies in pastel colors too.

I’ve been doing puppy portraits too.

And I turned some pours into landscapes. Although this one looks alien.

This one is soothing. 

And here is a masterpiece!  Although, I haven’t sat it out yet, 8 of the 9 pups were spoken for by the time I got the sign ready.  I used this sign on a door in my yard for Sugar’s first litter and sold most of the pups this way.

It needed repainted a bit because of changes and touched up from storing it, but was a minor task to fix up.  Now, I need to set it outside and see if I sell that last, sweet boy.

Birthday goodness

With puppies coming on my birthday, I have been completely absorbed in furry, cuddly fun.  And I forgot to show a couple of beautiful birthday gifts that I was honored to get.   I have a painting from Clover, that I am calling, “Our Lady of the Swans” and have her displayed with the Swans from Lesa’s class at our last arty gathering here before the pandemic struck.

The teeny swan was an adornment on top of this overflowing box of delight from my pal, Angie.

Not only is the old, glass box beautiful with its vintage ribbon and silk rose trim, it is filled with timeless treasures.

See what I mean?  Filled to the brim with lovely packages, too pretty to open (but I did!)

There were layers of Good Stuff supplies inside that I can’t wait to use, but haven’t yet due to my fuzzy, little friends.

I did pull out some of the frothy, lace hankies to show off on a couple puppies.  
This tiny, black pup took on an RBG vibe, didn’t she?

And Miss Daisy looks like a doll baby.

Speaking of dolls, my sweet grand fairy, Clover was so thoughtful to share her artwork with me.  That kid has skills!

Before I know it, my time with the babies will be gone and I’ll have plenty of time for crafting.  It will be heart wrenching to see them go, so it is helpful to have such delicious goodies to delve into once they are gone, to take my mind off missing them.

 

 

 

Puppy Time

I promise, these guys really do have soft pillows!

But yesterday, they preferred rocks.
It was their first, big day out and they were so into being outdoor dogs, they embraced every aspect of it.

Including using the upside down fire pit as a den.  They also discovered it makes a good slide while playing King of the Hill.

But the day wasn’t just about playtime.  We got some work done too.  Here they are working as hard as they can to master Crate Training.

I put a kennel in their sleeping area and propped the door open for them to crawl in and out.  By the time I am ready to shut one in with the door closed, they won’t even notice.

Painting a cement floor entryway

Years ago, I covered my steps in mosaic, on a whim.  Not much planning went into it, and very little skill.  My dad was ill, I was waiting to hear his diagnosis, and needed a big project where my fingers were busy, but my mind could wander.  I didn’t have a design or the right supplies on hand, I just used what I had, and then had to make runs for more marbles and squares to complete what I’d started.

My dad was a lifelong gardener, and I think the abstract vine pattern just sorta formed itself while thinking of him.  

Luckily, it hasn’t fallen apart, at least not too much.  Even though it wasn’t done correctly. There are a few tiny cracks in some tiles, and a couple marbles popped out, and were glued back in. 
The 100+ year old cement floor by it also had some issues.  The paint on it had started to peel.

So I thoroughly scrubbed the floor and while I was at it, I went after the steps with a brush and vinegar and got the tiles to sparkle again.  Then, I added a big scoop of plaster of Paris into some exterior latex paint and repainted the floor.

That gives the paint some “tooth” help it adhere to the cement.

I hope that it works, because I got carried away and started to paint vines on the floor to coordinate with the steps.  That won’t be an easy patch job if the paint wears off, it will need a total redo.

We are not able to use rugs on the floor here because of this critter, Dorothy happily tinkles on any rug she sees, thinking I generously supplied her with a pee pad.

My design makes this into kind of a painted, pee proof rug.  

Yep, I know it’s pretty busy.  Especially when you add in the hand painted roses on the wall.  But it is a very small space and not visible from the rest of the house.

(by the way, there is only a small window of time when the hooks are not layered four deep in jackets, backpacks, hats, leashes and more, I just did spring cleaning and the re-piling up has not yet begun)  

After the vines dried, I brushed on a brown glaze and wiped it off, let that dry and coated the floor with semi gloss Polycrylic.  I’d rather have used a stronger topcoat but I was worried about the odor and my baby puppies.  So, I stayed with water based.

Fingers crossed that the paint lasts a few years!

 

 

Puppy Portraits

Last year, when Honey had 8, look-a-like pups, I did diagrams of them so I could learn their markings and try to figure out how to tell them apart.  
The diagrams were used for watercolor paintings and I ended up putting them into their puppy books.  I didn’t have time to do Sugar’s litter then because, well, 16 pups kept me hopping.

All 16 got baby books, and I am doing that again for the latest litter.  I also thought it would be nice to paint the little guys, but 9 pups is still quite a few to do, so I found a shortcut, with my friend, Beth’s help.

When I did the previous paintings, I’d posted a picture of one of the drawings on Instagram.   Beth saved the photo and printed multiples for me on watercolor paper.  Ta-dah! What a great shortcut!  I was able to start painting the drawings with help from photos I’d taken of the dog’s markings.

I used acrylics instead of watercolor, so I could make adjustments and cover up lines when needed to change the pup’s appearance a bit.  Basically, they look a lot as tiny babies, but there are more differences than just color and markings.  This little black one has a more narrow face and was thinner.

Four done, five to go.  It is nice to have the drawings on my art table, ready to work on when I get a chance.  It’s a slight cheat, but hey, it’s a copy of my own drawing, so not a big cheat, right?

I’ll leave you with some of the latest pictures of my babies.  We still have four boys available if you are looking for a new family member.