Karla's Cottage

Losing a dark corner and gaining some work space

Do you notice anything different in this picture? Its probably not all that plain to anyone but me. Everyone who came over for craft day yesterday could feel the difference, but didn't know exactly what the change was until I told them.

Before, I had a makeshift closet behind the large hutch. It was dark, dreary, and cluttered all the time. With barely enough room to squeeze back there between all the shelves, I got to the point where I was simply piling stuff up and forgetting it was even there.

This photo was mid way through the emptying out process. I forgot to get a before shot.  Besides these two shelves, there were 3 others, plus tubs of stuff piled up.

A car load of accumulated junk (good junk, but I just DID NOT need it) went to Goodwill. Another carload went to Beth for her antique booth and a few boxes are going to another friend's store. The tubs of Christmas decor went to a stack under the stairs in the garage instead.

I had about 8 large mirrors back there, from when I used to have my own shop. Since I don't do big shows and no longer have an antique booth there was no place for them and I wasn't going to be selling them from my online shop, I only like to sell things that will fit in a padded envelope!

The rest of the junk got resorted  and my cabinets got reorganized for it to be stored in a more convenient and attractive way.  And I now have an extra 6 feet of space in the main room. Its not just the extra space that I love about the redo,  losing the gloomy pit of a junk graveyard is the best part.

Of course, there was all of this to deal with first.  I was kind of wondering about my timing, doing this the day before I had friends coming for craft day. But with friends coming, I had to keep focused, so that I couldn't just give up and walk away.

All of this got sorted out and I was ready for craft day with a clean studio and loads of space to play in.

Beth brought Button for a play date with Agnes Rosebud while we all had our own play dates with glue.

They seemed to be happy to see each other.

I know that I was happy to see the little guy!  He seems to remember me and be happy to visit, but he sure has bonded with his new mom and followed Beth everywhere.  Shawn brought her new  baby, it was good to see her back at craft day, we'd missed her.  I don't know why I only have dog baby photos and no human baby photos. Shawn has pictures of the day on her blog, you can see the cutie there.

My day was productive.  For some reason (typical of me) I had the dates of my trip to California wrong and thought I was leaving next week instead of in two weeks. So I was in a frenzy to get all my mermaid things for Kim's event done. 

Well, now I have plenty of time.  I'm making up two ephemera packs of goodies for door prizes at the party, plus have swappy stuff and hostessy things to get done.  I zipped through a lot of it yesterday thinking I only had a week to finish. 

(by the way, Kim has some openings for the Flea Market Expidition left. If you and in the area and can't make the whole art weekend, at least join us for a bus trip from one shopping paradise to another!)

I also made a framed collage.  This one is done in lots of layers with sanding in some places to peek through to what is underneath.

Some areas remind me of old houses with layers of peeling wallpaper.  This 8x10 framed piece is a fun change from doing smaller things, and I have two  more frames (found when I de-cluttered the back of the studio). I hope to work on them this week too. Since I now know that I have an extra week to get ready for my trip to CA, I can go back to waiting till the last minute to get ready for it!

A box full of Mermaids

Do you love  Lisa as much as I do? I'm kicking myself for not going to Paper Cowgirls. It would have been great to have a chance to hang out with her in person. If she is half as much fun as she is on her blog, she'd be a blast.

So, of course, I was happy to participate in her soap box challenge.  The box is kind of like egg carton texture, and to me looked like a perfect little shadow box frame.

 

Since I'll soon be heading out to Kim's event in California, I thought I'd get myself into a mermaid mood and turn my mini shadow box into an under sea treasure chest.

I've heard wonderful things about Kim and her art affairs. I'm so glad to finally be going to one.  My husband will be flying out with me and going on a brothers golfing trip for the weekend while I am with the arty crowd. Then, he and I are meeting up for a spa get away.  The company he works for owns some  luxury resorts, and we were able to score some rooms for fantastic employee rates.   

I'm going to feel like a princess.  Or at my age I should say Dowager Queen?  And an itchy, poison ivy crusted one at that. If I don't get this crud cured, I won't be doing much spa time.

  Since I am soon to be treated like royalty at  a couple top of the line resorts in California and spend an entire weekend filled with creative fun with friends, I'm already feeling a bit royal with the anticipation of it all.  That influenced me to add a "crown" to my shadow box.

The sparkly topper is made of a corner bracket from an old photo album with a rhinestone necklace glued over it, and a rhinestone clasp underneath.

 

My sea creatures are made with two sizes of frozen Charlottes, with the smaller one in back and glued directly to background, and a larger one in front, raised up by gluing her to a button and shell.  I thought this might give it some depth.

The Charlottes have mermaid tails made up of paper clay, that has been painted and glittered. I added crowns of German foil and crystals to their heads. 

Each is glued down pretty solid, but their sea horse friend is suspended from a wire, so that she sways a  bit.  The seahorse charm was gold toned, and I drew on it with a black sharpie, and wiped that off a little, then wiped some white paint over that. I also swiped a swatch of white paint over her wire so it didn't stand out so much. If I were to do this over again, I'd use fishing line instead of wire, because the wire is still prominent even with the paint.

 

The box sits in a plate stand that I wrapped in vintage ribbon. For a touch of extra gaudiness, I tied an aqua ribbon to the front of the stand and dangled a star fish charm from it. Because by the time I'd got to that stage of creation, the gaudiness was already pretty thick and I thought I should just go for it and gaudy it up even more.  Once you've crossed the line of over doing something, there's no turning back and you might as well just revel in it.

See what I mean? There is a LOT of foof happening here. The inside of the box perfectly fit an old button card with the words "Mermaid Pearls" on it, along with two buttons.

Along the inside walls, I glued ruffles sewn from pattern paper, then I edged it with a strand of pearls.

Then, the cut out on the lid  was lined ink, glitter and a lace ruffle.

  

The large parts of the box were covered in aqua wallpaper that has a nice sheen to it. The sides of the box have a raised edge where the lid meets the bottom, and it looked just too hard to cover in paper. So, I ran a bead of glue around it, and wrapped a ribbon around it, gathering as I stuck it into the glue.

Yep, this project was just what I needed to start feeling like a Mermaid Princess and get me in the mood for my trip. Its been a rough week, and I look forward to a get away.

Thank you to everyone who shared scary pregnancy stories with happy outcomes, that encouragement helped. And thanks for all of your well wishes and prayers.  I'm doing my best to stay distracted until we get news from the Dr. about the newest member of our family.

And a big thanks to Lisa for hosting this party! It was a fun challenge and a well needed distraction for me.

I'm sending Lisa a had that I thought was suitable for her palette of colors.  She always seems to appreciate my hat whispering skills, so I thought I'd share.

Puppy Not Included

Today I was also able to finish up my articles for Somerset Life. One is about this altered book.

The other was about my Peat Pot Pretties with frozen Charlotte fairies.  And remember, that this one is the giveaway for June. All comments all month are entered. 

I'm also giving away another present from my followers.   So, please join in on my list if you'd like to be in the running for that gift, a pair of vintage rhinestone earrings.

Simple Summer Centerpiece

 

Today, Sugarwings and I picked some parsley and dill that had started to flower. I try to keep my herbs pinched back so they grow lush and full, but sometimes it just gets away from me.

And I'm kind of glad that I let it go this time, they had some pretty blooms.   A bit like Queen Anne's Lace, one of my favorites.

So, instead of just pinching it back, we cut long stems of the fragrant blooms and brought them into the dining room.

I tend to have a lot going on in my house, decoratively (and emotionally!) so I really enjoy the simple look of a white pot full of blooming parsley on the table. 

Thank you to everyone who offered prayers and encouragement about the expected baby and her possible difficulties.  We are trying to not worry too much until more tests tell us that we need to. For now, we are thinking happy thoughts her way.

Itchy Bitchy

My two hours of playing hooky to play with the fairy grand baby turned into two nights of her staying over and two days of entertaining her on my own.  Her Daddy's beloved, is in the hospital with a bad kidney infection, so I was watching Sugarwings while her Daddy stayed at the hospital too.

Sugarwings can be a.... challenge.  I don't say Hyperactive, I say Enthusiastic.  She has a ZEST for life and lives each moment to its fullest. Non stop.  She's not exactly a shy and retiring type.

And normally I keep up and enjoy the ride. But this week, with worries about her Daddy's loved one, who is pregnant, I was distracted.

Plus, I am miserably itchy.  If you've spent any time in this part of the country in summer, you'll know what a chigger is. 

Its the world's most evil creature.  A million times worse than any freaking mosquito.

And on top of my chigger bites (they are always along underwear lines, if that tells you anything), I seem to have gotten poison ivy.

My poison ivy rash is not in exposed areas of my body, so I couldn't have brushed the leaves while walking on the trails.

Now, I don't remember running naked through the woods lately. Or even half naked.  So, my theory is that I was visited by chiggers, and then must have got the urushiol from the poison ivy plant on my hands from the dogs, who do play in the woods, then scratched my bites and spread the poison ivy rash on the chigger bites.

That should be enough to make any one grumpy. But, it gets better.  The Dr. has decided to lower my dosage of Premarin by half.

All I could think of the last couple days, besides worrying about the pregnant mommy and her baby, was swallowing a handful of hormone tablets chased with a giant goblet of Riesling and soaking in a cool bath filled with baking soda (did I mention that the heat index was in the 100s here and Sugawings wanted to play outside the whole time???)

I should have thought of this sooner!

No, really, it was Sugarwings idea. Agnes Rosebud could climb out of her 4 foot high pen, and drop onto her head on the cement floor. So, I had to assemble a dog cage, with a top and bottom so she would stay put.

I covered it with a table cloth and to Sugarwings, it became a fort and she wanted to stay in there and play with the pup.

 

Even when I'm cranky, she can make me laugh.

Sugarwings is staying with her Hippy Chick Mommy tonight, I get her back at noon tomorrow when her mommy goes to work. So, I thought I'd spend the evening working on the computer, just to find that my printer wouldn't work. After FOUR HOURS  of messing with it, I drove to Best Buy and got a new one.  I was in no mood to mess with it any longer.

So, the new printer is installed, I listed new stuff in the shop, and mailed packages, Sugarwings is having a fun night with Mommy, and now the expectant mother has been released from the hospital and ordered to be on bed rest. I'm going to make her some soup and check on her now. 

She has had some bad news about the baby.  We are terrified that there are problems with the new baby girl who is due in November. Please keep my girls in your prayers. Its pretty scary around here.

And I've realized that there is a lot of range in just how bad a bad day can be.  I was irritated and grouchy and itchy before and thought that printer issues were about as bad as it was going to get.

Then, the news about the tiny little baby totally zapped me out of it all.  My irritations seemed pretty small in the face of the news that our new little girl was in danger.  Now, its really a bad day.

A Polka Dotted Princess

Before Sugarwings came over to play with me today, I got a few things listed in the Boutique.  The jewels that I found recently are really nice, and in great shape. Someone took such good care of them, that you wouldn't even know they were at least 50 years old. 

See what I mean? Nice sparkle to the rhinestones.

This picture is made from one of my teensiest frozen Charlotte fairies, in a vintage frame.  I love it when a project can be made from ALL vintage materials.  Usually, something, somewhere in it needs to be newer. Like a tag, or a bit of card stock. This little lady is all OLD.  And as an older lady myself, I appreciate that about her.

Sugarwings and I have the afternoon to play. Her Hippy Chick Mommy came by to do some laundry and is going to watch DVR-ed episodes of True Blood while she washes her clothes, so that means I get to snag the fairy baby to work in the studio with me.

 

I'm not sure yet what we'll make. She did ask if we could make a polka dotted dress for her puppy to match her own dress. I'm not much of a sewer, but I think we can paint polka dots onto a hanky and tie it around the pup's neck.  Sugarwings isn't very picky, that should make her happy.  Especially if we use glitter paint.

The last time we worked with glitter, she had it crusted all over her and kept saying, "I have Project on me!!"  

Not that she is fussy. That wild child is usually encrusted with something.  

This tag book is listed in the shop too.  Its two large tag covers and 5 small tags inside, all wallpapered up and ready to be embellished. I'm including scraps of the papers to finish it with.

Don't forget that I have a Peat Pot Pretty with a frozen Charlotte fairy as June's giveaway prize!  Can you believe that June is almost over??? Geez, where did it go.  I have two articles to write by July 1st, and am not usually a person who waits till the last minute to do things (well besides taxes, uchk) but the time just got away from me.

My husband is going to be gone all week, so I should be able to get them both done.  When he is around, I tend to stop work early to fix dinner or just hang out. And we come up with excuses to see Sugarwings and play with her.  I can be more disciplined when I am on my own. Well, kinda- I am playing hooky this afternoon to make a polka dotted dog dress.

And as a prize for the drawing for new followers, I have some of that nice old rhinestone jewelry.  I'll draw from ALL of the followers, not just the new ones. I appreciate you signing up, thanks!! When the number hits 250, I'll give away the earrings. 

Being inspired by other's studios

Thanks for all the nice comments about my studio!

Wow, what a TON of people participating in that party. I've not seen all the blogs in it yet (that's going to take a while) but I sure had a good time peeking into a chunk of them. As much as I adore my own studio, I was experiencing some studio envy while looking around.  There are some fascinating ideas and places out there.  The more I looked at, the more I want to see. 

I'll be hopping through more as I have time this week. Thanks for hosting, Karen!

And as much as I do love my own studio, sometimes its good to get out and go to another place to work.  Beth invited me over on Friday for estate sale shopping and hanging out in her craft room. I'd brought stuff to work on, but she offered me a box of goodies to rifle through and I couldn't resist.

Its so much more exciting to play with new (old) stuff!  I think that is why I keep shopping for more to add to my own stash instead of just working with what I have.  Because I sure do have plenty, you might have noticed from my previous post! 

New supplies are inspiring.  So, I bought more goods while at estate sales that day too...

And I also found this wrought iron bench. For now, its setting outside the back door to my studio.  I'm not sure if that is where it will remain.

None of the sales that day were over the top wonderful, but we found  a little something here and there all morning.  At one house, I got a broken vintage crystal necklace.

I divided it up, and listed some beads in my boutique ($2.50 an ounce), and will keep some for myself too.  There is more to list from that day's haul, and I hope to have more time to add it tomorrow.

One of Beth's boxes is labeled "images" and is full of some great stuff.  I made this tag with a picture from that and really wanted to make a matching set with another girl that was in the stash, but ran out of time so Beth sent it home with me to finish.

What started out as an idea for a tag became an ephemera book instead.  Its in an old cabinet card folder and is filled with an assortment of old papers, ready to be used as an art journal.

It should be in the shop soon.  But if you are interested now, please let me know.  It will be $24.

 

Playing in Beth's studio got me all fired up to make some stuff in my own when I got home.  It was Father's Day weekend and we had a lot going on, but I managed to squeeze in a little bit of creative time here and there between boating and baking with Sugarwings and  petting and playing with Agnes Rosebud.

For Father's Day I took Sugarwing's Daddy and my husband to see Toy Story with our little fairy grand baby.  I'm a sucker for Pixar, our whole family is. But man, this movie was extra good.  I thought the plotting for breaking out of the day care was right up there with something out of Ocean's 11.  

And Big Baby could be more terrifying than Chucky.

And the end tugged at my heart so much, with Andy going away to college, that I sobbed.  I don't think any mother of a grown up son could have prevented herself from crying at that ending.

Speaking of boys growing up and leaving the nest... I got to visit Button at Beth's.  Here he is up on the craft table, bounding across the supplies to come and see me.

Seemed like he was glad to see his baby sis too.  This was the first of many play dates for the two little fuzz balls.

This is a long one! A studio tour, two giveaways,almost 3 dozen pictures, and a rambling video

Edit- this post is my studio from June 2010.  A 2013 post is Here , 2012 post is here, and the 2011 studio tour can be found here.

Welcome to the Where Bloggers Create party! This is the view from my desk, cluttery as it might look now, this is really an improvement. It was actually cleaned up this week.    There is always a lot going on, no matter how organized I think I'll try to be...

The room is almost 1,000 sq ft.  And I love every bit of it!! I've made use of dining tables, spare rooms, garages, driveways, sheds, you name it, over the years I've used it as a studio. So when I got this space, it was a dream come true and I will NEVER take it for granted.  I give a little sigh of happiness when I come into the space every morning.

Its one big room, divided up with old doors that I have hinged together, and furniture placed back to back to create walls.

This view is from the same seat, at my desk, but looking to the right, at one of my favorite parts of the room, the TV. 

 

During the day, I listen to NPR on the radio, but evenings and weekends that TV gets a work out. My husband travels a lot, so there are nights that I stay out in the studio till 3 or 4 am watching shows that I have recorded and playing with old papers to my heart's content.

 

Its important to me to have stuff easy to get to, so the work area is a U shape, with lots of shelving. This is behind my desk and holds a lot of the stuff I use daily.

Having attractive displays is important to me too. I cover a lot of old boxes with pretty papers, or use vintage flower pots, cups, and baskets to store things in.

Just about everything in the room came from garage sales, auctions, or thrift stores except this glass topped table that I used to store my jewelry. Its from TJ Maxx and was only $58. It was already white, I just added a vintage wallpaper border to it so it felt like it wasn't so newish.

I kind of like old jewelry.

I kind of like old hats too.

But its really the flowers from the old hats that I crave, not the hats themselves.

 

Glass jars with lids make a handy storage display too.  So many of the things that I use for my artwork are vintagey things that are pretty as is. So I enjoy having them out where I can see them.  Plus, if I tuck things away in drawers, I forget where they are. 

 

 

Here is a video of part of the studio, if you have a couple minutes to watch it.  Its a little long and meandering, plus I tend to babble. Sorry.

This large cabinet holds all my fabric and sewing goods. I got it in pieces, for only $15, and had to rebuild it and fix it up. 

It has a large drawer in the bottom that I keep watercolor supplies in, even though I don't paint as often as a should, I do get around to it  a few times a year.  The framed hydrangeas by the prom dresses is one of my paintings.

So, is this one. Its from the Grumpy Fairy book that I made for Sugarwings. I framed my favorite scene and hung it on one of the French doors that I use as a room divider.

On my previous post, I showed hand painted furniture that I use in the studio.  I just don't paint as often as I used to, when I do its smaller pieces like this salvage bit over the door.

Or this plank over the window.

All around the room, I've displayed things that make me smile. Little projects that I have done, things that could be projects some day, gifts from friends, or just odds and ends.

 

I'll leave you with  a few scenes from around the room.  Make sure you visit Karen for a full list of the bloggers who are showing their workspaces this weekend.  There are about a billion of them.  I can't wait to work my way through the list, even if it takes a couple of weeks to see them all.  Its kind of like peeking into an open house in an exclusive neighborhood.  I just love to see how other people decorate!

 

Oh, and don't forget, that all comments all month are entered to win a Peat Pot Pretty with a frozen Charlotte fairy.

And if you add your name to the list of Followers, I'll enter you in a drawing for another prize.  edit- this giveaway is over now, but I do have a new monthly giveaway ongoing.  All comments, all month, on all posts count.

(yes- that is a dog pen in my studio, I just raised 6 pups)

The wallhanging is a gorgeous gift from Beth.

And yes, the guardian angel seems to be watching over co-joined twins, one with an ax in her head.

Okay, I'm getting carried away, this is plenty!  Have fun browsing the Where Bloggers Create party. Thanks for hosting, Karen.

Edit- Lucky me!! I am one of three winners from all the wonderful studio spaces shown for Karen's party!! Jo Packham is going to feature the three blogs in
"Where Women Create"

Thanks again, so much Karen, for giving me this opportunity, and thanks to you too, Jo!

I'm adding more photos of the studio to this post, the room changes a lot, so here are some views of the room over time:

Getting ready for a Creative Cottage Getaway with friends coming to play in the studio

Extra tables set up for company

 

Set up for a photo shoot for a magazine article a couple years ago

The hand painted floor

My Treat cabinet in Romantic Country Magazine with an article I wrote about how to find your personal Valentine's decorating style.

From the same article. I now use this cabinet for storing my shipping supplies.

Yep, this is actually in the studio! It was set up for an open house and sale that day.

This gazebo type structure is now where I have my computer and desk sitting. The tulle and lights didn't last, spiders and dust seemed to be very attracted to them.After a few months it was starting to look kind of haunted.

Another photo shoot set up. The room is no longer used for this, at one time, I sold hand painted furniture, and used this space for displaying the pieces and having sales.

This was also for a photo shoot. Now, I use the table for my sewing machine. When I have guests for a dinner party, I feed everyone in the studio instead of the house, we can seat over 25 people out there, if I move things around and organize a bit.

The stained glass door, is not really stained glass, its paint. The door was taken from the kitchen of our old farm house before we remodeled.

But usually, I just have a dozen or so guests and push the two dining tables in the front of the studio together.

My fairy grand baby and I love inviting friends over for cupcakes and tea.

Sugarwings loves the room as much as I do.

This is the front door of the studio, since this was taken, I've painted the doors bird egg blue and added hydrangeas to the hand painted shutters (they used to be bi-fold doors, found at a garage sale for a couple dollars).

My husband and I like to have our morning coffee out here on the porch. Its also nice to sip a glass of wine on during a thunderstorm.

I love every inch of my wonderful studio space and know just how lucky I am to have it. Thanks for coming by to visit!

 

 

June Giveaway and Inside the Treat Cabinet

 

On Tuesday night, I had a little dinner party.  It was an iffy day, sometimes too hot, sometimes too wet, so I set up a tent for shade in case the rain stayed away and we could eat outside.

Luckily, no rain, and the shade from the little pop up tent was ideal for dining outside in the evening after the heat of the day had passed. 

 

Which made Twinkle and Agnes Rosebud pretty happy, they'd stay outdoors every minute of the day if I'd let them.

 

Since the day was unpredictable and I was afraid we wouldn't be able to eat outdoors if a storm came up, I cleaned my studio just in case we had to move indoors with our plates.  I have two dining room tables in the front half of my workshop, that are usually piled up so high with crap, I mean, great stuff that you can't even see the tables. 

The area usually only gets cleaned up for company, which is kind of sad. I wonder why I can't keep it nice for just me?

Anyway, its clean now and since it won't stay that way long, I thought I'd make the most of it and get some studio pictures.

This is the Treat Cabinet.  (Lacking in treats at the moment.)  I fill it up with goodies when company comes for dinner, or on craft days. If I'm out in the studio alone, that just is not a safe thing to do.  If I had a full treat cabinet, I'd never get any work done.

Recently, I've decided to use the top shelf of the wardrobe as wallpaper storage, quite a bit of my collection fit up there.

This cabinet was meant to be a closet or wardrobe. It has the one shelf at the top and a bar for clothes. I added tables to set the goodies on, and cut a hole in the back to run an extension cord through for lighting.

Picking a vintage wallpaper to cover the back was tough. First of all, I wanted it to be kind of neutral- not a lot of color. Second, I wanted rosy.  I chose this toile rose pattern because I think it would look good with lots of different displays when I change things up a bit.

The space under the table cloths makes great storage for cups/napkins/etc.

This is a new addition to the Treat Cabinet.  My pal, Suzanne Duda, gave me this foofed up, old suitcase pocket. I thought it was ideal to use for serving pieces.  I slipped a couple large cups inside it, one to hold plastic forks, the other to hold napkins, so they wouldn't all just fall into the bottom of the pockets. 

Behind the cups, I slid the paper plates.

A few years back, I used to paint furniture and sell it at a Kansas City antique mall.   Some days I miss doing that, but not very often. I didn't realize how hard I was working until I quit doing it.  Its nice to concentrate on small items that fit into an envelope now instead!!

There are a few pieces of painted stuff still around the house, and even more in the studio.  You can probably tell that the room is a bit of a hodge podge of what ever I had. 

The two dining tables usually have either recently made items, or stuff for sale, or things I just bought set out on them.

The centers of the tables are filled with things that just kinda make me smile...

By the way, I do have a giveaway chosen for June!  And the month is only half way over, too.  All comments all month still count.

And here it is-

I'll be giving away a Peat Pot Pretty with a frozen Charlotte fairy.  These will be featured in Somerset Life, I'm writing an article about it next week, which is always an honor!! 

Leave a comment if you'd like a chance to win one!

I'll leave you with a couple more pics of some hand painted pieces in the studio.

And for more peeks into the room, please come back on June 19th, I'll be a part of the Where Bloggers Create party hosted by Karen Valentine.

While the room was cleaned up I made a little video of the space.

How I spent my summer vacation

Bringing puppies with us on the trip was such a good idea. I went back and forth up to the last minute on whether or not I should take them. I talked to a friend about babysitting them, I wrote everyone who had shown an interest to see if they wanted to buy one CHEAP before I went out of town, I fretted and fussed and worried about them getting too hot in the car or peeing everywhere in my sis's home.

Sissy said she'd be disappointed if I didn't bring them, and I hated the thought of missing the last bit of time with them before they were moving on to new families, so I decided to pack them up.

 

It was the right decision.  We spent a lot of time outside enjoying Sissy's lovely garden and patio, and the pups could run and play with Sugarwings.

And since I had litter box trained them (smartest thing I've EVER done!!) they were safe to leave at home, penned up with their box nearby while we went out and explored.

We took our fairy girl to the June Jamboree in Pendleton, IN.  It was an event I impatiently waited for all year when I was growing up there.  I really thought she'd love it too. And yes, she had fun and rode some rides, but my little nature girl was much more interested in the park and waterfall we walked through to get to the rides.   Walking along the creek and watching the waterfall was mesmerizing her so much that we had to convince her to come along to the flashing lights and carnival music up ahead.

Smart kid.

She is realizing at a young age that true happiness comes from the simple things.

We also spent time in Mounds State Park. When I was a kid, we were taught in the Indiana history books that it was an Indian burial grounds. Now they know that the mounds were built for some equinox reason.

Its been 30 years or more since I've been there, and I'd forgotten what a beautiful place it was.  Sugarwing's Daddy, Mr. Zen Master really loved it there.

Leave it to my family to go hiking in white clothes and barefoot.  But aren't they pretty that way?

Yes, very pretty.  What a sweet, happy couple these two are.

White didn't work out so well for me.  My sisses and I went to Sephora while out shopping and I leaned up against a sample lipstick display and ended up with a series of pale pink through plum polka dots along my skirt.

Any hints on how to remove lipstick from white cotton?

That is, if there are any of you left out there to answer after making you look at all my family vacation photos.  I promise, next post will have some arty or old stuff in it.

Lucky charms

We had a great trip to Indiana!  Traveling with 3 puppies and one 3 year old made the drive challenging, but unique.  Instead of stopping for typical roadside  breaks, we needed to find spots for all the little ones to stretch and play.  Lunch was a quick trip to Trader Joe's in St Louis to pick up a picnic, then take it to a city park to eat it and play for an hour or so.

And for one break, we found a giant field of clovers to run in.

Adam's loved one has magical four leaf clover hunting skills.  I've spent a life time trying to find just ONE.  She says its all in the way you look at them.  I consider myself a lucky person, and I have sharp eyes, but I can't find a lucky clover for anything.  And I search!!

Its been a quest of mine since I was a little girl.  Other goals, I've had to leave behind. Like trying to go one full mile on a pogo stick. I spent an entire summer when I was about 8 years old on that one, and had to give it up.  Or the summer I tried to learn how to do a back flip into the pool.  My body just doesn't do those and I gave up that dream too. 

I'm not giving up on the clover search, and now I have a Clover Master to teach me her skills.

My poor little car was filled to the brim on the way there, and we had to half unload it every time we got the pups out. 

But it was not too full to add some purchases along the way! My hat whispering skills were in fine form and I found so many (cheap!) along I70, that I am almost embarrassed to tell you about it.

 

These are just a few that I have unpacked so far. The rest are in my suitcase with all the dirty laundry and I am avoiding that.  Its hard enough to admit a vacation is over, doing up the laundry and unpacking is just too much to face.

  (The wallpaper covered box is full of old corsages. I got a bag filled with them for $11.)

So, I maybe my lucky charm isn't a four leaf clover its a millinery flower?

  

All the puppies are settled into their new homes now.  We are down to Agnes Rose, who I am calling Rosebud instead of Rose now. She is just too little to be a big flower, she's just a bud.

I'm adjusting to the fact that we actually KEPT one.  A couple days ago, she was one of the pups, now she is MY dog.

 

Well, that point is debatable.  Someone else claims Agnes Rosebud.

They kept each other company for most of the drive home.