Karla's Cottage

The Summer of Salads, and Garage Sale Goodies!

Its the most beautiful time of the year. Garage sale season has begun!  I went to a couple estate sales with Beth  and the other Karla.

One was a gold mine of crafty, vintagey goodness!  My favorite find was this box full of old starched lace Easter eggs for $2.75.  The eggs are smashy, but the flowers are wonderful and so are the velvety trims on some of them. I've already harvested the best parts and have them set aside for future creations.

At another sale, I picked up this satin gown for my grand fairy for $2.

Her favorite thing about it, is the big skirt that poofs out like a cloud when she sits on the register in the floor.

On the way to Beth's, I stopped at a garage sale, and found an under the bed, Rubbermaid container full of dress up clothes for the kids for only 50 cents. Which I thought was a pretty swell deal for the carton alone, not to mention the piles of fun clothes inside.

After going through the costumes (M&Ms, clowns, fairies, hula dancers, flappers- it was full!) I found this fairy garland and thought it was kind of nice.  On closer inspection, I realized that they were very old pansies pulled off a vintage hat!  Yippee!  

Those are going to MY dress up pile, not to the kid's.  Twinkle was kind enough to model them for me.

This retro chic stove was at one of the estate sales we went to.  I'm still in a Tiffany blue mood after my trip to CA, so I was really attracted to it.

There were lots of old bottles,  some floral hats, for $3 a piece (yippee again!), not a bad haul.

I especially like this old rat poison bottle, it will be used in my Halloween decor this fall.  Doesn't it look like the poison was so compelling that the rats tried to chew their way into the bottle? 

Uhm, if you are wondering why my curtains are in a bowl of water, its because I accidentally squirted blueberry juice onto the delicate lace.   I hurriedly grabbed a bowl of hot water with vinegar and dish soap in it, and  tucked the stained bit into the bowl to soak. It seemed quicker than trying to take them down and wash them. 

And I think its done a good job of getting the stain out.  I've replaced the soapy water with clean water a couple times to rinse them, I was trying to treat the old lace as gently as I could. 

And why was I squirting blueberry juice?  Because last week I  officially declared this the "Summer of Salads" and started off with a juicy fruit salad.

My goal is to have at least 2 to 3 fresh  made salads in the fridge at all times. I chopped fruit, spritzed it with lime juice, and added a sprinkling of Trader Joe's cinnamon sugar, the kind that comes  in a grinder. 

I also made a carrot salad, using a bag of shredded carrots, a half cup of broken pecans, 3/4 cup big golden raisins, a cup of chopped celery, a pinch of sea salt, and enough dressing to moisten it all.  The dressing I chose was a strawberry vinaigrette from Kroger's. 

  Simple to throw together with the prechopped carrots and bottled dressing, and great to snack on when I have a sweet tooth.

The third salad was a standard one we always have on hand.  Equal parts of chopped cucumbers ( I like those baby sized ones), celery, and tomatoes with sea salt,cracked pepper and some balsamic vinegar with olive oil.   This will be even better to make when our garden takes off and we have our own veggies to chop!

No, I'm not making a big bowl of yarn salad. This was something pretty that I saw at Beth's home.

This too.

 Even prettier, this is some of the stuff I bought from her! She had piles of things ready to go to her booth at the mall.  I of course, dove right in.  She has the BEST stuff.

I'll leave you with some photos of what's new in the Boutique.

(yep, I actually got some work done! Its only a handful of stuff, but its a start.)

My own thoughts on blogging and Making a project my own

Thanks again for all your comprehensive and thoughtful comments on blogs and the changing blogworld. My theory is that our nitch of blog friends is going to keep on enjoying the blogs and pals they have come to know, as well as exploring new ones they meet through links and mentions on their present faves.

Maybe blogging is not as big as it was, but it did grow with a BOOM when it took off! 

And maybe Its not growing like it was, people tire of writing, lose purpose or move onto bigger and better things.

Also, younger groups of tech savy net surfers might not have the patience to visit and read blogs.  Maybe for their group, tweeitng and pinning gives them the quick fix they need.

But it looks to me like my peeps, the ladies who "get" each other and have found each other online are not looking to lose contact.  I think that there is still plenty of blog love to be shared between us.

Maybe we don't always stop to comment, like we did when we first became involved with blogging, but when there is a sad incident, or a reason to congratulate, or a subject that will make you think, our blog buddies are there to share it and do step in to leave their thoughts.  I might have 2,000 plus hits on my blog in one day (not including the people who read it through facebook, google reader, etc.) and still only get 3 or 4 comments. But, when my dog died, and I was heartbroken (still am) so many of you came by to ease my pain.

I have NO plans on leaving. Like I mentioned in my post about this subject, I made time to sit and write my posts, even when I was not back in the swing of real work after so much time away.  Blogging isn't work to me, its become a big part of my life.  A daily journal almost.

I'll be posting away long after all the readers are gone.  My pal Laurie and I were saying that when we are in nursing homes, we'll be writing about making necklaces out of leftover macaroni  from lunch, and how to dye things with our chocolate pudding.

 

Our classes at the event in CA were useful and pretty.  I've already got mine in use.  Kecia gave us a lamp shade frame and some goodies to foof it up, then turned us loose. I brought some extras from home to add to mine, since I had a spot in mind for it in my living room and wanted a certain look.

And my pal, Lori was ready to share too. She gave me this teensy crocheted basket to tie onto the lace. I glued a button with an "N" on it for Nathan, and filled it with crystal beads.

The fun of the design is adding all the little tidbits here and there to the trailing lace.  I brought chandy crystals and backed them with floral wallpaper, and a few other things, like this tiny wooden egg.

And of course, I needed a fairy.

Kecia had a series of shades she had done herself as examples, I wish I'd taken some photos of hers.  She is one of the most talented artists I've met in a while and I really enjoyed her booth on Vendor night.

She is also an adventurer and is taking a few weeks to travel from her NJ home to CA and back for Tiffany's.  Looks like she'll be able to stop and visit Kansas on her return trip, and I look forward to having her here. 

Another class from the event got a slight alteration from me too. I tend to rework the classes with all of my own supplies, and this one was a big change.  I had the watercolor sketch for the banner backdrop with me and wanted it to be featured instead of a picture of Audrey on the scrapbook we made, so I turned the book horizontal to make it fit, and changed the color scheme up a bit.

Knowing that we were making a scrapbook, I packed photos of my loved ones, and lots of vintage papers.

The scrap book papers were all black and cream, I covered some of them in my own colors, but still using the shapes and sizes provided, and tying in some of the blacks when I could.

The flowers behind Dewdrop were part of the kit.

And I really liked the shape of this paper. I used the provided piece, and covered the left side of it, added the photo and flowers, then let the rest of the original paper peek out on the right.

There were two other projects over the weekend, I'll show those later. For now, I'll leave you with more scrappy pages from this class.

I was diligent about getting my book done, I knew that I wouldn't get back to it once I got home and it had been way too long since I'd made a grandchild photo album. And yes, it was finished before the weekend ended! While swap night was going on, I sat at my table spot to cut and glue away the evening.

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!

Tiffany Blue

The best part of going to these art events, like Tiffanys, is the people.

Great people, great friends. I might only see them randomly at various arty weekends, but we pick right up where we left off and continue the fun that started at the last party.

I've met some people who I consider very close friends, not just acquaintances or work friends at these places.

I have great memories of this latest trip, and many pretty pictures to show you.  But since the people I meet there mean so much to me, this post has not come easy.

I share more than laughs with these ladies.  I care about them.  And I cherish our times together.

So I don't want to be flip and go on and on about how wonderful it all was.

Believe me, it was WONDERFUL, Kim is an over the top, talented hostess who attends to every detail.  The teachers and classes were lovely. The decor amazing. The women were the best.

But there was also heart break this time.

My long time, Bella buddy lost her husband in an accident while we were there.

I'm glad she was surrounded by some of her closest friends when she got the news.  The ladies she was with that day were good people who had sturdy shoulders to cry on, and strong hearts to offer support. 

I do have more pictures to show you, and it was a lovely weekend.  But my heart aches for her now. 

She should be proud and thankful that the night before her husband's accident, she was saying very nice things about him and not complaining as many of us tend to do when we are idly talking about our husbands.  Not a negative word left her mouth when she talked about the two of them restoring a cabin together and about his job as a fireman.

Lots of us might (me included) might throw in a snide or complaining comment about a husband's design choices,  forgetfulness, or who knows what when talking about doing a project like that together or be crabby about the long hours he works at his job.

She spoke with pride about his work and with happiness talking about their project.

The minute I heard the news about her loss, I had to call my own loved one right away and tell him how much I appreciated him.  You never know when it could be too late.  Or when your last conversation about someone was not a flattering one. 

 

Mother's Day Chaos and Joy

Mother's Day this year was not what I had planned. But some days just rolling with the changes and seeing what happens is the best way to go.  You never know what little surprises await you.

We thought we'd do a girls day, the Hippie Chick, Gypsy and I.  But nursing school finals were looming, the Gypsy was feeling ill, and KU graduation was going on, so between the KU crowds and Mother's Day, no tables were to be had at restaurants around Lawrence.  So, I ran to the store to get dinner to cook at home, we tucked our Gypsy in on the sofa to rest, and we rolled with it.

My husband and Sugarwings mowed an "I heart MOM" into the grass and lined it with white flowers.  When he called me outside to see their creation, I was in the middle of one of the many crisises of the day (spilled syrup in the fridge- into every drawer, with broken glass every where/ a whole set of tea cups knocked over and broken/ baby pee to steam clean out of the new mattress/ trying to create a spur of the moment meal for 8/ as well as a few more stressors along the way) and I maybe wasn't as impressed as I should have been.

For one thing, it said "mom", so I figured it was for Sugarwing's Mommy.  He meant it for all the moms in the house, But I didn't realize that at the time. I said it was nice and the flowers were pretty and went back to my kitchen problems.

The day was not the Girl's Day Out that I had planned and there were lots of glitches throughout the afternoon. But I tell you what, it was still a beautiful day, somehow. 

• The hour cutting fruit and veggies at the sink with my son while we talked about nothing in particular
• The early morning arrival of our new flock of chickens and watching the grand fairies play with them
• All of us telling stories about our own moms over dinner
• Seeing the happy faces of our grand daughter's moms, who we now consider our own daughters, as they opened the gifts we picked out for them
• Looking around the room and feeling the love of this woven together group who became a family

All of those heart warming moments, as well as the chaotic, messy ones made the day memorable. And thinking about the trouble my husband went to, and the thoughtfulness of his mown message made me smile, and wish I'd acted a little more appreciative at the time when he showed it to me. 

It really was a sweet thing to do.