Karla's Cottage

A very special surprise

What a great trip I just had.  Even with a bad cold that got worse daily (I hope I wasn't sprinkling germs on everyone like fairy dust every place I went) and a trip delayed by weather that left me stranded one night.

The utterly delightful, Karen Hillman, wanted to do something extra nice for her pal, Judy, to celebrate her 50th birthday.  So she arranged a surprise arty party for her at the Cozy Cottage in Mt. Dora.

The place is a real life doll house!

It's full of air, and light, and joy, all designed by Karen.

All whites and pastels and filled with embellished sweetness.

It looked like Judy was certainly surprised by Karen's gift.  What a hard secret to keep for the months she and Judy's family had been planning this.

We were all touched to see how happy Judy was.

Not only did I get to make some new friends and have a lovely day at the cutest home on the planet, I got to visit my Great Aunt Caroline's former hometown, that had lots of special memories for me, and I was able to spend an entire weekend with Guncle Randy, and go to his home in Jacksonville before flying home.

Karen was kind to include my baby bro in the festivities. I knew he would hit it off with the ladies and fit right in for the classes. He's a lot of fun.

I'll have more pics of the class and the rest of the trip coming up.  Every where I turned was one photo op after another. Beautiful backgrounds and smiling faces galore!

Mt. Dora is a town that I used to visit with my sisters to go see our Great Aunt Caroline. So everywhere I looked, something reminded me of them.  And even the birthday cake was topped by the same fairy image that Sissy used for our Fairy Book Swap

Gloating in my Early Birdness

Well, I still don't have the piles of extra wallpaper photographed and listed for sale in my Boutique. But the KITS ARE DONE!!!

  As I was cutting up hundreds upon hundreds of pages, I thought it was going to seriously deplete my supply.  But, I think I'm safe there... (I have two more storage places for papers too)

The fairy tale books that I have been buying went up on top of the Treat Cabinet for storage.  I like having them separate from my other hoarded piles of old books, so that I don't accidentally use the pages for wrapping paper.   These are special! 

My poor, poor studio, still has not recovered from kit making for an Enchanted Affaire.  But look! The kits are DONE.  Two giant boxes are filled up and ready to mail when the time comes. What a nice feeling to have it all packed up a month early.

Well, mostly all of it.  I still have to box up examples, extras, etc to take along.  I'll probably add those to  my suitcase.  These boxes are heavy...  what makes me decide to make such elaborate, complicated, heavy kits to ship all the way across the country??? I tend to get carried away by what would be exciting to do, not by what is practical to do.

The kits are wrapped in papers and ribbons that can be used when creating the project. And what is fun about these packets of goodies, is that no two are just alike. It would be impossible for two people to make the same book.  And they are chock full of The Good Stuff. Yummy!

Fairy Cup Cakes

My trip to Florida to see Guncle Randy and do a mini class is also a surprise birthday party.  I'm writing this ahead of time, so I'm not mentioning details about who will be at the party.

Since the class is about fairies, and it was a party, I decided to make fairy cupcakes.

A kind swapper, Wendy, who was in my Fairy Book Swap, had given me a cupcake she made as a hostess gift and I've always admired it.

I hope that she doesn't mind me making some myself.  These were done with Styrofoam balls in cupcake papers. Hers are a bit different.

I made a special, little boy sprite for Guncle Randy.

And an extra large serving of cup cake for the birthday girl.

When I get all unpacked and settled back in at home, I'll have some photos of the weekend for you.

Fluttery Florida Fairies

For the little class I am doing in Florida while hanging out with Guncle Randy, I'm packing plenty of pixie making materials.

Some will be free standing, others will perch in cages. 

Instead of making up kits for each person, I decided to bring piles of supplies for everyone to chose from.  They will make a cage/cloche thingy, then pick a fairy to add to it.

Everyone can make multilple fairies, which should be nice.  Fairies probably don't like to be all alone.

Sugarwings says that they won't stay in the cages any way, the holes are too big and the little guys can crawl right out.

I hope everyone enjoys all the goodies I'm bringing to play with!! I know I am looking forward to delving in and making some more myself.

Caged Fairies

While I am in Florida, I'll be doing a mini class with friends.  Details later, I don't want to ruin the surprise.

The wire cage/cloche thingy has been in development and I think I've mastered a simple way to build them, that will be fun to share. 

These little round frames were at Michaels in the Dollar Bins. But have you noticed that some of those bins are now $2 or $3, not just a dollar any more? Still, for $2 each, these were a good deal.

A couple were kept as is, in the bright color they were purchased. The rest were sprayed with Zinsser Bullseye Primer, then washed with color.

Which is much more my style than the bright plastic look.

But I kind of liked the original style too. All I did with this one was add text from an old school book.

Progress despite the Kansas weather

We have had some spotty weather this week while we've rented the backhoe to prep the field for it's transformation to a food forest. 

But between cold and rain, there have been enough days to get some work done.  On the nice days, I've been slathering paint onto a 15' canvas for An Enchanted Affaire.

It's progressing, but still needs a lot of work.  I was hoping to get it done before my trip this week, but that is not happening.  At first, I thought I'd only work on it during nice days so I could open the garage door for good lighting.

But since there are so few of those, I'm going to have to plug in a space heater and keep the door shut.

As the work progresses on the Nathan Family Fairy Food Forest, we've all juggled turns watching Dewdrop.  This was Albie's turn.

 


As long as the weather cooperates, the kids are having a blast playing while the parents work on the garden landscaping and Grammie paints in the garage.

But we only have the backhoe for a week, and we've had as many bad days as good days.  It has a heated cab, so my son can keep going, but not during the deluge of rains or the snow that we have had. The weather has been so sucky, that the rental company is giving us an extra day for free, which helps a lot.

There has been a lot of progress, whether it looks like it or not, even with the bad weather.

We even have the beginnings of a crop!  Our Gypsy  planted potatoes for St. Pat's Day.  She has taken a wire tomato cage, lined it with straw, and filled it with dirt and tater eyes.  The theory is that the plants will poke out through the holes of the cage, and when the crop is ready to harvest, you just remove the cage, let the tower of dirt topple over, and pick through it to gather your potatoes.

Genius!

Speaking of St. Patty's, Sugarwings and her Hippy Chick mommy were both in the parade this year.  Here is her mom hooping it up, on the left.  Our little leprechaun was in the bus.  That is good, because it was COLD.

I'll be away for a few days, seeing the Guncles in Florida and visiting some friends. (details later, it's a surprise visit for someone) I could use some Florida Sunshine!!!

I've prewritten some posts, so please keep coming by to visit.

Bye Bye Google Reader

Sometimes I forget what I mention on Facebook and what I say on my blog. Or what I told a friend, or simply what I was thinking to myself, even.  I try to not be repetitive, but since some folks read the blog itself, and some read it on FB, and some don't read it at all, they only read FB posts, I try to repeat some photos or stories in different places.

I don't think that I talked about this issue of Somerset Apprentice on my blog yet.  but who knows what I have yammered on about here or there.... 

 

It's always an honor to be involved in one of Stampington's issues. I don't do as many articles as I used to. Writing for decorating or craft magazines has always been a little side hobby, never a job, and I've rarely pursued them much. It's just a fun little thing to do.  I get a kick out of it, and appreciate each opportunity. 

Anyway, this issue is on the stands now, and I'm thrilled to be in it!

And speaking of how hard it is to keep up with blogs, and tyring to figure out the best place to read them, did you hear that Google Reader is being closed down in a few months?

We were able to use Google Friend Connect on Typepad for a short time, and it was taken down a while back.  It was an easy way to connect a blog you wanted to read to Google Reader.  When Friend Connect left,  I added some connections to other blog reading sites to my side bar. 

Now that Google Reader is disapearing, you might want to explore those other sites and and chose one to transfer your favorite blogs to.

Blog Lovin seems to have gotten popular, I've had a few new followers on that every day lately.  And NetWorked Blogs is a good one too. These buttons are on my side bar, if you'd like to check them out.

What do you use for blog gazing? Do you have another site better than these? I'd appreciate any reccomendations.  Thanks!

Making the most of our glimpse of spring and starting the food forest

We are taking advantage of this temporary burst of Spring to spend as much time outdoors as we can.  It's only supposed to be around for a couple of days, then back to cold and wet again.

(Dewdrop is loving on Twinkle's son Scruffy who went to live with our neighbors)

We've hung the banner I'm painting for An Enchanted Affaire in the garage and I hope to get all the backgrounds down before the cold hits again. Then I'll have to wait for a warmer day to come out and finish.

Its HUGE!  Much larger than the one I made last year for Kim's Tiffany event. If this was a few inches bigger, I wouldn't be able to fit it onto the wall.  As it is, the soffit is in the way, I'll have to paint the rest of the banner, then move it down and finish that spot that is bunched up right now.

We have also begun on the Nathan Family Fairy Food Forest.  By "me", I mean my son and his Gypsy Beloved. 

What's a food forest?  Well, it sounds like a good idea, but I'm a bit hazy on the details.  My kiddos have been researching for months to plan just the right way to do it, what to plant and how to do. Here is a definition from wikipedia:

Forest gardening is a low-maintenance sustainable plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems, incorporating fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables which have yields directly useful to humans. Making use of companion planting, these can be intermixed to grow in a succession of layers, to build a woodland habitat.

Forest gardening is a prehistoric method of securing food in tropical areas. In the 1960s, Robert Hart adapted the principles and applied them to temperate climates.

They will also be incorporating hugelkulture.

Which involves piles of dirt.

Well, more than that, but its complicated to me.  There is stuff in the piles and it self waters some how.  

A backhoe has been rented for the week, but a lot of it is hand work.  I've not done much to help at all, beyond watching Dewdrop a few hours.

But since I've got a deadline for the banner, I can't do much to help in the yard right now. 

I'll be posting more about our all organic, sustainable, permaculture, heirloom seed, food forest as it progresses and I figure it out.  All I know is that I'll have all the fresh salads I could want from it, and I've been promised pretty trails through it. Plus climbing vines (with edible fruits of course), lots of flowers that attract beneficial bugs, and a potting shed.

As long as its pretty and provides tasty fresh food, I'm in! 

All my husband and I do is provide the land and the finances to purchase the plants, and rent the backhoe. 

Hippies will work for beets and lettuce, so all the labor is free!

The plan is to eventually turn our acreage into a real farm, where my son produces goods to sell at the farmer's market, and maybe even have a roadside stand in our yard.

Free vintage images

I thought maybe you could use a little leprechaun.

Here is another version. 

Just click on any of the images to open in a larger screen, then save to your computer before printing.

Here is a sepia look for him, if you aren't in a St. Patty's mood.

Or maybe you are feeling girly? 

Here is an image from an old French chocolate card, that was blue. I tinted it sepia and added some soft colors.  I'm going to use her as a fairy in one of the cages from the previous post.

And here is a little girl leprechaun made from a sepia photo, just for fun.

  Now, why do I let myself get side tracked on these kind of projects?? I only needed a couple of fairy pics and next thing you know, I've edited 20 instead. 

Back to work!

Those fairies are not going to just fly into the cages on their own. I need to glue them down and trap them!

Wire bird cages

Over the weekend, I made birdcages, over and over and over.

I'm trying to pin down the best way to whip them up.  So that I can share the lessons at Birdsong and at another little gathering that I'm going to.

There are lots of tricks and short cuts that I have picked up along the way.

I'm going to do a bit more experimenting with different wires, but I have the basics down to a way that makes the process sooooo much more simple! 

The short cut I developed has made all the difference!  After twisting and bending for days on end, I think I have a worthwhile lesson to share. 

Of course, the fun part is always the details and the embellishing.

Once I whip up a few more cloche/cage thingies, I'll hone in on the details and figure out just what the finished kits will contain for my guests.  

It is a relief to have a project in mind, though. I've got a lot of ladies coming to my house to play, it would have been a mess if I didn't have something for them to make when they got here!  Usually, I don't offer a class till all my ducklings are in a row, but there were too many other things in line to be finished, so I had to just go for it and announce the sign ups for Birdsong.

Of course, I'm very glad I did. We've had a lovely response from friends and it filled fast. I hope they like the projects that we will be doing. They signed up blindly, not knowing what they'd get.

There is still one more to be decided, but at least I have this one knocked off the list!