Karla's Cottage

An art journal never ends, there is always more to add!

Working on my Sister Trip to Florida's travel journal got me in the mood to add photos to some other albums. This book is the fairy tale one that I made for the Snow White Event that I taught during one of Kim's Artistic Affairs. By the way, registration is open for her next party, and my dear friend, Lori is teaching there.

I like to cover the entire book with background papers that are pretty as is.  And later on, if I come across something to add to the page, it enhances it.  But in the mean time, the book is still nice to flip through and look at even though not all of the pages are 100% done. 

There are always corners to fill  and room to slide in more fun.  

When I first made the book, I posted this pic from my sister trip and said the mermaid paper was too nice as is to cover up. Well......

It goes to show that an art journal can be a never ending story! A work in progress to add to as you wish.

This page still kept its mermaid, I outlined her and filled the page with doodly doos.  Here is the sea shell angel I made for Dad in the sand and a message that says "good bye, Daddy".

Here the outlined mermaid is holding the bottle of our dad's ashes.  And a funny story from the trip is remembered in a banana shape.

Another funny story for us during our trip was about raisins.  And donuts.  When you get older, sometimes you just have to laugh about all the things you try to say and simply cannot remember.  Bananas can become apples and donuts and danish are pretty much the same thing anyway, right??  We had a week of trying to finish each other's sentences and none of us being able to come up with the right word. (and yes, I know it is spelled wrong. Hey, I was lucky to remember the word raisin, let alone spell it!!)

 

When I doodle around in an art journal, I like to draw cute little sketches or cartoons, and add words that will bring back fond memories. Then, I add doo dads, and squiggles and other things to fill in, with a mix of markers, metallic and white inks.  On this, I've added some dollops of glitter and glued on some sparkly stars. (in remembrance of watching a shooting star across the gulf one night)

I've got lots more tips and tricks to create your own art journal in this $15 online class. It is written in blog form, with a different post for each subject, and is a learn at your own pace class. It will be left up as long as I have a Typepad blog, and I can't see that I'll be stopping  this anytime in the near future. I'm slightly addicted to online journalling as well as art journalling!

Or you can make an angel themed journal with me, here at the studio for the holidays. Details here.

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm hoping that as you read this, my house is all decked and my turkey is roasting in the oven.  But for now (I write these posts ahead of time) I can just day dream of juicy turkey and all the trimmings while thinking about what I'm thankful for.  And hoping to get time to get the tree out and the 6 overflowing boxes of sparkling goodies piled onto it....

While the furniture is moved around to make space for the upcoming tree, we decided to take advantage of the space and have a dance party. I looped a strand of rope lights around the room, gathered up the grand fairies, and hit the button on what my husband thinks is the world's most annoying toy.

It's loud, it's obnoxious, and WE LOVE IT.  That is, the girls and I. Not so much their grandfather. But he will dance with us.  I bought it for half price and with a 30% coupon off that price at Kohls. And I think the ten bucks is a  much better investment than the two year gym membership that I bought.  This little machine is a big workout.

We are learning to dance, "North Pole Style."  Here I am shovelling snow. We also get to chase snowflakes and catch them on our tongue, go ice fishing, jiggle like Santa's tummy, and plenty more cool dance moves. 

(I bought these slinky,fuzzy jammies at the same 50% off, then 30% off sale at Kohls, and have been very popular with Dewdrop when I wear them. She thinks I am some sort of a human stuffed animal and won't stop petting me.)

I think she is pretty snuggly too.

Enjoy your turkey and your thanking.  I know I have a lot of things to be thankful for. 

And if you are in the mood to get ready for the holidays, I have some kits available (with more to come).

I'm calling these Tart Tin Tassels.

Both kits are available in the Boutique. 

Along with these fairy kits from Birdsong.  Wouldn't they make adorable Elves on Shelves???

I'm doing that with one of them this year.

I'm also planning to fill a silver tree with them.

Or if you'd prefer to buy something ready to go instead of making it, I've got one ornie listed in the Etsy shop and hope to get more up soon.  

Also, I have seats left in my Romantic White Christmas workshop at the studio on Friday Dec. 5.  Maybe I'll see you in Lawrence??

 

Lost Swap Pages, a very sad tale

 A few years back, I participated in a round robin swap with three talented ladies.  Beth Leintz, Lisa McIlvain, and Sandra Blanks.

Here is a post from March '12 when we were packing up the completed books to send to Stampington, per request of an editor there.

Here is the cover that I made for my own book.  The theme of all four books was "Her Life in Stitches" and since I didn't sew, I dedicated mine to my mother, who was a talented seamstress.  So, I added her photo to the cover that I made from an old book.

Well, two years later, the books have returned from the magazine, after one of us asking for them to be returned. Some pages of each of ours had been published, which is always an honor.

This photo shows the back side of the pages I showed in the first photo for this post.

And it is also a picture of my whole, entire book.   

Yep, it is the ENTIRE BOOK.

I received two pages back from the whole swap, no covers, nothing else. And one page here was sent to me by Sandra after the books were complete, so it has been sitting in my cabinet waiting for the rest of the pages to be sent back so I could add it to the book.

This is a special page that Beth made for me, in honor of my mom too.  It wasn't returned.

Now, hopefully, this means that the missing pages are being published some day? I hope it doesn't mean they were treated casually and just lost in the storeroom. I've sent a message to the magazine and got a nice response, saying they will look around for them.  But I've lost other things there, and know others who have too.  

Sure, they get tons of art sent in, some by request and some just from artists hoping to get picked to appear in their magazines. These books were all requested. Beth and I took the time to pin a tag to each and every single page, reading- "Made by Beth Leintz for Sandra Blanks" or "Made for Karla Nathan by Lisan McIlvain", etc.  

Beth and Lisa are very happy with their books. I haven't heard from Sandra about hers.

Lisa (who Stampington mailed all the pages to) mistakenly sent me some pages made by myself for her, Beth, and Sandra, and I've got those ready to send to the rightful owners. So, their books will be nice and full. The photo I saw of Lisa's book had quite a few pages, and I'm sending her 3, so hers should be fat, full, and look complete. 

Although, this special page I made for Lisa, with a "Borrower's" theme wasn't in the photo she sent to me of her book. This one was made because she mentioned how much the book had meant to her as a child.

Here are a couple of posts I did about the swap at the time.  This is Lisa's cover.  Here is a page I made for her, that was published. 

I'm not trying to dis Somerset here. I can understand how this happens.  I told you in my last post, just how hard it is for me to get things right when I host a swap for 100 people.  Just imagine how hard it is to keep track of the bazillions of pieces that Stampington must get in the mail.

In the past, I've never complained about lost items that I've made.  No big deal, I'll make more. But I am saddened by the loss of gifts made for me by these talented ladies. And I guess I'm bringing this up to let you know that this is a very common thing.  If something is precious to you, I recommend hanging on to it, not sending it in to be featured in a magazine. 

Somerset has beautiful publications and I've always been pleased to be in them.  But, if you are sending something in to any publication, please keep in mind that they deal with so many applications and so many pieces, that mistakes will be made. DON'T send in anything that you don't mind losing.

If more of my pages are found, I will be sure to let you know.  I'll be singing it from the rooftops.

EDIT:

The pages were found! My entire book, is all in one piece and will be sent home. I have to thank Miss Shawna Horan for searching for and successfully finding it.  I am thrilled to be getting the artwork made by the other swappers back again.  Delightful news!

If you do send in work to a magazine, keep records. Remember who requested it, who you talked to and have photos.  I did none of those. But I went through my blog archives and found some pictures that helped in the search. 

Big thank yous and a recap of a couple swap errors

I adored hosting the Nature's Blessing Journal swap. It was spectacular to have all the artwork coming into my studio. And I loved working on the journals. I do plan on hosting another book swap early in 2015, because this one was a joy to do.

Although, I did make three huge mistakes. Hopefully that is all? If I messed yours up somehow, PLEASE contact me.

1- I found a journal package ready to mail, behind my table where it had fallen and hidden from me. It was mailed very, very late.

2- I transposed the address on another package. It is lost and gone forever, but luckily was only a blank book, easy to replace and send along to the patiently waiting new owner.

3- I pride myself on gathering up pages that go together in a cohesive manner. But one book, I made the mistake of putting pages together that were too similar and weren't as pleasing for the new owner.  I think she had hoped for a wider variety of styles. My mistake.

There are some extra pages (that I will add into my own book if not needed) because a few freinds who joined the swap, made 6-8 because they were having so much fun creating, and then only took 4 from the swap piles. And a couple of other swappers contributed extra pages to be helpful. I also, gave away more of my own hand made pages (10) than I kept for my own book. I couldn't stop making layouts! 

So, I have a few extras to work with if there are problems.  If no problems come up, I end up with a deliciously FAT book of my own. Lucky me!

We've had tons of compliments on the work swappers have done and I've heard back from many of our artists. Hopefully, all are content.  Most have raved about what they received. (And I don't blame them, there was a lot to rave about).

 But if I have made a mistake somehow, I need to hear about it. I don't take my responsibility to handle other's artwork lightly. 

If for some reason, I' ve accidentally sent you two from the same artist, or you have some other problem with your book, I really, really, really, want to make it right, instead of hoarding all of these extra treasures to myself. So, please speak up. 

I'm already overly blessed by the treats that came in the mail with the swap pages.  

First of all, it is an honor that everyone trusts me with their precious art. I do my best with it, but I am a bit of a scatterbrain sometimes. So, I have lots of lists, and rituals, and am so careful, despite my natural inclinations to be haphazard. I really do try hard to keep it straight. But as you can see from the three mistakes I told you about, I do screw up some things.

Second of all, this wasn't a free swap. I do charge for entrants. Now, I'm not saying I make a big profit from it. I spend on supplies and postage. And of course, all my time goes into the swap instead of creating or selling other stuff  so I'm not making my normal income while I'm cranking out 75 books and filling them up with swap pages.

 But, I do not lose money on it.  

And the swappers are so kind. I get the nicest notes and cards. I love the little stories some ladies include with their pages about what they had as inspiration or the kind things they have to say about my blog or my grand fairies.

It's an extra big bonus when they also include gifties!  Wow, the girls and I were overwhelmed with the treats we got. 

Hand made items, vintage pieces, supplies, notebooks, Starbucks cards, ephemera scrap, all kindly thought out and much appreciated. I wait till I have the grand fairies with me to go through all of the gifts, after the swap is completely done. We have so much fun oohing and ahhing over all the generosity and thoughtfulness.

Thank you!

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ps- Want to come to my cottage studio for a Christmas class? I have two available, how to see you here!

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PS- Speaking of other income, I have bleached, dyed and glittered trees in the Etsy shop now if you need some!

Big, Fat, Travel Journal and how-to's- Part Two and some digital photo vacation tips

Where were we? Oh yes, in the middle of the travel journal.  This book is made the way I did the Nature's Blessing Journals for the swap, and there are directions on how to make these type of books from scratch in my online tutorial, here.

In the tutorial, are  ideas on finishing pages too, if you'd like more details to make one of your own.

This page is showing the inside of a card that Guncle Randy made for me. So I added pictures to it from our Bachelor Party Craft Day.

The polka dot and glitter tape borders are from the dollar bin at Target, what a deal!

Here it is with the card that he made for me closed.  Greeting cards are great to add to journals and scrapbooks, you glue down the back and can add to the inside of them.

During our craft day in Mt Dora, we worked on Randy's wedding decor. So I used some of the fall toned paper from the projects to make this page. Over it, is a leaf (outlined in brown marker for a shadow effect) from the velvet hat he bought,  instant photos from that day, a heart shaped shell I found on the beach,  and one of the mini garlands we were making for his centerpieces.

I tied a bit of baker's twine to the two little wooden skewer sticks, glued them down, then glued the garland pieces right on to the string.  For the centerpiece, I punched holes in the leaves with words and tied them to the string, but this way seemed to be a better fit for the book.

The words, "Mount Dora" were cut out of a brochure we picked up.

On the adjacent page, I used an October book page from a garden journal to make a background and pocket. I inked the edges in green, and highlighted "October" with Stickles glitter.

With Tim Holtz Distress markers, I drew a pink cottage and Karen's sweet poodle. I like those markers for this kind of work, because you can still see through them to the text below.  For detail, I used a black ink pen and opaque white  marker.

The pocket is perfect for business cards I gathered while shopping downtown.

Another way to use greeting cards, is to punch holes in them and tie them directly into the book itself, instead of gluing them down to the pages.  At the Ringling Bros. museum, I picked up a couple circus cards and tied them into my journal.  I covered the inside with brochure pages from the museum, added photos, and colorful rick rack trim.

I thought the polka dot tape was festive and circus-y too.

The sunshine yellow flower got a clown face center.

I thought that the outside of the card was plenty cute, and left it as it was. A few ruffles was all it needed.  Not every bit of the book needs to be covered. 

On the opposite page, I used the museum grounds map as a background for photos. The pictures are outlined with brown to make them stand out a bit.

This is a map of the coast, with a few photos, accented with polka dot tape.  I cut the figures out of one picture and shadowed them by outlining with the brown marker.  And added a ruffle and a half flower to the bottom.  

When I do the backgrounds, I like torn edges, and keep it all a little rough, not perfectly cut.  I also like to have lots of peek-a-boo bits like the ruffle and flower petals.

This one was fun.  Bobbie and Sissy were posed in front of a giant lobster, and I slipped their cut out silhouettes under a netting from an old hat, and added my picture over it for dimension.

The netting is held down at the top and bottom with a piece of glued down ribbon.

Here is a close up to see the details.

I might have liked this one better if I'd used a blue background, but I layered it back at the hotel room, then when I got home and went through the photos, these are the ones I thought would be cute on this page. Brown is okay, and since it wasn't planned ahead, I had to make it work. But if I had it to do over again, I'd have used blue.

Sometimes it is nice to have some simple pages, like this travel brochure page with a ruffled ribbon and a single outlined photo, then an unadorned greeting card from the circus.

Here, I have folded a piece of paper in half, and glued down the back of it. Ribbons are glued to the front and back to make a tie, and charms we found at a Sarasota bead shop are added to the ends of the ribbons.

I bought a vintage photo album at a junk shop and the beach pictures from it were the perfect addition to many of  my pages.  One is used here with lace medallions as trim.

When the folded blue paper is untied and opened,you can see the picture inside.

Another full photo with a beach view is above it, and is outlined with blue.  The figure next to it is cut out for variation.   I find it more interesting to have different shapes and sizes of pictures than to show the same beach background over and over, exactly the same behind each person.

Now, I just love beaches to death, but for the sake of the art journal, this layout is a little more interesting than a row of same size, same background pictures.

A stip of polka dot tape makes a simple, and easy border. With a marker and white opaque ink, I've highlighted the words, "sea princesses" that I saw in the text of the old paper that I was using.

One afternoon of our trip was spent driving around and looking up past addresses of our Great Grandma Nellie, Great Aunt Caroline, and Grandma Smith.  

When I saw this sheet music with Nellie in the title, I knew I wanted to use it for this day. I added a vintage ocean picture, and cut out three girls from very old magazine to glue over it, then wrote the addresses we'd looked up on the rest of the paper.  

 I doodled shells, and hearts around the words, and then added some glitter and a rhinestone.

Part of my trip included a flight from Florida to New Hampshire for the Guncles wedding. While it makes an odd color palette for the book ( sunny beach tones and fall hues) it was even weirder to pack the suitcases for both climates.

Here, I have some pumpkin themed tissue paper crumpled up and glued down as a background, and over that, I've added photos and some velvet flowers from a hat Randy found while we were out shopping in Mt. Dora.

The adjacent page matches, and has a banner cut out of the wedding announcement.

A photo from the ceremony is layered over the program, with some lace trim, and orange velvet ribbon, topped off with more blooms and an autumn butterfly.

This page is a plain, wallpaper backdrop, with four fun photos. I left all four of them intact, but notice that I did cut them to slightly different sizes? Each is outlined in ink to make them stand out a bit, and one page has some doodles down the side of the pictures.

 Here are some tips I follow for digital photos while on vacation:

• Pack your battery charger!
• If you are using your camera phone, edit the pics with something like the Snapseed ap before posting them. Crop, brighten and sharpen for better photos.  
• For your phone or camera both, DELETE all noticeably bad pictures daily. Blurry, unfocused, bad angles, snaps should   be cleaned out to save space, and to save time when you are ready to upload to your computer at home.
• I email myself the photos I want to keep from my phone, then open them on my computer when I get home.  I then delete most of the photos from the phone, so that I don't have so many on there that I can't find the faves that I want to see.
• Take a lot more photos than you think you will need.  This will give you more to chose from.  
• When you get back home and upload, be selective with the pictures.  If you've taken hundreds, narrow it down to dozens. Really.  I know it is hard, but honestly, you will enjoy having the best ones to keep and you don't need so many duplicates.  Pretend you are at an optician's exam.  Remember how the Dr. will ask, "This one? Or this one?"  With multiple photos of the same scene, clean out by comparing them one at a time, to chose the best couple from the multitudes.
• But watch out for hidden goodies!  If you have a group shot and one person has made a face, another has her eyes closed, and a third is drop dead gorgeous, consider cropping the picture to be a close up beauty shot of just the stand out person. 
• Here is a big one for me, I tend to tilt my camera a lot. So, I have to be careful to straighten each picture before cropping.  Its very distracting to see the ocean in the background sliding away to the side of the picture.  A straight horizon line with water is very important.  Same with ceilings and walls for indoor shots.  
• After straightening, figure out what needs cropped. Crop some pics in close, and leave the backgrounds in others.  You'll want variety.  But if there is a big expanse of ceiling showing, ten feet of driveway in front of your subjects, or a plain, boring wall, get rid of it. Keep backgrounds that are attractive, or tell a story about where you are. But if the backdrop is unnecessary, crop and focus on the subject of the picture.
• I like Picmonkey for my editing. The site is self explanatory and easy to use. 
• When editing, use Tooth Whitening sparingly.  Yes, make the subject more attractive, but don't make them look unnatural. Same with Eye Bright.  And while I'm sure everyone would appreciate less wrinkles, please don't iron out the faces to look like the person is one of those bad, "After" pictures in a spread on plastic surgery gone wrong.
• My favorite use for Wrinkle Remover is to blur backgrounds to really make the foreground pop.
• If there is a glaring color that stands out in the background, like an orange sign peeking through a pretty tree scene or a bright blue shirt on someone walking by in the distance, I go to Eye Color, and chose gray to draw over the bright color and tone it down.  I don't want the veiwer's eye to be led to something that stands out and distracts from the subject of the photo.
• If you are planning on using the pics in a scrapbook like I did, make sure you leave room for cutting them down to various sizes after they are printed. If you overly crop, and then print them all the same size, you have no space left to cut them down to make some smaller for the album. And I think that the albums look much more interesting with a mix of sizes.

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ps- Want to come to my cottage studio for a Christmas class? I have two available, how to see you here!

Inside a big, fat travel journal- Part One (with LOTS of How to details) and a story of bravery

In the last few years, travel journals have become a big part of my vacations. I like to take an empty book and a box of supplies (I used those clear plastic bins with snap on lids, that are about shoebox size), and gather tidbits of goodies along the trip to add to the pages. 

Now that I have a retro style instant camera (from Michaels)  I can add some pictures as I go. But I limit myself and don't put too many in, I save plenty of space in the book for other photos once I get home.

On these pages, I used a tourist map of the area, torn out of a free guidebook.  I glued down shells from a shopping trip in Venice Beach, and a sunshine yellow flower from a hat my sister, Bobbie Sue brought to me.

(Can you see more blooms from this hat peeking out of other pages? What I've done, is to kind of stair step style, layer the flowers over the pages,so that they make a row of petal ruffles that show when the book is closed)

These two pages are covered in crumpled tissue paper that was in a shopping bag.  I've covered a large tag with scrapbook paper, and added some lace, a flower, and birds that I brought with me.  

The name of the restaurant we were eating at in these pictures is hand written because I didn't save anything from the restaurant guide that had the name on it. 

It is fun to add little surprises that remind me of the events, like the tiny alligator I glued on here. The restaurant was on the bay, and my sisters were certain that a gator might climb up the dock at any time.

When I put down a background, I don't know what photos I will be using on it.  Usually, I gather up papers from the trip, and pack some scrapbook paper and wallpaper, and while I'm relaxing and watching the water, I make backgrounds.  Some pages get details while I'm on the vacation, others get finished when I get home and add pictures.

But I do try to keep in mind where we are going and what we are doing, and semi-plan some pages around the photos I took that day.

On this pocket, I've glued a beach scene from a vintage photo album I found at a junk shop we stopped in. It is lined in ruffled ribbon.

Trim on the bottom of the right hand page is crumpled tissue paper, lace that I brought with me, some shells I picked up, and millinery forget-me-nots.

I like the shells combined with the flowers, so I used that on a few different pages.

For one thing, I like the way it looks. For another, I think the flowers help keep the shells in place.  Since the shells aren't flat, not a lot of their surface area makes contact with the paper.  Gluing flowers to the shells and to the paper seems to make them have a more secure hold.

This shark tooth from Venice Beach, also is not flat, so to make it fit more securely, I stuck it into a blob of glue on a piece of brown paper bag.  Then packed sand tightly into the glue to cover the brown paper and to hide the glue.

It was then added to a border of gross-grain ribbon that I tore off the yellow flowered hat my sis gave to me.

The background here is a place mat from the restaurant we ate at after shark tooth hunting. So, I decorated the page with that fossilized tooth, and photos of us from that day.  

On the right page, I took polaroids of my sisses as we worked on our scrap books, and wrote down funny quotes from them.  I won't show you the whole page, because those aren't the best pics. But I liked them and wanted to use them in the book. They are just private, not to share, since they aren't all that flattering.

The white paper is that pretty, sparkly stuff.  It reminded me of the Sarasota sand and seemed to fit the picture of Sissy walking there.

The green netting border is the lining from that same yellow flowered hat.  And I found a vintage bird book at the junk shop with the photo album. It was nice to have the old pics of beachy birds to add here and there.

More crumpled tissue paper from a shopping bag was used for the pages about the three of us sprinkling our Daddy's ashes.  And I cut out the picture of the bottle Sissy carried the ashes in, instead of posting the whole photo of her holding the bottle.  

Some of the photos are matted with sparkling teal paper, others are outlined with blue marker.  I like to vary the size and shape of the pictures I add to the paper.

Bobbie gave me the seahorse sticker, as well as some transparent, sparkly, sticker pages. I cut a strip of that sheer glitter sheet to stick over the words I'd written onto text from an old fairy tale book about a sea maiden.

It says, "good bye," for our Daddy.

Pockets to hold brochures or receipts are handy to have.

And the mermaid scrap book paper was too pretty to cover up, so I just glued a picture in a corner of the page. And I cut out the silhouette of me on the rocks instead of adding the whole photo with ocean and sky.

I brought vintage swizzle sticks with mermaids for all three of us to use in our books. And the "beach mist" paper was a soap wrapper from our hotel.

Wrappers, labels, brochures, tickets, postcards are all good things to snag while on a trip to add a sense of location to a travel journal.  

This page of old fairy tale text about  mermaids was just ideal for my trip! I loved the three sisters in the corner, so left it as is, except for a hint of glitter (which doesn't really show in the photo) 

At the top, I glued a napkin with three more mermaid sisters and embellished them with glitter ink, and rhinestones. At the bottom of the page, is a strip of more rhinestones, and another bundle of flowers and shells.

Handwritten messages are always special and will keep memories of a trip alive.

This one is extra special. I was so proud of my sisters. They love being by the ocean, but HATE getting in the water. They have always refused to even wade in the water. I tease them about ankle sharks, and then swim away and have fun on my own. 

But on this trip, they over came their fears. Off the beach, there was a sandbar, that ran for hundreds of feet.  I waded out to it, and walked around out there, feeling like I was on the edge of the world.  Being so far out, away from the beach, but being in water only a few inches deep was just magical.  It was such a beautiful experience, I wanted to share it with my sisters.

Now, I don't think I bullied them.... but I really wanted them to have the same joy I did.  And our father loved walking on the sandbar years ago, and had asked that we take his ashes there.

I thought I'd be taking the ashes out on my own.

 But they surprised me.

Our mom had raised us to fear everything, but I have forced myself to ignore that voice in my head.  I don't know if they had realized just how fearful she had made us.  Maybe hearing me talk about our fears helped? Maybe wanting to honor Daddy's wishes gave them courage?

At some points, the sandbar was 30 feet or more away from the shore, but we found a spot where the shallows were only about a 10 foot walk through waist deep water to reach.  We stood on the beach, and Sissy led us in some Tai Chi deep breathing exercises, she said a blessing, and we all marched off into the waves.

I hope they felt the same magic I did out there.  They seemed to have fun. And while I promised to keep an eye on them and help, they were so engrossed in shell hunting that they kept wandering off in different directions.  I told them they were as bad as Sugarwings and Dewdrop and were lucky I didn't give them a time out for heading out in two different directions at once and making me follow them back and forth.  

But then, I realized, they didn't need me.

They were exploring the gulf.  Free from their life long fears.  I don't know if I've ever been so proud of anyone before.

And look at this. The next day, Sissy was wading out and hunting for shark teeth at Venice Beach. 

Yep, I was very proud.  And happy to have been able to share the experience with them.

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ps- Want to come to my cottage studio for a Christmas class? I have two available, how to see you here!

And I wanted to let you know that I have some flocked, pink, tiny trees in the Etsy shop now.  They are a bit different than the typical bottle brush trees that I carry.  

And I have them in two colors of pink.

A Romantic White Christmas at the Cottage, two days of classes

Any body want to come and play?

I'm planning two play dates in my cottage studio for Christmas. These will be two different sessions, and you would be welcome to sign up for either, or (even more fun!), for both.

On Friday, December 5th, we will make 3 ornaments from kits, and with the remainder of the day, hang out and make as many paper doll dress ornies as you'd like to while we relax and enjoy some holiday treats.  Or continue working on the three class decorations, if you'd rather spend more time on those.

Both days will include lunch, coffee, tea, and Christmas cookies.

Both days will also include everything you need to create the Romantic White Christmas pieces we will be making, plus a table of extras to chose from for personalization.

Although, of course, since we will be using vintage items, no two artists will end up with the same exact finished products.  (but it wouldn't be Karla's Cottage without extras! And it will be "The Good Stuff")

And on Saturday Dec. 6th?

We will turn a vintage cabinet card folder into...

... a lush, art journal, covered in white velvet and trimmed in tons of lace.

And of course, millinery blooms and rhinestones.

The book will have an angel theme, with this Heavenly Charlotte doll on the cover (perfect year round, or used as a holiday book).

I'll have a very, very old, very, very tattered wedding gown to cut up for trimming the books. Feel free to chop away at it, to layer and foof your journal.  

This book is a no sew class, except for adding the button to the cover.  

We will make the book from scratch, fill it with blank pages ready to hold your holiday memories, or to record your blessings, musings, and day dreams year round.

If you finish the book early, I'll have some vintagey goodies out for you to start working on the interior pages, if you'd like.  If you don't have time to make some pages, I'll pack up a to-go bag for you with some ephemera to work with when you get home, so you can get started there.  

So, here is a recap of the details:

Friday, December 5th- A COLLECTION OF ORNAMENTS

including:

1- "Angel Pie" a tart tin tassel with a mini frozen Charlotte

2- "On Gilded Wings"- a glitter winged cherub, with flowing lace gown, to hang or turn into a tree topper

3- "Lady's Lacey Stocking"- a felted wool stocking, stuffed, glittered, and filled with vintage pretties

Saturday, December 6th- ANGEL THEMED ART JOURNAL

"Heavenly Charlotte"- a cabinet card folder, re-envisioned as a book, covered in lace and velvet

Both classes will be limited space.  And are going to be very laid back and homey. We'll hang out in the studio, have lunch in the dining room where the halls will be decked, listen to some Christmas music, and play with pretties.

If you are coming in from out of town, and just attending one day of class, you might also want to go to Kansas City for the West Bottoms antique district, that will be the weekend it is open for business.

Cost per day $120

If you attend both, you will receive a package discount of $15 each day for a total of only $210.

Please email me if you are interested and I can send an invoice. 

[email protected]

Both days include lunch, beverages, treats and full kits to completely finish all of the projects. All you need to bring is your basic tool kit.  We will start at 9:30 am and play till 5pm.  With Saturday's class, you also will receive my online tutorial, Creating an Art Journal.

 

A Fall Wedding in New Hampshire

What a perfect place for a wedding!  The guncles have been together for a long time and had a commitment ceremony 17 years ago, but now that they can be legally married, we gathered in NH to celebrate with them.

We had a rehearsal dinner the night before the event at Ipswich Country Club. And oh my! It was something!

Great appetisers.

Exceptional food.

Wonderful company.  (this is just some of us, I don't have a group shot)

 

And a serenade from Carol Swarbrick Dries (Aunt Carol).  She sang a song that had tears in all of our eyes.  We begged for an encore the next day at the wedding.

The air was crisp, the leaves were colorful, and the site for the wedding luncheon and ceremony was ideal for the occasion.

And did I mention that there was carrot cake? My fave! And so pretty with the fall colors.  There wasn't a cake stand, but I slipped a couple of box lids from our centerpieces under it and that made a quick but cute, make shift stand.

I was so pleased that the boxes we worked on together to make centerpieces looked so festive in the room.

We also glittered and sponge painted some packages of tissue paper leaves from the dollar bin at Target to sprinkle around the table.  And Randy framed a picture of each guest to create name cards for the seating.

17 years ago, we had to take apart two bride and groom cake toppers to get two grooms.  Now, the guncles had plenty of toppers to choose from with two grooms. All this one needed was some highlights in one groom's hair and it was ready to adorn the carrot cake.  

I was honored to be in the ceremony.  The whole time I was up there, I watched Kevin's face and was moved by the emotions he showed.  

That man is a treasure and we are lucky to have him in our family, and seeing the love and happiness in his eyes that day, moved me to my core.

 

 I spent the entire day with red, weepy eyes, but a huge grin on my face at the same time.

A Fabulous Craft Day Bachelor Party

Our Sister Trip to sprinkle Daddy's ashes also included a bachelor party for the guncles. They live in Jacksonville, but were getting married the next week in New Hampshire. Our fab friend, Karen, has a home in Mt. Dora, which in my mind was about halfway from where we were staying in Sarasota.

In real life, it was a THREE HOUR DRIVE.  And when gettting stuck in traffic on the way home, it was a FOUR HOUR DRIVE.

Still, the day in Mt. Dora was well worth the time in the car, (although I think I would have preferred a sleep over instead of doing it all in one day.)

We got to meet Queen Satine, one of the most delicate and delightful ladies I've ever known.  

And experience the loveliness that is Karen's Kozy Kottage.

Not to mention a sneak peek at her new studio in downtown Mt. Dora.

Where prettiness abounds.

 I was touched to see her little pink fairy from Birdsong sitting on a shelf there.

And a fabulously embellished angel on the wall that she made from a mini how-to that I did when I was visiting her another time.

Of course, everything about Karen is Fabulous. Just like Guncle Randy.  When they get together, fabulousness starts emitting from them like shining bits of fire from a 4th of July sparkler.

The bachelor party wasn't a typical one.  Instead of a wild party with cocktails and exotic dancers, we had a craft day.  

We were working on wedding decor for the big event coming up.

These large wooden letters are for Randy and Kevin, we painted them metallic and covered them with moss.

Here is one as it was on the mantel at the wedding.  We also found the perfect, old hat filled with fall colored velvet leaves and blooms, and took it apart to add a few pieces from it to the letters.

Guncle Randy found the hat on our jaunt downtown to do a little shopping at one of Mt. Dora's cute boutiques. What luck, it was just what those letters needed.  And we had plenty of millinery blooms from it to use in our journals too.

My gift for the guncles was an album/journal for Randy to fill with wedding mementos.  And I came across the perfect sheet music to use as backgrounds too.  Here are a couple of them.  

After the wedding, we had another craft day, and I used one  to make this for their album. 

The craft day bachelor party also included making a garland for the mantel at the wedding, and centerpieces, that I showed you before, here.

Plus home made goodies from Karen's pal and our new friend, Julie. She even made us jams and apple butter to take home.

Thanks, Karen, for the lovely day!  And thanks, Julie for the lovely treats!

A Farewell to Daddy

Our Sister Trip to Florida was such a relaxing getaway.  Our condo was right on the Siesta Key beach, with its soft, white sand.  

This is where we vacationed with our parents while growing up. Our Grandma lived in Sarasota, and I thought ALL sand looked like powdered sugar when I was a kid.  I was sadly disappointed the first time I went to an ocean beach with ordinary, brown sand.

My dad loved Siesta Key too.  When he died, he asked that some of his ashes were sprinkled on the sand bar. For years, my sisses and I have been trying to get together to take him there.  This year, we just said, let's just DO it, no excuses, no more waiting till we had time. 

And I am glad we did.

Sissy brought Daddy in a decorated bottle, and added some glitter.  He was in her purse for part of the trip, and I'm sure he enjoyed going out to dinner with us. Daddy always loved a good restaurant meal.

 I scrounged for shells to create an angel in the sand  for him, then made a giant heart to center the angel in.

With the white sand, and white shells, the angel doesn't show up a lot in the photos. Especially with the sun glinting off of the glitter we added around her.  

While shell hunting, I found a sparkling rhinestone earring, and a shell with a hole in it, that the earring poked into perfectly.  That was her bodice.  I also found an old, rusty PBR bottle cap, my dad's favorite beer.  That was added to the top of the sand heart.

Her wings are created from shards of an iridescent lining of some large clam type shell. We also found two of those large shells, still intact, and when opened up they were heart shaped.

We opened one of them, and sprinkled Daddy's ashes inside, then let him float away as the waves came in over the shell.