Karla's Cottage

Happy Halloween!

Happy Day before Halloween!

We Must Respect the Ghouls

Since I was gone for a  Sister Trip to Florida and have a lot to do to get ready for A SnowBird's Song, which is Christmas themed, I am doing my best to skip fall. 

Well, at least fall decor.  I've tried to go as minimal as possible.  The grand fairies have painted and crafted Halloween pictures and hung them all over the house, but I am not getting out my typical autumn decorating pieces. 

I've still taken them to the pumpkin patch, and have done some other celebrating the season, like craft parties at Michaels'.  

But I'm very, very proud of myself for not pulling out the pumpkins and spooky goodies from storage to fill up the house.   

The girls and I ADORE the house at Christmas and chomp at the bit every year, waiting impatiently for Thanksgiving to pass before hauling out the glitz and sparkle.  Our mantra is, "We must respect the bird!" and we don't put up a tree till the turkey leftovers are all put away.

This year, I need to have the halls decked by November 9th, so, our new motto is, "We must respect the Ghouls!"  No tinsel till after Halloween.  Which is pretty early, and I decided it is just too much to set out our Halloween and Thanksgiving pretties, just to turn around and switch them out as soon as the trick or treaters are done.  

The grand fairies have not liked this plan.  But they are easily bribed with Christmas cookies, which we have been baking ahead and freezing for the event.   This will be quite an extended holiday for us. But if it means an extra season of Christmas cookies, then I'm all for it!

 

A kinda redo

My vintage chandelier quit on me and had to be replaced or redone.  Replacing was quicker and easier.

Ta Dah!  Here is the brand new one.  Foofed up with the vintage shades, and old crystals, with floral wallpaper wrapped around the tube part that holds the bulb, it does a good job pretending to be old.

The only way I'd notice that it was replaced was by the excellent bright light I now have to work by at the sink.

And I've got one more item crossed off of the big list that needs to be done before my guests arrive in November to attend A Snowbird's Song. 

And I am not the only one thinking ahead to the party.  Jeanie Hatch made gifts for the Tweet Bags and sent them in these cute, stamped packages. 

I love that stamp.  Serendipitous, huh?

Thanks, Jeanie!

 

What we do for fun in Kansas in the fall

We love this pumpkin patch, Pendleton's Country Market.

And we especially LOVE the corn pit.

Even though I might still have corn lurking in pockets, shoes, and underwear. 

Forever.  

Jewels from the sea

Before the Sister Trip to Siesta Key, I created a necklace for Sissy, with abalone shells, mother of pearl, and other semi precious stones.

Bobbie got a pearl, mother of pearl, and pink quartz bracelet with a marcasite heart charm.

I really love making jewelry, once I get started, it is hard to stop.  So, I've complied a few for sale during A Snowbird's Song.  I'm not allowing myself to make too many though, or that is all I'd do.  There is too much work to get done for me to allow myself to play with pretty stones all day!!

Happy Friday the 13th!

Scenes from my vacation journal part THREE

The last part of the cartoon I did on our trip is Sissy all in aqua.

She LOVES aqua. 

And shopping.

Lots of shopping for things that are aqua.

There she is in the background searching for more aqua stuff while Bobbie and I are goofing off. (at her feet in the drawing, are some of the many aqua shoes she tried on)

She was on the hunt for a golden, Blue Heron too. Since she didn't find one, I put one on her overfilled, exploding suitcase.

I put her in an aqua skirt as a fairy on this page.

And the tiny spider at her feet? One night after dark, we walked down to the surf.  We flipped on a flashlight to see a spider by our toes, timed with a wave coming ashore and we both jumped as high as we could and squealed.

The pink sky is for all of the pretty sunsets we watched.

Sunsets in Siesta Key are a major event, with people lining up to watch, ready to ooh and ahh.

With or without spiders.

Scenes from my vacation journal part TWO

Now, where was I?  Oh, yes, the next sister, and her flamingo suitcase, Bobbie.

You might notice that Bobbie likes Flamingos.

She likes them A LOT.

This is just a few from her vast collection. And she shared with us too, I also own a flamingo coozie. And that solar powered dancing bird?? Mine! She even found a bottle brush Christmas flamingo for me.  I've had to arm wrestle Dewdrop for it, she wants it for her own Xmas tree.

This pretty cup was a gift from her too.  It is black when empty, then turns colorful when filled with hot coffee.

Bobbie is a genealogist and loves lots of photos to document events. She has a great camera and makes sure she gets a ton of photos.  So, in the cartoon, her camera is around her neck.

And the hat? Inspired by this lampshade.  

The creepy clown was someone we encountered while shopping.

(The colorful costume I am wearing?  That is a mermaid tale that Bobbie gave to me, I was showing off my walking skills in it. The hat is a mermaid bag that I repurposed.)

And the ice cream?  Well lets just say that there might have been some frozen deliciousness consumed on the trip...

Scenes from my vacation journal part ONE

When I make a travel book, I like to draw cartoons of funny or memorable things that happened on the trip.  This one was inspired by Bobbie telling me that I looked good in my "Suitcase"...  she meant Swimsuit...  

It is probably one of those, 'you had to be there' stories, like the rest of the cartoon, but I'll explain the picture anyway.  

The mermaid holding up Tarot cards is from going to this angel card reader in Treasure Island.

We've been to her before and she is really something.

Hmm, you might be wondering about the guy behind me? I'm in the purple suitcase holding the arm.  

Yes, an arm.

A saleslady made the mistake of taking the arms off of a mannequin to remove her dress, as I was sitting on a bench outside the shop. 

Of course, I had to pick it up and wave hello with the arm!!!

And of course, my eyes are closed in the photo Bobbie took.

But back to the odd guy with the blood dripping off of a screwdriver...

The reason we go to Sarasota is because our Grandma used to live in Bee Ridge Trailer Park and we went to that area on vacations in our youth.  Every time we return, we try to find Grandma's trailer and the park has changed so much, that we never felt like we could pin it down.  This time,  I was sure I'd found the right one, but that the cool, silver trailer had been painted white.  The newest owner (grandma hadn't lived there since the 70s) saw us eyeing the place and came out to find out why.  

I asked if I could go inside to see if it looked familiar. He said ok, but needed to get his screwdriver?

Didn't faze me at all, I traipsed in and started to explore.  

Apparently, the screwdriver was to open a stuck door, not to kill me.  But my sister had 911 ready to dial.

AND IT WAS GRANDMA SMITH'S TRAILER!!!!!!!!  50 years older, repainted a few times, a bit run down, but yep, I recognized it.  And we were rewarded for finding it with a beautiful rainbow.

The crying flamingo?

There were two of them in the courtyard of our condo and I decided to bring one along with us on a day trip. When I got her out of the back of the car, there was a puddle under her head, it looked like she was crying. 

Maybe because she missed her sister? Or because she thought she'd been kidnapped and was scared?  

At least no one threatened her with a screwdriver.

Rosey and Pinky, also came out to play together sometimes. Seriously, she had nothing to cry about.

 

The little, fairy is my sea shell sprite with a crab shell pinafore. 

I'll explain some of the other inside jokes in my next post.