Karla's Cottage

Painting with thread on black

Once the puppies were living in their new homes in November, I found myself at a loss on what to do with my time.   Those babies were pretty much a 24 hour a day job for me for months. Those guys needed so much care they really kept me hopping and I had no time for creativity.

Molly just did not understand when I went from Puppy Servant back to my own life, she had only known me as the lady who spent every waking hour (and some during the night) catering to the needs of her and her fluffy sibs.

Not that she wasn’t still getting plenty of attention, but I was also doing some things just for me too.
 She soon figured out that she could lay on my feet while I stitched.  As long as I was close, she accepted that I wasn’t playing with or petting her.

I am still not completely caught up on sleep, Molasses needs to potty a couple of times during the night, but I have convinced her that 5am wake up calls are not acceptable to me and that she needs to go back into her kennel until at least six.  

Some days, she has even made it to seven, if I put Honey in there with her!

 

She is a very mild mannered, calm girl.  But when she needs to go out at 3am, she is quite insistent.  
While I am not sleeping as much as I wish I was, It is enough that my spark is returning.  I had this shirt to embroider for my sweet, hippie kid who loves flowers.

Since I mailed his gift box to North Carolina, and he surprised us by hiding under the tree and popping out on Christmas Eve, I don’t know if it fit him, or if I got a little too dainty with the flowers.  If it isn’t what he wanted, he can pass the shirt along to Sugarwings and I will stitch another.

It felt good to be working on a project again and I’d enjoy an excuse to do more.  But not a black shirt.  That was more difficult than any other stitchery I have done.  Typically I use a washable marker to draw on the fabric, but on black, none showed up.  I was making it up as I sewed with this one.

I’m sure Molly would be happy to keep me company if I need to work on another shirt.  And I appreciate the warm toes on a cold night when she does.

A Christmas Surprise

Merry Christmas!



We had a surprise visitors!  Dewdrop and her Daddy hid under our tree on Christmas Eve, Sugarwings and I did not know they’d be here.

It just isn’t Christmas unless Sugarwings’ Daddy falls asleep on the sofa with her on his lap.

She was so happy to have him here.

And this goofball brings joy with her wherever she is.

Everyone was enjoying the surprise.

There was pie baking, cookie decorating, fairy wing creating, and candle pouring throughout the day.

On the day before the night before Christmas, Sugarwings and I were missing our littlest, goofiest fairy.  She made some purple wings for her baby sister on craft day, and was sad she wasn’t here to give them to her.  

We hadn’t set up the tree in Dewdrop’s bedroom, and I hadn’t gotten our big tree out either.  We decided it would cheer us up get the large tree out of the closet after all (at bedtime) and she decorated it with all of Dewdrop’s ornaments so we’d feel close to her.

Then, there was Dewdrop and her daddy, sitting under the that tree the next day!

Typically, I spend hours making sure the tree is perfectly decorated.  This is the year, that I discovered that it isn’t the way the tree looks that matters.  I have enjoyed my mostly naked trees with just twinkle lights and no ornaments beyond some pine cones for Ryan.  And I love this quickly set up tree decorated by one grand fairy with my other grand fairy’s things.

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

Thank you for the Solstice Wing party, Katie Tree!

Katie Tree brought over all the supplies we needed to create fantasy fairy wings to wear for winter solstice.

The rest of the family was making life size wings, but I wanted to check out the materials and get a feel for how they went together so I made a few smaller ones to put on our naked, untrimmed Christmas tree.
I am glad I tried it out on a smaller scale first, I got to know how to work with the supplies.  I gave one set to Sugarwings to destroy with the lighter and heat gun, which she enjoyed doing and which showed us just how much heat was too much.

While I was just “winging it” with quick twists of wire, everyone else was on track to craft works of art.

They each drew a pattern into cardboard, and traced it with wire.  And yes, elf ears were provided as an essential part of making the wings.

When my husband heard about family wing night, he was pretty excited  til he realized that a bunch of vegans and vegetarians were actually coming over to make cellophane wings, not chicken wings.

They are all turning out wonderfully, so I think I will have to whip up a pair for myself too.  Plus, with the giant wingspan, they are perfect for marking your territory for social distancing!

Once the wire is ready, you lay the piece onto cellophane and use spray adhesive to attach it on both sides, press it into place, let dry, trim away excess, then melt with the heat gun for a tight fit.  

I learned with the mini practice wings that too much glue or too much heat could cause them to turn opaque.  And getting too close with the heat melted holes into them.

Once they are done, I’ll get the girls to model the finished product, photos coming soon!

I also made one set of wings, inspired by the angels on Victorian Christmas cards.  

Free Christmas Decorations

I hadn’t planned on doing a lot of decorating this year, and kept the inside of the house mostly just twinkle lights and plain trees with pine cones.

Since our only get togethers with friends can be outdoors and socially distant, and we have been blessed with some nice days to enjoy them, I decided to “spruce” up our yard a little.

Sugarwings took the John Deere Gator back in the woods with her grandfather to trim some trees in the way of the trails out there.  I asked them to bring me back some branches. Then stuck the evergreens everywhere.

Even in the patio umbrella stands.  And in all of the empty pots. Some, I just laid on the tabletops.

The flower pots are topped off with rocks to keep the pup from digging in them, so the branches are staying pretty good, stuck down in the dirt and wedged between rocks.

Some small branches were put on top of pots and had spray painted pumpkins left  from Halloween added over the greens.  Plus a little glitter on top of the pumpkins. 

The patio itself got a sprinkling of glitter too.  It started out as an accident, I was glittering up an ugly sweater and made a mess.  It looked good, so I dumped out some more.

There are evergreen branches poking out of every available surface out back, and it not only brightens up a dull, gray, Kansas winter, it smells nice too.  They last for at least a month.  It probably didn’t even take me a half hour to place branches around the yard, and it sure brightened the area up.

I just hope our weather offers random nice days for get togethers all season, long after the branches are thrown out.  With summer behind us and the virus still lingering, we appreciate every opportunity we get to gather (safely) with people we care about.  

Hooked on gingerbread houses

After having so much fun making wooden birdhouses into gingerbread, I just had to make more.

Of course, I tend to go all in with a new craft and flood the market with my creations.  But this year, I was making them just for us, so reigned myself back just a little.

And after a decade of making real gingerbread houses that looked like a toddler had done the work, I was excited to be working on one with paint instead of icing. Puffy paint, meant for tee shirts is so much easier to use than those plastic bags of icing that come with the house kits.

Since I was using wood and chipboard, I thought it was important to use cookie colored paint, as much as I like pastels, I wanted it to look as realistic as it could.  Plus the village was going into our Cocoa Corner, where our colors were more traditional than my other holiday decor.

Sugarwings has a couple to finish too, and they will be squeezed in when done.  There is always room for more!

We have already had to shuffle the area around a little.  At first, we were using our tea party cups from Sugarwings’ other grandma who passed away.   But with the giant, cocoa bombs we made, we figured we had to get some bigger mugs, so switched the dainty cups for hefty, Santa mugs.

The largest, chipboard house is ideal storage for a ziplock baggie of cocoa bombs. The roof comes off, like a lid and there is plenty of space inside.

When we are ready for our cocoa parties, my grand fairy comes to this buffet to gather up all the supplies and set the table.  We have some very strict guidelines for drinking hot chocolate, first and foremost- 

Cocoa parties can only occur in front of a lit Christmas tree!

A few more rules-

Tea party rules apply: polite chitchat, best manners, etc.

Watching Christmas shows on the TV while drinking cocoa is encouraged.

The table must have a cloth on it and napkins can be paper, but must be pretty.

Santa hats or antlers need to be on your head.

 

 

 

 

And some new $6 chair covers too

I was so happy with the way the new curtains from Amazon updated and brightened up the hearth room, that I decided I wanted some slip on chair covers too. I already have full skirted ones that I typically cover up my dining room chairs with, but living with a teething puppy made those impractical.

This is the chair in its natural state.  Which I like as is, but I do enjoy switching things up, and prefer the colors lighter for winter.

I was tempted to order cream or white covers, but was worried they might be a little transparent and the pattern underneath would show through.

So I ordered this taupe that matches my velvet recliners in the living room.  After putting them on, and seeing how nice they were made, I think a white would be fine to try.  And at $6 each, I should go ahead and order another set.

Their shade doesn’t really meld with my hutch.  But that tone is something that bugs me, anyway.  I love the piece and am thrilled to have found it, but it is too yellowey for me, and it is on my list for a redo. (Possibly a pale, pale greige with an umber glaze over it?)

But that will take some mental fortitude that I am not feeling right now.  

The slipcovers are stretchy velour, sold as velvet.  Which I knew they wouldn’t be.  But didn’t care, because they have that velvety feel and seem lush. They probably should’ve been popped in the dryer to fluff out the wrinkles.  

Eh. They are good enough, it’s not like I have company coming in the house this season.  I will get rid of wrinkles when Corona ends and I am inviting friends over again.  

 

 

A Forever Gingerbread House

One of our favorite holiday traditions is making gingerbread houses.

This started way back, when Sugarwings was even younger than in this photo.  She would have a house that was a work in progress for a month or so, adding to it as a craft project for the whole holiday season.

We never ate any of the candy, and were adamant about calling the goodies “decorations” never candy.  We saved them up and used them year to year, those candy pieces that come with the packaged houses do not rot.  And I even wonder if they are edible anyway?

When Dewdrop came along, she joined in too with her own house. But learning about not eating the decorations was hard for her.  We were constantly hollering, “That is older than you are!”

In the last few years with the addition of new grand fairies joining the group, we have turned Ginger Bread Night into a family event and I started stocking up on clearance priced kits at the end of the year.    We still call out,

“Those decorations are older than Mayara!” 

Because some of those gumdrops are honestly from ten years ago. No one is seriously tempted to eat them we just enjoy saying it.

When Ryan finally switched to a job where he could be around in the evenings, I discovered that he had an obsession with holiday baking shows and the Gingerbread wars were his favorite.  We watched them together and would plan our own super structures. (They still turned out like badly done kits, which is what they were, but we loved dreaming that we could accomplish artistry.)

Sugarwings and I decided to build a gingerbread village from wooden birdhouses in honor of her uncle, who loved the creations so much.

I used some metal pieces painted white and buttons on mine.

The icing is puffy paint and glitter.

While mine is still not equal to the mastery of the shows Ryan and I watched together, I think that I do much better with paint than with royal icing.

And it had been awhile since I shared studio space with this kid.  She is now a teen who doesn’t appreciate being photographed while trying to concentrate, so don’t judge the grumpy face pictured here.  We had a great day together and look forward to making the rest of our village.

 

 

 

New Winter Curtains

The bark cloth rose curtains that I found for the hearth room, are a treasure.   I’ve been thrilled with them.  But being cooped up for so many months had me, not exactly tired of them, but just ready for a little change.

And since browsing Amazon is my new favorite thing to do, I thought I’d take a lil peek and see what I could find.

I already had these white velvet, “winter” curtains in the living room.  They were from Target at least ten years ago, so I didn’t expect to find a match.  I did find some similar white velvet curtains,  with the addition of pom poms, that I think look like snowballs. (not that I want to see any snow, any time soon)

They were pretty cheap, but I figured I’d send them back if they looked flimsy when they arrived.   Nope, they were just lovely and had a wonderful feel to them.

They come in lots of colors.  I might be saving the floral barkcloth just for spring and summer, then ordering some warm taupe velvet for fall.  

 

 

 

 

 

A year with few ornaments- A Pinecone Christmas

This year is different.  

Way, way different.

I just wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle Christmas and vacillated between nothing or all out. When I contemplated not having any decor, I felt deflated.  When I thought about facing the many giant tubs of Holiday Foof, I felt overwhelmed.

I knew that I needed brightness to cheer up the long stretch of oncoming cold and darkness.  So, I thought I’d plug in a few strands of lights and add garlands over my windows, get out some prelit trees, and a few other things near the tops of the tubs.  

Digging through decades of collected Christmas ornaments seemed to be asking for a crying jag. What could I come across that would break my heart? So, I decided that all I needed was some glitter and glow, not trees filled with handmade or lovingly collected vintage and family ornies.  

A silver tree that I pulled from the closet already had some decorations from last year stuck in its branches.  I left those and added a few glitter covered balls and other pieces that I typically considered “filler” not the main show.  Nothing sentimental, just sparkly.

Usually, I go ALL OUT, like my hero, Clark Griswald does with his million, tiny, twinkle lights.  I pack up every knick  knack and replace it with holiday glee.  This year, that was done on a minimal basis, I set up a few displays, but mostly just lights. And I was enjoying the process.  As my house got more twinkly, I felt more joyful myself.

Then, I found a bag of pinecones in the back of the storage closet behind the unused tubs of memories that I tried to protect myself from.  You never know when grief will strike you, and there is no amount of being careful that can avoid it.  

A year ago, on one of our trail walks, I saw the perfect pinecones to make gnomes out of.  We had Sugar with us, and were on a segment of our walk notorious for squirrels, so she was on full alert and ready to bolt at any time.  Ryan and I had our little jokes, and one of them was that certain stretches of our walks were “danger zones” where we had to be cautious with Sugar or we’d be surprised by her leaping after her prey and jerking the leash from our hands.  (I know, bad dog training on my part, not her fault).

 As we’d turn a corner and come across these spots, one of us would always say, “watch out, we are going into a danger zone”.  We thought it was an even funnier joke when we were walking poor, blind, old Twinkle who wouldn’t notice a squirrel if it sat on her head.

I wanted those pinecones, and we started grabbing them up as fast as we could and both stuffing them in our pockets, laughing hard, while joking that we had to hurry and get away from the danger zone.  It was silly, but it was fun.  That week, we gathered up a few more on other walks, laughing and filling our jacket pockets, rushing to get out of the squirrel infested area before Sugar took off.

Ryan and I had simple pleasures and repetitive conversations about little things.  There wasn’t a single time we walked by that area without commenting, and Ryan offering to grab a few more pinecones.  I said I had enough, we’d get more the next Christmas. 

I had no idea there would not be another Christmas for my son.

Finding that bag of pinecones about wrecked me.  After I recovered from sobbing over them, they made me smile.  And I started tucking them into branches of a couple trees.  I put Twinkle on her leash and we took a walk to that danger zone to fill a big bag with more, and brought those back to add to the holiday decor.  

When I see the simplicity of a pinecone in a sparkling tree, it reminds me of Ryan and what we shared.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jolly Molly

Molly (Molasses, to go with Sugar and Honey) is about as laid back as any dog I have had.  Sugar was that way as a pup, too.  They seem to understand what is said to them with very little effort.  She learned “leave it” and “stay” in one try.


While she is a mature acting pup, she is still just a baby, and is such a spot of joy in our lives. She is a happy puppy, and is always at my feet, looking up to see if she might be getting a petting soon.

Of course she is!

While it seems crazy to have taken on a sixth dog, she is just what we needed.  Training a new puppy can be exhausting (she still needs to go out in the middle of the night, is ready for breakfast at 5am, and thinks the vintage paper on the walls or our dirty socks look delicious), she is worth every second of effort.

With Sugarwings going all teenagery on us, Dewdrop and her daddy living across country, and Ryan...

Well, nothing can help with losing Ryan.

But this jolly little Christmas elf might be just what I need to get through the holidays.