Karla's Cottage

Disney Magic

During my many segmented trip to Florida, Sugarwings and I spent some time at Disney while my husband took off with  buddies for a Guys’ Golfing Getaway.

And we made the most of every moment. 

We were up extra early to spend time at the park while it was quiet.  I love the atmosphere before the herds of mouse eared tourists arrive. 

Speaking of mouse ears, these are what Sugarwings bought with our little bonus for turning down Mousekeeping. 

If you decline having your room cleaned, and set your own trash outside the door, calling for extra towels as needed, you get a gift card.

She bought the Purple Potion ears with the card, so she was responsible for helping with the room. They were cute and sparkly, but I don’t know how many times those sequins scratched my face when I was getting a hug.

And I got lots of hugs!  That was one happy kid. 

We splurged one night for the fireworks dessert buffet, and we were both pretty dang happy when we were led to the never ending treat buffet!

I don’t know if I’d pay extra to do it again, but I was glad we treated ourselves on this trip. The park was crowded due to a Princess 5K, and we probably wouldn’t have had such a good viewing point without the special seating. 

While the parks were pretty crowded, I felt like we were blessed with some sort of magical pixie dust that luckily led us through our days with no hiccups 

Somehow, we stumbled into being at the front of dance parties,

And with up front, personal seating for the parade.  

We just happened to be at the beginning of lines to see characters, not even realizing that they were setting up for a line to form. 

We also seemed to end up in places where crowds were not. Maybe because we like to linger over decor and details.  

We took time to enjoy the little things, like shining a flashlight over your hand on the sidewalks in Pandora to leave a glowing pattern behind. 

We took our time as we liked, but then hurried onto the next activity, used the ap to schedule fast passes on the go, and do mobile food ordering. 

Some of our timing was planning, some was luck.  Often, we came around a corner just as something fun was happening and joined right in.

We didn’t realize we’d be able to see Epcot fireworks from our hotel, that was a pleasant surprise!

A fun photo op was never passed up, either. 

Maybe because it was just two of us, it was easier to maneuver the park?

And the fact that we preferred playing with statues to standing in lines made the day easier. We didn’t care about the big name rides.  We enjoyed our fast passes, then only went to attractions with no or little waits. 

Instead of waiting two hours to be frightened by a Yetti, we joined the Wilderness Explorers and earned badges while walking along shady trails.   We always took time to talk to the Cast Members (employees), and got lots of tips about where to go and when. 

And when we got back to the hotel too late to suit up and swim, I let her jump in, as is for a few minutes the pool was still open.

I’ve been to Disney World many times, and it doesn’t always go this smoothly. It was one of the higher crowd days, and should’ve been harder than it was.  

But our theory of zigging when others zag, taking our time, enjoying what was right in front of us, and planning out what we could, sure made this a perfect visit!

Or was it pixie dust, after all? Possibly, Tinkerbell recognized a fellow fairy and shared her magic to make our days go smoothly?  

Making the most of a getaway

 

I’m using my mini work trip to teach a couple of pretty projects at the Cozy Castle as the perfect excuse for a Florida vacation.  Sugarwings and her Pop Pop are joining me tonight for a trip down the coast to stay on the beach a few days.

After sunning and swimming, we are headed back to Orlando to drop off my Handsome Husband for a golfing weekend with his buddies. 

Then, the grandfairy and I are free to run amuck at the Magic Kingdom til it is time to meet up and fly back to Kansas.  

Well why not?  I was already going to be in Florida anyway... with airline points and companion passes, all flights were free. Hotel points went a long way too, not quite covering the beach stay but helpful.  I have a Disney Credit card that racks up points for discounts.  

I love wringing as much as I can out of a getaway, and putting the week together like puzzle pieces to see just how much I can squeeze into one flight. And of course, how could I not try to wrangle a trip to Disney in while I’m sooo close to the Happiest Place on Earth?  

Our Cottage Christmas

Our Dewdrop was home for the holiday and we made the most of the time with her. Lots of snuggles happened, lots of fun too.

Christmas was a repeat of Thanksgiving. It was such a good day, why not do it again? We made gingerbread houses, walked in the woods, laughed, and ate together. 

A perfect family day- plus presents!

Ki Ki made this house from graham crackers. 

Yes, she is skilled in everything she does. Give her a bit of fabric and you get a custom pair of shorts, made without a pattern and fit perfectly. Give her a box of cookies and you get a Victorian mansion.

This is just the beginning of the mansion, it turned out just wonderful.

Just like our Thanksgiving, we had ideal weather.

Just right for enjoying some time outdoors and working up an appetite for homemade pot pie. We had vegan and chicken varieties, and I was smart enough to make them up a couple of days early so I could pop them into the oven and enjoy our time together instead of being stuck in the kitchen.

Because no one wants to feel trapped at Christmas...

Well, most people wouldn't.

Our gingerbread homes made a pretty centerpiece for the dinner.

We had more than we could even fit onto the table.  Now that the parties are over, we will load them up, and take them out to the woods as a gift to the fairies.  

We have enough of them to set up whole communities for the fey.  

And we are up for any excuse to go for a walk in the woods together.

 

 

PS- I am thrilled to announce that I will be teaching a class in Florida at Karen Hillman's Cozy Castle!!!!!!!!! 

Details here  

I'll be posting photos and more info soon.  I hope to see you in sunny Florida for a day of friendship, creativity, and fun with my ruffly wings and romantically inspired autograph book projects

A year of seashell fairies, beaches, and sea glass- BLESSINGS and THANKS

2018 was a year of oceans and celebrations for me, I took advantage of turning 60 by getting in as many celebratory trips as I could.  This heart wrapped flock of fairies, that says "Thanks" and "Blessed" sums it up for me.

The first part of the year was a flurry of making plans, daydreaming over possibilities and destinations.  Looking at Disney resort and cruise options, perusing AIRBnB for getaways, talking to sisters and grand fairies about all of the what ifs and where tos, taking our time to get things just right.

All of the details of planning itineraries, booking rooms, and thinking about the fun, was every bit as exciting as taking the trips. I had charts, I had lists, I had logged hours of looking at houses online and scrutinizing photos to see exactly how good the views were from the rooms in the pictures to make sure we had the perfect place to enjoy ourselves on our getaways.

The beach house where I met my lifelong friends at in St Augustine during April to celebrate our 60th birthdays together was so nice, that my sisters and I changed our plans for fall to stay in the same place for a few days then.  I found sea glass both times!

Not just sea glass, but a shell that looked like a set of teeth.

Perfect for our Halloween/Hocus Pocus themed vacation!

That ideal view from the beach house we rented also inspired some artwork, and I spent an entire summer learning a paint pour technique.

It was a year of Disney Sister Trips too, while in Florida, I was able to sneak in magical trips to see the mouse.  First with sis, Terry, then with the four grand fairy sisters, then with Sissy and Bobbie!

One of the very best memories of the year was waking up to see the sunrise at Cocoa Beach with Sugarwings and making a fairy on the sand together.

How can you beat a day like that?

Believe it or not, you can!  We headed to a Disney cruise ship that morning and sailed off to the Bahamas for my birthday and more beach time there.  I found un-ending sea glass at Atlantis, and strolled the beaches of Disney's private island with four grand fairies and my handsome husband.

Where I made a Grammie fairy.

 

We had a quick trip to Florida later on, and I had very little time for wave watching, but did get to go for a walk along the marina in Ft Lauderdale, where I made a riverbank fairy.  I found one tiny shell for her to hold.

In October, I found plenty of black shells to make a witch.

Guncle Randy joined my sissies and I in St Augustine, and I made a sprite for each of us.

 

I'm thankful for my blessings.  My beloved husband, sons, grand fairies,sisses, bro, great friends, and wonderful trips together.  I think that the message I wrote in the sand will be my words for the upcoming year- "Blessings" and "Thanks"

And I wish a blessed New Year to you too.

 

 

PS- I am thrilled to announce that I will be teaching a class in Florida at Karen Hillman's Cozy Castle!!!!!!!!! 

Details here  

I'll be posting photos and more info soon.  I hope to see you in sunny Florida (as you can see, I adore Florida!!) for a day of friendship, creativity, and fun with my ruffly wings and romantically inspired autograph book projects

 

 

The Plaza Lights- from a very special viewing point

Our pal, Angie lives in an apartment overlooking the KC Plaza with a glorious view of the holiday lights.

The view inside is pretty dang great too. Angie arranged a delectable feast of loveliness for us after a day out together, lunching, shopping, and laughing. 

The city looked magical from her window.

It was a day filled with pretty things.  

And fun photo ops.

With some silliness thrown in.

I wore my favorite, new Santa shirt (AGAIN, it seems to be my uniform for December along with my decade old, red velvet coat), and found a set of placemats to match it.  But since they cost more than the shirt did, I didn't buy them.  Actually, besides lunch, and a bag of old fashioned, hard candies, I didn't do much purchasing. Just browsing and enjoying the over the top, holiday displays the stores had out.

We went to the Kaufman center to see the trees and flowers, which are a major mood enhancer this time of year.  When the Kansas landscapes are grey, brown, dreary, and dead, it is heartening to see flowers in bloom. I bent over and got some deep whiffs from the pots of white stock and the sweetness of the blooming plants really made me happy inside.

I'm rarely a red or green person, and don't decorate my home in these colors for the season, but I do love pops of these festive shades in jewelry or clothing in December.  So, I made myself some silver earrings with red and green semi-precious gemstones. While I was at it, I made enough to pass out to friends too, and took some to lunch that day for Beth, Karla, and Angie to choose from.

In the past, I've painted ornaments as little gifties for friends, and it was nice to see that Angie has some of them on her sparkling tree.

Her home is perfectly coordinated, and she has such a gentle touch with decorating, it is always an honor to see something I'd made in her home.

She crafted gift bags filled with everything we'd need for a winter's night of relaxation at home. (Wine, chocolate, and a good book!) and topped the package with this sweet collaged image. 

It was a special day, ending with an even more special evening. I'm blessed to  have good friends who could take a day off to simply enjoy the season with me. 

 

 

The King and Queen of Hearts

My sister, Bobbie Sue just celebrated her 50th anniversary with her husband and their darling daughters threw them a party, that truly surprised them.

Their last name is Valentine, and my silly sis LOVES goofy photo ops. So, I painted these cut outs for them to pose in as the King and Queen of Hearts.

Other party-ers had some fun with them too.

After measuring my largest suitcase, I cut plastic, corrugated poster board to fit the bag and primed them before painting the royalty with holes cut out for faces.  Then, I flipped them over and painted the other side for double the fun.

The fairy and gypsy were done with lots of glitter and metallic paints for a sparkly effect.

The entire evening was a sparkling night of fun!  My nieces rented a limo to pick their folks up at their farmhouse, and we all piled in for the ride "out to dinner".  But instead of dinner, we went to greet the room full of family and friends ready to jump up and yell, "SURPRISE!!!"

It was all pretty cute, and the kids pulled it off with an amazing skill of twisting the truth around so no one guessed what was coming.

Personally, I was quite impressed with my own ability to spin tales.  I possess a super power that until now, has lain dormant.  Wow, I am a very, very good liar!!!!!  I even had them pull up the online menu of the restaurant we were pretending to go to.  And faked plans to visit old friends so I could sneak out and deliver the painted photo op boards.

The twisted untruth about meeting up with old friends, ended up turning around and becoming the real truth, and I got to visit some high school buddies I hadn't seen in years.  That was the icing on the cake for this wonderful, but too quick trip to Indiana.

Well, not all  of the icing.  There was some delectable cake too.

And cousin time, that included seeing a long lost stepsister.

And of course, I never get enough sister time.

Yes, it was a beautiful weekend, and I was thrilled to be a part of the celebration of this love. These two are truly the King and Queen of Hearts.

 

A North Carolina Birthday Girl

My husband had a business trip to North Carolina, and while he was there, he offered to snap up Dewdrop from her Asheville home and bring her to KS for Thanksgiving. Since he'd be getting  her on her birthday, I couldn't miss the event and had to come along to celebrate with them.

Before we scooped her up, we spent a night in Raleigh and ate a fancy meal at the City Club there. 

(That last photo might look as tasty as the others, but is a light fixture, not candy.  And the first one?  That is candy!  Cotton candy pork belly appetizers, wowzers!)

And we had a scenic drive to Boone where we passed through some misty, Christmas tree farms.

We stayed at Banner Elk, with Rich's Mom and brother, at their mountain house with this pretty view.

It changed to this overnight!  Even prettier.

After our zig zag trip from Raleigh to Boone to Asheville, we drove to Charlotte and visited a nephew and his sweet baby. They made our Dewdrop feel very special with some birthday surprises.

They even treated us to a night at the trampoline play place. I didn't think I'd be doing any jumping, but once I saw how much fun the rest of the group was having, I had to start hopping around myself, and bounced around for almost an hour and a half, hating to end when it was time to go.

This is my new favorite thing to do!

The next morning, our thoughtful nephew made some Mickey shaped pancakes to keep the party going for the birthday girl before we flew home to deliver her to her family who had been missing her for way too long. 

We will be seeing her again at Christmas, and while I'm heartbroken not to have her daily, I'm very happy to be able to visit with our North Carolina relatives when we do the kid-switcheroo.   It was a lovely trip.

Thankfulness, hugs, and gingerbread

I can't imagine a nicer Thanksgiving.  Kia helped me prep quite a bit the day before and we had a pretty laid back Thursday, with all of the chopping done ahead of time. 

We even baked a double batch of gingerbread cookies on Wednesday,  which made for a fun morning of playing with icing and sprinkles before getting dinner in the oven.

After cookie masterpieces were created, we popped a little turkey into the oven (for the few of us that were not vegan) and headed out to the woods to enjoy the sunshine and the last of the fall colors.

We didn't go far, just out in our back yard, we have ten acres that have a few trails through the trees.

While out there, we visited the fallen Grandfather Tree, which we have harvested to make slabs. In the future, it will be a dining room table.

For now, it is fun to climb on.

And jump off of.

The grandfairies found a few fun places to climb around.

And Avahni showed off her fire fighter training by carrying people around.

Dororthy enjoyed it.

Twinkle isn't as fond of the hugging.

 But the girls are.

After a festive dinner with lots of toasts and laughter, we started decorating gingerbread again, this time some premade houses. 

Every year, I get a couple for the littlest grandfairies to pile up sky high with globs of candies, but didn't even think about getting them for everyone to play with.

But after watching the Halloween baking shows with Ryan, he and I thought we should probably try our hands at making some houses ourselves.

I certainly had plenty of toppings!  We do NOT eat these, they are just for display, so we use candy that has been around longer than Dewdrop, back when Sugarwings first crafted a house. And I buy the 25 cent, clearance decorations after Christmas to save up and use too.  

The only fresh stuff we have is for the cookies that we eat, and they are dye free, organic goodies.

Oh, yes, I do buy fresh fondant to play with too.  You have to have that soft and pliable, it doesn't save like hard candies do.  

The big girls like the fondant as much as the little ones do. Thia made a unicorn with hers.

This looks like it will be a holiday tradition around here, we had such a good time with it, that there is already talk of gingerbread birdhouses for Easter.  And maybe even some more houses at Christmas dinner?  Although, we usually spend the evening playing games that the kids get as gifts from Santa after dinner on that day, and decorating cookies in the afternoon.

I am truly blessed to have a family who can enjoy a relaxing day together, while pitching in to help with cooking so that the day wasn't all about slaving away in the kitchen and dozing in front of a game on TV. 

And I was thrilled to have them want to make Gingerbread Houses!  I'm not really a Thanksgiving person, for me, it is just the gateway to the holiday season, it is hard to hold back and not start rushing headfirst into Christmas before Thanksgiving is over.  

This season, I decided there was no reason to hold back and went for it.  I was glad to have my trees up, and the twinkling lights strung for atmosphere.  And loved having these houses to do, even though they are a traditional Santa thing, not a turkey thing.  

(with a side of Turkey!)

The kids were calling the meal, our "Healthgiving" Dinner, we kept all of the items freshly made, with no processed foods. With everyone helping, that wasn't hard to do. There were circus tricks on the aerial rig, a walk in the woods, crafting, massage therapy, and we all took turns giving a Huzzah! for what we were feeling grateful for. 

The laughter, warmth, and hugs were much appreciated.  

What a nice holiday! I hope you had a happy one too.

 

 

Christmas tag books in the Boutique and a sweet wedding, at the BEST weekend

I'm still enjoying the bounty of paint pours from my creative binge this summer and am now using the pieces to make holiday tag books.

You can purchase them HERE, in the Boutique.

I seriously adore the technique and the look of the swirled paints.  Acrylic flow painting is the BEST!

I'd gone with Beth to attend the wedding of The Other Karla's son in St Paul and brought crafty goods (including these painted tags) with me to play with in the hotel room, then found a bounty of beauties at a flea market on the way there. 

Once I got started on making these, I couldn't stop. I was a bad friend and sent Beth out on her own to have lunch with her Minnesota nieces while I stayed in my jammies and made book after book after book that day, till it was time to get ready for the wedding.

Because- WOW- look at this paper I'd found!!!!!  How could I leave it uncut, when I had all of these pretty, painted tags to make things with????

I'd also bought 1928-29 women's magazines from December with lots of helpful Christmas tips, along with an old book of hymms that included Christmas carols.

And stacks of holiday ephemera.

And did I mention that it was 13 degrees outside? And I'd driven through mini blizzards to get there.  Yes, I was content to do hotel crafting in my jim jams and had a beautiful, wonderful, magical day.

It was the BEST.

Not only did I have a fab night with friends, then a day at a flea market on the way to the wedding, I had an entire day with the most magical of vintage supplies, topped off with a night of dancing and laughing til my sides hurt at the wedding.

Or did my sides hurt because I was way to old to dance that hard and that long?

Either way, it was a perfect weekend.  Laughter, road trips, making things, attending a lovely wedding.  Yep, the BEST.

I had never met Karla's son, but soon realized he was a catch.  His wife won my heart quickly too, when she told us about the family tradition of using this vintage cake topper.

Karla made ribbon wands that were waved in the air when the couple entered the reception, and soon we were all dancing and waving them around out on the floor.  Not only were they pretty to see flying about, but they had magical properties.

When we twirled them about, we were FANTASTIC  dancers. We were the BEST.

And personally, I can't dance and have less rhythm than, well, I can't actually think of anything or anyone with less skill on the dance floor than I have.

Between the laughing and the ribbon wands, my dancing skills suddenly became amazing.  Everyone's did. 

Yep, it was the BEST.

 

 

Our respect for the bird is slipping....

Sugarwings and I LOVE decorating for the holidays, but we try to hold back and wait til after Thanksgiving. Our reminder to each other is, "We must respect the bird!"

Last year, our home was on the holiday tour plus I was hosting a holiday workshop (A Snowbird's Song) and I had a great excuse to ignore our rule and toss tinsel everywhere on November 1st.

And this season, we started our holiday fun a bit early by attending the play, "Elf" at the KU Lied Center.  We decided to throw a mini dinner party before the show, and simply had to have appropriate decor to serve our meal, right????  Heck, it wasn't our fault that the date of the play was before Thanksgiving.

Sugarwings was in charge of the tablescape and made up this Candy Cane Forest, from the story.

Cocoa parties are a big part of our Christmas celebrations, and Buddy the Elf loves cocoa too. Typically, we do not have our first cup until the tree is up and lit.  We made an exception, and served hot chocolate with organic candy canes and marshmallows in both vanilla and peppermint.  She made a banner from one of Buddy's quotes.  

He does have some of the best quotes.

While she crafted a candy cane forest, I hot glued some felt and feathers into elf hats to wear that night.

I was kind of surprised that we were the only group decked out for the theme, but was proud of my girls for rocking the look.

We served finger foods and things we thought elves would like, although we didn't go whole hog with Buddy's list of elves' favorite food groups:

1- Candy

2-Candy Canes

3- Candy Corn

4- Syrup

We decided to compromise on our respecting the bird rules and leave our tablescape set up.  I dodged a bullet on breaking the rule even further by being very busy, and having a couple of trips come up to prevent me from pulling more yule goodies out of the closet.

But I'm twitching with the need to tear into the storage closet and fling lights and ornaments from one end of the house to the other!