Karla's Cottage

Fresh paint

We have had some cheerful, fun relatives visiting for a few days, just what we needed after the loss of Twinkle and Albert.

I thought I’d spruce the place up a bit before they arrived and get a much needed coat of paint on this swing.

While I was at it, I spray painted the old, metal chairs white and used some of the blue paint on a few flower pots around the yard.  Those rusty chairs have so many coats of paint on them, I’d say they were more paint than metal.  But that wouldn’t be true, because they flake off so much.

Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to be a person with brand new stuff instead of junk…

But new stuff wears out too, right?  It needs painted after years of wear.  IF it holds up that long.  These chairs are probably from the 50s.  So, I guess I’ll stick with them.

I guess the swing has been painted a lot too.  This is the first time it’s been blue.

It has had many incarnations in white and one in cream.  Blue is a pleasant change.

(Little Buddy, on the left has become available again, if you are looking for a mellow ball of fuzzy love to snuggle)

Our family just left this morning, and we missed them already.  We went boating, out for a run, did some paint pours, belted out some karaoke, but mostly played with puppies.

It was relaxing to hang out in the courtyard after dinner and watch the pups wear themselves out.

Every family reunion should feature puppies!

 

 

Pretty stones

When Twinkle passed, I brought her home from the vet’s office to show her to the other dogs.  I knew they would look for her if I didn’t.  You might think it’s odd, but we showed Ryan’s body to our pets too. They were overly excited about a room filled with paramedics and other professionals during a pandemic when they hadn’t been around many people, so it wasn’t exactly a moving moment. 

But at least they knew why Uncle Ryan wasn’t around for ear scratches and walks any more.

It would’ve been easier to have Twinkle cremated, my husband was out of town and it was 100 degrees that day.  But I hated to think of the other dogs always looking for her and not knowing where she was.

I buried her next to Ryan’s memorial tree.  

A dear friend and her daughter had engraved and painted rocks for me and I’d been planning on placing them by this oak.  I am glad I hadn’t done it yet, they were just what I needed to top Twinkle’s grave.

I used some of the rocks in planters too.  

Ryan is never out of my thoughts, but I still like to have little trinkets and mementos of him around me.

 

 

 

 

Painting a cement floor entryway

Years ago, I covered my steps in mosaic, on a whim.  Not much planning went into it, and very little skill.  My dad was ill, I was waiting to hear his diagnosis, and needed a big project where my fingers were busy, but my mind could wander.  I didn’t have a design or the right supplies on hand, I just used what I had, and then had to make runs for more marbles and squares to complete what I’d started.

My dad was a lifelong gardener, and I think the abstract vine pattern just sorta formed itself while thinking of him.  

Luckily, it hasn’t fallen apart, at least not too much.  Even though it wasn’t done correctly. There are a few tiny cracks in some tiles, and a couple marbles popped out, and were glued back in. 
The 100+ year old cement floor by it also had some issues.  The paint on it had started to peel.

So I thoroughly scrubbed the floor and while I was at it, I went after the steps with a brush and vinegar and got the tiles to sparkle again.  Then, I added a big scoop of plaster of Paris into some exterior latex paint and repainted the floor.

That gives the paint some “tooth” help it adhere to the cement.

I hope that it works, because I got carried away and started to paint vines on the floor to coordinate with the steps.  That won’t be an easy patch job if the paint wears off, it will need a total redo.

We are not able to use rugs on the floor here because of this critter, Dorothy happily tinkles on any rug she sees, thinking I generously supplied her with a pee pad.

My design makes this into kind of a painted, pee proof rug.  

Yep, I know it’s pretty busy.  Especially when you add in the hand painted roses on the wall.  But it is a very small space and not visible from the rest of the house.

(by the way, there is only a small window of time when the hooks are not layered four deep in jackets, backpacks, hats, leashes and more, I just did spring cleaning and the re-piling up has not yet begun)  

After the vines dried, I brushed on a brown glaze and wiped it off, let that dry and coated the floor with semi gloss Polycrylic.  I’d rather have used a stronger topcoat but I was worried about the odor and my baby puppies.  So, I stayed with water based.

Fingers crossed that the paint lasts a few years!

 

 

April Showers Bring May Flowers

My birthday is in May and Mom used to say “April showers bring May flowers” to me when I was little.  I loved it, and thought she made it up just for me.  

This year, May will be hard, but I am focusing on why I have always loved this month and will try to get outside and enjoy those flowers and everything else springtime brings.

While visiting Indiana, my sister gave me her curtains since she switched to new ones.  I thought the lovely, rosy pattern on my favorite blue would be just the splash of spring that I needed, so I turned the curtains into slipcovers for my sofa.

Maybe calling them slipcovers is too generous of a term.... they are just pillow cases, no closures, darts, or anything that takes skill.  Simply rectangles sewn together on three sides with couch pillows in them.

But cheerful, right?  Thanks for the curtains and inspiration, Sissy!

 

 

Appreciating Something Normal

We had company!  Our friends are now vaccinated and we celebrated together with a pitch in BUFFET style meal!

No more fixing an individual plate for each person, we actually all stood NEAR each other, WITHOUT masks, INDOORS, and fixed our plates.

Then, why does my dining room look so empty?  Well, for one thing, we were so busy catching up, then pour painting that I didn’t remember to take photos of the group.  

Another reason is that, I was excited to have a reason to clean my house and took pictures before people came over.

During the first half of quarentine, I found myself organizing and cleaning a lot.  My drawers and closets were impeccable.  

But after a while of no one coming inside, I kind of let things become sloppy around the edges.  It was very nice to have a reason to care about how things looked again.

Also, there are still reminders of the pandemic everywhere.  Such as having a new dishwasher on back order for  six months.  

But you know what?  That doesn’t phase me at all.  That might have been something that would piss me off pre-pandemic or at least be something to whine about.  But now? Small potatoes!  I had my friends coming over, and things like dishwasher delivery being delayed is not the sort of thing to upset me after what 2020 delivered to the world.

Instead of having a sit down dinner with a set table, we filled our paper plates and went outside to enjoy a beautiful, spring day.

My goal is to appreciate what I have, not complain about what I don’t.  We have all lost so much.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to make a little fairy diorama

There were more fairy family photos to add to the mantel from our wing making event that Miss Tree gifted us with at Solstice.  


Now, I think I have us all represented over the fireplace.  I’ve used a variety of ways to display them from frames, shadow boxes, in bottles, hanging, and more.

I ran out of space for more frames, so thought I’d craft a mini diorama for my son and Dewdrop.

The first step was to cut out, glitter and decorate the people I wanted to use.

Next, I cut an arch shape from two sided cardstock. No pattern, just a roughly arch shaped piece because I knew it would be covered.

I glued Adam to the arch and then glued the arch to the inside of a mayo jar lid.

To strengthen and support the arch, I added a strip of more cardstock to the back.

Some grosgrain ribbon covered the lid up.

I filled the inside of the lid with blobs and globs of Ultimate glue, stuck a bent pie cleaner where I wanted Dewdrop to stand, then filled the lid with moss.

Dewdrop was then glued to the pipe cleaner and clamped til dry.

To stabilize the pipe cleaner, I glued pretty rocks onto the moss.  They also worked as weights to keep the piece upright.

You can see behind Dewdrop into the lid in this picture.  I added flowers and leaves around the archway and a few flowers into the moss too.

Ta-dah!

This isn’t a very refined, or perfected project  just a quickie not meant to last a life time.  But it suited my purposes for a way to add more family fairies to my display.

This is my springtime mantel  and I like it so much, it might be up all summer.  I think I even see a few spots where I could squeeze in a few more sprites...

 

I ❤️ these people

The wing project the Miss Tree gifted the family with at Winter Solstice is a gift that never ends.  Not only did we have day after day of fun with creating the wings, I made captured and framed fairies for the mantel from one of our two adventures in fairy dress up parties.

She has become a master wingmaker (Katie, you need an Etsy shop!) and crafted these for my son, to look like oak leaves.

He and Dewdrop were here for a much too quick visit, and while at the cottage, he took the time to remake my garden entryway.  The vines put up years ago had started to fall, and most of the twinkle lights had given up their glow.

More native grape vines were gathered in the woods and he came up with the idea of forming a heart instead of just a random design.

See how he incorporated the scrolls of the fence to complete the point of the heart?

I’ll have more pictures of our dress up night, and of the projects I make with the photos later on.  Because like I said, the wing party from Katie just keeps on giving.  I can’t wait to add more fairies to my fireplace mantel.

Plus pics of the fabulous heart with blooming vines growing around it this summer!  Won’t that be lovely?

Thank you, Katie and Adam, for the beauty you bring to my world.

 

 

Captured fairies

Some of the pictures from our fairy family photo shoot were simply ideal to use in cute ways, like Thia, here in this bottle.  

And the bottle was ideal too!  It’s a plastic bottle that unscrews from the bottom and came filled with candy.  Why oh why didn’t I buy a case of them instead of just one? I’ve not seen another one since. I got the candy at Tuesday Morning a couple years ago, it was a brand I hadn’t seen before.  I can’t remember what flavor it was filled with, but who cares, all candy is good and this bottle was meant to be a unique and wonderful craft supply!

Any container that has a good sized opening on the bottom is much easier to catch a fairy in than trying to use tweezers to slide them into a narrow top.  This is an upside down sauce jar, not a fancy shape, but she went into it nicely.  I should probably add flowers to the top to disguise it more.

The photo of me with Molly is printed a little larger than the girls, so I could layer them in prospective.  I’m glued directly to the glass, a smaller Dewdrop a bit behind me, and slightly smaller Sugarwings a bit higher and to the side behind her. 

Their photos didn’t show feet, so I used moss to hide that.  In all the dioramas, I added pussy willow branches as trees, because I think fairies would really love to hang out under fuzzy, soft trees like that if given a choice.

This pic would’ve worked well in a box too, but is just so lovely, I wanted it framed as is.

And I thought the two of these were cute as a bug next to each other.

Our family has been known to don wings on more than one occasion.  Here are pictures of the Guncles that I thought should be added to the grouping.  I have one of my sissies that needs to go up here too.

This picture is from the grand masquerade we attended.  I cut out the girls and glued them to a little blue mirror and glued it to the rosy tin lid.  I don’t know where the bottom of the tin went, but held onto the lid, knowing I’d find a use for it someday.  

Blue mirrors are significant in the fairy world!  You can spot them in your garden by holding up a blue mirror and peering into it, looking over your shoulder to see them flitting about.

These sisters are glued to an amber glass, beveled “moon” and then onto a painting that Dewdrop made.

She swirled lots of glitter paint onto a paper plate, then smooshed it onto a canvas.  Gorgeous, isn’t it? I think it looks like woodland flowers.

Twinkle lights are strewn throughout the display.  I’ll get a photo of it lit up when I add more fairies to the mantle.  The lights twirl between the frames, then up into my set of wings hung over the mirror.  I didn’t realize while doing it that the lights formed a heart shape!

 

A little cabin in the woods

It has been a long, cold week here in Kansas, as it has been in a large part of the country.  We were only without power for a few hours, and our pipes froze up until we (meaning Rich) tucked a tarp around the bushes in front of where the pump goes into the basement. 

My heart goes out to the Texans who went through much worse.  

We built a big fire, piled our dogs and blankets on our laps and were just fine.  When we heard the weather forecast of bone chilling cold and about the possibility of rolling black outs to protect the grid, we did what we could to protect ourselves and pets.

I charged all of our devices and extra power packs, filled the bath tubs with water to use for flushing, and Rich brought some five gallon water bottles in from the garage. We had plans in place if things got worse, but never needed to start hanging tarps up in the hearth room or lighting candles in terra cotta pots for extra warmth.

Our dogs were very excited to see that the hens came to live in the basement for about a week or so during the coldest stretch.   And the cats were happy to be tucked into the hen house with all of the warmers and heated water out there, plus a cozy, insulated little box full of cushions to snuggle up in. While I was not quite as happy about chickens as house pets with hay tracked all over the kitchen from Rich’s boots and the dog’s feet, I was glad to know they were safe.

And that they didn’t really smell that bad.  Just a tad of a whiff now and then.  

But I did enjoy hearing their chatter and singing coming up through the vents.  

We did just fine, and I hope you are okay too?  Days like that can sure make you appreciate what you have, huh?  And remind me that I am blessed.

That we have a cute long cabin just for fun, and not as our actual shelter.  

Well, it is fun to have it now.  It was not an easy thing to build.  Maybe emotionally as much as physically for Rich.  

Chopping, hauling, and stacking the logs, coming up with the design and crafting the building throughout a long, hot summer was his way of working through the pain of losing our son.  I think a lot of tears mixed with the sweat of the hard work.

The project was mostly completed before winter came.  He still needs to gather fieldstone to enclose the chimney and is waiting for the logs to settle before chinking between them.  
The fireplace is functional, but not usable yet because of all the gaps between logs, the draft pulls too much smoke through the interior.

See what I mean about drafts?

For now, it is a little garage for our mower.  Later on, he will build a table from some wood leftover out of our grandfather tree (a special oak that he used to tell stories to the grandfairies beneath.  It fell over and was used to make our dining room table and dog crate) and add a hammock too.  

 

I froze my watch off

The dogs are so happy with their new, furry, chair protecting, throw that they do not seem to notice the cold.  This weather is scary cold, and the rolling blackouts make it a crap shoot for keeping warm. We woke up to no power on Tuesday, with minus 16 degrees outside.

It was only three hours for us, and we have a good fireplace with a heat blower on it, indoors, the temp only dropped to 56.  Other parts of our land aren’t doing as well, I hope that these temporary blackouts stop the problem from getting even worse!

Last week, I volunteered a second time at the Covid vaccine drive through and it was only 14 degrees at the highest point of the day.  This weather has gone beyond “cold snap” to “frozen smashed and broken”.  Or something like that.

I hate cold with a passion and my family knows that I am a cowering mess of fear when I think the swimming pool water might be a tiny bit more chilly than I like.  

Yes, quite the wimp.

I really didn’t think I could take being outdoors in that weather for six hours, but it is a cause that means a lot to me and I was so proud of myself for doing it.

It took:

• 3 pair of Cuddleduds leggings
• 2 Cuddleduds shirts
• a fleece vet
• a jersey lined, long lace skirt (because I could’t fit another pair of pants on)
• wool socks
• Ugg boots
• a fleece gaitor/hood
• fur lined hat
• fleece scarf
• lots of Toasty Toe warmers
• fleece gloves (I had mittens to wear over them, but was handling paperwork and couldn’t use the mits, dang)
• puffy jacket
• Pretty mask

Did I mention, LOTS of warmers?  I stuck them all over me.

I knew that all would show was my eyes, so I wore a ton of eye makeup.  But didn’t realize that the fleece gaitor would cause my mask to steam up and I’d have a wet, red, icy nose all day.   And that it would cause my mascara to melt into puddles that not only ran down my cheeks, but smeared in ragged half circles and froze above my eyes.  

As if I had drunkenly drawn on weird eyebrows with a black sharpie.

And no one told me that I looked demented, as I greeted hundreds of drivers.

The cold was so bad, that my poor Apple Watch couldn’t take it.  I had it buckled to my vest, because I couldn’t get to my wrist through all of my layers.  The frigid air shut the watch down.

After dealing with freezing my watch off outdoors as a volunteer, a few hours in front of a fireplace, under a blanket with the power off didn’t seem so bad.

My next volunteer date is supposed to have temperatures way up to a balmy 21, so I am looking forward to the heat wave!  

Hopefully you are warm, safe, and healthy.  If you are, please turn down your heat a tad, turn off extra appliances and lights, and conserve what you can so that the grid doesn’t crash and the power stays off a while.  Take care out there!