Karla's Cottage

Fluttery wings and a book full of sweet nothings, two classes two ways- in Florida and Kansas

Are you up for some romantic crafting projects?  I have two opportunities for you to join me in creating ruffled, lacey, crepe paper wings, adorned with vintage millinery along with a charming autograph book, inspired by a very old and uniquely shaped signature book. The book will be made from the ground up, you will learn how to construct the covers from chip board and paper.

One set of classes is being hosted by the lovely, Karen Hillman, in Deland, Florida.  She will serve a luncheon to us in her impressive and gracious style and we will create both the angelic wings and distinctive booklet.  

Info on how to sign up is here: Cozy Castle Events

Did I mention it was Reninger’s Antique Extravaganza weekend?!?!   

While the flea market adventure isn’t exactly part of the workshop, I highly encourage you to attend it and shop to your heart’s content at one of the South’s top fleas.  The classes are on Saturday, and the market is in full swing Friday thru Sunday, just down the road in the delightful town of Mount Dora.  

I used to spend some time in the area back when I’d visit my Great Aunt Caroline (who lived til the day before her 102nd birthday!), so I became familiar with the joys of antiquing there, way back then.  I fell head over hills for the hidden gem in the heart of Florida, and have filled my suitcase many times with precious goodies from shopping sprees while visiting.  

The signature book and angel wings have a romantic feel to them, but are not necessarily Valentine decor.  I hung some wings in the cottage for Christmas one year, and decided to leave them up for Valentines', then liked them so much, they stayed up year round.  Who doesn’t need a sweet reminder of heavenly blessings nearby?  

The book also, can be filled with sweet nothings and love notes, or used as a mini scrapbook, art journal, diary, or simply enjoy as a display piece and reminder of a day of creativity with other talented friends. Here is a page from my inspiration book (a gift from the Guncles that Karen and I both freaked out over and wanted to copy). I will be including a vintage calling card and other pretties for each kit.

Karen’s gathering will take place on February 16th, which makes it even more special to me.  It is my mom’s birthday and she adored her Aunt Caroline. I’m excited to be spending her day in an area she loved. 

I've been busy hand dying crepe paper and sewing it into yards and yards of ruffles for you.

No two kits will be exactly the same, since vintage materials will be used.  I'm supplying roses for each set of wings, in your choice of color.  Tiny vintage flowers will top the album also. Crepe paper is available in cream and white or pink.  

The classes at my home will be on Saturday, January 26.  You can choose to make the wings in the morning, the book in the afternoon, or stay the day and do both. Lunch is included. 

Both cottage workshops are $55,

but if you sign up for the set,

you’ll save $5 on each

for a total of $100 for the day.  

(I hope you will stay all day, I’m looking forward to spending it with you!)

We will have a Valentine themed luncheon and the Treat Cabinet will be stocked with chocolatey, yummy, sweetness. If you’d like to be part of this party, you can email me at karlanathan@sbcglobal.net for an invoice. And please let me know if you’d like white, pink, or red for your wings. 

I could possibly do blue or lavender if you wish also.  Ask for your fave and I'll see what I can find for you. My cottage does hold a couple of hats to choose from....

And if you like to go to the Florida and Kansas versions?  First of all, I’d be thrilled!  Second, I can make you two different colored kits. 

Merry Christmas!

I hope your day is a blessed one.

The Cottage Living Room at Christmastime

My holiday foofiness was hung around the cottage early enough that I've had plenty of time to enjoy it this season. But with Christmas just around the corner, I'm already starting to be sad about seeing it packed away.

Maybe I will leave the lights and ice garland over the window? It can be a "winter decoration" instead of a Christmas one.

For now, I'll be savoring it all for the time left with the sparkle and glitz.

It certainly makes me happy to see. 

Maybe what I need is something new to set out in January, something to look forward to? 

Isn't it silly to be missing it  before it is even put away?  It could be that I'm already missing my Dewdrop, who will only be home for a short time to celebrate with us.  And missing all of the fancy, cocoa parties, outings, and gatherings.  

Honestly, I just LOVE the entire season soooooo much, that I hate to see any of it go!  Next year, I really need to plan a Snowbird's Song art weekend again, so I can squeeze even more festiveness out of wintertime.

 

 

A Book Club Christmas party

I couldn't remember if it was  my 4th or 5th annual holiday book club party, so I looked back at my blog (which is my journal, and the only way I ever know when I did what) and saw that I'd started hosting these in 2011! 

Here are some past parties:

2011

2013

2014

2015

2016

This year, I was inspired by a pot of glittered, blue poinsettias to tend toward being a little more colorful than the typical gold and white color scheme of past parties.  Our white tree has multiple settings for color choices. On a daily basis, I set it on white and twinkling. But the minute Sugarwings walks in the door, she resets it to rainbow. I thought I'd use her favorite setting for this night too.

Aren't the flowers wonderful?  I always buy a pot of poinsettias, and try to purchase  the one with the most blooms, and normally choose ones with just white.  This year, I saw a glittered, ocean blue plant, and had to go for it.  Especially since it had over a dozen flowers on it. (or to be correct, I think you are supposed to say "brackets" for these plants, not flowers, right?)

I always cut the blooms off and put them in vases, instead of leaving the plant as is. They last quite a long time and I can spread them around the house, using them in many spots.

And lately, I"ve been finding crystal wine glasses on sale for pretty cheap and they have been multicolored too. So, heck why not go with it?  It ended up being a change that I really enjoyed.

I even added some pink and blue shiny brites to the gold and silver ones on the chandelier for the night and like it so much, I've leaving them for the season.  They look nice with Sugarwings' favorite light setting on the tree, too.

Since the party was for the book club, I added some vintage books to the tablescape.

Dinner was a rainbow spiral pie (that suited the colorful room, didn't it?), baked parmesan chicken,  greenbeans with potatoes and mushrooms.

And two kinds of homemade bread.

I had such a lovely time with these bright and interesting ladies.

After dinner, we draw names for gift wrapped, used books that everyone brings to swap.  

 I ended the night, looking around the room, and enjoying how clean and festive the house looked.  I adore the holiday decorations and seeing all of the lights, but our cottage isn't always as tidy as it should be.

While decking the halls, I do a deep cleaning and at first everything looks sparkly and spiffy. Since I do the decorating early, messes have a chance to encroach December passes and having a party midway through the month is a great excuse to get a fresh start and bring back that sparkling feeling.  It isn't often that the whole place is all cleaned up and shiny at the same time.  We have 5 dogs, heat with wood, and have a craftaholic kid who creates clouds of paper flying around her like she is Edward Scisssorhands.

As I said goodnight to my husband, I commented on how happy I was to have had such a pleasant evening and to have clean, pretty surroundings.   

Then, I woke up about 1am to a dog crying hysterically to go out. And then to be let right back in.  And again a couple of times that night.  I drug myself out of bed each time, half awake, not realizing that she had such a tummy ache that she'd made a mess, and paced around, walking through it.  

Not so clean anymore..... I didn't even get a full 24 hours of spotlessness.

Mopping and sanitizing after a sick dog isn't nearly as much fun as cleaning and spiffing to get ready for a party.  

 

 

 

Honey Harvest

Last year, we hit the honey jackpot. 

This year?

Not so much.

I'd prepared for another huge harvest, and bought not only our normal sized jars, but also these mini bears to give as gifts.

We only filled one of these, (to save for Dewdrop) and very few larger ones for the family this year.

The set up isn't any easier to get an abysmal number of bottles than it is to have a bountiful harvest.  It took a day to get it all ready then cleaned up for this slow trickle.  And this year, there were 3 hives instead of just one.  

I guess the drought over the summer was hard on these poor little gals.

 

Around the Cottage in August

My flow paint obsession is still in full force, and I used some of the run off paints to make a cell phone cover.

After a long, HOT, summer of drought, we had some much needed rains.  And all of a sudden, the flowers forgave the heat and celebrated by exploding in color.

My estate sale shopping was minimal, but SO worth the one trip I made.  Look at this score!! I'll let you know as I have journals and kits made up to sell from these fab papers.

And big thank yous to everyone who purchased some of my paint pour art journals, and mini journal kits.  I have a couple left (from the dozens I'd made) if you'd like one, you can find it in my Boutique or Etsy.

All of us are celebrating Albie's new found happiness.  After a couple of years of struggle with anxieties, he has become a loving, and pretty much, comfortable dog.  We used a belly band on him to stop the indoor peeing, and worked with integrating him with the big dogs, plus gave him tons of extra attention. 

He hasn't peed in the house in weeks, even after we stopped using the diaper.  And he is much calmer.

Sometimes I am shocked that I have FIVE dogs and wonder what the heck I was thinking.  

But of course, it means I get five times the love, and that isn't bad at all. They make me crazy at times, but I don't know what I'd do without them.

If you can't choose between a Unicorn or a Mermaid, have both

Sugarwings has been busy making pour paintings with me, and wanted to decorate her room with them. She was turning TWELVE and I figured she was old enough to make her own choices for her bedroom.  She loves magical creatures, so decided that would be the theme.  I found some inexpensive decor at TJMax, Target, Hobby Lobby, and Homegoods, not wanting to spend too much, knowing that the phase might not last too long. She will soon be a teen. 

Oh my god, did I just say that??? 

She will soon be a teen?? 

Yep. The time is coming.  So, I thought I'd indulge her in this magical theme while she still wants it.  But knowing her, she will always be a mermaid/unicorn fan.  It is in her genetics.

She comes from a long line of true believers on both sides of the family.

Her twin bed is rainbows and unicorns, the double bed in the space has mermaids, the comforters don't exactly match, but the colors are similar and the beds look fine together. 

Oops, looks like I didn't get a photo of both together...

We painted a table for the space, and it has shelves for her special things, as well as magazine racks on each side for reading materials.

The table is a pour paint style too.

She has been busy hanging her artwork, all by herself.  It probably isn't how I'd have hung it, but I left it up to her, she did the paintings, and she chose where to put them.

She has some pretty ones, doesn't she?

This one is my favorite.

The room is colorful and fun, and suits her ideally. 

And she has a few more pictures to hang yet, so I see even more joyful color ahead.

A serene, mini redo for the master bedroom

You might have heard me mention pour painting.... I've been severely addicted.  And especially with ocean scenes.  I'm so in love with them, that I decided I wanted them to be around me.

 

All around me.

 

So, I might have gotten a tiny, itty bitty, carried away with hanging them in the bedroom. (These 2 are 8x10)

(These two are 11x14)

See what I mean? I've hung 8 of them in sets of two.

I knew it was not a typical way to style a room, but I decided to go for it anyway.  They make me happy, they feel peaceful, and people who walk in to the space have said, that the room is really lightened up.

(I think I'll take down the mirror sitting on the built in cabinet behind the door) 

Frames were on sale at Hobby Lobby, and I took a cartful of paintings with me to see who fit into what for cheap.  I kind of chose the paintings I'd hang by how they fit into the frame and into the room, and by using a variety of sizes, not by choosing my favorites.  Although, they all are my faves....

And I decided to go all out.  If I was hanging a few, I might as well hang a bunch.  (Even though it is the same scene over and over, in different lights or sized canvases.)

Some frames needed to be painted white, some were already the right color.  I tried to get a variety of styles, to break up the sameness of the paintings inside them.

There was thought of keeping this large frame dark to go with the top of the chest, but after looking at it this way for a week, I felt like it was too heavy for the area, and slapped some white on it, then distressed the paint a little.

While I was going beachy, I thought I'd add some beach elements to the room.  Not too many, just a few mermaids and shells.

This chest of drawers is new, from the West Bottoms antique district. I shopped on an extremely hot day, and was trying to find the exactly perfect item to fit this wall.  Well, I thought I found it, a gorgeous, low chest with a giant, aged marble top.  But it was higher than my budget, and looked heavy. I decided indulge myself anyway, then as I was starting to pay for the thing, the salesclerk said, "Wow that is a big, heavy marble top!"

On a sweltering day in the warehouse district, when I was already exhausted, the mere thought of getting it into the truck, then out and into the house was too much for me. I think I was delirious from the heat and couldn't rationally think about trying to figure out the logistics of getting the monstrosity home.

I backed out on the purchase, and went for this smaller, much, much cheaper, fixer upper instead.  It was only $100, a nice shape, and just needed handles, and paint.  

Also, it weighed nothing compared to the other one.

The top was attractive, it simply needed wax and elbow grease to shine it up.  The base, I painted white and dry brushed with gray for a driftwood look.  I found handles at Hobby Lobby, just to discover I was two short, and they were discontinued. So I returned them and settled for repainting the shiny brass handles that originally came on it. Because I was too lazy to drill new holes and patch the old ones to make a different style of handles fit.

When done, it fit nicely, has the space I need, looks good in the room, and is pretty.  But you know what? Maybe I'd settled too much.  Wrong hardware, wrong piece.

 

I look at it and wish I had the gorgeous slab of dreamy, aged, marble that I was too worn out and drained from the unseasonably steamy day to deal with.

 

It's a good thing I have such a serene, peaceful bedroom to calm my buyer's remorse angst.  It is hard to be sad about a furniture screw up when I am embraced by walls filled with seascapes.

The seaside knick knacks were pulled from the cabinet in the bathroom, where they'd been on display previously.  So, the bathroom got a bit of a redo too. Some of the art work that had been in the bedroom was used in there, and I adjusted the shelves to hide any gaps from removing all of the shells.  

A grayed, aqua was already on the walls, and even though a fresh color of paint can really lift a room, I decided against changing it.  This color suits me well, and I'm not ready to move away from it. Even though another blue might blend better with the seascapes, I enjoy the contrast and didn't want it too matchy.

The results are pleasing, and refreshing.

If you'd like to learn how to do a poured paint seascape, I have a youtube video with directions. But please forgive the lack of editing. And take a dramamine before watching it.

Or check back to my Boutique later this week, when I get some ocean scenes photographed and listed for sale.

Here is the video.

 

 

 

Randomness

This was painted years ago for a friend, and I just recently visited their home and saw it again, what a nice surprise. 

On one of our LONG, cold Spring days, while waiting for the weather to change, we went out for hair cuts and treated ourselves to milkshakes, pretending that we were not cold.

We spent a few days at the Discovery Zone in Topeka too.

There is always plenty to do there.

The grand fairies could stay for the whole day, and sometimes we do.

Sugarwings has been making mini waffles for us, after getting her own waffle iron from the Easter Bunny.

I don't think this is the Easter Bunny himself,  just some random bunny I saw at Home Depot.  A toddler, shopping with his mom, helped me follow him around and watch him nibble on the flowers.

Aren't these a pretty color? I mean, two pretty colors? I love these shoes and they were only $10 since they were mismatched.

A two toned bargain didn't bother me at all.

And here is some random cuteness from my world.  A picture of lazy dogs for this lazy, post I just wrote.

 

Around the cottage in April

Before I went on vacation for the 60th Trio of Birthdays Bash, we had a little dinner party.

Everytime I host a dinner, I tell myself that I need to buy some matching silverware.  And wine glasses.  Then, I never get around to doing it.

Someday.

Sugarwings was away for Easter and it sounds like she had a good trip to the west coast.

The grand fairies and Katie Tree are teaching me some circus moves! I want to master at least a couple before I turn 60 in May.  Trouble is, I have a ridiculous fear of heights, and I am clumsy.  They have lowered the apparatus for  me, and that helps.  Not with the clumsiness, though.

My son has a new farm, which will be used also as a retreat and business.  He found this bubbly spring on the property, and there is a mossy heart rock by it!!

After rebuilding this section of the fence a higher so the Amazing Jumping Circus Poodle (Sugar) would stay in it, we discovered that it didn't work.  She flies over any and all fences.  All of our fences are being recreated as privacy fence height now. Too bad, I loved being able to look over the fence from the windows and enjoy my yard. Now, they will be too tall.

But at least I'll still have a dog.  An expensive dog, we have a ton of fence to redo!!