Karla's Cottage

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!!

 

Decisions on a farmhouse table

My husband's favorite tree fell down. The "Grandfather Tree" lived on the other side of our creek, on the edge of the woods. It is the tree that the grandfairies walked to with him, to hear his stories about our family's history.   

When it fell over in a big storm, we decided to salvage the wood (oak) to make a table for our dining room.  We found a guy who could slice it up, but that was complicated, and we had to first have another tree guy out to cut the main trunk and place it on the ground to make it easier to approach.

My husband loves playing with a chainsaw, more than about anything. But this thing was waaayyy too big for his saw, this required a pro.

It will also require a mill to cut it up further and a kiln to dry it.  Months later, we will have the pieces to build our table.  

Of course, before that, it has to go across the creek.... Yes, the pieces are as heavy as they look....

It took 6 people with those appliance dolly straps on to lift one onto the trailer. We are transporting them to my son's farm to store and age, one at a time, that is all the trailer will hold.  The weather turned cold and rainy after this one was moved, we will have to wait for a dryer time to move the rest.  Plus my boy is just moving into his new place this week and is busy getting settled and working on projects there.  

This is the table I have now, which I've been pretty happy with, but we regularly have dinners for at least 10 people and it isn't big enough. I've been thinking about getting a rustic, farmhouse table for the room, something long and narrow.  At least 10'.  (this is an old photo, the room is different now, this was the best one I could find of the table itself, it can seat 10, but we often need 11, and 10 is slightly crowded)

The style of table I had in mind was more of a repurposed, old wood in planks.  But now that we have this, sentimental hunk of oak, I need to decide what to do with it.  It is worth more as is, and is almost a shame to cut it into boards.  So, do I want to have it milled to become wide planks, or do I want to leave it as is and have a live edge?

We could trim it up, something like this.

Either way I decide, I want to find old legs to use.  But man, they will have to be STURDY! Although, that might not look as good with the slab top, I might need to consider a bit. 

 And I want it light.  Maybe a pickled stain?  White or gray rubbed in, wiped off, then sealed with a mat finish.  When we began discussing this, I started a pinterest board with a few ideas, and none of them are quite right. But still kind of helpful. I'm still pondering,  and need to make a decision before we move the slabs across the creek. It would be easier to move them if we cut them first. If we are leaving the slabs as is, the process will be harder. One definitely stays as is, our son is building a table for his new farm from one of them. We have 5 slabs, total, so there is plenty to go around, and he is going to build my table too.

Here is another photo of the existing table, that I found from Christmas time. 8 fits nicely, you can see how 10 can be a squeeze.

The style of the room will be changing, with the new table, but I'm ready for a change.  A bit of roughness will compliment the stone of the fireplace we built a couple years ago. 

EDIT- We have come to a decision! We will have an 11' x 35" slab, with the edges cut off for our table.  For a desk in my husband's office, he will have live edge on the outside of the slab.  

 

Hoppy Easter- half priced eggs and high hopping dogs

 

I hope you had a good holiday! Ours was sure nice, but quiet.  Well, it was quiet for me, but busy for the guys.

This girl decided she didn't need a fence, so she gracefully leaps over them. Only to get out to follow us, never to run off. But we didn't want to take any chances, so the fence pickets had to be replaced with taller ones, on Saturday.

Then on Sunday, we found her flying over the new height.  

Did you know that Home Depot was open on Easter? We picked up another load of taller pickets, to raise the entire fence to the level of a privacy fence.  If that doesn't keep her in, we are in trouble.

Thank you to everyone who bought one of my floral, sugared eggs!  I went a bit berserk making them.... they were so fun, I couldn't stop and ended up with a couple dozen. 

Now that Easter is over, there are still some available.  If you'd like one, they are half price now. Just purchase (full price) and I will send a refund for half of the amount when I ship the package. And please remember, I do refund excess shipping costs too. Sometimes the Boutique shipping amounts can total up pretty high, so after I weigh the package, I send a refund to the buyer.

You can find the Sugared Eggs here:

Boutique

 

Pussy Willows and Bluebirds with Pink Roses, ahhhhhh

Somewhere, someplace, it is Springtime, and I have proof.  The grocery store was selling pussy willow branches and I just had to buy an armful for myself.  (now, don't try to tell me that they were grown in a greenhouse, because in my mind, they are gloriously, blooming in a field of flowers under a spring sky, and I want some of that magic in my house)

Such a sweet, fluffy plant!! Mom had one planted in our yard when I was a kiddo, but I haven't been able to get one to grow here. I tried a weeping pussy willow once, and had no luck. I think this year is the time to try again.  Because when these fuzzy little kittens  spring up, they always make me smile.

After bringing the branches home, I decided that I needed to get my mantel looking more season appropriate.  I'd still had the rose paintings covered with burlap and angel wings. Those had been put up for Christmas and thought I'd leave them for Valentine's Day too, but they were still covering up the pink flowers into March.

It was nice to see my little bluebird of happiness again!  To keep him company, I sat some other bluebird inspired pieces out on the shelf.

That larger bird is a vase, a gift from my friend, Lisa. I think it needs fresh pink roses in it.

Speaking of roses, I still have a Valentine topiary on my  cabinet's chalkboard door.  Maybe I'll have the grand fairies color it in for me, I still like it. But it seems too wintery right now.  A bit of colorful chalk should help.

While I had the camera out, I thought I'd take a photo from the other side of the room.  Last time the bigger kids were here doing their circus tricks, they forgot to put away the lira.  So, I am keeping the ladder I used to redo the mantel next to the hoop. If I don't, I forget it is there and clunk my head every time I walk through the room.  

The ladder kind of obstructs the view of my bluebird mantel and pussy willow branches, but I have to admit, it doesn't really bother me.  When you have grand fairies in and out of the house, things are rarely pristine.  Sometimes, when my husband is out of town, and the kids aren't visiting, I clean everything up and enjoy a day or two of serene surroundings, but it doesn't last.

And that is okay, because a lively house is better than a perfect one, right?