Karla's Cottage

Birdsong 3 Sponsors are sending gifts! Would you like to be a sponsor too?

Cute chick, huh?

Colleen Moody generously shared one of her creations with me to use as a door prize for Birdsong 3!  This one is a necklace. Sweet!

I've added a Birdsong 3 sponsor list to my side bar on this blog and on Birdsong

The list will remain up till after the next Birdsong, or at least a year.  So, if you'd like a little bit of free advertising for your URL on my side bar, or if you are just disapointed in not being able to attend Birdsong and still would like to be a part of it, let me know if you would want to be a sponsor.

Sponsors, as well as past attendees are welcome to sign up early for the next event before I open it to the public too.

My friend, Janette, who will be  a third time attendee, donated the bags this year.  I love it when the ladies like to gift each other. Some bring pressies to pass out during the weekend, others send treats to be added to the bags. All is appreciated.  And extra generous.  I know that attending a weekend like this is not an inexpensive thing to do, with travel, class fees, and swap making, etc.

I do try to keep expenses for everyone by not expecting lavish new outfits, or by charging them higher fees so I can decorate special for the event.  We keep it casual and not extravegant and still have a lovely time.  Plus, I try to stuff them full with meals and treats so they aren't spending  alot of money on dinners out.  

We used to do a mini breakfast too, but I cancelled that this year, I think that so many hotels offer food in the morning that what I served was not needed.  We are still doing coffee talk together before classes, but I'm not baking muffins this year. Like I said, I try to budget for what counts most.

And Sweet Suzanne, sent these vintage egg cartons. I might use them as kit boxes.  Sponsor gifts can be a small gift to add to each goodie bag, a raffle item or something useful for the weekend. 
Laurie has sent these lovely hand made pretties for us.

Lori Oles (who will be teaching too)  sent a pretty roll of paper to share.  I'm not sure how I'll use it, but I know the ladies will enjoy it in whatever way it is presented. My sister is donating a necklace that she made.   Hope will be giving an entry to her online journalling class as a door prize, along with a journal kit.

Thoughtfulness comes in many forms!

Nathan Family Fairy Food Forest update and a very tempting mud puddle

Building a Food Forrest has been FUN!

There is a ton of work to do on the new garden area. But since my son has a family full of kids, he wanted to build a play area to keep them busy while he worked on it.  Here is the beginnings of the Fairy Park he is building for them.

Vines were gathered from tree tops in the woods behind our house, and he has built the frame of the play house for the kiddos with them.  Walls of it will be woven with smaller vines, and we've bought fencing to keep Dewdrop penned in.

The steps are in, he is making everything pretty as well as making an organic garden for us.   This whole area by the chicken coop is going to be the play area.

Planting has begun too.  Mr. Zen and his Gypsy Beloved are poking all sorts of seeds into the ground.

The peas will grow on this vine and branch structure.  After they are done, it will hold beans.

Cool, huh? I can't wait to see it covered in green!

Sprouts are already coming up under it.

It will be even better when the peas are being served in the dining room!  I  hope to have these as a side dish for Birdsong.

 

6 loads of composte have been unloaded and most spread.  And when we had some sick trees removed, the tree service offered to dump loads of mulch out here for us to use.  So far we've had a couple of mountains of free mulch delivered.

Some KU students came by for KU's Big Event, when thousands of college kids give back around the community to help with projects all over town.

They helped spread all the mulch mountains out.

Drainage and watering trenches are in the works, but for now, there is a big, tempting mud puddle.

The resistance didn't last long.

This will be a small retention pond, with a clay lining and a cute bridge over it. 
There might be some fishies to keep the mosquitos out, but for now, there are only a couple of mermaids there.

 

Addiction is still addiction no matter what your vice is

Beth and I had a day out to the antique mall and gave her booth a new look for spring.  (here is her post about the day)

Years ago, we shared this spot, and my hand painted roses are still there on the wall behind the space.  I no longer do this for a living and am glad.  But when I get invited to help Beth, it brings back lots of memories and I have a great day playing with old things and arranging them.

When I had a booth, I just adored working on it. Decorating was so much fun, I almost got ticked off when someone bought something and messed it up. Almost, not really. I was smart enough to know that when you sell something, that means you get to go buy more and redecorate the booth again!!

My husband HATED me doing the booth when I had it.  I spent way too much time hunting, hauling, and redoing furniture. And driving it to Kansas City to get set up at the mall.  I guess what I'm saying, is that I was obsessed.  It was an over whelming addiction to me, all I wanted to do was work on fixing up furniture and redo the booth.  I got to the point where I was resentful when the sun started to go down and shadows made it too hard to paint on things outside. Which meant that I was working pretty late on summer evenings.

It was hard on my body, too.  Some of those pieces could get pretty heavy, and I was too independent (or impatient?) to want to wait for help unloading the van and dragging it all out to the driveway to work on in all sorts of weather. I ached.  My joints hurt.  I was exhausted all the time.

All I ever wore were terrible old clothes covered in paint, and there were painty messes everywhere I went.  I had a big spray gun for priming and base coats, and would over haul 5-6 large pieces in a day, then do hand work and finishing after. I was always covered in over spray, plus I used the clothes I was wearing as paint rags to clean my brush.

I was crusty.

My garage still has the outlines of furniture on the wall, from over spray.  And the floor is covered in spilled paint colors.

It was a very hard job, and I worked hard at it.

But I thought I loved doing it. That is, til I gave it up.  There was an adjustment period, where I couldn't help being sad because I wasn't shopping for broken or ugly things to make beautiful.

But once I got away from it all, I realized just how tired I had been.  And how it had taken over my life.  White paint and roses were my drugs of choice, and I had been hooked deep.

Giving up the antique business was kind of like giving up Diet Coke.  Horribly hard at first. But as time went by, I adjusted and lost the yearnings.  Now, I can pop a top of pop and have a cold one sometimes and enjoy the taste, but don't need to drink the whole 12 pack.  I feel better because of it.

I can also set up a room full of stuff to sell at arty events here and there and get a taste for antique dealing again, without having to furnish a booth or spend 80 hours a week sanding and brushing and hand painting.  I've learned it's much nicer to shop for or make smaller things that fit in an envelope to sell online. 

No more 300 lb cabinets for me.  No more endless hours of grueling work.

(Beth gave me these pretties from her stash- she wasn't supposed to, she helped with my taxes and I helped with her booth, it was a trade)

My life is better now that I'm not a Diet Coke junky or hooked on dirty, ugly furniture in need of redoing.

But man, it was fun to be back at the mall, foofing and verving with Beth.  It's nice to know that I can recover from my addiction and stay on the straight and narrow.

Well kind of. I have been known to buy a 12 pack of Vanilla Diet Coke when I'm stressed. Or buy the occasional dirty, broken piece of furniture that is just too good to pass up.  I don't think I'll test my will power by trying meth and seeing if I can kick it.

 

Beth also gave me this photo. It must have reminded her of me. Although, I'm more of a hoodie type than a bandana wearer. And I need a few more chickens to measure up to this lady's glorious flock.

Anyway, click on it to open to a larger window and save it to your computer from there if you'd like to use it in your own work.

A day out with the kids- Disney on Ice!

Last week, I swept up some of the Grand Fairies to go to Disney on Ice. Or as I told them to refer to it, Grammie's Day of Fun. 

We all dressed in our finery and set off for KC while watching movies in the car on the way.
 Poor Clover wasn't feeling her best, but had plenty of smiles during the program.

Sugarwings had so much fun, she couldn't stop hugging, kissing, squeezing and loving on anyone near her. And her smile never left her face.

While Fin isn't as big of a princess fan as the rest of the crew, he still enjoyed the show. And when it got too syrupy, he took a few bathroom breaks to get up and move around. 

I think he'll make a fine boyfriend/husband for a lucky girl someday. Not only is he cute as a bug, he is sensitive and can enjoy a day out with the girls. And is smart enough to know when he needs a little break from girly stuff, but polite enough to get away for a few moments without complaining or causing a fuss.

We arrived a bit early and spent some time wandering around, enjoying the crowds and looking at the Disney merchandise.  Not that we bought any, geesh.  The prices were not tempting (well to me, at least) to heavy shopping. The snacks too. Heck, I thought movie theater popcorn was high, but at least that comes with a free refill.  At this place, it was $12 for a bucket. 

I'd brought some snacks for us, and was glad that I did.

We had fun without buying cheap plastic toys without cheap price tags. We took photos of each other, and rode the escalator.  It was one of the tallest ones I've ever seen.  You could tell we live in a town without big buildings, we were very entertained by riding up and down like country hicks while waiting for the show.

The show itself was a lot of fun, I'll definately go back for another one some day. 

Afterwards, we made a stop at TRex for an exciting lunch to make up for Grammie being too thrifty to buy the $12 popcorn at the show.

And after that was a stop for chocolates and jelly beans at Russel Stover, and then home to dye Easter Eggs.

I'm not sure who had the best time that day, but I think it might have been me.

At Home with the Guncles

I swear, I could wear out a camera at Randy and Kevin's house.  Cutest dogs, ever, a great collection of, well, too many things to count, and fun stuff going on all the time.

And it was very touching to me, that with all the cool collections and fabulous antiques they have, I saw bits and pieces of my own art work all around the house. This is a nest from my wire workshop

They've added some white birds for Spring to the cabinet of white pottery.

I'd love to find a top hat like this silk one they have.  It's hosting some paper clay creations I sent to them. The little elf is supposed to look like Kevin.

Hmm, kind of hard to tell from this photo.

There is a string of crystals hanging in the window of their patio room, that sends prisms all around the space every afternoon.   Here is Kevin, sprinkled in "light birdies", as my Sissy always calls them.

On Sunday, we spent the day in Randy's craft room with our pal, Regina. Over the years, he and I painted the entire room, floor and ceiling with murals, but there are so many treasures in there, not much shows!

Tad and Tillie ( Beloved Bishons of the Past) watch over us as we work there.

Regina worked on making a bird cage like the ones we had done at Karen's for the workshop at the Kozy Kottage.  Randy made cards (his specialty) and I cranked out a couple dozen birds to decorate my studio for Birdsong.

Randy also prepped the background for this painting he asked me to do.  A friend of his had a painting of a white peacock wearing pearls and he loved it, and asked me to copy it. I don't like to copy, but told him I'd do another version of it my own way. 

So, he found a swan in his wild life books and asked me to paint her.  The back ground is metallic, and the bird is regular paint. I think it really makes the swan stand out in a dramatic way.

The swan in the book had red eyes, but I went for pink.  It was a quick job, and there were some things I'd have tweaked if I had time, but I was finishing it up Monday before I went to the airport, and had to rush. Of course, at that point, I didn't know my flight was cancelled and I'd have hours to sit at the airport.

Randy is so kind about my artwork, he is my #1 collector.  Here is a watercolor of Zack that hangs in the craft room.

There is also a big screen TV in there, and he has a cabinet full of shows. I was able to get caught up on the few episodes of Downton Abby that I had missed and we watched Les Mis while working too.  Funny, when I "watch" TV while working, I rarely look up. At one point, I finally looked at the screen and was wowed, it was really a good picture.  I hadn't even noticed that it was such sharp high def.

I should ask what brand it is, I'm in the market for a new one myself.

Yep, it was a fun visit. Great food, great friends, great fun, great crafts, great TV picture (hey, that's important!) and great dogs.

Whimsy and fun at every corner. Accompanied by fresh shrimp.

And there are always big, brown eyes looking up into your face.

I'll leave you with some pictures around the house.  There is a treat every place you look there!

 

In the Guncles' Garden and some travel woes

On my trip to Florida, I didn't even make it anywhere near a beach.  As much as I love staring at the ocean, on a quick trip, I'm so happy at the Guncle's house I don't even remember that the Atlantic is nearby.

Their home and garden are so inviting, and they are so welcoming, it's a joy to be there and part of their little family.

After the cold Feb. and March we've had in KS, I was happy just to see some sunshine. While I was there, it was snowing up a blizzard back home. I thought my timing was great for the trip when I heard that.  Originally, I had planned to go home on Sunday, but there was such a huge difference in ticket prices, that I changed it to Monday to help out Karen, who was gifting me with the ticket.

And it snowed at home on Sunday, so I thought I'd made the right choice, I had a craft day with Guncle Randy and some time to hug the doggies.

But the snow caused major airline delays on Monday too.  I sat at the Jacksonville airport for hours before it was confirmed that I was not getting home that night. My cold had turned into a pounder of a sinus infection and I wanted my own bed more than anything else.

The guncles are the best hosts ever, but I needed to get home somehow and if I stayed overnight again in Jacksonville, I wouldn't be able to catch a flight till the next evening, plus the guys would have to work, so I wouldn't even see them till time to catch a ride to the airport.

Normally, I am pretty tough.  But I think, being sick for a few days away from home and trying to pretend I wasn't sick through all the social activities that were too fun to miss, had worn me down. I am embarrassed to say that I called my husband crying when I found out I was stuck at the airport.

What a big baby.

And of course, tears do NOT make a sinus problem feel any better. The pounding became a steady wallopping.

So, my husband got online and found the quickest route home, through nashville, away from the snowy places, then early the next morning, back to KS and home by 8:30 am. He arranged a hotel and shuttle for me too, and I felt much better.

Now, all that is stuff I could do myself with no trouble, but it was sweet for him to take over and take care of me.  It's sure nice to have someone who cares enough to take charge when you are down. 

And it doesn't hurt to let someone take care of you sometimes.  As moms or grammies we tend to always be the ones who take care of everyone else, don't we? 

 

Mt. Dora

What is more fun than a barrel of monkeys?  A weekend with a guncle!  Throw in some talented crafty friends, a trip to a favorite city and nothing can compare.

Our craft day was Friday, and all day Saturday was shopping at a downtown art and antique fair.  Sadly, it didn't measure up to our expectations, but we had a blast anyway.

And our first stop was a good one.  Judy, the Birthday Girl, had a booth at Annabelle's.  This is her fairy crown and it was lovely.

We all found something we wanted to buy at Annabelle's.

Karen has a booth there and at a glance you know exactly whose spot it is.  You can see her touch on everything.

Before shopping, we checked out a fruit laden tree growing by Karen's porch.  I didn't know what it was, but it smelled and looked tasty.  I broke one open and tried it, probably not a smart thing to do, not knowing what it was.  I guessed kumquat, but Randy told us it was a loquat, so I was close. And man, was it delicious. Kind of peachy.

Before Randy let us know it was safe, I asked everyone to watch me for signs of poisoning.  But I was fine, of course, just a little sticky.

I'm very impatient for our Food Forest to start producing.  I adore all the fresh fruit growing in Florida and can't resist picking it any time I can.  At the Guncle's they have lemon and oranges too.  But there were only a few oranges left at the top of the tree and shaking it did no good. 

I was able to get some French lemons from Karen and some non French, regular lemons from Randy. I'm not sure what the diff is.  But all will soon be lemonade and pie.

We ate lunch at a tea room in Mt Dora that I thought was pretty durn good until we went for a walk and visited THIS tea room.

WOW.

(yep, my eyes are closed in the photo)

I was ready to make myself at home and stay there forever.  But of course, I was going to the Guncle's that night, so I was ok about leaving after all. They are wonderful hosts, just like Karen was.  I'll have pics of their warm, welcoming home next.

Hoppy Easter

Did you have a good Easter? Ours was unexpectedly really nice.From no plans at all to a small family dinner and egg hunt in a matter of an afternoon.

Sugarwing's mom ended up switching  her plans, so we had our fairy grand child over night and all day.  Dewdrop came over with her mom at dinner time, and we were able to find buckets full of eggs on the Fairy Berry Trail as the sun was setting.

And what beautiful weather we had!  I'd thought I'd finish the banner I am working on for the Snow White blast coming up way too soon, but instead, I ran and played with Sugarwings all day and enjoyed the sunshine. 

I was able to do some yard clean up too, and foofed the Fairy Berry Trail up for the season.  Easter seems to be the time that we whip it into shape, just in time for hunting eggs the bunny left there.

Funny, how fast two little girls can find over 50 eggs.  This was a quick run through the forest, with lots of squealing along the way.  Dewdrop let out a yelp every time she spied an egg. And everything is a squealfest around Sugarwings anyway.

Luckily, I  had plenty of plastic eggs up in the closet and could find packets of tiny toys and junky fun crap to stuff in them for our impromtu hunt.

Although, the few pieces of chocolate I had on hand were the biggest hits when the eggs were open, of course. But, I do think that if there was nothing in them at all, it wouldn't have dampened the fun. 

The thrill of the hunt was the best part.

Dewdrop loved every minute of it. She is a cute age to be out in the woods gathering eggs.

She enjoyed the dying too, although it didn't last long because she thought it was just as much fun to pour the dye out on the ground as it was to dip the eggs in.  But they had plenty of glitter paints to add to the eggs once the dirt under the table was dyed.

We sat up the mini picnic table in the gazebo and I turned the kids loose with dyes and glitters.

Which was a great plan, considering that everyone had been playing outside and there was a bit of mud from the gardening project clinging to them.  Plus, Dewdrop's fascination with pouring out the dye worked better out doors than it would have inside.

I'll have more photos from the Mt. Dora trip after this little break for some Happy Easter wishes.

A surprise craft day for Judy

Our visit to Karen's doll house was such a magical time.

The weather cooperated and was ideal, lots of sparkling sunlight. While blizzards blew at home in Kansas!

Here I am with Sherry and Karen on the porch of the Kozy Kottage.  This is Karen's get away in Mt. Dora, and is as girlified as any retreat can be. Pinks, whites, roses, pretties, all twinkling and sparkling in a joyous petite doll house.

Guncle Randy and I had a bit of trouble finding it, because the GPS took us to another pink and white house a block or so away.  (who knew there would be so many pink houses with white picket fences on one street??)

No one answered the door there, so we got out, walked around, and called Karen to leave a message and say we'd be back soon.  Then, left my piles of craft supplies and kits on the porch to save bringing it back later.

As we drove off and around the corner, I spied another pink and white house.

hmmmm...

I told Randy that I thought just maybe, we should turn around and go get my stuff off of the other home's porch!

No one had opened my boxes and created bird cages while we were gone, so all was fine.

I'd brought tons of goodies for the ladies to go through and make as many fairies as they wanted and cloche/cage for the little sprites to live in when done.

We spent the afternoon at Karen's dining table twisting wire and gluing away as we chatted.

It was a fun group, we had the birthday girl, Judy, and her daughter-in-law who was part of the big surprise Karen had planned for Judy.

One of my best friends, Sherry had driven down from Georgia, and Casandra was there from a nearby Florida town. I've always wanted to meet her. And she is every bit as nice as you'd expect her to be.

Guncle Randy met up with me in Orlando, where I flew in. He was there to receive yet another, Top Sales Director of the Year award from Hilton. I was very proud of him!

Karen scooped me up at the airport for a day of junking, while Randy was busy accepting his trophy. She showed me some good places to shop in Orlando and was lucky enough to find a few florally hats to tear apart that night at the Hilton while I waited for Randy.

We all made these fairy cloche/bird cages, and I think they turned out sweet.

We will be doing a version of this again at Birdsong. Karen and Sherry will both be coming to visit me in June for that, so looks like they will be starting a collection, huh?

After we were done, we walked downtown to dinner.  And then, weren't quite ready for the party to end, so we kept working till after midnight on projects. 

My only regret (besides the fact that I probably passed my awful cold onto everyone) is that I didn't get to jump out of a giant cake for the surprise.  I was hoping for strawberry. 

 

 

 

A very special surprise

What a great trip I just had.  Even with a bad cold that got worse daily (I hope I wasn't sprinkling germs on everyone like fairy dust every place I went) and a trip delayed by weather that left me stranded one night.

The utterly delightful, Karen Hillman, wanted to do something extra nice for her pal, Judy, to celebrate her 50th birthday.  So she arranged a surprise arty party for her at the Cozy Cottage in Mt. Dora.

The place is a real life doll house!

It's full of air, and light, and joy, all designed by Karen.

All whites and pastels and filled with embellished sweetness.

It looked like Judy was certainly surprised by Karen's gift.  What a hard secret to keep for the months she and Judy's family had been planning this.

We were all touched to see how happy Judy was.

Not only did I get to make some new friends and have a lovely day at the cutest home on the planet, I got to visit my Great Aunt Caroline's former hometown, that had lots of special memories for me, and I was able to spend an entire weekend with Guncle Randy, and go to his home in Jacksonville before flying home.

Karen was kind to include my baby bro in the festivities. I knew he would hit it off with the ladies and fit right in for the classes. He's a lot of fun.

I'll have more pics of the class and the rest of the trip coming up.  Every where I turned was one photo op after another. Beautiful backgrounds and smiling faces galore!

Mt. Dora is a town that I used to visit with my sisters to go see our Great Aunt Caroline. So everywhere I looked, something reminded me of them.  And even the birthday cake was topped by the same fairy image that Sissy used for our Fairy Book Swap