August 2012 – Page 2 – Karla's Cottage

Bounty from Beth

By Karla Nathan / August 15, 2012

I thought about calling this post, "Crap that Beth Gives Me". But I didn't want it to sound like I didn't like the crap. Its good stuff!

And its good to have a friend who sees stuff like this, knows that I'd love fixing it up, and doesn't think it's trash.

She is always bringing me goodies, like this Pyrex measuring cup for my kitchen, and a stack of old letters to craft with.

And a bagful of mini ruby slippers in glittery, red plastic.

The other day, she filled a bag with ephemera for me. Good stuff straight from her stash. I can't wait to make something with these.

If you want to make something too, I'll share. Here is a page of scanned cards from the pile she gave to me, click on it to open in a larger window, save to your computer and print from that.

Thanks, Beth!

I have another thanks to say too,

Fleur sent this deligthful book that she made for the grand fairies! I look forward to flipping though the pages with them. Thanks, Fleur!

Its so thoughtful and personal.

Its my week for gifties, apparently! This cute set came from the Guncles down in Jacksonville. Guncle Kevin is an avid garage saler and found this for me. I've already filled it with glitters, ready for our Romantic Gothic Ghost class that Guncle Randy is coming to on Oct. 6th. Both of my sisters will be here too.

I can't wait for my family to meet some of my friends.

Yep, its been quite a week. My Handsome Husband surprised me with an over night getaway for our anniversary on the 10th. He said to pack a dress and plan to be home Saturday afternoon, and wouldn't tell me where we were going.

I didn't even ask. I didn't even try to guess. I just happily went along. And was just very glad when he drove East toward KC instead of West toward Topeka.

I'd have been thrilled with a free night at a Hyatt Place using his travel points, but instead he pulled up in front of the Raphael

It was pure luxury. He had lots of little romantic details too.

Best anniversary ever.

An Enchanted Affaire

paintings, Snow White, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / August 13, 2012

I'm just about so excited that I could POP-

Lookee here at this!!!!!!! Yippee! If you've read my blog, you know how I love arty getaways. And Kim's are to die for. What an honor for her to ask me to TEACH at one!!

And to create the artwork for the button too?? How did I get to be so lucky?

And did I mention that it is a fairy tale/Snow White theme? AT DISNEYLAND???

Pinch me.

I've already started buying supplies for the 70 kits for the class and a couple dozen examples and practice kits.

Actually, I think I am already done with the shopping part and after my little Ghostly Gathering here at the studio in October, I can start assembling the kits. It pays to be ahead! The classes in CA will be very close to Birdsong 3, so I'll have to be super organized to pull it off.

(There is still space for Romantic Gothic Ghosts if you'd like to join us for a day of elegant, spooky fun)

I wanted some colored rhinestone chains for the class I'll be teaching, so while I was buying, I bought plenty of extra for the Boutique too.

I have peridot, ruby, silvery gray, topaz, and baby blue.

A new pillow and a pup-date on pillow shaped Twinkle

bird song art event, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 11, 2012

Miss Daisy is not the camera hog that Twinkle is. She was a bit shy when I asked her to pose next to the pillow I bought at 4 Corners on Sunday for $7.

Or maybe she loved the soft, downy fluff of it so much that she just wanted to bury her little face into it?

I got her attention and had her look at the camera by making a high pitched screechy sound. Remember the noise that Madison the mermaid makes in the movie, "Splash"? That is my attention getter for most dogs.

Its not necessary for Twinks though. She's always posing for the camera. I hope her puppies enjoy getting their photos taken too, because I'm sure looking forward to sticking them in hats and cups and all over the place to take dozens of pictures of the little cuties when they are ready!

She looks like she is about to pop, doesn't she? But I'm afraid she has a bit to go, poor girl. She already is overstuffed and is huffing and puffing like she is out of breath, getting up all night to go to tinkle, and can't climb back up on the bed by herself. She will be glad when they get here too.

I'll leave you with some shots of what's new in
The Boutique

Beth’s Gypsy Song and Spell book for Romantic Gothic Ghosts

Books, holiday decor, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / August 9, 2012

Beth's project for our Romantic Gothic Ghost workshop at the studio on October 6th is unique Halloween crafting at its most interesting!

She is making a gypsy spell book from felted wool.

She has been printing vintage images and gypsies onto fabric and gathering up lace and doodads for everyone to embellish their own book.

She will have a lot of sample pages for ideas and will show you how to make pockets, trim out pages, and assemble the book itself. NO SEWING- its tied and glued.

Not only that, she will teach us how to make our own faux tintypes!

Now, that is a handy skill to have.

Beth will provide everything you need to make your own Gypsy Song and Spell book.

If you prefer Halloween without bright orange and purple, maybe you'd like to join us here at my home for a day of fun and creating?

Details HERE

Faerie Pages flying in!

fairies, show and tell, swaps

By Karla Nathan / August 7, 2012

Kim

Fairies are winging their way into my studio daily now!

Lisa

The very, very best part of a swap is the packages piling up around the room. Of course, it doesn't take long for them to take over the room….

Briar Rose

This particular swap certainly will take over. Close to 1,000 pages including my front and back covers will be spread out around the room.

Laurie

I wish I could take photos of all the artwork for you. I'd get nothing else done if I did though. I will promise to get random photos here and there as I can.

But I will have a Pinterest board for them. And I think there is a way for people to add photos to my board, isn't there? Any tips? I think you just have to send me a request, but I could be wrong. I don't know if you do that through Pinterest, or if you just email me with your user name and I add you to the board.

If anyone has done this let me know if I'm close on how to do it.

Isn't this cute as a bug? It was sent to me by Elaine at Briar Rose

She actually creates the porcelaine pieces herself and used one on each page she made.

My front covers are DONE!!!!!!!!!!! Now onto the back ones, which are not nearly as entertaining to do. Which is why I have so few done. I need to force myself to do a few a day, and I'll be fine by the end of the month.

Then the fun begins, the first couple weeks of September will be assembly time. There will definately be more photos coming then. I love seeing the books come together, and try hard to match up pages so they look attractive with each other.

For now, I will try not to open all the packages till the due date. I love to see what comes in the mail, but I have to be very, very organized, with marking items off lists and double checking contents, and not getting anything mixed up.

So, its smarter to not open very many till they are all here and ready for me to dive into. Its hard to resist and I do peek a bit, especially at first. But once I start getting a lot of them, I pile all of the packages into tubs and slide them under tables until its time to open them up. If I open them all as they come in, I'd have total chaos, things might slide out of boxes, stacks would get knocked over.

I'll be using my self control and waiting to do it right.

Its almost impossible for me to let you know if your package is here or not. I check them off as I open them, not as they come in. As they come in, they will be stored away till later. Yours could be buried under 50 other packages, so its very hard to check. Thank you for understanding.

You can still join, if you'd like. They are due Sept. 1st.

The Early Bird scores the junk

antiques/junking

By Karla Nathan / August 6, 2012

Thanks for your input on the charges for the Faerie Book Swap. I'm glad you feel the price is reasonable.

I was making covers at 5 am today. I'm not typically a morning person, but it was kind of nice to be awake and gluing before I am normally up to face the world. I worked for 3 hours on them and then started the rest of the day at my usual time, and it was like a little bonus of hours for me.

Not that I'll become an early bird. But I enjoyed the gift of extra time. But not enough to ever set an alarm clock, of course. If I made a habit of being up at the crack of dawn, it would feel more like slaving away too many hours instead of like a special little bubble of time I was given to get caught up.

Yes, silly thinking, but maybe my mind is still fuzzy from being up so early.

A lot got done today, by starting so early. I shopped for a new car (no luck yet), did yard work, edited photos, shopped for some back to school clothes for Sugarwings (eeek- kindergarten starts next week!!), piddled around with a few other things, then sat down and did something creative.

I've been doing so much assembly line work in making 100 front and back book covers, that I was feeling like a robot instead of an artist. This evening, i took the time to actully make an inside book page so I can be part of the swap too. I want a book of my own to keep, so I need to have pages to trade!! I have ten or so, only really need 8, but like to have extras. Plus, I wanted to do something fun.

I drew a dress form and cut it out of sheet music, then glued it onto this old text. The wings are cut from a 1950s bug book then glitzed with a clear gold Gelly Roll pen, and the dress is made of flower petals plucked from my garden of vintage hats.

I outlined the wings in Black Stickles glitter, then inked the background with pink and black. Over that I lightly brushed some white Tim Holtz crackle paint.

My car has been on loan to my son, so I've been driving my husband's car, while he has been driving the farm truck. We tend to buy cars and drive them till they won't go any more, or till we are so sick of them that we give them to one of our sons. We get about ten years from most vehicles.

This car is 12 now, and has been a wonderful car, but when it died on me in the middle of NOWHERE, I decided it was time to replace it! On Sunday, I had taken a spur of the moment trip to one of my favorite shops, 4 Corners. Someone there told me there was a flea market nearby, so there I went on another little jaunt.

Trouble is, the flea was closed, was on a back road2 miles outside a small town I'd never heard of, and the car decided to take a break from travelling and not start after I came back from looking in the windows of the market (didn't see much).

Luckily, I had a book with me, I sat and read a while, then tried to start the car again, and it took off after about a half hour.

I'll go back and check out the flea later, when I have reliable transportation. The place is called Hooterville Flea and Bait Shop.

How can I not go back with a name like that???

There were hats calling to me from 4 Corners, so I was glad I'd taken the trip, no matter how worried I was about being stranded.

I bought 4 hats, a huge pile of Victorian scrap, die cuts, and old books, a roll of old silk ribbon in chocolate brown, a gorgeous down pillow covered in lace, plus this picture all for $59!!

The picture is not in the best of shape, but that is something I like about it. The bottom 4" or so was missing, but I rubbed sepia ink on the cardboard backing where part of the print was missing and I don't think it shows much. I also sanded some of the gold paint off the frame so the white underneath peeks out.

She is sooooo pretty. Not sure where she will hang yet. Somewhere special! Maybe in the guest room I am fixing up for my sister's visit.

Well, better get back to the fairy book covers. 15 more to go and I'm finished with the front covers, yay!

Faerie Swap Book Update, And an explanation of the costs

fairies, swaps

By Karla Nathan / August 4, 2012

The Faerie Swap book covers are coming along fine. Here are 77, almost finished ones. They still need a magic wand and some lace trim.

I've been trying to do them assembly line style, gluing all the wallpaper backs on, sanding and inking the edges, cutting out and adding the fairy with her vintage millinery wings, then the wallpaper circle with the title, then some glitter.

Whew.

It was going very well and I was pleased to see I was almost through the stack.

But the stack looked kind of small.

Then, I counted and realized that the copy store had only made 60 copies, not 100. So, back to the copy store for 40 more and start the process over again.

Now, I 'm working on the back cover. The very back is flocked wallpaper on the outside with some other pretty paper on the inside. I haven't decided which yet.

I bought chip board to use for a sturdy backing. I'm covering 50 in paper, then cutting them in half.

I plan for 100, my smaller swaps have gone way over that, but this one is more involved. We are not quite to 100 yet, so you still have time to join. Click on the side bar button if you want more info.

Some of the charms I ordered to tie onto the rings have arrived! I've got some other ones coming. I'll be tying pretty ribbons onto the binding ring and dangling charms from them.

I've had people asking me why I am charging so much to join the swap, when postage won't take $20.

So, I thought I should explain. First of all, I have to buy charms, chip board, wallpaper, glue, more glue, ribbons, ring binders,card stock, ink, and glitter. I have to pay for color copies, plus use my own stash of wallpaper, flocked paper and millinery.

It adds up for 100 books. And the postage will be higher than previous swaps I've done, these books are much larger than little tag books.

I put in hours, and hours, and hours of time to this. Starting with the watercolor of the fairy, so that there is an original design on the cover, not just an image I got from the internet.

Plus, all the sorting, and book making, then the days of making labels to send out the packages, plus the ink and paper for my printer.

Now, its true, that not all the money goes to purchases, some goes to my time. But it doesn't cover the extent of time that I put into the work. I'd make a lot more if I was taking photos of my things to sell and adding them to the Boutique. Or making something arty to add to it instead of this.

But I love swaps and its so fun to see my studio swamped in pages and pages of your art work!

So, I enjoy doing it, but I simply could not do it if I didn't charge, it takes away too much time from my real work. I hope you don't think I'm trying to gouge you on the price. Honestly, I'm not getting ahead on this. If you think I've over charged you, I hope this explains the costs behind the price.

Beating the heat

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, Hens

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2012

Despite the heat, our garden is doing well. We have well water, and live over a deep aquifer, so I use the sprinkler a lot to beat the long string of 100 plus degree days.

I've set the chickens in the garden almost daily to get the bugs for us, and they did pretty good till the squash bugs hit the cukes. I've had to hand pick the horrid creatures off the plants, but have also used some organic insecticidal soap.

One thing I have not watered is our yard. This is what the ground looks like! We never did have the best looking grass anyway, so I'm ignoring the lawn and concentrating on keeping the flowers and veggies going. And the poor chickens. We lost one to what we think was heat stroke. So now, we keep a sprinkler going on low in the flower beds so that they can have a place to cool off.

We thought we were going to lose this gal too. One of the dogs got ahold of her, and chewed all the feathers off her rump. No real damage, and I think she looks kind of jaunty with that one tail feather sticking up.

We keep the wading pool full too, mostly for Twinkle. She is very fat and very pregnant and likes to jump in the pool, lay back and relax to cool off. I'm thinking about getting her a raft for it, she loves the one out on the lake.

Well, the forecast says we have a few more days coming with no rain, and more heat. Kansas is typically hotter than Hades this time of year, but not quite this hot. Sugarwings has a couple of swimming lessons coming up before back to school time, I hope its not too hot to hit the pool this week!

If its too hot to play in the pool, we'll be back inside playing dress up with Twinkle again. That is how we spent a big chunk of one hot day last week.