Karla Nathan – Page 146 – Karla's Cottage

A Downton Affaire

paintings, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / May 11, 2014

Once again, Kim created a beautiful environment for her event. She never misses a detail or a chance to make something special.

Here is a photo of the room during vendor night by our Fancy Farmgirl photographer, Tiffany. Pure glam, huh?

The hotel itself was spectacular.

The table settings were sweetly done.

Of course, soon, the area was filled up with loot thoughtful gifts from table mates.

And by our great kits and projects. Andrea had us making necklaces from some softly colored pearl beads she found as vintage old stock, and lots of rhinestones on tarnished brass chain.

And in Charlotte's class, we had needle work to do. Here is my almost finished piece, (under Andrea's kit) with very little stitching done on it. I cut out the teacup from her kit, and used it as an applique on a vintage linen then glued a bunch of crap to it, instead of stitching all day.

This is what she had provided. Pretty, but it simply was too much needlework for me to even contemplate. Although, I was proud of myself for using a needle for some of it. I didn't break out the glue for at least an hour.

I also incorporated the silk ribbons and color swatches that Kim had sent to me to match up my paints with for the banner.

When she mailed them, Kim had asked me to return the curtain fabric swatch and I completely forgot. oops! Dang it. She reminded me RIGHT AFTER I finished cutting it up and gluing it down. I swear, I'm lucky to remember my own name some days.

The banner itself had a little glitch. Kim had told me to paint it 10×8', and I did, but I didn't center it, not realizing that would matter. I left a much bigger margin on the left than the right and when she hung curtains over it, the bare canvas showed. Poor Kim had to maneuver fabric around to hide the extra bare spots on that side.

She made it work. And I was honored to have my work used as a backdrop for the gala.

Andrea Singarella, Jenn Hayslip, Tiffany Kirchner Dixon, Lori Oles

This is how I finished Andrea's necklace. I always like to do a bit of a switcheroo in classes by bringing my own supplies to add to the piece for a personal touch. (Tiffany took this photo too)

In Karen's class, we were making fabric books. She had the high quality, heavy fabrics all stitched together and ready for us to add a cover and start foofing. I brought my own cover supplies, and extra lace too. The fabric I used is from an old Flapper dress my Sissy shared with me.

The final project was a garland of doll dresses from Pamela Huntington. I'd brought plenty of lace, so used that on mine. I also wanted some varied styles of dresses, so I cut the pattern a bit differently.

This project had my heart before I even started working on it and I would love to make garland after garland of dresses. I decided to make a few different ones, the first all ivory and cream like the first photo, then a row of pink ones too. This was from class, then I was able to make a few more rosy ones in the hotel room on Sunday.

My roomies checked out in the morning and I had the room till noon when it was time to go to the airport to meet Sugarwings and my husband for our Disney adventure, so I was happy to have a suitcase full of craft supplies to keep me busy a few hours.

I'll have more pictures and stories from the weekend in my next posts. There was simply too much wonderfulness to squeeze into just one.

A little paint, a little shuffling, a little bit of a new look

studio tour

By Karla Nathan / May 8, 2014

My studio is hard to rearrange, because there is soooooooooo much crap in it. All the cabinets are overflowing, and all the surfaces are stacked to the brim. But I had some ideas for a little shuffling to make a bit more space and decided to battle the clutter and see what I could shove where to make company feel more comfortable. A few inches here and there make a big difference when 30 people join me in the room!

I started with the office section. That blue hutch is much heavier than it looks. I was shoving and pushing and getting no where. I realized that taking off my shoes and pushing barefoot gave me more traction and had better luck with moving it. Because when I wore my slippers, the hutch stayed put as I pushed, and I was the one sliding across the floor!

Maybe, unloading it would have been even smarter, but I'd still be working on that if I'd taken every thing out of all the cabinets before I moved them.

There isn't a big change in the area, seriously, it is only a few inches. But, those inches helped. The spot seems more functional to me, and I was able to shave off enough space to move that big white piece in the first photo to the area behind these doors to the left that I use as a divider.

(It's tight in my office, but most of it is only used for storage for my online inventory and packing materials. The area around the desk, where I actually spend time, feels more open than it looks in the pictures because there is no wall behind the chair, it is open to the main part of the room)

The blue desk and green table to the right still need new homes, and the little white piece near the door is going to the girls' room.

I'm not sure about the new door color. I like the shade, it reminds me of vintage lingerie. But it might be too dark. The back door is also painted that color. And the outside of the back door is a deep, azalea pink. That pink looks great for the garden, but was too bright for inside the studio. Which is why I toned it down with tan to make the color I used on the interior doors.

I hung this old poster on the closet door, but over night the washi tape peeled off.

So, I patch-worked wallpaper on the door and glued the poster over it. A much better look anyway, I should have taken my time and did it right in the first place.

These toy appliances got a fresh coat of white paint and are headed to the grand fairies' room.

Originally, they were done for a friend's business, and another friend bought them at the closing auction. She is moving, and gave them to me. So, I touched up the paint while I am on a redo binge.

The front of the studio should be more spacious with this narrow cabinet in the spot where a bigger one previously sat.

But I'm not done yet….Oh my, what lot I have left to do. It might look awful, but actually this is pretty organized. Two tables hold kit items for Birdsong, another holds sponsor gifts and extras. Cardboard boxes are being filled with Goodwill donations. The pile in the foreground is stuff to tag and get ready to sell for my vendor spots at Downton and at Birdsong.

So, now that the foofing and painting and moving is done, it's time to start sorting through this mess and getting this side of the room straightened up.

Spring painted right over Winter

bird song art event, paintings

By Karla Nathan / May 6, 2014

Way back when I used to have an antique booth, I used to sell a ton of Xmas ornaments. And I came up with an idea to display them, by cutting a 4×8' sheet of plywood into an arch, and painting a Christmas tree in the snow onto it, and adding hooks to hang the vintage Shiny Brites right on the tree. It was cute, and I used that plywood board for years as a holiday decoration.

It was nice to have kids pose in front of for pictures too.

But I was ready for a new look, something that I could use more than a few weeks a year, and leave in the studio year round. That thing is too heavy to haul out to the shed in the cold after Christmas is over!

I painted over the winter scene, leaving the rock arch around it. (and the holes from the hooks still there, guess I should have patched those)

With Birdsong on my mind, I added a couple of bluebirds. Doves might have been a better match for the soft colors of the piece, but I just love bluebirds. And I know that a male and female pair are different colors, the lady is a more muted color. Still, I painted what I liked instead of what is accurate, and have two vivid birds that really stand out against the pastel shades of the landscape.

In the distance, there is a pink tree blooming, with a nest in its branches.

Speaking of Birdsong, I got another box with sponsor gifts for the drawing. These are from the Guncles. Kevin is an avid antiquer and has a great booth down in Jacksonville. He also sells on Ebay. While out scouring the city's estate sales for his business, he found these old bird prints. He and Randy were kind enough to send them here to share with my Birdsong Peeps.

Thanks, Guncles!

My friend, Laurie Jackson along with her pal, Kathy Bremer, sent these beautiful, old prize ribbons. Won't everyone attending feel like a winner when they open these?

Terri Wilkerson made up these cute little packs of goodies for our group.

If you'd like to be a sponsor too, please email me at:

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

How nice!

antiques/junking

By Karla Nathan / May 4, 2014

My sweet friend, Angie, gave me the nicest birthday gifts before I went out of town! We'd been trying to get together for months and the timing was just not right. She had Christmas, Valentine, and birthday presents all in one giant bag of goodie heaven for me.

Including this lovely custom creation.

Lots of lovely thoughtfulness.

Thanks, Angie!!

Downton Abby, Highclere Castle painting for A Downton Affaire

paintings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / May 2, 2014

As you read this, I'm in CA at Kim Caldwell's latest party, A Downton Affaire.

Once again, I was honored to be asked to paint the banner used as a photo backdrop for the event.

My first one, was this whimsical Tiffanys themed one.

And last year,this giant mural was done for the Snow White themed party.

There was a castle involved in last year's painting, but it was very faint, way, way far away, and made up in my own mind.

This year's castle was a whole different story. It was a famous English manor that fans of the show all know and love. My painting had to be accurate. That just about killed me. I had to measure, do fractions (well, I had my husband do fractions for me) and use a level to get it right.

There was a little bit of leeway, since it was set in the distance. But still, this castle was the focal point of the whole painting, so I couldn't have it too faded and far away. There was a lot of angst, turmoil, tears, cussing, and nearly giving up.

Straight lines and architectural things aren't in my comfort zone.

I did fudge some details, since it was in the distance, I hoped that I got the impression of the Downton home close enough without being perfect. Far from perfect.

I studied photos of Highclere Castle online and used artistic license to change the angle of the castle from this view point.

This is the view of the estate that I liked, which I think is the back.

And this is the view of the building that I liked. The front, I think. My painting is a mix of both, with flower gardens thrown in.

Throughout season 4 of the show, I studied the sets. And even took photos of the TV with my phone. It was funny to be looking through pictures on my phone and come across pictures of Mrs. Crawley or the Duchess, like they were friends whose pictures I'd taken.

Then, before starting on the 9×10' banner, I painted a sample on paper.

Even with the sample painting propped up in the garage as I worked on the mural, I had to feel it out and make changes as I went along.

When working on a landscape like this, here is my plan:

First- sky, next mountains in the distance, far off treeline, and then I painted the grass that is the major part of it all.

That involved two ladders and going back and forth a hundred times to get it all blended. After a smooth blended background, I took chalk and drew in the trees, and roughed in the the flower beds.

Next, I painted the castle, where I stalled out and got stuck working for almost two days. As I mentioned, it wasn't my strong point.

After that came the flowers, from furthest to closest.

Then, the trees, leaves, and some highlights and details, like a butterfly and nest. Fingers crossed that it all hangs straight and looks good at the event. Hopefully, I'll have plenty of pictures of happy friends in front of it, to show you when I get back.

I'm also meeting Sugarwings and my husband in CA, for a few days at Disney. I've become quite the Disney addict in the last few years. And while being in LA for the art event, it seems like such a waste to not stop in to visit Micky and his pals! I'll be having my birthday lunch at Ariel's grotto, with my own little princess by my side.

See you when I get back!

Packing for Vendor night

vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / April 30, 2014

Maybe I should have planned ahead for vendor night at a Downton Affaire…. I waited till the week before the event to think about what to take. I knew I had some things in mind, and didn't worry too much. Till I saw how little the pile of stuff I'd been setting aside was! I had to whip up some items, and then I had too much for my suitcases.

A better plan might have been to get things ready early, and ship them ahead, huh?

(this is written and pre-posted before my trip)

I'm flying Southwest, so get two free 50 pound bags plus two carryons. So, I figured that my goods would all fit in the bags, but that was before I made up a stack of art journals with ephemera kits for embellishments, and cut a TON of vintage wallpaper.

I've been shuffling things back and forth between my roller bag, and two large suitcases, weighing, removing, thinking, and reweighing them all day.

The heaviest things, like the box of Frozen Charlotte dolls, will have to go into my carryon, along with the journals and maybe about a half ton of that wallpaper.

I also had to rethink my displays. I can't just pile it all on a table, it has to be easy to shop through and be attractive enough to make people want to come to look at the goodies in them. I found that cardboard, covered in vintage wallpaper was the way to go.

This quickie display screen is part of a priority mail box (those are the lightest boxes) folded in half and covered. It is ideal for hanging things on and weighs 3.2 ounces. Yes, I weighed everything on a postal scale, before putting it in the suitcase.

Periodically, I weighed the suitcase with a digital luggage scale and was shocked at how fast the weight added up.

Of course, my millinery packs are very light weight, and easy to throw in the bag. I wish everything was that simple.

The vintage dolly fairies don't weigh much either.

But even with the heavy books, Charlottes, and wallpaper being in carried instead of checked bags, all those little lightweight things add up!

Yikes! I'd better get back to it. I've got a lot more weighing and shifting to do. Plus, all the last minute things that I need to do before the flight.

This is what our backyard looks like right now. I've been getting bids for a new patio, and finally have it set to get done, but need to run to the zoning office to get a permit before I go out of town. I'm worried about getting the courtyard whipped into shape before Birdsong.

I'll leave you with some photos of what I'm trying to cram into my suitcases. I hope I have room for some clothes…. At least those lacy tops and dresses that will fit the Downton theme aren't heavy!! Hopefully, I'll have space for my clothing too, I haven't even got that far yet.

EDIT- Silly me! I had my hand held digital scale for luggage set for metric not pounds!! Once I figured that out, I had plenty of space in my bags. So, the bags are filled, nothing is left behind and I am on my way. See you when I get back!

Painted Butterflies

Dew Drop, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 28, 2014

I've been in a painting mood lately. Years ago, I painted almost every day, so much that when I awoke, I'd just dress in old paint clothes. Because if I didn't, I'd end up getting paint on whatever I was wearing because I'd sneak in some painting that day even if I hadn't planned on doing it.

I kind of like wearing real clothes now, I guess I didn't even realize what a slob I looked like all the time, in my ratty old clothes. Even worse, I had a bad habit of wiping my brush on myself, and the clothes would get such a heavy build up of paint, they were stiff.

Which is how I discovered that paint is permanent on tee shirts, and I started painting shirts to sell in the 80s. One year, I sold over 1,000 hand painted shirts.

Painting rarely happens around here any more, but when I get in the groove, I go with it. I've had the big, Downton banner to paint for Kim, and since I was decked out in paint clothes, I kept thinking of other things I'd like to set my brushes to.

There were a couple of new babies I wanted to gift with some painted onesies, but I didn't care for the bright white of the shirts, so I hand dyed them first. I liked the mottled color that I got from wadding up the shirts before dipping in the dye. I used Rit, wet the shirts, dipped in one color, rinsed, wadded it up and dipped it in another color. I know this isn't the way you are supposed to dye, but it works for me.

After they dried, I slipped a piece of cardboard inside to stretch them flat to make a good painting surface and to keep the color from soaking through to the back of the shirt.

The onesies were so much fun, I started looking around for another shirt to add a butterfly to, and found a plain, stained one of Sugarwings', and put the butterfly right over the stain.

When my boys were little, I used to paint their tee shirts. Here is a photo of them in their matching ET shirts. I'd have portraits of the kids eating ice cream with Big Bird, or flying with Superman, or just pictures of thier favorite things.

I've painted very few for Sugarwings and Dewdrop, though. Sugarwings liked it so much, I really should do some more.

Nowadays, I tend to paint more with photo editing. Here is a picture I "painted" with Picmonkey, from Easter, the original is in this post.

I've turned the egg Sugarwings found into a magical orb. And I wish my backyard really did look like this fairy land! Of course, the little girl is beautiful in any circumstance.

Little Dewdrop saw the picture of her sis with pink hair and wanted to know where her pink hair was. So, of course, I had to tint another one just for her.

Fresh

cottage

By Karla Nathan / April 24, 2014

After finishing my Downton banner, I wasn't ready to get involved with another big project, so I took a creative break to do some housework.

ugh

Since I had a ladder out for the banner, I decided to climb up it in the kitchen and de-web, de-grease, and overall clean up everything on the shelves and on top of the cabinets.

I always put off doing it, but really, it isn't that bad once I get going. There is something nice about the fresh feeling the room has once the sparkle is returned to the china. I pop most of the pieces into the dishwasher, and go after the walls, cabinet doors, and top of the shelves with a Magic Eraser and a bowl of hot water with vinegar in it.

This time, I even treated the lamps to new shades. Actually, I had no choice, the other ones had seen better days.

While on my perch above the kitchen, I noticed that the chandy was getting fuzzy. That is never a good look, is it? Funny how it sneaks up on you. Those crystals end up dull in no time, but man, they sure are pretty after a wiping down!

The china cabinet got a slight spiffing up, it didn't take much though, glass doors are a blessing.

Believe it or not, crowded as this looks, I edited and futzed the pretties around a bit. There are less things in here now. And on the shelves too. The fresh feeling was even stronger after I'd gotten rid of about a third of the pieces on the shelf.

See, now there is space between the ewers, pitchers, and creamers. That has never happened before.

I kind of like it!

Not so much, that I want to get rid of all of it and not have to go through this again, though. But it is nice to have a little less up there.

Easter at the cottage

family, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 21, 2014

I hope you had a good Easter? Ours was so nice, it was great to have wonderful weather and to be outside enjoying it.

Sugarwings takes after me and doesn't bother with the silly, wire egg dipper. We both end up with dyed fingers, even more colorful than our eggs.

Sugarwings had a friend over to dye and hunt for eggs. Around here, we use dress up clothes instead of aprons for messy work, so the girls dug through the princess dresses to find something festive and to keep the dye off their regular clothes.

I should have put on a royal costume too, because my brand new, pale blue jeans ended up with more than a few smatterings of purple on them.

I love the snow boots with the pink dress! She chose those because they are the boots she was shopping for the day she met her best friend at Famous Footwear. They have been buddies since then.

Lee Lee and La La, forever friends.

After the eggs were dipped, we moved on to decorating cupcakes. Normally, we are very careful to keep food coloring out of Sugarwing's diet, but we figured a few sprinkles on a holiday wasn't going to hurt. I did bake gluten and dairy free cupcakes, otherwise known as bricks, and purchase organic, natural colored jelly beans to fill the plastic eggs.

Oh my god, those were the most expensive jelly beans I've ever seen! I filled a bag at the bulk food aisle, and am still in sticker shock at the price tag. My bagful of beans was over $20. And to think of all of those bags of regular jelly beans going on sale the day after Easter for a quarter, really puts it into perspective.

But when your little one has difficulties, any price or amount of trouble is, of course, worth it to help them.

I would spend my last penny to see this smile.

Sadly, we didn't have a crowd this year for our annual egg hunt. We are doing a bit of out door remodelling and our patio is ripped out, and the yard is a wreck, so we didn't have a big party. Dewdrop was with her other siblings and mom for the day and they weren't able to attend.

We were glad that her friend was able to spend the day with us, and even more special was that this was La La's first ever, egg hunt. She'd never dyed eggs either.

Sugarwings also got to meet up with an old friend at the egg hunt the nursing home her mom works at held on Saturday.

Many of the residents delighted were by the party.

This bunny's face might seem a bit creepy, but I can promise the kids loved her! It was a cute event at the nursing home. I'm all about cute, I possibly enjoyed the day even more than the kids.

I was just kind of wishing I had my own bunny costume. And I'd probably rather have vintage one that was slightly creepy. I love this one.

My $3 a day habits, or maybe I need to try harder to find some blog topics instead of just rambling off the top of my head about things no one cares about

Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / April 20, 2014

Recently I realized that I'd picked up a few habits. I don't know if I'm getting old and set in my ways, or if I'm just boring, or I just know what I like and go with it.

I've noticed that not a day goes by without these three things.

#1- a can of Mandarin Oranges. I eat fresh fruit too, but I've gotten in the habit of eating a whole can of these at least once a day. Sometimes I splurge and have a two cans day. When they are on sale for 99 cents, I buy a couple dozen cans at once.

#2 Peanut Butter Balance Bars. Oh my, I eat too many of them. My favorite snack, or meal replacement. If I lived alone, I'd probably eat bars and cans of fruit all day and have nothing else in my cabinets. Except maybe popcorn. But, if I lived all alone and didn't have other people to feed, I'll bet I'd go to the movies a couple nights a week and have popcorn for dinner there, so I wouldn't need popcorn in my cabinets.

Luckily, I have a houseful of people who require normal, regular, and balanced meals that don't come in a bar or a can, so I think I'll be okay nutrition-wise. I rarely get a chance to ignore mealtimes and most nights I'm busy chopping fresh veggies and cooking healthy meals.

My worst daily habit is #3- Toasty Toes. Now that Spring is coming, I can slowly wean myself off of these. But since my studio has a cement floor, my toes still get chilly and I have to force myself to stop wearing them even when the temp outside gets above 60.

. They are about a dollar a day for the warmest, happiest feet and worth every penny to me. The heat stays going for at least 6 hours, sometimes 8-9.

I've experimented with new Ugg boots, that I got on clearance at the end of the season, and the wool lining is helping to wean me off of the Toasty Toes a bit. Although I found out that wool socks, with Toasty Toes, down inside Uggs is pure heaven.

There is nothing better than sitting at my desk, with my feet warm and cozy, while snacking on a Peanut Butter Balance bar and a can of oranges.

Author name: Karla Nathan