Beth came over yesterday for a craft day, and brought Button.
He and Agnes Rosebud were thrilled to see each other, and it was wrestle mania for most of the day. They had some ferocious growling too. Well at least, they thought they sounded pretty fierce, I kind of thought they sounded like a sewing machine.
Beth also brought her projects for our upcoming classes for me to photograph. Yep, we have decided to do some online tutorials!
Romantic Gothic Ghosts, for all of us who would love to decorate our homes for Halloween but don't want to put up with orange, purple and black! We will focus on the moody, flowing, dark style of old Gothic romance novels. Think Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and did I mention, moody?
Details coming- I hope you'll join us. I've been BUSY scanning and editing tons of illustrations, backgrounds and portraits that we'll provide for you to copy and print to use in our projects. And I have a feeling that you'll find lots of uses for all these images!
Now, I just need to get busy and come up with some projects myself. I'm behind! Beth had a boxful of great stuff she'd been doing, and all I've done is prep work so far. Now that Sugarwings' birthday bash is behind me, I can get to work on my dark and dreamy creations for the classes.
Can you take one more mermaid from me? I've been on a siren of the sea kick for months, haven't I? But this is something special for my pal, Majia.
Its her 50th, and Jessi gathered up 50 artists to each do a page in a scrap book as a gift for her. My page is a watercolor of her as a mermaid "holding court" in the lounge of the hotel we stayed at during Kim's event last month. Happy Birthday, Majia!!
Now, I'd better go brainstorm and make some stuff for our upcoming classes. I have some ideas brewing and my fingers are itching to get started.
Please leave a comment if you'd like to enter my August Giveaway. I'll be giving away one of those upcoming projects. One that is still in my head, so I can't show you any photos yet!
The birthday girl had a great time at her party. Probably almost as much fun as I did!
At a glance, the party might have seemed over the top, but really, it was pretty simple.
I gathered up all the small tables and chairs I could find and set them up under my pop up tent that I have for art shows.
We decorated it all with the Little Mermaid stuff I got at the flea market, a huge bag full of mermaid paraphernalia for only 20 bucks. Including all the napkins, plates and table cloths. That was a giant cost saver there!
I hung up the disco ball that Beth gave to me for my birthday and pinned Ariel doodads from the never ending bag of Mermaid goodies to it.
Each table got a couple colors of glitter glue, a pile of sea shells to paint, hats and horns to decorate, and a few of my old, beat up paint brushes.
Foam and sparkly Princess crowns for the little girls were $4 a 6 pack, but pirate hats for the boys were that much a piece! So, I found black foam visors on sale for 66 cents at Michaels, turned them upside down, and cut them into pirate hat shapes.
There was a wading pool with floaty toys, and lots of bikes and trikes sitting in the yard for the little kids. The big kids played water balloons and football in the field.
Everywhere I shopped, summer things were on clearance. I was able to get 3 bags full of water balloons for a dollar each.
And they are biodegradable! I didn't even know there was such a thing.
The festive leis were on clearance too, 5 for a dollar.
To make the little sand box seem more special, I sat it in the gazebo and draped it in tropical fabric (that I had in my stash).
It was Sugarwings' idea to add water to the sand box to turn it into a "beach". I buried pirate treasure (from the dollar store) in the sand for kids to dig up.
Side walk chalk is always a hit with Sugarwings, and we had plenty of that on hand to set out.
We made a slip and slide from a big sheet of plastic drop cloth, and anchored it with sand bags. We had sand bags around for throwing in the back of the truck in the winter, and I'll reuse the plastic.
Sugarwings' Hippy Chick Mommy baked her an amazing mermaid cake! She found My Little Ponies that were mermaids. I think that makes them seahorses….
The paper clay mermaids that I made at Kim's event were ideal for table decor. And now, they will be gifts for my two sisters. I guess those clay sirens were the most expensive part of the day, I spent $500 on Kim's classes!! But I got all sorts of pretties to use all over the house and yard. Every gift that we got in our hostess bags and the door prize of some of Kim's shell art were all just great to have for this. Kim even gave me the bags of shells she had left over, and I used them for the kids to paint on.
One thing I always have here at the cottage is sprinkles and icing, so I made up a tray of pretties and I brought out some plain cupcakes for kids to decorate how ever they liked. (the cute little blue baskets are from the dollar store too, what a deal!)
This foam core board was about $5, and I painted it in about an hour. We used it to play "Pin the Shell on the Mermaid's Necklace". Every kid got to pick a prize from my bottomless bag of Little Mermaid treasures that I only paid $20 for at the flea market.
After our hats were decorated, we took the horns down the fairy trail for a birthday parade.
You might be able to tell that I was enjoying the day…
This little video shows just how much fun my little fairy grand baby was having. She decided to climb on the "stage" and put on a Birthday Show.
What joy on her face!
Here are my tips for saving money on a kid's birthday party:
1-Use what you have on hand- that is the big one. Look around your house to see what you can use.
2- Save your old paint brushes after they look like they aren't worth using any more, kids don't care!
3- For an outdoor party, sprinklers and water games go great with messy paint projects! Buy glitter glues at the dollar store, and shop around for clearance items. Kids love to glob paint and glitter onto stuff.
4- Make an area look special by draping fabric over it. You can use a light fixture, or tree branch to create a magical little area. Little ones love tents! Try using sheets, old fabric, or if you have to buy something, tulle is pretty cheap.
5- Have fun yourself! If you are playing along and enjoying the games, that makes it fun for the kids. They'd much rather have someone pay attention to them than have you rent them a jump house.
6- Parades are free. Get a conga line going, and have everyone sing. Or march and blow horns. Being encouraged to be loud is not something kids get everyday and they eat it up!
7- Bright leis can usually be found pretty cheap and add a lot of color to the area, and kids feel festive wearing them.
8- Shop around! Try a flea market or outlet clearance store for supplies.
9- Think about what kids like, not what adults think is pretty. Put your money where it counts and don't waste it on things that don't matter to the little ones. This party is for THEM!
We've had the best Mermaid Day for Sugarwing's birthday! I'm as tired as can be, but had to take a peek at my pictures from the day before I go and collapse in front of the TV and see how Sookie is doing this week.
This is my favorite, look at the amount of glitter that child poured onto her crown! I wonder where she gets that from?
The covers for our Dorothy tag book swap are in process!
I used a page from the old, old book that I had as a background, and added poppies from a vintage greeting card to the bottom, and also used it for the oval shape at the top too. To the oval, I added "Dorothy", cut from the book too. And an emerald. Or a stone that looks like an emerald, at least.
The little girl herself was painted onto water color paper, cut out and glued to the tag, then I did the same with the picnic basket.
(Oh, the hats are from my lastest score, all under $10 each, at my last junking trip!)
After that, I cut Toto from a page in the book, glued him to some words from the story, and used marker on the text to make the dog stand out more, and glued him to a tag. I used a handful of markers to make the background look like a rainbow, and then cut a slit into the basket with an exacto knife to slide the tag into.
Next, the tags went to the copy store, where I had them put onto ivory card stock.
I guess I got ahead of myself when I said that I was all done with my tags and was sad to be finished. I've still got a bit to do….
Since these are on ivory, I had to brighten the whites with white ink.
Then, I used a clear, glimmer ink on all the blue checked gowns.
I outlined the "Dorothy" banner in brown so it would stand out a bit.
The basket had to have a slit cut into each one to fit the Toto tag into.
After that, I glued an "emerald" under each banner, and sparkled Dorothy's slippers with ruby glitter.
They need to be cut out, and I still haven't found the perfect paper to use for the back of the tags, and the backs do need to be covered, to create a pocket for the Toto tag to be slipped into. I also need to find the perfect ribbon to tie the books together and to add to the dog tag.
Whew! But the project does go fast. And I enjoy doing them all.
Since I couldn't find enough ruby slipper charms for everyone in the swap, I decided to try to make lollipop charms.
So far, so good. I'll have to see how they dry and how they look painted. I'm making them from paper clay, rolled out into a snake, then twirled into a sucker shape and poked onto a vintage swizzle stick, cut into pieces.
After the clay dries, the sticks will be pulled out, dotted with glue and stuck back in. I'll paint them and tie them to the front of the books with ribbon. Well, I hope it goes well, they might be fragile. That's why I've only made these few to see how it goes before I make dozens.
You have no idea how hard it is for me to be practical and stop, to wait and see if it works! I tend to go over board and keep going and going and going. I'm kind of proud of myself for letting this batch dry before filling the world with lollipop charms!
Okay, back to the land of Oz, I have tags to trim and glitz!
Details about the swap are on the side of my blog, click on the button if you are interested in more details and want to join!
Look what I found on Etsy! I bought all the little plastic shoe charms that I could find, even though they weren't the right colors. I fixed them by using red glitter spray to get them wet and sticky, then tossed them into a bowl of red glitter.
I mean "ruby red" glitter.
The first 50 people in our Dorothy Tag Swap will get one on their tag book. For the rest, I need to come up with something else….
The swap is still open, and I've had a lot of people say that because of Back To School, they are swamped. So…. we are extending the deadline. Instead of Sept. 15th, lets go for the end of the month. You get a couple more weeks to work on them!
Personally, I'm glad to have the extra couple of weeks too! I've been trying to get ready for Sugarwing's Under the Sea Birthday Splash Party.
Yesterday, I painted this mural onto a canvas drop cloth cut down to fit the wall above the bed in her big girl room at her Hippy Chic Mommy's house.
For the party, the mural will be nailed to the side of the house. I'm setting up a tent for kid's crafts and this will be the decor behind it.
Years ago, I used to paint murals for a living. It was a goooood living. But hard. When I'd paint hotels and bars, it usually involved a lot of scaffolding, and that is heavy to move around, plus I have a fear of heights and really detested being up 20 feet high. The worst thing ever is to be on a LADDER on top of SCAFFOLDING! It gave me the willies.
Plus, not a lot of Kansans were open to murals. But gosh, other states love them! When I was painting a public space in Florida, I'd get a ton of job offers and ended up working nights in private homes as well as days on the job I had traveled there for.
My favorite thing to paint was kid's murals. One thing I always did was to make sure that each character in the painting had a buddy. Lots of conversational groupings make the picture more interesting for kids.
Painting "murals to go" sure is easier than doing it directly onto a wall! I liked using the drop cloth, I could work at my own pace, in my own home while playing with the dogs, snacking, watering the garden and taking breaks!
I thumb tacked plastic to the wall of the garage, and then tacked up the canvas over it so the paint wouldn't seep through to the wall behind it. I worked on the scene through out the day and was able to get other stuff done too.
Sugarwings loves Mermaids, I hope she likes this birthday gift from me!
While I was taking breaks from the mural, I repainted this hutch in my studio. Since I am the one who painted it in the first place, I knew that the top coat on it was water based poly. So, it didn't need any pretreatment of priming or sanding. I was able to simply dry brush a couple coats of white satin paint over the existing taupe glazed with brown.
After it dried, I lightly sanded it all for a distressed look. Silly me, I was too lazy to run to the store to get a coarse sandpaper, and now have a sore arm from sanding with with a fine paper. It took way too much work and too many sheets to rough up the hutch! I have a bad habit of not stopping until I am done, and really should have just quit yesterday, until I had a chance to pick up another pack of sandpaper.
Another thing I got done for the party was to get a start on cleaning the studio. Its such a mess and this is spider web season. Why does my home get so cob webby every single July and August??? This year, it is so bad, I am tempted to leave them, let them spread a couple months and just throw a Halloween party.
While I had the garage cleared out to do the mural on the wall, I used the leaf blower to clean the room. I dreamed of being able to use that to just blow all the cob webs away in the house too. If I were a minimalist, it wouldn't be so bad, but as a collector of junk, I have too many things that would blow away along with the mess.
I did clean the stair way that goes up to my husband's office with the leaf blower. There was nothing that could be ruined or blown away, and I have to tell you, it was a magnificent thing to do. What a great idea! I cleaned the breezeway and my car while I was at it.
Are you wondering what the pictures of poppies have to do with cleaning my house with a leaf blower? Nothing at all.
I just thought that you might like these. I used a lot of these vintage greeting cards with poppies in my Oz tags.
I've also scanned more pages from my 1920s Oz book for you. You don't have to be in the swap to use them, help yourself if you want some.
All you need to do is click on the picture for it to pop up in a larger size,save, and print it.
Today was special, its my 25th wedding anniversary! But my true love had to be out of town. That's okay, we celebrated for a week in California last month, it was quite the trip.
Yep, 25 pounds ago, I mean years, my buddy and I got married. We are very different people,He is a businessman and I am an artist. We look at the world from opposite viewpoints, but share a love of laughing and of family and of each other. What more do you need?
I'm pretty lucky.
I thought I'd celebrate by playing dress up with the pup. She turned out much cuter than me.
These little tiaras didn't stay in their silky hair for very long, so I put it in my summer-time frizz bomb of a hair do and it stayed just fine.
See why I call my Yorkshire Terriers "Dorkies"? What goofy looks they get on their little faces. They have the funniest personalities, and are such dorks.
Today I saw that I've done my 800th post! Wow, I do seem to think I have a lot to say, huh?
Also today, I had my 25,900th comment! On the 800th post. I figured that was worth a prize, so I will come up with a little giftie to send to #25,9000, Vivian.
Since this is my silver anniversary, I'll have to send her something silver colored. Or silver itself. I'll look through my jewelry creations and see what I can come up with.
I'm also still flying high on my zone day yesterday. There is nothing like a day of NO interruptions whatsoever in the studio!! I finished up this vintage wallpaper journal (its in the Boutique now)
But mostly I made tags for the Dorothy tag book swap. I only needed 6 plus a cover, but made about 20, both sides.
This one is an old envelope that has a flap I tie shut with ribbons. It has a flying monkey theme, and inside is a Wicked Witch of the West tag.
Honestly, I thought I'd be making pretty tags. Like Glenda and Dorothy and ruby slippers, all just lovely and sweet. But I surprised myself and got really interested in all of the old illustrations in the book that I had, even though the pictures were far from lovely.
Most were in black and white with maybe one color, so I tinted them with markers and ink. It was like being a kid and coloring again. Maybe that is why I was able to ignore all my obligations and play at my desk all day, I was being very juvenile!
The illustrations are very different than the movie. Hollywood varies quite a bit from literature, doesn't it? Even True Blood, my favorite TV show is veering away from the book series quite a bit. But I still think its successful in keeping the characters and emotions in the story accurate, so that's okay.
I'm expecting a range of tag styles from all of the entrants. They don't have to be just Dorothy, of course, I think the whole Oz theme will be explored.
The twister was especially fun to do. I drew it in 3 metallic inks, then used glittery silver Stickles over it. At first, I tried making one with wire. Notice that you aren't seeing pictures of that one?
This buckle is new in the shop.
Now that I am done, and overly done, with 20 tags created instead of 6, I'm a bit sad. I was just getting on a roll with these!!! And in one day, I'm finished. Its a bit of a let down.
Oh well, I'll start having a blast when all of your tags start filling my mail box. I just can't wait, its so exciting to check the mail everyday.
And please remember, if you haven't signed up yet, its not too late. I look forward to seeing what you make!
Plus, Beth and I are working on a little sumpthin-sumpthin together for you. I'll get my fill of lovely and moody and romantic with that one. Plus GHOSTLY-hint hint. More details when we get them…
Today, I was in The Zone. I was at my desk for about 12 hours with no interruptions and nothing to do but make stuff. While still in my jammies. Dogs at my feet, a box of Cliff bars nearby, a stack of ephemera to sift through and create with, what could be better?
These kind of days don't come along often. The kind where you think you might need to get up to turn down the air conditioner and never get around to it. The kind of day when you think that maybe you need to get up for a glass of water, and two hours later realize that you forgot and are thirsty enough to drink glue. The kind of day when you know you have a million errands to run and that you figure you'll make just one more thing before you do them…. and a few hours later, you just admit that the chores are going to wait till tomorrow.
These are the kind of days that I treasure because I know they are rare. Usually life gets in the way of slipping into the zone, dinner needs to be fixed, or laundry folded, appointments kept. Not today.
Today, I made stuff.
I felt like I sat down to work about 3 hours ago, not 12. That is what The Zone is all about. Losing yourself in your work. It doesn't matter what you make, its just making it.
Tonight, I'm stiff and tired and I think I might stink (remember the air conditioner that I never turned down?). But what a day!!
Lately, one of Sugarwing's favorite games is playing bride. Today I was lucky to find a vintage dress up bridal gown at a flea market, still in its original box! She spied it in the studio immediately and had to marry her puppy as soon as she could shimmy into the dress.
The dress is about 10 sizes too big for her, and kind of fragile. I'm not sure if its the right outfit for my little wild child to play in. Plus, now that she and the dog are already married, she doesn't really need to wear it anymore. It was a quick ceremony, but lovely and heartfelt, so the dress has had its use.
And we have the wedding photos from the day. Of course, she might want to save the gown, hoping that her daughter (or puppy?) will someday want to wear it, but it seems to me that most daughters want to pick out their own gown, and rarely wear mom's.
I might hang on to it for a while, to see if she asks about it again. If she's forgotten about it in a week or so, I have a feeling it will end up in the Boutique.
Another game we had fun with today, was "Find the Picture". My copy of Somerset Home has arrived, and it has the article about my home in it (with photos by Carol Spinski). Sugarwings looked at the pictures in the book and then found the spot in the house where they were taken.
She is much better at that game than my husband is. One time, when his mom was visiting from out of state, he was proudly showing her an article that I had written for Country Victorian and talking about the house and how these photos were of the room upstairs, and those were of the kitchen before we remodeled. I looked over his shoulder and saw that the article wasn't even mine.
The photos weren't even of our own house.
That is why I can do anything at all to my cottage and foof it up any old way I please. My husband doesn't even notice! He could live in a pink cotton candy explosion of a doll house and not know the difference. That gives me full license to foof!
Of course, over the years, there have been a lot of changes and I can't blame him for not being able to keep up with what our house looks like. When I was in the furniture painting and antique biz, the look would change weekly sometimes. If I found something wonderful at a garage sale, it would go right into the house and the piece it replaced would go to the mall.
Now that I don't sell furniture, the revolving door has slowed down. But I do like a change now and then, and mostly get it by repainting and rearranging.
This photo is of my studio a few years back. I've added it and a few more pictures to the Where Bloggers Create Studio Tour (hosted by Karen Valentine) post I did a while back, and added a button to my side bar with a link to that posting, if anyone wants to see some of the past looks I've had in the room.
As a matter of fact, while out junking and scrounging today, I found a new glass door cabinet to fill with supplies, so my studio is getting another mini redo this week too. I'll have some more pictures to add in the next couple of days.
Since I don't have the antique business anymore, I try to keep myself entertained with smaller foofing projects. Gift wrapping has become a big hobby of mine. This is a package sent out this week, it was a Bible Quotes booklet, so I wrapped it in hymnal sheet music and tied a little cross to the ribbon.
No matter how big or small the project is, its "the process that counts". Beth and I quote Jenny Doh to each other with that line a lot since we heard her speak at Kim's event in California. That phrase struck us both, as good words to live by. As an artist, its not always the end product that counts, its the process and the love of creating.
So, if I can't remake a room on a monthly basis anymore (yes, I was pretty bad, Beth called me a serial painter), I can get my fix in the little things I do and love the process, no matter what I am spending my time on.
Simply being creative brings joy. To paraphrase Horton the Elephant, "A project's a project, no matter how small."
If you feel like being creative with me, I hope you'll join us for a small project. 6 tags with a Dorothy theme in a collaborative tag book swap. Email me if you want to join! Just click on the button on my sidebar for more info.
We have 40 some people entered to swap so far, and room for YOU too!
Thanks to all of you who signed up for our Dorothy Tag Book Swap! There is room for plenty more, if you haven't joined yet, please do.
I added pdfs of images from my 1920 Wizard of Oz book to the previous post, where you will find details about the swap. Even if you don't join in, please use and enjoy the images. I'll be posting more images in future posts as I get them scanned.
Maybe they will give you some ideas… I hope something gives me a few. I jumped into this swap without a single idea for a tag!
Maybe because I am still knee deep in mermaids, its hard for me to switch over to Oz.
This is for playing "Pin the Shell on the Mermaid" at Sugarwing's 4th birthday party. I painted it on foam core board, and added lots of glitter. (why doesn't glitter ever look glittery in photos??) We'll tie a bow on a shell and stick a thumb tack to the ribbon, then kids can try to get the shell on her necklace.
Today while looking over the list of kiddos attending, I was struck by how pretty all the names were.
Look at these unique names!
Leandra Joy
Gaea
Baila
Lillie
Madison
Sarah
Adeline Grace
Lizelle
Finn
Clover
Calliope
Amadeus
Cohen
Today, I also finished my air clay mermaid, to go with the ones I made in Jenny Hernadez's class. I'll use these fishy gals as decor on the buffet, not out with the kids' stuff.
There are some other shell decorations for the party, that I have a feeling the little ones won't appreciate as much. So I'll be using the shell art that I got from Kim on the grownups table. The kids get Ariel and pirates.
Finally, I might be getting burnt out on making mermaids. When I got to the base of this, I was sick of it, and just glued wide satin ribbon around the box, with a smaller ribbon and a shell brooch over it. I'd spent enough time on it already, so finished it quickly. The boxes under the ones I did in Jenny's class were loving covered in vintage wallpaper and properly foofed. This one is just "completed" and that was enough!
There is still a banner to be painted for the party too. I want to do an under the sea themed canvas for Sugarwing's new room. She and her Hippy Chick Mommy just moved to a new place, and I wanted to do a painting for her as a gift. I'll nail it to the side of my house for the party, it will go with the theme.
My little fairy baby loves mermaids, even more than fairies. I nicknamed her Sugarwings before she was old enough to know what her likes and dislikes were going to be. But "Sugartail" just doesn't sound very wholesome, anyway.
That little girl loves to play in water, summertime and garden hoses are great for her. Poor Agnes Rosebud isn't as fond of watersports. You can tell by the look on her face that she knows that a cup of water is about to be poured on her again, and she is resigned to it. You can almost see the plan forming on Sugarwing's face too.
And its not such a bad thing on a hot day to be a bit wet.
By the way, have you seen "Dispicable Me" ? The cutest little orphan is named Agnes! Maybe this will become a trendy name. I hadn't heard that it was a popular one, have you? My dog is named after my grandma.
The little girl from the movie kind of looks like my Agnes Rosebud too. Here she is, its about 4 seconds, so look fast.
We're on! I've had plenty of interest in doing a Dorothy Tag Book Swap, so I hope that
you will join us and play along!
Here is a button that you can add to your blog to show that you are participating.
Please EMAIL ME here: karlanathan@sbcglobal.net, if you are joining and include:
1- your name
2- your email address
3- your blog address (if you have one)
If you write all this out for me, I just have to copy it and add it to my list. I'd like to publish the list of participant's blogs, if you do not want me to publish yours, please say so.
We are quite Oz crazy around here at the cottage, so this is right up my alley. Please join me in celebrating the 71st anniversary of this magical movie by making a collaborative tag book with other Wizard of Oz loving artists!
I'll have some images and text from my 1903 edition of the book if you'd like to use them, as well as some sheet music that could be of use for you.
To use the images from this old book, just click on the links at the end of this post. One PDF is to be printed full size, another PDF is set to print 4" x 6", and the last is set at wallet size.
Please help your self! Even if you are not in the swap, you are welcome to use the images for your artwork.
Guidelines for the Dorothy Tag Book Swap:
For this swap, you will create SIX tags with the theme of "Dorothy". Your tags can be inspired by Frank L. Baum's original book, or from the 1939 movie.
Please make your tags approximately 4-1/2 x 2-1/2". You don't have to be exact, variety of size and shape is nice. But please stay about that size, an inch or so either way will work.
Also, feel free to cut your tag from any material you chose, fabric, card stock, metal, chipboard, etc.
You have the option of finishing both sides of the tags as elaborately as you'd like, or leaving the back side blank.
PLEASE SIGN YOUR TAG!! If you have a blog, please include the address. You DO NOT need to be a blogger to join.
Once the tags arrive at my cottage, by September 30th- I'll sort them into piles that look cute together and assemble the books with a cover that I make myself, along with some sort of charm (I've been eying some ruby slippers…or maybe Totos?) and pretty ribbons.
You might get your own tag back in your book.
Please send the tags to:
Karla Nathan
1754 E 1200 Road
Lawrence, KS 66049
by September 30 and include $6 for postage, packaging and supplies. $8 for overseas, $7 for Canada
Include a separate piece of paper with your address on it.
Please add photos of your tags to our Flickr Group for everyone to see.
I've scanned some images for you from the book, available HERE
