Karla Nathan – Page 219 – Karla's Cottage

Randomness, swoonyness, winners, tasty puppies, and SNAKES- just another day at the cottage

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, jewelry, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / July 13, 2010

While getting ready for my mermaid trip to California, I was thinking about tidbits to pack up for class supplies, and gathered up lots of little pearls and shells.

The pearls inspired my July Giveaway, of a pair of genuine pearl earrings. I made these with sterling silver hooks, then wrapped them up in a lovely vintage hankie. All comments- all month count toward the drawing.

I need to announce the winner of the other giveaway I was having, a pair of vintage rhinestone earrings go to Kay Ellen. I'll be meeting her at Kim's event, so will pack her gift in my bag and bring it along. Too bad its not one of my heavier giveaways, I'm only saving about a buck 40 in postage for lightweight earrings….

On Thursday last week, I didn't get a chance to take many pictures during Carol's farm house photo shoot with Fifi. I was trying to not be obnoxious, which is hard for me. But I managed to keep my camera out of everyone's face.

I did ask Carol to pose for me, as we were putting away props from a shoot they had done outside. She was carrying in this vase of sunflowers and looked so pretty in her fresh, white cotton top, that I just had to get her picture.

Here is a quickie pic of Fifi and Mark Lohman (the photographer) going over a shot that they had just done. Carol's house is just swoony, every shot I saw them get was a keeper!

And since I am doing such a random, here-there-and everywhere-post, this is my purchase from Bottom's Up the week before. Its a gesso-ed and foofed box by Linda that I filled with sparkled birds when I got home. Willow's Nest was a great addition to the show, I hope they become regulars.

When I am working in my studio on nice days, I just leave the back door wide open and let the dogs wander in and out. Agnes Rosebud wears a jingle bell, so I can keep track of what is going on by listening to her follow her mom around.

But today, it was Twinkle I heard, she was barking and causing a ruckus.

When I ran out to see what was going on, I was greeted with this. So, I scooped up the tasty, rat-sized puppy and ran with her back to the studio so the snake didn't decide to snack on her, and grabbed my camera to run back out to get Twinkle.

She didn't seem to need to be saved.

That is what I love about terriers. They have NO fear and don't know they are little dogs.

I love living in the country, but some times, there are some drawbacks. Not, the snake,I'm happy to see him, he'll eat the hated rats (those are a BIG drawback). Chiggers are another one.

By running out into the grass to see what was going on, I'm sure I'll be itching all night. There was no time to stop and spray myself with bug repellent before I snatched up that delicious puppy.

One of the best things about going on vacation, is the break from bugs. Kansas in July is a chigger fest, and my yard seems to be party central for these guys. I'll be happy to be in California, at a completely different sort of party, away from this itchy critters.

A Rosy Redo

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, paintings, redos

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2010

Now that we are in the midst of summertime, I felt like the living room needed to look summery too. I took my background of creamy whites and added a blooming garden of roses to the room with just a few touches in about 15 minutes.

The first step was taking down the Shabby Chic cream velvet curtains (from Target) and putting up these vintage curtains from a garage sale. They had pleats at the top, that I had un-stitched with a seam ripper last year, so that step was already done ahead of time.

These curtains are different lengths, but who will know it with the sofa sitting in front of them?

In the past, I had done this room with browns and had made this sofa cushion seat cover. I've got a few extra covers lurking in the back of the closet for when the mood strikes me. I don't cover the whole couch, just the seat and pillows. Making them is as easy as making a pillow case, and I am NOT much of a seamstress. I keep them simple, by not using zippers or buttons, I just sew ribbons to the back to tie the cover shut.

(I've also just wrapped the cushion in a pretty quilt before too- that works if you don't have teenagers around. Teens just kind of DO things to destroy a couch. They sit HARD)

I also keep a stash of pillows in the linen closet for trading out too. A floral pillow goes a long way towards brightening a room.

I added a dinner napkin (with roses) to the little table, and a retro kitchen table cloth to the side table, along with a plate, and a small botanical print.

When my son walked into the room, he told me that I had a "lot going on" there. Yea, I know. That is what I like about it! Its an explosion of lots of roses ranging from pale pink to cherry red.

The fastest way to add some color to my white room was to set out some fresh cut flowers from my garden.

And I already had a white millinery bloom tied to the lamp shade. I just slipped a pink rose in on top of it.

Over the years, I've had many colors on my walls, but I think they'll be like this for a while. I've washed them with layers of glazes in colors ranging from ivory to deep tan, with hints of gold and bronze. I feel like its a good background color to anything I add to the room.

Keeping the basics of the room neutral means that I can add splashes of color here and there and have a whole new look in a matter of moments.

On the TV cabinet, I draped another rose curtain and added two rose plates and a tray to what was already up there.

On the other side of the room, all I needed was a couple of throw pillows on the white chairs and 2 vases snitched from the guest room. Oh, and a table runner that matches the dinner napkin that I used on the little round table. I'm not a fan of matchiness, but this is what I had handy.

There are always hints of roses in every room of my house, like on the floor mat that I painted to set the dog dishes on, and the table and small hutch that the dog bed is under.

But even with some roses here and there, the room was predominately white and cream, and these pinks just became background until I added all the rose patterned textiles. Now, this stuff seems to stand out too.

The dog's bed is a lid to a Rubbermaid container that I put a pillow on. By sitting the pillow (in a washable sham) on the lid, it keeps it up off the ground in case the puppy pees on the floor, or Twinkle steps in the water bowl and spills it, or some other of the millions of ways that the dogs mess up the floor and would get their pillow wet. I look for shams on sale at TJMax, sometimes I can find them for under $3.

And by slipping the bedding under the table, the dogs feel like they have a cozy den to hide in, and I have a bit more space.

As much as I love my creamy whites, I just need an infusion of color now and then. Plus, I just enjoy a change of scenery. I have some old, powder blue toile curtains that are nicely aged and slightly yellowed that I want to try next. Especially if I find some pretty bark cloth rose material at garage sales this summer for making pillows.

Geez, I just redid the room today and am already thinking about the next one?

Yep, that is what makes it fun! The planning and creating and the thrill of the hunt for new bargains.

Happy and sparkling

Books, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, magazine pictures or articles, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / July 9, 2010

My gazebo planter boxes rarely do well. I don't know why. This year, I planted colorful foliage instead of flowers and that seems to be a good fix for the problem.

The violets are wild, and I like the look of them. Its always nice when nature adds her own touch to my gardening!

Of course, adding Agnes Rosebud is always a nice bonus. She's a sweet little posy!

After visiting Carol and Fifi (by the way, she really is FABULOUS!) I stopped at the mall while I was in Kansas City to find some new sandals for my trip to California. The mall is a rare trip for me, I'm a Goodwill, garage sale, and TJMax shopper.

The parking lot I like is covered and out of the heat, but the doors open into Neiman Marcus- or Needless Markup, as I call it. I don't shop there much because I'm cheap. But as I stepped into the door, these jewel encrusted sandals were the first thing I saw and, I had to pick them up and drool over admire the sparkly rhinestones!

Since I was already in love, I was afraid to flip them over and see how much they were, but I sucked up the courage, braced myself and took a peek.At first I thought the tag read $158. And I was not surprised. That's pretty typical there.

But they were only $58! And now they are mine. And for that price, I can still afford a pedicure to go along with them!

Little Aggie Rose takes after her mom, Twinkle and thinks every photo is of her. By the way, Twinkle is posing too, but got cropped out. They both see a camera and start to ham it up.

Yesterday, I took everyone's advice and returned to the salon for a do over. It was a good idea, I much prefer a brighter look, and the hair dresser was sweet as can be about it. No charge, so I gave her a $20 tip.

I was feeling very happy and sparkly inside after the good news about the new baby, so wanted to look sparkly outside too.

My earrings are from Curious Sofa. Hand made
from Victorian buttons, and I just love them. Normally, I make my own
jewelry or wear vintage, but I'm a sucker for anything Debbie has to
sell… I love that store. She's sold my jewelry there before too. Its
an honor to sell there, she has such great taste.(here is some of my hand made earrings, on this page)

So, since I've been splurging, with new shoes, new hair color, and earrings I'd better get some things listed in my own shop and recoup some of the cash I blew.

When I cleaned up the studio last week, I filled a 33 gallon container with stuff I need to photograph and sell.
One tub doesn't sound like a lot, but when a bunch of it is jewelry pieces, it feels like a LOT. The tub is brimming with little things.

So far, there isn't much of a dent in the box.

But I'm working on it. Here is some of what I snapped pix of today. Which doesn't exactly mean that I've got it in the Boutique yet…. but its coming!

The best news EVER

Books, family, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2010

The superduper, extra strong, magnifying, scrutinizing, high def sonogram says that the baby is FINE. Fine, just fine. What better news could any grammie get?

Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes and commiserating stories. It helped to have you guys to "talk" to while I was freaking out.

The baby's mama kept saying that she could feel that the baby had good energy and was okay. I wish I could have been as calm while waiting to find out.

Sugarwings hung out with me while all the testing was going on today, and we mostly played outside in the sweltering humidity. We went for a long walk in the woods and told scary stories about the Big Bad Wolf. I've yet to find anything that kid is afraid of, her favorite part of any story is the scary part.

She was over here about 5 hours today, and I am shocked that I was able to accomplish anything after playing with her out in the heat. (I'm still hot flashing from having my Premarin dosage cut in half, and the heat has been gruesome. My reaction to it is much scarier than any Big Bad Wolf)

I was able to make these two books in the little snippets of time I could grab here and there. The fairy grand baby went and laid down to watch a movie with my poor sick, husband. Remember how much I enjoyed a day to myself to putter in the studio while he was resting up with a sore throat?? Well, I feel really bad about that now, the poor guy has strep throat and had to be rushed to the Dr. yesterday with a fever so high he was delirious and crazy. He's better today, and appreciated Sugarwing's company.

I was surprised to hear from the Dr. that strep throat isn't that easy to catch and to not worry about the little one catching it unless she was drinking from the same cup. Or getting kisses. So, I let the two of them have some quiet time while I tried to recover from the humidity and hot flashes with a bit of nice air conditioned, peaceful studio time. Creating took my mind off the endless waiting to hear what the Super Duper Sonogram had to say too.

This darker book is made from a cabinet card folder, and filled with ephemera and water color paper pages that I stitched together.

Notice the initials on the tag? I found a brooch with C S on it, ideal for a gift to give to my buddy, Carol Spinski!

Her home is being photographed tomorrow by Fifi and I wanted to make a scrapbook/album for her to put copies of the pictures in. I found some French text about homes to use, and I sure don't know what it says, but its purdy. I thought it was fitting, since the Fabulous Fifi is French.

Looking through my stash, I found old pictures of farmhouses to use as accents.

There was a portrait in this card that I tore out, and I kind of liked the texture the glue left underneath. So, I didn't cover it up all the way, I just inked over the torn cardboard a bit with two colors of brown, and then added my embellishments over it.

The other book is for Fifi. Its more of a notebook, or journal for her trip to the Midwest to photograph farmhouses and also features old homesteads. Its a bit foofier than Carol's book.

I included garden pages from old magazines, and items with a "home" theme. And whenever I do one of these keepsake books, I always add lots of envelopes for tucking things away.

This book is made from one large piece of flocked wallpaper. I folded it in half and sewed all the way around the edges. Then, I turned up the bottom 1/3 to the inside, and stitched that to make a pocket all the way across the lower portion of the interior of the cover.

After stitching the cover together, I gathered water color paper and ephemera to make the pages and sewed them in.

Carol graciously let me invite myself over to say hi during the photo shoot. I've worked with Fifi before, but only over the phone, never in person.

I'm not known to be shy. So, of course, I asked if I could come over and visit and meet Fifi.

I promised to stay out of the way and keep my mouth shut, but offered to help if needed. I've gophered enough times during photo shoots to be helpful if they need someone. And I'm bringing a cake and some flowers. You never know what you might need for styling, and sometimes a piece of cake is just the right touch in a photo, or a simple pot of white flowers is a good filler in the background.

If its not needed, we can just eat the cake. It won't go to waste!

I've also styled enough shoots to know that another opinion isn't wanted, and I'll not bother them with mine. If I'm in the way, I'll say my 'nice to meet yas' and head out after delivering the goodies. But I've also known from shoots that I've done in the past, that sometimes, another body can be nice to have around for running errands, ironing something, trimming back a branch, tying up a loose end, or fetching a glass of water.

I'm a handy gopher.

Another editor that I've done articles for but have never met is Barbara Jacksier. Its ironic that tomorrow while I'm meeting Fifi, I am missing an opportunity to talk to Barbara during a live online chat and meet her!

I hope that you can tune into the chat and ask her some decor info. She
has always seemed like such a nice person, I'm sure she is easy to talk
to. And boy, does she KNOW her stuff!

Here is the info you need to visit her:

She is going to be on their Home Front
live chat as a follow up to her book.

It's Thursday July 8 from 11 AM
til noon. Please spread the word.

The Live Chat link is http://live.washingtonpost.com/home-front-07-08-10.html if that doesn't automatically link click
on www.barbarajacksier.com

Frittering

Books, celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2010

Yesterday, was a lazy one. My husband stayed in bed with a sore throat and we had a gentle rain all day, so all boating plans were canceled. I considered it a free day to do what ever I wanted, by myself. A bonus studio day! But actually, I puttered about and did almost nothing. Which was kind of nice.

I did start this little collage.

And I put together this mini art journal. I listed it in my Boutique this morning for $12.50 if you are interested.

That's about it, for 8 hours in the studio! I frittered away time blog surfing, and just poking around, organizing some supplies and watching a few episodes of the Tudors that I had recorded. I'm going to miss that series, I've always been attracted to that time period. Showtime did a good job with Henry, next they are tackling the Borgias. I can't wait for that one!

I used to loved historical romances. When I was in my teens, I read the ones written under the name Victoria Holt and just about adored those. Later on, when I found out that she had written about all the kings and queens of Europe under the name Jean Plaidy, I quickly devoured those. And there were a LOT of them. Here is the list.

And here are the Victoria Holt titles. Just looking over that list brings back so many memories of the time of my life when I was hooked on all of her writing.

There is another long list of books under the name Phillipa Carr. Which for some reason I never read many of. I think that once I out grew the Holt novels and discovered the more historical Plaidy novels, I didn't care to go back to read light romances any more.

Its been ages since I've read any of those, but I have enjoyed the Tudor/Bolyn series by Phillipa Gregory. I hear she has started on the Plantagenets now, and look forward to reading those.

Seems like I don't bother to read as much as I did when I was young. I had a 2-3 book a week habit back then. Now, I rarely find something that pulls me in and makes me finish it as fast as I can. It could be that its just too tempting to flip from blog to blog and spend my free time reading those.

But for the trip to California next week, I've been stock piling some good reads for the plane and the beach. The Worst Hard Time (for bookclub), and the new Jennifer Weiner to start with.

When I'm home, I just seem to be too distracted to read a lot. I always have one open, but it sometimes takes me a week or two to finish it. I do love TV… that cuts into book time.

And yesterday, puttering around the studio took up most of the day. I had some packages to wrap up, and was having way too much fun filling boxes that I was sending out. This one is for a friend. I was sending her a little something and ended up adding more and more since I was using a flat rate box, I thought it should be full!

This little person is another reason why I don't get lost in books like I did in the past. I read more "Hop on Pop", the "Grumpy Fairy" or "Miss Mary Mack" than I do anything else.

On the 4th, we got to visit one of Twinkle's puppies. Remember the parti colored guy? He is HUGE! He is almost double the weight of Agnes Rosebud, and he was the runt of the litter.

We had Sugarwings for most of the day on the 4th. She and I baked cupcakes for America's birthday and had a parade with sparklers while belting out patriotic songs I couldn't remember the words to. Then, we went downtown to a party in the park with live music, games, and food.

But we didn't stay for dinner, my handsome husband (that is him behind the fairy grand baby. Cute, huh?) took me out to a restaurant and a movie while Sugarwings stayed at the park with her mommy.

It was a pretty good holiday weekend, over all. I hope yours was too?

Happy 4th! and unhappy hair

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, holiday decor, jewelry, Sugarwings, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2010

We've had a bit of much needed rain, but not enough to spoil any fun. Yesterday, we had a family cookout and a trip to the lake.

Sugarwings has taken off like a little mermaid this summer, and swims circles around us in the water (with a life jacket). Just a week ago, she was clinging to us like an octopus when we'd get in the lake together. Now, she is dog paddling all over the place and we have to try to keep up with her to keep her in sight!

We aren't the only ones trying to keep up with her. Little Agnes Rosebud is always following her around the yard.

That pup doesn't seem to mind the treatment she gets from Sugarwings and keeps coming back for more playtime, even though she is the toy.

Have I introduced you to Clover yet? She is one of our expected grand baby's big sisters. And she is a kid who LOVES to play dress up. I can see lots of fun times ahead for the two of us. Sugarwings likes to put on a pretty gown, then go play and get dirty in it. Or strips down naked and throws the dress in the wading pool. She is okay with the game, but it is just a small part of her play time. I think she indulges me sometimes because she knows I like it so much.

Clover takes it much more serious than that. To her, dressing up is the main event.

In a couple of years, she and I will have to teach the new baby girl to appreciate the fine art of dress up.

Please keep the new baby in your thoughts, she will be having a high def sonogram on Wednesday to find out more about her development. We need her to be strong and healthy for future dress up games!!

Bottoms Up was a blast yesterday. Well, anytime I get to visit junking buddies is a good time. Carol and I went straight to Beth's booth where I filled up a bag (and she gave me a discount on top of her already great deals, thanks Beth!) I'll have some pics of the loot later.

Then, we headed up to see our Texas friends, Linda and Ludmil of Willow's Nest and shop a bit with them before exploring the show.

Seeing Linda's glorious white hair makes me want to embrace my gray and go natural. Especially since I hate my new hair color. It is supposed to be highlighted and blond, but looks more mousy brown in the photos.

I rarely care about how my hair turns out at the beauty shop. I'm old enough to know I can do something different next time and can enjoy a look that might not be exactly what I wanted since I know its only temporary anyway. Too short grows out. Too dark can be lightened. I just wait till next time.

But this time, I just am NOT happy at all. It just feels blah. And I am not in the mood for blah.

I am going back for a redo and asking for a blonder look. When a trip to the salon costs about $140, I'd like to get the color I asked for. What do you think? Would you go back for a redo and complain? I'll do it politely of course!

Here are some of my favorites from Willow's Nest. I treated myself to a sparkling little shoe that Linda made. They remind me of Dorothy's slippers from the Wizard of Oz. In the books, the shoes are silver, they were only ruby in the movie.

I hope you have a wonderful Independence Weekend!

If you travel, be sure to buckle up!!

I'll leave you with a few new bits in the Boutique. I'm trying to add to it a little each day this week. Mostly vintage and flea market goods, but I will have some altered books coming this week too.

The June Giveaway Winner and some pictures that aren’t what I’m talking about

antiques/junking, flowers, give away, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / July 2, 2010

Does everyone have some fun plans for the 4th? We hope to do a bit of boating this weekend. But for me, today is the fun day, I'm going to Bottoms Up with Carol Spinski.

This show is a new gem for Kansas City. Its organized in part by my pal, Gwen. She is an expert in French antiques and lived in France for years while serving our country as a big shot FBI agent. Gwen is fascinating, and not at all what I expected from someone who is a lawyer working for the FBI. (of course, she is the only one I've ever met, in my circle there are mostly artists and junkers). She is also an artist and has one of the best trained eyes around for antiques. (her bottles were featured on the last cover of Somerset Life)

If you are in the area, or can get here this weekend- here are directions:

Not only will Gwen have her French goodies there, but my pal Beth will be there with her beautiful bargains (she is known for some of the BEST prices in KC, but hurry, the dealers clean her booth out right away!!).

Not only that, but Willow's Nest will be setting up too. Oh my, their booth is beyond dreamy. I'll have some photos for you tomorrow for sure!!

The pictures I have today have nothing to do with Bottoms Up. They are of new items that I listed in my shop this morning before I go shopping with Carol. I figure that while I'm giving my pal's show a plug, I could throw in one for my own stuff.

Beth has some photos from Willow's Nest on her blog. They are just wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I'm always so impressed with Linda and Ludmil's displays.

On Saturday, my husband will be playing golf, so I hope to have time to list more in the Boutique.

Also, there are LOTS of new markdowns in my shop. You can find them here.

And this is the beginning of July, so I'd better announce my June Giveaway.

It goes to Lori

If you didn't win this month, remember, every month starts a new giveaway. I'll see what I can scrounge up for July.

And if you are a follower, I have a separate giveaway for Google Friends. But, please remember, you HAVE to be on my Google Friends list to enter that. Following on Google Reader doesn't add your name to a list that I can see to draw from.

Losing a dark corner and gaining some work space

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 30, 2010

Do you notice anything different in this picture? Its probably not all that plain to anyone but me. Everyone who came over for craft day yesterday could feel the difference, but didn't know exactly what the change was until I told them.

Before, I had a makeshift closet behind the large hutch. It was dark, dreary, and cluttered all the time. With barely enough room to squeeze back there between all the shelves, I got to the point where I was simply piling stuff up and forgetting it was even there.

This photo was mid way through the emptying out process. I forgot to get a before shot. Besides these two shelves, there were 3 others, plus tubs of stuff piled up.

A car load of accumulated junk (good junk, but I just DID NOT need it) went to Goodwill. Another carload went to Beth for her antique booth and a few boxes are going to another friend's store. The tubs of Christmas decor went to a stack under the stairs in the garage instead.

I had about 8 large mirrors back there, from when I used to have my own shop. Since I don't do big shows and no longer have an antique booth there was no place for them and I wasn't going to be selling them from my online shop, I only like to sell things that will fit in a padded envelope!

The rest of the junk got resorted and my cabinets got reorganized for it to be stored in a more convenient and attractive way. And I now have an extra 6 feet of space in the main room. Its not just the extra space that I love about the redo, losing the gloomy pit of a junk graveyard is the best part.

Of course, there was all of this to deal with first. I was kind of wondering about my timing, doing this the day before I had friends coming for craft day. But with friends coming, I had to keep focused, so that I couldn't just give up and walk away.

All of this got sorted out and I was ready for craft day with a clean studio and loads of space to play in.

Beth brought Button for a play date with Agnes Rosebud while we all had our own play dates with glue.

They seemed to be happy to see each other.

I know that I was happy to see the little guy! He seems to remember me and be happy to visit, but he sure has bonded with his new mom and followed Beth everywhere. Shawn brought her new baby, it was good to see her back at craft day, we'd missed her. I don't know why I only have dog baby photos and no human baby photos. Shawn has pictures of the day on her blog, you can see the cutie there.

My day was productive. For some reason (typical of me) I had the dates of my trip to California wrong and thought I was leaving next week instead of in two weeks. So I was in a frenzy to get all my mermaid things for Kim's event done.

Well, now I have plenty of time. I'm making up two ephemera packs of goodies for door prizes at the party, plus have swappy stuff and hostessy things to get done. I zipped through a lot of it yesterday thinking I only had a week to finish.

(by the way, Kim has some openings for the Flea Market Expidition left. If you and in the area and can't make the whole art weekend, at least join us for a bus trip from one shopping paradise to another!)

I also made a framed collage. This one is done in lots of layers with sanding in some places to peek through to what is underneath.

Some areas remind me of old houses with layers of peeling wallpaper. This 8×10 framed piece is a fun change from doing smaller things, and I have two more frames (found when I de-cluttered the back of the studio). I hope to work on them this week too. Since I now know that I have an extra week to get ready for my trip to CA, I can go back to waiting till the last minute to get ready for it!

A box full of Mermaids

fairies, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, parties, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2010

Do you love Lisa as much as I do? I'm kicking myself for not going to Paper Cowgirls. It would have been great to have a chance to hang out with her in person. If she is half as much fun as she is on her blog, she'd be a blast.

So, of course, I was happy to participate in her soap box challenge. The box is kind of like egg carton texture, and to me looked like a perfect little shadow box frame.

Since I'll soon be heading out to Kim's event in California, I thought I'd get myself into a mermaid mood and turn my mini shadow box into an under sea treasure chest.

I've heard wonderful things about Kim and her art affairs. I'm so glad to finally be going to one. My husband will be flying out with me and going on a brothers golfing trip for the weekend while I am with the arty crowd. Then, he and I are meeting up for a spa get away. The company he works for owns some luxury resorts, and we were able to score some rooms for fantastic employee rates.

I'm going to feel like a princess. Or at my age I should say Dowager Queen? And an itchy, poison ivy crusted one at that. If I don't get this crud cured, I won't be doing much spa time.

Since I am soon to be treated like royalty at a couple top of the line resorts in California and spend an entire weekend filled with creative fun with friends, I'm already feeling a bit royal with the anticipation of it all. That influenced me to add a "crown" to my shadow box.

The sparkly topper is made of a corner bracket from an old photo album with a rhinestone necklace glued over it, and a rhinestone clasp underneath.

My sea creatures are made with two sizes of frozen Charlottes, with the smaller one in back and glued directly to background, and a larger one in front, raised up by gluing her to a button and shell. I thought this might give it some depth.

The Charlottes have mermaid tails made up of paper clay, that has been painted and glittered. I added crowns of German foil and crystals to their heads.

Each is glued down pretty solid, but their sea horse friend is suspended from a wire, so that she sways a bit. The seahorse charm was gold toned, and I drew on it with a black sharpie, and wiped that off a little, then wiped some white paint over that. I also swiped a swatch of white paint over her wire so it didn't stand out so much. If I were to do this over again, I'd use fishing line instead of wire, because the wire is still prominent even with the paint.

The box sits in a plate stand that I wrapped in vintage ribbon. For a touch of extra gaudiness, I tied an aqua ribbon to the front of the stand and dangled a star fish charm from it. Because by the time I'd got to that stage of creation, the gaudiness was already pretty thick and I thought I should just go for it and gaudy it up even more. Once you've crossed the line of over doing something, there's no turning back and you might as well just revel in it.

See what I mean? There is a LOT of foof happening here. The inside of the box perfectly fit an old button card with the words "Mermaid Pearls" on it, along with two buttons.

Along the inside walls, I glued ruffles sewn from pattern paper, then I edged it with a strand of pearls.

Then, the cut out on the lid was lined ink, glitter and a lace ruffle.

The large parts of the box were covered in aqua wallpaper that has a nice sheen to it. The sides of the box have a raised edge where the lid meets the bottom, and it looked just too hard to cover in paper. So, I ran a bead of glue around it, and wrapped a ribbon around it, gathering as I stuck it into the glue.

Yep, this project was just what I needed to start feeling like a Mermaid Princess and get me in the mood for my trip. Its been a rough week, and I look forward to a get away.

Thank you to everyone who shared scary pregnancy stories with happy outcomes, that encouragement helped. And thanks for all of your well wishes and prayers. I'm doing my best to stay distracted until we get news from the Dr. about the newest member of our family.

And a big thanks to Lisa for hosting this party! It was a fun challenge and a well needed distraction for me.

I'm sending Lisa a had that I thought was suitable for her palette of colors. She always seems to appreciate my hat whispering skills, so I thought I'd share.

Puppy Not Included

Today I was also able to finish up my articles for Somerset Life. One is about this altered book.

The other was about my Peat Pot Pretties with frozen Charlotte fairies. And remember, that this one is the giveaway for June. All comments all month are entered.

I'm also giving away another present from my followers. So, please join in on my list if you'd like to be in the running for that gift, a pair of vintage rhinestone earrings.

Simple Summer Centerpiece

family, flowers

By Karla Nathan / June 26, 2010

Today, Sugarwings and I picked some parsley and dill that had started to flower. I try to keep my herbs pinched back so they grow lush and full, but sometimes it just gets away from me.

And I'm kind of glad that I let it go this time, they had some pretty blooms. A bit like Queen Anne's Lace, one of my favorites.

So, instead of just pinching it back, we cut long stems of the fragrant blooms and brought them into the dining room.

I tend to have a lot going on in my house, decoratively (and emotionally!) so I really enjoy the simple look of a white pot full of blooming parsley on the table.

Thank you to everyone who offered prayers and encouragement about the expected baby and her possible difficulties. We are trying to not worry too much until more tests tell us that we need to. For now, we are thinking happy thoughts her way.

Author name: Karla Nathan