Karla Nathan – Page 283 – Karla's Cottage

Teaparties, A Gift for YOU, Fairies and a sprinkling of Dust to top it off

a lapse of memory again, or am I just careless?, antiques/junking, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, I've been tagged, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 10, 2007

Welcome to the Tea Party! It is being hosted by those pretty pink people who make everything so nice and everyone is invited to join. The teaparty will go on all week, so you can return for seconds on scones and tea!

Tomorrow is my day to have Sugarwings, so she can’t be here for this party today. She’s still a bit young, but I can see that very soon, she and Grandmama will be playing fairy tea party together.

And Twinkle is up for any party, any time.

These are the hand painted doors to the closet in Sugarwing’s room here at her grandparent’s cottage. Inside, are all the dress up clothes I am starting to collect for her from garage sales for her to wear at future tea parties.

And of course, I have started to collect some fairies to invite as guests to our upcoming events.

The itty bitty ballerina fairy was a gift from Holly, who always has the cutest stuff.

This pretty cobalt teapot was my mom’s. The blue framed photo in front is of her, wasn’t she pretty too?

The little rose covered book was made by Beth.

Yes, I see the dust too. Don’t you know that a person who owns this much junk also owns a lot of dust???

I used to have a larger collection of teapots, but edited it down to rose-themed, matte white or tarnished silver and threw in some tea cups to match.

My son built these kitchen cabinets for me, and I had him make sure there was plenty of teapot space on top.

The little pot in front, is my Grandma Smith’s. She would pack it up in her suitcase and bring it every time she came up to Indiana to visit us from Florida.

Grandma Smith’s is what got me started on the collection.

Here is a watercolor I did of her silver teapot years ago when I was into quilts and dried flowers. Now, I just have the painting in the closet of my studio. I should ask my family if anyone wants it.

Nieces? Sisters? Any of you read this? If you want this painting, let me know.

There is a teeny little self portrait in the reflection of the silver

Here is another sentimental thing for me, my mom’s tea cup (it is under the cake plate and has china roses in it.)

When mom died 5 years ago (it still feels like just yesterday sometimes) Sissy was sweet and divided up mom’s beautiful rose dishes so that we each had 2 place settings to display. I have built up a collection of matching dishes, well in color and style, if not in pattern, and keep them all on this shelf in my kitchen with fairies, angels and elves. And probably more dust.

Did I mention that I love teapots? I’ve tied mini ones from my kitchen chandelier too.

I bought new vintage wallpaper this week and had a wonderful time making tags, tons and tons of tags. Here is a sample.

And since you have been such nice guests at my tea party today, and no one complained about the dust on their teacups, I have a present for you.

I made this refrigerator magnet with some of my new-old wallpaper and brass charms I bought at the flea market last week.

I will give it away today as a gift to a commenter. And remember, I have a giveaway for the month of September, you just have to leave a comment. The comments to win the magnent will count toward that too.

I was tagged by MJ and a couple other people (sorry I lost the emails) for the Thoughtful bloggers award, back when I was coming home from my vacation and never got around to posting about it, I was so behind on everything. I want to thank them and apologize for not noting it. I was also tagged for the name game by Priscilla and by —- oh my— I lost that email too. I’m sorry. I’ll find it later so I can thank them.

Anyway, my middle name is JO so, this will be short (even from me, the QUEEN OF RAMBLING)

J– Junk!! I Just love Junk!

O– Oh my gosh, I Just love Junk!

I want to be the Fairy Queen!!!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, flowers, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / September 8, 2007

After sleeping most of the week away, with that killer flu bug I had, and having my first cup of coffee for the week yesterday- I found myself up at 2am unable to drift off. I had IDEAS. So, at 2:30, I gave up and went to the studio and made fairy wings for Twinkle and fairy princess headbands for the rest of the group going to the Renaissance Festival today.

Trouble is, Twinks hated the wings and really isn’t very good on a leash anyway. Sparkle was extremely jealous, and kept trying to get me to put the wings on her. She does like to dress up.

So, Sparkle came along with us instead, but she is older, easily worn out, and fat (hey, being middle aged isn’t easy for some of us ladies!). So she ended up in Sugarwings stroller most of the day. I am not allowed to post photos of my husband pushing the stroller with the Dorky in fairy wings riding along like a queen.

Our little fairy grand baby had better things to do than sit in a stroller and be pushed around! There were crystal balls to gaze into, and new friends to meet.

Yes, we put that tiny little sprite up on a giant elephant.

I decided what I want to be when I grow up now- look at this fairy queen! Can you see me in my 70’s on the RenFest circuit, traveling the country and dressed up like a fairy royalty? I sure can. When my eyes get too bad to paint any more and my arthritis too bad to make jewelry or do collage, I plan on joining the Rennies and being a fairy queen.

The Kansas City Renaissance Festival is for 8 weekends every fall. It is set in a lush, wooded acreage and when you visit, it feels like stepping back in time.

I have always enjoyed going to the festival, but it is so much more fun to go with Sugarwings.

The costumes are to die for.

And the hairstyles aren’t bad either!

Next year, instead of just flowers, I want a bird in my hair!

For this year, I made a little wreath from paper roses and wired ivy vine and clipped on two vintage earrings and a matching brooch. Simple and fast, but no bird.

I think Sparkle got as much attention today as the real fairies that were there.

Everywhere we went, people asked if they could take her picture.

She loved every minute of it, too, and spent a lot of time posing with some of her fairy friends.

The fair is very dog friendly, but not as many people bring their dogs as they did in the past. Now, dogs need to buy a ticket! Only five bucks, but it is a good idea, because you have to show proof of shots to buy the pass for your dogs.

I am already looking forward to next year (when I will be wearing a bird in my hair) because little Madison will be old enough to go and we’ll have double the fun with two little fairy babies. (I hope she doesn’t mind sharing her stroller with dorkies.)

Hey, there really is a give away for Sept. Keep leaving comments to enter and I promise I’ll come up with a prize!

PS- I am attending a Tea Party on Monday and would like you to come by. I heard about it from Sweet Rememberance and here is the link for more info. I have a cute little "Tea for Two" refridgerator magnet that I will be giving away that day.

A Romantic Country Article and then a bug that I wished would just KILL me and get it over with

Etsy Goodies, give away, hand painted candelabras, Hand Painted Furniture, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 7, 2007

First of all I wanted to let you know that for some reason, my answers to comments are not all going through. About 1 out of 5 gets sent back to me with a failure notice. I really am answering them, I don’t know what the deal with Typepad is. Anyone else having this problem???

Karlascottage2 Tuesday night after the fairy grand baby went home to her parents, I finished an article I am writing for Romantic Country. Here is a teeny peek at one of the pictures.

The story is about tips to create a romantic style bathroom. I don’t know when it is to be published, I’ll let you know when I hear. Sometimes, I just check the stands when the new magazines come out and am surprised to find photos of my house inside! Barbara Jacksier used to be the editor there and she was so helpful, she used to always send advanced copies. Editors don’t always have a chance to do that, but she always made time to. She would even send a reprint of a photo from one story into a different magazine, not even an article I had written.

She has a new cottage book coming out, check out her blog for lovely details!

I enjoyed making the paper doll wedding dress for Stephanie as part of her August Give Away prize so much, I made a few more. Eventually, I will list them on Etsy for $6 each, plus shipping, but if you want one now, please email or comment and you can buy it directly from me.

And thanks to the nice purchasers of my hand painted buckets. The two rosy ones have been sold. The angel bucket is still available.

LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU WANT TO ENTER SEPTEMBER’S GIVEAWAY!

You all know I tend to be a tad bit productive,(which is why I can keep my prices so low for what I do- I do a LOT) but the article and dresses are all I managed all week. I was hit hard with a BUG of some kind and spent the last two days wishing I would just die. I doubt if you need anymore details than that.

I had my old mural and painted furniture photo album out the other day, so I thought I’d show some pictures from that.

The quality might not be as good as it should be, since I have simply taken photos of photos in an album. Sorry.

I used to paint furniture on just about a daily basis. I kind of miss it, and I just drool over cheap, beat up bargain pieces at garage sales that are calling out to be saved. But I restrain myself and no longer have a double car garage, an antique mall booth, a garden shed and a showroom full of this stuff.

This cabinet was in my kitchen for a while. I used to constantly change out furniture, find something new, take the old piece out to sell. It drove my family crazy.

Here is my garden shed before a sale. The table cloth on the drop leaf is actually hand painted.

These palm trees were painted at the Tampa Country Club. That is the best job I ever had, I stayed at their private hotel for 2 weeks, with free room service (great food) and hung out by the pool or drove to a really cool movie theater nearby when I wasn’t working on murals.

I did research on palm trees before I went down there, to know what they looked like, but then, I realized once I got to Florida, all I had to do was look out a window for ideas!!

(Molding was added to the walls right under where the paintings stop)

This photo was in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine and was taken by Bill Mathews.

It is of a ceiling I painted to camouflage a missing piece of curved molding that the designer didn’t want to try to replace.

And this gloriously gaudy fruit picture is from my friend, Kari’s, kitchen. She is a hair dresser and I get my hair done for free when I paint for her.

My client for this mural wanted her whole dining room – every inch of the walls- painted in a scene she found in a book. She had me add the family pets to it too.

That sweet little white dog hung out next to me the entire week I painted at her house.

Looks like even when I don’t have anything new to say, I can still run on and on, can’t I?

****EDIT****

-ADD ON-

There is a Spring Party going on at this blog site on the other side of the globe. After feeling so sick and run down all week,I have been gloomy, thinking about fall and winter coming in- being cooped up, having colds, BEING cold. I think I will just pretend it is Springtime and go enjoy this party! Want to join me?

Painted angels, my little fairy angel, and an angel from the past

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, give away, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 4, 2007

My little fairy grand baby is with me today, and supposedly taking a nap. She doesn’t nap much at Grandmama’s house, we seem to keep pretty busy playing.

Before Sugarwings came over, I did get a little work done. I painted the 3rd (and last) bucket from Goodwill. Wish I could’ve gotten more, but that is the story at thrift shops- just be glad you found what you did, you never know if there will be anything there or not!

This bucket has not been glazed in umber yet. I might do a metallic bronze instead.

All three of these buckets are available for $12 each plus shipping if you want one. Shipping is probably around $5.00.

I won’t be listing them on Etsy, so if you want one, just email or leave a comment.

I also made up my give away gifts for Stephanie. She is planning her daughter’s wedding, plus has a pretty wedding themed collection in her bedroom.
(Isn’t it funny how we all know things about each other’s homes?)

I had this teeny little June bride that I thought she might like.

Stephanie was the 1st place winner for August’s giveaway. Since she isn’t a crafter, she had the option of a custom made gift for her, instead of the Cottage Collage Kit.

(I just got three of my kits off in the mail this morning to the editor of Somerset Living! Feels good to knock a project off my list)

I decorated a box for the bride figurine by adding old papers, tons of glitter, and this hand painted rose medallion. It is covered in diamond glaze and isn’t dry yet, that is why the roses look a bit milky.

I added a teensy millinery flower and a heart charm to the top of the box.

I also found this English die cut of a bridal party in my stash of never ending vintagey goodies. I know Stephanie says she isn’t a crafter, but it just looks like something that could come in handy for a person who collects wedding themed things!

And of course, I am still hooked on paper doll dresses, I just can’t stop making them. It is like trying to just eat one peanut. I can’t do it. A better analogy for me, might be cookies.

I can never stop at one or even a couple cookies.

I plan on making tiny dresses to use as Christmas ornaments next.

The glue is still wet on the pearls on the dress too. I never can wait to take my photos until the pieces are dry, can I? I listed something on Etsy that had sanding dust all over the piece. I should have wiped it off before photos, but I just get too impatient, when something is done, I am ready to move on!!

Elaine is my 2nd place winner. She loves ROSES. So I made a tag for her with one of my hand painted rose medallions.

I put it on a tag that Beth gave to me. She had covered a few in some of her pretty wallpapers and generously handed me a stack of them.

By the way, she has a bunch of paper doll dresses on her site too, but they come with a story about the girls who own the dresses.

I decided I am a "Gina". Read the story and see which sister you would be!

After getting the prizes done (don’t forget, you can enter this month’s drawing just by leaving a comment)I whipped up a couple of tags.

The blue bird is from the swap I did with my sis. It is covered with a crackle glaze and the crazing looks good in person, those just never show up on these posts though.

Then the fun began- Sugarwings came over to play with her Grandmama.

We watered flowers.

And we watered Twinkle.

And we played with some of the most fun toys ever, empty boxes.

She is reminding me so much of her daddy at that age, I had to get out the old album. (I wish I’d been a scrap booker then, I have very few photos from that period!)

See the similarities???

Stephanie, and Elaine, I have your addresses and will mail your presents as soon as the glue dries. I might take photos while the glue is wet, but I am smart enough to let it dry before I pack things!

September’s giveaway drawing has already begun, I just don’t know what the prize is yet. Leave me a comment if you want to enter!

A flowery guest, some flowers I painted, and second thoughts

antiques/junking, Books, Etsy Goodies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / September 3, 2007

I hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day weekend? We spent a lot of it boating, and I just had to show you this fashionable young guest, Katie, who came along today for her first boat ride.

Everyone brought great food for a pitch in picnic and the lake water temperature was perfect. I spent a lazy afternoon floating around and stuffing chocolate cake and pasta salad in my mouth.

Why does food taste so much better outdoors???

Before boating, I did manage to get some work in. I packed up goods that sold in Etsy and have them ready to mail, then painted a lot of white base coats on things I had lying around waiting to be spruced up.

This was a too shiny brass piece, isn’t the paint and umber glaze an improvement?

I also painted two of these buckets that I bought at Goodwill. They were plain galvanized tin, with the embossed hearts, I painted them white after priming them and adding a crackle spray coat.

After adding the hand painted roses, I glazed over the buckets with umber glaze. When it was wiped off, the crackled areas showed up pretty.

This isn’t a project I did today, but I found it today! It was packed away and I forgot I had it. This is a mirror that I sanded the back off of in a spot, and added some vintage rose paper to, so that it peeks through the hole. I added a wired ribbon and one of my vast collection of millinery flowers, and its done.

While I was painting roses on buckets, I decided to paint more wallpaper medallions.

The rest of the day involved cooking and cleaning, not nearly as much fun as creating or boating.

I did take some time to look through this book that I purchased at the flea market this week.

I bought it because the font was pretty, the words were French and the pages were old. I want to use it as wall paper on the wall behind my couch.

I thought I could frame the illustrations, and glue the text to the wall.

But after examining it, I think it just might be too nice to tear up. What do you think? The only date I could find in it is an inscription in the front that says

"Edward Breck With love to Papa Chele from Nell. Christmas 1928"

It is a soft cover book and the front is torn loose a bit.

The illustrations are on a tissue paper and are simply laying in the book, not glued down. They are wonderful, but I keep going back and forth about my original plan, I wonder if I should just salvage the lovely pictures and make use of the rest of the book, or is this book worth something? I paid $20 for it myself.

Does anyone know about old books and have any advice?

Spooky things, Storing things, and trying not to Hoard things

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, flowers, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 1, 2007

While going through my stash of goods from the big flea market this week, I came across some things that had a touch of Halloween flair (lucky numbers 7, unlucky 13, some old ribbons in black and orange, and a bunch of other fallish things)

So I decided to make up Cottage Collage Kits with a Fall Theme.

For each one, I used a bit of the papers to make a sample of what could be done with the kits.

I don’t do a lot of Halloween decor myself, but can appreciate the colors and I really enjoyed putting these packs together for someone else who would get more use out of it than I would.

I have the kits listed on Etsy for $12 each, if anyone wants a big bunch of Halloween goodies to work with.

Each kit contains a generous handful of orange and green millinery flowers, because I seem to have a lifetime supply!

Look at all these flowers! I just want to spread them out and roll in them, I love them all so much. I am FORCING myself to not hoard them, to actually use them and enjoy making pretty things with the flowers.

Trying to put away my new acquisitions from the flea market made me reorganize my studio so I’d have a place to store them all within reach and within sight. If my supplies are hidden away, I forget about what I have and don’t use it.

Plus, it is fun to have all my favorite things out where I can enjoy them!

This stuff is just too cool to hide away.

All of the storage containers were things I already had, except these lidded glass jars. I had a chair from TJMaxx that broke, and when I returned it, I saw these on the clearance table for $7 -$10 each. There was cash back on this purchase after returning the broken chair, that is always nice.

After organizing, I couldn’t wait to play with my new pretties!

So, I finished decorating the folders I am making for Somerset Living.

I swore to myself that I would not hoard my vintage wallpaper either. I am using it and enjoying it!

The first two folders were from wallpaper that Beth gave to me, and the third is from some I ordered on Etsy.

The inside of this folder is a watercolor wash I did on some heavier paper.

And see- I used two big millinery flowers on this one! Good start on the pledge to not hoard!

While I am trying to not be stingy with the papers, I am also not being wasteful. I save all the teeny bits in a big hat box and dig through it for detail items, like the tags I made on all 3 of these folders.

It might seem silly to save such little pieces of scrap, but I don’t think this card that I made would have been nearly as pretty without the thumbnail sized bit of wallpaper that I added and wrote "rose" on.

I made that ATC into a birthday card and tied it to a bag that I put one of the $1.99 rose pots into and gave it to a friend for her birthday yesterday.

We went to an art opening another friend was having at KU, and then out for margaritas

to celebrate.

And now, I need to announce my gifts for the winners of the August giveaway!

Since I had so many comments I am giving two presents. Second place will be a hand made paper doll dress. And it goes to

ELAINE

And first place, with the choice of a Cottage Collage Kit or a hand made item is

Stephanie. Ladies, please contact me and I’ll get your goodies in the mail. And thanks to everyone who entered. I appreciate all your comments and conversations. That is why I have a big giveaway every month. And since today is Sept. first, I have started a new contest!

All comments from the month get entered, and I’ll let you know what the prize will be when I figure it out.

I am glad my husband never reads this, he’d hate knowing how much junk I bought today!

antiques/junking, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 31, 2007

What a great day at the flea market in Sparks, KS! Beth and I found so many goodies, but most of what I got was project material.

I was surprised at the end of the day, how many of my purchases were "supplies" for making it all into collage art or scrap booking.

These 1930s prescriptions were a couple dollars for "a handful"

The grocery store price tags were $2 for a baggie full, and I got another baggie full of pretty little rose themed greeting cards for only $4.

I did get carried away at one booth where I found lots of vintage brides, bridesmaids, and other bins of craftable goodies.

That booth also had bundles of never used, but old, velvet millinery leaves.

Then I saw all the brass charms, not old, but charming. I spent about $40 at that one stop.

A bag filled with a dozen of these sweet birdies was $6.

And GEESH, do you think I got enough old hats and seam binding ribbons????? There were about 80 packets in the bag of ribbons, for $15. And the hats ranged from $1 to $4 each, and have wonderful flowers to pluck off and use in projects!!

The teeny velvet pillow with the needlepoint robin was only 50 cents, and the wall paper covered box I have it all stored in was TEN BUCKS.

And isn’t this a pretty book? All the pages are lovely, and so was the price, $1.

The photos were 5 for $1, so I got about 25 of those.

The large card in my favorite shade of blue was $1, but is a bit ragged. And the velvet bow was a dollar too.

Throughout the day, I scooped up lots of sparkly rhinestone bits of jewelry for $1 each.

And I haven’t even photographed the beautiful French book ($20- big purchase of the day!) and the bags of Christmas ornaments ($5 a bag) that I found, yet.

Sparks is a unique place to go, I don’t even know how to begin to describe it, that town is a puzzle to me.

I can’t imagine that anyone actually lives there. All the homes, barns, and businesses look like they have been turned into shops that are open twice a year for the flea.

I heard that this used to be the bank. This building seems to be the least decrepit of the area, it is pretty cute.

We shared an order of biscuits and gravy at Bubbles Cafe for breakfast. I don’t think Sparks is notable for its food, but they weren’t bad.

We ran into a blog friend, Carol was there too. It was good to meet her, she will be at Silver Bella this November and we will be seeing her again then.

I have to wonder what the town looks like after everyone packs up and leaves? A ghost town? I really HOPE no one lives there, that would be kind of sad, the place is pretty run down. But it sure makes for a great flea market, and I am already counting the days till spring and it is open again!

Lost Friends, Blogger Friends and my generous friend, Beth, as well as some witchey women who look like they might be close friends

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, how to's, jewelry, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 29, 2007

My husband called from a road trip last night to say that there were funeral services he was going to miss this morning for a wonderful lady who used to work for him years ago.

He asked me to order flowers for her, but I wanted to do something special, she was such a nice person.

So I took one of the $1.99 mini rose pots that I got at the grocery and painted the pot in 3 golds with a sponge, and added hand painted roses.

I cut a banner from scrap booking paper, aged it with ink, and wrote her name, Mavis, across the banner in gold outlined in black, then added gold glitter glue. The glitter seemed too heavy, so I took a paint brush and cleaned up the lines, took the extra glitter that I removed and touched it here and there to the leaves of the plant.

I needed to be at the funeral home by 8am this morning to drop it off for the family, so my day started early.

It is amazing how much you can get done when you get a jump start on the day. I even ran errands and stopped at the gym on the way home.

Then, I listed A TON of stuff on Etsy, including some jewelry that I had made.

I don’t make jewelry very often, but when I do, I get on a serious kick and make a lot of it for days on end. A couple times a year of those binges keeps me stocked up for all of my art shows, or where ever else I sell it.

I only use vintage beads and crystals, and try to keep each piece unique.

I don’t know how well it will do on Etsy, but was worth a try.

I added a few more paper doll dresses and a couple of other pretties made from ephemera.

AND MY EARLY START ON THE DAY WAS GONE!!!!!!!!!

It took forever to list all of that, I didn’t finish until 1:30.

Finally, by 2, I got to play with wallpaper!!!

I made up more witchey women with the copies of that old photo I am crazy about.

These are my "pastel witches"

Beth had given me some tags she’d glued wallpaper to, and I used those as a base.

I drew on the wallpaper with a gold gel glitter pen, that is my favorite new toy!

Then, I used the ladies on a large shipping tag (4×8) covered in some of the wallpaper that I bought on Etsy last week.

This time, they get to be royalty instead of witches.

But they really are meant to be witches, so in the last collage that I did with the photo, I gave them witch hats made from green velvet cut from vintage millinery flowers.

I started decorating the folders I am sending to Somerset. The pattern I am using to make them came from my sister

She had made this pretty pink one for me as part of our swap.

I’ve been tracing her folder and making them out of wallpaper.

The emblems on this one are copies of old postcards covered in crackle glaze.

Too bad you can’t see in this photo the cool way the glaze dried, all crazed and old looking.

These aren’t done yet, I need to play with them a bit more, and then I get to fill them up with vintage collage supplies and ship them off to Somerset Living. I just love that magazine and am thrilled to be included in it!

Tomorrow, Beth and I jaunt off to to our semi annual flea market up in Sparks and White Cloud, KS. It is Memorial and Labor Day weekends and is so much fun.

Last spring, I found this box of beautiful glass hardware

and this box of old receipts.

I am all a-twitter about what I might find tomorrow!!

We are hoping to meet Carol there, she is a blogger friend that we have never met in person, but lives in the Kansas City area (which is a great part of the country to live in if you love junk!)

Our other blogger friend, Carlene is always saying she can’t find such great things in AZ. So, sweet, generous soul that she is, Beth is making her a boxful of vintage Christmas goodies! I am including this dear little deer for her.

She likes pink, on one of the first posts that I read of hers, she had just died her hair pink.

The pink rose on its head reminded me of Carlene’s pink hairdo. Hope she likes it!

I need to finish up my studio work for the day and pack up my car for tomorrow’s big event- SPARKS AND WHITE CLOUD!!!

Heck, I thought I was up and on the go early today, tomorrow is going to be really early for me. But worth it!

All the rest have 31

a lapse of memory again, or am I just careless?, antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, flowers, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 28, 2007

Does anyone else notice anything wrong with this calender???

It was a gift from my BIL, the guy on the left in the photos. (my husband is the guy in the middle – but this was 20 some years ago!) He gathered up great family pictures, took them to a copy place and had a memento calender made up for Christmas.

I just realized today, that August really isn’t over. I don’t think it is my fault that I was confused, although, don’t most people know that only Feb. gets down to just 28 days?? I should remember that poem about the months!

The Month Poem
.

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
February has twenty-eight alone,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting Leap-Year, that’s the time
When February’s days are twenty-nine.

Anyway, there are a couple of bonus days in August for me!! And that means more chances to enter the drawing for this month.

I didn’t get much work done today. I thought I might, I found this baby corral at garage sales. Actually, it is two that I put together, so she’d have space to roam in.

But of course, why would Sugarwings want to be corralled when she has a Grandmama to play dress up with? And Twinkle to read stories to?

Or shopping carts shaped like cars to ride in? We went to the grand opening of the new CVS in our town to use up all of the grand opening special coupons that expired Sept. 1st, (which, is NOT tomorrow, like I thought).

The shopping cart was so fun, we walked around and around the building and played with it outside till another little kid came along who looked like he and his mom needed to borrow it from us.

So then we went to the grocery store, where the carts aren’t nearly as much fun- but they do have $1.99 flowers!

I bought a bunch of glads and three pots of mini roses, including the cute tiny trellis in each pot, all for $1.99 each.

I did manage to make ONE THING today, and only half of it is done. I used some old floral cardboard from a chest that had fallen apart to make a folder for one of my Cottage Collage Kits.

I keep paper goods in a similar chest, but it isn’t much longer for the world, it definitely has seen better days. I won’t let it go to waste, though. I can see many craft projects in its future after I find a replacement for storage!

You can see the back of the folder here in this photo next to some garage sale purchases from this weekend.

I see a tea party in the making here. I can’t wait till Sugarwings is big enough to play big girl games with me! I’ve been collecting tea sets, doll cradles, dress up clothes, and all sorts of fun things for us to do together.

Don’t forget, there are actually a couple more days left in this month, go ahead and enter the drawing again!!

Cottage Collage Kits coming up in Somerset Living!!

Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, flowers, how to's, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 27, 2007

I’m still on my paper doll dress kick, they are too fun to stop!

But I did take a break to make some of my wallpaper folders filled with vintage supplies to list on Etsy. This lavender themed one is in the shop and I stuffed it with lots of cool papers. I only made one, because purples, lavenders and periwinkles just don’t come up too much in the things I buy to use.

But I did come across some good ones to put in it. Lots of one of a kind items are inside.

And look- sheet music for "Lavender’s Blue!"

The wallpaper that I ordered for myself came from Etsy today too. And just in time, I need to make 3 of my Cottage Collage Kit folders for Somerset Life!

I cut two out and got them started,but not foofed up yet.

Some of the wallpaper that Beth gave to me was perfect to use on this tiny little photo album. I got it in the Michaels clearance aisle for 50 cents and embellished it to fancy it up.

I covered the inside and outside of both covers with Beth’s wallpaper, then glued old seam binding ribbon around the edges to keep the paper from shredding up on the corners.

I added glitter to the ribbon to cover any messy glue spots, drew on the wallpaper with a gold gel pen, added an English die cut flower to the inside cover and added MORE GLITTER.

The brass corner brackets and the green vintage earring on the clasp finished it off. (look at the glue on my fingernail, I was so glopped up at the end of this project!)

It has sleeves to slide photos into and I can just see a grandma using this as her brag book for her grand baby. But then, I can’t quite get enough albums myself for my fairy grand baby, so maybe I’ll keep it!

I am in two mini swaps with Debra, she, Beth and I are swapping ATCs, one fairy, one Halloween. Here is my fairy one, a bit odd, not a dainty fairy, that is for sure.

But don’t you think fairies come in all shapes and sizes just like people do???

We are also swapping paper doll dresses. I made this one with a page torn from a child’s book, The Tortoise and the Hare. Debra is an avid bunny collector. I found another old child’s book about bunnies to send to her too.

She over whelmed me with gifts when we swapped matchboxes so I owe her an ‘extra.’

She designs Halloween dolls for Bethany Lowe (check out her site, there is a big box of samples on it now!!!).

So, I made a Paper Doll Halloween gown. This one is on black paper with sparkles in it.

I drew the spider web with my gold gel pen, added crackle finish mixed with brown ink to age the whole dress, then sprinkled black and purple glitter onto to it. For a finishing touch, I ruffled up a sheer purple ribbon and glued it on the back to peek through as an under slip.

Betty and Beth are in the mini paper doll dress swap too.

Good thing I have someplace for these to go, because I can’t stop making them!

Although, these two sold on Etsy right after I listed them. That is a nice feeling.

I am not making two alike, and am not using patterns. I draw them as I make each one, so the sizes are way off kilter, there are giant ones and tiny ones!

When I was a kid, I loved my paper dolls. I wasn’t one of those kids who tore or trashed them, I played with the same ones for years.

That might explain my fascination with these little cuties.

I’ve enjoyed all the swap crafts that have been going around this year, the art doll hat, match boxes, tussie mussies, all have been fun to do. But I LOVE making these paper dolls!

And I LOVE the old wallpaper I have been playing with too.

I even turned some into a key chain (also in the Michaels clearance aisle for 50 cents).

As pretty as I think old wallpaper is—this is prettier! Sugarwings and her baby cousin, Madison, got matching dresses to wear to a party Saturday night.

While at the party, I noticed a cabinet at the house that I had forgotten that I painted. It is always a nice surprise to come across a past work in someone’s home.

I spent a lot of time gluing today. The day started out early in the garden while the morning glories were blooming and now it is evening

and the moon flowers have opened. I’m glad I have leftovers and don’t have to cook tonight.

Yesterday I picked tomatoes, peppers, fresh herbs and garlic to make home made sauce, and put together at big lasagna for Sunday dinner.

Ilearned that you shouldn’t eat a big lasagna lunch before you go out on the lake on a day with a 100 degree heat index. But Sugarwings didn’t seem to mind if the rest of the family was over full and lethargic, she had fun on the water!

Well, I’m off to eat a plateful of leftovers right now, and kick back on the couch for the evening. I am all glued-out.

Author name: Karla Nathan