Karla Nathan – Page 287 – Karla's Cottage

Vacationing

By Karla Nathan / May 25, 2007

Hello, from Indiana! I am at my sister’s house, enjoying the last couple days of my trip. Part of the fun, is wandering around her house and looking at all the pretties she has collected. As much as I enjoyed the mountains of N. Carolina, the views here in Sissy’s house are every bit as pretty to me!

Sissy’s house is filled with winged creatures and sparkles and glitter.

These angels, birds and orchids are the view while washing dishes at her kitchen sink. Makes cleaning up after one of our many family feasts this weekend, a pleasant chore.

She has added extra crystals to the chandelier she had installed in the kitchen to make it doubley sparkly.

And I was touched to see that she has a sign I had painted for her hung up in the kitchen too.

I also spied a hand painted box I had made for her years ago, with two teddy bear sisters on it.

I LOVE the wall color she has used throughout the house, such a peaceful blue. A perfect backdrop to all the fairies and angels that live in her home.

Everywhere I look, she has added sparkles. Whether it is a bowl of gems, a vial of fairy dust sprinkled across her sidewalks, or crystals hanging in the windows to catch the sun and make light birdies that dance across the room.

And if anyone loves fairies more than I do, it is Sis.

Staying here is magical. Everywhere I look, a fairy or angel is smiling back at me.

So far, not much in the junking department. My husband talks big about letting me stop wherever I want while driving across country, but never seems to see the places I point out in time to turn. Then he says "Do you actually want me to TURN AROUND????" And he says it in the same tone he might say "Do you actually want me to jab a fork in my eye????" Or "do you actually want me to drive off that cliff????" So, we missed all the cute roadside places in N. Carolina. I get my junk day tomorrow with my sisters and niece while he plays golf. Wish me luck!!

On the Road

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, Travel

By Karla Nathan / May 17, 2007

We’re leaving on our trip, driving from KS to North Carolina with a stop in Tennessee on the way there and Indiana on the way back. Family visits, hiking, rafting and junking are what we have planned (well, my husband didn’t hear about the junking part yet!).

My bags are packed and I am ready to go. Now, if I could just get Twinkle to throw her toys in the bag, we’re set.

I will try to check email from the road, so go ahead and keep entering for the Cottage Charm giveaway! Here is the charm that will be the gift from me. If you have trouble leaving a comment, just Email me, and that will count too. I don’t know why it can be hard to comment sometimes.

I have to extend the deadline for my part of the contest, I am afraid. More chances to enter!! I will be back Memorial Day. See you then, and please don’t forget about me, I’ll be back soon and posting ridiculously long and meandering things like I usually do.

Accomplishments

Film, flowers, hand painted signs, paintings

By Karla Nathan / May 16, 2007

I got done all the things I needed to today!

1-My partner in faux finishing and I worked on the bid for the HUGE job that starts after my trip.

2-I painted this baby shirt for my niece’s baby shower, since I will miss the party while on my trip. The tiny shirt is painted with an "N" for Nebraska, but with flowers added since she is expecting a girl.

3- I painted this "simplify" sign for a reader, Kathy, who saw another one I had done and asked me to paint one for her.

Notice, the sock on the table? I didn’t have a rag handy and had to pull a sock off my foot real quick for a wipe up. It happens in art sometimes.

4- I wrote a submission for an article with the photos we worked on this week.

5- I made a cute package to send the submission in to the editor.

6- I got all the water sprinklers in place for my son to water our new plantings while we are out of town.

7- I bought a bunch of groceries for my son to eat while we’re gone. But he doesn’t eat much, he has lost 100 pounds in the last year. The guy lives on turkey sandwiches.

8- I had a BBQ with Sugarwings and her parents, and got lots of good cuddles, even though she was making green snot bubbles most of the time. I think I might be guaranteed to have a runny nose about half way through my vacation.

9-I worked on my art journal to take with me so I would have pictures of Sugarwings that I could stare at while I was missing her. This photo uses a tag I bought from Beth’s Etsy shop.http://bethleintz.typepad.com/

10- I mailed my May Bucket prizes and took care of some Ebay stuff.

11- I planted all my veggies and got my garden ready for the season. The sun was going down as I finished in the garden, and the wild flowers I planted earlier at the edge of the woods were looking so pretty against the darkness of the trees behind them.

Wild roses grow up the trees and the air was filled with their scent. Geez, now I am homesick again. It is hard to leave my flowers behind for ten days.

Tomorrow I pack, mail Ebay stuff, rent a ton of books on tape, suds up the 3 dogs and throw them all in the car once they are clean. Even the puppy who gets carsick. Nothing makes a trip go faster than a good book on tape and the smell of dog barf coming from the back seat. I think I’ll need a few rolls of paper towels for the trip too.

Homesick before I even leave

flowers, jewelry, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / May 16, 2007

I am leaving on vacation tomorrow and need to work my butt off today to get ready. First of all, I need to mail the May Bucket prizes.

I should be kicking up my heels with excitement over my vacation, but I am more worried about being ready to go.

I have a baby shower gift and a sign to paint and ebay boxes to pack and a magazine article synopsis to write and send off too. Did I mention that I have 2 painting jobs that need bids and a garden to plant and sprinklers to set up and PACKING before I leave tomorrow too????

Here is one thing that needs mailed today. I chose a 2nd place gift for Michelle Ward for the May Bucket drawing. Her style isn’t as pretty-foo-foo as mine, so I made her a special gift, something a little funkier. This necklace is made from an old piece of hardware I picked up at the flea market a couple weeks ago. I love the old green paint clinging to it.

Well, I should be starting on my mile long list for getting ready for my trip. I am such a homebody, I hate to travel or think about leaving. I miss my flowers, my pretty house, my wonderful studio, MY COMPUTER. But I always have a great time once I get where I am going.

I will have to pack up my flowers that are still looking fresh and give them away before I leave. How could I just leave all these pretty roses from the party last week to die alone while I am gone??? I’ll have to find someone to take them home and enjoy their last days. That is the kind of thing that I worry about before a trip, I can’t leave my pretty flower arrangements!!

And Sugarwings!! How can I leave Sugarwings for TEN DAYS???? I’ve never been away from her for that long in her entire life!!

She is coming over today to say goodbye. And I am going to finish a few more pages in my art journal about her, to keep with me in the car, so I can stare at her pictures.

My roses have started to bloom, finally,after the terrible freeze that I thought had ruined them.

I will miss them, and every inch of my fairy cottage. I love my home down to the smallest details like the vines I drew in the cement as the new sidewalk was poured.

And I will miss all my bloggie friends. What if you all forget about me in the 10 long days I am gone??? What if people get out of the habit of coming here to look because there is nothing new for sooooo long???

I won’t even think about that.

Off to work, I have more to do today than humanly possible and here I am playing with Typepad. Geez, sometimes I wonder about myself. But, I know I’ll be back today to write more… can’t help it.

Rosies and Posies for Baby and the MayBucket winner

Hand Painted Furniture

By Karla Nathan / May 15, 2007

Last night, I went over to visit my brother-in-law’s family and brought my paint brushes along. His oldest daughter is having a baby next month, their first grandbaby!! I offered to do a mural for the nursery, but the parents might be moving, so we decided to paint some furniture instead.

Brooke (our expecting niece) scored this 4 piece set at the Goodwill for $90!!

Her mom got it primed and base coated for me, before I arrived.

She painted one piece a creamy, soft yellow and the others white.

A diamond design and the trim on the white chest of drawers is in the cream color to pull the pieces together.

I also used the yellow in some roses and butterflies.

We wanted the two pieces to go together, but not match.

The rest of the furniture is white. I think that it should stay that way,but we’ll see. The new mama might decide to have me add some more flowers to the rest of the pieces too.

At first, Brooke was trying to be very practical and have me paint these pieces neutral so that if their next child is a boy (this one is a girl, you might have guessed) this stuff could be used by either gender. But I told her that her children, boys or girls will always have their Aunt Karla to paint something special just for them, and she should enjoy having something girly and fun for this baby. I hope little Madison Catherine (to be named after the family’s home town of Madison, Nebraska) will enjoy her pretty pink roses!

And now for THE MAY BUCKET GIVE AWAY!!!!!!!!!! Time to go and draw a name from the pretty flowered hat. For my birthday, I drew a bonus name and that prize was sent to Karla at http://sugarbeardesigns.blogspot.com/. Now, I Will draw the name for the 2nd prize (to be named, I might need to make something today)

http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/

Michelle Ward is the 2nd prize winner!

And now for first place, the May Bucket full of delight-

MizSmoochieLips!! http://mizsmoochielips.blogspot.com/index.html

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments and for taking the time to enter. I have had such a good time with the contest, that I promise- there will be more! Don’t forget, you can still enter the Cottage Charm giveaway too. Not just on my blog, but on numerous sites, click on the link for more info.

I hand painted am offering this charm for the Cottage Charm giveaway. (Sometimes I just crack myself up with my cleverness)

Feeling Sentimental and LAST CHANCE FOR THE MAY BUCKET

flowers, give away, jewelry, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / May 14, 2007

Still basking in the glory of my marvelous Mother’s Day, my thoughts are on family things.

I never knew my great grandmother, but found out that when she was 18, she went away to art school. Not something a lot of young girls did in 1906.

She did a handful of pieces while there, then came home to be a farm wife. No more time for art when there are chickens to feed and a family and garden to tend. Thinking about it makes me realize how lucky I am to have so much time to make things pretty.

I was given these two pictures done by my great grandmother, Nellie during her short time away at art school I think that if I had known her, we would have had a lot in common.

Sentimental days are good for scrap booking. I’d made a book of my husband’s family earlier, but didn’t care for the way I’d done the cover. So, I added a faded and torn old piece of red velvet from an ancient album and glued a vintage oval framed family photo onto it.

Rich (my husband) is the dapper young man in the bow tie.

At the top of the oval frame, I added a brooch that belonged to my sweetie’s grandma. I used to wear it, but the clasp is broken, so I thought this would be safer.

Since I had my glues out, and was thinking family type thoughts, I made a couple more Sugarwings pages in my journal/scrapbook. I was never a scrap booker until she came along. Now, I try to add a few pages a week, as I take photos of her.

When she grows up and looks at my book, do you think she’ll roll her eyes at me, and say, "Oh, Grandmama, wings- again??!"

I also did a photo shoot today at my house with my pal, photographer, Diane Guthrie, who did the Romantic Homes layout with me last year. We got half done and will finish tomorrow. I’m afraid that I can’t tell you any more about it for now, but here is a teeny peek from my camera- not hers.

We did 3 photos in 2 hours, that is not a bad rate. Maybe 3 or 4 more tomorrow and we should be set.

Well, maybe one more teeny peek.

You know a photo shoot sounds glamorous, but in real life it is a mess. I had cords and lights and equipment all over, plus I had all the ordinary, everyday, useful things piled up out of the way of the camera, so that only pretty things were in the shots. I did run across town to Walmart before Diane arrived so I could get 2 white toothbrushes in case they showed, I wanted them to match the bathroom! Sounds silly, but those little details matter.

My bathroom is still all topsyturvey and will be until we are done.

Don’t forget about the MAY BUCKET!!

Today is the last day to enter!! I will be shipping it off to its new home tomorrow.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your kind comments and entries. I had over 500 entries, what a surprise for me!!!!!!!!! I counted each and every comment you made as an entry and will continue to do that for the COTTAGE CHARM GIVEAWAY.

You can enter the Cottage Charm Giveaway as many times as you would like. I love getting comments and will bribe you anyway necessary to get you to write to me!!

I am making the $1.99 a dozen roses I bought a week ago last till the very last petal curls up and turns brown. I keep trimming the stems and making them a bit shorter each day. But I might like them this way better than any of the other arrangements so far.

Birthday Parties, Shabby Chic Friends, and Fairy Mermaids

Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / May 13, 2007

I threw myself a big 49th birthday bash last night and of course, made a crown to wear to it, so everyone whould know who’s party it was!

I used a six pack of pointy party hats from the $1 Store to make the crowns, I simply cut the tops off in a zigzag pattern like crown points and glued glitter and lightweight sparklies to the hats. It was easier to make them than to take a photo of my own head.

And, see- a new hair color too!

Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ brought me a COSTCO CARROT CAKE. If you haven’t had one–go buy one NOW! Oh my gosh, they are the best. Thanks, Beth!

I kept the party simple and fixed easy things. Simple snacks and foods look better when served on pretty platters, so people didn’t realize how little effort I made. And I always say that food looks more impressive when you get it up high! I always use cake stands, compotes, and other tall serving pieces for a buffet. Layers and levels make an interesting table.

I went with a garden theme, brought in the glass topped breezeway table (and de-spidered it)to set up on the food table and topped it with McCoy flower pots with candles in them and the roses I had bought earlier in the week for $1.99 a dozen. The roses might have drooped a bit here and there, but weren’t bad.

The dogs were penned up for the evening, and Twinkle seemed to be OK with it, she cozied up in her cut glass dog dish. (50 cents at a garage sale) The water dish next to her is one that I painted iris on at one of those do-it-yourself ceramic shops. I love to go to those, but here’s a tip if you go- take your own paint brushes!! A good brush makes all the difference in a painting and the ones they have there to use aren’t any good at all!!

This is my friend, Angie. She is so pretty, I wish she was part of my decor every day. Isn’t her coloring very Shabby Chic??

I shared the limelight with my good buddy, Judy. I felt less guilty about throwing a party for myself since I got to share it with a friend.

Throwing myself a bash was just the start of the weekend.

On Sunday, the family cooked steaks on the grill and then we went out on the boat.

This was Sugarwings’ first time on the water and we decided that she was part mermaid too, not all fairy. She was born to be a lake kid!

Today was the first Mother’s Day for Sugarwing’s mom and my first as a Grandmama. I can only wish for a lifetime of Mother’s Days with them that are even half as nice as today, and I’ll be a lucky, lucky old lady if I get them!!!

Remembering Mom and Missing Dad too

vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / May 12, 2007

Sunday is the 1st anniversary of my dad’s death. When he fell ill, my sisters were with him in Indiana, taking him to the doctor. I was here in Kansas, waiting to hear what the tests said.

I needed a project to keep me from falling apart. So, I mosaiced the steps into my kitchen from the breezeway. Doing mosaics keeps the hands busy and the mind calm but still gives you time to think and reminisce.

My dad was a gardener his entire life, from working the farm as a kid to planting veggies and working his garden plot right up till the day he went to the hospital.

At his funeral, I brought a tomato plant instead of flowers.

My steps are a tribute to him, I tried to give them an organic, growing feel of newly sprouting garden vines. He died 2 weeks from the day he went in for testing and was diagnosed with cancer. I think of him when I walk across these steps.

I’ve mentioned this before, but when I talk about Daddy, I have to bring it up again- when I was born, he filled out my birth certificate while my mom was still under anesthesia. His name is Hubert, so he named me Huberta Josephine. My mother changed it as soon as she woke up! Who knows, I might have liked being a Berta, not such a bad name. I wonder if I would have had a different life if I had grown up as Huberta?

Sunday is also Mother’s Day, so I got out the scrap book that I made with old family photos.

My parent’s song was "Always", so I have added that word to this page of the two of them together.

Mom loved butterflies.

Here we are together. (my family calls me Karkie Jo, or Aunt Karkie to all the little ones).

My wedding- with Mom on the end in pink and her mother in the gorgeous silk Sari. And see my handsome husband, so young and skinny? Now he is a weightlifter and you should see his arms! I just hate him, its not fair, he gets better and better looking, I just get older. And fatter.

Here is a photo of "us girls" as we’d say back in Indiana: Bobbie Sue, Sissy, Karkie Jo and Marty Jo. Don’t our names sound like we come from Petticoat Junction??

My mom’s favorite flower was the iris. I think partially, because I used to do so many iris watercolors (like this one of mine). She was sweet that way, she loved her daughters and would adopt their favorite things as her own favorites.

Its sad to be an orphan on Mother’s Day. But I have my boys, and my little Sugar Wings, and her sweet mama, who is a daughter to me. Hopefully some day, they will all have happy memories of me, like I do of my mom.

This is a pencil drawing I did of my dad’s mom. I know that my dad missed her the rest of his life after she died in the early 70’s.

You never get too old to miss your mommy.

I will always miss mine.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for all the love.

A peek into the Garden Shed

flowers

By Karla Nathan / May 11, 2007

The iris are blooming!!! Not as pretty as last year, a bit skimpy actually. I think it was the horrid freezing weather in April after the March heat wave. I wonder if all my yard will be affected this badly?

But, a few iris are better than no iris at all and I am glad to see them.

These are in front of my garden shed.

I feel that a garden shed should always have vines growing over it, but I mistakenly planted vines that disappear over the winter. So I painted some around the doorway, with a nest tucked into the vines.

When we tore down the old garage, I saved a door from it to use as an awning over the garden shed’s doorway. I’ve attached it with L brackets,then continued the painted vines up onto the awning too.

A peek inside the shed, with a hand painted vintage door that I hung on the back of the building, where the original door was missing. A little worse for wear over the years (its not water tight) but doesn’t natural aging add charm?

You can tell in this close up of the door, it wasn’t quite the right size, I had to cut the bottom off of it with POWER TOOLS (YAY-fun) after I painted it. The curtains are stapled into place. With chicken wire instead of glass in some of the windows, there was too much wind blowing through and the curtains were always falling down when I tried hanging them on rods. Staples solved that. These curtains were in a big boxful at an auction for $2. I found the door in my brother-in-law’s barn during a visit to Nebraska. My husband wasn’t too happy about hauling it all the way back, but it was worth the effort and the argument.

A little birdie lives in the shed up on a beam.

When I reclaimed this old building, I emptied it out, power washed it, then rented a spray gun and painted EVERYTHING with a coat of paint. To keep it cheap, I went to a surplus store, bought 8 gallons of pastel and white paint for $5 a gallon, dumped them all together and used the color as it turned out. I let the paint shoot everywhere, no taping off or worrying about the floor. Then, I added the little hand painted touches and hung up old bits of broken trim for interest. The curved piece over the door is some gingerbread from a dumpster at a construction site. Not the first time I found myself upside down, hanging over the side of a dumpster to dig something out. Thats better than actually climbing inside, though…..

Back to the iris- yellow ones are blooming in front of my propane tank.

About 16 years ago, I painted the tank with iris on it, then planted bulbs in front of it. Well, the paint is chipping and fading at this point, but I still enjoy it.

This weather has been so wet lately (devastating floods in Topeka, and too much rain here) so I haven’t gotten my new bed finished. I did work in it a bit yesterday, but I think the ground is too wet to do much.

So I worked inside, decorating some jars for my bathroom cabinets.

Don’t forget, you still have time to enter the MAY BUCKET GIVE AWAY-but time is running out!!!! And don’t forget the Charm I am giving away for the Cottage Charm Giveaway. Here is the link:

http://owcl.blogspot.com/2007/04/sign-up-for-cottage-charm-give-away-day.html

You can enter all my giveaways simply by leaving me a comment, any comment at all, Unless of course it is a mean one. But I doubt if you’ll do that.

I already miss my rose a day and it just ended yesterday. Doesn’t every day need a rose??

Here is a bouquet of them, on top of a powder box I have listed on Ebay.

These roses are made of tiny sea shells. You can bid on it by clicking on the Ebay link to the right.

Also, thanks BIG TIME to Carlene- http://carlenefederer.blogspot.com/ ; Karin- http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/ ; Natasha- http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ ; Jody- http://gumbo-lily.blogspot.com/2007/05/prairie-rose-for-you.html for all buying pendants and charms from me.

All of the jewelry is for sale, if there are any pieces you’d like a close up of, just email me and I’ll send photos. Thanks!!

Day 10 In a Rose a Day plus some Cheap Tricks

how to's

By Karla Nathan / May 10, 2007

How about a roomful of roses for Day 10 in my ROSE A DAY FOR 10 DAYS IN MAY? These tiny little hand painted roses are in the entry way to my kitchen. The walls are painted a very soft blushy pink with the brighter pink roses scattered around. To age it a bit, I used a glaze over the top of it all in an umber color, making sure to leave it heavier in the corners. The ceiling is a pistachio green as an accent.

I just hate white ceilings. And of course, my studio ceiling is white, and its a huge room that can’t bear the thought of tackling. But when we built the addition, it seemed to be the easiest thing to do at the time. I rented a spray gun and shot white everywhere. I’ve since repainted the walls, but man, that ceiling! Doubt if I’ll get to it.

I’ll miss the Rose a Day that I did in honor of CARING BLOGGER’S ROSE DAY today. It was started by:http://brittarnhildshouseinthewoods.typepad.com/brittarnhilds_house_in_th/, so thanks to her for the lovely idea. I will always have roses for you to see, even tho my ‘rose a day’ is over.

These roses are from the pile of things I have broken as a clumsy antique dealer. I added them and these birdies that were on a broken cookie jar, to this mosaic table top.

Which brings me to "Cheap Tricks" Michelle Ward’s http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/2007/05/crusade_no_8_ch.html latest crusade. Her challenge was to show how you have used a cheap item somehow in your art. (check her out in the FABULOUS issue of Somerset Life)

So here are a few of my cheapest tricks, this photo is inside my breezeway:

1-More shutters like on the front of my studio. They are by fold doors that I found at a garage sale for $4, took apart, painted, then screwed to the wall on each side of the door.

2- The $2 garage sale chandelier didn’t work, so I cut the wires out, primed and painted it, and epoxied cheap, cheap, chipped up teacups to the arms. It can be used with candles or flowers. (I made it for Romantic Country magazine, Jan. 06, there are step by step instructions for it there, or ask me if you want them)

3- The mirror is an abandoned window that I cleaned and painted. Then, I sprayed the back with looking glass paint.

4- Last is the $5 iron table that I painted and mosaiced with broken stuff I have piled up in a cabinet because I can’t bear to throw it out, I know it can be something.

5- (I know, I said #4 was last) I forgot this pillow. It is made from a cut up vintage hankie that I gave to my mom to sew to the pillow for me, since I am so bad with the sewing machine.

My mom was great about those kind of projects, she’d make anything for me. Her talents were with a needle and thread, that woman made perfect stitches in her quilts.

This is a scrapbook page I made with two watercolors I’d done of her photocopied and glued down onto strips of paper that I thought gave it a fabric look, reminiscent of her quilting.

The larger painting has a background of a log cabin quilt she made for me.

The smaller painting is of her back in the 80s with her giant video camera that she took everywhere. This time, to the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas.

Marty Jo (mom) collected humming birds and butterflies (not real ones) so I added a humming bird charm to the page. She’d like that.

She also loved Irises, such a beautiful,old fashioned flower. When she passed away, I went to the casket factory and hand painted her casket with sprays of purple iris.

(maybe that should have gone into my list of weird things??)

Author name: Karla Nathan