Karla Nathan – Page 293 – Karla's Cottage

Thinking Award

By Karla Nathan / April 17, 2007

I have to thank Karla (the other Karla) http://sugarbeardesigns.blogspot.com/ for the THINKING AWARD. How surprising, I am not thought of as a thinker. More of a doer without thinking it out first type. I am the one who decided at 3 am when my hardwood floors were newly sanded and ready for a topcoat the next morning, that they should be drawn on. And then found a sharpie and started to draw, with no plan. I liked it and kept drawing. Some of my best decisions were made with no thought at all. "Just do it and make it pretty" is my motto.

But, I have been doing some thinking about which 5 people I want to pass the award on to. First is Beth Leintz my great buddy and mentor in all things vintage or ebay or glued. She is an accountant who has moved onto more interesting things and found the artist inside of her. (Although, she is a bit of an artist with numbers too, that girl is sharp). http://bethleintz.typepad.com/gathering_dust/

The rest go to some of my favorite blogs:

Carlene who is so creative and writes with wit http://carlenefederer.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Staggs who makes me think and day dream about being in Merriville http://ahappymiscellany.typepad.com/

Vickie http://vickichrisman.blogspot.com/ who always has an interesting and intricate project going

And Heather http://prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/ who was one of my first blogger friends and who has such a pretty way of looking at things!

Now, each of you get to pick 5 thoughtful or thought provoking bloggers to nominate!

I have had friends ask me how to Leave a Comment for the DRAWING. Well, just click on "comment" at the bottom of any post. If you have trouble, just email me and I will enter you in the give away.

Yesterday was a beauty, spring is back!! I got to work outside a bit, but mostly I got to paint garden signs, here are a few I got done, as well as a couple more May buckets I am doing. The left over Easter Eggs ensure that I paint something sweet. Or that my butt will grow as I sit and paint.

China Shard Pendant for the Give Away

give away

By Karla Nathan / April 16, 2007

OK, since this is my first give away, I am not sure of the rules, so I decided to make some up. (I always feel important when I get to make rules!)

RULES

1- You can enter as many times as you like

2- Every time you leave a comment I will enter you again

3- I will keep adding things as I come up with good ideas for goodies. I’ll post photos of the new pretties as I come up with them.

4- If I get over 100 entries, I’ll have a 2nd prize to improve your odds!

5- You can leave any comment, on any of the posts to be entered.

6- If you have a friend that enters and says they referred you to this site in their comment, I’ll enter your name again.

7- I will find a really pretty hat to use for the drawing. Something with flowers, I am sure.

8- PUPPY NOT INCLUDED!

Here is my latest addition to the May Bucket. In its past life, it was a Homer Laughlin plate. I do tend to chip, break, demolish a lot of pretty dishes. I never break one purposely if it is in good shape, but hate to waste anything, so I re-purpose all chipped ones. This plate is now made into some pendants.

I banded the edges with foil tape and soldered it with lead free solder. The bail it hangs from is sterling silver and the blue cyrstal bead is circa 1940s.

A First Time Give Away and a First Time Swap

give away

By Karla Nathan / April 15, 2007

After winning the Spring give away from http://vickichrisman.blogspot.com/, (how lucky was that??) I decided I need to have one of my own. I also jumped in and entered the swap world for the first time. http://www.artsymama.blogspot.com/ has a May basket swap arranged and I am excited to be a part of it. My swap partner is another fave blogger of mine- www.creativechaos.typepad.com, and I am every bit as excited to make something as I am to see what she makes for me.

Here is a preview of my gift for the drawing. I plan on filling it up with some more goodies, and still need to put a top coat on it. I just sat down to paint the bucket and the paint is still wet, but I do get ahead of myself sometimes.

So, if you’d like to have a cute little pink bucket with hand painted flowers on it and some goodies (to be determined) inside of it- let me know! Leave me a comment and I will add your name to my drawing.

The drawing will be May 15th. Hope to hear from you!

Lucky Friday the 13th!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers)

By Karla Nathan / April 14, 2007

Yesterday was my lucky day! As I was wondering if I should do some sort of give away, my name was being drawn by http://vickichrisman.blogspot.com/ and I won her prize!! I guess that means, it is my turn to give back, so I will come up with something arty and hand painted and let you know. Thanks, Vickie, for the wonderful surprise!!

Even more good luck yesterday- I got a new puppy. She’s 7 weeks old and is spoiled already. She came from a home that was full of little girls who couldn’t get enough of snuggling with her. Good thing, because here at my cottage, my fairy grand baby is doing some cuddling with the puppy and the puppy seems to take right to her and stays with her. They are destined to be best friends.

Our other female Dorky (Yorkshire Terrier) is named Sparkle. I am thinking Twinkle might be a good name for this little girl. I’ve also thought about flower names. It might take a few days to find just the right name, but Twinks isn’t bad.

We put a glittery little belled collar on her and she is jingling from one end of the house to another. Its lively around here, babysitting for Sugarwings and chasing the new puppy.

I have a brand new white velvet chair that the store I bought it from guarantees that if it doesn’t come clean, they replace it for 5 years. With these two around, we will be testing that promise to its limits.

One more really lucky thing that happened on Friday the 13th, my grocery store had clearance roses for $1.99 a dozen!! Now how lucky is that? I wanted to buy them ALL. I bought a couple dozen for myself and some to share with friends.

Candelabra with Hand Painted Roses for Ebay

hand painted candelabras

By Karla Nathan / April 13, 2007

Still being inspired by Carlene’s posting of her chandelier collection, http://carlenefederer.blogspot.com/, I thought I’d share another collection of mine- candelabras. I love to find both old light fixtures and candle holders to spruce up and add glitz too.

This one is from Sparks and White Cloud flea mkt (coming up soon, can’t wait!!). I painted it a clean white, added crystals and made lamp shades. I have two electric ones, both I bought to sell, but kept. Bad, bad habit of mine.

This one is in my living room. I have painted roses on it, glazed it with a bronze metallic finish, and added pearl beads, and glass leaves that I found on a Victorian bud vase.

Pearls are also added to the candelabra in my dining room. The paint is a creamy tan color, no glaze over it.

This is the only one that didn’t get a coat of paint. I liked the drama of the gold, I have lots of hints of gold and silver in the bedroom that this candelabra is sitting in.

Last, here are three that I have re-done, all differently. One, white and distressed with round crystal drops, one silver paint with umber glaze and red crystals, and the last one, is really duded up the most.

It is ivory, with pink roses painted on it, then antiqued with an umber glaze. Over that, I have added touches of metallic gold wax, then draped it in vintage pearl beads and 4 crystal drops salvaged from a chandelier.

This is a close up of the hand painted roses and the antiqued finish. I have decided to list this one on Ebay, because, just how many do I need???? Well, I don’t want to answer that, I probably don’t need ANY, I just want tons and tons. Which, actually, I think I might have tons.

Well, if I haven’t run on too long already, I want to mention a giveaway on http://www.parteagoodiesgiveaway.blogspot.com/ that looks extra nice. I am just intrigued by all these giveaways and swaps. I still consider myself new to all of the blogworld-ish goings on, and the generosity and sharing is just wonderful. I have been wondering how to participate. I’d love to do a give away myself.

My birthday is in a few weeks. Maybe I will give away a gift for my birthday? How do I let people know about the present I want to give? I do have an art show the weekend of my birthday, so I will be making a lot of new things. I can set aside my favorite for the gift. Any advice from any of you who have done give aways? I’d appreciate it.

Dizzy from the Re-dos??

antiques/junking

By Karla Nathan / April 11, 2007

Oh it feels good to be home again, we drove through a blizzard all day to get home from Minneapolis! The weather was too bad for me to sweet talk Rich into stopping at any roadside antique malls so I could browse while he waited outside with a book, or doing emails on his Blackberry.

I was thinking about him not recognizing his own home in the magazine (posted on April 8, Clueless but Cute), and I have decided that maybe it isn’t his fault. Here is a photo of my living room for an article I wrote for Paint Magic Oct 2005.

This photo was taken maybe a year later.

(Both photos taken by Bill Mathews and styled by Gloria Gale)

Well, maybe he is right to be confused?

I am ready for a vacation! Time to take a few days off.

how to's

By Karla Nathan / April 9, 2007

Last week, between shopping for a mattress and redoing my guest room, repainting the dining room chairs, figuring out how to do Ebay and trying to list a few things, feeding 15-20 people for 3 days straight while hosting a mini family reunion, and babysitting my 7mth old fairy grandbaby for over night- I also managed to redo a coffee table for my living room.

Here is the "before" picture of my table, I found it at a junk shop. I probably paid too much for it ($15) in the condition that it was, but it was the exact size and shape I needed.

My living room was looking a tad too formal for me at this point, so I wanted a table that was leaning toward the rustic side, but still pretty, to make the room a bit more casual. This table already had a rough oak top, I sanded away all the stains on it, added some roses to the bare wood, a dry brush of white to the legs, and put a dark stain and poly over the entire thing, then wiped it off, for an aging effect and for protection.

Still haven’t made lighter slipcovers for the new sofa yet. So, I sprayed it good with Scotchgard, knowing I’d never keep the little Dorkies off of it. That is Sparkle making herself comfy on it now. I changed out the pillows for lighter colors, that is a start. I found some fabric I like to cover the seat cushion, although I am not in a hurry to make them, I’ll get to it eventually.

But for now, I am leaving on vacation for a few days. I am hitching a ride along with my husband on his business trip. Cheap way to travel, the hotel and his meals are covered, and since he was driving anyway, it was practically free for me to go. Depends on how much I eat I guess, and after all the Easter-feasting we did at the reunion, I’d say I shouldn’t eat too much.

But I probably will anyway.

I’m Just Taking a Break to get a Little Work Done- I am not hiding out from my guests!!!!!!! seriously)

hand painted signs

By Karla Nathan / April 8, 2007

While the guests are gathered around the veggie trays and deviled eggs, I have taken a little break to list a couple new ebay items before I have to get the turkey out of the oven, because we are going out of town tomorrow. I am sticking with the schedule that Ebay Guru Beth-http://bethleintz.typepad.com/gathering_dust/ – has set me on, she is giving me assignments to follow and I am doing my best. She has been the biggest help to me, and really isn’t at all bossy, just nicely encouraging to me. If she would be a little bossier, I might have gotten listing sooner! Well, procrastinating, or not marketing are both artist issues. It is so much more fun to create than to try to sell.

I decided to list some more signs that I painted. Here is one. I love to make them, and never do 2 alike, even if it is the same phrase or colors, they all come out differently. I also take requests….. that is, if you are interested?

Clueless but Cute

Hand Painted Furniture

By Karla Nathan / April 7, 2007

Some people consider my house slightly foo-fooed up. I do have to admit there is a lot going on, and it is drenched in flowers. I paint watercolors of flowers and hang on the walls, I paint flowers on the furniture, on old shutters, on the floor, well everywhere. And I go for what I think, are light and romantic colors.

I get asked how I live with a husband and two boys in such a flowery home. I tell them that my husband never notices anything. Actually, we quote Lonesome Dove and say he is "not a noticer." Rich only notices changes if they are something too heavy for me to maneuver into the house alone and I have to cajole him into helping me.

Today we were at my sister-in-law’s as part of the big Nathan family weekend, with the house guests. She had this magazine on the table, and I told my mother-in-law that my bedroom was in that issue. So, my husband starts to show her the pictures. Telling her in detail about the pages and what and where it all was in our house. Well, he was looking at someone else’s home!! He didn’t even notice it wasn’t his house. The thing is, he was actually telling her about how "this page was before we redid the attic room" and that page was "the old bedroom before we fixed it up for our grand baby".

Well, for one thing—WE? I don’t think he has ever touched a paint brush in his life. For another, does he even know what his own home looks like? I guess he saw some pictures that had flowery pages and it looked close enough. Although, he really was pretty sweet, when he was telling his mom how proud he was of me and how beautiful the rooms were. Even though they weren’t my rooms, it was still sweet of him to brag about me to his mother. And it was pretty cute.

I may have Dirty Floors, but I had a fun week!

jewelry

By Karla Nathan / April 6, 2007

Today was a blustery day in Kansas, a good day for the "virtual pot luck." I ‘m glad I got to visit with everyone and not actually have to go outside!

I spent the morning listing some things on Ebay and checking out the various party hostesses. Then, my house guests came early and I hadn’t swept the floors yet or done the dishes!

It is so much more fun to do the pretty part of getting ready for company, setting up a new guest room and setting a table.

So, while I made cups of tea and we talked, I got out the broom. At my house, it is always casual. As much as I love it to have sumptuous decor, it is always comfy and my guests are treated like family. Heck, they were lucky I didn’t hand them a broom!

Here are a couple of things I listed today on Ebay. I am still struggling with the best way to list, which key words, categories, etc. Wish me luck. So far, I am spending more on fees than I am actually making back. But it is a learning curve…….?

Author name: Karla Nathan