antiques/junking – Page 18

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 Polka Dotted Princess

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

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2010

Before Sugarwings came over to play with me today, I got a few things listed in the Boutique. The jewels that I found recently are really nice, and in great shape. Someone took such good care of them, that you wouldn't even know they were at least 50 years old.

See what I mean? Nice sparkle to the rhinestones.

This picture is made from one of my teensiest frozen Charlotte fairies, in a vintage frame. I love it when a project can be made from ALL vintage materials. Usually, something, somewhere in it needs to be newer. Like a tag, or a bit of card stock. This little lady is all OLD. And as an older lady myself, I appreciate that about her.

Sugarwings and I have the afternoon to play. Her Hippy Chick Mommy came by to do some laundry and is going to watch DVR-ed episodes of True Blood while she washes her clothes, so that means I get to snag the fairy baby to work in the studio with me.

I'm not sure yet what we'll make. She did ask if we could make a polka dotted dress for her puppy to match her own dress. I'm not much of a sewer, but I think we can paint polka dots onto a hanky and tie it around the pup's neck. Sugarwings isn't very picky, that should make her happy. Especially if we use glitter paint.

The last time we worked with glitter, she had it crusted all over her and kept saying, "I have Project on me!!"

Not that she is fussy. That wild child is usually encrusted with something.

This tag book is listed in the shop too. Its two large tag covers and 5 small tags inside, all wallpapered up and ready to be embellished. I'm including scraps of the papers to finish it with.

Don't forget that I have a Peat Pot Pretty with a frozen Charlotte fairy as June's giveaway prize! Can you believe that June is almost over??? Geez, where did it go. I have two articles to write by July 1st, and am not usually a person who waits till the last minute to do things (well besides taxes, uchk) but the time just got away from me.

My husband is going to be gone all week, so I should be able to get them both done. When he is around, I tend to stop work early to fix dinner or just hang out. And we come up with excuses to see Sugarwings and play with her. I can be more disciplined when I am on my own. Well, kinda- I am playing hooky this afternoon to make a polka dotted dog dress.

And as a prize for the drawing for new followers, I have some of that nice old rhinestone jewelry. I'll draw from ALL of the followers, not just the new ones. I appreciate you signing up, thanks!! When the number hits 250, I'll give away the earrings.

Being inspired by other’s studios

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

By Karla Nathan / June 21, 2010

Thanks for all the nice comments about my studio!

Wow, what a TON of people participating in that party. I've not seen all the blogs in it yet (that's going to take a while) but I sure had a good time peeking into a chunk of them. As much as I adore my own studio, I was experiencing some studio envy
while looking around. There are some fascinating ideas and places out there. The more I looked at, the more I want to see.

I'll be hopping through more as I have time this week. Thanks for hosting, Karen!

And as much as I do love my own studio, sometimes its good to get out and go to another place to work. Beth invited me over on Friday for estate sale shopping and hanging out in her craft room. I'd brought stuff to work on, but she offered me a box of goodies to rifle through and I couldn't resist.

Its so much more exciting to play with new (old) stuff! I think that is why I keep shopping for more to add to my own stash instead of just working with what I have. Because I sure do have plenty, you might have noticed from my previous post!

New supplies are inspiring. So, I bought more goods while at estate sales that day too…

And I also found this wrought iron bench. For now, its setting outside the back door to my studio. I'm not sure if that is where it will remain.

None of the sales that day were over the top wonderful, but we found a little something here and there all morning. At one house, I got a broken vintage crystal necklace.

I divided it up, and listed some beads in my boutique ($2.50 an ounce), and will keep some for myself too. There is more to list from that day's haul, and I hope to have more time to add it tomorrow.

One of Beth's boxes is labeled "images" and is full of some great stuff. I made this tag with a picture from that and really wanted to make a matching set with another girl that was in the stash, but ran out of time so Beth sent it home with me to finish.

What started out as an idea for a tag became an ephemera book instead. Its in an old cabinet card folder and is filled with an assortment of old papers, ready to be used as an art journal.

It should be in the shop soon. But if you are interested now, please let me know. It will be $24.

Playing in Beth's studio got me all fired up to make some stuff in my own when I got home. It was Father's Day weekend and we had a lot going on, but I managed to squeeze in a little bit of creative time here and there between boating and baking with Sugarwings and petting and playing with Agnes Rosebud.

For Father's Day I took Sugarwing's Daddy and my husband to see Toy Story with our little fairy grand baby. I'm a sucker for Pixar, our whole family is. But man, this movie was extra good. I thought the plotting for breaking out of the day care was right up there with something out of Ocean's 11.

And Big Baby could be more terrifying than Chucky.

And the end tugged at my heart so much, with Andy going away to college, that I sobbed. I don't think any mother of a grown up son could have prevented herself from crying at that ending.

Speaking of boys growing up and leaving the nest… I got to visit Button at Beth's. Here he is up on the craft table, bounding across the supplies to come and see me.

Seemed like he was glad to see his baby sis too. This was the first of many play dates for the two little fuzz balls.

Lucky charms

antiques/junking, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, Sugarwings, Travel, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 14, 2010

We had a great trip to Indiana! Traveling with 3 puppies and one 3 year old made the drive challenging, but unique. Instead of stopping for typical roadside breaks, we needed to find spots for all the little ones to stretch and play. Lunch was a quick trip to Trader Joe's in St Louis to pick up a picnic, then take it to a city park to eat it and play for an hour or so.

And for one break, we found a giant field of clovers to run in.

Adam's loved one has magical four leaf clover hunting skills. I've spent a life time trying to find just ONE. She says its all in the way you look at them. I consider myself a lucky person, and I have sharp eyes, but I can't find a lucky clover for anything. And I search!!

Its been a quest of mine since I was a little girl. Other goals, I've had to leave behind. Like trying to go one full mile on a pogo stick. I spent an entire summer when I was about 8 years old on that one, and had to give it up. Or the summer I tried to learn how to do a back flip into the pool. My body just doesn't do those and I gave up that dream too.

I'm not giving up on the clover search, and now I have a Clover Master to teach me her skills.

My poor little car was filled to the brim on the way there, and we had to half unload it every time we got the pups out.

But it was not too full to add some purchases along the way! My hat whispering skills were in fine form and I found so many (cheap!) along I70, that I am almost embarrassed to tell you about it.

These are just a few that I have unpacked so far. The rest are in my suitcase with all the dirty laundry and I am avoiding that. Its hard enough to admit a vacation is over, doing up the laundry and unpacking is just too much to face.

(The wallpaper covered box is full of old corsages. I got a bag filled with them for $11.)

So, I maybe my lucky charm isn't a four leaf clover its a millinery flower?

All the puppies are settled into their new homes now. We are down to Agnes Rose, who I am calling Rosebud instead of Rose now. She is just too little to be a big flower, she's just a bud.

I'm adjusting to the fact that we actually KEPT one. A couple days ago, she was one of the pups, now she is MY dog.

Well, that point is debatable. Someone else claims Agnes Rosebud.

They kept each other company for most of the drive home.

How much fun can you fit into one day?

antiques/junking, celebrations, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, I do tend to run on, don't I?, parties, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2010

Omaha was great, we had such a nice trip! Don't I have the world's sweetest husband, to chose a weekend at the zoo and the Holiday Inn's water park with all the kids as his 50th birthday celebration?

We LOVE this little water park in Omaha, its in a newer Holiday Inn that has great service, and free meals for kids. The indoor pool area is meant for smaller children and has never been crowded or busy while we are there.

Plus, the hotel is located near the Old Town area, with great food and shopping. While the kids napped between swimming in the morning and zoo time in the afternoon, I escaped to 2nd Chance. Where I found a pile of floral hats for under $7 each.

Plus a pile of Victorian scrap and old photos. I'm planning on making some fairy ornaments (hopefully a make and take at Silver Bella in November.) Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find just the right photos to make into fairies? You need to make sure you get both feet, a standing or sitting position that works well when the person is cut out of the photo, and no fingers to have to cut around.

Well, you don't want the person to be fingerless- you just don't want the fingers to be splayed and beyond the edges of the girl's dress. Its just easier to not have to cut out each tiny finger.

Normally, when I am on a family trip like this, I don't get in much shopping. This time I also got to stop at Rusty Chandelier in St. Joe on the drive home. It was a quick trip, to stretch legs and for my husband to fill up the car while Sugarwings and I looked around antique mall.

But I just knew that I had to stop, and I was right, my hat whispering skills had led me to a couple more hats that were waiting there for me.

How PERFECT is this sequin top hat???? Silver Bella's theme this fall will be hats and Teresa has been using a cute top hat as the symbol of the event this year. I found not only this hat, but this bit of Victorian scrap with this little girl wearing a top hat herself. There are some possibilities for that rolling around in my head right now!

So much for my theory that pictures for fairies need feet. I can see her as a little sprite, can't you? She might be the foundation for my design for the make and take for vendor night.

And there are a few pictures of Sugarwings that I might make into a fairy for my photo album.

We had lucky weather while in Omaha, there was sunshine and a light breeze at the zoo. Sugarwing's Daddy and his new family (well some of them, not all the kids could make it) came along for the trip and I discovered that its even more fun to have extra grand kids to spoil and play with!

Before the trip, I bought the girls matching dresses, and a coordinating red shirt for the little guy. Corny? Yep, but I thought it was adorable, plus it made them so easy to keep track of all day. We knew that the red blurs running up ahead were ours.

Our hotel was around the corner from the Qwest Center, where Barnum and Baily Circus happened to be for the weekend. We hadn't planned on attending, but the kids had never been, so when the zoo closed at 6, we swung by for the next performance at 7.

The morning started at the pool, then napping, then zoo, then circus, then ended at the pool again. Whew! That was one jam packed day.

But, my husband and I decided at the last minute to play hooky and just buy tickets to the circus for the rest of the group. He and I snuck over to Old Town and had a romantic dinner, then walked around holding hands and enjoying the evening.

As ideal as the kids were all day, sweet, polite, and fun- it was nice to have a night out with just the two of us. When we got back to the hotel, we joined the kids at the water park, where I taught them how to play shark tag, and let the parents go have their own little get away dinner.

I think my handsome husband had a fantastic birthday, I hope he enjoyed the trip as much as I did! He's a great guy and deserves a good celebration!

Still, its nice to be back home with our puppies again.

Bottoms Up!

antiques/junking

By Karla Nathan / May 7, 2010

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If you are in the KC area, you need to go see Bottom's Up! We went there tonight to see Beth's booth and spent a couple hours wondering around the old warehouse building enjoying the unique setting and all the cool stuff in it.

The show is always the same weekend, once a month, if you are planning a trip to KC in the future. And down the road, a couple blocks away, is another once a month vintage shop called Good Ju Ju, that is a fun place too.

Both stores are in old, old buildings with interesting chippy paint walls, or exposed brick, and roughed up painted floors. Great backdrops for all the goods.

Plus, wine, cheese, and live music. this is my pal, Angie, who went with me tonight. I call her my Shabby Chic friend because of her beautiful coloring.

Beth surprised me with a giant spangle disco-ey ball for my birthday! I kinda am in love with it. Can't you picture it hanging from a tree branch at my next garden party?

She also gave me the most touching, lovely, hand stitched sampler ever. I'll get some photos of it when the light is better. It deserves great lighting for its close up. (there is a photo on her blog of it now)

See what I mean about the cool setting for the store? Look at the background behind me. What blows me away is that this is all set up for just one weekend a month. Man, what a huge space to fill for such a short time. They really put a lot of time into well styled displays too. I left wanting to go home and redo everything in my home. A good display will bring that urge out in me every time.

I'll leave you with a few photos of my favorite displays.

Around the May Pole

antiques/junking, celebrations, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Sugarwings, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / May 3, 2010

What's the only thing better than scoring over a dozen floral hats at a flea market? Playing with them when you get home! Especially when you have friends who want to play too.

These little guys are starting to get interesting. They all try to come to me (but are still kind of stumbly) when they hear my voice now. It has not been easy to get any work done today, its the first day that the pups really seem to want to spend as much time with me as they do with their mom. Its funny to see how fast they develop and change. Just yesterday, they were mostly sleeping and today they are crying until they get picked up!

Between snuggles, I've been plucking hats. My hat storage is overflowing, so I needed to make space by pulling all the flowers off the newest arrivals. Finding 15 in one day is kind of amazing, even with my hat whispering skills. But I have to admit that I had a little help at the flea mkt, Beth pointed a few out to me and was nice enough to let me at them.

She and I are good shopping partners. I try to point out things I know she'll love. Even if I love them too. We kind of let things go to who ever has the most passion for the item, or take turns with the greatest stuff, or even share. We started a wallpaper pact years ago to prevent jealousy. If one of us scores big on wallpaper, we always share with the other.

(The hat with the brown ribbon only had a few flowers on it, but LOOK at that fabulous dotted Swiss ruffled ribbon that rims it!!)

See why I can't resist these guys? They are finally starting to look around and observe their world and its so cute when they just stare into my eyes. I don't know if I've ever been more in love with a batch of pups… its going to be hard to say goodbye in just a few weeks!

Its always hard to say good bye to the flowers too… I fall a bit in love with each bloom. I was reading Jenny's blog the other day and drooling over some flowers she used on a May basket, then she mentioned she had bought them from me!

Its never easy to say good bye to Sugarwings when she goes home to her mommy or daddy either, but its easier knowing that her parents are generous with letting us have time with her and with them too. We are so blessed and lucky that our extended family can all "share" her and get along. Even though her parents aren't together, we are all still family. I'm hoping that her Daddy's new family will be able to blend with us all too.

My theory is that you can't have too many people to love.

We celebrated May Day together by going to a carnival at her school, then my handsome husband and I did hours and hours of yardwork.

The school is out in the country, and was a lovely setting for all of the events. The big kids did a May Pole dance, there were arts and crafts, live music, and a hula hoop class. (That's my husband showing his moves)

Our tiny little hooper had a blast.

Especially with the glue and scissors. Sometimes I wonder if she really cares about creating anything, all she cares about is cutting and gluing. That kid is obsessed with scissors and glue.

And when I buy her clothes at Goodwill (this is a $4 dress) I can relax and enjoy watching her go wild with the glue.

I probably shouldn't go so many days without posting, I tend to have too much to say as it is, when I post every day or two! It was such a busy and fun weekend that there is just too much to blather on about. Flats of flowers, working in the garden, redoing a guest room, parties, boating, puppies to play with, May poles and more. No wonder I didn't have a chance to do a post!

I'll leave you with some photos of the flower packs I added to the shop, stop running on and on!

Buried Treasure in a Ghost Town

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / April 29, 2010

We had a GREAT day at the flea market! I bought tons of sparkly rhinestone bits and about 15 floral hats. A few other odds and ends too. I'll show you some photos after I unpack. This is the tub in the back of the car with some of my hats in it.

Sparks and White Cloud, KS have the most unique flea markets ever. I really can't figure out what the towns are about, it looks to me like they are ghost towns that only are used twice a year for this market. But then, I did see a few houses that looked occupied too.

Sparks is mostly a big field with some old buildings scattered around, and lots of tents and trailers filled with treasures.

About 10 minutes down the road, is White Cloud, a downtown area filled with empty buildings. Some of the stores are filled up for the weekend, the rest of the dealers set up in fields and on the street. Every time I go, I see the same 3 legged dog running around town, no owner in sight.

You never know what you'll find there, and I sure would never miss it. To me, its not just shopping, its an Event. With a capital E.

It was a wonderful day, it always is for us up there, rain or shine. And today, we had lots of sunshine!

But its good to be home with all the babies.