antiques/junking – Page 26

Proud to be a Mid Westerner!

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, give away, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 27, 2008

Sbella_booth_230 Today is a packing and pricing day, the last table top of Silver Bella goodies are going into their boxes! Although, all the tags are falling off the stupid bottle brush trees, how irritating is that? I went with sticky tags on the bottoms, not string tags, because I didn’t want the strings to tangle. Now, I have a pile of loose tags at the bottom of the box.

I’ll have to keep that in mind as I tag the rest of the crap, er, I mean lovely inventory.

I HATE pricing. It is one of the chores that seemed to never end back when I used to host mini flea markets in my yard and chicken coop. For this event, I am doing as many signs as possible, instead of individual tags. I packaged things, like wallpaper journals and millinery flowers with the idea of saving tagging time. I did the same with hand painted charms, tags, vintage greeting cards, and china shard pendants too.

Too bad that idea won’t work for the old Christmas ribbon, some spools are nearly full, others aren’t, so the prices can’t be uniform.

And for small things like this, it is easier to do tags, than to take up space with a sign.

And the decorated bottles are all so different, it just doesn’t work well with them either, they will need to be tagged.

I’ll place a small sign on this basket that says "Embossed and Stamped Tags 3 for $1"

I also have a big picnic basket FULL of odds and ends for $1 each. Doilies, trims, cake decorating tid bits, just a hodge podge of goodies. I’ll set it on the floor because my tables are overflowing.

10′ x 10′ sounds like plenty of space, but I could have used twice that amount. Of course, I also could have been a little smarter and not planned to bring so many cheapo priced things….. and made better use of the space I have…

But- this booth really does represent what I have to sell in my Etsy shop or on my blog and that is what I wanted to accomplish. There will be bargains and surprises and good deals all piled together to dig through. I hope that the booth is enjoyed as much as I have enjoyed putting it together!! And if most shoppers are like me, they will appreciate some good deals and have fun digging through it all.

Dont forget that if you want to win something from my booth, I am having TWO giveaways!

A pair of crown earrings goes to a Bella, and another pair, along with black and white rose linens and a white glittered pumpkin will go to another reader. All you do is leave a comment to enter.

Speaking of Silver Bella vendor night, guess who is going to be there selling after all? Deb of Curious Sofa! Now, that will be a beautiful space to shop in!!!!!!

I am going to be glowing with pride to be part of the Kansas City contingent up in Omaha. With my friend, Gwen, who shops only in France for her wares, Carol the Queen of primitive glamor, and Deb with her unique Curious Sofa style all there and all from KC, those three will be showing off the best that the Midwest has to offer!

Makes me wish I’d gone for a better display instead of just piles of stuff… these three ladies will have the kind of spaces that make you stand at the entance and just say WOW.

Fun with Fabrics

antiques/junking, family, flowers, parties, Silver Bella, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 25, 2008

I’ve been playing hooky the last few days. Maybe a case of over confidence? I am so close to being ready for Silver Bella that I am doing fun stuff instead of finishing the work that needs to be done. I hope nothing comes up unexpectedly and I don’t have time to finish after all…

Today was a tie dye day. Normally, we do our dying outside, but the weather was just a tad to cool, so this is what my studio looks like now!

Here is a shirt I dyed last time, its an ombre type style. To get this affect, you saturate the piece with the base color of dye, then splash on colors that blend, starting with lighter at the top, darker at the bottom.

Then hang it to drip for 24 hours while the dye sets. I love the way the colors bleed as it hangs.

Last year, these hoodies were sold at Silver Bella, and I wore mine so much this year that I almost wore it out. It was white to start with and after a year of enjoyment and use, you couldn’t call it white any more. So the dye was a fix to make the shirt "new" again.

I also embellished the faded (from many washings) printed design on the back, with bronze metallic and silver glitter fabric paints.

If my other tie dye creations turn out picture worthy, I’ll show them later. Right now, they are wrapped up in rubber bands and soaking away in plastic bags.

Beth indulged me and took a hooky day shopping on Thursday, we went to the Jr. League Holiday Shop in KC. Hmm. Not my typical type of shopping, and we kept saying that we felt like tourists in another land. Everything was NEW and expensive, not stuff either of us buy!

But then, we came across Deb Dusenberry’s Curious Sofa booth like a beacon of light in the darkness we found her beautiful displays of fab finds!

See why I was so happy? Her style is so perfectly perfect. That woman has an eye for beauty, I love everything she does.

And while there, I found out that Deb is driving up from KC to go to the Silver Bella vendor night, so I made sure to invite her to visit Carol and I in our "Glitter Lounge". Carol (who is a good buddy of Deb’s) and I are stocking our room with wines and chocolates and inviting friends up to hang with us there. (Last year, after Silver Bella vendor night, we had a cocktail in the lounge, then a slumber party in Heather Bullard’s room. This year, Heather isn’t coming, so Carol and I will be having the girly night in our room instead.)

After eating enough free samples of gift basket style food offerings to justify our tickets to the Jr. League show (every other booth there had jam and crackers or spinach dip and pretzels), Beth and I escaped the newness of the holiday mart and made a run to Mission Road Antique Mall where Beth has a booth. We did a redo on her spot (sorry, no good pics of that, too bad, she has GREAT stuff- but there are pictures on her blog) and it was joy to play with vintage goodies after an afternoon of walking through booths of brand new goods!

Remember me telling you about the art show at Blue Plate Dinners that I painted a pear for? We went to the opening last night and what a cool event! The art was all food related and displayed in one gallon zip lock bags.

Quite a few friends of mine had artwork in the show, so it was fun to hang out with them for the evening.

Notice anything odd about my picture? Well my hand is a bit colorful from the tie dying.

Most people didn’t even comment, they are so used to seeing me covered in something, glitter, paint, dye, etc. that it would cause even more comment if I showed up somewhere pristine…

Vicki gave me a blog award, how sweet. I always appreciate the kind thoughts behind those, I am sorry I don’t always follow through with them. For this one, I am supposed to list 6 things that make me happy, so I thought this photo summed up most of them-

1- Sugarwings!!!

2- flowers

3- summertime and sunshine

4- pretty colors

5- a day with the family

6- spending time in this town I am so lucky to live in, downtown Lawrence has so much to offer.

The ZONE

antiques/junking, Chandeliers, Etsy Goodies, fairies

By Karla Nathan / October 5, 2008

Aren’t these yummy colors? I just listed two packs of these luscious old trims in ice cream colors.

It seemed fitting to add these Neapolitan colored old buckles to the shop too.

I hope some the same person buys both, I just think a project made with these would be so pretty. all are sold, thanks, and yes, the buckles went with the trims!

You probably don’t hear me mention thread and needles much around here, but yesterday I actually got some out and sewed this old millinery bloom to this vintage silver bag!

My mom would have been so proud of me! I used thread instead of glue.

Supposedly, yesterday was my tagging and organizing day, but I ended up making stuff too. (and I did get some tags made, by the way)

Ever had one of those days when you just are in the zone? I had no interruptions, no phone calls, no family around. So, I was in my studio from about noon till 11pm. I didn’t even eat, I just focused.

Those days don’t come by very often. Good thing, because the day after, I feel like I have a hangover from it all and can’t get anything done at all.

Aging sucks. A super productive day means a lazy day coming up next.

Let’s see, how did those zone hours go? I made these two fairy dancers, finished up and tagged 6 wallpaper journals, bagged and tagged a lot more millinery blooms, drug out my Christmas decor items that are for sale, dug through vintage Xmas cards, and sorted some jewelry.

Well, that doesn’t sound like it was worth missing dinner for does it? It felt like I got more done than that….

There was some blog hopping, and Ebay shopping involved in my day too. As well as a few little things here and there, clean ups and touch ups and so on.

Basically, the day just flowed. It was great. One thing after another, I was like a machine cranking out work and completing jobs left and right.

Before I got swept away with studio fever, I hit a couple of garage sales and did a little shopping.

I found this doll house/bookshelf at a local cool junk store.

Great Silver Bella display, huh? It will add much needed height to my table tops, and I can turn it on its side and use it for a box to pack stuff in to get them up there.

And how cute is the back of it?

I was thinking about covering the shelves in vintage wallpaper, but I will most likely be giving the piece to Sugarwings for her dollies when I am done with it. 2 year olds and vintage papers don’t mesh well.

See this note, "just because"? It was from Scrappi Jessi and was a package with the cutest and most thoughtful presents. "Just because" she is a punkin!

Two cute ornaments were in the box, and both went immediately onto the chandelier that hangs over my computer.

This chandelier is filled with mix matched colored crystals, and lots of sentimental things. A picture of my mom on a glittered star, tags and gifts I have received, a stuffed Dorkie from Sissy, my collection of K’s, a picture of my fairy grand baby on an ornament from Barb, a wooden angel from Beth.

If I keep adding to it like this, soon, all the pretties will drown out the light!

How to win a do it yourself crown kit and the hat whisperer strikes again

antiques/junking, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), magazine pictures or articles, Silver Bella, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 27, 2008

Wow! I appreciate the response to the crowns and pumpkins! And if I was smart, I’d start mass producing ravens, I sure had a lot of inquiries about that one.

All of the crown kits that I showed are sold, but I can make up more (I have pink glittered screen left) if you want to make a custom order request.

And I did put a few together for some custom orders. I really appreciate your compliments on them, but want to make sure you all know that it was Carol’s design, not mine! She gave me permission to make some up, but the idea is all hers.

If you want to win a crown kit of your own to put together, here is what you need to do:

Show Carol some of this crown love!

Go to her blog and leave a message about how cool these are, and I will sneak a peak at her comments and pick a winner from one left on HER blog, not mine!

If you want to enter to win a crown kit, tell Carol how much you like them! Leave a comment on her blog, Raised in Cotton between now and Tuesday the 30th. I will announce the winners of all three giveaways on the first.

Today was a picture day for me. I rarely buy framed pieces, but the ones I saw while out garage sailing this morning couldn’t be passed up! I am crazy about the white witch in the first photo, that will be going in my living room.

These charmers and the row of paper dolls (that I got for 10 cents) will probably be offered at Silver Bella.

You might have noticed that I am a dog person, but this cat print melted my heart. And without taking it all apart, I am not that sure that it is a print. Does anyone recognize it as a reproduction they have seen? Because it really looks like it could be a pastel drawing. I’m not sure…

And yes, I bought another load of jewels, as well as this metal dress form to hang them on. I was at a sale today where things were 10 cents and a quarter. Now, why even bother to charge someone if it is only a few cents? Well, maybe because people like me will fill a car and it adds up. I spent about $30 on dollar and under items.

The frame that this print is in really caught my eye. Perfectly weathered paint, and lovely scalloped edges!

The green shoes were a dime too, I bought them for the rhinestone buckles, once those are pulled off, the shoes will go into Sugarwings dress up closet to play with. (that makes the rhinestone buckles only a nickle each)

And what a stash of post cards! These aren’t from the garage sale, they were one of Beth’s bargains. Not only were they a good deal, she brought them over to my studio and we sat and talked and made things for a few hours.

Lately, I have been collecting ballerina pins. I don’t have a plan for them yet, but when I get around to it, I know that these will be great to add to collages in some way. And it was another dime item!

Don’t you love aged whites? The silk ribbons on this baby bonnet are just gorgeous.

I got two bonnets, the shoes, a doll bridal veil and the soft (calfskin?) purse for $1.50.

I had to drive about a half hour out to the middle of no where to a barn sale, but it was worth it. The lady who was having the sale was such a sweetie and kept going in the house to bring more things out for me.

When I told her about my search for a vintage prom dress, she got this sparkling top for me. And it fits! I can wear it with jeans and a corsage and be dressed just right.

It was the most expensive thing she had to sell, and it was only 2 bucks.

And when I mentioned hats and old flowers, look what she rounded up for me! Not bad for 75cents to a dollar each.

She said that she had more yesterday but sold them all. I’m lucky she had these left and brought them out to me.

It never hurts to ask. You never know what will turn up.

It isn’t exactly like I needed more flowers….. I just bought these from a friend a couple of days ago. She found the boxful in her attic, it had been up there for years.

And it is a good sized box too! The box itself is wrapped up in nice, old gift wrap.

She only wanted $40 for it all, but I gave her an extra $10, there are so many wonderful, big roses the bunch.

Seems like all I do is shop instead of work, doesn’t it?

I bought this dress thinking I’d wear it to Silver Bella Vintage Prom Night. It was made way back before proms were invented, so I have been calling it my Vintage Cotillion dress.

What do you think, should I go WAY vintage and wear this 1920s dress or stay 50s retro and wear the sparkly aqua top with jeans for prom night?

While Lou Wanda was outside modeling my dress, I had her try on this hand made, hand dyed gown too. It is being donated to a fund raiser for a friend and I volunteered to photograph it to sale.

Just as pretty without the jacket, isn’t it? There is a store in town here that is a Lawrence institution. It has been around for as long as I can remember and is called Calamity Jane’s. It features hand sewn, romantic style dresses.

This dress was purchased there for $200 and never worn, so is being donated to raise money for the Unekis Fund. My close, long time friend, Jen Unekis has MS and her husband was recently diagnosed with an ugly type of cancer.

I hope to do some fund raising for them in the next year, we are starting rounding things up for a garage sale and also selling donated items like this (size Medium/stretchy/loose fitting/comfy/beautiful) dress.

If you are interested, let me know and make an offer. We haven’t put it on Craig’s List yet.

Lou Wanda isn’t our only model today. Sugarwings was quite taken with herself in the vintage pinafore I tied over her pink dress.

Thanks again for your comments on the last post, I was overwhelmed. And remember to leave a comment on Carol’s blog to tell her how much you like her crowns and pumpkins! I want to make sure she gets the credit for the design. (plus she just had Sadie Olive re-do her blog and you just have to see it!)

I’ll draw names for all three giveaways on the first. All comments count!

The wallpaper pact

antiques/junking, collections, flowers, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 2, 2008

Obsess much, Karla?

I went to help Beth redo her studio a bit today. After we got it all tidied up, we got to play in it and get it all messy again!

Our goal was to empty a small box full of wallpaper scraps she wanted used up. She has a new Cuttle Bug (I call them Cuddle Bugs) and I went a bit crazy making tags with it. This photo shows just a drop in the bucket, there are tons more.

I didn’t seem to be able to stop. Or leave. I was one of THOSE guests. 8 hours later, there I sat in the studio cutting "one more" out.

I made use of the embossing plates too.

She gave me the vintage shoe tags, as well as the wallpaper in the background.

We have a "Wallpaper Pact". When one of us gets a new pattern of paper, we always share. That keeps us from being jealous and resentful of each other.

The pink paper in the background of this is part of the pact too.

And the tags? Beth gave these to me, what a cute way to wrap up some ribbons. And VELVET ribbons are my faves!

While spiffing up the studio, we looked around her basement for items to foof with. And of course, I just had to do some shopping. If you ever go over to Beth’s house, ask to see the bargain basement first! I bought a lot, but the light is fading now, I’ll take some more pics tomorrow of all the stuff once it is in place in my own studio.

One studio display idea we came up with while checking out the bargain basement was this birdcage/ribbon holder. At first, I found an old, naked lampshade and wanted to hang it from the stand, but it was too wide.

Then, we dug up this cage and it seemed perfect to hold ribbons by the desk. Its also good to clip papers to, almost like a bulletin board.

We brought up this child’s hutch from the bargain basement, too. It made a handy shelving unit for supplies near the desk.

The room is 10 x 10, but she has made an efficient use of the space, by using tall shelving and making use of vertical spaces.

She is sooooo organized! Look at all the labels! I envy her ability to find anything, any time she needs it.

This is my favorite corner, probably because of all the ice cream colored wallpaper. the back of the hutch is lined with a patchwork of the vintage paper and the doors of the lingerie cabinet are covered in it too.

We almost made our way to the bottom of the scrap box she wanted to use up, but not quite. I didn’t do anything arty, I just pasted, cut and embossed all day, kind of mindless and soothing. I called it all back ground work, stuff I can embellish and make into something nice later on.

When I got home, an envelope had arrived from Phyllis with this sheet music in it!! I’ll have to copy it and make it into some sort of price tag or label for my vendor booth at Silver Bella.

And I don’t think I’ve shown you this little beauty, have I? Wow, isn’t this birdie darling? It was a gift from Heather, who makes the prettiest things.

Her package arrived for our Pre-Bella Get Acquainted/Get Inspired Swap. This is a gal who loves old wallpaper as much as I do. Take a look at the paper bow she made for the presents she sent.

If you’d like to see more of the swap, I set up a Flickr site, open to the public.

I’ve photographed all the packages that came in from the Bellas as well as the goods inside. Yummy, yummy, they are really quite something!

And so is Kansas at this time of year. There is a reason we are called the Sunflower State! Now, about January, when things are bleak and gray, you won’t hear many praises for the views around here, but September can be quite spectacular.

“I’m Melting!!!!!!!!”

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

By Karla Nathan / August 30, 2008

Beth and I went to our favorite flea market on Thursday and besides some dripping with sweat, soggy photos of friends, this is the only picture I took all day. It was way, way, way too hot.

You know how people in the Midwest say, "it isn’t the heat, it is the humidity"? Well, on this day it was both!

By the way, I won’t be posting the soggy friend photos, not if I wanted to keep the friends, that is! We were all just miserable with the heat, and I felt like the Wicked Witch of the West, melting away.

I kept saying all day that the heat wasn’t bothering me. I was having fun and doing fine, even though I was a stinky, soaking, mess.

But, when I realized we were too hot to eat and we hadn’t even had to make stops at the nasty port-a-potties, I figured we might be a bit dehydrated. I still thought I was fine, but that night when I got home, I felt like I had been hit by a truck and was sick all the next day.

The day was still a ton of fun. We were finding great stuff at great prices, and even though we left early, I was happy with my haul.

I bought 18 hats. One was over $10, quite a few were only $1, but most were in the $3-$5 range.

See why I was braving the heat??? Some of my regular spots for finding millinery didn’t have any at all! Beth says I have created my own shortage by buying up all the hats in the Kansas area, like Howard Hunt did with the silver market years ago.

For those of you who were asking me about more Halloween colored flowers for crafting, I was able to get one orange and one black hat. And the orange one was pure velvet, just wonderful!

These are all the flowers off those two hats, so I will be adding maybe some white and purple to the bags and making up bundles to list.

When I am at a flea market, I always scan for hats and old jewels, and usually vintage photos. But as much as I use my flowers and blingies, I rarely use the photos. And yet, they are so plentiful and inexpensive, I keep buying and buying them.

I begged Beth to stop me if I tried to buy cabinet cards. I told her that "friends don’t let friends over spend on photos."

So, when I saw this album, she did her best to try to stop me.

But it was FULL of photos. And not just old guys, it was mostly families, babies and ladies! And those are the pretty kind to find.

Not only that, but half of the mats looked like this!

And did I mention that it had more than 30 photos in it and the whole thing was only $20?

It was definitely bargain day at Sparks and White Cloud, KS.

Darling little plastic critters 2 for a quarter, and a pretty pink runner with a hand crocheted border was $1, so was the vintage doll dress (that maybe one of my dolls waiting to be transformed into a fairy will be wearing soon??)

Pretty trims, and a jar with a great lid were a bit more, but worth it.

I’m not sure what this was meant to be, but I liked it. I think at one time it might have held a glass perfume bottle.

Did I mention that I found some jewels? And this cute as a bug, blue jewelry box was $1.

I’m not a purse person, but when I see one this cute for under $1, I sure am. Apparently the person selling it must have thought that since the fabric was disintegrating, the bag wasn’t worth anything. I felt that just made it more interesting.

And I found a chalk ware DORKY! Dorkies are hard to find. Scottie dogs seem to have the market on dog jewelry and doodads. When I find a little, antique, Yorkshire Terrier, I am always thrilled. And this one was $3. (she is already wearing a tiny crown made by Carol and is sitting on my desk)

Beth and I ran into Carol there at the flea, too. She was there with Deb. Both of them gave up a bit earlier than us, the heat got to them too. But we ran into them again later at a nice, cool, air conditioned antique mall on the way home and got to visit a bit then.

There are quite a bit more things that I bought that are all in "before" condition. Bottles for a project with Carol,, displays to fix up and use for Silver Bella, trophies that will be glittered and foofed, but since I have run on and on for long enough, I’ll wait and show these later after they become something a little less grungy.

Now, some grunge is good, like these two pink cabinets. The tall, wooden one was my most expensive item of the day, it was $30, the doll trunk was only $1. They will both be Silver Bella displays too, because I can actually pack the items to be displayed right inside of them for the trip to Omaha.

My favorite purchase of the day? I’d seen this broken metal lady on Beth’s blog last week and she brought it to me. Here it is in her post. I called her the Lady of the Begonias.

Still redoing the studio

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, how to's, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 24, 2008

Brenda is hosting a tour of "Where Blogger’s Create" today and since I have some studio pictures here, I thought I’d join in. For a list of other bloggers who are showing their studios today, go HERE.

And please, remember that all comments are entered into my August Giveaway, the 50’s housewife kit- jewels and a frilly vintage apron!

I’m still plugging away on the studio redo. It is taking so long because I stop and make things as I go and spend too much time on fixing up the storage areas. Like this little hutch, that I am storing glitter supplies in. (it still needs glass knobs)

Here is the before, sitting outside my studio’s back door.

1-I primed it with Zinzer Bullseye spray, bonding primer, then a spray coat of aqua.

2- Let it dry, then sanded it quite a bit with a palm sander.

3- Topped it with a black walnut stain/poly mix and wiped it down.

4- As a finishing touch, I dipped the brush back into the stain mix and flicked it over the hutch for speckles, then dabbed the more pronounced ones a bit with a rag.

So, things like that get me side tracked, and instead of just making the room cleaned up and functional, I do projects.

Like this one. I bought an unfinished pine folding screen at a garage sale for $10 last weekend and decided to make a mini studio within my studio for Sugarwings with this as walls.

The side facing out is covered with my floral papers and trimmed in white paint top coated the same way I did the little hutch. (which I had bought to use in Sugarwing’s studio, but it ended up in mine!)

On the fairy grand baby’s side of the screen, I painted the trim in pink and blue and white polka dots with chalk board paint in 4 of the areas, and some Care Bear wallpaper in the others.

Then, perfect timing- (but is there ever BAD timing for a lovely gift???)

Robin sent a huge, overflowing box of goodness our way!!!!!

I had admired the apron she had posted on her blog, and look- here is one for Sugarwings!

Not only did she send the apron that I admired, she made up scented play dough, this sweet tag, and this cute little collaged box too.

As well as TONS of other surprises. The birdies are from her too, I added one to the top of the screen, by just looping it’s wire around the hole in the picket.

All of her packages in the box were wrapped so cutely, and she used old greeting cards to make up tags for each package, then included the play dough recipe on one too.

That box of goodness was jammed packed full of fun. I’d also admired one of these ceramic hands that she showed on her blog, and Robin sent one of those too. I was sad to see it had broken into a million pieces in the bottom of the box.

That hand was definately worth putting some time into fixing, so I glued it all back together, then decoupaged it with pages from an old French book to cover the cracks and gaps that were stuffed with tissue paper.

Robin lives in the same city where my husband and I keep an apartment out East, so I will keep this hand on my desk, as a friendly wave from a neighbor.

I’m embarrassed to say that Robin’s box was part of a swap we did. She had bought a hat covered in tiny pink flowers and I offered to trade a handful of her pink ones for a mix of a bunch of my other colors, so she’d have a variety to work with.

And because the pink ones she had were so perfectly pink!

And yes, she sent the pink flowers, I have them tied to the storage box. And what did I send to her?

Just a handful of flowers. And I haven’t even shown you all of what she sent to me!!! Like I said, that box was jammed full of goodies!

Thanks so much, Robin!

And thanks also to Carol. She sent in her swap boxes for the Pre-Bella Get Acquainted Swap that I am hosting, and included this giftie for me.

That K is going onto my chandelier filled with collected Ks that hangs right over my computer.

I didn’t peek into her swap boxes, they are just too darling to open. I am afraid my photo of them wasn’t as good as it should be, but the one on her blog is. She owns one of those Canon Rebel cameras I whine about all the time.

You should look at her photo, she is a talented stylist and every picture she takes is a beauty.

I forgot to mention that the flowered china in this picture is a gift from Beth. She thinks of me when she is at an auction and is always bringing me pretties she gets there.

I tried re-taking this photo (same as the last post) in daylight, but unless I have direct light, my photos are never good.

That is why every photo I take of something for Etsy is in front of the French doors in the light. I try to use different papers and table clothes as backgrounds, but it is always the same location, since it has the best light in the room.

This Witch’s Boot might be my only Halloween offering, besides black and orange millinery. I won’t have time to do much for Halloween, I am going to skip straight to filling up my 10 x 10 booth at Silver Bella for Christmas and making things for Lollyshops.

Trying a new trick

antiques/junking, family, give away, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2008

Before picking up Sugarwings to spend the day together for her birthday, I stopped at a couple of garage sales. One sounded promising, it said "fancy hats".

When I got there, it was not the kind of hats I crave, it was modern day Lady’s church wear.

BUT- since the people at this sale weren’t into vintage stuff at all, what they did have along those lines was dirt cheap.

I’ve noticed that non-vintagey garage sales have great giveaway prices on vintage items if there are any around. These aprons were 25 cents each.

This table cloth and apron were each a quarter too, and they gave me an idea.

A friend, who loves funky, kitschy things is going through a rough time. Her husband starts chemo this week, and I thought I’d make her a hospital survival bag and fill it with handy things to have while sitting with him during his sessions.

I included:

water bottles

coin purse filled with quarters and dollar bills for vending machines

a 1940’s magazine to read

granola bars

home made trail mix

Italian candies from 100 Wishes

Kleenex

and a book mark

Sewing isn’t exactly my top skill. I learned that pinning is important and so is keeping the sewing machine manual next to me at all times.

I cut out the table cloth to the size of the apron and PINNED it together, right sides facing each other (I was so proud to have done that correctly!).

So, I stitched the two pieces together, making the apron and is pockets one side of the bag.

I was zooming along so nicely, that I got brave and added a pocket made from half a doily and some trim to the table cloth side.

Then, the tie that was supposed to go around the waist of the apron, was tied together to become the handle of the bag.

Its big and slouchy and can hold lots of magazines or what ever she needs to take with her.

The only problem was my inability to put on a button to hold it closed.

I solved that by making a drawstring bag (also with trim on it!!) that pins (with a heart brooch) to the inside of the big bag, in case she wants to carry something that needs to be secured, like a cell phone or wallet.

The sugar bag and some of the trim came from the box-o-goodies that I won from Heidi. The doily that became a pocket is from Lori. Those gifts came in handy!

Sugarwings had a sleepover with us, so I had to get up early to make this while she was still snoozing this morning.

When she woke up, she thought it was for her. After a day of birthday gifts, she expected more presents. Plus, everything she sees makes her yell "MINE!" now that she is two. This sewing thing went pretty good for me, I was surprised. I might make a bag for her from one of the smaller aprons.

A group of friends is going to take turns supplying the hospital survival kit each week when our buddy goes in for chemo treatments. My suggestion was to have practical things in it of course, but to also throw in one odd thing that will make her wonder what on earth we were thinking when packed it. And maybe make her smile.

My little weird thing for this time? Just a tiny, yellow, plastic bird about the size of a thumb tack. It is in the coin purse with the change.

Sugarwings was her sweet self for her birthday party, that was a relief. What ever evil gnome had come and switched my little doll for the changeling child the day before decided to return her.

We had a simple party, in the park. She got to chase bubbles and play on the swing set.

Her uncle Steve got her a big girl bike and gave her rides on it!

We all had a lovely day, but it was enough to wear the little fairy girl out.

I decided to add one of the pretty 25 cent aprons to my August Giveaway along with this vintage brooch with the blue stone, and the pink clip on earrings.

Whoever wins can wear them all together and look like a spiffy 50s housewife as she cooks dinner for her family.

By the way, have you seen this post at Heather’s? I took the quiz and was humiliated to see that I am a SUPERIOR 50s housewife!! In today’s day and age that isn’t a compliment.

Leave a comment on any post, any time, all comments are entered.

Why that dress won’t zip

antiques/junking, celebrations, Food and Drink, Moving to DC

By Karla Nathan / July 31, 2008

I still have a few of my little watercolor simple sketches available for $10 each, including postage (US). Thanks to all of you who bought one! shoe and little girl’s dress sold, thanks!

Today, we go back to Kansas, and it will feel good to get home. Its been a great week, but you know the famous line about Kansas— "THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME".

When I get there, I’ll have a morning to unpack, clean up, stock up the fridge, tend to the flowers, and get ready for guests! Family is coming for a couple days and I will be feeding about 20 people tomorrow night.

As soon as family house guests leave, I need to get ready for my childhood friends to arrive for 5 days of non-stop birthday celebrating. We all turned 50 this year, although I don’t think Sandy will admit to it. So, please forgive me, if I don’t answer emails and comments, I will be happily swamped for a while!

This has been a wonderful, pampering week! Beautiful country clubs to visit, and great food, as well as getting to see blog friends and shop.

This is the view from Treesdale country club’s deck, where my husband took me for our 23rd anniversary celebration.

The dinner was prepared by a former White House Chef, Walter Scheib, who has a book out now about his time serving the Clintons and Bushes. I bought an autographed copy of the book, can’t wait to get time to sit and read it!

He told the BEST stories.

And he made the BEST food!

That guy was a charmer. Cute as can be and funny too.

Chef Walter had a story about each dish and the White House family member who inspired it.

My favorite was Chelsea Clinton’s sweet potato soup. Hilary had asked him to teach Chelsea how to cook before she went away to college so she wouldn’t eat in restaurants all the time and this is a recipe that they worked on together.

This specialty ice cream had a hint of honey and fresh lavender in it. Maybe it was even better than the soup….

There are plenty of reasons right here at this table for me to not be able to zip that dress in the last post!

We ate at Treesdale another night too, and I had Chilean Sea Bass with a truffle infusion. With Key Lime Pie for dessert. I’ve had dessert every night this week, including TWICE on Sunday when Heather served cheesecake for lunch, then I had apple pie after dinner that night.

It will be a huge change for me to go from being fed gourmet meals to cooking for 20 tomorrow night!

And I don’t think I ever want to break this dessert habit that I have gotten into!

The shopping habit and the dessert habit really should be put to an end.

But how could I resist going to Lucketts while I was in Virginia?

Eventually, I am going to have to get out and explore some other towns, I always head straight to Leesburg when I am in the area. Next time I come to our apartment outside of DC, I should try to visit somewhere else.

I was pretty proud of myself for resisting these cute crowns. They were only $12 each, but I thought I had spent enough.

Sightseeing without even buying much is fun at a place like Lucketts.

I’m doing a delayed post for this, writing it Wednesday morning before we head back to home, so it should post on Thursday while I am preparing for guests.

I will be away from the computer for a bit, busily entertaining, snuggling up to Sugarwings, and having a good time, but will pop back in to announce the Christmas in July and the regular August giveaway.

Why I most likely will not be wearing a prom dress to Silver Bella

antiques/junking, fairies, family, Moving to DC, paintings, Silver Bella, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 30, 2008

You might have heard that at Silver Bella this coming November, there will be a vintage prom night.

Well, I saw this pretty pink confection at Lucketts today, for a bargain price, and thought, just maybe this one would work for a ‘more mature’ prom princess.

It wasn’t quite as frothy as most of the 50s dresses I’ve seen, and had a bodice that seemed a bit easier to wear for someone who didn’t have the shoulders of a 15 year old.

I also thought it didn’t look quite as tiny as most of the vintage gowns out there.

oops, I was wrong.

Not only am I past having the shoulders of a 15 year old, my waist and butt aren’t anywhere near that age group either.

But I bought it anyway! It might be right for another Bella, if not, it will look nice on my dress form and I can use it to display the jewelry I make and plan to sell at Silver Bella.

I also found these hand made, old Barbie prom dresses, 3 lamp shades for 40% off, and a hat loaded with scrumptious pink blooms.

I spent a total of $38 today. Which really isn’t much for how much I got, but is quite a bit if you look back at all of my recent posts and see just how much shopping I have been doing lately….

This Jack and Jill book from 1948 has the sweetest fairy illustrations and was only a dollar, and I got a bag of velvet ribbons for $2, but these pictured are the prettiest of the colors. (I don’t care for the oranges and bright blues, but will find a use for them, I’m sure)

To stop myself from buying more, I came back to our apartment in Centreville and worked on Sugarwing’s birthday book.

I started a tea party sketch, here is a rough draft.

Then I started to refine it a bit, and add ink. Later, I’ll do watercolor tints to the picture too.

This page will say:

"When there is a tea party, Sugarwings and Twinkle serve delicious, pretend treats. Twinkle doesn’t understand why she can’t see or taste the cookies that her sister is eating, but would really like to have one." Luncheon

Speaking of tea parties, here is Heather’s dining room set up for our luncheon on Sunday.

Everywhere you look in her house, there is something pretty, and sometimes it is looking right back at you, like this birdie!

Or the pretty porcelain ladies that she has scattered about.

If you read her blog, you already know about her sense of style. Everything there is pretty, just like her name says, "Pretty Petals".

I had some trouble viewing her site from the hotel lobby computer! It was blocked due to "adult content"???? I wrote her and said I was afraid she was one of those Internet predators my husband is sure I will run into at any moment.

So, I told her that if she picked me up Sunday morning in a big white van like serial killers always drive, or was wearing a trench coat, I was not going with her!

But all was well, she didn’t try to kill me, and we had a lovely day at Karlapalooza, and a great time at her house afterward.