antiques/junking – Page 27

Button Bounty Giveaways and cold feet in July??

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, jewelry, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 12, 2008

Before taking Sugarwings to a movie this afternoon, I hung out with Beth at an auction for a while. I didn’t buy much, the prices were outrageous for some reason.

I got a $2 shelf to fix up (hopefully as a booth display piece for Silver Bella, I applied to get a vendor spot) and this rug for $10.

The colors of the rug are just right for my pink, brown and ivory kitchen.

But I absolutely fell in love with the hand crocheted trim!

It was rainy and CHILLY?? Wait a minute, what happened to global warming? I haven’t even jumped off my boat into the lake yet this year, the water is too cool for me, which is really odd for July.

Once my sandals got wet, I couldn’t get warm for anything. I tried wrapping my feet in packing materials.

But what really helped was a plastic bag over the packing papers.

Luckily, Beth is a heck of a lot of fun. Or I wouldn’t have spent 5 hours sitting and shivering with my feet wrapped up like some weirdo while all the bidders at the auction were driving prices up too high to buy anything.

Beth always does well at auctions and estate sales. Garage sales are where I find the best stuff.

Before the auction, I went back to Roxanne’s sale, other wise known as the Bling and Button Bargain Blowout from yesterday.

My, my, she has pretty things. A pair of embroidered pillow cases for $2 and more buttons, of course!

She has more jewels to show me, but threw her back out and couldn’t get to them yet.

She let me take a photo of some of her artwork, don’t you love this vintage button bouquet?

This Italian box was 25 cents. Its in good shape, but I bought it to alter a bit.

Right now, it is being used as a display for some giveaway prizes.

I gathered up summertime colors of bright greens and yellows, and added pearls to the mix for my July giveaway.

Vintage buttons, 3 brooches, 3 pair of earrings, a pendant, and pearls, all in cheerful colors and styles for summer.

I got as many excited comments about the buttons in the last post as I did about the jewelry, so I made the giveaway half and half.

Then I wrapped them all up in a pretty yellow hankie that has touches of shiny, metallic gold in a floral motif around the edges.

To that, I added a vintage millinery rose and a clip on crystal earring, and it is all ready to go to its new home.

All my comments for the month count, so leave one as often as you like, I randomly chose one from sometime during the month.

But, hey, that is not all! I decided to join in on Inez’s Christmas in July giveaway too.

Since I bought old greeting cards at the Bling and Button Bargain Blow out, I thought I’d give away a few Christmas ones, along with Red and Green buttons, jingle bells, and some cute red flowers with rhinestone centers from an old sweater clip.

So, every comment you leave this month is entered into TWO drawings, not just one.

I managed to do a little bit of Etsy listing, not much. I seriously need to set aside a day to get things listed to sell, instead of running around having fun, shopping and playing with the fairy grand baby all the time.

People ask me how I manage to do all the things that I do. The truth is, I just have fun and don’t do what I should be doing. That is the secret!

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll get more listed…. or maybe not.

I did finish this tag that I started when I had my blogger’s craft day, Thursday.

It is made with all French ephemera, and topped off with some of the prettiest velvet millinery posies I have, as well as a sweet little earring I got at the garage sale yesterday.

At the bottom, I have a mother of pearl button on a rectangle of old ivory.

If you’d like to buy it, it is $8, and that would save me from having to list it on Etsy, so I won’t charge postage. sold, thanks!

My buttons are selling well, so I’d like to offer a "special" on those. Here are the prices:

$3 plus $1 shipping for one large handful

$5 plus $1 shipping for 2

$7 plus $1.50 shipping for 3

These are for blue, warm browns, blacks, greens, metals, or a mix with white.

Just email me if you’d like some too.

A shiny day and an idea for a giveaway

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, give away, jewelry, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2008

Jackpot!

There was an ad in the paper for a garage sale that had vintage hats, and I really wanted to go at 7am when it opened.

But Sugarwings had a sleepover with me last night, and neither of us are exactly morning people. By the time we got up and about and she was ready to go out, it was after 10 and I almost didn’t think it was worth the effort to go that late in the day.

But we made the trip across town, mostly just to get out of the house and see what there was to see. I didn’t expect to find hats.

I was right, there were hats, but no flowered ones, so I wasn’t interested.

But— there was tons of jewels! and buttons! and old greeting cards!!

Did I mention, DIRT CHEAP– AND NICE. Really nice!

By dirt cheap, I mean 25 cents a pair of earrings. And a big, antique apothecary jar of buttons for less than $10, same for the cute little lemonade pitcher full of buttons.

And get this– greeting cards were 10 cents, and the kind hearted, sweet seller had a huge rubber maid tub full of them.

Sugarwings found a cute baby doll, and some old, hand made flannel nighties for the new baby, plus a vintage sun suit for herself, all for $1 each.

While Sugarwings took her afternoon nap, I cleaned and sorted some buttons.

While not all are colors that I will use, I can still see their beauty and hope others will be able to use them. I’ve listed a few packs on Etsy for $3 each

I’m guessing that the Etsy packs are about an ounce or so each. More like an overflowing handful.

If you are interested in old buttons and would like a $3 handful, plus $1.50 postage, you can email me, or check these packs on Etsy.

I can make up more for you in a mix of colors too.

All will be different, but I promise not to just fill your bag with boring, plain ones. That would be mean!

I enjoy having jars of buttons out to look at, and to use for projects, but I certainly seem to have more than a lifetime supply right now.

While sorting buttons, I kept wondering what I missed at the sale today while trying to juggle a 23 month old as I shopped.

So, when I took her home, I stopped back by the glorious garage sale to see what was still left.

And man, there was plenty!

Not only was there a lot more jewelry, the seller brought more out while I was there. No one else was shopping that late in the day, so we got to talking and had a lot in common.

She reads the same magazines and even had a copy of the Somerset Life that I am in right now.

She says there is MORE jewelry that she will bring out, so I am going back tomorrow.

Actually, I have no choice, I have to go back. I forgot my checkbook and she let me take all of this home without paying.

Only in Kansas, huh? Vintage bling for 25 cents a pair, to be paid later.

She is an artist herself, she makes bouquets of button flowers. I wanted to take a photo, but (BAD BLOGGER!), I forgot my camera, and while I was there, someone bought her button creation, so I can’t get a photo tomorrow when I go back.

How pretty is all of this??

And this isn’t all.

I stopped to visit Sugarwings on my way home, (it is hard to be away from her for too long) and I let her and all of her little friends play in the jewels and gave them lots of pieces to keep.

The mommies of the little girls got necklaces, and the girls got vintage earrings to clip onto their pig tails, and little bracelets and pretties for dress up.

We had a great time, playing with the treasure chest of sparklies, those kids were fascinated with it all.

Little Clover was wearing earrings clipped all over her hair and her shirt, while her sister Calliope had made herself a bracelet with broken pieces clipped together with earrings.

(BAD BLOGGER! No camera!!)

I decided that for my July giveaway, I would share the bounty and giveaway some of today’s loot. A handful as a gift to you will only cost me about $2!! What a bargain. I’ll wrap it up in one of the 25 cent vintage hankies I got today too.

Yes, there were linens too! And more cards, I bought another big stack of old greeting cards and was only charged $1 for the stack. Definitely going back tomorrow!! And I will take a photo of what I put together to give to you as a present.

If you like vintage sparklies, please leave a comment on any post. All comments for the entire month are entered.

How to become a fairy, and the Hat Whisperer strikes again!

antiques/junking, celebrations, fairies, family, how to's, Silver Bella, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2008

At a sweet shop in St Augustine, I picked up a bag of Key Lime Pie hard candies. I can’t belive I still have this many left, they are so good and they remind me of the beach every time I pop one into my mouth!

I miss the beach!

So while my mind is still lingering in vacation mode, I made some scrapbooks to send to Bobbie, Sissy, Randy and Kevin as a momento of our trip.

By the way, the bikini babe is my Sissy who is in her SIXTIES. She’s always been a teeny tiny thing.

One day while sitting on our balcony and watching a storm roll in across the ocean, we saw a rabbit hop across the sand.

That is why I turned these pages into "beach bunnies". I didn’t know there were rabbits on the beach. I thought that all those long eared hopping rodents lived in my yard and were busy at home eating my plants while I was on vacation.

I filled the books with lots of memories of the trip.

This cute, scallopey edged card stock comes in a package at Michaels. One $9.95 package made 4 scrap books, with some left to make at least one more.

I used my binding machine to put the pages together into a book after they were decorated.

Here is how I turned us into fairies:

I made 5×7 copies of a picture of Randy’s garden and wallet sized copies of a photo of the three of us, then cut us out.

Hosta leaves in the garden photo were cut away with an exacto knife. I cut around the plant, so that I could lift the foliage and slide our picture underneath.

Before gluing the photo down, I spritzed Glimmer Mist on watercolor paper, glued the cut out picture of us to it, then drew on wings and cut it all out.

Once the wings were done, I slid the sister picture under the hosta leaves in the garden picture and glued it all in place, then glittered and dood dadded it up.

On Bobbie Sue’s album, she is holding a magic wand, on Sissy’s she has one to hold. I used vintage stick pins for wands and just poked them through the photo at an angle and added a drop of glue.

I tried to add a lot of hand drawn elements, like lady bugs and vines on the pages that show us setting a bag of lady bugs free in the garden to control pests.

Randy raises butterflies, so can’t use any chemicals out there.

I used a lot of Glimmer Mist some pages before adding photos, and did all the writing and drawing with metallic or sparkling pens, so the books have some shimmer to them.

While in St. Augustine, I put my Hat Whispering skills to work.

Most vintage hats I saw in this touristy area were EXPENSIVE. $38-$200!!! My goodness. Lots of hats were in these antique shops, but few were in my price range.

While in one fancy antique mall, the hat search looked hopeless, but I told my sisses that I felt one upstairs, and walked up the stairs, around the corner and into a back room right to it. Loaded with pink and red velvet roses, it wasn’t cheap, but it was affordable and beautiful and some how it had called out to me.

I bought only 3 hats all week, for $4, $9, and $15. But, it does go to show that even in a high dollar shopping area, with the right hat hunting skills, millinery flowers can be affordable!

I kept my souvenir shopping to a minimum. 3 hats, lots of candy, these two shells, and a handful of old charms. Oh, and a pink St. Augustine hoody. I love trashy tee shirts and sweat shirts from tourist trap shops.

The shell necklace pictured IS NOT from a tacky shell shop!!

It is hand made over 80 years ago by my great aunt, Caroline. The lovely box was hers too. She gave me those years ago, along with the turquoise pendant that was her mother’s and the wonderful green glass bead necklace that her grandfather made. Yep, lucky, lucky me!!

Speaking of lucky- I got all the classes I signed up for at Sliver Bella! I was at the keyboard the minute sign ups began. Here is what I signed up for:

Secret Santa Diary/Pam Garrison, Saturday 1:00pm

Home for the Holidays/Pam Garrison, Friday 11:30 am

Christmas Pageant/Teresa McFayden, Saturday 8:30
am

Soldering For Virgins/Sally Jean, Friday 8:00am

Winter Faerie Shrine/Kim Kwan, Saturday 1:00 pm

Total 510.00

Yes, the price went up this year, but it is worth it!! If you haven’t booked your trip yet, do it now before it is full, I can promise you it will be FUN.

Twinkle’s new dress

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, give away, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2008

Today I took 3 dogs and a baby to the vet’s office. The Dr. said I was the bravest person since the lady who brought 4 dogs and 3 cats in at the same time.

Actually, they were all very well behaved. Sugarwings insisted that Twinkle wear her new dress and that the naked baby doll came along too, which seemed a little backwards to me. We were quite the site as we came in.

Twinkle seems happy with the new dress, of course, anything that involves her Sugarwings is fine with her. If you’d like to see a video of Sugarwings and Twinkle, go HERE, but please ignore my messy flower beds and weeds in the driveway.

Twinks doesn’t quite get the idea of being a lady when she wears a dress, though. She was in and out of the wading pool most of the day with it on.

While the fairy grand baby spent time pushing her dolly around in the toy stroller, I did a little yard work and redecorating.

This area is the back door of my studio, and I added the big,antique, metal grate (found leaning by a dumpster in an alley) as a welcome mat to the entrance.

Then I set out a couple of folding chairs that I picked up while junking. They are metal, but have a caning pattern to their backs, and are nice, old solid and HEAVY chairs. I got them for $12 each.

I am a fan of white on white, but I think next summer I will repaint this set a cheerful color. You know, I thought the area looked cute this afternoon, but in the photos it seems blah.

This sign I painted is hanging by the door, that helps a bit. Maybe if the chairs and table were the rosey pink of the flowers?

I got the prettiest gift in the mail today, from Jeanne. Just in time for my trip! I like to keep a little notebook in my purse on vacation, to jot down thoughts here and there, or keep track of places I particularly liked.

This palm sized journal will be just perfect, and so stylish!

Thanks, Jeanne!!

In the very few minutes I had today without a fairy grand baby in my arms or at my feet, I listed a few things on Etsy.

This sold right away! I certainly appreciate all of you who shop with me. I will be away for a few days and all purchases made while I am gone, will go out next Tuesday the 31st.

Thanks for your patience!

I doubt if I will get a chance to post again before next Tuesday. I still have things to do before my trip.

When I get back, I will announce the winner of my June Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack, after hopefully adding to it this week in Florida. My brother-in-law is an antique dealer and knows all the best places to shop in Jacksonville.

So far, the prize pack includes all of this…

plus these. Leave a comment on any post if you want to enter.

I will also have photos of my Great Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday party! I will give the 100 cards to her in a pretty bag (that I have yet to make). I don’t know if she will open them all at the party, or take her time and go through them once everyone is gone for the day. But I will take a photo of her receiving them, and I will make up copies of the flickr address to pass out to all of the guests at the party who might want to look at the photos of the creations there.

I will also draw names for gifts to send out to some of the people who created the cards for Caroline.

All of the cards are on our flickr group page and the names of the artists are listed there.

If you don’t see your name by your card on the flickr site, please, please add it or any other info you would like to have there. Just leave a comment under your card.

I will leave you with a few cards to look at here. When I took the pictures, I tried to use a different vintage wallpaper under each one. They were all so special, they deserved special treatment, and of course, to me, vintage wallpaper is about as special as it gets! See you next week!

Pretty packages and hand dyed feet

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2008

My little fairy dolls are flying out of here! I will miss them, but I just bought a big bag full of Nancy Anns that have fairy wings in their future!

One thing that is fun for me about my Etsy shop is wrapping up the purchases. I try to put some time and creativity into each package.

This little sprite is going out in a tulle bag topped off with a hand dyed vintage rose.

I’d bought a hat filled with yellow roses, which aren’t my fave, so I thought I’d try getting them wet and spritzing them with dye to see how it turned out. I’m pretty happy with the results.

Whille I had the dye out, I thought I’d try it out on these shoes.

I found them at a garage sale for 50 cents yesterday. My feet are so fat it is hard to find shoes and I love to find some already broken in!! These were comfy as can be, but an ugly orange. I thought I’d be happy wearing them around the studio, but then decided to try the dye on them.

The dye has some gold sparkle to it, very shiny and glinty in the sunlight! I added some more glitz with a few charms, and now I think these might be my vacation sandals for my trip to Florida this week to see my Aunt Caroline and take her the big old bag of 100 (plus!) cards.

Will my feet turn colors from the dye? Maybe….

One of last week’s garage sailing purchases was a stack of folders for 5 cents each. They are perfect for packaging my Cottage Collage Kits on Etsy.

Also, I think that the person who buys the papers will be happy to receive a storage folder for them, as a surprise.

Although it looks like I am finding plenty of goodies on garage sailing days, I feel like I am losing my mojo.

Besides toys, and clothes for Sugarwings, I am finding very little lately compared to my past shopping. Maybe I am more selective?

I do like this 25 cent chandelier drop bowl. Its not old, but has the ‘look’ anyway.

And I can’t wait to serve something tasty from the $1 green compote at my next tea party!

This compote is a pretty one too, I paid a bit more for it, not typical of me, it was $4.

The cute kitschy kitchen utensils will be included in my June Garage Sailing Giveaways Prize pack. They will look pretty with the green and white theme I have going on in the gifts.

I am still receiving cards for Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday. This one is from Kathy at Kathyscottage.blogspot.com, how cute!!

Hopefully ALL the cards are photographed and loaded on Flickr. I chose a diefferent vintage wallpaper background for each card, to set them off.

I would hate to leave any out, they are so thoughtful and unique!!

If you sent a card, please check out the Flickr site and add any comment to your card, more info, such as blog address, home state or country, or anything at all will be appreciated. Also, some have no names, so if you see one that doesn’t and know whose it is, or if it is yours, please do leave a comment under the photo on Flickr and let everyone know!

Another fun thing to look at is a doll gallery that Bethany is hosting on the 25th. I entered this one, oh, and she is for sale, of course! $15 if you are interested.

She is painted with crackle paint, and decked out in vintage wallpaper, flowers, rhinestones and ribbons, with fairy wings sprouting on her back.

I think I am about caught up on things I need to do before my trip. This week I:

painted a pole on a business downtown

listed things on Etsy

photographed and posted over 100 cards on flickr

repainted my bedroom and rearranged my living and dining room

bought new shorts to wear to FL (ugh, not fun, after 50 years old)

I still have to paint two shutters, go through a HUGE stack of bills, and pack.

I should have done some of that earlier, since Sugarwings will be staying with me tonight. Oops. I’m sure she’d love to help paint those shutters!

The store owner was happy with her pole. She had at first wanted red flowers, but I tried that and from across the street they looked like blobs. The flowers needed more depth and red is hard to get that with. So, I changed them to shades of pink with red centers, which stands out nice on the color she chose for the background.

I used lots of blue undertones in the leaves so they would pop against the peachy color. Contrast is important with big, outdoor art projects. I feel so good about getting all this done before my trip, it is a relief to have those cards on the site, they are so precious, I want everyone to see them!

I won’t be able to mail any more packages after Monday, till next week when I get back, but there are a couple of dolls still on Etsy if you are interested.

Using what you have

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, magazine pictures or articles, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 20, 2008

ur Those two talented sisses are asking us to show our mantels. Well, that is right up my alley right now, and I am so happy with my bedroom do over that I’d love to show my mantel again.

I usually don’t keep anything on it, just the mirror above it, and sometimes a stack of books or magazines.

I promised to show some other corners of my room, here is the doorway. Well, I guess that is pretty self explanatory, sorry.

See the pretty alarm clock? A gift from Beth, that was so pretty, I just had to paint the room to match. Even though the clock is merely ornamental, isn’t a cute little ornament?

The table it is on is from a whole set I bought an auction, 2 twin beds, dresser, mirror, and two tables. I repainted them all and sold them, but had to keep this one table for myself.

This recliner, which is a concession to my husband, is the inspiration for the bronze/sepia vines on the ceiling. I wanted a soft blue room, but had to tie in this chair that sits smack dab in front of the TV.

In the alcove above it, I have my screen from the Birds and Bonnets Swap. I’ve used little birdies around the room, I thought they went with the garden feel of the space.

Beyond the chair is my sink area. I painted it a slightly darker shade of the same blue, and used a warm carmel-ly brown on the ceili ng.

The carmel brown color matches the Shabby Chic (from Target) shower curtain in the connecting bathroom. I always try to give my rooms a flow from one to another.

By redoing the bedroom, I ended up redoing the rest of the house too! Not repainted, but switched around and knick knacks traded back and forth.

These metal salvage pieces were in 3 different areas, but I really like the affect of having all four of them lined up together.

After an evening of "use what you have decorating", I had given three rooms a new look just by shuffling my junk around. The drawing of the goddess now in the living room, used to be in the bedroom, and it was replaced by a picture that was previously in the dining room.

All the things on top of the entertainment center (except the goddess statue I just repainted a couple of posts back) used to be in the bedroom. Now the little birdies are in their place there.

The large print on the wall in the dining room used to be in the guest room.

So, for simply repainting one room and getting a new (vintage) bedspread, one goddess statue and an alarm clock, I feel like I have a whole new look!

But then today, I went to some garage sales, and look what I found to replace the too small, too old lady looking, too brown little chair that was there before!

A THRONE! A Leopard print covered throne!

In garage sailing dollars it was kind of pricey, but in antiquing money, it was a bargain. I paid $60 for it, and it is solid as a rock, and very old, with brand new fabric.

I do think it could use some paint. Something like the way I painted the banister, but not exactly, I don’t want it too matchy matchy. A little darker and with some glimmer, maybe?

yes, yes, yes, I know it is solid oak and the wood is in perfect condition!

It was a quick garage sailing morning, that one stop used up my cash supplies. I did get a couple of trinkets here and there, and added some treats to the June Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack.

Can you spot the new additions? green lace ribbon, a bag of old buttons, and an old green plastic cup.

I’m going with a green and white theme for garden season, it looks like!

Remember, all comments are entered, every one, every month counts towards my drawings.

As usual, I have run on long enough, (too long, actually) but I wanted to mention that I listed a couple of my fairy dolls on Etsy and also have reduced some prices, so please check out the sales!

I did finish my article for the fall issue of Romantic Country, thank you to those who were asking how I was doing.

Here is the first paragraph if you’d like a sneak peak:

When the air starts to develop a slight nip and rich reds and golds begin to tint the leaves, it is a perfect time to savor the outdoors by dining al fresco. While summer is known for picnics, fall is much more suited to the venue. The heat has eased up, and most of the summertime bugs have flown away. In this Mid-Western town of Kansas City, artist and antique dealer, Carol Spinski took advantage of autumn’s agreeable afternoon weather and created a garden party under the trees to welcome the season.

Elphie

antiques/junking, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2008

Meet Elphie, who seems to like vintage hats as much as I do. Now I know why I buy so many of these, they make great cat toys!

Little Elphaba (named after the witch from Wicked- she is Kansas kitty, after all!) is only 5 weeks old and is nothing but a teeny little puff of fur.

She hides under furniture in my studio and comes out covered in dust bunnies bigger than she is. She walks across my keyboard and doesn’t have enough weight to push any of the keys.

Elphie was meant to be Sugarwing’s kitty, but I discovered that Sugarwings is not a cat person, at least so far. She has no interest at all in this little cutey. She did tell her some long meandering story that involved lots of mentions of "Yeenkle" (Twinkle), so she might have been telling the new cat that she already had a pet.

Twinkle also doesn’t care much for Elphie. I hope I haven’t done the wrong thing by getting a new pet. Hopefully, they will all come to terms with each other and be friends.

My advance copy of Somerset Life came in the mail and I was sweetly surprised to see my magic wands in the issue, as well as the magnet board that I knew was going to be included. In the back, is a photo I took of some (what else??) millinery flowers.

I had last heard that the wands weren’t chosen to be used, it was nice to see them there.

Also, Dawn let me know that the new romantic Country was out and that my article was right next to one about her lovely pincushion.

Both of our projects have how-to instructions if you are interested in making your own.

I always hear that this magazine can be hard to find. And I had to go to two stores to get a copy yesterday too, so was very glad to see the new subscription cards! I plan on filling one out and getting it into the mail right away.

I’m going for the 8 issues at $29.97, that is a bargain, and I’m all about bargains!

Speaking of bargains, don’t forget about my June Garage Sale Goodies Giveaway!

Every comment is entered and I am adding more prizes after going garage sailing this weekend. And who knows, you might open your prize box and have a kitten pop out if I can’t teach her not to walk across my keyboard while I am trying to write an article.

Karla and Twinkle’s VINE COVERED Cottage

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 17, 2008

My bedroom is all redone and put back together, and today I finished the connecting sink/nook-type area.

I used the same shade as on the walls of the bedroom, but slightly darker. And the ceiling is a warm caramel with the door faux finished in the same color.

Peaceful, tranquil, romantic, and cottagey was what I was going for, and I am so happy with the color! The name is "nurture" and it is a Behr paint, my favorite to work with.

Behr is affordable and has fantastic coverage, usually one coat plus touch ups.

The ceiling was actually a pretty simple project, sepia and bronze glaze, swirled around with a one inch flat brush that I turned sideways for a thinner line for the vines.

Speaking of vines, I noticed a theme in my home. I do love flowers, but I seem to be drawn even more to the vines that flowers grow on. I know I am always scribbling little vines and swirls on collage pieces I make, and painting vines on furniture.

Do you ever have a theme that meanders through your home without you really thinking about it or planning it that way?

So, I’ll show more photos of the bedroom redo later, right now I thought I’d take a tour of the twisting vines around my cottage.

This closet door has been color washed in bronze over ivory with bronze vines painted with glaze.

The ceiling of my dining room is bordered in hand painted acanthus looking vines.

And of course, I have the vintage wallpaper vining roses going up my stairs.

The stairs lead to Sugarwing’s room, where I have a hand painted sign above her bed, with –what else– on it? Vining roses.

By the linen closet upstairs, I’ve painted vining leaves on the wall to mimic wallpaper.

The same look is on the bench that I keep out in the breezeway.

The guest bath has a hand painted floor that green vines wind around.

And while the cement was still wet, I took a stick and drew in the concrete. You should have seen the look on the face of the contractor, he was horrified!

Ceramic roses vine around the bathtub.

And wooden roses vine themselves around this $4 garage sale mirror in my bedroom.

In my entry way, the steps have a mosaic of marbles and Venetian glass tiles that are in an organic, viney design.

In keeping with my vining theme, I wrapped some roses and ribbons around this garage sale watering can I had painted white.

It will be part of my June Garage Sailing Giveaway prize pack, and every comment for the month is entered to win.

Included will be this Victorian scrap ephemera, a crocheted doily, and some vintage gold trim.

Along with those goodies, is the baby dress I found last week at a sale, a white ceramic teapot/flower vase, a pretty yellow flowered plate, a white pottery urn (old) that I added flowers to, a Lucky Day button card (don’t we all deserve a LUCKY DAY?), and filling the flowered plate is some bits of old jewelry.

If you enjoy mixed bags of free and vintage goods, you should also enter Beth’s giveaway. She has a big pile of cool auction finds to share!

Happy Birthday Beth

antiques/junking, celebrations

By Karla Nathan / June 14, 2008

How’s this for some GREEN? Sadie Olive‘s seeing Red posts were such fun, now she is hosting some greens.

The lovely lady prancing down the stairs is my BFF, Beth. She’s feeling light hearted because we went out to celebrate her birthday today. This photo was taken at Nell Hills (Mary Carol Garrity’s shop) in North Kansas City.

The main Nell Hills is in Atchinson, and I have to tell you it is soooo much better than this one. One thing (I thought) you could count on from Miss Nell is affordable and wonderful things. But her new shop has a different type of theme, and knick knacks were priced at HUNDREDS of dollars! Ouch.

It was really a fun stop, though and we enjoyed going there as sight seers, just not shoppers. As my mom used to call shopping with out buying, "feeling".

Thankfully, Nell Hills wasn’t our only stop. We started out at estate sales about 8:30am, hit a couple of good scrap booking stores, went to lunch at Pei Wei.

We went "feeling" at some hoity toity antique shops, and worked on Beth’s antique mall booth too. Whew, that was a full day. And full of laughs too.

Once upon a time, I had a booth at the same antique mall, and used to get free rent by painting murals around the store. Many are still there, some have been lost to renovations and remodeling.

This faux finished wall and painted columns is one of my favorites.

I’m glad we had such fun today, because Beth has had a really tough week. Her Kramer-haired sweet heart, Milo passed away this week from liver failure.

He was a good dog, and always greeted me with affection when I visited, I will miss him.

I did this portrait of him on a liquorish (Beth’s favorite) Altoid tin, and added vintage velvet trim to the sides, flocked wallpaper to the bottom, and a bone shaped charm to the side.

I also made a wallpaper journal for her with my BEST wallpapers. Notice the date on the old ledger paper? (the paper is from Rhonda)

I can’t believe I cut into a piece to make a tag and right on it was "June 13"- her birthday! What a co-inky-dink. I keep a file of these type of things, this one is going right on the list!

Beth had presents for me, she always finds junk for me at auctions and has gifts when I come to visit.

This time, it was a set of this old (made in Japan) but sturdy, doll furniture for Sugarwings. I will paint it to match her doll house.

The saucy little dancer is from Carol. She had a bagful of them for me, and I (of course) will fairy them up. Right now, I have a spray coat of white primer on them.

And how adorable is this?? A gift for me from my pal, Lori.

When I saw this curly feathered little fellow on her Etsy shop, I had to have him, and when the box arrived, she included the fairy tag and a roll of nice papers tied up beautifully with ribbons and a buckle.

Have you ever been to see Sandy Mastroni? Her blog is so funny, and her art is full of personality and charm. I was lucky enough to win this cupcake set of cards featuring her work.

Yep, I am pretty lucky.

Here are some of the bargains I found this week, out junking with Carol and with Beth.

The wallpaper is from Beth. So we don’t get jealous of each other’s finds, we have a pact. Whenever one of us gets a good roll of wallpaper, we cut off a hunk for the other one. It keeps our friendship safe.

Show and Tell Sunday this week is about flea market finds. Between garage sailing and flea markets and estate sales, I got the table top full, plus a few other things that didn’t squeeze into the photo. Its been a good week for bargain hunting around here!

If you want to see what others have found at fleas, Heidi is guest hostessing this week’s show and tell.

Don’t forget that I am assembling a good prize pack of June Junking Finds for my giveaway. If you want to win some garage sale swag, just leave a comment and you are entered.

A NON-virtual Blogger’s Tea Party in the Garden

antiques/junking, celebrations, parties

By Karla Nathan / June 11, 2008

We had a sweet little Blogger’s Tea Party in my garden yesterday in honor of Becca who was driving across Kansas and stopped to visit.

Since her blog is called "bluebirds and roses" I used that theme in my table decor. See the blue bird nesting in the etched glass compote with chocolate eggs?

I decorated bottles to give out as party favors, and used lots of roses and birds on the labels that I made.

This is Becca, myself, and Marilyn. It is so nice to meet blog friends in person, I have never been disappointed when I do.

Since it was mid afternoon, I kept the refreshments light, mostly snacks and goodies.

Instead of sitting down around the table, we pulled up chairs to the patio table and took our plates outside to enjoy one of the loveliest days of the whole season. What luck, to have a garden party on such a pretty day.

Especially when so many people across the country are battling terrible weather conditions.

My pal, Barb in Wisconsin is really having a stretch of bad luck, with family health problems, and now floods on top of it. I am sending her a package of crafty goods to create with, because her craft room flooded and she lost so much. With all the bad stuff going on, I knew that she could use a break from it all to be creative and rest her mind from her worries a bit.

I don’t like to take my good luck for granted, days like this should be appreciated because not everyone ends up like this. Not only the weather, but the friends who came by to visit, plus the fact that I am lucky enough to have a great life where I am able to take a sunny day and turn it into a porch party.

Becca made a "Twinkle" stuffed dog for Sugarwings, who loves presents more than anything. She is at that age where she thinks that everything is for her anyway.

Isn’t this just the cutest? Thanks, Becca!!

And thanks to Beth, Carla, Marylin, and Shawn for coming out to party on the porch with me and meet Becca.

Carol is also a Kansas City area blogger, but couldn’t make it yesterday to the garden party.

I needed to interview her for the article I am writing for Fifi for Romantic Country. So, we went junking in St. Joe, MO for the day, and then at the very end of the trip, we did a 3 minute interview in the parking lot!

I’ll have to email some more questions to her as they come up, but this was a great excuse to get out and play while pretending to work!

I might have bought a few hats today…….. I don’t know how many. I don’t want to know. But look at these!! Doesn’t the green one look like a mossy nest? It has birds and butterflies in it too.

And that pin cushion doll looks like she might have some fairy wings in her future if she hangs around me for very long.

And see the beautiful blue spread??? Twenty bucks and exactly what I was looking for to redo my bedroom!

It is vintage-ish, kind of older, but not old-old. And in perfect shape, plus the exact blue I wanted. On the way home, I bought two gallons of paint to match it to repaint the walls.

I am going to STOP myself from painting quite yet. It is hard. Very hard. Every cell in my body is telling me to stay up all night and paint the room. I have little elves dancing on my shoulder and whispering in my ear, "open the can, dip in your brush!! It will be sooooo pretty"

But- now that I am 50, maybe I have developed a bit of common sense and discipline??? I need to photograph all the cards for my Great Aunt’s 100th birthday and get that flickr site filled! Plus count them up and draw a prize winner. Or a few prize winners from all the kind people who made a card for her. I also have a mural to do on a business downtown and a commision paint job for a freind. So, no new wall color for me till I get my work done. I have to have my priories straight.

That painting job will be waiting for me as a reward for getting my work done. How is that for a grown up attitude?? Oh, but first, one more junking day, tomorrow is Beth’s birthday party, and we have a day out!