antiques/junking – Page 30

Buttons, Baubles, Bottles, & Bears, plus a sick Baby

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, magazine pictures or articles, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 19, 2008

As much fun as I had out east, it is so good to be back home. But look at this, I came home to a sick baby! She really, really, wants to try to play, but simply isn’t up to it, she is droopy and worn out.

Even with a new hat for dress up and a new doll that was waiting in a package on the porch from Fluffy Flowers, Little Sugarwings just can’t manage to muster up the energy to play. We’ve been cuddled up watching Care Bear videos and now she is napping.

I had even more packages waiting for me when I got back from my trip.

Somerset was done photographing these vintage wallpaper folders filled with ephemera. So, now I have them photographed and ready to list on Ebay. These 3 will be in the next issue of Somerset Life.

This roll of wallpaper was waiting for me too. I had a bit of an Ebay frenzy while on vacation. I didn’t have any work to do, so am afraid that I got a bit carried away with the bidding. I guess I will be expecting a porch full of packages any day now.

This isn’t my favorite pattern, but it really will make a nice background for many projects. It would be hideous on someone’s wall though.

The hats are some from my shopping day in Lucketts, VA. (previous post) I am not a huge yellow fan, but I bought these for the flowers, and most of those are white. Plus, $3.50 each??? What a deal!

For a while, I have been collecting old fabrics to make spring time slipcovers for my couch. I got two more in the mail (Ebay again), the last two on the right. I plan on dipping all of the materials into a tea dye to coordinate them more.

They should be gorgeous with my French book decoupaged wall behind them after they are on my sofa.

I will use an actual fiber dye in a tea stain color, so they will be washable and color safe. The only trouble is, that I will have to face the sewing machine again. Oh no!

Here are the two pretty birdies in trophies that Robin gave to Beth and I. My dilemma, was which birdie could I chose?? They are both so cute.

I went with the one with the pink roses. I simply am a sucker for any rosey buds!

Here are a few of the bottles I filled my suitcase with. There are more still unwrapped. I plan on filling them with vintage buttons, making labels from old wallpaper and ephemera, then tying up the necks with soft ribbon and a charm.

This little fawn was a dollar at Lucketts. How could I let her stay there? I knew she’d be happier at my house with some old millinery flowers as a welcoming lei around her neck.

I always decorate with china figurines of deer for Christmas, but I think she will be quite nice at Easter too. If you think about it, the fawns are born this time of year, not in December!

These buttons were $1 a bag in Leesburg. The simple mother of pearl ones are teeny, meant for doll clothes or baby clothes, I think. These won’t be going into my button jars to sell, I’ll save these to make paper doll dresses.

And look a the tiny white butterflies!! Oh, the things that I can do with those! I can’t wait to start.

But for now, I hear the baby monitor calling out for Grandmama. My poor little sick girl is up from her short nap (3rd one of the day) She is going to need some snuggling.

I prefer white furniture to the White House

antiques/junking, Moving to DC, Travel

By Karla Nathan / February 17, 2008

I’m having a lovely time in our apartment out East. Although it is hard for me to not have anything to do…. I am used to keeping busy. I need to set up an art studio next time I come out or I will go crazy. I’ve done some shopping, some sight seeing,and I filled the freezer with ready to go meals for my husband. I must be bored, if I want to spend the entire afternoon of Vaelntines Day baking and freezing food.

Luckily, Robin, a blogger friend, met me today to keep me company.

We met at Starbucks, and both got phone calls from our husbands to check on us, the guys were worried we were meeting up with internet predators instead of blog friends!

I made sure to get a photo of the guy behind Robin so I could show my husband and pretend that he was right.

Here he is, my new buddy, Thrifty Miss Priss. He does look a bit shifty. But he seemed so nice on the blog!

The REAL Robin was such fun, we ended up talking for 2 hours. She brought me the cutest nesting birdie in a trophy, I promise to get photos of it when I get home, what a perfect gift!! She made one for my buddy, Beth too. Beth and I are getting together on Thursday for some co-craftiness, so I’ll take it to her then. In the mean time, I’ll set them both on my computer where I can enjoy them and try to decide which one I can part with!!

I am in love with the antique shops around here!!! I wished I had a truck with me instead of a camera while shopping. This is the dining set I have been day dreaming about forever. But it would be a bit complicated to get it back to Kansas, and my luggage is already full.

I bought a set of these little plastic plates for Sugarwings and I to play tea party with. That is easy enough to pack.

And when I bought a few of these old blue bottles, I thought, that isn’t so bad either, they’ll be fine in my bags.

But then, I found more bottles. And some paper mache buckets. And some more bottles. Then I found even more bottles.

I’m sure I’ll figure a way to get them all home, and turn them into decorated button jars. Yes, I am just sure I can make them fit. Somehow.

Did I mention that I also found some old hats?

This seems to be the land of prom gowns and flowered hats. Everywhere I look, I see gorgeous, feminine, flowery things.

The hats I bought should be fine, if smashed, I bought them mostly for the flowers, I peel them off and glue them onto other things. And these hats I found are ENCRUSTED with flowers!

I’ve found so many curly-q, carved chairs too. All of this furniture is just my style.

I need a truck!

It causes me pain to go home without this $89 table that just screams my name! I just don’t find stuff this cool at these prices back home. And here I always brag about shopping in Kansas and the low prices. Well, yes we have great prices, but our stuff is more country looking, or primitive, or traditional.

Of course, there is stuff in this style back home too, but not in the abundance that I’ve seen it here, or at the prices I have seen here.

Also, I came across more than one store that was predominately pink and white!

Heck, I feel like canceling my flight home and renting a U-haul and buying a load of stuff to redecorat my house.

One thing I could take home with me, was an IDEA. Look at these stairs!!

I have a plan to pull up the ugly carpet from my stair way, and cover each riser in a different vintage wallpaper, then paint the steps white. Trouble is, my stairs were built to be carpeted, and are very unfinished looking. It will take lots of bondo (meant for car repairs, but great for painted furniture repair too) and sanding. I’ll have to router the edges too. The steps at my house are plain boards, builder grade, not cool, old stairs. I now, HAVE to make them LOOK like cool old stairs. I have a mission!

Here is another tempting piece from Lucketts. Just a bit big for my suitcase. Heck, I am wondering how I will make hats fit, what am I even doing thinking about buying salvage?

In the spring, Luckets has an outdoor flea market. Oh, I will be back for that! The outdoors is pretty cute and fun to poke through now, just picture this area filled with 60 different dealers.

What a pretty thought!

I also went to downtown Leesburg. It was quaint and wonderful, but I didn’t have much time. A lot of the decor there is more traditional or formal like I expected this area to sell.

And OLD. This is a gown that might have been worn by Dolly Madison, from the looks of it!

We ate dinner at Rivercreek Country Club over looking an extraordinary view of the Potomac while in Leesburg. My husband had to work there for the day, I had tagged along and gone on the shopping trip while waiting for him.

We also took a train into downtown DC and looked at dinosaurs and monuments and the White House.

But of course, to me, nothing downtown DC compared to the dining room table I saw at Lucketts! Am I shallow? I was defiantly feeling like Becky Bloomwood in the Shopaholic NY book, when she pretends to go on a museum tour and ducks out to shop. If I could’ve gotten away with it, I would have gone back to that antique mall and skipped all the dino bones. Yep, that is shallow, alright.

Maybe it was because it was such a chilly gray day, and I was bundled up like a cocoon to keep warm as we walked the city. If I go back in the spring with the cherry blossoms in bloom, maybe I will get into exploring the city more.

Some how, I think I’d still prefer the white, ornate furniture to the White House!

I’m spending a lot of time blog browsing too, since I haven’t got any work to do. And Ebay browsing, which can be dangerous when you are bored and killing time!

But here is a blog that will keep you from boredom- check out Angela’s pink round up for Valentines, so many pretty pink links to visit.

That is where I am going now.

Ready * Set * GO!

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, Hand Painted Furniture, hand painted signs, holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / November 29, 2007

I’m DONE! I’m ready for my sale!!!

I even had time today to cover this cash box in old wallpaper and foof up the keys to it.

I had bought it at a garage sale this summer for $2, and it was a plain, industrial grey color. A little bit of vintage papers, some glue, ribbon, a charm and some old pearl buttons, and I am ready to make change in style tomorrow!

I also made a few more teacup posie arrangements.

Pretty teacups that were slightly chippy got a makeover with oasis glued to the inside, then covering them with moss or shredded papers and gluing in some pretties. I used a variety of goodies inside of them, tiny Christmas balls in silver, millinery flowers, and glittered birds. After putting them in place, I drenched them in white glue and did another light fairy dusting of glitter over the top.

Price tags are done, stuff is arranged. This cabinet is all whites.

I have more than one area done in reds and greens. There are plenty of traditionalists who want the old fashioned Christmas colors. I love them myself, and have fun setting up the displays, but have gone with more pastels and neutrals in my house this year for holiday decor.

The pink poinsettias are my favorite, I love the rich deep pink ones, that are almost the color of an azalea. (by the way- if you think your house isn’t ready to photograph for our "What do you LOVE about your Holiday Home" party on Dec. 12th, here is a good example. There are dirty dishes in this sink, but the angle I took the photo hides them. And the mess on the counter top, just got pushed aside for the picture. Your house doesn’t have to be perfect to show us some pretties in it for the party!!) But I should replace that light bulb before the open house.

Or you can just zoooooom in.

The grocery store had $1.99 roses again this week and I bought 3 dozen (all they had) for my open house.

I also buy pink and white poinsettias ($3 a pot at Wal-Mart) and use them as cut flowers instead of potted.

Yes, these are sitting on the back of my toilet. Is that tacky? Should toilets just be left alone??

I was able to take the 3 dozen roses and 2 poinsettia plants and spread flowers all throughout my home.

Most of the roses were still buds, so I am gambling they’ll still look good by Sunday. I had to arrange all the flowers on Wed. since I’ll be tied up with my sale the next few days.

Actually, I don’t arrange them much. I just plop them into vases. More cottagey than a true arrangement.

Oh-oh, I see some price tags coming lose. I hope I don’t run into many of those situations in the studio for the sale.

Its too bad the price tags have to be so visible, they don’t make a pretty photo. But I like them to be right in your face for shoppers, easy for them to see. Don’t you HATE having to wait for someone to get a key to open a case and flip something over so you can see the price???? Why do people hide their prices so often????

Remember the clearance stockings I bought earlier? I got them all foofed up with glitter, buttons and old jewelry and will be hoping to sell them for $15 each. Seems like a good price for them, I hope the shoppers agree.

I put $18 on my little ballerina fairy under glass.

Can you see why it has taken me so long to pull this together? I hope the care that went into it shows.

Right now I am off to bed. Well, that is after I watch Survivor. Wish Beth and I luck tomorrow!!

Tiny Dancers and Globs of Glitter

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 26, 2007

Do you ever have days when you are trying to meet a deadline, have tons to do, but get easily sidetracked anyway?

I have an open house as part the local Holiday Home Tour and a 3 day sale in my studio this weekend. There are so many things I need to be doing for it.

But what do I do instead? Give the dogs haircuts and baths.

And go to Goodwill. Where I found this vintage jewelry box!! For 49 cents!! It plays "When you Wish Upon a Star" and the ballerina twirls. I need to cover the exterior in vintage wallpaper. Of course.

There has been some work getting done- I’m still painting ornaments and charms. Although, yesterday I took a movie break and went to see "The Mist". I have always been a huge Stephen King fan, but more of his earlier work than later.

Last night after the movie, I painted about a dozen charms.

Including some especially for Kansans- Jayhawks and Sunflowers.

I have no idea how many hours I have spent making price tags. They seem to have taken over my life. I know that on Thanksgiving Day, I put in 9 hours of tagging!

I looked around and think I am about 95% done with pricing. So, I have today and tomorrow to make more things (and more price tags for them too, I guess).

I made this up real quick this morning, it was a glittered bucket with ugly stuff on it, that I pulled off and exchanged for flocked wallpaper (that I bought from Dede during vendor night at Silver Bella) and a German die cut cherub, some old trim, and a bit of vintage velvet ribbon.

I painted this little fairy ornament last night too. She still needs a dollop of glitter on her.

These ornaments from yesterday could use a shake or two from the glitter jar too. I think that the poly top coat and sparkly glitter just makes them look finished.

Of course, I think everything looks better with glitter.

I won an giveaway this summer from Michelle and she had made this darling little blue bird for me. She told me it was OK to glitter it up, I think she knew in advance that the poor little bird couldn’t escape my glitter shaker!

This little ballerina fairy has been sparkled too. She is standing in a shallow dish, that I have no idea what it could have been meant for, it is an odd shape. The dome was 49 cents at the Goodwill.

She is wearing butterfly wings and crystals, and is perched on an old bulb from a string of Xmas lights. That wasn’t easy to do.

I glued a nest of shredded paper to the bottom of the dish, then added tiny, vintage glass Christmas balls onto the nest, making sure to attach them to the glass below so they would be secure.

Then, I turned the light bulb so that it pointed upwards, and glued the base to the glass and the tiny dancer to the tip.

I think she has a little bit of acrobat in her too. She did a great job of hanging in there while I held her in place while waiting for the glue to dry.

I stuffed a lot of ribbon and velvet millinery posies around the base of it all and globbed a lot more glue on it. It seems to have dried solid as a rock and very stable, but you should have seen my gluey fingers and all the shredded paper and glitter stuck to them while doing this. She kept slipping and sliding down and I didn’t think I’d ever get it all to stay in place.

Did I mention I had a million things to do for my sale? So, add blogging about glitter and price tags to giving the dogs a hair cut and shopping at Goodwill to avoid working.

I’d better get on with it.

Don’t forget, you can still do some shopping from the previous two posts (as well as the ornaments in this post). Just email if you are interested.

And every comment you leave is an entry into my drawing for the November giveaway. the prize will probably be something glittered.

A FEW MINUTES LATER:

I added glitter to these balls, better, huh?

Not Bella-ed-Out Yet!

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 18, 2007

Did you think I was all bella-out? Nope, here is more!

I was only in one organized swap, silly silly silly me.

Take my advice, if you go to Silver Bella, sign up for as many swaps as you can.

You would not believe some of the gorgeous creations that were given in trade!

I was lucky enough to get into a few side swaps to, besides my ATCs. Rebbecca, and Julie and …… and oh my, you know I am bad about this. All my notes and business cards are packed in the box with all the swaps and are all mixed up.

But that doesn’t mean I love all of them any less! I am going to add hangers and make ornaments for a special table top tree, all Silver Bella themed with the ATCs.

Thanks, Bella Buddies!

On the other hand, here is a mystery solved. Remember the beautiful box full of gifts I got in the mail and didn’t know where from, was afraid I’d forgotten a swap or a giveaway?

Well, the gifter wrote to tell me, that is what it was, a gift. How sweet and kind. She was trying to be a secret Santa, but didn’t want to worry me and make me rack my brain to figure out what I had forgotten!

Thanks, Kathryn!!!

My Silver Bella tiara found a home in the bathroom cabinet on the doll head I bought on the trip to Omaha.

We named the little dolly "Bella Donna"

On the shelf near Bella Donna sits my swapty gift from Dede, who by the way, said she wanted to be the "Blotto Bella" and was a blast the whole weekend.

She let me pick ornaments, and I chose "Naughty Bella"

Which is a good name for me since I was bringing a strange man into our room at 3 am.

Maybe I should tell the rest of that? My roomie, Beth, went to bed early and I stayed up late with my new Bella Buds, Carol, Heather, the other Karla (yep, there were two there), and Stacey. and we giggled like school girls till way too late in Heather’s room.

Did you know that if your key card is in your pocket with your cell phone, it loses its magnetic abilities to open doors? So I was locked out. The room was in Beth’s name. I couldn’t get a new key, but the manager said he’d let me in if I could describe the room and my luggage.

I told him he couldn’t wake up Beth, I was trying to sneak in! But it was the only way, he insisted.

So, I described my stuff as all the bags on the floor overflowing with purchases from Vendor Night, supplies for classes, all the stuff from the antique mall I’d gotten, and all the swaps, stacked and piled up on the floor from the TV cabinet to the front door, so that you could barely get in the room. He stepped inside, took one look and realized it had to be my room. Then, I promptly tripped over a paper bag and made a lot of noise, but Beth still slept through it.

I am continuing to burn the midnight oil getting ready for my sale in two weeks. I’ve been up till 4 am the last two nights.

I glittered all these Ballerinas that I bought at Vendor Night and added butterfly wings that I got there too.

They are hung on a Bethany Lowe tree I picked up on the trip.

Sometime around 2am I was making these cones. The base of them is a 90% off clearance Tussie Mussie that I ripped all the tacky things off of and embellished myself with vintagey stuff.

Most of the embellishments were from our trip too. Either leftovers from class, goodies from Vendor night, or from the shopping along the way. Beth was so nice to me on the shopping part of the trip. I don’t get out to junk as much as she does, so she was calling it my "Pity Trip" and giving me first choice on all the goods!

Look at the pretty ribbon on this one. it is from Rebecca’s class. Did she just get some old seam binding wet and crumple it, do you think?

Wish I could have gotten more than 3 of these cones for 50 cents each, they were great to work with.

One more purchase from our drive up to Omaha. I bought another Bethany Lowe tree for my living room.

I’m going with an all white theme, for Christmas in that room. Well ivory and cream really. Multi whites. I’ll show more during our

What do you LOVE about your holiday home? party

I’ve been so busy Bella-ing, redoing the blog (well Sadie Olive did all the actual work, but it took up a lot of my time too) and then getting ready for the upcoming sale at my home, I haven’t done much Etsy listing.

I did list this, the background is an invoice from Acme Coal Mining. I loved that 1917 paper! I wondered if Santa got his coal there.

I’m sure that is where Wiley Coyote and Bugs Bunny did, every exploding device or weird thing that they bought was from Acme.

(this sold to Louisa who had this wallpaper in her home growing up! I sent her all the scraps I had of it so she could make something too)

Now, I am going to be good, stop running on, and go list something else on Etsy. I am crazy about this old wallpaper too. I had made a banner from it also and that sold to Bethany. And that is all I had of this wallpaper. It is so rich and deluxe, but in small doses, I can’t quite picture it filling a room.

Part Three of Silver Bella, and my car still isn’t all unloaded yet, so I guess there is more to come!

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Silver Bella, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 14, 2007

Ready for more project pictures? I am excited about this one from Charlotte Lyon’s class. It started out as a cereal box!

Since I don’t eat cereal, and Beth’s husband eats almost as much cereal as Jerry Seinfeld, she provided the boxes for both of us.

But what is exciting about this project is that Ms Lyons has a picture of it on her blog right now. (Beth’s too). Beth says that is like getting an "A" in class!

Country Living was there covering the event (to be published next fall) and photos were taken of my project. That sure would be cool, if mine made it into the magazine! They took tons of pictures, so chances are slim that mine made the cut.

Great supplies and papers were provided, but I chose to add my own embellishments, like the vintage velvet flowers and the hand drawn vines at the top, with glitter accents. And I am quite enamored with sheet music ruffles lately, so added one to the top.

In Rebbecca Sower‘s class, she provided bags full of goodies to foof up 6 wall hangings. I added my own ideas and pretties, but she had such a nice selection, I did use a lot of hers.

She made copies of old postcards for us to use, I loved that.

Out of the six provided, I only finished 3. I usually work fast and cockily brought side projects to do, thinking I’d zip through and be bored.

I learned quickly that these class projects didn’t go quickly.

On this Turn up the Twinkle (which I liked to call the Turnip class) I really really sucked. It was my first class there and my hopes of zipping through were dashed.

I didn’t even get this little so and so close to done.

I used the provided back ground paper from Melissa Frances. Our teacher, Caroline Peeler is a designer for them. Over that I used some wallpaper that I had brought with me.

The Country Living photographer also liked my hand painted craft bucket and borrowed it to take photos.

My sparkly "K" tag tied to the bucket was a gift from Holly and the apron was made by Beth. I thought I looked properly crafty for the weekend with my stylish supplies, I hope the editors at Country Living agree!

I guess we’ll see this time next year when the magazine is out. Better get your Silver Bella tickets early, because once that event gets a full spread in Country Living, we’ll never be able to get in, it already sells out quick!

I’m still not 100% unpacked from the trip yet. I did manage to pull out a few bags. And found things Beth bought, not me. Oops, the bags got switched.

But this purchase was definitely mine. I’m not sure what it is, I think old newsprint stamps for ads.

Back in the dark ages, before computers I used to do ads for the local JC Penny’s. Sometimes they would put a dress on special and not have a photo from the home office to use in the advertisements. So, they would call me to sketch it for them and my drawing would run in the Sunday paper. These metal plates remind me of those dresses, but I do think these are from an earlier date.

We found a new antique mall in Missouri on the way home from Omaha, and I bought enough old jewelry to last me a while, or at least until I come across another bargain jewelry find and buy it all out too.

This is just a handful of the 2 shopping bags FULL of sparklies that I bought.

The vintage bottle brush tree is a music box. It has little deer on its base, and the whole thing turns when it is wound up and the music plays. But I think it is from the island of misfit toys, because the deer face backwards when it turns.

I bought a few bottles to glue some of that old jewelry to. And an Eiffel tower. I wasn’t going to get one, but Heather Bullard insisted. And when THE Heather (as I call her) the West Coast style expert tells you to buy something, maybe you should listen!!

She also advised me to get a blog makeover and recommended Sadie Olive for the job. Sara, of Sadie Olive is ready to go and should have something done for the big "What do you LOVE about your Holiday Home?" virtual party on Wed. Dec. 12th.

So, I’ll have a decorated house and a decorated blog to show you!

(Heather has pink and white Eiffel towers on her blog right now, they are sweet.) I will paint and glitter mine up, as I was instructed to by my new style guru.

Friends that I met at Silver Bella, Carol and Jennifer also used Sara’s blog design service and have beautiful sites. Take a look and see. Oh, and so does Joy. All of them are so pretty. I’m excited about the new look!

I will try to unpack the rest of the loot from my weekend tomorrow. Today, we had a house guest. Sugarwings is spending the night.

Twinkle is always thrilled when the fairy grandbaby is here.

You know what happened next don’t you? It involved a lot of splashing and giggling and a very wet dog.

Silver Bella part 2 of MANY to come- you’ll have to stop me when you’ve had enough!

antiques/junking, give away, jewelry, Silver Bella, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / November 12, 2007

I still haven’t unloaded the car from my trip to Silver Bella, but at least all the glitter has been shaken from my suitcase and my clothes are put away.

I am the world’s biggest TV junky and had gone 4 days without. Last night was a pure veg out in front of the TV with Dexter and Larry David.

Today is a studio rearranging day that I can’t quite concentrate and work on.

So, I’ll take quick break from puttering and tell more about Silver Bella.

It was so fun to be able to deliver my October giveaway prize in person- wish that happened more often!

And yes, Jessi is as much fun in person as she seems to be on her blog. (And don’t forget, EVERY comment on my blog is an entry into the monthly drawing)

Here I am with Jessi, Natalie, and Jennifer, more of my blogger friends that I got to see in person.

I was all decked out in my Bella-wear. Tiara, crown shirt (blinged up), 2 vintage crown necklaces, official Silver Bella blinged up hoodie and toting an official Silver Bella tote.

I said that I if I were at Disney World, I’d be that person who was walking around dressed in Mickey Mouse wear from head to toe. I looked like the ultimate tourist/consumer who couldn’t say "no" to a souvenir! And who didn’t have the sense to not wear them all at once.

But the weekend wasn’t all play, there was WORK too. Well, that was more like play!

Each teacher prepared kits for us to make their projects. This one was Jenny and Aaron’s. They painted the scene, then copied it for us to reproduce ourselves.

It was a light hearted, fun kit to put to put together, and I was able to add my own touches, which all the teachers encouraged.

Here is a close up of mine, with a swirly snowy sky done with a ball point glue pen and clear glass glitter.

I also added a vintage reindeer brooch to mine, and switched the ruffle from the white crepe paper (I’m just not a fan of crepe paper) to old wallpaper that I brought along.

I also used a gelly roll stardust pen to outline the windows.

I tried to take a photo of each of my five projects next to the kit they were made from.

And here it is, in place hanging on the wall of Sugarwing’s room.

I liked it in there because it went well with my cottage print collection.

And of course, with the doll house too.

That is the only project I have unpacked so far. I am trying to get ready for the local TV show that is coming this week. The host will be here tomorrow for a pre-interview, and the shoot is Thursday.

Here is my roomie with her finished one too. She really wasn’t demented like the photo seems. She might have just been on glitter overload by then.

Oh, and here is one other thing that is unpacked, because it was in my suitcase not in the big shopping bags that have filled the back of my Scion. (or the Brave Little Toaster as Heather Bullard calls it after our antiquing trip to Brass Armadillo with one of our great teachers and a sweet lady, Jennifer. These rings (and a handful of others I HAD to buy) were black and dingy and over looked. I bought 8 for $7 each, all are vintage, most are sterling and one was 14 kt gold!

A few of us had some time to kill on Saturday afternoon, so drove the Brave Little Toaster (my family calls it the Refrigerator, but I guess it will answer to the name of any appliance) to Brass Armadillo, about 20 minutes from the hotel.

It was one of many highlights of my trip. Jennifer is fascinating and as down to earth and friendly as can be. Heather is hilarious and just too much fun. And of course, you know I love Beth.

And I was in on the birth of the next big design that will be sweeping the country. Jennifer found this vintage pillow and has plans to remake it in her Sis Boom fabrics and you know you will be buying one because it will be so cool.

I’ll have LOTS more of Bella stories, crafts and pictures if you aren’t tired of me going on about it yet.

In the meantime- don’t forget that I am having a virtual blog party on DEC. 12. It will be a Wednesday and we will all link and show each other what we LOVE about our HOLIDAY HOMES.

Part One of Silver Bella ( a mere taste of the gushing to come)

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Silver Bella, Travel

By Karla Nathan / November 11, 2007

Silver Bella was the BEST!

I had been looking forward to it, but had no idea it would be that much fun.

Beth and I drove up from KC and antiqued in St Joe, MO where we ran into a fellow Bella who happened to stop there too!

No, not this gal, but she does look ready for the event.

Carol is also from the KC area and happened to be at Jesse James Antique Mall at the same time as us.

The spending spree was just beginning. I hate to admit it, but since my husband doesn’t read this, I guess I can– I shopped all the way up to Omaha, and went to all the local antique stores, as well as buying things all the way home. And there was Silver Bella Vendor night in between!

At Jess James, Beth and I found a pile of ephemera at dirt cheap prices. Well, dirt cheap for an antique mall, but not estate sale cheap. About 50 cents each isn’t bad, though.

There were so many, we spread them out on the floor, sat down and relaxed as we went through them.

When I got to classes, I was so glad that I had I bought some of the vintage cards. They were an excellent addition to projects there.

And of course, the doll’s head I found in St Joe was a perfect tiara stand for the hotel room.

As soon as we arrived, we "decorated" our room and set out some pretties to enjoy.

Everyone at the event was so nice. Jack and Jenny Heid were sweeties.

I could go on forever, gushing about the glitter and the fun. And I probably will in my next post. But its time to get back to reality, unpack my bags, shake out the sparkles from my suitcase (those poor hotel maids, there was glitter everywhere!! I wonder how many people were like Beth and spent time sitting on the bed cutting, gluing and making little tiny confetti sprinkles with their hole punches?).

And I need to go and play with my little Dorkies and find out what they’ve been up to all weekend.

It always feels good to be back home and to know I was missed.

Hanging around

antiques/junking, family, hand painted signs, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 25, 2007

I did manage to get a few signs painted yesterday. A friend was having a garage sale and of course I had to drop by to see what she had… and this cabinet door was only 50 cents! What great old crackly paint, it made a perfect surface (after a light sanding) to paint on!

The design is pretty simple, not a lot of detail goes into my signs and wall hangings.

Which is how I am able to get so many done in one day. Actually, these 6 were all after dinner last night. From about 8 till midnight or so.

Twinkle seems to think all cameras are aimed only at her, nothing else. I have raised her to be a ham, she loves to pose!

See what I mean?

These stockings were half off of 75% at Tuesday Morning! That made them about $1 each. I’d like to embellish them and foof them up, but don’t sew. It can only be glued on items, or maybe some paint?

The round white frame isn’t finished yet. It was gold with a print I didn’t care for in it, cheap at a garage sale, or somewhere, I buy so much crap, sometimes I don’t even remember getting it.

I painted over the print and the frame and am going to make an acrylic painting of roses in it.

The red signs are parts of a broken magazine rack I pulled out of a dumpster.

This is the mirror I got from the same dumpster earlier this year. I thought I’d paint it, but I really like it as it is. I hung it in my living room this morning and think it goes well with the faux finish in there.

While I had the hammer and nails out, I found a place to hang this BEAUTIFUL piece that Beth gave to me.

I used pink tulle topped off with a millinery flower to hang it by the guest bath sink, then filled it with soaps. I buy a big bagful of those Bed Bath and Bodyworks glycerin soaps (vanilla!) in January when they go on sale for a dollar each. It is usually a years supply, for little gifts and filling baskets and jars, and for using them too, since they smell so good!

Yesterday afternoon, I made this custom order for Heather who is going through a sad time right now.

Usually, I hang the signs from wire that doesn’t show, but knowing Heather and her romantic sense of style, I thought I’d add a millinery flower and some tulle to hang it from. I also spent some extra time on the roses, they aren’t the typical quickie ones I did on the other signs.

Since she has had a loss in the family, I made a little gift to put in the package too, I know she likes vintage wallpaper as much as I do, so used that. I also found an image with a little girl and some doves, which I thought went along with the phrase she had asked for on the sign. I put an "H" for her name in rhinestones on the tag made from old paper and hung it on an aqua organdy ribbon to personalize it further.

There really isn’t much you can do for someone when they lose a family member. I just wanted to show her that I cared and was thinking of her.

Well, on a happier note-

My niece, Shelli (Sissy’s daughter, who is closer to my age and more like a sister than a niece) sent this photo of pumpkins her family carved.

She says they toasted the seeds after and ate them. I’ve never tried that, my boys and I always had pumpkin "gut" fights with the innards. We’d throw the slimy stuff at each other and it would always end up with the two of them smearing it in each other’s faces. See why I love little Sugarwings so much? I deserve a sweet little girl after raising those two boys!

More Halloween goodness from family- Sissy made these witches with pictures of her friends.

Don’t forget every comment enters the drawing. The giveaway will be November 1st!

Giving away some Foof and some practcial painting tips

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / October 16, 2007

Even though my slipcovers turned out cute, (as long as you didn’t look closely at the seams and corners!!) I still hate to sew.

But vintage sewing stuff is so cool. I love the color of the satin on this sewing box, and it is also a music box!

I listed it on Ebay yesterday after filling it with pretties. I know I will NEVER use it if I keep it around.

I try to tell myself that I can’t keep everything. That also goes along with the rule "you can’t buy everything" when you are at a flea market.

Luckily there is Etsy too. I have sincerely loved this venue. I don’t sell a ton of stuff, but enough to justify making more!

I would say that for me, Etsy is about the equivalent of a small art and craft show once a month. Without leaving my cottage!

I made two more button jars to list on Etsy yesterday, one full of blue buttons, with a blue lid, the other red.

But I didn’t make much yesterday, I felt like the day was a mishmash and nothing really got accomplished. I did clean house, babysit and go to the gym and that was a chunk of daylight right there.

I also re-did this cabinet, chest of drawers thing from a garage sale ($25).

It was grey to start with, I lightly sanded and primed it.

I used Zinzer Bullseye spray bonding primer. The only place I can ever find that product (best primer on the planet!!!) is Home Depot.

I always take the drawers out to paint them. And I do paint INSIDE the drawers of old pieces, so they are nice and clean and fresh. I rarely prime the interior, it doesn’t seem to need priming.

Never paint the outside of a drawer, though, that will make it hard to pull in and out.

And of course, it is good to have company while you are working.

I use a small, flat, wheeled square thing that I got at a garage sale for 50 cents to move my furniture. It is easier than maneuvering a dolly. I have built bigger ones like this with a piece of wood covered in carpet remnants and wheels from the hardware store to handle larger pieces of furniture.

I like being able to move almost any piece by myself without asking for help. So all the little tricks and tools I can get, I’m happy to use.

I debated how much time to put into this piece. I know it would have looked great with trim added to the top and the handles removed,their holes filled in with putty, and then glass knobs added.

But, I don’t sell furniture full time now like I used to, and I have few markets for the piece. I am having a sale in December, but if it doesn’t sell then, I’ll be keeping it.

So, I kept the project simple, and primed and painted over the existing handles. I think they have kind of a rustic charm about them.

I lined the inside of the opening with some of my favorite vintage wallpaper. It hurt me a little bit to cut so much off the roll! I usually am making smaller projects with it.

I know it would look great to line the drawers with wallpaper too, but I was being practical with this one. Fresh paint was good enough. Sometimes good enough is OK.

Hmm, if this piece doesn’t sell, I think it will make a pretty backdrop for photographing items I have to sell.

But these are not for sale- the book "Foof of Life" and a handmade bookmark with a tiny painted rose on it will be your prize for my 200th posting!

Today is #197, so check back and enter by leaving a comment on the day of my 200th.

Every comment you leave on any post enters you into my October giveaway, which will be your choice of a Cottage Collage Kit, or else something I have made from one, if you are not a crafter.

Last night, I went to a talk given by a good friend of mine, Louis Copt. He is an amazing artist and does paintings of Kansas landscapes that are so beautiful, you almost think Kansas would be a cool place to live.

Here is his website, take a look at his Prairie Fire series!!!

http://www.louiscopt.com/