antiques/junking – Page 31

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/

I have a screw loose

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, paintings, redos, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 14, 2007

Last night, I embellished old jars that I had filled with vintage buttons.

I used wallpaper on the lid and the label of this one, then added hand drawn swirls onto it in that translucent gold pen I like to use.

It shows up a bit here in the close up of the lid, but really is prettier in person. (I just got an email, the first jar sold on Etsy, but I will list more)

Everything I used on these jars is from my stash of old stuff. I have tons of scrap booking paper and supplies from Michaels and Hobby Lobby, but when I do my art projects, I prefer vintage materials.

I also finished up my Silver Bella ATCs. They have trim at the bottom and a ribbon to hang from, so I don’t know if that breaks any ATC rules, or not. But the swap is at the holiday time, so I thought they’d make nice ornaments.

They are all basically made the same, but no two are exactly alike.

Today, I haven’t done much of any thing but piddle around here and there. I listed a button jar on Etsy and those beautiful, old French illustrations on Ebay.

I’ve been struggling to get this crib together for Sugarwings for months now. I’ve asked everyone to help and no one could figure it out!

The friend who loaned it to me came by and we got it together, but of course, I am missing one screw. As always in any project!

It looked kind of plain so, I added an old table cloth as a skirt. My mother made the quilt years ago, the rosebuds are perfect for this room.

Now the fairy grand baby can actually sleep in her special room, instead of a portable bed downstairs.

(the bed has wheels and I will roll it away from the wall and cords before I let her sleep in it, don’t worry!!)

This chair used to be in the corner of her room, but I moved it into the library to make space for the crib.I added an old slipcover I had made for the chair when it was previously in the living room. For a heavy chair, it sure gets moved from room to room a lot.

The old log cabin style doll house was at a garage sale for $8. I painted it ivory and took the removable roof off to use it at a book rack for the baby’s favorite stories.

This is one of those catch all rooms that a lot of people seem to have. Where all the odds and ends go and you try to make them fit. (this room will need a LOT of work before people tour the cottage!)

This garage sale wicker desk needs repainted, but for now, I just laid two hankies on the top and covered them with a piece of glass from a dresser top.

I’m getting ready for a holiday home tour, so will stick with red and green for this room, and bring in my funky knee-hugger elves and other kitschy things.

The library is a room we added in the attic, this is the little room in the main part of the house that serves as an entry way to the space.

The library walls were textured, by adding joint compound to the paint.

The entryway is the same color of paint, but no texture. I painted leaves onto the wall with acrylic craft paints thinned with glaze, in a slightly darker green. (I just love the fabric on the old chair! It used to be curtains)

We walled of the end of the room to build a linen closet. To give the tiny room some interest, I cut up a broken Victorian foot board to hang above the closet doors.

I have a few of my watercolors hanging in this alcove area.

Sugarwing’s room and our guest room (also part of the attic) are upstairs also.

This is the door that was on the front of our old farmhouse when we bought it.I wanted to keep it, but really had no where practical for it, so here it is at the top of the stairs.

Some one had irritatingly painted over all the glass! I stripped those down to discover that some of the colored glass had been replaced with clear. So I used stained glass paint from Hobby Lobby to fill in. (the fakes are the purple panes)

My last piddling around project this morning was hanging the old print I had added fairy wings to, and above it, the portrait I painted of Sugarwings, back when she was 5 months old. (seems like ages ago that she was a tiny baby!)

These are in her room now and I think I am completely done in there and ready for the Holiday Home Tour!! The baby’s room and the guest room are set to go. Well, except for that one missing screw to the crib……

I’m off to go paint something. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway drawing.

A lucky Fairy Find, Sugarwings goes to her first estate sale, and Ryan gets a date!

antiques/junking, collections, fairies, I do tend to run on, don't I?, paintings

By Karla Nathan / October 12, 2007

It has been a long, long, hectic week, with working on the living room, helping out extra days with the baby,since her dad is hurt, and 2 days of jury duty selection.

Due to the nature of the criminal case, I was a wreck after sitting through the first day of the selection process, even though I wasn’t picked. I had to force myself to go back a second day,and it went better. Plus there was an hour and half lunch break and I went shopping! Finding a pile of pretty junk CHEAP always cheers me up!

This pink frothy prom dress (with a broken zipper, but somehow I don’t think this granny will be wearing it anyway) was only $5! The earrings above were 50 cents a pair and the lovely rose book was $2, so was the white bird. Which will go into my newly decluttered living room to restart the cluttering up process!

Part of my de-cluttering was to take this hand painted ceiling tin piece out of the room.

I still like it, the flowers are just too red for the new look.

I thought I’d show this piece again, because the last time I did, was on the day of my lowest ever number of views on this blog. Only 4 hits that day. So chances are, no one has seen it!

It is so nice to know I am not writing just to myself and there are actually people out there now. Not just readers, friends.

Bethany listened to me the other night when I was really down and upset about the creepy guy at court on Tuesday and how shaken up I was by the few details I had heard about the accusations against him.

Today, Tamy sent me this kind card and these little red hearts as a thank you for hosting the party last month.

That’s just two examples in the last couple of days of the generosity I have seen in the blog world. I am now nearing my 200th post and 80,000 hits. During that time, I have seen countless acts of generosity and friendship from readers and bloggers both.

That is why I am planning on giving away a gift on my 200th posting. Come by to visit that day and enter the drawing!

Another generous blog friend, who actually has been a great friend for years, is Beth. After this tough week, I took yesterday off to go and hang out with her. When I got there, this china bouquet wall pocket was waiting for me!

It is so pretty, I can’t decide where to hang it. Right now, I am just enjoying having it laying out where I can admire it. Shoot, I almost feel like sleeping with it under my pillow, it is so wonderful! (she thought it was ugly, but knew I’d love it)

I packed up my supplies to make ATC cards for my Silver Bella swap.

I loved this old photo, and copied it thinking she’d look lovely in a German foil crown that I got from Speckled Egg (another Bella- she has a great shop).

Beth had given me the gray floral wallpaper, and I thought it was fitting for the "silver" background of the Silver Bella cards.

I took her some wallpaper too.

We are both totally addicted to the stuff, and share in each other’s finds. Speaking of—- LOOK AT THIS!!!!

Fairy wallpaper!!!!

These cards aren’t quite done yet, I’ll be adding some of the Martha Stewart White Gold glitter to the outlines of the background flowers.

These took forever, lots of steps. I should have just painted something instead, it would have been quicker, and I doubt anyone will know how complicated these were to make.

There are hand drawn metallic swirls in the background of the paper, and the lady’s face has been tinted with pastels, then her dress is outlined in glitter ink, and two different metallic two-toned paints were used on her dress. It might have taken a while, but we had fun, Beth was making Christmas tags and we were snacking and laughing all day.

I took another day off today too! I figured after court, I deserved it. I took my fairy grand baby to her very first estate sale and it was a good one.

Three boxes of old hats and millinery flowers for $3 or $5 a box!

There were some, nice big roses in the box too.

Some sewing supplies, that I bought mostly because I found what I thought was a dream come true in the box–

A BOX OF PREMADE BOBBINS!!!!!!!!!!!

Juggling a baby and three boxes of hats, made it kind of hard to look inside the bobbin box, and I figured I’d use the seam binding and buttons any way, so I bought it without opening it.

Sadly, it was just a bobbin holder, don’t you think the picture on the box is misleading??? And why don’t they sell filled bobbins? Heck, you don’t have to thread your own spools, why do you have to thread your own bobbins???

The rest of the day off was spent in watching a great Zombie movie, 28 Weeks later. That first zombie scene in it is one of the scariest I have ever seen. And I am a huge Zombie fan. I used to make Cherry cobbler to eat during these movies and call it zombie guts, but my son, Ryan went on a diet and lost 100 pounds and now he won’t eat cobbler with his mom any more.

Great news! A girl asked my shy son Ryan for his phone number and he is going out with her! I am thrilled to see him get out of the house and meet some one. All he does is work and work out and play video games (or watch horror movies with mom).

I’ve done it again, ran on and on. Remember- every comment enters the monthly drawing. Thanks!

The Writing is on the Wall

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), hand painted signs, jewelry, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 5, 2007

I finally found some charms that are exactly what I was looking for to paint on! These come in a pack of 3 at Jo Ann’s and I only bought a few packs to try them out.

Now that I know how much I like painting them, I’ll need to get more! I’ve listed 3 on Etsy today, at $12 each, if you are interested.

They are dainty, about the size of a postage stamp. It takes a teeny brush to get the details in.

Its funny that I was painting such tiny things last night, because I had just taken Sugarwings for a walk and we happened to walk by a school where I had done some mural work, the opposite of the teeny little pictures.

We popped in to look at the mural so I could take a photo. (Yes, these are my normal clothes, I am always covered in paint!)

What is cool about this large wall, is that over the faux finish, I added words naming qualities to strive for as an inspiration wall for the students (this is in the study room).

In the flash of the camera, many of the words show up, but they are painted in a way, that you have to move around to see them, they only show as the light hits them just right. I used transparent, metallic paints and it is a really interesting effect.

I liked to think that this wall symbolized need to strive to attain goals, and that these traits represented by this text had to be earned, they weren’t that simple to grasp.

Plus, I thought it was a pretty way to do it!

On the way home from my son’s house after dropping off the little Fairy Grand baby, I stopped at a garage sale.

Junker Jo sets up a beautiful sale, and it is all great stuff at good prices.

I bought a couple things. This English pitcher was only $3 and so was the salvage piece. I plan on painting it, it will make a great sign.

Today I did get a few signs painted for my holiday show.

Although, I seemed to be having writers block on good phrases to use. Maybe I’ve made so many signs over the years, that I am feeling repetitive.

Any body know any French phrases that would make a pretty sign? Keep in mind I don’t speak French, and it wouldn’t be funny to trick me into writing dirty words on the signs, the Holiday Sale is for charity!!!

We are having unseasonably warm weather around here. So I took advantage of it by going out to the lake with Sugarwings and Sparkle today while I babysat.

The wind made the water a bit choppy, so we didn’t stay out on the boat long, but we had a great time with the wagon up by the Marina. Sugarwings got to break in her new $1 garage sale life jacket, and wasn’t too happy about the bulkiness of it.

I had some people inquiring about the desk in my newly rearrange office that I showed a few days ago. It is buried in my Etsy listed inventory. but sure is a pretty piece, isn’t it? It is the original blue that I got it in, but I did add a touch of white wash to make the roses show up more.

Tomorrow I am face painting at a fair in a nearby town that is celebrating its 150th anniversary.

I did some practicing on Sugarwing’s cheek this afternoon. If this is an example of the work I’m going to be producing, I shouldn’t be charging for it!

Hopefully, I’ll have some less wiggly kids to paint up tomorrow. Or I am in trouble.

Well, the baby is gone for the day and I am exhausted. Grandmama needs a nap.

Can there be TOO Many Roses? and a Temporary Hobby comes to an end.

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 4, 2007

Do you ever do a project that you put some time into, but it was still a wasted effort?

I painted this floral on the back of a linoleum scrap to make a rug. I’ve done this many times, it is a great way to make a cheap rug that is durable. (I have a stone patterned one in my office from a post a few days ago)

For some reason, this linoleum curls up on the edges, and will not lay flat, no matter what I try to do to flatten it. Guess I should have made sure it was going to be flat before I painted it, huh? Well there goes $10 in supplies and an hour of my time!

On a happier note, look at my new frying pan!!!

I got it for $1 at an estate sale last Saturday! It is a good, well made and well loved pan, and has a lot of use left in it- and it is PINK!!!

Carole sent little Sugarwings this book for her first birthday, and I promptly fell in love with Tasha Tudor. How can I have gone almost 50 years without noticing her work before?

I love her style and thought I would "adopt" it for a series of Christmas ornaments.

Generous Carole, is having back surgery tomorrow, please drop by to wish her well if you can. As a person with a bad back, I know how emotionally and physically draining that can be. I’ve had my share of back surgeries!

I only got a couple more ornaments painted yesterday,but they are not Tasha Tudor inspired, just my regular roses.

I also used two of my hand painted rose medallions (available on Etsy) to make a folder from one of my favorite vintage wallpapers. I’ll stuff it with Cottage Collage Kit vintage goodness and have it offered on Etsy too. (This is the same pattern as the ones that will be featured in Somerset Living – yippee- love that magazine!!)

I purchased these unfinished wood frames at Hobby Lobby after the 4th of July for under 50 cents each. I thought they could be Shabby Chic Christmas style instead of Independence Day with a few changes.

This one has a simple and sweet border of barely-there glitter and the roses are painted onto green sheet music, then coated with paper glaze, for a sheen.

the second one got a gloriously gaudy border with a heavier application of glitter, and a small silver star with a vintage rose bit of jewelry added to it at the top.

These roses are painted onto gold and white old wallpaper, but I got carried away and the paper doesn’t even show.

Are you all rosed-out at this point? I did have quite the rose painting day, yesterday between running errands (20 minutes to wait for a prescription at Wal-Mart????).

My Sissy gave me this print as part of the Swap we did in August. See the little Dorkie in it at the girl’s feet??

I decided to make the little girl in the picture into a fairy, by painting on some wings and antennas. (Although,if she wants to put her pretty bonnet back on now, the antenna might get in the way.)

To make the paint look like it belonged to the print, I used a crackle glaze over the whole picture after the paint dried, then when that dried well, I wiped a dark umber glaze into the cracks.

I used old ribbon and a fairy charm to hang it.

I covered the mat in the same vintage wallpaper I had happened to have laying on the craft table from making the folder (some decisions are best left to chance, I move quicker that way!) I used my stardust Gelly pen to outline the roses in the paper and give it some sparkle.

The inside edge of the mat is covered with seam binding ribbon and the old pink velvet is glued down then old earring are glued over that. I tore a chunk of flowers and velvet off a lovley old hat and added that at the bottom for extra foof.

Can you see the bottom of the painted wreath it is hanging from? I painted that on my closet door and hang little pretties from it sometimes. Others, I just leave it as a plain grapevine wreath.

And speaking of grapevine wreaths- I have finished my "temporary hobby" of making wreaths.

This is my 4th and final wreath. The rest of the 25 cent silk flowers will just go into vases. I did enjoy doing these few wreaths, but decided it just isn’t for me.

I was just making wreaths to get them done and over with, life is too short to make things because you feel like you have to.

By the way, in case you don’t know, if you leave a comment you are entered into October’s Giveaway Drawing.

Also, I am at 190 posts! I’ll have a special drawing for #200 and giveaway a gift then too!