antiques/junking – Page 32

Teaparties, A Gift for YOU, Fairies and a sprinkling of Dust to top it off

a lapse of memory again, or am I just careless?, antiques/junking, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, I've been tagged, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 10, 2007

Welcome to the Tea Party! It is being hosted by those pretty pink people who make everything so nice and everyone is invited to join. The teaparty will go on all week, so you can return for seconds on scones and tea!

Tomorrow is my day to have Sugarwings, so she can’t be here for this party today. She’s still a bit young, but I can see that very soon, she and Grandmama will be playing fairy tea party together.

And Twinkle is up for any party, any time.

These are the hand painted doors to the closet in Sugarwing’s room here at her grandparent’s cottage. Inside, are all the dress up clothes I am starting to collect for her from garage sales for her to wear at future tea parties.

And of course, I have started to collect some fairies to invite as guests to our upcoming events.

The itty bitty ballerina fairy was a gift from Holly, who always has the cutest stuff.

This pretty cobalt teapot was my mom’s. The blue framed photo in front is of her, wasn’t she pretty too?

The little rose covered book was made by Beth.

Yes, I see the dust too. Don’t you know that a person who owns this much junk also owns a lot of dust???

I used to have a larger collection of teapots, but edited it down to rose-themed, matte white or tarnished silver and threw in some tea cups to match.

My son built these kitchen cabinets for me, and I had him make sure there was plenty of teapot space on top.

The little pot in front, is my Grandma Smith’s. She would pack it up in her suitcase and bring it every time she came up to Indiana to visit us from Florida.

Grandma Smith’s is what got me started on the collection.

Here is a watercolor I did of her silver teapot years ago when I was into quilts and dried flowers. Now, I just have the painting in the closet of my studio. I should ask my family if anyone wants it.

Nieces? Sisters? Any of you read this? If you want this painting, let me know.

There is a teeny little self portrait in the reflection of the silver

Here is another sentimental thing for me, my mom’s tea cup (it is under the cake plate and has china roses in it.)

When mom died 5 years ago (it still feels like just yesterday sometimes) Sissy was sweet and divided up mom’s beautiful rose dishes so that we each had 2 place settings to display. I have built up a collection of matching dishes, well in color and style, if not in pattern, and keep them all on this shelf in my kitchen with fairies, angels and elves. And probably more dust.

Did I mention that I love teapots? I’ve tied mini ones from my kitchen chandelier too.

I bought new vintage wallpaper this week and had a wonderful time making tags, tons and tons of tags. Here is a sample.

And since you have been such nice guests at my tea party today, and no one complained about the dust on their teacups, I have a present for you.

I made this refrigerator magnet with some of my new-old wallpaper and brass charms I bought at the flea market last week.

I will give it away today as a gift to a commenter. And remember, I have a giveaway for the month of September, you just have to leave a comment. The comments to win the magnent will count toward that too.

I was tagged by MJ and a couple other people (sorry I lost the emails) for the Thoughtful bloggers award, back when I was coming home from my vacation and never got around to posting about it, I was so behind on everything. I want to thank them and apologize for not noting it. I was also tagged for the name game by Priscilla and by —- oh my— I lost that email too. I’m sorry. I’ll find it later so I can thank them.

Anyway, my middle name is JO so, this will be short (even from me, the QUEEN OF RAMBLING)

J– Junk!! I Just love Junk!

O– Oh my gosh, I Just love Junk!

A flowery guest, some flowers I painted, and second thoughts

antiques/junking, Books, Etsy Goodies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / September 3, 2007

I hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day weekend? We spent a lot of it boating, and I just had to show you this fashionable young guest, Katie, who came along today for her first boat ride.

Everyone brought great food for a pitch in picnic and the lake water temperature was perfect. I spent a lazy afternoon floating around and stuffing chocolate cake and pasta salad in my mouth.

Why does food taste so much better outdoors???

Before boating, I did manage to get some work in. I packed up goods that sold in Etsy and have them ready to mail, then painted a lot of white base coats on things I had lying around waiting to be spruced up.

This was a too shiny brass piece, isn’t the paint and umber glaze an improvement?

I also painted two of these buckets that I bought at Goodwill. They were plain galvanized tin, with the embossed hearts, I painted them white after priming them and adding a crackle spray coat.

After adding the hand painted roses, I glazed over the buckets with umber glaze. When it was wiped off, the crackled areas showed up pretty.

This isn’t a project I did today, but I found it today! It was packed away and I forgot I had it. This is a mirror that I sanded the back off of in a spot, and added some vintage rose paper to, so that it peeks through the hole. I added a wired ribbon and one of my vast collection of millinery flowers, and its done.

While I was painting roses on buckets, I decided to paint more wallpaper medallions.

The rest of the day involved cooking and cleaning, not nearly as much fun as creating or boating.

I did take some time to look through this book that I purchased at the flea market this week.

I bought it because the font was pretty, the words were French and the pages were old. I want to use it as wall paper on the wall behind my couch.

I thought I could frame the illustrations, and glue the text to the wall.

But after examining it, I think it just might be too nice to tear up. What do you think? The only date I could find in it is an inscription in the front that says

"Edward Breck With love to Papa Chele from Nell. Christmas 1928"

It is a soft cover book and the front is torn loose a bit.

The illustrations are on a tissue paper and are simply laying in the book, not glued down. They are wonderful, but I keep going back and forth about my original plan, I wonder if I should just salvage the lovely pictures and make use of the rest of the book, or is this book worth something? I paid $20 for it myself.

Does anyone know about old books and have any advice?

Spooky things, Storing things, and trying not to Hoard things

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, flowers, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 1, 2007

While going through my stash of goods from the big flea market this week, I came across some things that had a touch of Halloween flair (lucky numbers 7, unlucky 13, some old ribbons in black and orange, and a bunch of other fallish things)

So I decided to make up Cottage Collage Kits with a Fall Theme.

For each one, I used a bit of the papers to make a sample of what could be done with the kits.

I don’t do a lot of Halloween decor myself, but can appreciate the colors and I really enjoyed putting these packs together for someone else who would get more use out of it than I would.

I have the kits listed on Etsy for $12 each, if anyone wants a big bunch of Halloween goodies to work with.

Each kit contains a generous handful of orange and green millinery flowers, because I seem to have a lifetime supply!

Look at all these flowers! I just want to spread them out and roll in them, I love them all so much. I am FORCING myself to not hoard them, to actually use them and enjoy making pretty things with the flowers.

Trying to put away my new acquisitions from the flea market made me reorganize my studio so I’d have a place to store them all within reach and within sight. If my supplies are hidden away, I forget about what I have and don’t use it.

Plus, it is fun to have all my favorite things out where I can enjoy them!

This stuff is just too cool to hide away.

All of the storage containers were things I already had, except these lidded glass jars. I had a chair from TJMaxx that broke, and when I returned it, I saw these on the clearance table for $7 -$10 each. There was cash back on this purchase after returning the broken chair, that is always nice.

After organizing, I couldn’t wait to play with my new pretties!

So, I finished decorating the folders I am making for Somerset Living.

I swore to myself that I would not hoard my vintage wallpaper either. I am using it and enjoying it!

The first two folders were from wallpaper that Beth gave to me, and the third is from some I ordered on Etsy.

The inside of this folder is a watercolor wash I did on some heavier paper.

And see- I used two big millinery flowers on this one! Good start on the pledge to not hoard!

While I am trying to not be stingy with the papers, I am also not being wasteful. I save all the teeny bits in a big hat box and dig through it for detail items, like the tags I made on all 3 of these folders.

It might seem silly to save such little pieces of scrap, but I don’t think this card that I made would have been nearly as pretty without the thumbnail sized bit of wallpaper that I added and wrote "rose" on.

I made that ATC into a birthday card and tied it to a bag that I put one of the $1.99 rose pots into and gave it to a friend for her birthday yesterday.

We went to an art opening another friend was having at KU, and then out for margaritas

to celebrate.

And now, I need to announce my gifts for the winners of the August giveaway!

Since I had so many comments I am giving two presents. Second place will be a hand made paper doll dress. And it goes to

ELAINE

And first place, with the choice of a Cottage Collage Kit or a hand made item is

Stephanie. Ladies, please contact me and I’ll get your goodies in the mail. And thanks to everyone who entered. I appreciate all your comments and conversations. That is why I have a big giveaway every month. And since today is Sept. first, I have started a new contest!

All comments from the month get entered, and I’ll let you know what the prize will be when I figure it out.

I am glad my husband never reads this, he’d hate knowing how much junk I bought today!

antiques/junking, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 31, 2007

What a great day at the flea market in Sparks, KS! Beth and I found so many goodies, but most of what I got was project material.

I was surprised at the end of the day, how many of my purchases were "supplies" for making it all into collage art or scrap booking.

These 1930s prescriptions were a couple dollars for "a handful"

The grocery store price tags were $2 for a baggie full, and I got another baggie full of pretty little rose themed greeting cards for only $4.

I did get carried away at one booth where I found lots of vintage brides, bridesmaids, and other bins of craftable goodies.

That booth also had bundles of never used, but old, velvet millinery leaves.

Then I saw all the brass charms, not old, but charming. I spent about $40 at that one stop.

A bag filled with a dozen of these sweet birdies was $6.

And GEESH, do you think I got enough old hats and seam binding ribbons????? There were about 80 packets in the bag of ribbons, for $15. And the hats ranged from $1 to $4 each, and have wonderful flowers to pluck off and use in projects!!

The teeny velvet pillow with the needlepoint robin was only 50 cents, and the wall paper covered box I have it all stored in was TEN BUCKS.

And isn’t this a pretty book? All the pages are lovely, and so was the price, $1.

The photos were 5 for $1, so I got about 25 of those.

The large card in my favorite shade of blue was $1, but is a bit ragged. And the velvet bow was a dollar too.

Throughout the day, I scooped up lots of sparkly rhinestone bits of jewelry for $1 each.

And I haven’t even photographed the beautiful French book ($20- big purchase of the day!) and the bags of Christmas ornaments ($5 a bag) that I found, yet.

Sparks is a unique place to go, I don’t even know how to begin to describe it, that town is a puzzle to me.

I can’t imagine that anyone actually lives there. All the homes, barns, and businesses look like they have been turned into shops that are open twice a year for the flea.

I heard that this used to be the bank. This building seems to be the least decrepit of the area, it is pretty cute.

We shared an order of biscuits and gravy at Bubbles Cafe for breakfast. I don’t think Sparks is notable for its food, but they weren’t bad.

We ran into a blog friend, Carol was there too. It was good to meet her, she will be at Silver Bella this November and we will be seeing her again then.

I have to wonder what the town looks like after everyone packs up and leaves? A ghost town? I really HOPE no one lives there, that would be kind of sad, the place is pretty run down. But it sure makes for a great flea market, and I am already counting the days till spring and it is open again!

Lost Friends, Blogger Friends and my generous friend, Beth, as well as some witchey women who look like they might be close friends

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, how to's, jewelry, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 29, 2007

My husband called from a road trip last night to say that there were funeral services he was going to miss this morning for a wonderful lady who used to work for him years ago.

He asked me to order flowers for her, but I wanted to do something special, she was such a nice person.

So I took one of the $1.99 mini rose pots that I got at the grocery and painted the pot in 3 golds with a sponge, and added hand painted roses.

I cut a banner from scrap booking paper, aged it with ink, and wrote her name, Mavis, across the banner in gold outlined in black, then added gold glitter glue. The glitter seemed too heavy, so I took a paint brush and cleaned up the lines, took the extra glitter that I removed and touched it here and there to the leaves of the plant.

I needed to be at the funeral home by 8am this morning to drop it off for the family, so my day started early.

It is amazing how much you can get done when you get a jump start on the day. I even ran errands and stopped at the gym on the way home.

Then, I listed A TON of stuff on Etsy, including some jewelry that I had made.

I don’t make jewelry very often, but when I do, I get on a serious kick and make a lot of it for days on end. A couple times a year of those binges keeps me stocked up for all of my art shows, or where ever else I sell it.

I only use vintage beads and crystals, and try to keep each piece unique.

I don’t know how well it will do on Etsy, but was worth a try.

I added a few more paper doll dresses and a couple of other pretties made from ephemera.

AND MY EARLY START ON THE DAY WAS GONE!!!!!!!!!

It took forever to list all of that, I didn’t finish until 1:30.

Finally, by 2, I got to play with wallpaper!!!

I made up more witchey women with the copies of that old photo I am crazy about.

These are my "pastel witches"

Beth had given me some tags she’d glued wallpaper to, and I used those as a base.

I drew on the wallpaper with a gold gel glitter pen, that is my favorite new toy!

Then, I used the ladies on a large shipping tag (4×8) covered in some of the wallpaper that I bought on Etsy last week.

This time, they get to be royalty instead of witches.

But they really are meant to be witches, so in the last collage that I did with the photo, I gave them witch hats made from green velvet cut from vintage millinery flowers.

I started decorating the folders I am sending to Somerset. The pattern I am using to make them came from my sister

She had made this pretty pink one for me as part of our swap.

I’ve been tracing her folder and making them out of wallpaper.

The emblems on this one are copies of old postcards covered in crackle glaze.

Too bad you can’t see in this photo the cool way the glaze dried, all crazed and old looking.

These aren’t done yet, I need to play with them a bit more, and then I get to fill them up with vintage collage supplies and ship them off to Somerset Living. I just love that magazine and am thrilled to be included in it!

Tomorrow, Beth and I jaunt off to to our semi annual flea market up in Sparks and White Cloud, KS. It is Memorial and Labor Day weekends and is so much fun.

Last spring, I found this box of beautiful glass hardware

and this box of old receipts.

I am all a-twitter about what I might find tomorrow!!

We are hoping to meet Carol there, she is a blogger friend that we have never met in person, but lives in the Kansas City area (which is a great part of the country to live in if you love junk!)

Our other blogger friend, Carlene is always saying she can’t find such great things in AZ. So, sweet, generous soul that she is, Beth is making her a boxful of vintage Christmas goodies! I am including this dear little deer for her.

She likes pink, on one of the first posts that I read of hers, she had just died her hair pink.

The pink rose on its head reminded me of Carlene’s pink hairdo. Hope she likes it!

I need to finish up my studio work for the day and pack up my car for tomorrow’s big event- SPARKS AND WHITE CLOUD!!!

Heck, I thought I was up and on the go early today, tomorrow is going to be really early for me. But worth it!

All the rest have 31

a lapse of memory again, or am I just careless?, antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, flowers, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 28, 2007

Does anyone else notice anything wrong with this calender???

It was a gift from my BIL, the guy on the left in the photos. (my husband is the guy in the middle – but this was 20 some years ago!) He gathered up great family pictures, took them to a copy place and had a memento calender made up for Christmas.

I just realized today, that August really isn’t over. I don’t think it is my fault that I was confused, although, don’t most people know that only Feb. gets down to just 28 days?? I should remember that poem about the months!

The Month Poem
.

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
February has twenty-eight alone,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting Leap-Year, that’s the time
When February’s days are twenty-nine.

Anyway, there are a couple of bonus days in August for me!! And that means more chances to enter the drawing for this month.

I didn’t get much work done today. I thought I might, I found this baby corral at garage sales. Actually, it is two that I put together, so she’d have space to roam in.

But of course, why would Sugarwings want to be corralled when she has a Grandmama to play dress up with? And Twinkle to read stories to?

Or shopping carts shaped like cars to ride in? We went to the grand opening of the new CVS in our town to use up all of the grand opening special coupons that expired Sept. 1st, (which, is NOT tomorrow, like I thought).

The shopping cart was so fun, we walked around and around the building and played with it outside till another little kid came along who looked like he and his mom needed to borrow it from us.

So then we went to the grocery store, where the carts aren’t nearly as much fun- but they do have $1.99 flowers!

I bought a bunch of glads and three pots of mini roses, including the cute tiny trellis in each pot, all for $1.99 each.

I did manage to make ONE THING today, and only half of it is done. I used some old floral cardboard from a chest that had fallen apart to make a folder for one of my Cottage Collage Kits.

I keep paper goods in a similar chest, but it isn’t much longer for the world, it definitely has seen better days. I won’t let it go to waste, though. I can see many craft projects in its future after I find a replacement for storage!

You can see the back of the folder here in this photo next to some garage sale purchases from this weekend.

I see a tea party in the making here. I can’t wait till Sugarwings is big enough to play big girl games with me! I’ve been collecting tea sets, doll cradles, dress up clothes, and all sorts of fun things for us to do together.

Don’t forget, there are actually a couple more days left in this month, go ahead and enter the drawing again!!

A Fairy Grandbaby and a Grandma in Fairyland

antiques/junking, fairies, family, Food and Drink, give away, parties, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 19, 2007

A quick question for you- is anyone noticing a faster loading time since I learned that I am supposed to make my pictures smaller? Also, any loss of quality in the photos? thanks for letting me know

Sugarwings loved every second of her birthday party last night!

I think her favorite gift was the pink ball with sunflowers on it. And doesn’t it look so pretty with her birthday frock?

She enjoyed the party down to the very last crumb of her cake. I enjoyed the evening too, she was such a joy, so happy and fun and loving her party!

I started a new photo album today, to mark the beginning of my fairy grand baby’s 2nd year.

I found an album for 50 cents at a garage sale and redid the front of the cover with vintage wallpapers. The inside was doen in textured, flocked paper.

The original cover was brown cardboard with a car on the front, not exactly my style, but a good sized album at a very good price.

With a few added embellishments, it is now "me".

Right down to the "K" on the front. I cut that out of an envelope that came with the box of goodies I won from Natelea. This black and white wall paper is from Beth and if you want some- she is having a giveaway of a good pile of wallpaper!!

There is something about a brand new book, ready to fill with pictures. Kind of like picking out your school supplies in the fall and taking out that first crayon.

I wanted a special photo for the first page. My cousin emailed this B&W picture of our Grandma Downey at Fairyland Caverns.

I rubbed pastels onto it with my fingers, used a gold glitter gen pen to outline some areas, then make the entrance to Fairyland sparkle with glitters. It was then mounted onto pink glitter paper (you can’t have too much glitter in Fairyland!!) and is ready to add to my new scrapbook. But, first I have to get some fixative to spray it, or I’ll have a mess.

If you’d like an assortment of old papers and photos in a Cottage Collage Kit or a project made from one, if you are not a collage-er– – just leave a comment and you are entered into my August give away!

A One Year Birthday and a Brand New Birth plus a SUPERSTAR Guitar Guy!

antiques/junking, family, how to's, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2007

My Fairy Grand baby is One Year Old now.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and blogger love she received!

Another sweet little baby that is all grown up is my niece’s son, Jimmy Lutton. He leaves on Tuesday from small town, Indiana for the Big Apple where he begins his tour with Emiko as the bass guitar player.

I watched her concert on TV last week, she has an earthy, emotional voice and I enjoyed seeing her. I want to buy a CD, but I’m too cheap to buy two, so I’ll wait and get one that Jimmy is on!!

Michelle Ward ‘s "Crusade" this month is "Make Some Noise". So, besides being full of Auntly pride in Jimmy’s big break (which he deserves, since he is soooo talented) I wanted to combine a scrap booking photo of him, with the link to Emiko’s site (Jimmy is not playing on it yet).

We were treated to a mini concert this summer, where Jimmy played for the family, so I included photos of the crowd watching him play. They are slid into a pocket that I made by cutting a triangle from card stock and adding a cut out picture of Jimmy’s mom, Shelli, and my other niece, Stevie to the front of the pocket. TIP: When adding a pocket to a scrapbook for storing extra photos, always have the pocket open to the inside, so that the pictures don’t fall out. (I learned the hard way)

I then punched a star (I always knew he would be one someday!!) into the top of the page and also into 2 photos of him glued back to back and tied the photos to the page with a snippet of yarn. When the book is closed, his picture just tucks back inside.

Speaking of scrap booking, I found these two old journals today when I was out garage sailing. One has a slight damaged spot (where the doofusses stuck on a price tag!) but neither book has ever been used.

If anyone is interested in these two books for a project, I can send them both to you for $12, and that should include postage.

And speaking of postage- look what came in the mail while I was on vacation! My order of ballerinas from Etsy .

And I just so happened to have a hand carved ballerina shelf to set them all on too! I will keep a few up there, but will use the rest for projects.

The mail lady was good to me this week. Cheryl sent me this adorable mail art- yep this little cutie is a hand made post card, that says "happy anniversary" on the back!

And I won a custom made gift package from Natalea filled with pretty things, embellished with "K" for Karla, and lots of roses. Sugarwings has already laid claim to the white wicker chair. She can sit her teeny little bottom right on it for now, but soon, the way she is growing, it will have to be a dolly chair.

I think the photo that Natalea (a fellow Silver Bella) took for her blog was prettier, you should go look there to see it better.

And yes, there is more! Jennifer sent my art doll hat from the swap .

Isn’t she magical?

And because I have been on vacation for over a week, and my house is trashed since I have been so busy from the time I got home till now and haven’t had a chance to get it back to normal- I have been daydreaming about clean, pretty houses. Like my friend, Angie’s home.

Everything about her home is tranquil.

and elegant

And her dining table isn’t covered with 2 weeks of newspapers that no one has recycled. I’ll bet there aren’t bags and suitcases piled up in the kitchen either. Who leaves a suitcase in the kitchen for almost a week? I need to go unpack, I should stop writing now and get to work!

Oh but first,

I am a great auntie again! Kaydance was born the 13th to her mom, Steffi, and her dad, Aubrey, my nephew who is stationed in Bagdad and wasn’t home for his daughter’s birth. Wish him a safe a swift return back to his new baby, please.

I might get a bit carried away sometimes…….

antiques/junking, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, jewelry, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 15, 2007

It feels so good to be home. I had a great time while visiting Indiana and my family where I grew up, but I am a Kansas girl now, so of course- "There is No Place Like Home!"

Twinkle is glad I am back, and she has someone to play dress up with again. Well, I’d like to think she enjoys these games….

And, I might have bought a few hats while out junking with my sisses and at all the places along I 70 that I stopped at. I got some great deals and will now have a lifetime supply of millinery flowers for projects!

Sissy has this wonderful old dress that she decided she just can’t save from crumbling (she actually gets away with wearing this kind of stuff and looks wonderful) so is going to salvage it for projects too.

It looked to us like all these details were hand done!

As great as the treasures were that I found while out junking with my sisters, my best deal of the week was at a roadside shop in Illinois somewhere. I found BAGS of old jewelry on clearance, and wished I could have bought even more. But I did mention, it was on the way home- after a week of shopping, right??

I will pull out pieces for jewelry making, then some for collage projects, and pack up the rest for my Etsy shop to make up for my splurges.

The booth I got it from was selling quart size zip lock bags full of earrings for $6 a bag, and these are nice pieces, not broken or mismatched.

A gallon bag of pins, was only $10. There are lots of poodles, kitties, birds and other creatures, most really cute, except a few owls, but I have never been fond of owls.

Pink plastic birdies meant for birthday candles will be great in projects too.

And I never have enough of these German die cuts.

This plate was $2 at Goodwill in Indy. And I can’t wait to play with these old flocked red birds!!!!!! I see glitter in their future.

This rosey light was at the same Goodwill for $9.99. The lamp had a shade, but I didn’t care for it. I might foof one up special for it. I will also cover the white center pole (well, I doubt if that is the technical lighting term) in vintage paper.

Goodwill also coughed up this matte white vase for 99 cents. It is marked USA on the bottom and will fit nicely with my collection.

I dithered over spending $24 for all these doll pieces at an antique store in Greenfield, even tho I knew it was a good price, I was trying to stay on a budget.

But, of course, I caved in and got them, they are too cool not to!

The brass corner pieces were slightly pricey too, $1 each, and I bought a dozen. They’ll make wonderful additions to collages, and I’ll be glad to have them.

One of my favorite things from the trip is this silver necklace that Sissy made for me, as part of our swap. It is a disc she found a bag of at Goodwill, soldered jump rings onto and added crystals and a chain to.

It is soooo pretty and delicate. (Beth gets one in her box of goodies from the swap too)

Speaking of boxes of goodies:

If you are interested in my give away for August, please leave a comment to enter (as often as you’d like). You get a choice of a Cottage Collage Kit (that will be featured in an upcoming Somerset publication) or an item I have made from the goods that I put into the kits. (These links are to my Etsy shop and show examples, not the actual prizes) I will have a 2nd place prize this month too, since I received so many comments!

As wonderful as my week with Bobbie Sue and Sissy was, it is good to be home to celebrate Sugarwings birthday tomorrow! I can’t believe my little fairy grand baby is one year old.

Sugarwing’s birthday also marks the one year anniversary of my scrap booking obsession. I made two little pink ones to start with for her, and since then, have gone slightly bonkers.

Of course, momentous occasions like her first pair of pants, her first taste of ice cream, her first well, any thing she ever did, has been well documented in my stack of pretty books. Happy Birthday, my little fairy girl!

Artful Bloggers Party- How to Paint Furniture

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, how to's, how-to projects, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 8, 2007

Yes, I am back for a second time today, but wanted to get an early start on the Artful Blogger’s Party hosted by Kari. I am leaving for a family reunion tomorrow (and hope to post from my sis’s house while gone) but needed to get my part of the party started before I go!

I just looked and Kari already has 3 party guests with their "how to’s" up and running, it promises to be a big bash!

I bought two of these chairs (hand carved and signed on the leg!) at a garage sale for a great deal. Some think it is a shame to paint old pieces, but if they are unwanted, and unused as is, then what is their true value?

I start with light sanding. You don’t have to sand it to the bare wood, a light touch is all that is needed.

I like my power sander, but a piece of medium sandpaper by hand works too.

I keep a beat up, old, fluffy brush to dust off sanding residue and spider webs.

ALWAYS PRIME!

Make sure your primer says "bonding" or "will stick to glossy surfaces". Zinzer and Gripper are good ones. But read the label and make sure it will BOND. There are many kinds of primer out there and the wrong one will ruin your project.

For these chairs, I used 3 colors, white, tan, and taupe. I poured a bit of each into the paint tray, with the colors butting up next to each other, and mixing as I used them.

I dipped my sea sponge into all 3 colors at once, smooshing and mixing it together as I dabbed it on.

I keep a cheap-o 50 cent brush around for pushing paint into crevices.

Notice how the paint starts to blend together in the pan? I add in fresh paint a little at a time if it starts to get too mixed together. Also, I dampen and rinse out my sponge regularly in a bucket of water I keep nearby.

Once the chair is painted, I start on the details, I painted the oval emblem white.

I got out acrylic craft paints in the colors I’d need for my flowers.

At first, my roses are blobby. But that is only background color. I let it dry, and I painted the scroll work around it, green.

Over the background colors, I swirled highlights over the roses and leaves.

Because the backs of the chairs were such a cool shield shape and show every bit as much as the front, when pulled up to the table, I added flowers to the backs also.

Again, I did a background color for each flower, and kind of sketched it out with paint.

I dipped my brush into more than one color at once as I applied the paint, so that the flowers had more dimension. I started with the base color sketch, in the darkest shades.

To the darkest shades, I started adding highlights and details.

Its important to let each application dry before adding more. If you try to add the highlights to wet paint, you just get smears.

Letting the coats dry in between will give you layers and depth.

Sometimes, you need to go back in with a little bit more dark paint, like I did in the center of the rose. But mostly, the last layers are all lighter and lighter colors as you add them.

Once the flowers were done, I added metallic gold paint, with a 1" wide brush, twisting it to a point as I pulled it down into a swirl.

To give the chair some age, I used a medium grit sand paper on the edges, for distressing.

I "distressed" right across the hand painted flowers too.

To complete the "aging", I used a stain and poly mix.

I buy throw away brushes at estate sales so I don’t have to wash them out with turpentine when I am done, since I hate the smell of that stuff!

I brushed on the poly/stain in small areas at a time and wiped it off with a soft cloth. An old tee shirt cut up works well.

I used "rub-n-buff" on the bead trim around the oval. It is a metallic wax that comes in a tube, and goes on with a fingertip.

Ta dah!

Thanks, Kari for hosting the Artful Blogger Party and congratulations on your publication!

I am on my way to a family reunion, but might be posting and checking emails from Sissy’s house. If you have any furniture questions, I’ll try to answer from there, but it might have to wait till I get back.

Kari’s work is published in Somerset’s new magazine about blogging. I can’t wait to get a copy.
This Cottage Collage Kit is going to be in a Somerset magazine also.

If you would like to win one, just leave a comment (as many times as you’d like) to enter my August drawing.
If you aren’t an artist and would rather have a finished item instead of a kit, just let me know (when you win) and I’ll make something for you instead!

Enjoy all the rest of the Artful Blogger’s Party by checking out Kari’s site!