collections – Page 9 – Karla's Cottage

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!

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!

Nibbing around in Beth’s House while she isn’t home

collections, Etsy Goodies, family, give away, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 26, 2007

Now I have a new addiction. I love to make these doll dresses! Beth asked me if I wanted to be in a mini-swap with her. She is the in swap hosted by Speckled Egg and Debra mentioned that she was disappointed to have missed out on being in it too. So, Beth set up this mini swap with Debra and asked me to join in.

I’d never thought about making one before, but really got into it, once I drew some shapes I liked for the dresses. Beth had to keep telling me- "this is not Project Runway!" because I was drawing out elaborate gowns and getting away from the whole "paper doll" simplicity of it.

Which made me think- wouldn’t it be fun to have a ball gown paper doll swap at New Years!?? Thats about as close as I’d come to a glamorous outfit for New Years Eve.

I listed a couple of dresses on Etsy and have one to swap with Beth, and now have an idea for a special one to make for Debra, with a Halloween theme. I have a feeling I’ll be making more too. It is too hard to stop!!! They are so cute and so fun to do!

Look at what Beth gave to me when I went over to visit her!!! A wallpaper bonanza! And wonderful patterns too, such perfect colors to work with.

There is nothing like old wallpaper for doing collage work. I am simply crazy about it.

Beth also gave me a stack of tags she had started to cover with the papers, for me to play with and finish.

When I got to her house, she wasn’t home from her big girl job yet.Her husband was just leaving,and he foolishly let me in. So I poked around her house with my camera while I waited.

Doesn’t her husband know that I am curious and nibby? He should have made me wait on the porch.

In her garage was stuff from the latest auction she’d been to.

And here is a collection I found in her guest room.

Her craft room is wonderful and filled with pretty inspirational displays.

All of the craft room shelves have the supplies set up as art in themselves.

And you’ll never guess what I found under her bed! (just joking, I am not THAT bad at nibbing around)

I was delivering the box and bagful of goodies to Beth from the swap she and I did with my Sissy when I went back to visit my family in Indy. I hadn’t been to Beth’s since I got back, so she is just now getting her pretties!

She’s got some pictures of it all on her blog, its quite a haul!

Going through it all made me homesick for my sisters. Sis and I had such fun with the swap we did!

And today is my other sister, Bobbie Sue’s, birthday!

There was a rainbow that a crystal prism prjected onto the wall and I asked her to stand in front of it for this photo, and of course, the witch’s hat That Sissy made) seemed appropriate.

And yes, we do have hokey names. Sissy, Bobbie Sue, and Karkie Jo.

This week is also the anniversary of my mother’s death and my dad’s (who passed away last year) birthday.

I hope that doesn’t make Bobbie sad every year on her birthday, since her birthdate is forever tied to those dates.

We miss them so much, but I try to do something as a happy reminder of them on anniversaries like this.

Dad was an avid gardener, so I picked tomatoes from my garden and made up big pots of sauce to freeze, thinking about him while I worked. He always had a freezer and a pantry full of his garden produce.

Speaking of the last week of August- I will draw the two winning names for the give away on
Tuesday. You can still enter by leaving a comment if you’d like to.

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!

Sunday Morning Dog Barf

collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, housework

By Karla Nathan / July 29, 2007

Its a beautiful Sunday morning at my Kansas Cottage, no road construction sounds thumping away in front of my house, a light breeze is blowing and the sun is glowing.

I can’t think of a more pleasant way to spend a sunny Sunday than scrubbing dog barf out of my rugs.

I love to collect these old hooked rugs, but they are hard to keep clean, they can’t just be thrown into the washer. I live with a houseful of men and three dogs, so these rugs get dirty. Since I had to wash the dog mess out of one, I thought I’d bring all the brown looking kitchen rugs out to liven them back up.

To clean them, I line them along my slanted sidewalk and spray them with a hose.

This might sound weird, but I really enjoy watching the dirt wash away and the rugs slowly turn back to their vibrant colors. It is almost the feeling I get when painting and watching the picture develop under my brush. I know, wierd, but hey, ife is all about the simple pleasures!

Now, back to my Sunday paper and coffee on the porch.