fairies – Page 12 – Karla's Cottage

Fairy Cup Cakes

celebrations, fairies, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 26, 2013

My trip to Florida to see Guncle Randy and do a mini class is also a surprise birthday party. I'm writing this ahead of time, so I'm not mentioning details about who will be at the party.

Since the class is about fairies, and it was a party, I decided to make fairy cupcakes.

A kind swapper, Wendy, who was in my Fairy Book Swap, had given me a cupcake she made as a hostess gift and I've always admired it.

I hope that she doesn't mind me making some myself. These were done with Styrofoam balls in cupcake papers. Hers are a bit different.

I made a special, little boy sprite for Guncle Randy.

And an extra large serving of cup cake for the birthday girl.

When I get all unpacked and settled back in at home, I'll have some photos of the weekend for you.

Fluttery Florida Fairies

fairies, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / March 24, 2013

For the little class I am doing in Florida while hanging out with Guncle Randy, I'm packing plenty of pixie making materials.

Some will be free standing, others will perch in cages.

Instead of making up kits for each person, I decided to bring piles of supplies for everyone to chose from. They will make a cage/cloche thingy, then pick a fairy to add to it.

Everyone can make multilple fairies, which should be nice. Fairies probably don't like to be all alone.

Sugarwings says that they won't stay in the cages any way, the holes are too big and the little guys can crawl right out.

I hope everyone enjoys all the goodies I'm bringing to play with!! I know I am looking forward to delving in and making some more myself.

Caged Fairies

fairies, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 22, 2013

While I am in Florida, I'll be doing a mini class with friends. Details later, I don't want to ruin the surprise.

The wire cage/cloche thingy has been in development and I think I've mastered a simple way to build them, that will be fun to share.

These little round frames were at Michaels in the Dollar Bins. But have you noticed that some of those bins are now $2 or $3, not just a dollar any more? Still, for $2 each, these were a good deal.

A couple were kept as is, in the bright color they were purchased. The rest were sprayed with Zinsser Bullseye Primer, then washed with color.

Which is much more my style than the bright plastic look.

But I kind of liked the original style too. All I did with this one was add text from an old school book.

Free vintage images

fairies, free images

By Karla Nathan / March 14, 2013

I thought maybe you could use a little leprechaun.

Here is another version.

Just click on any of the images to open in a larger screen, then save to your computer before printing.

Here is a sepia look for him, if you aren't in a St. Patty's mood.

Or maybe you are feeling girly?

Here is an image from an old French chocolate card, that was blue. I tinted it sepia and added some soft colors. I'm going to use her as a fairy in one of the cages from the previous post.

And here is a little girl leprechaun made from a sepia photo, just for fun.

Now, why do I let myself get side tracked on these kind of projects?? I only needed a couple of fairy pics and next thing you know, I've edited 20 instead.

Back to work!

Those fairies are not going to just fly into the cages on their own. I need to glue them down and trap them!

There is only so much time in the day, so I try to make the most of it!

Books, Dew Drop, fairies, family, Snow White, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / March 7, 2013

There is not much new around here, I'm still wading through piles of Snow White books and items to stuff into the kits.

See what I mean? Every table in the studio is heaped up with carefully sorted (even though it doesn't look like it) goodies to do with the kits. I even set up two extra tables, and also filled tubs.

But hey, there is HOPE! Look at the stack of wrapped kits on the far table, in front of the window. Yep, the packaging is almost done. The rest of the room is just littered with the detritis of making the kits.

Those stacks of cut wallpaper on the table? Some of those are sorted into piles, ready to photograph and add to the shop. My son and I got just a tad carried away on those chopping and ironing days we had.

But the truth about why nothing else is happening around here, is that I am soooo hooked on the books themselves. I've made up four examples for the class, including one that I'm am keeping for myself and personalizing with family fairy tale photos.

On this page, I've taken a page from one of the children's story books, and cut Black Beauty from it, with another page behind the horse as I cut it out so that I ended up with a second animal shape. (it was an accident, but one that I am glad that I did!) I added a unicorn horn to each, flipped one over, layered them on the paper, and tinted them with glitter markers.

Dewdrop adores "honies" above all things. She is a "My Little Pony" addict, and calls them honies. So, this page is for her.

There are other things I could be doing, but this is more fun. Plus, I thought the students might appreciate having samples in different stages to look through. This one will be almost complete, but I am saving space in it to add pictures from the event itself.

There has also been some Birdsong3 behind the scenes details to tend to. It's funny how much time such things take up, even when the event in months away. Oh, but how worth it! I'm really excited to know that I have both of these fun weekends to look forward to.

Hopefully, once I get all of these kits boxed and ready to mail, I can concentrate on making Birdsong projects and kits. And selling that pile of wallpaper. And doing my taxes (Beth offered to help!! Yay, there is nothing better than having an accountant buddy at tax time. And all I have to do for her is redo her antique mall booth. Heck, that is a pleasure to do, not a hair pulling, tear inducing, fork in the eye, task like tax prep).

There are also extra kits from last year's Birdsong that I forgot about. And need to add to the Boutique. I'd planned on listing them last year and haven't yet. I also found a stack of surplus Fairy Book covers that I'd planned to sell too.

But there is only so much time in the day. You know what I have noticed? I can keep going full tilt and workiing my backside off (not really, it actually seems to grow, not diminish) and never really get ahead. Because there is always more to do, and only so much time in a day.

I've noticed that my income seems to level out, no matter what I am working on, because nothing is "extra", it ends up taking the place of something else. So, if I do shows, I am ignoring my shop. If I concentrate on the shops, I am not having time to make things. And on and on.

You just can't do it all. At least not at the same time. But that is what is such fun about my so called job.

I can switch it up, go from classes, events, creating, selling, shows, one to the next. It certainly never gets boring! When I focus on one area, it does very well, especially the Boutique. But my life would be very dull if all I did was photograph and list and ship every day. So, I'm glad I can stretch out and try different venues and take breaks from the online shop. It's still there, still selling, but not as much when I'm not adding to it reguarly.

Yes, changing my focus might not be getting me ahead financially, but it sure keeps me hopping and happy!

Free Fairy Tale images and some workshop prep

Dew Drop, fairies, free images, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / February 27, 2013

If you are wondering why there is nothing new in my shops, it's because my studio has become Kit Central.

I'm gathering up all the elements needed for my Book of Enchantments for Snow White, plus brain storming projects for Birdsong 3, as well as a super secret surprise gathering that I am doing with a dear friend. (more about that later, but I can't give it away till after the surprise in March)

For my Book of Enchantments, the supply list is out of control!

a book cover to embellish, and the goodies to do it, including ribbons, lace, a mirror, millinery and flocked wallpaper
9 pieces of card stock
a stack of fairy tale book text
2 pictures from old story books
2 pages from vintage Snow White stories. (some are Snow White and Rose Red, and older ones are called "Little Snowdrop", I have books ranging from 1890 to 1959, in the oldest, she is usually Snowdrop)
a collage sheet of pretty, vintage pictures I scanned
1 journalling page to color or use for inspiration
4 spells of enchantment that I have written (for: Sweet Dreams, Joy, Hope, and finding a True Hearted Prince)
12 pre-cut pieces of vintage lace
10 pieces of old wallpaper
1 moonstone heart charm
1 apple charm
red rhinestones
a rhinestone cluster
ribbons

Oh my! That is a lot of cutting, organizing, packing, and counting.

I found an easy way to count the card stock. I bought packages of 50 that contain 10 pages of 5 neutral colors. Since I need 9 for each kit, I simply take away one from each color and boom, I have 9 ready to slip into the envelope. They get covered in other papers, so it doesn't matter what shades go in the kits. That beats counting out 9 for each envelope!

Since my ingredients are so vintagey and unique, I can promise that it's impossible for any two students to make the same book. It will be exciting to see all the creations the class comes up with using the combinations that they get!

I've enlisted a studio full of helpers.

And a cutie to keep us company while we work.

I've put the tiny craft table in front of the TV, which was probably a bad idea, I might never be able to convince my girls that they don't need to watch shows while they work. But with so much going on, it seemed to extend craft time a bit for the littlest fairy.

Since I had to cut so much wallpaper, I decided to chop away till I had enough to sell too. So, once I get my kits bundled up, I'll have paper left over and will actually have new stuff in the Boutique.

While measuring, cutting, and ironing hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of paper, my mind has wandered around and wondered about Birdsong 3 projects. I'm working out the kinks on a wire birdcage, and the other one might be a variation of this book, but a Journal of Blessings. Not sure… But I have been loving the heck out of making books for the last few months and would love to continue making more.

I'm sure you guys will see all the prototypes as I fidget around with them. Thanks for being my sounding board!

If you love these old fairy tale illustrations as much as I do, just click on the images to open them to a larger window and save them to your computer to print.

Workshops, giveaways, and an angel of a dog

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, puppies!, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / January 19, 2013

Dorothy Rosebud and I just might need to order more cupid wings for foofing. She likes to play dress up as much as Sugarwings does, apparently.

Plus, I like making them.

I've also been hooked on making wire cages. As I work on them, I'm taking photos so I can do an online tutorial too.

But so far, the cage details aren't worth passing on. I need to make a few more to get it perfected. Each one I make teaches me a bit more on the best ways to build them from the ground up

Which is important in a tutorial. The first few I make of something, I just wing it. Then, if I like the idea and make more prototypes, I start narrowing down just what works, what doesn't, how long is this piece, how big is that one.

Weeks of work go into making a tutorial, but they can sell for years, so they are worth the effort for me to get it right.

And if you enjoy my online classes, maybe you'd like an in person one? Valentine Journal Workshop on Saturday, Feb 2nd, all supplies included, just bring tools! $100, Details in the previous post.

I'll be giving away one of Amy's books then. Or you can win one by leaving a comment on my blog on any post.

I'll be away from my computer for a while, I'm in PARADISE as you read this. Any Etsy or Boutique orders will be mailed on the 30th.

A few more fairies flying by

fairies, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 5, 2012

While making the books for our Faery Book Swap, I had a few glitches. The couple of people who witnessed my screw ups were very sweet about it.

One of them was my good buddy, Kim. She had sent an extra page for me and one for me to add to her own book. I'm afraid I missed her note and just started making books up willy nilly with her 10, instead of 8 pages.

When I realized, I felt bad and made up an extra page to send to her. She's been going through a rough time with her dad's health and I thought the last thing she needed was her friend shorting her on a swap.

As the basis of the page, I used a copy of the Snow White painting that I did for Kim's spring event, An Enchanted Affaire.

But I needed to fairy it up. I glued down one complete print with the background and all to some coordinating wallpaper, then glued wings that were butterflies printed on parchment by my Sissy.I used three sets, so there would be lots of volume. I glittered those up and that made them curly, which I liked.

I then cut out another Snow White and glued her over the previous one, so the wings were between the two layers.

She got a teensy millinery flower garland, and her dress was embellished with metallic inks and lots of glitter.

For even more sparkle, I glued some of my 1940s crystals to her skirt, then gave her a bouquet to cover up the apple in the original.

Deliciously gaudy, and fairy-riffic.

Most of the books were mailed out way back, but the ones going to my family who are coming to Romantic Gothic Ghosts, were kept here, so we could open them all together. I can't wait for everyone to see their book! This is a page that Aunt Sandy made for mine.

My book is amazing!! I received the gift of an extra page from so many generous souls. This one is from Jay Hart. Along with a sweet little book that she made too.

I miss the swap, and am considering another. But it will have to be smaller and faster if I want to get it done for Christmas. I can't even think about it till after this big party this weekend though. We'll see if I survive that before I delve into the next thing. Which really, really should be beefing up my Boutique for the holidays, not more swaps!

There are a lot of basic supplies in the shop now, just no 'new' old things. I hope to recover from the Faery swap, the Ghost party and the puppies and get going on adding more soon. Here is a picture of an order I mailed this week, to Tara. Packing them up is the fun part!

Bye Bye Fairies, Hello Ghosts!

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, free images, holiday decor, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, swaps, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / September 23, 2012

Isn't this fairy from Linda sweet as can be?

It's sad that the Faery Book Swap is over! I made a couple more pages, as thank yous to some sweet people. And I have extra covers that I hope to list on Etsy or in the Boutique. If I ever get a spare minute to do it!

In the fairy frenzy, I'd made up about 16 pages for the swap, and didn't need them all of course, so I'll have a few of those to list too. But I didn't want to use any of those as thank yous. I thought "thanks" deserved something made special just for it.

I still have my family's books, they weren't mailed because we are going to open them all together when everyone gets here to visit for Romantic Gothic Ghosts.

I'm so glad that Guncle Randy, Sissy, Bobbie Sue and Terry can come out to play with us for the classes! We hope to go to see the annual Lawrence Zombie walk if everyone arrives in time, it will be on Thurs. the 4th and family is flying/driving in from Utah, Florida and Indiana.

Then, Friday is shopping at the West Bottoms district, with all the once a month junk and antique stores, as well as Bottoms Up.

Saturday the 6th will be our ghost filled craft day, with Gypsy spells and ravens. Sunday we plan on hitting the Renfest, all decked out in our fairy attire. A perfect little reunion!! Plus I get to have my blog friends meet my family, that will be nice. I'm glad that we are having a workshop while the relatives are in town.

Along with the thank you pages, I mailed out hand made envelopes stuffed with tidbits. To make these, I looked at a regular envelope to get an idea for the pattern, cut it out from an old book page, folded it up and glued the edges. Simple, and kinda cute. I might need to do more of these!

I've gone straight from sweet fairies to gothic ghosts.

These images (provided in the online Romantic Gothic Ghost class) are printed on transparencies and hung around the room.

And the room is a WRECK! I've started cleaning and decorating, but need to get all the chaos and clutter out too.

I started decorating at the ceiling first, then the cabinet tops around the room. I'm sure most people would have cleaned the whole room, put away the mess and then started fixing up. But I got too excited about making the ghosts and had to do the fun parts first!

See how they are hung from tattered tulle on the ceiling? (I'll have more photos later)

**********

Speaking of photos, I've noticed that no matter how good my camera is, and how well I edit pictures, they NEVER look as good on my blog as they do on my computer files.

I wish I could fix this…. I also noticed that if you click on one to open it in a bigger window, its sharper.

**************

Another instance of backward preparedness- instead of cleaning and making kits, I wanted to make some ghostly images to set around the room. This collage is an old trinket box with a glass lid that Beth gave me. I took out the image that came it in, turned it on its side and made it a shadow box.

A transparency spider image is across the glass, and a ghostly girl is layered over a gothic arch (from the albums full of pictures and images and backgrounds and patterns that were scanned and added to the online class) and glued to the back of the box. I then added some tatted trim and some very old, beat up flowers.

Its very small, and I seriously doubt that it adds a lot to the over all decor of the room. But it was something I really wanted to do.

We had lots of projects made up for the online class that I pulled out to use around the room too. This tag is pinned to my new curtains, hung just for the occasion. The tag is one of the "ready to go" bonus images from the class. All you do is print it and cut it out.

The curtains are from the Sparks Flea, and were $1. When I bought them, they were a hideous, fleshy peach. But I liked the over all pattern and the flocking was cool, so I gambled that dollar and bought them any way, hoping a bowl of dye would take.

It did and now I just love them.! Thing is, though, I bought them thinking I'd cut them apart to use in projects, and to test the dye, I cut a hunk off the bottom of one to dip. I loved it so much, that I dyed the rest of the panels and hung them up, even with a hunk missing at the bottom of one.

In the window, is a banner also made from the Romantic Gothic Ghost online classes. There are tons of projects, decorating ideas, and printable images in the class. I'd forgotten how much there was in it, and had a lot of fun looking through it with fresh eyes.

Everyone coming to the class at the studio gets the online class free too. We still have a couple spots open for our one day party in the studio if you'd like to join us.

You could hold a puppy on your lap while you work…..

The tail end of the Faery Book Swap, I’ll miss it!

fairies, swaps

By Karla Nathan / September 17, 2012

Last fairypages 035

The Faery Book Swap is winding down, thanks to all of you for your patience in me getting them mailed out.

As I was putting together the very last one, I felt sad to think they were all going to be gone and my studio would feel so empty. I've loved assembling each and every one of these special pages of art.

As a farewell to the project, I stopped what I was doing and made one more page to include as the very last page in the very last book I was tying up with ribbons.

Every book as been put together now, all I need to do is slip them into their padded envelopes and make labels. Now, that sounds simple, but that is a lot of labels to make, so I'll be at it most of the day, and hopefully will have all of the goodies ready to go to the Post Office by Monday afternoon. Wish me luck!

There was a set back earlier in the week, when my old printer shot craps on me. Usually, I make a few books, make some labels, and mail a tubful, then repeat. But without a printer, I just went ahead and made all the books, now I need to sit down and make all the labels at one time. Ugh, boring. Its more fun to take breaks from labels to go and play with pretty fairy pages!

Office Depot recommended this HP86000 plus printer to me, I was told that it will print 2000 some pages for the same amount of ink that my old one would print 200. That sold me. It was a bit more expensive, but I got a $50 trade in on my dead one, it came with ink, and it was on sale. So, I was glad to get it.

Till I got home and had to try to figure out how to set it up. There went a precious hour of my life…. but all is done and ready now, I'm off to type away the rest of the day!

I'll leave you with some of the last books.

And a thank you to all of the kind hearted, talented swappers who were so generous with their time and skills!

And who were so patient with the time it took me to get these made and mailed.

I'm sorry that I don't get photos of all the pages, I randomly shoot some books that I have laid out on the table before I stack them up to hole punch.

There is a Pinterest board here that I've tried to add pictures from my blog to. If you have pictures of your pages that you'd like to pin to that board, please request an invite to become another pinner on it.

Also, feel free to add your names to the Pinterest photos that you are in, you can do that in the comment section. I will be pinning these photos to it later on after I get your books mailed.

Gosh, the studio is going to be empty with all of these gone!! I've had 2 dining tables filled with pages, a folding table to open packages on, another table filled stacked with covers, my work table stuffed with books in progress, and two other tables set up for wrapping and shipping stations.

Wow, this had taken over the whole room!

But it is less than 3 weeks until Romantic Gothic Ghosts, so its a good thing that the room is clearing out! I need to get that set up, make name tags, kits, and decorate. I've got some ideas that I hope will turn out cute. Beth has some too, and offered to come over to help.

By the way, that class is filling up. I have 3 people who are "maybes" and only 4 spots left. That means if the maybes are yesses, there is only one spot. Contact me if you are interested before its too late!!