fairies – Page 30 – Karla's Cottage

Box full of Fun

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 16, 2008

Beth and I had a great afternoon working on covers yesterday for our Swap. We really got a lot done, it is fun to work together on them, she is always full of great advice, when I hold up a piece and say "what is this missing???"

I had a little scrap of my favorite pink flocked paper and used it on this one, with a hand painted cupcake and golden flourishes.

The tassel on the bottom of the card is one that Twinkle removed from a pillow for me. She is good at things like that.

This is some great, old red flocked wallpaper. I added a watercolor painting of a rose wreath to it and think it needs some sparkly stuff somewhere too. But I think Beth has laid claim to this one as the cover for her copy of the book, and she likes it as is. If she wants more on it, she will be sure to let me know!

I thought that this old wallpaper was wonderful. It needed a chocolate cupcake added to it.

This one, I did with Sissy in mind, and then she emailed me that it was one of her favorites!

I’ve used a copy of an old French post card that I painted fairy wings onto. She loves fairies as much as I do. Probably more, if that is possible.

This one features a German die cut of a rose basket.

This is the gaudiest of them all! Beth had this great paint, that is two toned, gold and pink- it shimmers and changes depending upon the light. I went a bit wild with it, swirls and leaves all over this cover!

It might be a bit much…

Here is the backside of some of mine.

And Beth’s backside. Well, that doesn’t sound right, does it? She probably doesn’t want her backside plastered all over the web.

Beth was so sweet, to keep the packages of recipe pages that are arriving for the swap all wrapped up so I can open them and have fun too.

These were in some of the bags- presents from Ele and Tammi.

Thanks! I love them! (I don’t have a photo of what is in Tammi’s little brown tissue package, but it is pretty. )

What a nice surprise!

Here is a list of all the bloggers in our swap, if you’d like to visit them. There is lots of talent in that group! Also, some of the cards coming in from non-bloggers seem to be from a talented bunch. I’ll be showing them here and on our Flickr Site.

http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/

bethleintz.typepad.com

http://shessewpretty.typepad.com/

http://raisedincotton.typepad.com/raised_in_cotton/

http://catieanscorner.blogspot.com/

fromthepines.blogspot.com

http://paisleydragonfly.wordpress.com/

http://pinkpomegranate.typepad.com

http://www.abitofpinkheaven.blogspot.com

http://www.prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com

http://heatherbullard.typepad.com/heather_bullard_collectio/

http://jennifer-acharminglife.blogspot.com/

http://www.scrappyjessi.blogspot.com

http://thejoyof.blogspot.com/

http://bluemuf.blogspot.com/

http://creativechaos.typepad.com/creative_chaos/

http://madrekarin.blogspot.com

http://sugarbeardesigns.blogspot.com

karlascottage.typepad.com

http://countrychintz.blogspot.com

http://adelinecountrycottage.blogspot.com

http://webersworld.blogsome.com

http://ahappymiscellany.typepad.com/a_happy_miscellany/

http://room206-liisamannery.blogspot.com/

lollysnestegg.blogspot.com

http://simplysage.blogspot.com

http://theroseroomnz.blogspot.com/

http://rhondisrosecoloredglasses.blogspot.com/

http://dreamcreateinspire.blogspot.com

http//:gypsymermaidlife.blogspot.com

http://www.simplymein.typepad.com

http://shabbyinthecity.blogspot.com

Boxes_and_ducks_004 Look what Beth made for my fairy grand baby! Isn’t it beautiful??

The colors are perfect in her room, and it is soft and cozy.

I am borrowing it to cover up with when she isn’t here visiting.

The cute sweater Sugarwings has on was a gift

from my other sis, Bobbie Sue. Boxes_and_ducks_008

Yesterday was a

funBeth Day,

today was a fun

Sugarwings Day.

We played in her

room a while. Boxes_and_ducks_009_2

Then, we sat in the

bathroom in the

dark and

played with her

light up ducky. Boxes_and_ducks_022

It is snowy and cold here, so we built a fire.

Our box of starter logs was empty

and we decided to

have fun with the box.

It was a great place to play hide and seek with a friend. Boxes_and_ducks_019

Or to sit on while performing a concert. Boxes_and_ducks_030

Or to wrestle in.

We also sat close together and put it over all three

of our heads and told stories.

Green Eggs and Ham is a good story to tell

when you have a dog that can be the fox and

you are actually in a box. Too bad we didn’t

have a goat or a boat.

Tomorrow will be back to work, no Beth or

Sugarwings to play with.

Maybe I’ll get that Christmas tree down…..

Waste not want not, and some belated resolutions

Etsy Goodies, fairies, jewelry, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 15, 2008

I can’t let anything go to waste! This recipe page was too cute to not re-use some how, and the swap book will already have a copy of it inside, so I turned it into a Fairy picture to hang on a wall.

After taking advantage of the big sale at the UPS store on copies (29cents, not 19, but still good!) I had copies of my fairy painting done.

I used an exacto knife to cut around the hand painted roses and the wallpaper hearts over the recipe, and made a slit to slide in the portrait that was cut to fit.

Then, I made a new banner, with the word "Fairy" cut out of and old fairy tale book and added a ruffle and a sheer organza ribbon to hang it from.

It is now listed on Etsy, but I wonder if I should have kept it and hung it in my studio? I do have a thing for that fairy tale wallpaper I used and have to get over the miser in me who wants to keep my greedy paws on every scrap! SOLD

I also changed one of my book covers yesterday. I had to add this German foil crown that I got in the mail from Speckled Egg. I ordered a bunch of pretty things from her, some brass heart charms, die cuts, more crowns.

One of my belated New Years resolutions is to use more hand painted elements in my paper collage work. Here are the backs of the covers I have done so far. I am finishing the backs of all of them, I do think that is important. If it is pretty wallpaper, I am leaving it, but if it s more simple, I am adding some flourishes.

I painted a few lockets too.

Some I am going to tie to the recipe covers.

The rest, I am using for other projects like this button jar. SOLD

I just listed it on Etsy too.

I thought I had more of the heart lockets, but I could only find a handful to paint. I am trying to be productive and work on what is in FRONT of me (another resolution!) instead of spending all my time hunting around in my stashes for something I think I just Have To Have.

Another resolution I made, just this morning (yes, very belated) is to only use my fabric scissors for fabric. No paper, I want to keep them sharp.

And along those lines, I will not use my regular scissors for cardboard or WIRE. Only for paper. That might be the hardest to keep.

I also resolve to take down my Christmas Tree before Valentines Day. Or at least I sure hope to. I am beginning to avoid my own home and just hide out in the studio to avoid all the dusty, holiday decor. Of course, there are Xmas trees out there too, but I am used to that room being a mess.

This last cover that I made yesterday is a bit different. My friend, Jen, who is in the swap too, came over. We were going to work on the project, but her time was shorter than she planned, so we ate chocolate cake, had coffee and hung out.

I dropped my piece of cake on the floor and broke a favorite plate. But I do that sort of thing a lot, being a klutz. The thing is, I always feel like no one will believe that I didn’t actually eat the whole cake, or the last piece of lasagna or what ever, that I really dropped it. That sounds like such an excuse- like something I’d make up to cover up finishing off the whole thing myself. (I was glad to have a witness!)

Anyway, she did have time to go through my stuff and pick out what she wanted me to put on her cover. I hope she likes it.

Well, now I am off to Beth’s, we are going to work on covers for the swap today, then I am going to do my dreaded shoe shopping while I am in the big city.

Oh- guess what!! Lucky, Lucky me- I won the contest from Remember my Childhood

and won a hand sewn skirt for Sugarwings!! Here is a photo of one of the skirts from her website.

I told her that I’d be happy with any skirt that had pink flowers on it and she could chose one and surprise me with it.

Thanks, Clarice for hosting this giveaway! The fairy grand baby and I will have a dress up tea party and she will wear her new skirt and her pink wings from Carol, and I will of course take tons of photos of her, because I can’t help myself.

Aren’t digital cameras great? You can take all the photos you want, plus you don’t have to have the camera right up to your eye, you can still be a part of what is going on.

Ok, I’d better pack my glue and my sparkly things, I need to go make pretties with Beth! This will be a great day!

Sweet Treats and Roses plus a Sweet Invitation

celebrations, fairies, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 14, 2008

Have you ever had a project that almost defeats you? Beth was asking on a post the other day, if you :

1-gave up on a piece that was going badly

2-set it aside and got back to it later with a fresh eye

3-do as Tim Gun says and "make it work"

I am a "make it work" type. I don’t give up, but on the other hand, I also normally work pretty fast and don’t dwell on any one piece too much.

This one, my recipe page for our Sweet Treats and Roses Recipe Swap just about did me in today!

The problem was trying to copy it. Since I used 3D items it wouldn’t scan well and most photos I took of it made huge shadows.

I must have photographed it 200 times or more, trying to get a copy where you could actually read the recipe! This is as good as I’ll get it, I guess. I should have used a larger font, that might have helped.

I’ve emailed this image of it to the UPS Store, they have a 19 cent color copy special right now. Which helps if you are making 42! (actually 21, with two per page)

I got a few covers for the recipe books done today, but not as many as I would have liked, since my recipe ate up most of the day and I refused to let it beat me down!

One of our swappers, Sarah Huckman, included some pretty scraps and bits and pieces for Beth and I to play with when she sent in her pages. I used some of them on this one, over the back ground of vintage wallpaper.

This one includes a great old, floral playing card that Beth gave me to use (sorry about the glare, but after hours of trying to get a good picture of the recipe, I was willing to let this one go as is!).

The Victorian scrap art bird was from Beth too. The bird is wearing a crystal heart necklace attached with a millinery flower.

There is another of those pretty playing cards on this one. Beth left a few for me and I plan on using them all, I love the way they work on these covers.

The pink rhinestones are actually a pair of earrings, that I cut the back off of. My darling niece, JoRenda (yes, that is really her name, it was taken from a fairy tale about JoRenda and JoRingle. We are glad our JoJo wasn’t a twin, because you know what her twin would be named! Which might be a bit much, if there were two of them, but JoRenda is the perfect name for this girl and it suits her.)

Where was I? Oh, yes, JoRenda gave me a big bag of prom style crystal and rhinestone jewelry that had been on clearance at Claires. I have been chopping it up and gluing it like crazy. Sparkly things to glue on stuff?? How sweet of her, I am thrilled with it.

This is my favorite cover so far, I am in love with this pink and brown flocked wallpaper. I only had a little piece of it, and it was just enough to make two covers. I hope the person who gets this appreciates old wallpapers as much as I do and understands the sacrifice of using this stuff instead of hoarding it!

Oh-oh, more glare on this one too. I used up my entire quotient of editing patience today on the recipe page. Sorry.

This one is pretty simple, I used the old, pretty paper with just the added heart made of German text and another wallpaper. Then, I drew vines and leaves all over the background in gold ink.

I might add some rhinestones and crystals. But I do like the simplicity of this one.

I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked, due to the copy problems and the fact that I had to go shoe shopping.

And not only just regular shoes, I need SANDALS for a trip I am going on. That isn’t easy to find in Kansas in January. Especially when my feet are shaped like Fred Flintstone’s. That limits my choices.

I don’t enjoy shoe shopping and tend to wear shoes until they fall apart, because they are so hard to replace. I can usually find something in the little girl’s department, my feet are short and fat. But I am going to a ritzy place and think that child’s shoes won’t be appropriate. I need glamor! I need big girl shoes!! I need -oh no- high heels!! I have to wear a dress too. This will be hard for me too. Did I mention that I had Barney Rubble legs to go with the Fred feet?

We are going to Palm Springs and it is with the new company my husband works for, so I can’t show up with kid’s sneakers on with jeans.

Ironically, I was invited to a Romantic Homes launch party for their new book, Vintage Vavoom, next week in California! How often does a Midwesterner just happen to be in CA?? I was really tempted to go to this, since I will (hopefully) own a new pair of shoes and a DRESS. But, the timing wasn’t quite right, plus, going to a country club and spa will be enough of a stretch for me for one week.

It would be interesting though, wouldn’t it??

A Fairy Princess and a Weird Old Lady

Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, I've been tagged, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 11, 2008

I had a wonderful day, a Sugarwings day. That is the best kind. She cuddled up on my lap and watched a whole movie with me, while we played with Twinkle’s soft ears.

Then, this evening, I had time to do this watercolor sketch after making a pot of homemade turkey noodle soup.

Not a bad day at all, a cuddly baby, a dog with soft ears, homemade soup, and time to paint!

This little painting is a cartoon of my friend Rachael’s little Princess. I am going to send it to her as her prize for my December Giveaway.

I like to figure out what the prize for my monthly giveaway will be AFTER I draw the name, that way I can do something custom.

This isn’t a perfect likeness, only a quick caricature done while I watched an episode of What Not To Wear. Do you see Stacey London’s influence here? The little fairy is wearing an empire waisted dress. Stacey is always pushing those.

I’m so glad that Rachael won last month, I have been wanting to paint her beautiful daughter for a long time, and this was a great excuse to finally do it.

Now for another thing that makes me happy -7 weird things! I was quite addicted to that rage when it went through blog world before, and read them all, from one list to another to another. I’d get lost in all the stories and insights into my fellow bloggers. Now, the game seems to be going around again and I’ve been tagged another time myself, this time by Michelle. Here is the last one I did, at the end of this (typically) long and rambling post: http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/2007/09/beth-birdies-be.html

I LOVE the weird lists. Whether I know the blogger or not, I can’t stop reading all of them. I’ve done this a few times myself, but feel like I have enough weirdness to fill a few lists
On my trip home from apartment furnishing out East, I brought home a suitcase full of bubble wrap and cardboard that our new purchases came wrapped in. How could I waste all that wonderful, precious bubble wrap???
I had 2 suitcases on that trip, and weirdly enough, I filled the gym type bag without wheels full of clothes and heavy stuff, while the nice wheeled piece of luggage was filled with bubble wrap. I don’t know what I was thinking.
My wallpaper addiction is becoming serious. I am forcing myself to cut it up, use it, sell it, enjoy it, not just hoard the stuff.

These 3 drawers are full of rolls, and that is just the tip of it all.

Here are a few sample books, I love working with these, so easy, no ironing like the rolls!

I save every little scrap, you never know when that little strip of old paper will be the PERFECT touch to finish an artwork!

There is more, it is taking over my studio. I am thinking of papering one wall in it, but small bits, like a crazy quilt. So I can stare at it and enjoy it all. See, weird. It is an obsession.

5. I keep one of Sugarwings sockies on my bedside table when she isn’t here, because it is so tiny and cute and reminds me of her. I snuck a pair of her little pink sockies into my husband’s bag so he would find them when he unpacks at his apartment.

We are both smitten with her.

6. I wear my paint clothes all the time. I am a slob. My family is used to it and I used to get strange looks from people sometimes, but don’t so much anymore. My theory is that people don’t notice middle aged women much. We are invisible.

7. I can’t get enough popcorn. Sometimes I go to movies I don’t even care about just to eat the popcorn. I love to go to late movies all alone and get a bucket of crunchy, salty goodness and relax. Its not the same at home, no matter what brand of microwave corn I buy, the stuff at the theater is the best.

I met Orville Redenbacher at the Indiana State Fair when I was 12 or so, and it was before he was famous, he was giving out samples of his new popcorn (pre-microwave days) and I always remembered that funny man, and recognized him when I saw the commercials later. I just love Orville and am glad they brought him back from the dead to do his commercials again, even though it is slightly freaky.

Thanks Michelle, that was fun!

I finally picked up a copy of the new Somerset Life. What a gorgeous issue! But all of their magazines are wonderful, I love them all.

This one has an article about kits and they have featured one of my kits for sale on Etsy.

Its an honor to be a part of such an interesting and well done publication!

I hope to spend some time tomorrow making some more collage kits to list on Etsy. I have a few up right now, but I have some ideas for more.

But I also need to work on those swap recipe book covers, my year end quarterly taxes, and did I mention that my Christmas tree is still up, as well as my whole house is still decorated for the holidays???? I might just need to add some pink and red hearts to the trees and forget about it till after February!

So much to do. I think I’ll go to a late night movie! I need to RUN so I don’t miss the last show, I hear that bucket of popcorn calling my name!

Its starting to look like Christmas!

fairies, family, holiday decor, how to's, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 22, 2007

The view from my studio window is a blizzardy one today.

But the view inside is improving!

I actually got the studio cleaned and HALF of it is set up for my 3 big Christmas party meals coming up.

Did you notice the amazing painting on the wall??? A gift from my sister-in-law’s family.

She commissioned an oil painting of her mom and had copies on canvas framed for everyone in the family.

Look at this detail!!!! Right down to the hearing aide in Little Joan’s ear and the nub of the eraser on her mechanical pencil.

The artist is Lynn Lupetti, and I was so impressed with this portrait, I had to look her up online.

Apparently, I am not the only one impressed with her, she has paintings hanging at the Smithsonian, The Vatican, and the White House!

Now, I am stunned by this gift. Not only does it capture the sweet nature and kind face of our Little Joan, it is from a renowned artist. I loved it before I had any idea who did it.

I’m sure it was expensive and so is the frame, but do you think anyone would care if I painted the frame white?? You know it is going to happen. Maybe more of an ivory.

I placed the painting in my studio for now, so we can all enjoy it during the holiday meals I have planned for out there.

I have this side of the room set up and ready to go, and the other side is close.

I got side tracked and made some Christmas cards while trying to set up the unfinished side of the room.

I’d already had Sugarwing’s painting copied into four per page, and cut them out, some around the body, but others, just as a rectangle. All of the cards are different.

I buy note cards on clearance to use as background, this one was a teddy bear design thank you card.

I glued a piece of vintage styled scrapbook paper over the teddy, and across the back of the card to cover the writing on it. Then, I added snowflake stickers, some swirls of black glitter ink (I thought I had a silver pen, oops! but black is OK, at least it is glittery)

Then, I glued a sepia toned copy of Sugarwings onto it- and was done.

These are being kept extremely simple. I did a couple dozen this morning and now will stop and add addresses those before I do any more. I want to be sure I can get some mailed to relatives and not get carried away with cutting and gluing and having too much fun, then not have time to address or mail them. (The vintage wrapping paper is from Beth ‘s stash)

This one is on old wallpaper that has a star pattern in gold. The paper wraps the back of the card too, so you can appreciate the vintagey goodness of the print, and so it will cover the writing, since I am using premade note cards and don’t want that to show.

I cut a snippet of holiday ribbon to glue down and embellish with a brass snowflake and that is it on this one.

I keep wanting to do MORE to them, but figure that friends and family would rather get one like this, than nothing at all. And if I spend too much time on them, I wouldn’t get any out.

Plus, I really need to get back to work on the studio/dining room and get it set up completely. Looks like I will have 22-27 on Christmas Day and this side of the room is only set for 12.

The bleached and dyed bottle brush trees didn’t go as far for a centerpiece as I would have liked.

I added sugared birds, reindeer, cake plates and compotes, as well as some candle holders. Lots of clear glass and tea cups with millinery flowers or tea lights in them.

I always serve all my meals as buffets, so I can fill the center of the table with pretties and have the food set up in the kitchen where it is convenient to clean up and put away afterwords.

I don’t know how I will decorate the other side yet. Funny, that 4 packages of 21 bottle brush trees only fills one table. But they are so tiny, they need to be clustered for any impact.

See there is progress on this part too! When I finish my Christmas cards, I will stash all the supplies behind the screens and arrange them to hide the messes, foof up the tables, scrounge around the house for chairs, and as Tim Gunn says, "make it work". I might need another table squeezed in somewhere……

Hope your holiday preparations are going well too!

*<];{> Santa comes early for me with pretty pink birdies and a fairy land delight!

fairies, family, holiday decor, how to's, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 21, 2007

I got pretties in the mail!!!!!

My Sissy made these pink paper birds for me, and I ripped open the package immediately. Hope I wasn’t supposed to wait till Xmas!

Aren’t they sweet????

And look at the cute box that Barbara sent to me. This is a whimsical box as it is, and who would have thought to use something this fun to mail a package in??

But look at the magical creation inside!

Twinkle and Sparkle Fairies, in a glittered floral wonderland.

Next to the princess of all the fairies, Sugarwings!

Every detail is perfectly wonderful from the rainbow paper the banner at the top is made of to the vintage pink ribbon bow.

I hung this fairy filled glitter ball of delight on the silver wreath next to the other gifts Barbara sent a while back, silver snow flakes that say Twinkle and Sparkle. Oh, I owe this lady big time!

Christmas is catching up to me and I know I won’t be able to make something for her by then, but Barbara, watch out when Valentine’s Day rolls around! And thanks so much!

Here is an update on how far behind I am in getting ready for Christmas. My studio is a jumbled up mess from the sale I had in here the 2nd. I had over 600 people come through here and haven’t recovered since.

I do have a menu for Christmas day brunch and for dinner that night, but I don’t have any place to seat the people till I get a bulldozer and shove some of this out of the way.

Here is my menu-

a professional ham (that is what I call food from Vermont Street BBQ where my son works)
4 pans of Rhodes cinnamon rolls (yum)
fruit and cheese by Beth
sausage gravy and biscuits (not from a can)
egg casserole from Lori
tomato salad from our garden tomatoes that I have been babying along to ripen by Xmas and made it just in time! And they really taste good too.
fudge and cookies (if I don’t eat them first)
maybe more desserts or muffins or something??

juicy juice boxes, bottled water and coffee in to go style cups

all served on paper plates with plastic forks

and most important- a Forest of bleached and hand dyed bottle brush trees as a centerpiece

At least I have my priorities right- the trees are done! Sugarwings and I made 4 packages of them the other night.

They were not easy to glitter.

I ended up dunking them into a can of water based poly and then holding them upside down to drain off, then sprinkling them with glitter.

The problem was that after being left to dry overnight, the poly still dripped onto the craft table, and dried the trees solid to its surface! I had to pry many of them up. ooops

But, back to the mail- I ordered myself a little Christmas gift. Beautiful wallpapers from Donna Layton on Etsy. Mess_060

Can’t you see me using some of these for the covers of my cook books for the Swap that Beth and I are doing for Valentines Day??

I wish I had time to play with them now, but Christmas is getting closer and closer and closer and I am far from ready. (see above studio photo!)

This big box of goodies came from my brother-in-law Randy in Florida. That cylindrical shaped package on top is for ME. I am crossing my fingers that it is more vintage wallpaper, from the heft and shape of it, my chances are good.

Randy’s husband, Kevin, is a master junk shopper and I think he might have found a roll for me. I’ll wait til Christmas and won’t peek, but it will be hard. Mess_035

Sugarwings and I have been having some tea parties. She is very good at feeding imaginary treats her teddy bears. Mess_040

And the fairies on her tea table Christmas tree.

I am off to run errands and mail packages.

Oh- I put Sugarwing’s room on HGTV’s Rate My Space.

That site is addictive, so I try to stay away from it, it is too much fun. Here is the site, if you want to give her a rating:

http://ratemyspace.hgtv.com/SNC/GroupSearch.aspx?pguid=6db6be3f-1720-4ba3-a081-999042c09b6b&username=karlascottage

Big changes

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, jewelry, paintings

By Karla Nathan / December 5, 2007

I think I am done. I might not be, but I think I have all my hand made Christmas items listed on Etsy. I don’t even know how many I listed!

All I know, is that I took a LOT of photos and did a ton of editing and wrote and wrote and wrote descriptions.

I’m afraid most of my backgrounds are all the same, not as interesting as I usually try to make them, but this was a 3 day marathon event!!

I wanted to get all these up on the Etsy site before we went to DC tomorrow, so people could have time to shop for holiday items. Anything sold this week will go into the mail on Monday after I get back.

In between the listing today, I took time to look at apartments online.

Yep, we aren’t just going to DC to visit, we are apartment hunting! Rich has taken a new job that will have him based there, for at least a year.

I was so afraid we’d have to move!!! We are really lucky that it worked out so that we can live there part time and Kansas part time. Actually, my husband will go back and forth a lot more than I will.

How on Earth could we have sold our cottage and left Sugarwings to go live in some big city???? I would have just died to have to leave our wonderful, happy life here behind.

So it is my sweet husband who is making the sacrifice and living way out there, far from Sugarwings. And you can tell how he dotes on her from this photo, it won’t be easy for him to be away for a week or so at a time.

The new company will let him have an office at home for part of the month, and he will spend a lot of time racking up frequent flyer miles.

I think I have mentioned over and over in this blog, how lucky I am. I should spend time in casinos, I really do have a good luck streak going these last few years.

It won’t be easy to have two homes and to be apart that much, but it is a great job that he deserves and we will make it all work.

I’ll still get to have my studio so I can make all of these fun things to list on Etsy. And we’ll still be around for our kids, friends, nieces, nephews, and fairy grand baby. Oh and the garden and Dorkies!!

I’ve been promised a laptop so I can write my blog from way out East and I also plan to take along water colors so I can paint there, at the dining table.

Knowing me, I’ll probably get ten times as much work done in my Kansas studio than I do now, since he will be away so much!

People ask me how I can manage to get so much done- well, I am just really, really fast. And I don’t have a day job, this is it. I get to make pretties all the time!

Didn’t I say I was lucky???

I’ve never liked the name I chose for my blog, I should change it to "lucky me" or something like that. Of course, that could be cursing myself and about then, I’d break a leg or something.

I haven’t always been lucky. There have been major tragedies in my life, lots of ups and downs. That just makes these good times even better.

I’ve been really poor, I’ve broken my back and had years of chronic pain, I almost lost my sweet son to meth addiction and had to fight to get him back.

So, I don’t mean to sound like a Pollyanna, I honestly have many reasons to be thrilled with my life right now and to enjoy every moment to the fullest.

Sometimes you have to wrangle all the happiness you can get out of the world and hold onto it tightly.

I’ll be away until Sunday, and will come back with photos from the trip. See you then!

In the meantime, don’t forget about the party coming up on Wednesday next week. Invite all your readers and any other bloggers you think would enjoy it.

I will have drawings and prizes and will be sure to set some goodies aside for non-bloggers who leave us comments about their own holiday decor as well as other bloggers who link up for the party.

What do you do with the leftovers?????????

Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, parties

By Karla Nathan / December 2, 2007

Beth and I survived the sale! It was up and down and surprisingly we didn’t do very well during the day of the open house. Hundreds of people came through and all had nice things to say, but I think it was just too crowded and congested for shopping.(Here is a table full that Beth brought)

We had a lot of inventory, hand made or vintage.

And although, sales weren’t THAT bad, there sure seems to be a lot left over!!

See how cute this stuff that Beth made is? Why is it still here?

And I still have a treeful of ballerina fairies.

We had our theories on why the sales were so up and down. Friday was great. All of our regulars from the mailing list came. They always show up when we open and want to be first in line!

Saturday, the weather was terrible, plus there were so many activities going on around town.

On Sunday, the home tour was for 4 hours, with 7 homes to see and people were rushed. The ones who did stay and linger, bought some things. I ended up selling furniture on Sunday and my husband was sweet enough to load it up in one of the trucks from his collection (we have 3 for some reason) and follow the lady home to deliver a dresser.

I should have taken a photo of the packed room, and you’d see what I mean about it being too crowded to shop. We sold a lot during lulls when the room was bearable, but when hordes came through, we simply passed out treats and chatted as they filed through. who would have ever thought that having too many people at your sale was a bad thing?? A lot of women were asking what my hours were so they could come back again when they could shop more comfortably. But I doubt I I’ll be doing this again for a few months.

I’ll be listing a BUNCH of stuff on my Etsy shop tomorrow and at bargain prices too!

I can’t say the day wasn’t a success. People were so kind about my home and had so many nice things to say. And I got my house cleaned up! Every room all at the same time. Of course, it won’t be that way tomorrow……

I had people asking if they could hire me as a decorator. That was flattering.

Of course, all my stuff is from a garage sale or a dumpster or a flea market, I called it the recycled house. I take things no one else cares about and make them into something pretty.

My husband’s office was open for show today too. I didn’t decorate much up there, just some berry vines on the lights and above the windows.

And to me, this is one of the prettiest things I saw today, my little boy, Ryan.

I took tons of photos and will show more later if you are interested.

Plenty of blog-fodder for the "what do you love about your Holiday Home" party on the 12th!

And don’t forget about our monthly drawing!

I’m a couple days late, but things have been crazy around here. I picked a name from the comments left this month and it is:

Joy

What a fitting name to draw for a holiday prize!!

Joy, please send me your address and I’ll send a giftie to you up there in Canada.

All comments left are eligible for the drawing each month. Thanks to everyone who comes by to visit, I enjoy hearing from you all.

Oh, here are a few more wonderful things Beth brought, and she did sell out with these, I think. And what a cool display she brought for me to hang them on.

I think she’ll be listing some leftovers on Etsy too.

You know, the sale really was fine, and the home tour was fun, I didn’t mean to complain. I am simply so PROLIFIC in what I produce, that sometimes I feel like I am drowning in stuff. I still have a studio full after the sale. But there was just so durn much to start with!!

I was giving stuff to friends who came by after the event to drink a glass of wine and tell me about the other homes they saw on the tour. My last few shoppers were getting extras thrown into their bags for free too. I just wanted it GONE at that point. I am ready to move on and make more stuff, not just keep staring at the stuff I made last week.

I have an idea! Another giveaway. For my Party on the 12th, I will have special prizes. All comments that day will go into a drawing and I’ll use you guys to dump my excess inventory on- ( I mean, I will give gifts to readers and participants that day)

Ready * Set * GO!

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

By Karla Nathan / November 29, 2007

I’m DONE! I’m ready for my sale!!!

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

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

I also made a few more teacup posie arrangements.

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

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

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

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

Or you can just zoooooom in.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tiny Dancers and Globs of Glitter

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

By Karla Nathan / November 26, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

Including some especially for Kansans- Jayhawks and Sunflowers.

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

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

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

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

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

Of course, I think everything looks better with glitter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’d better get on with it.

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

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

A FEW MINUTES LATER:

I added glitter to these balls, better, huh?