fairies – Page 31 – Karla's Cottage

Not Bella-ed-Out Yet!

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 18, 2007

Did you think I was all bella-out? Nope, here is more!

I was only in one organized swap, silly silly silly me.

Take my advice, if you go to Silver Bella, sign up for as many swaps as you can.

You would not believe some of the gorgeous creations that were given in trade!

I was lucky enough to get into a few side swaps to, besides my ATCs. Rebbecca, and Julie and …… and oh my, you know I am bad about this. All my notes and business cards are packed in the box with all the swaps and are all mixed up.

But that doesn’t mean I love all of them any less! I am going to add hangers and make ornaments for a special table top tree, all Silver Bella themed with the ATCs.

Thanks, Bella Buddies!

On the other hand, here is a mystery solved. Remember the beautiful box full of gifts I got in the mail and didn’t know where from, was afraid I’d forgotten a swap or a giveaway?

Well, the gifter wrote to tell me, that is what it was, a gift. How sweet and kind. She was trying to be a secret Santa, but didn’t want to worry me and make me rack my brain to figure out what I had forgotten!

Thanks, Kathryn!!!

My Silver Bella tiara found a home in the bathroom cabinet on the doll head I bought on the trip to Omaha.

We named the little dolly "Bella Donna"

On the shelf near Bella Donna sits my swapty gift from Dede, who by the way, said she wanted to be the "Blotto Bella" and was a blast the whole weekend.

She let me pick ornaments, and I chose "Naughty Bella"

Which is a good name for me since I was bringing a strange man into our room at 3 am.

Maybe I should tell the rest of that? My roomie, Beth, went to bed early and I stayed up late with my new Bella Buds, Carol, Heather, the other Karla (yep, there were two there), and Stacey. and we giggled like school girls till way too late in Heather’s room.

Did you know that if your key card is in your pocket with your cell phone, it loses its magnetic abilities to open doors? So I was locked out. The room was in Beth’s name. I couldn’t get a new key, but the manager said he’d let me in if I could describe the room and my luggage.

I told him he couldn’t wake up Beth, I was trying to sneak in! But it was the only way, he insisted.

So, I described my stuff as all the bags on the floor overflowing with purchases from Vendor Night, supplies for classes, all the stuff from the antique mall I’d gotten, and all the swaps, stacked and piled up on the floor from the TV cabinet to the front door, so that you could barely get in the room. He stepped inside, took one look and realized it had to be my room. Then, I promptly tripped over a paper bag and made a lot of noise, but Beth still slept through it.

I am continuing to burn the midnight oil getting ready for my sale in two weeks. I’ve been up till 4 am the last two nights.

I glittered all these Ballerinas that I bought at Vendor Night and added butterfly wings that I got there too.

They are hung on a Bethany Lowe tree I picked up on the trip.

Sometime around 2am I was making these cones. The base of them is a 90% off clearance Tussie Mussie that I ripped all the tacky things off of and embellished myself with vintagey stuff.

Most of the embellishments were from our trip too. Either leftovers from class, goodies from Vendor night, or from the shopping along the way. Beth was so nice to me on the shopping part of the trip. I don’t get out to junk as much as she does, so she was calling it my "Pity Trip" and giving me first choice on all the goods!

Look at the pretty ribbon on this one. it is from Rebecca’s class. Did she just get some old seam binding wet and crumple it, do you think?

Wish I could have gotten more than 3 of these cones for 50 cents each, they were great to work with.

One more purchase from our drive up to Omaha. I bought another Bethany Lowe tree for my living room.

I’m going with an all white theme, for Christmas in that room. Well ivory and cream really. Multi whites. I’ll show more during our

What do you LOVE about your holiday home? party

I’ve been so busy Bella-ing, redoing the blog (well Sadie Olive did all the actual work, but it took up a lot of my time too) and then getting ready for the upcoming sale at my home, I haven’t done much Etsy listing.

I did list this, the background is an invoice from Acme Coal Mining. I loved that 1917 paper! I wondered if Santa got his coal there.

I’m sure that is where Wiley Coyote and Bugs Bunny did, every exploding device or weird thing that they bought was from Acme.

(this sold to Louisa who had this wallpaper in her home growing up! I sent her all the scraps I had of it so she could make something too)

Now, I am going to be good, stop running on, and go list something else on Etsy. I am crazy about this old wallpaper too. I had made a banner from it also and that sold to Bethany. And that is all I had of this wallpaper. It is so rich and deluxe, but in small doses, I can’t quite picture it filling a room.

Why do I have to be “Hex Goblinweb”????

fairies, holiday decor, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 5, 2007

My fairy is called Hex Goblinweb

"She is a bringer of riches and wealth.

She lives in places hexed and tainted by black magic.

She is only seen in the mist of an early morning.

She wears black feathers and rose petals. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly."

You can get your fairy name too, although, I hope yours is prettier than mine. Hex Goblinweb?? Why couldn’t I be "gossamer petals" or "blissful bella" or "glittered sparkle wings"

I saw this fairy name finder on Phyllis’ site, check it out and see if you get a pretty name: http://www.emmadavies.net/fairy/default.aspx

While I was going through the handmade greeting card drawer, I thought I’d show

another old Christmas card. Some years, I’d do a golfing themed card for my husband to send to his colleagues, I’d also do a pretty card with angels or fairies to send to family and friends.

I always loved this angel’s face, just don’t look at her poor hand. Ugh, that is badly done.

(this is the only one I don’t have extras of to sell, they are sold out till I copy more)

I am happy (and relieved) to say that my house is decorated for Christmas and ready for the local TV crew on the 15th!

I still have this mess to deal with before I leave for SILVER BELLA on Thursday.

I’d had the front third of my studio set up for the Holiday Home Tour and gift shop way early, back in Sept. so a local magazine could do photos of it. That was a great head start. Xmas_021

But now, all this mess is in front of the pretty stuff!!

I can’t seem to keep a clean work environment. It clutters up so fast, I am always shoving aside one mess to work on another.

At least I know I am 90% done inside the house, and the studio looks really bad right now, but I’ve seen it worse. I’ll have it whipped into shape in the 3 days I have before I leave.

Well, I will be babysitting Sugarwings over night on one of those days, so between watching her, and the recovery time I need to rest after keeping her out of the Christmas tree, I won’t have a full 3 days.

I’d better get busy.

Christmasses Past and what ever happened to those unicorns??

collections, fairies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / November 4, 2007

Don’t forget that every comment is an entry into my monthly giveaway. This month, it will be a hand made Christmas item.

After seeing Sugarwings dressed up like Dorothy, I got to thinking about this painting I did years ago.

I called it "Great Aunt Dorothy Reminiscing"

It is my vision of Dorothy in her 90s. With photos of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, Toto and a hot air balloon on the wall behind her, and a vase with poppy stem in it on the table next to her chair.

Her favorite color is emerald green, because it brings back such lovely memories. And no matter what, she’ll NEVER give up those ruby slippers.

While digging through the drawer to get to the Dorothy card (I made my old paintings into note cards) I came across some others and thought I’d show them today.

I am in the middle of decking the halls and my husband says "it looks like Christmas threw up all over our house!". It is a wreck, boxes, ornaments, garlands, branches,everywhere. I have nothing new made right now, except a mess.

Notice the rain drop hitting the unicorn? That is why there are no more unicorns today, the rain started before his mate arrived and he could get on the ark.

My husband runs some golf courses and I try to do a unique Christmas card for him to send out every year. (this one is wrapped up in plastic, I used to sell them by the 6 pack too).

This guy is a golfing Santy, done in ink.

This is one of my faves, Santa’s elves building sets of clubs.

And a golfing snowman.

One year, I did this painting of the front of my studio with Sparkle sitting on the porch and used it as the family Christmas card.

The Holiday Home Tour that I am a part of this year is using this image in its advertising now. That was so flattering!

This one is a little different, well no golf clubs, but also, it was done with watercolor pencils. I had never worked with them before and probably won’t again, they don’t have the range of color I wanted and I found them hard to use.

I do have a few cards left if anyone wants any, I can sell them for $1 each or 6 for $5. I’ll have to double check to see what is left if you want any.

Following the wrong path and enjoying the surprises along the way

fairies, family, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 26, 2007

I’ve had one of those weeks, where no matter how earnest and sincere my plan to stick to a schedule is, those plans just disappear into something totally unplanned.

Today was supposedly a work day. It turned into a ride to Kansas City to buy a used truck for my son. That turned into a trek with the entire family to find a Cracker Barrel, which should have been simple, but somehow wasn’t. The search was worth it, have you tried the carrot cake there? But the hour and a half trip to get the truck so I could get back to work was now 3 1/2 hours at this point.

And what did I drive by on the way home? A sign for a pumpkin patch. I HAD to stop and take Sugarwings.

Pumpkins as far as the eye can see, and in Kansas, you can see pretty far into the horizon!

She picked out a ghost and a tiny pumpkin that was just her size.

Notice I have my work clothes on? I certainly had good intentions of running a quick errand and getting right back to work.

Then, at home, I was packing up my watercolors to take to the Ozarks for the weekend. Instead of getting them ready, and then working on my hand painted signs that I need to finish up, I hit another sidetrack.

And ended up with this painting of Sugarwings. I’m going to use it for our Christmas cards this year and maybe work it into a blog banner for the holidays.

So, even though this day was far from what I had planned, it was a great day- Carrot cake, family time, a first visit to the pumpkin farm, then a surprise painting. Much more fun, (although less productive) than sticking to a schedule and working all day.

I’m lucky to be able to let the day lead me where it wants to. Not a bad life, huh?

Now I am off to the Ozarks for 3 days. See you later!

A winner! Plus some lightening up turns into a giant snowball

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles

By Karla Nathan / October 24, 2007

Thanks for all your kind comments the last few days! It was good to hear from people I didn’t know were out there, and also from friends I hear from regularly.

I wish I was at Sissy’s house and I could use her cool hand made witch’s hat to draw the name from for the prize!

Actually, I just wish I was at Sissy’s house anyway, because I miss her.

Its a fun place to visit, she has such cool stuff at her fairy tale cottage, like these old witchy boots.

And a real cauldron to make up some Halloween potions.

I always borrow the witchy hat when I visit her. I wonder what that says about my personality, that I am so comfortable looking like a witch?

Well, no pretty Halloween Witch hat to draw a name from, but I was able to randomly select a name without it, even though it wasn’t as much fun that way.

The winner is:

DENISE DUNLAVEY

I have your address from past purchases, Denise, so I will mail out your Foof of Life book and rose painted bookmark.

Thanks again to everyone for entering!

All of those comments were also entered into my October giveaway and you can keep entering until the end of the month.

Besides taking care of Sugarwings and walking to the park with her in her little pink convertible, my week has been full of boring details.

Like touching up paint around the house. uck. But it had to be done before the Holiday Home Tour.

And it does make a difference.

I touched up all the dings on the walls throughout the house, plus this grate in my dining room floor.

While I was at it, I trashed the dining room rug, since Twinkle thinks it made a better toilet and chew toy than a floor covering.

Taking out the black flowered rug made the rest of the things in the room off kilter a bit, so I repainted the bench, slightly.

Here it is a year ago (It was white before this, pink before that, and maple when I got it from my mom’s estate 5 years ago)

This is the room last spring. (before the rug was Twinklized)

This is the lighter version of the bench.

I’d like to get a new rug, in a sisal maybe? But Twinks worries me with her bad puppy habits for now. I’d be better off with the scrubbable, bleachable tile until she learns.

My great grandmother made this table cloth!

We didn’t realize it, this one and some others were in the linen closet at my mom’s home, and when she died, we were getting things ready for an auction and also dividing up between family members.

One job I had was to go through all the video tapes. While I was looking at a tape of my Great Aunt Caroline’s visit to my mom’s, someone else was going through linens, and we both noticed that on the tape, Caroline was giving mom these linens and telling stories about them. We wouldn’t have known that it was made by my great grandmother if we hadn’t looked through all the videos.

Lightening up the dining room yesterday also meant redoing the center piece. I have had some fallish colors out for the last couple of weeks, and was ready for a change. This is still autumn themed, but has a lighter quality to it.

My rooms change a lot. Here is the dining room about 3 years ago in a photo taken for Paint Magic magazine (taken by Bill Mathews, styled by Gloria Gale).

I took the stained glass lamp from the dining room and moved it upstairs to the library.

That room still needs a spiffing up, it is rather blah. But I will worry about that when I get out my holiday decor.

I also had to repaint a bed this week. Didn’t want to.

But Ry’s back has been bothering him and it dawned on me that there was a really good mattress in the guest room that we should switch out with him for his older one.

But then, of course, the new mattress didn’t fit the old frame, yet another snowball effect like taking the rug out of the dining room. You change one little thing and all of a sudden, you have a chain reaction of things that need changing.

So, I repainted Ryan’s oak bed to go into the guest room. It looked a bit manly, but I don’t think that is a problem anymore.

While I was out in the driveway painting the bed, I decided to spray paint this little sewing stand (Goodwill -$5!) pink.

And that just about sums up how my days go. One thing leads to another and never seem to do what I planned.

Today, I am not babysitting,the house is put back together, and I have a casserole ready to go for dinner. I am going to get those signs painted that I mentioned last week!

ps- lots of nice people have tagged me for some fun things, I’ll get to those soon too

TWO HUNDRED posts!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 22, 2007

Today is my 200th post! Wow, who knew when I started doing this I would LOVE blogging so much and have such a great time with it?

Before I started writing a blog, I didn’t even really read them. I didn’t know the wealth of friendship, entertainment, and creativity out there.

If I had, I would have come up with a more creative name, or at least I’d like to think that! I would have at least used "Karkie" instead of "Karla", that is what my family calls me. My business name was "Comfort and Joy" that might have been better. Oh well, too hard to change at this point!!

Maybe I’ll list 200 reasons why I love writing my blog?! I am known for long and rambling posts….

Well, here are a few at least-

I’ve met the most generous and fun people. Like the blogger friend who sent little Sugarwings this dress as a gift, but doesn’t want me to tell anyone who she is.

I always say that bloggers are the most generous souls I’ve ever met.

I’ve gotten to know some other artists, whose works I’d never have seen, like my friend, Bethany who drew this for her 200th post and let me "borrow" it because I just thought it was the cutest sketch ever.

I get to have fun with my Sis, by she and I participating in challenges and swaps together.

Beachy is having a challenge now to use an old photo and show what you have done. This is Sissy’s result!! Wow!!

Here is mine, from the same vintage photo. Not as fanciful as Sis’s, but what could be, hers is so wonderfully fun!

I combined the challenge with making a card for Carole who is a kind hearted blogging friend who is having a rough time with her back surgery.

Mary Lou is gathering up cards to send to Carole. See, didn’t I say that bloggers were giving people?

I’ve shown this photo before, it is of my Sissy. Can you see why her challenge photo turned into a flock of fairies? She IS a fairy. Sugarwings takes after her Great Aunt Sissy.

I love that my blog keeps me in touch with my family and friends. I live far away from most of them and this just makes me feel a bit more connected. Maybe they can feel like they are more of a part of my life when they see Sugarwings and the rest of us and read about what we are up to.

And of course, I have been able to sell my work from the blog, and connect it to my Etsy Shop, which I’d never even heard of before seeing it pop up on so many other blogs.

Now, Phyllis will be having a virtual craft show, yet another fun way to meet more bloggers and do some mingling and shopping.

I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to show some of my artwork too. What artist doesn’t need a venue to be seen in?

And I have been encourage and inspired to try different things and branch out by other bloggers and the things I see them do.

My buddy, Beth and I like to make projects together and gossip about what we’ve read and who is doing what. We feel like these blogs we read are written by neighbors and friends. Each one is like getting a post card full of news from a pal.

(by the way- there is a FLEA MARKET on Beth’s site right now, time for more shopping!)

Also, I get to share my experiences and talk about where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing.

Like the party I went to on Saturday. An artist friend,Louis Copt, has "CoptOberFest" every fall at his home.

Louis and Phyllis have the coolest, artiest home ever and I just feel like I HAVE to have a place to show photos of it! How many people do you know that build a kitchen around a wood fired pizza oven?

This is in Louis’ studio, with his Kansas landscapes on the walls behind Jen and Diane (more art friends).

Louis doesn’t just paint Kansas, he travels the world and does scenes from all over, he has taken groups on painting tours of France and Italy through the local art center. Someday, I hope to join one, but it will take a while to save up for it!

I took a class from Louis, and this is one of the paintings I did in it.

Which brings me to another reason I love blogging- tea parties!! Wasn’t Karis tea party fun? And I was so thrilled that I had so many ‘guests’ at my Romantic Country publication celebration, showing what they LOVED about their own homes.

I look forward to the "What do you Love about your Holiday Home" party. It will be on Wednesday Dec. 12th. PLEASE NOTE, THAT THIS IS A CHANGE- TOO MANY PEOPLE DON’T HAVE THEIR HOMES READY BY THE 5TH AS ORIGINALLY PLANNED!

I hope to meet many more new friends at that party. I hope you can all attend and tell your friends to come too.

I always am inspired by the generosity of bloggers, and want to thank Angelina’s cards for featuring me in her hightlighted artist segment.

And have I mentioned swaps and giveaways yet?? How fun are those? I just won these pretties from Dena, and will have tea party with my fairy grand baby with them soon.

I also love having giveaways myself. For my 200th post, all comments on #199 and today’s 200th will be entered to win this book and hand made book mark.

I will announce the winner on Wed. so everyone has time to enter.

Plus all comments through out the month are entered into my monthly drawing.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to look at my pictures and read my ramblings and to the people who have taken the time to leave me over 3,500 comments! I try to answer each and everyone, but sometimes, for some weird reason, Typepad kicks the responses back to me, and the emails don’t go through. If you didn’t hear an answer from me, it wasn’t because I didn’t try.

Thanks again!

Guests come by the Cottage and one is a real live doll

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, Food and Drink, give away, hand painted signs, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 20, 2007

We have house guests at the cottage this weekend. An old college friend of my husband’s and his 3 teenagers with their dog, Bennet.

So far, Bennet and Twinks have wrestled non stop since he got here. It sounds like an entire herd of dogs running around upstairs. That is, when Twinkle’s feet get a chance to touch the ground. Our beautiful guest,Maddy is quite the dog lover and has been carrying Twinks everywhere she goes.

Maddy looks a bit like this paper doll doesn’t she?

I did this picture yesterday and have it listed on Etsy today.

Something a little different than what I usually do. I discovered that framed collage pieces require a a different mindset than the tags.

I made a couple more hanging pieces while I was at it. This one has a unique frame, it is a metal dish that I found junking this summer. Those portraits are tinted with pastels and then set down into the 2 cups of the tray. The piece itself is like a nut dish, or something like that. I can see it used for mints and nuts at a wedding a long time ago.

I am pretending that the old photos are of two sisters, one kind of plain and serious and the other blond and flirty and cute. Sounds a bit like the beginning to a Jane Austen novel, doesn’t it? I’m sure that the plain and serious sister married well and for love. And had nuts and mints at her wedding.

This is another metal tray from an estate sale, maybe it was meant as a boudoir tray? I think it might need a word or a phrase added to it. I am not good with that part of collage, but I will think about it, and look through some old books. Down near the doll there is a spot that could use a little something.

How sick are you of me showing button jars? I LOVE making those. I listed this one yesterday, all the others have sold and I only have 5 empty jars left to embellish, a couple of them will be commissions.

I’ll have to start checking out other jars to use, because they are so fun to make and it is rewarding when they fly out of the Etsy shop!

Although, I really need to get ready for my Holiday Sale. I should be getting serious and getting some painting done. I have to hand paint a few dozen ornaments and make some more of these signs.

As well as a million other things I need to have ready. I try to make a list of what needs to be done when, but I simply can’t follow it. I am not wired that way. I get side tracked by shiny objects and go off track and do something totally different.

Or I get sidetracked by my fairy grand baby. She has spent a lot of time with me this week. Last night she helped me make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from this recipe. I don’t usually use recipes, I wing it. But I saw this on Monica’s blog.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:
2 Cups flour
1 cup quick or old fashion oats, uncooked
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter /margarine, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Libby’s Solid Pack Pumpkin
1 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels

preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Cream butter; gradually add sugars beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mix well. Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition. Stir in morsels; drop by rounded spoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes, until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Remove from sheets and cool on rack.

With a houseful of teenagers for the weekend, I thought I could use some more snacks so I mixed up a big batch of honey roasted nuts, regular peanuts, cashews, candy corn, broken up Hershey bars, and peanut butter chips.

I like to keep bowls of treats out to spoil the kids when they come to visit, and this is about as easy as it gets.

Speaking of cooking, I need to go tend to my huge pot of black bean chili that is on the stove. I am feeding a lot of people while they watch a KU game this afternoon. Maybe while they are watching football, I can squeeze in painting a few signs.

I will have my 200th post on Monday. Please leave a comment on this one, #199, or the 200th and I will have a drawing for the Foof of Life book and a hand made book mark to go with it. The drawing will be on my 201st.

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!

Step by Steps and a peek into the crazy mind of a serial redecorator

Etsy Goodies, fairies, how to's, how-to projects, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 9, 2007

The slipcovers are done! And in use, you can see them here under my little fairy grand baby. Her dad has dislocated his elbow -ouch- and it looks like I will be seeing a lot of her this week. He is in bad shape, and can’t use his arm, so he can’t pick up his baby. I’ll be helping out till he is better.

We are hoping rest will do the trick, the poor guy has no health insurance and can’t afford time off work, or doctor bills.

Since I know I will be busy with the baby this week, I kicked it into over drive to finish the slipcovers and the wall behind the couch.

I decided to use a mix of books for a varied look on the wall. First I removed all these cool illustrations to use for projects or to sell on Etsy for someone else to use. Aren’t they beautiful???

I have 2 French books in different sizes, and one slightly more aged looking plus a book about roses with black and white illustrations.

I was so pleased to see how easily the textured wallpaper came down. Just a bit of peeling and patience and it was done.

If you know me at all, you know that I don’t waste anything. The wallpaper I pulled down was cut up into craftable sizes and saved for future projects. Some of it was used already to wrap up some Etsy purchases tonight. It made really cute wrapping paper.

I used all three books, with the pages turned upside down, sideways, all topsy turvey, with no real pattern or plan.

Wallpaper paste was rolled onto the wall and I added the pages to the glued wall, then rolled over the top again with glue.

The first part of the wall was dry by the time I finished the last part, so I started right away on the metallic glazes. Gold, bronze and umber glazes all went into the pan together.

To apply, all three were used on the rag at the same time.

It gets glopped on with the rag.

When you first start to smear it around, you think, "oh no, what have I done???"

But just a little blending and it starts to look good.

I wish you could see the metallic sheen this has, it is a nice effect, but doesn’t show up well in the photos.

I like the aged colors of the paper and the golden sheen over the top kind of blends the papers all together. The only color on the wall is this one page with the tiny word "Paris" in red.

Ta da! New slipcovers in one afternoon (it helps to not measure or be too picky, just go for it!) and a wall stripped of its old wallpaper and re-papered in vintage book pages in about 3-4 hours the next day.

One thing I really like about the slipcovers, besides the fact that they are washable and I have a houseful of dogs and a baby- is that I made the backs of the pillows all out of velvet. When you lay on the couch, it will feel good to flip the pillows over to the soft side to get comfy.

This is what I started with, and was ready for something more neutral.

(I found this brand new couch at a sale for $285!)

I’d used dark slipcovers for last winter,but it was way too much color for me and I got tired of it fast.

And before that, we had this couch that I gave to my son when he got his own place. He stripped off all the pillows and the cover that I made for it and likes it plain tan velvet.

Here is another version of that sofa.

Both of these photos were used in magazine shoots and were taken by Bill Mathews and styled by Gloria Gale.

And way way before that, we had this look. This was in Country Almanac, and was done by Bill and Gloria too.

And don’t ask me how long I will keep the new look I did tonight. Chances aren’t good that it will last!!!

Don’t forget about the giveaway, leave a comment to enter, I have two drawings this month!!

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

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

By Karla Nathan / October 4, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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