fairies – Page 33 – Karla's Cottage

I might get a bit carried away sometimes…….

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

By Karla Nathan / August 15, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And I never have enough of these German die cuts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaking of boxes of goodies:

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

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

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

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

Fairy Greetings

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

By Karla Nathan / August 13, 2007

Greetings from Indiana! My sisses and I have been doing some shopping while I visit here, and one of the things I found was a bag of old greeting cards for $1.

I asked my niece’s girls to pose as fairies for me and then printed the photos and cut them out. Today we had a fairy paper doll day by gluing the photos down onto the greeting cards.

I simply added a touch of glitter (well maybe more than a touch, maybe a bucket of glitter), some wings cut from a fairy flower book, and a little bit of drawing.

Recently, in tracing Gabby’s family tree, a connection was found to the PRESLEYs- yes, those Presleys. Doesn’t she look like Lisa Marie??? Well, that is, if Elvis’ daughter was a fairy.

On Maddi’s card, I used a gold gel glitter pen to draw a wreath of vines around the little flowers at the edge of the card. I’d not used those pens before, that is another fun thing about creating projects with others, you get to try some of their favorite techniques!

Little Miss Sugarwings was not here to pose for me, but I was able to use some photos of her from my blog so that she could be a fairy too. I glued her photo onto scrapbook paper and used the little birds and pussy willow illustrations from one of the cards as well as wings that I drew onto old paper to make this fairy portrait.

Sissy had some sparkly paper I wanted to try. I used the red for my sister, Bobbie Sue’s girls, because her last name is Valentine.

I added hearts to the wings in honor of their name, too.

Sissy had written out some pretty phrases in her delicate handwriting onto aged paper and gave me a bundle of the phrases as part of our swap. On these girls’ picture, I used

"May your dreams come true"

Of course, we couldn’t leave Toby out! He has the personality of a mischievous elfish guy, so I turned him into one on some of the sparkly green paper, washed over with blue ink.

Sissy used her grandson, Toby on a piece of sparkly black paper stamped in gold, then found a wizard picture to cut out for a costume to dress him in.

Tomorrow I drive back to Kansas, it’s always sad when a vacation comes to an end, and even sadder when I have to think about driving for 9 hours!

A girly Guest room and a Girl on my head

fairies, family, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 11, 2007

We’re having a wonderful time in Indy, LOTS of shopping- and Sissy has such a pretty guest room set up for me. (Well, I’m sure it usually looks like this, but I feel like it was set up just for me)

Looking down on me over the bed, is this sweet little ballerina.

I can read at night by light of this lovely lamp that sits on the night stand. She even set out a framed print of a topiary painting I did to make me feel welcome.

And look!!–PRESENTS!!

Beth, Sis, and I did a swap. Here are the beautiful packages Sis made up for us.

Her gift bags are so nice. And they are STUFFED with loot.

Ooops- well, once I got into the boxes, I found the goodies, that is. Sometimes, Mod Podge tends to stick when it is humid. August in Indiana means a lot of things are sticky, not just mod podge.

(one trick to prevent Mod Podge from sticking, is to top coat it with a clear water based top coat, which I will add later)

Sis and I also did an Art Doll Hat swap. She found a pretty picture to use, and we both copied it and made up dolls for each other from the same image. We discovered that they make perfect party hats.

I adore all the pretties she gave to me. There is even a Dorkie in one of the prints. Fairies, witches, roses, mermaids, post cards, lovely ladies, soaps, candles, books, sheet music, and so much more were all in the boxes and bags she made up.

I’ll get a close up when the light is better, its great stuff. I can’t wait to start gluing and creating with it all!

And here is some of the wonderful things Beth sent to Sis. Sissy likes witchy things, so Beth made up a tag and a tussie mussie just for her with a Halloween theme.

There were crystals, a mini shell purse, French lace, old trims, an embellished box- so many cute things.

We’ve had such a good time with it all in our swap that we want to host a swap with hand embellished gift bags with a Halloween theme, a bit later on, closer to the holiday. Then another one at Christmas.

Get back to me if you are interested in being in the swap and I’ll contact you when we are ready.

I want to thank everyone who came to visit during Artsy Mama’s Artful Blogger party, and who left a comment.

I’ll answer them when I get home from my vacation, right now we are knee deep in junking, parties, and family reunions.

Also, I wanted to announce that since I got such a ton of comments, I will add a 2nd drawing to my giveaway in August. Every comment I get is entered into the drawing, and please- enter as often as you’d like.

I’ll come up with a prize for the 2nd place winner. First place is choice of a Cottage Collage Kit, or a piece of something I have made from some of the vintagey goods in my kits.

Surprises

Etsy Goodies, fairies, flowers, give away, how to's, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 6, 2007

It was hot here in Kansas this weekend. So hot that no one wanted to go out on the boat. We did go to the lake in the evenings, but I spent the daytime in the studio working on some paintings.

While I had paints out, I did a background for an ATCard that

Debra posted a picture to use, as a challenge. I snipped out the angel she posted, glittered it up, added silver paint pen, drew curls in the hair, then added crystals and a vintage posey to my painted background. The angel is on her site if you’d like to do your own.

I got a bit carried away on the wallpaper medallions again! I really enjoy painting those little ovals, and this time I was in fairy mode.

I dooded up some of the borders of the medallions too.

Others, I left simple, but all of them got glittered. (of course)

While I was at it, I did a few more cupcakes with more glitter (of course).

Oh and a few more pink roses. (of course)

And one little ballerina that I added to a large shipping tag with vintage wallpaper, pink tulle, crystals and some posies from old jewelry.

I will list them on myEtsy Shop if you are interested, but it might not be today, so if you want one, feel free to email me. The medallions are $5 for each section, and the ballerina tag is $9.

I will give the angel ATC to the first purchase of two items or more!

My sweet husband did the sweetest thing. He was mowing in the 100 degree heat, and came in to tell me that there was a flower along the mower’s path and wondered if it should be saved. (he didn’t know if it was a weed, or whatever, he doesn’t understand flowers, but cared enough to ask)

I didn’t realize the surprise lilies were up yet, I guess that is why they are called surprise lilies, they come out of nowhere over night!

I’ve heard them called naked ladies too, because of the bare stem. I thought about titling my post "my husband and the naked lady" but thought I’d get all the WRONG hits on it today.

The painting of the house my dad grew up in is finished and I am off to make copies of it for the family reunion.

First I wanted to tell you that I decided what to do for my August give away!!

I will give the winner a choice- if you are an artist and want a Cottage Collage Kit filled with vintage goodness, I’ll send that. If you are not and don’t want the kit, I will make something for you from one of my kits!!! Hows that?

Leave a message to enter, as often as you’d like. I do love me some comments!

Tweak or Toss and some Tags with a new Trick!

Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 23, 2007

Christmas in July is the theme for the card swap I am in and I have a partner who looks like she might be a new blogger, or else, I missed her archives. http://loveofyellowroses.blogspot.com/ is the name of hers, so I figure she likes yellow and roses. I don’t do yellow much, but then, maybe I don’t like this card because it is TOO yellow?? I took a copy of a painting I did of Sugarwings, glued it to a too-yellow card, and hand drew some wings onto her and glittered them up.

For the 2nd card (we are supposed to send 2 Xmas cards), I used old Xmas sheet music, (green ink, really pretty) and parts of old Xmas cards (with a yellow rose) to add to it, along with glitter and gold paint. The gold helped disguise the too-yellow card I used underneath it all, but then that doesn’t help the inside or back of the card, does it??? I need to tweak or toss these, they aren’t quite right.

I am happier with how my tags turned out. I made a few today, just for the fun of it, and, yep, it was fun! These first 3 have some of the 1918 legal papers that I bought used as a basis, along with hand drawn vines or scrolls, as well as glitter, ribbons, and post card bits. Its nice to photocopy post cards to use, so you can save the original, but nothing is as nice as the texture of a real one, so I cut up the originals and try to use all of them, down to the last little corner!

The backs are covered too, but kept simple.

I did a few more tags with some old wallpaper as a basis.

And I learned a new trick!!! I have been having a terrible time with ‘writing’ with glue and glitter. Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ has too, and she posted about it, and got a response from a person named Kathy, who said to use a glue pen to draw with first. So, I ran out to get one (while running what felt like a thousand other errands today, geesh, when is a person supposed to be able to play with glue?? My errands took up hours today).

The glue pens are FANTASTIC!

So easy to control, you can draw with them like a marker, then dust with glitter.

Thanks, Kathy!!!

I am going to list these tags on Etsy at 3 for $10 if anyone is interested.

Also, you still have a week to enter my drawing for a Cottage Collage Kit and it will contain some of the narrow plastic tags and some of the wall papers I used to make these if you want to make some yourself.

Leave a comment on any post to enter, and as often as you’d like (I love comments!)

Another Art Doll Hat and Gloppy Purse Fairy

antiques/junking, fairies, how to's, how-to projects, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 21, 2007

The Art Doll Hat for the swap hosted by http://craftingbycandlelight.blogspot.com/ was fun to work on today. It is very different than the one I made for Sis in our private swap.

But both have the same base- a party hat in holographic paper, gold for Sissy and silver for my swap partner http://jenniferconway.blogspot.com/.

Jennifer has a wonderful site and makes the coolest crows. I don’t do crows, but I added a bird to her doll, hoping she’d like it.

I can’t send it to her until I get an exacto knife and clean up those messy arms. My scissors were too bulky.

I have a lot of these party hats left, I might make some angels to use for Christmas tree toppers.

I also made a purse fairy from one of the tiny perfume bottles Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ gave to me in our supplies swap.

My first step was to pour glue into the bottom of the bottle, then shake glitter inside it.

Next, I glued a 1" high picture down onto some background paper, and cut her out. That way, her back is attractive too, and she is more sturdy, with the 2 layers of paper. I left a strip of paper at her feet as a base.

I found a crystal bead that was small enough to fit through the opening of the bottle, and wrapped the paper base around the bead, glued it to the bead, then wrapped the base in silver ribbon and glued that down.

Now she can stand up and has a weighted bottom.

I cut butterfly shaped wings out of the same paper I had used on the back of the lady, and glittered them, bent them into a V shape and glued them to her back.

I carefully, without creasing her, folded her over and poked her through the opening to the bottle after adding glue to the bottom of the bead so it would stick to the inside of the bottle. I used a paint brush handle to adjust the fairy once she was inside, and used the brush to poke in some teeny little vintage flowers that had a drop of glue on each.

To foof up the plastic lid, I wrapped and glued a strip of the same paper I used on the fairy’s back onto the side of the lid.

A vintage button topped with a pearl bead was glued to the top.

And now I have a fairy that will always be with me wherever I go. I think I glopped enough glue into that bottle, that it will be secure, that is, if it ever dries! I’ll leave the lid off a while, maybe a week or two??

ps- you can still enter the giveaway for July by leaving a comment

Cherubs, Dolls, Fairies, and a real life Dollbaby

Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 17, 2007

What a nice day I have had. I spent most of it with the fairy grand baby, then took my niece to see Harry Potter. On the way home, I rented a copy of Miss Potter to watch tonight, and thought maybe I should eat a Pot Pie with it. But I am way too full of popcorn from the matinee to even think about dinner.

I found the German die cut cherub that I thought I had lost when packing up for the trip, isn’t she a pretty one? And I had the price wrong, she was only $2, frame and all.

While going through things that should be sorted, sold, or something, I came across this little box of vintage doll clothes.

I might keep some of the most lacey ones for making fairy dolls and sell the rest on Etsy. I am sure there are plenty of doll makers who could use them. Aren’t they sweet? I’d say they must be handmade. Look at the beading on the little pink one!

And the tiny little handmade flowers on these.

They are enough to make me wish I was a doll collector. But honestly, I collect enough stuff!!!!!!!

I do like to take old dolls and repaint them and turn them into fairies.

But these elfish babes are not dressed in real clothes, I glue bits and pieces of stuff together to make their dresses (I hate to sew). Maybe the doll clothes would be wasted on me. Although, I can see a couple of them framed as part of an assemblage.

What I like best about making fairies, is adding the tiny details, like this button "crown" on her head.

Speaking of little dolls, I am celebrating my newest niece’s 2 week birthday on Friday by having her mother over for a mini spa at home day! Her sister and I will watch the baby while she soaks in the tub and relaxes, then we will fix the new mommy a special lunch and give her a pedicure. It will be Madison’s first "Girls Day Out". I had thought about trying to surprise the mama, but then realized if she was soaking and relaxing, she might want to bring fresh clothing, and we need to plan around the baby’s feedings. So I told her about her mini spa day and she is looking forward to it. I think I’ll bake up a casserole or two for her to take home for the weekend, also.

And while I am talking about treats, remember to enter my July drawing for the COTTAGE COLLAGE KIT giveaway. Here are a couple cards I will slip into the packet of vintage papers.

All you have to do is leave a comment to enter, as many times as you would like.

By the way, Beth is having a great giveaway too! (actually she is having two!) http://bethleintz.typepad.com/

Stolen Moments and Quickie Crafts

Etsy Goodies, fairies, how to's, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2007

My friend, Karla http://sugarbeardesigns.blogspot.com/ bought one of my cottage collage kits, how sweet of her. So I had to add some extras to it before I mailed the package. I made her a bookmark/tag from the plastic garden tags that I found, and then gathered up a few little things I thought she’d like.

How did I manage to have time for this while we are having a reunion? Well, the kids and I decided to make some bookmarks from a kit.

So between my panda and my monkey, I squeezed in a pink tag for Karla!

My charms from the swap hosted by http://mymothersdaughter-maryb.blogspot.com/ arrived! The hostess herself made 3 of them, and all are wonderful little treasures. Of course, I am prejudiced towards the ones from friends:

Beth of http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ and http://mizsmoochielips.blogspot.com/index.html. I haven’t had time to go through and enjoy all of them yet, I didn’t bring in the mail till after midnight, then we all sat up and talked for a while. I am stealing a few blogging minutes while my husband is picking up more guests at the airport and everyone else is asleep. Yes, I know I should go and unload the dishwasher! but I can do that while we all stand around the kitchen and talk!

Everyone wonders how I have time to blog with all these guests, but I am pretty quick. I write off the top of my head, like I am talking, and I am a bit of chatter box, so it is natural. Not much thought goes into what comes out of my mouth.

One more super quick project I did yesterday- my darling Mother-In-Law, Little Joan, is having her 75th birthday. She is extremely hard to buy for, since her needs are so few. But this year, she became a great-grandmother 3 times!

So, I took this album (from a garage sale for $1.50, and still in its wrapper!!) and jazzed it up a bit.

I kept the pages as they were and added a few personal touches,such as the "great grandchildren" on the front, as well as braided some eyelash yarn and ribbon, and attached a hand painted charm to them.

This went inside the front cover.

Sugarwings was her very first great grandchild (and what a great one she is!!)

The album is the kind with die cut frames, so she can just slide the photos into the ready made places. I will add a few of Sugarwings and Madison Catherine. Little Joan isn’t crafty, or scrap booker, but she will easily be able to keep this album up, since it is practically on auto pilot. As her grandkids have babies, there are places ready for their pictures.

These are a bit fuzzy, but since I am on borrowed time, its all I can do! I hear a car door now, that means there are travelers arriving that need hugs!! Gotta run——

ps- don’t forget to enter July’s Cottage Collage Kit drawing by leaving a comment

I decided what to offer for the July Giveaway!

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 9, 2007

Well, we have a houseful of people, kids, and dogs (Twinkle is still being "trained" by Luke), so I am not able to do any craft or art work. But I did manage to put together a few more Cottage Collage Kits (or scrap packs) to sell on Etsy.

Here you can see Twinks getting a lesson in going down the blow up slide in the wading pool. Luckily, she seems to be enjoying all of the so called "dog training". Her feet haven’t touched the ground since the kids arrived.

This visit has been so busy, that we all forgot that we were supposed to have an ice cream buffet last night!! There is a lot going on, when kids forget ice cream!

Once the kids were tucked in, and the guys were settled into a card game, I went to the studio to play with paper (my cleaned up studio!)

I made up bundles with over 30 items in them, including sheet music, vintage wallpaper, copies of my art, pages from old books, a page from a steno manual, a millinery flower, some posies, old buttons, vintage gift wrap, and on and on.

Its so fun to pick through my stash and try to find goodies I think someone might enjoy using.

This tone on tone wallpaper is actually silk.

Anyway, I listed 6 of these on Etsy last night for $14 each. I got to thinking, that maybe a similar one would also be a good giveaway for July. So, if you are interested in a variety mix of a Cottage Collage Kit, leave me a comment and I will enter you in the drawing at the end of the month.

Here is one of the old wallpapers, pretty, huh?

These are from packs I made last week with a blue theme, that have already sold out.

I’ll be sifting through my goodie cabinets and finding some pretties to add to the giveaway, when I get a nice packet together, I’ll show a photo.

Now, I’d better go and see how Twinkle’s training is going!

Guests coming and no place to put them admist the junk, so I go and buy more junk

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

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2007

I should be getting ready for company. I have half of a family reunion at my house this weekend, then we are all car pooling to Lake Okaboji, Iowa for the rest of the get together.

Instead, I go garage sailing. And found a sweet ballerina doll for Sugarwing’s room. I added butterfly wings to her, so she’d be a fairy ballerina.

Of course, I aways have a stash of butterfly wings for these emergencies. I buy them by the cartload when they go on clearance at Michaels. Usually they can be found for a quarter at the end of the season. And you never know when you will need a set of wings in a hurry!

At another sale, a print shop was closing and I got 5 cases of manila and white mailing envelopes in 4 sizes, 2 cases of white and cream, blank note cards (the kind you send in an wedding invitation for RSVPing), and 3 cases of giant shipping tags!! For how much? TWELVE DOLLARS!!!

Now, am I crazy to think I will need this many envelopes for shipping purchases on Etsy and Ebay, or am I just being realistic, knowing that I am a swapaholic now and will be using lots of mailers???? I’ll also include some of those shipping tags in my give away this month. And probably every month for the rest of my life.

Even twinkle can’t figure out what I am doing with a car load of old windows. Well, sometimes I wonder too. But, I am planning on painting these up for signs, they have a pretty shape and were only a couple dollars for the stack.

This is my $1 table. It had bad veneer, but I already picked it all off so that now there is a new surface to work with. Some putty and paint? Or a mosaic? Or cover it in vintage papers? After the legs are painted, this will be a beauty, no matter which way I decide to finish the top.

This white iron stand with glass shelves was extravagant- $5.

Some days you come here for eye candy, other days, you get dirty old tables, or a dumpster. I almost hate to show you these next pictures. Oh my. But you’ll see why I say I SHOULD BE WORKING.

I will have 9 people staying with us and about 25 or so people coming here for dinner,(and meals in between)from Saturday till Wednesday.

And my art studio, which has seen some heavy duty work lately, plus is piled with garage sailing finds, needs to be transformed into a dining room by noon Saturday. Beds need to be made up and groceries need to be bought to feed us all.

So, I’m off to the grocery store. (I think that there is a neighborhood garage sale by the store, I might have to stop)