family – Page 72 – Karla's Cottage

Flocked Finery and hot dogs

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2008

I got some of the best new (old) wallpaper! I had to make something with it right away, so put together this card with one of my painted cupcakes and some other vintagey pretties.

The same flocked paper is used as a background for this tag.

Sissy sent me these ballerinas, and I made one into a fairy to tie to the cover of the photo album I am sending to her.

All three new papers are wonderful, but I haven’t had a chance to use the other two yet.

If I would stop buying wallpaper, I could probably afford the good camera I whine about wanting.

I really like my camera, but I sure do drool over photos taken by Carol and Sara. Both of them use Canon Rebels, and their pictures are always so good. Of course, both of them are great stylists too, that sure helps!

Speaking of Sara, she has added my two latest magazines to the list to the side of my blog.

She is always so fast when I ask for something to be done and I am still thrilled with the blog design she has done for me! I hope to have some extras added some day when I have time. I’d like to have a seperate page with my blog roll and "about". But, I seem to always have other things to do. Someday I will get that blog roll revamped and more blogs added to it.

I am such a blog addict, I read so many more than what I have listed there!!

Sara isn’t the only person I need to thank today. LOOK AT WHAT BETH MADE!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t knit and never will, but I love to look at yarn shops and day dream about the gorgeous colors. I bought a specialty ball of yarn and Beth whipped up this scarf for me out of it.
Its even prettier in person, soft and sweet and lighter than air.

This came in the mail from my friend, Shawn. The first thing I noticed about it, besides how cute it is, of course, is that the name "Nathan" is in the sheet music on Twinkle’s wings!

Shawn is coming to my blogger’s craft day this Thursday. If you are a KC or Topeka area blogger and like to do paper crafts, let me know if you’d like to come too.

Amy is the winner of my June Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack, and since her blog is titled
"Bunny Rose Cottage" I added this cute enameled bunny charm to her gift.

I haven’t decided what my July prize will be yet. But all comments on all posts count for the month, whether the prize has been announced or not.

Looks like July is finally here, it has turned hot! The poor dorkies didn’t even want to work in the garden with me this morning, I came in and they were lounging on the bench in the breezeway out of the sun.

Happy Fourth!

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2008

Happy 4th of July weekend! I hope you are all having a good one. Mine is filled with Sugarwings, boating, yard work and pickle making.

This is my first ever attempt at canning, and it seemed to be way too easy. There must be some botulism lurking somewhere in these jars, because it just seemed too simple to do.

My biggest problem in canning was getting the labels right. These are too big, I’ll need to make more if I do more pickles this week.

And what do you do with a baby while you are trying to make pickles and she wants to help?

We sat up her art table in the kitchen and gave her some cucumber stump "stamps".

I cut the end of a cuke, carved a design in it with a knife, then let her ink it up with her washable markers.

They really made pretty stamps, with a watercolor effect. And it kept the fairy grand baby pretty happy while her daddy and I chopped and pickled.

This year, fireworks were shot off over Lake Clinton where we keep our boat. The air was cool, the stars were out, and the water was calm, a perfect evening for watching the exploding colors in the sky.

We parked far away from the dozens of boats tied up together, so it was like a private light show of our own.

Now, off to do some yard work and take advantage of this unexpected mild weather, not typical at all for July in Kansas!

How to become a fairy, and the Hat Whisperer strikes again!

antiques/junking, celebrations, fairies, family, how to's, Silver Bella, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2008

At a sweet shop in St Augustine, I picked up a bag of Key Lime Pie hard candies. I can’t belive I still have this many left, they are so good and they remind me of the beach every time I pop one into my mouth!

I miss the beach!

So while my mind is still lingering in vacation mode, I made some scrapbooks to send to Bobbie, Sissy, Randy and Kevin as a momento of our trip.

By the way, the bikini babe is my Sissy who is in her SIXTIES. She’s always been a teeny tiny thing.

One day while sitting on our balcony and watching a storm roll in across the ocean, we saw a rabbit hop across the sand.

That is why I turned these pages into "beach bunnies". I didn’t know there were rabbits on the beach. I thought that all those long eared hopping rodents lived in my yard and were busy at home eating my plants while I was on vacation.

I filled the books with lots of memories of the trip.

This cute, scallopey edged card stock comes in a package at Michaels. One $9.95 package made 4 scrap books, with some left to make at least one more.

I used my binding machine to put the pages together into a book after they were decorated.

Here is how I turned us into fairies:

I made 5×7 copies of a picture of Randy’s garden and wallet sized copies of a photo of the three of us, then cut us out.

Hosta leaves in the garden photo were cut away with an exacto knife. I cut around the plant, so that I could lift the foliage and slide our picture underneath.

Before gluing the photo down, I spritzed Glimmer Mist on watercolor paper, glued the cut out picture of us to it, then drew on wings and cut it all out.

Once the wings were done, I slid the sister picture under the hosta leaves in the garden picture and glued it all in place, then glittered and dood dadded it up.

On Bobbie Sue’s album, she is holding a magic wand, on Sissy’s she has one to hold. I used vintage stick pins for wands and just poked them through the photo at an angle and added a drop of glue.

I tried to add a lot of hand drawn elements, like lady bugs and vines on the pages that show us setting a bag of lady bugs free in the garden to control pests.

Randy raises butterflies, so can’t use any chemicals out there.

I used a lot of Glimmer Mist some pages before adding photos, and did all the writing and drawing with metallic or sparkling pens, so the books have some shimmer to them.

While in St. Augustine, I put my Hat Whispering skills to work.

Most vintage hats I saw in this touristy area were EXPENSIVE. $38-$200!!! My goodness. Lots of hats were in these antique shops, but few were in my price range.

While in one fancy antique mall, the hat search looked hopeless, but I told my sisses that I felt one upstairs, and walked up the stairs, around the corner and into a back room right to it. Loaded with pink and red velvet roses, it wasn’t cheap, but it was affordable and beautiful and some how it had called out to me.

I bought only 3 hats all week, for $4, $9, and $15. But, it does go to show that even in a high dollar shopping area, with the right hat hunting skills, millinery flowers can be affordable!

I kept my souvenir shopping to a minimum. 3 hats, lots of candy, these two shells, and a handful of old charms. Oh, and a pink St. Augustine hoody. I love trashy tee shirts and sweat shirts from tourist trap shops.

The shell necklace pictured IS NOT from a tacky shell shop!!

It is hand made over 80 years ago by my great aunt, Caroline. The lovely box was hers too. She gave me those years ago, along with the turquoise pendant that was her mother’s and the wonderful green glass bead necklace that her grandfather made. Yep, lucky, lucky me!!

Speaking of lucky- I got all the classes I signed up for at Sliver Bella! I was at the keyboard the minute sign ups began. Here is what I signed up for:

Secret Santa Diary/Pam Garrison, Saturday 1:00pm

Home for the Holidays/Pam Garrison, Friday 11:30 am

Christmas Pageant/Teresa McFayden, Saturday 8:30
am

Soldering For Virgins/Sally Jean, Friday 8:00am

Winter Faerie Shrine/Kim Kwan, Saturday 1:00 pm

Total 510.00

Yes, the price went up this year, but it is worth it!! If you haven’t booked your trip yet, do it now before it is full, I can promise you it will be FUN.

A fairy wonderland garden and a Prize Pack Giveaway

celebrations, Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, flowers, give away, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2008

See why I am glad to be home? I missed my Sugarwings. She had a sleepover last night and we played tea party with her dolls and then this morning she let me semi-French braid her hair. I think her hair grew while I was gone.

After the fairy grand baby left to go home, I listed a few things on etsy, wrapped packages, and got some things ready to mail.

These are the gifts that I am sending out to the 8 winners of the drawing from the pool of card makers.

Sandy, Melissa, and Sherry– I still need your addresses. Jen, Lili, Alice, Irma, and Robin should be expecting something in the mail soon, theirs is on its way.

Thanks again to everyone for their help! And here is a note from my great Aunt Caroline’s niece, Caroline Beth, who hosted the 100th birthday party:

Our Aunt Caroline had the BEST birthday!

Most of the praise goes to all of you who donated your time and effort to show so much love and affection for a lady you’ve never even met. What a heartfelt effort!

Thanks to Karla and her sisters who were "everything" to her on her special day. She’ll talk about this forever and we’ll be delighted to listen.

All of us who were lucky enough to spend the day with Caroline were amazed at her vitality and glowing disposition. You could watch as she gained even more positive energy from her well-wishers. The cards sent a huge burst of appreciation for a life well lived and a lady well loved.

We can’t thank you enough for the blessings, thoughtfulness, and amazing beauty of your creations.

God bless you all.

Carolyn Beth ( another of Caroline’s nieces)

Caroline’s birthday wasn’t the only one we celebrated while in Florida on our Sister Trip.

We got to spend time with my brother-in-law, Randy the Birthday Boy Nathan, who lives in a house filled with antiques, laughter, and fun plus a magical garden full of fairies. 100th_birthday_florida_005

Around every corner there is a surprise in this yard.

Its full of whimsical elements and beautiful blooms.

Not one inch of space goes to waste here. To make it seem larger, there are winding paths that keep you guessing about what is around the corner, and a mirror is hung on the bright red garden gate (I want to try that trick!).

This old iron railing was picked up at a garage sale, and re-purposed to become trellises.

It seemed like everywhere I looked, there was a smiling face looking back at me!

More garage sale finds brighten up this corner. The shiny thing hanging in the foreground is a chandelier found in the trash and taken apart to add some sparkle to the garden, since sparkly things attract fairies.

See, I told you so!

And the fairies have shelter on rainy days, here in this vase turned on its side and tucked under the foliage.

Randy and Kevin’s garden is a vacation in itself! I could spend all week just exploring all the nooks and crannies there.

My sisses and I spent a day crafting with Randy, (that explains the blue, glitter encrusted fingers). Then we spread lady bugs around the garden to eat pests, this lush landscape is not only beautiful, it is chemical free!

Our craft day consisted of making fairy pages for each other. This is what I did for Sissy. She and I both love the smell of Birthday Cake scented candles sold at Kohl’s and have had some serious bonding time while sipping wine and burning a cake candle, so the background of her fairy page is of sprinkled frosting.

Bobbie Sue is deep into genealogy, so the fairy page for her is made from photos of my great grandfather and his brothers glued to a copy of some hand written family history.

And after seeing Randy’s back yard, you’ll understand why I made a fairy gardener on "I love you" paper for him.

My little friend and fellow fairy lover, Adeline Grace, is turning 7 this week, so when I saw a poem in an old book, titled "Adeline" I cut it out and made a faery birthday card for her with the poem glued inside.

The best vacations are ones where I get to make things, so I loved my crafting day, and also my chances to play in the sand and make a "Twinkle".

Ooops, I almost forgot to announce the winner of June’s Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack-

it goes to:

Amy

Thanks to everyone who left a comment and entered the drawing. Remember, all the July comments go toward a prize too!

100 happy years

celebrations, family, give away, Travel, tributes

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2008

I miss the beach already. But it is good to be home and have little Sugarwings back in my arms again. Her hippy chick mommy let my fairy grand baby come and have a sleep over tonight since I missed her so much.

But while I was away from Little Sugarwings, my sisses and brother were fun play mates.

Sissy, Bobbie Sue, and I did sand sculptures, picnicked on our balcony over looking the ocean, and shopped, shopped, shopped between family visits.

We danced on the beach in the dark wearing glow sticks too. No, I wasn’t drunk at the time, and even though you probably think I must be quite soused to do this, I am not drunk now when I am posting this photo of a 50 year old granny in a swim suit with a glow stick in her cleavage. Good thing the beach was deserted, I am not the graceful sort and dance a bit like a delirious cow. One decidedly ungraceful ballerina-esque jump had me landing flat on my back in the sand.

As wonderful as the trip was, the highlight of course, was Great Aunt Caroline. Now, that is one graceful, gorgeous, and gracious lady.

She is so sharp, entertaining, and full of stories, it was a delight to listen to her speak with such wit and charm. At 100, she can still tell a tale that has a whole room enthralled from beginning to end.

She was touched by all of the cards, and couldn’t get over the fact that so much time and work went into them.

She has been making beautiful things all of her life, and that cane next to her is a good example. She told us how she collected drift wood from the beach, cleaned and polished and decorated a piece to make this cane.

The painting that I am pointing to was done by Aunt Caroline’s mother, my great grandmother.

And we heard stories that day about how my great-great-grandfather was an artist too. He was a farmer who made beaded jewelry in his spare time. He also collected shells from the beach and hand wired them together into curtains for his parlor. Caroline remembers the tinkling of the shells as the breeze blew them together.

Our Sister Trip was priceless, and the visit to our aunt’s 100th birthday was just the best, and all of your cards helped make it even more special.

Caroline remembered the dress she was wearing in this photo that so many of us used in the cards and was pleased to see it. She told us about making it herself, that in the 30s, all of her clothes were hand made.

For the party, I wore the pearls that she had on in the photo and she also recognized those and told me she appreciated me taking such good care of them. Like I had done something nice for her??? She is really something sweet.

This darling lady is one of those people that looks you in the eyes and makes you think that you have to be the most special person on the planet. She has a sincere caring quality about her that just melts your heart when you meet her.

Since she was so touched by the cards everyone made, I wanted to show you my appreciation by adding a few more prizes to the drawing.

All the cards pictured today are by the people whose names were randomly drawn.

Jen, Alice, Robin, Lili, Melissa, Sherry, Irma, and Sandy, please send me your addresses and I will send you a thank you prize.

I just wish I could do something for all of you for doing this kind and thoughtful thing for my aunt!

As Caroline said when she blew out her candles, "I wish you all this many happy years!"

New manicures and last minute inking projects don’t mix well

fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / June 24, 2008

I am almost ready for my trip. This evening was spent ruining the manicure I treated myself to this afternoon. By the way, walnut ink doesn’t look very good on newly manicured nails.

I used Glimmer Mist to spritz a turquoise gift bag for some glitz. Then, I took a piece of vintage stationery and made a gift tag to glue onto the front of it. It’s a good sized bag, and it will be full to the brim with these 100 plus, fantastic, handmade cards!

Then, I decided I needed some little gifties to take to my sisses and to my brothers-in-law.

We are all fairy fans, so I whipped up some bottle fairies. I’ve been wanting to make some for so long, and was glad to have an excuse to finally make a few. And I knew I was going to miss being in my studio, so it was also good to have an excuse to hang out here for an hour or so.

Each one is tied up with vintage ribbon, a personalized tag, a gnome charm, and a guardian fairy note.

I chose the notes at random, rolled them up and tied them on, so they will be surprises to me too.

I just hope the glue is set enough for them to travel well. Maybe I shouldn’t have waited till the last minute….

Like packing. I still have laundry to do! I’d better get to it! Edit- I just learned the hard way that if you are packing things that have glitter on them, don’t do it on your bed, unless you have plently of time allotted for changing the linens! Or unless you don’t mind sleeping in glass.

Remember, you can leave a comment to be entered into the June Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack.

I’ll announce prizes for that and for the gifts for my card donators when I get back.

I will reprint the guardian fairy list that Beth and I came up with, in case you didn’t see it before and had no idea what I was talking about when I said I was tying one to each bottle:

· “Pinkie Sugar Fly” will guard your windows from bugs flying in through tears in the screens

· “Kitty Flitter Flower” watches over you during cat naps to bring you sweet dreams

· “Tootsie Twinkle Tulip” is always ready to touch up your toe nail polish before you even notice it was chipped.

· “Blue Bird Buttercup” sprinkles cookie crumbs for a trail to lead the blue bird of happiness to your door

· “May Belle Lina” watches out for smudged mascara under your eyes.

· “Flossy Flutterby” picks spinach or other goobers out of your teeth after meals.

· “Pearly Pear” keeps an eye out for an earring that is about to slip off your ear, then tucks it back before it drops.

· “Splenderina” This sparkling little yellow fairy touches your coffee with her magic wand to make it sweet and tasty without any calories

· “Sweet Pea Tee Pea” checks the bottom of your shoes for trailing toilet paper when you walk out of a public stall.

· “Blissa Expressa ” will speed you through the checkout stands at the grocery stores by magically opening up an extra cashier line for you to be first in.

· “Dee Essella Delight” always keeps your Internet connection fast.

· “Zippy Zooma Zella” will watch out for radar speed traps and whisper to your toes to lighten up on the gas pedal before you are caught speeding

“Spamicka Sparkle Sparrow” keeps al of the junk cleaned out of your email inbox and full of sweet messages from people you love to hear from instead.

Here they are!

family, give away

By Karla Nathan / June 13, 2008

Thanks to everyone who sent in a birthday card for my Great Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday!

Earlier, I was posting cards as they came in, but with 100, it simply got away from me.

Today, I photographed all the ones that were not on Flickr yet, and will load them onto that site over the weekend.

In the meantime, I thought you’d appreciate a sneak peek at the creativity and generosity that came Aunt Caroline’s way.

Really something, huh?

They aren’t all in yet, but we are approaching 100.

The cards are coming from all over the world, like this one from Lili in the Netherlands.

And the styles are all so different. From hand painted by Meredith to an altered journal by

Jen Rizzo.

Liam Tatum’s has printed cloth.

And Joy’s uses Caroline’s photo and some gorgeous sequin trim.

Some are sweetly old fashioned and sentimental looking like Lea Star’s and Amy Wald’s pink pretties.

Maria Elena sent in a cross stitch all the way from Chile.

And Barb Burkard has machine stitched hers, and added padding!

This is the inside of Kelly’s, her blog is "Junky Gal" and she junked this one up just PERFECTLY! Lot of lovely layers inside and outside.

Here is the link to the flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/679216@N25/ I will be loading photos off and on this weekend. I hope to have all up by Monday, and would appreciate any corrections you can give me. A few don’t have names, and there were a lot of Kathy’s with a K and I don’t know who is who, sorry. Just look for your card, and please leave a comment on the photo to correct any stupid mistakes I have made. Because I tend to do that a lot. Again, sorry. I try, but my mind doesn’t work in a very organized way.

Here is the list of sign ups and hopefully it is updated to include everyone. I need to have all the cards here by the 20th, if you still want to send one and haven’t yet. I will then draw winners for prizes as a thank you for all of your help to make this elegant and kind woman’s 100th birthday even more special!

Prizes will include a collaged clutch, and some vintage jewelry as well as some other little fun tidbits here and there. I’ll see what I have made that I think you might like.

Thanks again, to all you wonderfully talented people who have sent in your art!

100 cards

Karin http://madrekarin.blogspot.com
Michelle http://www.ginghamworld.blogspot.com
Pam http://blogcabinfever.typepad.com
Lesa Farmer
Robin~ thrifty_misspriss@yahoo.com
Robin Foster
Lori http://faeriewindow.blogspot.com
Kathy http://www.kathyscottage.blogspot.com:80/
http://oodlesandoodles.typepad.com/
Carol Spinsky RaisedInCotton@aol.com
http://soinspired.blogspot.com
Lori http://pinkfadedroses.blogspot.com:80/
Janine http://angelgurl.wordpress.com/
http://emmaspaperpatch.blogspot.com:80/
Liane Tatum
http://bluemuf.blogspot.com:80/ Karen
http://simplysage.blogspot.com Mahala
Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com:80/
Debbie Doughty http://queendebbee.blogspot.com/
Alice Wingerden http://www.paintedwhite.com:80/
Karoline http://www.cherishedvintage.blogspot.com
Joyce Rodli
Lili http://lilimsadventures.blogspot.com:80/
Mandy Blake
*Heidi* http://journals.aol.com/hwoodred/everyday-cookies/
http://www.bonoramamama.blogspot.com:80/
Kirstie http://adelinecountrycottage.blogspot.com
Phyllis http://shabbyinthecity.blogspot.com
Sherry (Edie Marie’s Attic)
Pinkie Denise
Marilyn http://marilynbutler.blogspot.com:80/
Melissa http://melissaburford.typepad.com:80/burford_designs/
Lisa Russell http://www.violetsandsnapdragons.blogspot.com/
Crystal http://www.fariebees.blogspot.com
Janice Rehmeyer
Meredith http://www.thevictorianlady.blogspot.com
Nancy ~ Fete et Fleur http://feteetfleur.blogspot.com
Jessi http://www.scrappyjessi.blogspot.com:80/
Donell
Jenn~ http://whinenroses.blogspot.com/
Lolly http://lollysnestegg.blogspot.com
Gail Sell
Kathy http://www.vintagesnapsandscraps.com
Barbara http://smith411.typepad.com
crchaffee@cox.net
Edie Marie http://ediemariesattic.blogspot.com
María Elena
Kelley http://www.junqueygal.blogspot.com/
Kelley: http://teacupmosaics.blogspot.com
Carlene http://carlenefederer.blogspot.com/
Barb http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com:80/
Louisa http://beachyscapecodcupboard.blogspot.com

Jen http://Sanctuaryarts.blogspot.com
Sandy Babb
Colleen Cavanaugh http://cc-creativeramblings.blogspot.com
Rachael http://theroseroomnz.blogspot.com/
Valerie http://Queenschocolate.blogspot.com
Joy http://www.thejoyof.blogspot.com
Sheri Ingrande http://www.pawshpoodle.com
Mary Isabella http://daisybouquet.blogspot.com
Natasha Burns http://www.natashaburns.blogspot.com
Di Ann Sheps
Pat
Cami http://www.camillefano.typepad.com
3rdEyeMuse http://3rdEyeMuse.blogspot.com
M.Kate http://www.melialissa.blogspot.com
DELIA http://brooksidecottage.blogspot.com/
Kathy
Samantha
Karen http://karenharveycox.blogspot.com:80/
Sarah Lee (Adelaide’s Country Cottage)
Louise http://pinkgate.blogspot.com/
Betty http://shessewpretty.typepad.com/
Amy Wald
Tera http://Stampqueen.blogspot.com
Kari and Kijsa http://www.kariandkijsa.blogspot.com
Kathy Jacobson kathyjacobson.typepad.com
Vickie http://www.whisperofinspiration.blogspot.net
Amy P http://www.rubymoonart.blogspot.com
Shannon J http://www.faithandchocolate.blogspot.com:80/
Gail http://boutiqueginabeana.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://yappingcatstudio.typepad.com/my_weblog
Rhonda http://rhondamum.blogspot.com
Irma http://irmasrosecottage.blogspot.com
Alison Gibbs
Paula Kay
Jeanette http://scrapnchick-keepmeinstitches.blogspot.com/
Lisa http://reflectionsinagazingball.blogspot.com/
Jeanie http://www.themarmeladegypsy.blogspot.com
Whitney Johnson http://www.kindredjoy.blogspot.com
Corina http://corinaj.wordpress.com
Lisa Lee l-lee@sbcglobal.net
Sammy don@stafney.com http://sammystuff.blogspot.com/
Rachael’s Princess
Rachael’s Mum
Sissy
sonya http://www.loveofyellowroses.blogspot.com
Beverly http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/
Holly Abston >http://www.hollydoodledesigns.com
Adla http://www.vintagedelights.blogspot.com
Anja http://newclassichome.blogspot.com
Angelina http://beautifulcards.typepad.com/angelinascards/
Maxine v.maxlie@charter.net
Jennifer
Heather R. Kowalski http://www.prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/
Barbara York http://panhandlesuequiltingspot.blogspot.com
Joanne jk51958@yahoo.com

I promised to show my paint color for the bedroom, it is a barely there blue/aqua. And what a perfect name, "Nurture". I’d paint all my walls that color just because I love the title of it so much! I have enjoyed the grey-green color I have now, I just wanted a softer, sweeter shade. This blueish green is very similar to what I already have, just a tad prettier.

The walls are prepped, the wallpaper border is removed and sanded away, all of the furniture that can be moved is out of the room.

I promise that I am not going to do any more to this bedroom until all of the birthday cards are loaded onto Flickr! I’ll be camping on the mattress on the floor in the living room until then. After all you card makers have done, I at least owe you some good photos to enjoy!

And PS- a friend asked me to let you know about her giveaway:
http://connie-livingbeautifully.blogspot.com

And PPSS- (remember writing that on notes as a kid? I don’t think that is used in texting)- don’t forget about MY giveaway, with garage sale goodies I find this month! Leave a comment to enter.

Seeing some more reds and getting an eyeful at the Wakarusa Fest

antiques/junking, Books, family, give away, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2008

I’m still seeing red! This time, it is tie dye and wild, hippy reds!!

We went to the Wakarusa music festival yesterday, not camping out for 4 days like most festival goers, we just bought a one day pass and took our fairy grand baby out for some good music, sunshine, hula hooping, and dancing. Oh, and FOOD!

I discovered that snow cones are her favorite food on the planet and that she can determinedly try scooping them it with the long plastic straw/spoon, long after the ice has melted away into a puddle of syrup.

Sugarwings traveled in style, in her canopied red wagon, complete with fairy wings on the back.

Sugarwing’s Hippy Chick mommy was one of my favorite things to watch at the fair, she was so graceful and pretty while doing her hula hoop dance.

Can anyone give me an idea on how to load a short video of Sugarwings dancing at the concert?

In the meantime, here is a link to the video on Flickr- its very short if you’d like to watch it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karlascottage/2561653016/

I’m not a huge concert fan, myself. I typically listen to National Public Radio instead of music, but this festival was more "event" than concert for me and I had a great time.

The lead singer of the Flaming Lips arrived in a giant hamster ball and crowd surfed while bubbles and confetti were shot out from the rainbow colored stage. And for some reason, giant Tele Tubbies danced away on the stage to every song. During one song, naked women from the audience joined in and danced with the Tele Tubbies. Now that isn’t something you see everyday!

Another thing you don’t see very often is me out garage sailing and forgetting to take my purse!

I didn’t realize until I got all the way across town this morning, that I didn’t have it with me. I guess I was beat from the late night at the Wakarusa fest and wasn’t thinking clearly.

So, I dug into my ashtray where I keep my emergency frozen custard money, and challenged myself to a morning of garage sailing on $8.75.

Not only did I do fine with a limited budget, I came home with change!

Not enough to stop for frozen custard, though.

I bought:

*3 hand made lawn baby gowns

* a delicate embroidered baby’s pillow case

* sweet little pink booties

* a small, old bottle with a glass stopper

* a tiny wooden doll to fix up for Bethany’s art show

* and this cute little child’s toy hutch to fix up for Sugarwings.

I promised that my June giveaway would be garage sale finds that I get this month. So, here is the first of the batch, one of the lovely, old baby gowns I picked up today.

Check back to see what gets added as the month goes by!

And leave a comment, on any post all month to enter, as often as you’d wish.

One more red, and some thank yous- Sarah, thanks for the "Seeing Red" week, it was a fun challenge.

Thanks to Rhondi for belatedly adding me to her porch party. I had been left off the links and thought I must smell bad or something, because I seem to be getting left off of party links lately!! She was kind enough to add me in to the party today. Even though, everyone was showing beautiful porch pics and all I had was a burr covered dog in a gazebo.

And thanks to everyone who inquired about my Friday Flea Market items in the last post, and to those of you who bought some pretties!

The table cloth and some hand made vintage wallpaper books are still available.

Here is what the covers look like, I was feeling Flocky when I made them!

Lots of reasons to say thank you

Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, flowers, give away

By Karla Nathan / May 14, 2008

I have added some of my paintings to my Etsy shop this week. These are reproductions of floral watercolors I did, that I have adhered to canvas boards and then crackled and aged.

These prints are $25 each and are 8" x 10", so are ready to pop into a standard frame, or can be leaned on a shelf, or set on an easel as they are.

The hydrangea print is sold, but since these are reproductions, I can print more up if you are interested, let me know and I will make up more. The crackle comes out a little differently on each one, that stuff has a mind of its own.

In this summer’s Romantic Country, I will have a "how to" article on doing this technique if you’d like to give it a try yourself.

The 100 cards for my Great Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday are still coming in and I will soon catch up and photograph them all and do a whole post showing the latest ones.

This one is from my pal, Lili in the Netherlands. Can you imagine what my aunt will think when she sees 100 cards from all over the world? Thanks again, to everyone who is participating and helping Caroline celebrate this milestone.

Another thank you I have to add is to Vicki. I won her giveaway and she sent a bonanza of goodies for me to craft with! (this doesn’t show them all) Thanks Vicki!

The hat box in the picture is one that I found while at the antique mall with my little Mini Hat Whisperer. It was $6 and in pretty good shape. I can’t ever have too many of these for storage!

Do you remember that I said I would add to my May Giveaway Prize pack every week?

I changed my mind and added MORE today!

To the white leather Brighton coin purse, the gold band and satin hanger with the millinery flower, I added a vintage ballerina cake topper, a vintage greeting card and a sweet little pearl pin.

You have to love the faces of those old ballerinas. Oh my.

Were the painters drunk? Those painted on lips remind me of little old ladies putting on their red lipstick with tremors. Or me putting on lipstick with no mirror.

My Sissy can put on lipstick without a mirror anytime, and I can’t for the life of me. I showed her once how bad I was at it at Applebees when we went out for a glass of wine after sitting by our mom’s bedside in the hospital.

It became a joke for all of us, that we would close our eyes and apply lipstick all over our mouths (yes, in public) and laugh like 6 year olds. Here is a photo of Sissy, Bobbie Sue, and me, Karkie Jo looking festive at Sissy’s 60th birthday slumber party.

Sissy made us into fairies and turned the photo into a birthday card for my 50th. (notice that even when she tries to put her lipstick on badly, Sissy’s still looks pretty good! Well, at least compared to me, or do I just have a really big mouth?.)

I know you are all tired of my blathering on about my birthday, but one more story-

Yesterday, Sugarwings and I were at the grocery store and saw that the Mother’s Day flowers were marked down to $1.99 a bundle. So, we bought an arm load (I should have had a cart, imagine me carrying all these bunches of roses and a wriggling baby through the store).

I made up bouquets and dropped them off to my friends who had come to my birthday party as a thank you.

It was like a belated May day, I set the flowers on doorsteps, rang the bell and left them as a surprise as I drove away.

And thank you also to Paula Kay for the cute little bag! I just wish you lived close enough for me to drop some flowers off on your porch as a thanks!

The Hat Whisperer’s skills have been passed on! And an addition to the May Giveaway prize pack

antiques/junking, family, give away, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 13, 2008

I think it is genetic. My fairy grand baby seems to have inherited my millinery flower finding skills!

We were downtown enjoying being out doors and shopping for a gift for her little Hippy Chic mommy on Mother’s Day, when Sugarwings turned to me and said, "Hats!"

Since we were near the antique mall, I thought it would be smart to pop in and see if she had heard a specific flower calling to her and yes, she did!

This child is a gifted hat whisperer. She found one circled with a dozen of these pretty peachy blooms for only ONE DOLLAR!

We also found this purse. It is much too nice to tear apart for its flowers, I plan on actually using it, even though Sugarwing’s Daddy was horrified at the thought of me carrying it. He was reassured when I told him that I would most likely keep tiny flowers in it on my desk in my studio, not carry it when we go out to lunch downtown like we do every Thursday.

But now that I am 50 and officially eccentric, why not carry it? It is a lovely bag. I just don’t want to tear it up. From the looks of it, it has never been used, and is so perfectly pretty.

I’ve been making use of some of my stash of vintagey blossoms.

These old satin hangers each have a fluffy pink flower and some vintage seam binding added to them and are for sale for $10 each if you are interested, comment or email me and let me know.

I will add one of these embellished old hangers to my May prize pack along with the white leather Brighton coin purse and simple gold band.

Each week of May, I will add another prize for the giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment, any post, as often as you wish, all comments are entered.

I hope everyone had a nice Mothers Day? My family did my favorite things, they pitched in and helped me with stuff that needed done.

Sugarwing’s Daddy repaired my falling down gazebo while she helped me plant some seeds in the garden and Ryan fixed dinner.

Not a bad day at all. Have I mentioned lately how lucky I am??? I never forget it.