family – Page 74 – Karla's Cottage

A favor from you, please

By Karla Nathan / April 9, 2008

Sugarwings has gone back home now and my house seems way too quiet after having her for two nights.

When she left, I took a much needed, 2 hour nap (that little pixie is very busy and wears me out!) and then I decided to hang the plates I bought at the auction last week.

I think I’d like them even more if the wall was a pale robin’s egg blue…. One simple change can sure spark ideas for more changes! But I am restraining myself. I have too many other things planned to take time to paint a ceiling- I’d have to move a ton of stuff out of the way and I just redid that room!

After hanging plates, I planted a few more pansies. The pink window box seemed a little sparse, since it is so early in the season and the pansies are still small yet.

To fill it in, I added some pink (90% off at Target) Easter grass and planted a couple plates there too.

Many of you agreed with me yesterday during Lori’s Doll Day party, that I could count my fairy figurines as dolls because the fairy grandbaby and I play with them.

So, I thought I’d show a few more of them today.

This handsome devil was made by my Great Aunt Caroline. She is about to turn 100 this summer. Which brings me to a favor I’d like to ask of you.

Caroline has always been creative and appreciates hand made things.

She would be so thrilled with handmade birthday cards. (well, who wouldn’t be?)

My idea, and the favor I’d like to ask of you, is to try to get 100 hand made birthday cards for her 100th birthday June 26th.

I know that you don’t know her personally, but she is really quite wonderful. She is in pretty good health for someone 99 and 3/4, loves to laugh, read, follow baseball, she liked to try her hand at lots of types of crafts.

Anyone who can help me out with a card for her, please email me and I’ll start a list of names.

All the cards can be sent to me, I will take pictures of them, start a flickr group of the cards and feature them on my blog as they arrive.

I will also draw a name from the participants and I will make a special gift to send to the winner.

Then, in June, I am going to Mt. Dora, FL for the birthday bash and I will bring the box of (hopefully) 100 cards with me to surprise her.

Can’t you just picture her face when she sees them all???

And what a lovely face she has! This is her in her youth.

(I want that dress!)

She has given me a strand of pearl beads, and I really think that they are the ones in this photo. Her father strung them for her mother.

Doesn’t it look like the same strand?

You all have been so generous, making Sugarwings the most spoiled little sprite in blogland, with all the sweet gifts you have sent to her.

Can you please help me spoil a wonderful lady who is about to celebrate a full century?

I Heart Lawrence, KS

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 5, 2008

Sunshine! Wow, I had almost forgotten what it felt like. What a long and rough winter we’ve had. I don’t think it is quite done with us yet, but I am taking advantage of today’s nice weather and planting some pansies.

There was no way I was going to wait any longer. The grocery store has their pansies out on the sidewalk and I can’t pass by them to go in for a gallon of milk and a case of Coke Vanilla Zero without stopping to daydream about warm weather.

Then, Target had garden tools with pink handles in thier Dollar Spot. How could I resist?

Pansies are pretty hardy, they should do well. And their little faces sure do brighten my own every time I walk by them planted by my front door.

Yesterday was delightful also. I went downtown (Lawrence, KS has a lively, active and entertaining downtown area with lots going on) and we went to visit one of the big Jayhawks that I painted and mosaic-ed with another artist a couple years back.

I could possibly be the only person in this entire town who isn’t planning on watching the big KU game tonight. The downtown atmosphere was pulsing with excitement.

I may not be a basketball fan, but I do love my town and know how important the game is to it.

My husband is a HUGE fan, and is in DC right now, so I bought Sugarwings a KU shirt (pink, of course) and took some photos to send to him before the game.

When I got the pictures back, she was so cute, I had to make some scrap book pages.

As a non-typical fan, I couldn’t just do a sporty page. I used vintage wallpaper, some old sheet music (one song about basketball, the other about the state flower of Kansas, the sunflower).

And since I am a lazy scrap booker, I made a pocket on one page to put multiple photos into, instead of trying to think up ideas for using all of them on the pages.

I used KU colors, of red, blue and yellow, but had to do it in flowers and ribbon.

When I make scrapbook pages, I tend to not worry too much about making it perfect. Edges are a bit crooked and things aren’t lined up exact. Mostly, I just want to get the photos into the book and get something attractive on the pages with them.

If I worried too much about it, I’d never get them in the books, and having fun memories in the albums is the main goal.

And anyway, that baby is so cute, no one notices what I do to the page, people who look at albums are more interested in the pictures of her, and the backgrounds are just that- backgrounds.

I’m off to enjoy more of this pretty day and walk out in our woods with the dogs. Of course, that means I will probably be picking cockle burrs off of them this evening but hey, I wasn’t planning on watching the big game on TV tonight anyway!

A winner, A feature, A first auction, and A redo

family, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, parties, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 30, 2008

First of all, I want to thank everyone who came to the "What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s Home" party that Beth and I had on Thursday. What a fun turnout, lots of blinged out birdhouses to see! Wow, thanks so much for coming by and for creating such palaces for us to enjoy.

I had forgotten to show this one that I made, it is a music box, jewelry box, and used to be a Swiss Chalet. I faked the birdhouse part, by adding this tiny blown glass bird and the piece of black onyx jewelry to represent a hole and a perch.

Thanks also to everyone who bought a birdhouse from me! If you buy one from that post, it is only $15 each. I will be listing them on Etsy for slightly more later on.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that one goes as a gift to a commenter during the party? The winner is:

Denise

And on Tuesday the 1st, I will draw a name for the monthly prize, so you still have time to enter that. The prize is a secret. (Because I haven’t picked out a gift to send yet)

I also want to thank the group at the Snooty Women’s Club (they really do seem nice, not snooty as their name implies!) for featuring me this week. Thanks, ladies! Good luck with your new site!

It has been a bit hectic around here, Sugarwing’s poor little Hippy Chick mommy had her gallbladder out this week, so I have had the baby staying with me.

We went up to see her mommy in the hospital a few times, went for walks in the park, played with Twinkle, had tea parties, mostly just stayed very busy so she wouldn’t be asking where Mommy was too much.

I even took her to her first auction! Here she is with Beth, we just popped in to visit and eat her pretzels. Beth got a ton of great stuff and I was a bit jealous, but staying to bid wasn’t really an option with my little helper along.

While at the hospital, my son pointed out one of my paintings hanging in the office!

I didn’t even know that the hospital owned it, they had purchased it at a benefit auction I had donated to a couple years ago.

What a nice surprise to see it hanging there.

Look at what I have been doing while the baby napped or after she went to slept at night! Organizing, big time!

I’ve taken every single piece of paper in my studio and FILED or stored it!

Tuesday Morning had all these pretty desk organizers on sale and it inspired me to try to pull the whole room together.

I hung all my past blog banners on the wall along with my business card template and a photo of my grandma and some rosey plates.

Well, that lead to repainting my furniture so that the pieces matched each other, and looked more pulled together, then rearranging it all.

I made used of all my old wallpaper storage items, and turned this vintage shoe rack on its side, then used it to file scrapbook goods into.

I didn’t repaint the black and white cabinets with the roses on the door, thinking I might like the contrast, but now am not sure. I might paint it lighter (but leaving the roses on the doors).

When I didn’t have enough storage containers, I made some by covering Girl Scout cookie boxes in old wallpaper. Don’t ask why I had so many boxes….

I moved some rolls of vintage wallpaper close to my desk and stored them in this old trash can holder. I think it was meant for a park, to keep animals out of the trash. I found it at an antique store and have been using it for bubble wrap, but I like the rolls of paper in it.

The front part of the room got a clean up too.

There is only so much I can do with this room, it isn’t easy to tidy. I keep so much out there and it has so many uses, that even with about 1000 square feet, it is jammed full.

And no matter how much I tidy up there will always be a card table set up full of junk to be sorted, mailed, put away, or made into something, etc.

Just like, I think I am going to write a post that is tidy and everything looks pretty together, and next thing you know, I have done this- run on and on and on about a dozen different things and then the posting is all messy and run together.

My life tends to be like that, lots going on at once, and all the pretty things jammed in with the clutter and mess of it all.

But I love it that way, there are some sweet little details jumbled up in that mess and they are worth sifting through it all to get to!

Over the top? Why of course!

fairies, family, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, paintings

By Karla Nathan / March 26, 2008

So many people were asking me about the mural I did on my baby B-I-L, Randy’s, floor, that I thought I would post more photos.

Here are a couple of snaps of it that I have in my scrap book.

This little fishy is drawn in the scrapbook too. He is a reminder of the one painted by the threshold in Randy’s craft room, kind of like a Walmart greeter, for everyone who comes in. We named him "Wallerford" after the Walmart greeter and the beautiful crystal Waterford glasses we were sipping our champagne from while we painted. Randy does know how to treat his guests right!

Here is Wallerford in person. Please ignore the twig laying on him, and by the way, it is a good idea to sweep the floor before photographing it, if you don’t want sticks in the picture.

Last year, I did a how-to on painting a concrete floor. If you’d like to read it, you can find it here.

Randy’s craft room was painted in stages. One night, years ago, we started painting family and friends on his wall as fairies.

It became a tradition, every time I’d go to Jacksonville to visit him that we would listen to show tunes (we both love Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Dreamgirls), drink champagne, and add more paintings to the room.

Now, two walls are a fairy forest, this is what the rest of the room looks like, a garden wall and sky.

Little whimsical details are everywhere. Like this frog chatting with a dragonfly while holding a champagne glass.

And one trip to visit was spent making the ceiling a sky.

After that, he HAD to pull up the carpet and turn the floor into a pond. What kind of magical, fairyland garden is carpeted??

Now, every inch of that room is all muralled up. I still add characters when I go now, there will always be room for a flying puppy, or Randy’s best friend as an elf somewhere in the gardens.

While I had my photo album out to get these pictures of Randy’s craft room, I came across these pics of "Jayhawks on Parade" and with the Kansas Jayhawks doing well in March madness, I thought I’d show you some of the work I did on the giant Jayhawk sculptures that were on display in Lawrence, KS a couple years ago.

This peacock represented team pride and was commissioned by the Art Center. It is painted in iridescent colors and features stained glass mosaic.

The "Marvelous Mosaic Floral Fantasy Joyous Jewelhawk" is the gaudiest thing ever! And you know I love gaudy.

Hand painted flowers, mosaics, beads, old jewelry, and more- this creature is one blinged up baby.

Over the top? Well, yep, just the way I like things.

Speaking of Blinged up, tomorrow (Thursday March 27) is our Bling your birdhouse day.

Hope to see you there!

Remember, I will be giving away one gaudy home for birds to someone who leaves a comment on the party post.

Oh, and GO Jayhawks!!

What are you hoppy about this year?

Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 22, 2008

My studio is semi- cleaned up and the tables are set for our family Easter dinner tomorrow.

Every holiday, we go around the table and take turns saying what we are grateful for this year. At Christmas, I ask what they are "Merry" about.

And at Easter, I ask what they are "Hoppy" about.

Everyone rolls their eyes and makes a protest, but they all go along with it to humor me, and I think, that they really do enjoy it, since it is such a tradition at this point.

As far as setting the table, I don’t go to a lot of trouble. All I do is the center pieces, the food stays right on the stove and everyone serves themselves buffet style.

But look at my pretty pan for tomorrow! A PINK skillet from TJ Max. The Easter Bunny brought it by to me a little early so I could whip up something tasty in it for guests.

I line the center of the table with some pretties, usually my latest projects. This year, I have teacup nests and lots of birdhouses.

And of course, a fairy or two! This one is listed for sale on Etsy right now.

(oops, I just realized it is not listed yet! If you are interested for $18, email me)

I’ll put out some fresh flowers and probably fill the center of the table with even more pretties I have made. I like it to be full and have something interesting in front of each dinner guest.

There will be more birdhouse pictures on Thursday for the party Beth and I are having, "Bling your Birdhouse Day" or "What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s Home?"

I will be giving away one of these birdhouses that day, leave a comment to enter the drawing.

I have my Easter bonnets all ready to wear. I think I might try this new blue one, I got it today for $6 and it is abundantly full of blooms!

It was a lucky flower day, I got the little white flowered hat for $5 and the roses, carnation, and little velvet posies were a gift from a friend. Now that is a good friend! She knows what I like.

Since I knew that Easter would be busy, with turkey basting, egg hunting, and all the visiting, we got the littlest Nathans together early and took photos in their fancy dresses.

One of Sugarwing’s photos is already framed, so I can surprise my husband with it as his Easter treat.

Another copy of that picture has been added to my scrapbook. I cut out around the baby’s picture, then cut a slit into the rose cart with an exacto knife, following the outline of the roses. The portrait was then slipped into the slit and glued down, then the whole thing was glued to some vintage wallpaper.

hmm, I should add some fairy wings to this….

Little Madison was a much better poser than my Sugarwings. She is still too little to get away from the camera!

My fairy grand baby was too much of a moving target, running up and down the stairs, and dumping out the baskets full of grass and bunnies.

Most of her photos are of her diapered backside as she scoots up the steps again for the 50th time.

Her dainty dress and her tidily fixed hair didn’t last long either. This little wild child was having too much fun to care about pictures.

And to me, this shot of my pixie is even more precious than the perfectly groomed and posed ones we had hoped to get.

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday with your own cherished loved ones. I can’t wait to see mine tomorrow!

Frilly Things, Blings, and Butterfly Wings

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

By Karla Nathan / March 20, 2008

I was invited to a fairy tale party with Sugarwings yesterday and of course it was right up our alley. We got to wear our wings and frilly things, plus do some blings !

The party was at our local HyVee grocery store promoting the release of "Enchanted"

All the little girls got craft packs to decorated crowns and wands, that of course came with a ‘poisoned’ apple, since they were all fairy princesses. Sugarwings decorated me with most of her glittery stickers instead of putting them on her tiara.

Afterwords, when I went grocery shopping to get some forgotten items for the dinner for 18 I was cooking that night, I looked very sparkly in the store with my extras the baby added to my fairy grandmother outfit.

They dined on mini pizzas. Dessert was a chocolate fountain with lots of goodies to dip into it. So, she wasn’t too hungry for my build your own burrito bar that night for the big family dinner. I don’t blame her, its hard to come back to reality and eat a burrito when you have spent the afternoon as a princess and being served chocolate from a magical fountain.

With company here, gallbladders going bad every where I look, and tax season approaching, there certainly has not been much creative time at my cottage lately.

I was able to squeeze in an hour or so yesterday and made 3 eggs. I’d seen these made at Amy’s and hers are so much better, but I chose to use throw away materials, not anything wonderful like her velvet ribbons and rhinestones.

The trim I used was just snippets of crepe paper and tinsel. I was too cheap to use the ‘good stuff’

Heres a quick how to:

Start with the large sized plastic eggs

pick a paper you want to cover the egg in, tear in small strips and soak the paper for a moment in water

brush glue onto one side of the egg, add paper strips, mushing them down well with your fingers, then brush glue over the top and sprinkle with glitter (I used the kind that looks like sugar)

Repeat with the other half of the egg, being careful to get close to the edge but not interfere with the lip.

Glue trim along the edge to cover the rims, so they don’t show when the egg is put back together.

I’d keep these out of candy baskets, because of the glitter, but they make a pretty display and I will put a gift card in them to give to the bigger kids.

I also got started covering my Swiss Chalet music box. Not exactly a birdhouse, but it is a house and I will add some birds, so I think that if I get it finished, it can come to our Bird House Bling Party next Thursday.

Check out the details if you’d like to be a part of it. And remember, you don’t have to be a blogger, you can get a free flickr account and upload photos there too.

This chalet is barely begun, but I think that the pink polka dot ribbon might be jarring. I usually go for all vintage trims and maybe this one is too new looking?? The velvet is a scrap from a rocking chair I redid for Sugarwings when she was born. I found some white velvet, and was able to do a soft pink marbley look with fiber reactive dyes. Her little Hippy Chick mom loves tie dye, so this was done just for her.

Today will be a craftapoolza- Beth is coming to play! We will be making birdhouses all day to be ready for next week (I hope you join us! Feel free to add the button to your blog too). We’ll also be plotting our next swap, so I hope you’ll join that also.

We aren’t the only ones planning a party, there is always something fun going on in blogworld. Sandy is hosting an Easter Parade today and is asking us to show our Easter Bonnets. Here are some of my latest purchases, in a basket on the fairy grandbaby’s piano. She likes to wear one while she serenades me.

She is going through a hat phase right now and luckily, I can keep her supplied with plenty of rosey ones to show off in.

Thanks, Sandy!

And over at the Part Tea Planner’s there is a tea party welcoming the first day of spring.

Enjoy the celebrations!

Greetings! A mini tutorial on making some greeting cards with vintage papers

family, how-to projects, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 18, 2008

My baby brother-in-law, Randy, has started making cards and has been asking for a bit of advice.

I offered to send him a box of goodies to use, and he said he didn’t know what to do with pages from an old book or vintage wallpaper.

So, I am making these cards with some how to’s for him to follow along with when he gets his package of vintage delights in the mail from me.

(All of these cards have been created with pre-made linen cards from Michaels.)

The first one is on a white card. I started by laying the card onto the wallpaper and cutting out a piece to fit with an exacto knife.

The piece of wallpaper was then attached to the card with a glue stick.

After the glue dried, I sanded the edges with the sponge sanding block, for a smooth finish.

As if vintage wallpaper isn’t old enough… I ‘aged’ the sanded edges with the side of my ink pad. This color is distressed walnut.

After the base of the card is ready, then the fun part happens! Time to embellish-

I cut an oval from a page torn out of a 1917 book with French text, and inked the edges with the walnut ink, then added a smaller oval of a coordinating wallpaper to the center and to that added a gold foil butterfly.

Some old brown ribbon and a single bloom of an old millinery flower are arranged across the bottom. I glued a crystal rhinestone (I only use glass ones, never plastic) to the center.

Right now these stones are on clearance at Hancock Fabrics for 75% off.

For a touch more sparkle, I’ve used a Martha Stewart glue pen to draw dots around the small oval of wallpaper.

I then dusted my favorite glitter over the glue.

As much as I hate to make Martha even more wealthy than she already is, I just HAVE to buy her glitter. It really is so good to work with! I use the fine ones, for a sheer look.

This card starts with a reddish-pink, kind of an azalea color, paper as its base.

Decorative scissors were used to cut out the French book page and the vintage wallpaper.

After gluing down the papers, I once again inked the edges. This time, I blended the ink a bit with a cosmetic sponge.

These old papers can be very fragile, so do this gently.

To finish, I added a snip of embroidered old ribbon, a mother of pearl button, and a teeny butterfly shaped button.

(Randy grows a butterfly garden, so the flowers and butterflies are some of his favorite things)

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, old red flocked wallpaper that I got from Allissa is glued on to a warm pink card for this one, traced with an exacto knife and inked on the edges the same way the first card was done.

After, I used 2 different decorative scissors to cut out the French book page, and a color copy of one of my own paintings.

At the bottom is a brass charm accented with 3 pink crystals.

One last how-to for Randy, this card has a pretty cornflower blue base.

To it, I added a strip of wallpaper cut with decorative scissors, and a piece of anaglypta wallpaper that I have aged with an umber glaze.

After the wallpaper was glued into place, I inked the edges with the side of the walnut ink pad.

In the center is an oval of the French book pages, and a German die cut.

To finish it off and add some glitz, three little crystals in the same blue are glued to the border of the anaglypta paper.

While I was making these examples for Randy, I thought he’d appreciate a kit for each one. While I was at it, I made a little extra.

I had enough bits to make two kits of three cards each.

Everything I used to make my own is in the kit and ready to be glued and mailed out to someone special (Mother’s Day is coming up, before you know it)

The pieces are already cut with decorative scissors, all you will need to complete the cards is:

glue

ink

glitter

glue pen

exacto knife

If you are interested, email or leave a comment. Each 3 card kit is $12, including postage. (unless overseas)

The last time I went to visit Randy, he and I painted the floor of his craft room to look like a pond.

I wish I could be back there in his colorful room and make cards with him, but isn’t the Internet great? I hope he reads this and feels like I am there with him.

I love you baby brother!!

A Tale of Two Gallbladders

Etsy Goodies, family, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 14, 2008

Well, this week started out nice. I was able to make some things, then had lots of Sugarwings time.

This picture is a copy of an old postcard that I crackled and aged, and popped into a frame.

And my book club meeting on Wednesday night was fun, with an interesting discussion. (the book was Housekeeping by Marylin Robinson)

Of course, I am always thrilled with an excuse to entertain and make trays of goodies.

But about midnight, I started to feel pretty awful, and was up all night, ill as could be. There has been a nasty bug going around and I am afraid it bit me too.

So, when Ryan called at 6am to tell me he was having stomach pain, I told him to take some Pepto Bismal and try to rest, I couldn’t have much sympathy for him, when I had spent the last few hours wondering when the room would stop spinning,( and if I had passed the bug along to all the guests who had been to my house that night).I figured he had the same thing.

But finally, hours later, when I took a look at him, writhing in pain and turning funny shades of green, I realized he had more than a virus.

I chugged some more Pepto Bismal myself, and helped him dress and got him into the car and to the hospital.

The ER found a gigantic gallstone and an infection. They kept him over night and scheduled surgery the next day, after a round of IV antibiotics.

While Ryan was in surgery, Sugarwing’s hippy chick mom made a trip into the ER with pain also, to find out that she had an inflamed gallbladder.

Ry’s surgery was not as easy as expected, his infection was pretty serious, and the gallbladder was gangrene, no wonder he was writhing in pain (as I ignored him). Tonight, his fever is down, and he is finally resting comfortably in the hospital and will be there a couple more days.

Of course, surgeries and ER tests don’t go quickly and there is only so much you can do to entertain an energetic little girl while the whole family is going back and forth from the waiting room on the surgery floor to the ER waiting room.

She got lots of shoulder rides from her Pop Pop, up and down the halls.

She made wishes and threw coins in the lobby fountain until we had no more coins to pass out, no matter how pretty she begged.

She found some wheelchairs to be pushed in while she yelled "Go! Go! Go!"

She thought that the glass elevator was not bad entertainment for a few rides too. And she found the buttons inside very compelling.

Luckily, my bug was a 24 hour thing and I was up to the task of turning a hospital into a playhouse for 8 hours. But it feels even better to have Sugarwing’s mom out of the ER, back home, and not requiring surgery, and to have Ryan losing that funny shade of green and to ask for a cup of broth for supper.

I’m afraid that THIS does not make me feel so good. Oops, I haven’t had a chance to mail out my St Pats Two Tag Swaps. I am so so sorry. But at least my excuse is valid and not some lame, my dog ate my homework excuse. Although, Twinkle would be thrilled at a chance to chew these up!

I am exhausted and way behind on getting stuff out in the mail. My Etsy customers have been left in the lurch too, I’m afraid.

I promised to have them sent out in time for the swappers to receiveby St Pats, but now I hope to just get them in the mail by St Pats instead. Please forgive me, and I will send all 20 of my swappers some extra swatches of pretty vintage wallpaper as an apology.

Tonight, my husband is sitting up with Ryan and I am getting some sleep so I can go up to the hospital in the morning. Thank goodness Ryan is better, that fever had me worried, and it was so awful to seem him in such pain. I will spare you and not show the photo of the nasty, green gallbladder that the Dr gave to us as a memento. Even though the color would go nicely with the St. Pats theme….

I usually am really good about mailing things and also at answering Emails and comments. Please understand if I don’t respond to comments this week.

I really didn’t need to go shopping today, but wow!!

antiques/junking, collections, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 9, 2008

Don’t I have enough hats yet? What is wrong with me??? I can’t resist.

Truth is, I do use the flowers in my projects a lot. But even if I used them daily, I probably have enough millinery flowers to get me through the next decade or so.

Yet, today I buy 4 more hats. One has a large, single velvet rose, nicely smashed with age (for $2- how could I leave it behind??). The others are LOADED with flowers and were $4 each.

I might have bought a few buttons too…… There are some not pictured also. Lots of cute shapes and rhinestoney ones in the jars, so I just had to get them at about $5 a jar.

Scranton and 4-Corners, Kansas are small towns in the middle of nowhere, but they have some great antiquing bargains!

Most things were cheap to start with, but there were also sales, of 25-50% off a lot of booths. Except for the hats and buttons, everything in the picture here was $2 or under, including the glass jar. I think I’ll use it for my paint brushes. But on the other hand, I do have plenty of buttons to fill it with!

And how many vintage photos can you get in 4-Corners, Kansas in a bag for $5? I stopped counting at 50.

Of all the things I got today, these are my favorites. Oh, I can’t wait to get started on these projects!! Don’t they look like Marie Antionette?

One project will involve these figures, some small round boxes, vintage wallpaper in soft pastel colors, lots of millinery flowers and more than a few rhinestone buttons.

The frame, I will paint white and put a different picture in. I will be needing this print for the lining of one of these boxes that these mini Maries will be perched upon.

What a sweet baby photo this is. It was in the bag of old pictures that I got today and I think it might be my favorite of the bunch. Feel free to copy and use it in your own projects. This baby needs a loving home! How sad when family photos are lost to the family and for sale in antique stores. I always feel like saving them.

There certainly is no worries that my little fairy grand baby’s pictures will go neglected!

I had a little scrapbook party on Saturday and between fixing a big dinner, playing with babies and just plain old hanging out, we managed to get a few pages done.

Sugarwing’s cousin out grew this dress and it was torn. Her mom had the idea to use it for our pages of the little girls.

I cut out a square to make a pocket out of it, with the dress ruffle at the bottom. Then glued the buttons down the side and added sparkly flowers to their centers. The velvet bow was part of the dress already.

When I put photos in pockets, I always glue two back to back, or glue scrapbook paper to the back of one, to make them sturdier. I also punch a hole in the corner and add a ribbon to use as a pull to take the photo out of the pocket.

This page of a summer day on the lake with the family is laid out on a piece of paper that I did a water color wash onto.

I added a frog cut from a copy of one of my paintings. Its only in black and white, maybe someday I’ll tint it, but I doubt it. Once I move on from a project I rarely go back, no matter how good my intentions are.

I accented this picture of a couple of my friends and I with a paper doll dress that Beth gave to me.

I like to use tags, ATCs and other art that I have been given in my scrapbooks.

Not only are they usually well done and attractive, but they are sentimental to me too and I love to keep them somewhere that I can enjoy them.

Speaking of friends, my pal, Carol, and I are collaborating with the Fabulous Fifi on an upcoming project! Fifi called last week, and she is every bit as wonderful to talk to as her blog is to read. No details yet, but here is a teeny sneak peek of something Carol is whipping up for our prospective article.

Another pal, Heather featured in an article in Romantic Homes. How cool. I can’t wait to pick up a copy. Heather and Carol are both buddies that I met through Silver Bella, and blogging.

And my poor pal, Beth, is under the weather. The pitiful thing is suffering from a horrific knitting injury. Actually, I think it is just tendinitis, but she was achey enough to miss Scranton and 4-Corners today. If you get a chance, wish her a get well soon.

My Sissy sent these St Pats tags in for the Two Tag Swap I am hosting. You wouldn’t believe the pile of pretties I get to go through and send out to people! Such great tags came in the mail this week, I can’t wait to play with them all.

Oh- I have been tagged by Connie to list seven things about myself. I know I’ve done the 7 weird things many times, but don’t seem to run out of weirdness to write about.

This time, I’ll keep it simple:

1- I am a serial painter. It is a serious mental problem, I am sure. I really can’t control it, I paint, and repaint rooms all the time. Right now I am considering blues for my bedroom.

2- I work really fast, and can get quite a bit done in a short amount of time. My studio is drowning in finished projects. I think it takes longer to try to sell them than it does to make them.

3- When we have a litter of kittens or puppies at our cottage, I pick a theme and name them all to match. My favorite Dorky puppy names were herbs, I had Rosemary and Dilly in that batch of pups.

4- My Great Aunt Caroline is about to turn 100 and I plan on taking after her and living at least that long. I have a lot I want to make or paint and it will take me till then to do it all.

5- I fell off a horse and broke my back 15 years ago this summer, and never thought I’d be without pain, but really am doing very well now.

6- I no longer own horses!

7- I never get tired of these 7 things lists, but I am bad about those award things. Louisa gave me a couple and I want to thank her for them. And instead of passing them on to another blogger, I’d like all you readers out there to be winners. Thanks for coming by and listening to my rambles and obsessions, and for keeping me company.

Oh, before I forget, I wanted to remind everyone about the Birdhouse Blinging we have going on March 27th. Join us here and at Beth’s, please!

And everyone, blogger or not, is invited to show birdhouse pictures on our Flickr group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/692795@N22/

Marty Jo and Karkie Jo

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, give away, swaps, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / February 16, 2008

Happy Birthday, Mom!

She’s been gone a few years now and it still seems like just yesterday. I am always thinking of reasons to call her, and then am sad I can’t pick up the phone and let her know about the latest thing going on in my life, the funny things Sugarwings just said, or just to complain about how cold it is outside.

My mom spoiled me when I was little. Spoiled me rotten. She used to make the best silver dollar pancakes and feed me breakfast in bed.

On school days. Now who does that???? My boys were lucky to get a Pop Tart on their way out the door.

She made homemade play doh and finger paints for me, as well as sewing one Barbie dress after another for my dolls as I sat under the sewing table and played. She always had time to take the scraps from her projects and turn them into doll clothes.

Mom was a quilter and a wonderful seamstress. I wish I had inherited some of that skill from her.

She made this log cabin quilt for me in the 80s. Luckily, it isn’t trendy and dated, it is as pretty now as it was when she first made it. I guess I have always loved these colors.

I had a blast going through her sewing room, picking through her fabrics for just the right combos to make this quilt. Her sewing room was the heart of her house and when she died, I could hardly bare to go in to it. I remember sitting on the cement basement floor in there sobbing as I held onto a pile of fabrics.

That room had so much of her in it. I wish now that I had scooped up and saved more of it for myself. I’d love to see a pile of her materials stacked up just one more time.

Of course, Mom always got carried away with projects. If she was making a quilt, she would make a bunch of pillows from the scraps. Never just one or two.

hmm, who does that remind you of?? I do take after her in a lot of ways, even if it doesn’t involve sewing.

She was funny, too. She loved to be SILLY. There was nothing on earth she enjoyed more than being goofy with my sisters and me.

I find myself singing the same silly made up songs to my dogs and to Sugarwings that my mom used to sing to me when I was little. I hope that someday my kids remember me as silly and goofy and fun the way I remember my mom.

I hope they remember the little ways I spoiled them too. And that they will cherish the things that I have made for them over the years the way I cherish hers. I hope they will always remember me, the way I will always remember my mom.

Moving on to happier thoughts- I need to announce the winner of my OWOH giveaway and thank Lisa again for her gracious idea and the time she put into it.

The winner is:

Heather of Blum Studios.

And the winner of my one year blog anniversery/Valentine’s prize is:

Jessi at Wild Rose Stamper

Thanks to everyone who commented and came by to visit. I still have the February prize to come and all comments for the month count in it. Also, I am giving away a couple of birdie houses.

One for the tutorial and one for the day of the party I am co-hosting with Beth.

And you still have a couple of weeks to enter my St Pats Day Two Tag Swap. All you need to do is send two Irish themed tags to me with a self addressed stamped envelope. (or put a dollar in the envelope to cover postage if that is easier for you)

And I will take two tags from two different swappers, put them in your SASE and send them back to you.

If you will have them to me by March 5 ( Friday), I can slip them back into the mail over the weekend, so they go out on Monday.

I am having a great time in the DC area and found the BEST antique shops!! Photos later.