family – Page 77 – Karla's Cottage

A One Year Birthday and a Brand New Birth plus a SUPERSTAR Guitar Guy!

antiques/junking, family, how to's, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2007

My Fairy Grand baby is One Year Old now.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and blogger love she received!

Another sweet little baby that is all grown up is my niece’s son, Jimmy Lutton. He leaves on Tuesday from small town, Indiana for the Big Apple where he begins his tour with Emiko as the bass guitar player.

I watched her concert on TV last week, she has an earthy, emotional voice and I enjoyed seeing her. I want to buy a CD, but I’m too cheap to buy two, so I’ll wait and get one that Jimmy is on!!

Michelle Ward ‘s "Crusade" this month is "Make Some Noise". So, besides being full of Auntly pride in Jimmy’s big break (which he deserves, since he is soooo talented) I wanted to combine a scrap booking photo of him, with the link to Emiko’s site (Jimmy is not playing on it yet).

We were treated to a mini concert this summer, where Jimmy played for the family, so I included photos of the crowd watching him play. They are slid into a pocket that I made by cutting a triangle from card stock and adding a cut out picture of Jimmy’s mom, Shelli, and my other niece, Stevie to the front of the pocket. TIP: When adding a pocket to a scrapbook for storing extra photos, always have the pocket open to the inside, so that the pictures don’t fall out. (I learned the hard way)

I then punched a star (I always knew he would be one someday!!) into the top of the page and also into 2 photos of him glued back to back and tied the photos to the page with a snippet of yarn. When the book is closed, his picture just tucks back inside.

Speaking of scrap booking, I found these two old journals today when I was out garage sailing. One has a slight damaged spot (where the doofusses stuck on a price tag!) but neither book has ever been used.

If anyone is interested in these two books for a project, I can send them both to you for $12, and that should include postage.

And speaking of postage- look what came in the mail while I was on vacation! My order of ballerinas from Etsy .

And I just so happened to have a hand carved ballerina shelf to set them all on too! I will keep a few up there, but will use the rest for projects.

The mail lady was good to me this week. Cheryl sent me this adorable mail art- yep this little cutie is a hand made post card, that says "happy anniversary" on the back!

And I won a custom made gift package from Natalea filled with pretty things, embellished with "K" for Karla, and lots of roses. Sugarwings has already laid claim to the white wicker chair. She can sit her teeny little bottom right on it for now, but soon, the way she is growing, it will have to be a dolly chair.

I think the photo that Natalea (a fellow Silver Bella) took for her blog was prettier, you should go look there to see it better.

And yes, there is more! Jennifer sent my art doll hat from the swap .

Isn’t she magical?

And because I have been on vacation for over a week, and my house is trashed since I have been so busy from the time I got home till now and haven’t had a chance to get it back to normal- I have been daydreaming about clean, pretty houses. Like my friend, Angie’s home.

Everything about her home is tranquil.

and elegant

And her dining table isn’t covered with 2 weeks of newspapers that no one has recycled. I’ll bet there aren’t bags and suitcases piled up in the kitchen either. Who leaves a suitcase in the kitchen for almost a week? I need to go unpack, I should stop writing now and get to work!

Oh but first,

I am a great auntie again! Kaydance was born the 13th to her mom, Steffi, and her dad, Aubrey, my nephew who is stationed in Bagdad and wasn’t home for his daughter’s birth. Wish him a safe a swift return back to his new baby, please.

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.

Tagged and Tags with a Sissy Swap

family, Hand Painted Furniture, I've been tagged, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 7, 2007

22 years (and a waistline) ago on August 10th, I married my sweetie. We are not going to be able to celebrate this year, I’m afraid between his business trips and my family reunion trip coming up, we are missing being together that day.

After being together for so long, we’ve learned that being together on the date itself isn’t as important as the fact that we enjoy being together every day.

When I get to Indiana, my sis and I are doing a swap, with Beth. Sis and I were already doing an art hat doll swap together, and Beth and I have already swapped supplies. But now, we are making gift bags and swapping some other fun items.

I made this bag from a big brown grocery bag, scrap booking papers, a copy of an old postcard, ribbon, stamps, gold pen and of course- glitter!

Then, I tied on two tags I had made, one with her initial (s for Sissy, or Sharon) and a smaller copy of the same birdie postcard I used on the bag.

The other tag has been stamped with red and brown inks, then one of my hand painted wallpaper medallions was glued to it.

So far, I have packed up a bundle of the bubble silverware that I bought at a garage sale and Sissy liked, a couple of fairy stories from an old book, and a vintage dishtowel with her initial on it.

This little hand carved angel is something I bought at the Renaissance Festival a few years back, and repainted. I thought Sissy might like it for her garden.

I also have a glow in the dark garden stake for her.

We decided that we wouldn’t mail the art doll hats to each other, we’d save the money from postage and use it to buy a bottle of wine, then we will wear our hats and drink the wine together while we open up our swap gifts!

I have spent the rest of the morning making tags, since I was "tagged" by Phyllis for a unique form of the tag game.

You are supposed to write the names of the taggees onto a "world wonder". But Phyllis used chalk boards and Sandi used green tomatoes, so I figured I could use what I wanted, so I used TAGS.

I started with Kim at Daisy Cottage, with her lively reds and yellows, it was fun to work with a different palette and make this "K" for her.

Next is a wonderful artist, my new blog friend, Bethany . I did some hand drawn swirls and added this artist pallette copied from an old post card.

Next, is my buddy, Beth who has a passion for vintage sewing supplies.

One of the very first bloggers I met was the wonderful Vicki who was so kind and helpful when I was a newbie. She also makes the greatest stuff, and right now has a funny story on her blog about things that go bump in the night.

EDIT- Phyllis just emailed me to ask where I found the "Marryville" for Mrs Staggs, her blog is about "Merryville". It was a total random accident and I didn’t know I had done it!!!

And for the kind and genteel Mrs. Staggs who is taking a blog break right now, due to family illnesses. But I thought a little tag in the mail would help cheer her up, and let her know that even though she isn’t blogging right now, we haven’t forgotten her.

And last ( I think I was supposed to do 8, but ran out of time to make tags, I have a trip to pack for!)

Connie who is so techno savyy and is always ready to jump in and explain how to fix a problem. Check out the hand made roses she is doing on her blog right now!

OK, taggees, if you want to play, you tag some people yourselves and add their name to a picture. Most people have used photo shop, I don’t have those skills, so I hand made some real life tags.

Tomorrow, Kari

is holding an Artful Blogger party to celebrate her article in the magazine. She is asking for tutorials, so I decided to post "How to Paint Furniture". It will include step by steps on how I did these two chairs.

Hope you come back to check out the party tomorrow!

August give away reminder

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

Cottage Collage Kits and a Little B&E

antiques/junking, family, give away, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 4, 2007

Today, I packaged up my July giveaway, the Cottage Collage Kit, and got it in the mail to the winner, Carol.

I gave the pack a summery, bright colored theme and lots of vintagey goodness.

*Some of the anaglyptic wallpaper that I glazed

*A piece of the wall paper that I painted roses on

*BUTTONS

*An old postcard

*This cute old plastic rose, that actually has a hair clip attached

*Old photos from my latest garage sale haul

*Polka dotted netting from an old hat

*A snippet of red vintage wall paper that Beth gave to me

(by the way, Beth told me how to use LINKS, instead of adding the entire address! I look SO much more professional now, don’t I?)

*I also included copies of some of my paintings, like the fairy in th teacup, roses, and a few others

*Old yellow ribbon and a big white buckle

*Red and white earrings

*A copy of a sweet little French post card

*And a bunch more.

I had a great time putting the pack together, hope it is something Carol can use!

Don’t forget that I will be having an August Giveaway too. Leave a comment and I’ll enter you. So far, I have buttons, and old photos in it, but there will be more, I need to come up with a theme for it, and when I do, I’ll let you know.

Today I painted this watercolor of lilacs, then one of the home my dad grew up in. It is 90% done, but needs some tweaking.

I don’t know why I don’t do more watercolors, they are so enjoyable to do. This lilac one is a bit different for me, I also used sepia colored ink on it.

I will finish the old homestead painting tomorrow so I can make copies of it to take to my family reunion next week and pass out to any cousins or aunts and uncles who want one. Here is a photo of the house my grandparents raised 7 kids in, it was torn down this summer. I’m lucky that I was able to go and visit and get photos a couple of years ago.

I also broke in through a window (it has been vacant for a long time) and took a look around. I took an old light fixture that was broken and laying on the floor in some trash as a souvenir to fix up and re-wire. My Dad was horrified and was sure the sheriff was on his way, and told him no one would miss it, but it meant a lot to me to have a little piece of the house he grew up in.

As we took off in our get-away car, he told me that the house didn’t have electricity while they lived in it! So much for my little piece of his child hood, that light hadn’t been a part of the house when he was child!

(Yes in my tradition of posting really bad photos of myself, here is one of me breaking and entering)

Eight Random Thoughts with a side of Garden Sauce

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, family, Food and Drink, give away, I've been tagged, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 4, 2007

Bethany at http://bethanyjanehissong.blogspot.com/, tagged me to write 8 random things about myself. A while back, I did the "7 weird things" list, I guess this one is different. So- here goes, 8 off the top of my head things.

First, here is the sketch that Bethany did of Twinkle!! How wonderful, she has some really good sketches on her site, she can certainly capture the personality of her subject. Go take a look!!

Which brings me to #1- I don’t sketch. I wish I did, I love to see pencil drawings. I just don’t do it.

Here is a painting I did today of Sasha, my cousin’s Dorkie who passed away this year.

I kind of draw it out before painting, but not in too much detail. When I do a mural, I don’t draw on the wall first, I just walk up to the wall and start painting.

#2- I am never sure of blog etiquette. I probably should have asked Bethany before I showed her drawing. I hope she knows I posted it in awe and enjoyment of her work and that I wanted everyone to see it and go to her site, that I wasn’t trying to steal it.

#3- I don’t use recipes, I wing it when I cook.

I make things up as I go along, but here is a summary of my garden sauce if you want to make some:

saute an onion, garlic, some banana and green peppers from the garden patch in olive oil, then throw them into the crock pot on low

chop up tomatoes and throw them into the crock pot until it is full

add fresh basil, thyme, and what ever other herbs you have grown that taste Italian-ey, with salt and pepper, some raw sugar and red wine

cook on low for 24 hours or so, bag and freeze. Drink some wine.

Make sure the zipper on the bag is closed tight, or you have to take everything out of the freezer and clean out the shelves.

#4- My niece’s son, Conner, is a ribbon winner in goat raising!

Oh no, I just realized while looking at this photo that the sheep I showed to Sugarwings at the fair yesterday, were not sheep, they were goats. oops

#5- Sugarwings and I spent more time sitting on the floor at the hog barn, yelling into the giant fan than we did walking around the fair. She liked the way the fan warped our voices, so we did a lot of hollering at it.

#6- I love cement people. This one lives in front of my studio, and is wearing some of my garage sale finds from today.

#7- I am really loving wrapping up the packages of stuff I sell on Etsy!

I am not usually a fancy gift wrapper. One year at Christmas, I only used one gift bag for everyone. I stacked up presents in a pile for each person, and kept them in the back room. For every gift, I played "Santa" and went back to the room with the same bag over and over and slipped a gift into it. Our family always opens one gift at a time, so it worked out well.

#8- my fairy grand baby can say everyone’s name but mine. My son says that it is because I am not consistent in trying to teach her what to say.

I tried to go by "Grandmama Karkie" (my family calls me Karkie) but it sounded like ‘grandma McArkie’- so I just went with "Grandmama", but no one in Kansas says it with the right syllable emphasized, and it sounded very country, not elegant. (and I am not exactly elegant anyway)

So, now I am going for Grammy Karkie. Or maybe I’ll see what she comes up with.

I am going to tag: well, Beth, of course! http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ (check out her estate sale finds from yesterday, wow!)

and Amy http://www.myspace.com/primitivezen ,

who kindly sent me this mail art.

Don’t forget to enter the drawing for my August give away! All you have to do is leave a comment and you are entered. I’m not sure what it will be yet, but I can assure you that there will be a photo from this group of 75 I got at a garage sale this morning for only $5 for the whole box!

And BUTTONS! There will be some buttons!!

A Sugarwings Day

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 31, 2007

I had a Sugarwings day today. No creating art, just creating fun. We read stories, went for walks, did some shopping, and she played with her new toy. Is there a kid on the planet that doesn’t love these Fischer Price push toys?

This cutey sure loved it!

And speaking of cute- You HAVE to check out Little Miss Twinkle’s portrait by the talented Bethany Hissong at http://bethanyjanehissong.blogspot.com/. Wonderful, huh??? She really captured her personality. And look at the sketch of the pig-tailed little girl while you are there, so adorable.

And speaking of artists– Remember me telling you about my friend’s estate sale, at her fabulous home? Here is some of her work, on these cards.

If you have ever bought holiday paper cups or plates at Target or Walmart, or a needle craft pattern at Hobby Lobby, chances are you have bought some of her work. Her name is Vicky Howard and her art is everywhere, and should be, it is so pretty.

I do own one of her originals, not her typical work, though. She and I were on a committee to decorate the tables at a big fund raiser for a kid’s art organization here in town, and we made painted flower pots as centerpieces. They were then sold that night to add to the other money raised.

I bought two pots from her, this one I use to keep my gardening tools in on a mosaic table in my breezeway.

Speaking of that estate sale– I hadn’t shown a photo of this wrought iron garden bench I bought from Vicky. She gave me the patina-ed terra cotta cherub, she is a sweety. Actually, both are sweeties, Vicky and the cherub.

I also bought this oval vintage painting at the sale last week. It is actually on ceramic. The frame too, it is all one piece. Unique, huh?

I have another Sugarwings day tomorrow, can’t wait!

Teaching a Lesson

antiques/junking, Books, family, Food and Drink, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, hand painted signs, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 28, 2007

I had a teaching day today! It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning, painting roses with a fellow rose lover! I had set up some treats in my "dessert wardrobe" but mostly we were too busy with our paints and brushes to indulge in the cookies.

Actually I had 2 students. Gail brought her 10 year old daughter, Deja to learn how to paint a rose sign too.

I was able to get 2 done myself while demonstrating the flowers.

These are on lightweight, metal, pre-made signs. I liked working with them, it was a change from the usual old wood that I use for my signs.

While I had my brushes out, I finished Sugarwing’s purple pony that I am painting for her first birthday. I added a lot of glitter to it, so it will need quite a few more coats of poly, so the glitter won’t be sharp against her baby soft skin.

Last night while cleaning up my studio to get ready for today’s sign painting, I decorated a candle. I used bits and pieces of paper and trim that were left on the craft table from previous projects and fixed up a candle that had been on sale at Michaels for 50 cents.

What caught my eye about this candle, is that the card stock circle on the top of it, is actually a sticker. Once that circle is peeled off, instead of tossing it, it can be re-used onto something else.

So, I thought it was worth the time to glitter and foof up the cover. Then, I added some vintage trim to the jar rim, and polka dotted glitter on the jar itself.

The pretty angel image I used came from the FABULOUS estate sale that Beth and I went to this week.

My friend, Vicky, invited us to her home early to shop before she was open to the public, and she has the best stuff. She is an artist also, but extremely successful- I’m talking about a 4 story house with an elevator!!! Wow, you don’t see those in Lawrence, KS. She does beautiful work and has a similar taste in decor to me (hers is just on a grander scale).

I bought stacks and stacks of lovely old books from her, suitable for all sort of crafts and ideas. Remember the cabinet I mentioned a while back, that I said I didn’t even use for storage? I do now! It is filled with books from Vicky.

She had some pinks and whites for my kitchen. The Hull pitcher with the roses on it, was only $5.

The creamer was a gift from Beth! She gets boxes and boxes of things from auctions and sometimes brings me flowery things that aren’t her style. She brought 2 flats of goodies for me this time.

This scrap book from Vicky was FILLED with vintage images! For TWO DOLLARS! I will add some of the images to my Cottage Collage Kit giveaway that I will be drawing names for at the end of the month, too.(leave a comment to enter)

Let’s, see, what else did I get. hmmm… This cute topiary type pot (that I will glitter up and decorate for Christmas) was $2 too.

3 urns for $18 (great for storing wallpaper!), a wrought iron garden bench, and a ton of interesting terra cotta pots (that she gave to me)

And a box full of these wonderful appliques! Her whole house was trimmed out in these, everywhere, all over, even the turret. Yep, her house had a turret. Wow. My kind of sale!

I’m sure I am leaving some purchases out, I just was overwhelmed by the sale, it was all such great stuff. Check out Beth’s blog to see what she got at the sale too. http://bethleintz.typepad.com/

Mini Spa Day at Home for the New Mom

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, give away, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 20, 2007

What a nice day! We had a fun Mini Spa Day at home for my niece to celebrate her baby’s two week birthday, then I got to work in the studio, and now my husband is back from his business trip. And I was smart enough to make up extra Cordon Bleu for lunch today and don’t have to cook tonight!

I didn’t actually get to make things today, but I did bundle up some Aqua Themed Cottage Collage Kits for Etsy and got them listed ($14).

And I played with my new purchases from my estate sale shopping with Beth. This vintage wallpaper was being used as shelf paper in a cabinet in a basement, I pulled it out and got 3 large pieces for ONE DOLLAR!!

Velvet ribbons, rick rack, buttons, a sequins all came from the same basement. I added the green ribbon and the mother of pearl button, with a vintage flower to the top of the little jar full of sequins. That is about as creative as I got today, mostly it was unpacking, and packing and finding new homes for everything.

All of these little rhinestone earrings will make pretty snow flakes for Christmas projects and look at these tiny Button Crowns!!!!!!! Oh, I see a Silver Bella project in their future.

And this little clear button is a Scotty, but it is awful close to looking like a Dorky. I never find Dorkies!! The world is filled with Stupid Scotty dogs tho. Oh well, this is cute and like I said, almost a Dorky!

Twinks has claimed the feather pillows as her own. They were only $2 each, that is pretty cheap for a dog bed, but they sure are pretty. Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ says they should go into a hammock. Well, I don’t have one, but it is a good idea.

And look at this rug- I have always wanted one of these. I paid a bit more than I usually spend when out shopping, but it sure is a lot less than buying a new rug at a "real" store or even buying an old one at an antique store. This one is 10′ x 6′ and was $75. Ooh, that makes me cringe to admit I spent that much.

There were 3 of these brass lady-stake things, I only bought 1, for $2. I should have got all three, but was spending like a fool already. Now why did I think that another $4 would break me??

I like it in the flower pot. I don’t know what it is really for, but she seems content in the rose moss.

I found a bunch of ric racs and ribbons for a total of $4.50, quite a few rhinestone buttons for $1, got this cute aqua colored card for only 50 cents, and the trash can was $1.50.

You can’t beat shopping in the basements and garages of estate sales! That is where the sellers put the stuff they think is junk and not worth much.

These leather covered booklet thingys are cute, the one on the right is actually a box, the left one is a note pad, and the middle is a funeral home booklet. All three were $4. I can see all sorts of possibilities with them.

The prettiest pretty of them all today, was Madison Catherine. She is 2 weeks old and seemed to be enjoying her party. We all got to hold her while her mom soaked in the tub.

I lit some candles for the new mom, got out scented lotions and tossed some pink rose petals into the jacuzzi.

I set up a special chair for Brooke to sit in for lunch, and tied up the back of it with a bundle of flowers I got in my first swap from Karin at http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/

We ate salads with feta, cranberries and almonds, then had cordon bleu with spinach fettuccine and a side of broccoli. (the broccoli got mushy but the rest of the meal was good)

The new grandma brought a Tiramisu, who needs broccoli when you can have that?!! I picked a gladiola from the garden for Grandma Gladys who loved Brooke so much and would have loved to see her baby. She was with us in spirit today.

Brooke wore the crown I received in the tiara swap from Barb at http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/.

I have one more thing to list on Etsy, then I am going in to have a plate of leftover cordon bleu. I wish I had leftovers everyday, man I hate to cook dinner.

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