flowers – Page 13 – Karla's Cottage

A humming bird moth

By Karla Nathan / October 18, 2011

My cleome patch is both my best and worst flower bed ever. I love the way it looks when the flowers are tall and in full bloom. But I hate waiting all year for that couple of months of beauty. The rest of the year, it is a patch of dirt. Right in front of the house. I should plant something shrubby and more year round there, but I just love those two months of beauty so much, that I never do.

Plus they attract hummingbird moths. These little pretties are such fun to watch. The first time I saw one, I was sure it was really a hummer. They come out after dark and their wings are in constant motion just like the bird it is named after.

When I saw that I could get inches away from it and not scare it off, I realized it was a bug, not a bird.

Aren't they pretty?

EDIT- This post was written ahead of time, before I left on my trip. I'll have new posts all week while I am away, but might not get to answer all comments or emails, but I will be reading and enjoying them on my Ipad. Thanks for coming by! I hope to add some "Live" posts from the road too.

Sugarwings first flea market

antiques/junking, collections, flowers, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 8, 2011

I want to thank all of you for your concern and caring about Sugarwing's school situation. It broke my heart to see our little fairy so down, she is usually such a sparkling soul. But, I think we are on track now in finding her the right place. She only turned five 2 days before school started, so was the littlest kid there, and frankly, she is not always listening to what people are telling her anyway, so just wasn't ready to listen to a teacher.

It helped to hear all of your stories and advice. It sounds like 5 is often too young to start school, and waiting a year helped a lot of your little ones.

Since she has been out of school for a bit, we've had some good days together. I'd planned on going with Beth to the big Sparks and White Cloud flea that we love so much, but I ended up with this kiddo instead, so had to cancel.

But- I really really really needed a junk day. And not just because it sounded fun, but because I had to scrounge up some more ceiling tins for our kitchen remodel. This was a mission with a purpose!

And I figured that this girl is going to be raised around junk, she needed to learn about how to go about finding and appreciating the stuff. So, I packed her up, rented a movie to put in her Pink Princess Computer (a portable DVD player),filled a bag of snacks, loaded my flea mkt cart, and we hit the road.

Sadly, the snacks and the DVD player didn't mix well. If you spill a box of Chocolate milk into your Pink Princess Computer, its pretty much done for. (this is the same week that our home DVD player bit the dust too. Along with our vacuum cleaner, toilet, modem, home phone, AND our boat has been checked out for the dozenth time by a mechanic, but still died on the lake and had to be towed, then was in a wreck with the towing boat, so I wasn't surprised to see her DVD player break)

When we pulled up to Sparks and got out to shop, she wanted to know where the Bug Store was. I did say, "flea market," right?

She soon found some non-bug and flea related items to enjoy. Like this shopping cart for $1. She insisted that it should be pulled behind her like I pulled my basket.

Then, she found some bugs, and that made her happy too. This time of year, cicadas are plentiful. You don't even have to make a special trip to the market to get them.

This fairy certainly has bargaining skills. She found a disco night light in rainbow colors that was marked $15, held up $3 and the lady smiled and said sure. Another guy gave her 3 plastic ponies for $1, and everywhere else people were giving her stuff. Including free french fries from a food cart, beads to wear, and this great light up butterfly magic wand.

I could get some lessons from her! Now, if only I could train her to find hats and bargain the prices down on them.

We also ran into my friend, Gwen, who runs Bottom's Up, one of the best antique sales around. She gave Sugarwings a pile of flyers to pass out and that kid was determined that anyone within 20 feet of her HAD to take one. She added a quick spin, put her backside in the air and said "bottoms up!" each time, too. I had to convince her that it wasn't necessary to flip up her skirt while doing that after the first time.

This was a trip where I didn't expect to do much shopping. It would be a quick trip down the aisles with my eyes out for tin to redo my kitchen ceiling.

But what to my wandering eyes did appear?? Treasures galore and things I hold dear! (uhm, she and I talk in rhyme sometimes)

I found a few hats, not many, but was glad to glom onto them. They were bonus hats. I didn't expect to have any luck in this department at all.

But the best surprise was that she was having so much fun sitting in the dirt next to me, playing with her bug buddies and new toys, that I had plenty of time to sift through old jewels. There are wonderous treasures to be found there, if you have the patience to look through the ucky stuff too. Beth always gets tired of waiting for me, I could park myself in front of a jewel bucket for an hour, and she is ready to move on. Sugarwings was happy to let the bugs ride on her plastic ponies while I sifted jewels. Next time I go, I'll pack a bag of bugs for Beth. I'm sure that will make her happy.

And later, I ran into a friend who is an ex-kindergarten teacher and she took my little one for a walk while I shopped in her booth and made a ceiling tin deal with her husband.

We didn't stay long, and we probably spent more time sitting down and playing than walking around and shopping, but I'd call her first flea market a big success. She was wheeling and dealing with the best of them, we both found some beloved items, and we had lots and lots of time for rhyming all the way home since the DVD player broke.

ps-Please leave a comment on the previous post if you want a chance to win this Craft Day Giveaway pack from me, Beth, and Mary!

Some of the flowers in the pack are from this flea market day.

Please forgive me for not answering comments this week, our construction is beginning! I guess this phase is more de-construction, the kitchen gets ripped out before it gets put back.

PS again- a photo of my living room was featured on the HGTV site! how nice!

http://www.hgtv.com/living-rooms/charming-shabby-chic-living-room-designs/pictures/index.html?soc=share

Craft Day Giveaway

flowers, give away, swaps

By Karla Nathan / September 6, 2011

A while back, at Craft Day, Beth mentioned a round robin swap she planned with Lisa and asked if I'd be interested in joining. I said I didn't have time, but couldn't stop myself from joining anyway. Its a year long adventure, and only involves making one page a month and sending it on. That isn't too big of a commitment unless you consider the postage. By the time the books are near the end, they could get pretty heavy, and we are sending it around a lot. Only four people are in it, Beth, Lisa, and Sandra, so it goes back and forth a lot.

But worth it. Even though I am cheap, and know that the postage will end up being at least 50 bucks for me by the time I am done. It won't seem that bad, because it will be a little bit at a time! Not $50 at once.

The first month, we do our own cover and one page to get our book started. It goes to the next person who adds a page and then… it confuses me, but Beth is good at keeping me on track and made up an intricate schedule for us to all follow.

The theme is "Her Life In Stitches" Well, I don't sew much, all the rest of the group are good with textiles. I thought, maybe I could make a joke book, and have everyone in stitches, laughing…

But then, I thought, no, I'll dedicate it to my mom and honor all that she taught me. She was an excellent seamstress and while I did not inherit those skills, she taught me a way of looking at things and knowing how to figure out how something is made, step by step. And to have a creative mind while doing it.

I cut the title "Home Arts" out of an 1890s magazine and glued it onto my cover, since I think that suits the topic. My book is beyond sewing, and stitches, but is about the love of home, making stuff, and the art of making a house a creative home.

Beth, Mary, the other Karla and I have been trying to get together more regularly for craft days. We each have our own projects to do, and it just seems like the work goes so smoothly when you can chat and be with friends. Its always ultra casual, some days, I barely kick stuff out of the way so they can get to the table. I know they don't expect a red carpet from me, they are coming to share ideas, gossip and our latest projects, not judge my housekeeping,(or lack of).

Sometimes we share more. Mary brought a stack of old images the other day and let us chose a few. While going through them, I thought about how much fun the whole craft day experience is, and how much it meant to me to have such low maintenance friends, with so much in common. We all drool over the old supplies and half the fun of the day is looking at each others stuff. Everyone likes to share tidbits here and there also. Tips, tools, and actual bits of scrap get passed around.

I thought you might enjoy being a part of it too, and would like involved with the sharing. So, I asked Mary if I could have a stack of her images to pass along. She was generous with them and gave me a good pile. I wrapped up a selection of them with velvet ribbon and added a few millinery blossoms from myself. Beth says she'll throw in a treat from her supply stash too. I'll let you know what it is when I get it from her. But you know she has good stuff!

(oh, and in case you didn't know it, Mary Queen of Glue Books, is hosting a glue book swap)

Here is one of the images from Mary's ephemera stash, and you don't have to do anything at all to get it. Just click on it, open in a larger window and save it to your computer. It will be all pixely if you try to print it as is, so please do open the larger version.

If you'd like to win our Craft Day Giveaway, please leave a comment on this post. Deadline is Tuesday Sept. 20.

I'll leave you with some pictures of the newest listings in the Boutique. Lots of autumn toned millinery!

Fairy Laurels

fairies, flowers

By Karla Nathan / September 1, 2011

This weekend, we'll be going to the Kansas City Renasiance Festival again. To get all geared up and ready to step back into an enchanted land, I made some fairy headresses.

All of these are in my Boutique. And they were such fun, I need to whip up a few more too.

Each is made a bit differently, there is a crown style, a head band, a tiara, and a laurel.

Each is made with all vintage millinery and some razzle dazzle too.

I'm not sure how many people are coming along for the day. We have family in town, so we should have a good sized crowd of revellers. I sure look forward to going every year.

The park that it is held in, is such a shady, pretty place, with hills and dales and the cutest little buildings. Since it is a permenent location, they can really go all out with the decor, unlike most renfests that are set up in city parks.

Plus, how often do you get a chance to be a fairy for the day? Well, actually…. I can be a fairy whenever I feel like it, and often do. I guess I mean how often can you be a fairy in an acceptable venue? When people expect fairies to pop out from every bush, and don't just look at you wondering why there is an old lady with wings on.

Breezy

flowers, hand painted signs, redos

By Karla Nathan / August 27, 2011

While I had my son here, and we both had paint brushes in hand, I asked him to tackle the breezeway with me. I've hated the too bright green it was painted for YEARS. I had painted it on a whim, I'd had a beloved puppy die in my arms after months of nursing her along and trying to keep her alive, and needed something cheerful and bright around me. I also wanted something physical to do to keep myself busy after burying her.

Typically, I don't have a lot of bright colors in my house, unless they are seasonal accents. But, this was an outdoor room, and I thought it was the perfect place for a splash of color.

Instead, it only reminded me of my dead dog.

And it was not fun to paint, since it is clap siding and can't be done with a roller. And I knew that the green would be hard to cover, so I just kept putting the job off.

The new color I finally chose is much more tranquil, and is a much calmer backdrop to the stuff I had in the room already. I left everything just as it was, the only change in the whole room is the wall color. Well, and I switched out the seat cushion, it had been a hot pink. The blue velvet is a cushion that my mom made about 30 years ago.

The bench was hers too. I've painted it numerous times since I've had it. In her possession, it was maple.

The room feels a lot bigger in this pale gray/blue. And I'm so glad we got this done. It makes me smile every time I walk through it.

I was ready to get this room cleaned up and new looking after our recent raccoon attack. Those coons ripped my curtains to shreds, and I wanted to replace them, but wanted to make sure the curtains went with the new color I chose.

Instead of shopping at the store, I shopped at home in my linen closet and found a stack of white on white, striped sheers that I used to have in my kitchen, so my only cost for the redo was a gallon of paint/primer in one (Behr). This kind of paint offers great coverage, and mostly did the job in one coat with a few touch ups here and there.

The white curtains also helped create the breezy feeling this room now has. And under them are new, aluminum screens to hopefully prevent more coon invasions! If that doesn't work, we'll have to go to chicken wire over the windows. Or razor wire….

(the bird cage stand holds a simple chandelier that I've epoxy-ed tea cups to after taking out the wiring and the lighting parts. I keep tea light candles or fresh flowers in the cups, depending on my mood)
Even before I painted over the pea green explosion on the walls, I have considered this my pink and green room. And I figured I'd have to do some redecorating and moving things out when I repainted. I was thinking that nothing would match any more. But I am quite taken with the soft blue back ground, against all the pink florals. Plus, there are hints of blue here and there that I never really noticed when the room was green, like in the pillows, the broken plates in the birdbath that I made, and in the flowers painted on the bench.

There is very little blue in the mosaic table, but that doesn't really bug me. I still think it fits the room fine.

I'd planned on repainting the shutters on the door too, but I'm liking the black and roses with the blue. It seems like a nice contrast, and not too matchy.

(the shutters were bi-fold doors from a garage sale for a couple bucks. I took them off the hinges and painted them up, the other half of the set is on the front door to my studio)

After a while, I just might paint everything that is black now, a medium gray, with sepia glaze over it. But for now, I'm satisfied. The gray is a maybe, and if I decide to do it, will be a good project when I'm feeling the need for another fresh-up.

Do you ever play with Rate My Space on HGTV's site? I have fun with it. You can lose a lot of hours browsing from one room to another… anyway, if you want to check it out, you can start with this room, and give it a rating for me!

Next post, I'll show you a few more of my changes around the house. I've been productive lately!

Thankful for family

family, flowers, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2011

Our family getaway to Utah was very special. It was good to see nieces and nephews we rarely get to visit and to catch up on laughs with some of my husband's sibs.

We'd never been to his sister's newer home, and it was a beautiful place to stay, full of original artwork that was right up my alley.

I never got tired of walking through the house and admiring the paintings. Especially the fairy themed ones.

They also had family portraits that were so beautiful, they held as much magic as the sprite and fey paintings did.

Even the pets were represented in oil. What a dreamy place! The artist of many of these works is Lynn Lupettii and I have to say, I'm quite a fan.

But the magic wasn't all just paint, we muggles spent some time visiting Hogwarts too.

Quite a few of the group headed to the theater about 5 am on Thursday to watch a Harry Potter marathon that ended with the midnight showing of the latest flick.

Due to flight delays, I didn't get to join them quite that early, but I made it for movie #4 and was surprised at how fast 3 am came and it was all over with. We had blankets, a ton of snacks and food and drinks, and it was such fun to be part of the large crowd saying a fond farewell to Harry. The very last movie was just as moving to me as the book was. I sobbed again just like when I read the happy ending to the series. Even knowing what was coming up, I still cried like a baby when**************************.(sorry, don't want to mess up the end for you, but I can't quite believe there are Harry fans who haven't read the book yet!!)

Its one of the best series endings I've ever read. Heck, I have tears in my eyes now just thinking about it.

But the real, honest magic of the trip, was Utah itself. Everywhere we went, there was beauty. And not much is more beautiful than Thanksgiving Point.

Its kind of a botanical gardens, but it is very user-friendly and almost like taking the kids to the park for the day. A very special park!

(this photo of Grandma Joan is NOT doctored up, the colors were that vibrant there!!!)

Kids are allowed to run and play, and even to roll down the big hill. The grass was a thick, cushion of plush green, nothing like around my house. Better than any golf course I have seen too. Plus NO CHIGGERS! Its been years since I have sat down in the grass out of chigger fear. I was so drawn to this lawn that I even tried rolling down the hill with the little girls.

Since I weigh quite a bit more than the kids, I took off rolling a bit harder and faster than they did, and after about 2 turns, was dizzy and ready to stop. But gravity had other plans for me, and it felt like an hour on a roller coaster later when I finally stopped, although it was probably only a few feet. It made me so dizzy that I even feel slightly nauseous looking at this photo, although the picture doesn't really capture just how steep it really was.

This park reminded me of Disney-world with no rides. It was over the top, and the detail was amazing.

The whole weekend, I kept seeing things Sugarwings would have loved, and I missed her terribly. I knew she'd have had a good time with her 2nd cousins.

And this park was a perfect setting to play fairy. She'd have been deep into her imaginary world if she'd been there.

I can just picture her having a conversation with this dragon. Its the base of my sis-in-law's mailbox! Her home is filled with dragons and fairies and gnomes.

The back yard was two levels, with a curving downhill path following a series of waterfalls.

The pool at the base of the falls was lit up and misty. Of course, Sugarwings is what we politely call a "hands on" child. It would have been an non-stop challenge to keep her out of the waterfalls.

But I was pretty content to sit out there to enjoy the veiw adn the sound of trickling water. In Utah, we had zero humidity, and could open our windows at night and listen to the creek as we slept. Not like the 110 degree heat index we have today in Kansas.

That fountain alone would have been worth the trip! I had to change from the upstairs deck to the downstairs porch back and forth, I couldn't make up my mind which had the best view.

Still, the very best part was getting to spend time with my husband's sweet family. What nice, generous people they are. It was a lovely trip.

I know how lucky I am to have a husband I love so much, but I'm also lucky that he has a family that I love too.

Next post, I'll announce another winner of my online dress form tutorial. If you have already purchased one of the $15 classes, (thank you!!), then I'll send you a kit of vintage goodies instead if I draw your name.

Leave a comment if you want to be entered, you still have a couple of days to enter while I am waist deep in Bird song swap tags!

A whimsical mantel redo

fairies, family, flowers, guncles, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2011

My Guncle weekend was just wonderful, as I knew it would be. Kevin bought my plane ticket as a birthday gift to Randy, lucky, lucky me!

It all went by too fast, we played all weekend, and got sillier as the days passed by.

Jacksonville is great, but we were having too much fun to get out and explore. We stayed in the craft room, garden or kitchen except for a quick run to pick up more seafood to cook or craft supplies to work with.

We got a bunch of these little wooden birds at Michaels and foofed them up for part of a redecorating project we wanted to do. This one is perched on a grapevine wreath that we turned into a nest for the display.

When I arrived, the guys mentioned that they were ready for a mantel makeover. Here is a Before shot of that corner.

And Ta-da! Here is the whimsical after. We turned the fireplace into a magical fairy land, by shopping around the house, arranging some silk flowers, and making a few little tidbits to add here and there.

After taking everything down, so we could start from scratch, we decided to remove the fireplace screen too. The logs are wrapped in mini lights, and we perched fairies with red glass wings, and some other fun creatures inside, then tucked lots of greenery all around.

Out in the garage, I found a couple of large, metal bread racks, one in this great red, the other with chippy white paint. We leaned these up against the ornate mirror that was hanging over the mantel, then started tucking things behind the racks and hanging other stuff on them.

Kevin just happened to find a big bagful of marble eggs at a garage sale that morning, and we nestled them all around, in mossy nests. (we were pretending they were fairy eggs)

He also found two of these old bird books, one we used for display, the other we greedily tore apart and made things out of in the craft room.

The guys had lots of fairies, elves, and sparkly creatures around the house and in the garden for us to add.

I'd brought them a Nest banner that I'd made, and we hung it right in the center.

At Christmas, Randy had made a glittering nest in this top hat, and for summer, we redid it with the little Fairy Frog Prince that I'd brought to him for his birthday.

And this magnicficent art deco piece is a light fixture that Kevin found along the road in the trash!! Randy arranged some flowers in it, since it neede rewiring before we could turn it on.

Yes, we know that its busy, and there is a lot going on. But to us, that just made it all that much more fun. More treasures to discover each time you looked through the display, more magic to enjoy.

Neither one of us really get "editing".

For me, it was such a blast to get to shop his house for all the goodies we used. And to do something so bright and playful, since my house is all pastels and creams. Plus, I got to play with my baby bro, and there isn't much better than that!

Gilding

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2011

My computer is home safe and seems to be working. Even though it was all backed up, the Geeks had some trouble finding where all the stuff was hiding. And a lot of it, they restored in weird places. I'm hunting and gathering and finding odds and ends as I go along. My email files are a wreck, all jumbled and not in files anymore, just years of saved things smooshed together.

But it still feels GREAT to have her back.

While my computer was out of commission, I was kind of on a forced vacation from work. While I kept up with emails on my Ipad and still worked in the studio, I also did some puttering around, reading, entertaining, and playing with grandies.

It was good to have some extra cuddle time with this dumpling.

And I hitch hiked along on Sugarwing's class field trip to a farm.

But it wasn't all play time. A huge start was made on the tag book covers too. I did a little painting of a bird, on a page torn from an old book about birds. Then I had it copied onto premium card stock and I really like the way they came out, very vibrant.

In the original, all the bars of the cage are black. So, I am going over each cage, slowly but surely, with metallic inks or glitters, gilding the black lines. I get bored easily and keep changing up how I do it.

If I am ever When I am done with this part, I'll cover the backs with pretty wallpaper, cut them out, trim 'em up with lace, add a charm and that is it. They'll be ready to put together.

Which reminds me-

If you are in the swap, all the details, including my address, can be found on the swap info page. You can get to it by clicking on the button on my side bar.

Also, I'm taking a trip to see family in Utah on July 14th, so I'll be extending the date from the 15th till the 18th. But please do go ahead and mail your tags by the 15th, they will be here in time for me to start assembly.

But, even though I just told you my address and the fact that I will be out of town, don't think you can come and rob me. My son lives here and he is a weight lifter, very strong. His weightlifting friends hang out with him here too.

I also have 3 attack dogs. And an alarm system. So don't even try to come by and raid my hat collection while I'm away, its well protected.

A few roses for you

flowers, free images, Tutorials, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / May 27, 2011

Lately, I've not taken advantage of the great garage sales in the area. But last week I hit one that seem to suck at first, but then I delved into the jewelry pile and found this Victorian gold ring with a date of 1892 inside for just a couple dollars! Kind of whets my whistle and makes me want to get out and treasure hunt some more.But there aren't many sales during a holiday weekend.

If you don't have any plans for the 3 day weekend, maybe you'd enjoy making some dress forms? My tutorial is up and ready for purchase at $15. Soon, I'll have kits for sale for $40 and those will come with a free link to the online tutorial.

If you buy the tutorial now and want a kit (filled with vintage goodies!) later on when they are available, I'll refund your $15 after your purchase of the kit.

The class includes all the directions, with photos and videos, plus papers to download and print and lots of ideas. Please click on the button on my side bar for more information.

I'll leave you with a couple of images to print. Just click on them to enlarge, save to your computer and print from that.

Hope you have a lovely holiday!

How To Alter a Book Cover with vintage pretties

flowers, how to's, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / May 23, 2011

Here is an altered book I made this week. I thought I'd do a simple, quickie tutorial about the cover.

The wallpaper covered cardstock is attached by gluing ribbon to the edge of the front cover and to the back also. Leave the center of the ribbon alone, not glued to anything, that leaves space for the cover to open and close.
The pages can be stitched together and sewn to the center of the binding ribbon. Use a heavy duty ribbon, like the velvet one I chose.
I cut girl from a hand tinted, old photo, and added it slightly off center to a medallion cut from wallpaper. At the bottom of the medallion, I used my Exacto blade to cut a slit to slide the photo under, so she looks like she is framed in the oval.
I glued down the oval/medallion, and the photo of the girl.
With a dark marker, I outlined the girl, and also the OUTSIDE rim of the oval, for shadows and depth.
Leaving the outside ring of the oval "frame" alone, I spread crackle glaze (from Tim Holtz) over the entire center of the medallion and over the girl too.
After drying, I topped it off with a bouquet of flowers and ribbons at the bottom and lined smaller flowers along the top of the frame.