flowers – Page 14 – Karla's Cottage

Fairy Laurels

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.

Packing it up

flowers, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / May 22, 2011

The April Showers bring May Flowers sale is still going on in the Boutique and Etsy. I've added a few more packs of millinery flowers, and you'll get free shipping for the month of May for all flowers (USA only, sorry)

For the boutique, pay as usual, and I'll send a refund. For Etsy shipping is already marked free.

I've also been busy packing some up to sell at Paper Cowgirls next month. Lisa and I are sharing one table, so I'm trying to be smart about my space and what I'm packing to take along. Beth is good at figuring what items pack the most punch for the space they take up and I'm listening to her advice.

I tend to think that I can just take it all, and that isn't so smart. So this trip, I am trying to FOCUS on a few items that look well together, pack easily, and are affordable, but still worth my time to take.

This is my first Paper Cowgirls event, but Lisa has given me some tips on what the shoppers might like on vendor night too.

Here's what I have so far, some little Charlotte dolls (I have a few hundred more ordered, I hope I get them in time. If not, it will be a small basketful tagging along on this trip)

Lately I've been experimenting with paper clay fairies too, so I might bring those. On the other hand, they might be too hard to pack, since they are fragile… I'll only have one tub to fill, Beth and I are driving and neither of us have a big car. I have all the kits for my class that I need to take too. Beth is vending and will have a full table to fill, so space is limited.

And I think that some of my class kits for making dress forms is a good idea.

(by the way, I am making up extras to sell in the Boutique too. Along with an online tutorial.) I'll let you know when I have them ready to go.

Yesterday I made up some foofed journals to take along to sell. This one is an old diary, with a locking clasp.

These two are tiny little bank books I've given make overs to.

I'll probably have room for a few more little books. I wonder if that is a good idea? Any of it is a gamble, you just never know any time you plan to sell things.

But I'm going for the pure joy of being there, I've heard such wonderful things about Paper Cowgirls. Anything I sell is just icing on the cake!

We are over 80 participants in the Birdsong tag book swap, but I've got room for more. If you want to join us, details are in my blog post about it. You can get there by clicking on the button on my sidebar.

Hope to hear from you!

A Springtime tea party

fairies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / May 16, 2011

The weather around here has been weird, which means, its a typical Kansas Spring. The air conditioner was in use on Monday and by the end of the week we had the furnace back on again.

Sugarwings spent some of the weekend with me and we were both sick of the cold weather, so we cheered ourselves up with a Fairy Tea Party. A big part of the fun was setting her table and planning treats that our guests would like.

We made cupcakes together, then I put her to work making cherry tomato and cheese kabobs on colorful toothpicks. (she preferred to make her tomatoes connected with multiple picks, and her platter of snacks looked more like an erector set than kabobs)

I let her pick the flowers for the centerpiece and she chose all yellow, which is odd for her, she loves pink even more than I do. But I think she made a good choice for the table cloth and the teapot that she chose.

Our guests were Pixie Pie and Lola (which means Grandmother in Filipino, Lola is Grandpa Ardell's widow). All day, while getting ready for them, Sugarwings refused to call them by their names, she would only refer to them as "our guests".

And after they left, she set and re-set her table for guests to come again.

The goodies went over well. I don't have a single photo where someone isn't chewing. Everyone was pretty engrossed in the meal. (that is Sparkle in the background waiting patiently to clean up the floor under the table after the meal is over, Agnes Rosebud and Twinkle aren't that patient, they are under the table already.)

The girls might think that tea parties are all about the food, but I am sneakily teaching manners as we chow down. They learn about passing the food around, pouring their own cream, and sharing food, but not sharing the spoons or double dipping. As well as polite conversation and asking each person how their day was.

There might have been a little bit too much sugar in the tea, so we bundled up and went outside to run some of the energy off. It sure looks like Spring with all the iris in bloom, but it was too chilly for me.

Promising them a bubble bath got the two little girls to come inside again so I could get warm They were happy running full speed through the garden trails while I shivered, but a chance to play in the big tub convinced them.

And a warm bubble bath was good for them too, they were cold and sticky.

Thanks for all of your sign ups for my Birdsong Tag Book Swap!

And there is room for more. Scroll down to the previous post for details if interested.

How Cheesy

flowers, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage

By Karla Nathan / May 11, 2011

Time is running out to sign up for Paper Cowgirls! I think the final day is May 15th.

There are lots of fun swaps going on there this year, but I didn't sign up for any. I'll be kicking myself on swap night!

But I did enter the Velveeta Challenge. Yep, Velveeta. I hadn't bought the stuff in ten years, but picked some up this week just for the box. I made up a queso dip for company on Saturday night with the big yellow/orange block and a can of Rot-el, along with a block of cream cheese. I have to admit that it wasn't bad…

But I'm going right back to my anti-processed cheese stance now that it is all gone.

My arteries will thank me.

The challenge is to transform the empty box into something not so cheesy. Then, they will be auctioned off for a good cause.

These pictures are sneak peeks of my redo, but I'm not showing the whole thing, just a few little glimpses. (the pocket watch isn't part of the project, it is something new in the Boutique)

I went with what I always think of as Texas colors, all neutrals, some rust and white. And I used the Best of the Best of the Good Stuff.

This box metamorphosis really was a challenge to me. For one thing, it was pretty flimsy and had to be reinforced. But I sure enjoyed working on it. I could use more stretches out of my comfort zone. That is what can be really wonderful about doing a challenge or swap, its good to try something different.

I hope the Texas girls like it, and someone bids on it.

Speaking of Texas girls, when my pal Lisa came to Birdsong to teach, she brought me the most gorgeous "bridal"bed spread. I had it over my pale blue bedding for a week or so and loved using it, but was really afraid that the dogs would ruin it. And of course, since the bed belongs to Twinkle (or so she insists) and she just lets me sleep in it with her, I had to consider her feelings.

Not that she ever considers mine, that dog is a bed hog.

So, instead it is hanging in my living room window now, safely away from dog toe nails and muddy paws.

I have a double window and on the other half I hung a French net table cloth that I recently found at an estate sale. Of course, the two don't match, but I like it this way. They have a similar feel, so I think it works.

Aren't these cake toppers sweet as pie? Or as cake, I guess. I bought a big bag of them, and had to save some for Sugarwings, she's really into giraffes. The rest are in the Boutique if you've got a birthday party coming up and could use a few on your special little person's cake.

In my stash, I've had a roll of silk ribbon for years and never used it. It was just tooooo glaring white. So, I dipped it in coffee. Didn't like it. Then I spritzed it with some dye made from boiled avocado skins (for a perfect pink) and some walnut dye, too, and rinsed it out and this is what I got. The walnuts kind of faded to a soft green.

Now, don't ask me why I did 10 yards of it at once, with experimental dyes. I could have ruined the whole piece if the colors didn't turn out pretty. I had no idea what I was getting, I sure didn't think walnuts would make it green. This is kind of like when I made a vat of chicken salad for my Birdsong guests and thought it might be tasty to add some poultry seasoning. I've never made chicken salad with poultry seasoning in it, and should have tested it on a small bowlful instead of on 12 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts all chopped up and mixed with the other ingredients already.

But I got lucky with that too, and I really liked the flavor.