flowers – Page 25 – Karla's Cottage

Dumpster Diving, Glittering Bottles and a Shimmering Fairy

antiques/junking, fairies, flowers, jewelry, swaps

By Karla Nathan / June 20, 2007

Some signs are meant to be ignored.

Especially when they are on the side of a dumpster full of good stuff! Well, not all of it was good, but it was all old. Much was broken or ruined from rain on the dumpster the night before or from years of neglect in the basement.

And by the look on my face, some of it smelled.

If only I was searching for polyester, I’d be set.

But I did see an old bottle at the bottom that might be interesting.

Here are my favorite finds from the dumpster. Love the mirror!

The shelf and the rusty wire thing are cool too. I also got a gold Syroco Mardi Gras type mask.

I did manage to dig out the bottle I was digging for too. It is a Johnson & Johnson glass bottle, not all that old, I’d say early 60’s. But it is a cool shape and cleaned up nicely.

I filled the bottle with glitter, added a silver engraved bit from an earring to the top, an aurora Borealis rhinestone pin to the bows, and a lovely tag from Holly Doodle to the neck of it. I tied another of her tags to the Tuesday Morning clearance aisle bottle that I got for 99 cents and am using it for glitter too.

And how was I lucky enough to get these pretty tags with "K"s on them from Miss Holly Doodle?

Natasha Burns http://www.natashaburns.com/ set up a mini fairy swap, with Holly http://hollydoodledesigns.com/WordPress/ and Heather http://prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/.

The package that came in the mail today from Holly had the prettiest box, covered in old wallpaper and sheet music.

Inside the box were three vintage wall paper tags with glittering "k"s on them.

And nestled down into a pink tissue nest, was this little ballerina fairy. She is sprinkled with shimmering glitter and seems right at home here at the cottage.

I have her next to the pansy mug I bought at Junker Jo’s garage sale for $2. It is filled with my $1.99 clearance roses from Monday’s floral markdowns at the grocery store. Aren’t they are perfect fit together?

I HAVE AN ETSY SHOP!!!!!!!!!!

Etsy Goodies, fairies, flowers, Hand Painted Furniture, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2007

I started an Etsy Shop!!http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5099942

I only listed a few things so far. I will add to it as the week goes by.

I hope to carry raw materials for supplies, like these garden tags, and some finished pieces like the tags I made up from a couple of the tags always available.

These tags look like they were meant for a garden center to use to mark their plants. I have plenty, the offer still goes for 12 for $1, includes postage,(unless you live somewhere overseas, then the postage will need to be added)

I also listed one of my hand painted switch plates. I have sold a couple through the blog already, and am making more.

I will be listing more hand painted items too.

Well, it is a start, I actually set the shop up and listed some stuff, after saying for MONTHS that I was going to! Wish me luck.

Today started with me going over to Sugarwing’s house to pick her up. She was sound asleep, but always wakes with a smile!

Their place is a rental, but that is no reason to live with plain walls! I faux finished these for her to enjoy. When they move out, a quick coat of white over it will get their deposit back.

Her bed is painted with fairies, the one on the right is a Dorothy fairy, Sugarwing’s mama is a big Wizard of Oz fan.

I got this bed for her on clearance for 75% off. It had been $1,000!!! My god, who pays $1,000 for a baby bed?????? I was happy with this cool bed for $250, though.

We picked up my niece and met a group of friends for coffee (for the moms, not the girls, they had juice) at Bella Bistro. Lovely murals there to enjoy. (not mine, although I have a few murals at places here in Lawrence)

While my fairy grand baby is napping, I went out to pull some garden weeds.

It is starting to look good out there! The green tomatoes are getting bigger.

My husband tried to help by tying up the tomato plants for me, but he used old mop handles, broken bits of wood, and metal fence stakes for posts. He honestly sees nothing wrong with that. I tried to politely explain that it was sweet of him to help, but that I wanted a prettier garden. Oh well, the tomatoes will grow and cover it all up with green and I’ll never notice the mop handles. I guess I am just lucky to have a husband who helps.

12 days left to enter the drawing for a hand painted charm! Leave a comment or an email, enter as often as you’d like to.

my Brother from another Mother, a Fairy Princess, and a purple haze

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, how to's, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 18, 2007

I just found out that my tiara swap partner

http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/

and I have the same birthday, 5-5-58! Now I am curious to find out how close horoscopes actually are. I want to quiz her to see how Taurus-ey we match up.

I wrapped her tiara up like a birthday present with some sparkling tissue and a dangling purple crystal. And of course a flower, us May girls love flowers–"April showers bring May flowers". My mother always used to tell me that meant me, I was her May flower.

Barb’s address is 123 Lavender Lollipop Lane, so I made a tag for the package with a hand painted purple lollipop all glittered up and tied with a bow.

I like to mix collage work with hand painting. I am such a quick painter that it is actually faster for me to paint something than to dither through all the boxes and shelves of papers I collect to decide what to add next. But, then half the fun of doing any collage work is playing with all that gorgeous paper you collect!

And of course, the lollipop had to have a crown too.

I painted the lollipop on watercolor paper, cut it out and glued it to the tag that I had attached pretty scrapbook paper to (on sale at Michaels for 10 CENTS a sheet). Then, the crown was cut out of gold holographic mylar paper, that I glittered up and added crystals to.

I wrote the address directly onto the tag and screwed it up (I have notoriously bad handwriting). So I re-wrote it (more carefully this time, I do tend to scribble) onto a snip of matching scrapbook paper and glued it over the screwed up writing and outlined it in marker. Sometimes, messing up a project makes it better, I like the added layer of the striped paper on the tag.

Next, I glued a border of sparkling trim (used on the tiara) to the edges and tied a bunch of ribbons to the top. Then of course, the ribbons were in the way when I went to glue down paper to the back of the tag. I do get ahead of myself.

Sugarwings tried on the tiara before she went home after our Father’s Day Extravaganza Brunch.

I should make her a princess crown of her own. But she’d eat it.

More purple! A verbena started up between the bricks at my garden entry. Last year, I had planted some in the hanging baskets above the bricks.

Don’t those pavers look like they have been there forever? Actually, it is just simply bad installation. I did it myself and they are all settling in and sagging. I like that look, though.

I accomplished lots of yard work yesterday, was spreading mulch and trimming up. When I went to the garden center for a few bags of Cyprus, I found this table and chair set for 75% off.

And since my husband shared his big casino jackpot winnings, not only with his son and dad- but with me! I treated myself to something new. I usually just buy garage sale furniture, but couldn’t pass this set up. It was $79 for all three pieces. Not a bad deal for such a heavy, well made set, and its very Frenchy looking, isn’t it?

(and look- purple in this shot too)

Crowning Glories and Junker Jo

antiques/junking, Chandeliers, flowers, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 15, 2007

Tiara time is ending, it was a fun break from reality making such a frivolous piece of fluff. I loved working on it, and hope my swapper friend, Barb, http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/ enjoys wearing it!

I have been looking at the flickr site http://www.flickr.com/groups/400122@N23/ to check out the tiaras as they are finished, and man, what a sparkling group! I just wish we were all having a party and wearing them together.

Funny how my design morphed as I made the piece. I had gathered up a basket of things I liked to use, and as I crafted it, I switched plans often. I knew for sure that I needed to use lavender as a color because of Barb’s email address: lavender lollipop lane. Besides that, it just kind of came together as I glued things on.

I always work that way, I never sketch or plan. I have walked up to a blank 60 foot wall at a hotel and just started painting a mural, figuring it out as I went along.

Today started with garage sailing. Junker Jo had her annual spring sale and I was right there in the middle of it, watching the chaos as everyone grabbed tags off things and wildly picked out treasures. I don’t believe in fighting over junk, but it can be fun to watch other people go for it!

I got these plastic plant tags, I can see possibilities with scrap booking or collage with these. I got a giant box full. If anyone wants a dozen for a dollar (includes postage), let me know and I’ll pop some in an envelope for you.

I got some sparkling old jewels too for $10. These cameos will be wonderful to remake into a necklace and earrings with some old crystals!

This chandelier has no wiring, and I could fix it, but I like it as it is for my garden. I can stick a candle in it when we are eating dinner on the patio. It was only $5 and the drops are plastic, not glass, but are ideal for garden decor.

I also got an old typewriter ($6), a pressed glass compote with a lid ($2), a box of vintage Christmas ornaments ($1), a mini wooden toy vanity/jewel box ($2), and was sorry to miss out on an old trunk that would have made a great toy box for Sugarwings after I painted it. It was $20 and I was feeling too cheap. I am kicking my self now, should have gotten it.

After garage sailing, Sugarwings and I played in the sprinkler.

My little fairy grandbaby wasn’t over to visit for very long, so I was able to get some painting done. I’d bought a big bagful of wooden outlet and switch cover for only $5 at a Goodwill.

I primed and painted them all white, then added roses to these 3. I think I will list them on Ebay unless someone wants any for $6 each? I’d say $3 for postage, though. There are also plain ones yet, if anyone would like a custom paint job on one.

Don’t forget- leave a comment, enter the drawing for the handpainted charm!

Rockin fairies

fairies, flowers, give away, how to's, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 13, 2007

After my 100th post yesterday, I wondered, will I run out of things to say or to show? Then I realized how easily entertained I am, and I knew I’d always find things I thought were interesting. Now, whether, other people will find it interesting too and keep reading, well, that is another story, isn’t it?

My sons found this rock when they were about 8 and 10, whiel we were on a camping trip. I will never know which boy found it, because they both took credit for the find and half killed each other trying to give it to me. I guess they have always known that I am truly entertained and excited by odd details, like a rock shaped like a heart. It might be the sweetest thing they ever gave to me, (except the fairy grand baby, of course).

Baked potato shaped rocks might not be as wonderful as heart rocks, but this one still deserves a spot in my collection out in the yard.

But a crystal rock is really special! I filled a back pack with these on a hike up in the hills North of Little Rock. What a gorgeous place, we were up on a hill over looking the town, it was serene and quiet, felt very desolate and private, but down below you could see the town of thousands of people. The ground sparkled in the sunlight, there were crystals everywhere. I just wished I wasn’t such a wimp and could carry more.

Have I lost you yet? Hope not, because I want to show the beautiful fairy that I got in the mail today from Heather!!http://prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/ It was part of our mini fairy swap, and I promptly hung it up in Sugarwing’s room.

I hung Heather’s fairy in the alcove that I have painted with faux brick.

On the wall, are 2 fairy themed shadow boxes that I made. I found them on clearance at Marshalls for $2 each, because they were so ugly, filled with plastic mini corn cobs, for some reason. So I took out the corn, repainted the frames and added the assemblage stuff.

I often find art supplies in the clearance aisle of non-craft stores. Or goodwill, or the trash, or a garage sale, etc.

The sparkling fairies hanging in the window are from the clearance department at TJMaxx. I spray painted some branches white, added glitter to the paint while it was still wet, and screwed them to the wall over the window.

To the branches, I tied ribbons with teeny flowers on them and added a few fairies for a unique window treatment.

I love the Fat Grandma fairy best! Maybe it is her pink hair?

I got some gardening done today, didn’t just walk around and aimlessly take photos of rocks.

I keep my most used gardening things in a pot in the breezeway on a table I have mosaiced.

The pot was painted by a friend, Vickie Howard. This isn’t her typical work, it was donated to a fund raiser as a center piece and I bought it there. Her work is pretty classy. If you buy a print somewhere like JC Pennys or another department store, it is often her painting used in the frame! Or if you buy holiday paper cups or popcorn tins at Target or Walmart, she was likely the artist!

Today, I got started on my tiara swap. Here are some things I pulled together for it. The black grosgrain vintage buckle already has received a coat of glitter and looks good.

The child’s head band has wire twisted on it to make the crown shape, and has been primed white.

Tomorrow, I am taking the bundle of supplies with me to Beth’s house http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ to work on them together.

Today is her birthday (I will enter you into my drawing for the rose charm- TWICE for each "happy birthday" comment you leave on her blog!!!)

So, tomorrow, I’m helping her redo her booth at the antique mall, then we are going out to lunch and doing some glitter gluing after. We might be able to manage to squeeze in a few estate sales on the way!

Scents, Roses, and a Drawer full of Bubbles!

antiques/junking, flowers, give away, jewelry, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 11, 2007

99 posts, almost 4 months, 11,912 hits and counting! I had no idea when I started this blog what it would turn into, or mean to me. I thought I’d use it only to show more of my work to clients. (like this rose painting that I did and then turned sepia in photo editing and this yard long rose painting I did on a door panel)

But, I soon learned, that not only did I get to show and sell my work, and have my family living in other states keep up with what I am doing, I was now in a wonderful social network of people who enjoy, crafts, art, junking, and just plain old surrounding themselves with pretty things!For my 100th post, I think I’ll do list of what blogging means to me

I can tell you right now, though- I LOVE GIVEAWAYS!!!!!

Not only winning them (yippee) but doing them. I think I will try to have one going all the time.

For June, I am giving away one of these hand painted charms. Out of the 30 that I made for the charm swap I am in (I LOVE SWAPS TOO), I have these 3 left over. (The other two are for sale $10 each plus $2.50 postage, if you are interested)

Oh, I forgot to show you a few gems from my garage sailing trip with my life long friends who came to visit this weekend.

I found this book to read to my fairy grand baby, for $3.

We will both enjoy the pop up flowers on each page, but I might save reading it to her for when she is better at looking at things with her eyes instead of her mouth.

And CRYSTAL BUBBLES silver ware!!! A huge box full, maybe 3 sets? Or more, I didn’t count them, for mearly five buckaroos.

So many that my drawer barely closes. I will need to weed a few out and save aside for later.

I often get comments about how much I can get done in one day. Well this silverware drawer is one of my little ways of prioritizing my life. Why sort silverware??? I dump the whole basket straight from the dishwasher to the drawer. I’d rather spend time on something else.

The silver ware, the book, all the fun things I bought out junking with my buddies will always remind me of them. Much as a song will bring you back to the first time you heard it, or a scent will remind of of what you were doing when you smelled it.

Michelle Ward http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/ brings up that subject in this month’s challenge: "Whats that Smell?"

It is a coincidence for me that this is the challenge for June. I have recently started using scent on my packaging. If you received anything from me lately, and still have the envelope, let me know if it still smelled pretty when it arrived!

I went downtown Lawrence, KS to a cute shop that allows you to make your own scented oils. I mixed up a few old fashioned flower and vanilla ones. For years, I would add a single drop to the inside of an antique dresser before I sold it to combat mustiness and add a happy smell. Now, I am using a drop on the corner of each envelope I send out to someone who purchases my work, hoping to bring a smile to the recipient before they even open the package.

Bargain Flowers, Rosey Lamps, and Lurking Fairies

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, flowers, how to's, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 6, 2007

More flowers from the $1.99 clearance bundles! I bought these two days ago, and they still look fresh and pretty. I think I’ll get the better part of a week out of them, what a deal.

These are in the guest bathroom, ready for company. And I even made time to clean the shower after all!

I placed the large bunch in a jug I made YEARS ago at one of those paint it yourself ceramic places. Probably 25 years ago?? Maybe I can call it vintage??? The little kitty planter is definitely vintage, and just big enough for 2 rose buds.

Bookie, my dorkie, is on the wall in a frame my friend made. She thought he was so cute, he was her picture that she displayed in the frames to sell them! I loved it that way, just as she had them on display and kept her photo in it.

One last bouquet of pink roses by the door in my kitchen. I certainly feel like I got my money’s worth from the clearance flowers. There are vases with fresh blossoms in every room of the house now.

Tonight, I made a lampshade to fit this light in the guest room. Actually, I didn’t make it, I embellished it. A plain white shade came with this shiny brass lamp.

I primed and painted the lamp sagey-pale green and wired a sparkly bird to the base.

Then, I took pads of distress ink in pink and ‘old paper’ and rubbed the white shade down to age it a bit and take the bite out of the glaring white.

Next, I painted teeny roses in soft pink with minty green leaves scattered around the shade. All were simply done, the roses are barely a twist of the brush, one color, no detail. Almost like drawing a cinnamon roll. but pink.

After using a hair dryer on the paint, I coated the entire shade with clear acrylic top coat, and sprinkled sheer glitter all over it. Then dried it with the hair dryer again, and glued white fringe to the bottom and beaded fringe to the top with "The Ultimate" my favorite glue.

Hot glue would have been easier, but I always burn my fingers with it. So I used clamps to hold the fringe down as it dried and saved the skin of my finger tips.

The lamp is in place upstairs in Sugarwing’s room. I have it behind a big comfy chair perfect for us to cuddle up in and read together.

Her story books are in an old doll house that I found at a garage sale and painted white. It opens from the top instead of the back like most doll houses. I placed a pot of colorful silk flowers in the back and keep Sugarwing’s books in the front.

Next to our cozy reading chair, we have a bigger doll house to fix up together as my fairy grand baby grows older and wants to work on it with me. Right now, it is merely painted a blush pink with a green roof. I have fairies peeking out of the door and windows watching and waiting for Sugarwings be big enough to come and play.

My guests will be arriving soon, they are driving in from Indiana where we all grew up together. This weekend will be like the slumber parties we used to have through Jr high and High School! Except with alcohol. Well, I hate to admit it, but there might have been some of that in high school too.

Meandering thoughts on roses and Meandering paths in the garden

antiques/junking, fairies, flowers, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 5, 2007

Once again, my local grocery store had $1.99 a dozen roses on Monday! At those prices you can fill a house with them!

Actually, this bright pink bundle contained a lot more than a dozen. I used them in the matte white dog planters here in the guest bathroom and also up in one of the guest bedrooms.

Isn’t that a perfect pink for this room?

I placed a goody filled pot by the bed as a surprise. I added some chocolates too, that seemed to be the finishing touch that it needed.

The other guest room upstairs got pale, blushy pink roses.

The painting on the wall behind the daybed is an old one, not one that I painted myself.

I used the painting for a photo shoot that I did for Romantic Homes, and thought I would sell it after the article, but I just never could. I even had a lady call me from Florida after reading the magazine and offer to buy it.

I have made copies of the picture, maybe I should find some old frames to paint white and pop some prints into them?

I bought white roses for the dining room.

There were bunches of other flowers for $1.99 too. I divided them up and used some with a few of the roses in kitchen window.

That is the one place that I will ALWAYS have fresh flowers. I spend too much time cooking and washing up at the sink to not have something lovely to look at. If there are no markdown flowers and I have nothing to pick in my yard, I will indulge in at least one single bloom to put in the window to enjoy while I chop and peel at the sink!

I don’t have a green thumb, but I sure try. I have learned that I can cut ivy from my garden and grow it in vases of water, not dirt. So, I always have ivy in pots and vases in the window too. Potted plants don’t live long in my home, but sprigs of ivy or pothos seem to do well in just water.

Speaking of green thumbs, I had some help in the garden today. Sugarwings spent some time eating dirt while I set up a series of soaker hoses in and around the tomatoes.

Marigolds are planted to line the stepping stones that I use in between the veggies.

I started collecting stepping stones years ago. A lot of the garden step stones are cheapy, 90% off clearance ones from Hobby Lobby at the end of the season.

All of these stained glass mosaic stepping stones are from art shows, where I have been able to trade a necklace I made or a print of my paintings for a stone.

I just planted begonias to line the walkway, they are still quite a bit puny. Try to imagine them all full and flowering!

With my lack of a green thumb, that is the only way they’ll get to that point, is by imagination.

This is my favorite, but then, you might have guessed I love fairies.

Plus, I got this at an art show in Pendleton, Indiana where I grew up, so it is sentimental to me.

A friend made this one, I added a bit of paint to age it.

This round one is from Walmart!

I had to dig a trench to help the water flow away from the house. I turned the mucky project into a curving path, and filled the area with rock. then, I lined the path with white dessert plates.

Well, I’ve shown you a painting that is an antique, flowers from the grocery and stepping stones other people have made. I feel like I should show something I did myself!

This is a fairy watercolor using plates as a border like I have done in front of my own home.

I’ve probably ran on long enough, but don’t forget you can enter the charm give away simply by leaving a comment or email this month. And as many times as you’d like to leave one, too, they all count.

Eat with Caroline

antiques/junking, flowers, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / June 3, 2007

Thanks for all your votes and input. I Love hearing from everyone, its nice to know I am not just writing this to myself, that there is actually someone out there who sees it!

Remember, you can still win a hand painted rose charm by simply leaving a comment this month. I love comments and don’t mind bribing you to get them!

I had a lucrative garage sailing morning with my sis-in-law, Sharon and her girls. First of all, she is an expectant grandma, and I am a slightly newbie grandmama, so we enjoyed scooping up baby goodies today. I used to drive right on by the sales that were all baby stuff, but now we squeal with joy when we pull up to the curb and see piles of tiny pink dresses and big, colorful, plastic baby paraphernalia that takes up half a room.

I loaded up on pretties for Sugarwings, including a monitor to keep here for when she naps and the foo-fooiest pink dresses ever ($1 each!) I will keep the dresses at my house for her to wear to our tea parties.

I managed to squeeze in some non-Sugarwings purchases too. This tray was $4 and the overnight case was 50 cents. I plan to line it with vintage papers and paint roses on the exterior.

The linens were 10 cents each! (I bought 32) Heck, that is less than bubble wrap. At that price, I should wrap all my packages in linens when I mail breakables.

I always seem to find a new birdie for my collection when I am junking. These pink tweeties were only a dime.

"Eat with Caroline" was a quarter, how could I pass that up?

I don’t know if any of Caroline’s recipes will grace my table, but they sure will adorn my collage work!

We took a break from junking and strolled through the farmer’s market. Because an interesting market like ours, here in Lawrence, KS deserves strolling, not just walking through.

I really liked all the hand painted signs the vendors use.

"Friday Night Bakers" was the prettiest sign. but it was late in the day so there wasn’t much left of the baked goods.

Isn’t the bundle of wheat next to the simple daisies and the yarrow a lovely combination?

Kansas is known for its wheat, but I have never thought of picking it and using it in my flower arrangements.

And look at this flower, it reminds me of Queen Anne’s Lace, but has bigger petals.

I’d love to grow Queen Ann’s Lace, and have tried digging it out of a field of weeds and transplanting it to my garden, but it never lives. Now how hard can it be to grow a weed?? I seem to be a whiz with dandelions and poison ivy in my yard.

I got up at 6am (not like me) to go Garage Sailing this morning, spent the middle of the day in the garden, then cleaned the basement. Which in our 100 year old house, is more of a cellar. Nasty. But after that was done, we went to a movie, then out on the lake to watch the sunset from our boat (and eat cheeseburgers with sweet potato fries from the Marina). Not a bad way to end a day. Although, it didn’t end there, I have a dozen people coming for biscuits and gravy tomorrow morning and a dinner party and house guest tomorrow night (with a day of boating in the middle). So, groceries and baking came after the lovely sunset. And of course, BLOGGING! Now, off to clean bathrooms for company and then finally, to bed. Night, night

To Frame or Not to Frame, that is the question.

flowers, give away, jewelry, swaps

By Karla Nathan / June 1, 2007

Thanks to everyone who helped out with advice! Overwhelmingly, the frames have the vote. But, here is a close up in case you want to re-think it.

3 ways of doing the charms are shown here:

1- plain

2- dangling frame

3- plain with vintage pink crystal

I think my problem with the frame is that it is kind of big, and slightly cheesey, too shiny, maybe?? And see how the rose paintings sway inside of the frame?

Well, the photo in the catalog I ordered them from looked so much better! I’m sure there are ways to age them, a little sand paper and a soak in an oxidizing liquid might make them more appealing to me. But, I do tend to be overly picky, maybe that is not necessary.

Here is what I did with one empty frame, I used it on a page in the scrap book I am making for my sister-in-law, Sandy. I added gold paint and glued a gem into the jump ring.( I went back and glued another tiny jewel in the other jump ring hole after I saw this picture)

Speaking of cheesey, not every page in a scrap book is a winner. This one is a bit much. I just gaudied after slapping down the picture by trimming it in gold paint and plopping some Michaels clearance stickers in the corners. Sometimes it is nice to just do some quick & simple pages and not worry about being ‘arty’!

My BFF, Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ came over today to work on charms together. She is in the same swap and we thought we’d hang out while we worked on them. She is in the tiara swap too. I’m really looking forward to that one! We’ll get together to make those too. It is always good to have another person to bounce ideas off of.

I should have taken a better photo of her charms, instead of just this one of the one on her nose.

Here she is in action. Looks like she is in CRAFTING NINJA MODE.

We are signing up to go to the Silver Bella classes in Omaha during November!!!! I’ve never done anything like that before, am more of a do-it-yourselfer than a class-taker. But I think it will be a blast and I hope to meet some blogging friends there.

If you want to join us, it should be a lot of fun, and we can take that sharp knife away from Beth if it frightens you.

We like to get together for projects as often as we can. The shirt she is wearing is one we did last summer. I threw a tie dye baby shower for Sugarwings, and everyone brought something white to dye. I ended up with a life time supply of fiber reactive dyes because I bought so many, wanting one in every color to use that day!

So every once in a while, we do a craft day with them. She and I both complain about how many shirts we ruin with Coffee splotches, and this is a good way to save a stained tee shirt. Tie dye camouflage!

I’m a coffee dribbler and about half of my shirts are dyed over. I’m wearing one in the photo above, with Sandy and I surrounded by stickers and gaudy gold paint.

You can still enter my charm/swap giveaway! I made 30 of them and only need 22. So for any comment left in the month of June, I’ll enter you to win one. And if you like them framed, that is how I will send yours to you.

I also have some to sell if anyone wants to buy one. They are teeny little paintings of a rose on a piece of textured watercolor paper attached to a metal charm then protected with diamond glaze. With or without a frame as you would like, with or with out a vintage crystal bead, as you would like. But no two are the same, all are hand painted. Some have hydrangeas with the roses, some have daisies too, but most are a single rose. Heck, I can custom paint one for you how ever you’d like too. They are fun to make.

$10 each plus $2.50 postage

I might need better photos. I am not having a very attractive photo day. Oops, no offense, Beth, that isn’t how I meant it!!