free images – Karla's Cottage

Free download to make a FALL banner

By Karla Nathan / August 24, 2023

For this banner, I thought I’d try a new trick (new to me at least).

I scanned vintage text, edited letters onto it, then printed them on card stock. Using a circle punch, I cut them out and added ink to the edges.

Since straight lines and mathematical shapes aren’t my thing, I’m always looking at craft store clearance aisles for banners. I’ll pick one up whenever I see it cheap and stash it away for when an idea strikes.

So I went to my cabinet of shapes and goodies to look for a premade banner that seemed fall-ish.

Burlap! Yep, that’s the one. And it was long enough to make three banners of four letters. ( Sorry, sold the third before it was photographed).

After cutting out the letters and gluing them on, I decorated each segment with vintage lace and velvet ribbon and tied them to a string. Easy as pie. A wonderful, warm apple pie for fall.

If you’d like to create one of your own, here ya go. Click on the image to open into a larger window, and save from that.

And yes, there are two separate Ls instead of using the same background twice. I think it’s more attractive that way. The old papers are pretty cool, you should possibly save the part you cut off to make into something else. (My scraps became mini witch hats).

Next up, I hope to make “BOO”. But I’m tight on time, I’m starting a major studio redo. I might be waiting to do “JOY” or “MERRY” instead. If I do, I’ll share letters if you’d like to make one too.

Once Upon An Easter and some free images for you

free images, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / July 23, 2018

Jenn Hayslip will be working her magic again, at another glittery art event! And I am honored to be a part of it. When she announced the party, I was ready to sign up and attend, because her gatherings are so dreamy and beautiful.

I didn't even know who might be leading the projects or what they would be. I just knew that it had been too long since I'd attended one of her confections of perfection.

Then, when she contacted me and asked me if I wanted to be a teacher, I was thrilled and surprised! And excited to come up with a frothy, pastel, bit of prettiness to fit in with her aesthetic.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of the acrylic flow painting, and doodley stuff, so I was missing my days of working on delicate, sweet goodies. I tend to jump from idea to idea, and style to style, medium to medium, but I will always adore playing with vintage wallpaper and millinery blossoms in soft, dainty tones.

So, yep, I was in, and excited to delve into my stashes of vintage goodness.

At first, I scanned all of these images from Victorian Easter postcards to use. Then, decided I had something else in mind after all.

If you'd like them, please do save them from your screen and print. (I prefer printing onto matt photo paper, myself.)

For my own project, I've found some other images that I wanted to add. I scanned some old photos of little girls, bunnies, and baskets. Each kit will come with a collage sheet to chose the pictures the artist wants to use for their creation.

You know me, I like to offer extras and choices! And of course, we will be using the Good Stuff.

The only bad thing about this upcoming event is that it is soooo far away! I have to wait until next spring for it. I'm ready for some girlie fun RIGHT NOW.

Oh well, anticipation is part of the excitement right?

I hope I will see you there!

A FREE Valentine coloring page Giveaway for you and some coloring tips

drawing, free images, how to's

By Karla Nathan / February 4, 2017

Last week, at craft day with Beth, I decided to draw a Valentine coloring page similar to some I have done for other themes like Birds, Halloween, and Snow White. In the past, I've included them in art journal kits and swaps too, these are ideal to color and add to a book.

Plus, I simply and sincerely LOVE to color them myself!

My process usually starts with rifling through vintage books to find text to fit my theme, then creating a collage from it.

"Sunlight and Shade" a book from 1885, had a lovely font and sweet text that fit right in with Valentines.

See what I mean?

Mostly, it is just background that gets colored over, but I try to single out special words. This time, inside of hearts.

When I color my own copies, I leave those words as is, or accent with a clear, Stardust Gelly Roll pen, so they stand out.

(I ADORE those pens! They leave a sheer sparkle that is subtle and sweet)

As I color the pictures, I use multiple tools. There are some tips HERE for the variety that I use for my pages: markers, glitter pens, colored pencils, and white opaque inks

And HERE are some tips for roses.

For faces, I recommend colored pencils. Markers can be harsh. Ink, even more so. Of course, there are wonderful Coptic markers that you can use for blending and get a good result, so if you are doing lots of coloring pages with faces and skin tone, it is probably worth it to invest in those tints of markers. But they can be pricey, and I feel like using pencils along with the markers and inks gives the finished piece more interest.

And you can call it "Mixed Media". Which sounds more impressive than coloring.

Not that I am bashing coloring!

I love coloring.

Im just saying that the more detail, layering of color, and mix of materials that you use, the more interesting the picture is.

I cannot do without white opaque markers, sometimes for a little dot of highlight (like in the lovebirds' eyes), or over another color (like in the large, pink flower above), or under a color (like in the blue flower above), or on its own (like the rope braid on the frame above), or outlining words (like on the word, LOVE)

I also used a wide tip, white opaque marker on some of the background behind the word LOVE.

My biggest and best tip, though, is to finish off with a fine tip, black marker or pen to go over some of (or most of) the lines after you've colored the page.

For me, going over the outlines with black, sharpens up the drawing and makes it pop.

Would you like to give one a try? As a thank you to my readers (and shoppers) I'm offering a free download of the drawing/collage that I've done if you'd like one.

Email me at:

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

I'll send you the PDF to print over and over to color as many times as you'd like (I've finished three and am working on a fourth right now, they are addictive!)

When I print them, I use a quality paper, either matt photo, or a matt brochure, not just plain copy paper. Copy paper can make the marker bleed, and sometimes it tears.

Gift bags for Birdsong and free images

bird song art event, free images, sewing?

By Karla Nathan / June 16, 2015

Every year, my gift bags have been something different. This year, I found a sale on heavy duty canvas tote bags with free shipping, since I was buying other supplies there at the same time.

Dying silk 015

And when I saw this- yards of rosey fabric at Victoria Trading Co's outlet store for a DOLLAR, I knew just what I wanted to do with the bags. But the fabric was a little too gray for the natural canvas, so while I was dying silk, I dyed it too.

I dyed some of these cut, silk velvet scarves too. Yummy! These are available in white from Dharma Trading Co, where I buy all of my fiber reactive dyes.

This is the original robin that I used for the bags (and the Birdsong 5 button, although I didn't use the words on the bags)

And here it is doctored up with some faded sheet music behind it, and the reds changed to pinks. You can use the image yourself by clicking on it to open in a larger window, and saving it to your computer from there.

I knew I wanted to print an image from a vintage card onto fabric, sew it onto a square of this floral fabric and create a pocket on the bags. But…. not only were my sewing skills not quite up to par, my machine was not behaving as it should. It could be that I sewed too much glittered tulle with the machine, I can see where that could mess up the innards.

So, I used pinking shears to cut everything out, and fabric tack to add them to the bags, then embellished with millinery and ribbons using more glue. I'd say the pockets are sturdy enough, but I doubt if I'd put anything too heavy into them. My plan was to put a list of sponsors in the pockets.

Both sis,Terry and bro, Randy are into steampunk much more than flowery birdies, so I made this design for them from 5 different pictures I got from the Graphics Fairy.

It was pretty complicated to do, but not that bad. I found a guy on a bike, erased the bike with the cloning tool on picmonkey, then added a raven using 'upload your own backgrounds', after that, I layered some clock faces, light bulbs and other pictures with backgrounds, and faded those, tinted it all sepia, then used 'clone' to erase part of the man's leg so that it appeared to be behind the bird. After that, a little coloring in with eye tint, and it was done. Oh, and I drew the halter with a narrow, black line from 'drawing' and a yellow dot.

If you'd like to use this image I made up, feel free. Just click to enlarge in another window and save from there.

My buddy, Lori, got a custom image too, done in the same manner, but in a more romantic style.

I'll share her too, grab this one if you'd like also.

Over all, though, the bags were the same birds and floral fabric. I like the way the colors look in the room.

Free images for St Paddy’s Day

free images

By Karla Nathan / March 15, 2015

As I was sorting through old greeting cards to slip into kits for the Birdsong journal class, I came across a birthday card with pretty shamrocks. Since it was so timely (for St Pat's, not for any birthdays around here), I scanned it, erased the birthday message, and thought it would be handy to have to print.

And I thought maybe you might want to use it too.

click on the image, open in a larger window, save that to your computer, and print from there

Here is another incarnation of the card, this time with a leprechaun fairy and pot of gold framed in the wreath of clovers.

I think she is much cuter than a bearded short guy with a black pot, don't you? I snagged her off of a Christmas card. But in this context, she looks ready for the current holiday. Of course, I think fairies are right for any occasion.

PS- I've got 50% off the Boutique right now. But you MUST use this link:

http://www.karlascottage.com/?code=Fling

to get to the sale site. If you go through the regular link, the 50% off won't register. Thanks for helping me spring clean!

Vintage Valentine Images

bird song art event, free images, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / February 12, 2015

While getting ready for a Valentine Craft Day with friends and family, I scanned a few old cards to print for the group.

If you'd like to use them too, just click on the picture to open in a larger window, save it to your computer from there to print.

Here is a page of labels that I'd made for a Valentine journal class a while back. I don't know if I shared them before, but thought I'd do it again if I already have.

The treat cabinet got a sprucing up while getting the room set for our party. I taped up some vintage rose wallpaper, right over the old, green toile roses already glued to the inside of the cabinet. I'm sick to death of, ready for a change from the green, but didn't want to go to too much work. This is far from perfect, but I like the idea of being able to switch it out. And the toile roses make a nice background to the pink roses.

Like the new beverage dispensers? I splurged at Victorian Trading Co. because I couldn't resist this floral pottery one. Pink roses???? Well, of course, I NEEDED IT!!

Then, I saw the cut glass one. Elegant and timeless.

What to do???

Well, Birdsong 5 is coming up, so I bought them both. I think they will be delightfully useful. And it felt good to not be so cheap, like I tend to be. Well, they were on clearance….

And guess what? While shopping at the one and only, Victoria Trading outlet store, based in KC, I talked to the manager about being a Birdsong sponsor. She offered to have a gift for each attendee who stopped at the store that week before Birdsong. How nice of her! And my Peeps usually drop by to visit the shop while in KC on their way to Lawrence , so I think they will like it, don't you?

If you'd like to join us, we still have seats. Info can be found here.

Fall leaves wedding centerpiece how-to

celebrations, family, free images, guncles, how to's

By Karla Nathan / October 16, 2014

This is a big week for me. I'm away with my sisses on a trip to Sarasota to relax on the beach for an entire week of sister time. From there, I'll be flying directly to New Hampshire to meet up with my husband and attend his brother's wedding.

We are both standing up with the couple and I am thrilled! I've never been in a wedding, and this one is extra special. The guncles had a commitment ceremony 15 years ago, and have been an ideal couple, deeply in love and devoted to each other.

But in Florida, their ceremony isn't recognized. So we are all flying to NH where it is legal for them to wed, and I am double thrilled to be a part of it.

I'm helping with the decorations, here is a prototype of a centerpiece that I have mailed to the guncles to approve. And while I'm in Florida, my sisses and I will have a bachelor party/craft day with Randy at sweet Karen's Kozy Kottage in Mt. Dora to create the rest of the decorations for the wedding.

The plan so far, will be to get some fall vines from the hobby store, sponge paint them gold and add glitter, to make a few centerpieces and a garland for the mantle in the room they are renting for the event.

The day of the party, we will add some fresh flowers to the arrangements.

We have 10 of these tins to use to make a banner to hang from the garland. I added a K to this one as an example, but I don't know what we will be spelling yet.

I thought of using the light weight, paper mache boxes to hold the floral arrangements because they have to be mailed. These would cost a fraction of what it would cost to ship vases. Plus, Randy adores photos, so this is a way to use photos in the decor. He has already made up place cards utilizing pictures of the attendees, so this will look nice with those on the table.

The boxes are decoupaged in old, French text, then glittered in a sheer crystal glitter. Over that, I've added a fall colored scrapbook paper framed out in Dresden foil and holding cut out picture of the guncles and their beloved pets.

The leaves are stuck in oasis foam, and there are two small skewers, painted gold holding up the mini banner, "Happily Ever After" printed on heart shaped leaves covering chipboard.

Here they are if you'd like to use them for a project too. Click on the image to open in a larger window and save that to your computer to print.

When I get back, I'll have pictures of the finished decor, along with the happy couple too, of course!

ps-

I'm out of town now, but the tutorial is still available for purchase, if you are interested in making an art journal

Happy Birthday Mom

family, flowers, free images, paintings

By Karla Nathan / February 16, 2014

Today is my mom's birthday. I always miss her, but even more this time of year.

She was creative and funny. Silly and loving. Goofy and full of laughs.

(to use these two postcards yourself, click on the images to open in a larger window and save them to your computer to print)

When I visited my sisters, we looked at some of Bobbie's old family pictures. One was this of my grandma.

You are welcome to save this picture to use in your artwork if you'd like. Grandma was crafty too, as well as most of our family.

She liked to make things, so while she might think it was odd that people would want to use vintage photos of strangers in their artwork, she would probably understand the love of creating.

Mom died a few years back, and Bobbie had some photos from the funeral. I'd painted the casket for Mom, and I know she'd have been so tickled.

When I was a single mother, struggling to get by, mom took me and the boys in to live with her. We both loved seeing the first irises of spring, and bringing them in to put in vases all around her house. Painting the blooms became one of my obsessions. That made the flower become her favorite and she'd pre-ordered a big bouquet of them to be at her funeral.

She was quite the planner, the whole memorial service was lined out, payed for and planned to the tee years before she passed away. Complete with photos of her next to the casket she picked out and next to her grave plot.

The casket wasn't decorated in irises though. I sure wish she could have seen that. She'd have loved it.

There is a factory in our home town that makes caskets and hers had been ordered there. Luckily, they let me come in with my brushes for a couple of hours and embellish the top. They didn't even bat an eye at my request, either.

Bobbie also had this picture at her house, not a photo, but my original drawing of our other grandma, this one on Dad's side.

It was from a high school art class, and had been hanging at my Daddy's house since then. When he died, it stayed there with his wife. She passed away awhile back and recently, Bobbie went to get it for me. I have no way to get it in a suitcase (it's huge) so I asked her if she wanted to keep it.

She also gathered up this watercolor of a barn my dad had helped build. I think it is his brother's barn, not the family homestead. This is hanging in my sister's guest room too. Or "my room" as I call it.

I enjoyed seeing paintings hang in there, and looking through photos too. And the best part was that I was with people who share the same memories that I do.

It's great to reminisce with family.

I think that today, in honor of her birthday, I'll see if I can find some iris at the florist for my dining room. Mom would like that.

Free Images to Sweeten someone’s day for Valentines

flowers, free images, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / January 27, 2014

There isn't much that is more fun to me than a day in the studio. Especially with friends. Which is why I adore Birdsong so much and why I want to plan more mini workshops at the cottage.

Last week, I was able to have a little get together in there with a few good friends, and little Dewdrop. One friend works for United Way and was putting on a coordinated workday with the Boys and Girls Club to make some cards to deliver with Meals on Wheels for Valentines Day.

She asked her crafty friends to help with some samples to display for the event, and brought her supplies over for us to come up with some cards using them. Well, it's always fun to delve into a pile of new goodies, of course, so I was all for it. Since I usually work with vintage papers, it was a challenge to try something different than what I am used to. Lori brought pretty scrapbook papers, so it was a joy to try them out.

Still, I did make some copies of flowers and old Valentines, plus some messages to add inside the cards.

I'll post them here for you to use too. Maybe you'll make a card for someone who otherwise might not be getting one this year?

Some of these I might have posted before, some are new. All would be pretty used in a Valentine! Click to open into a larger window and save the image to your computer before you print it off.

December calendar

free images

By Karla Nathan / December 2, 2013

Happy December! As much as I abhor the cold, I still can't get enough of this time of year, and love every day of December. The girls and I will be hanging a candy cane (organic and delicious, in soft, sweet colors) on the tree for every day till Christmas.

Each night, we will take one off the tree, break then share it, and read a Christmas story together while sitting under the twinkly lights. It's a tradition that I did with my boys when they were little, and I am so glad to continue it with the Fairy Grand Girls. They aren't here every night, but I do my best to keep up with the candy canes. Poor me, I have to eat a tasty treat all by myself when the little ones are at their mommy's home!

I've printed off this calendar for myself and am busily filling it in for as many Christmas parties and activities as I can. If you'd like to do the same, click on the image to open it in a larger window before printing it, so it won't be all pixelly.

These antlers are from Dollar Tree and I've added some Stickles glitter and millinery to them, along with a few sparkly beads and of course, jingle bells. It's not December without jingle bells!

And you can never be too festive. I think the antlers are just the right touch to add some celebration to any outfit this season.

What else is new around here?

I have been dying more trees.

Yep, MORE TREES. And I even got quite a few into the Etsy shop.

And I am getting back into the angel wing groove too.

Here are some that Sugarwings dyed. Last year, she made some money selling trees, so she is hoping to have some repeat luck. Although, she doesn't seem to get what money is yet. I'm setting aside her earnings for when she needs them.

This is a mixed pack, with tiny trees, bigger trees, and a couple of wreaths too. I've made up a similar one in pink.