give away – Page 9 – Karla's Cottage

Leaf Looking

antiques/junking, give away, Moving to DC, Silver Bella

By Karla Nathan / November 2, 2008

Virginia is beautiful this time of year! Actually, it always is, I haven’t seen a season yet that wasn’t pretty here.

We have spent some time in Richmond, so I have been away from the apartment and the computer (I’m too cheap to buy a laptop to take along with me), so I haven’t been able to update or announce October winners till now.

For the main drawing, with the little glittered white pumpkin, linens and a pair of crown earrings, the winner is:

Cammile Fano

And the special Bella additional drawing prize goes to:

Maija Lepore

Thanks to everyone for entering, and don’t worry, there is another drawing this month. It will be for something Christmassy and sparkly and all comments count all month, all posts!

The hat whisperer luck was with me in Richmond. This pink posey bonnet was $4 and included the stand (which I think will be useful to have if I decoupage it with old papers)

The journal/mini ledger was $4, and the aqua floral hat was, yep, you guessed it, $4. And what did the the roll of aqua flocked ribbon cost? Yep, $4.

So, guess how much the two packs of glue on stones and rhinestone buttons were? Sorry, NOT $4, only $3. I almost paid the lady an extra dollar so I could keep the $4 streak going, I was feeling lucky with it.

There is more shopping today, I wonder if there will be hats???

I am meeting some blog friends at the Big Flea in Chantilly this morning, and bundled up some little crown tags made from my new favorite flocked wallpaper to take to them.

I might have gone a bit crazy with the crown stamp. Everything I own will soon be sprouting a crown….

While in Richmond, we took a drive to Vineterra. I must be getting old, because a long drive in the car through changing leaves seemed like a vacation itself. Am I now one of those Geezers and Geezettes who travel through the hills in the fall to be a Leaf Looker?

Well, maybe I am not that bad yet, at the end of this trip, there was wine!

And it was served in the most amazing setting! This is a new operation, kind of a resort/upscale club/ neighborhood, all still under construction.

But what is really cool, is that the club houses and the main buildings are all built from salvaged materials.

Yes, we go to a high class, exclusive place and all I care about are the peeling old bricks.

Well, and the reclaimed lumber and old nails too!

The beams are from 1860, the floors from 1910. Every little detail of this place is full of history. Well, history ripped from some other building, but hey, still really old and really cool. And I love the idea of recycling all the building materials.

Club Corp, the company my husband works for is overseeing the building of a golf course there, and we took a cart out to see how it is progressing. Now, I know and care nothing about golf, (well, I do enjoy and care about my husband’s pay checks from it, since as an artist, I barely have one myself) but as a new Leaf Looker, I sure enjoyed the scenery!

Proud to be a Mid Westerner!

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, give away, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 27, 2008

Sbella_booth_230 Today is a packing and pricing day, the last table top of Silver Bella goodies are going into their boxes! Although, all the tags are falling off the stupid bottle brush trees, how irritating is that? I went with sticky tags on the bottoms, not string tags, because I didn’t want the strings to tangle. Now, I have a pile of loose tags at the bottom of the box.

I’ll have to keep that in mind as I tag the rest of the crap, er, I mean lovely inventory.

I HATE pricing. It is one of the chores that seemed to never end back when I used to host mini flea markets in my yard and chicken coop. For this event, I am doing as many signs as possible, instead of individual tags. I packaged things, like wallpaper journals and millinery flowers with the idea of saving tagging time. I did the same with hand painted charms, tags, vintage greeting cards, and china shard pendants too.

Too bad that idea won’t work for the old Christmas ribbon, some spools are nearly full, others aren’t, so the prices can’t be uniform.

And for small things like this, it is easier to do tags, than to take up space with a sign.

And the decorated bottles are all so different, it just doesn’t work well with them either, they will need to be tagged.

I’ll place a small sign on this basket that says "Embossed and Stamped Tags 3 for $1"

I also have a big picnic basket FULL of odds and ends for $1 each. Doilies, trims, cake decorating tid bits, just a hodge podge of goodies. I’ll set it on the floor because my tables are overflowing.

10′ x 10′ sounds like plenty of space, but I could have used twice that amount. Of course, I also could have been a little smarter and not planned to bring so many cheapo priced things….. and made better use of the space I have…

But- this booth really does represent what I have to sell in my Etsy shop or on my blog and that is what I wanted to accomplish. There will be bargains and surprises and good deals all piled together to dig through. I hope that the booth is enjoyed as much as I have enjoyed putting it together!! And if most shoppers are like me, they will appreciate some good deals and have fun digging through it all.

Dont forget that if you want to win something from my booth, I am having TWO giveaways!

A pair of crown earrings goes to a Bella, and another pair, along with black and white rose linens and a white glittered pumpkin will go to another reader. All you do is leave a comment to enter.

Speaking of Silver Bella vendor night, guess who is going to be there selling after all? Deb of Curious Sofa! Now, that will be a beautiful space to shop in!!!!!!

I am going to be glowing with pride to be part of the Kansas City contingent up in Omaha. With my friend, Gwen, who shops only in France for her wares, Carol the Queen of primitive glamor, and Deb with her unique Curious Sofa style all there and all from KC, those three will be showing off the best that the Midwest has to offer!

Makes me wish I’d gone for a better display instead of just piles of stuff… these three ladies will have the kind of spaces that make you stand at the entance and just say WOW.

How can you tell if your nose is broken?

fairies, give away, Silver Bella

By Karla Nathan / October 21, 2008

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Actually, no, not at all, I am not ready for bad weather, I am a warm weather lovin person and hate the thought of winter approaching!!! To me, that is all fall is, a warning that snow will be here way too soon!

And today was a gloomy autumn day, so I will apologize in advance for my photos not being very clear, there simply was no light in the studio.

Since the weather was ominous, with hints of cold and winter, I decided to make a shabby chic snowlady. Her arms are snips of millinery flower branches, instead of twigs and of course, her buttons are vintage rhinestones.

And look who I caught sneeking in from the garden to get away from the cold weather!

Luckily, I had a gilded cage ready and waiting for her. I’d found this little terrarium at a garage sale for a dime and all it needed was a bit of vintage foofing to make it appropriate to house a fairy.

Hmm, I can’t remember if I showed these two bracelets I pieced together this week. Pardon me if I am repetitive!

But I was whacked in the nose by a head butting baby today and can’t think straight with my face throbbing.

Does it look broken to you? My husband thinks I am exagerating, and honestly, I am feeling like a whiny wimp about it. I might take an advil and go to bed early tonight.

Today was a long one. Sugarwings was happy and sweet, just being a two year old, and I was being a 50 year old. Not always the best mix, energy wise.

We did work in the studio together, I finished up some odds and ends and she painted mermaids.

For now, she is enamoured with Ariel and tells anyone who will listen to her "I want Mooormaids, ALL the time." If we’d let her, she’d be parked in front of that DVD with a goofy grin on her face all day long.

Don’t forget, comments from Bellas get entered into a seperate drawing for a pair of crown earrings, and all other comments are thrown into the hat to win the October Surprise, (which isn’t really a surprise at all.)

Its this set of linen napkins, a white glittered pumpkin and another pair of crown earrings.

Thanks for being understanding about me not being able to answer all the comments, now that Sugarwings is here more.

Would you like to have a pair of silver crown earrings?

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Food and Drink, give away, Silver Bella

By Karla Nathan / October 10, 2008

My grandiose plans to tag and pack up all the jewelry didn’t come to fruition. I’ve had Sugarwings as a helper, so just didn’t get a lot done!

There are a lot of things she is good at helping with, but sorting and pricing jewelry isn’t one of them.

Sugarwings is a good shopper. We went out and ran some errands and picked up Halloween themed paper goods for a bonfire I am planning tomorrow night.

She is also a good sprinkler. I handed over the sprinkles container and let her decorate the cupcakes herself.

I was hoping to do some autumn decorating before tomorrow night, but simply haven’t had a chance. She and I picked some hedge apples and squash. That might be it for my fall decor this year! Maybe I will call it "minimalist".

Being busy with getting things ready for Silverbella and having a two year old move in with me have kind of slowed me down a bit.

If you aren’t getting answers from me for you rcomments, please know that I am reading them at nap time, or after her bedtime, and enjoy seeing each and every one of them, I just might not have time to reply.

It’s nap time now, so Twinkle and I have been cleaning up this smoking stand to use for a display at my booth. I need to find a knob to fit the door, and it will be ready to go. It is perfectly aged and crackled up! And just the right size to add height to a table of goods for sale.

I like small cabinets for display. I can set something on top of it, inside it, and underneath too.

I’ve been so busy baby chasing that I forgot I had told you I was going to add to the October Giveaway.

If you remember, there is a set of black and white rose linens and a white glittered pumpkin already in the prize pack.

I think that what is missing from the prize is a pair of earrings. And since so many of you are interested in Silver Bella, but might not be going, I thought I’d offer a pair of the patina-ed sterling silver crown earrings that I am making up to take to that event.

All comments all month count as an entry. And please do continue to comment, sorry I can’t answer them all.

A Kitchen redo and the beginnings of the October Goodie Bag

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, Food and Drink, give away

By Karla Nathan / October 2, 2008

Sugarwings not only has her own art studio inside my art studio, she has her own kitchen within my kitchen.

But it was really bugging me, that hers was pretty shoddy looking.

So, yesterday, (when I should have been working) I painted the mini kitchenette the same color as my own cabinets (a creamy ivory).

I didn’t repaint the red sink, though, because we fill it up with soapy water to play in and I wasn’t sure that any paint would stand up to that, even that spray made for plastics.

The interior of the fridge was still in really good (and cute as a bug) condition, but the insides of the cabinets were just plain fiberboard, so I painted the shelves too.

My niece (also known as the Imitrex Fairy) sent Sugarwings some Faux foods to play with, and I can’t wait for our little sprite to come back over and see her surprise!

Of course, she probably won’t notice it was painted, or has pretty curtains, but I know she will get busy right away serving up plastic ice cream in her frying pan.

Not much else got done, I had a lot of errands to run. But while watching Top Model, Top Design, and Project Runway, I glittered up and finished a few odds and ends.

Everyone has asked me for ravens, but I am more of a dove person…. I love their pink tummies.

And I created a "flight" of fairies with some little plastic figurines that Carol gave to me. They were a yucky orange fleshy color to start with, so I painted them all white and pink and glittery, then fairyed them up.

Each saucy little gal has a unique hat or crown.

The sculpy pumpkins that Sugarwings and I made got a coat of paint and glitter too.

The silver one in the front is going to Sheila as part of the Sweet September Prize pack.

And the tall white one in the back will be part of the October prizes.

Here is what I have going so far for October. Black and white roses printed on a set of 4 vintage linen napkins and a white glittered pumpkin.

I’ll probably find something else to add as the month goes on.

This morning I listed this pumpkin topped bottle (inspired by Carol’s design for our Romantic Country article) for sale on Etsy.

Here is what I said for the description, instead of writing it twice, I’ll copy and paste from Etsy!

This bottle and crowned pumpkin has a French Vanilla theme, it is all done in tone on tone shades of warm whites. The pumpkin topper is not glued down, if you’d like to actually use the bottle to store something you could. Or you could take the pumpkin top off and store it away after fall is over until next year and display the bottle with out it.

I’ve made the label from old sheet music, book pages and taupe velvet ribbon, accented with a bloom I plucked from an old hat. The neck of the bottle is rimmed with rhinestones and the crown is ringed with more of the same, plus velvet ribbon and a rose pried from old jewelry.

about 8 1/2" tall to the tip of the crown

This is as far as I have gotten on the other glittered trophies. I’m in love with the pink vintage cars!

FOUR winners!

Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, holiday decor, magazine pictures or articles, Silver Bella, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 1, 2008

Yesterday, I had a brunch for some friends and decided that I should set out some of the fall decor I have, and some of the pumpkin bottles I have been making.

I turned a white tussie mussie from Heather upside down and it became a hat for my white glittered pumpkin, I think that is my favorite part of the tablescape.

Sugarwings was in "Extreme Two Year Old Mode" yesterday and EVERYTHING on the table top was her favorite.

That girl was so quick at getting into stuff all day long, that every photo I took of her was a blur.

Am I finally going to have to give in and baby proof my house? I usually just tell her "that is Grammy’s that is yours, you play with your stuff, not mine" but yesterday she was swinging a lamp by the cord and hiding the phone under the bed.

I guess I can’t really put all the lamps and phones away, as well as wrapping my whole home in bubble wrap. She is just acting like she is a two year old and I need to be an eagle eye around her to keep her away from my stuff and directed towards her own things.

Of course, having sparkly witches on the table is enticing for a baby girl.

And she really enjoys playing with these little pumpkins. I do too. We take the tiny crowns off and put them on our fingertips to turn our fingers into princess puppets.

This little witch’s hat was a gift from my Sissy when she was here. She made it herself and it has a jingle bell in the stuffing.

The fairy was a present from my sister, Bobbie Sue, isn’t it cute? And her colors seem just right for a fall display. She’s an earthy fairy. My neice, Shelli also brought me a special gift. A package of Imitrex! I get migraines, and on our insurance the meds are $200 a package, but on hers it is $15. So she gives me her extras.

Sugarwings and I made more scuply pumpkins yesterday. I let her paint them all herself when they were cooled off, so maybe now that she has her own pumpkins, she will be content to not play with the ones on the table?

No, I am kidding myself there. No such thing as a contented two year old, they want to touch everything they see!

Yet another reason why I don’t use much real glass glitter. I cut myself enough with that lethal stuff, I don’t need the baby getting hurt on it!!

Oh, but now, I am sure you are interested in hearing which one of you is going to get your own hands on a crown? Here are the winners for "Karla and Carol’s Romantic Country Celebration Giveaway"

Thanks for all the comments to Carol about how wonderful her crown and pumpkin ideas are! The name I drew from her comment log to win a crown kit is:

Cammi

And the winner of a pumpkin topped bottle from my Silver Bella bonus drawing goes to

Bella Wanda.

Now, ANOTHER winner of a pumpkin topped bottle (not this bottle, it is listed on Etsy, I don’t have a photo of the one I’m sending handy).

The Winner is:

Bobbi

But wait, we aren’t done yet! I have one more giveaway to announce!

My Sweet September Prize Pack goes to:

Sheila

I think I’ll add a little glittered pumpkin to it too.

Remember, I constantly have a giveaway going.

Aren’t they fun? I sure like doing them! I’m not sure what October’s prize will be, but all comments starting today, will count for it.

These are some more Silver Bella creations I am making. Lately, I have been buying trophies, inspired by a gift of a nesting bird in a teeny trophy from Robin last spring.

I have a boxful of vintage automobile trophies that I can’t wait to froof and doodad up.

Before I go and get back to work on my trophies, I want to thank Sara Duckett of Sadie Olive for helping me de-clutter my blog a bit and add my latest magazine covers to the side bar.

If you notice, now the blogroll is on a separate page that you can click on to go and visit.

I spent a little time redoing the blogroll while Sugarwings was napping, but didn’t get very far. I need to organize the rest of the names and add a TON of fun places that I go to. I will let you know as I get more added.

My links have not been exactly true to the blogs I read the most often and I want to add some of the dozens of addictive places I visit!

Crowning Glories

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, give away, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / September 29, 2008

This has been a good weekend for "crowning around". Miss Sugarwings spent a big chunk of the weekend here with me and the crowns are a good project to do in the little spurts of time I have between bouts of chasing her. this crown is sold

This poor little cherub lost its arms when it got knocked over onto the cement, and I have had them buried in the gravel, reaching up to the air like zombies trying to come up out of the earth. The spot I put them in was by Ryan’s front door, since he is a big zombie fan, just like his mom.

And not for Halloween, I did this last Spring.

But this week, Sugarwings found the arms, and spent a good deal of time trying to re-attach them too the "ouchy baby" as she called her.

A good sized pile of crowns got done, but honestly, it isn’t much, and these aren’t even for Silver Bella. I had big plans to lock myself into the studio and not come out, since my husband is out of town.

Instead, I got slightly sidetracked by my fairy grand baby and we ended up working in the garden together and playing play dough, and making up songs. the two crowns on the bottom, back right are sold, thanks

Carol’s crown design is such a fantastic idea, I can’t get enough of them. I’m putting my own spin on them and making them in my colors and style too.

Remember, as part of "Karla and Carol’s Romantic Country Celebration Giveaway" you can win a kit to make your own. Go to Carol’s blog and tell her how much you like them! I’ll chose someone from her comments on the first.

And you can still win my Sweet September Prize Pack by commenting.

Plus I have two ways you can win a pumpkin topped bottle. If you are an 08 Bella, let me know, because one will be going to a Silver Bella attendee, and another will go to another reader.

Aren’t presents fun?

Earlier this week, before the little fairy baby came over to distract me with that dimply grin of hers, I painted this dove bottle and decorated it.

Did I say that Carol’s screen crowns were addictive? So was her bottle topped sculpy idea! Maybe it is all the hours I have spent with Sugarwing ‘s play dough that got me in the mood, because I am sure in love with sculpy! the dove is sold, thanks!

And if you are wondering what I do with all of the old wallpaper and vintage flowers I buy, here is a tiny little dent into my collection.

I’ve been scooping up old boxes all Summer at garage sales and this week, got a few decorated.

This one had the most beautiful knobs on the drawers, that I simply had to save it.

It has been painted silver and distressed, then the front of the drawers and the insides were covered in coordinating old wallpapers.

These roses were so pretty, they inspired the redo of this box. I made a corsage, and glued it down, along with vintage ribbons and an old pink buckle.

The inside is simply covered in old wallpaper, then trimmed with narrow, velvet ribbon.

And the smashier the better for me with old roses! I love to see them show their age. (maybe because I show mine?)

This wooden box was painted pink, and the top was covered in flocked wallpaper, then the edges inked to age it.

Inside, is more wallpaper, and some hand dyed velvet, left over from a chair I recovered for Sugarwing’s nursery.

I trimmed it out in old lace and buttons.

I’ve got a stack of boxes done, and more in the works, that I will be taking to Silver Bella. I plan on packing other things to sell inside of them, and using them as part of the display.

So even if they don’t sell, they will be handy to have to show off other things.

Today, I will try to list some of the crowns on Etsy.

But I am hosting a brunch tomorrow, and Sugarwings is spending the night, so who knows if I’ll get anything done or not….

400th Post and a slew of giveaways including “Karla and Carol’s Romantic Country Celebration Giveaway”

celebrations, Etsy Goodies, give away, magazine pictures or articles

By Karla Nathan / September 24, 2008

Thanks for all of the kind comments and emails about our article! And a big THANKS to the Fabulous Fifi for working with us on it!!

If you get a chance, please leave Fifi a comment and tell her you liked it too!

If you haven’t seen Carol Spinski’s (of Raised in Cotton) creations in our article for Romantic Country yet, here is a peek.

I fell head over heels for these sculpy pumpkin head bottles she made! So she brought over some sculpy and showed me how to make some. white pumpkin with dark bottle is sold, thanks!

And if you’ve ever read this blog, you know that if I make one of something, I make a BUNCH. I just get going and can’t stop!

So in honor of Carol’s cute as a button idea, and how much fun we made creating a table scape around them for the article, I want to give one away as a gift to you.

This is also my 400th post! So a gift is doubly appropriate, isn’t it?

this bottle is sold, thanks

I will count all comments all month for this give away, and they will also count toward my regular monthly treat, too.

And since I have quite a few of these glittery little punkins, I will be listing them in my Etsy shop soon to sell also.

For now, they will be for sale through this blog, for $18 each for punkin head bottle and $22 for the raven.

the raven is sold, thanks!

No two are alike, each is hand made. The bottles are OLD, (f you remember, I bought them at an auction and experimented in how to get them cleaned up, denture tablets worked pretty good).

The Raven does not come off the top of the bottle, and the pumpkin with the purple flower is permanently attached too. The other gourds are simply perched on top, with indentations in their bases to stay in place.

I used lots of vintage goodies and some fall type pretties on each of them.

Postage will be Priority Mail for $4.80, in the USA. If you’d like a bottle, please leave a comment about which one you want. And remember that each comment is also an entry to win one!

(I have more too, they just aren’t photographed yet, and it is almost time for Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model, so I am done with photos for the night!! Gotta have priorities!!)

Oh, but wait! There is more! Carol also came up with the idea to make these charming crowns. Some were used on statuary, some on pumpkins, and the rest as votive holders.

I wrote a how-to up in the article for making the crown votive, if you’d like to make your own.

Or maybe you’d like to win a kit to make your own??

Yep, Carol and I are giving away a kit with instructions too. Details on entering this one to come.

In the meantime, I have a few $10 kits to sell. ($2.50 postage in the US)

They include precut and painted and glittered screens, trims for the points of the crown and the base as well as frippery’s and doodads to make the tiara special.

This one, "crowning Glory," is painted golden.

The screens are cut with some extra length so you can wrap them around your own little votive cup to fit. Or- leave it larger and use it as a crown for a small bust, or statue? sold

The colors of the screens aren’t showing up well, this one, "Pink Princess," is pink with pink glitters. pink princess is sold, thanks

These two should go as a pair, I just think they look too pretty together to split up, so I will sell them two for $18, so they can stay together!this pair has sold, thanks!

Wouldn’t they be lovely around white candles on your Christmas buffet?

I call this set "Snow Queen". It is silver glittered screen with pearly accents to glue on.

And remember, I am having my Sweet September giveaway too.

all comments, on all posts count

eek! I need to go, my shows are starting!!

PS- I have a "bonus" giveaway of one of our Romantic Country inspired creations that will go to a Silver Bella participant. If you are attending Silver Bella this year, please mention that in your comment and I will enter you into the seperate drawing.

oh, rats!

family, give away, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 1, 2008

Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone is having a relaxing 3 day weekend.

Ours has been fun, hanging out at a campsite with family, boating, gardening, and babysitting for a fairy.

Sugarwings had a couple of sleepovers this weekend and all she wanted to do was PAINT.

For some reason, blue paint always get tasted, you can tell by the blue lips in every photo of her at work on her creations.

While the fairy grand baby was napping, I was able to glitter the tags I made for the Pre-Bella swap I am hosting, and get the packages I am sending out wrapped up.

Each package is wrapped up in vintage wallpaper, soft old ribbon, and a doo dad of some sort as an accent.

This pack for Carol has millinery fruit on it, nicely aged and distressed, the way she likes things. She was with me when I bought the fruited hat it was plucked from, so I thought this was appropriate for her.

And anyone who knows Jessi, knows her love of Barbie. I added a vintage Wilton cake topper to her pack.

Sweet Jennifer loves kiddy-type cuteness, so she gets Raggedy Andy.

And do you think that Andrea gets tired of Velvet Strawberries coming her way?

All the packages are topped off with a little pretty to use in a project, I hope they are going to be something everyone can use. They were certainly fun for me to chose!

And what is in the goodie bag from me? Flocked wallpaper, something I cannot do without! This swap was a "get acquainted- get inspired" trade, and we were all supposed to send some of our favorite things to work with to each other.

Everyone has been so over the top, generous with their goodies! I’ve enjoyed getting to know them through this and can’t wait to meet up with all of them in November at Silver Bella.

I need to say thanks to all of these generous souls, not only for their goodie bags, but also for resending extra money for postage so I could send out their boxes. I had misjudged the amount needed, but really, honestly wasn’t worried about it, I was happy to pay the difference myself. But, next thing I knew, PayPal emails started filling up my box with all sorts of extra postage cash! How kind, and thoughtful.

There was time this weekend to sneak away and make some more wallpaper journals for Somerset Life this weekend too.

Not everything about this weekend has been fun, though. Urgh- we had a RAT come up from the basement into the PANTRY!!!

He chewed his way in, and had his way with everything in the cabinet. Did I say, urhg? I opened the door to see him staring straight at me.

I emptied the cabinet, threw most of the contents away, bleached the outsides of the canned goods, then filled the holes the monster came in through with steel wool. After that, I bleached the cabinet itself and repainted the interior.

But not until after we caught him. He came to live in the pantry while my husband was out of town, and I tried to set the giant trap, and almost broke my finger in the process. I cried like a baby with pain and frustration, after an hour of trying to set that trap by myself.

But, my hero came home and killed the varmint for me, just in time! Look at what the pest was trying to do, he chewed in from the basement into the pantry, then tried to chew his way into the house itself through the pantry doorway!!

And this damage was done overnight. Double URGH.

Now, every single tiny crack in the pantry walls is stuffed with steel wool, and we pulled up the boards of the deck outside and stuffed steel wool all around the perimeter of the house into any crevice I thought a rodent could get into, plus we have traps all over the basement.

Life isn’t always pretty in a 100 year old house!

If you are still interested in a gift from me, even though I live in a rat infested slum, my September giveaway starts today. All comments, all month are entered.

The winner of my August Giveaway of the 1950’s house wife kit is: Sheila

Congratulations, Sheila!

She is actually a neighbor, well, kind of. She lives in Kansas City, although we have never met, we will soon at Silver Bella.

And even though I have posted this before, I will add these links to the participants in the Pre-Bella Swap, just because they are such fun places to go an visit!

Most are addresses, not links, I guess. You need to paste them to your browser, not just click on them, sorry.

1-Heather- http://www.prettypetals.typepad.com/

2-Cheryl Dack –http://roseyposeyconfections.blogspot.com/

3-JenniferHayslip http://sweeteyecandycreations.typepad.com/

4-Jessi Nagy http://www.scrappyjessi.blogspot.com/

5-Kim Caldwell- http://www.artisticbliss.typepad.com/

6-Holly- http://www.hollydoodledesigns.com/shop/

7-Natasha- http://www.natashaburns.blogspot.com/

8-Analisa- http://www.leesiebella.typepad.com/

9-Andrea- http://velvetstrawberries.typepad.com/andreasingarella/

10-Cheryl Stoneham- http://www.insidethebubble.typepad.com/

11- Tiffany- www.shabbyscraps.typepad.com

2- Carol Spinski – http://raisedincotton.typepad.com/

And one more little doo dad trim piece to show you, I glittered a ruby slipper for Natasha. She is coming to Kansas for the first time, from Australia.

Pretty Pretty!

fairies, give away, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 25, 2008

A box bursting with happiness just came to my door! I swear, this Pre-Bella Swap is one of the most fun swaps, ever!

All of the women involved have extraordinary style and the packets of goodies they made up show it.

This came today from Jennifer. And it is sweet, sweet eye candy indeed, plus some real candy!!

And, oh my gosh, look what Holly sent!!!!!!!!!!

Those velvety flowers are amazing, lovely, and lush.

Not all the packages are here yet, but the table sure looks filled up, huh?

New homes have already been found in the art studio for some of the presents Holly and Jen sent along to me, I’ve used them in this centerpiece.

And when I cleaned the studio this week, I found the perfect storage spot for my unplucked old hats. (the plucked flowers are already sorted and stored elsewhere). They are all smooshed into the glass doored buffet in the alcove. The one with the crookedy candlesticks.

These sweet girl from Jen is actually a bell. I see fairy wings in her future…..

Look at that heart shaped little smoocher.

Her sis is nestled into a compote of flowers I received from Andrea.

And Taaa Daaa!! My studio is cleaned! I’m done, I’m done!! Just in time for Sugarwings to have a sleepover tonight and play in her new mini studio.

I’ve been working on this for almost a week. Hopefully, having this hopefully more functional arrangement will make me more productive and hopefully make up for the week I spent on it…. hopefully….

Everything is out in the open, easy to see and find, or at least the drawers have tags so I can remember what is where.

I don’t know that I am crazy about having a plastic table cloth over my folding tables, it might just get in the way. I think I’ll remove them, but for now, don’t the pink clothes brighten up the room?

While I was cleaning, I cleared out drawers, boxes, and junk. Ever notice how much stuff you forgot that you had? I came across this little painting from about 10 years ago, and decided she shouldn’t be shoved into a dark drawer, poor fairy.

So, I glittered up a mat for the painting, and added millinery, ruffled wallpaper, and a sparkling butterfly.

Recently, I was asked to post a how to on ruffling, but this is the first ruffle I’ve glued down in a while, and the light wasn’t good last night at midnight when I decided to make it.

I’ll show the steps next time.

While cleaning, I also found some pearls, as I promised to add to my August giveaway, the 50’s Housewife Kit.

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By the way, here are a couple of Before the Great Clean Up pics.