Good JuJu – Page 7 – Karla's Cottage

I keep trying stuff to see what works

By Karla Nathan / May 2, 2023

This month I am trying something different in my Good Juju space. See all of the blue tags?

They border on obnoxious, huh? That is the point, I hope.

My booth is piled floor to ceiling with small things. And they do pretty good most of the time, I think people enjoy the treasure hunt. But I also think that they are so focused on the mountains of minis that they do not see the bigger picture.

That furniture underneath the massive stacks is for sale too! And I am done with my umbrellas, am ready for a new entryway display, so they are also gaudily tagged.

Sadly, I rarely sell furniture. Oh, a piece here and there, but usually small and extra inexpensive. (Not that I have anything high dollar anyway)

People probably don’t even notice the tables, shelves, and dressers. So, I tried to tag them in a way that made it obvious.

It certainly is a scramble when someone does buy a table, since there is a possible avalanche of goods on top of it. But, I am always happy to unload and redo. It’s like a timed design challenge, to reshuffle as fast as I can while shoppers are looking around.

I like my spot to have a different look each month, so I don’t want the same furniture there forever and I am constantly hauling things back and forth from home. Which is inefficient. I’d much rather sell some and find more pieces to fix up and redo.

Well, we will see, huh? This month is my one year anniversary at the venue, I am still trying new things. It’s also my birthday Friday while I’m there. My second Good Juju birthday weekend with post concussion season. (Not a tradition that I want to continue!)

Sweet faces

Good JuJu, redos

By Karla Nathan / April 29, 2023

I am pleased that my fairy dolls are still selling well at Good Juju. I really enjoy making them. I had a feeling it would only be a Christmas Angel type thing, but they have sold consistently each month. Not a lot at once, but 1-3 each time. Which keeps me able to continue making them, which makes me happy.

Friends have been giving me old dolls that need repair and I have been playing dolly doc with glue, lace, and goat hair. Plus a few sparkly bits here and there.

I also make the fairies by scratch with these vintage heads I found, plus a wire and wool roving body.

Or sometimes, I just cut off the hideous costumes they often come in, clean them up and display as is.

I have always been fond of dolls, and even as a kid, I liked to give them makeovers. I consider myself very blessed to be able to play with dollies as an adult.

Because it sucks to just act like a grown up all the time.

Well, that wasn’t a good idea

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / April 16, 2023

At last month’s Good Juju sale, I tried a new out a new booth for my jewelry.

Well, that didn’t go so well.

I think the space was too tight and hard to shop in for so many pieces of jewelry. That stuff needs to be spread out more.

I have already paid my rent for the 3’ x 3’ corner, so I decided to try something else for May’s shopping event. I have a lot of vintage clothing, but could only bring a couple of pieces at a time into my man booth since a gown can take up so much space.

Rich helped me make over this jewelry spot into a clothes closet. It feels more efficient this way, but what do I know? I’m still figuring this whole thing out.

Since I am a big believer in using the WHOLE piece of real estate, I had Rich add some shelves for me.
He made the clothing rod out of one of his grapevine walking sticks and the rest of the installed bits and pieces are things we had in the garage. So the changeover didn’t cost us anything.

It was sad to see him cut up one of his cool sticks, but he has a few and using it does class up the area. I think I’ll ask him if I can have more of those, then I’ll fix them up and sell them. I think there could be a market for his whittled grapevine walking sticks, I really like them. I might add some leather and crystals to them.

Resting and relaxing with a little bit of weeping

Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / April 7, 2023

Well the weekend is beginning and it is the first Friday of the month, usually one of my favorite dates. But I’m still not quite myself after re-jiggling my brain by tripping. I’ve kept my days very low key and darkened since that happened, with a few mini excursions back into the world. Usually a foray into real life is fine up to a certain point, then I am wiped out completely and unexpectedly and need a nap.

Writing my previous blog post required a three hour nap after. I think it is the reading glasses that strain me. I can check some messages, skim a little social media, and read small bits without that problem, but have done that reading without the glasses.

2022’s Annual Spring Concussion seemed much worse than 2023’s. I am hoping that this one doesn’t take the months of recovery that last year’s needed. I look back on most of last summer like I was peering through a tunnel.
This newest addition to my never ending concussion collection feels more like looking through a fish bowl. I have a much wider field of vision. Maybe because I took the doctor’s advice of resting and dark rooms seriously. Plus, I already knew the PT to start after the full week of nothingness.

Juju is Friday and Saturday from 9-6, and fingers crossed that I can hold it together that long without napping. I might take breaks in my car if needed. I honestly think that I’ll be fine after ten days of serious rest, or I wouldn’t do it.

It will be good to be around people and smile again. Concussions can also make you emotional, so I’ve had a couple of weepy days. A day of smiles will be wonderful medicine.

And I might just give myself some aromatherapy tonight before I face the crowds tomorrow. I’ve made some helpful scented scrubs. I will recommend this one for tonight.

Then maybe this for Friday night.

And after the sale is done? Time to relax!

The labels were made with an image from some ephemera a friend brought back from France that I edited together with a garland and blue birds from a Victorian postcard. I wanted something completely original. I just hope it isn’t too girly girly for Good Juju, many shoppers are there for the primitive stuff. At least as far as furniture goes.

Please wish me luck with the weekend. I really love being there and doing the sale, so I am hoping it’s a healing experience for me. And I could use some luck with my new scrubs too. Heck, while you are throwing around wishes and sprinkling luck everywhere, share a little with yourself and use it for having a blessed Easter weekend!

Always be prepared, right? I am glad I am not a procrastinator

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / April 4, 2023

The Good Juju sale is the first Friday of each month. Which means we have a full month to set up after the previous event ends. I typically get right in there, get all the furniture shifted, wallpaper changed, and basics set up as soon as I can. Then start filling in.

Over the next few weeks, I tidy up and add more, but it is usually looking okay if something comes up and I cannot get back to do more.

Well, I sure am glad that I have that habit of getting done early, because something sure did come up.

After my head bonking last week, I have done nothing but rest. Then rest some more.

I have had nothing going on but rest. Usually, I’d be bored by that much laying around and tempted to sneak out to the studio to find a project. Not this time. I felt so bad, all I could do was doze in a dark room, listen to an audio book, or watch tv with a blindfold on.

I’m finally up and even going for walks now, to get my rubbery muscles moving again. Between my jiggly brain and unused body, I am a mushy mess.

But my gray matter no longer does summersaults when I look at a screen and my stomach has settled, so I am easing back into the real world.

I am even starting to feel curious about some of the shows I listened to while my eyes were covered. Was that Meryl Streep, Ed Norton, Ross from Friends and that guy from Hamilton on Extrapolation? I think I might have heard Diane Lane too.

That show might deserve a rewatch while actually watching.

I can’t say that I am fully back. I am enjoying the improvement, though. And need to be ready to spend 12 hours on my feet Friday and Saturday.

Come by to see us there if you can. I will be very happy to be out of the house, functioning and talking to friends.

I hope.

For right now, writing this might have used up my entire screen time for the day, so I’ll be slapping the satin mask back over my eyes, going back to my dark room and listening to another episode of Extrapolations and trying to guess which stars are popping up.

Oops

Chandeliers, collections, Good JuJu, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / March 22, 2023

Maybe you remember a few posts back, where I said I should be slapped for even thinking I might need more space at the mall?

Welp, I went for it anyway.

I keep telling myself it is only 3×3’, not a big deal. And it is only for my jewelry, vintage, handmade, and new silver.

Was it a good idea? Who the heck knows. I might be, well I probably am crazy to take on more.

I was excited about the whole decorating aspect of it and happy to have a reason to steal the awning from our chicken coop. But did I really need a second spot at the mall?

As if that generous dollop of insanity wasn’t enough, lookee here. I’m also making bath products to sell there.

April Showers Bring May Flowers but DO NOT try to spray paint your umbrellas

flowers, Good JuJu, how to's

By Karla Nathan / March 19, 2023

At Good Juju, I want to make use of ALL my space, floor to ceiling. My plan is to hang various items up high to make seasonal displays. For Spring, I decided to go with umbrellas.

My first thought was to spray paint used umbrellas and add greenery.

Well…

After going through two cans of spray paint that ended up runny, not covering up the underlying color, and just looking like a drippy, blotchy, poorly done mess- I soon discovered how bad that idea was.

Umbrellas seem to be made of a material that repels liquids.

Who’d have thought of that?

Well, I was trying to be thrifty about it and was happy to get free umbrellas from a friend, but do you know how much spray paint costs? That was not going to be a cheap way to do it.

After looking on Amazon and other places and seeing that affordability was not going to be applicable to this project, I almost gave up the idea. Then, I found five, white paper umbrellas at a thrift store for a couple bucks each!

So, I started looking for fake white roses and greenery, and was attacked again by sticker shock. I once again was about to give up on my plan. Then friends brought me grocery bags of flowers they’d gotten at estate sales and didn’t need.

Plan April Showers was back on track!

I was also given a naked, vintage umbrella in bits and pieces. The handle was so pretty, I just had to put the thing back together.

So the skeleton was rebuilt with duct tape, wire, and string. It will never open and close, but none of this set does after adding the flowers to them.

The one with the great handle was so nice, I thought it deserved vintage florals and pretty fabric, so I spent a lot of time on it, as well as plucking an entire rose covered hat to finish it with.

Sadly, I was careless with my glue and when you hold it up to the light, you can see the clear blobs of dried glue on the transparent fabric.

None of the results are anything like my plans. I was going to take down the stained glass window, and have just greens in white umbrellas hanging. But since that didn’t work out and I went with what was available, I think I like the colorful display even more!

Turning an ugly duckling into an uglier toad

Good JuJu, Hand Painted Furniture, how to's

By Karla Nathan / March 16, 2023

This was previously an unattractive, not to my taste at all, chest of drawers. I’d brought it into the Good Juju sale last month to sit it in the parking lot area to get rid of cheap.

Then the day turned drizzly. I wondered if it would matter much if the ugly guy got wet, who cared? It couldn’t get worse.

But a nice dealer brought it inside for me. I quickly made space in my booth and then had to stare at it for the rest of the sale. After a bit of looking, I got past the finish ( which was so bad, I thought it was veneer, but it’s not, this is real wood) and thought, hmm, those are nice lines. And look at the pretty hardware.

So, while setting up for next month’s sale, I thought I’d leave the poor thing and maybe someone else would notice it’s possibilities too.

After arranging the furniture, I always take lots of photos to look at once I get home, to rethink areas and plan the smalls that I’ll be adding. When looking at this picture, I decided that this center area just looked sad and blah.

Instead of fetching the brown, ugly duckling chest and bringing it back home to give it a glow up, I packed up my paints and thought I’d do a quick turn over there.

Things did not go as planned. Maybe the warehouse was too cold? The temperature only stays warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing between shows. Maybe it was me trying to rush it? Maybe I didn’t bring enough color options or supplies with me to do what I wanted?

Whatever it was, I just kept getting murk. The duckling was turning into a toad, not a swan and I was turning into an obsessed, and unhinged painter. Poor Beth was working next to me in her space and had to listen to the whole dilemma as I was verbally assaulting my design decisions.

Here is what I learned. Well, I already knew it, but in this case, between the cold and rushing the situation the lesson on chalk paint was amplified.

Dried chalk paint will return to a liquid state if it gets wet, even more quickly if it is barely dry. Which is why most people use wax, not glaze over it. I was trying to use an umber glaze over a buttery cream chalk and what I was getting was a flesh toned blend of the two shades, not layers.

I tried many more layers and fixes, but the ugliness just became stronger. A quick project turned into an all dang day disaster.

At the end, I worked it out, slowly but surely by purposely blending the umber, cream and some white, over and over and over, building up incrementally during breaks of working on the rest of my space. While telling myself I should just take it home and start over

My stubbornness prevailed and I stayed till I got it right, then clear coated the piece so the chalk would never murk up again. Looking back, I realize that I could’ve used the water based clear coat over my cream color, then done the glaze over that, and clear coated again.

But that would’ve been too easy, and honestly, I didn’t think of it at the time because I kept trying just one more thing, then one more thing, on and on.

But now, I really like the lovely lines, hardware, and many, many blended coats of paint that nudged this ugly duckling into, well maybe not a swan, but at least an attractive duck.

Part Three of March’s Good Juju Set Up- the Easter Explosion

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / March 1, 2023

Decorating for holidays makes me so happy!

Because before decorating with the stuff, I have to make it all.

And I really, really love making holiday goodies.

The sale at Good Juju in the Old West Bottoms of KC is always the first Fri & Sat of each month.

Two days every month that I look forward to so much.

At the last sale, I got to meet two friends from online. It’s good to put a name and face together in real life.

Although it is embarrassing to admit this, but I am very bad with names. So if we meet, please don’t be offended if I don’t remember your name, because it seems to be some sort of issue that I can’t quite get over.

Sometimes I feel like Dory in Finding Nemo. I’m lucky to remember anything, and not just because I hit my head on a regular basis. Although that most likely can’t help. I’ve always been this way.

It could be that my head is too full of pretty colors, possible projects, snippets of songs, scenes from shows, a few fairies flying around knocking into stuff, and random nonsense.

It probably looks a bit like this in there.

A loose interpretation and some Grace

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / February 26, 2023

In my previous post, I had mentioned that one section of my booth had a Yellowstone inspiration.

That is a pretty loose reference. I guess what I was going for was my typical, romantic neutrals with a dash of western rustic thrown in. (Really, just boots and Stetson hats, but hey, I can spin all sorts of tales in my head about the stories behind the look)

There is some of the more neutral Easter decor on that side too.

And throughout the whole booth, I have scattered nests.

I seriously love the look of an all neutral design, but I cannot pull it off for my whole booth. Because I also adore cottage roses and pretty colors too. So I try to designate sections for each theme or color.

Hmm, my whole Yellowstone theme might just be in my head, because if you watch the show, you see very little white.

As I said before, though- inspiration and copying are very different. You want to keep that line separating the two. I doubt if there is anything truly original left to do in this world, but the trick is to add as much of your own self to any idea as you can, right?

As I usually do, I’ve managed to cram a lot into my small area. And then mentally slap myself when I start to day dream about expanding into even more booth space… or getting another spot somewhere else….

If I was smart, I’d just try to beef up my online shop. Honestly, editing photos and writing descriptions is not half as fun as arranging things in person or precariously trying to hang decor from the ceiling.

There is a pile of goods accumulating for my Boutique, though. And I love the nice people I meet online who shop there. Wrapping up the packages to make them pretty is my favorite part of selling through the website, I should concentrate on letting that part be the carrot on the stick to motivate me to get more done.

Then again, I am trying to give myself some grace and realize that I just can’t do it all.
We could all use some of that Grace in our lives, where we try to appreciate what we can do and not feel bad about being unable to do more.

ps- Good Juju is open First Friday and Saturday of each month