Hand painted – Karla's Cottage

A mini makeover in my jewelry corner

By Karla Nathan / January 6, 2026

In February, I will be having rotator cuff surgery. Knowing that I’ll be one handed and away from my booth for a while is inspiring me to get all of my duckies in a row while I’m still able to work. One thing I wanted to do is lighten up my jewelry corner for spring.

This is the before, which I like. The dresser is the ideal size to display my vintage baubles on, and great storage for backups. But the dark color felt over powering. Plus I hadn’t bothered to rehang anything above it since selling a few mirrors. It was looking slightly uncared for.

For a revamp, I mixed up a faded blush pink paint (consisting of deep rose, white, cream, and grey) then primed my dresser. Between coats of paint and primer, I repainted some darker toned mirrors too. And a couple of other tidbits around my booth, because the furniture was taking forever to dry.

I was slapping paint on stuff all Willy Nilly because there wasn’t anything else to do while waiting.

The cedar wall needed to be a tad more foofy, but I didn’t want to repaint it all, so hung some rose patterned curtains over it. I’m not sure if they did the trick, but it is a softer look.

This is the black mirror from the before pic, now a creamy tone. And while I had my paints out, I pinked up the roses above it.

A year ago, when I first moved into this spot, the week of set up was during a bone chilling freeze. And while the drafty, old warehouse juju is part of is kept warm enough to keep the pipes from bursting, it isn’t exactly toasty inside.

I’d quickly added roses onto the wall, bundled up and left because I was freezing and could barely feel my fingers. But yesterday, the weather was downright balmy for January and the antique mall was a pleasant place to be. While killing time waiting for the dresser’s fresh paint to dry, I worked on the roses that I’d felt were too rushed looking.

It is possible that no one but me will notice the difference, but the little changes made me happier.

For now, I’m letting the dresser sit a few days to get good and dry. It’s a good thing I don’t live closer, because I’m itching to get in there and set up my displays. Since it’s a 40 minute drive, I can make myself wait and give the pink time to cure. Isn’t she a pretty color?

Like I said, it isn’t details most shoppers will notice much. But I think it lightens and brightens the area, which the customers will hopefully feel.

Holiday paintings in my booth

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, Hand painted, hand painted signs, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / October 16, 2025

While I’ve been away from my blog, I’ve still been in the habit of snapping pics of what I’m working on. And as usual, my main focus has been my booth at Good Juju, in the Old West Bottoms of KC.

I’m over the moon excited about my November sale’s holiday theme and wanted a noticeable way to sell ornies. Especially after seeing just how many were being brought into the mall by other dealers.

Wow, Juju must have the highest concentration of Shiny Brites in the Midwest. If you’re looking to add some vintage glory to your tree, uhm, I think I know what direction to point you in.

On the rear wall of the booth, my banner is flipped over to the Christmas Cottage side. It was a quick transformation from Haunted Cottage. The pulley system for hanging it made it simple to lower, turn over and hang back up. I did it by myself in a flash.

Well, maybe not like a lightening flash of speed. The canvas is 6×8’ and sorta unwieldy. It isn’t heavy, but a little stiff and bulky.

And big.

I waited until I had all of my leftover Halloween goods packed out of the way and the center of the space was open and clear, then tussled with it a bit. But the pulley process itself was super easy.

Another painted holiday touch is a couple of reindeer I prettied up with pink, white, and glitter.

Earlier this summer, I’d found a set of deer and a sleigh at a garage sale. I sold three of the cuties with the sleigh and saved back two for my decor. I kept the ones in the worst condition and gave them a makeover. They were rather holy, I’m thinking from years of repairs, hanging, and stapling lights to them. I patched holes with calking and changed the look from traditional to cottage chic with paint.

Since the glitter was sprinkled over Elmers Glue, they aren’t exactly good for yard art now. The adhesive for the vintage millinery blooms on their sparkly heads and the old ribbon was water based too. But after 50-60 years of living out in the elements every December, I think these gals deserved a break from pulling a sleigh in bad weather. They can be house deer now.

Or booth deer, I guess. I’m rather fond of them and would not be upset to give them a holiday home in my breezeway after our last day of sales, if no one else claims them.

Hey, thanks again for still reading after the kerfuffle of blog switching. I’ll have more antique mall pics coming plus all the other stuff I’ve been making in the last few weeks. See you around?

Creepy clowns, cutesy ghosts, and more

Good JuJu, Halloween treats, Hand painted

By Karla Nathan / September 1, 2025

My booth is ready for guests next weekend at Good Juju’s First Friday weekend.

There is a full display of Halloween inspired paintings hat I made on our Florida trip in July.

If they go over well, I have lots of ideas for Christmas paintings too. And I’ve been setting aside old book pages that will coordinate with the themes.

This scary clown might be my fave.

Although the way it is displayed doesn’t really show it off.

I have a clown shelf on this rack, and I’m thinking of a little redo before the sale.

Haha! I think I just said that I was all set up and ready for our weekend, didn’t I?

There is always room for a little tweak or add in!

It’s four more days till our sale, so I think I’ll zip into KC today and do a mini shuffle. I found some more clowns at a flea market and they are “dying” to be a part of my creepy set up.

Making over Mom’s old hutch

family, Hand painted, Hand Painted Furniture

By Karla Nathan / April 26, 2025

When I was a kiddo, my mom got a new dining set. An Early American hutch with matching table and chairs. I know I was pretty young when the change from chrome and Formica to a maple set happened, and for the rest of her life, she stayed with that piece.

After her passing, I took it home with me and gave it a makeover. At my house, it got some cottagey themed roses, with hydrangeas, and a smattering of holly hocks inspired by mom’s flower bed. I brought some holly hock starts to Kansas and plant too, but no luck with growing them.

Here it is in its original wood tones with my sisters in front of it at mom’s.

And at my home used in a magazine shoot. I used it a while, but while I cared about it sentimentally, it wasn’t an ideal fit for our home. At that time, we hadn’t remodeled yet and there was only one wall in the living room it would fit onto, it was too big for the dining room. A niece offered to give the piece a home and has had it since then.

But now, she is moving to a smaller place, and Sissy is finishing her move into a bigger one, so it now lives at Sissy’s big, new home.

And it’s time for another makeover. From Early American maple, to pastel Romantic Cottage/Shabby Chic, onto a kinda boho, Sundance style. I adore Sundance clothes and jewelry, often using them as inspiration in my embroidery and beading. And was pleased to use their furniture as a model for painting too.

Sis called the style Southwest, and it’s her house, so she knows what she likes and has, but to me, Sundance is a bit different from that. It’s western, but more mountain ski lodge than desert adobe.

Next post, I will show you the third go round of this hutch.

I cannot resist an unloved and rejected doll

Hand painted

By Karla Nathan / October 3, 2024

No one bought this doll from Beth at Juju, so she placed it out in the parking lot where we have extra space for either clearance goods or overflow. She told me to take it, and I said, only if it’s still there at the end of the sale.

At the end of the day, there she was, forlorn and left in the gravel, overlooked by hundreds of shoppers.

Poor Ani.

Was it the “substance” congealed on some parts of her? Or possibly her crunched in chest? Probably that look on her face.

I redid her face in the style of vintage, French sitting dolls.

After vigorously scrubbing off the uhm, substance of some kind.

Next was a new hairstyle made of angora. I brought the hair forward onto her throat so she no longer had a neck like a WWE wrestler.

I don’t sew, her delightful princess gown is pieced together from other doll clothes and bits of lace then glued into place.

The only thing missing? Maybe a crown? She deserves one to feel better after all the rejection she faced.

Oh, and maybe a bouquet of flowers to hide her muppety looking (but freshly painted) hands.

A Wonderful, Wonder Horse Redo

Hand painted, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / August 20, 2024

Last month at the Good Juju venue, I had a western/equestrian theme going. In it, I used vintage Wonder Horses.

Here is how it looked on display.

Now that I am done with that idea, I thought I’d reuse them for the holidays, but turn them into more of a carrousel look. First step was primer.

Then a textured white paint as the base, a darker color for the mane and tail, black for hooves. I painted the saddles tan.

The eyes were painted with the same black and tan, then I brushed a coffee colored glaze over the entire horsey, a little bit at a time, wiping off as I went.

To give them the holiday sparkle that I was looking for, I covered the tan “leather” with Elmer’s glue and sprinkled a shimmery gold powder over them. After that dried, I used a silver Rub N Buff to highlight some areas.

The plan is to hang them from the ceiling over the entryway of my booth. I have gold glittered ornaments and vines to use too.

I’ll put dowel rods through the holes, and suspend them from fishing line tied to the rods. This project makes me so excited to decorate for Christmas!

But then again, I always am counting down till I get to do that.

Hand painted flannel shirts

Hand painted, how to's

By Karla Nathan / August 17, 2024

Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, I painted tee shirts and sold them in stores all over, including at Silver Dollar City in Branson, at crafts shows, and local shops.

I painted so many that I said I was done forever. (One year I painted 1,000). Since then, I’ve whipped up a few as gifts for new babies, but that’s about it. I did a couple for Sugarwings, but my heart just wasn’t in it.

Recently, the idea of painted shirts was again lurking in my head. I’d accumulated a pile of flannels that I wanted to sell this fall at Good Juju, and considered embroidering them, but knew it would take hours and I could not sell them for enough to pay for my time.

So, I thought I’d try a few painted ones. I’m much faster with a brush than a needle.

First, they needed to be slightly bleached out to soften the plaid design. Which was simple, since Sugarwings and I had been experimenting with bleach painting last week. I dunked these flannels while we had our bleach mess set up in the driveway, and left them in the sun to dry and was happy with the less vinbrant look of the plaid after they were done.

After a quick job with a brush and acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium, they dry for 24 hours, get heat set with an iron, and then washed and dried.

That might sound like a lot of work, but it all goes pretty quickly. Please wish me luck with them, I hope they sell!

New looks for old clothes

Hand painted

By Karla Nathan / August 8, 2024

When I asked Sugarwings to clean out the closet and get rid of anything not worn, the response was, “Those aren’t Goodwill donations, they are craft supplies”.

That began our deep dive into bleach dying, fabric markers, ice dying, and rebooting old pieces into new ones.

Here is one that I made for myself. I’m also working on some Jean jackets and flannel shirts for Goid Juju.

My grandfairy is fond of spritzing or painting bleach onto black shirts. We have been slightly obsessed and spent entire days doing little else.

While Dewdrop was here, we bought a lot of new school clothes, but I am sensing that for Sugarwings, most of the favorite back to school outfits will be the hand crafted ones. And that the pile of Goodwill drop offs isn’t going to be very big.

Oops, the closet is ending up more crowded than when the clean out began.

A little chance to do some painting

flowers, Hand painted, paintings, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / September 4, 2023

A friend posted a back to school photo of her and her mini me. It was a perfect little snapshot of joy.

I loved it so much, I just had to do a quick mixed media sketch of it. I will be gifting this to her next time I see her.

While my paints were out, I decided to do a rose painting for a kind soul who had gifted me with boxfuls of treasures during her de-stashing. I could never express my full gratitude for her generosity enough. I hope she knows how much it was appreciated.

I wracked my brain to figure out what to send as a thank you. Because of her major clean out, I thought she probably wouldn’t want more “stuff”, but a card was not enough. After perusing her IG, and seeing how much she loved gardening, so I am hoping that this flower will be something she likes.

Painting with grout? Yep

antiques/junking, cottage, Hand painted, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / July 2, 2023

For years, I have been using the grand fairies’ outgrown craft table as a side table in my living room. Not because I loved it, but because it was the exact size I needed at the holidays to set the Christmas tree up on. It wasn’t ugly, it was just a simple, round, white table. But it wasn’t anything I adored, that’s for sure.

Then, I found this table at a garage sale for FREE. Well, basically free. The lady sold me an entire car load of stuff for twenty bucks, and the car was stuffed to the brim. I felt like this table was a bonus thrown in with all the inventory I’d bought.

Here is how it started, perfectly nice, no problems, just a little too traditional for me.

I wanted it to look old. Well, that’s not exactly right because it already is old.

It needed to look like it had been painted and repainted over time. More cottagey.

So, first it was primed, then I mixed up grout into gray paint and gave it a thick, gloopy coat of that. Next, white paint, then sanding the clumps away. There were some ugly spots that didn’t sand well, so I touched up with the white again, then a glaze of umber went over it all and was wiped away.

To finish, a polycrylic clear coat went over that.

The paint looks properly mistreated now.

My Christmas tree will look great on its new pedestal! And I think I do adore this one. Bye-bye to the kiddo’s craft table.