paintings – Page 15 – Karla's Cottage

My fairy grand baby’s room

fairies, family, flowers, Hand Painted Furniture, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 13, 2010

While I am away from my computer for a few days I thought I'd leave you with some photos of the cottage. I'll be back on Sunday, and will have trip photos as well as some new listings to add to the shop (well, hopefully, I'll have some successful shopping while away!!) Any orders while I am gone will be sent out on Monday the 14th.

This is Sugarwing's room. She's pretty proud of the fact that she is big enough for her own night light (shaped like a tea pot) next to her bed. Her closet doors are painted with a mural of fairies in the flowers, and our dog, Sparkle.

Since she only comes to stay, and doesn't live her full time, the closet didn't need to be filled with her regular clothes, so it holds all of her dress up and play clothes. I'm always on the hunt at garage sales and thrift stores for fairy wings and princess dresses that are cute and cheap.

The ceiling and the area above the shelf are both painted like the sky. The shelves hold a collection of fairies and pixies, and little bird houses covered in vintage wallpaper for them to live in.

Her princess bed is vintage, I found it at an auction, and painted it white with pink glaze (instructions on my short cut paint technique are on my side bar under "tutorials")

Since the room is upstairs in an old house, it tends to get stuffy, so we had to add a window air conditioner. It doesn't exactly look great there, but it keeps her comfy.

There are white sheers on the windows, then above them, I screwed painted and glittered branches to the wall and tied trailing ribbons to them. We've clipped little butterflies and dragonflies to the ribbons and dangled fairies from the branches.

When Sugarwings was tiny, these pastel pails hung over her changing table and held her lotions. Now they hold fairy dolls that readers have sent to her.

I painted the fairy to look down at her on the changing table and she used to love to coo and talk to her while getting diapers changed.

I've painted LOTS of murals in nurseries over my lifetime and one thing I always make sure of, is that the pictures are interactive for the kids. In places where the baby spends time, like the changing area or crib, I was careful to add something of special interest for them to see. And in the rest of the room, all the creatures had friends. No matter what the theme was, fish, dogs, teddys- they all were in conversational groups.

One night when my fairy grand baby was just learning to string sentences together, we were laying on the floor of her room playing and she said "Grammy has pretty stuff". I told her, no baby, this is all YOUR stuff, this is YOUR room. She was speechless for a moment, probably for the only time in her chatterboxing life.

I think she likes her space.

Floral Fantasy Floor

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, paintings

By Karla Nathan / April 27, 2010

We are just falling in love with this little guy. His unique coloring is getting him a lot of attention, especially from Sugarwings. She wanted to snuggled him while we watched movies, I have to remind her that all of the puppies need some cuddle time.

There is nothing in the world better than holding Sugarwings while she holds puppies and we snuggle up to watch a movie together. Its the best! We hold two at a time, for about 15 minutes, until Twinkle gets antsy and wants them back. She will let us trade out two more when we return the two we had. She has some sort of inner stop watch and we aren't allowed to hold them for too long, or she'll start pacing and crying.

As they get bigger, she is spending a bit more time away from them and with me again. I've got my buddy back! She is right back to sneaking into my photos just like she used to.

Last week, I painted the bathroom in what I thought was soothing gray and mushroom with whites and cream accents. I thought I would love simple.

But, the floor just wasn't quite right for me. The soft taupey mushroom color was just too blah. So, I washed it with a sepia glaze. That wasn't quite enough either, so I added a border of flowers. Then, I sanded the whole floor for an aged effect and covered it with a water based clear coat.

Water based products are the only way to go, for me. I change things so much, that I have to use paints that are easy to cover. This floor has been a dozen different styles and colors since we moved in and I like the way I can sand through and pick up colors from under neath the fresh paint. It gives it some dimension.

Now that the floor is more to my taste, I am really liking the simple gray walls. Simple is great, in small doses!

Before painting the floor yesterday, and before running what felt like a million errands, I pulled out the sewing machine for something I wanted to experiment with. You know how nice and thick flocked wallpaper can be? Almost like fabric? I thought it would make a nice pouch, and sewed one up to see if it would work- it did!

Its fastened at the top with ribbon through hole punches and just stitched up the sides, so was really easy to make. I'm always on the look out for interesting presentations for things I send out from my shop, and love the way this looks as a wrapping. This one is going to Somerset Life and my altered book that I showed here is inside! Its always an honor to have something appear on their pages. A selection of my Peat Pot Pretty Fairies is going there too. (by the way there are still a couple of fairy pots in the Boutique as well as 2 kits left to make your own)

While I have the sewing machine out, I want to stitch up a few more bags.

And I have more Charlottes in!! I got a big boxful from Germany in a variety of sizes.

By the way, you still have time to enter the April Giveaway. I think I'll sew up a little flocked wallpaper pouch to send it to you in too…

I'll leave you with a reminder photo of the pansy pendant I am giving away, and also some pictures of what is new in the shop today.

Sweet Charlotte

Books, collections, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 25, 2010

EDIT: If you came by the Boutique looking for Charlottes and they were sold out, I added some more, so most are stocked up again. There are no more tiny ones or the largest ones, thanks SO MUCH!

When I made this Valentine fairy from an old Frozen Charlotte, I decided I wanted MORE of these little girls to play with.

So, I found a source to get a few…. well, maybe 140 of them.

These are dug up near the old German factories where they were manufactured between 1850 and 1900. Seconds were tossed in the heap, and are now being searched for in the ground like buried treasure!

I'm loving these cuties, even their dirty little bottoms. (which could probably be soaked clean, but I like the old patina from the dirt)

Some will be used in making my centerpieces for the photo shoot on Monday. But I sure don't need this many, so I have listed them in my Boutique.

They are $3.50 each, plus postage. If you order mulitples, I'll send you a refund for the excess postage, because they sure don't weigh much.

These little girls were fun to play with too. I'm repainting the tiny plastic figures into Alices.

And I am still making Alice tags! Even though I have plenty now…

Is this one too obscure? Its Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

This is my favorite one, so far. Its the doormouse in a teapot, that I painted. The ribbon under the label (cut from a chapter title in the 1923 book) is a snip of old, red velvet.

That book from Beth was ideal for this tag swap! I just can't imagine doing all these without it. I've loved looking through the illustrations, reading tidbits to get ideas, then snipping out words here and there.

I've also used the text as a background for many of my tags. And since it was such a thick book, I should have plenty of pages left to use wrapping paper for the completed tag books when I package them up.

Even though my 75 limit was met, (Yes, I know it was a 60, then a 70 limit first!), I'm still going to let a couple more people in if they want. I had #77 ask me to come in today. How could I say no, when I had 79 tag covers made, and I paid for plenty of little bottles and heart shaped keys to tie on the books?

So, if you are on the fence, you still have time to get in. Since I got a bit carried away in making the tags! Two spaces are available. Of course, when I get the 60th book put together, wrapped, packaged, and labeled, and still have almost 20 left to do, I might be kicking myself for this….No, I'll enjoy it! It is going to be SUCH FUN when all the tags start arriving at my door!!

Edit: The swap is filled up, as far as I can go! Thanks so much to all of you who joined in from all over the world. I just can't wait to see them all pouring in!

Here is a little something for you, if you are getting started on Easter projects. Click on it to enlarge before printing!

And remember, you can win an Alice Tag making kit by leaving a comment.

Also, I'm joining in on Cindy's Show and Tell Friday. Go visit her for links to other show and tells!

Alice and mermaids and magical things

paintings, swaps, Travel

By Karla Nathan / February 20, 2010

My Alice Tag Book Swap covers are coming along. I did a small painting of Alice and of a door, then glued them onto a page from the Alice in Wonderland book printed in 1923 that Beth gave to me. Then, I took it to the copy store.

I hope that isn't considered cheating? I'm doing some hand work to each copy. The door is cut open, and behind that, I'm gluing a small rose picture. To the back, I've added blue flocked wallpaper.

For a title, I kept it simple, and just wrote "Alice" in blue metallic ink on red labels and glued those on. How nice that Kathy

sent all those boxes of labels to me! Perfect timing, and just what I needed for these tags!

I've also ordered little bottles and heart shaped keys to tie onto each tag book.

Since I want a book to keep for myself, I need to make up some tags too. I think I have more than 6 done now, but its hard to stop! This is such a fun theme, the possibilities are endless.

For this one, I painted the tag metallic gold, then painted the mushroom with watercolors, markers, and inks. I cut the text from the book to make the "ground" for Alice to stand on. She, the pipe, and the caterpillar are cut from a colored page of the book. I glued them down, then drew in the tube for the pipe. It was just too tiny to cut out.

But of all the tags I made, this is my favorite. Its very simple and flowery, and the illustration that I cut from the book was just so pretty as is, I didn't do much to it. I simply glued it to flowery wallpaper and added trim, velvet millinery blooms, and a heart charm.

My plan was to limit the swap to 60, but I was hit with a ferocious bug of some kind and didn't move off the sofa for 24 hours, and in the meantime, the swap numbers grew. So, I've decided to keep it open a bit. The More the Merrier! I will allow in a few more, if you haven't joined yet.

I need to order more little stoppered bottles for the cover, I only had 60. Since the swap numbers passed 60 while I was zonked out, I am ordering more. And I'd be happy to have even more swappers join in.

Here are the details, if you want to make 6 tags for a book.

If you are already in the swap, please upload your photos to this Flickr group.

And if you need some wallpaper to complete your tags, I have added some really pretty ones to the shop.

I also listed some millinery tid bits. I don't waste anything! Hey, there isn't any more old stuff being made, what is left in the world is all there is. So, I use odd petals here and there, and thought I'd share some in case you like to do that too.

Because there is nothing like using the good stuff. This bit of lace was just a remnant, but isn't it pretty tied to a package I sent out this week? A little bit of something pretty, and old, magically transforms a plain package into something special.

Have you seen this!!???
We get to be mermaid sirens! Kim is throwing another one of her fantastic art affairs. And I have said to myself over and over that I really need to attend one of them, but the timing has never been right. Well, this time it was! I signed up today. My pal, Carol is going with me, and I have my fingers crossed that Beth will too.

Anything is more fun if Beth comes along.

I hope you'll be there too? Info here, if you want to come!

Little romantic gestures

fairies, holiday decor, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / February 15, 2010

Did you get roses for Valentine's Day? If not, my boutique is stocked up with new (old of course!) millinery.

We had a nice day. For us, Valentines is a celebration of the anniversary of my husband adopting our boys, so we do a family dinner at a favorite restaurant with gifts to pass out to everyone. We might have been the only group seated at the romantic Italian restaurant filled with tables of couples!

Earlier in the day, I pampered my husband for the holiday, starting with a heart shaped breakfast.

Then, I made up a heart healthy snack mix of dried blueberries, pecans, and chocolate yogurt raisins and left it by his remote control, knowing he'd be happily surprised when he sat down to take a break and watch TV in the afternoon.

When you've been married for almost 30 years, the little gestures are even more important than when you are newlyweds. And small kindnesses like these are what keep you married for 30 years! I much prefer a thoughtful little gesture to something flashy and expensive. And I think he does too.

You can still enter the Alice Tag Book Swap, if you are interested. Details here.

The more the merrier!

I need to run, I'm having a big craft day, tonight and again tomorrow in my studio, so need to get my table cleared off. Its about a foot deep in junk at the moment.

But before I go, I want to thank you for all the well wishes for my 700th post and 3rd anniversary. Oh, and I need to announce the winner of the Grumpy Fairy book.

It goes to Suzanne Duda.

Wishing the Happiest of Valentine’s Days to You!!

celebrations, fairies, holiday decor, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day! Today is not only my 3rd blog anniversary, it is also my 700th post! What are the odds that would happen??? So of course, I am celebrating with a giveaway. Today is the last day to enter to win a copy of my Grumpy Fairy book

This little painting is for Sherry. She has EIGHT grand daughters and has asked me to paint them each as a fairy, like I did for Sugarwings in the Grumpy Fairy book. I've had a lot of request for doing this, but have always turned them down. Now, I think I am ready to take on some commissions….

To see if I really wanted to go into the fairy painting biz, I did a few little sprite cartoons of some of my friend's children.

Of course, these will not be exact portraits, cartoon is the key word here. I have plans for some vintage wallpaper covered mats. When I have it all done and ready to mail, I'll show you the photos I worked from and the finished projects. I'll be interested to see what the moms say. I'll be relying on their feed back to see if I will offer this service in my Boutique. What do you think? Is there a market for this?

Each is a mix of ink, watercolor, acrylic, and glitter. There had to be glitter!

My little Sugarwings has been doing some artwork too. She needed to make 16 Valentines for school, so I turned her loose with my red and pink paints and some glitter gel. She was enjoying the job, but was even more excited to think about the cards her friends were making for her. Their party is Monday after Valentine's, which is lucky, because she was sick on Friday.

Speaking of lucky, I've been getting some wonderful gifts in the mail! An envelope full of vintage die cuts came from Ruth, (who is one of the participants in our Alice Tag Book Swap– its not too late to enter if you want to join us!)

This giant selection of red gummed labels came from Kathy, along with the cute heart collage and the round stacking boxes. I can't wait to gaudy up those babies.

I think that these labels will come in very handy on my Alice swap tags.

Then, I got a package from Sue

that was filled to the top with pretty papers for me and for Sugarwings! Along with lots of fun tid bits for my fairy grand baby to craft with, stickers, tags, and even sticky paper to make your own stickers with. She used some over the painted Valentines she made for school.

There was a set of fairy wings for a doll too! Sweet, huh?

But that is not all! My pal, Tiffany sent a beautiful card from one of her photos and inside it was this Glenda bookmark. Just because. And Jenn sent a cute Valentine, which was a sweet surprise.

And I can't forget to mention the Valentine calendar that my Sissy sent for all of us to copy and use (previous post). I ended up putting a copy in my scrapbook today, but instead of a photo, I added two columns clipped out of the newspaper this week. They are both written by Lori Carson, who was the host for the Romantic Decorating Tips I did for the local news station (here and here). She used the tips for her column too, and gave credit to my blog.

Yep, I'm pretty lucky. Thank you to everyone who comes by my blog to keep me company and to all the great blog friends that I've met. Thank you for 3 years of fun. My blog means a lot to me, and so does your company.

I hope you'll continue keeping me company as I blather on in the future!

3 years, 700 posts, a swap, some puppies, and a bonus giveaway, all coming up!

Books, celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / February 9, 2010

A year ago this time, I was posting puppy pictures. Here is Twinkle and her one true love, Teddy, with their one year old daughter, Bella (middle). Isn't she a pretty pup? Hopefully, we'll have a few more little dorks running around the house in 60 days or so. I'd better have some puppies, 3 are already spoken for!

Last year this time, I was hosting a Puppy Love Tag Swap. It was such fun, I'm thinking about hosting another, but since I don't have puppies around yet, how about an Alice swap? No, not this little Alice! I mean an Alice in Wonderland tag book swap?

The rules will be very similar to last year's swap. I'll write them up and get back to you for a sign up, I just wanted to plant the idea for now. Anyone interested?

As a Tim Burton and Johnny Depp fan, I'm so excited about the Alice movie coming out soon! The previews have been glorious.

Along with the details, I'll also post some pages from a vintage Alice in Wonderland book that Beth gave me, if anyone wants to print those to use for their tags.

This swap is just what I need to celebrate my 3rd anniversary in blogworld!

3 years and 700 posts are both coming up this week, so I'll have a special gift for you too as a thank you for keeping me company these last 3 years.

If you'd like to win a copy of my book, please leave a comment on any post between now and Valentine's Day. If you'd like to sign up for the swap, I'll have details coming and a separate post coming for that.

All comments all month count toward my regular monthly giveaway, whatever the heck I come up with for this time. I seem to be so short on time in the studio, that I never quite get done what I need, and still haven't got a gift pulled together yet. But I will….

Waste not, want not

fairies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / February 2, 2010

My 5 Romantic Decorating Tips for Valentine's Day are almost set and ready to go. Now, I still need to clean the house to be ready for the TV cameras on Thursday. After Sugarwings gets out of school tomorrow, she and I will be spending the rest of the day spiffing the place up. Then we'll all go OUT for dinner so it doesn't get messed up again!

The tip shown here, is to decorate with candy. I've wrapped some candy bars in scrapbook paper, with heart shaped doilies and some ribbon, then put them in a glass canister. Doesn't everything look better under glass?? Another trick for making items look more important and interesting, is to gather them up together on a tray. So, I've used a simple white platter to display the treats on.

(I'll need to fill up the M&M's- they got snacked on, I'll add some red and white ones, then maybe a ribbon?? What do you think?)

All of the tips I show need to be easy and quick. The segment is only a minute or so, and there won't be time to explain much. I'm trying to go for displays that speak for themselves.

After working on the Valentine display ideas, I sat down to do a little drawing that a friend commissioned. But- the paper I had just wasn't working. Another friend had given it to me, and it looked like really high quality stuff, but when I went to erase on it, it just fuzzed up. So, I was unable to finish the piece as a painting. I hated to waste it, so instead of watercolor paints, I colored it with markers and did a quickie, swirly background.

My poor niece is recovering from an awful surgery, so I thought I'd pack up some scrap booking supplies to send to her to play with while she was down. I decided to use this fairy sketch on the cover of the album I wanted to make for her.

Nothing goes to waste around here! Those props for the photo shoot will certainly be gobbled up and enjoyed after the cameras are done.

Oops, gotta go, LOST is starting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lighting

Chandeliers, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), paintings, parties, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / January 17, 2010

Remember the rugs I want from Curious Sofa? I am still jone-sing for those, but right now, they aren't available in the size I need for the kitchen. My house is big, but my rooms are small, in the old part of the house. And this is AFTER removing some walls!

I found these plain bamboo mats at Old Time Pottery for under $25 each. They are far, far, far from the quality of the ones at Curious Sofa. Those have wider, more solid planks of bamboo, more floor like than this. These are pretty light weight, and are a temporary solution for me.

To foof them up a bit, I drew on them with a brown Sharpie marker. It was an easy, quick project to do, I just sat on the floor and doodled away while Sugarwings and Twinkle played with toys next to me.

The reason I love the bamboo rugs for my kitchen to start with, is that they are low maintenance. If something spills, or mud gets tracked in, just sweep and mop them, and its a speedy clean up. But, I don't have to worry about as much filth showing (and with 3 dogs, a 3 year old, and a lot of grown men in living in this country house, there is plenty of filth!) because they are darker than the horrid light colored tiles we have.

By the way, if you are ever tempted to install cream colored flooring, just whack yourself over the head with one of the tiles instead. DO NOT give in to impulse!! I regret it daily. No matter how clean my house is, those floors always look bad.

(please don't tell Twinkle that the photo is of the rug, not of her, it would break her heart.)

I'm wishing we'd gone for darker tile, or even a really dark stained pine plank…

Soft lighting helps, though! Last night we had a dinner party, and I made use of all my lamps.

The overhead lights got turned off and I switched on all the smaller lamps and lit candles instead. (this rug still needs some Sharpie doodling) There is something about the soft glow coming from the corners of the room that makes me fall in love with my home all over again.

When we built the cabinets, I had electrical outlets added above them. There is one in the corner cabinet too. In that one, I drilled holes to run an extension cord up through, so I could have a little 25 watt lamp on each shelf.

And of course, you can't beat candle light either. I use this old chandelier with no wiring ($4 at a flea market) and the sockets perfectly fit tea lights. Previously, I used candelabras, till I realized that they are always in the way and block the view of the person across the table.

Tea lights don't drip, and burn for just over 2 hours or so, just right for a relaxed dinner with friends.

The snow still has not melted around here, and I have decided to give up on waiting. So I trudged through it to claim these garden chairs I wanted for the breakfast nook. Much better! The hand painted Victorian chairs are now in the studio, and I think this corner is much less sweet. I loved the chairs, and I loved the curtains, but when I got those great new lace panels, I realized that I needed some juxtaposition, or my house would look like a little old lady lived in it.

Well, I might be getting old, but I hope to not let my house reflect it… Some contrast, and some junk help keep a home whimsical and not fussy.

Where all the roses went, and my kitchen through the ages

Hand Painted Furniture, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, redos, show and tell

By Karla Nathan / January 8, 2010

My Zero Dollar Decorating has slowed to a crawl, I seem to have caught a bug of some kind. Or does Cabin Fever also cause joint aches and stomach cramps? Ugh. Its still colder than ever, but all of our cars are freed from ditches and snowbanks. I just am not up to getting out of the house.

People have asked me to show more whole room pictures of the kitchen, I'll take some when I am feeling a bit better. This bug is giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "under the weather" for me! I was feeling bad enough from being cooped up by the cold, I sure didn't need to catch a cold too.

There are a few photos that I had taken of where I moved the deeper, brighter color things from the kitchen to, I'll show those now.

Before, the corner cabinet in the dining room was all done in blue and white. Now, I've added roses to it from the kitchen, on top of all the blues.

The blue bird themed plates and figures, I've collected for a while, as well as the china roses. They are another remnant from my antique mall days, I'd bought them to sell in the booth and they never did. As I was redoing all my shelves, I wasn't surprised to see how many things I own were by default. Stuff I bought to sell and ended up keeping. Its not a bad thing, because I always told myself that I would not ever buy anything merely to sell it, I had to really like it and say it was something I'd add to my own home (because unless you are magic, not everything sells!). It was a form of staying true to my own sense of style, I guess.

Not all of this is inventory that I kept, the large chintz cake plate was my mom's, and so was the aqua wine glass. A gift from family, and some from friends are here too.

This shelf has some sentimental things, a framed quilt square from Grandma Nathan, a hankie from Grandma Downey, two pitchers covered in roses from my favorite flea market (reminders of fun times with my pal, Beth), and the bird I made at Silver Bella in Denise Sharp's class.

Plus this bird, she is so wrong she is right. I wonder if some crafty lady in the pre-glue gun days, added the feathers to this poor figurine or if it was meant to be this way? I see things like this and am oddly attracted to them, wondering if someday, my own embellishments that I am making to things now will be looked kindly upon in the future by someone at a garage sale with a quarter to spare?

The blue mirrors that are in this cabinet remind me of my sisses, who both collect blue mirrors too. The carnival glass and the cobalt teapot were both my mom's and those items were the original reason behind even having shelves filled with blue and white. Funny, how a couple of pieces of sentimental things can influence a whole room.

The photo on the left is of my husband and I about to share a smooch, and the frame on it is an old blue mirrored one. The photo (with a glare on it) on the right is my Mom's high school picture. Sugarwings has been made into art by my friend, Lori, and Beth created the vintage wallpaper covered journal.

I'm not exactly the sort of person to have a traditional hutch filled with wedding china. My stuff is a miss match of things I like, hopefully pulled together in a way that's attractive. But most of all it makes me smile when I see it. I am the sort of person who, really, really enjoys her stuff and likes to see it out and about.

Again, no one wanted these paint by number roses. I had them for sale here and there and there was never a taker for them. I even tried to give them away a couple times. Am I the only person to appreciate fine art? Actually, these bring back lots of memories of paint by number sets I had as a kid and adored.

And I do think they are pretty. Especially grouped with all of these blooms.

I'll leave you with some previous transformations of my kitchen, these photos are all from magazine articles I've been in. Some are from before we got the new cabinets, and some are from before I discovered pastels….

(I wish I hadn't sold this table!)

(My mom's carnival glass inspired the painting on this table, its sold too)

How do you paint a table with a leaf in it and still have a pattern on it?

First, paint the whole table without the leaf. Then add one leaf, and paint it so that the edges match up to each side of the table. If you have another leaf, match it to the first leaf and the edge of the table on the other side.

Okay, better stop now, I'm getting to the really old ones that were more country than cottage and they make me cringe!