paintings – Page 20 – Karla's Cottage

I’m just a girl who can’t say no to sparkles!

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, paintings, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 29, 2008

More from Karlapalooza- here is a picture Heather took of me, buying- what else?? Gems! Sparkling gems. I was like a magpie that day, constantly stopping for every sparkle I saw out of the corner of my eye.

This guy had piles of boxes of jewels and I couldn’t leave his booth. No prices were on them, he said they ranged from $1 to $7. I told him I’d make a pile and if anything was over a dollar, he could pull it out.

At first, I was trying to be polite and not hog all the good stuff from my friends, but they made their choices and moved on, so I piled it high!

He actually charged me much less than $1 each, because I bought so much. I ended up spending $35 there, not all of this is from that booth. But I didn’t spend over a dollar on anything here but that crystal stoppered bottle, it was $6.

I bought a few baggies of jewels for $3 a bag, and picked out the ones I wouldn’t use. We went to a friend’s house for a cook out last night and I knew his little girls would love to have some jewelry to play dress up with. I promised to bring them more next time I come too.

Heather Karlawski made the most lovely tussie mussie for me, and I thought that was just another example of how much we had in common, since I brought a tussie to her too!

And Kitty Karla had rolled up and decorated pretty vintage papers for us. I haven’t been able to bring myself to unroll it yet, it is too pretty as it is!

And yes– I found some hats! I pulled the flowers off of them and kept the flowers, leaving a couple of the naked hats behind for Heather to work her magic on and foof up. Have you ever seen how pretty Heather makes her hats?? Wow, they are beautiful.

I also bought old calling cards- notice the "Bella" card? I foresee many Silver Bella projects with that image!! And the two dolly dresses are for Sugarwing’s babies. I think that all of her toys at her Grammie Karkie’s house should vintage.

My favorite find of the day was the cake plate all these pretty purchases are sitting on.

It is a metal cake plate music box. When you wind it up, the plate turns and it plays "Happy Birthday"- plus it has roses on it and was only $4!

Sugarwings calls every cake a "happy" since they are often served with a serenade of "Happy Birthday".

She has her 2nd birthday coming up and I can’t wait to bake a cake with her and set it on this cake plate so we can sing along.

I miss my little fairy grand baby!!

I decided that for her birthday on August 16th, I would make a book to give her.

Here is my first sketch and this is the text that will be on the page:

"Sugarwings has a best friend, named Twinkle. Twinks is actually a dog, and Sugarwings is a little fairy girl, but these two think they are sisters. Isn’t it nice when your sister is your best friend?

Of course the two do fuss and argue sometimes. Often they want the same cookie or toy, but they have learned to share."

I have plans for paintings of them at a tea party, with Twink’s head cocked at an angle because she doesn’t understand why the baby is eating pretend cookies and is wondering where the real cookie is. And another page of the the puppy getting Sugarwing’s toes. A total of 6 illustrations and 6 pages of text. Not a big book, but just right for a two year old.

I didn’t take as many photos at the flea market as I should have. We were enjoying the day too much and didn’t stop for photo ops often. Here is Heather and Lori admiring some cute dolls.

I did take LOTS of

pictures of Heather’s home- and by the way, it is even prettier in person. When you walk in, you just feel tranquil, with all the soft colors and pretty things around.

I’ll show more next time!

And remember my TWO giveaways end in a few days, and it is not too late to enter. I will add a piece of the jewelry I bought at Karlapalooza to the prize pack of summertime bright color jewels I have wrapped up for the August giveaway.

And if you are interested in any of the little watercolor sketches from the previous post, the two pink cupcakes and the dove are spoken for. Thanks, Amy, Ruby, and Bobbi!

Pretty packages and hand dyed feet

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2008

My little fairy dolls are flying out of here! I will miss them, but I just bought a big bag full of Nancy Anns that have fairy wings in their future!

One thing that is fun for me about my Etsy shop is wrapping up the purchases. I try to put some time and creativity into each package.

This little sprite is going out in a tulle bag topped off with a hand dyed vintage rose.

I’d bought a hat filled with yellow roses, which aren’t my fave, so I thought I’d try getting them wet and spritzing them with dye to see how it turned out. I’m pretty happy with the results.

Whille I had the dye out, I thought I’d try it out on these shoes.

I found them at a garage sale for 50 cents yesterday. My feet are so fat it is hard to find shoes and I love to find some already broken in!! These were comfy as can be, but an ugly orange. I thought I’d be happy wearing them around the studio, but then decided to try the dye on them.

The dye has some gold sparkle to it, very shiny and glinty in the sunlight! I added some more glitz with a few charms, and now I think these might be my vacation sandals for my trip to Florida this week to see my Aunt Caroline and take her the big old bag of 100 (plus!) cards.

Will my feet turn colors from the dye? Maybe….

One of last week’s garage sailing purchases was a stack of folders for 5 cents each. They are perfect for packaging my Cottage Collage Kits on Etsy.

Also, I think that the person who buys the papers will be happy to receive a storage folder for them, as a surprise.

Although it looks like I am finding plenty of goodies on garage sailing days, I feel like I am losing my mojo.

Besides toys, and clothes for Sugarwings, I am finding very little lately compared to my past shopping. Maybe I am more selective?

I do like this 25 cent chandelier drop bowl. Its not old, but has the ‘look’ anyway.

And I can’t wait to serve something tasty from the $1 green compote at my next tea party!

This compote is a pretty one too, I paid a bit more for it, not typical of me, it was $4.

The cute kitschy kitchen utensils will be included in my June Garage Sailing Giveaways Prize pack. They will look pretty with the green and white theme I have going on in the gifts.

I am still receiving cards for Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday. This one is from Kathy at Kathyscottage.blogspot.com, how cute!!

Hopefully ALL the cards are photographed and loaded on Flickr. I chose a diefferent vintage wallpaper background for each card, to set them off.

I would hate to leave any out, they are so thoughtful and unique!!

If you sent a card, please check out the Flickr site and add any comment to your card, more info, such as blog address, home state or country, or anything at all will be appreciated. Also, some have no names, so if you see one that doesn’t and know whose it is, or if it is yours, please do leave a comment under the photo on Flickr and let everyone know!

Another fun thing to look at is a doll gallery that Bethany is hosting on the 25th. I entered this one, oh, and she is for sale, of course! $15 if you are interested.

She is painted with crackle paint, and decked out in vintage wallpaper, flowers, rhinestones and ribbons, with fairy wings sprouting on her back.

I think I am about caught up on things I need to do before my trip. This week I:

painted a pole on a business downtown

listed things on Etsy

photographed and posted over 100 cards on flickr

repainted my bedroom and rearranged my living and dining room

bought new shorts to wear to FL (ugh, not fun, after 50 years old)

I still have to paint two shutters, go through a HUGE stack of bills, and pack.

I should have done some of that earlier, since Sugarwings will be staying with me tonight. Oops. I’m sure she’d love to help paint those shutters!

The store owner was happy with her pole. She had at first wanted red flowers, but I tried that and from across the street they looked like blobs. The flowers needed more depth and red is hard to get that with. So, I changed them to shades of pink with red centers, which stands out nice on the color she chose for the background.

I used lots of blue undertones in the leaves so they would pop against the peachy color. Contrast is important with big, outdoor art projects. I feel so good about getting all this done before my trip, it is a relief to have those cards on the site, they are so precious, I want everyone to see them!

I won’t be able to mail any more packages after Monday, till next week when I get back, but there are a couple of dolls still on Etsy if you are interested.

Ruby tunes and colors stuck in my head

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, flowers, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 3, 2008

Sarah Duckett of Sadie Olive is asking us to See Red, and she is calling today, Ruby Tuesday. And now I will be humming that tune till tomorrow. As well as seeing red everywhere I go.

Sarah is the genius who designed my blog layout using all of my favorite paintings. I loved it that she took this watercolor of mine and turned it on its side, toned it down, added pink and made it look like vintage wallpaper for the sidebars of my blog!

See, GENIUS!

Red isn’t too easy to find around here at my cottage. Most flowers I have planted this year are coordinated in pink, white and purple. But here is a chippy old red bird in my birdcage planter, and a coleus that has a touch of red in the leaves.

This planter was a birthday gift from my friends, and has some red blooms that brighten up my entryway.

And of course, the French doors to my art studio are a rosey red. Ruby Tuesday was a good day for me to join in the party, ruby reds are more appealing to me than Chinese or orangish based reds.

This old curtain was lurking in my shed and I used it to wrap a pillow on the seat of this old vintage rocker.

And I am seeing RED after Twinkle took off after a bunny, into the woods and came out looking like this. One burr tangled up on top of another burr. I see an entire evening of picking this little stickers off of her ahead of me tonight.

A good sized portion of my day already went to weeding the garden. All of that work will pay off when these plants start producing. See the red on the little plastic tag in front of the tomato cage? That is a promise of goodness to come! I think it is my favorite red of the day!

Although, this red handled scoop isn’t bad either. I used it to spread more pre-emergent so that maybe I won’t have to do as much weeding later on.

This red air compressor might not be a thing of beauty, but it sure made my life easier today. I used it to blow all the filth off the fans that I had stored in the shed for the winter.

It worked so well, I’d love to bring it indoors and clean the whole house with it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful just to blow away the dirt?

Here is a bit of red watercolor paint on my palette. Sugarwings helped me with a painting last night during our sleepover.

UPCOMING GRAMMY BRAGGING ALERT!

She was lost in her project for about an hour. For a baby not quite 2 yet, that is quite a good amount of time to stay on a task.

I was actually able to work on my own painting while she worked on hers and we chatted about our pictures.

Mine isn’t done yet, now that the fairy grand baby has gone home to her Hippy Chick mom and her Daddy, I will be able to get the rest finished.

The pup is Zacharia Beauregard, my brother-in-law’s long haired dachshund. Sugarwings and I had a bit of an argument, she is sure this is Twinkle. I told her it wasn’t and she got irritated with me.

It was a friendly disagreement, but I did see a glimpse of what life with a two year old is going to be like. They think they are always right, don’t they?

Back to my painting, and humming… good bye Ruby Tuesday….

Two Sugarwings Fairies!!!

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / May 28, 2008

The swap panels are coming along nicely.

There are only about 400 or so to punch holes in and ring together.

But honestly, it isn’t monotonous or boring at all. I look at it as a chance to examine and admire each artwork.

Since Beth and I sorted them according to colors, styles and themes, they are already in piles ready to be assembled in groups that coordinate nicely.

Its kind of like doing one of those Flickr mosaics.

Or more like doing dozens of those Flickr mosaics!

I’m happy with the way they are looking, and hope everyone agrees that it was worth our time to match up sets of four instead of randomly hooking them together.

Tomorrow, Beth comes over for the day to finish and pack up the rest so we can get them in the mail.

A number of them will be late, though. Amy Barrickman wants to have a large selection professionally photographed for her newsletters and possible other publications.

We’ve had so many gorgeous ones come in, it will be hard to chose a few to send to Amy, so we are giving her a box full and letting her decide.

There are prizes going out to a LOT of swappers. Not based on their art (we love it all!) but by random drawing.

6 gift certificates from Vintage Workshop

2 clutches made by Beth and I with Vintage Workshop images

This lightweight cotton scarf, hand made by Beth and dyed by me

And a slew of tags I made from the images Amy provided

We’ve informed a couple of winners, but not all prizes are drawn yet.

I feel like I won a prize, look at the score I made today on a quick junking trip!

Sterling silver mini tiaras covered in crystal rhinestones, ready for me to foof and doodad up even further. I can’t wait to make these even more gaudy!!

Also, vintage trims and more cabinet cards. I KNOW I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO BUY ANY MORE PHOTOS. But when they are 50 cents or so, how can I not??? (the tiaras were $4 each and are going to be the most gaudily gorgeous things ever!)

Well, not as gorgeous as my fairy grand baby. Nothing is, in my book.

And look what I got, from my pal Lili! Isn’t she just adorable??? Thanks so much, Lili, I just love it!

I have my little fairy baby hanging on a chandelier in my art studio and can’t wait for her to come and see it there. She always notices my light fixtures and has a comment on them. I like to hang extras from them to surprise her, since she appreciates it so much.

Do you remember this photo of little Sugarwings at the zoo?

Today, after taking my husband to the airport at FIVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING– ugh- and going to the gym- double ugh- I sat down and painted a quick watercolor of this picture.

I ‘fairied" her up a bit more and added glitter. No respectable watercolorist adds Stickles glitter to their work, but hey, who needs to be respected? I’d rather be sparkly!

By the time this baby is in school, I’ll have enough paintings and collages of her to fill all the walls in my house.

If I had any sense at all, I’d spend my time on commissions instead of painting my own baby over and over!

Or instead of buying hats all the time. But, at least I pulled a few more flowers (and cherries!) off of a few and listed them on Etsy. And some on Ebay too. I hadn’t done Ebay in months. It isn’t hard to do, I just don’t enjoy it like I do my sweet little Etsy shop.

Thanks to all of you who help keep my shop going, I couldn’t do it, if I didn’t have you all shopping there. Yuck, I’d have to go and get a real job and not have time to waste on blog writing and reading all the other fun blogs out there!

That is why I am so happy to do giveaways. I owe you!!

So remember, you still have till the end of the month to enter to win the birdhouse for the Cottage Charm giveaway. And check out my previous post for the pics of my other giveway prize pack for May.

Over the top? Why of course!

fairies, family, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, paintings

By Karla Nathan / March 26, 2008

So many people were asking me about the mural I did on my baby B-I-L, Randy’s, floor, that I thought I would post more photos.

Here are a couple of snaps of it that I have in my scrap book.

This little fishy is drawn in the scrapbook too. He is a reminder of the one painted by the threshold in Randy’s craft room, kind of like a Walmart greeter, for everyone who comes in. We named him "Wallerford" after the Walmart greeter and the beautiful crystal Waterford glasses we were sipping our champagne from while we painted. Randy does know how to treat his guests right!

Here is Wallerford in person. Please ignore the twig laying on him, and by the way, it is a good idea to sweep the floor before photographing it, if you don’t want sticks in the picture.

Last year, I did a how-to on painting a concrete floor. If you’d like to read it, you can find it here.

Randy’s craft room was painted in stages. One night, years ago, we started painting family and friends on his wall as fairies.

It became a tradition, every time I’d go to Jacksonville to visit him that we would listen to show tunes (we both love Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Dreamgirls), drink champagne, and add more paintings to the room.

Now, two walls are a fairy forest, this is what the rest of the room looks like, a garden wall and sky.

Little whimsical details are everywhere. Like this frog chatting with a dragonfly while holding a champagne glass.

And one trip to visit was spent making the ceiling a sky.

After that, he HAD to pull up the carpet and turn the floor into a pond. What kind of magical, fairyland garden is carpeted??

Now, every inch of that room is all muralled up. I still add characters when I go now, there will always be room for a flying puppy, or Randy’s best friend as an elf somewhere in the gardens.

While I had my photo album out to get these pictures of Randy’s craft room, I came across these pics of "Jayhawks on Parade" and with the Kansas Jayhawks doing well in March madness, I thought I’d show you some of the work I did on the giant Jayhawk sculptures that were on display in Lawrence, KS a couple years ago.

This peacock represented team pride and was commissioned by the Art Center. It is painted in iridescent colors and features stained glass mosaic.

The "Marvelous Mosaic Floral Fantasy Joyous Jewelhawk" is the gaudiest thing ever! And you know I love gaudy.

Hand painted flowers, mosaics, beads, old jewelry, and more- this creature is one blinged up baby.

Over the top? Well, yep, just the way I like things.

Speaking of Blinged up, tomorrow (Thursday March 27) is our Bling your birdhouse day.

Hope to see you there!

Remember, I will be giving away one gaudy home for birds to someone who leaves a comment on the party post.

Oh, and GO Jayhawks!!

Somerset Life is chocked full of bloggers!

Etsy Goodies, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 24, 2008

I received my advanced copy of Somerset Life and it is delicious! The best Easter treat that I got this weekend!

I was so happy to see so many of my favorite bloggers featured in it and can’t wait to fill up the tub with bubbles and take a nice long soak to read this cover to cover.

My collaged business card was used in one shot, and I was surprised and happy to see that! My collage kits (inspired by my Sissy) are on pages 52-54

And my framed vintage doll dress is on 126.

But my favorite thing about the whole magazine (of course, I haven’t read it all yet, mostly I have just looked through it), is the article by Jenny Holiday. What she has to say about blogging expresses my feelings so exactly, that I could just hug her.

There is also a GREAT article by my pal "The" Heather (a joke she and I have, I always add "the" to her name), Heather Bullard. (page 18-21).

And a photo from my pal, Natasha is on page 132.

And who doesn’t love to read anything that Sandra writes? She is on 76, and 96-97. There are TONS of our favorite bloggers and artists in this issue, it’s a good one!

Heather is in multiple magazines out right now and so is Sandra. My BBF, Beth, had this to say "I think its so interesting that blogs are really the trend setters and the magazines are reporting on it." and I believe that she has something there. Aren’t blogs fascinating? No wonder you see so much of what is going on in the blog world and in blogger’s home printed into magazines any more. We are now getting double the pleasure, getting to read the blogs on a regular basis with in depth stories and then see the featured articles in magazines that we can tear out and save (You all have those files don’t you? The torn out pictures of what you’ll do someday? Don’t we all???)

I worked on a proposed article and a second secret project today with my photographer/artist friend, Diane Guthrie.

No details yet, on the project we shot today, I’ll let you know when I know! Here is some of the ideas involved, I am taking some of my artwork and using glazes and crackle finishes on copies of it.

I am going to be in a local art show this spring, here in Lawrence and hope to get a few of these made up to sell. That hydrangea is one of my favorite paintings that I have ever done.

And since I painted this one in my mom’s hospital room as I was keeping her company in her last few weeks, I can’t sell it. But, I have found a way to make attractive copies and sell those.

I hope to list some in my Etsy shop soon too, but the days seem to be getting away from me, and I just can’t quite keep up with everything I want to get done.

And why can’t I keep up with my work anymore? Well, look at this sweet little face and see why I get so distracted! When she tilts her chin up and looks at me that way, there is no way on Earth I can go to my studio and work, I have to scoop her up in my arms and go play a game or sing a song. Work will always be waiting for me later…..

Which reminds me, I am still working on birdhouses for the big, blingy, birdhouse bash on Thursday. Hope to see you there!

You are welcome to add the birdhouse button to your blog if you’d like. If you don’t have a blog, please post pics to Flickr. (An account is free and VERY easy to set up)

Greetings! A mini tutorial on making some greeting cards with vintage papers

family, how-to projects, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 18, 2008

My baby brother-in-law, Randy, has started making cards and has been asking for a bit of advice.

I offered to send him a box of goodies to use, and he said he didn’t know what to do with pages from an old book or vintage wallpaper.

So, I am making these cards with some how to’s for him to follow along with when he gets his package of vintage delights in the mail from me.

(All of these cards have been created with pre-made linen cards from Michaels.)

The first one is on a white card. I started by laying the card onto the wallpaper and cutting out a piece to fit with an exacto knife.

The piece of wallpaper was then attached to the card with a glue stick.

After the glue dried, I sanded the edges with the sponge sanding block, for a smooth finish.

As if vintage wallpaper isn’t old enough… I ‘aged’ the sanded edges with the side of my ink pad. This color is distressed walnut.

After the base of the card is ready, then the fun part happens! Time to embellish-

I cut an oval from a page torn out of a 1917 book with French text, and inked the edges with the walnut ink, then added a smaller oval of a coordinating wallpaper to the center and to that added a gold foil butterfly.

Some old brown ribbon and a single bloom of an old millinery flower are arranged across the bottom. I glued a crystal rhinestone (I only use glass ones, never plastic) to the center.

Right now these stones are on clearance at Hancock Fabrics for 75% off.

For a touch more sparkle, I’ve used a Martha Stewart glue pen to draw dots around the small oval of wallpaper.

I then dusted my favorite glitter over the glue.

As much as I hate to make Martha even more wealthy than she already is, I just HAVE to buy her glitter. It really is so good to work with! I use the fine ones, for a sheer look.

This card starts with a reddish-pink, kind of an azalea color, paper as its base.

Decorative scissors were used to cut out the French book page and the vintage wallpaper.

After gluing down the papers, I once again inked the edges. This time, I blended the ink a bit with a cosmetic sponge.

These old papers can be very fragile, so do this gently.

To finish, I added a snip of embroidered old ribbon, a mother of pearl button, and a teeny butterfly shaped button.

(Randy grows a butterfly garden, so the flowers and butterflies are some of his favorite things)

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, old red flocked wallpaper that I got from Allissa is glued on to a warm pink card for this one, traced with an exacto knife and inked on the edges the same way the first card was done.

After, I used 2 different decorative scissors to cut out the French book page, and a color copy of one of my own paintings.

At the bottom is a brass charm accented with 3 pink crystals.

One last how-to for Randy, this card has a pretty cornflower blue base.

To it, I added a strip of wallpaper cut with decorative scissors, and a piece of anaglypta wallpaper that I have aged with an umber glaze.

After the wallpaper was glued into place, I inked the edges with the side of the walnut ink pad.

In the center is an oval of the French book pages, and a German die cut.

To finish it off and add some glitz, three little crystals in the same blue are glued to the border of the anaglypta paper.

While I was making these examples for Randy, I thought he’d appreciate a kit for each one. While I was at it, I made a little extra.

I had enough bits to make two kits of three cards each.

Everything I used to make my own is in the kit and ready to be glued and mailed out to someone special (Mother’s Day is coming up, before you know it)

The pieces are already cut with decorative scissors, all you will need to complete the cards is:

glue

ink

glitter

glue pen

exacto knife

If you are interested, email or leave a comment. Each 3 card kit is $12, including postage. (unless overseas)

The last time I went to visit Randy, he and I painted the floor of his craft room to look like a pond.

I wish I could be back there in his colorful room and make cards with him, but isn’t the Internet great? I hope he reads this and feels like I am there with him.

I love you baby brother!!

It took a few days, but I am finally done with the stairs!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), how to's, paintings, redos

By Karla Nathan / March 4, 2008

Its done! whew, am I glad. So are the dogs, they have been penned up way too much to keep them out of the construction mess. Plus, I knew that Twinkle wouldn’t be too much help with the stair painting. She’s helped me paint before and it usually means tiny little footprints across the room.

Remember last week, I had this?

Now look!!

My stairway had been quite the hodgepodge of wall art, none of it really went together. It was dark, gloomy,a nd I could never keep that carpet clean.

Plus, we have an old house, but the upstairs addition is only 15 years old. I always thought that the stairs looked too modern, plus the whole area was just blah.

Because I was too short to reach up into the corners of the ceiling, I had to paint the walls and ceiling both the same color, I simply couldn’t cut in with a brush. It all had to be done with a roller on a pole.

I am a big believer in painting your ceilings a color instead of white. but might have preferred some contrast here. Oh well, its so much better than before!!

I also edited and rearranged the artwork hanging on the walls. (of course, that also means that I had to redo a wall in another room to make space for the family pictures I took down from the stairway, but I already said, one redo automatically leads to another!)

While I had them all down, I painted the frames white and distressed them. It is a much more cohesive look. Instead of it being the place where my unsold watercolors go to die, it looks like a gallery! (well, not quite, it is still full of rejected paintings!)

While I had the white paint out, I redid all the wood work too, including the banister and the old door at the top of the steps.

A little splash of Strawberry Whopper Pink in the background livens up my living room a bit too.

The thermostat had always bothered me, since it was glaring white. I toned down the brightness with some glaze, and also glazed the closet door next to the sofa.

I had to do the same with all of the steps and trim. After painting them a semi-gloss, bright white, I brushed a pale coffee with cream color glaze into the crevices and cracks, then wiped it all down with a wet rag torn from an old T shirt.

Next, I wallpapered each riser with some gorgeous, old vintage rose wallpaper I’d bought on Ebay. I used Elmer’s glue instead of wallpaper paste, for a tight hold.

When I stood back and looked at the finished work, I was worried it was just way, way too much.

The wallpaper was in such good shape, it didn’t look old!! Too white and too perfect.

So, out came the glazes again, and I toned down the glaring newness and some of the busy-ness of the steps. They are still pretty durn busy, but in a way I can live with now.

And since I was redoing…. Beth had given me this iron arch, it was originally brown. (yes, she is a great friend to have around, isn’t she??? I bought her lunch, but think this arch is worth more than that.)

I painted it white and glazed over it too. Then painted the mirror white, it had been gold, and I’ve used it as a center piece for my white dining room table since Christmas. But I am getting a new table this week!! The top of it is pecan, not painted, so the gold mirror, just wasn’t going to work there any more. Plus, it is always time for a change!

Since I had already repainted or glazed:

stairway walls

stairway ceiling

door at the top of the stairs

banister

steps

kick board

trim

closet door

thermostat

the picture frames

iron arch

mirror

Then, I figured, why not paint the corner cabinet in the dining room, so it will look better with the new table that I am getting this week? It had been a white-white, and I painted it more of a creamy white. Not a big deal to most people, I guess, but it mattered to me. I added the ornate piece at the top of it. I had to stand on a step ladder and hold it in place for about 20 minutes, waiting for the liquid nails to dry. But I took a book with me, it needs to be read before book club next week and I keep putting it off. So, there I was trapped for a bit, with nothing else to do, a perfect time to get some reading done!

Some Easter-y cuteness

Etsy Goodies, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 23, 2008

Today, was a blingy birdhouse day, getting ready for my tutorial on Monday on how to foof up a birdie home.

But, I figured that I’d need to straighten up my work table a bit if I was going to be taking step by step pictures. That turned into a major clean up/redo, trying to make my area more efficient. It took up most of the day, but it was worth the effort, it is so nice to have a cleaned up workspace!

Here is one thing I came up with, a shopping cart full of partial rolls of vintage wallpaper, handy and easy to get to as I needed them right by my chair.

On Monday, I don’t know if my post can actually be called a "tutorial" it will be more like some helpful tips and suggestions on how I do my own birdhouses.

I guess I could have called it "Birdhouse Bling Short Cuts and how to Avoid Things that I Learned the Hard Way"

Beth and I are having a party and showing our birdhouses, kind of a
"What do you LOVE about your birdie’s home" day on Thursday March 27th.

We are asking everyone to post photos of birdhouses you have fixed up and want to swap or sell,( or just keep and enjoy. )

Or, if you’d like, just show off some of your favorite birdhouses you have around your home or gardens. Although, hopefully not all of you have gardens buried in the snow like mine is right now.

Most of the bling kits I had listed on Etsy have sold, but I have a couple left and will try to get more made up. And if you are interested in being a part of our Bird House Bling Day, you can read the details on this post.

Sugarwings and her little cousin, Madison, are coming over tomorrow and I wanted to have a gift for the little girls.

With Easter coming up, I thought they’d look cute in matching shirts.

Michaels had some glitter and pearl paints on sale for TWENTY FIVE CENTS each!!! And I wanted to play with them, so baby girl’s shirts were just perfect for experimenting on.

And it looks like the poor little child could use a new shirt!!

Actually, she had an impromptu sleep over here last night and ran out of clothes. Her grandpa dressed her in a pair of his socks and one of my painting t-shirts while we waited for the dryer load containing some things that might fit her a bit better.

Once we had her dressed a bit more appropriately, and she went back home, I hit the studio, got it cleaned up and got a few things made. A few birdhouses, the painted shirts, and also this piece.

The glue is still wet, and you can see the clamps holding the vintage velvet ribbon hanger in place as it dries.

The picture is a watercolor I did of a pink striped bunny. I mounted it on a sturdy piece of cardboard, over two really pretty wallpapers (vintage- of course!).

I had some gorgeous old velvet ribbon in white and pink, used that, a string of pearl beads and some millinery flowers to "frame" it.

Hopefully, I will get it listed on Etsy tomorrow. I am ready to quit for the day now and go relax for the rest of the evening. My husband is in town for a couple of more days, so I need to spoil him with some home cooking, not sit out here on the computer all night!

The Blue Bird of Happiness flew in with 3 giveaways for February!

Etsy Goodies, give away, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 3, 2008

Has any one seen this One World One Heart giveaway? It is a group effort by Lisa Ocean Dreamer and she has linked a ton of bloggers who will be giving away gifts on Valentines Day.

I haven’t had a chance to enter more than a couple of drawings yet. I want to wait until I have time to sit back, relax and browse through all the wonderful new blogs that I haven’t seen yet, plus visit some old friends I haven’t been by to see in a while.

I’d like to offer this large altered tag as my giftie for the event.

It features hand painted roses, old wallpaper, glitter, and vintage jewelry- all my faves!

That makes THREE GIVEAWAYS for February for me!

Here is the list and the rules to enter my 3 drawings:

1. One World One Heart-leave a comment on THIS post only to enter

2. One Year Blog Anniversary on Valentines Day- leave a comment on any post up till the 13th, all are entered.

3. My regular monthly drawing– leave a comment any time all month, any post, all are entered.

I have been enjoying myself, playing with wallpaper all weekend. I have a bad cold, terrible cough and a fever that comes and goes, so in my delirium, who knows what I might end up creating?

Maybe I should just go to bed and rest, but I seem to be on a roll and very productive right now. Plus, if I lay down, I feel like I am drowning in my own snot (well, I guess that goes without saying, I sure wouldn’t want to be drowning in someone else’s snot).

So, I have stayed in my studio slicing and dicing wallpaper, mostly making books.

I felt like experimenting with the binder I bought. I might take it back, but I am not sure yet. I kind of liked using it to make these wallpaper journals, or scrapbooks. What ever they are.

Each page is a different vintage paper, ready for embellishments. I think these will be the perfect backgrounds for some one who wants to make a unique book, or a special photo album, and who loves old wallpaper!

I purposely left a lot of space for adding goodies. The pages are fit loosely into the binder, and there is room to expand.

I know that when I work on a scrapbook, I tend to make it so thick it won’t close anymore. Hopefully the way I assembled these will help out with that problem.

Plus, I was feverish and didn’t want to make anything complicated. I simply was cutting and gluing and binding. And I LOVE the collections of old papers. Yum. Or as Sugarwings says now, "Numms"

I did make a few other things too, when my fever abated and I was feeling like trying something more creative than cutting out pages.

I also spent some time listing things on Etsy.

This box is something I had made in the past and used to keep some supplies in. I thought it deserved a better life, instead of being stuck in a drawer full of magnets, like I had it. So, I listed it in my shop.

I also listed some paper doll dresses.

This one is a tutu.

I also decided to make another magic wand to send to Somerset Life. (The editor did like the photos of my last ones and asked to have them sent in, but that doesn’t guarantee that they will be used.) Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I just had to make this one. The stuff spread out on my messy work table practically assembled itself!

Don’t you love it when all the odds and ends in the craft room seem to just belong together? My Sissy sent the silk ribbon and rose with her book pages for our swap. The ribbon looked so beautiful with the flocked wallpaper I had just cut a book cover out of.

The crowns and wooden cut out birds were left laying on the table from making recipe swap book covers. And the wand itself? I finally packed away the Christmas decor from my studio (yay!) and had broken the handle off of a sleigh. It was laying in the pile of debris that I work out of.

Sometimes, being messy pays! All of these things that had been tossed aside, just called out to me from the chaos and like I said, practically made them selves. That is magic, huh??

She is the Blue Bird of Happiness and is ready to grant happy wishes to all.

I just wish she’d make my cold go away.

I’m off to make more wallpaper books, and watch the PBS marathon of the Jane Austen movies. They are starting in a couple minutes, so my spell checking might not be as good as usual. Blame the delirium from the fever too, if this is illegible.