paintings – Page 21 – Karla's Cottage

Box full of Fun

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 16, 2008

Beth and I had a great afternoon working on covers yesterday for our Swap. We really got a lot done, it is fun to work together on them, she is always full of great advice, when I hold up a piece and say "what is this missing???"

I had a little scrap of my favorite pink flocked paper and used it on this one, with a hand painted cupcake and golden flourishes.

The tassel on the bottom of the card is one that Twinkle removed from a pillow for me. She is good at things like that.

This is some great, old red flocked wallpaper. I added a watercolor painting of a rose wreath to it and think it needs some sparkly stuff somewhere too. But I think Beth has laid claim to this one as the cover for her copy of the book, and she likes it as is. If she wants more on it, she will be sure to let me know!

I thought that this old wallpaper was wonderful. It needed a chocolate cupcake added to it.

This one, I did with Sissy in mind, and then she emailed me that it was one of her favorites!

I’ve used a copy of an old French post card that I painted fairy wings onto. She loves fairies as much as I do. Probably more, if that is possible.

This one features a German die cut of a rose basket.

This is the gaudiest of them all! Beth had this great paint, that is two toned, gold and pink- it shimmers and changes depending upon the light. I went a bit wild with it, swirls and leaves all over this cover!

It might be a bit much…

Here is the backside of some of mine.

And Beth’s backside. Well, that doesn’t sound right, does it? She probably doesn’t want her backside plastered all over the web.

Beth was so sweet, to keep the packages of recipe pages that are arriving for the swap all wrapped up so I can open them and have fun too.

These were in some of the bags- presents from Ele and Tammi.

Thanks! I love them! (I don’t have a photo of what is in Tammi’s little brown tissue package, but it is pretty. )

What a nice surprise!

Here is a list of all the bloggers in our swap, if you’d like to visit them. There is lots of talent in that group! Also, some of the cards coming in from non-bloggers seem to be from a talented bunch. I’ll be showing them here and on our Flickr Site.

http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/

bethleintz.typepad.com

http://shessewpretty.typepad.com/

http://raisedincotton.typepad.com/raised_in_cotton/

http://catieanscorner.blogspot.com/

fromthepines.blogspot.com

http://paisleydragonfly.wordpress.com/

http://pinkpomegranate.typepad.com

http://www.abitofpinkheaven.blogspot.com

http://www.prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com

http://heatherbullard.typepad.com/heather_bullard_collectio/

http://jennifer-acharminglife.blogspot.com/

http://www.scrappyjessi.blogspot.com

http://thejoyof.blogspot.com/

http://bluemuf.blogspot.com/

http://creativechaos.typepad.com/creative_chaos/

http://madrekarin.blogspot.com

http://sugarbeardesigns.blogspot.com

karlascottage.typepad.com

http://countrychintz.blogspot.com

http://adelinecountrycottage.blogspot.com

http://webersworld.blogsome.com

http://ahappymiscellany.typepad.com/a_happy_miscellany/

http://room206-liisamannery.blogspot.com/

lollysnestegg.blogspot.com

http://simplysage.blogspot.com

http://theroseroomnz.blogspot.com/

http://rhondisrosecoloredglasses.blogspot.com/

http://dreamcreateinspire.blogspot.com

http//:gypsymermaidlife.blogspot.com

http://www.simplymein.typepad.com

http://shabbyinthecity.blogspot.com

Boxes_and_ducks_004 Look what Beth made for my fairy grand baby! Isn’t it beautiful??

The colors are perfect in her room, and it is soft and cozy.

I am borrowing it to cover up with when she isn’t here visiting.

The cute sweater Sugarwings has on was a gift

from my other sis, Bobbie Sue. Boxes_and_ducks_008

Yesterday was a

funBeth Day,

today was a fun

Sugarwings Day.

We played in her

room a while. Boxes_and_ducks_009_2

Then, we sat in the

bathroom in the

dark and

played with her

light up ducky. Boxes_and_ducks_022

It is snowy and cold here, so we built a fire.

Our box of starter logs was empty

and we decided to

have fun with the box.

It was a great place to play hide and seek with a friend. Boxes_and_ducks_019

Or to sit on while performing a concert. Boxes_and_ducks_030

Or to wrestle in.

We also sat close together and put it over all three

of our heads and told stories.

Green Eggs and Ham is a good story to tell

when you have a dog that can be the fox and

you are actually in a box. Too bad we didn’t

have a goat or a boat.

Tomorrow will be back to work, no Beth or

Sugarwings to play with.

Maybe I’ll get that Christmas tree down…..

Waste not want not, and some belated resolutions

Etsy Goodies, fairies, jewelry, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 15, 2008

I can’t let anything go to waste! This recipe page was too cute to not re-use some how, and the swap book will already have a copy of it inside, so I turned it into a Fairy picture to hang on a wall.

After taking advantage of the big sale at the UPS store on copies (29cents, not 19, but still good!) I had copies of my fairy painting done.

I used an exacto knife to cut around the hand painted roses and the wallpaper hearts over the recipe, and made a slit to slide in the portrait that was cut to fit.

Then, I made a new banner, with the word "Fairy" cut out of and old fairy tale book and added a ruffle and a sheer organza ribbon to hang it from.

It is now listed on Etsy, but I wonder if I should have kept it and hung it in my studio? I do have a thing for that fairy tale wallpaper I used and have to get over the miser in me who wants to keep my greedy paws on every scrap! SOLD

I also changed one of my book covers yesterday. I had to add this German foil crown that I got in the mail from Speckled Egg. I ordered a bunch of pretty things from her, some brass heart charms, die cuts, more crowns.

One of my belated New Years resolutions is to use more hand painted elements in my paper collage work. Here are the backs of the covers I have done so far. I am finishing the backs of all of them, I do think that is important. If it is pretty wallpaper, I am leaving it, but if it s more simple, I am adding some flourishes.

I painted a few lockets too.

Some I am going to tie to the recipe covers.

The rest, I am using for other projects like this button jar. SOLD

I just listed it on Etsy too.

I thought I had more of the heart lockets, but I could only find a handful to paint. I am trying to be productive and work on what is in FRONT of me (another resolution!) instead of spending all my time hunting around in my stashes for something I think I just Have To Have.

Another resolution I made, just this morning (yes, very belated) is to only use my fabric scissors for fabric. No paper, I want to keep them sharp.

And along those lines, I will not use my regular scissors for cardboard or WIRE. Only for paper. That might be the hardest to keep.

I also resolve to take down my Christmas Tree before Valentines Day. Or at least I sure hope to. I am beginning to avoid my own home and just hide out in the studio to avoid all the dusty, holiday decor. Of course, there are Xmas trees out there too, but I am used to that room being a mess.

This last cover that I made yesterday is a bit different. My friend, Jen, who is in the swap too, came over. We were going to work on the project, but her time was shorter than she planned, so we ate chocolate cake, had coffee and hung out.

I dropped my piece of cake on the floor and broke a favorite plate. But I do that sort of thing a lot, being a klutz. The thing is, I always feel like no one will believe that I didn’t actually eat the whole cake, or the last piece of lasagna or what ever, that I really dropped it. That sounds like such an excuse- like something I’d make up to cover up finishing off the whole thing myself. (I was glad to have a witness!)

Anyway, she did have time to go through my stuff and pick out what she wanted me to put on her cover. I hope she likes it.

Well, now I am off to Beth’s, we are going to work on covers for the swap today, then I am going to do my dreaded shoe shopping while I am in the big city.

Oh- guess what!! Lucky, Lucky me- I won the contest from Remember my Childhood

and won a hand sewn skirt for Sugarwings!! Here is a photo of one of the skirts from her website.

I told her that I’d be happy with any skirt that had pink flowers on it and she could chose one and surprise me with it.

Thanks, Clarice for hosting this giveaway! The fairy grand baby and I will have a dress up tea party and she will wear her new skirt and her pink wings from Carol, and I will of course take tons of photos of her, because I can’t help myself.

Aren’t digital cameras great? You can take all the photos you want, plus you don’t have to have the camera right up to your eye, you can still be a part of what is going on.

Ok, I’d better pack my glue and my sparkly things, I need to go make pretties with Beth! This will be a great day!

A Fairy Princess and a Weird Old Lady

Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, I've been tagged, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / January 11, 2008

I had a wonderful day, a Sugarwings day. That is the best kind. She cuddled up on my lap and watched a whole movie with me, while we played with Twinkle’s soft ears.

Then, this evening, I had time to do this watercolor sketch after making a pot of homemade turkey noodle soup.

Not a bad day at all, a cuddly baby, a dog with soft ears, homemade soup, and time to paint!

This little painting is a cartoon of my friend Rachael’s little Princess. I am going to send it to her as her prize for my December Giveaway.

I like to figure out what the prize for my monthly giveaway will be AFTER I draw the name, that way I can do something custom.

This isn’t a perfect likeness, only a quick caricature done while I watched an episode of What Not To Wear. Do you see Stacey London’s influence here? The little fairy is wearing an empire waisted dress. Stacey is always pushing those.

I’m so glad that Rachael won last month, I have been wanting to paint her beautiful daughter for a long time, and this was a great excuse to finally do it.

Now for another thing that makes me happy -7 weird things! I was quite addicted to that rage when it went through blog world before, and read them all, from one list to another to another. I’d get lost in all the stories and insights into my fellow bloggers. Now, the game seems to be going around again and I’ve been tagged another time myself, this time by Michelle. Here is the last one I did, at the end of this (typically) long and rambling post: http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/2007/09/beth-birdies-be.html

I LOVE the weird lists. Whether I know the blogger or not, I can’t stop reading all of them. I’ve done this a few times myself, but feel like I have enough weirdness to fill a few lists
On my trip home from apartment furnishing out East, I brought home a suitcase full of bubble wrap and cardboard that our new purchases came wrapped in. How could I waste all that wonderful, precious bubble wrap???
I had 2 suitcases on that trip, and weirdly enough, I filled the gym type bag without wheels full of clothes and heavy stuff, while the nice wheeled piece of luggage was filled with bubble wrap. I don’t know what I was thinking.
My wallpaper addiction is becoming serious. I am forcing myself to cut it up, use it, sell it, enjoy it, not just hoard the stuff.

These 3 drawers are full of rolls, and that is just the tip of it all.

Here are a few sample books, I love working with these, so easy, no ironing like the rolls!

I save every little scrap, you never know when that little strip of old paper will be the PERFECT touch to finish an artwork!

There is more, it is taking over my studio. I am thinking of papering one wall in it, but small bits, like a crazy quilt. So I can stare at it and enjoy it all. See, weird. It is an obsession.

5. I keep one of Sugarwings sockies on my bedside table when she isn’t here, because it is so tiny and cute and reminds me of her. I snuck a pair of her little pink sockies into my husband’s bag so he would find them when he unpacks at his apartment.

We are both smitten with her.

6. I wear my paint clothes all the time. I am a slob. My family is used to it and I used to get strange looks from people sometimes, but don’t so much anymore. My theory is that people don’t notice middle aged women much. We are invisible.

7. I can’t get enough popcorn. Sometimes I go to movies I don’t even care about just to eat the popcorn. I love to go to late movies all alone and get a bucket of crunchy, salty goodness and relax. Its not the same at home, no matter what brand of microwave corn I buy, the stuff at the theater is the best.

I met Orville Redenbacher at the Indiana State Fair when I was 12 or so, and it was before he was famous, he was giving out samples of his new popcorn (pre-microwave days) and I always remembered that funny man, and recognized him when I saw the commercials later. I just love Orville and am glad they brought him back from the dead to do his commercials again, even though it is slightly freaky.

Thanks Michelle, that was fun!

I finally picked up a copy of the new Somerset Life. What a gorgeous issue! But all of their magazines are wonderful, I love them all.

This one has an article about kits and they have featured one of my kits for sale on Etsy.

Its an honor to be a part of such an interesting and well done publication!

I hope to spend some time tomorrow making some more collage kits to list on Etsy. I have a few up right now, but I have some ideas for more.

But I also need to work on those swap recipe book covers, my year end quarterly taxes, and did I mention that my Christmas tree is still up, as well as my whole house is still decorated for the holidays???? I might just need to add some pink and red hearts to the trees and forget about it till after February!

So much to do. I think I’ll go to a late night movie! I need to RUN so I don’t miss the last show, I hear that bucket of popcorn calling my name!

A red and green (with only a hint of pink), sentimental journey through Christmasses past

family, holiday decor, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 18, 2007

Throughout my kids’ lives, I have painted an ornament each year for them to hang on our tree. Ry is still a bachelor and lives in an apartment we built onto our home, so he shares our tree, (plus most of his apartment is a home gym, with punching bags and weights, not exactly Christmas tree friendly).

But Adam lives with his pretty little hippy chick and Sugarwings, so I think it is time to pack up all of his ornaments and send to his own happy home.

The teddy on the rocking horse was an early one for him, painted in 1981.

But his all time favorite was the pink Care Bear. My little guy was never afraid to be fond of pink toys. He had a pink water balloon named Pinky that lived for over a week and went every where with him when he was four. He wrapped Pinky up in a towel "blanket" to cuddle it. (the towel came in handy when Pinky met his demise)

This was one rough, tough, little boy, but he had his sweet side too, and that might be why he is such a great dad now.

This Care Bear ornie is even more special now, because Sugarwings is a huge Care Bear fan, and her uncle Ryan is giving her a big stuffed pink Care Bear for Christmas.

Some of the balls that I painted over the years are satin, most are glass.

When I was a single mother, working as a waitress, I used to buy all the kid’s Christmas gifts with money I made by selling hand painted ornaments for $3- $5 each. And my hand painted ornaments were the gifts I gave to everyone else. I still do a few dozen each year as presents, as well as selling them.

I also used to paint these pre-made ceramic pieces too. These two horses were painted to look like our own horses, Scooter and Fairy Belle. I think these were made for Adam in his Jr. High years.

Here is a cartoon of Adam as a high school wrestler.

And a moon face for the year he had his bedroom done up in gargoyles.

The marble looking balls were some that he and I made together, by pouring and then swirling acrylic paints and glitter into clear glass balls.

Sadly, not all the ornaments survived, we’ve had a few mishaps over the years. But I have quite a few to pass on and to hope he will pass on to Sugarwings someday.

Some of them do make me cringe, looking back at them. I think I was lucky to sell my work for five bucks back then! They were all cute, but maybe not that good.

I enjoy seeing the progression of my style over the years. And I am glad I didn’t trash the ones I painted when I was young, no matter how bad they look to me now.

Some of my sentimental things always make it into my holiday decor, things that aren’t necessarily Christmas items.

Like this scrapbook, that I made last year of Sugarwings. I have it opened to the page of her first Xmas.

(of course, I made the book so thick, it never closes anyway!)

The book that Mr. Snowman (the doll is not sentimental, only 50 cents at a garage sale) is reading was written by a friend, Vicky Howard. And the apron covering the chair was sent to me by my great Aunt Caroline who is turning 100 this next summer.

I had painted this little wooden box for my mom one year. And she didn’t really like cats, so i don’t remember why I painted a kitten for her.

I think I was just in a kitty phase and was painting a lot of kittens in late 80s.

I always have family things on display year round and dedicated one wall in my stair way to paintings and photos of people I love.

The background of the oval painting of my mom is of a quilt she made for me. And I hung the necklace she wore in the painting to a nail I put into the frame. It is a charm necklace that I made for her, and she used to wear it a lot.

Here is a painting I did of my husband’s grandmother, and also used a quilt she gave to me as a background.

Her name was Gladys, so I added a gladiola to the painting.

I used her quilt top as a table cloth in the library and set out more family scrapbooks on it.

One page is open to Grandma Nathan’s picture in a cabinet card. The background is "quilted" with strips of paper, and I tied a teeny sewing machine charm to the flap of the photo cover.

And the card opens up to the photo I did the painting of.

Well, I’d better get to work. I have a studio to clean up and turn into a dining room.

Does this look like a place you’d want to eat Christmas dinner?????

I have packed up a few things, sold a few, gave some away, and then the rest of the things from my sale are just shoved here and there and every where. I have to do a major transformation, plus buy gifts for my family and wrap them. And did I mention that not a single Xmas card has been made or sent??? I’ve been in bed with the flu and have severely fallen behind.

Heck, I’ve shown you bad artwork from my youth, the total wreck of my studio, I’m sure you’d love to see the ultimate in NON-eye candy photos- me recovering from the flu. Ugh. Now, I have probably chased away all my readers for good!

At least I have Twinkle by my side through it all.

Now, for a shower and back to work. Or maybe a nap.

PS– here is a little tidbit of decorating advice from my funny freind, Beth. She was sick too, and stayed at an auction long enough to buy a transferware bowl before going home to bed, and I said, at least she had a pretty puke bowl to keep by her bed.

"That’s a pleasant thought- maybe you should write an article about how to keep living a lovely life while you sick- pretty puke bowls, arrange your pills in the shape of flowers, use antique lace hankies instead of kleenex to blow your nose, take your cough medicine from a sterling silver spoon"

Big changes

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, jewelry, paintings

By Karla Nathan / December 5, 2007

I think I am done. I might not be, but I think I have all my hand made Christmas items listed on Etsy. I don’t even know how many I listed!

All I know, is that I took a LOT of photos and did a ton of editing and wrote and wrote and wrote descriptions.

I’m afraid most of my backgrounds are all the same, not as interesting as I usually try to make them, but this was a 3 day marathon event!!

I wanted to get all these up on the Etsy site before we went to DC tomorrow, so people could have time to shop for holiday items. Anything sold this week will go into the mail on Monday after I get back.

In between the listing today, I took time to look at apartments online.

Yep, we aren’t just going to DC to visit, we are apartment hunting! Rich has taken a new job that will have him based there, for at least a year.

I was so afraid we’d have to move!!! We are really lucky that it worked out so that we can live there part time and Kansas part time. Actually, my husband will go back and forth a lot more than I will.

How on Earth could we have sold our cottage and left Sugarwings to go live in some big city???? I would have just died to have to leave our wonderful, happy life here behind.

So it is my sweet husband who is making the sacrifice and living way out there, far from Sugarwings. And you can tell how he dotes on her from this photo, it won’t be easy for him to be away for a week or so at a time.

The new company will let him have an office at home for part of the month, and he will spend a lot of time racking up frequent flyer miles.

I think I have mentioned over and over in this blog, how lucky I am. I should spend time in casinos, I really do have a good luck streak going these last few years.

It won’t be easy to have two homes and to be apart that much, but it is a great job that he deserves and we will make it all work.

I’ll still get to have my studio so I can make all of these fun things to list on Etsy. And we’ll still be around for our kids, friends, nieces, nephews, and fairy grand baby. Oh and the garden and Dorkies!!

I’ve been promised a laptop so I can write my blog from way out East and I also plan to take along water colors so I can paint there, at the dining table.

Knowing me, I’ll probably get ten times as much work done in my Kansas studio than I do now, since he will be away so much!

People ask me how I can manage to get so much done- well, I am just really, really fast. And I don’t have a day job, this is it. I get to make pretties all the time!

Didn’t I say I was lucky???

I’ve never liked the name I chose for my blog, I should change it to "lucky me" or something like that. Of course, that could be cursing myself and about then, I’d break a leg or something.

I haven’t always been lucky. There have been major tragedies in my life, lots of ups and downs. That just makes these good times even better.

I’ve been really poor, I’ve broken my back and had years of chronic pain, I almost lost my sweet son to meth addiction and had to fight to get him back.

So, I don’t mean to sound like a Pollyanna, I honestly have many reasons to be thrilled with my life right now and to enjoy every moment to the fullest.

Sometimes you have to wrangle all the happiness you can get out of the world and hold onto it tightly.

I’ll be away until Sunday, and will come back with photos from the trip. See you then!

In the meantime, don’t forget about the party coming up on Wednesday next week. Invite all your readers and any other bloggers you think would enjoy it.

I will have drawings and prizes and will be sure to set some goodies aside for non-bloggers who leave us comments about their own holiday decor as well as other bloggers who link up for the party.

A List a mile long

Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, I do tend to run on, don't I?, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 4, 2007

I spent as much of yesterday as I could listing on Etsy!

I got quite a few things up (at lower prices so they will disappear) until about mid-day. Then, I had a break and when I went to go back to listing more, the light was gone and I couldn’t get any more good photos.

Natural light makes such a difference in a photo. Like this one of a hand dyed vintage linen bag. Isn’t it pretty how the sun comes in the window from the left side?

I try to never use flash in my pictures of my art work or shop listings.

This bag was done with fiber reactive dyes, I have a huge set of dye colors. Before Sugarwings was born, we had a baby shower that was a tie dye party in the garden. Everyone brought something white and we dipped and dyed all after noon. She has a whole wardrobe full of tie dye clothing, which is perfect for her since her mom is a hippie chick.

Our fairy grandbaby came home from the hospital in a tie dyed ensemble.

I get the dyes out and make something every once in a while. I like to dye my t-shirts that get a coffee stain on the front so I can still wear them.

Today, I am taking all my photos first, then listing throughout the evening. Its a Sugarwings sleepover night, so I can’t say how much I’ll get done…….

My afternoon break was from some shoppers who called and asked if they could come over to look around. They verified my guess that the reason my sales were down on Sunday was because it was too crowded.

All of them said that they just couldn’t see to shop and wanted to come back and look without the crowds.

I have more people coming in the next couple of days, but I did warn them it wasn’t set up as pretty as before. Actually, the studio kind of looks like a bar the day after New Year’s Eve.

At least my house is still clean! But the baby isn’t here yet. Give it a couple of hours and it will be looking quite lived in.

Which reminds me, I walked into my house from the studio during the home tour to find someone going through my kitchen drawers!!! She was telling her husband that real people did live in the house. Well, what did she think it was?? So, I said, yep, this is MY house and she turned red and walked away. Really funny, I was laughing and thinking maybe I should have cleaned out drawers too??

After the whole thing was over, I saw that the shower curtain had been pulled back too. I guess that means, I should have cleaned the shower. Geez, who would have though that people would be peeking in places like that???? There were hosts around to keep an eye on that kind of thing.

Oh well, they got an eyeful of mess is what they got. I only cleaned what I thought was going to show!! I hope they enjoyed the view of the pile of wash rags and an empty shampoo bottle on the floor of the shower. Did I mention that there were tiny little, muddy dog foot prints on the shower floor? Twinkle loves to play in there.

These photos I am showing are of what I did get listed yesterday. Some have sold already! thanks!

All are listed at lower prices than I have had on similar items before.

This is another photo of some of Beth’s contributions to the shop.

I’m not sure how much of these she sold. I do remember ringing up the little pink angels. The weekend really was pretty non-stop crazy.

Beth and I figured out what was weird about Sunday- with all those crowds, we didn’t get our giggle and gossip time.

Usually if you aren’t selling much, you are all alone at a sale, no crowds. So we hang out and talk and usually have so much fun, we don’t care about sales. But with hordes of people walking through we never got to relax and kick back. It was just weird. But I would do it again, I enjoyed my weekend and sales weren’t bad. And I am donating $500 of the sales to the charity that sponsored the open house tour. They are a free clinic that helps people with no health insurance, and that is a great cause to me. When my son broke his elbow, they were great. He has no insurance, much like many young people his age.

Now, I need to go Christmas shop from my pile of leftovers to find presents for my blog giveaways and for my family.

The rest I need to photograph before we go out of town, we have a trip to DC coming up this week.

So, I’m off to shop in my own studio, then list more things before the baby comes to play. Nothing gets done while she is here, except some tickling, hide and seek, and made up stories about fairies in the woods.

When she is older, I will write some down and illustrate them for her, so she will have books of her adventures in the forest as a fairy with sugar pink wings.

Favorite Things

hand painted signs, holiday decor, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / November 28, 2007

I am making headway! Things are coming together for my sale. I even had time to embellish another photo album. This is covered in a great, old wallpaper, ruffles of sheet music and an handpainted oval of anaglyta wallpaper that I did for it.

None of these items are newly done, but I have them hung and priced! That feels like an accomplishment right there.

I had painted the wreath onto my closet door and decorate it for the seasons. Right now, it just is sporting clearance junk I want to get rid of, nothing too special.

I had painted these two bright little pictures and the flower polka frames for an article I wrote, and they really aren’t my style. But the story was about using a round sponge brush to paint the flowers on the frame and I was told to use BRIGHT colors.

These are more my style. I painted all of these last night.

And all of these- too. The ones on the floor still need hooks and wire on the backs. That is the time consuming part. I can paint like a fiend, it is the grunt work that gets me.

Ready for a parade of signs?

Sugarwings stayed all night, so I had to do get these done after she went to bed.

I snuck out to the studio to paint while her Pop Pop was playing with her for a bit, then went in to take my shift of chasing her energetic little body around the house.

Can you see what happened to her clothes when I gave her a hug?? She’d better get used to it. Everyone around me ends up getting smeared with paint sooner or later!

Back to work. Sorry about the photo quality. did I mention I am in a rush to get ready? You can tell by the reflection in that mirror that my studio is a bit of a mess and not finished yet.

Plus there are a few more things that could use a sparkling of Fairy Dust glitter on them yet. I’m sure little Sugarwings will go home with a few sparkles on her to match the paint.

Swept away by shades of pink!

Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, paintings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / November 24, 2007

Thanks to everyone who came by yesterday and shopped or visited.

And thanks to Phyllis for hosting the craft fair. Easiest one I have ever done! No packing or hauling or setting up.

Friday’s craft fair items will be available for sale till Thursday the 29th. On Friday my studio sale starts and I will include what ever is left in that. The snowman and the top left ornament are sold

Here are the ornaments that remain from what I got painted yesterday. If you are interested, or need to see a closer picture, just leave a comment or email me. They are $10 (normally $15) each plus $5 shipping for the first, free shipping on all others, or on any included items, just not the albums. (The albums are too heavy to pack in the same box with the fragile balls)

Anything in my Etsy Shop can be combined with the shipping of the craft fair items too.

I didn’t go out in the crazy shopping frenzy the day after Thanksgiving, but I did go the day before to get new shower curtains so the bathroom would be all spruced up for my open house.

I had the floral curtains already, but a plain white shower curtain was under them. I bought a Simply Shabby Chic set of soft white cotton panels at Target and hung them instead. I even took down my clear plastic curtain that was underneath and gave it a good washing in hot water and bleach so I can see through it again. We have such hard water that those things cloud up fast.

I had to replace the curtain for the other bathroom too. I’d painted the ceiling in lavender and pink, and dripped onto the plain white curtain that had been hanging there.

Why don’t I know better? I should have taken it down first, but I get impatient and just want to start painting.

This faux finish is one of my favorites. I did it a while ago and am not tired of it yet. It started as a lilac ceiling and aqua walls. I blended in other pastel colors over these two and made gradual changes in the color as I went down from the ceiling to the floor.

It transitions from the purple to a green, with lots of blues and pinks in the middle.

That watercolor on top of the cabinet is one I did of Dahlia, my first Dorkie. She was such a lively dog, we still miss her. She was a great mom too and always had 7 puppies at a time. That is sure not typical for Yorkshire Terriers.

She was stolen from our yard, and was pregnant at the time. I felt like I’d had 8 dogs taken instead of one.

On a happier note- look what else I found—- A PINK vacuum cleaner!!!

It was only $18 too. Will it be any good? I don’t know, but it’s pink!

Craft Sale day, get out your list for Santa!

Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, jewelry, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / November 23, 2007

Phyllis is hosting an online craft fair today!

Here is my plan for the day:

I’m going to show a few photos of ornaments to start with and all are $10 each, a special price for Phyllis’s craft fair.( Plus shipping. )

Shipping for ornaments will be $5 for the first item, all others free.

I will be painting ornaments all day and will add them to this post as I finish them, or you can email special requests from me. check back later today for more to see!

All the ornaments can be personalized for free. Names and dates can be painted onto to the ball for you. Free personalization and custom order offer is good only Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th.

Sale prices and shipping specials are good all week

ROSE BUSH IN TERRA COTTA POT AND SNOWMAN SOLD

I make all of my earrings from vintage beads and findings.

The French hooks are always either sterling or 14ktgf.

For today, all these sparklies are SALE priced at $10 a pair, Shipping will be $3 or free with other purchases. GREEN EARRINGS TO THE RIGHT, BLUE EARRINGS SOLD

This vintage wallpaper star features old sheet music (a Christmas carol in green ink!) and an old millinery flower. (4 1/2 x 4")

$5 plus $2 shipping if alone (free shipping if included with another purchase) STAR SOLD

These sweet little peat pots are filled with glittered up vintage figures and millinery flowers and hung with old trim, then embellished with old buttons.

$4 each

plus $5 shipping (free shipping with other purchases)

6 PEAT POTS SOLD, BUT I HAVE a few more MORE email me if you are interested.

Also for sale today-

Any of the albums from this post: http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/2007/11/twinkly-sparkly.html If you’d like to see more photos close up, please just ask.

These are prepurchased albums, that are made with really pretty papers inside. I have embellished them with vintagey goodness and lots of old wallpaper!THE PINK AND YELLOW ROSES ALBUM BEHIND THE BABY ONE IS SOLD

$35 each, plus shipping of $9

(I’m sorry, they can’t be shipped with the hand painted glass balls or the peat pot pretties, but anything else you purchase can be added to the box at no charge.

Hand painted charms with vintage beads are available today also.

$15 each, with $3 shipping

These can be shipped free with other purchases

BLUE BIRD SOLD

Thanks for shopping with me today, and make sure you check out the other locations that Phyllis will have listed. My friend, Beth, has some great stuff to check out too.

We all appreciate you buying HANDMADE!!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday, like I did. We had a wonderful family day, and I didn’t have to cook it!! I made fudge (my specialty) and noodles, then brought the wine and pop. How easy is that????? A first for me, and I could easily make it a habit.

Aren’t Sugarwings and her Hippie Chick mom some of the prettiest things you’ve ever seen? My son is a lucky man to have them as his family. I’m thankful he has added them to our family.

OK, I am off to go paint ornaments. I’ll add some soon. This will be a loooong post.You’re used to that from me!

(Don’t forget about the party on the 12th.)

LATER: I have been painting a few ornaments in my breaks from making price tags for my upcoming sale here in the studio. Here are the newest, still wet ornaments.

Well, not the prettiest display to show them on, is it?

Upside down egg cartons work well for a drying rack .

I just painted 3 balls with butterflies and 7 mini ones with a tiny rose.

The small ones are only $5 each, but I’m afraid the same shipping applies.

But remember, the shipping is discounted with mulitple orders!

I’m off to paint more and will add them when they are done.

MORE!

Here are a few more ornaments. 3 rose topiaries and one rose bouquet.

What am I working on now? Cupcakes! But they are still wet and arent’ glittered yet.

UPDATE:

I’ve had a nice day. Made some pasta, watched some Tivo (30 Rock and House, not a bad way to spend an hour) and then painted a few more balls.

I’ve had some special orders to fill, which I enjoy, and got a few ornies painted for my gift shop this week.

All of these will be available until my gift shop opens on Friday. If you see one you need, let me know. I can do special orders on Saturday too, but after that, I won’t have time till my sale and open house are over.

Thanks, Phyllis, this was fun!

Presents, packages, and procrastination- a look at my October giveaway prize

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

By Karla Nathan / November 6, 2007

Am I making any progress on the studio before the fairy grand baby gets here and I have to stop? Well, kind of.

I packed up my swaps and am taking them to the PO today. This ornament goes to Shirley, as my part of the swap that my Pretty Romantic Homes group on Ebay is having.

And my package, all wrapped up in vintage wallpaper, is ready to go to Natasha in Australia for the Deck the Halls swap hosted by Monica at:

monicaanderson.blogspot.com/

I won’t show Natasha’s gifts yet, so she’ll be surprised, but here is something I am sending to her son, Leroy. I doubt if he reads my blog.

KU is undefeated so far this year (that is a very big deal to my husband). Natasha is a football fan, so I thought it would be nice to send Leroy a football. Now my husband tells my that "Australian Rules" football is a different ball. Oh well, little boys have a good time with throwing balls around, so I’m sure he’ll enjoy it anyway.

I have a side swap at Silver Bella with Julie. Its funny, I listed 3 mini wallpaper,ephemera packs with an ATC as side swaps and Julie took me up on it.

The trouble is, that she was already in my ATC swap and I was including that same pack as part of it!!

So I told her I would bundle up some big pieces of wallpaper as a swap so she wouldn’t get the same thing twice.

I am hoping someone else takes me up on these ATC/ephemera packs. It would be sad to offer to trade and get no takers!!

I also made a gift for the winner of my OCTOBER GIVEAWAY– Jessi

She happens to be a Bella too, so I am taking the gift to her there.

You know you can enter my November drawing for a custom Christmas gift by leaving a comment, right? Any comment, any time , all month.

Lets see, what else did I do yesterday while avoiding cleaning the studio?

Well, as I did attempt to clean my work table, I came across a few things I wanted to finish, like this piece.

And I made up 6 of these little vintage ballerinas, so they could be fairies.

They are sweet little things. I guess you have to be pretty sweet when you have a face like that.

(oops, that was catty- but really, look at that face!)

I also framed this watercolor, but I just don’t like the vintage frame gold, it will have to be painted white. Well, I tried to get by with not painting it.

So, I am packed up and ready for Silver Bella at least, and all my swaps are done and ready to go to the PO, as well as all my Etsy sales for this week.

I am lucky to have 2 boxes to Australia and 2 to Canada on the same day! One trip to the PO for all, instead of going back for each. Out of country boxes have to go through the main PO here, I can’t just drop them off at the grocery store like most parcels.

OK, enough procrastinating. I have to go and clean the studio. Or I could go pick Sugarwings up early today……