paintings – Page 22 – Karla's Cottage

A lucky Fairy Find, Sugarwings goes to her first estate sale, and Ryan gets a date!

antiques/junking, collections, fairies, I do tend to run on, don't I?, paintings

By Karla Nathan / October 12, 2007

It has been a long, long, hectic week, with working on the living room, helping out extra days with the baby,since her dad is hurt, and 2 days of jury duty selection.

Due to the nature of the criminal case, I was a wreck after sitting through the first day of the selection process, even though I wasn’t picked. I had to force myself to go back a second day,and it went better. Plus there was an hour and half lunch break and I went shopping! Finding a pile of pretty junk CHEAP always cheers me up!

This pink frothy prom dress (with a broken zipper, but somehow I don’t think this granny will be wearing it anyway) was only $5! The earrings above were 50 cents a pair and the lovely rose book was $2, so was the white bird. Which will go into my newly decluttered living room to restart the cluttering up process!

Part of my de-cluttering was to take this hand painted ceiling tin piece out of the room.

I still like it, the flowers are just too red for the new look.

I thought I’d show this piece again, because the last time I did, was on the day of my lowest ever number of views on this blog. Only 4 hits that day. So chances are, no one has seen it!

It is so nice to know I am not writing just to myself and there are actually people out there now. Not just readers, friends.

Bethany listened to me the other night when I was really down and upset about the creepy guy at court on Tuesday and how shaken up I was by the few details I had heard about the accusations against him.

Today, Tamy sent me this kind card and these little red hearts as a thank you for hosting the party last month.

That’s just two examples in the last couple of days of the generosity I have seen in the blog world. I am now nearing my 200th post and 80,000 hits. During that time, I have seen countless acts of generosity and friendship from readers and bloggers both.

That is why I am planning on giving away a gift on my 200th posting. Come by to visit that day and enter the drawing!

Another generous blog friend, who actually has been a great friend for years, is Beth. After this tough week, I took yesterday off to go and hang out with her. When I got there, this china bouquet wall pocket was waiting for me!

It is so pretty, I can’t decide where to hang it. Right now, I am just enjoying having it laying out where I can admire it. Shoot, I almost feel like sleeping with it under my pillow, it is so wonderful! (she thought it was ugly, but knew I’d love it)

I packed up my supplies to make ATC cards for my Silver Bella swap.

I loved this old photo, and copied it thinking she’d look lovely in a German foil crown that I got from Speckled Egg (another Bella- she has a great shop).

Beth had given me the gray floral wallpaper, and I thought it was fitting for the "silver" background of the Silver Bella cards.

I took her some wallpaper too.

We are both totally addicted to the stuff, and share in each other’s finds. Speaking of—- LOOK AT THIS!!!!

Fairy wallpaper!!!!

These cards aren’t quite done yet, I’ll be adding some of the Martha Stewart White Gold glitter to the outlines of the background flowers.

These took forever, lots of steps. I should have just painted something instead, it would have been quicker, and I doubt anyone will know how complicated these were to make.

There are hand drawn metallic swirls in the background of the paper, and the lady’s face has been tinted with pastels, then her dress is outlined in glitter ink, and two different metallic two-toned paints were used on her dress. It might have taken a while, but we had fun, Beth was making Christmas tags and we were snacking and laughing all day.

I took another day off today too! I figured after court, I deserved it. I took my fairy grand baby to her very first estate sale and it was a good one.

Three boxes of old hats and millinery flowers for $3 or $5 a box!

There were some, nice big roses in the box too.

Some sewing supplies, that I bought mostly because I found what I thought was a dream come true in the box–

A BOX OF PREMADE BOBBINS!!!!!!!!!!!

Juggling a baby and three boxes of hats, made it kind of hard to look inside the bobbin box, and I figured I’d use the seam binding and buttons any way, so I bought it without opening it.

Sadly, it was just a bobbin holder, don’t you think the picture on the box is misleading??? And why don’t they sell filled bobbins? Heck, you don’t have to thread your own spools, why do you have to thread your own bobbins???

The rest of the day off was spent in watching a great Zombie movie, 28 Weeks later. That first zombie scene in it is one of the scariest I have ever seen. And I am a huge Zombie fan. I used to make Cherry cobbler to eat during these movies and call it zombie guts, but my son, Ryan went on a diet and lost 100 pounds and now he won’t eat cobbler with his mom any more.

Great news! A girl asked my shy son Ryan for his phone number and he is going out with her! I am thrilled to see him get out of the house and meet some one. All he does is work and work out and play video games (or watch horror movies with mom).

I’ve done it again, ran on and on. Remember- every comment enters the monthly drawing. Thanks!

The Last Day of the 3 day Living Room do-over

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Hand Painted Furniture, how to's, paintings

By Karla Nathan / October 10, 2007

I have a giveaway reminder:

I am at 194! On the day I hit 200, I’ll pick a name from all the comments that day.

Also, every comment is an entry into my Oct. drawing. I should make a button for that, people get confused and ask me a lot.

I finished the rest of the living room last night, with a faux finish on the walls done in the same glazes I used over the book "wallpaper".

I switched out aqua accessories for gold and white, with a hint of roses.

Then glued scraps of the left over slipcover fabric to my lamp shade, added some beads and old millinery flowers. I used to always redo lamp shades with hot glue and had the blisters to show for it. But this time, I used my favorite glue, "The Ultimate". It gets tacky fast and holds the pieces in place so that you can stick them down, hold it a second and move on. Every bit as quick as hot glue, but a better hold, no blisters and no little spidery web-strings everywhere.

I might paint the wood on the chair white too….. I’m not sure yet. Sometimes, it is nice to have the contrast.

Here is a close up of the wall, hmmmm, maybe it doesn’t show up too well.

I had the walls already painted a deep tan shade and used a creamy white, bronze, and metallic gold over that.

After I applied glazes, I went back over the entire room with the base coat, of the deep tan color, over the top of it all to blend. That is my number one best tip I will ever give you for a paint job!

Using the base coat as a top layer (rubbed on, over all of the walls, covering every inch in a light wash) gives a professional, designer finish look to the walls and makes any faux finish look great!

Here you can see the whole wall, that is covered in text. Maybe I need to darken the closet door a bit with a bronze glaze?

I also repainted the table I bought from Hobby Lobby’s clearance area for $28 to use as a toy box for Sugarwings. It is a small, compact piece that is a perfect shape to use a coffee table in my petite living room.

When I saw the tons of dust on everything that I moved out of the room to paint it, I decided to edit what I brought back in. I don’t know how long I will be able to hold myself back from glomming the room back up with clutter, but for now, it is nice and streamlined. Well, for me it is.

I rehung some of my paintings, but am not real happy with this one, I’ve never liked it much, mostly I like the frame! I might either repaint it, or just paint something else to hang here. Maybe something a lot bigger.

This water color is one that I did in my mom’s hospital room in the weeks before she died. I packed up my paints and brushes and drove to Indiana to stay with her while she was in the hospital.

The nurses were kind and set up a corner of her room for me to work in, and I got a lot of paintings finished in those few weeks, while I was taking care of her and keeping her company. Some nights, I would just stay over and sleep in a chair, but most nights, Sissy and I stayed in Mom’s house and sat on the porch drinking pink wine and laughing together all evening after we left the hospital. Our sister, Bobbie Sue, would join us on Mom’s back porch for a lot of those summer evenings. As awful as it was to lose Mom, those weeks are some of my fondness memories. I will keep this painting forever,and even used the image on cards as my price tags for the furniture I sell.

But- back to the redo—

I found a use for the hand painted floor mat that kept curling up so much that it couldn’t be used as a rug- I cut it down to place mat size for the dog dishes.

The little dorkies live in this corner, with a bed under the table I set a hutch on.

They have a doggie door cut into the wall to the right side of the picture next to their bed, so they can go out into the white picket fenced front yard when ever they want to.

So why does Twinkle still pee on my floor???

I won some awards!!! From Carol, I get a Smile Award. Check out her blog if you need a smile, she has a new header with an adorable fairy princess on it!

And Betty gave me a Creative Blogger Award. Speaking of, she has some cute Halloween yard art creations pictured on her site. Thanks, buddies!

Here is something fun- Go to HGTV.com and check out "Rate My Space". http://ratemyspace.hgtv.com/SNC/ViewItem.aspx?pguid=6db6be3f-1720-4ba3-a081-999042c09b6b&itemguid=bc6c28a0-7c97-4bee-98e7-2baba26e4f95

I listed my living room, it is #8704470

Give it a rating!

Great, this is all we need, one more computer addiction!! this site can really suck you in!!

Can there be TOO Many Roses? and a Temporary Hobby comes to an end.

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 4, 2007

Do you ever do a project that you put some time into, but it was still a wasted effort?

I painted this floral on the back of a linoleum scrap to make a rug. I’ve done this many times, it is a great way to make a cheap rug that is durable. (I have a stone patterned one in my office from a post a few days ago)

For some reason, this linoleum curls up on the edges, and will not lay flat, no matter what I try to do to flatten it. Guess I should have made sure it was going to be flat before I painted it, huh? Well there goes $10 in supplies and an hour of my time!

On a happier note, look at my new frying pan!!!

I got it for $1 at an estate sale last Saturday! It is a good, well made and well loved pan, and has a lot of use left in it- and it is PINK!!!

Carole sent little Sugarwings this book for her first birthday, and I promptly fell in love with Tasha Tudor. How can I have gone almost 50 years without noticing her work before?

I love her style and thought I would "adopt" it for a series of Christmas ornaments.

Generous Carole, is having back surgery tomorrow, please drop by to wish her well if you can. As a person with a bad back, I know how emotionally and physically draining that can be. I’ve had my share of back surgeries!

I only got a couple more ornaments painted yesterday,but they are not Tasha Tudor inspired, just my regular roses.

I also used two of my hand painted rose medallions (available on Etsy) to make a folder from one of my favorite vintage wallpapers. I’ll stuff it with Cottage Collage Kit vintage goodness and have it offered on Etsy too. (This is the same pattern as the ones that will be featured in Somerset Living – yippee- love that magazine!!)

I purchased these unfinished wood frames at Hobby Lobby after the 4th of July for under 50 cents each. I thought they could be Shabby Chic Christmas style instead of Independence Day with a few changes.

This one has a simple and sweet border of barely-there glitter and the roses are painted onto green sheet music, then coated with paper glaze, for a sheen.

the second one got a gloriously gaudy border with a heavier application of glitter, and a small silver star with a vintage rose bit of jewelry added to it at the top.

These roses are painted onto gold and white old wallpaper, but I got carried away and the paper doesn’t even show.

Are you all rosed-out at this point? I did have quite the rose painting day, yesterday between running errands (20 minutes to wait for a prescription at Wal-Mart????).

My Sissy gave me this print as part of the Swap we did in August. See the little Dorkie in it at the girl’s feet??

I decided to make the little girl in the picture into a fairy, by painting on some wings and antennas. (Although,if she wants to put her pretty bonnet back on now, the antenna might get in the way.)

To make the paint look like it belonged to the print, I used a crackle glaze over the whole picture after the paint dried, then when that dried well, I wiped a dark umber glaze into the cracks.

I used old ribbon and a fairy charm to hang it.

I covered the mat in the same vintage wallpaper I had happened to have laying on the craft table from making the folder (some decisions are best left to chance, I move quicker that way!) I used my stardust Gelly pen to outline the roses in the paper and give it some sparkle.

The inside edge of the mat is covered with seam binding ribbon and the old pink velvet is glued down then old earring are glued over that. I tore a chunk of flowers and velvet off a lovley old hat and added that at the bottom for extra foof.

Can you see the bottom of the painted wreath it is hanging from? I painted that on my closet door and hang little pretties from it sometimes. Others, I just leave it as a plain grapevine wreath.

And speaking of grapevine wreaths- I have finished my "temporary hobby" of making wreaths.

This is my 4th and final wreath. The rest of the 25 cent silk flowers will just go into vases. I did enjoy doing these few wreaths, but decided it just isn’t for me.

I was just making wreaths to get them done and over with, life is too short to make things because you feel like you have to.

By the way, in case you don’t know, if you leave a comment you are entered into October’s Giveaway Drawing.

Also, I am at 190 posts! I’ll have a special drawing for #200 and giveaway a gift then too!

Making more space and making money stretch

antiques/junking, Chandeliers, fairies, flowers, give away, holiday decor, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 2, 2007

I have been hearing that Romantic Country has been hard to find for a lot of people. I’ve seen that with these Harris Publications before. They have great magazines and people love them, but it takes some searching to find them sometimes.

So, today, I am mailing a copy to my sweet and tiny little mother-in-law out in Utah and my genteel and gracious great aunt down in Florida (who is turning 100!!). I made them each a book mark with their initials. I used some pretty scrap booking paper and brass charms but didn’t delve into my stash of vintage wallpapers and old ribbons. I knew they would just think it was old stuff and would probably appreciate the new papers more.

I redid the little corner of my studio that I call my office this week.

The rug is a linoleum remnant I painted for a magazine article "how to" story a couple of years ago. I switched from a larger table to this petite one and now the rug shows more. I’d almost forgotten it was there.

I use doors that are hinged together to make the partition that creates the space, and even though the doors have windows, the spot is dark. So I repainted the big hutch from black to pale, icy blue, and added another chandelier.

The table lamp is from last weekend’s garage sailing, $2.50- with the shade!!

Its hard for me to make an office a pretty spot, too many functional things, electronics, papers, BILLS, that I need to keep out.

Of course, the piles of Etsy stuff on the little blue desk doesn’t help the clutter, does it?

I might have mentioned a couple (or a thousand) times that I like fairies. I make my own from old dolls, or paint them, or transform vintage photographs into little fairy kids, but I also buy store bought ones.

TJ Maxx has these sparkly babes in with their Christmas decor for $5 each. I added these warm colored ones to my fall centerpiece in the dining room.

The velvet rose is from a bundle of the quarter ones I got at a garage sale, I glued it and some moss into a creamer from another garage sale that was only 15 cents because it was chipped.

My house doesn’t usually have fall colors. but I wanted to do something to celebrate the season and still be true to my own palette and style.

Fresh flowers are always welcome here. These are from last MONDAY at my local grocery store’s $1.99 clearance bin.

A vintage table cloth with roses in autumn colors, that Beth was selling for $3, and just gave to me instead, a basket from garage sales last week for 50cents, some of the vines and flowers (with lots of sparkle to them) from garage sales for a quarter a stem, and an 80% off after Christmas spray of glittered fruits from Hobby Lobby are part of the display.

I also added a gold carnival glass dish that was my husband’s grandmother’s and filled it with china roses that I collect for mosaic projects. Oh, and a bag of white pumpkins for $2, and a beaded pumpkin for $1. All of this, for what it normally costs to buy a flower arrangement!

Even though the flowers from last week’s sale bin are still thriving, I bought a dozen roses for $1.99 yesterday. Look at the deep reds and the wonderful striping of greens and yellows!!

The grocery store had a pot of white hydrangeas for $1.99 too. I hope to plant it outside as soon as we get a good break in the weather.

But for now, the pot looks good on my studio porch with the fall display there.

I might have saved a ton on flowers, but I went slightly overboard at TJMaxx on the fairies.

I bought one in every color they had for the baby’s room.

Even though I am decorating for the Christmas Parade of Homes, I don’t think these will come down after the holidays, they look like fairies that should live here year round to me.

One more bargain, before I go make things. I’d hate to only have 2 book marks and a rearranged room to be all I accomplish today.

My friend was having a yard sale and I bought this desk from her for $30. If I had bought it from a stranger, I would have offered $25, but very politely, I am never pushy or rude when I wheel and deal!

This attic room is in its beginning stages, you don’t want to see the rest of it yet.

And one more "one more thing" this is what I sent to Priscilla, who won the Sept. giveaway.

The tag is one that I made by cutting up my Romantic Country party invitation. I thought it looked fitting for her, as a Flea Market Queen.

I added her initial and a charm that I had made with old papers.

The charm can be worn as a pendant if she’d like.

I hope she enjoys her throne.

Please leave a comment to enter the Oct. giveaway. Maybe I will keep it as the Sept. one was, custom fit to the winner?

A Royal September Giveaway Winner, and some winning combos

Etsy Goodies, give away, holiday decor, how to's, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / October 1, 2007

I now have a no- fail calender! Back in August, I thought the month was over at the 28th because of a screwy calender so, Beth gave me this perpetual one to keep me organized.

And beautiful words to live by. I kind of have this motto in my head any way, but not said so eloquently

Now I know what date it is and that is it the correct time to draw a name for my September giveaway.

The winner for Sept. is

*The Flea Market Queen* !!

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments, please keep them coming, and I will keep bribing you with presents for leaving them!

A new give away begins today.

Sunday was a good day for me, and not just because it was the season premiere of Dexter on Showtime (have I mentioned that I am the biggest TV junkie EVER?)

I worked in the studio most of the day, combining two of my favorite mediums, collage and paint.

I painted, blue birds and branches on this old wallpaper, then made a tag out of it with 2 other vintage wallpapers and some millinery flowers .

This cool old earring was in my stash too, and seemed to fit the design of the wallpaper, same style of posies.

Another combo project was this old tin box covered in 3 different vintage wallpapers, with its edges trimmed in old seam binding.

I added hand drawn gold paint swirls, a flash of jewelry, some millinery leaves and a hand painted anaglypta wall paper medallion.

I traced some details of the paper with glitter, then sprayed the whole piece with clear poly to give it some durability.

Everything is glued down with "the Ultimate", so I know it will stay in place. That is a good glue.

I painted quite a few more medallions to list on Etsy. they seem to sell well. I did rose, cupcakes, and tea cups filled with roses.

The sugared frosting is German Glass Glitter from Heather. She says she is out of the genuine silver glitter (used on the blue birds tag) but has more ordered. If I were you, I’d get on a waiting list for it, it is that good to work with. I think one thing I like about it, is that it goes where you put it, not everywhere like glitter. It also has a unique look and sheen to it.

I painted a few Christmas ornaments. These are mini ones, that I will sell as pairs, I think.

I used the German Glass Glitter on them too. I DID NOT want to get hooked on that stuff, but it is really a pretty addition to a painting or collage.

I just worry about the dangers, I don’t want to be inhaling it, or getting it in my eyes. I don’t keep a tidy desk and I think you need to be careful when working with this glass.

Snowmen in October? I am getting ahead with my Christmas crafts, but I do need to get them done ahead of time.

I’ve been making wreaths this weekend too. I am working my way through the giant stash of 25 cent (brand new) garage sale flowers.

This is a new thing for me. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Time for me to go pick up Sugarwings to babysit and cuddle for the day. I’d hoped to stop at the gym on the way, but am running out of time. If I get fat, it is your fault. I am sitting in front of this computer way to much.

Beth, Birdies, Bertie, and a bit of weirdness

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, how to's, I do tend to run on, don't I?, I've been tagged, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 29, 2007

Yesterday was a Sugarwings Day. She is still feeling cuddly and quiet from her flu bug, so she wanted just to be held or to be pushed in her new ($3 from a garage sale) car.

While she was napping, I decided to surprise her by making her new car a bit more fitting for someone as special as she is.

I primed it, spray painted it pink, then dumped two vials of glitter all over the wet paint and covered that with a spray of clear coat.

I wish the glitter showed in the photo, because it really shines in the sun. Sugarwings might need some sunglasses when she rides in her pink convertible.

By the way, this is what I am using as a stroller. We go for long walks up and down the sidewalks and to the park in it. So much more interesting than most strollers, and the handles come off so I can put it in my car if we go somewhere.

Today was a Beth day. I went to her house and we crafted the afternoon away. Why is it so much more fun to dig through someone else’s bags and boxes of supplies than your own?

We both had new goods to work with, she’d gotten a tin full of broken jewelry at an estate sale and I had a stack of some of the prettiest paper ever from Heather. She and I did a mini swap of vintage wall papers.

This blue rose paper is one from Heather and the rhinestone posy shaped button is from Beth’s tin of sparkly bits and pieces.

Beth also had a drawer full of different wooden shapes, and she shared this birdie with me. And yep, the eye is from her stash of sparklies too. Plus- she gave me a baggie full of them to take home!

Beth had a page of Victorian bird pictures she had reduced and copied, so I was full speed into the bird theme today. I also was trying out her "Stickles" and decided that it was a product I won’t be able to do with out.

I used the burgundy Stickles ( a brand of glitter glue that has a very fine glitter in it, comes in many colors, and flows easliy from the bottle) to outline some of the flowers in the old wallpaper (from Heather) and the oval cut out of the bird (from Beth).

I also drew extra vines, leaves, and swirls with Gelly Roll Stardust pens. Another product that will always be on my desk!

The Stardust pens are what I used to outline flowers and leaves, then smudge it slightly for a subtle glittery look. (A trick I learned from Sissy)

Another new favorite is this genuine sliver glitter from Heather. She sells it in her shop and you HAVE to try it. Especially if you use it with yet ANOTHER new favorite of mine- a ball point pen that has glue instead of ink! I’d seen glue pens before, but these (from Michaels) have such a fine line and great control of where the glue goes, I just am crazy about them.

So do you have your shopping list of must haves for collage and scrap booking??

1. Stardust Gelly Roll pens (clear is the BEST)

2. Stickles

3. Ball point pen with glue instead of ink

4. Genuine silver dust glitter from Heather at Pretty Petals

These are my new "Can’t do with out ’ems" when I need to make something sparkle. And I always need to make stuff sparkle!

Here is what Beth made today. We might have gotten more done if we weren’t laughing so hard all day. For some reason, every sentence seemed to strike a funny bone.

Not a bad way to spend a day, laughing and gluing glitter on vintage wallpaper. Oh- and going out to lunch at Pei-Wei (a chain owned by PF Chang and just as good but half the price!)

Here is more of what Beth made today, she isn’t quite done with them, but I took the picture anyway, they look good to me.

Also, I have been tagged by Jennifer (Queen of the Ravens) to list 7 weird things about myself. Well, I’ve played this game before, twice, but I think I have plenty of weird to spare. Here are a couple at least.

1- This is embarrassing but true, and I did go back to finish later and jeez, I don’t know why I’d even tell anyone this- but I am a high school drop out. I’m not stupid, I was an A student, I wasn’t a loser or a druggie or anything like that, it was just family difficulties and I was a tad bit homeless at the time.

2- I am a serial renovator. I can’t stop. When we bought this old farmhouse, it was 800 sq feet. It is now almost 5,000. We just add and add and add.

3- I am a serial painter too. My living room gets repainted at least twice a year. Maybe more. Maybe twice a week if I feel like I need to. When I had an antique booth, I’d paint it every couple of months. Other rooms last longer in their colors, the living room seems to be my main target.

4- I sing and make up rhymes all day long and am completely tone deaf, but I don’t let that stop me. Sugarwings and the dorkies think it is pretty cool but the rest of the world finds me irritating.

5- I keep a file of co-incidences. Such as two days after this puppy, Bertie, died, I made a tie dye tee shirt that was supposed to be a butterfly, but it turned out to look like her portrait.

Anytime something odd or cute or coincidental happens, I make a note of it. I call it my Co-Inky Dinks and Odd Occurances file.

Like this picture of the sky over my cottage the day Sugarwings was born- this cloud is shaped like Sparkle, my dorky!!!

5- I have developed an addiction to vintage wallpaper.

A serious, dangerous addiction that can’t be stopped.

6- I once had a mural job that paid me $2,000 in one day. I paint fast, and usually try to make the job last longer so the person who hired me doesn’t feel like he got a bad deal. But sometimes, I can’t help myself, I zip through the work so fast, I get done too early. I’ve painted a 20′ x 60′ mural in 2 days, thats probably my speed record.

Here is are a couple photos of part of it, its a big ‘un.

7- I once broke my back. I fell off (was not thrown, that would be a better story) a pony –not a horse – a pony we bought from a church camp. A kid’s pony. I just was careless, slid off (it wasn’t very far to the ground either) and landed wrong. I broke 2 vertebrae and was in bad shape for years. Lots of surgeries, etc. I do exercises and keep limber or the arthritis in my back will cripple me up again.

8- bonus weird item- I don’t embarrass! (and I don’t know when to shut up) You can tell by the fact that I wrote all of this!!!!

I will do the drawing for September’s prize Sunday night. Thanks everyone for leaving comments, I appreciate it. Also, I am taking suggestions for October’s prize.

Waste not want not, and some shameless self promotion and begging, with a bribe thrown in

Etsy Goodies, give away, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / September 27, 2007

The after party let down hasn’t hit me yet, I am still enjoying all the after party glow!

Maybe since there are no dishes wash or cans to gather up or floors to mop, I won’t experience the crash that usually happens to me after everyone is gone home after a fun little bash!

Do you recognize anything here on these tags?

I simply can’t let anything go to waste!

I cut up my hand painted party invitation and made it into tags with some of my wallpaper stash.

(PS- thanks to all of you who are buying up my Etsy wallpaper Cottage Collage Kits, I know you will LOVE working with these papers!!!)

I was in an aqua mood, but I did use pink velvet for a couple of the ties.

These papers are quite an addiction for me, I found such great colors, the pinks are faded out to just the perfect shade.

I really should be painting, I have a big holiday sale coming up and I don’t even know if my typical crowd cares about wallpaper or tags, or paper doll dresses- they come to my sales expecting jewelry, hand painted things and lots of vintage pretties.

I could end up with a room full of paper goods and puzzled customers who wonder why they came!

I tend to get carried away with new ideas. Like- why did I buy a ton of these albums (with great hand made paper pages inside!!) to doo dad up like this, BEFORE doing one or two to see if anyone would even want one??

I just love them though, and will get alot of joy from covering them in wallpapers and old millinery flowers, jewels, tags, trims, and all the fun goodies I have to play with in my studio!

1-I glued down the full page of wall paper

2-I cut a medallion out of an old page with scalloped scissors

3- drew on the medallion with black gel pen and gold paint pen

4-added a smaller oval of rose themed wallpaper

5-rimmed the oval with gold glitter glue

6-rubbed a crackle glaze over the roses

7-garnished it all off with ribbon, a tiny posy and some vintage rhinestones and tied on a tag with one of my cut up hand painted roses from the invitation on it

The back is plain wallpaper, and the inside will get decked out too, I think I’ll make it into a book that anyone can simply add their own photos to.

How can I not keep playing with this old wallpaper??? It is too beautiful and fun to work with for me to stop even though I am about up to my neck in paper dolls, tags, covered boxes, albums, etc. I am nothing, if not prolific!

My drawing winners yesterday were Paula Kay and Cindy. Now, what are the odds that there are TWO Paulas?? One is Paula K.!

I am sending Paula #2 these cards I made up for her last night. She ends her emails with a cute quote, something about a hand made card is a hug with a fold in it. So, I thought, maybe this girl likes hand made cards!!

Here are a couple of folded up hugs coming her way today. Sorry about the mix up, Paula Kay and Paula K.!

Paula #1 gets this small painting and a magazine.

I think I might have some new readers from this party and wanted to let you know that I have a giveaway once a month, plus some extra goodies here and there too.

All you do is leave a comment and you are entered (every time). This month’s prize is the same as last month, a Cottage Collage Kit or a piece of art I have made from one of the kits.

My new friend, Cindy was the other winner for the magazine drawing from the party. I made a tag for her with some of the roses from the invitation and her name on water color paper I had added a pink wash to. (and my vintage wallpaper of course!!)

She asked me to sign the magazine and that just felt weird to me. People don’t ask me to sign things?!?! I added part of the party invitation to the page my pictures were on. That felt like more of a memento from the party.

I am not sure when my next article is out, either the December issue of Romantic Country or the one after. It is all turned in with the text and photos. I can’t show you the pictures, but can give you a tease with this slice of one.

And I have a big favor to ask. If anyone saw the article I wrote and enjoyed it, could you please let the editor know? A quick little note to her might mean me getting more articles to write, and hey, that means more parties for us!!! Thanks!

address:

Phyllis Goldstein

Romantic Country

c/o Harris Publications

1115 Broadway

NY, NY 10010

Heck, you’ve seen me give presents to receive comments, you know I love to bribe you for your visits here! If anyone gets a letter to the editor published in Romantic Country, just see what present I will send you as a thank you!!!!!!!

Romance and Ballgowns- Time to Party!

Etsy Goodies, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, holiday decor, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / September 24, 2007

Today is the Bloglandia Ball and I am all ready for it, with garlands of paper doll dress ball gowns.

Since I am gearing up for a Christmas photo shoot (any minute now, I am writing while I wait for the photographer) I decided to show some Holiday Ball Gowns.

The gowns are all made from vintage wallpapers and trims.

And of course some Glitter for a bit of festive flair!

This one is the one I would chose to wear myself, if I were fairy sized. They say horizontal stripes are not flattering, but if I was that tiny, it shouldn’t matter.

Here is a real fairy who is coming to the ball, all decked out in a rose petal dress, and some pink highlights in her hair for the occasion.

This teeny tiny fairy has a glittering gown of white.

I’ve added glitter to a vintage bride cake topper doll and placed her in a foofed up peat pot to hang on the tree.

I hope to get around and visit all the balls in blogland today after my photographer is done.

And I hope everyone is keeping their party spirits going and will be back tomorrow for our Romantic Country Party here at the cottage.

What to do? Post a photo of What you LOVE about your own home. Then leave me a comment and I will add you to our list of links to all the party goers.

If you don’t have a blog, please leave us a comment about what you LOVE at your home and you’ll be entered for a drawing for a copy of this issue of Romantic Country (plus a surprise little present from me)

And what do I LOVE about my home today?

I am thrilled to have entertainment centers to put the TVs in! I used to have them sitting out and hated it. It is so nice to shut the doors on those ugly things.(ugly but beloved – I AM A TV ADDICT AND WILL ADMIT IT TO ANYONE!! I can’t get enough of it)

This one was tan, I lightly sanded it, white washed it, then added some little rose buds and changed the knobs, all the day it was delivered from the furniture store.

I couldn’t stand to have anything so brand new looking and generic in my house!!

This one was painted white and distressed the day it was delivered too. I don’t buy much in the way of "new" stuff from furniture stores, but it is really hard to find antiques sturdy enough to hold a heavy TV and also be the right size and shape.

Another thing in my house that was "new" is this bathroom vanity. It was a cheapo builder’s grade one that we put in when we remodeled the first time, 17 years ago. When we added granite counter tops to our kitchen 4 years ago, the contractor cut them wrong and I got to keep the mistakes, and had part of it made into a top for this vanity, for the cost of having it re-cut only.

I doctored up the cabinet to look older with glazes and paint, added embellishments and painted those to match.

The mirrored handles are from the clearance basket at Anthropology. They have the coolest hardware and the best prices, if you wait for the sales.

Enjoy the ball today! Hope to see you (and photos or stories of your homes) tomorrow.

EDIT- I am wrong!!!!!!!!The ball is Wednesday. What is wrong with me?? I hope I have the right day for the photographer today. I could be sitting and waiting all day and he’ll come next Monday.

Teaparties, A Gift for YOU, Fairies and a sprinkling of Dust to top it off

a lapse of memory again, or am I just careless?, antiques/junking, collections, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, I've been tagged, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 10, 2007

Welcome to the Tea Party! It is being hosted by those pretty pink people who make everything so nice and everyone is invited to join. The teaparty will go on all week, so you can return for seconds on scones and tea!

Tomorrow is my day to have Sugarwings, so she can’t be here for this party today. She’s still a bit young, but I can see that very soon, she and Grandmama will be playing fairy tea party together.

And Twinkle is up for any party, any time.

These are the hand painted doors to the closet in Sugarwing’s room here at her grandparent’s cottage. Inside, are all the dress up clothes I am starting to collect for her from garage sales for her to wear at future tea parties.

And of course, I have started to collect some fairies to invite as guests to our upcoming events.

The itty bitty ballerina fairy was a gift from Holly, who always has the cutest stuff.

This pretty cobalt teapot was my mom’s. The blue framed photo in front is of her, wasn’t she pretty too?

The little rose covered book was made by Beth.

Yes, I see the dust too. Don’t you know that a person who owns this much junk also owns a lot of dust???

I used to have a larger collection of teapots, but edited it down to rose-themed, matte white or tarnished silver and threw in some tea cups to match.

My son built these kitchen cabinets for me, and I had him make sure there was plenty of teapot space on top.

The little pot in front, is my Grandma Smith’s. She would pack it up in her suitcase and bring it every time she came up to Indiana to visit us from Florida.

Grandma Smith’s is what got me started on the collection.

Here is a watercolor I did of her silver teapot years ago when I was into quilts and dried flowers. Now, I just have the painting in the closet of my studio. I should ask my family if anyone wants it.

Nieces? Sisters? Any of you read this? If you want this painting, let me know.

There is a teeny little self portrait in the reflection of the silver

Here is another sentimental thing for me, my mom’s tea cup (it is under the cake plate and has china roses in it.)

When mom died 5 years ago (it still feels like just yesterday sometimes) Sissy was sweet and divided up mom’s beautiful rose dishes so that we each had 2 place settings to display. I have built up a collection of matching dishes, well in color and style, if not in pattern, and keep them all on this shelf in my kitchen with fairies, angels and elves. And probably more dust.

Did I mention that I love teapots? I’ve tied mini ones from my kitchen chandelier too.

I bought new vintage wallpaper this week and had a wonderful time making tags, tons and tons of tags. Here is a sample.

And since you have been such nice guests at my tea party today, and no one complained about the dust on their teacups, I have a present for you.

I made this refrigerator magnet with some of my new-old wallpaper and brass charms I bought at the flea market last week.

I will give it away today as a gift to a commenter. And remember, I have a giveaway for the month of September, you just have to leave a comment. The comments to win the magnent will count toward that too.

I was tagged by MJ and a couple other people (sorry I lost the emails) for the Thoughtful bloggers award, back when I was coming home from my vacation and never got around to posting about it, I was so behind on everything. I want to thank them and apologize for not noting it. I was also tagged for the name game by Priscilla and by —- oh my— I lost that email too. I’m sorry. I’ll find it later so I can thank them.

Anyway, my middle name is JO so, this will be short (even from me, the QUEEN OF RAMBLING)

J– Junk!! I Just love Junk!

O– Oh my gosh, I Just love Junk!

A Romantic Country Article and then a bug that I wished would just KILL me and get it over with

Etsy Goodies, give away, hand painted candelabras, Hand Painted Furniture, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 7, 2007

First of all I wanted to let you know that for some reason, my answers to comments are not all going through. About 1 out of 5 gets sent back to me with a failure notice. I really am answering them, I don’t know what the deal with Typepad is. Anyone else having this problem???

Karlascottage2 Tuesday night after the fairy grand baby went home to her parents, I finished an article I am writing for Romantic Country. Here is a teeny peek at one of the pictures.

The story is about tips to create a romantic style bathroom. I don’t know when it is to be published, I’ll let you know when I hear. Sometimes, I just check the stands when the new magazines come out and am surprised to find photos of my house inside! Barbara Jacksier used to be the editor there and she was so helpful, she used to always send advanced copies. Editors don’t always have a chance to do that, but she always made time to. She would even send a reprint of a photo from one story into a different magazine, not even an article I had written.

She has a new cottage book coming out, check out her blog for lovely details!

I enjoyed making the paper doll wedding dress for Stephanie as part of her August Give Away prize so much, I made a few more. Eventually, I will list them on Etsy for $6 each, plus shipping, but if you want one now, please email or comment and you can buy it directly from me.

And thanks to the nice purchasers of my hand painted buckets. The two rosy ones have been sold. The angel bucket is still available.

LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU WANT TO ENTER SEPTEMBER’S GIVEAWAY!

You all know I tend to be a tad bit productive,(which is why I can keep my prices so low for what I do- I do a LOT) but the article and dresses are all I managed all week. I was hit hard with a BUG of some kind and spent the last two days wishing I would just die. I doubt if you need anymore details than that.

I had my old mural and painted furniture photo album out the other day, so I thought I’d show some pictures from that.

The quality might not be as good as it should be, since I have simply taken photos of photos in an album. Sorry.

I used to paint furniture on just about a daily basis. I kind of miss it, and I just drool over cheap, beat up bargain pieces at garage sales that are calling out to be saved. But I restrain myself and no longer have a double car garage, an antique mall booth, a garden shed and a showroom full of this stuff.

This cabinet was in my kitchen for a while. I used to constantly change out furniture, find something new, take the old piece out to sell. It drove my family crazy.

Here is my garden shed before a sale. The table cloth on the drop leaf is actually hand painted.

These palm trees were painted at the Tampa Country Club. That is the best job I ever had, I stayed at their private hotel for 2 weeks, with free room service (great food) and hung out by the pool or drove to a really cool movie theater nearby when I wasn’t working on murals.

I did research on palm trees before I went down there, to know what they looked like, but then, I realized once I got to Florida, all I had to do was look out a window for ideas!!

(Molding was added to the walls right under where the paintings stop)

This photo was in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine and was taken by Bill Mathews.

It is of a ceiling I painted to camouflage a missing piece of curved molding that the designer didn’t want to try to replace.

And this gloriously gaudy fruit picture is from my friend, Kari’s, kitchen. She is a hair dresser and I get my hair done for free when I paint for her.

My client for this mural wanted her whole dining room – every inch of the walls- painted in a scene she found in a book. She had me add the family pets to it too.

That sweet little white dog hung out next to me the entire week I painted at her house.

Looks like even when I don’t have anything new to say, I can still run on and on, can’t I?

****EDIT****

-ADD ON-

There is a Spring Party going on at this blog site on the other side of the globe. After feeling so sick and run down all week,I have been gloomy, thinking about fall and winter coming in- being cooped up, having colds, BEING cold. I think I will just pretend it is Springtime and go enjoy this party! Want to join me?