paintings – Page 23 – Karla's Cottage

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?

Painted angels, my little fairy angel, and an angel from the past

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, give away, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 4, 2007

My little fairy grand baby is with me today, and supposedly taking a nap. She doesn’t nap much at Grandmama’s house, we seem to keep pretty busy playing.

Before Sugarwings came over, I did get a little work done. I painted the 3rd (and last) bucket from Goodwill. Wish I could’ve gotten more, but that is the story at thrift shops- just be glad you found what you did, you never know if there will be anything there or not!

This bucket has not been glazed in umber yet. I might do a metallic bronze instead.

All three of these buckets are available for $12 each plus shipping if you want one. Shipping is probably around $5.00.

I won’t be listing them on Etsy, so if you want one, just email or leave a comment.

I also made up my give away gifts for Stephanie. She is planning her daughter’s wedding, plus has a pretty wedding themed collection in her bedroom.
(Isn’t it funny how we all know things about each other’s homes?)

I had this teeny little June bride that I thought she might like.

Stephanie was the 1st place winner for August’s giveaway. Since she isn’t a crafter, she had the option of a custom made gift for her, instead of the Cottage Collage Kit.

(I just got three of my kits off in the mail this morning to the editor of Somerset Living! Feels good to knock a project off my list)

I decorated a box for the bride figurine by adding old papers, tons of glitter, and this hand painted rose medallion. It is covered in diamond glaze and isn’t dry yet, that is why the roses look a bit milky.

I added a teensy millinery flower and a heart charm to the top of the box.

I also found this English die cut of a bridal party in my stash of never ending vintagey goodies. I know Stephanie says she isn’t a crafter, but it just looks like something that could come in handy for a person who collects wedding themed things!

And of course, I am still hooked on paper doll dresses, I just can’t stop making them. It is like trying to just eat one peanut. I can’t do it. A better analogy for me, might be cookies.

I can never stop at one or even a couple cookies.

I plan on making tiny dresses to use as Christmas ornaments next.

The glue is still wet on the pearls on the dress too. I never can wait to take my photos until the pieces are dry, can I? I listed something on Etsy that had sanding dust all over the piece. I should have wiped it off before photos, but I just get too impatient, when something is done, I am ready to move on!!

Elaine is my 2nd place winner. She loves ROSES. So I made a tag for her with one of my hand painted rose medallions.

I put it on a tag that Beth gave to me. She had covered a few in some of her pretty wallpapers and generously handed me a stack of them.

By the way, she has a bunch of paper doll dresses on her site too, but they come with a story about the girls who own the dresses.

I decided I am a "Gina". Read the story and see which sister you would be!

After getting the prizes done (don’t forget, you can enter this month’s drawing just by leaving a comment)I whipped up a couple of tags.

The blue bird is from the swap I did with my sis. It is covered with a crackle glaze and the crazing looks good in person, those just never show up on these posts though.

Then the fun began- Sugarwings came over to play with her Grandmama.

We watered flowers.

And we watered Twinkle.

And we played with some of the most fun toys ever, empty boxes.

She is reminding me so much of her daddy at that age, I had to get out the old album. (I wish I’d been a scrap booker then, I have very few photos from that period!)

See the similarities???

Stephanie, and Elaine, I have your addresses and will mail your presents as soon as the glue dries. I might take photos while the glue is wet, but I am smart enough to let it dry before I pack things!

September’s giveaway drawing has already begun, I just don’t know what the prize is yet. Leave me a comment if you want to enter!

A flowery guest, some flowers I painted, and second thoughts

antiques/junking, Books, Etsy Goodies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / September 3, 2007

I hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day weekend? We spent a lot of it boating, and I just had to show you this fashionable young guest, Katie, who came along today for her first boat ride.

Everyone brought great food for a pitch in picnic and the lake water temperature was perfect. I spent a lazy afternoon floating around and stuffing chocolate cake and pasta salad in my mouth.

Why does food taste so much better outdoors???

Before boating, I did manage to get some work in. I packed up goods that sold in Etsy and have them ready to mail, then painted a lot of white base coats on things I had lying around waiting to be spruced up.

This was a too shiny brass piece, isn’t the paint and umber glaze an improvement?

I also painted two of these buckets that I bought at Goodwill. They were plain galvanized tin, with the embossed hearts, I painted them white after priming them and adding a crackle spray coat.

After adding the hand painted roses, I glazed over the buckets with umber glaze. When it was wiped off, the crackled areas showed up pretty.

This isn’t a project I did today, but I found it today! It was packed away and I forgot I had it. This is a mirror that I sanded the back off of in a spot, and added some vintage rose paper to, so that it peeks through the hole. I added a wired ribbon and one of my vast collection of millinery flowers, and its done.

While I was painting roses on buckets, I decided to paint more wallpaper medallions.

The rest of the day involved cooking and cleaning, not nearly as much fun as creating or boating.

I did take some time to look through this book that I purchased at the flea market this week.

I bought it because the font was pretty, the words were French and the pages were old. I want to use it as wall paper on the wall behind my couch.

I thought I could frame the illustrations, and glue the text to the wall.

But after examining it, I think it just might be too nice to tear up. What do you think? The only date I could find in it is an inscription in the front that says

"Edward Breck With love to Papa Chele from Nell. Christmas 1928"

It is a soft cover book and the front is torn loose a bit.

The illustrations are on a tissue paper and are simply laying in the book, not glued down. They are wonderful, but I keep going back and forth about my original plan, I wonder if I should just salvage the lovely pictures and make use of the rest of the book, or is this book worth something? I paid $20 for it myself.

Does anyone know about old books and have any advice?

Cottage Collage Kits coming up in Somerset Living!!

Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, flowers, how to's, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 27, 2007

I’m still on my paper doll dress kick, they are too fun to stop!

But I did take a break to make some of my wallpaper folders filled with vintage supplies to list on Etsy. This lavender themed one is in the shop and I stuffed it with lots of cool papers. I only made one, because purples, lavenders and periwinkles just don’t come up too much in the things I buy to use.

But I did come across some good ones to put in it. Lots of one of a kind items are inside.

And look- sheet music for "Lavender’s Blue!"

The wallpaper that I ordered for myself came from Etsy today too. And just in time, I need to make 3 of my Cottage Collage Kit folders for Somerset Life!

I cut two out and got them started,but not foofed up yet.

Some of the wallpaper that Beth gave to me was perfect to use on this tiny little photo album. I got it in the Michaels clearance aisle for 50 cents and embellished it to fancy it up.

I covered the inside and outside of both covers with Beth’s wallpaper, then glued old seam binding ribbon around the edges to keep the paper from shredding up on the corners.

I added glitter to the ribbon to cover any messy glue spots, drew on the wallpaper with a gold gel pen, added an English die cut flower to the inside cover and added MORE GLITTER.

The brass corner brackets and the green vintage earring on the clasp finished it off. (look at the glue on my fingernail, I was so glopped up at the end of this project!)

It has sleeves to slide photos into and I can just see a grandma using this as her brag book for her grand baby. But then, I can’t quite get enough albums myself for my fairy grand baby, so maybe I’ll keep it!

I am in two mini swaps with Debra, she, Beth and I are swapping ATCs, one fairy, one Halloween. Here is my fairy one, a bit odd, not a dainty fairy, that is for sure.

But don’t you think fairies come in all shapes and sizes just like people do???

We are also swapping paper doll dresses. I made this one with a page torn from a child’s book, The Tortoise and the Hare. Debra is an avid bunny collector. I found another old child’s book about bunnies to send to her too.

She over whelmed me with gifts when we swapped matchboxes so I owe her an ‘extra.’

She designs Halloween dolls for Bethany Lowe (check out her site, there is a big box of samples on it now!!!).

So, I made a Paper Doll Halloween gown. This one is on black paper with sparkles in it.

I drew the spider web with my gold gel pen, added crackle finish mixed with brown ink to age the whole dress, then sprinkled black and purple glitter onto to it. For a finishing touch, I ruffled up a sheer purple ribbon and glued it on the back to peek through as an under slip.

Betty and Beth are in the mini paper doll dress swap too.

Good thing I have someplace for these to go, because I can’t stop making them!

Although, these two sold on Etsy right after I listed them. That is a nice feeling.

I am not making two alike, and am not using patterns. I draw them as I make each one, so the sizes are way off kilter, there are giant ones and tiny ones!

When I was a kid, I loved my paper dolls. I wasn’t one of those kids who tore or trashed them, I played with the same ones for years.

That might explain my fascination with these little cuties.

I’ve enjoyed all the swap crafts that have been going around this year, the art doll hat, match boxes, tussie mussies, all have been fun to do. But I LOVE making these paper dolls!

And I LOVE the old wallpaper I have been playing with too.

I even turned some into a key chain (also in the Michaels clearance aisle for 50 cents).

As pretty as I think old wallpaper is—this is prettier! Sugarwings and her baby cousin, Madison, got matching dresses to wear to a party Saturday night.

While at the party, I noticed a cabinet at the house that I had forgotten that I painted. It is always a nice surprise to come across a past work in someone’s home.

I spent a lot of time gluing today. The day started out early in the garden while the morning glories were blooming and now it is evening

and the moon flowers have opened. I’m glad I have leftovers and don’t have to cook tonight.

Yesterday I picked tomatoes, peppers, fresh herbs and garlic to make home made sauce, and put together at big lasagna for Sunday dinner.

Ilearned that you shouldn’t eat a big lasagna lunch before you go out on the lake on a day with a 100 degree heat index. But Sugarwings didn’t seem to mind if the rest of the family was over full and lethargic, she had fun on the water!

Well, I’m off to eat a plateful of leftovers right now, and kick back on the couch for the evening. I am all glued-out.

Downtown Murals by Grandmama and some Witchy Women

Etsy Goodies, family, how to's, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 23, 2007

I’ve had an etsy-palooza-blowout week! I am thrilled (and lucky) to see so much go out of the shop in a couple of days! Thanks to everyone who bought something, I really appreciate it!

And as a hardworking business woman who wants to get ahead in the world, how do I spend my day? Do I make more stuff to list? Do I list what I already have laying around in piles in the studio and get my Etsy store restocked???

Nope- I played hookey! I walked around downtown with Sugarwings and her grandpop. We looked at some of the murals I have painted on business fronts downtown (I’d have photographed more, but my battery went dead!).

We rode the mini carousel, went out to lunch, then rented THREE movies to take home for later.

But I did manage to do something constructive before I skipped out for the afternoon to goof off with the fairy grand baby and my handsome husband (did you see those arm???? He lifts weights, I get older and saggier, he gets better looking all the time). I quickly made a couple of things.

Here are the three crones that were in the old photograph I copied for my Cottage Collage Kits.

I glued a piece of vintage wallpaper to a card, then glued it to a piece of black sparkly paper. Aging ink in pink was wiped on with a sponge before gluing down the lovely ladies cut from the photo.

I cut a frame out of anaglyptic wallpaper, and drew around it with a gold and a silver paint pen.

Black and brown ink pens were used for vines and accents around the silver.

I cut hats out of OLD black grosgrain ribbon and added a band with a sparkly gold gel pen. The same pen was used for sparkle on their bewitching gowns.

I wrapped vintage millinery flowers around the teeny bit of black gross grain that was left ( I rarely waste anything) and glued it into place to hang the picture with, then added a rose chipped off of an old earring.

Since I am so crazy about this photo, I had to do one more picture with it. This is on a piece of watercolor paper, that has been stained with 4 colors of inks, then drawn on with brown ink and gold gel pen.

The trim and the hats are cut from paper salvaged from an old photo mat board. I made ‘stars’ by adding swvarski crystals.

I quickly added the first witchy picture to my Etsy shop, then ran out the door to go play with Sugarwings.

Tomorrow I get another hookey day, I am going to visit Beth and play paper dolls. Actually we are doing a mini swap with Debra about doll dresses, I think. (She is also the person that the 2nd witchy picture goes to, we are swapping ATCs)

I have my third movie of the day to go and watch, so I’d better get back to playing hookey and get off the computer!

NOTE: MY WITCHY WOMEN ON ETSY ALREADY ARE SOLD, THANKS FOR LOOKING!!

Banner Battles

fairies, give away, how to's, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 20, 2007

Remember I said "I don’t do Red, White, and Blue"? I guess I don’t do Autumn colors well either.

Since my blog has opened slowly for a lot of people, it was suggested that my banner was too big. I thought I’d try a fall colored one, but my colors are always more springy that fallish!

First step was a watercolor background with details in brown marker. Next, I cut out a cute Sugarwings picture, of her curled up in a booster seat.

Before I glued down her photo, and painted her fairy nest with acrylic craft paints, I wrote the title in blue paint with a liner brush.

That way, her photo looks like it is in the foreground, because it over laps the words.

With a fine tip glue pen, I added sheer glitter to the blue words. I gave Sugarwings a magic wand by gluing down a vintage lapel pen with a star design.

For the script, I cut out a vintage calling card that my sis had copied for me. I wrote my info with the fine tip brown marker, then took a gold glitter gel pen to add some sparkle, and for even more sparkle, I glued on some crystals.

Now that the easy part was done, I spent HOURS trying to get the photos of the banner to look right when I loaded them into Typepad.

How frustrating! I still think it looks shadowy and dark, even after photographing it outside in the sunlight. Oh well. This day has been eaten up by trying and trying to edit this and I think I have made a valiant effort for a non-techie person.

I appreciate all your input on how this loads. I’m sorry my blog seems slower than some other people’s. I’ve resized all the pictures and now have a smaller banner. I hope that helps, and I sure appreciate the effort you have gone through to read this, when it has been slow!

There are about 8 days left to enter my August drawing.

I will have 2 prizes, and you can choose between as Cottage Collage Kit with old papers,

like some of these papers and goodies.

Or, if you are not an artist and would like the old papers made into a finished product, let me know and I’ll make a present for you instead!

I do appreciate all your comments and try to answer them all. And I appreciate your continued visits, so will most likely be starting another giveaway for September as soon as I draw the name for this one!

Tagged and Tags with a Sissy Swap

family, Hand Painted Furniture, I've been tagged, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 7, 2007

22 years (and a waistline) ago on August 10th, I married my sweetie. We are not going to be able to celebrate this year, I’m afraid between his business trips and my family reunion trip coming up, we are missing being together that day.

After being together for so long, we’ve learned that being together on the date itself isn’t as important as the fact that we enjoy being together every day.

When I get to Indiana, my sis and I are doing a swap, with Beth. Sis and I were already doing an art hat doll swap together, and Beth and I have already swapped supplies. But now, we are making gift bags and swapping some other fun items.

I made this bag from a big brown grocery bag, scrap booking papers, a copy of an old postcard, ribbon, stamps, gold pen and of course- glitter!

Then, I tied on two tags I had made, one with her initial (s for Sissy, or Sharon) and a smaller copy of the same birdie postcard I used on the bag.

The other tag has been stamped with red and brown inks, then one of my hand painted wallpaper medallions was glued to it.

So far, I have packed up a bundle of the bubble silverware that I bought at a garage sale and Sissy liked, a couple of fairy stories from an old book, and a vintage dishtowel with her initial on it.

This little hand carved angel is something I bought at the Renaissance Festival a few years back, and repainted. I thought Sissy might like it for her garden.

I also have a glow in the dark garden stake for her.

We decided that we wouldn’t mail the art doll hats to each other, we’d save the money from postage and use it to buy a bottle of wine, then we will wear our hats and drink the wine together while we open up our swap gifts!

I have spent the rest of the morning making tags, since I was "tagged" by Phyllis for a unique form of the tag game.

You are supposed to write the names of the taggees onto a "world wonder". But Phyllis used chalk boards and Sandi used green tomatoes, so I figured I could use what I wanted, so I used TAGS.

I started with Kim at Daisy Cottage, with her lively reds and yellows, it was fun to work with a different palette and make this "K" for her.

Next is a wonderful artist, my new blog friend, Bethany . I did some hand drawn swirls and added this artist pallette copied from an old post card.

Next, is my buddy, Beth who has a passion for vintage sewing supplies.

One of the very first bloggers I met was the wonderful Vicki who was so kind and helpful when I was a newbie. She also makes the greatest stuff, and right now has a funny story on her blog about things that go bump in the night.

EDIT- Phyllis just emailed me to ask where I found the "Marryville" for Mrs Staggs, her blog is about "Merryville". It was a total random accident and I didn’t know I had done it!!!

And for the kind and genteel Mrs. Staggs who is taking a blog break right now, due to family illnesses. But I thought a little tag in the mail would help cheer her up, and let her know that even though she isn’t blogging right now, we haven’t forgotten her.

And last ( I think I was supposed to do 8, but ran out of time to make tags, I have a trip to pack for!)

Connie who is so techno savyy and is always ready to jump in and explain how to fix a problem. Check out the hand made roses she is doing on her blog right now!

OK, taggees, if you want to play, you tag some people yourselves and add their name to a picture. Most people have used photo shop, I don’t have those skills, so I hand made some real life tags.

Tomorrow, Kari

is holding an Artful Blogger party to celebrate her article in the magazine. She is asking for tutorials, so I decided to post "How to Paint Furniture". It will include step by steps on how I did these two chairs.

Hope you come back to check out the party tomorrow!

August give away reminder

I will give the winner a choice- if you are an artist and want a Cottage Collage Kit filled with vintage goodness, I’ll send that. If you are not and don’t want the kit, I will make something for you from one of my kits!!! Leave a message to enter, as often as you’d like. I do love me some comments!