paintings – Page 24 – Karla's Cottage

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!

Surprises

Etsy Goodies, fairies, flowers, give away, how to's, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 6, 2007

It was hot here in Kansas this weekend. So hot that no one wanted to go out on the boat. We did go to the lake in the evenings, but I spent the daytime in the studio working on some paintings.

While I had paints out, I did a background for an ATCard that

Debra posted a picture to use, as a challenge. I snipped out the angel she posted, glittered it up, added silver paint pen, drew curls in the hair, then added crystals and a vintage posey to my painted background. The angel is on her site if you’d like to do your own.

I got a bit carried away on the wallpaper medallions again! I really enjoy painting those little ovals, and this time I was in fairy mode.

I dooded up some of the borders of the medallions too.

Others, I left simple, but all of them got glittered. (of course)

While I was at it, I did a few more cupcakes with more glitter (of course).

Oh and a few more pink roses. (of course)

And one little ballerina that I added to a large shipping tag with vintage wallpaper, pink tulle, crystals and some posies from old jewelry.

I will list them on myEtsy Shop if you are interested, but it might not be today, so if you want one, feel free to email me. The medallions are $5 for each section, and the ballerina tag is $9.

I will give the angel ATC to the first purchase of two items or more!

My sweet husband did the sweetest thing. He was mowing in the 100 degree heat, and came in to tell me that there was a flower along the mower’s path and wondered if it should be saved. (he didn’t know if it was a weed, or whatever, he doesn’t understand flowers, but cared enough to ask)

I didn’t realize the surprise lilies were up yet, I guess that is why they are called surprise lilies, they come out of nowhere over night!

I’ve heard them called naked ladies too, because of the bare stem. I thought about titling my post "my husband and the naked lady" but thought I’d get all the WRONG hits on it today.

The painting of the house my dad grew up in is finished and I am off to make copies of it for the family reunion.

First I wanted to tell you that I decided what to do for my August give away!!

Leave a message to enter, as often as you’d like. I do love me some comments!

Cottage Collage Kits and a Little B&E

antiques/junking, family, give away, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 4, 2007

Today, I packaged up my July giveaway, the Cottage Collage Kit, and got it in the mail to the winner, Carol.

I gave the pack a summery, bright colored theme and lots of vintagey goodness.

*Some of the anaglyptic wallpaper that I glazed

*A piece of the wall paper that I painted roses on

*BUTTONS

*An old postcard

*This cute old plastic rose, that actually has a hair clip attached

*Old photos from my latest garage sale haul

*Polka dotted netting from an old hat

*A snippet of red vintage wall paper that Beth gave to me

(by the way, Beth told me how to use LINKS, instead of adding the entire address! I look SO much more professional now, don’t I?)

*I also included copies of some of my paintings, like the fairy in th teacup, roses, and a few others

*Old yellow ribbon and a big white buckle

*Red and white earrings

*A copy of a sweet little French post card

*And a bunch more.

I had a great time putting the pack together, hope it is something Carol can use!

Don’t forget that I will be having an August Giveaway too. Leave a comment and I’ll enter you. So far, I have buttons, and old photos in it, but there will be more, I need to come up with a theme for it, and when I do, I’ll let you know.

Today I painted this watercolor of lilacs, then one of the home my dad grew up in. It is 90% done, but needs some tweaking.

I don’t know why I don’t do more watercolors, they are so enjoyable to do. This lilac one is a bit different for me, I also used sepia colored ink on it.

I will finish the old homestead painting tomorrow so I can make copies of it to take to my family reunion next week and pass out to any cousins or aunts and uncles who want one. Here is a photo of the house my grandparents raised 7 kids in, it was torn down this summer. I’m lucky that I was able to go and visit and get photos a couple of years ago.

I also broke in through a window (it has been vacant for a long time) and took a look around. I took an old light fixture that was broken and laying on the floor in some trash as a souvenir to fix up and re-wire. My Dad was horrified and was sure the sheriff was on his way, and told him no one would miss it, but it meant a lot to me to have a little piece of the house he grew up in.

As we took off in our get-away car, he told me that the house didn’t have electricity while they lived in it! So much for my little piece of his child hood, that light hadn’t been a part of the house when he was child!

(Yes in my tradition of posting really bad photos of myself, here is one of me breaking and entering)

Teaching a Lesson

antiques/junking, Books, family, Food and Drink, give away, Hand Painted Furniture, hand painted signs, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 28, 2007

I had a teaching day today! It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning, painting roses with a fellow rose lover! I had set up some treats in my "dessert wardrobe" but mostly we were too busy with our paints and brushes to indulge in the cookies.

Actually I had 2 students. Gail brought her 10 year old daughter, Deja to learn how to paint a rose sign too.

I was able to get 2 done myself while demonstrating the flowers.

These are on lightweight, metal, pre-made signs. I liked working with them, it was a change from the usual old wood that I use for my signs.

While I had my brushes out, I finished Sugarwing’s purple pony that I am painting for her first birthday. I added a lot of glitter to it, so it will need quite a few more coats of poly, so the glitter won’t be sharp against her baby soft skin.

Last night while cleaning up my studio to get ready for today’s sign painting, I decorated a candle. I used bits and pieces of paper and trim that were left on the craft table from previous projects and fixed up a candle that had been on sale at Michaels for 50 cents.

What caught my eye about this candle, is that the card stock circle on the top of it, is actually a sticker. Once that circle is peeled off, instead of tossing it, it can be re-used onto something else.

So, I thought it was worth the time to glitter and foof up the cover. Then, I added some vintage trim to the jar rim, and polka dotted glitter on the jar itself.

The pretty angel image I used came from the FABULOUS estate sale that Beth and I went to this week.

My friend, Vicky, invited us to her home early to shop before she was open to the public, and she has the best stuff. She is an artist also, but extremely successful- I’m talking about a 4 story house with an elevator!!! Wow, you don’t see those in Lawrence, KS. She does beautiful work and has a similar taste in decor to me (hers is just on a grander scale).

I bought stacks and stacks of lovely old books from her, suitable for all sort of crafts and ideas. Remember the cabinet I mentioned a while back, that I said I didn’t even use for storage? I do now! It is filled with books from Vicky.

She had some pinks and whites for my kitchen. The Hull pitcher with the roses on it, was only $5.

The creamer was a gift from Beth! She gets boxes and boxes of things from auctions and sometimes brings me flowery things that aren’t her style. She brought 2 flats of goodies for me this time.

This scrap book from Vicky was FILLED with vintage images! For TWO DOLLARS! I will add some of the images to my Cottage Collage Kit giveaway that I will be drawing names for at the end of the month, too.(leave a comment to enter)

Let’s, see, what else did I get. hmmm… This cute topiary type pot (that I will glitter up and decorate for Christmas) was $2 too.

3 urns for $18 (great for storing wallpaper!), a wrought iron garden bench, and a ton of interesting terra cotta pots (that she gave to me)

And a box full of these wonderful appliques! Her whole house was trimmed out in these, everywhere, all over, even the turret. Yep, her house had a turret. Wow. My kind of sale!

I’m sure I am leaving some purchases out, I just was overwhelmed by the sale, it was all such great stuff. Check out Beth’s blog to see what she got at the sale too. http://bethleintz.typepad.com/

A Tussy Mussy Fest

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, Hand Painted Furniture, magazine pictures or articles, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 27, 2007

Thanks for all the nice comments about my $1 table. Here it is all finished. I put a dark oak stain and poly over the top to protect the paper and to age it a bit. Then I added gold rub-n-buf to the edges. I should stain the legs too, to deepen the paint color and make it richer, but I didn’t want to deal with all the spindles and carvings! I figure it is OK as it is and I kind of like the contrast with the darker top.

I can get so much done in a day, because I know how to "stop" on a project and not keep fussing with it. Sometimes OK is OK!

My buddy, Beth, http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ came over this after noon for a Tussy Mussy Fest. She was going with a Halloween theme, and made this cone with some great papers she found at Hobby Lobby.

I used all vintage wallpapers on the outside of mine, and old sheet music inside. This cone has one of my hand painted medallions on it, some vintage velvet ribbon, and millinery flowers.

Neither of us signed up for the Tussy Mussy swap, but thought it would be just as much fun to get together and make a few.

I will list these on Etsy, but might keep one just to enjoy here in the studio, they look so good on my pink glass doorknob! That knob is from Anthropology, that store can be PRICEY but has great clearance prices on hardware. I got these half price knobs for $20 each. I wouldn’t have paid $40 for them, but I sure would have thought about it!

We used party hats as a base for the Tussies, (I got a pack of 8 at the Dollar store, Beth had cool Dora the Explorer ones). She and I made cones a few years back for a magazine shoot and didn’t use party hats, it took us forever to come up with a pattern that worked.

This photo from the shoot was taken by Bill Mathews and styled by Gloria Gale. It was in Victorian Decorating, maybe 3 years ago? What a fun shoot, we made up a bunch of crafty things then went to this glorious Victorian mansion and spent the day setting up our projects for photos. The house is a museum and every time we touched something of theirs we had to wear gloves, it was a bit intimidating, but a unique place to hang out for the day!

If you are going to make a tussie mussie, I’d recommend using a party hat as a base, quicker and easier, they come out really nicely shaped, and the perfect size.

I had a teeny snippet of old wallpaper that I hated to waste. Beth quoted Pam Garrison to me, something about vintage wallpaper being too precious to waste a single scrap.

So I turned this blue scrap into a paper doll dress and made a tag out of it. I thought the shape looked like a dress when I saw it laying on my table. So I drew and cut out a little girl to put into it. (The paper doll tag is sitting on my $1 table’s painted sheet music top).

My blogging buddy, Heather, http://prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/ ordered a couple of my medallions from Etsy! She was one of the first people I met when I started blogging and was so helpful to me, I wanted to send her a little thank you with her order. I made a tag for her, and a mini card to go in the package too. I used one of the legal letters from 1917, isn’t the handwriting pretty? I think is says something about past due taxes, but we’ll ignore that part.

My studio is back to normal-so messy and piled up with stuff I can’t find anything!

Before Beth arrived and the Tussie Mussie Fest began, I was painting a rocking horse for Sugarwing’s birthday. I got it at a garage sale for $2 and am painting it her favorite colors, with flowers and butterflies. It is almost done, I am a quick painter. I’d say I’ll have maybe 2 hours into the project.

I can’t believe my baby will be a year old already. I wanted to make something for her and start a birthday tradition. It will be nice to make a gift every year, then add some money to a savings account we will hold for her till college. I hate to buy too many toys, or clothes that she doesn’t really need.

(yes, I just posted another bad photo of myself)

After the Tussie Mussie Fest, Beth and I went to an AMAZING sale, then came back home for a Panera Bread style tomato salad (with herbs and tomatoes from my garden) and some grilled chicken that I had been marinating while we crafted and shopped. Not a bad day. She even stopped to buy a loaf of Panera bread to go with the salad.

I still have some cones to fiddle around with and add prettys to, and a car to unload. Oh my, you wouldn’t believe this sale we were at! It will be so much fun to unload this stuff!!!!

Maybe I’ll find something cool in my new goods to add to the Cottage Collage Kit giveaway- leave a comment to enter, I’ll be drawing a name in a few days.

I am slightly crazy about these medallions

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, give away, how to's, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 24, 2007

Another wonderful day- almost 12 hours of uninterrupted studio time! That rarely happens, even for me and I am supposedly, a full time artist.

I got these 3 leather covered books last week when I went estate sale shopping with Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/. I knew they could be good projects, and they cost me under $5 for all three.

Today I turned them into this-

Some vintage wall paper, rub-n-buf, glue, glitter, roses and ribbons and they are all "Silver Bella-ed Up".

I was inspired by the Marie Antoinette Swap that is going on this summer (I didn’t sign up for that one, but loved the look of it). That movie was so spectacular. I still day dream about the colors and pictures in it.

This one is actually a box made to look like a book. The inside was already so pretty, I just added some silver trim over the dark book binding tape and a rose medallion over the hole I punched in the outside of the lid to attach a button shaped crown.

I used one of my anaglyptic wallpaper medallions to glue a rose picture to, cut it out and glued it down. (I used one on the front of the other book too)

I bought quite a few rolls of the wallpaper border for 99 cents each at Goodwill. They’ll make such great projects! I love the medallions, there are so many ways to use them!

Today I glazed some of the paper pink and some umber, then added hand painted pictures to the center of each oval.

I have been seeing the cutest cupcakes every where I look and thought I’d try painting a few. But mostly I painted roses, they will always be my favorite and I can paint those with my eyes closed by now.

I like the way the glaze shows off the texture of the paper.

I made some note cards with a few of the center medallions. There was a box of Christmas cards in a cute shape on clearance at Michaels for $1. They were ugly as they were, so I am gluing my own stuff over their ugly picture. I liked the scalloped edge that they have and I added hole punches to accent the scallops. Then I painted a little green vine down the side.

With this note card, I cut the oval out of the wallpaper, I didn’t use the whole strip. Then I put it down over some vintage wallpaper and added velvet ribbon.

On this oval, I painted a teeny ballerina and made a tag with her. This is one of the giant 8" x 4′ tags that I got cases of at a garage sale. (I’m putting some in my Cottage Collage Kits)

Did I mention that I am totally enamored with this wallpaper??

For this tag, I glued part of an old typed letter in the oval, and added a picture and itty bitty millinery flower over it.

The medallions can be used in so many ways. I will be sticking them everywhere.

I have some for sale on Etsy too, as well as most of the projects I made today, if you don’t see something you like over there, feel free to ask me about it.

I used another one to make a card for my Christmas in July swap partner http://loveofyellowroses.blogspot.com/ (oops, I forgot it was 4 cards, 2 tags!! My friend, Natasha http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ reminded me).

So I whipped up a couple more cards and some tags for her, and then tweaked the two I made yesterday that were TOO YELLOW. I used some gold and walnut stamp ink to age the edges and that helped. I think they’ll be OK.

Everyone was so nice with their comments and encouragement about the cards, thanks.

That can’t be all I did today, I was in my studio for about 12 hours straight. The day flew by, but it seems like I should have more to show for it!

I guess I painted a heck of a lot of these little ovals. Did I mention how crazy I am about them? I think I might have, and you might be sick of hearing it by now.

But if you aren’t sick of them, I’ll include a painted oval in my give away as part of the COTTAGE COLLAGE KIT drawing for July. Leave a comment (as often as you’d like) to enter.

Sister Swaps, Buddy Swaps, and some Freebies for you

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, give away, how to's, paintings, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 18, 2007

I have had the best day! I missed having time on my own in the studio in the last couple of weeks. Now, I loved the guests and I loved the trip and babysitting the fairy grand baby is a beautiful way to spend time, but man, I missed my studio!!

I worked all day (well, since noon at least, I had errands to run this morning) and my husband is out of town, if I want to, I can power up with a power bar and work all night too.

I am in the Art Doll Hat swap hosted by http://craftingbycandlelight.blogspot.com/ and have been making plans for that, but also, my sis and I decided to swap art doll hats, both using the same picture.

So, here is what I made for her. Sissy loves to collect, wear, hoarde, and buy tons of jewelry, so I decked out my doll in jewels.

She likes holographic papers too, so I used a gold holographic party hat for a base. The over skirt is my favorite scrap booking paper, a blue with roses. Over that is a bit torn off of an old curtain I found in a dumpster, I thought it tied in with the upper part of the dress in the picture.

I added some gold glitter to compliment the holographic base.

The crown/hat on the doll’s head is also scrapbook paper that is glittered up with a rhinestone button added. The button was given to me by my great aunt Caroline who just turned 99 this week.

I gave the doll some vintage flowers to hold and wrapped them up in ribbons to match her dress. I hope that Sissy likes the hat better than the Dorkies did. Twinks refused to wear it and Sparkle wore it grudgingly.

Here is the doll that Sissy made for me, look at that great skirt! And the magic wand!! I love it!!

Lets see, what else did I get done today? I made mailable art for Michelle Wards challenge this month. http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/ I wasn’t going to participate this month, because it isn’t my style, but I saw envelopes I really liked at http://pennyrabbitart.typepad.com/penny_rabbit_art/2007/07/gpp-crusade-mai.html and thought I’d try the spray paint technique.

Here is the front, (and I bought pretty stamps to use too). Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/gathering_dust/2007/07/beginner-mail-a.html is also doing this challenge, and she is offering to give hers away. Part of the challenge is to actually use them in the mail.

So, if you want one (ask Beth for hers, she might still have some) or ask me. I’ll mail them to the first 4 people who ask for one. Who knows, maybe there will be a little something tucked inside them??? Also, leave a comment if you want to enter July’s drawing for a Cottage Collage Kit.

Speaking of Beth, she and I are doing a crafting day tomorrow in her new studio. We are also swapping bags of paper goods.

Trouble is, SHE HAS EVERYTHING. What do you trade to someone who has the best selection of craft goods on the planet???

A letter from the School for the Feebleminded written in 1931. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she already has one.

I also got two rolls of this textured, paint-able wallpaper border at Goodwill today for 99 cents each. I cut off a length with 3 medallions, glazed it in umber, and added roses to the middle oval. I included a couple single ovals too, she can add a picture, or who knows what, these are COOL for collage work!

Ipacked up some odds and ends of old papers for Beth and while I was at it, I made up more Cottage Collage Kits for Etsy. These four are all neutral colors.

I included some of the glazed wallpaper pieces, papers from 1913-1930, a millinery flower, old buttons, pictures, lace, quite a bit actually. I haven’t listed them yet, if you want one they are $14 plus shipping. Oh, I made up 3 aqua themed packs too. It is surprising how long and involved that process is.

Then, I set the table for Friday’s Mini Spa Day at Home for the new mom. Yes, I know I am early, but I won’t be using the table and setting it up is so fun.

People have mentioned to me that maybe the new mother shouldn’t soak in the tub. But, she and her mother are both RNs, so I am not worried about it, they know what is safe to do. I have an assortment of bath enhancers, she can decide for herself if she wants to use one or not, or just enjoy the jacuzzi as it is. I like to use the Vaseline Intensive Care Bath beads. I think it is pretty gentle, but I’ll leave it up to my guest. Thanks for caring about her and warning me.

Well, I need to pack up a bag of stuff to take to Beth’s to work on tomorrow. We are doing Silver Bella stuff!! Yay, Bellas!! Can’t wait.

A Winner for the drawing for June and a Winner of a Smile

give away, jewelry, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2007

It is almost midnight and Little Miss Sugarwings doesn’t seem to understand the ‘sleep’ part of having a sleepover. When I tried to explain it to her, this is what I got.

She laughed at me.

So, I tucked her back in, gave her a bear to hold and turned out the lights. I am out in my studio with the baby monitor on, listening to her singing along to the nature sounds of a toy that is supposed to make her sleepy. So, I’ll make this quick and do a drawing, then go back in and sing along with her if she really doesn’t want to go to sleep. What are grannies for if not for staying up late and singing with?

The winner is:

http://shessewpretty.typepad.com/ Betty!!

There are 3 charms to choose from, please take your pick.

Tomorrow I will start a new drawing for the month of July. hmmmm, the question is what will it be??? Thank you everyone for all your kind comments and friendly chatting this month. I’ll be bribing you next month for more!! All you need to do to enter is leave a comment, any comment, as many times as you want.

Maybe a comment about what the next drawing gift should be???

I hear someone singing my song, I need to run!

A Drawer full of Dorkiness and some other goodies

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, paintings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2007

First of all, can anyone tell if my blog opened any quicker??? I did some tweaking.

I should be working, but thought I’d show some of my loot from my trip before I get on with my day.

Aren’t these 3 ladies something? Hey, it was suggested that we do a Halloween bag swap!! Good idea. And maybe I will save this photo for my bag, I think these old crones could easily be witches!!

My husband had to work a few hours at Columbia Country Club in Missouri, about half way to St. Louis. (and no, that isn’t a polite way of saying he was playing golf, he really had to work). So, I shopped at a mall there. It is far from my favorite place to go, and I really had to make an effort to stay there long enough to stretch out my time, there wasn’t a lot of great stuff. But I found all this!

Those bottles will be fun to decorate and fill, and I got a lot of old photos for under $1 each.

The best purchase (and Twinkle’s fave) is this set of old drawers covered in wallpaper. How handy will that stylish storage be???

Since I slept in the car most of the day, I was up late after we got home. I painted some more of the outlet covers that I had got in the big bag from Goodwill last month. Only 4 left to paint. I am selling them on Etsy and have sold a couple from this blog. These are not listed yet (the 2 switch plates are sold) so all of the outlet covers are available if anyone wants one. I’ll be listing them later this week, or email me here if you’d like one.

I’m off to work, have a decorating/rearranging job to do today with Beth. http://bethleintz.typepad.com/