Romantic Gothic Ghosts – Page 2

Bye Bye Fairies, Hello Ghosts!

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, free images, holiday decor, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, swaps, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / September 23, 2012

Isn't this fairy from Linda sweet as can be?

It's sad that the Faery Book Swap is over! I made a couple more pages, as thank yous to some sweet people. And I have extra covers that I hope to list on Etsy or in the Boutique. If I ever get a spare minute to do it!

In the fairy frenzy, I'd made up about 16 pages for the swap, and didn't need them all of course, so I'll have a few of those to list too. But I didn't want to use any of those as thank yous. I thought "thanks" deserved something made special just for it.

I still have my family's books, they weren't mailed because we are going to open them all together when everyone gets here to visit for Romantic Gothic Ghosts.

I'm so glad that Guncle Randy, Sissy, Bobbie Sue and Terry can come out to play with us for the classes! We hope to go to see the annual Lawrence Zombie walk if everyone arrives in time, it will be on Thurs. the 4th and family is flying/driving in from Utah, Florida and Indiana.

Then, Friday is shopping at the West Bottoms district, with all the once a month junk and antique stores, as well as Bottoms Up.

Saturday the 6th will be our ghost filled craft day, with Gypsy spells and ravens. Sunday we plan on hitting the Renfest, all decked out in our fairy attire. A perfect little reunion!! Plus I get to have my blog friends meet my family, that will be nice. I'm glad that we are having a workshop while the relatives are in town.

Along with the thank you pages, I mailed out hand made envelopes stuffed with tidbits. To make these, I looked at a regular envelope to get an idea for the pattern, cut it out from an old book page, folded it up and glued the edges. Simple, and kinda cute. I might need to do more of these!

I've gone straight from sweet fairies to gothic ghosts.

These images (provided in the online Romantic Gothic Ghost class) are printed on transparencies and hung around the room.

And the room is a WRECK! I've started cleaning and decorating, but need to get all the chaos and clutter out too.

I started decorating at the ceiling first, then the cabinet tops around the room. I'm sure most people would have cleaned the whole room, put away the mess and then started fixing up. But I got too excited about making the ghosts and had to do the fun parts first!

See how they are hung from tattered tulle on the ceiling? (I'll have more photos later)

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Speaking of photos, I've noticed that no matter how good my camera is, and how well I edit pictures, they NEVER look as good on my blog as they do on my computer files.

I wish I could fix this…. I also noticed that if you click on one to open it in a bigger window, its sharper.

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Another instance of backward preparedness- instead of cleaning and making kits, I wanted to make some ghostly images to set around the room. This collage is an old trinket box with a glass lid that Beth gave me. I took out the image that came it in, turned it on its side and made it a shadow box.

A transparency spider image is across the glass, and a ghostly girl is layered over a gothic arch (from the albums full of pictures and images and backgrounds and patterns that were scanned and added to the online class) and glued to the back of the box. I then added some tatted trim and some very old, beat up flowers.

Its very small, and I seriously doubt that it adds a lot to the over all decor of the room. But it was something I really wanted to do.

We had lots of projects made up for the online class that I pulled out to use around the room too. This tag is pinned to my new curtains, hung just for the occasion. The tag is one of the "ready to go" bonus images from the class. All you do is print it and cut it out.

The curtains are from the Sparks Flea, and were $1. When I bought them, they were a hideous, fleshy peach. But I liked the over all pattern and the flocking was cool, so I gambled that dollar and bought them any way, hoping a bowl of dye would take.

It did and now I just love them.! Thing is, though, I bought them thinking I'd cut them apart to use in projects, and to test the dye, I cut a hunk off the bottom of one to dip. I loved it so much, that I dyed the rest of the panels and hung them up, even with a hunk missing at the bottom of one.

In the window, is a banner also made from the Romantic Gothic Ghost online classes. There are tons of projects, decorating ideas, and printable images in the class. I'd forgotten how much there was in it, and had a lot of fun looking through it with fresh eyes.

Everyone coming to the class at the studio gets the online class free too. We still have a couple spots open for our one day party in the studio if you'd like to join us.

You could hold a puppy on your lap while you work…..

Beth’s Gypsy Song and Spell book for Romantic Gothic Ghosts

Books, holiday decor, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / August 9, 2012

Beth's project for our Romantic Gothic Ghost workshop at the studio on October 6th is unique Halloween crafting at its most interesting!

She is making a gypsy spell book from felted wool.

She has been printing vintage images and gypsies onto fabric and gathering up lace and doodads for everyone to embellish their own book.

She will have a lot of sample pages for ideas and will show you how to make pockets, trim out pages, and assemble the book itself. NO SEWING- its tied and glued.

Not only that, she will teach us how to make our own faux tintypes!

Now, that is a handy skill to have.

Beth will provide everything you need to make your own Gypsy Song and Spell book.

If you prefer Halloween without bright orange and purple, maybe you'd like to join us here at my home for a day of fun and creating?

Details HERE

Big heads and little crowns, pretty packages and groody fingers

Romantic Gothic Ghosts, Round Robin Book Swap, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / July 31, 2012

The prettiest of pretties arrived from Sandra, one of my round robin partners.

She sent her last page for my book. I'll miss these pages coming in the mail and the exchange of boxes each month.

Our books are now with Stampington, so when we get them back, it will be like discovering them all over again. I'm curious to see which pages will be used in which magazines. They are being divided up as individual creations, not shown as full books.

Sandra sent a boxful of goodies, too, what a sweet surprise that was!

And she made this gorgeous cuff!

Although, my hands aren't quite as gorgeous as the cuff. They are actually kind of disgusting.

I've been gluing and dying today. They say you can tell a lot about a person by looking into their eyes, I think you can tell just as much from hands.

Mine say, "I love my job and am too excited to stop and put on gloves when I decide to dye something"

Today's batch of dyed goods is full of cheesecloth, ribbons, and lace. I dipped it in what I thought was leftover, cold coffee, not knowing that my sister, Sandy, had made a fresh pot until I stuck my hands in it.

The coffee was a good start, but I wanted more depth to the color, so I spritzed it with Tim Holtz Esspresso stain, then more spritzing with Glimmer Mist in pale pink, metallic gold and silver for some shimmer.

I'm making this up for the Romantic Gothic Ghost workshop at my home in October. So, I wanted it spooky, but still prettty, hence the spritzes of sparkles.

I've also been reworking the Raven for my class. I decided to draw some different patterns, and I think I like this one best. Although, now that the bird's head is a little bigger, the crown looks too small…

Yes, I do think I'll need to draw a larger crown pattern too.

Speaking of crowns, this vintage barrette, is now in the Boutique.

Along with a few other little tidbits.

A teacup-raven-thingy

antiques/junking, Books, holiday decor, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / July 29, 2012

Its been very nice to see the interest in our Romantic Gothic Ghosts day in the studio on October the 6th! We have a lucky 13 signed up so far, before we have shown our projects for the day. I hope that showing them now doesn't spook our guests away…

My class is inspired by this stack of old Edgar Allen Poe books from a garage sale ($1 each), They are tatteringly wonderful.

You'd think that maybe, these would make me think of teaching a book of some kind???

Well, it would make sense to use the pages in art journals. But instead, I was intrigued by using just one section, the poem about the Raven.

I cut the poem into 1-3 line quotes to use as banners on a teacup-raven-thingy.

(no name for the creation yet, I hope I can come up with something better than that eventually)

The two quotes I used for my examples are some of the less interesting lines, I wanted to save the best ones for the students.

Our projects will be Halloween Holiday Decor pieces, that have a romantic feel.

NO purple!

NO orange!

Garish Halloweens, Nevermore!

I've bought some white and gray teacups, we will fill them with vintage paper nests and add a raven made from felted sweaters.

I wish we could do the felting itself that day, but it has to be ready ahead of time. So, I bought a couple of men's 100% wool sweaters at the Goodwill (geez, when did GW prices go so sky high??? $5 each for a crappy, worn out sweater???)

I boiled them in a big pot with liquid Rit dye to turn them a deep, rich black.

Then, drew a raven pattern, cut it out and stitched it up.

I AM NOT A SEWER. If you aren't either, don't be scared!

But- this was fast and easy. Black thread on a black bird doesn't have to be perfect, it hardly shows.

She is trimmed out with pretty black feathers, lace and glitter, then topped with a crown that we will make from antique brass window screening, and decorate with rhinestones. We'll make a strand of pearls for her neck, create the nest, and the arch with the banner and cover it in old millinery blooms.

And of course, the stack of books that the teacup rests on is included. We'll bundle up stacked pages (pre-coffee stained) and tie them with lace and ribbons to use as a stage for our teacup-raven-thingy.

Beth is busy whipping up her class idea too, and from what I saw Friday, its going to be really nice. Hers is a Gypsy fortune teller's guide book of some sort. To be used an art journal. And I gave her one of my Poe books to take apart so she could share the pages with everyone. So, the garage sale books do get to be in an art journal after all.

For details about coming to the class with us in my studio, please scroll down to the previous post, or click on the button on my side bar.

Now, that I have told you that I don't do orange and purple, I'm going to try to sell you a bundle of traditional Halloween colored millinery.

Well, just because I don't use the colors much, doesn't mean they aren't just right for someone's project. And these are nice, old flowers that deserve a good project to be included in.

And this might be way off season, but here is something new in the Boutique too.

Lots of old Valentines!

I'll leave you with some pictures of whats new in the shop.

Romantic Gothic Ghosts Workshop at Karla’s Studio

bird song art event, holiday decor, parties, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / July 25, 2012

Beth and I are planning some classes at my studio, a one day event, a bit more casual than Birdsong was. She'll teach in the morning while I get lunch ready, then its my turn to have an afternoon class. Both will be very much in tune with the online Romantic Gothic Ghost online projects we did a couple of years ago.

That online class is still available for $25 or you can get it free when you come to our classes at my home.

Projects for the day are still to be announced, we are in the midst of prototypes. I can promise that they are going to be moody and romantic, a lovely piece to decorate your home with for Halloween, with no garish purple or orange to be seen.

Lunch, complete kits full of vintage goodness, dessert, and drinks will be included, as well as the bonus online class. And we'll schedule some time for coffee and muffins before the work day begins so everyone can get acquainted.

Saturday Oct. 6, 2012 from 9am-6pm

Cost is $100

Email me if you'd like to pay by check, or click here, and scroll to the bottom of the post to get to the pay pal button.

Classes at my home are very casual, tee shirt and jeans type things, not dressy at all. But feel free to be a little witchy for Halloween if you'd like. My Sissy is coming and she will be all witchied-up. I might be too.

Also, I've got to warn you, that we will be surrounded by werewolves. 1-2 lb ones, though, so not as dangerous as most. Twinkle's puppies will be at the age where they will be scampering about underfoot all day. Feel free to snuggle one on your lap while you work if it looks like its getting tired. Sometimes little werewolf cubs need more rest than they think, and should be encouraged to nap.

But only if you are strong willed enough to ignore the tempting price tags tied around their necks. Yep, puppies will be for sale…..

It did my heart good to have some Birdsong friends sign up as soon as I announced this on Facebook Tuesday!! It matters a lot to me that people who have been here before are looking forward to coming back.

This class will have limited seating, and will one day only. If you are coming in town for it, its a great weekend to be in the KC area. The Old West Bottoms area of Kansas City is opened up with tons of once a month junk and antique stores, and the Renfest is going on too. I LOVE both. (Our class is on a Saturday, and I plan on being at Bottoms Up on Friday, and the Renfest on Sunday myself.) more info about both can be found here
All food served will be homemade, with fresh ingredients. I usually cook pretty healthy and low fat, but I make up for the calorie savings with some decadent desserts.

Beth and I would love to see you there. Hope we do!