Sugarwings – Page 50 – Karla's Cottage

12,165 hits * 4 months * 100 posts * countless new friends *

give away, jewelry, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 12, 2007

So, today is my 100th post! Time for reflection? I’m not a very reflective type(although, I do like shiny objects and those sort of reflections).

Here is a list of what I love about blogging:

1- Well, I started doing it to promote my business, to show my paintings and use the blog to feature some Ebay things like these drawer pulls. I am not a frequent Ebayer yet, am still learning. And there are lots of nice bloggers who offer advice!

2- I keep up with my family who live far away. I sometimes feel like I am talking to them when I write. Sissy sends me photos of some good junk she finds and I can share that too. She just got this fairy tale book at Goodwill.

3- I am motivated to get things done! Not that I always need that, I do tend to keep busy. But I also have been known to not do anything creative for days on end, but with the blog, I am often thinking about what I can post tomorrow and that can be an incentive to work on a project instead of reading a book. But it won’t stop me from watching too much TV, nothing can get in the way of my TV addiction!

Here is the garage sale cabinet I picked up on Saturday when I was out junking with my friends. It needed a slight re-build, since it was in pieces. I re-enforced the back, added trim and repainted it while I was at it.

4- Have I mentioned the friends???? Great people that I have so much in common with and enjoy "talking" to. Big hearted and generous people too. Natasha http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ arranged a mini fairy swap for me when I told her I was bummed about missing the fairy jar swap I saw on so many other blogs. Here is what she sent. Looks to me like it is just perfect for Sugarwing’s room. So many people gave me advice, added me to their links, and welcomed me when I started. I’ve met with nothing but kindness and friendship since I started doing this. The community was a bonus I never expected at all.

5- Having giveaways! I love doing the gifties and treats! I think I will always have one going, leave a comment, enter the giveaway for this month!

6- WINNING GIVEAWAYS!!! I have been lucky enough to win a few so far too. I won this vintage paper pack from Cheryl Connell. http://fromthepines.blogspot.com/ Look at all the great stuff she put in it!

I also won this tag with a card and some goodies from http://whispersofinspiration.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html I used it in a journal I made about our vacation.

7- Swaps- swaps- swaps- swaps!!! Yep, another addiction. A May Basket was my first swap and now I am joining them right and left. I am working on a tiara and a match box this week.

And look what I got in trade for one of my measley little charms! Michelle http://www.ginghamworld.blogspot.com wrote that she’d like to swap and I told her I liked her bags and the color pink. She sent this beautifully wrapped hand made bag as well as this pearly "K".

Not only that, there was a cute heart pin in the package. My sister, Bobbie Sue’s last name is Valentine, and I have a fondness for hearts.

See what I mean about the generous people I meet??

8- Comments! Why do you think I bribe you all with give aways? I LOVE TO GET COMMENTS. ( I’d do the give aways anyway, but I am not above using them as a bribe!) I love to leave comments too. You’ll see me scattered all over the web on comment pages. I like to sometimes go to a comment page from a favorite blog and click on every single name there, checking out their sites and leaving comments on them all.

9- Which brings me to How much money I have saved on magazine purchases! I read blog after blog and it is so much more satisfying (and cheaper) than buying a stack of decorating magazines. Hmm, should I say that since I sometimes write for magazines??

10- Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ and I get to talk and gossip about the blog people we know like they are neighbors just down the road.

11- Sugarwings! Well, actually, my fairy grand baby is just the best thing about every part of my life, so I had to include her here. And my blog is a wonderful spot to show off photos of her.

You have no idea how hard it is to hold back on the granny urges to have an All Sugarwings, All the Time- blog. I could just stare at nothing but her. I found this little rose bud dress for her at a garage sale for $1, so she and I played dress up and took pictures in the garden.

Meandering thoughts on roses and Meandering paths in the garden

Once again, my local grocery store had $1.99 a dozen roses on Monday! At those prices you can fill a house with them!

Actually, this bright pink bundle contained a lot more than a dozen. I used them in the matte white dog planters here in the guest bathroom and also up in one of the guest bedrooms.

Isn’t that a perfect pink for this room?

I placed a goody filled pot by the bed as a surprise. I added some chocolates too, that seemed to be the finishing touch that it needed.

The other guest room upstairs got pale, blushy pink roses.

The painting on the wall behind the daybed is an old one, not one that I painted myself.

I used the painting for a photo shoot that I did for Romantic Homes, and thought I would sell it after the article, but I just never could. I even had a lady call me from Florida after reading the magazine and offer to buy it.

I have made copies of the picture, maybe I should find some old frames to paint white and pop some prints into them?

I bought white roses for the dining room.

There were bunches of other flowers for $1.99 too. I divided them up and used some with a few of the roses in kitchen window.

That is the one place that I will ALWAYS have fresh flowers. I spend too much time cooking and washing up at the sink to not have something lovely to look at. If there are no markdown flowers and I have nothing to pick in my yard, I will indulge in at least one single bloom to put in the window to enjoy while I chop and peel at the sink!

I don’t have a green thumb, but I sure try. I have learned that I can cut ivy from my garden and grow it in vases of water, not dirt. So, I always have ivy in pots and vases in the window too. Potted plants don’t live long in my home, but sprigs of ivy or pothos seem to do well in just water.

Speaking of green thumbs, I had some help in the garden today. Sugarwings spent some time eating dirt while I set up a series of soaker hoses in and around the tomatoes.

Marigolds are planted to line the stepping stones that I use in between the veggies.

I started collecting stepping stones years ago. A lot of the garden step stones are cheapy, 90% off clearance ones from Hobby Lobby at the end of the season.

All of these stained glass mosaic stepping stones are from art shows, where I have been able to trade a necklace I made or a print of my paintings for a stone.

I just planted begonias to line the walkway, they are still quite a bit puny. Try to imagine them all full and flowering!

With my lack of a green thumb, that is the only way they’ll get to that point, is by imagination.

This is my favorite, but then, you might have guessed I love fairies.

Plus, I got this at an art show in Pendleton, Indiana where I grew up, so it is sentimental to me.

A friend made this one, I added a bit of paint to age it.

This round one is from Walmart!

I had to dig a trench to help the water flow away from the house. I turned the mucky project into a curving path, and filled the area with rock. then, I lined the path with white dessert plates.

Well, I’ve shown you a painting that is an antique, flowers from the grocery and stepping stones other people have made. I feel like I should show something I did myself!

This is a fairy watercolor using plates as a border like I have done in front of my own home.

I’ve probably ran on long enough, but don’t forget you can enter the charm give away simply by leaving a comment or email this month. And as many times as you’d like to leave one, too, they all count.