swaps – Page 16 – Karla's Cottage

Another Art Doll Hat and Gloppy Purse Fairy

antiques/junking, fairies, how to's, how-to projects, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 21, 2007

The Art Doll Hat for the swap hosted by http://craftingbycandlelight.blogspot.com/ was fun to work on today. It is very different than the one I made for Sis in our private swap.

But both have the same base- a party hat in holographic paper, gold for Sissy and silver for my swap partner http://jenniferconway.blogspot.com/.

Jennifer has a wonderful site and makes the coolest crows. I don’t do crows, but I added a bird to her doll, hoping she’d like it.

I can’t send it to her until I get an exacto knife and clean up those messy arms. My scissors were too bulky.

I have a lot of these party hats left, I might make some angels to use for Christmas tree toppers.

I also made a purse fairy from one of the tiny perfume bottles Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ gave to me in our supplies swap.

My first step was to pour glue into the bottom of the bottle, then shake glitter inside it.

Next, I glued a 1" high picture down onto some background paper, and cut her out. That way, her back is attractive too, and she is more sturdy, with the 2 layers of paper. I left a strip of paper at her feet as a base.

I found a crystal bead that was small enough to fit through the opening of the bottle, and wrapped the paper base around the bead, glued it to the bead, then wrapped the base in silver ribbon and glued that down.

Now she can stand up and has a weighted bottom.

I cut butterfly shaped wings out of the same paper I had used on the back of the lady, and glittered them, bent them into a V shape and glued them to her back.

I carefully, without creasing her, folded her over and poked her through the opening to the bottle after adding glue to the bottom of the bead so it would stick to the inside of the bottle. I used a paint brush handle to adjust the fairy once she was inside, and used the brush to poke in some teeny little vintage flowers that had a drop of glue on each.

To foof up the plastic lid, I wrapped and glued a strip of the same paper I used on the fairy’s back onto the side of the lid.

A vintage button topped with a pearl bead was glued to the top.

And now I have a fairy that will always be with me wherever I go. I think I glopped enough glue into that bottle, that it will be secure, that is, if it ever dries! I’ll leave the lid off a while, maybe a week or two??

ps- you can still enter the giveaway for July by leaving a comment

Mini Spa Day at Home for the New Mom

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, give away, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 20, 2007

What a nice day! We had a fun Mini Spa Day at home for my niece to celebrate her baby’s two week birthday, then I got to work in the studio, and now my husband is back from his business trip. And I was smart enough to make up extra Cordon Bleu for lunch today and don’t have to cook tonight!

I didn’t actually get to make things today, but I did bundle up some Aqua Themed Cottage Collage Kits for Etsy and got them listed ($14).

And I played with my new purchases from my estate sale shopping with Beth. This vintage wallpaper was being used as shelf paper in a cabinet in a basement, I pulled it out and got 3 large pieces for ONE DOLLAR!!

Velvet ribbons, rick rack, buttons, a sequins all came from the same basement. I added the green ribbon and the mother of pearl button, with a vintage flower to the top of the little jar full of sequins. That is about as creative as I got today, mostly it was unpacking, and packing and finding new homes for everything.

All of these little rhinestone earrings will make pretty snow flakes for Christmas projects and look at these tiny Button Crowns!!!!!!! Oh, I see a Silver Bella project in their future.

And this little clear button is a Scotty, but it is awful close to looking like a Dorky. I never find Dorkies!! The world is filled with Stupid Scotty dogs tho. Oh well, this is cute and like I said, almost a Dorky!

Twinks has claimed the feather pillows as her own. They were only $2 each, that is pretty cheap for a dog bed, but they sure are pretty. Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ says they should go into a hammock. Well, I don’t have one, but it is a good idea.

And look at this rug- I have always wanted one of these. I paid a bit more than I usually spend when out shopping, but it sure is a lot less than buying a new rug at a "real" store or even buying an old one at an antique store. This one is 10′ x 6′ and was $75. Ooh, that makes me cringe to admit I spent that much.

There were 3 of these brass lady-stake things, I only bought 1, for $2. I should have got all three, but was spending like a fool already. Now why did I think that another $4 would break me??

I like it in the flower pot. I don’t know what it is really for, but she seems content in the rose moss.

I found a bunch of ric racs and ribbons for a total of $4.50, quite a few rhinestone buttons for $1, got this cute aqua colored card for only 50 cents, and the trash can was $1.50.

You can’t beat shopping in the basements and garages of estate sales! That is where the sellers put the stuff they think is junk and not worth much.

These leather covered booklet thingys are cute, the one on the right is actually a box, the left one is a note pad, and the middle is a funeral home booklet. All three were $4. I can see all sorts of possibilities with them.

The prettiest pretty of them all today, was Madison Catherine. She is 2 weeks old and seemed to be enjoying her party. We all got to hold her while her mom soaked in the tub.

I lit some candles for the new mom, got out scented lotions and tossed some pink rose petals into the jacuzzi.

I set up a special chair for Brooke to sit in for lunch, and tied up the back of it with a bundle of flowers I got in my first swap from Karin at http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/

We ate salads with feta, cranberries and almonds, then had cordon bleu with spinach fettuccine and a side of broccoli. (the broccoli got mushy but the rest of the meal was good)

The new grandma brought a Tiramisu, who needs broccoli when you can have that?!! I picked a gladiola from the garden for Grandma Gladys who loved Brooke so much and would have loved to see her baby. She was with us in spirit today.

Brooke wore the crown I received in the tiara swap from Barb at http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/.

I have one more thing to list on Etsy, then I am going in to have a plate of leftover cordon bleu. I wish I had leftovers everyday, man I hate to cook dinner.

Please leave a comment if you want to enter the drawing for a Cottage Collage Kit!

A Bounty From Beth, Baubles and Blooms

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, flowers, jewelry, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2007

Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ had so many great things for me today in our swap!!!! Old wallpapers, a cool box full of stuff, pictures, post cards, a how to paint roses book (love it) a scrapbook, old lace rolled up on a clothes pin, cards, Valentines, and three mini bottles to decorate. She suggested I make "purse fairies" to put in them, so I’ll always have a fairy with me.

And look! Old photos of lovely ladies!

I know I tend to go on about being a Lucky Person, but I do think I am lucky to have a friend like Beth. Not only does she have cool stuff (and she shares it)- we can talk for hours about anything or nothing and have a great time together.

When we are old, we’ll still be buddies like these guys.

I’m afraid we didn’t get around to making our Silver Bella projects today, we got caught up in Estate Sales in Kansas City and couldn’t stop.

I bought these two necklaces that are along the lines of what I collect. I rarely find them for such good prices anymore, so don’t buy very often, these were $20 and $25! (they are sitting on a table that I faux finished)

So, we got to talking about jewelry, (along with gossiping about our blog friends and what they are all doing and who said what and who showed what on their site this week).

Beth showed me these pieces that she got from her Grandma. Even better, hers are sentimental. But, I have never seen her wear them, she isn’t a jewel person.

I, on the other hand, AM a jewel person! Love the old stuff, or hand made things from old pieces. Here are some I pieced together myself with old bits that I collect.

I really like this green one, but I never wear green. Sometimes I wear the necklace with a black tee shirt and jeans since I don’t own green clothes.

The pink Chzeck glass necklace is the first I bought, and it is just as I found it, didn’t need any redoing at all. It is my favorite and started the whole obsession with these glass stones. I wear this one all the time, it seems to match everything I have!! When I bought it, I was worried that I had spent too much, and felt bad about buying something so expensive for myself for no reason, and 20 years later, I am still wearing it, and am so glad I got it! And it wasn’t that much, only $45, but at the time, that was quite extravagant and I almost didn’t get it. All of the others cost under $30.

Sissy gave me the round purple pieces that I used to make the chain for this one. She made earrings for me from them too, and they are my one of my favorite things. I don’t own purple clothes either, but I do wear this color jewelry a lot with white or black tee shirts (I have boring clothes).

These two I bought at a flea mkt this spring, and will probably clean up and sell instead of keep. I have plenty! And I work at home, and usually wear paint clothes, so don’t always have a place to go to wear jewelry.

Although I did have somewhere to go tonight! I was invited to a Lawrence Art Guild party at a friend’s house.

She had the most beautiful, wild, rambling gardens!

I spent some time chasing down this butterfly.

Pam has a funky old wooden ladder that she uses to brace her holly hocks.

I loved the chaos of the garden, it all seemed so natural and unplanned, but she has a degree in horticulture, so I do think that she spent time planning it!

We had a nice evening of sipping wine, exploring the gardens (oh there are lots more than these!) and talking art with friends.

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.

Stolen Moments and Quickie Crafts

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

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2007

My friend, Karla http://sugarbeardesigns.blogspot.com/ bought one of my cottage collage kits, how sweet of her. So I had to add some extras to it before I mailed the package. I made her a bookmark/tag from the plastic garden tags that I found, and then gathered up a few little things I thought she’d like.

How did I manage to have time for this while we are having a reunion? Well, the kids and I decided to make some bookmarks from a kit.

So between my panda and my monkey, I squeezed in a pink tag for Karla!

My charms from the swap hosted by http://mymothersdaughter-maryb.blogspot.com/ arrived! The hostess herself made 3 of them, and all are wonderful little treasures. Of course, I am prejudiced towards the ones from friends:

Beth of http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ and http://mizsmoochielips.blogspot.com/index.html. I haven’t had time to go through and enjoy all of them yet, I didn’t bring in the mail till after midnight, then we all sat up and talked for a while. I am stealing a few blogging minutes while my husband is picking up more guests at the airport and everyone else is asleep. Yes, I know I should go and unload the dishwasher! but I can do that while we all stand around the kitchen and talk!

Everyone wonders how I have time to blog with all these guests, but I am pretty quick. I write off the top of my head, like I am talking, and I am a bit of chatter box, so it is natural. Not much thought goes into what comes out of my mouth.

One more super quick project I did yesterday- my darling Mother-In-Law, Little Joan, is having her 75th birthday. She is extremely hard to buy for, since her needs are so few. But this year, she became a great-grandmother 3 times!

So, I took this album (from a garage sale for $1.50, and still in its wrapper!!) and jazzed it up a bit.

I kept the pages as they were and added a few personal touches,such as the "great grandchildren" on the front, as well as braided some eyelash yarn and ribbon, and attached a hand painted charm to them.

This went inside the front cover.

Sugarwings was her very first great grandchild (and what a great one she is!!)

The album is the kind with die cut frames, so she can just slide the photos into the ready made places. I will add a few of Sugarwings and Madison Catherine. Little Joan isn’t crafty, or scrap booker, but she will easily be able to keep this album up, since it is practically on auto pilot. As her grandkids have babies, there are places ready for their pictures.

These are a bit fuzzy, but since I am on borrowed time, its all I can do! I hear a car door now, that means there are travelers arriving that need hugs!! Gotta run——

ps- don’t forget to enter July’s Cottage Collage Kit drawing by leaving a comment

I DO have Red, White, & Blue!

antiques/junking, flowers, Food and Drink, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 4, 2007

When I helped my friend Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ redo her booth earlier, I took photos of it, saying that I wouldn’t have any red white and blue to post for July 4th and wanted to use her patriotic display that we made.

So here are a couple of shots of her antique booth. She does have cool stuff.

And then, my match box swap partner http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ sent this piece to me, along with the box full of goodies. I added glitter and punched a star in it to tie a ribbon onto it.

While I was sitting at the craft table, I noticed the stack of matchboxes that I bought for the swap. hey, r,w, & b! (and yes, of course I saved all the matches from the boxes I emptied out)

My glazed pottery jar full of markers was on the work table, and I saw that it was along those lines of patriotic colors too.

I looked around the studio some more and saw a white ironstone cup full of blue bird feathers, sitting on a post card featuring red roses.

I also noticed a collage I had done last year that had this little gal with red roses and blue forget me nots in the center.

The first stepping stone outside the studio has red and blue flowers in stained glass (and whitish cement).

And there are red begonias, white dusty miller, and a blue plumbago outside my door too.

I can’t forget Ole Blue! My ’81 Ford Ranger that has an 8 track player in it and came with a box of country music 8 tracks under the seat when we bought him.

My little red gazing ball has blue flecks in the glass.

Happy 4th! Our coolers are packed and we’re headed to the lake.

Gorious Gifts, Grandbabies, and Gardens

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2007

The fairy grandbaby and I had a great day in the gardens. I had found this bouncy car at a garage sale for $2 and it is perfect for her to sit in while I plant, dig, and do a shot of Miracle Grow here and there.

I’d say my Miracle Grow is working- look at the height of that gladiola!!!

I am almost 5’3", here I am standing in the flower bed next to the gladiola and holding it up to the back of my head and trying to snap a photo to show how high the plant is. I’d say it is at least my height.

and yes I know my fingernails look awful- I’ve been gardening and don’t wear gloves. plus I have an ugly rash. I have been sick from a tick bite and am on antibiotics for it. Maybe I shouldn’t show these kinds of photos???

At least Sugarwings is pretty in this picture! Our poor front yard is a mess, we have a construction project on the road in front of the house and it is so torn up, it is hard to get a mower over to that spot. This flower bed just goes wild. I haven’t done much to it in years, planted hardy native plants and let it go.

We worked in the herb beds together, after going to the garden center and getting a lot of 99 cent plants that were on clearance.

Sugarwings and Twinkle are totally in love with each other. That dog never leaves the baby’s side. Of course, the baby often has tasty things smeared on her too.

See my old wheelbarrow in the back? Kim at http://deardaisycottage.typepad.com/ has one like it with flowers planted in hers, but I use mine to do yard work.

The planter boxes on my gazebo are starting to fill out. I kept them simple this year, just some inpatients, begonias and ivy.

This is the first time I have ever bought the hanging planters ready to go, I usually make my own. But Walmart had them on sale for $5.88 each, how can you put one together for much less?

I have 3 planter boxes on the gazebo, but they don’t match. I find them at garage sales and kind of like that they are all different.

A friend made the mosaic birdhouse for me in trade for a little fairy watercolor I did.

The garden center also had these glow in the dark hose guards on sale too.

(yes, Sissy, I bought some for you and Bobbie Sue too!)

I bought a glow in the dark hose guard for Sugarwings to put in front of her house too, but I think she wanted the big ball instead.

Well today might have been about as nice as a day gets. I could be the luckiest person around.

And speaking of lucky– look what I got in the match box swap that Natasha http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ hosted. Deb at http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ was my partner and she sent me a big box full of delightful things!! I am starting to feel like a chintzy partner, I haven’t sent that much out, and always get such generous packages from everyone. Heck, for the tiara swap, Barb http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/ even sent my fairy grand baby a gift!!

Look at some of these treasures from Deb!!!

One side of this medallion was her logo, the other side has my name.

I hung it in my dining room china cabinet on the carnival glass dish that was my mom’s.

And look at the box itself, she used the large size (of course I used the small one and feel bad) and added to it, so that you wouldn’t even know right off that it was made from a matchbox.

I wonder if I should even continue swapping? I need to beef up my packages. I have been on the skimpy side too much, do you think I am getting a bad rep out there in blogland and no one will trade with me after this?? Karen of http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/ was my first partner and she went over board too. An unbelievable may basket came from her.

Anyway, Deb, thanks so much, I am overwhelmed, it is such a great box of goodies. Love it!! And everyone should go to her site and see the bunny swap slide show she has, way cool.

Well, I’m off to take a nap before dinner, a day with a fairy grand baby can be a wonderful and exhausting thing. Plus, the Dr. says I have some sort of rare blood infection from this tick bite and I just don’t feel like myself. I think that is why I was so grouchy while trying to do some red, white, and blue bookmarks. It wasn’t the color, it was the ehrlichiosis!

Rose, French Vanilla & Robin’s Egg!

how to's, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 2, 2007

I usually enjoy most projects and look forward to getting started on them. But when I realized that the bookmarks for this swap needed to be patriotic, I was worried. I don’t "do" red, white, and blue! I do rose, french vanilla, and robin’s egg!

My buddy, Beth, http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ who has the most well stocked and fantastic craft room full of supplies you’ll ever see, gave me all this to work with. She has an overflow of stuff and is talking about making packs to sell on Etsy. She has done that in the past, but now is redoing her craft room and really needs to make space. You can contact her on her blog if you need anything, I’m sure she has it!!!

I still struggled and felt bad about what I was putting together. The whole idea that it had to be flat, was hard, I am a big believer in gooberey-glittery-encrusted pieces.

So, I compromised and used 3-d on the tassley parts.

I got out some old red velvet that was a rotted cover of an album in its past life, and covered a couple book marks with that.

Then, they started to get too 3-d and maybe not as patriotic? Although an American Beauty rose might fit into the category.

So I went back to the first two I started and worked on them some more, made the backs nicer. They are on their way to my swap partner, http://beachyscapecodcupboard.blogspot.com/ . It ended up being a good thing for me to do. I get so set in my comfort zone that I don’t try enough new things. So even though I got a bit cranky and it wasn’t going well, I learned from the challenge, and want to thank http://shabbyinthecity.blogspot.com/ for hosting it.

But of course, the minute I was done, I painted some soft pink roses to get me out of my red/white/blue funk! This is one of the frames I got at a garage sale a couple weeks ago, that started out gold with a print I didn’t like in it. I primed and painted it ivory, glazed the frame in umber, glued down a page torn from an old book with French words in it, then painted the roses over the text.

Feeling like a Queen and having the Crown to go along with it

Chandeliers, fairies, Food and Drink, give away, jewelry, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2007

Look where I have been! the Chase Plaza in St Louis has to be the best hotel EVER. Pure luxury. I feel quite quennly when I stay there.

These two photos are of the lobby, one from each direction. I am happy to just stand there in the hall like a rube and stare at all the marble, granite, chandeliers that are bigger than my living room, and the gorgeous architecture. I’ve stayed there many times, but I never get over my awe of the place.

The rooms are newly remodeled, but I loved it when they still had an 80s vibe to them too. Now they are updated, streamlined and sumptuous.

The restaurants are as over the top as the lobby, and "Eau" is our favorite when we are in town.

I felt like I was visiting "Top Chef", I even ate an amuse boocsh or however that is spelled. It is French for a one bite appetizer to delight your mouth. Mine was delighted. I’ve seen them served on Top Chef, so felt like I knew all about them. This one was a strawberry brushetta.

See? Delightful!

And the salads were so pretty. Mine had truffles.

There are 3 restaurants in the lobby along with a movie theater. When the movies are over, an attendant offers you chocolate on a silver tray as you leave.

The pool is right outside one of the restaurants and I love to lay by the water with a good book (this time it was a Stephanie Plum novel) order lunch with a strawberry margarita.

And sometimes I just put down the book and gawk. I never get tired of the beauty of that magnificent, old building.

Yep, I’m a rube.

I should have packed my tiara! This is one location where I would have felt properly dressed to have one on!

Barbara http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/ sent me this beaut, and not only was this wonderful piece of queenly head wear in the package, she sent presents!!!!!!!!

A hat box, vintage laces, a sweet fairy for me and a fairy framed mirror for little Sugarwings!!!

The generosity of blogger/swappers never fails to amaze me. I think she really over did it. Thanks, Barb!

I got this photo from Sissy, she has been making gift bags. She doesn’t have a blog, and makes such pretty things, I had to show you sicne she couldn’t. I am thinking about seeing if anyone wants to do a gift bag swap? But later on this summer. Or, hey, it would be a good one for getting ready for the holidays, wouldn’t it? Let me know if you think we should do a holiday gift bag swap later on!

While I was in St. Louis, I didn’t spend all my time eating, laying by the pool or gawking at the big city sites. I spent a couple of hours working one morning. I did this little chubby cheeked fairy painting and also a commissioned pet portrait.

This is the beginning stage of the painting. Whenever I do a portrait, the first thing I paint is the eyes. If you can capture life in the eyes, you know it will be a good likeness. If not, I throw it away and start over.

Here is the finished product along with the photo I was using to work from.

I always wonder what the housekeepers think when they come in and see the suite transformed into a watercolor studio. Or sometimes, I take jewelry to work on while I am at the hotel. I just can’t stand to not get any work done at all for more than couple of days!

Thanks for all your input on my blog being slow. Typepad says that maybe I should try doing excerpts, but I don’t want to do that. They also said to try not having as many postings listed on the first page. I’ll be keeping all but a few in the archives and see how that goes. Please let me know if that helps?

Today is the 28th, so only two more days to enter the giveaway for the hand painted rose charm. (and yes, I counted all the "happy birthdays to Beth "http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ )

On Saturday I also have to write an article for the fall issue of Romantic Country and have little time to get it done, so my drawing might be late that day. So you’ll have all day to enter. And I will start a new drawing on Sunday! Maybe a matchbox full of goodness?

As much as I loved living in the lap of luxury in St Louis at the Chase Plaza, it was good to get home. We went straight to see Sugarwings and took her out to dinner. I think she wore more than she ate. I still thought she was cuddly, even covered in some sort of goo that she was eating. I couldn’t get enough hugs after not seeing her for a few days!

Bunnies, Ballerinas, and Bears, oh my

antiques/junking, Hand Painted Furniture, hand painted signs, how to's, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2007

That dumpster might have been yucky and smelly, but I am loving the stuff I pulled from it.

I dug out an old, broken magazine rack and almost tossed it back in. But it had a cute shape, so I kept it. When I got home, I gave it a good whack with a hammer and tore it apart.

This section with the bear painted on it is the center of the rack, with the handle on the top.

Wouldn’t this be sweet in a little baby girl’s room? $20 if you are interested.

I have a thing for ballerina bears. I have painted a t-shirt for Sugarwings with this on it, and did a mural for a friend’s daughter of a cute dancing bear in a tutu also.

My matchbox is ready to be mailed for Natasha’s Swap. http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/

My partner is Debra of http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ who is a talented artist and a collector of bunnies (she is hosting a bunny swap, you should check it out).

I was fresh out of vintage bunny paper (or maybe I never had any), so I painted some bunnies on my matchbox.

My first step was to paint the entire thing pink, and add some striping. While the paint was wet, I dumped a bunch of glitter to the inside of the newly pink box.

I painted a white rose on one end and a brown bunny to the other end. Then I wrapped the sleeve part of the box in vintage sheet music and wallpaper and painted a bunny on the top.

I drew some gold swirls on the bottom, and glued chenille ribbon and crystals to the sides, so it is pretty from all angles.

I thought it was missing something, so glued 3 little vintage millinery flowers to the top. I bought the flowers from Deb Dusenberry of Curious Sofa http://curioussofa.blogspot.com/.

When she was moving from her old location to her new (and magnificent) store, I worked at her moving sale. How cool to style her shop and get the sale set up!!!! Ooh, I felt schmancy working there. She had bundles and bundles of these posies

marked from $1.50 to $3.00 each so I bought quite a few.

I also bought a pair of these columns from her. I have them in a nook of my studio.

I might have spent more than I earned that weekend working at her shop.

Back to the matchbox- those things are tiny, but you can jam a lot into them!

I found some old bunny shaped buttons, rhinestones, and some small ephemera goodies. To top it off, I put in another teeny bouquet of those posies from Curious Sofa and tied them up with black velvet ribbon.

Last week while Garage Sailing, I found an old jewelry box, for almost nothing and it had quite a bit of old jewelry in it (included in the price).

There just happened to be a bunny brooch inside!Just what I needed for my swap partner who loves bunnies. Fate?!

It is way too big for the matchbox, plus I wanted to add some copies of my little fairy girls too, so I wrapped them all up together in old silk wallpaper and tied it with a silk ribbon I hand dyed.

But the trouble is, now I am SWAPLESS!! I am all caught up and have no swaps to do. Although, I saw an art-doll hat swap that looks really unique…… take a look at it here: http://craftingbycandlelight.blogspot.com/

I was still up and working at 4am last night, so missed Garage Sailing this morning. I thought about just working till 6am, then going out sailing, but realized that I am way way way too old for those old tricks and went to bed for a few hours. I can’t go with out sleep like I used to when I was in my 20s and could stay out all night, then work the next morning.

We had company all day (family BBQ) and all I could think about was a nap.

This little nightstand used to be the right half of a desk. I got it cheap-cheap-cheap because it was butchered up a bit in the deconstruction.

Some wood putty, sand paper, primer and paint is all it needed to be a decent little hunk of furniture.

I was going to do more to it, but thought the hardware was so nice, I didn’t want to distract from it. Plus, it was about 3am.

Well, it is about midnight now, and if I want to go Garage Sailing tomorrow, I’d better get some rest. I cannot miss it two days in a row!! Its already near the end of June and my shopping days are slipping by. The season is just too short around here!!

Ps- the wierd mask is spoken for now.

ppss- don’t forget, only SEVEN DAYS till the drawing for the handpainted charm. leave a comment if you want to enter!