swaps – Page 4 – Karla's Cottage

Faerie Pages flying in!

By Karla Nathan / August 7, 2012

Fairies are winging their way into my studio daily now!

The very, very best part of a swap is the packages piling up around the room. Of course, it doesn't take long for them to take over the room….

Briar Rose

This particular swap certainly will take over. Close to 1,000 pages including my front and back covers will be spread out around the room.

Laurie

I wish I could take photos of all the artwork for you. I'd get nothing else done if I did though. I will promise to get random photos here and there as I can.

But I will have a Pinterest board for them. And I think there is a way for people to add photos to my board, isn't there? Any tips? I think you just have to send me a request, but I could be wrong. I don't know if you do that through Pinterest, or if you just email me with your user name and I add you to the board.

If anyone has done this let me know if I'm close on how to do it.

Isn't this cute as a bug? It was sent to me by Elaine at Briar Rose

She actually creates the porcelaine pieces herself and used one on each page she made.

My front covers are DONE!!!!!!!!!!! Now onto the back ones, which are not nearly as entertaining to do. Which is why I have so few done. I need to force myself to do a few a day, and I'll be fine by the end of the month.

Then the fun begins, the first couple weeks of September will be assembly time. There will definately be more photos coming then. I love seeing the books come together, and try hard to match up pages so they look attractive with each other.

For now, I will try not to open all the packages till the due date. I love to see what comes in the mail, but I have to be very, very organized, with marking items off lists and double checking contents, and not getting anything mixed up.

So, its smarter to not open very many till they are all here and ready for me to dive into. Its hard to resist and I do peek a bit, especially at first. But once I start getting a lot of them, I pile all of the packages into tubs and slide them under tables until its time to open them up. If I open them all as they come in, I'd have total chaos, things might slide out of boxes, stacks would get knocked over.

I'll be using my self control and waiting to do it right.

Its almost impossible for me to let you know if your package is here or not. I check them off as I open them, not as they come in. As they come in, they will be stored away till later. Yours could be buried under 50 other packages, so its very hard to check. Thank you for understanding.

You can still join, if you'd like. They are due Sept. 1st.

Faerie Swap Book Update, And an explanation of the costs

fairies, swaps

By Karla Nathan / August 4, 2012

The Faerie Swap book covers are coming along fine. Here are 77, almost finished ones. They still need a magic wand and some lace trim.

I've been trying to do them assembly line style, gluing all the wallpaper backs on, sanding and inking the edges, cutting out and adding the fairy with her vintage millinery wings, then the wallpaper circle with the title, then some glitter.

Whew.

It was going very well and I was pleased to see I was almost through the stack.

But the stack looked kind of small.

Then, I counted and realized that the copy store had only made 60 copies, not 100. So, back to the copy store for 40 more and start the process over again.

Now, I 'm working on the back cover. The very back is flocked wallpaper on the outside with some other pretty paper on the inside. I haven't decided which yet.

I bought chip board to use for a sturdy backing. I'm covering 50 in paper, then cutting them in half.

I plan for 100, my smaller swaps have gone way over that, but this one is more involved. We are not quite to 100 yet, so you still have time to join. Click on the side bar button if you want more info.

Some of the charms I ordered to tie onto the rings have arrived! I've got some other ones coming. I'll be tying pretty ribbons onto the binding ring and dangling charms from them.

I've had people asking me why I am charging so much to join the swap, when postage won't take $20.

So, I thought I should explain. First of all, I have to buy charms, chip board, wallpaper, glue, more glue, ribbons, ring binders,card stock, ink, and glitter. I have to pay for color copies, plus use my own stash of wallpaper, flocked paper and millinery.

It adds up for 100 books. And the postage will be higher than previous swaps I've done, these books are much larger than little tag books.

I put in hours, and hours, and hours of time to this. Starting with the watercolor of the fairy, so that there is an original design on the cover, not just an image I got from the internet.

Plus, all the sorting, and book making, then the days of making labels to send out the packages, plus the ink and paper for my printer.

Now, its true, that not all the money goes to purchases, some goes to my time. But it doesn't cover the extent of time that I put into the work. I'd make a lot more if I was taking photos of my things to sell and adding them to the Boutique. Or making something arty to add to it instead of this.

But I love swaps and its so fun to see my studio swamped in pages and pages of your art work!

So, I enjoy doing it, but I simply could not do it if I didn't charge, it takes away too much time from my real work. I hope you don't think I'm trying to gouge you on the price. Honestly, I'm not getting ahead on this. If you think I've over charged you, I hope this explains the costs behind the price.

Faerie Book Swap pages

swaps

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2012

We are going to visit Utah for a few days to celebrate the 80th birthday of my sweet Mother-In-Law. If your fairy pages are ready, its okay to go ahead and mail them, my sons will be at the house and will watch the mail.

People say I shouldn't announce online that I am going out of town, because I'll get robbed. But I do have a grown son who is a weight lifter and who lives here, so I feel pretty secure in saying I'll be gone and knowing all is well with the homestead. So, don't try to rob us while I'm away. You'd have better luck when I'm home and I'm the one you have to face, not him.

I've got some headway made in making covers for the swap. At least I have this pile of heads cut out.

The pages aren't due for a long time, no rush. For me, or for you. And if you haven't joined yet, there is still room for you in the swap, and plenty of time to get them done. They are due Sept. 1st.

For more details, look here.

Here is another page that I made for the swap. Both sides are covered in this deep gray, floral wallpaper that I chose to fit the Moonlight theme of the title cut out of some sheet music. I thought the gray was a nice, moody, night time sky look.

The fairy is a lady cut from a black and white illustration with a couple sheer millinery petals and some old beading on wire tucked under her back, as wings. The page is edged in black lace, with a bead of silver glitter (Michaels brand $1 bottle of silver glitter glue, instead of Stickles, what a bargain, and it works great)

I added a posy of velvet flowers to her hand.

The text was cut from the same sheet music as the title. I used a circle punch to make the moon from an old book page, added white gold (Martha Stewart) glitter (letting the text peep through) and inked the edges in brown, then glued it down with a rhinestone star nearby.

The back features a hand tinted sepia picture of ballerinas that I added wings to. Its also trimmed in black lace and sliver glitter.

I'm keeping the backs simple, adding just a small touch to them, not a full collage. But feel free to do yours however you'd like. If you want to go all out, please do! Or if you want to just use a pretty paper and leave it at that, its fine too.

There will be new posts to read while I am away at Grandma Joan's big birthday bash and family reunion, so please check back. And do email if you want to join the Faerie Book Swap. I'll add you to the list and send an acknowledgement of it when I get back.

More fairy collage how to’s

fairies, how to's, swaps

By Karla Nathan / July 12, 2012

This card stock page is covered on both sides in sheet music titled the Cricket and the Bumble Bee.

To that I added embroidered ribbon across the top and crocheted lace to the bottom. I've cut a girl from an old photo and gave her bumble bee wings from an old book about insects.

With markers, I drew grass for her to sit in, and glued little flowers and leaves around the grass. She is outlined with a Tim Holtz distress marker to make her stand out a bit, and is topped with a crown of German foil.

It doesn't show up in the picture, but she is rubbed with glittery ink too, for a subtle sparkle.

At the very top of the page, I've added a bumble bee on a wire. It looks cute from the front or the back and I can't wait to see it peeking out the top of someone's book!!!

Once again, the back is simple. I've inked the edges (front side also), then glued down a large bee cut from my insect book. And of course, the Queen Bee needed a crown!!

Fairy page collage how tos, Plus some answers to questions about the swaps

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

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2012

These fairy pages are too much fun!

I know I only need 8 to swap, but I wanted some extra in case they were needed. Sometimes the count is slightly off in a swap, or someone sends the wrong amount, or I plain old screw it up somehow and its just handy to have a stack of extras to add to a book just in case.

(I'm an artist, not a mathematician!! I try hard, but numbers sometimes are painful for me)

This page is covered in "Moths" sheet music, then inked all over with 3 similar inks, darkening the edges even more than the rest of the page.

Next, I glued down some old hat netting.

Then, I added a fairy dress made up of flower petals to a vintage baby doll. Her wings are a sheer butterfly.

I started to glue her down directly to the netting, but she looked washed out, so I dug through my drawer full of millinery leaves and found a big, velvet one.

The page is finished by gluing trim cut from an old garment to the bottom and topping that with a butterfly brooch.

Here is another done with sheet music. This one is "Little Buttercup", and the words are on the back, I'll show that picture too.

I wrapped the sheet music around both sides of the page, and then lined one side with an old wallpaper bordered, and trimmed the bottom with zig zag chrocheted edging.

Next, I colored the little girl on the sheet music with markers, and gave her butterfly wings cut from an old book about insects. I drew in some flowers next to her, similar to the ones on the border of the sheet music.

To make her stand out, I outlined the body and wings with a Tim Holtz Distress Ink marker. I used the same marker around the wallpaper border. She still didn't "pop" as much as I'd like, so I used white ink to embellish the details of her dress, gloves, socks, and shoes.

From the bug book, I cut another butterfly out and glued it above the girl. Then glued a posy of millinery blooms to her hand.

The back is simple, a Victorian calling card was added to the middle of the page, and I inked the edges in a soft blue.

I do need to sign the back. Please make sure you sign your pages too! Everyone will want to know whose pages they received.

I'll leave you with some pictures of what is new in the Boutique.

And in my next posts I will have more "how tos" about the other pages I've done.

Its not too late to join the swap. Click on the button to the right of my post for details. You have all summer to make the eight pages. Well, its kind of 16, with the backs, but the backs can be very, very simple, just pretty paper only, no designs.

People have asked me if their pages all need to be the same. No, of course not! They go to 8 different people, so do them however you like.

Another question I get a lot is: can there be things sticking over the edges of the page?

Oh yes! Lace, trim, ribbons, whatever, all look pretty dangling from the book! And the size guidelines don't have to be exactly perfect, just in that ballpark size. An inch smaller or larger will be ok. I am folding card stock in half to use, so mine are pretty much the same, except for trailing trims.

You can be more creative than I've been and use other materials besides card stock. Just make sure that the page will hold up in the book. Paper that is too thin, might tear at the hole punch. But fabric, metal, cardboard, burlap, all sorts of things will be acceptable replacements for cardstock. (to see an example, look at what Cheryl did with her birdhouses here)

There are great tag examples and a little bit about how I process the pages as they arrive in this old post too.

In the past, I have been blown away by the imaginations of swappers when the bounty starts flowing in my mailbox. I am dumbfounded by what some of you are capable of and shake my head wondering why I never thought of doing something like that.

Another question I get is about 3D items. YES, YES! they add a lot of interest. Just make sure there is nothing thick along the left side, I'm still not sure how I'll be putting the books together, maybe just one punch in the upper left corner like here, or two or more rings like here.

I'll have to put a few together and see how I like the look of them either way.

I've got cute, woodland fairy charms to tie on, and will add some ribbons and lace too. The books will be bound with rings, so the owners can always open them up to add more pages if they would like too.

Hope to see you in the swap! We are up to 80 swappers so far. Man, I have my work cut out for myself, don't i????

Painting fairies

Books, fairies, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 26, 2012

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This week, I've done a lot of painting. Still not sure, but I think this might be the right fairy for the book swap covers.
I'm experimenting with different copy sizes and papers. When I make the covers, no two will be exactly alike anyway, even if I use the same image. I'm using vintage millinery petals and leaves for the wings, and trimming the bottom with a variety of laces and ribbons. The wallpaper under the title will be changing too. I'll have an assortment of florals that I'll be cutting from.

The back of the cover will be done in vintage wallpaper too. But I like the text behind the fairy. Or do I? Maybe I'll do some with wallpaper too.

When I have to make dozens and dozens and dozens of something, I need some variety as I go along. So a few changes here and there make the work much more interesting.

(by the way, thanks to all of you who signed up!! I'm excited that so many of you wanted to play fairy with us- and I have room for plenty more if you haven't signed up yet.)

The painting I did has a flower on the fairy's head, but I'm gluing a teensy millinery bloom over it.

She also has some wings, and a painted background, but I like the idea of cutting out the figure and adding 3-D wings.

I'm not one hundred percent positive that this will be the cover yet. I'm in a painting mood, I might do a few more girls and see which I like best. There is also no reason why I have to do all the covers the same, either.

If you'd like to join the swap, please do! Email me me with your name, blog name, and email address ( you do NOT have to have a blog to join, of course) Details here.

Winged friends

fairies, Hens, paintings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2012

Things are going well with the Ladies. They are feeling enough at home that we can leave their doors open all day, and they return to the coop to lay their eggs.

We have 8 boxes for them, but there are only two or three that they like. And they deposit the eggs together in the same nest all day. The next day they might use a different box, but all will use the chosen box of the day.

The Rhode Island Reds are about as lovable as a chicken can be. All run up to me when I step outside. I'd like to think its genuine fondness, but I think they are just greedy pigs and wondering if I might have a treat.

What surprises me about hens, is how soft they are. And that some of them actually seem to like to be petted.

Our other four ladies, the Americaunas and Red Stars, are not nearly as friendly, but I hope that changes. They are much larger, louder, messier, and squawk at me like I have no right in the coop. I am kind of wishing I'd stuck with just the Rhode Island Reds, since they are so sweet, adorable and act like they are thrilled to see me.

I guess its time to tell the big, noisy, messy birds that they are too juicy and fat to not at least pretend to like me. Because I love fried chicken more than I love hens who act like I am an annoyance in their lives… No, thier eggs are too pretty to give up on them. Sugarwings and I enjoy the blue eggs they produce.

Don't forget, we are having a Faerie Book Swap! Scroll down a couple posts for details. I painted this fairy as a possible part of the collage for the cover, but I'm not sure I want to use it. I think I'd rather have a more vintagey looking fairy.

What do you think?

Faerie Book Swap and free fairy images

Books, fairies, free images, swaps

By Karla Nathan / June 17, 2012

(click pictures to open in a larger window, save to your computer to print)

Do you LOVE fairies? We do around here. Of course, its probably because I have a couple of living, breathing, little fairy kids running around pretending to be human grand children.

And of course, there are teensy fairies elves in my gardens, and guardian fairies watching over the house. Not to mention all the woodland fey habitating the Fairy Berry Trail out in our woods.

Fairies come in all shapes, sizes, occupations, styles, and forms. Naughty little trouble makers, angelic helpers, wild and wonderful tree dwellers, water nymphs, and of course the springtime sprites who paint all the pretty flowers to welcome the new season.

And I am delighted by all of them.

If you are too, maybe you'd like to join our swap in honor of the capricious, flittery creatures who are so illusive and lovely?

This is a little different than past swaps I have hosted. This time we'll be by passing tags and using half sheets of standard 8-1/2 x 11" card stock. (Or your choice of materials, cut to approximately this size) The theme is so special, that I wanted to do a "real" book instead of tags.

I will provide a front and back cover, with vintage papers, and my own art work, coordinate 8 pages to send back to you, ring bind the books, add ribbons and a fairy charm.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Here are the guidelines, if you'd like to join:

The theme is fairy, any interpertation you'd like
Size is 5-1/2" wide, 8-1/2" tall (approximately) A bit smaller, larger will work.
Please use card stock, or something sturdy. Please feel free to be creative and use other materials (cloth, felt, tin, chipboard, etc), just nothing too flimsy like plain copy paper.
Make 8 pages front and back, (the back can be simple but please at least cover it in pretty paper, not leave it blank) So that means 8 pages/16 sides total
Sign each page, add your blog name if you have one
LEAVE ONE INCH ALONG THE LEFT HAND SIDE FLAT, no 3-D items along the edge, so I can punch holes. Decorate the crap out of the rest of the page and goober it up as thick as you'd like, but please leave the left 1" for me to bind!
Email karlanathan@sbcglobal.net with your info to join. Please include:

Your first and last name
Your blog name and URL (you don't need to have a blog to participate)
Your email address

Deadline

Tags should be to me by September 1, 2012

In your package, include:

Your first and last name, same as you provided at sign up
A slip of paper with your name, and address, if your mailing address name does not match the first and last name you provided, please alert me
$20 fee for USA, $25 for overseas (these will probably weigh about one pound or so per book)

Here is a button you can post on your blog for the swap.

I look forward to seeing the piles of pretty pixie pages flying into my cottage!

Mail your sprite-ish art to:

KARLA NATHAN

1754 E 1200 RD

LAWRENCE, KS 66049

Faerie Swap Book Update, And an explanation of the costs

The Faerie Swap book covers are coming along fine. Here are 77, almost finished ones. They still need a magic wand and some lace trim.

Whew.

It was going very well and I was pleased to see I was almost through the stack.

But the stack looked kind of small.

Then, I counted and realized that the copy store had only made 60 copies, not 100. So, back to the copy store for 40 more and start the process over again.

Now, I 'm working on the back cover. The very back is flocked wallpaper on the outside with some other pretty paper on the inside. I haven't decided which yet.

I bought chip board to use for a sturdy backing. I'm covering 50 in paper, then cutting them in half.

Some of the charms I ordered to tie onto the rings have arrived! I've got some other ones coming. I'll be tying pretty ribbons onto the binding ring and dangling charms from them.

I've had people asking me why I am charging so much to join the swap, when postage won't take $20.

It adds up for 100 books. And the postage will be higher than previous swaps I've done, these books are much larger than little tag books.

I put in hours, and hours, and hours of time to this. Starting with the watercolor of the fairy, so that there is an original design on the cover, not just an image I got from the internet.

Plus, all the sorting, and book making, then the days of making labels to send out the packages, plus the ink and paper for my printer.

But I love swaps and its so fun to see my studio swamped in pages and pages of your art work!

Binding the book

swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 16, 2012

The round robin books are all packed up and sent to Somerset. It will be interesting to see what they will chose to print from these four books full of art.

My own has a front and back hard cover, taken from a large vintage book and embellished. I wanted a sturdy cover for my own, and also wanted to bind it with rings, so it would be easy to flip through. I tied a bundle of soft ribbons to the top ring to soften the look.

When I bind a book, I first punch the holes in the top cover. Next, I line each page up, one by one, with the top cover, and draw a dot of ink onto the page through the punched holes of the cover.

Usually that works pretty well for making all the holes even.

The other artists' books are not bound. For now, they are simply stacked, bundled in lace and tied with a ribbon. I just wanted mine finished as an example.

They would be pretty as wall art too, so leaving them unbound is a good idea. But I think I'll love flipping through my book when the round robin flies back home to me again!

Finishing up my Round Robin Pages

bird song art event, Books, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 28, 2012

Most of the pages I made for our Round Robin book, are "low color". But every now and then, I slipped in some floral tones, just because I thought it needed a little something. This page for Beth, is a tissue pattern paper background, glued down nice and wrinkly, then rubbed with an ink pad.

A ruffle of pattern paper was glued across the top, and a swath of lace was added near the bottom of the page. The B for Beth is drawn in glitter, onto a very old, hand written letter in French. I centered it inside a post card, with a circle cut out, layered it onto text from an old sewing magazine from the 20s that I'd covered a tag with.

The ribbons hanging down have glass buttons tied to a couple of their ends.

The theme of the Round Robin was "Her Life in Stitches", and I simply don't sew. All of my pages are glued, while the other women spent time doing lovely stitch work. I tried to use the theme by incorporating some sort of sewing item on each page. I tended to rely on buttons, lace, and ribbons quite a bit, I'm afraid.

Beth is one of the few people I've known who uses both sides of her brain to the fullest. How many ultra artistic accountants do you know? Her head is quite ambidextrous.

So, I thought I'd show both sides of her in her pages, creative and pretty stuff along with the business side.

This one has an envelope and report cards from a business college and is dated 1918. The background is a great old, gold leaf wallpaper.

There are layers of lace, ruffled ribbon, and a bejeweled hem from an old dress, along with a selection of buttons.

The back is kind of plain. Grey wallpaper, with a strip of the gold leaf paper, some lace and a pretty Victorian card.

Since the books all need to be sent off to Somerset soon, (how exciting!!) I hurried and made a few pages up for each person in the swap. All the pages were done in the same day, so a lot of the ideas and supplies were duplicated, but none were exactly the same. Everyone got an initial, Sandra's is done in pearls.

Lisa's too.

My own initials went on the inside of the back cover of my book. Since I'm not a sewer, my book is dedicated to my Mom, who was. Her photo is on both the front and back covers. Under her picture, I layered a page from a journal that I'd found that was signed, "Martha something Downey".

Mom's name was Martha Downey! Not that common of a name, especially with the "e" in Downey. I used the bottom of her photo to cover up the incorrect middle name.

Another unifying element in the pages I made the other day, is this jeweled and beaded fabric. I bought a flapper style dress that was encrusted with beads and rhinestone trim for only 12 bucks! I think everyone who was shopping at the antique mall heard my squeal when I came across that gem. It was tattered and falling apart, so that took all the guilt out of chopping it to pieces.

For this pocket, I cut around the beading pattern, then glued it to a matching piece of card stock.

Its attached to a background of white, flocked wallpaper. When I make a pocket, I always run a bead of glue along the bottom and sides, right at the edges, then slightly bunch it up, before pressing it into place. The bunching gives it a bit of a pouch effect, so that you can put items into it easier. Its not all that noticeable, just enough to be useful.

To fit the stitches theme, I slipped a dress form tag into the pocket. The tag is one that I made for my dress form tutorial, the class is about making a miniature dress form to decorate, but I also included patterns for collage too.

Sandra got a similar pocket from the glorious, gemstone encrusted, dazzling dress.

The tag I added to this pocket is a regular shipping tag, spritzed with two shades of Glimmer Mist, then inked around the edges. I glued a high fashion lady cut from a very old magazine onto it, added some ribbons.

Its been such fun to be a part of this swap and have a different book arrive each month in the mail. I'll miss being a part of it.

Other fun stuff has been coming in the mail too. Laurie Jackson offered to be a Birdsong Two sponsor, not just once,

but twice!

Two boxes full of goodies for my "Peeps" attending our workshop/party in April came from her this week.

Laurie took the time to actually create little gifts for all of the women, plus gave them some vintage goodies to work with, and packaged them up really cute.

But that wasn't the end of it, she also asked the author of this book, that she collaborated on, to send a copy for each lady! I can't wait to peek into one. I can always use some selling tips. I wonder if one of them, is to get off your behind and get busy and do it, not just talk about filling the shop up?

If you'd like to be a sponsor, please let me know, the ladies will be thrilled to open their gift bags.

Or if you'd like to attend, we have three spaces open. There were only two, but due to an illness, one chick had to leave the nest.