vintage paper/collage art – Page 24

Siren of the Seas gift packs

give away, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2010

Isn't this a sweet little mermaid? I was so happy to see these in a bunch of vintage stir sticks that I bought at a flea market. And then, I saw NEW ones sold at World Market just like these. They hang over the side of a cocktail glass for some added festive-ness.

These two green girls are tied to the packages of ephemera that I am donating as prizes for Kim's mermaid event in Manhattan Beach, CA.

(that's where I am right now, this is pre-posted before I went out of town)Doesn't the old print that I used as wrapping paper have a peaceful scene on it? Its not of the ocean, but I still think there could be a mermaid in that water.

As a Mid-Westerner, I'd like to think that mermaids don't just live in the sea. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there is one in the lake by our house.

When I was a kid, I was sure there was one in the swimming pool too.

I don't know when Kim will do the drawing for prizes, but I hope its early on in the weekend, so attendees can use some of these beachy themed supplies for the weekend's crafts.

I packed up old millinery flowers in oceany colors, and found pictures of boats in old books. I've added vintage wallpaper in blues and greens.

And I even found an old ad featuring a mermaid. But only one. The two packs differ slightly. I could have made copies, but I really prefer originals. Especially since this is a gift. I wanted to use the good stuff!

Most of it is loosely related to the theme of the weekend, but I tried. All of it is vintage goodies that I pulled from my stash. It was easy for me to find all this, because I sure had mermaids on the mind while getting ready for the trip!

"See you" when I get back. Please forgive me for not answering messages. But please do feel free to comment, to enter the giveaway, a pair of genuine pearl and sterling silver earrings.

Sirens of the Sea Swapping Sisters

celebrations, swaps, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 17, 2010

Swaps always sound like fun, but I always run out of time and rarely enter them. At Silver Bella, I usually feel left out because I didn't join in. So, for my trip to CA and Kim's siren of the seas adventure, I made sure to join up for one, and told my roomie, Beth the same thing. It can be sad and lonely on swap night to have no presents to trade with a friend!

When I saw that my buddy, Jessi was hosting a swap with decorated bottles, I knew I'd found the right one for me.

I made the mermaid from one of those china half dolls, and added a tail made of paper clay that I glittered and glued on after it dried.

Then, my buddy, Jenn was paired with me to swap bottles with and I knew I could make something extra foofed and she'd love it. She's even more foof-a-fied than I am, and that is a hard thing to be.

Isn't that chandelier drop a unique shape? Beth had some in her booth at the antique mall, so I bought a handful of them to make into charms. I glued a vintage bathing beauty picture to the back for this one.

The charm is hanging from a silk ribbon that I have tied to a message tucked into the bottle.

Part of the swap was to slip a recipe for a cocktail into the bottle, but I did something a little different. Have you seen Jenn? She is GORGEOUS. And I know that she is fond of champagne. So, I wrote this note for her and glued it to the back of an old add for champagne.

I've got the world's worst hand writing, I should have done the note on the computer- It says:

"Jenn- you are much too pretty to mix your own drinks! Bat those eyelashes and some handsome guy will bring you some bubbly!"

As a hostess gift for Miss Jessi, I made another bottle with a 1" Frozen Charlotte sporting a tail made from paper clay.

No recipe for cocktails in it, either. I filled it with pretty little shells, crystals, and pearls instead.

I want to make more of these girls!!

The first couple that I made were for the soap box challenge Lisa hosted. I'm big on being efficient when I can be, so I killed two birds with one stone by making the challenge into a gift for my pal, Kim for hosting the mermaid event.

Hopefully, the mermaids will travel well. I've got them all wrapped tightly in bubble wrap and tucked into lidded plastic containers in my suitcase. I packed the gift wrap separate so that I can pretty the packages up there after checking to make sure the presents arrived safely.

In all the trips I've taken, I've never had my luggage lost or damaged. But I have had it rifled through by inspectors, but no problems from that. So, I figured these will be okay in the checked bags instead of the carry ons.

I'll "see you" when I'm done gallivanting around the beach with the mermaids. Please forgive me if I can't answer emails, or comments till I get back. All purchases from the shop will be sent out after I return too.

But please do feel free to leave a comment, I enjoy them, and will be able to read them from my new Iphone toy, I just haven't figured out how to answer them from it yet… And each comment is entered into the drawing for the July Giveaway, these pearl earrings.

Frickets

celebrations, parties, show and tell, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 16, 2010

Its been Mermaid Madness around the studio getting ready for my BIG weekend in California.

I'll be in Manhattan Beach for a sea side art escape hostessed by Kim. Who, I've heard, is the world's best hostess. From spending time with her in the past and hearing her stories about preparing for her events, I believe it. She is dedicated and does it all with devotion. I know we are in for a good time.

And from looking at the class descriptions, I can tell that the projects will be just wonderful. I'm sure they come with lots of goodies, but I like to pack extras to give the finished products my own touch.

These two mermaids might end up on the journal or the crown… not sure which, but what project wouldn't be appropriate to add a sparkling little merperson to?

I've made these sprites with vintage cake topper ballerinas. I doubt if this would work with the reproduction ballerinas, the plastic they are made of is too hard and would crack if you tried to cut into it. The older ones are of a softer material and were easy, well not easy, but semi-easy, to cut with jewelry clippers.

I cut off their skirts and legs (remember the movie "Boxing Helena"?) then made a tail from paper clay, let it dry, glued it on and glittered it.

The silver one has a bit of a chunky butt going on, because I didn't trim enough skirt off. But I can't hold it against her, I do too. So, I added an accessory to draw the eye away from her extra wide hips. All those years of watching "What Not to Wear" have taught me a little something.

Besides supplies, and gifts for my swap hostess, (tomorrow's post) I wanted some extra little gifties to pass out here and there. So, I made a mermaid from a girl cut from a Victorian scrap book, and added a wallpaper tail.

Then, I glued her to this pink underwater wallpaper (how cool was that to find in my sample books!?) and made copies on card stock.

After cutting them all out, I embellished each with metallic inks, ribbons, ruffles, and trims.

Each one got a Mother of Pearl button and a little shell.

To the top of each, I tied a small vial filled with teeny shells, crystals, and pearls.

If you'd like to make your own mermaid, here is the original scrap art that I used. If I have done this right, you should be able to click on it to make it bigger. Then, print the larger one to cut out and use in your art. If you print it directly from the post as is, it won't have enough pixels to make it usable.

And here is the girl with her tail on the back ground if you'd like to print it this way to use. I hope I've done it right. If not, let me know and I'll try to redo it when I get back from my trip next week.

Another perk for the upcoming weekend, is the parties. Beyond the event itself, there are bonus parties thrown by some of the attendees. One is a cupcake gathering, that can't be bad.

So, I used a couple of my hand painted cup cake pictures and made up gift tags as thanks for the ladies who are treating us to the frosty goodies.

Another couple of ladies are hosting a welcoming cocktail party. I wanted a little thank you for them too, so made up these vintage test tubes filled with shells and baubles to use during the weekend. I topped them off with these plastic mermaids that hang on the side of a drink.

I think they are fitting for a cocktail party. By the way, I saw new ones like these at World Market, if you need some.

And last but not least, a room mate gift for Beth.

Did you just gasp with awe at its beauty? Or shriek with terror? Yes, its a gag gift, and about as tacky as anything could be.

Its an ucky story behind it. Sugarwings got herself a head full of lice. She says they hop like "Frickets". I think she means crickets. But to me, lice will always be frickets. And she said it in a very upbeat, cheerful way. Frickets!!!!!!

My head itches just thinking about it. No matter how many cleanings the house gets and the heads get, it still freaks me out and I itch. Of course, I already have chigger bites, but not on my head.

Gee, don't you love coming to visit me and hearing about chiggers in my drawers, lice, snakes, and rats? Maybe I should change my blog title to "Karla's Creepy Crawly Cottage".

Its brave of Beth to room with Creepy Crawly Karla, so I wanted to give her a little thank you gift too, a glittered and foofed lice comb of her very own.

Since I'm in CA as this posts, I won't be able to answer emails, comments, or ship packages till I return. But please do leave a comment, I'm giving away some pretty pearl earrings for this month's gift.

The best news EVER

Books, family, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2010

The superduper, extra strong, magnifying, scrutinizing, high def sonogram says that the baby is FINE. Fine, just fine. What better news could any grammie get?

Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes and commiserating stories. It helped to have you guys to "talk" to while I was freaking out.

The baby's mama kept saying that she could feel that the baby had good energy and was okay. I wish I could have been as calm while waiting to find out.

Sugarwings hung out with me while all the testing was going on today, and we mostly played outside in the sweltering humidity. We went for a long walk in the woods and told scary stories about the Big Bad Wolf. I've yet to find anything that kid is afraid of, her favorite part of any story is the scary part.

She was over here about 5 hours today, and I am shocked that I was able to accomplish anything after playing with her out in the heat. (I'm still hot flashing from having my Premarin dosage cut in half, and the heat has been gruesome. My reaction to it is much scarier than any Big Bad Wolf)

I was able to make these two books in the little snippets of time I could grab here and there. The fairy grand baby went and laid down to watch a movie with my poor sick, husband. Remember how much I enjoyed a day to myself to putter in the studio while he was resting up with a sore throat?? Well, I feel really bad about that now, the poor guy has strep throat and had to be rushed to the Dr. yesterday with a fever so high he was delirious and crazy. He's better today, and appreciated Sugarwing's company.

I was surprised to hear from the Dr. that strep throat isn't that easy to catch and to not worry about the little one catching it unless she was drinking from the same cup. Or getting kisses. So, I let the two of them have some quiet time while I tried to recover from the humidity and hot flashes with a bit of nice air conditioned, peaceful studio time. Creating took my mind off the endless waiting to hear what the Super Duper Sonogram had to say too.

This darker book is made from a cabinet card folder, and filled with ephemera and water color paper pages that I stitched together.

Notice the initials on the tag? I found a brooch with C S on it, ideal for a gift to give to my buddy, Carol Spinski!

Her home is being photographed tomorrow by Fifi and I wanted to make a scrapbook/album for her to put copies of the pictures in. I found some French text about homes to use, and I sure don't know what it says, but its purdy. I thought it was fitting, since the Fabulous Fifi is French.

Looking through my stash, I found old pictures of farmhouses to use as accents.

There was a portrait in this card that I tore out, and I kind of liked the texture the glue left underneath. So, I didn't cover it up all the way, I just inked over the torn cardboard a bit with two colors of brown, and then added my embellishments over it.

The other book is for Fifi. Its more of a notebook, or journal for her trip to the Midwest to photograph farmhouses and also features old homesteads. Its a bit foofier than Carol's book.

I included garden pages from old magazines, and items with a "home" theme. And whenever I do one of these keepsake books, I always add lots of envelopes for tucking things away.

This book is made from one large piece of flocked wallpaper. I folded it in half and sewed all the way around the edges. Then, I turned up the bottom 1/3 to the inside, and stitched that to make a pocket all the way across the lower portion of the interior of the cover.

After stitching the cover together, I gathered water color paper and ephemera to make the pages and sewed them in.

Carol graciously let me invite myself over to say hi during the photo shoot. I've worked with Fifi before, but only over the phone, never in person.

I'm not known to be shy. So, of course, I asked if I could come over and visit and meet Fifi.

I promised to stay out of the way and keep my mouth shut, but offered to help if needed. I've gophered enough times during photo shoots to be helpful if they need someone. And I'm bringing a cake and some flowers. You never know what you might need for styling, and sometimes a piece of cake is just the right touch in a photo, or a simple pot of white flowers is a good filler in the background.

If its not needed, we can just eat the cake. It won't go to waste!

I've also styled enough shoots to know that another opinion isn't wanted, and I'll not bother them with mine. If I'm in the way, I'll say my 'nice to meet yas' and head out after delivering the goodies. But I've also known from shoots that I've done in the past, that sometimes, another body can be nice to have around for running errands, ironing something, trimming back a branch, tying up a loose end, or fetching a glass of water.

I'm a handy gopher.

Another editor that I've done articles for but have never met is Barbara Jacksier. Its ironic that tomorrow while I'm meeting Fifi, I am missing an opportunity to talk to Barbara during a live online chat and meet her!

I hope that you can tune into the chat and ask her some decor info. She
has always seemed like such a nice person, I'm sure she is easy to talk
to. And boy, does she KNOW her stuff!

Here is the info you need to visit her:

She is going to be on their Home Front
live chat as a follow up to her book.

It's Thursday July 8 from 11 AM
til noon. Please spread the word.

The Live Chat link is http://live.washingtonpost.com/home-front-07-08-10.html if that doesn't automatically link click
on www.barbarajacksier.com

Frittering

Books, celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2010

Yesterday, was a lazy one. My husband stayed in bed with a sore throat and we had a gentle rain all day, so all boating plans were canceled. I considered it a free day to do what ever I wanted, by myself. A bonus studio day! But actually, I puttered about and did almost nothing. Which was kind of nice.

I did start this little collage.

And I put together this mini art journal. I listed it in my Boutique this morning for $12.50 if you are interested.

That's about it, for 8 hours in the studio! I frittered away time blog surfing, and just poking around, organizing some supplies and watching a few episodes of the Tudors that I had recorded. I'm going to miss that series, I've always been attracted to that time period. Showtime did a good job with Henry, next they are tackling the Borgias. I can't wait for that one!

I used to loved historical romances. When I was in my teens, I read the ones written under the name Victoria Holt and just about adored those. Later on, when I found out that she had written about all the kings and queens of Europe under the name Jean Plaidy, I quickly devoured those. And there were a LOT of them. Here is the list.

And here are the Victoria Holt titles. Just looking over that list brings back so many memories of the time of my life when I was hooked on all of her writing.

There is another long list of books under the name Phillipa Carr. Which for some reason I never read many of. I think that once I out grew the Holt novels and discovered the more historical Plaidy novels, I didn't care to go back to read light romances any more.

Its been ages since I've read any of those, but I have enjoyed the Tudor/Bolyn series by Phillipa Gregory. I hear she has started on the Plantagenets now, and look forward to reading those.

Seems like I don't bother to read as much as I did when I was young. I had a 2-3 book a week habit back then. Now, I rarely find something that pulls me in and makes me finish it as fast as I can. It could be that its just too tempting to flip from blog to blog and spend my free time reading those.

But for the trip to California next week, I've been stock piling some good reads for the plane and the beach. The Worst Hard Time (for bookclub), and the new Jennifer Weiner to start with.

When I'm home, I just seem to be too distracted to read a lot. I always have one open, but it sometimes takes me a week or two to finish it. I do love TV… that cuts into book time.

And yesterday, puttering around the studio took up most of the day. I had some packages to wrap up, and was having way too much fun filling boxes that I was sending out. This one is for a friend. I was sending her a little something and ended up adding more and more since I was using a flat rate box, I thought it should be full!

This little person is another reason why I don't get lost in books like I did in the past. I read more "Hop on Pop", the "Grumpy Fairy" or "Miss Mary Mack" than I do anything else.

On the 4th, we got to visit one of Twinkle's puppies. Remember the parti colored guy? He is HUGE! He is almost double the weight of Agnes Rosebud, and he was the runt of the litter.

We had Sugarwings for most of the day on the 4th. She and I baked cupcakes for America's birthday and had a parade with sparklers while belting out patriotic songs I couldn't remember the words to. Then, we went downtown to a party in the park with live music, games, and food.

But we didn't stay for dinner, my handsome husband (that is him behind the fairy grand baby. Cute, huh?) took me out to a restaurant and a movie while Sugarwings stayed at the park with her mommy.

It was a pretty good holiday weekend, over all. I hope yours was too?

Losing a dark corner and gaining some work space

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 30, 2010

Do you notice anything different in this picture? Its probably not all that plain to anyone but me. Everyone who came over for craft day yesterday could feel the difference, but didn't know exactly what the change was until I told them.

Before, I had a makeshift closet behind the large hutch. It was dark, dreary, and cluttered all the time. With barely enough room to squeeze back there between all the shelves, I got to the point where I was simply piling stuff up and forgetting it was even there.

This photo was mid way through the emptying out process. I forgot to get a before shot. Besides these two shelves, there were 3 others, plus tubs of stuff piled up.

A car load of accumulated junk (good junk, but I just DID NOT need it) went to Goodwill. Another carload went to Beth for her antique booth and a few boxes are going to another friend's store. The tubs of Christmas decor went to a stack under the stairs in the garage instead.

I had about 8 large mirrors back there, from when I used to have my own shop. Since I don't do big shows and no longer have an antique booth there was no place for them and I wasn't going to be selling them from my online shop, I only like to sell things that will fit in a padded envelope!

The rest of the junk got resorted and my cabinets got reorganized for it to be stored in a more convenient and attractive way. And I now have an extra 6 feet of space in the main room. Its not just the extra space that I love about the redo, losing the gloomy pit of a junk graveyard is the best part.

Of course, there was all of this to deal with first. I was kind of wondering about my timing, doing this the day before I had friends coming for craft day. But with friends coming, I had to keep focused, so that I couldn't just give up and walk away.

All of this got sorted out and I was ready for craft day with a clean studio and loads of space to play in.

Beth brought Button for a play date with Agnes Rosebud while we all had our own play dates with glue.

They seemed to be happy to see each other.

I know that I was happy to see the little guy! He seems to remember me and be happy to visit, but he sure has bonded with his new mom and followed Beth everywhere. Shawn brought her new baby, it was good to see her back at craft day, we'd missed her. I don't know why I only have dog baby photos and no human baby photos. Shawn has pictures of the day on her blog, you can see the cutie there.

My day was productive. For some reason (typical of me) I had the dates of my trip to California wrong and thought I was leaving next week instead of in two weeks. So I was in a frenzy to get all my mermaid things for Kim's event done.

Well, now I have plenty of time. I'm making up two ephemera packs of goodies for door prizes at the party, plus have swappy stuff and hostessy things to get done. I zipped through a lot of it yesterday thinking I only had a week to finish.

(by the way, Kim has some openings for the Flea Market Expidition left. If you and in the area and can't make the whole art weekend, at least join us for a bus trip from one shopping paradise to another!)

I also made a framed collage. This one is done in lots of layers with sanding in some places to peek through to what is underneath.

Some areas remind me of old houses with layers of peeling wallpaper. This 8×10 framed piece is a fun change from doing smaller things, and I have two more frames (found when I de-cluttered the back of the studio). I hope to work on them this week too. Since I now know that I have an extra week to get ready for my trip to CA, I can go back to waiting till the last minute to get ready for it!

A box full of Mermaids

fairies, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, parties, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2010

Do you love Lisa as much as I do? I'm kicking myself for not going to Paper Cowgirls. It would have been great to have a chance to hang out with her in person. If she is half as much fun as she is on her blog, she'd be a blast.

So, of course, I was happy to participate in her soap box challenge. The box is kind of like egg carton texture, and to me looked like a perfect little shadow box frame.

Since I'll soon be heading out to Kim's event in California, I thought I'd get myself into a mermaid mood and turn my mini shadow box into an under sea treasure chest.

I've heard wonderful things about Kim and her art affairs. I'm so glad to finally be going to one. My husband will be flying out with me and going on a brothers golfing trip for the weekend while I am with the arty crowd. Then, he and I are meeting up for a spa get away. The company he works for owns some luxury resorts, and we were able to score some rooms for fantastic employee rates.

I'm going to feel like a princess. Or at my age I should say Dowager Queen? And an itchy, poison ivy crusted one at that. If I don't get this crud cured, I won't be doing much spa time.

Since I am soon to be treated like royalty at a couple top of the line resorts in California and spend an entire weekend filled with creative fun with friends, I'm already feeling a bit royal with the anticipation of it all. That influenced me to add a "crown" to my shadow box.

The sparkly topper is made of a corner bracket from an old photo album with a rhinestone necklace glued over it, and a rhinestone clasp underneath.

My sea creatures are made with two sizes of frozen Charlottes, with the smaller one in back and glued directly to background, and a larger one in front, raised up by gluing her to a button and shell. I thought this might give it some depth.

The Charlottes have mermaid tails made up of paper clay, that has been painted and glittered. I added crowns of German foil and crystals to their heads.

Each is glued down pretty solid, but their sea horse friend is suspended from a wire, so that she sways a bit. The seahorse charm was gold toned, and I drew on it with a black sharpie, and wiped that off a little, then wiped some white paint over that. I also swiped a swatch of white paint over her wire so it didn't stand out so much. If I were to do this over again, I'd use fishing line instead of wire, because the wire is still prominent even with the paint.

The box sits in a plate stand that I wrapped in vintage ribbon. For a touch of extra gaudiness, I tied an aqua ribbon to the front of the stand and dangled a star fish charm from it. Because by the time I'd got to that stage of creation, the gaudiness was already pretty thick and I thought I should just go for it and gaudy it up even more. Once you've crossed the line of over doing something, there's no turning back and you might as well just revel in it.

See what I mean? There is a LOT of foof happening here. The inside of the box perfectly fit an old button card with the words "Mermaid Pearls" on it, along with two buttons.

Along the inside walls, I glued ruffles sewn from pattern paper, then I edged it with a strand of pearls.

Then, the cut out on the lid was lined ink, glitter and a lace ruffle.

The large parts of the box were covered in aqua wallpaper that has a nice sheen to it. The sides of the box have a raised edge where the lid meets the bottom, and it looked just too hard to cover in paper. So, I ran a bead of glue around it, and wrapped a ribbon around it, gathering as I stuck it into the glue.

Yep, this project was just what I needed to start feeling like a Mermaid Princess and get me in the mood for my trip. Its been a rough week, and I look forward to a get away.

Thank you to everyone who shared scary pregnancy stories with happy outcomes, that encouragement helped. And thanks for all of your well wishes and prayers. I'm doing my best to stay distracted until we get news from the Dr. about the newest member of our family.

And a big thanks to Lisa for hosting this party! It was a fun challenge and a well needed distraction for me.

I'm sending Lisa a had that I thought was suitable for her palette of colors. She always seems to appreciate my hat whispering skills, so I thought I'd share.

Puppy Not Included

Today I was also able to finish up my articles for Somerset Life. One is about this altered book.

The other was about my Peat Pot Pretties with frozen Charlotte fairies. And remember, that this one is the giveaway for June. All comments all month are entered.

I'm also giving away another present from my followers. So, please join in on my list if you'd like to be in the running for that gift, a pair of vintage rhinestone earrings.

A Polka Dotted Princess

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), jewelry, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2010

Before Sugarwings came over to play with me today, I got a few things listed in the Boutique. The jewels that I found recently are really nice, and in great shape. Someone took such good care of them, that you wouldn't even know they were at least 50 years old.

See what I mean? Nice sparkle to the rhinestones.

This picture is made from one of my teensiest frozen Charlotte fairies, in a vintage frame. I love it when a project can be made from ALL vintage materials. Usually, something, somewhere in it needs to be newer. Like a tag, or a bit of card stock. This little lady is all OLD. And as an older lady myself, I appreciate that about her.

Sugarwings and I have the afternoon to play. Her Hippy Chick Mommy came by to do some laundry and is going to watch DVR-ed episodes of True Blood while she washes her clothes, so that means I get to snag the fairy baby to work in the studio with me.

I'm not sure yet what we'll make. She did ask if we could make a polka dotted dress for her puppy to match her own dress. I'm not much of a sewer, but I think we can paint polka dots onto a hanky and tie it around the pup's neck. Sugarwings isn't very picky, that should make her happy. Especially if we use glitter paint.

The last time we worked with glitter, she had it crusted all over her and kept saying, "I have Project on me!!"

Not that she is fussy. That wild child is usually encrusted with something.

This tag book is listed in the shop too. Its two large tag covers and 5 small tags inside, all wallpapered up and ready to be embellished. I'm including scraps of the papers to finish it with.

Don't forget that I have a Peat Pot Pretty with a frozen Charlotte fairy as June's giveaway prize! Can you believe that June is almost over??? Geez, where did it go. I have two articles to write by July 1st, and am not usually a person who waits till the last minute to do things (well besides taxes, uchk) but the time just got away from me.

My husband is going to be gone all week, so I should be able to get them both done. When he is around, I tend to stop work early to fix dinner or just hang out. And we come up with excuses to see Sugarwings and play with her. I can be more disciplined when I am on my own. Well, kinda- I am playing hooky this afternoon to make a polka dotted dog dress.

And as a prize for the drawing for new followers, I have some of that nice old rhinestone jewelry. I'll draw from ALL of the followers, not just the new ones. I appreciate you signing up, thanks!! When the number hits 250, I'll give away the earrings.

Being inspired by other’s studios

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), parties, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 21, 2010

Thanks for all the nice comments about my studio!

Wow, what a TON of people participating in that party. I've not seen all the blogs in it yet (that's going to take a while) but I sure had a good time peeking into a chunk of them. As much as I adore my own studio, I was experiencing some studio envy
while looking around. There are some fascinating ideas and places out there. The more I looked at, the more I want to see.

I'll be hopping through more as I have time this week. Thanks for hosting, Karen!

And as much as I do love my own studio, sometimes its good to get out and go to another place to work. Beth invited me over on Friday for estate sale shopping and hanging out in her craft room. I'd brought stuff to work on, but she offered me a box of goodies to rifle through and I couldn't resist.

Its so much more exciting to play with new (old) stuff! I think that is why I keep shopping for more to add to my own stash instead of just working with what I have. Because I sure do have plenty, you might have noticed from my previous post!

New supplies are inspiring. So, I bought more goods while at estate sales that day too…

And I also found this wrought iron bench. For now, its setting outside the back door to my studio. I'm not sure if that is where it will remain.

None of the sales that day were over the top wonderful, but we found a little something here and there all morning. At one house, I got a broken vintage crystal necklace.

I divided it up, and listed some beads in my boutique ($2.50 an ounce), and will keep some for myself too. There is more to list from that day's haul, and I hope to have more time to add it tomorrow.

One of Beth's boxes is labeled "images" and is full of some great stuff. I made this tag with a picture from that and really wanted to make a matching set with another girl that was in the stash, but ran out of time so Beth sent it home with me to finish.

What started out as an idea for a tag became an ephemera book instead. Its in an old cabinet card folder and is filled with an assortment of old papers, ready to be used as an art journal.

It should be in the shop soon. But if you are interested now, please let me know. It will be $24.

Playing in Beth's studio got me all fired up to make some stuff in my own when I got home. It was Father's Day weekend and we had a lot going on, but I managed to squeeze in a little bit of creative time here and there between boating and baking with Sugarwings and petting and playing with Agnes Rosebud.

For Father's Day I took Sugarwing's Daddy and my husband to see Toy Story with our little fairy grand baby. I'm a sucker for Pixar, our whole family is. But man, this movie was extra good. I thought the plotting for breaking out of the day care was right up there with something out of Ocean's 11.

And Big Baby could be more terrifying than Chucky.

And the end tugged at my heart so much, with Andy going away to college, that I sobbed. I don't think any mother of a grown up son could have prevented herself from crying at that ending.

Speaking of boys growing up and leaving the nest… I got to visit Button at Beth's. Here he is up on the craft table, bounding across the supplies to come and see me.

Seemed like he was glad to see his baby sis too. This was the first of many play dates for the two little fuzz balls.

Who is the Dork?

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, Sugarwings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 8, 2010

We are heading out of town again, this time to see my sisses in Indiana where I grew up. I've decided to take the pups with me, Sissy is being brave about a house full of little Stench Monkeys, as we call them sometimes. I should be packing, especially gathering up the dog paraphernalia and stuff to entertain Sugarwings on a 9 hour drive.

Instead, I'm playing in the studio. This photo of Sugarwings at the water park was just calling out to me, I had to turn it into a fairy collage for my photo album.

Especially after Beth pointed out that this water spray looks like a dorky! I printed the picture and drew over it, following the dog shape in the water, then cut out the puppy.Okay, so now you know what you suspected, I am totally dog crazed. Maybe I am the dork, not the dogs. But Beth saw it first, so its not just me.

Between playing with the dogs and imagining dog shapes in water fountains, I listed some new things in the Boutique.

But since I'll be away, I can't mail any purchases till Monday. Thanks for your patience!

All the pups are spoken for now. I decided not to sell ANY of them after all!! Each is going to family or friends. I'm delivering one to Indiana to my niece, and another will go to my MIL in Utah. This will most likely be our last litter ever, so I wanted to keep them as "family". I just got too attached.

Between listing and gluing this morning, I also made some puppy pillows. I had a pair of rose patterned flannel PJ bottoms that had ripped, and I couldn't bear to toss them. So, I cut the legs into squares and stitched up little pillows, then tossed them in with all the pups. I'm hoping that when the pups go to their new homes, taking a pillow that smells like their siblings will help with the transition.When Teresa picked up her Lily a couple weeks ago, I sent a rosy pillow home with them too. I'm NOT a good sewer, and the pillows are simple as can be. But I think they are a cute idea for the babies.

Twinkle and the other big dogs will stay behind on this trip, with Ryan to watch them. Its great to have a grown son around to dog sit! Plus my dogs have a fenced in yard with a doggy door to let themselves out whenever they want. Ryan only has to fill their bowls once a day and say hi to them.
He lives in an apartment above my studio, so when I am away, the house is not empty.

Well, as much as I dread packing, it can't be put off much longer. I'd better start wedging stuff into my poor little car. I have 3 adults, a preschooler, 3 puppies, luggage, puppy gear, toys, and a cooler to fit into a Scion. My car is roomy for a small car, but this could be pushing the limits!