vintage paper/collage art – Page 29

Re-Do Day

By Karla Nathan / October 1, 2009

Yesterday was Re-Do Day.  I started with the white lady and Frenchied her up with the 1921 magazine that Zita sent to me. I saw a title on one page that said 
"Le Sphinx Blanc" and used it on the front, and added a white rose underneath that.
Now, I dont' speak French, but was guessing it meant the white Sphinx?  It seemed to fit her mysterious aura.  Unless of course, that isn't what it means.  I could be WAY off. But in my mind, that is her name now. "Sphinxy"

Hmm, does anyone else think that half circle shape on her neck looks like a hicky?  I didn't notice that before…

While in heavy duty re-do mode, I brought an accumulation of dark things outside to paint. I used my Lazy Woman style of painting, spraying with primer, glazing, then top coating with spray poly. (instructions on the side bar)
(Sphinxy got a coat of poly over her decopauge too)

When I saw this old clock, I was swept off my feet! My sister-in-law was the first to find it on our shopping trip to Rusty Chandelier.  The tension of waiting till she made up her mind on whether she was buying it or not made me twitch with desire to rip it out of her hands instead of standing next to her pleasantly and politely while she pondered her purchase.  

Its not easy to be a nice person sometimes.  But, my theory is, that there is a lot of junk out in the world and there is no reason to be grabby and mean about any of it. No matter how drop dead gorgeous it is, and no matter how much I think it is destined to be mine.
Well, she passed, so I picked it up and told her I'd buy it if she didn't but if she changed her mind, it would be OK.  I was lying through my teeth about the OK part, but would have made myself believe it was really OK, if I absolutely had to and she changed her mind.
I wanted to use it as a frame for a photo of my fairy grand baby, but when I got it home, realized that the clockworks were not coming out very easily, plus it was a nice clock, an 8 day wind up.

But even though the clock itself was cool, I wanted it to be a softer look for my house, so I covered the clock face with white and cream flocked wallpaper to match the paint job I did on the frame.

See why I wanted it so badly? Its ideal for this spot. Plus, did I  mention it was only $26, and really quick to redo?

Both of the statues got the same paint technique, white primer with cream glaze. I added another glaze coat of sage green over that. 

The (pink satin lined) suitcase from the Rusty Chandelier gold mine shopping trip was a really easy redo, too. I just covered up a black and orange picture on the lid. (why? why? What made the manufacturer put orange and black on the cover when the interior was a perfect pink???)

 I cut out a piece of pretty flocked paper to fit, glued it down, and used my paint can opener to pry up the rubber edges of the suitcase trim to tuck the wallpaper under.  It looks like it has always been there! 
The glass door cabinet was spray primed, then painted with a bisque colored paint that was left over from another project. After that, I distressed it with some sandpaper. I'm trying to decide on whether I have the patience to redo the interior… but I didn't get it done yesterday and now Re-Do day is over. 
Getting back to something is not easy. I try to finish a project immediately before I switch gears to something else.   And after doing all these things, plus a few others yesterday, I have to say, I am ready to move on.

Won't Sphinxy look great next to this hand covered in French ephemera?  I'm excited about my displays for upcoming shows now!
Here is some more of my loot from our shopping trip to St. Joe, MO.  My hat whispering skills were in fine form that day.

After cleaning up all my  Re-Do Day mess, Sugarwings helped me make dinner.  I cut up an eggplant, then gave her the "stump" of it, with the stem "handle" to use as a stamp.

 We used a butterfly shaped cookie cutter to made a design in the eggplant for her and she inked up her stamp with a washable marker instead of getting eggplant all over one of my stamp pads. 

And how do you get a 3 year old to yell, "Yippee!" when they see eggplant at dinner?  We cut the slices out with her butterfly shape before frying them and serving them over the top of penne pasta with lots of cheese.

Thanks for all your comments this month. The winning comment in the September Cauldron of Brooches giveaway is:
JANIS 
All comments on this post and every other post this month will go into the hat for the October drawing, what ever the heck that will be.
And on the subject of comments,   up to 250 comments  Kelee gets on her fund raising post will generate a dollar each towards a donation to the Northland Animal Shelter.  Visit her, say hi, and give those abandoned pets a dollar!
You can also win a $100 Hobby Lobby gift card.  Now, that could make me yell "Yippee!"

Back to normal

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, flowers, holiday decor, show and tell, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 27, 2009

Its so nice to have everything back to normal, with Twinkle home.  Sugarwings is no longer telling everyone "Toto has wunned away" and the two of them are happy to be reunited.  Since she is convinced that she is Dorothy, she has also decided that Twinks must be Toto.  Which works out fine, because she can't say "Twinkle", she always says "Ankle" instead. 
Yes, Toto sounds like a cuter name than Ankle. And that dog will answer to anything. 

Thank you for all of your kind words about my little dorkie taking off.  I really don't deserve them, it was ALL MY FAULT.  Poor dog. But, she is home now and I am making sure she stays this time.

Over the weekend, I finally broke my losing streak in hat gathering. Lately, I've not done well at all, and Beth reminded me that I had created my own shortage by buying all the hats up in the surrounding area.  But I did manage to find a few this weekend and might be able to reclaim my hat whisperer title. I thought I'd have to retire it, I'd been on such a long dry spell of hatlessness.

Most are already stripped naked and packed up, ready to fly out of here.  I love this little bouquet of about a dozen white flowers with a scattering of purple velvet posies. When I saw the hat with those next to the ugly green and orange hat, I knew that together, they'd be great for Halloween decor or crafting. 

It was an estate sale blast this weekend!  One here in my town was amazing, a beautiful, newer home on the golf course isn't usually the place to find old things, but it was jammed with a lifetime of great stuff. I was so surprised to see all of it. I was glad I didn't blow it off, like I normally would a house in that neighborhood.  I bought boxes and boxes of sheet music and a big stack of these spooky old napkins. So, I made up little craft kits with some of these things and have them listed here.

 On Friday, I explored the unexpected treasures at the country club house, and made a big haul.  Then, Beth invited me to Kansas City to shop with her on Saturday. And how could I turn that down? She is an estate sale master and knows where to go, what to avoid, and how to find the best deals.  Plus, I was still an emotional wreck from the Twinkle-less week and wasn't feeling too creative. I thought some more shopping therapy could help.

And of course, it did!  Isn't a bit of junking is good for the creative soul?  Sometimes, buying some new, old crap is just what I need to get me wanting to hunker down in the studio and work away.
I'll be getting out the jewelry making supplies and playing with all the rhinestones that I've been lucky enough to find lately.  

Don't you think that this picture is just trying too hard?  Its a great example of Photo Styling Gone Bad.  Too much loot, too much trying make it look cute in a picture. Just because I found pink Christmas lights, does it mean you really need to see them? 
 Sometimes I wonder about how I spend my time….  I'd better go do something productive, I'm off to the jewelery making tools and getting to work!

 And don't forget, if you want to win some vintage jewels, you still have till the 30th to enter by leaving a comment on any post. 

Bungled baubles, an Alice Obsession, and parading pooches

Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 23, 2009

Yesterday, at craft day, Beth brought her embossing supplies for me to try. I've never done that before and was intrigued with the idea of embossing small collages on these medals. So, I thought I'd share some step by step how to's with you.

But, it turns out that I am not very good at embossing. The paper bubbled and burnt, the finish looked thick and gloppy. Maybe you'd appreciate instructions from someone who actually can do it correctly? You certainly could do better asking anyone else but me!

Sorry.

So, no new charms to add to the Boutique. I will probably salvage them to tie onto things, they are cute enough to use that way. Just not good enough to make into a charm bracelet or necklace.

I did finish this old box and add it to the shop, though. It was in pieces when I got it, so it is all repaired and re-glued and covered with pretty vintage papers, then topped with a pale pink rose.

My guess is that it at one time held a manicure set. What do you think?

Also, thanks to everyone who snapped up one of my vintage goods prize ribbons. I made another with a triple row of ruffles, then thought I'd make up a few more till I ran out of crepe paper.

So, there are a few more added to the Boutique, waiting for you to let me know what initial needs to be added. All the initials are hand drawn and glittered, no stencils, or patterns. Also, no two are alike. And now, I'm out of crepe paper, and since it was an old roll from a flea market, that is the end of that.

Now, I am obsessed with making an Alice in Wonderland book. No reason, just because. It really is a bad idea to get started on…. I've got Silver Bella to plan for (those 10 feet vendor booths hold a lot of crap to sell), house guests coming for the rest of the week, and a trip to Florida to help clean out my Great Aunt Caroline's home.

Also, the Sugarwings Grumpy Fairy book needs a tweaking. The website that I had it printed on sucked about as much as my embossing skills…..

So, here I am, fulfilling a whim and playing with this Alice spread instead of acting like a big girl and getting my work done.

But look at how much fun it is!!!! I've had that cat with green eyes postcard on my desk for years. When Mary gave me an old Alice in Wonderland book cover, I knew immediately that I needed to add a Cheshire grin to this picture and turn it into a book.

I drew the grin onto paper from the back of an old greeting card, so it wouldn't look too new and stand out for the wrong reasons. then glued it on. I've made up about 8 pages so far, so hopefully, this obsession with be done and over with soon, so I can get back to business.

Before I get back to work, I want to tell you about a fund raiser to help pets. You can get details at Kelee's.

She is hosting a blog party and every link earns the charity $3.

Hope to see you there, Sept. 30!

French Ephemera is a handy thing to have around.

family, flowers, Food and Drink, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 16, 2009

Craft day was not only fun, but productive, that is just the best. We had a nice lunch (aren't pitch in meals the most fun? I enjoy the variety of what everyone brings) then a walk on the Fairy Berry Trail before getting to work.

When I went to Savannah during Jenn's retreat
I found a French magazine from 1901 that I fell in love with, but felt like it was way to expensive to buy. My pal, Tiffany, got one and reminded me that the price averaged out to only $2.50 per page, so I splurged and bought one. Now that I am doing a swap with these friends from our trip to Georgia, I am so glad I bought the magazine, the cafe au' lait cover was perfect for the center of these medallions I am making with all of their initials.

This side of the swap page is all vintagey goodness. Old crepe paper, and ribbon, wallpaper, and millinery. And of course, the cool, French ephemera. The only new thing on this, is the initial. I cut diamond shapes (thanks for the shape idea, Marilyn!) out of parchment card stock and drew the initials in metallic inks and markers.

I was so enthralled by my new trick of making these, that I used one as a label on this package wrapped up for another Silver Bella swap. (the glue is still wet in this photo)

These medals, or medallions might be cute made into pins too…

Like I don't have anything else to do. Today, I am mudding the new dry wall for a mini remodeling project and tonight I'll be painting the walls as they dry. Tomorrow, I am having a group of friends over for breakfast and we are making a few charms.

And of course, it is the hey day of the garden season. Last night, we picked a couple sinks full of tomatoes, so I made up a LOT of sauce to freeze.

Its Sugarwing's job to pick the littlest tomatoes and put them in her bucket. They seem to get dumped in and out a lot, but if a few get stepped on here and there, it doesn't really matter. I'm being over run with tomatoes anyway, I kind of feel like stepping on a few myself. It would be that many less to clean, cook, and freeze.

One of our plans was to make and can salsa. Somehow, it just is not happening. We have the ingredients, just not the time to learn how to can.

Ah, aren't gardens wonderful? I might complain about how much work it is, but I am loving the results!

But now, I have something to really complain about, I have to go and do dry wall mud. ugh.

I’ll stick to glue

Books, Food and Drink, holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 15, 2009

Today is craft day, some friends are coming over for a day of cutting and gluing. I can't imagine a prettier day, the weather is ideal. But most of this summer has been that way. I guess it isn't summer any more, but typically, September in Kansas is still muggy and hot, I guess that is called the "Dog Days" of summer. But not today, it is a glorious fall day. So, we are lunching out doors and taking advantage of the sunshine.

My garden is bursting with tomatoes, and they are the heavy, meaty kind, the ones that are just right for slicing into a salad, so I chopped up 3 kinds of basil and layered them with an olive oil, garlic, sea salt and balsamic vinegar dressing. Since all that was sounding so fresh and wonderful, I thought I'd go all out and make fresh mozzarella to go with it.

I read up about it online and it seemed pretty easy. The tips I gleaned were to use un-chlorinated water (and I have well water, so that was no problem) and to use local milk, as fresh as possible.

Sugarwing's Daddy and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen together, and he was excited about trying to make some cheese too. He's one of those all organic, all the time type of hippy guys and won't even eat anything that goes into the microwave or gets stored in plastic. So homemade cheese was right up his alley. He's hard to cook for, but since he loves cooking so much and is so great at it, he can be as quirky as he wants. Because that means he does most of the cooking and it is always fantastic.

The trouble is, he and I are both the type that cook without recipes. We throw it all together and guesstimate amounts. But for cheese, you have to pretend to care about temperatures and timing and measurements.

So I bought a digital thermometer (which brought my total for expenses up to almost 40 bucks). After studying and printing off lots of recipes, we saw that 55 degrees and 105 degrees were both very important numbers in the art of cheese.

Well, we aren't chemists or scientists or even semi good at following recipes. This is the mass that I salvaged from the batch. It was supposed to be kneaded like bread dough, and I thought I did, but I guess, not so much.

Adam is a massage therapist, so he worked his healing magic on the lump I couldn't repair and actually turned it into a series of little cheese balls.

4 hours into making what was called a 30 minute recipe we had a very small series of very little, very rubbery, cheese balls.

$40 worth?

Well, the olive oil with fresh herbs they are marinating in is tasty at least. I poured some over pasta last night. But I've not been brave enough to eat the cheese yet. They were so expensive to make I feel like keeping the little lumps of gold in a lock box.

But I'd probably be better off using them as toys and bouncing them around with Sugarwings.

Somehow, I don't think that I'll be serving today with the tomatoes and basil….

Well, my pot of cheese didn't do so well, but this little witch's cooking pot filled with pretties is much better. Its the giveaway for September and I added a fall colored enameled butterfly pin to go along with the leaf and rhinestone brooches.

Why am I feeling so fallish? I'm a warm weather person and hate the thought of winter approaching. I also love soft, sweet colors, and am not usually so attracted to the fall tones. Maybe its that perfect weather that is winning me over. Any way, I whipped up this Raven's Wreath and enjoyed working with the old millinery in the rich, Halloween colors.

Well, dur, it was still old millinery! I love that stuff in any color!

(the wreath is available in my Boutique)

I kept on using the deep, rich, colors on these book covers from Mary. Each is filled with water color and other art or journal pages, cut to fit. And they are tied up with hand dyed silk ribbons that I tinted to match each cover.

On some, I used inks and markers to embellish the existing pattern on the covers. I'm always happy when I get to play with markers.

Now, I'd better go shove the crap off my craft tables and make room for guests to join me today. But first, I need to run to the grocery store for some fresh mozzarella…

My sweet boy

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, Food and Drink, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 9, 2009

Look what was waiting for me when I came in the house, after working for about 10 hours straight on the editing of my little story book ! Sugarwing's Daddy is a sweet heart of a son. He picked tomatoes and peppers and fresh herbs from the garden to make the sauce for the egg plant (from the garden too!)

Not only that, he was invaluable in helping me edit the book. My son has a sharp and critical eye for detail and isn't afraid to let me know if something needs changed in my artwork. It could be irritating, but it isn't because he is usually right.

Plus, did I mention he is a massage therapist??? There was also a FOOT MASSAGE for me after sitting at the computer all day. Yep, he is just about a perfect son.

Its been a good day. Garage sales in the morning, the farmer's market with Sugarwings and her Daddy, then I finished and ordered prints of the book!

Here is the cover.

And this is the title page.

Beth and I had a craft day at her house yesterday, and I painted this page while we talked. I decided that it is much easier to pack for craft day if I'm just painting a little something. If I am packing for a whole hog craft day project, I have to haul boxes and bags of supplies with me!

Beth has a great studio, there is so much to see there. And it is FULL of vintage treasures. You could say overflowing… We joked about starting a new diet fad, the Craft Room Diet. You fill your studio with so much stuff that you have to lose weight to fit in the room with all of it.

Poor Beth, I might have over stayed my welcome. I tend to lose track of time and keep working away. It was after 6 when I realized that maybe I should take off for home.

But she was gracious, even though I am one of those guests that you can't get rid of. She even gave me a stack of these pretty bowls.

And she sent home presents for Twinkle. Now the Dorkies have a whole new wardrobe of neck scarves to show off in.

Yesterday was a slow day for estate sales, my pickins were slim.

But even though I didn't find much, what I found was really nice! Quality beats quantity any day. Seems like I've been on a book streak lately, here is another of those slim, Victorian gift books.

All the items in this collage are in the Boutique now.

Here is the back cover of the book.

I've ordered just a couple copies to see how they look in person before I offer them to anyone. I sincerely appreciate your support and kind words (and inquiries to buy!!).

An Ice Cream Social and a Christmas in July sale

Etsy Goodies, Food and Drink, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 13, 2009

Sweet Jenn at Sweet Eye Candy Creations is having a party today, and I've been to one of hers in person, so I know just what a wonderful hostess she is!

In honor of the occasion, I made a couple little dessert treats myself, but out of vintage wallpaper.

I also took Miss Sugarwings out for ice cream, but after seeing the perfectly groomed and darling children Jenn has shown eating ice cream at her house, I didn't photograph my wild child fairy grand baby smeared with bright blue "Cookie Monster" ice cream. We found a yellow brick road (an actual yellow brick sidewalk through some landscaping) in front of an ice cream store at a shopping mall and she danced and sang Wizard of Oz songs up and down that side walk until it was almost as blue as she was from the dripping ice cream.

When she decided to lay down in the day lillies planted along the yellow brick road, and tell me that she needed to go to sleep in the poppies, I wiped as much of the blue goo off of her as I could and we headed home.

My contribution to the party is photos of vintage wallpaper ice cream cones, that I whipped up this morning when I realized I had nothing to show for the party and I certainly didn't want to miss Jenn's shindig!

This mini notebook is covered in Flocked wallpaper, front and back, ledger paper on the inside covers and Neapolitan ribbons tying it up.

I've made an ice cream cone on the cover with a wallpaper waffle cone and two scoops of wallpaper ice cream in strawberry chocolate chip (glitter chips) and chocolate with pink swvarsky crystal sprinkles. The scoops are both coated in sugared glitter and I've added a strawberry colored velvet posy to a chocolate covered velvet leaf in the corner.

The edges of the pages are coated in chocolate covered ink.

Its available in the Boutique if you are interested.

I've also made this little sweet treat, and since a party should have favors to give out, this tag is going to be a gift to go along with the next purchase in my Boutique.

edit- OMG- I am so sorry about the background of the ice cream cone photo!!!!! I had no idea what the print said, it was just a page from an old magazine that I thought had pretty type. So, that photo is replaced now with a cropped out version. I'm SO sorry for not noticing that was there, and hope that it gets replaced on Google Reader, sometimes they are slow with changes.

This is an odd Christmas card, isn't it? Robins are usually thought of as a first sign of spring, not a winter bird. But, it seemed fitting to use this to illustrate a CHRISTMAS IN JULY sale at my Etsy shop.

So here are the details of the Christmas in July Sale

1- Anything and Everything in the Etsy shop is HALF OFF. Including sale items!

2- All you do is make your selection, but DO NOT pay for it. The discount has to come from me, it won't show up in the Etsy shopping cart.

3- This sale is for readers of my blog only.

4- You need to email me at: karlanathan@sbcglobal.net to let me know what you purchased.

5- I will send you an invoice with the sale price and shipping.

Remember, if you don't email me for the corrected invoice, you won't get the half off discount!

The sale might sound complicated, but its not. Just make your purchase, email me and wait for the invoice before paying. I offered this sale price last Christmas to clear out inventory and thought it might be a good time to clean house and offer some discounts again.

So, go fix yourself a refreshing and rich dish of your favorite ice cream and visit Jenn's list of parties, and of course, check out my Etsy shop to ~~help me get some clearance items whooshed out of there because I am sick of all that crap and want it gone~~ enjoy the sale!!

Won’t you be my neighbor?

Etsy Goodies, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, videos, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2009

Before my trip, I started building this little housing development. Then, when I got home, Beth came over for a craft day, and brought a similar project to work on!

Funny, how we both had the same idea at the same time without knowing what each other was doing! Yet, we both took a different route with our cottages. We took the same idea and each "made it our own", as they'd say on American Idol.

My houses started as cheapo, chip board books from the Michael's dollar bins. But all the building materials that went into the renovations of these cottages were top notch! I like to think of them as those run down neighborhoods where an artist moves in, fixes up a place and then makes the block trendy. So that everyone wants to live there after that.

Adding all the little details was the best part of redoing these plain houses into artist's cottages. Lots of vintagey goodness went into the renovations. The chip board was covered in old wallpaper, back and front, then I hand drew some welcome banners, butterflies and vines.

The curtains are old lace, the door knobs are vintage buttons, and the window boxes are blooming with teensy flowers I transplanted from my hats.

You might have noticed, I have become infatuated with mosaics….. I'm really enjoying the Picassa editing tools.

If you like Mosaics too, check out http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/ for Mosaic Monday!

While making up houses (some are books, some are just wall hangings) I made another butterfly book too. Its not pictured with the houses because it is the same size, and would look like Mothra devouring the houses in the Godzilla movies if it was next to my dainty cottages.

I'll be adding this butterfly to the website this morning, the homes are already there. And please wander through Beth's open houses too, she has some beauties inherEtsy shop right now.

All of the books, hers and mine, are ready for your own embellishments over the base of old papers we have used.

When Beth comes over, she always has some tid bit of cool stuff to bring to me. If you read her blog, you know that her life is one great find after another. Recently she found this box and when she saw that it said "Nathan" (my last name) on it, she brought it as a gift. Along with some new (old) wallpaper too. She and I have a Wallpaper Pact. Whenever one of us finds more paper, the other gets a hunk of it.

Its a good way to keep jealousy from coming between friends while shopping! Plus, isn't it more fun to share the joy when you find something great?

While she was here last week, we were joined by Mary, Queen of the Logomachy cards. She just got a new flip camera and wanted to play with it. We made up a couple "how to" videos and I thought I'd show you one.

Now remember, its off the cuff, not planned. Not professional at all, on my part! And while Mary does a good job with editing, and has learned a lot about the camera, there are still moments when the angles are a bit odd and we decided that the title of the movie should be "Karla's Cleavage" instead of "Karla's Cottage".

Also, I might not be very good at loading the video onto the blog. If you can't see it here, you can click on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZYx1iIyid8

Farewell

family, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 24, 2009

There's no place like home, there's no place like home….

I'm getting ready for my trip to Florida and have been busy chasing down the details and making reservations. I snuck in some time to make a few little pretties too.

Here are a couple sneak peeks at what I've been doing. There are a few odds and ends left to finish on them yet, and since I leave for the airport at 4am tomorrow and haven't packed yet, well, I guess I won't be finishing up the batch of pretties and listing them in the shop till I get back.

I've pre-written some posts that will pop up while I am away, so please do check back. And when I return, I'll let you know who the winner is for the June Giveaway- which you can still enter, of course.

Thanks for all of your kind words about Great Aunt Caroline. She will be missed.

Blue Birds, Blue Berries, and talking about beautiful gifts till I am Blue in the face!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, show and tell, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2009

Thank you for all your kind comments about the passing of my Great Aunt Caroline. She was a gracious lady who led an interesting and full life. I hope I can inherit some of her longevity genes! Not only did she live to just a few days short of 101, she did so in excellent health up until the very end. And she passed away quietly in her sleep with no trauma. Not a bad way to go, at all. Lucid and no pain.

My flight to Florida is Thursday, and I am trying to get caught up before I go. I added this pearl collar to my Boutique, and have been making some projects to add too, but most likely, will not be able to till I return.

One thing I needed to be caught up on was showing off the pressies I've been getting! It has been feeling almost like Christmas around here lately and I haven't had a chance to get pictures of the lovely loot till now.

My friend, Jenn Queen of the Garden Fairies sent me this Millinery School book. I wish I could really go! And not to a modern one, I want to go back in time and attend this school and play with all the flowers and trims there.

And at our Blogger's Shopping Day in Leesburg, VA, there was a flurry of gifts being exchanged. Amy Powers created the sugared and framed bluebird, that is so cute next to the minuscule flowers that Robin crafted from coffee filters and sticker dots. Can you tell what she has used for a vase? The lid to a spice bottle!

Andrea gifted us with gift tags, all sparkly and pretty and packed in a tin.

Please excuse Twinkle's vanity, but she insisted that I pay attention to her instead taking photos of everything else…

Most of these gifties have been used already, so I can't show you how cute Heather and Stephenie's little straw basket was when it was filled with blooms, or the hand knit wash cloth that Bethmade. I saved the packaging she made for it, (the tube covered in ephemera) but the wash cloth has been hard at work already. She has given me a few of these over the years and I just love to use them. I keep one in the kitchen to wipe the fairy grand baby's face after meals, because the cotton yarn is just right for a baby's soft skin.

In a previous post, I mentioned the great idea that Pamela had for the travel folders, filled with tags to tie to our packages, room for receipts and business cards, etc. And Hope gave us post cards from her shop, that I just can't use, I will save in the folder Pamela made along with other mementos of the day.

You are probably thinking that is all I have to show you???? No way!! It has been a gift-a-thon around here!!!

In today's mail, these wonderful Blue Bird plates arrived from Jenny!! I quickly filled them with fresh, hot blueberry muffins. Don't things taste even better off of pretty plates? It was so thoughtful of her to send these to me, after she saw the post about my mini collection of this china.

Jenny has an antique shop in Raleigh, and I just found out that my husband has that city in his region now. Hopefully soon, I'll be able to travel with him there and check out her store and thank her in person.

And there is more…..

Andrea sent a voluminous bundle of beauty my way! Full of vintagey tidbits and treasures. Including a hand made frame, for a photo of Sugarwings. And out of old pastel wallpapers and glitter. Now that even more yummy than a fresh muffin!

But wait, I am still going- yes there is MORE. How lucky am I?

First of all, pretty lucky to have a friend like Beth, who sent me this wallpaper pack from Holly's shop after I mentioned how much I loved the chocolate brown paper. I am beyond lucky, don't you think?

And so lucky that Sugarwings is fine, no problems from her episode of mushroom munching in the grass. The poison control center thought that the mushrooms were dangerous and sent us to the ER, but a specialist in mushrooms happened to live in the area and came in to inspect them and told us that they were a safe variety.

Thank you all for your concern about her. And now, she has a fairy guardian on the shelf above her bed, a gift from Lori,that is just about as precious as little Sugarwings is!

Thanks, everyone for the fantastic gifts! And don't forget that I have one for you, this month's gift drawing will be on the 30th and is one of my tag journals.