vintage paper/collage art – Page 36

12 presents for you for 10,000 comments!

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, give away, how to's, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 20, 2008

Wow! Thanks for the helpful ideas for filling up gift baskets for my childhood friends coming to celebrate our 50th birthdays together.

I’ve taken the picture frame idea, and made a couple of frames (photos later, after the glue dries and I can stand them up), and today, my family and I made bath salts to add to the baskets.

Oh- plus I got these two white baskets FREE at a garage sale this weekend, along with the chalk ware lady ($1)

And the mini dresser tray and two perfume bottles. ($1 also).

I wasn’t going to go shopping at all this weekend, after my big buys last week.

But…. I was driving by one… and saw a yard full of OLD things. How could I not stop??

This vintage ruffled slip was hanging on a clothes line in that yard, along with some of these antique lace panels.

I need to dress in a vintage prom style for Silver Bella, and am thinking that this slip could come in handy that night, and it was only $10 for all of the lace and the slip. But that was all the shopping I did, my total for the weekend was $12. I was proud of myself for holding back.

Have you ever made bath salts? I made up a recipe, using:

sea salt (two containers)

half of a box of powdered milk

about a 1/4 cup of baking soda

and approximately a third of a bottle of glycerin

We mixed in a handful of ground lavender fresh from my herb bed, and some vanilla/citrus essential oils I had made up a while back. I’m hoping it will be soothing and refreshing, it smells delightful.

Sugarwing’s Daddy did the mixing, he is much more thorough than I am, I would have just stirred it a bit with a spoon and been done.

He put on gloves and mixed each and every granule by hand for at least a half hour.

Of course, no project in the kitchen gets done around here without my expert helper. She likes to be in the center of everything we do.

I’d like to make some pretty labels up for the bags of bath salts we made up, probably will do that tomorrow.

And as a thank you, for the people who were so kind to leave comments with ideas for filling baskets- I want to give away 12 of my one ounce bags of the mixture to the first 12 people who say they’d like some.

So, here is what you need to do- if you sent me some advice about the basket, and you’d like to have a small pack (enough for one good, relaxing soak in the tub), leave a comment and let me know you’d like some.

This is to celebrate going over 10,000 comments on my blog during the last post! Thanks again for taking the time to stop and visit and leave comments, I love to hear from you. edit-thanks, I have 12 people who would like a sample of bath salts. I wish I could send some to everyone else too!

Here is my 12:

1-Cheryl

2-Karen

3-Robin

4-Heather

5-Donna

6-Connie

7-Joanne

8-Terri

9-Caitlin

10-Jodi

11-Beverly

12-Betty Lou

(still need addresses for the last 3)

This tag that I just finished is too big to use for the gift baskets, it is 8"x4". If you are interested in buying it for $9, (includes postage-US) just email me.

I loved all of the ideas, and will make use of quite a few, these free baskets will hold a LOT.

Here is what I think I’ll add:

*personalized tags tied to the handles

*the match boxes I already made, with mini candles

* CHOCOLATE!! (that was a popular suggestion)

* a magazine (rolled up and tied with a bow)

* decorated frames so they can display a photo of the trip when they get home

*snacks, like granola bars

* a water bottle with a pretty label

*bath salts (homemade)

*Bath and Bodywork’s lotion

I’ll line the basket with some of the vintage linens I bought last week.

Now, I have to think about the 50th birthday gifts I want to give them!!!!!

I haven’t had more than a few minutes to make stuff this weekend, Sugarwings has been staying with us quite a bit, and today FIVE of her friends came to play.

They were all calling me Grammy Karkie and wanting to paint, or play dolls or in the garden hose at the same time. It was hectic but fun. So hectic, I didn’t get a camera out!

The lake was beautiful this weekend. If you’d like to see a VERY short clip of Sugarwings making up a song while hopping on her PopPop who is laying back and relaxing on a raft, click here.

One of the strangest things happened to us at the lake!

About 6 weeks ago, we caught our anchor on something on the bottom and had to cut it loose, and buy a new anchor.

Yesterday, as we drove across the cove, our motor shut off, due to a rope wrapped around the prop. It must have been floating around, and we just happened to drive across it as it bobbed around the water.

As we untangled it, we thought it looked a lot like our half of a blue rope that was attached to our new anchor, and the we had some trouble getting the mess untangled because it seemed to be stuck to something. Well, we tugged, and found out it was attached to something- our OLD anchor that we had cut loose earlier this summer!

What do you think the odds are that it just happened to be US who got caught on the rope of our own anchor lost weeks ago??? That rope could have hooked any boat on the lake. What odd timing that it was us!!!

I wonder if that ladder we lost will be coming back soon???

A busy and brave day for Sugarwings

Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2008

The fairy grand baby came to have a sleepover and we were able to jam a lot into one day.

Since the weather was so nice, we did some yard work. I trimmed trees while she watered flowers. And herself. And me. And Twinkle. And the driveway.

Then, she discovered that the big old birdcage I use for a planter was a perfect doll house for a cast iron fairy that I keep on the porch.

Sugarwings spent a good deal of time tucking the fairy into the cage and telling her "night night" so I was able to prune my roses as well as the maple tree.

All the roses are now cut back. It was sad to cut all the blooms off, but I have company coming in a couple weeks, and have learned that if I trim the shrubs back ahead of time for a special occasion, they will be full of flowers when I need them to be.

After a morning of gardening and tucking in fairies, we went to the nursing home where her Hippy Chick Mommy works to go to a carnival.

I hope that someday, if I am ever in a nursing home, some cute little girl like Sugarwings comes to visit me. You should have seen the eyes light up around the room when she walked in.

I could identify with their need to hold this little sweetie on their laps and give her hugs. I saw these ladies arms automatically reach out for her as she came near them.

She did sit on a few laps, even the clown’s. That is one brave little girl, I don’t think I would have done that at her age. But you could tell this clown was someone’s grandma and pretty nice.

Yep, she is brave! I took her out on the boat after the carnival and she went tubing for the first time.

That kid didn’t even mind walking in the deep, ooshy mud of the lake bottom, when we pulled up to the campsite where she was camping all night with her family.

There was hardly anyone out on the lake. Lake Clinton is a pretty spot, 10 minutes from our house and rarely busy. Its Sparkle’s favorite place in the whole world. One of mine too. Especially when Sugarwings is there with me.

There hasn’t been much time to make things with my new pretties from all the shopping last week. I did squeeze in another tussie mussie, (listed on etsy) and made use of some of the loot.

Some of the vintage jewels were missing stones, and I have been gluing in new ones to replace them. Here, I used a pearl instead of another rhinestone, it seemed to go well with the style of the cone I had added it to.

I am itching to make stuff with all of my vintage bounty!

Some of my French ephemera from Gwen, and an earring from the garage sale went into wrapping this Etsy purchase.

And these matchboxes have some of the lace on them, as well as the French ephemera from my friend, Gwen.

Good friends from my childhood are coming out to celebrate our 50th birthdays together and I am making up gift baskets for the guest rooms.

Little decorated candles, treats, pretties, I am not sure what else will go in them. But I thought embellished match boxes would be a good idea to go along with the candles.

One friend lives in Sonoma County, the other on the beach in Florida. When we talked about where to meet up, they both chose Kansas!! So, I need to pamper them and treat them extra special, if they want to come to my cottage for our big birthday celebration instead of lying on the beach in Florida or touring wine country in California!

Any ideas on what would be nice to put into a guest room gift basket?

New blog title: Crazy, Obsessed, Shopaholic, Bargain Hunter’s Crowded Cottage

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, fairies, flowers, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 17, 2008

Some one stop me!

I have been on such a roll with the bargains this week, that I can’t quit looking for them. And they seem to LEAP out at me.

I heard the call of the hats yesterday, and asked a friend if she wanted to take a spur of the moment, quick trip with me to go and buy hats.

We only had a couple hours, knowing it was late in the day and the stores would close, but we went anyway, and I was glad I did.

This loot was $1 a single flower and $7 for the loaded hat!

And even though, I have plenty of buttons after last weekend’s garage sale, how could I pass this up?

The ironstone bowl is worth at least $15, let alone filled with buttons!

Not only that, but SORTED and cleaned buttons.

The bowl has already come in handy, on my desk filled with these trims that I bought too.

There are some really nice pieces in here, lots of old beading and delicate laces. These were only $1 a zip lock bagful.

Those trims were the first thing I played with after I got home, I couldn’t wait to do something with them!

These tussie mussies are made of vintage flocked wallpaper, lined with old, French paper, then encrusted with some of the fancy trims, jewels, and flowers that I bought yesterday.

These are gifts. I won’t say who for yet, but the hint for the new owners is in the themes I used to make them:

birds*fairies*pretty flowers

This trim was my favorite, so dainty and old. There was quite a bit of it, too.

I was glad to discover when I cut into it to use it on the tussie mussie, that all the beads stayed in place and didn’t run every where. I had been worried about using it, but it was wonderful to snip and glue down.

And yes, I bought more vintage jewelry. Just when I think I have cleaned out all the old jewelry bargains in the state, I find even bigger and better deals.

Can you believe that a lot of this was in the ten cent box?

Some of it was a dime, some of it was sold in bags full for $3 – $4 a bag.

Yes, I bought all the bags! I’m not even showing all the jewels I got, because I am starting to overwhelm myself with all this bounty.

These were 50 cents each.

I’ve not used beaded trim pieces much in the past, but I will have fun making use of these black ones at Halloween, won’t they be great on witch hats?

This is an example of how much was in one $1 zip lock bag. I can see some Silver Bella projects in the future of that silver velvet string!

There was a big bundle of towels and doilies for $5.50, which at first I thought I didn’t need. But then, I remembered that I had planned on buying dish towels at Target later this week.

So, why would I pay $3 a towel for plain ones at Target, when I can get a big bundle of beauties for $5, with extras thrown in at an antique store??

These gals were $1 each, and soon will be covered in flowers, beaded trims, and sporting fairy wings.

Now, if I can just stop shopping long enough to stay home and make some stuff with all of this!!

By the way, thanks so much for all your purchases from me this week. I appreciate it! (Plus it makes more space for me to go shopping again myself!)

Forget me not?

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, flowers, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 15, 2008

I don’t typically grow flowers from seed, I am more of an instant gratification type. I like to buy big flats of blooming flowers for instant color.

But on Mother’s Day this spring, I gave Sugarwings a package of forget-me-not seeds and her own pink, plastic shovel, opened the seed pack, and turned her lose.

Here is my little gardener’s first bloom! I haven’t touched the patch she planted, I wanted it to be all her own, so they are kind of clumped up and not where I would have planted them, but I do love them more than anything else in the gardens because they are hers!

Today will be a Sugarwings Day, and I get to go pick her up soon. I’m not sure what we’ll do, maybe the zoo? She is happy anywhere I take her. Sometimes we just sit on the sidewalk and talk to bugs. Other days, we’ll paint rocks, or water the flowers (and each other).

I might dress her in this vintage sun suit I bought at the Bling and Button Bargain Blowout garage sale last weekend, it was only $1. It looks tiny, but she isn’t very big. My fairy baby is only in the 3rd percentile for her age group, she is dainty like the forget-me-nots she planted.

I’m glad she is tiny, I carry her everywhere. We won’t pack a stroller if we go to the zoo, I’d rather hug her all day.

Some of you were asking me to show more of the vintage greeting cards I bought, so here is a close up. How cute is this?

I must have bought over 100 of them. I’ll use a few in projects, set a basket of them out in my studio to enjoy, and add some to collage kits that I make up to sell on Etsy.

I listed a couple sets on Etsy this morning. I doubt if I will do many this way, they are too handy to have around for other purposes.

This will be listed soon, I am trying to get my shop filled. I don’t understand why it is so hard to get the inventory up over 50. My goal is 100, but I think what I ‘d need is a couple totally uninterrupted days of nothing but listing, and I’d get BORED doing that.

So, I putz around and list a few things here and there. I try to be regular about it and update a few days a week.

I listed ONE hanger from this bunch so far. They are the end of my millinery flowered padded hangers, the rest have moved on to their new homes,

If you’d like one of these for $9, please let me know.

Any of them, but this one, it is available on Etsy, but it costs a little more than the others, it has a bigger and more velvety rose and the hanger is older. So this one is "special".

The child sized ones that I made up are going to stay here with me. I will use them for my fairy grand baby’s clothes.

Here is a full picture of one of my button bottles that I listed, I only showed a bit of it before.

This one is "special" too. I try to keep my prices very reasonable, but when I spend a bit extra on supplies I have to charge a bit extra too.

This bottle cost more to start with (but was worth it!!) so it is $28, filled with white buttons and decorated. sold, thanks!

This bottle didn’t cost me as much, and it is only $15, filled with buttons and all embellished.

They both took about the same amount of time, and supplies, and are equally gaudied up.

Any way, thought you might want to understand my price variations.

Since I can whip out creations pretty quickly, and here in the Midwest, I get lots of bargains for my supplies, I try to keep my prices affordable for my shoppers.

I hope you agree with me that they are a good value!

Speaking of selling stuff, I just got some good news! An email came from Teresa (or T Mac, as I have been hearing her called!) and I will be a vendor at Silver Bella. Yay!

It isn’t too early for me to start planning and plotting, pasting and painting! I plan on filling a 10 x 10′ booth.

Heather and Natasha are flying in to Kansas City and riding up with me. I am renting a big van, and taking up my booth goodies, and Heather is mailing boxes of her things to me here to take up too, since she is vending also.

Holly (who will be vending) is driving up from Oklahoma, and Carol (another vendor) is coming from Kansas City and we are making a caravan up to Omaha for the event. Stopping in St Joe, MO at my favorite antique mall on the way.

Don’t you think I need a big glittery banner to tie to the van???

Using the good stuff

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, Silver Bella, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 14, 2008

Its been a lazy day here at the cottage. Reading, boating, gardening took up most of the day.

I spent the evening putting some of my Bling and Button Bargain Blowout finds to work.

I also used some of the fantastic French papers that Gwen brought to me during our bloggers craft day party this week.

The labels on these bottles are made from the French ephemera that I "cuddlebugged" (by the way, I found out, it is really called a CUTTLEBUG)What ever it is called, that thing is COOL. I loved using it!

Then, I filled the bottles with painstakingly sorted buttons, and dooded up the labels with old photos and tons of pretty sparkling jewels. Doesn’t this brooch make a nice little frame?

The Christmas in July giveaway is all wrapped up and ready to go out to who ever wins it.

(check out the previous post to see what is inside)

Then, I listed a couple of my beveled glass covered collages on Etsy.

Like I said, kind of a quiet day around here. I’ve been daydreaming about Silver Bella. Yes, I know that is MONTHS in advance, but I am really looking forward to it and hoping to plan and hostess a swap or two for it.

I am already hosting a small swap for the event, so that a group of us who are going can get a bit acquainted before we meet up there.

I am so happy with my list of swappers who will be sending me some of their favorite crafting supplies. I will then package them all up and send a little of each to everyone who signed up.

We’ll each get a goodie bag with pretties from everyone else.

Take a look at this list and you’ll see why I am excited about it! These are people who have BEAUTIFUL things!! I can’t wait to see all the presents coming in the mail for me to play with, I mean, divvy up and send out.

A Get Acquainted- Get Inspired

Pre- Silver Bella Swap

1-Heather* http://www.prettypetals.typepad.com/

2-Cheryl Dack * http://roseyposeyconfections.blogspot.com/

3-jennifer hayslip* http://sweeteyecandycreations.typepad.com/

4-Jessi Nagy * http://www.scrappyjessi.blogspot.com/

5-Kim Caldwell * http://www.artisticbliss.typepad.com/

6-Holly * http://www.hollydoodledesigns.com/shop/

7-Natasha* http://www.natashaburns.blogspot.com/

8-Analisa * http://www.leesiebella.typepad.com/

9-Andrea* http://velvetstrawberries.typepad.com/andreasingarella/

10-Cheryl Stoneham* http://www.insidethebubble.typepad.com/

11- Tiffany* www.shabbyscraps.typepad.com

12- Carol Spinski * http://raisedincotton.typepad.com/

And if you like presents, remember I have two giveaways this month, check out the last two posts for more info. Every comment is entered in the drawings.

Button Bounty Giveaways and cold feet in July??

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, jewelry, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 12, 2008

Before taking Sugarwings to a movie this afternoon, I hung out with Beth at an auction for a while. I didn’t buy much, the prices were outrageous for some reason.

I got a $2 shelf to fix up (hopefully as a booth display piece for Silver Bella, I applied to get a vendor spot) and this rug for $10.

The colors of the rug are just right for my pink, brown and ivory kitchen.

But I absolutely fell in love with the hand crocheted trim!

It was rainy and CHILLY?? Wait a minute, what happened to global warming? I haven’t even jumped off my boat into the lake yet this year, the water is too cool for me, which is really odd for July.

Once my sandals got wet, I couldn’t get warm for anything. I tried wrapping my feet in packing materials.

But what really helped was a plastic bag over the packing papers.

Luckily, Beth is a heck of a lot of fun. Or I wouldn’t have spent 5 hours sitting and shivering with my feet wrapped up like some weirdo while all the bidders at the auction were driving prices up too high to buy anything.

Beth always does well at auctions and estate sales. Garage sales are where I find the best stuff.

Before the auction, I went back to Roxanne’s sale, other wise known as the Bling and Button Bargain Blowout from yesterday.

My, my, she has pretty things. A pair of embroidered pillow cases for $2 and more buttons, of course!

She has more jewels to show me, but threw her back out and couldn’t get to them yet.

She let me take a photo of some of her artwork, don’t you love this vintage button bouquet?

This Italian box was 25 cents. Its in good shape, but I bought it to alter a bit.

Right now, it is being used as a display for some giveaway prizes.

I gathered up summertime colors of bright greens and yellows, and added pearls to the mix for my July giveaway.

Vintage buttons, 3 brooches, 3 pair of earrings, a pendant, and pearls, all in cheerful colors and styles for summer.

I got as many excited comments about the buttons in the last post as I did about the jewelry, so I made the giveaway half and half.

Then I wrapped them all up in a pretty yellow hankie that has touches of shiny, metallic gold in a floral motif around the edges.

To that, I added a vintage millinery rose and a clip on crystal earring, and it is all ready to go to its new home.

All my comments for the month count, so leave one as often as you like, I randomly chose one from sometime during the month.

But, hey, that is not all! I decided to join in on Inez’s Christmas in July giveaway too.

Since I bought old greeting cards at the Bling and Button Bargain Blow out, I thought I’d give away a few Christmas ones, along with Red and Green buttons, jingle bells, and some cute red flowers with rhinestone centers from an old sweater clip.

So, every comment you leave this month is entered into TWO drawings, not just one.

I managed to do a little bit of Etsy listing, not much. I seriously need to set aside a day to get things listed to sell, instead of running around having fun, shopping and playing with the fairy grand baby all the time.

People ask me how I manage to do all the things that I do. The truth is, I just have fun and don’t do what I should be doing. That is the secret!

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll get more listed…. or maybe not.

I did finish this tag that I started when I had my blogger’s craft day, Thursday.

It is made with all French ephemera, and topped off with some of the prettiest velvet millinery posies I have, as well as a sweet little earring I got at the garage sale yesterday.

At the bottom, I have a mother of pearl button on a rectangle of old ivory.

If you’d like to buy it, it is $8, and that would save me from having to list it on Etsy, so I won’t charge postage. sold, thanks!

My buttons are selling well, so I’d like to offer a "special" on those. Here are the prices:

$3 plus $1 shipping for one large handful

$5 plus $1 shipping for 2

$7 plus $1.50 shipping for 3

These are for blue, warm browns, blacks, greens, metals, or a mix with white.

Just email me if you’d like some too.

A shiny day and an idea for a giveaway

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, give away, jewelry, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2008

Jackpot!

There was an ad in the paper for a garage sale that had vintage hats, and I really wanted to go at 7am when it opened.

But Sugarwings had a sleepover with me last night, and neither of us are exactly morning people. By the time we got up and about and she was ready to go out, it was after 10 and I almost didn’t think it was worth the effort to go that late in the day.

But we made the trip across town, mostly just to get out of the house and see what there was to see. I didn’t expect to find hats.

I was right, there were hats, but no flowered ones, so I wasn’t interested.

But— there was tons of jewels! and buttons! and old greeting cards!!

Did I mention, DIRT CHEAP– AND NICE. Really nice!

By dirt cheap, I mean 25 cents a pair of earrings. And a big, antique apothecary jar of buttons for less than $10, same for the cute little lemonade pitcher full of buttons.

And get this– greeting cards were 10 cents, and the kind hearted, sweet seller had a huge rubber maid tub full of them.

Sugarwings found a cute baby doll, and some old, hand made flannel nighties for the new baby, plus a vintage sun suit for herself, all for $1 each.

While Sugarwings took her afternoon nap, I cleaned and sorted some buttons.

While not all are colors that I will use, I can still see their beauty and hope others will be able to use them. I’ve listed a few packs on Etsy for $3 each

I’m guessing that the Etsy packs are about an ounce or so each. More like an overflowing handful.

If you are interested in old buttons and would like a $3 handful, plus $1.50 postage, you can email me, or check these packs on Etsy.

I can make up more for you in a mix of colors too.

All will be different, but I promise not to just fill your bag with boring, plain ones. That would be mean!

I enjoy having jars of buttons out to look at, and to use for projects, but I certainly seem to have more than a lifetime supply right now.

While sorting buttons, I kept wondering what I missed at the sale today while trying to juggle a 23 month old as I shopped.

So, when I took her home, I stopped back by the glorious garage sale to see what was still left.

And man, there was plenty!

Not only was there a lot more jewelry, the seller brought more out while I was there. No one else was shopping that late in the day, so we got to talking and had a lot in common.

She reads the same magazines and even had a copy of the Somerset Life that I am in right now.

She says there is MORE jewelry that she will bring out, so I am going back tomorrow.

Actually, I have no choice, I have to go back. I forgot my checkbook and she let me take all of this home without paying.

Only in Kansas, huh? Vintage bling for 25 cents a pair, to be paid later.

She is an artist herself, she makes bouquets of button flowers. I wanted to take a photo, but (BAD BLOGGER!), I forgot my camera, and while I was there, someone bought her button creation, so I can’t get a photo tomorrow when I go back.

How pretty is all of this??

And this isn’t all.

I stopped to visit Sugarwings on my way home, (it is hard to be away from her for too long) and I let her and all of her little friends play in the jewels and gave them lots of pieces to keep.

The mommies of the little girls got necklaces, and the girls got vintage earrings to clip onto their pig tails, and little bracelets and pretties for dress up.

We had a great time, playing with the treasure chest of sparklies, those kids were fascinated with it all.

Little Clover was wearing earrings clipped all over her hair and her shirt, while her sister Calliope had made herself a bracelet with broken pieces clipped together with earrings.

(BAD BLOGGER! No camera!!)

I decided that for my July giveaway, I would share the bounty and giveaway some of today’s loot. A handful as a gift to you will only cost me about $2!! What a bargain. I’ll wrap it up in one of the 25 cent vintage hankies I got today too.

Yes, there were linens too! And more cards, I bought another big stack of old greeting cards and was only charged $1 for the stack. Definitely going back tomorrow!! And I will take a photo of what I put together to give to you as a present.

If you like vintage sparklies, please leave a comment on any post. All comments for the entire month are entered.

A housefull of crafting bloggers

vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 11, 2008

Craft day was such fun! We laughed and talked and played for about 8 hours and the day flew by like it was no time at all.

And I actually got the studio cleaned up!

The tables were all cleared for work space and I just sat out some wallpaper pieces and the tags for each person to mark their spots.

It didn’t take long for all the tables to turn into this! Everyone brought such interesting piles of goodies it was a day long adventure just to check out everyone’s stash of stuff.

Especially our new pal, Gwen. She is a reader who answered my blog invitation to come by and play.

I’m so glad she did, what a fascinating and fun person. She was an FBI agent, stationed in France for years and brought back the BEST French ephemera.

Gwen gifted all of us with French book pages, and Shawn brought her Cuddlbug. We were rolling papers through it and embossing everything in sight.

I kept wanting to put pasta through it and make embossed noodles for lunch.

I actually got very little made today. This is a 100% French papered background for a tag, I will add a picture to the center later.

I was busy Cuddlebugging a lifetime supply of papers to use later, and scanning all the cool old Frenchie things that Gwen brought!

We all made books too, here is one by Marilyn. I had my binder out and she used some Cuddled papers, post cards, and sheet music to create this.

Since I met Marilyn and Shawn through our Birds and Bonnets Swap, I thought it was appropriate to use the screen from that swap as part of my centerpiece for lunch.

Shawn’s daughter, Bethany had a good time sipping out of a tiny teacup at lunchtime. She was adorable all day, one cute thing after another.

Lunch itself was pretty great, everyone brought a dish, and all were tasty! Shawn even brought each of us a bag full of home made marshmallows. I was going to arrange them on a pretty plate and take a photo, but I ate them. Sorry.

I know this isn’t the best picture of Beth, but she is only looking worried because I threatened to knock her over and steal her hat.

She taunted me all day with this rose encrusted gem of a hat that she bought for $5, and that I couldn’t take my jealous, little, beady eyes off of.

Gwen is a reader that has never left a comment, and I hadn’t met her before. I’m so glad she took me up on the invitation and came out today, along with our other blog friends.

Sometimes I wonder who is out there reading this, and it was very nice to meet one of "silent majority" who is on the other end of the blog, but I never hear from.

I’m sure she won’t mind if I share this with you, it is an old ad from a magazine she brought today. I scanned it to print and use for backgrounds. Please feel free to use it for your own work too, just click and save. I’d love to see what you do with it, if you make anything from this ad.

And thanks again to Beth, and Shawn, and Marilyn too for the fun time!

ooops, another one frittered away and gone

family, parties, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 9, 2008

There is a party here tomorrow. A craft day with blog friends, that I am really looking forward to. But, somehow, today got away from me, and I haven’t got my craft room picked up yet.

I might just be saying, "Welcome, kick some crap out of your way and make yourselves at home!"

I did make little giftys for the crafters coming. B for Beth.

(why it is such a wintry tag, I don’t know, maybe I had the air conditioner too high today and was chilly??)

And an M for Marilyn.

S for Shawn.

And Gwen gets a G. I haven’t met Gwen yet, she is an antique dealer at the mall I used to be at. Beth has a spot there too, so they have met. I am looking forward to meeting her, Ive seen some stuff she has made and love what she does!

My speakers are finished, covered with wallpaper and neatly tucked under the new cabinet. I was afraid they might look cheesy, but I think they will be fine. I also painted the cords so they disapear too.

The rest of the day was put into making a scrap book for Sugarwings.

Have you seen this site on flickr where you can make your name in a variety of letters? I did that for the fairy grand baby, then wrote something about her for each letter.

Too bad there are no C’s in her name, because she is very Cuddly and Cute.

This photo of her hard at work on her painting is mounted onto the artwork she did that day.

I found this cool Wizard of Oz paper and couldn’t wait to use it to back Sugarwings in her Halloween Dorothy costume.

(the opposite photo of her with Twinkles, says "every Dorothy needs her Toto".

Aren’t these papers fun?

I used a close up of the baby’s ruby slippers on the first page, then inside the card on the second page, is another picture of her in her costume.

Am I obsessed or what? Here I am cutting out pictures of the baby all day instead of getting ready for my craft party!

Oh, but isn’t she cute and cuddly???? Do you blame me at all? Looking at her photos was a beautiful way to fritter away a day.

Flocked Finery and hot dogs

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2008

I got some of the best new (old) wallpaper! I had to make something with it right away, so put together this card with one of my painted cupcakes and some other vintagey pretties.

The same flocked paper is used as a background for this tag.

Sissy sent me these ballerinas, and I made one into a fairy to tie to the cover of the photo album I am sending to her.

All three new papers are wonderful, but I haven’t had a chance to use the other two yet.

If I would stop buying wallpaper, I could probably afford the good camera I whine about wanting.

I really like my camera, but I sure do drool over photos taken by Carol and Sara. Both of them use Canon Rebels, and their pictures are always so good. Of course, both of them are great stylists too, that sure helps!

Speaking of Sara, she has added my two latest magazines to the list to the side of my blog.

She is always so fast when I ask for something to be done and I am still thrilled with the blog design she has done for me! I hope to have some extras added some day when I have time. I’d like to have a seperate page with my blog roll and "about". But, I seem to always have other things to do. Someday I will get that blog roll revamped and more blogs added to it.

I am such a blog addict, I read so many more than what I have listed there!!

Sara isn’t the only person I need to thank today. LOOK AT WHAT BETH MADE!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t knit and never will, but I love to look at yarn shops and day dream about the gorgeous colors. I bought a specialty ball of yarn and Beth whipped up this scarf for me out of it.
Its even prettier in person, soft and sweet and lighter than air.

This came in the mail from my friend, Shawn. The first thing I noticed about it, besides how cute it is, of course, is that the name "Nathan" is in the sheet music on Twinkle’s wings!

Shawn is coming to my blogger’s craft day this Thursday. If you are a KC or Topeka area blogger and like to do paper crafts, let me know if you’d like to come too.

Amy is the winner of my June Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack, and since her blog is titled
"Bunny Rose Cottage" I added this cute enameled bunny charm to her gift.

I haven’t decided what my July prize will be yet. But all comments on all posts count for the month, whether the prize has been announced or not.

Looks like July is finally here, it has turned hot! The poor dorkies didn’t even want to work in the garden with me this morning, I came in and they were lounging on the bench in the breezeway out of the sun.