vintage paper/collage art – Page 39

A winner, A feature, A first auction, and A redo

family, give away, I do tend to run on, don't I?, parties, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 30, 2008

First of all, I want to thank everyone who came to the "What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s Home" party that Beth and I had on Thursday. What a fun turnout, lots of blinged out birdhouses to see! Wow, thanks so much for coming by and for creating such palaces for us to enjoy.

I had forgotten to show this one that I made, it is a music box, jewelry box, and used to be a Swiss Chalet. I faked the birdhouse part, by adding this tiny blown glass bird and the piece of black onyx jewelry to represent a hole and a perch.

Thanks also to everyone who bought a birdhouse from me! If you buy one from that post, it is only $15 each. I will be listing them on Etsy for slightly more later on.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that one goes as a gift to a commenter during the party? The winner is:

Denise

And on Tuesday the 1st, I will draw a name for the monthly prize, so you still have time to enter that. The prize is a secret. (Because I haven’t picked out a gift to send yet)

I also want to thank the group at the Snooty Women’s Club (they really do seem nice, not snooty as their name implies!) for featuring me this week. Thanks, ladies! Good luck with your new site!

It has been a bit hectic around here, Sugarwing’s poor little Hippy Chick mommy had her gallbladder out this week, so I have had the baby staying with me.

We went up to see her mommy in the hospital a few times, went for walks in the park, played with Twinkle, had tea parties, mostly just stayed very busy so she wouldn’t be asking where Mommy was too much.

I even took her to her first auction! Here she is with Beth, we just popped in to visit and eat her pretzels. Beth got a ton of great stuff and I was a bit jealous, but staying to bid wasn’t really an option with my little helper along.

While at the hospital, my son pointed out one of my paintings hanging in the office!

I didn’t even know that the hospital owned it, they had purchased it at a benefit auction I had donated to a couple years ago.

What a nice surprise to see it hanging there.

Look at what I have been doing while the baby napped or after she went to slept at night! Organizing, big time!

I’ve taken every single piece of paper in my studio and FILED or stored it!

Tuesday Morning had all these pretty desk organizers on sale and it inspired me to try to pull the whole room together.

I hung all my past blog banners on the wall along with my business card template and a photo of my grandma and some rosey plates.

Well, that lead to repainting my furniture so that the pieces matched each other, and looked more pulled together, then rearranging it all.

I made used of all my old wallpaper storage items, and turned this vintage shoe rack on its side, then used it to file scrapbook goods into.

I didn’t repaint the black and white cabinets with the roses on the door, thinking I might like the contrast, but now am not sure. I might paint it lighter (but leaving the roses on the doors).

When I didn’t have enough storage containers, I made some by covering Girl Scout cookie boxes in old wallpaper. Don’t ask why I had so many boxes….

I moved some rolls of vintage wallpaper close to my desk and stored them in this old trash can holder. I think it was meant for a park, to keep animals out of the trash. I found it at an antique store and have been using it for bubble wrap, but I like the rolls of paper in it.

The front part of the room got a clean up too.

There is only so much I can do with this room, it isn’t easy to tidy. I keep so much out there and it has so many uses, that even with about 1000 square feet, it is jammed full.

And no matter how much I tidy up there will always be a card table set up full of junk to be sorted, mailed, put away, or made into something, etc.

Just like, I think I am going to write a post that is tidy and everything looks pretty together, and next thing you know, I have done this- run on and on and on about a dozen different things and then the posting is all messy and run together.

My life tends to be like that, lots going on at once, and all the pretty things jammed in with the clutter and mess of it all.

But I love it that way, there are some sweet little details jumbled up in that mess and they are worth sifting through it all to get to!

Time to preen your feathers and Bling that Birdhouse!

Etsy Goodies, fairies, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / March 27, 2008

sk! What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s home??

Welcome to our Self Linking, Self Swapping, Self Marketing party! Yes, Beth and I are lazy hostesses, she says this is the equivalent of inviting people over and asking them to bring all their own food and drinks, then clean up after themselves.

The rules are simple: you can buy, sale, or trade, if you like, just let people know in your posts, or on the flickr site if you want to moving the real estate.

I will be giving one house away today to someone who leaves a comment.

The rest are FOR SALE!

And for a special price too, any of these cuties, big or small, simple or ornate, blingy or elegant (who am I kidding, these are all blingy and gaudy!!)—if purchased this week from this post— are only $15 each plus postage.

Ok, so those are my personal specs for sales. Make sure you state yours if you want to sell or swap a home during the party. I am also up for a swap…… I could use a special bird house for some fairies to move into up in Sugarwing’s bedroom.

The birdhouse with the kitty is sold to Louisa

Now, for the party linking rules. Like I said, we are pretty laid back about this one!

All you do is leave a comment, on my blog, Beth’s blog or BOTH.

In your comment, tell people that you are inviting them over to see your creations. Birdhouse_201

Make sure you leave the URL or link to your blog, or you can show the birdhouse on our flickr site if you don’t have a blog.

Everyone is invited to play along! Flickr is free and easy to do, so jump in and give it a try.

Birdhouse_203 Simple huh? Leave a comment, join the party!

Now, if you want to party hop and visit all the homes on display for our feathered friends, all you need to do is read the comments on my blog and Beth’s blog.

Not everyone who reads my blog leaves a comment and if you haven’t because you don’t know how, here is what you do:

At the end of the post, the small print says the time it was written, a list of categories, and then "comments". Click on that word.

Then, you get to read all the previous comments. Usually, you can click on the author’s name and it will take you to their blog. Sometimes, you can’t.

If there isn’t an active link, then you can copy and paste the URL that the birdhouse blinger has left for us to find them and see what they have made.

Any questions, feel free to ask. Email me or Beth and we’ll do what we can to help you get to visit everyone or to help you invite people to visit you. Fairy Banner house sold to Betty

Fairy houses count too, right? I’m sure that if a bird wanted to share the rent, they’d be allowed to move in.

The postage might be a bit higher on these fairy homes I have made. A couple of them are covered in stones, glass, beads, and trinkets, which tends to weigh more than the vintage wallpaper I put on most of the houses.

All the fairy homes come complete with a nest ready for the fairy to curl up on.

As you can probably tell, I got a bit carried away, like usual. I tend to make more than one or two when I try something…. I might have a done a couple dozen houses or so.

I could just keep going and going, these are such fun to decorate! I hate to have this challenge come to an end.

But I am sure I will feel exactly the same about the next project I take on. Don’t you just love to experiment? In the last year of blogging, I have had opportunities to participate in so many fun swaps and challenges and each one I did, the nests, matchboxes, tiaras, doll hats, all of them, I just wanted to make more, more, more!

Blogworld is such an inspiring place to be. Always a new project or idea to sample.

So, Beth and I decided to sponsor another swap. Details to come, but it will be through Vintage Workshop and we have permission to feature their images and offer free samples to our swappers to use!

We’ll let you know when we get it all worked out and are ready for sign ups.

Please check back later if you are interested in our Spring Swap.

And for today, thanks so much for coming to Our Bling Your Birdhouse Day and please go and visit some of the other bird abodes that our friends came up with!

Frilly Things, Blings, and Butterfly Wings

fairies, family, holiday decor, how to's, parties, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 20, 2008

I was invited to a fairy tale party with Sugarwings yesterday and of course it was right up our alley. We got to wear our wings and frilly things, plus do some blings !

The party was at our local HyVee grocery store promoting the release of "Enchanted"

All the little girls got craft packs to decorated crowns and wands, that of course came with a ‘poisoned’ apple, since they were all fairy princesses. Sugarwings decorated me with most of her glittery stickers instead of putting them on her tiara.

Afterwords, when I went grocery shopping to get some forgotten items for the dinner for 18 I was cooking that night, I looked very sparkly in the store with my extras the baby added to my fairy grandmother outfit.

They dined on mini pizzas. Dessert was a chocolate fountain with lots of goodies to dip into it. So, she wasn’t too hungry for my build your own burrito bar that night for the big family dinner. I don’t blame her, its hard to come back to reality and eat a burrito when you have spent the afternoon as a princess and being served chocolate from a magical fountain.

With company here, gallbladders going bad every where I look, and tax season approaching, there certainly has not been much creative time at my cottage lately.

I was able to squeeze in an hour or so yesterday and made 3 eggs. I’d seen these made at Amy’s and hers are so much better, but I chose to use throw away materials, not anything wonderful like her velvet ribbons and rhinestones.

The trim I used was just snippets of crepe paper and tinsel. I was too cheap to use the ‘good stuff’

Heres a quick how to:

Start with the large sized plastic eggs

pick a paper you want to cover the egg in, tear in small strips and soak the paper for a moment in water

brush glue onto one side of the egg, add paper strips, mushing them down well with your fingers, then brush glue over the top and sprinkle with glitter (I used the kind that looks like sugar)

Repeat with the other half of the egg, being careful to get close to the edge but not interfere with the lip.

Glue trim along the edge to cover the rims, so they don’t show when the egg is put back together.

I’d keep these out of candy baskets, because of the glitter, but they make a pretty display and I will put a gift card in them to give to the bigger kids.

I also got started covering my Swiss Chalet music box. Not exactly a birdhouse, but it is a house and I will add some birds, so I think that if I get it finished, it can come to our Bird House Bling Party next Thursday.

Check out the details if you’d like to be a part of it. And remember, you don’t have to be a blogger, you can get a free flickr account and upload photos there too.

This chalet is barely begun, but I think that the pink polka dot ribbon might be jarring. I usually go for all vintage trims and maybe this one is too new looking?? The velvet is a scrap from a rocking chair I redid for Sugarwings when she was born. I found some white velvet, and was able to do a soft pink marbley look with fiber reactive dyes. Her little Hippy Chick mom loves tie dye, so this was done just for her.

Today will be a craftapoolza- Beth is coming to play! We will be making birdhouses all day to be ready for next week (I hope you join us! Feel free to add the button to your blog too). We’ll also be plotting our next swap, so I hope you’ll join that also.

We aren’t the only ones planning a party, there is always something fun going on in blogworld. Sandy is hosting an Easter Parade today and is asking us to show our Easter Bonnets. Here are some of my latest purchases, in a basket on the fairy grandbaby’s piano. She likes to wear one while she serenades me.

She is going through a hat phase right now and luckily, I can keep her supplied with plenty of rosey ones to show off in.

Thanks, Sandy!

And over at the Part Tea Planner’s there is a tea party welcoming the first day of spring.

Enjoy the celebrations!

Greetings! A mini tutorial on making some greeting cards with vintage papers

family, how-to projects, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 18, 2008

My baby brother-in-law, Randy, has started making cards and has been asking for a bit of advice.

I offered to send him a box of goodies to use, and he said he didn’t know what to do with pages from an old book or vintage wallpaper.

So, I am making these cards with some how to’s for him to follow along with when he gets his package of vintage delights in the mail from me.

(All of these cards have been created with pre-made linen cards from Michaels.)

The first one is on a white card. I started by laying the card onto the wallpaper and cutting out a piece to fit with an exacto knife.

The piece of wallpaper was then attached to the card with a glue stick.

After the glue dried, I sanded the edges with the sponge sanding block, for a smooth finish.

As if vintage wallpaper isn’t old enough… I ‘aged’ the sanded edges with the side of my ink pad. This color is distressed walnut.

After the base of the card is ready, then the fun part happens! Time to embellish-

I cut an oval from a page torn out of a 1917 book with French text, and inked the edges with the walnut ink, then added a smaller oval of a coordinating wallpaper to the center and to that added a gold foil butterfly.

Some old brown ribbon and a single bloom of an old millinery flower are arranged across the bottom. I glued a crystal rhinestone (I only use glass ones, never plastic) to the center.

Right now these stones are on clearance at Hancock Fabrics for 75% off.

For a touch more sparkle, I’ve used a Martha Stewart glue pen to draw dots around the small oval of wallpaper.

I then dusted my favorite glitter over the glue.

As much as I hate to make Martha even more wealthy than she already is, I just HAVE to buy her glitter. It really is so good to work with! I use the fine ones, for a sheer look.

This card starts with a reddish-pink, kind of an azalea color, paper as its base.

Decorative scissors were used to cut out the French book page and the vintage wallpaper.

After gluing down the papers, I once again inked the edges. This time, I blended the ink a bit with a cosmetic sponge.

These old papers can be very fragile, so do this gently.

To finish, I added a snip of embroidered old ribbon, a mother of pearl button, and a teeny butterfly shaped button.

(Randy grows a butterfly garden, so the flowers and butterflies are some of his favorite things)

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, old red flocked wallpaper that I got from Allissa is glued on to a warm pink card for this one, traced with an exacto knife and inked on the edges the same way the first card was done.

After, I used 2 different decorative scissors to cut out the French book page, and a color copy of one of my own paintings.

At the bottom is a brass charm accented with 3 pink crystals.

One last how-to for Randy, this card has a pretty cornflower blue base.

To it, I added a strip of wallpaper cut with decorative scissors, and a piece of anaglypta wallpaper that I have aged with an umber glaze.

After the wallpaper was glued into place, I inked the edges with the side of the walnut ink pad.

In the center is an oval of the French book pages, and a German die cut.

To finish it off and add some glitz, three little crystals in the same blue are glued to the border of the anaglypta paper.

While I was making these examples for Randy, I thought he’d appreciate a kit for each one. While I was at it, I made a little extra.

I had enough bits to make two kits of three cards each.

Everything I used to make my own is in the kit and ready to be glued and mailed out to someone special (Mother’s Day is coming up, before you know it)

The pieces are already cut with decorative scissors, all you will need to complete the cards is:

glue

ink

glitter

glue pen

exacto knife

If you are interested, email or leave a comment. Each 3 card kit is $12, including postage. (unless overseas)

The last time I went to visit Randy, he and I painted the floor of his craft room to look like a pond.

I wish I could be back there in his colorful room and make cards with him, but isn’t the Internet great? I hope he reads this and feels like I am there with him.

I love you baby brother!!

St. Patty’s Day Two Tag Swap and a BIG, Ole, THANK YOU

fairies, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 16, 2008

Thanks!!

To all the people who wished Ryan and Sugarwing’s mom quick recoveries on their gallbladder dilemmas. (both are doing well, and Ry is home from the hospital now)

And thanks to all the people who joined in on my St. Pats Two Tag Swap, late as it is going out.

There were so many pretty little extras tucked into the envelopes people sent to me.

I shared as much as I could and sent divided up a lot of the extras to include in the envelopes that I sent out.

I also included some vintage wallpaper scraps with plenty of greens from my insane, over stocked, stockpile of crazily hoarded old beautiful papers.

I feel AWFUL that I mixed up the boxes and don’t know who this is from!!! Whoever you are, thanks, I will be wearing these tomorrow! I can use some good Irish luck, after the hospital stays we went through this week in Nathanville. EDIT- the socks I’ll be dancing a jig in on St Pattys are from Jeanie-Thanks!!

And look at how darling this is, a rose patterned cosmetic bag, that I will make lots of use of on my trips to DC.

It was made by Lisa, and is such a pretty thing. Thanks, Lisa!

This PERFECT for me brooch was sent by Wanda (among a huge box full of treats, equally wonderful)

Look- is symbolizes my heart in DC, for when my husband is staying there!!!

It came in the cutest little birdhouse jewel box, that I will show photos of on our "What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s Home?" Day (otherwise known as Bling your Birdhouse Day) that I am hosting with Beth on March 27th.

To be a part of it, all you have to do, is leave a comment with your link to your blog. Details can be read by clicking on the button at the top left of my blog. We also have a Flickr site, if you don’t have a blog and wish to participate, show your photos HERE. A flickr account is free and easy to set up if you don’t already have one.

But back to the St. Pats Two Tag Swap- look at the cuteness!

I tried to get some photos of all the tags, but some pictures were blurry, and by then, all the tags had been wrapped up and tucked away into the packages going to their new homes.

Twenty swappers participated and each and every envelope was a pleasure to open.

I was so pleased with the quality of the tags that everyone made, it was hard to give any of them up!

It was such fun for me to do a swap this way, so that I got to look at and play with all the tags!

I just hope I didn’t screw anything up, and everyone gets the proper goods in the mail! I am an artist, not a secretary and I am not known for good organizational skills. (I already mentioned shamefully losing the name of the sweet person who sent the cheerful socks)

I worked with 3 different checklists to make sure everyone got:

1- a package (sounds simple, and elementary, but really, I had to double check twice)

2- two tags from two different people

3- a little surprise from the goodies that were sent

4- some vintage wallpaper from me

Please, please, please— let me know if you didn’t get what you were supposed to! If you didn’t, it was due entirely to my inability to be organized.

Well, after telling you how bad I am at being organized and making sure all the swaps go out correctly, you probably don’t want to hear this, but- Beth and I are planning another swap!

(by the way, she is EXTREMELY organized)

Details to come, we’re making plans this week, hopefully we will announce it during our Bling your Birdhouse Day party.

And lucky little Miss Sugarwings was given a box full of fun things by the kind hearted Wanda,

And this sleeping fairy baby is for her too, from my pal, Pam along with a blooming rose pin for me.

I feel every bit as spoiled as that rotten little Sugarwings

Thanks everyone for being so nice.

And good luck chasing the end of the rainbow, I wish you all the Luck of the Irish on St Patty’s Day!

A Tale of Two Gallbladders

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

By Karla Nathan / March 14, 2008

Well, this week started out nice. I was able to make some things, then had lots of Sugarwings time.

This picture is a copy of an old postcard that I crackled and aged, and popped into a frame.

And my book club meeting on Wednesday night was fun, with an interesting discussion. (the book was Housekeeping by Marylin Robinson)

Of course, I am always thrilled with an excuse to entertain and make trays of goodies.

But about midnight, I started to feel pretty awful, and was up all night, ill as could be. There has been a nasty bug going around and I am afraid it bit me too.

So, when Ryan called at 6am to tell me he was having stomach pain, I told him to take some Pepto Bismal and try to rest, I couldn’t have much sympathy for him, when I had spent the last few hours wondering when the room would stop spinning,( and if I had passed the bug along to all the guests who had been to my house that night).I figured he had the same thing.

But finally, hours later, when I took a look at him, writhing in pain and turning funny shades of green, I realized he had more than a virus.

I chugged some more Pepto Bismal myself, and helped him dress and got him into the car and to the hospital.

The ER found a gigantic gallstone and an infection. They kept him over night and scheduled surgery the next day, after a round of IV antibiotics.

While Ryan was in surgery, Sugarwing’s hippy chick mom made a trip into the ER with pain also, to find out that she had an inflamed gallbladder.

Ry’s surgery was not as easy as expected, his infection was pretty serious, and the gallbladder was gangrene, no wonder he was writhing in pain (as I ignored him). Tonight, his fever is down, and he is finally resting comfortably in the hospital and will be there a couple more days.

Of course, surgeries and ER tests don’t go quickly and there is only so much you can do to entertain an energetic little girl while the whole family is going back and forth from the waiting room on the surgery floor to the ER waiting room.

She got lots of shoulder rides from her Pop Pop, up and down the halls.

She made wishes and threw coins in the lobby fountain until we had no more coins to pass out, no matter how pretty she begged.

She found some wheelchairs to be pushed in while she yelled "Go! Go! Go!"

She thought that the glass elevator was not bad entertainment for a few rides too. And she found the buttons inside very compelling.

Luckily, my bug was a 24 hour thing and I was up to the task of turning a hospital into a playhouse for 8 hours. But it feels even better to have Sugarwing’s mom out of the ER, back home, and not requiring surgery, and to have Ryan losing that funny shade of green and to ask for a cup of broth for supper.

I’m afraid that THIS does not make me feel so good. Oops, I haven’t had a chance to mail out my St Pats Two Tag Swaps. I am so so sorry. But at least my excuse is valid and not some lame, my dog ate my homework excuse. Although, Twinkle would be thrilled at a chance to chew these up!

I am exhausted and way behind on getting stuff out in the mail. My Etsy customers have been left in the lurch too, I’m afraid.

I promised to have them sent out in time for the swappers to receiveby St Pats, but now I hope to just get them in the mail by St Pats instead. Please forgive me, and I will send all 20 of my swappers some extra swatches of pretty vintage wallpaper as an apology.

Tonight, my husband is sitting up with Ryan and I am getting some sleep so I can go up to the hospital in the morning. Thank goodness Ryan is better, that fever had me worried, and it was so awful to seem him in such pain. I will spare you and not show the photo of the nasty, green gallbladder that the Dr gave to us as a memento. Even though the color would go nicely with the St. Pats theme….

I usually am really good about mailing things and also at answering Emails and comments. Please understand if I don’t respond to comments this week.

I really didn’t need to go shopping today, but wow!!

antiques/junking, collections, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 9, 2008

Don’t I have enough hats yet? What is wrong with me??? I can’t resist.

Truth is, I do use the flowers in my projects a lot. But even if I used them daily, I probably have enough millinery flowers to get me through the next decade or so.

Yet, today I buy 4 more hats. One has a large, single velvet rose, nicely smashed with age (for $2- how could I leave it behind??). The others are LOADED with flowers and were $4 each.

I might have bought a few buttons too…… There are some not pictured also. Lots of cute shapes and rhinestoney ones in the jars, so I just had to get them at about $5 a jar.

Scranton and 4-Corners, Kansas are small towns in the middle of nowhere, but they have some great antiquing bargains!

Most things were cheap to start with, but there were also sales, of 25-50% off a lot of booths. Except for the hats and buttons, everything in the picture here was $2 or under, including the glass jar. I think I’ll use it for my paint brushes. But on the other hand, I do have plenty of buttons to fill it with!

And how many vintage photos can you get in 4-Corners, Kansas in a bag for $5? I stopped counting at 50.

Of all the things I got today, these are my favorites. Oh, I can’t wait to get started on these projects!! Don’t they look like Marie Antionette?

One project will involve these figures, some small round boxes, vintage wallpaper in soft pastel colors, lots of millinery flowers and more than a few rhinestone buttons.

The frame, I will paint white and put a different picture in. I will be needing this print for the lining of one of these boxes that these mini Maries will be perched upon.

What a sweet baby photo this is. It was in the bag of old pictures that I got today and I think it might be my favorite of the bunch. Feel free to copy and use it in your own projects. This baby needs a loving home! How sad when family photos are lost to the family and for sale in antique stores. I always feel like saving them.

There certainly is no worries that my little fairy grand baby’s pictures will go neglected!

I had a little scrapbook party on Saturday and between fixing a big dinner, playing with babies and just plain old hanging out, we managed to get a few pages done.

Sugarwing’s cousin out grew this dress and it was torn. Her mom had the idea to use it for our pages of the little girls.

I cut out a square to make a pocket out of it, with the dress ruffle at the bottom. Then glued the buttons down the side and added sparkly flowers to their centers. The velvet bow was part of the dress already.

When I put photos in pockets, I always glue two back to back, or glue scrapbook paper to the back of one, to make them sturdier. I also punch a hole in the corner and add a ribbon to use as a pull to take the photo out of the pocket.

This page of a summer day on the lake with the family is laid out on a piece of paper that I did a water color wash onto.

I added a frog cut from a copy of one of my paintings. Its only in black and white, maybe someday I’ll tint it, but I doubt it. Once I move on from a project I rarely go back, no matter how good my intentions are.

I accented this picture of a couple of my friends and I with a paper doll dress that Beth gave to me.

I like to use tags, ATCs and other art that I have been given in my scrapbooks.

Not only are they usually well done and attractive, but they are sentimental to me too and I love to keep them somewhere that I can enjoy them.

Speaking of friends, my pal, Carol, and I are collaborating with the Fabulous Fifi on an upcoming project! Fifi called last week, and she is every bit as wonderful to talk to as her blog is to read. No details yet, but here is a teeny sneak peek of something Carol is whipping up for our prospective article.

Another pal, Heather featured in an article in Romantic Homes. How cool. I can’t wait to pick up a copy. Heather and Carol are both buddies that I met through Silver Bella, and blogging.

And my poor pal, Beth, is under the weather. The pitiful thing is suffering from a horrific knitting injury. Actually, I think it is just tendinitis, but she was achey enough to miss Scranton and 4-Corners today. If you get a chance, wish her a get well soon.

My Sissy sent these St Pats tags in for the Two Tag Swap I am hosting. You wouldn’t believe the pile of pretties I get to go through and send out to people! Such great tags came in the mail this week, I can’t wait to play with them all.

Oh- I have been tagged by Connie to list seven things about myself. I know I’ve done the 7 weird things many times, but don’t seem to run out of weirdness to write about.

This time, I’ll keep it simple:

1- I am a serial painter. It is a serious mental problem, I am sure. I really can’t control it, I paint, and repaint rooms all the time. Right now I am considering blues for my bedroom.

2- I work really fast, and can get quite a bit done in a short amount of time. My studio is drowning in finished projects. I think it takes longer to try to sell them than it does to make them.

3- When we have a litter of kittens or puppies at our cottage, I pick a theme and name them all to match. My favorite Dorky puppy names were herbs, I had Rosemary and Dilly in that batch of pups.

4- My Great Aunt Caroline is about to turn 100 and I plan on taking after her and living at least that long. I have a lot I want to make or paint and it will take me till then to do it all.

5- I fell off a horse and broke my back 15 years ago this summer, and never thought I’d be without pain, but really am doing very well now.

6- I no longer own horses!

7- I never get tired of these 7 things lists, but I am bad about those award things. Louisa gave me a couple and I want to thank her for them. And instead of passing them on to another blogger, I’d like all you readers out there to be winners. Thanks for coming by and listening to my rambles and obsessions, and for keeping me company.

Oh, before I forget, I wanted to remind everyone about the Birdhouse Blinging we have going on March 27th. Join us here and at Beth’s, please!

And everyone, blogger or not, is invited to show birdhouse pictures on our Flickr group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/692795@N22/

The Snow Ball Effect- Avalanche Style

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 2, 2008

After seeing that gorgeous stairway while shopping in Virgina, I have been on a redo roll. Avalanche style, right down the mountain, gathering momentum and growing and growing.

I call it the snowball effect for two reasons. One- we’ve had the worst winter I can remember in years and I have been snowed in staring at my house way too much. Staring and finding fault.

Two, because as the project rolls along, it grows and grows.

Redoing the stairs meant that the walls should be repainted while I had the carpet up. I am entranced by Strawberry Whoppers right now and love the color as much as the taste. So, I mixed up a gallon of paint just slightly muted in that shade. (I used some leftovers in the garage, mixed and matched and added some tints till I got just the right pale, malty pink)

Under the rug, I knew the wood was going to be construction grade and meant to be covered with carpet, and that there would be some gaps here and there. But man… it was bad.

We ended up buying new pine steps for $7 each at Home Depot.

And to cover the gaps along the risers and the wall, I found these little corner pieces ($2 each) that just fit.

The steps are replaced, the paint is on, the walls are painted. Now I need to wallpaper them all.

When I cut out and held up slice of vintage rose patterned wallpaper, I loved it so much, I started to hate the rest of the room. The stair way is open to the dining room and all of a sudden it just wasn’t measuring up.

I bought a new (antique) dining set on sale at my friend’s store ($600). Then, of course, the curtains won’t match the new chairs. I picked up lace panels at Target ($60) Doesn’t Target have the best curtains???

And now, standing back from the baby’s room and looking down the stairs, I am thinking that carpet in there could use replacing…. And I saved so much by making my own paint and using vintage wallpaper that I already had and finding bargains for the dining room. And by doing the work myself with my son instead of hiring someone, that labor savings was huge! Heck I am redoing TWO rooms for way under $1000, on Trading Spaces they can barely do one. (well does a stairway count as a room??)

Aren’t I good at rationalizing?

I am feeling very spoiled by getting these re-dos done, but I am not nearly as spoiled as this little one. Sugarwings got some gifts in the mail from blogging friends.

How cute are these?? The little purse is from my pal, Phyllis and the cute collage with the baby’s photo on it is from Mahala. I think I will fill the little bag with Easter grass and toys, and tie the tag to it to give to her at Easter. Won’t they be cute together?

Of course, this little girl is just as happy to eat mud as she is to eat candy. I babysat her all day yesterday and she did quite a bit of mud snacking. (notice her lips)

So Grandmama taught her how to spit. That is a trick I am sure her parents will appreciate. We also went down to the creek to sit on the bank and throw rocks. Spitting and throwing rocks, yep, her parents will be thrilled with me.

Between working on the stairway and babysitting, I found some time to make pretties too. I bought these child’s tea cups from Shabby in the City with plans to give them to the baby, but she is too young yet for china cups.

So, they became nests for a fairy and a couple of sugared birds with vintage millinery flowers. I hope to get them all listed on etsy but time seems to be getting away from me.

Time has not been on my side lately. Listing seems to eat up a lot more time than actually crafting!

I managed to list these two little Easter peat pots that I made, the pair for $10. I made a TON of these last night, because I just can’t seem to make one of anything. For me, creating things is like a bag of Lays potato chips. (remember those commercials?) One is never enough.

If you would like one of these I will sell them to my blog readers for $4 each, plus postage instead of the Etsy cost of $10 a pair, for the saving me the time of listing them!

Same with the child’s tea cup nests- if you’d like one with birds now, it is only $10. $12 for the fairy.

While my house is torn up with remodeling and changing out furniture, I am extremely behind and am happy to give you a discount if it means I don’t have to edit pictures for Etsy right now!

These aren’t the best photos are they? Come to think of it, this isn’t a real pretty posting, with the murky photos and the ripped up stairs. Oh well, there is a Sugarwings picture, that makes the post beautiful to me!

In case you can’t tell, the peat pots are glittery and sweet, I used lots of vintage goodies, old soft yarn and trims, plus some German die cuts. No two pots are alike.

Email me or comment if you are interested. If not, I hope to get them Etsy sometime before Easter passes me by and it is too late!

And oops, I can’t forget this–

My winner for my February giveaway is:

PENNY

And don’t forget, if you are entering my St Pats Two Tag swap, they need to be mailed to me by March 7th. Isn’t that the date I said? I forget.

And honestly, it isn’t my fault- look at my calender!!!! It has the first half of Feb. and then goes directly to the second half of June!!!

Last year the calender I had gave me 31 days in each month, and I didn’t notice until August. Now, two years in a row, I get a bad one, what are the odds of that???? And I never know what date or day of the week it is anyway, so this really doesn’t help me at all.

Thanks everyone for entering my drawing. In March, you get another shot at winning, actually two, because I am giving away a bird house on March 27th too.

Good luck!

I’m a crappy little crafter today

Books, Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 29, 2008

Beth and I had a fun but frustrating craft day at her house yesterday. Well, I guess I should speak for myself, she was on a roll and doing fine. I, on the other hand was messing everything up, and at one point, said "I am a crappy little crafter today!" And for some reason, that gave us the giggles. Whats a craft day without giggles?

I tried to do a St Pat’s tag for my swap using a rainbow theme. It looked like a Jamaican preschool project.

I gave up on the rainbow colors and stuck with what I knew I could handle. But that wasn’t my only issue. Everything I did, I had to redo.

These tags somehow ended up finished and not horrid after all, but there was a lot of ripping, replacing, and complaining while doing them.

These are for my St Pats Day Two Tag Swap. I will extend the deadline till March 7th if you still want to get in on it. Email me if you do! All you need to make are two tags, and you get two other people’s tags back.

Well, hopefully. I screwed up on Phyllis’s Sweet Treats and Roses Swap and sent her own tag back to her on the recipe book!!

She is in my St Pats swap, so I will make an extra tag to add for her to make up for it.

While at Beth’s I decorated these two old green bottles. And yes, there were some issues as I worked on these too. It simply wasn’t t an easy day for me.

I was smart enough at this point, to use my text from an old book about rainbows, but not try to add rainbow colors after the tag fiasco.

I listed both of these bottles on Etsy this morning, if you are interested in either.

The small one has buttons and a pretty little Made In Japan glass cameo in green on it too.

I had forgotten all about these cameos I had. I used to add them to charm bracelets and make earrings from them.

At one time, I had tons of them. Now, I am down to a couple handfuls. I traded a few to Beth for some of her white, (sorted and cleaned, which is really nice!) vintage buttons.

Notice the nut cups? Beth wants to do a challenge- "what do you do with a nut cup?" Of course, you can always put a nut in it, like she did. I think that if she is going to make herself a hat from it, she should add some old millinery flowers at least.

Look at what found! THE nicest, old wallpaper book I have ever seen. Perfect condition! I just don’t know if I can cut it up and use it, the pages are so pristine. And the book itself is giant! (and heavy)

This picture is on the inside cover, she looks pretty high fa-luting, huh? I’d say this was a high dollar wallpaper book from the looks of it, pretty classy.

And unique too, this metallic penguin paper isn’t typical of what I usually see around.

Another reason to not cut into it is that the designs are all very large. Small patterns are better for collage work. These are beautiful backgrounds, I might just save the book to use as a photo back drop.

What a lucky find! I like flipping through it as if it were a magazine. And the cost was reasonable, only about $20, it cost more than that to ship it! I think the seller should have used book rate, but I was so happy to get my greedy little hands on the book, I didn’t care.

Speaking of spending money on whims, I need to get back to my stairway redo. Time to pickup Sugarwing’s daddy so he can help me pull off the carpet and see just how hard (and expensive) this task is going to be to complete!

Short cuts and tips on blinging up a birdhouse

Etsy Goodies, give away, holiday decor, how-to projects, parties, swaps, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / February 25, 2008

Beth and I are having a party. A self swapping, self linking "What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s home?" party. Details are HERE. And we hope you can all join us and show off your own birdhouses. Either something you have made by hand, or just a favorite of yours on display in your home or gardens.

I’ll be giving one of my own away today, if you leave a comment on this post, and will give a 2nd away the day of our party, Thursday March 27th.

And if you’d like to make one, and could use some tips, here are a few things I learned while decking out a few birdhouses.

First thing I noticed, was that my hands look awful in these photos. Oh well, as grandma, I am getting used to things like that. Wrinkling up old skin, knobby knuckles, saggy neck. Back to birdhouses, and away from old lady skin issues (which I could go on forever about, and you really don’t want to hear).

I’ve bought houses in an assortment of sizes and shapes. Some from the craft departments of Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby and Michaels in unfinished wood or paper mache, some already painted and with cool shapes in the garden department at Hobby Lobby.

All are smaller, some mini, none made for outdoors, they are for decorative purposes only.

The prices have ranged from 67 cents to about $5 at the most.

A minor buffing up with a sanding block will take off any rough edges.

And I discovered that the homes were much easier to decoupage onto if you don’t have to worry about crevices and corners and edges.

So, I base coated all the cracks, and up under the eaves, the perching post, and the inside of the hole as well as any other spots that looked like it would be hard to cover in papers.

No reason to paint the entire piece, since most of it will be covered up.

Although, for this one, I purposely painted all of it, just so there would be some contrast for the photos I was taking of the steps.

And notice that I didn’t sand the edges first? I wanted you to see the rough wood, it shows up better on the blue house, look inside the hole at the jagged edges. A quick little twist of the sanding block inside that will knock those bits down pretty smooth.

Here is a short cut I came up with for making the houses go more quickly. I have been making a LOT of houses, so speedy tips help me a lot.

I used glitter paint to draw lines across old sheet music. You could also use plain glue or glitter glue.

I sprinkled glitter over the lines.

Next, I used a paint brush to spread the rows of glitter out a bit flatter.

With decorative scissors, I cut narrow strips of sheet music, just perfectly sized for gluing onto the edges of the roof or around the base of a bird house.

For this house, I decided to glitter the painted roof. I used the same glitter paint that I used on the sheet music.

It was brushed on after the paint was dry, and then I sprinkled more glitter over it while it was still wet.

After all my prep work was done, I gathered up my supplies. I looked around to find colors and tidbits I wanted to work with.

Go ahead and pull out extras, you are never sure how much you will end up using, but having a pile to chose from, already selected, and in the chosen palette not only saves time, but is an inspiration for the project.

You will need:

a sanding block (or sand paper)

an exacto knife (and be generous with yourself- replace the blades as needed!! It really does make a difference to have a fresh blade)

glue (I always store mine upside down so it flows better)

a Popsicle stick or something similar to burnish paper down with

scissors

goodies to add to the house

Here is a point where you might want to make a pattern. I just go ahead and use my wallpaper. I fit it to one side of the wood at a time, bending and creasing to show myself where to snip it with the scissors.

You can also trim it with your exacto knife.

If you are making more than one birdhouse of the same design, or have a limited amount of old paper and don’t want to waste any, it might be a good idea to make a pattern this way and then using the pattern to cut out your chosen papers.

I poke the perching post through the paper, then trim around it with the exacto knife.

After the paper is cut, I liberally add glue to the house. Attach the paper, and using my exacto knife, poke a hole into the area where I think the house’s hole should be.

I then saw with the exacto knife to the edge, and around the hole to cut it out.

Wooden Popsicle sticks or coffee stirrers are great for rubbing the paper down.

Once the glue is dry, I lightly sand the edges with the sanding block again, being careful to not tear the paper.

Now we get to the fun part. Decorate it! Baubles and buttons and doodads and glitter and stripes of coordinating papers. Old jewelry, ribbons, lace, what ever makes your bird joyous.

I have a few more houses to foof myself. One is actually a little Swiss music/jewelry box that I got for a quarter at a garage sale. But of course, this decopauge technique will work on all sort of different things, not just bird houses.

Another suggestion I have to offer is, that whether you use scrap booking paper, vintage papers, or whatever you decide, the papers do seem to look better with a smaller print, or an over all pattern. The smaller the house you cover, the smaller the print you should try to use.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. My husband is leaving to go back East and I am going to be lonely. So any question is welcome, I could use the company!

I hope you’ll make a few and join the party on the 27th! Feel free to add this button to your blog so people will know you are participating.

I’ll be adding bling kits to my Etsy shop and fill them with fun bits and pieces to work with if you need supplies to make a house.

And remember, I will give away one of my creations to someone who comments on this posting, plus another to someone who leaves a comment on our party day.

And if you would like to be in my St Pats tag swap, you have until March 5th to send me two tags and I will send out two tags to you from another swapper. Email or comment to ask for details.

One thing I love about blogland, is all the holiday decor! I haven’t gotten into decorating for every holiday like this since my boys were toddlers! Most years, I totally ignore St. Pats or Easter as far as setting out pretties or making things for them.

I haven’t seen much about St Pats in blogworld, we have all jumped ahead to Easter. But Easter seems early this year, so I can see why.

Speaking of Easter, My pink bunny watercolor is finished and hanging in my studio, although hopefully not for long, I have it in my Etsy shop now. This is an original watercolor I have added to a vintage wallpaper base, then dooded up with some of my favorite pretties.

Have fun blinging out that birdhouse!

Edit, added on:

Here are some highlights of the $10 Cottage Collage Birdhouse Bling Kits I added to Etsy today. More coming, no two are alike and they take a while to photograph and list!!

Keep in mind that these kits would be pretty used in many projects, not just a birdhouse, and that there is more in a kit than is needed to finish a small house.