vintage paper/collage art – Page 49

Madison

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, family, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 7, 2007

Remember how I waited till the last minute to clean my studio and turn it into a dining room for company? Well, something else came up and it still isn’t done.

But it was a very good excuse for not cleaning, Madison (named for Madison, Nebraska- hometown of the Nathans) was born tonight! We spent most of the afternoon and evening at the hospital waiting for our niece to give birth.

The whole family was there waiting for her arrival. We played cards, laughed, made bets on who’s family would have the first baby, ours or the other people waiting that we made friends with. (We won!!) We had baby races with Sugarwings and another baby there with her family.

Finally, Madison came, and we all went back to see her. Sugarwings is enthralled by her new cousin.

So, do you think I’d clean the studio when I got home??? Nope, I fixed up a spice rack that I got today at a garage sale for $1 (including all the bottles) so I could use it to hold all the glitter that I bought today at the same sale (a bagful of glitters, sequins, buttons, and bows for $2).

I used a lot of the goodies I got in the mathcbox swap from Debra at http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ including the doll baby at the top (appropriate for today!). Whenever I glitter something up, I will think of Madison and the day she was born.

Hey, organizing the glitter was a very important part of cleaning up the studio!! How can you have guests over if your glitter is in plastic bottles and laying around helter skelter???

Well, maybe I should try cleaning up a bit now. No more excuses.

PS- All of the vintage paper packs I had listed on Etsy have sold, but I will be making up more soon.

ppss- Thanks for all the feedback on the loading speed of my blog. I’m glad to hear it is faster. If anyone is still having trouble, would you please let me know

pppsss- I really will have a give-away this month. I am counting all comments made in July and will let you know what the drawing is for as soon as I figure it out! (open to suggestions!)

Guests coming and no place to put them admist the junk, so I go and buy more junk

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

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2007

I should be getting ready for company. I have half of a family reunion at my house this weekend, then we are all car pooling to Lake Okaboji, Iowa for the rest of the get together.

Instead, I go garage sailing. And found a sweet ballerina doll for Sugarwing’s room. I added butterfly wings to her, so she’d be a fairy ballerina.

Of course, I aways have a stash of butterfly wings for these emergencies. I buy them by the cartload when they go on clearance at Michaels. Usually they can be found for a quarter at the end of the season. And you never know when you will need a set of wings in a hurry!

At another sale, a print shop was closing and I got 5 cases of manila and white mailing envelopes in 4 sizes, 2 cases of white and cream, blank note cards (the kind you send in an wedding invitation for RSVPing), and 3 cases of giant shipping tags!! For how much? TWELVE DOLLARS!!!

Now, am I crazy to think I will need this many envelopes for shipping purchases on Etsy and Ebay, or am I just being realistic, knowing that I am a swapaholic now and will be using lots of mailers???? I’ll also include some of those shipping tags in my give away this month. And probably every month for the rest of my life.

Even twinkle can’t figure out what I am doing with a car load of old windows. Well, sometimes I wonder too. But, I am planning on painting these up for signs, they have a pretty shape and were only a couple dollars for the stack.

This is my $1 table. It had bad veneer, but I already picked it all off so that now there is a new surface to work with. Some putty and paint? Or a mosaic? Or cover it in vintage papers? After the legs are painted, this will be a beauty, no matter which way I decide to finish the top.

This white iron stand with glass shelves was extravagant- $5.

Some days you come here for eye candy, other days, you get dirty old tables, or a dumpster. I almost hate to show you these next pictures. Oh my. But you’ll see why I say I SHOULD BE WORKING.

I will have 9 people staying with us and about 25 or so people coming here for dinner,(and meals in between)from Saturday till Wednesday.

And my art studio, which has seen some heavy duty work lately, plus is piled with garage sailing finds, needs to be transformed into a dining room by noon Saturday. Beds need to be made up and groceries need to be bought to feed us all.

So, I’m off to the grocery store. (I think that there is a neighborhood garage sale by the store, I might have to stop)

A Sterotypical Kansas Day-

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2007

I had a cleaning day today, and you certainly don’t want to see those kind of photos or hear those stories. We have house guests coming to the cottage again. I swear, if I never had visitors, we’d live in filth, I only clean when someone is coming to stay, and luckily that is pretty regular around here!

I managed to sneak a snippet of time to make up some packages of vintage scrapping goods to sell on Etsy.

These have an aqua theme, with a hint of rose, more blues, and purple. I even had some purple print sheet music to include.

I had a good time picking the pretties out. After doing all that mopping and dusting, I needed a fun break. I can’t stand a day that goes by without some sort of creative activity, even if it is just playing with pretty papers!

I have a vast selection of supplies and know I’ll never get through them all, so thought I’d share a bit of it.

I made up some pink themed ones yesterday and listed them, at $12 each and sold one today. Its always nice to sell something, even if it isn’t a lot of money, it is kind of a confirmation that you were right about the merchandise and someone agrees with your taste!

Oh, that sounds silly, doesn’t it? Maybe the reason I am not a good business person is that very reason, "it isn’t about the money!!"

Yesterday, we went out on the lake for the 4th, and I think that the rest of the town was there, it was the most crowded I have ever seen our sweet little lake.

It was starting to cloud up, but storms weren’t predicted till later. We decided to call it an early day since we had Sugarwings and her mom, our 14 yr old niece and our 9 months and about to pop pregnant 22 yr old niece with us.

We got back to the dock and it was looking bad, so I sent all the girls on up to leave with Sugarwings and her mom, telling them we’d tie up and haul everything up to our car, that they should get indoors.

In the short time it took to pack up, the weather got much worse and all the boats were trying to get off the water as fast as they could, sirens were going off, and the marina was announcing that there were tornado sightings.

As I walked up the dock to the parking lot, I saw a funnel cloud right above us! Luckily, it was dispersing. No touch down, no damage, but I sure thought that there would be wrecks in the parking lot, you should have seen everyone trying to get out and to shelter!

I am pretty proud of myself for not being one of the people who were in panic, but mostly for also not being one of the dumb asses standing there staring and pointing and taking photos. Of course, that means I don’t have a picture to show you here. Sorry.

Everyone figures Kansas is nothing but one Tornado after another, but I’ve only seen 3 funnel clouds since I have lived here.

Maybe I should’ve gotten a picture?

Earlier before the storm, I did take this photo- Sugarwing’s first swim in the lake. She loved it.

I DO have Red, White, & Blue!

antiques/junking, flowers, Food and Drink, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 4, 2007

When I helped my friend Beth http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ redo her booth earlier, I took photos of it, saying that I wouldn’t have any red white and blue to post for July 4th and wanted to use her patriotic display that we made.

So here are a couple of shots of her antique booth. She does have cool stuff.

And then, my match box swap partner http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ sent this piece to me, along with the box full of goodies. I added glitter and punched a star in it to tie a ribbon onto it.

While I was sitting at the craft table, I noticed the stack of matchboxes that I bought for the swap. hey, r,w, & b! (and yes, of course I saved all the matches from the boxes I emptied out)

My glazed pottery jar full of markers was on the work table, and I saw that it was along those lines of patriotic colors too.

I looked around the studio some more and saw a white ironstone cup full of blue bird feathers, sitting on a post card featuring red roses.

I also noticed a collage I had done last year that had this little gal with red roses and blue forget me nots in the center.

The first stepping stone outside the studio has red and blue flowers in stained glass (and whitish cement).

And there are red begonias, white dusty miller, and a blue plumbago outside my door too.

I can’t forget Ole Blue! My ’81 Ford Ranger that has an 8 track player in it and came with a box of country music 8 tracks under the seat when we bought him.

My little red gazing ball has blue flecks in the glass.

Happy 4th! Our coolers are packed and we’re headed to the lake.

Gorious Gifts, Grandbabies, and Gardens

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2007

The fairy grandbaby and I had a great day in the gardens. I had found this bouncy car at a garage sale for $2 and it is perfect for her to sit in while I plant, dig, and do a shot of Miracle Grow here and there.

I’d say my Miracle Grow is working- look at the height of that gladiola!!!

I am almost 5’3", here I am standing in the flower bed next to the gladiola and holding it up to the back of my head and trying to snap a photo to show how high the plant is. I’d say it is at least my height.

and yes I know my fingernails look awful- I’ve been gardening and don’t wear gloves. plus I have an ugly rash. I have been sick from a tick bite and am on antibiotics for it. Maybe I shouldn’t show these kinds of photos???

At least Sugarwings is pretty in this picture! Our poor front yard is a mess, we have a construction project on the road in front of the house and it is so torn up, it is hard to get a mower over to that spot. This flower bed just goes wild. I haven’t done much to it in years, planted hardy native plants and let it go.

We worked in the herb beds together, after going to the garden center and getting a lot of 99 cent plants that were on clearance.

Sugarwings and Twinkle are totally in love with each other. That dog never leaves the baby’s side. Of course, the baby often has tasty things smeared on her too.

See my old wheelbarrow in the back? Kim at http://deardaisycottage.typepad.com/ has one like it with flowers planted in hers, but I use mine to do yard work.

The planter boxes on my gazebo are starting to fill out. I kept them simple this year, just some inpatients, begonias and ivy.

This is the first time I have ever bought the hanging planters ready to go, I usually make my own. But Walmart had them on sale for $5.88 each, how can you put one together for much less?

I have 3 planter boxes on the gazebo, but they don’t match. I find them at garage sales and kind of like that they are all different.

A friend made the mosaic birdhouse for me in trade for a little fairy watercolor I did.

The garden center also had these glow in the dark hose guards on sale too.

(yes, Sissy, I bought some for you and Bobbie Sue too!)

I bought a glow in the dark hose guard for Sugarwings to put in front of her house too, but I think she wanted the big ball instead.

Well today might have been about as nice as a day gets. I could be the luckiest person around.

And speaking of lucky– look what I got in the match box swap that Natasha http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ hosted. Deb at http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ was my partner and she sent me a big box full of delightful things!! I am starting to feel like a chintzy partner, I haven’t sent that much out, and always get such generous packages from everyone. Heck, for the tiara swap, Barb http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/ even sent my fairy grand baby a gift!!

Look at some of these treasures from Deb!!!

One side of this medallion was her logo, the other side has my name.

I hung it in my dining room china cabinet on the carnival glass dish that was my mom’s.

And look at the box itself, she used the large size (of course I used the small one and feel bad) and added to it, so that you wouldn’t even know right off that it was made from a matchbox.

I wonder if I should even continue swapping? I need to beef up my packages. I have been on the skimpy side too much, do you think I am getting a bad rep out there in blogland and no one will trade with me after this?? Karen of http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/ was my first partner and she went over board too. An unbelievable may basket came from her.

Anyway, Deb, thanks so much, I am overwhelmed, it is such a great box of goodies. Love it!! And everyone should go to her site and see the bunny swap slide show she has, way cool.

Well, I’m off to take a nap before dinner, a day with a fairy grand baby can be a wonderful and exhausting thing. Plus, the Dr. says I have some sort of rare blood infection from this tick bite and I just don’t feel like myself. I think that is why I was so grouchy while trying to do some red, white, and blue bookmarks. It wasn’t the color, it was the ehrlichiosis!

Rose, French Vanilla & Robin’s Egg!

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

By Karla Nathan / July 2, 2007

I usually enjoy most projects and look forward to getting started on them. But when I realized that the bookmarks for this swap needed to be patriotic, I was worried. I don’t "do" red, white, and blue! I do rose, french vanilla, and robin’s egg!

My buddy, Beth, http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ who has the most well stocked and fantastic craft room full of supplies you’ll ever see, gave me all this to work with. She has an overflow of stuff and is talking about making packs to sell on Etsy. She has done that in the past, but now is redoing her craft room and really needs to make space. You can contact her on her blog if you need anything, I’m sure she has it!!!

I still struggled and felt bad about what I was putting together. The whole idea that it had to be flat, was hard, I am a big believer in gooberey-glittery-encrusted pieces.

So, I compromised and used 3-d on the tassley parts.

I got out some old red velvet that was a rotted cover of an album in its past life, and covered a couple book marks with that.

Then, they started to get too 3-d and maybe not as patriotic? Although an American Beauty rose might fit into the category.

So I went back to the first two I started and worked on them some more, made the backs nicer. They are on their way to my swap partner, http://beachyscapecodcupboard.blogspot.com/ . It ended up being a good thing for me to do. I get so set in my comfort zone that I don’t try enough new things. So even though I got a bit cranky and it wasn’t going well, I learned from the challenge, and want to thank http://shabbyinthecity.blogspot.com/ for hosting it.

But of course, the minute I was done, I painted some soft pink roses to get me out of my red/white/blue funk! This is one of the frames I got at a garage sale a couple weeks ago, that started out gold with a print I didn’t like in it. I primed and painted it ivory, glazed the frame in umber, glued down a page torn from an old book with French words in it, then painted the roses over the text.

A Drawer full of Dorkiness and some other goodies

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, paintings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2007

First of all, can anyone tell if my blog opened any quicker??? I did some tweaking.

I should be working, but thought I’d show some of my loot from my trip before I get on with my day.

Aren’t these 3 ladies something? Hey, it was suggested that we do a Halloween bag swap!! Good idea. And maybe I will save this photo for my bag, I think these old crones could easily be witches!!

My husband had to work a few hours at Columbia Country Club in Missouri, about half way to St. Louis. (and no, that isn’t a polite way of saying he was playing golf, he really had to work). So, I shopped at a mall there. It is far from my favorite place to go, and I really had to make an effort to stay there long enough to stretch out my time, there wasn’t a lot of great stuff. But I found all this!

Those bottles will be fun to decorate and fill, and I got a lot of old photos for under $1 each.

The best purchase (and Twinkle’s fave) is this set of old drawers covered in wallpaper. How handy will that stylish storage be???

Since I slept in the car most of the day, I was up late after we got home. I painted some more of the outlet covers that I had got in the big bag from Goodwill last month. Only 4 left to paint. I am selling them on Etsy and have sold a couple from this blog. These are not listed yet (the 2 switch plates are sold) so all of the outlet covers are available if anyone wants one. I’ll be listing them later this week, or email me here if you’d like one.

I’m off to work, have a decorating/rearranging job to do today with Beth. http://bethleintz.typepad.com/

More is Better!!!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, flowers, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 25, 2007

Why would I just make one of something when I can make a bunch?? Seems to be how I live my life, "More is Better!" should be my motto.

I really enjoyed the matchbox swap and just had to make up the rest of the package of matchboxes into something pretty.

I used vintage papers, ribbons,

and added some hand painting or drawing to each one, along with some 3-d bit of something nice to the tops.

And yes, they are filled up with trinkets and trivial little goodies.

Oh, and did I mention Glitter? Yep, there is glitter.

All 4 sides of the sleeves are decorated and the entire tray is painted, with glitter sprinkled inside the tray.

The bottoms are cute too.

Every one contains:

a page from a mini almanac from the 1800s

a bit of old wallpaper

a die cut flower from an old page of English die cuts

a stamp sized copy of an old portrait picture

some jewels

2 genuine amethyst beads

a vintage button or two

a large, tear drop shaped, moonstone quartz bead

some teeny bezels to add something to, and one bezel with an old bead added to it already

a charm frame to use in your crafting

The almanac page in the moon inspired box is about the eclipse of 1893.

All of them are a bit different, but have a similar amount of work and comparable amount of trinkets inside.

I’ll be listing a few on Etsy, but if you’d like to own a hand crafted, tiny treasure box you can contact me through this blog or email. They will be priced at $10 each.

And of course, "more is better" with Dorkies too! I took my 3 and my brother-in-law’s 2 dorkies out on the lake last night.

Oh my god, did I really just post a photo of myself in a bathing suit??? I must be crazy. I guess I am so covered up in furry little dogs, no one will notice my middle aged body.

Back when I was in my 20s and probably looked OK in a bathing suit, I never would have allowed a photo of myself in one to be seen. It is a relief to be older and comfortable in my own skin, even if it is starting to sag and crinkle up.

"More is Better" but 5 dogs in a boat is a lot. They are:

Sparkle, Twinkle, Arty, Bookie, and Ruby. Hopefully next year, Arty and Twinks will ‘hook up’ and we’ll have a few more puppies around!!!

I have a list of people waiting for Dorkie babies. We usually give a couple away to family and friends from each batch, but it has been 4 years since our last litter. So, the list of people waiting for a dog is getting long. Twinkle had better be as prolific with her puppies as I am with my art projects!

SIX DAYS LEFT TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR THE HAND PAINTED CHARM, leave a comment if you want to enter!

Ps- does anyone have trouble opening my blog? Kim at Daisy Cottage says that she does and my neice told me that it opens slow for her. Any other problems with it?

Also, should I try to do shorter posts? I do seem to run on and on and on. Like I said, "More is Better" has always been my motto, but I wonder if I get a bit carried away and no one has time to look at what all I put out there?

I’ll be back on Thursday, we’re going to St Louis for a couple of days!

Bunnies, Ballerinas, and Bears, oh my

antiques/junking, Hand Painted Furniture, hand painted signs, how to's, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2007

That dumpster might have been yucky and smelly, but I am loving the stuff I pulled from it.

I dug out an old, broken magazine rack and almost tossed it back in. But it had a cute shape, so I kept it. When I got home, I gave it a good whack with a hammer and tore it apart.

This section with the bear painted on it is the center of the rack, with the handle on the top.

Wouldn’t this be sweet in a little baby girl’s room? $20 if you are interested.

I have a thing for ballerina bears. I have painted a t-shirt for Sugarwings with this on it, and did a mural for a friend’s daughter of a cute dancing bear in a tutu also.

My matchbox is ready to be mailed for Natasha’s Swap. http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/

My partner is Debra of http://www.hophopjingleboo.blogspot.com/ who is a talented artist and a collector of bunnies (she is hosting a bunny swap, you should check it out).

I was fresh out of vintage bunny paper (or maybe I never had any), so I painted some bunnies on my matchbox.

My first step was to paint the entire thing pink, and add some striping. While the paint was wet, I dumped a bunch of glitter to the inside of the newly pink box.

I painted a white rose on one end and a brown bunny to the other end. Then I wrapped the sleeve part of the box in vintage sheet music and wallpaper and painted a bunny on the top.

I drew some gold swirls on the bottom, and glued chenille ribbon and crystals to the sides, so it is pretty from all angles.

I thought it was missing something, so glued 3 little vintage millinery flowers to the top. I bought the flowers from Deb Dusenberry of Curious Sofa http://curioussofa.blogspot.com/.

When she was moving from her old location to her new (and magnificent) store, I worked at her moving sale. How cool to style her shop and get the sale set up!!!! Ooh, I felt schmancy working there. She had bundles and bundles of these posies

marked from $1.50 to $3.00 each so I bought quite a few.

I also bought a pair of these columns from her. I have them in a nook of my studio.

I might have spent more than I earned that weekend working at her shop.

Back to the matchbox- those things are tiny, but you can jam a lot into them!

I found some old bunny shaped buttons, rhinestones, and some small ephemera goodies. To top it off, I put in another teeny bouquet of those posies from Curious Sofa and tied them up with black velvet ribbon.

Last week while Garage Sailing, I found an old jewelry box, for almost nothing and it had quite a bit of old jewelry in it (included in the price).

There just happened to be a bunny brooch inside!Just what I needed for my swap partner who loves bunnies. Fate?!

It is way too big for the matchbox, plus I wanted to add some copies of my little fairy girls too, so I wrapped them all up together in old silk wallpaper and tied it with a silk ribbon I hand dyed.

But the trouble is, now I am SWAPLESS!! I am all caught up and have no swaps to do. Although, I saw an art-doll hat swap that looks really unique…… take a look at it here: http://craftingbycandlelight.blogspot.com/

I was still up and working at 4am last night, so missed Garage Sailing this morning. I thought about just working till 6am, then going out sailing, but realized that I am way way way too old for those old tricks and went to bed for a few hours. I can’t go with out sleep like I used to when I was in my 20s and could stay out all night, then work the next morning.

We had company all day (family BBQ) and all I could think about was a nap.

This little nightstand used to be the right half of a desk. I got it cheap-cheap-cheap because it was butchered up a bit in the deconstruction.

Some wood putty, sand paper, primer and paint is all it needed to be a decent little hunk of furniture.

I was going to do more to it, but thought the hardware was so nice, I didn’t want to distract from it. Plus, it was about 3am.

Well, it is about midnight now, and if I want to go Garage Sailing tomorrow, I’d better get some rest. I cannot miss it two days in a row!! Its already near the end of June and my shopping days are slipping by. The season is just too short around here!!

Ps- the wierd mask is spoken for now.

ppss- don’t forget, only SEVEN DAYS till the drawing for the handpainted charm. leave a comment if you want to enter!

Dumpster redos

antiques/junking, flowers, Hand Painted Furniture, how-to projects, paintings, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2007

Today was mostly a day of primers and base coats. I spread drop cloths everywhere, set up card tables and got out a bunch of junk that needed to be painted white.

I found this little toy vanity/jewelry box at a garage sale last week for $2, and the weird mask thing was in the dumpster that I climbed into.

Presto chango- and abra cadabra- magically these pieces are now transformed.

A light sanding, 2 coats of bonding primer, and some white paint were added to all these items. Then, for the mask and the shelf that I also found in the dumpster, I added 3 more shades of white with a sponge.

Medium grade sand paper, lightly rubbed over the edges of the toy vanity gave the piece an aged feel. I added a vine of roses to the top of its oval mirror, then a garland of flowers to the bottom drawer.

I was glad I got to get some flowers done, because I had so many things to get a coat of white onto, plus visited with Sugarwings for a few hours today, did yard work and went to the grocery store TWICE.
Here is my list of what got base coated today:
the 4′ x 4′ mirror from last week’s garage sale (flowers to be added later)
toy vanity
weird mask thing (finished)
a piece of ceiling tin to add flowers to
part of a desk, cut in half and made into a nightstand -(pictures later, when I add the finishing touches)
the shelf from the dumpster (finished)
4 pieces of a magazine rack I found in the dumpster and took apart to make into wall hangings (pictures later)
a small gold frame that I added music paper and flowers to (finished)
a metal box with a lid to add flowers to later
a watering can to paint flowers onto

I am not sure about the odd mask. It is interesting, but Not My Style. Although, I do like a bit of funky stuff around. Maybe in the garden? Or maybe I’ll sell it, let me know if it is YOUR style.. $15?

Playing with Sugarwings was a good break in the afternoon. After she left, I finished up with the white and then had time to add some flowers.

I had bought this tiny frame (with an ugly picture in it) when I went on vacation last month and shopped at goodwill in Indianapolis. Today, I primed, and painted the frame, then glued down old sheet music. Over that I painted some flowers.

I distressed the frame slightly with sand paper, and coated the whole thing, picture, frame and all, with umber glaze and wiped it off. $35 if anyone wants to buy it. I will add it to my Etsy shop next week, or email me here before then.

My handsome son, Ryan, came down to the studio to talk while I painted. He’s good company and loves to chat. But, he is so shy with other people. I wish he’d meet a girl. He simply will not get out and meet people, and certainly will never find the love of his life playing his guitar or video games up in his apartment, or hanging out watching horror movies with his mom or staying up all night working out with the punching bag or watching wrestling on TV. That is all he does besides go to work.

He is my biggest worry in what I think is a pretty happy life. I just want him to meet someone he can be comfortable with, but he is so reclusive and shy. It certainly isn’t his looks holding him back, is it?? What a cutie.

Typical mom, I worry. I want this son to be as happy as Sugarwing’s dad is with his little family.

Sorry, I shouldn’t be running on like this is a diary and I am pouring out my problems. Back to some eye candy—

Michaels had swavorsky crystals on sale for $2 a bag.

I bought a few bags in different colors and shapes. Love the teardrops.

Oh, I forgot to add this soap dish to my list of what I base coated white today. It was brass before. I might add a glaze to give it some age and depth.

And here is another photo of my new cafe set, just because I like it and it is fun to get new things that don’t need anything done to them! No painting, no fixing, just unload it from the car and enjoy it!

But I did paint the cement cherub statue. She was spray painted gold, uck.