We’re having a party – Page 16

Celebrating!

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, flowers, Food and Drink, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / April 13, 2010

Time to celebrate! I'm so glad Twinkle and the babies are home safe and settled. She is a happy little mama and won't let them out of her sight. I'm having a party today and will probably keep the babies away from everyone, Twinks is feeling a bit worried since we moved the pups around so much yesterday.

She actually tried to hide them under the porch this morning. So, I am giving her a lot of attention and have her in a quiet spot so she feels like the pups are protected, hopefully she won't run off with them again.

During the all night labor marathon, I stayed up with her and worked in the studio. I don't even know how many of these Peat Pot Pretties with Frozen Charlotte fairies that I made. (as well as 12 kits for you to make your own-6 are spoken for)

Some are going to Somerset Life (yippee!), some to the shop to sell, and a couple I will be giving away as prizes for people who sign up to follow me (Google Friend Connect on my side bar)

But for today, they are centerpieces for a Cup Cake and Tea Party that I am having.

The treat cabinet is filled with everything a kid will need to decorate a mini cupcake (or two).

Since Twinkle is being very nurturing today, I thought I'd try to leave her alone as much as I can, but I knew she wouldn't mind me taking one picture.

cute, huh!?

She is such a pretty girl. I'll have more pictures soon, probably more than you want to see!

Oh Baby, Baby! Twice the fun as just one.

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, Food and Drink, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / March 10, 2010

Surprise! Today is a surprise baby shower for our sweet as can be, friend, Andrea. She is expecting a little sister for her two boys.

So, a group of us are helping her celebrate by sending her some hand made girly gifts to Hope, who lives near Andrea and is gathering all the presents and surprising her with a shower.

My gift is a little cartoon painting of her two sons as elves, holding a newborn fairy girl.

Its done in watercolor with ink. And I added some pearl paint to the baby sister's wings, with a hint of glitter.

Her gift was sent wrapped in vintage paper, and I used very little tape, so she could reuse it for a project. Don't you hate getting some cool old paper and having it ruined by the tape?

Here is a section of the paper that you can click on to enlarge if you'd like to print it to use.

Please visit the other shower "guests" and see what pretties they have made! Here's a list of who is attending the shower today.

And of course, what is a baby shower without some yummy treats? I made a carrot cake up for yet another baby shower. Tuesday, we celebrated Shawn's upcoming addition with a Craft Day Baby Shower Tea Party at my cottage.

As a surprise, I made a fairy picture of Shawn's daughter, Bethany holding a new baby brother.

We really wanted an Alice theme for our tea party, but since I had the photo shoot the day before, my time was short. I was able to make a mini effort to Alice up the table. The party favors were little Charlotte babies that came along with a pig picture cut out of a vintage book. Since Alice was holding a bundled baby that turned into a pig.

And I cut out little "drink me" notes to put by all the tea cups.

Beth was the Mad Hatter (or Russel f
rom Survivor?) and I was the March Hare.

Shawn and Bethany came with Rabbit Ears too.

Shawn has more photos of the day here.
Shawn's baby is due after Twinkle's babies are coming, so I told everyone we had to squeeze in one more craft day and make it a baby shower for Twinks. (if you live nearby and want to come, let me know!)

For Shawn's gift, we bought her an album and each created a page for it. Her husband is an aquarium enthusiast, so I thought that a fish theme would be good for my page. I made a pocket out of watercolor paper that I painted like to look like water, with little purple fishies in it. I cut out fish shaped tags for her to glue photos to, and slid them into the pocket.

Next, I painted some colorful fish and grasses on watercolor paper and cut them out to glue onto the pocket for a 3-D effect.

For the back side of my page, I used sparkle scrapbook paper over reversible scrap book paper that I folded into a pocket page. I do like pockets in photo albums. The little card with the old fashioned baby picture opens up, so that Shawn can add a small picture there too.

But that isn't all the babies, or all the gifts! Our other friend, Holly, is expecting her 3rd son. I wanted to send a little something to her and since I am on a Charlotte roll, I thought I'd use one of them. Although her child is a boy, so we won't say Charlotte, we'll say Charles.

The carriage is made from a box that I have cut down and covered in flocked wallpaper, then lined with white velvet, and trimmed with ruffled ribbon. The wheels are mother-of-pearl buttons.

And geez, as if this post wasn't already long enough, I need to let you know that I've restocked the crown rings in my Boutique.

Also, I will be emailing everyone who asked me to save a Peat Pot Pretty with Fairy for them, and will have a couple left to add to the shop too. Thanks so much!

And congratulations, Andrea, Shawn, Holly, and Twinkle on this spring's new crop of little ones!

Welcome to the Glitter Lounge!

Silver Bella, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / November 17, 2009

Carol, her niece, Shelly, and I hosted the Glitter Lounge again this year, and I was so happy to see so many Bellas join us! Do you ever throw a party and fret that no one will show up? Its a big fear of mine, to be sitting all alone with a mountain of cupcakes (well, having all the cupcakes to myself doesn't sound so bad, I could probably handle that part) and no one coming to celebrate with me.

Luckily, it wasn't a problem, I was happy as could be when Bellas started piling in! We had adjoining rooms this year, so could double the fun instead of squeezing everyone into one room.

My silver table cloth was a curtain from a garage sale, and the floral topper was a throw that fell apart. The velvet lining had ripped loose from it, so it made a perfect sheer topper over the metallic piece. The disco ball-look "vase" was a plastic bottle cover from a thrift shop that I filled with china roses (also from a thrift shop) then topped with a crown and a fairy ballerina.

The deep pink disco ball is from the garden section of Hobby Lobby at clearance time. Hopefully, the decor looked deluxe, but all of it was thrown together with pennies. My favorite way to decorate!

The best deal in town for tossable wine glasses was Hobby Lobby with their 40% off coupon. Much cheaper than the party stores or even Costco. Then, I found packs of mini disco ball key chains at the dollar store to add to the stems as souveniers.

It was so festive to see the table all set up and ready to pour pink champagne and sparkling pink cranberry juice for our Bella guests!

(I mixed my two pink drinks, that was a sweet combo!)

Miss Sugarwings helped me decorate cupcakes the night before. She held each in the palm of her hand while I piped on the icing from a bag. She was giggly and happy while doing it, and was so impressed with the icing bag, having never seen one before. She kept saying, "Its so full of squishy pretties!" And her father said that she was developing a vocabulary like mine.

It was also her job to help me with the pink sprinkles and edible glitter. Can you see how the cupcakes sparkle? The lighting was too soft for it to show up much, so I kept telling guests to go and look at their treats under a light before they ate them, so they could enjoy the glitter.

Because what good is glitter if you can't get the full enjoyment of it??

For a swap page that I did with the En Le Jardin girls, I drew a Glitter Lounge cartoon, then framed it for the table top.

My fears of having no one turn up were groundless, thank goodness! We had two rooms full of fun.

Its hard to know how many will come and who will show. I sent invites to people whose email addresses I had, and told them to bring friends and roomies along. Then it gets complicated, because we don't know until I checked in at 4pm where the party was going to be at 5pm! So, no one knows what rooms to come to.

I hope that no one who wanted to come, missed us.

Carol is the one to thank for the pink champagne, she treated us all! Of course, she has one of the most generous hearts around. And between her and Tiffany, the laughing never stops.

Of course, Suzanne is a pretty funny lady too. Did I mention that my cheeks were sore from smiling so much???

I was happy to finally get to meet Kana, with her sweet, Southern drawl too. Its great to put faces with the names in emails!

And my buddy Beth came up from Kansas City a day early for her Vendor Booth, just in time for the Glitter Lounge, and to stay up half the night listening to all of Shelly's funny stories.

When I made up inventory to pack for the Vendor Faire, I purposely made more than I could ever need for the event, so I would have a lot left to sell online. So, I'm off to get busy photographing and listing some goodies.

Then, I'll tell you all about wallpaper heaven and the lovely loot that overspent on indulged in there. I went a bit over the top…. But- I have the most BEAUTIFUL florals ever, and will be ironing and cutting and making up packs to list soon. Because no on in their right mind could ever need the amount of wallpaper I have! And its all too wonderful to not be used.

For now, I have some 8 packs of flocked paper in the Boutique. They are gorgeous for Holiday projects!

For now, I'll leave you with scenes from the Glitter Lounge. I'll have more Silver Bella highlights all week, until you are all Bell-ed out!

Paper Dolls and other fun projects! Sign up to play along!!

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

By Karla Nathan / October 7, 2009

My pal, Mary, is hosting online tutorials that she is calling "Artist Class". If you sign up for her program, you get lots for your money, classes from a selection of artists, tips, tricks, photos, videos, downloads, patterns, on and on!

I'm lucky to be included in her group of teachers! My project isn't ready yet, to show you exactly what it will be, but you might be able to tell, that it will be paper doll dresses.

You can go to Mary's blog for details, but PLEASE use my code to sign up!!

karlascottage

(It has to be all one word, too.)

With my code, you get a $10 discount and I get paid per student!!

She will have lots of artists and all are doing something different.

Because I am going to keep track of "my students" and have special prizes and drawings for supply packs.

What will I have to offer for the lessons?

1. Detailed, step by step instructions with photos

2. Patterns of dresses to print and cut out

3. Vintage wallpaper scans for you to print and cut out to use for your dresses

4. One hand drawn paper doll, scanned for you to print

What are the prizes I am offering for those of you who sign up using my $10 discount code karlascottage?

1. Drawings for vintage paper packs and supplies to use for making the paper doll dresses. I will offer one pack per 10 people who sign up for Mary's classes who use MY $10 Discount Code karlascottage.

So, if 50 people sign up, I will give away 5 gift packs of ephemera. If only 2 people sign up, I'll give out one ephemera pack. But I really hope we get a big bunch!! I have plenty of old wallpaper, and am happy to share!

2. One drawing from the whole group of students who sign up using my $10 Discount Code karlascottage for the original hand drawn paper doll that I use to create the patterns.

I hope you will sign up and play along with me!

(Please note, that these dresses posted today, are examples of past dresses I have made, not the ones that I will be teaching you.) And thank you so much for using my $10 Discount Code karlascottage to join in!

Dollar Day

Books, Food and Drink, jewelry, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 3, 2009

Yesterday, I had a mini craft day. Beth, Mary, and I all had things to do for Silver Bella, so we decided to hang out and do them together.  I had a few little gifties for them, some ephemera and a chocolate from See's Candys. 
Beth brought a giant tub of jewels, a big box of buttons, and a stack of laces to tag and sort, one of those boring jobs that goes better with company.  Although, the jewels weren't boring to me, I loved looking through and playing with them.  
She even paid me a dollar to sort them out.  She also offered Sugarwings a dollar to sort buttons. Maybe Beth comes to visit for the cheap labor?  
 
It was a day full of finished projects for me, I am thrilled to be getting long neglected things completed!
For a while, I have been buying sewing boxes, jewelry boxes, and other vintage containers to foofify.  And hadn't touched them, they've been piling up and overflowing from the tub I had them in.  I felt like they were going to bury me in an avalanche if I didn't get around to them soon.  So, it was a relief to take an afternoon to whittle down the pile and get a few foofed.
 
There are a couple million dolls waiting for my attention too.  Some things, I just can't pass up while shopping, even though I should… Old dollies can be pretty cheap, and all they need is a bit of love, care, glue, cleaning, millinery and ironing.  Well, that does sound like a bit of work, no wonder I avoid them after I buy a pile of them.
But yesterday, I grabbed a couple of dirty dollies and got to work. And learned a trick from Beth.  She said that ribbons can be ironed on a lightbulb!!!!!!!
I had no idea, but it sure makes sense and really does work.
So, I pulled off a lamp shade and rolled a ribbon across the bulb, and that took all the wrinkles out immediately. I didn't even have to get out the iron and the board.  
So, I figured I'd try it on a doll skirt.  That worked great too, just open the skirt, drape it over the bulb and rub it around.  It looks very, very wrong while doing it (because the doll was stil in the dress), and elicited a few off color remarks, (I'll leave those to your imagination) but hey, it was easy and the wrinkles are gone!
I just hope these poor dolls don't feel too violated.
 
I got a good start on earring making too.  During the summer months, I collect vintage bits and pieces to remake into pierced earrings, necklaces, and bracelets for the fall art shows I do.
 
So, I'm planning on devoting most of this week to getting my jewels made up, tagged and ready to sell.
 
Isn't this a PERFECT display for them!?  I hope to have it all filled up by the end of the week. Then, I'll just close the lid, set it aside and it will be all ready to go when I leave for Silver Bella.
 
Sorting out Beth's jewels not only earned me a dollar, I found this little girl pin that was perfect to put on the cover of the Alice in Wonderland book I'd been working on.  Beth also brought me the rings to put the book together with.  So I got that finished too. 
Not a bad day of production!
 
When I was done, my son had this meal waiting for me! Roasted red peppers from the garden, rice with cilantro, and grilled tilapia.
Not a bad day at all.  Plus I made a whole DOLLAR. There are lots and lots of days that an artist can't say that!

Pet Parade Party

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / September 30, 2009

Oh My Gosh! I'm late linking to Keylee Katillac's fund raiser for animal welfare. And then, when I get started, I see that Twinkle has won first place!!

Since
the scarf we were to design for the fund raiser was a Lance Armstrong,
LIVE STRONG theme, Twinkle posed with a bike for her photo. Plus, the
scarf is so big on her, doesn't she look like a super hero? (I even
cut it in half for her, she only weighs about 7 lbs).

For her Live Strong scarf, I simply cut it in half, and laid out
some velvet flower petals on it, then sewed part of an old apron over
that to make a see through pocket to hold the petals. Its held on with
a vintage ribbon tie, and vintage millinery is pinned to the bow.

Since the apron is made of tulle, you can peek through it and see the Lance Armstrong motto printed on the yellow scarf.

Go
and check out the other dogs at the party, and make sure you leave a
comment, because each comment means a $1 donation to the shelter.
Also, you are entered to win a gift certificate for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS
to Hobby Lobby!

Please help Keylee help the dogs! She has already raised $2,000 through this campaign, lets get those pups some more money!

(Notice Twink's new tags, I feel safer for her now)

And while Sugarwings loves to play hide and seek, she was
so heartbroken when she couldn't find her Toto. If Twinkle hadn't lost
her tags, we wouldn't have lost her!

Also, please
remember, today is the last day to leave a comment here for a chance to
win the September giveaway. Wow, that month sure flew by fast!

Sisterhood Magic

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 25, 2009

My sister's birthday party and sleepover was even more fun than I had hoped.  The invitation said to come as a fairy, or dress witchy and magical, or be comfy cozy.  I made myself a witch hat, but couldn't resist being a fairy.  Sissy, who is about as wide as a stick of gum, had this skirt for me to borrow (she wears it with LOTS of safety pins).  

Cousin Paula fair-ied it up too. She found the hair extensions at her local dollar store on clearance for 11 cents!!!  We added some wings to her from Sissy's collection. I thought Sugarwings had a lot of sparkly wings and dress up clothes, but my sister has her beat.
 

Everything is magical at Sissy's house.  Everywhere you look, there is something that sparkles.  
 

Her home was the perfect location for  a magical birthday party. We only had to gather up pretties that were already in the house to decorate with. 
 

There were enough crystal balls to start her own magic shop…
  

Of course, we had to add some edible glitter to the pink cupcakes!
 

Plus confetti on the counter tops. And on the table tops. And on the floor. And on each other….  Sissy will be vacuuming those up for weeks.
 

We each lit a candle and made a wish for Bobbie for the upcoming year.
  

The weekend didn't last nearly long enough, but was one big slumber party the whole time. We stayed at Sissy's, had the big event for Bobbie on Friday, then on Saturday, we honored our Mother on the anniversary of her death.  
We decided to do things she loved to do with us. We went to Goodwill to shop, saw a scary movie and at popcorn at the theater, then went out to a restaurant she enjoyed (and one that we had a coupon for, to save money!)
Mom would have loved it.  And the fairy party too, you are never too old to enjoy laughing and being silly with people you love.

Fairies for all ages

celebrations, fairies, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 23, 2009

Fairy parties aren't just for kids!  When my Sissy turned 60, she threw herself a fairy themed slumber party.  Now, my sister, Bobbie Sue is turning 60 this week and Sissy is having us all to her home for another sleepover, BYOFW (bring your own fairy wings)
While I am in Indiana for Bobbie's celebration, I thought I'd leave you with some pictures from the earlier event.

Sissy's home is a perfect location for a fairy gathering, she collects sparkling objects, glittery trinkets, and crystal balls. Things like that are everywhere, like the ones hanging in the window behind this year's birthday girl, Bobbie Sue.
(yes, I am wearing Tinker Bell jammies, with a sparkly tuxedo jacket)
 
I had some stick on crystals on my nose, but after seeing this, that might have been a mistake, they look more like growths…
My husband's brother came to the sleep over, he's pretty close to Sissy.  Having a gay brother is almost like having a 3rd sister. Plus, he lets me draw on his face.
 
And he knows how to dress up for the occasion, too!
 

Connie is a life long friend of Sissy's and is also practically one of the sisters. She conducted a ceremony in honor of the birthday.
 

Candles and fresh flowers were just as important in the decor as all the glitter and crystal balls.

Each of us had something to say about the honoree, then about a woman in our lives who had been meaningful to us.

I convinced Bobbie Sue to let me teach her how to belly dance. Of course, I had no idea how to myself, and I dance about as graceful as a hippo. But there is something to be said for not caring how the dance looks and just going for it anyway!
 
Did I ever mention that I used to raise peafowl?  I have a lot of peacock feathers from Percy (our papa bird) and have been making fans from them with vintage millinery and ribbon added.  I thought one of the feathers would be just right to make a magic wand for Bobbie's Birthday.  
It has hot pink, curly feathers from an old hat, some silk ribbon, and a millinery bloom topped off with a jewel pried from a broken vintage brooch.
Now, for a dash of fairy dust to get the magic kicked in gear, and its ready to wrap up and give to her at the party. I can't wait!! (maybe there will be more dancing..)

A flock of Fairies

celebrations, fairies, family, Food and Drink, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 20, 2009

 
We flew my husband's mother from Wyoming to North Carolina for the wedding last week, and then brought her home with us for a few days after.  So, in honor of Grandma Joan's visit to Kansas, I threw her a fairy tea party with her great grand daughters.
 
Sugarwings was still in the party mood, after all the birthday celebrations this week.  She and little Pixie Pie have had a wonderful time together with so many family gatherings going on all week while Grandma Joan was here.
 
Even the big girls got into dressing up as fairies, although we couldn't convince their boyfriends to wear wings….
 
Our little ones were patient while we took some pictures before the party started. But not for too long.  At 2 and 3, waiting times are limited when there is something exciting scheduled to happen.
 
We served blueberry and cranberry herb teas, but the tiniest fairies were more interested in the spoonfuls of sugar they could add to their cups.
 Sugarwings drank cup after cup, just so she could pour more. 
 
For Sugarwing's birthday, I let her help me decorate the dining room with Dollar Store garlands.  Yes, gaudy and over the top, but she is in love with them, so we left them up for this party too.
 
We just added some fairies here and there. I happened to have a few around to use….
 
We served:
 cherry tomatoes from the garden on toothpicks with grilled chicken breast
 cherries and grapes with mandarin oranges
 crust-less cucumber sandwiches
 red cabbage with cream cheese rolled up in green tortilla shells
  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the littlest ones.  
 
These are my fairy shoes, saved for special occasions like this.  
 
Luckily you can't really tell here, but my makeup job was a bit like Baby Jane.  Remember that scary Betty Davis movie?  I got carried away with the eyeshadow, not a pretty sight after 50… 
I'm on my way now to Indiana for my sister's 60th birthday party.  I'd better pack my fairy wings and hit the road.  The parties never end around here, huh?

Before and after

Hand Painted Furniture, how-to projects, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 25, 2009

Jen is having a make-over open house. Check out her blogfor a list of participating do-it-your-selfers, and join in yourself if you have a re-do you'd like to show.

I pulled out some photos of a redo I did a little while back for my sister-in-law, to show the Magic Of Paint. They bought an older home and didn't have anything left in the budget for remodeling, so we did what we could with paint, most of it from the surplus store where paint is only 5 bucks a gallon. The primer is the one thing I insisted that they get a specific brand, not just what was available at the surplus store.

I always look for BONDING primer. Make sure the label says, "will adhere to shiny surfaces". If you do that, and the wood is clean, you don't have to sand. Water based bonding primer (Gripper from Glidden is my current fave) is all the prep you'll need.

We primed and painted the top cabinets and all the interiors ivory and the bottoms and all the trim in the room a deep sage green. Then, we beat the cabinet fronts with tools, for dents and dings, to "distress" them.

After the paint was dry, we mixed Min wax poly/stain combo (in walnut) with a bit of turpentine to thin it, and brushed it on in small areas, then wiped it off (with cut up old tee shirts), for an aging effect.

Oh, and I added some little vines in green on a few of the top doors before the stain-

The walls were already white, so I used the ivory and green to do a faux finish on the walls of the room. The entire project, walls too, took 3 of us most of one day to do.

Leaving the cabinet doors on and painting right over the hinges makes the job a bit faster and unless you have drop dead gorgeous hardware, why not? We did remove the handles and reuse those because they weren't bad.

I think the total cost was about $15 for primer, $10 for paint, and $8 for the stain/poly mix to go over the top.

And here is a make over of another kind. This photo of Sugarwings on the Yellow Brick road was edited with Picassa. I lightened, brightened, and retouched it, then deepened the colors with saturation.

I wanted to make the picture look more like Oz than Kansas.

This is how it started out.

(its a picture I took right before the other one, not the same one, but the same conditions). Picassa is easy to use and this only took about 10 minutes to do. I'm not real good with the retouch button yet, but I'm figuring it out.

Now, I need to go and see some of the other redos that Jen has links to on her blog. I love before and afters!