Workshops – Page 5 – Karla's Cottage

Sidetracks

holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / November 13, 2013

Yep, I know, I know, I need to make kits for the Romantic Cottage Christmas workshop November 23rd.

But I've been having too much fun playing with all the supplies I have out to create the kits How on Earth could I resist taking an extra set of wings and turning them into a little ornament on their own?

So nice, I did it twice.

I've been experimenting with different ribbons and lace to see which makes the best wing texture.

I've decided this lace makes the prettiest wings. And was the easiest to work with.

Of course, we'll have lots of different lace and trims to try that day if the participants prefer something other than what comes in the kits.

And yes, there will be kits, eventually. I have all the Tart Tin Trees wrapped up and ready to go, in neutral and pink so my guests will have a choice. (I love having extra choices, the fun part of a workshop is seeing how varied one project looks done in different ways)

But, gosh, where there are little remnants lying on my table, I can't resist turning it into something.

I have been way too distracted by shiny things this week!

While cutting up this beyond wonderful, pink flock wallpaper, I couldn't let the scraps go to waste. Some I cut into die cut shapes to use later, but if there were any snippets too small for that, I used them to wrap around the spools for my little trees.

I treasure each little, left over, bit too much. To me, the old paper is too precious to let anything usable go to waste.

And I love a good excuse to get out of the task at hand…

But now, back to work. I really do enjoy putting kits together, and an excuse to stop and play just extends the fun. I refuse to look at it as procrastinating. It's too much fun to be labelled in a negative way!!

Romantic Cottage Christmas projects

holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / November 10, 2013

This week, I've been getting all my projects completed and gathering up supplies for Romantic Cottage Christmas.

The palette is silver, gold, and white with an option for pink if preferred.

I've got some tiny trees in aqua too, so I guess that is also a choice.

And I drew up some collage sheets with holiday graphics to use.

One of my favorites, is this Holiday Treat Jar, topped with a praying angel. Her wings are flocked wallpaper on one side and layers of ruffled lace on the other.

She has such a sweet face, I fell in love with this old photo at a glance.

This angel doesn't have any problems in the sweet department herself. What a darling! Lots of flocked paper and lace for her too.

And of course, as The Cherub sways on the tree, her backside will show, that has to be prettied up too.

The kneeling angel also will have a nicely finished back view.

I figure that the Mini Tart Tin Trees and the Bottle Brush Spools will each be shorter classes, probably less than an hour. So, we will have time to personalize and embellish both angel projects.

There will also be beads and crystals to add to the little trees. I do like to see the finished products show the creator's own personality, so I like to have lots of extras out for everyone to play with.

The Good Stuff, of course!

I will be making up plenty of kits. They will be for sale after the class on 11/23. Or if you'd rather come and visit here in the studio, I still have room for a few more guests.

We would love to have you join us!

All supplies for 4 projects are included, along with lunch, goodies, and beverages for $100 per person.

Please email me if you'd like to attend.

A Romantic Cottage Christmas

celebrations, holiday decor, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / October 30, 2013

On Saturday, November 23, I will be hosting a gathering in my Lawrence, Kansas studio to create dainty decor for your holiday home. All supplies will be included for you to finish 4 sparkling projects. A homemade lunch, and goodies will be served, as well as beverages throughout the day.

We will be working with many of my favorite, vintage supplies and of course, using The Good Stuff. You will only need to bring your tools, I'll provide the rest. You'll receive a kit for each pretty we make, plus I'll have a table of extras set up for you to personalize and embellish to your heart's content. There is no such thing as too much when the holidays roll around! Glitter and sparkle galore will be the theme of the day.

This is an all day workshop, two projects in the morning and two after lunch, from 9am-5pm.

Cost is $100 Please email me for a paypal invoice if you'd like to join us for the day. If you'd rather to pay by check, just let me know.

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

Limited space is available, (and I will try to make up extra kits to sell online for those of you who are too far away to jump in your sleigh and come visit in person.) But I do hope to see you here at the Cottage! I'll have it all foofed and tinselled up for our special day.

Fairies and friends will always cheer you up

Books, fairies, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / August 29, 2013

I've been fairying it up around here. I draw these little girls onto plain paper, then cut them out to use as patterns to use on vintage text and wallpaper. After they are assembled and glued to a background, I embellish them with some millinery flowers.

This one is in a very old metal frame.

This one lives in a painted and distressed,wooden frame that I lined with rose patterned wallpaper.

At the bottom of the frame, I glued a branch of little blooms and used that to hang some butterfly charms on.

At first, I'd made the heads from text too, but I missed having a facial expression, so I cut out new heads from the border of the text and used markers to add a sweet, little face.

Both of these will be added to the Boutique. That is, if I ever get around to adding anything to that poor, neglected little shop again…. If you are interested in either for $35, you can send me an email at: Karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

This sprite is one that I am keeping for myself, I've added her to a book that Beth made for me.

Don't you love the binding on it? She knew I was having some personal troubles and made the journal for me to fill up as a distraction. Plus, she listens to my complaints. Now, that is a friend.

Between poor Ry losing his job (rather unfairly) and the hours I've spent trying to help him find another, worries about this and that, as well as feeling crappy, I'm afraid I've been a bit cranky. I don't even know why she is still my friend, all she ever hears from me are complaints.

Ry has some interviews, I've been to the Dr. and have treatment now for esophagitis (from swallowing a heavy, string wrapped around a grilled tenderloin and scratching my throat, I thought it was gristle and tried to be polite by not spitting it out, since we were at a friend's house for a dinner party), and the other problems? Well, things work out somehow, don't they?

It's going to be fun filling up this journal with doodles, and doodads, and dwaddles. Getting creative again has made me feel better already!

One of the patterns I'd made for these kids was lying on my desk and it reminded me of a shadow, so I added it to the next page of the journal.

This fairy is a new creation too.

She and this angel have been added to the Mini Dress Form tutorial, with some simple how tos to embellish the basic forms that are taught there. If you have already purchased the class, these are a bonus and you will find them under "fairy" and "angel" in the category list on the side bar of the blog.

If you'd like to join the class, you can do that here.

PS-Leave a comment on this post, if you would like to enter my two giveaways. I'm away at the moment, but will draw names after Labor Day weekend

Tagging along, some stuff for sale, and a BIG Summer Sale too

bird song art event, how to's, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / June 27, 2013

Lori had some great vintage images and pretty papers in her kits for Birdsong. Her project was a wreath wrapped in frothy fabrics with tricked out tags tucked in it (how's that for alliteration?). Since I didn't add tags to my own wreath, I made some tags up separate because I wanted to play with the images she had included.

I'd also wanted to try using the Dimensional Magic by ModPodge with crystal glitter over it. I outlined the image (not the background) with the D. Magic, then slowly filled in, and the stuff did a good job of staying where I'd put it.

While it was wet, I coated it with clear glass glitter, and then tapped away the extra after the glaze dried and it was safe to pick it up.

I've got about 6 bottles of that stuff, because we used it on the knotted ribbon necklaces class that I did, and I had a bottle of it out on each table for the students, and a little bit goes a looooong way.

This tag is all from Lori's kits too. I tore the label off her kit and left the edges rough, glued it onto a tag, then inked the edges. I scrunched up some pattern paper, and added some of the twine trim Lori provided and a rhinestone from my stash. Then, I did the same glaze and glitter trick as on the other tag, this time over the whole thing.

She had a playing card in the kit too, and I used it as a tag. I made a ruffle from some of the text she provided, and cut the bottom off of another playing card to go over that, and topped it with a millinery flower.

The center is a piece of pattern paper layered with text, and an oval image from Lori's stash. I did the Dimensional Magic and glitter over the torn out oval, and I think I got too much glitter, because it dried a gloppy mess and you couldn't see the image at all. So, i cut a rose out of something else and glued it over the top and added another pretty bit of sparkle and some millinery buds. It's also tied with the twine from the kit.

On this one, the D. Magic and glitter once again obliverated the image. I guess you have be careful to have a light hand with the glitter when doing this. Or to use a very simple, clear, graphic image. I think it turned out really pretty over the first one, the lady's black and white face.

Around the screwed up image, I glued odds and ends that were in the kit, in a free form frame. And I liked that part, it was too bad the rest was a mish mosh mess.

After it dried, I tried to fix it by gluing a snippet of text and a bird out of a book from the 1800s. I'd used this same text and some birds from it for each of the kits I'd made up for the necklace class. These were the birds that we put in the pendants, although this bird is a little more colorful than the ones I used for the class.

I know, it was only a little tag, but I hate to leave anything badly done, so I did what I could to salvage it. I finish all my projects, and save the bad ones as much as I can. I figure that I've already invested time and materials into a failed piece, why let it go to waste if a little more time will fix it?

If you are interested in one of Lori's lovely kits, I found two of them left here when I cleaned up. I offered to sell them for her, and ship them out. Her wreath kit comes with the form, the fabric,images, papers, trims, and tags.

It's self explanatory, and a simple, pretty project.

The kits are $35 plus postage.

When I sold my own leftover kits, I counted wrong and sold more than I actually had, so had to whip up a few more real quick. Well, I made up some extras and have one knotted ribbon and one captured fairy birdcage (that comes with a free online course) left for $30 plus postage, each.

Please email me if you are interested in any of these, with your zip code and the email address you use for PayPal and I'll send you a invoice with the postage figured.

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

As well as one completed necklace that I used as a sample. The one that says "nest" with the brown antiquing is available for $65.

The white one that says "nest" in this photo too. I think I'll keep the blue one myself. The rest of my samples are at Somerset right now, for an article in Jewelry Affaire. I might have some of those for sale later, but it could be months before they are returned.

And if that isn't enough shameless huckstering and trying to sell stuff to you, here is a little more.

I've got a ton of new things to add to my Boutique. But I'd like to clear it out a little bit first, and start fresh. So, I'm offering a 30% discount till July 1st. You'll need to use this link:

http://www.karlascottage.com/?code=30%

And type in this code at check out:

30%

Birdsong class projects

bird song art event, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / June 17, 2013

Lori sent the prettiest kits to make these tone on tone, romantic wreaths. She'd sent a couple boxes by UPS ahead of her flight, filled with kits and packaged pretties to sell at our vendor night. The boxes arrived soaked to the bone! So wet that the tape was falling off and the boxes were caved in. Luckily, she'd wrapped everything in plastic and there was no damage.

What did the driver say about it? "Sorry, my truck has a leak" Well, it must have been quite a leak, or else he has been parking in the lake.

This is my second bad experience with UPS. The mural I sent to CA was dropped off to be packaged and sent by UPS, and when it arrived, the paint was damaged due to the box being too loosely packed and the painting bobbing around, and rubbing inside the box. I was able to repaint the damaged area, but wasn't very happy about it.

Anyway, nothing of Lori's was ruined and her kits were wondrous.

During her class, I was a bit busy due to bad planning on lunch. I was too busy with other stuff to chop and prep ahead of time (oops!) for our build your own burrito bar and spent the whole length of Lori's class working on it instead. Silly me!

I did pop in to visit and get a peek of the class every once in a while, but didn't get to sit down and make a wreath myself with them. But Lori saved a kit for me and I was able to get to it later on. She included some great images and papers to make tags to tie onto the fabric wrapped wreath, and I had a good time with it later in the week when I had a chance to get to it.

Mine is a little different. I actually used a necklace from my class to cut up and add to it. (Lori's suggestion, it is what she is planning on doing with hers too)

This way, I have two projects in one! Double the memories to hang in my studio.

Both teachers were just The Best! I loved having them here. Both pitched in and helped with miscellaneous chores, and Beth was in charge of accounting for the vending tables. And while I was trapped at the cutting board, I had no worries about being needed out in the classroom, which was quite the relief.

Beth had a great project that everyone enjoyed too.

Wasn't her teacher table set up pretty?

She had tons of extras to share, and we had a huge variety of hearts and birds being stuffed and potted.

I was doing two classes, one each day after lunch was served and cleaned up.

I have a few kits that I'd made up extra for my birdcages with fairies and my knotted ribbon necklaces. If you'd like to buy one, they are each $30 plus shipping. The birdcage kit includes the online workshop, with instructions for multiple birdcages and cloches.

Please email karlanathan@sbcglobal.net or comment if you are interested.

Cute, huh? I'll leave you with some scenes of the creativity in action.

More gratefulness

bird song art event, family, guncles, Sugarwings, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / June 14, 2013

More Birdsong photos are on their way. I'm kind of taking my time and enjoying the editing process, reliving the moments. And wishing I'd taken more. Luckily, there are pretty pics from friends too. It's always interesting to see the same event through different lenses. Tami, Mercedes, and Beth have all posted some that I've shared on Facebook.

When Picnic closed last year, I was frantic about what to do to edit my pictures. It has been replaced by many sites just as easy to use. My favorite is Picmonkey. Not free, but well worth the little bit that they charge. It's self explanatory and simple to adjust photos with. And boy, does it make a difference in a picture to take the time to edit it.

On Birdsong Eve, we had a little gathering at a restaurant downtown. All of my pictures were off color and too dark due to the lighting there. Once again, I wished I'd taken more, but I did make time to snap a few. But when I opened them, they all looked like this. Here is a before of Angie and Sugarwings.

With Picmonkey, here is the same photo. It has been cropped, lightened, sharpened, and then I used Orton Effect, and faded that.

This was a bonus gathering for our group, I asked if anyone was going to be in town the night before and wanted to meet up, and we filled the front of one of my favorite restaurants with a flock of 26 Peeps.

This photo is a bit beyond repair, but I liked it so much, I salvaged what I could of it.The evening happened to be my lovely friend, Angie's birthday and she baked cupcakes to bring. She was a vendor at our little shopping extravaganza and is always a welcome addition to any gathering. I hope she can attend classes next time.

Sugarwings passed out cupcakes to everyone, after not taking her eyes off of the beautiful display throughout her dinner. When she finally was allowed to have one, she didn't eat it, she politely asked Angie to take a bite of her own first, because the birthday girl always needs to go first.

Birdsong had ended up being a family reunion for me as well as an art gathering. Guncle Randy, Sissy, Bobbie, and Terry all came to be a part of it. For me, it was an opportunity for my family to see just what it is that I do. (I don't know if my husband has ever quite figured that out yet) It was wonderful to have them here and to meet my friends and be a part of my world.

And on the other side, it was very special to have so many friends come to see me and be a part of my family for the weekend. Birdsong is a homey, comfy event where all guests are family while they are here, not clients. I hope that they can feel that while they are here.

My family were all soooo helpful. Terry baked and baked and baked, her treats were the highlights of our meals. (and brought her husband to keep my own guy entertained on the golf course all weekend) Guncle Randy nominated himself "Parking B**ch" and directed cars, plus spread his charm around and welcomed everyone. Bobbie and Sissy were hauling trash to the curb and unloading the dishwasher non stop.

My son, Mr. Zen, cleaned up the yard and helped with a lot of prep for the weekend. Then, walked around the room to do some head and neck massage for those who were getting kinks from leaning over the tables and working on projects (and dealing with some of my not-so-great chairs).

Sugarwings had been as excited about the upcoming party as I was, and was constantly wanting to help get ready for it. She was very busy making plans for "Our Birdsong" and wondering what the "Birdsong Ladies" would be like. She was hoping they would show up in beautiful gowns, but we are a bit more casual than that.

When I took down the table that Sugarwings and Dewdrop had been working at all week to make room for the big tables for Birdsong, her little heart was broken. She'd been so sure that there was a place for her to be there and craft along with everyone else.

But, all the ladies made her feel welcome and Auntie Beth did some work with her out on the porch. She forgave me for taking her work table down.

I hope that our friends didn't mind all the family being included. It probably wasn't all that professional of me, but if anyone who knows me or reads my blog, they probably don't expect me to be all that professional.

Once again, I'll have to say how lucky I am that I was able to have the people I love here with me, along with so many kind and generous friends. I can't imagine a better weekend.

Thankful and lucky

bird song art event, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / June 12, 2013

I've been seriously derailed by Empty Nest Syndrome now.

The last of the "Birdsong Ladies" have flown the coop.

Birdsong ended on Saturday, but the fun continued for me a while.

Guncle Randy, Sissy, Bobbie, and Lori were still here. Karen and Sherry stayed to play for the evening too. We snipped and glued till after midnight.

Lori had to be off to the airport on Sunday morning and was gracious to offer to go a little early so we could combine trips and take 2 of my husband's brothers who had been in town to play golf and keep him company while we whooped it up in the studio.

We spent another evening in the workplayroom past midnight with Guncle Randy on Sunday, but had to take him to the airport on Monday.

My sisses and I had a day of shopping in KC after dropping him off, but by then, I was starting to droop. Hopefully, I wasn't too cranky, but man- was I tired! Days of prep, then the blast of excitement (and work) of the event, and so much fun hanging out with family that we kept staying up past midnight, were starting to hit me hard.

I just don't get to see my family often enough, so I did my best to stay awake, but I'd finally hit a wall and gave up. I climbed into my bed mid afternoon with the Puppeesh, and 3-1/2 hours later, I woke up more like myself than one of the walking dead.

That was the best nap of my life. At least the most needed!

So, I was able to enjoy the rest of the visit with my sisses, and we had yet another day to play in the studio, where Beth joined us after a birthday lunch for her downtown.

But the party couldn't go on forever, as much as I'd like it to.

Today, I had to drop my sisses off at the airport and the place seems soooo empty and quiet with everyone gone now.

The quiet has given me a chance to reflect on all of the hustly bustly goings on of this last week.

Time to go over the details while it's all fresh in my head, what to do differently next time, what to add, what to change, what to adjust.

But mostly, just to savor the memories and think about how lucky I am that so many people came to see me and spend time at the cottage.

How lucky I am to have a family that helped me pull it all off and never stopped washing dishes, to have such talented friends who taught classes, and to have so many old and new friends who wanted to be a part of our weekend, who came from all over the country to cut, snip, glue, and laugh with us.

I've got lots of photos of our party to edit and show you. But for now, I think I'll have another little nap. And I'm sure it will be filled with sweet dreams of Birdsong and the lovely people who came to see me here.

Bird collage pendants

bird song art event, fairies, family, jewelry, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / May 10, 2013

I did it! Not only did I finally figure out what my second class was going to be for Birdsong, I got lots of samples made and packed every single kit up and have them tucked away ready to go when my peeps arrive!

Beth, Mary, and Karla came over on Tuesday to participate in a practice class, here are a couple of their pieces. The book they are lying on is filled with little bird images and was published in the 1800s. I've used these old birdies in the kits, so of course, no two will be alike. In case someone gets a bird they don't care for, there are plenty of extras to chose from so the artist can find just the right little creature to put on her collage.

This is the actual pendant we will be working on, it's a large one, so we have space to play with the collage.

Now, I just need to get the bird cage kits packed up for my other class. All of the elements are prepped and ready, I just need to get them wrapped up.

If you would like to make a bird cage/wire cloche, I have spent weeks working out the best way to make them and have made a tutorial with step by step illustrated instructions, along with downloadable images to make fairies to keep in the cages once you get them made.

I've come up with a way to make the cages that I've not seen anywhere else. My son helped me come up with some great ideas that simplifies the process and keeps the wires from springing out every which way and driving you crazy.

He really deserves a lot of the credit, the boy is great with wire, and is a talented jewelry maker. This bracelet that we collaborated on will be featured in Jewelry Affaire. I'm thrilled to be doing an article with my son!

And greatly appreciate his input on the birdcage problems I was having.

A Book of Enchantments

Books, Hand painted, jewelry, parties, Snow White, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / May 8, 2013

The weekend in CA at An Enchanted Affaire was filled with fun and friendship-from so many nice people…

People like Charlotte, who I've known a long time through blogs…

And my husband's sister, Terry, who came along to her first big art weekend…

And goofy gals who I am lucky to meet up with again at various getaways like this…

And tables full of new people to get to know.

Teaching at one of these is the best way to meet people, I was flitting from one end of the room to the other, pausing to talk to everyone at the tables.

Here is part of my table. I took classes as well as teaching this time, and asked to have "newbies" sit with me if they wanted. It was fun to get to know some different people. At most events, I sit with my same friends every time (and really LOVE that) but I realized that I'd met them all at these kind of places and I should open myself up to meeting some more new friends.

Good idea!!

This is another one from the class I taught. Being up and moving around during class made for a good time to get photos of everyone at work. Normally, during class, I'm so involved with the project, I don't get to see what everyone else is doing.

Hopefully, the ladies enjoyed the class. The first half of it was pretty much busy work, tons of gluing paper to card stock to create the background of the book.

After making the pages, we crafted the cover and assembled the book.

It looked like most people at least got that much done, not many were able to start decorating, though.

But I provided an overflowing kit full of goodies, so they had plenty to play with later when they were ready to start embellishing.

If I teach this again, I think it would be better in an all day class, so we can do the decorating of the interior of the book too.

There were lots of examples for interiors, and many ladies took photos inside of my own books for later on when they finish theirs.

Here are some completed covers by the students.

Here is another.

When they started working, I'd told them that it was absolutely impossible for any two of them to have the same book when they finished, even if they tried their durndest.

With vintage supplies, and a big page of collage images to chose from, the completed books were bound to be filled with variety!

Since my book was titled, " A Book of Enchantments" I decided that I needed a few enchantment spells to add to it. So, I wrote 4 little poems about finding joy, happy dreams, a true prince, and hope. They are printed on vellum and are part of the embellishment package.

(by the way, I made extra kits, if you want to buy one for $65, there are a few left. Many ladies bought a second while there, so I think that means they liked them)

EDIT: my email is down, if you could leave a comment or contact me on FB, I'll check those to see if anyone is ordering kits. They are selling, but there is still a few left.

Kim had asked all the teachers to provide a prize for the drawings, so I brought this assemblage.