Karla's Cottage – Page 178

Fairy page collage how tos, Plus some answers to questions about the swaps

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

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2012

These fairy pages are too much fun!

I know I only need 8 to swap, but I wanted some extra in case they were needed. Sometimes the count is slightly off in a swap, or someone sends the wrong amount, or I plain old screw it up somehow and its just handy to have a stack of extras to add to a book just in case.

(I'm an artist, not a mathematician!! I try hard, but numbers sometimes are painful for me)

This page is covered in "Moths" sheet music, then inked all over with 3 similar inks, darkening the edges even more than the rest of the page.

Next, I glued down some old hat netting.

Then, I added a fairy dress made up of flower petals to a vintage baby doll. Her wings are a sheer butterfly.

I started to glue her down directly to the netting, but she looked washed out, so I dug through my drawer full of millinery leaves and found a big, velvet one.

The page is finished by gluing trim cut from an old garment to the bottom and topping that with a butterfly brooch.

Here is another done with sheet music. This one is "Little Buttercup", and the words are on the back, I'll show that picture too.

I wrapped the sheet music around both sides of the page, and then lined one side with an old wallpaper bordered, and trimmed the bottom with zig zag chrocheted edging.

Next, I colored the little girl on the sheet music with markers, and gave her butterfly wings cut from an old book about insects. I drew in some flowers next to her, similar to the ones on the border of the sheet music.

To make her stand out, I outlined the body and wings with a Tim Holtz Distress Ink marker. I used the same marker around the wallpaper border. She still didn't "pop" as much as I'd like, so I used white ink to embellish the details of her dress, gloves, socks, and shoes.

From the bug book, I cut another butterfly out and glued it above the girl. Then glued a posy of millinery blooms to her hand.

The back is simple, a Victorian calling card was added to the middle of the page, and I inked the edges in a soft blue.

I do need to sign the back. Please make sure you sign your pages too! Everyone will want to know whose pages they received.

I'll leave you with some pictures of what is new in the Boutique.

And in my next posts I will have more "how tos" about the other pages I've done.

Its not too late to join the swap. Click on the button to the right of my post for details. You have all summer to make the eight pages. Well, its kind of 16, with the backs, but the backs can be very, very simple, just pretty paper only, no designs.

People have asked me if their pages all need to be the same. No, of course not! They go to 8 different people, so do them however you like.

Another question I get a lot is: can there be things sticking over the edges of the page?

Oh yes! Lace, trim, ribbons, whatever, all look pretty dangling from the book! And the size guidelines don't have to be exactly perfect, just in that ballpark size. An inch smaller or larger will be ok. I am folding card stock in half to use, so mine are pretty much the same, except for trailing trims.

You can be more creative than I've been and use other materials besides card stock. Just make sure that the page will hold up in the book. Paper that is too thin, might tear at the hole punch. But fabric, metal, cardboard, burlap, all sorts of things will be acceptable replacements for cardstock. (to see an example, look at what Cheryl did with her birdhouses here)

There are great tag examples and a little bit about how I process the pages as they arrive in this old post too.

In the past, I have been blown away by the imaginations of swappers when the bounty starts flowing in my mailbox. I am dumbfounded by what some of you are capable of and shake my head wondering why I never thought of doing something like that.

Another question I get is about 3D items. YES, YES! they add a lot of interest. Just make sure there is nothing thick along the left side, I'm still not sure how I'll be putting the books together, maybe just one punch in the upper left corner like here, or two or more rings like here.

I'll have to put a few together and see how I like the look of them either way.

I've got cute, woodland fairy charms to tie on, and will add some ribbons and lace too. The books will be bound with rings, so the owners can always open them up to add more pages if they would like too.

Hope to see you in the swap! We are up to 80 swappers so far. Man, I have my work cut out for myself, don't i????

A mid summer zero dollar decorating redo

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), flowers, redos

By Karla Nathan / July 8, 2012

Dang, its hot. Feels like it has been hot forever. In Kansas, we typically get a stretch of 100 degree plus days, but not this early in the year. It makes me quake in my boots (or flip flops) just contemplating what July and August will have in store after June blasted us with this heat.

To get the temperature off my mind, I decided to cottage-up my living room a bit. Ithought strewing some roses about would be a cheerful summery thing to do.

I'm afraid this photo doesn't look as cheery as it should, I took it at night, and the windows are dark.

Since my walls and furniture are neutral, its easy to change the whole look of the room with a few accents. Throw pillows, curtains, and knicky knacks make a quick change when you start with an all ivory room.

It probably took longer for me to get the wrinkles out of the old curtains than it did to redo all of this. I popped these rose curtains in the dryer on fluff while I took down the vintage lace ones, and packed away all of the pillows and a few other things from around the room as they were fluffing up.

When the curtains were ready, it was a fast redo, because we were due to meet friends on the lake. This was a spur of the moment plan, and I only had about 30 minutes to spare.

Over the years, I've made a few different slip covers for my big sofa cushion, and have collected curtains and pillows at clearance sales and garage sales. I keep a linen closet full of cheap, but pretty extras to switch out when the mood hits me.

This time, I tried draping the bottom of the couch with a bed skirt. The front ruffle shows, the rest is wadded up under the cushion. Hopefuly it will stay in place, it might not.

The look I was going for was an "explosion" of roses. I think I got it… Few match, but I like the way they go together anyway. You can't really tell from the photos, but the brown slip cover on the big cushion has pink roses and blue pailseys on it, so it matches a bit better in person than it seems to in the picture.

This chair was in the studio. After bringing it in, I topped the garden table with a floral drape panel, and added a couple rosey elements to the arrangement on top.

The sheer panel on the other small table (previous photo) is also a curtain. I had three of these panels in my breezeway and they were shredded by raccoons. So, I trimmed off the bottoms that were ragged, used one on the table and the other two in the windows. As long as I don't move the couch, no one will know about the shredding.

Well, I guess that's not true, I just told everyone about the rips…

My china cabinets are over stuffed anyway, so these items won't be missed in it and they add to the flowery feel of the living room now.

It didn't take much, a couple of pieces for each table arrangement gave me the rose garden effect I wanted.

I think I'll hang a framed rose print on the window frame and pin a big, fat millinery bloom in red to the lamp.

In the fall, I'll want to change it around again, so wasn't striving for perfection. Its a temporary, fun look that I didn't take very seriously. I do love my white on white/ivory room most of the time, but I appreciate it more when I change it up a bit sometimes.

So, this redo took about a half hour, using things I had around the house or packed away. The only cost was $2 for the bouquet of roses. My local grocery store has markdown roses for $2 a dozen every week.

Whats new in the Boutique and more free Fairy images

free images

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2012

We spent our 4th of July out on the lake. No, we didn't get food poisoning from our picnic, this picture is just of something I added to the Boutique.

There are a bunch of these listed in the shop now. I think this one is my fave, aren't those great graphics?

Of course, the tins are cool too. Maybe I'm attracted to the green?

I debated leaving the pills in the boxes, some were really pretty. But, I figured that it would be smarter to dump them out and take them to the pharmacy to be disposed of properly.

Who knows what on earth was in those pills? These were from way before such things were regulated.

Its been awful hot lately, but was so nice out on the lake. Sugarwings and my husband took a long swim from the cove to the shore, and he says she told him "it was lovely" out there on the lake.

She was right, "lovely" was the perfect word to describe the sun setting over the trees while a warm breeze blew across the lake.

It was all around, a good day. I hope your holiday was a good one too.

We made fruit salad and baked bread to take on the picnic, (still loving that bread maker) then I foofed up the living room a bit before hitting the lake in the late afternoon after the worst heat of the day had passed.

Everything around here was so dry and brown, that I wanted to brighten things up indoors by adding some roses around the room. I'll have pictures of the mini redo in the next post.

I even managed to do a little work on my Faerie Book Swap. Which is still open if you'd like to join.

This image is the cover of a box of old birthday candles. To print it, click on it to save from a larger window.

Here it is again, edited to sepia.

Hope to see you in the swap! We are up to 75, there will be a great selection of pages for me to make the books with!! Its getting exciting and the pages haven't even started to arrive yet, I'm just giddy with anticipation!

How to trap fruit flies

Food and Drink, Hens, how to's

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2012

Thanks for your comments about my friend's place in Omaha. I sure would recommend it if you need a place to stay when in Nebraska!

Talking about wine reminded me about this little trick to get rid of fruit flies. This year has been awful for the horrid little pests. I discovered that they really love wine, more than anything and every evening when my husband poured a glass of his (purely medicinal-ha ha) red he'd end up with floaters.

So, instead of throwing out this bottle when I was done, I left about 2" of wine in the bottom, and covered the top with Saran Wrap, and taped it down tightly.

With a toothpick, I punched some tiny holes.

The insidious creatures can't resist the wine, fly in the tiny holes, and then get stuck. I don't know if its that they drink so much, they are too drunk to get out, of if they get fatter while in there, or if they find their way in by scent but aren't led out that way.

Whatever reason, it works. Of course, I could tidy up the plastic wrap and make the bottle look nicer, or use a better bottle of wine, not a $5 one from Trader Joes. But I still think this looks better than fruit flies on the bowl of produce I have sitting out!!

But you don't want to make it too attractive, it would be awful to mistakenly pour this into your wine glass!

Now, if I could just get the chigger problem under control outside. The hens don't seem to be making a dent in my daily itch quotient. But they do pick grasshoppers off my begonias.

Strohm Vineyards, An Omaha Oasis

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Food and Drink, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2012

Over the weekend, we visited some of my husband's college friends for a mini reunion. And I can't imagine a better place to stay than Strohm Vineyards.

My buddy, Lori, has always had a good eye for design, and has a beautiful home, a log cabin in the hills a few minutes North of Omaha in Fort Calhoun.

I've always loved staying with them, John and Lori are excellent hosts, and lots of fun. They are do-it-yourselfers who are always adding on, remodelling, and basically working their butts off to make their place better and better all the time.

Lori is a talented junker. She finds the coolest pieces at garage sales and knows how to display them. (the blue chest in the first photo was only $10!!)

And now their homestead, the "Strohmarosa" is even better than ever, with the addition of a vineyard and a new winery building.

The winery has a fledgling B&B too! Upstairs, over the grape room is a cozy space that we hung out in.

If you are looking for a place to stay while in Omaha, and want to feel like you are NOT in Omaha, this is the perfect getaway. It felt more like visiting a resort in California than a farm in Nebraska!!

This is the view from the bedroom window. We spent a lot of time sitting out in the courtyard, listening to the fountain and enjoying the breeze in the evening.

The Strohms rent out rows of grapes to individuals who want to tend them and then make their own wine.

If I lived closer, I'd want to get a row for myself, just so I could sit up here on the hill and soak up the view after working on the vines.

There are cute little seating areas all around the property, this one features a bonfire pit.

I met the Bluebird of Happiness there! Lori has bluebird houses all around the property and everywhere I went, there were happy bluebirds flying by.

Plus Yorkies too!

That is my fault. I gave them this guy, Walker, 14 years ago and he started a dynasty of pups. I got to visit my grand-dog and great-grand dog.

This winery building is new, and they will still be fine tuning and adding on. I think there are plans for renting the space out for events, and they are planting and landscaping around it with out door dining and weddings in mind.

Don't you love the labels on the wine? Their son is a photographer and created the design.

The wine is not for sale yet, they don't have a liquor liscence. I will be first in line to buy a case when they do. There was a sweet, white one that I really liked.

They have set aside a room in their home for wine storage, and that is where we sat down for meals, its also the dining room.

LIke every room in the home and winery, its warm and welcoming.

With wine themed details everywhere, like this old book.

The weekend went by way too quickly. Omaha is only 3 hours away, my husband and I need to make more of an effort to get up there. I love Old Town for shopping, the zoo is one of my favorite places to go, and we have these wonderful friends there too.

Heck, why did I say you might want to visit Omaha and not feel like you are there? I love Omaha, its got a LOT to offer. Anyone would love a getaway to that city!

Fairy pages

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2012

Before I left for our weekend getaway, I whipped up a couple of fairy pages for the swap. Some people had asked for examples.

I wanted to show that its okay for ribbons. lace, etc to trail down and over the edges.

And you don't have to make all of your pages the same (unless they want to). All 8 go to 8 different people.

Sorry, no promises that you won't get one of your own pages back.

Please, keep all 3-D goodies away from the left hand side, I'm not sure exactly how I'm binding it yet, but don't want anything in the way for hole punches.

And the color theme is totally up to you. When I assemble the books, I'll chose pages that look pretty togehter, but there will be a wide range of colors and styles.

I'll have more examples to show when I get back from my little trip. If you want info on how to join the swap, please click on the button at the top of my side bar.

I can't wait to see what everyone creates!!

Yummy Bread Machine bread – too, too good

Dew Drop, fairies, family, Food and Drink, Hens, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2012

This week has been a hodge podge. I repainted a fairy, finished another, signed up a TON of people for the swap (yay! This will be a fun one!), babysat my own little fairies, and baked a TON of bread. I might just weigh a TON more now that I've experimented with my new bread machine a bit…

As the smell of fresh baked bread fills the house, my Sister-In-Law, Sandy, and I do all we can to stop ourselves from standing over it, each clutching a stick of butter in our greedy little paws.

You know you've baked too much, when you realize the 5 lb bag of flour is empty.

I'm not a measuring type, but I've tried to approximate measures, so that the machine will be filled with the right amounts, and not overflow. And I've learned that as much as I love the pure whole wheat flour, it can be a bit heavy for most people. I've switched to mostly whole wheat, and about a 1/3 bread flour. Its lighter and breadier.

Pure whole wheat does make a good, solid, filling peasant type bread though.

Here is my favorite made up recipe (sort of- my own measurements are eyeballed)

Yummy Bread (as Sugarwings calls it)

1-1/2 cup leftover coffee, still warm, not hot (I drink Starbucks Vanilla)

1/2 cup organic clover honey

3/4 cup dried mixed berries

1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds

2 cups whole wheat flour (organic)

1 cup unbleached organic bread flour

2-1/4 tsp bread machine yeast

Dump into machine in that order. From what I hear, you want the liquid on the bottom and the yeast on the top. I don't know why.

Bake on the whole wheat setting.

Stand by with your stick of butter so you are ready when the bread is done! (notice that I didn't add oil or butter to the mix? I forgot to, and liked it better this way, it was moist and soft, and I put enough butter on top while its hot, that I do not need any inside the loaf too)

Bread machines are too, too easy to use. It takes me less than five minutes to make a loaf of deliciousness. If I keep this up, I will become housebound, too big to fit through the front door.

On Thursday, it got up to 107 degrees. In June. Yes, 107. Dang!

I had both little girls here, and we really did try to play outside. We turned on the hose, made mud pies and stayed in the shade till almost noon. I was proud of myself for staying out that long. As soon as lunch time came, I had the perfect excuse to give up on the great outdoors and get into the air conditioning.

Then, we did the same thing we do on blizzardy days. We built a fort of blankets over the dining room table, filled the floor with pillows and climbed in to watch movies and read books. We also brought markers, and drew all over the under belly of the table. Sugawings traced her foot and I dated it.

It was too hot for the chickens today too, when I turned on the hose to water the flower beds, a couple of them dove in to cool off in the water.

There hasn't been a lot of time for making things other than bread this week. I did finish a few book covers for the swap, I need to keep on top of that and make a few here and there, so I'm not swamped with too many at the last moment. We are at about 60 or so right now.

I hope you'll join us if you haven't yet.

Believe it or not, I actually made time to list some millinery packs in the Boutique!

Including some Halloween/Autumn tones.

And one magnificent double white rose with white velvet ribbons!

Painting fairies

Books, fairies, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 26, 2012

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This week, I've done a lot of painting. Still not sure, but I think this might be the right fairy for the book swap covers.
I'm experimenting with different copy sizes and papers. When I make the covers, no two will be exactly alike anyway, even if I use the same image. I'm using vintage millinery petals and leaves for the wings, and trimming the bottom with a variety of laces and ribbons. The wallpaper under the title will be changing too. I'll have an assortment of florals that I'll be cutting from.

The back of the cover will be done in vintage wallpaper too. But I like the text behind the fairy. Or do I? Maybe I'll do some with wallpaper too.

When I have to make dozens and dozens and dozens of something, I need some variety as I go along. So a few changes here and there make the work much more interesting.

(by the way, thanks to all of you who signed up!! I'm excited that so many of you wanted to play fairy with us- and I have room for plenty more if you haven't signed up yet.)

The painting I did has a flower on the fairy's head, but I'm gluing a teensy millinery bloom over it.

She also has some wings, and a painted background, but I like the idea of cutting out the figure and adding 3-D wings.

I'm not one hundred percent positive that this will be the cover yet. I'm in a painting mood, I might do a few more girls and see which I like best. There is also no reason why I have to do all the covers the same, either.

If you'd like to join the swap, please do! Email me me with your name, blog name, and email address ( you do NOT have to have a blog to join, of course) Details here.

A girls weekend

Dew Drop, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 25, 2012

Dewdrop had a sleepover with us this weekend. And while she was here, she wanted to help me in the kitchen with everything I did.

I learned with Sugarwings, that few things entertain a baby longer than playing with water. A bucket and a plastic fish, a sink full of bubbles, or a sponge and a bowl, all were endlessly entertaining to her. Looks like her little sis feels the same way.

The only difference is, now I have wooden floors instead of tile. Which changes my carefree attitude about sloshing around.

We still enjoy splishing and splashing, but I have to be a bit more vigilant about where the puddles end up. Dewdrop was surrounded by a pile of towels today while washing dishes for me. It didn't interfere with her fun, but it saved some sogginess for my flooring.

Both girls came to spend the day, and I can't imagine a better way to spend a Sunday.

I did manage some time to work on a painting, but its not something I can show you, till the person who commissioned it shows it herself. I hate having something new and not posting it! That's not like me. I write my posts the way I talk to my friends, the minute something crosses my mind, I say it, usually without filters. Not showing something is a lesson in self control that I could probably use…

I've also started a couple more fairy paintings, I'm on a painting kick right now. I've got some more vintagey ideas for the Faerie Book Swap cover.

If you are interested in joining, click on the button on my side bar for more info, or scroll down a couple of posts and read about the details.

Winged friends

fairies, Hens, paintings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2012

Things are going well with the Ladies. They are feeling enough at home that we can leave their doors open all day, and they return to the coop to lay their eggs.

We have 8 boxes for them, but there are only two or three that they like. And they deposit the eggs together in the same nest all day. The next day they might use a different box, but all will use the chosen box of the day.

The Rhode Island Reds are about as lovable as a chicken can be. All run up to me when I step outside. I'd like to think its genuine fondness, but I think they are just greedy pigs and wondering if I might have a treat.

What surprises me about hens, is how soft they are. And that some of them actually seem to like to be petted.

Our other four ladies, the Americaunas and Red Stars, are not nearly as friendly, but I hope that changes. They are much larger, louder, messier, and squawk at me like I have no right in the coop. I am kind of wishing I'd stuck with just the Rhode Island Reds, since they are so sweet, adorable and act like they are thrilled to see me.

I guess its time to tell the big, noisy, messy birds that they are too juicy and fat to not at least pretend to like me. Because I love fried chicken more than I love hens who act like I am an annoyance in their lives… No, thier eggs are too pretty to give up on them. Sugarwings and I enjoy the blue eggs they produce.

Don't forget, we are having a Faerie Book Swap! Scroll down a couple posts for details. I painted this fairy as a possible part of the collage for the cover, but I'm not sure I want to use it. I think I'd rather have a more vintagey looking fairy.

What do you think?