Karla's Cottage – Page 199

It has begun!

By Karla Nathan / July 12, 2011

Between babysitting fairies and floating around on the lake, I managed to start unwrapping the never ending packages of tags that are coming in the mail. And oh my- they are good ones!!

Now, in past tag book swaps (Puppy Love, Dorothy, and Alice), I've seen some really nice work, and very clever ideas. But in this swap, I have to say that the word I am using over and over is Pretty. The theme seems to lend itself to very pretty tags.

Check out the ones loaded on our Flickr group to see what I mean.

There have been some very thoughtful and pretty gifts too! This box is filled with sweetly scented dried flowers and this lovely hand made flower by Abby.

And I am always surprised at how charming the wrapping is for so many of the packages. This is from Darlene.

See how cute Mary wrapped hers?

And my goodness, LOOK at this pouch from Liz Waring.

Lynn tied her package up with a ribbon flower.

This gift is from Wendy.

Its my own Blue Bird of Happiness!

Sabrina sent this pendant that she made.

You would think that is more than enough, but it just kept on coming. I am touched and thrilled already when I open the mail box, or step outside my door to see a giant pile of tag packages on my porch, but the generosity of the swappers really blows me away.

Jill made up a goodie bag with this little doggie brooch in it for me.

And if you have ever read my blog, you might have noticed that I like flowers… aren't these pretty ones from Julie.

This creative thank you note was sent by Karen

My pal, Stephanie sent this book, as well as an extra tag for my book. Lots of kind hearted swappers gave me an extra tag for my own book. Mine will be overstuffed with wonderfulness!

Thank you for all the goodies, ladies. You really did NOT have to do that! (but I love what you sent!)

I'll have more photos later on.

Here are a few of the tags that I made for the swap. I got carried away and made too many, but its good to have extra.

To sparkle up the one on the right, I used some of the vintage rhinestones that I carry in the Boutique.

For now, I am opening and sorting the incoming tags. I will probably have two full tables of them by the time they all get here. You all remember that I extended the deadline, right? I have a trip to Utah that came up after I planned the swap. So instead of the tags being due by the 15th, they should be mailed by then.

That way, the tags should all be here when I return from my trip, and I can start the assembly process.

Now, that is not the quickest thing to do. It will take most of the week to get them put together, packaged and labelled. So, if for some reason you are running late, please, please, contact me before you spend a fortune on over night shipping!!!!!!! I will let you know if you still have time to get them in before I'm done.

Not that I am encouraging procrastination. I just hate to see you spend way too much money on shipping to get it here fast and then have it on my desk for a week after all.

the best kind of girls weekend

family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 10, 2011

We had a sweet time babysitting for our tiny fairies. That baby is about as mellow as they come. She fusses a bit if she is wet or hungry and that is about it. Goes right to sleep when I lay her down, and wakes up smiling and playing with toys in the crib until someone picks her up.

We thought it was going to be a piece of cake, after a fun family evening at Pixie Pie's birthday party, and peaceful night with the little one sleeping almost 12 hours and waking up as happy as can be.

Sugarwings was helpful and not at all jealous of the time we spent with her sis-star.

The dogs and the baby had a mutual admiration for each other, and spent a lot of time together. Twinkle adored her and didn't care how much her ears were pulled or twisted.

Agnes Rosebud liked to be near her if she was eating, since only about 20% of the food went into her mouth, and plenty went onto the floor. And she was happy to cuddle up and visit, but when the ear pulling started, she jumped down.

Twinkle never even acted like she wanted to get away.

What a good dog.

Of course, Twinkle was probably just waiting for a photo op. Since she thinks all cameras are pointed at HER only.

Our littlest fairy was content to crawl around, stick out her tongue and laugh for most of the day.

Then, about mid-afternoon, she started to wonder where her mom and dad were. I could tell by the way she was looking over my shoulder and was beginning to fret.

By evening, she was in tears. She'd never been away from mommy that long and was missing her too much.

So we hopped in the car and drove out to Camp Gaea where her parents were teaching workshops and she joined them for the rest of the weekend.

We still have Sugarwings, so she and I will be doing some painting together and will see a movie this afternoon. It seems quiet without the baby, and we are already looking forward to our next time to have her back.

Sugarwings is helping me write about our weekend with her sister and it was her idea to have purple letters.

Who is this woman???

fairies, family, give away, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 8, 2011

Can you guess who this photo is of?? If you guessed Karla Nathan, I just don't know if you are right or not.

Someone named Carla Ross, on Facebook, says it is her. She is using it as her profile picture. I'm a bit freaked out about the whole thing. I reported it to Facebook, and heard nothing back. I left her quite a few messages, asking her to remove it, and heard nothing back.

Yep, I'm more than a bit freaked out about it.

I've changed my profile photo to this one, and changed my password too. Honestly, I don't think there is much more I can do. Except hope that Carla Ross is just camera shy and borrowed a photo, and that she isn't really some weird, creepy, guy out to steal identities.

Now. onto a much more pleasant, happy subject- Romantic Homes has a blurb about my wallpaper obsession collection on page 26-27.

This is one of the photos they used. I was squeamish about doing my own photos for them, since I am not a real photographer, I'm just a picture taker. My camera is a nice one (and I LOVE it), but not a great one, and I don't use big girl editing like photoshop, just picnik. I'm good enough for blog pictures and scrapbooks of fairy babies, so was really worried about doing a magazine shoot, even a mini one.

(that bench was built by my son, from a Victorian headboard that I painted)

I'm still plugging away on the tag book covers. My God, what is wrong with me, that I offered to make 135 covers????????????????? By the way, the swap is at full capacity now, thank you to those who joined.

I promise I am not really cursing you all as I glue trim onto yet another in the never diminishing pile of tags. They will get done. I know they will. I can do it. right?

That is, if I live through this weekend… I am babysitting the tiniest fairy grand baby for the first time.

For 3 days while her parents are teaching their zen and energy stuff at some festival. I will have Sugarwings too, and she is a full time handful when she is here, so it could be exciting. Did I mention that the baby is still breast feeding and has never been without her mommy over night?

Maybe I will have to use this as my new facebook picture after doing 135 tag covers and watching the girls for the weekend. I'm feeling hagard just thinking about it.

Honestly, it will be a good experience for us to have both girls together. And we need to spend more time with our littlest one, she hasn't been over as much. I remember lots of late nigths cuddling baby Sugarwings and rocking her when she couldn't sleep. This will be my first shot at it with her sis-star.

Wish me luck!!!!!!

Oh, I almost forgot- the winner of the dress form tutorial is

Kim Caldwell

That was such an easy giveaway, I think I'll do it again!

Leave a comment if you want a chance to win.

I'f you've already purchased the $15 online class, and you win the drawing, I'll send you a kit. ( I really do have kits made, I simply have not photographed and listed them yet. It has been crazy around here.)

4 gotten

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / July 6, 2011

Today was a very productive, but lonely, craft day. I'm gearing up for the tag book swap and worked on a few more tags, then almost got all the covers finished.

But I was working all alone, everyone forgot craft day! Holiday weekends can take a lot out of you. All three friends simply forgot. And the repairman coming to finish replacing our new tub surround forgot to show up too. Then, at the end of the day, my son cancelled our dinner out.

I was feeling very forgotten by then.

Not for long, though. I scooped up this little fairy and she kept me pretty entertained for the evening. We ran errands, had a picnic in the park, then walked downtown for ice cream. She noticed these flowers painted on a store front and said that the "ABCs" looked like mine. What she meant was that the name signed at the bottom had a K and an N in it. Well, it should, its my painting and I signed it!

It was pretty touching to me that she noticed it.

So, my day ended up pretty nice after all. And I got a LOT accomplished on the tag book covers during my solo craft day.

Each cover has been cut out, and the cage has been embellished with metallic inks or glitter, and I've added floral wallpaper to the backs,the holes are punched, and I've inked the edges. About half have the ruffle glued to the bottom. I'm using some vintage eyelet lace to trim them out.

Its exciting to see them all come together. So far, I haven't opened a single package full of swap tags that has arrived in the mail, I'm saving that up for "dessert" when I get my end of the deal finished. Something to look forward to.

One of the tags I made today is for Mary's Monthly Collage Challenge. But since my mind is on birds, I killed two of them with one stone and made a bird tag as my entry to the challenge.

This is what we had to work with.

I cut out the pretty girl, and colored her in with markers, then glued her down onto a tag covered in a page taken from an old book about birds, sliding the ticket under her head.
After that, I used an exacto blade to cut out the pink flowers and placed them under her.
Over that, I added a bird cut from that same book, and colored it with markers too.
Then built a nest from moss and glue, and added a speckled egg.
Its trimmed out in vintage velvet ribbon, some rhinestone studded lace, and tied up with a pink ribbon dyed in coffee.

But my favorite part is the crackle glaze, I love that stuff. It was only placed over the girl and the background, not the flowers or the bird. When it dried, I used dark brown ink over it here and there, and blended it out with a baby wipe, then inked the edges of the tag.

On my next post, I'll be drawing a name for this giveaway for one of my

Mini Dress Form online workshops.

If you win, and have already purchased the $15 class, I will send you a kit full of vintage goodies to make the dolled up dress form with.

Happy 4th! Some Red, White, and Blue- or “Spot the Boating Safety Violations”

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / July 4, 2011

I hope you are all having a Happy Fourth of July weekend! We've been out on the boat most of the time, and got an early start on Friday, turning this into a 4 day weekend.

Before hitting the lake, I filled a grocery cart with fresh fruits and veggies, and spent a few hours in the kitchen making up picnic dinners. I also made a vat of chicken salad with fat free greek yogurt and low fat sour cream in place of the mayo and some slaw made up in a similar way.

It seems like being outdoors makes everyone twice as hungry, and we all tend to snack the whole time we are out there, so I try to pack things you don't feel guilty about eating a lot of.

So, we gathered up a ton of food and a ton of kids and headed for Lake Clinton, about a ten minute drive from our house.

It was the very littlest, most tiny, grand child's first trip out on the lake.

It was so nice there, we stayed out on the water till the sun went down. We hadn't had much of a chance to be out there yet this summer due to engine troubles, but after weeks of having the pontoon in at the repair shop, we were raring to go and enjoy the sunshine and the refreshing lake water.

Then, of course, the boat died.

But we had Sugarwing's Daddy along and he is handy. He figured out why it wouldn't run, when about 4 or 5 mechanics hadn't been able to.

None of the kids seemed too worried about being stuck on the lake for a while. I think they'd have been happy to be stranded out there all night.

If this photo sends chills down your spine, you aren't the only one. That slippery, wet, baby with no life jacket terrified me. But, she is a cuddly child who doesn't wiggle much, so everyone else seemed okay with it. Personally, I was praying for the park rangers to come by and give us a huge fine and insist that she wear a jacket.

And I didn't hold her in the water myself at all. I was afraid I'd drop her.

But I was told to not fret so much.

Isn't that what Grammies do?? Fret and worry and try to keep the grandies from ever coming to any harm? (I have to admit that I was against using the stacks of tables as a diving board and the anti-sunscreen rule too, but I also have to admit that the kids don't seem to get sunburned and no one slipped away to the bottom of the lake or cracked their head open on the dock)

This itty bitty thing was pretty happy with the whole trip.

I think she is going to love being a boat kid.

I know I love being one! (yes, that is my husband out on the tube with no lifejacket on, I have to fret and worry about him as much as I do about the kids)

What did we make at the Guncle’s?

swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2011

Not only did we pretend to be angels, then vampires, do some redecorating, play with pups, watch Tru Blood, and eat a ton of good food (I was afraid to try to zip my pants for the flight home), we did lots of creating in Randy's studio too.

The deadline for my Bird Song tag book swap is coming up and I wanted to have some tags to swap too, so brought along stuff to make some. Randy had a lot of supplies to use also, and we shared back and forth as we worked in the studio till the wee hours of the night. And through most of the days too!

I also packed up a bunch of papers that Mary had given me from her new collections. Both of these previous tags are sitting on a page from her collections, and the roses in the first one is from a previous collection of hers.

These tags aren't for the swap, I just felt like making them, because I loved the images that Mary had provided. She has pages and pages of lovely ladies, some in color, some in black and white. I cut out these girls from the black and white pages and colored them with Coptic markers. I've always wanted to try those, and Randy's crafting bud brought some for me to experiment with.

I think I like them… the fact that you can buy a blending pen makes them much better than most markers. I'll be buying a few for myself with the weekly 40% off coupons that I clip out of the paper for Hobby Lobby or Michaels.

Randy and his friend joined the swap, so we made tons of tags between us.

(this is the black and white version from Mary's collection, after Randy cut one of the ladies out to use on his scrapbook page)

Then he worked on scrap books, while I kind of messed around with whatever sounded fun. Like fairy-ing up some old photos. I used some of Mary's older papers to make the wings and hat, and tinted him with the Coptic pens. (the sweet picture behind it, is from her new collection)

But mostly I worked on bird tags. Have you ever noticed how much more fun it is to make things with other people's supplies (or with a new package of goodies you just purchased)? Randy had some great ephemera and Kevin was popping in with things he'd found while out junking that he thought we might want to use.

Like the blue print paper in the background of this one. I made a lot with this paper, I'd never worked with it before, and really liked it. I got on a roll with making a night time sky with this paper, and birds in front of a full moon over the deep blue sky.

All the info for sending in the tags is in a post you can reach by clicking on the Bird Song Tag Book Swap button on my side bar if yours are ready to send in.

They are starting to arrive, every day the postman has a bundle for me!! Its so fun to see them arrive.

I'm not opening them yet, please understand that I can't keep track if your package has arrived or not. I'm getting over 900 tags in the mail, that is a lot of packages! And I am not the only one in the family to bring the mail in, so I haven't seen each one yet. My son and husband bring mail in and know to pile up the packages for me to open later.

Tru-Blood premiere party at the guncles

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

By Karla Nathan / July 2, 2011

Uhm, did I mention that the guncles and I had a good time? With lots of silly fun? The weekend went fast, but we managed to pack in a lot of goofiness, including a Tru Blood mini marathon.

With HBO Go on my Ipad, we were able to watch the second episode of the new season after the premiere. So, of course, we made a PARTY out of it!

Because everything is a party at Randy and Kevin's house!

I drew some Tru Blood labels that we added to some empty bottles, and we drank out of red, crystal goblets, and painted our faces to look like vamps.

Since the guys bought my plane ticket, I wanted to treat them to dinner. We talked about getting dressed up and going out, but decided it was more fun to get dressed as vampires, watch our favorite show and eat in. So, I bought some lobsters and we had the best meal ever.

Crusty bread, still warm when we bought it, a crisp lettuce wedge with Kev's home made dressing topped with a chopped, fresh tomato, and giant, lovely, delectable lobsters.

I was disappointed in fairy land on the show, were you? I've come to terms with the fact that the show doesn't follow the books. And since they do stay true to the actual characters themselves, I don't mind, and actually enjoy the surprises that the show wouldn't offer if it did follow the books.

But man, the fairy land is NOT what I had hoped for at all. And Bill is King?

But that's okay. I still love me some Sookie and am a loyal fan.

I love me some guncles too.

Every night, the suppers were so good. One night was seared scallops in a vermouth and heavy cream redcution.

And another meal was grilled flounder with fresh asparagus and fingerling potatoes roasted in butter and onions. See why I was worried about my zipper still working? Did I mention homemade German chocolate cake?

Oh, and please remember, that there is a giveaway for one of my Mini Dress Form online workshops. If you win, and have already purchased the $15 class, I will send you a kit full of vintage goodies to make the dolled up dress form with.

Angels and pups in the Guncle’s Garden

dogs, fairies, family, guncles

By Karla Nathan / June 30, 2011

While I was down in Jax, we took a break from creating, crafting, and eating delicious seafood, to hang out in the garden with my furry niece and nephews. Yes, those are angel wings on that little white fur ball. And they suit her perfectly, she is a sweet heart. And she wasn't the only one to play dress up….

This is the newest member of the family, Perry the Party Pup. Or Zippy the Circus Poodle. He's got some wild jumping skills and I think he could have a great career in the circus if he decided to join one.

And here is beautiful Bella. She's still just a pup too, so between the two of these guys, its pretty lively around the guncle's house.

I was glad to see that she was no longer "Yella Bella" and that the yellow marker that Sugarwings decorated her with last January didn't leave a permanent stain.

Darling, serious Zackie, who loves to pose.

And here is the whole, handsome family, all together.

Sadly, it happened to be mosquito mayhem in the garden that weekend, so we weren't able to stay out there long and enjoy all the hidden treats and gorgeous blooms.

But we did spritz some bug spray on and play out there a little while.

Randy indulged me in posing as a sweet angel in the paradise of his backyard. He looks every bit as good as Bella did in the wings, huh?

There is nothing like having family that you can be silly with and have endless fun doing silly things with.

Aren't I lucky to have married his brother and have him as part of my family now? And then he married the sweet, Kevin and I have two of the best brothers-in-law that anyone can ask for.

Kevin is the one who bought me a plane ticket to bring me down to visit. What a sweet thing. Thanks guys, it was the best!!

Another redo with the guncles, a mini greenhouse with “aged” pots

guncles, how to's

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2011

Randy and I worked on a lot of different things while I visited. One thing he wanted to do was arrange his new terrarium, and pot some flowers to put in it.

We had an idea to decorate the terra cotta pots with some old paper and photos. The smaller pots are covered with pages from old books then rubbed with aging inks, and the largest got covered in photos and paint.

After Randy glued vintage pictures all the way around the pot, I dabbed at the terra cotta with three different Tim Holtz crackle paints, in mossy green, white and cream onto the areas between the photos.

It is a haphazard, messy process, where I didn't try to be too precise about where the paint went. Some areas of the pot are left bare, some of the paint is heavier than in other spots, and some of it got on the photos.

When that dried, I rubbed the paint and the pictures with a dark ink pad, a mossy one, and an ivory one, and blotted it with a baby wipe to blend the inks.

Of course, the mini green house was so cool anything would have looked good in it! But I think that the aged pots added a nice touch. (he bought it at Pottery Barn)

When we were done, I thought it needed just a little bit more, so I made this little caged fairy to nestle down in the moss. Its really tiny, about 3" tall.

The little girl in the photo I cut up, is holding a puppy, which was appropriate for Randy and Kevin's house, they are quite the dog lovers.

Gosh, I wish I had one of these, nice, huh? (Randy is pretty cute too) It looks great in their sun-room. I think the plants will thrive in it.

Please leave a comment if you want a chance to win one of my Mini Dress Form online workshops

If you have already purchased the $15 class, and you win, I'll send you a kit of vintage materials to make your dolled up dress form.

A whimsical mantel redo

fairies, family, flowers, guncles, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2011

My Guncle weekend was just wonderful, as I knew it would be. Kevin bought my plane ticket as a birthday gift to Randy, lucky, lucky me!

It all went by too fast, we played all weekend, and got sillier as the days passed by.

Jacksonville is great, but we were having too much fun to get out and explore. We stayed in the craft room, garden or kitchen except for a quick run to pick up more seafood to cook or craft supplies to work with.

We got a bunch of these little wooden birds at Michaels and foofed them up for part of a redecorating project we wanted to do. This one is perched on a grapevine wreath that we turned into a nest for the display.

When I arrived, the guys mentioned that they were ready for a mantel makeover. Here is a Before shot of that corner.

And Ta-da! Here is the whimsical after. We turned the fireplace into a magical fairy land, by shopping around the house, arranging some silk flowers, and making a few little tidbits to add here and there.

After taking everything down, so we could start from scratch, we decided to remove the fireplace screen too. The logs are wrapped in mini lights, and we perched fairies with red glass wings, and some other fun creatures inside, then tucked lots of greenery all around.

Out in the garage, I found a couple of large, metal bread racks, one in this great red, the other with chippy white paint. We leaned these up against the ornate mirror that was hanging over the mantel, then started tucking things behind the racks and hanging other stuff on them.

Kevin just happened to find a big bagful of marble eggs at a garage sale that morning, and we nestled them all around, in mossy nests. (we were pretending they were fairy eggs)

He also found two of these old bird books, one we used for display, the other we greedily tore apart and made things out of in the craft room.

The guys had lots of fairies, elves, and sparkly creatures around the house and in the garden for us to add.

I'd brought them a Nest banner that I'd made, and we hung it right in the center.

At Christmas, Randy had made a glittering nest in this top hat, and for summer, we redid it with the little Fairy Frog Prince that I'd brought to him for his birthday.

And this magnicficent art deco piece is a light fixture that Kevin found along the road in the trash!! Randy arranged some flowers in it, since it neede rewiring before we could turn it on.

Yes, we know that its busy, and there is a lot going on. But to us, that just made it all that much more fun. More treasures to discover each time you looked through the display, more magic to enjoy.

Neither one of us really get "editing".

For me, it was such a blast to get to shop his house for all the goodies we used. And to do something so bright and playful, since my house is all pastels and creams. Plus, I got to play with my baby bro, and there isn't much better than that!