Karla's Cottage – Page 206

the best part is always the Best Buds

By Karla Nathan / March 23, 2011

On my trip to CA last week, my flight was a tad late, and I missed the martini party, but I made it to Vendor night just in time to snap up a few pretties. I bought some posies from Michelle Gellar. I can never resist flowers.

And I wish I'd bought Colleen's bird!

Here is Lonnie's egg. She gave it away as a door prize. I didn't win, but I did treat myself to one of her necklaces. (no photo yet, I still have not unpacked!)

And I've been admiring Sherri Baldy's work online, it was great to see it in person. She is a lovely woman from head to toe. Look at these shoes she created!

Kim had gifts galore for us, every day something else. Candies, pretties, goodies, it never ended.

She had even arranged a professional photographer to set up and bring props for us to play with, as well as coupons for 4 free photos printed and ready right then.

Here I am with Jessi, Natalie, Stacy ,Cheryl, Lonnie and Michelle.

Of course, the best part of these events are the old friends you reunite with and the new ones that you make.

Here I am with Nat and Iva.

Yep, the people there were as great as the decor. The laughter never stopped. This is Lonnie, Kerry Lynn, Colleen, and Stacy, at dinner one night. It kind of looked like this every night.

I called these guys the bad girl crowd. They enticed me to play hooky from class to hang out in Venice Beach to shop and have lunch.

We walked the sidewalks and popped into a few antique shops, boutiques and galleries. My fave was Bountiful.

Not much in my price range and not much to buy, but the displays were WOW.

Cake plates were there in abundance. A bountiful amount, I guess you'd say.

Stacked all the way to the chandys.

The class I missed part of was Jenny and Arron's, but I made it back in time to get mine whipped together. I'll have photos of it later on.

By the way, photos of this girl do not do her justice. She has a mesmerizing quality to her, and such a glow.

On Sunday, I skipped the bus tour with the rest of the group and hung with the bad girls on the streets of LA. Lonnie, Stacy, Natalie, Colleen, and I went to the Garment district to find bargains.

Actually, poor Stacy was feeling ill with a migraine and we didn't want to leave her alone all day. So waved goodbye to the busload of can can girls, and went out to breakfast while Stacy slept in. After she got some rest and food, she was able to get out of bed and join us for a fun afternoon.

I don't even sew, but could have spent all day just looking through the fabrics at this one store.

These are all the photos I got that day! It was rainy and cold, and I was too worried about staying warm and dry and filling my bag with great deals to remember to take photos.

I'll have some coming of the projects we made though. Plus I have a giveaway to announce. I didn't go to the Long Beach Flea mkt, but I did find a little memento at the Garment district.

But for now, I've got to run. I haven't seen my fairy baby in days and am going to run to her school to scoop her up for some hugs.

Moulin Rouge at Manhattan Beach

parties, Travel

By Karla Nathan / March 22, 2011

Kim has once again outdone herself. Her Moulin Rouge art affaire was about as beautiful as can be. And her line up of teachers was tip top. Not only did we get four full classes, we also got a make and take from Christine to create these rose corsages from silk she picked up on her trip to Italy last month.

Learning how to quickly make a full fledged rose, from 3 squares of fabric is a trick that I will enjoy and use over and over. Thanks, Christine!

Kim has quite the touch. Everything matches the theme and is touched with beauty, including our itineraries.

Just beautiful. Over the top beautiful. I swear, if you ever get a chance, you really need to go to one of her events. Kim has mad skills. So does my pal, Jenn, who knows how to throw a shindig with beauty and class too. You cannot go wrong attending any arty party thrown by either one of them. Jenn still has some openings for her bash in October. Details can be found by clicking on the button on my side bar.

Neither of them spare any expense. And it shows. Kim's Moulin Rouge blew me away. And now I am even more excited about going to Jenn's this fall! I love these type of events, and when they are done this well, they are are work of art in themselves.

Jenn's theme will be Once Upon a Dream, and I know it will be just dreamy. And will have fairies!!!!!!!! I'm already in love with it.

I just hope that people who come to my party in the studio at the end of April are not disappointed. I am not even going to try to compete with the masters of detail, Jenn and Kim. My little gathering will be a whole different thing. No elaborate centerpieces, no costumes (or should I ask everyone to dress up like a bird?). Mine will be laid back and simple.

But after living in Kim's Moulin Rouge world for the weekend, I'm feeling guilty about not trying to build a themed environment!! It was so impressive.

More tomorrow. I didn't take as many photos as I should have, but I do have plenty to share.

Yes, I Can Can!

celebrations, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 20, 2011

This is a can can girl watercolor that I did for Kim, who is hosting the Moulin Rouge event I am attending in Cali.

I cut the lady (honestly, is she really a lady?? I suspect not) and glued her to a tag that I had made. At that point, before I added any baubles, I scanned it while it was flat.

You can click on it, save it to your computer and print it out, if you'd like to use the image for your own projects.

Here is the finished tag. I added a flocked butterfly and wrote the words "Moulin Rouge" onto some French text, added ribbons to the top, a feather and crystals to her hair.

Oh, and of course, some glitter.

Here are the gifties I made up for the goodie bags. Kim has 70 guests, but these didn't take me too long, it was pretty simple to stitch up the envelopes of flocked wallpaper, then I used the CuttleBug to chop up some butterflies of red flocked paper.

What's really cool, is that they are on adhesive backed contact paper, so the butterflies are now stickers.

I threw in a colorful feather and some rhinestones. Things that every can can girl needs in her supply kit.

I hope everyone likes them!

Being Real

family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 18, 2011

Sugarwings and Pixie Pie spent the evening with us Monday night and like all evenings do when they get together, it ended in playing dress up. I'm always looking for fun princess, fairy, or other costume accessories and dresses for them at garage sales and thrifts.

This time, the dogs got involved too. I think that Agnes Rosebud was born to wear a boa, don't you? This is the one I am packing to take to Moulin Rouge, but I think she looks much cuter in it than I will.

Twinks got into it too. She could use a smaller size fairy crown, though, this one falls around her neck.

By the way, does anyone know what the term for these things is????? I've been wracking my brain for it, and I KNOW that there just has to be a name for them.

I love to see what costumes the girls pull together. You never know what will be coming down the stairs to curtsy and show off. It could be a bumble bee, a witch, a fairy, or a conglomeration of all of them at once.

Sugarwings often falls back on the Dorothy look. Although she puts her own spin on it, and is wearing two different shoes, not ruby slippers.

But her first outfit was the best. She hadn't been part of the parade down the stairs yet, and I went up to see if she needed zipped or buttoned, or helped out in any way. But there she stood, completely naked wearing her two mismatched heels, a crown, and pretending to drink a cup of tea.

I asked why she wasn't dressed up, and she said she wanted to be "real". She's real funny alright.

Begosh, Be-gone! I’m on my way to Cali

holiday decor, Travel

By Karla Nathan / March 16, 2011

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I'm on my way to Cali to take part in Kim's Moulin Rouge event, so will miss seeing my little Hippy Chick Momma hula hooping her way through downtown in the parade while Sugarwings cheers her on. I'd love to see the look on that fairy's face as her mommy goes by in the parade.

But I have a feeling that I'll be having plenty of fun of my own. I can't wait to meet up with all my friends and get to gluing and creating!

Please understand if I don't return comments. And all purchases from the Boutique will be sent next week.

But I will bring you a souvenier! Well, one of you, that is. Leave a comment on any post while I am away and I'll have a drawing when I get back. For a surprise present. Maybe something from the Long Beach Flea market? We'll see….

Well, some is better than none, right?

collections, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, Travel, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / March 15, 2011

There were lots of good intentions of getting a ton of wallpaper cut…. but it just didn't happen. But what I did get cut is as pretty as can be.

Sometimes I just have to admit that there is only so much time in a day. Yesterday, Sugarwings and Pixie Pie came to play and I had to chose between getting my work done or being a grammy. I think you know what won!

Oh well, its not like the paper will spoil. I can cut more later when I am not pressed for time.

While I was working, it seemed like I had really cut up a lot, but once it was all ironed and packaged, it was much less than I thought it would be. I guess because I cut such big pieces this time, a hefty 14 x 17".

A lot of people were asking me for larger pieces, and I wanted to do a variety of sizes, but well, I've already mentioned that I was distracted by something shiny- two little sparkly fairies!

For now, I have about a dozen or so packs listed in the Boutique. And I have hopes of making up more packs when I get back from my trip to Moulin Rouge.

All purchases from the Boutique and from Etsy will be shipped a couple of days after I get back. Thanks for being patient!

There is also some other new stuff listed for sale, like this banner made of vintage gift wrap and old game cards (from my friend, Mary)

While I didn't get as much wallpaper packed up as I wanted to, I made up for it by cutting up what felt like a million or so pieces of old gift wrap. While I had it out, getting it ready to sell, I just had to make a few things with it too.

Like this mini notebook.

Its pretty stuff, isn't it?

I'll leave you with some more photos of what is new in the shops. And please check back, even though I'll be away, I'll have some new posts for you.

Now, I'm off to pack for Moulin Rouge. I'm not quite sure what to bring. I think I'd look more than a bit ridiculous as a can can girl. More of a can't can't old lady.

Oh well, I'll throw on one of Sugarwing's feather boas from her dress up pile and go kick my legs up any way. This is one old grammy who doesn't care about looking ridiculous!

Lace, starch, giggles, and snorts

redos, Tutorials

By Karla Nathan / March 13, 2011

What gorgeous weather we are having! I took advantage of the sunshine to get outside and do some yard clean up. Last fall, I kind of slacked on the leaf clean up and realized what a big mistake that was this spring. Leaves left over the winter get soggy, heavy, half decomposed, and best of all, used as a cat litter box.

So, the leaf blower wouldn't do the trick, it took rakes and snow shovels to clean up what I could have just blown away into the woods if I'd done it last fall.

But, its done now and while the yard still has its grey winter gloom look, it isn't buried in leaves. Everything looks much tidier. I picked up sticks and branches, and raked over mole mounds to flatten them out.

Gee, that's interesting, huh? Well to get to the point of the story, I found a branch on the ground that I thought was a pretty shape, and I spray painted it white to bring into the house.

It was a good day to be outside spray painting, so I grabbed a few vintage cardinals and white washed them too. I thought maybe I'd foof them up and add crystal eyes, millinery flowers, and other pretties, but decided that I liked them just as they were, simple and white.

I brought in a peeling paint flower pot full of sedum and stuck the branch down into the dirt. The sedum was nice, but I wanted a bit more at the base, so I sat a house plant into a terra cotta pot, tied a pretty page from an old book to it, and added that next to my tree.

To make sure the tree stayed upright, its stuck in the dirt nice and solid, and I braced one side with a rock and the other with the pot of flowers.

The fun part was making leaves for my tree. I'd seen some similar ones at Anthropologie last year and wanted to try making some myself. I don't know how they did theirs but this worked for me.

I cut some random leaf shapes from lace and soaked them in full strength starch, then left them on a cookie sheet to dry over night.

When they dried, I wired them onto the branches.

I'd also wrapped Xmas lights around the tree, and did a slightly crappy job of it, they are just loosely draped. It would have looked better if I'd spent more time on it, and attached them more attractively. But the branches are pretty fragile and I didn't want to snap them all off by messing around with them too much.

One bird sits in a little nest that I found in my stash, the rest of the birds just clipped on.

Besides waiting for the leaves to dry over night, it was a very quick project. And easy to do. I didn't use a pattern for the leaves, and they are different sizes, just like a leaf would naturally be. I discovered that it was easier to trim them up into a better leaf shape after the starch had dried, than before I dipped them and the lace was floppy and wrinkled.

If you want to try this, it's probably a better idea to starch the lace, let it dry, then cut the leaves out.

You could also purchase white birds at a craft store if you don't have any old ones to paint.

Another variation you could do, is to just put branches into a large vase or urn, not a flower pot full of dirt.

My weekend wasn't all yard work and spray paint. The newest Fairy Grand Baby came by to visit for a while and we got in some good giggle time. That baby has the cutest belly laugh/snort thing that she does.

Once upon a dream

fairies, family, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / March 11, 2011

Thank you all for your kind words about my Bookie. He was a funny little, odd ball and will be missed. I appreciate you sharing your stories with me about your furry loves too. They do find their way deep into our hearts!

Oh a happier, much happier, practically gleeful note, Jenn Hayslip's

Once Upon a Dream

event is open for sales!

And oh my gosh, her site is like stepping into a fairytale already. I can't wait to see the actual party! She is known for her attention to detail.

Plus, I might have a slight fondness for fairies…. So this weekend will be right up my ally. Or up my fairy trail. No, that sounds a bit wrong, and maybe even little risque, doesn't it?

Our magical weekend in Asheville, NC will be a grown up fairy tale, far from the Disney princess type of fairies. She is going for romantic and gorgeous.

As a matter of fact, when Jenn was first planning this and invited me to teach a mini class, she sent me a lot of the inspirational links that she was looking at and that is what inspired me to take the fairy pictures of all the little girls in my life.

Which reminds me, I should try to get some more sweet winged, naked baby pictures before my tiniest grandfairy is big enough to crawl away!

Here is the project that I will be doing at Once Upon a Dream. We'll be turning a teensy, 1" Charlotte in to a prize ribbon to wear or display.

Jenn is providing a generous budget for the kits, and I'll be filling them with vintage wallpaper, and pretty ribbons, lace, some millinery, and sparkle. Nothing but the Besties!

I keep looking at the Once Upon a Dream site over and over, its just so well done and so dreamy. I highly recommend a visit there to get lost in the atmosphere and day dream of fairies.

Today in Lawrence, KS, the weather has the promise of Spring. I've got all the doors and windows open, and hope to do a spring cleaning before scooping up my own little fairy, Sugarwings.

I found this cute old book, that I now have listed in the Boutique, and it has some interesting tips in it. But I think it should add "Play make believe with your grand-kids" because I can't think of anything else that keeps me feeling as full of life as that does!

We went to the park yesterday, and pretended that the slides were rainbows that we could ride. We had a treasure hunt using a map that was actually a scrap of some kid's homework blowing across the playground, and the hunt ended with her finding an imaginary crown for Prince Charming buried in the wood chips.

I'll leave you with a few more photos of whats new in the Boutique. I'm still restocking, and there is much more to come!

Bookie the Dorkie Velveteen Rabbit

Uncategorized

By Karla Nathan / March 9, 2011

Over the last few years, you have heard me talking about all my little dorkies, and I have posted lots of pictures of Twinkle, Sparkle, and Agnes Rosebud.

Someone I haven't talked about much is Bookie. He's the reason I call my Yorkshire Terriers "dorkies". Because when he was just a pup, he was so silly, I'd always tell him that he was a big ol' dork. He was such a goofy, little odd ball.

I don't have a lot of pictures of him, because he didn't like to be bothered. And after fathering litters and litters of pups, I figured he'd earned his time to relax and be left alone. Plus, the little guy was about 16, so he was around before I had a digital camera and was constantly snapping photos.

Last year, he was diagnosed with canine dementia, which is basically, doggie Alzheimer's. The poor guy had been becoming more and more reclusive and confused.

He started getting lost, in his own living room.

He would go out the doggie door and not find his way back in, so that we'd have to check in bad weather to make sure he wasn't stuck outside on the porch freezing.

He didn't notice where he was peeing. One day he even lifted a leg and peed right on my foot, and didn't even see me standing there.

He'd pee in the other dog's food dish. We got rid of every rug, and carpet, and kept vinegar and a mop nearby all the time, to clean up his messes.

He had no teeth and had to be fed special food away from the other dogs who wanted to take it from him.

He always had a bad cold, and was congested and snotty, so he couldn't smell things very well. Which was lucky, because he was spared smelling himself, and he was always pretty rank.

There's more, and its all sad. The saddest part was that he lost that Dorkiness that made him so lively and cute. He was just a worried, scared, little old man who just wanted to be left alone on his pillow by the space heater.

So, when he took a turn for the worse this week, and I decided that his time had come, and made a vet appointment for him to be put down, I thought it was the best choice and that I'd be fine about it. After all, I've complained and kvetched about his pee constantly for a couple of years. And he was such a loner, that sometimes I forgot he was even around, until I had to get the mop out again, that is.

If I tried to pet him, he'd panic. I think he associated me with baths and hair cuts, things that he hated. Plus I was always the one who took care of him when he was hurt, or sore, so when he remembered me, he remembered pain.

I've been cracking jokes for two years about his odor and said that he already smelled dead, I nicknamed him Zombie Dog because he looked so bad. No matter how often I bathed him, he was crusty with drool and snot.

It had been so many years, since he'd been my little fuzzy Bookie Bear, my original Dorkie, that I really thought I'd be fine taking him in to the vet today.

For over a year, I've been struggling with the guilt of wanting him to be gone. I might offend other dog lovers with my honesty, but it really isn't easy living with a dog with that many issues. And its such a hard decision, just how do you know when the time is right? He wasn't still part of the family in a very active way, and he was a lot of work and trouble, but still, we owed it to him, to let him live out his life comfortably. When you get a pet, its a big commitment. Pet ownership isn't just for the adorable puppy stages, its for the smelly old man phase of life too.

But man, at what point do you say, enough is enough? I was so paranoid about the pee, I was mopping 5-6 times a day. This is for a couple of years. That is a lot of mopping.

This week, the question was answered when he wouldn't eat, and had some other problems come up.

I was relieved. I wasn't happy that he was not feeling well, but I was happy that the end had come.

This is how he looked on his last day. And how he looked most days. Beth said thhe nicest thing about him, that he looked like the Velveteen Rabbit who was all worn down from so much loving. Much nicer than me saying he looked like a zombie.

I took him into the vet this morning and said all of his favorite words, things that I though might bring back happy memories. I whispered, "Sparkle, lake, boat, go for a ride, newspaper, treat," and "cheese", over and over and over. Words that used to make him jump up and down with glee and act like such a little dork.

And I cried.

And now I miss his stinky little self.

Facing challenges, a how to, and a prize

fairies, how to's, how-to projects, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / March 8, 2011

Mary Green hosts a monthly collage challenge on her blog, with a few images from her collections. When I saw it, I had some ideas to change it around. And to banish Winter! NO MORE SNOW, I want Springtime!!

I also wanted to try some beeswax, and thought this would be a good opportunity to experiment.

This is what she had us all start with. The rule is to use every image, but that you can add other papers and stuff too. The last time Mary was here for craft day, she gave all of us pages and pages of printed images from her many collections, so I decided to use only "Mary Papers" in my creation.

To change the Victorian lady into a fairy, I first cut her out like a paper doll, then traced her skirt shape onto some floral paper and then cut it out on glued it over the existing gray skirt. That part was easy, it was a little tougher to piece in the bodice of the dress. After tracing and piecing it in, I had to trim away some extras, and then used a light brown marker over the whole dress to add folds in the fabric.

The French holy card had a pretty border that I cut out and used as a ruffle at the bottom of the skirt.

I didn't care for the winter theme, so snipped off the ice skate blades and the muff, and glued the paper doll onto a tag covered in ledger paper (from Mary's collection), the text from the French holy card, the bank letter head from the challenge, and some green silk ribbon.

Have you ever tried beeswax over your art? I did once, in a Silver Bella class, so knew just a little about it. I had to experiment this time to get it right.

I melted the wax in a mini crock pot that came free with my big crock pot.

Starting with the smaller areas,like the sleeves, I brushed wax on with a small brush, then with a larger, flat brush, filled in the skirt.

I discovered that a blob can be smoothed out with another application of wax over it. And its good to work in one long swoop of a brush stroke.

Adding glitter to the waxed wings sounded like a good idea, but it wasn't. So I discovered that you can scrape away the wax with the flat side of an exacto knife's blade.

This made a really cool texture, the dress is a heavy coat of wax and the wings are a flat, sheen of wax, just the remnants from me scraping off the glittery blob chunks that didn't work so well.

I also found that I could take the exacto knife's point to clean up the edges and any bumps on the dress. After that, I kind of polished it with a paper towel wrapped over my finger. Just a light buffing stroke over the whole waxed area made it look really pretty.

Her hat is a millinery leaf glued on her head, with a white feather and some rhinestones over it. Fast, easy and fit for a fairy queen. I made a belt for her from the same silk ribbon that I used in the background, and then touched up her hair with a brown marker and her lips with a pink one.

SInce I had cut off the muff she was holding, her hands were gone too, they'd been inside the muff. To fix that, I glued a bouquet over the place where her hands should be. We'll just pretend she is holding the flowers.

You can see the wax better in this close up. It creates kind of a dreamy look to the "fabric" of the dress.

A ruffle of crepe, (dipped in coffee to age it), a millinery bloom, and a fairy charm and I was done.

Thanks, Mary!

My studio is full of paper right now. I've been slicing and dicing vintage gift wrap to make up packages to sell in the Boutique. Its not there yet, but I'll let you know when it is.

While I was cutting up the paper, I just had to snip some off for myself, and I made up a couple of banners. This one is done with all baby shower gift wrap and playing cards to spell B A B Y.

The wallpaper chopping is progressing. Slowly but surely. Its so freakin boring to do that it takes me forever. I keep thinking of little errands I should run, or tell myself I need to check on something. I'll make up any little task to get a break from this big one. I'm trying to cut a LOT at once and get the shop stocked up.

At first its fun, because the papers are so pretty and I enjoy playing with them. But after cutting out 5 or 6 of the same pattern I get very burnt out and want to switch to a different roll of paper. Or just leave.

Its almost enough to make me want to work on my taxes. No, not really, no taxes have been done yet. That is even more tedious.

Honestly, a person who is self employed and works at home should have better discipline. I need a boss to make me finish this!

But here is a fun part of my job, I get to announce the winner of my drawing for the package of good stuff-

And the packet goes to:

Clairice at Storybook Woods (one of the first blogs I started reading)