Karla's Cottage – Page 262

A NON-virtual Blogger’s Tea Party in the Garden

By Karla Nathan / June 11, 2008

We had a sweet little Blogger’s Tea Party in my garden yesterday in honor of Becca who was driving across Kansas and stopped to visit.

Since her blog is called "bluebirds and roses" I used that theme in my table decor. See the blue bird nesting in the etched glass compote with chocolate eggs?

I decorated bottles to give out as party favors, and used lots of roses and birds on the labels that I made.

This is Becca, myself, and Marilyn. It is so nice to meet blog friends in person, I have never been disappointed when I do.

Since it was mid afternoon, I kept the refreshments light, mostly snacks and goodies.

Instead of sitting down around the table, we pulled up chairs to the patio table and took our plates outside to enjoy one of the loveliest days of the whole season. What luck, to have a garden party on such a pretty day.

Especially when so many people across the country are battling terrible weather conditions.

My pal, Barb in Wisconsin is really having a stretch of bad luck, with family health problems, and now floods on top of it. I am sending her a package of crafty goods to create with, because her craft room flooded and she lost so much. With all the bad stuff going on, I knew that she could use a break from it all to be creative and rest her mind from her worries a bit.

I don’t like to take my good luck for granted, days like this should be appreciated because not everyone ends up like this. Not only the weather, but the friends who came by to visit, plus the fact that I am lucky enough to have a great life where I am able to take a sunny day and turn it into a porch party.

Becca made a "Twinkle" stuffed dog for Sugarwings, who loves presents more than anything. She is at that age where she thinks that everything is for her anyway.

Isn’t this just the cutest? Thanks, Becca!!

And thanks to Beth, Carla, Marylin, and Shawn for coming out to party on the porch with me and meet Becca.

Carol is also a Kansas City area blogger, but couldn’t make it yesterday to the garden party.

I needed to interview her for the article I am writing for Fifi for Romantic Country. So, we went junking in St. Joe, MO for the day, and then at the very end of the trip, we did a 3 minute interview in the parking lot!

I’ll have to email some more questions to her as they come up, but this was a great excuse to get out and play while pretending to work!

I might have bought a few hats today…….. I don’t know how many. I don’t want to know. But look at these!! Doesn’t the green one look like a mossy nest? It has birds and butterflies in it too.

And that pin cushion doll looks like she might have some fairy wings in her future if she hangs around me for very long.

And see the beautiful blue spread??? Twenty bucks and exactly what I was looking for to redo my bedroom!

It is vintage-ish, kind of older, but not old-old. And in perfect shape, plus the exact blue I wanted. On the way home, I bought two gallons of paint to match it to repaint the walls.

I am going to STOP myself from painting quite yet. It is hard. Very hard. Every cell in my body is telling me to stay up all night and paint the room. I have little elves dancing on my shoulder and whispering in my ear, "open the can, dip in your brush!! It will be sooooo pretty"

But- now that I am 50, maybe I have developed a bit of common sense and discipline??? I need to photograph all the cards for my Great Aunt’s 100th birthday and get that flickr site filled! Plus count them up and draw a prize winner. Or a few prize winners from all the kind people who made a card for her. I also have a mural to do on a business downtown and a commision paint job for a freind. So, no new wall color for me till I get my work done. I have to have my priories straight.

That painting job will be waiting for me as a reward for getting my work done. How is that for a grown up attitude?? Oh, but first, one more junking day, tomorrow is Beth’s birthday party, and we have a day out!

I had a fairy nice day

Etsy Goodies, fairies

By Karla Nathan / June 9, 2008

A lot got accomplished here at my cottage today. All because I had to get up at 4am to get my husband to the airport.

I don’t want to make a habit of getting up THAT early, but it sure does get a jump start on the day when I do!

After listing wallpaper art journals on Etsy, and priming the little toy hutch I bought for Sugarwings (last post) I sat at my desk and fairyed up a bunch of stuff that had been laying around.

I’d bought this old music box (it plays "Always") at a flea market for a couple of dollars.

It started as a simple ballerina on a gold base.

I foofed up the dancer, gave her wings and a garland of flowers that holds a sugared birdie perching at its peak.

Then, I covered the gold base with 3 different old papers, including pink flocked wallpaper, and then gussied it up with millinery flowers (wasn’t I generous with them?? I used a TON). I added a poem, part of it on a banner under the bird and the rest on a brass plate that I painted and sparkled up with rhinestone jewels.

Then, I found these adorable little pink high heels, and had to add that too.

Over the top? Why yes!! Of course!! A big change from how she looked when I got her at the flea market.

I had a wide range of dolls to work with today, and all became fairy babies.

I snipped at their clothes and sprayed them with glitter mist to make them shiny and foofy and more fey.

All of the little sprite-lets got more millinery flowers and some glittery wings.

This Sugar Baby is an old chipped chalk piece that was pretty ugly .

To transform her into a sweetly sugared fairy, I gave her a coat of pale pink crackle paint, then glittered her up with Martha Stewart crystal glitter. After that, she got some wings, and a hat made of a brass wreath, velvet and sheer petals and leaves from an old hat and a few crystals.

I wish I’d taken a before picture. She was dark green and cracked and not at all adorable. No wonder I got her for 50 cents.

This brunette beauty started the day as a bald bride in a crumpled dress. Rough ceremony?? A drunken binge after being left at the alter? I don’t know what happened to her, but she needed a rescue, for sure.

I found some hair (well, you know how a studio can be, you buy this odd stuff here and there and stash it away, never knowing when you’ll need it), glued it in place and tied it back with an old pink ribbon.

Then, I added pink rhinestones and teeny old posies to her hair in a ringlet, steamed her sullied dress and gave her a belt of pink velvet.

I’d thought about restoring her bridal finery, but she had been through such a rough time, I thought she’d be happier starting over and putting all thoughts of the ceremony behind her.

One more fairy, I turned a salt shaker into a button jar with a crown and a ballerina fairy on top. It is filled with old blue buttons, and I hope to get it listed on Etsy, along with these other gals soon.

The decorated bottles are for my real life, NOT virtual, bloggers tea party tomorrow.

If you are in the KC/Lawrence area, please contact me if you’d like details about coming to visit!

Speaking of the party, I need to go and clean my house up for it. the helpful guys from Home Depot came today and replaced all of the windows in the ancient farm house side of the cottage.

So, I have to put all the furniture and knick knacks back, then hang curtains.

Geesh, did I mention that I got up at four am?? I am starting to feel it.

Seeing some more reds and getting an eyeful at the Wakarusa Fest

antiques/junking, Books, family, give away, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2008

I’m still seeing red! This time, it is tie dye and wild, hippy reds!!

We went to the Wakarusa music festival yesterday, not camping out for 4 days like most festival goers, we just bought a one day pass and took our fairy grand baby out for some good music, sunshine, hula hooping, and dancing. Oh, and FOOD!

I discovered that snow cones are her favorite food on the planet and that she can determinedly try scooping them it with the long plastic straw/spoon, long after the ice has melted away into a puddle of syrup.

Sugarwings traveled in style, in her canopied red wagon, complete with fairy wings on the back.

Sugarwing’s Hippy Chick mommy was one of my favorite things to watch at the fair, she was so graceful and pretty while doing her hula hoop dance.

Can anyone give me an idea on how to load a short video of Sugarwings dancing at the concert?

In the meantime, here is a link to the video on Flickr- its very short if you’d like to watch it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karlascottage/2561653016/

I’m not a huge concert fan, myself. I typically listen to National Public Radio instead of music, but this festival was more "event" than concert for me and I had a great time.

The lead singer of the Flaming Lips arrived in a giant hamster ball and crowd surfed while bubbles and confetti were shot out from the rainbow colored stage. And for some reason, giant Tele Tubbies danced away on the stage to every song. During one song, naked women from the audience joined in and danced with the Tele Tubbies. Now that isn’t something you see everyday!

Another thing you don’t see very often is me out garage sailing and forgetting to take my purse!

I didn’t realize until I got all the way across town this morning, that I didn’t have it with me. I guess I was beat from the late night at the Wakarusa fest and wasn’t thinking clearly.

So, I dug into my ashtray where I keep my emergency frozen custard money, and challenged myself to a morning of garage sailing on $8.75.

Not only did I do fine with a limited budget, I came home with change!

Not enough to stop for frozen custard, though.

I bought:

*3 hand made lawn baby gowns

* a delicate embroidered baby’s pillow case

* sweet little pink booties

* a small, old bottle with a glass stopper

* a tiny wooden doll to fix up for Bethany’s art show

* and this cute little child’s toy hutch to fix up for Sugarwings.

I promised that my June giveaway would be garage sale finds that I get this month. So, here is the first of the batch, one of the lovely, old baby gowns I picked up today.

Check back to see what gets added as the month goes by!

And leave a comment, on any post all month to enter, as often as you’d wish.

One more red, and some thank yous- Sarah, thanks for the "Seeing Red" week, it was a fun challenge.

Thanks to Rhondi for belatedly adding me to her porch party. I had been left off the links and thought I must smell bad or something, because I seem to be getting left off of party links lately!! She was kind enough to add me in to the party today. Even though, everyone was showing beautiful porch pics and all I had was a burr covered dog in a gazebo.

And thanks to everyone who inquired about my Friday Flea Market items in the last post, and to those of you who bought some pretties!

The table cloth and some hand made vintage wallpaper books are still available.

Here is what the covers look like, I was feeling Flocky when I made them!

Red Rover, Red Rover

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 5, 2008

Sadie Olive’s idea to post our reds has got me looking around. There does seem to be touches of red throughout my studio and yard. I’d take pictures of some things in the house too, but the place is trashed right now. You DO NOT want to see that!

I’ve had the fairy grandbaby stay all night a few nights this week, plus worked on the Romantic Coutnry photo shoot with Carol for Fifi, and my house is beyond neglected right now.

If I manage to get a shovel and clean up the place, maybe I can add some interiors reds for the next installment, but for today, lets stick to the studio, it is safer.

Was I inspired by thinking of reds to add touches of the shade to Zack’s wings? Could be.

This is my brother-in-law, Randy’s dog and I painted it as a gift for when I go visit him down in Jacksonville soon. My sisses and I are going to my Great Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday party (and thanks so much for all the cards, they are still pouring in, I’ll count and photo graph soon!–plus give away the prizes).

While visiting our aunt in Florida for her 100th birthday, we will swing by and visit Randy and his enchanted fairy garden too.

It will be Randy’s birthday while we are there too, so I whipped up this watercolor for him.

I’ve added gold glitter pen swirls in the sky and accents to the wings.

Maybe you can tell in the close up, but not very well, I guess. In real life, it has a nice sparkle to it.

There was also some red lurking on my desk in the midst of all the clutter.

Last night I made wallpaper journals, so had lots of vintage wallpaper scraps spread out.

I haven’t used the red flocked piece yet, but it is in line for the next book cover.

I usually sell these booklets on Etsy and will list them soon. But we can have a little flea market Friday if you want one today. (the one on the right is spoken for)

These are all vintage paper, ready for you to embellish as an art journal, photo album, scrapbook, what ever you’d like to use it for. I’ve bound them with a white spiral ring binder, and the front and back covers are flocked paper. All the pages are nicely coordinated and the books are cute as can be.

$30 each (includes postage) if you’d like one. I’ll include some wallpaper scraps for you to adorn your books however you’d like.

While we are shopping, here is something pretty (and RED). This postcard album isn’t in the best of shape, it is a cover with just a few pages left in it. But- wouldn’t it be a great starting point for a project?

Or pretty as is on a table?

$6 includes postage Milo_zack_024 sold thanks!

There is a front porch party going on today over at Rhondi‘s. This is my gazebo, not my front porch, but hey, anywhere Twinkle goes, there is bound to be some fun. She’s always the life of any party.

The vintage applique table cloth underneath the book and on the table in the gazebo is for sale too. Its square, has pretty edging and is hand made. Not perfect, but close. A couple of tiny spots are on it.

$6 includes postage for this one too.

Funny, I did find some red in my studio, but here I am trying to get rid of it!

These are pretty things, but like I said, I just don’t use much in the way of red.

So, here is one more:

A pair of pillow cases with red roses cross stitched onto them, and edged in hand crocheted trim.

I’ll stick to $6 including postage for this too. sold, thanks!

These prices all include shipping within the US. If you are elsewhere, I’ll have to charge a couple dollars. Let me know if you are interested in added a splash of red to your life (and helping me clean out the cabinet in my studio!)

This bench that my son made from an old head board, and I painted flowers onto, is a red that I won’t be trying to get rid of.

As far as the partied-out little dog in the red rose kercheif, I don’t think I’ll sell her either, unless of course, she keeps getting so full of burrs when she is out chasing bunnies that it becomes a full time job keeping her picked clean.

Did anyone else win any prizes during the Cottage Charm Giveaways? I won these from Inis Lovely and have just the perfect place to use them.

On Tuesday, Becca is driving through Lawrence and is stopping to visit. I am trying to round up some local bloggers and people who have participated in the swaps Beth and I have done to see if they want to come by for a little tea party and meet her.

If you are in the KC/Lawrence/Topeka area and are a blogger or blog friend, please contact me.

Ruby tunes and colors stuck in my head

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, flowers, paintings, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 3, 2008

Sarah Duckett of Sadie Olive is asking us to See Red, and she is calling today, Ruby Tuesday. And now I will be humming that tune till tomorrow. As well as seeing red everywhere I go.

Sarah is the genius who designed my blog layout using all of my favorite paintings. I loved it that she took this watercolor of mine and turned it on its side, toned it down, added pink and made it look like vintage wallpaper for the sidebars of my blog!

See, GENIUS!

Red isn’t too easy to find around here at my cottage. Most flowers I have planted this year are coordinated in pink, white and purple. But here is a chippy old red bird in my birdcage planter, and a coleus that has a touch of red in the leaves.

This planter was a birthday gift from my friends, and has some red blooms that brighten up my entryway.

And of course, the French doors to my art studio are a rosey red. Ruby Tuesday was a good day for me to join in the party, ruby reds are more appealing to me than Chinese or orangish based reds.

This old curtain was lurking in my shed and I used it to wrap a pillow on the seat of this old vintage rocker.

And I am seeing RED after Twinkle took off after a bunny, into the woods and came out looking like this. One burr tangled up on top of another burr. I see an entire evening of picking this little stickers off of her ahead of me tonight.

A good sized portion of my day already went to weeding the garden. All of that work will pay off when these plants start producing. See the red on the little plastic tag in front of the tomato cage? That is a promise of goodness to come! I think it is my favorite red of the day!

Although, this red handled scoop isn’t bad either. I used it to spread more pre-emergent so that maybe I won’t have to do as much weeding later on.

This red air compressor might not be a thing of beauty, but it sure made my life easier today. I used it to blow all the filth off the fans that I had stored in the shed for the winter.

It worked so well, I’d love to bring it indoors and clean the whole house with it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful just to blow away the dirt?

Here is a bit of red watercolor paint on my palette. Sugarwings helped me with a painting last night during our sleepover.

UPCOMING GRAMMY BRAGGING ALERT!

She was lost in her project for about an hour. For a baby not quite 2 yet, that is quite a good amount of time to stay on a task.

I was actually able to work on my own painting while she worked on hers and we chatted about our pictures.

Mine isn’t done yet, now that the fairy grand baby has gone home to her Hippy Chick mom and her Daddy, I will be able to get the rest finished.

The pup is Zacharia Beauregard, my brother-in-law’s long haired dachshund. Sugarwings and I had a bit of an argument, she is sure this is Twinkle. I told her it wasn’t and she got irritated with me.

It was a friendly disagreement, but I did see a glimpse of what life with a two year old is going to be like. They think they are always right, don’t they?

Back to my painting, and humming… good bye Ruby Tuesday….

the not so romantic side of a Romantic Country Autumn Garden Party IN JUNE

flowers, give away, magazine pictures or articles

By Karla Nathan / June 1, 2008

Today is Present Day! I get to announce the winners of not one but TWO May giveaways!

Jenny

and

Dede

Remember, I ALWAYS have a giveaway going somewhere, some how. All comments are entered into the monthly drawing and the prize is always something different. A new one starts now for June.

What should I have for June’s giveaway? Last month was popular, maybe I’ll do another prize pack.

I know!! It can be a June Garage Sailing Extravaganza Pack! I’ll scour garage sales and find some good presents for you.

Carol and I set up our fall photo shoot for Romantic Country for Fifi, and Sugarwings dropped by to help a bit.

I see a future photo stylist in the makings there!

And you know, we could use all the help we could get. Its not simple to turn a neglected corner of a farm field into a romantic picnic!

Luckily we had a beautiful, perfect day, sunny and no wind. Shooting outdoors is never easy. Diane Guthrie (our photographer) had to run an extension cord across the field so we could set up some lights for a shadowy corner.

The other day in our "dry run" to set up and see what needed to be tweaked, we came up with lots of changes.

One being the planks on the ground under the table legs, so that when we loaded the table, it didn’t slowly sink into the mud and tilt sideways so that things fall off and break (yep, that happened in the dry run).

To create an outdoor room for our Autumn picnic, we hung some curtains from the trees. Vintage French lace curtains from Carol’s stash!

But, halfway through the shoot, they were just not looking right to me on the screen. Great in person, very romantic. But haunted and ghostly in the film, so we had to take some down.

We had hung this Gothic arch window of Carol’s (she has great stuff, check out her website) with more French lace behind it, and that was plenty for atmosphere. Sometimes just a touch of something is all you need. (can you believe that I said that, Miss Gaudy actually said that a touch is enough???)

Oh but, don’t worry, there was some gaudiness! But tastefully done, not over the top like I tend to do, because Carol is magnificent and this article is featuring her creations and ideas.

See the purple brain in the urn? Hmmm, it looks better from the front angle instead of this one. It is a red cabbage is embellished with ribbons and rhinestones and I just thought it was the cutest topiary ever.

I can show you some snippets, but not all of the set up, it will have to be a surprise when the fall issue of Romantic Country comes out.

Carol made these mini crowns from gutter screening, and we set votive cups inside to hold the water and flowers.

Our colors were rich purples, plums, and cream, with contrasting greens.

Neither of us are purple people, but everything looked so pretty together, we might have converted ourselves.

The table was set with such an inviting style, we were tempted to pull up a chair and start the party. But instead we sat on the bumper of the SUV parked in the grass to eat our sandwhiches. After all that work, we couldn’t risk messing the disply up!

The field felt like it was miles from the house ( I guess I was feeling my age today, plus it was so humid that Carol’s glasses steamed up). So, I got out the John Deere and made my hauls back and forth with props the lazy way!

Speaking of lazy, that last load of stuff is still in the wagon, I’d better go get it put away, then treat myself to a relaxing evening with nothing else to do but finish a good book I am near the end of. Maybe in the jacuzzi. With lots of Calgon. And a glass of wine.

Yep, perfect ending to a fun, but tiring day.

Faking Fall

magazine pictures or articles, swaps

By Karla Nathan / May 30, 2008

Carol is on her way here from the other side of Kansas City to get set up for a preview of our "Welcome Autumn" story for Romantic Country magazine.

Today we are setting up the table and seeing what needs to be tweaked before our photographer comes in a couple days.

So, yesterday, I spray painted (with florist spray) my trees to make the area look more fallish.

I might have to get another can, I will see how this works out for the set up, it might be enough, to make the area look like it is early fall when the leaves start to change and the air has a slight chill at night.

Beth and I made up all of the swap screens from the piles of panels spread across my studio. And they were such fun. I loved the assembly part and kept saying each one was my favorite as I matched up the panels.

We also drew a name for the scarf winner, it goes to Rhonda

(ps- I am doing some hand dying this weekend and will plan on posting how to’s on using fiber reactive dyes if you are interested)

We randomly chose panels to add tags to as prizes too.

I wish I could have made one for each and every swapper, I appreciate all they have done to make this a successful and pretty swapping experience!

I think we ended up giving out 27 tags along with the scarf, a purse from myself and one from Beth, and 6 gift certificates from Vintage Workshop, as well as each person getting a free download from V.Workshop too, along with the downloads of images for the swap itself.

Thanks again, everyone for all you did!

After Beth and I finished assembling panels and packing boxes and bags up, and I got my trees spray painted, I "made" this bird bath.

All I did was use Liquid Nails to glue a wash bowl to a pedestal that had lost its top years ago. We’ll see how it holds up over the summer, and if the birdies like it.

It doesn’t look at all like Autumn around here, Spring is bursting out all over.

Wish me luck with Carol today, faking a fall picnic!

And please, check out my previous posts for details on the two giveaways I have going on right now.

Two Sugarwings Fairies!!!

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps

By Karla Nathan / May 28, 2008

The swap panels are coming along nicely.

There are only about 400 or so to punch holes in and ring together.

But honestly, it isn’t monotonous or boring at all. I look at it as a chance to examine and admire each artwork.

Since Beth and I sorted them according to colors, styles and themes, they are already in piles ready to be assembled in groups that coordinate nicely.

Its kind of like doing one of those Flickr mosaics.

Or more like doing dozens of those Flickr mosaics!

I’m happy with the way they are looking, and hope everyone agrees that it was worth our time to match up sets of four instead of randomly hooking them together.

Tomorrow, Beth comes over for the day to finish and pack up the rest so we can get them in the mail.

A number of them will be late, though. Amy Barrickman wants to have a large selection professionally photographed for her newsletters and possible other publications.

We’ve had so many gorgeous ones come in, it will be hard to chose a few to send to Amy, so we are giving her a box full and letting her decide.

There are prizes going out to a LOT of swappers. Not based on their art (we love it all!) but by random drawing.

6 gift certificates from Vintage Workshop

2 clutches made by Beth and I with Vintage Workshop images

This lightweight cotton scarf, hand made by Beth and dyed by me

And a slew of tags I made from the images Amy provided

We’ve informed a couple of winners, but not all prizes are drawn yet.

I feel like I won a prize, look at the score I made today on a quick junking trip!

Sterling silver mini tiaras covered in crystal rhinestones, ready for me to foof and doodad up even further. I can’t wait to make these even more gaudy!!

Also, vintage trims and more cabinet cards. I KNOW I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO BUY ANY MORE PHOTOS. But when they are 50 cents or so, how can I not??? (the tiaras were $4 each and are going to be the most gaudily gorgeous things ever!)

Well, not as gorgeous as my fairy grand baby. Nothing is, in my book.

And look what I got, from my pal Lili! Isn’t she just adorable??? Thanks so much, Lili, I just love it!

I have my little fairy baby hanging on a chandelier in my art studio and can’t wait for her to come and see it there. She always notices my light fixtures and has a comment on them. I like to hang extras from them to surprise her, since she appreciates it so much.

Do you remember this photo of little Sugarwings at the zoo?

Today, after taking my husband to the airport at FIVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING– ugh- and going to the gym- double ugh- I sat down and painted a quick watercolor of this picture.

I ‘fairied" her up a bit more and added glitter. No respectable watercolorist adds Stickles glitter to their work, but hey, who needs to be respected? I’d rather be sparkly!

By the time this baby is in school, I’ll have enough paintings and collages of her to fill all the walls in my house.

If I had any sense at all, I’d spend my time on commissions instead of painting my own baby over and over!

Or instead of buying hats all the time. But, at least I pulled a few more flowers (and cherries!) off of a few and listed them on Etsy. And some on Ebay too. I hadn’t done Ebay in months. It isn’t hard to do, I just don’t enjoy it like I do my sweet little Etsy shop.

Thanks to all of you who help keep my shop going, I couldn’t do it, if I didn’t have you all shopping there. Yuck, I’d have to go and get a real job and not have time to waste on blog writing and reading all the other fun blogs out there!

That is why I am so happy to do giveaways. I owe you!!

So remember, you still have till the end of the month to enter to win the birdhouse for the Cottage Charm giveaway. And check out my previous post for the pics of my other giveway prize pack for May.

Planted Plates and Pansies

collections, flowers, give away, show and tell

By Karla Nathan / May 25, 2008

Hope you are all having a happy Memorial Day weekend? We’ve been busy, with boating, and a party, and the fairy grand baby staying the WHOLE weekend with us. She and I have done yard work all morning (and no, I didn’t tame the wildness of the yard, I merely pulled weeds and cleaned up a bit). After nap time, there will be more boating, so I thought I’d use this small window of time while the baby is sleeping to be a part of Show and Tell Sunday and snap some photos of my china and crystal.

Except, I don’t really have any crystal…

All of my glassware comes from garage sales.

Just about all of my dishes do too. Except the collection of chintz patterned coffee cups, those I buy at Home Goods or TJ Max when I see a pretty rosey one I don’t have. The chandelier cup is from there too, it was on clearance for $1.99.

Gosh, on my last post I was talking about the wildness of my gardens, but from the looks of my cabinets, they aren’t much neater.

I am so much more comfortable with a laid back, casual display.

The very top shelf seems to be neater. These pieces aren’t in daily use like the others.

It is important to me to have things pretty, like painting the insides of the cabinets a complimentary pink.

The pink interiors aren’t really that noticeable when the doors are shut, but the color always lifts my spirits when I go to put away my dishes.

For every day, I use an assortment of white, cream and ivory plates and bowls that I have picked up here and there.

Then I have a couple of sets of "good dishes" like this stack of Wedgwood ones from an auction (for $11).

I don’t always put my things away in an order that makes sense. I go more for how pretty they look together, then add little tidbits to the display, like these chipped up porcelain flowers.

And no, I am not too proud to admit that I cook with instant mashed potatoes and prove it by showing a cannister full of them in the cabinet with the Wedgwood plates.

I do have a trick for instant taters, though. I will boil one potato, skin on, and smash it up so that is still slightly lumpy and add that to my instant ones to give them a better texture.

Any china with a rose on it is hard for me to resist at garage sales, even though I am out of room for displaying them all.

And of course, what is a cottage without some Pussy Willow around somewhere?

Well, when you run out of display space indoors, it is time to start hanging plates on the garden fence!

There were quite a bit more out here hanging but over the last few years, they have fallen and I simply haven’t replaced them. I’m surprised these have stayed up through a few rough Kansas winters.

And of course, I plant plates too.

And use them as flower bed borders.

Teacups glued to the arms of an old chandelier make great candle holders. (I did this project for Romantic Country a couple years ago).

As a clumsy, careless, and hurried antique dealer, I always had boxes of broken dishes from moving displays without bothering to clear the shelves first.

So I took up mosaicing to use up the dishes that I regularly crashed.

I’m not the sort of collector who expects or values perfection. Many of the dishes in my cabinets are chipped or cracked or crazed. I think it makes them more interesting (and of course, more affordable!!).

If all I am doing with a plate is using it for decor in a cabinet, I’d much rather have a 25 cent chipped one than a $35 dollar one in perfect condition.

In honor of last week’s Show and Tell Sundays vintage linens, I added an embroidered doily to the MAY GIVEAWAY PRIZE PACK.

For this week’s Show and Tell, I’ll do the same and add a lovely old plate. It seems to just be perfect with the assortment of other prizes, doesn’t it? How could I NOT add it to this bunch of pretties??? (that is if I don’t break it first!)

Don’t forget to "grab for the golden ring" and leave a comment to enter the drawing (all comments, all posts this month count).

Also check out the button on the side bar to see all the Cottage Charm giveaways going on this month. Good luck in the drawings!!

How does your garden grow?

flowers, swaps

By Karla Nathan / May 24, 2008

Its definitely spring here, and my flowers are showing it.

The wisteria on my garden gate are in bloom and bunnies are busily eating the plants I have sprouting up in the garden. I think lining the bottom of the fence with rocks will help, the ground has settled and the fence is a bit too far off the dirt this year.

I’m fixing the problem tomorrow, the rabbits are going to have to settle for just eating flowers, the veggies are off limits!

There was a heavy rain last night and all of the peonies are laying on the ground, and so are many of the iris. Spring flowers can be so fleeting, it is sad to see them meet an early demise.

On the other hand, it means I can fill the house with picked flowers and enjoy them indoors!

Every year, my yard seems to be a little bit more unkempt. I do like the wild-ish country garden look, but this is getting away from me.

Between the baby and the dogs and everything else I try to do, my yard is taking a back burner. With my husband flying back and forth from the East coast, I have inherited the mowing and trimming as well as the flower and veggie tending, so I think I will just have to live with a bit of wildness this year!

Over grown and wild isn’t so bad. I think I will call it "lush" instead.

Our big, old, fat, tom, Kitty Boy is a bit over grown and wild himself.

More presents came in the mail today!! These are from Kim Caldwell, one of our swappers. She sent me some goodies from her event, An Artistic Affair. I saw photos of her passing out these bundles of lavender tied up in old hankies and thought how sweet they were, and now, look, I have one of my own!

Once again, I want to thank everyone who participated in the swap, and let them know how much I appreciate all their hard work and time and generosity. Also for the cards for my Great Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday. I haven’t forgotten all of you, I am working on photos of all the cards still pouring in and will show some photos as soon as the swap is caught up and mailed out.

Remember, every comment gets entered into both drawings I am having. You can read the details in my previous post.

Now, I am off to a party tonight!