Karla's Cottage – Page 265

Happy Fourth!

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 5, 2008

Happy 4th of July weekend! I hope you are all having a good one. Mine is filled with Sugarwings, boating, yard work and pickle making.

This is my first ever attempt at canning, and it seemed to be way too easy. There must be some botulism lurking somewhere in these jars, because it just seemed too simple to do.

My biggest problem in canning was getting the labels right. These are too big, I’ll need to make more if I do more pickles this week.

And what do you do with a baby while you are trying to make pickles and she wants to help?

We sat up her art table in the kitchen and gave her some cucumber stump "stamps".

I cut the end of a cuke, carved a design in it with a knife, then let her ink it up with her washable markers.

They really made pretty stamps, with a watercolor effect. And it kept the fairy grand baby pretty happy while her daddy and I chopped and pickled.

This year, fireworks were shot off over Lake Clinton where we keep our boat. The air was cool, the stars were out, and the water was calm, a perfect evening for watching the exploding colors in the sky.

We parked far away from the dozens of boats tied up together, so it was like a private light show of our own.

Now, off to do some yard work and take advantage of this unexpected mild weather, not typical at all for July in Kansas!

How to become a fairy, and the Hat Whisperer strikes again!

antiques/junking, celebrations, fairies, family, how to's, Silver Bella, Travel

By Karla Nathan / July 3, 2008

At a sweet shop in St Augustine, I picked up a bag of Key Lime Pie hard candies. I can’t belive I still have this many left, they are so good and they remind me of the beach every time I pop one into my mouth!

I miss the beach!

So while my mind is still lingering in vacation mode, I made some scrapbooks to send to Bobbie, Sissy, Randy and Kevin as a momento of our trip.

By the way, the bikini babe is my Sissy who is in her SIXTIES. She’s always been a teeny tiny thing.

One day while sitting on our balcony and watching a storm roll in across the ocean, we saw a rabbit hop across the sand.

That is why I turned these pages into "beach bunnies". I didn’t know there were rabbits on the beach. I thought that all those long eared hopping rodents lived in my yard and were busy at home eating my plants while I was on vacation.

I filled the books with lots of memories of the trip.

This cute, scallopey edged card stock comes in a package at Michaels. One $9.95 package made 4 scrap books, with some left to make at least one more.

I used my binding machine to put the pages together into a book after they were decorated.

Here is how I turned us into fairies:

I made 5×7 copies of a picture of Randy’s garden and wallet sized copies of a photo of the three of us, then cut us out.

Hosta leaves in the garden photo were cut away with an exacto knife. I cut around the plant, so that I could lift the foliage and slide our picture underneath.

Before gluing the photo down, I spritzed Glimmer Mist on watercolor paper, glued the cut out picture of us to it, then drew on wings and cut it all out.

Once the wings were done, I slid the sister picture under the hosta leaves in the garden picture and glued it all in place, then glittered and dood dadded it up.

On Bobbie Sue’s album, she is holding a magic wand, on Sissy’s she has one to hold. I used vintage stick pins for wands and just poked them through the photo at an angle and added a drop of glue.

I tried to add a lot of hand drawn elements, like lady bugs and vines on the pages that show us setting a bag of lady bugs free in the garden to control pests.

Randy raises butterflies, so can’t use any chemicals out there.

I used a lot of Glimmer Mist some pages before adding photos, and did all the writing and drawing with metallic or sparkling pens, so the books have some shimmer to them.

While in St. Augustine, I put my Hat Whispering skills to work.

Most vintage hats I saw in this touristy area were EXPENSIVE. $38-$200!!! My goodness. Lots of hats were in these antique shops, but few were in my price range.

While in one fancy antique mall, the hat search looked hopeless, but I told my sisses that I felt one upstairs, and walked up the stairs, around the corner and into a back room right to it. Loaded with pink and red velvet roses, it wasn’t cheap, but it was affordable and beautiful and some how it had called out to me.

I bought only 3 hats all week, for $4, $9, and $15. But, it does go to show that even in a high dollar shopping area, with the right hat hunting skills, millinery flowers can be affordable!

I kept my souvenir shopping to a minimum. 3 hats, lots of candy, these two shells, and a handful of old charms. Oh, and a pink St. Augustine hoody. I love trashy tee shirts and sweat shirts from tourist trap shops.

The shell necklace pictured IS NOT from a tacky shell shop!!

It is hand made over 80 years ago by my great aunt, Caroline. The lovely box was hers too. She gave me those years ago, along with the turquoise pendant that was her mother’s and the wonderful green glass bead necklace that her grandfather made. Yep, lucky, lucky me!!

Speaking of lucky- I got all the classes I signed up for at Sliver Bella! I was at the keyboard the minute sign ups began. Here is what I signed up for:

Secret Santa Diary/Pam Garrison, Saturday 1:00pm

Home for the Holidays/Pam Garrison, Friday 11:30 am

Christmas Pageant/Teresa McFayden, Saturday 8:30
am

Soldering For Virgins/Sally Jean, Friday 8:00am

Winter Faerie Shrine/Kim Kwan, Saturday 1:00 pm

Total 510.00

Yes, the price went up this year, but it is worth it!! If you haven’t booked your trip yet, do it now before it is full, I can promise you it will be FUN.

A fairy wonderland garden and a Prize Pack Giveaway

celebrations, Etsy Goodies, fairies, family, flowers, give away, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2008

See why I am glad to be home? I missed my Sugarwings. She had a sleepover last night and we played tea party with her dolls and then this morning she let me semi-French braid her hair. I think her hair grew while I was gone.

After the fairy grand baby left to go home, I listed a few things on etsy, wrapped packages, and got some things ready to mail.

These are the gifts that I am sending out to the 8 winners of the drawing from the pool of card makers.

Sandy, Melissa, and Sherry– I still need your addresses. Jen, Lili, Alice, Irma, and Robin should be expecting something in the mail soon, theirs is on its way.

Thanks again to everyone for their help! And here is a note from my great Aunt Caroline’s niece, Caroline Beth, who hosted the 100th birthday party:

Our Aunt Caroline had the BEST birthday!

Most of the praise goes to all of you who donated your time and effort to show so much love and affection for a lady you’ve never even met. What a heartfelt effort!

Thanks to Karla and her sisters who were "everything" to her on her special day. She’ll talk about this forever and we’ll be delighted to listen.

All of us who were lucky enough to spend the day with Caroline were amazed at her vitality and glowing disposition. You could watch as she gained even more positive energy from her well-wishers. The cards sent a huge burst of appreciation for a life well lived and a lady well loved.

We can’t thank you enough for the blessings, thoughtfulness, and amazing beauty of your creations.

God bless you all.

Carolyn Beth ( another of Caroline’s nieces)

Caroline’s birthday wasn’t the only one we celebrated while in Florida on our Sister Trip.

We got to spend time with my brother-in-law, Randy the Birthday Boy Nathan, who lives in a house filled with antiques, laughter, and fun plus a magical garden full of fairies. 100th_birthday_florida_005

Around every corner there is a surprise in this yard.

Its full of whimsical elements and beautiful blooms.

Not one inch of space goes to waste here. To make it seem larger, there are winding paths that keep you guessing about what is around the corner, and a mirror is hung on the bright red garden gate (I want to try that trick!).

This old iron railing was picked up at a garage sale, and re-purposed to become trellises.

It seemed like everywhere I looked, there was a smiling face looking back at me!

More garage sale finds brighten up this corner. The shiny thing hanging in the foreground is a chandelier found in the trash and taken apart to add some sparkle to the garden, since sparkly things attract fairies.

See, I told you so!

And the fairies have shelter on rainy days, here in this vase turned on its side and tucked under the foliage.

Randy and Kevin’s garden is a vacation in itself! I could spend all week just exploring all the nooks and crannies there.

My sisses and I spent a day crafting with Randy, (that explains the blue, glitter encrusted fingers). Then we spread lady bugs around the garden to eat pests, this lush landscape is not only beautiful, it is chemical free!

Our craft day consisted of making fairy pages for each other. This is what I did for Sissy. She and I both love the smell of Birthday Cake scented candles sold at Kohl’s and have had some serious bonding time while sipping wine and burning a cake candle, so the background of her fairy page is of sprinkled frosting.

Bobbie Sue is deep into genealogy, so the fairy page for her is made from photos of my great grandfather and his brothers glued to a copy of some hand written family history.

And after seeing Randy’s back yard, you’ll understand why I made a fairy gardener on "I love you" paper for him.

My little friend and fellow fairy lover, Adeline Grace, is turning 7 this week, so when I saw a poem in an old book, titled "Adeline" I cut it out and made a faery birthday card for her with the poem glued inside.

The best vacations are ones where I get to make things, so I loved my crafting day, and also my chances to play in the sand and make a "Twinkle".

Ooops, I almost forgot to announce the winner of June’s Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack-

it goes to:

Amy

Thanks to everyone who left a comment and entered the drawing. Remember, all the July comments go toward a prize too!

100 happy years

celebrations, family, give away, Travel, tributes

By Karla Nathan / July 1, 2008

I miss the beach already. But it is good to be home and have little Sugarwings back in my arms again. Her hippy chick mommy let my fairy grand baby come and have a sleep over tonight since I missed her so much.

But while I was away from Little Sugarwings, my sisses and brother were fun play mates.

Sissy, Bobbie Sue, and I did sand sculptures, picnicked on our balcony over looking the ocean, and shopped, shopped, shopped between family visits.

We danced on the beach in the dark wearing glow sticks too. No, I wasn’t drunk at the time, and even though you probably think I must be quite soused to do this, I am not drunk now when I am posting this photo of a 50 year old granny in a swim suit with a glow stick in her cleavage. Good thing the beach was deserted, I am not the graceful sort and dance a bit like a delirious cow. One decidedly ungraceful ballerina-esque jump had me landing flat on my back in the sand.

As wonderful as the trip was, the highlight of course, was Great Aunt Caroline. Now, that is one graceful, gorgeous, and gracious lady.

She is so sharp, entertaining, and full of stories, it was a delight to listen to her speak with such wit and charm. At 100, she can still tell a tale that has a whole room enthralled from beginning to end.

She was touched by all of the cards, and couldn’t get over the fact that so much time and work went into them.

She has been making beautiful things all of her life, and that cane next to her is a good example. She told us how she collected drift wood from the beach, cleaned and polished and decorated a piece to make this cane.

The painting that I am pointing to was done by Aunt Caroline’s mother, my great grandmother.

And we heard stories that day about how my great-great-grandfather was an artist too. He was a farmer who made beaded jewelry in his spare time. He also collected shells from the beach and hand wired them together into curtains for his parlor. Caroline remembers the tinkling of the shells as the breeze blew them together.

Our Sister Trip was priceless, and the visit to our aunt’s 100th birthday was just the best, and all of your cards helped make it even more special.

Caroline remembered the dress she was wearing in this photo that so many of us used in the cards and was pleased to see it. She told us about making it herself, that in the 30s, all of her clothes were hand made.

For the party, I wore the pearls that she had on in the photo and she also recognized those and told me she appreciated me taking such good care of them. Like I had done something nice for her??? She is really something sweet.

This darling lady is one of those people that looks you in the eyes and makes you think that you have to be the most special person on the planet. She has a sincere caring quality about her that just melts your heart when you meet her.

Since she was so touched by the cards everyone made, I wanted to show you my appreciation by adding a few more prizes to the drawing.

All the cards pictured today are by the people whose names were randomly drawn.

Jen, Alice, Robin, Lili, Melissa, Sherry, Irma, and Sandy, please send me your addresses and I will send you a thank you prize.

I just wish I could do something for all of you for doing this kind and thoughtful thing for my aunt!

As Caroline said when she blew out her candles, "I wish you all this many happy years!"

New manicures and last minute inking projects don’t mix well

fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / June 24, 2008

I am almost ready for my trip. This evening was spent ruining the manicure I treated myself to this afternoon. By the way, walnut ink doesn’t look very good on newly manicured nails.

I used Glimmer Mist to spritz a turquoise gift bag for some glitz. Then, I took a piece of vintage stationery and made a gift tag to glue onto the front of it. It’s a good sized bag, and it will be full to the brim with these 100 plus, fantastic, handmade cards!

Then, I decided I needed some little gifties to take to my sisses and to my brothers-in-law.

We are all fairy fans, so I whipped up some bottle fairies. I’ve been wanting to make some for so long, and was glad to have an excuse to finally make a few. And I knew I was going to miss being in my studio, so it was also good to have an excuse to hang out here for an hour or so.

Each one is tied up with vintage ribbon, a personalized tag, a gnome charm, and a guardian fairy note.

I chose the notes at random, rolled them up and tied them on, so they will be surprises to me too.

I just hope the glue is set enough for them to travel well. Maybe I shouldn’t have waited till the last minute….

Like packing. I still have laundry to do! I’d better get to it! Edit- I just learned the hard way that if you are packing things that have glitter on them, don’t do it on your bed, unless you have plently of time allotted for changing the linens! Or unless you don’t mind sleeping in glass.

Remember, you can leave a comment to be entered into the June Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack.

I’ll announce prizes for that and for the gifts for my card donators when I get back.

I will reprint the guardian fairy list that Beth and I came up with, in case you didn’t see it before and had no idea what I was talking about when I said I was tying one to each bottle:

· “Pinkie Sugar Fly” will guard your windows from bugs flying in through tears in the screens

· “Kitty Flitter Flower” watches over you during cat naps to bring you sweet dreams

· “Tootsie Twinkle Tulip” is always ready to touch up your toe nail polish before you even notice it was chipped.

· “Blue Bird Buttercup” sprinkles cookie crumbs for a trail to lead the blue bird of happiness to your door

· “May Belle Lina” watches out for smudged mascara under your eyes.

· “Flossy Flutterby” picks spinach or other goobers out of your teeth after meals.

· “Pearly Pear” keeps an eye out for an earring that is about to slip off your ear, then tucks it back before it drops.

· “Splenderina” This sparkling little yellow fairy touches your coffee with her magic wand to make it sweet and tasty without any calories

· “Sweet Pea Tee Pea” checks the bottom of your shoes for trailing toilet paper when you walk out of a public stall.

· “Blissa Expressa ” will speed you through the checkout stands at the grocery stores by magically opening up an extra cashier line for you to be first in.

· “Dee Essella Delight” always keeps your Internet connection fast.

· “Zippy Zooma Zella” will watch out for radar speed traps and whisper to your toes to lighten up on the gas pedal before you are caught speeding

“Spamicka Sparkle Sparrow” keeps al of the junk cleaned out of your email inbox and full of sweet messages from people you love to hear from instead.

Twinkle’s new dress

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, give away, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2008

Today I took 3 dogs and a baby to the vet’s office. The Dr. said I was the bravest person since the lady who brought 4 dogs and 3 cats in at the same time.

Actually, they were all very well behaved. Sugarwings insisted that Twinkle wear her new dress and that the naked baby doll came along too, which seemed a little backwards to me. We were quite the site as we came in.

Twinkle seems happy with the new dress, of course, anything that involves her Sugarwings is fine with her. If you’d like to see a video of Sugarwings and Twinkle, go HERE, but please ignore my messy flower beds and weeds in the driveway.

Twinks doesn’t quite get the idea of being a lady when she wears a dress, though. She was in and out of the wading pool most of the day with it on.

While the fairy grand baby spent time pushing her dolly around in the toy stroller, I did a little yard work and redecorating.

This area is the back door of my studio, and I added the big,antique, metal grate (found leaning by a dumpster in an alley) as a welcome mat to the entrance.

Then I set out a couple of folding chairs that I picked up while junking. They are metal, but have a caning pattern to their backs, and are nice, old solid and HEAVY chairs. I got them for $12 each.

I am a fan of white on white, but I think next summer I will repaint this set a cheerful color. You know, I thought the area looked cute this afternoon, but in the photos it seems blah.

This sign I painted is hanging by the door, that helps a bit. Maybe if the chairs and table were the rosey pink of the flowers?

I got the prettiest gift in the mail today, from Jeanne. Just in time for my trip! I like to keep a little notebook in my purse on vacation, to jot down thoughts here and there, or keep track of places I particularly liked.

This palm sized journal will be just perfect, and so stylish!

Thanks, Jeanne!!

In the very few minutes I had today without a fairy grand baby in my arms or at my feet, I listed a few things on Etsy.

This sold right away! I certainly appreciate all of you who shop with me. I will be away for a few days and all purchases made while I am gone, will go out next Tuesday the 31st.

Thanks for your patience!

I doubt if I will get a chance to post again before next Tuesday. I still have things to do before my trip.

When I get back, I will announce the winner of my June Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack, after hopefully adding to it this week in Florida. My brother-in-law is an antique dealer and knows all the best places to shop in Jacksonville.

So far, the prize pack includes all of this…

plus these. Leave a comment on any post if you want to enter.

I will also have photos of my Great Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday party! I will give the 100 cards to her in a pretty bag (that I have yet to make). I don’t know if she will open them all at the party, or take her time and go through them once everyone is gone for the day. But I will take a photo of her receiving them, and I will make up copies of the flickr address to pass out to all of the guests at the party who might want to look at the photos of the creations there.

I will also draw names for gifts to send out to some of the people who created the cards for Caroline.

All of the cards are on our flickr group page and the names of the artists are listed there.

If you don’t see your name by your card on the flickr site, please, please add it or any other info you would like to have there. Just leave a comment under your card.

I will leave you with a few cards to look at here. When I took the pictures, I tried to use a different vintage wallpaper under each one. They were all so special, they deserved special treatment, and of course, to me, vintage wallpaper is about as special as it gets! See you next week!

Pretty packages and hand dyed feet

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2008

My little fairy dolls are flying out of here! I will miss them, but I just bought a big bag full of Nancy Anns that have fairy wings in their future!

One thing that is fun for me about my Etsy shop is wrapping up the purchases. I try to put some time and creativity into each package.

This little sprite is going out in a tulle bag topped off with a hand dyed vintage rose.

I’d bought a hat filled with yellow roses, which aren’t my fave, so I thought I’d try getting them wet and spritzing them with dye to see how it turned out. I’m pretty happy with the results.

Whille I had the dye out, I thought I’d try it out on these shoes.

I found them at a garage sale for 50 cents yesterday. My feet are so fat it is hard to find shoes and I love to find some already broken in!! These were comfy as can be, but an ugly orange. I thought I’d be happy wearing them around the studio, but then decided to try the dye on them.

The dye has some gold sparkle to it, very shiny and glinty in the sunlight! I added some more glitz with a few charms, and now I think these might be my vacation sandals for my trip to Florida this week to see my Aunt Caroline and take her the big old bag of 100 (plus!) cards.

Will my feet turn colors from the dye? Maybe….

One of last week’s garage sailing purchases was a stack of folders for 5 cents each. They are perfect for packaging my Cottage Collage Kits on Etsy.

Also, I think that the person who buys the papers will be happy to receive a storage folder for them, as a surprise.

Although it looks like I am finding plenty of goodies on garage sailing days, I feel like I am losing my mojo.

Besides toys, and clothes for Sugarwings, I am finding very little lately compared to my past shopping. Maybe I am more selective?

I do like this 25 cent chandelier drop bowl. Its not old, but has the ‘look’ anyway.

And I can’t wait to serve something tasty from the $1 green compote at my next tea party!

This compote is a pretty one too, I paid a bit more for it, not typical of me, it was $4.

The cute kitschy kitchen utensils will be included in my June Garage Sailing Giveaways Prize pack. They will look pretty with the green and white theme I have going on in the gifts.

I am still receiving cards for Aunt Caroline’s 100th birthday. This one is from Kathy at Kathyscottage.blogspot.com, how cute!!

Hopefully ALL the cards are photographed and loaded on Flickr. I chose a diefferent vintage wallpaper background for each card, to set them off.

I would hate to leave any out, they are so thoughtful and unique!!

If you sent a card, please check out the Flickr site and add any comment to your card, more info, such as blog address, home state or country, or anything at all will be appreciated. Also, some have no names, so if you see one that doesn’t and know whose it is, or if it is yours, please do leave a comment under the photo on Flickr and let everyone know!

Another fun thing to look at is a doll gallery that Bethany is hosting on the 25th. I entered this one, oh, and she is for sale, of course! $15 if you are interested.

She is painted with crackle paint, and decked out in vintage wallpaper, flowers, rhinestones and ribbons, with fairy wings sprouting on her back.

I think I am about caught up on things I need to do before my trip. This week I:

painted a pole on a business downtown

listed things on Etsy

photographed and posted over 100 cards on flickr

repainted my bedroom and rearranged my living and dining room

bought new shorts to wear to FL (ugh, not fun, after 50 years old)

I still have to paint two shutters, go through a HUGE stack of bills, and pack.

I should have done some of that earlier, since Sugarwings will be staying with me tonight. Oops. I’m sure she’d love to help paint those shutters!

The store owner was happy with her pole. She had at first wanted red flowers, but I tried that and from across the street they looked like blobs. The flowers needed more depth and red is hard to get that with. So, I changed them to shades of pink with red centers, which stands out nice on the color she chose for the background.

I used lots of blue undertones in the leaves so they would pop against the peachy color. Contrast is important with big, outdoor art projects. I feel so good about getting all this done before my trip, it is a relief to have those cards on the site, they are so precious, I want everyone to see them!

I won’t be able to mail any more packages after Monday, till next week when I get back, but there are a couple of dolls still on Etsy if you are interested.

Using what you have

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, fairies, give away, magazine pictures or articles, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 20, 2008

ur Those two talented sisses are asking us to show our mantels. Well, that is right up my alley right now, and I am so happy with my bedroom do over that I’d love to show my mantel again.

I usually don’t keep anything on it, just the mirror above it, and sometimes a stack of books or magazines.

I promised to show some other corners of my room, here is the doorway. Well, I guess that is pretty self explanatory, sorry.

See the pretty alarm clock? A gift from Beth, that was so pretty, I just had to paint the room to match. Even though the clock is merely ornamental, isn’t a cute little ornament?

The table it is on is from a whole set I bought an auction, 2 twin beds, dresser, mirror, and two tables. I repainted them all and sold them, but had to keep this one table for myself.

This recliner, which is a concession to my husband, is the inspiration for the bronze/sepia vines on the ceiling. I wanted a soft blue room, but had to tie in this chair that sits smack dab in front of the TV.

In the alcove above it, I have my screen from the Birds and Bonnets Swap. I’ve used little birdies around the room, I thought they went with the garden feel of the space.

Beyond the chair is my sink area. I painted it a slightly darker shade of the same blue, and used a warm carmel-ly brown on the ceili ng.

The carmel brown color matches the Shabby Chic (from Target) shower curtain in the connecting bathroom. I always try to give my rooms a flow from one to another.

By redoing the bedroom, I ended up redoing the rest of the house too! Not repainted, but switched around and knick knacks traded back and forth.

These metal salvage pieces were in 3 different areas, but I really like the affect of having all four of them lined up together.

After an evening of "use what you have decorating", I had given three rooms a new look just by shuffling my junk around. The drawing of the goddess now in the living room, used to be in the bedroom, and it was replaced by a picture that was previously in the dining room.

All the things on top of the entertainment center (except the goddess statue I just repainted a couple of posts back) used to be in the bedroom. Now the little birdies are in their place there.

The large print on the wall in the dining room used to be in the guest room.

So, for simply repainting one room and getting a new (vintage) bedspread, one goddess statue and an alarm clock, I feel like I have a whole new look!

But then today, I went to some garage sales, and look what I found to replace the too small, too old lady looking, too brown little chair that was there before!

A THRONE! A Leopard print covered throne!

In garage sailing dollars it was kind of pricey, but in antiquing money, it was a bargain. I paid $60 for it, and it is solid as a rock, and very old, with brand new fabric.

I do think it could use some paint. Something like the way I painted the banister, but not exactly, I don’t want it too matchy matchy. A little darker and with some glimmer, maybe?

yes, yes, yes, I know it is solid oak and the wood is in perfect condition!

It was a quick garage sailing morning, that one stop used up my cash supplies. I did get a couple of trinkets here and there, and added some treats to the June Garage Sailing Giveaway Prize Pack.

Can you spot the new additions? green lace ribbon, a bag of old buttons, and an old green plastic cup.

I’m going with a green and white theme for garden season, it looks like!

Remember, all comments are entered, every one, every month counts towards my drawings.

As usual, I have run on long enough, (too long, actually) but I wanted to mention that I listed a couple of my fairy dolls on Etsy and also have reduced some prices, so please check out the sales!

I did finish my article for the fall issue of Romantic Country, thank you to those who were asking how I was doing.

Here is the first paragraph if you’d like a sneak peak:

When the air starts to develop a slight nip and rich reds and golds begin to tint the leaves, it is a perfect time to savor the outdoors by dining al fresco. While summer is known for picnics, fall is much more suited to the venue. The heat has eased up, and most of the summertime bugs have flown away. In this Mid-Western town of Kansas City, artist and antique dealer, Carol Spinski took advantage of autumn’s agreeable afternoon weather and created a garden party under the trees to welcome the season.

Elphie

antiques/junking, how to's, magazine pictures or articles, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2008

Meet Elphie, who seems to like vintage hats as much as I do. Now I know why I buy so many of these, they make great cat toys!

Little Elphaba (named after the witch from Wicked- she is Kansas kitty, after all!) is only 5 weeks old and is nothing but a teeny little puff of fur.

She hides under furniture in my studio and comes out covered in dust bunnies bigger than she is. She walks across my keyboard and doesn’t have enough weight to push any of the keys.

Elphie was meant to be Sugarwing’s kitty, but I discovered that Sugarwings is not a cat person, at least so far. She has no interest at all in this little cutey. She did tell her some long meandering story that involved lots of mentions of "Yeenkle" (Twinkle), so she might have been telling the new cat that she already had a pet.

Twinkle also doesn’t care much for Elphie. I hope I haven’t done the wrong thing by getting a new pet. Hopefully, they will all come to terms with each other and be friends.

My advance copy of Somerset Life came in the mail and I was sweetly surprised to see my magic wands in the issue, as well as the magnet board that I knew was going to be included. In the back, is a photo I took of some (what else??) millinery flowers.

I had last heard that the wands weren’t chosen to be used, it was nice to see them there.

Also, Dawn let me know that the new romantic Country was out and that my article was right next to one about her lovely pincushion.

Both of our projects have how-to instructions if you are interested in making your own.

I always hear that this magazine can be hard to find. And I had to go to two stores to get a copy yesterday too, so was very glad to see the new subscription cards! I plan on filling one out and getting it into the mail right away.

I’m going for the 8 issues at $29.97, that is a bargain, and I’m all about bargains!

Speaking of bargains, don’t forget about my June Garage Sale Goodies Giveaway!

Every comment is entered and I am adding more prizes after going garage sailing this weekend. And who knows, you might open your prize box and have a kitten pop out if I can’t teach her not to walk across my keyboard while I am trying to write an article.

Karla and Twinkle’s VINE COVERED Cottage

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, redos

By Karla Nathan / June 17, 2008

My bedroom is all redone and put back together, and today I finished the connecting sink/nook-type area.

I used the same shade as on the walls of the bedroom, but slightly darker. And the ceiling is a warm caramel with the door faux finished in the same color.

Peaceful, tranquil, romantic, and cottagey was what I was going for, and I am so happy with the color! The name is "nurture" and it is a Behr paint, my favorite to work with.

Behr is affordable and has fantastic coverage, usually one coat plus touch ups.

The ceiling was actually a pretty simple project, sepia and bronze glaze, swirled around with a one inch flat brush that I turned sideways for a thinner line for the vines.

Speaking of vines, I noticed a theme in my home. I do love flowers, but I seem to be drawn even more to the vines that flowers grow on. I know I am always scribbling little vines and swirls on collage pieces I make, and painting vines on furniture.

Do you ever have a theme that meanders through your home without you really thinking about it or planning it that way?

So, I’ll show more photos of the bedroom redo later, right now I thought I’d take a tour of the twisting vines around my cottage.

This closet door has been color washed in bronze over ivory with bronze vines painted with glaze.

The ceiling of my dining room is bordered in hand painted acanthus looking vines.

And of course, I have the vintage wallpaper vining roses going up my stairs.

The stairs lead to Sugarwing’s room, where I have a hand painted sign above her bed, with –what else– on it? Vining roses.

By the linen closet upstairs, I’ve painted vining leaves on the wall to mimic wallpaper.

The same look is on the bench that I keep out in the breezeway.

The guest bath has a hand painted floor that green vines wind around.

And while the cement was still wet, I took a stick and drew in the concrete. You should have seen the look on the face of the contractor, he was horrified!

Ceramic roses vine around the bathtub.

And wooden roses vine themselves around this $4 garage sale mirror in my bedroom.

In my entry way, the steps have a mosaic of marbles and Venetian glass tiles that are in an organic, viney design.

In keeping with my vining theme, I wrapped some roses and ribbons around this garage sale watering can I had painted white.

It will be part of my June Garage Sailing Giveaway prize pack, and every comment for the month is entered to win.

Included will be this Victorian scrap ephemera, a crocheted doily, and some vintage gold trim.

Along with those goodies, is the baby dress I found last week at a sale, a white ceramic teapot/flower vase, a pretty yellow flowered plate, a white pottery urn (old) that I added flowers to, a Lucky Day button card (don’t we all deserve a LUCKY DAY?), and filling the flowered plate is some bits of old jewelry.

If you enjoy mixed bags of free and vintage goods, you should also enter Beth’s giveaway. She has a big pile of cool auction finds to share!