Karla's Cottage – Page 267

Greetings! A mini tutorial on making some greeting cards with vintage papers

family, how-to projects, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 18, 2008

My baby brother-in-law, Randy, has started making cards and has been asking for a bit of advice.

I offered to send him a box of goodies to use, and he said he didn’t know what to do with pages from an old book or vintage wallpaper.

So, I am making these cards with some how to’s for him to follow along with when he gets his package of vintage delights in the mail from me.

(All of these cards have been created with pre-made linen cards from Michaels.)

The first one is on a white card. I started by laying the card onto the wallpaper and cutting out a piece to fit with an exacto knife.

The piece of wallpaper was then attached to the card with a glue stick.

After the glue dried, I sanded the edges with the sponge sanding block, for a smooth finish.

As if vintage wallpaper isn’t old enough… I ‘aged’ the sanded edges with the side of my ink pad. This color is distressed walnut.

After the base of the card is ready, then the fun part happens! Time to embellish-

I cut an oval from a page torn out of a 1917 book with French text, and inked the edges with the walnut ink, then added a smaller oval of a coordinating wallpaper to the center and to that added a gold foil butterfly.

Some old brown ribbon and a single bloom of an old millinery flower are arranged across the bottom. I glued a crystal rhinestone (I only use glass ones, never plastic) to the center.

Right now these stones are on clearance at Hancock Fabrics for 75% off.

For a touch more sparkle, I’ve used a Martha Stewart glue pen to draw dots around the small oval of wallpaper.

I then dusted my favorite glitter over the glue.

As much as I hate to make Martha even more wealthy than she already is, I just HAVE to buy her glitter. It really is so good to work with! I use the fine ones, for a sheer look.

This card starts with a reddish-pink, kind of an azalea color, paper as its base.

Decorative scissors were used to cut out the French book page and the vintage wallpaper.

After gluing down the papers, I once again inked the edges. This time, I blended the ink a bit with a cosmetic sponge.

These old papers can be very fragile, so do this gently.

To finish, I added a snip of embroidered old ribbon, a mother of pearl button, and a teeny butterfly shaped button.

(Randy grows a butterfly garden, so the flowers and butterflies are some of his favorite things)

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, old red flocked wallpaper that I got from Allissa is glued on to a warm pink card for this one, traced with an exacto knife and inked on the edges the same way the first card was done.

After, I used 2 different decorative scissors to cut out the French book page, and a color copy of one of my own paintings.

At the bottom is a brass charm accented with 3 pink crystals.

One last how-to for Randy, this card has a pretty cornflower blue base.

To it, I added a strip of wallpaper cut with decorative scissors, and a piece of anaglypta wallpaper that I have aged with an umber glaze.

After the wallpaper was glued into place, I inked the edges with the side of the walnut ink pad.

In the center is an oval of the French book pages, and a German die cut.

To finish it off and add some glitz, three little crystals in the same blue are glued to the border of the anaglypta paper.

While I was making these examples for Randy, I thought he’d appreciate a kit for each one. While I was at it, I made a little extra.

I had enough bits to make two kits of three cards each.

Everything I used to make my own is in the kit and ready to be glued and mailed out to someone special (Mother’s Day is coming up, before you know it)

The pieces are already cut with decorative scissors, all you will need to complete the cards is:

glue

ink

glitter

glue pen

exacto knife

If you are interested, email or leave a comment. Each 3 card kit is $12, including postage. (unless overseas)

The last time I went to visit Randy, he and I painted the floor of his craft room to look like a pond.

I wish I could be back there in his colorful room and make cards with him, but isn’t the Internet great? I hope he reads this and feels like I am there with him.

I love you baby brother!!

St. Patty’s Day Two Tag Swap and a BIG, Ole, THANK YOU

fairies, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 16, 2008

Thanks!!

To all the people who wished Ryan and Sugarwing’s mom quick recoveries on their gallbladder dilemmas. (both are doing well, and Ry is home from the hospital now)

And thanks to all the people who joined in on my St. Pats Two Tag Swap, late as it is going out.

There were so many pretty little extras tucked into the envelopes people sent to me.

I shared as much as I could and sent divided up a lot of the extras to include in the envelopes that I sent out.

I also included some vintage wallpaper scraps with plenty of greens from my insane, over stocked, stockpile of crazily hoarded old beautiful papers.

I feel AWFUL that I mixed up the boxes and don’t know who this is from!!! Whoever you are, thanks, I will be wearing these tomorrow! I can use some good Irish luck, after the hospital stays we went through this week in Nathanville. EDIT- the socks I’ll be dancing a jig in on St Pattys are from Jeanie-Thanks!!

And look at how darling this is, a rose patterned cosmetic bag, that I will make lots of use of on my trips to DC.

It was made by Lisa, and is such a pretty thing. Thanks, Lisa!

This PERFECT for me brooch was sent by Wanda (among a huge box full of treats, equally wonderful)

Look- is symbolizes my heart in DC, for when my husband is staying there!!!

It came in the cutest little birdhouse jewel box, that I will show photos of on our "What do you LOVE about your Birdie’s Home?" Day (otherwise known as Bling your Birdhouse Day) that I am hosting with Beth on March 27th.

To be a part of it, all you have to do, is leave a comment with your link to your blog. Details can be read by clicking on the button at the top left of my blog. We also have a Flickr site, if you don’t have a blog and wish to participate, show your photos HERE. A flickr account is free and easy to set up if you don’t already have one.

But back to the St. Pats Two Tag Swap- look at the cuteness!

I tried to get some photos of all the tags, but some pictures were blurry, and by then, all the tags had been wrapped up and tucked away into the packages going to their new homes.

Twenty swappers participated and each and every envelope was a pleasure to open.

I was so pleased with the quality of the tags that everyone made, it was hard to give any of them up!

It was such fun for me to do a swap this way, so that I got to look at and play with all the tags!

I just hope I didn’t screw anything up, and everyone gets the proper goods in the mail! I am an artist, not a secretary and I am not known for good organizational skills. (I already mentioned shamefully losing the name of the sweet person who sent the cheerful socks)

I worked with 3 different checklists to make sure everyone got:

1- a package (sounds simple, and elementary, but really, I had to double check twice)

2- two tags from two different people

3- a little surprise from the goodies that were sent

4- some vintage wallpaper from me

Please, please, please— let me know if you didn’t get what you were supposed to! If you didn’t, it was due entirely to my inability to be organized.

Well, after telling you how bad I am at being organized and making sure all the swaps go out correctly, you probably don’t want to hear this, but- Beth and I are planning another swap!

(by the way, she is EXTREMELY organized)

Details to come, we’re making plans this week, hopefully we will announce it during our Bling your Birdhouse Day party.

And lucky little Miss Sugarwings was given a box full of fun things by the kind hearted Wanda,

And this sleeping fairy baby is for her too, from my pal, Pam along with a blooming rose pin for me.

I feel every bit as spoiled as that rotten little Sugarwings

Thanks everyone for being so nice.

And good luck chasing the end of the rainbow, I wish you all the Luck of the Irish on St Patty’s Day!

A Tale of Two Gallbladders

Etsy Goodies, family, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 14, 2008

Well, this week started out nice. I was able to make some things, then had lots of Sugarwings time.

This picture is a copy of an old postcard that I crackled and aged, and popped into a frame.

And my book club meeting on Wednesday night was fun, with an interesting discussion. (the book was Housekeeping by Marylin Robinson)

Of course, I am always thrilled with an excuse to entertain and make trays of goodies.

But about midnight, I started to feel pretty awful, and was up all night, ill as could be. There has been a nasty bug going around and I am afraid it bit me too.

So, when Ryan called at 6am to tell me he was having stomach pain, I told him to take some Pepto Bismal and try to rest, I couldn’t have much sympathy for him, when I had spent the last few hours wondering when the room would stop spinning,( and if I had passed the bug along to all the guests who had been to my house that night).I figured he had the same thing.

But finally, hours later, when I took a look at him, writhing in pain and turning funny shades of green, I realized he had more than a virus.

I chugged some more Pepto Bismal myself, and helped him dress and got him into the car and to the hospital.

The ER found a gigantic gallstone and an infection. They kept him over night and scheduled surgery the next day, after a round of IV antibiotics.

While Ryan was in surgery, Sugarwing’s hippy chick mom made a trip into the ER with pain also, to find out that she had an inflamed gallbladder.

Ry’s surgery was not as easy as expected, his infection was pretty serious, and the gallbladder was gangrene, no wonder he was writhing in pain (as I ignored him). Tonight, his fever is down, and he is finally resting comfortably in the hospital and will be there a couple more days.

Of course, surgeries and ER tests don’t go quickly and there is only so much you can do to entertain an energetic little girl while the whole family is going back and forth from the waiting room on the surgery floor to the ER waiting room.

She got lots of shoulder rides from her Pop Pop, up and down the halls.

She made wishes and threw coins in the lobby fountain until we had no more coins to pass out, no matter how pretty she begged.

She found some wheelchairs to be pushed in while she yelled "Go! Go! Go!"

She thought that the glass elevator was not bad entertainment for a few rides too. And she found the buttons inside very compelling.

Luckily, my bug was a 24 hour thing and I was up to the task of turning a hospital into a playhouse for 8 hours. But it feels even better to have Sugarwing’s mom out of the ER, back home, and not requiring surgery, and to have Ryan losing that funny shade of green and to ask for a cup of broth for supper.

I’m afraid that THIS does not make me feel so good. Oops, I haven’t had a chance to mail out my St Pats Two Tag Swaps. I am so so sorry. But at least my excuse is valid and not some lame, my dog ate my homework excuse. Although, Twinkle would be thrilled at a chance to chew these up!

I am exhausted and way behind on getting stuff out in the mail. My Etsy customers have been left in the lurch too, I’m afraid.

I promised to have them sent out in time for the swappers to receiveby St Pats, but now I hope to just get them in the mail by St Pats instead. Please forgive me, and I will send all 20 of my swappers some extra swatches of pretty vintage wallpaper as an apology.

Tonight, my husband is sitting up with Ryan and I am getting some sleep so I can go up to the hospital in the morning. Thank goodness Ryan is better, that fever had me worried, and it was so awful to seem him in such pain. I will spare you and not show the photo of the nasty, green gallbladder that the Dr gave to us as a memento. Even though the color would go nicely with the St. Pats theme….

I usually am really good about mailing things and also at answering Emails and comments. Please understand if I don’t respond to comments this week.

Chocolate and Roses

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / March 12, 2008

I’ve been in a pink and brown mood lately, roses and chocolate, what a perfect combo.

And when little Miss Sugarwings came to visit, look what she was wearing!

She looked so grown up in her brown corduroy jacket with little pink rosebuds on the collar.

I love those colors accented with blue too. I know, trendy trendy, but I have ALWAYS loved them. I remember a favorite outfit as a kid, brown shorts that I would wear one day with a pink tank top and the next with a blue one. And back in the 70s when everything was earth tones, I had a brown and white couch and all my accessories in the room were blue. I simply couldn’t handle just the earthy shades, I needed that soft, pretty blue to make the combo work for me.

These colors have been on my mind a lot this week, since I have been redecorating in my house and thinking about blue shades to paint the bedroom adjacent to the pink and brown master bath.

And when I sat down to make something in my studio, I guess thoughts of these colors stayed with me.

I filled this pink flowered Limoges cup with a brown china egg (hand painted years ago by someone’s grandma) with a pink rose on it, lots of pink, blue, and white millinery flowers and a sweet little vintage butterfly.

It is for sale on Etsy now.

And remember the old hats, little figures, buttons, and the oval print I found while out junking this week? I used something from all of them to create this Marie Antoinette inspired box. I just had to, it was fate! I’d bought all of this stuff, then the movie was on TV that night!! (Isn’t Marie Antoinette one of the prettiest movies ever?? One eye candy scene after another)

The base is one of those unfinished craft boxes from Michaels. I poked holes in the top to wire the china figure in place, after covering the top of the lid in vintage wallpaper.

To hide the wires on the inside of the lid, I covered it in text from an old French book. I used another French book to cover the bottom of the box and line the interior walls. (I don’t speak or read French, so if you do and this is about boogers or warts or something ugly, please don’t tell me and ruin my illusions! I think it LOOKS pretty!)

The outside of the box was painted white and rubbed with an umber and a pink stamp pad, then trimmed out in vintage pink ruffle ribbon and some old brown silk ribbon.

I haven’t had much time for studio work, my fairy grand baby has been here 3 days in a row. We’ve been to the indoor pool, to the park, and out shopping. Then she helped me take down some Christmas decorations I still had up.

At least I got them down before Easter! Oh well, you can’t do everything, there is only so much time in the day.

All of you who comment about how much energy I have and how much I get done, need to know that I am selective about what I do and have priorities. I’d much rather sit in my studio and make tons of pretties than put away dusty holiday decor up in the guest room. I’d rather rip out a stairway and redo a room than work on my taxes. Oops, I really shouldn’t avoid that one too much longer. Maybe I need to have a look at those priorities!

I really didn’t need to go shopping today, but wow!!

antiques/junking, collections, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 9, 2008

Don’t I have enough hats yet? What is wrong with me??? I can’t resist.

Truth is, I do use the flowers in my projects a lot. But even if I used them daily, I probably have enough millinery flowers to get me through the next decade or so.

Yet, today I buy 4 more hats. One has a large, single velvet rose, nicely smashed with age (for $2- how could I leave it behind??). The others are LOADED with flowers and were $4 each.

I might have bought a few buttons too…… There are some not pictured also. Lots of cute shapes and rhinestoney ones in the jars, so I just had to get them at about $5 a jar.

Scranton and 4-Corners, Kansas are small towns in the middle of nowhere, but they have some great antiquing bargains!

Most things were cheap to start with, but there were also sales, of 25-50% off a lot of booths. Except for the hats and buttons, everything in the picture here was $2 or under, including the glass jar. I think I’ll use it for my paint brushes. But on the other hand, I do have plenty of buttons to fill it with!

And how many vintage photos can you get in 4-Corners, Kansas in a bag for $5? I stopped counting at 50.

Of all the things I got today, these are my favorites. Oh, I can’t wait to get started on these projects!! Don’t they look like Marie Antionette?

One project will involve these figures, some small round boxes, vintage wallpaper in soft pastel colors, lots of millinery flowers and more than a few rhinestone buttons.

The frame, I will paint white and put a different picture in. I will be needing this print for the lining of one of these boxes that these mini Maries will be perched upon.

What a sweet baby photo this is. It was in the bag of old pictures that I got today and I think it might be my favorite of the bunch. Feel free to copy and use it in your own projects. This baby needs a loving home! How sad when family photos are lost to the family and for sale in antique stores. I always feel like saving them.

There certainly is no worries that my little fairy grand baby’s pictures will go neglected!

I had a little scrapbook party on Saturday and between fixing a big dinner, playing with babies and just plain old hanging out, we managed to get a few pages done.

Sugarwing’s cousin out grew this dress and it was torn. Her mom had the idea to use it for our pages of the little girls.

I cut out a square to make a pocket out of it, with the dress ruffle at the bottom. Then glued the buttons down the side and added sparkly flowers to their centers. The velvet bow was part of the dress already.

When I put photos in pockets, I always glue two back to back, or glue scrapbook paper to the back of one, to make them sturdier. I also punch a hole in the corner and add a ribbon to use as a pull to take the photo out of the pocket.

This page of a summer day on the lake with the family is laid out on a piece of paper that I did a water color wash onto.

I added a frog cut from a copy of one of my paintings. Its only in black and white, maybe someday I’ll tint it, but I doubt it. Once I move on from a project I rarely go back, no matter how good my intentions are.

I accented this picture of a couple of my friends and I with a paper doll dress that Beth gave to me.

I like to use tags, ATCs and other art that I have been given in my scrapbooks.

Not only are they usually well done and attractive, but they are sentimental to me too and I love to keep them somewhere that I can enjoy them.

Speaking of friends, my pal, Carol, and I are collaborating with the Fabulous Fifi on an upcoming project! Fifi called last week, and she is every bit as wonderful to talk to as her blog is to read. No details yet, but here is a teeny sneak peek of something Carol is whipping up for our prospective article.

Another pal, Heather featured in an article in Romantic Homes. How cool. I can’t wait to pick up a copy. Heather and Carol are both buddies that I met through Silver Bella, and blogging.

And my poor pal, Beth, is under the weather. The pitiful thing is suffering from a horrific knitting injury. Actually, I think it is just tendinitis, but she was achey enough to miss Scranton and 4-Corners today. If you get a chance, wish her a get well soon.

My Sissy sent these St Pats tags in for the Two Tag Swap I am hosting. You wouldn’t believe the pile of pretties I get to go through and send out to people! Such great tags came in the mail this week, I can’t wait to play with them all.

Oh- I have been tagged by Connie to list seven things about myself. I know I’ve done the 7 weird things many times, but don’t seem to run out of weirdness to write about.

This time, I’ll keep it simple:

1- I am a serial painter. It is a serious mental problem, I am sure. I really can’t control it, I paint, and repaint rooms all the time. Right now I am considering blues for my bedroom.

2- I work really fast, and can get quite a bit done in a short amount of time. My studio is drowning in finished projects. I think it takes longer to try to sell them than it does to make them.

3- When we have a litter of kittens or puppies at our cottage, I pick a theme and name them all to match. My favorite Dorky puppy names were herbs, I had Rosemary and Dilly in that batch of pups.

4- My Great Aunt Caroline is about to turn 100 and I plan on taking after her and living at least that long. I have a lot I want to make or paint and it will take me till then to do it all.

5- I fell off a horse and broke my back 15 years ago this summer, and never thought I’d be without pain, but really am doing very well now.

6- I no longer own horses!

7- I never get tired of these 7 things lists, but I am bad about those award things. Louisa gave me a couple and I want to thank her for them. And instead of passing them on to another blogger, I’d like all you readers out there to be winners. Thanks for coming by and listening to my rambles and obsessions, and for keeping me company.

Oh, before I forget, I wanted to remind everyone about the Birdhouse Blinging we have going on March 27th. Join us here and at Beth’s, please!

And everyone, blogger or not, is invited to show birdhouse pictures on our Flickr group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/692795@N22/

A day of frivolous things

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, redos

By Karla Nathan / March 8, 2008

It was so nice to have my group of artist friends over for brunch today. We don’t do this as often as we used to, sometimes life gets in the way of getting together with your friends.

But when you have good friends, you always know that they will still be there when you do have a chance to catch up and visit.

Often, we’ll meet at a coffee shop once a week or so, and sometimes one or the other of us will have everyone over for a brunch or coffee and bagels.

I’m always looking for an excuse to set my table and have a mini party, so was glad to invite them all over today to fill each other in on what has been going on.

I set up an Easter themed table scape as a centerpiece for the meal, all gathered together on a vintage blue mirror.

I raided my shelf of things I have listed for sale on Etsy and used some of them on the mirrored tray along with vintage goodies.

This little sugared ballerina in a tiny tea cup nest is too cute to be hiding away on a dark shelf until someone buys her! She deserved to come to the party too.

My table scapes are usually pretty busy (and gaudy), but guests seem to enjoy looking through them, the displays are full of little surprises.

I always start with something underneath, to pull it all together. Either a tray, a doily, or a mirror, something to focus the mismatched pieces that I bring in.

Two things that I ALWAYS include are fresh flowers and candles.

The tallest thing, usually the candelabra, goes onto the table first. Next, the flowers. After that, I find something else to use for height, to build layers. Usually a cake stand, basket, or compote to fill with pretties.

I fill in around the taller items with some bigger pieces like this tussie mussie that I placed a nesting bird into.

This is the nest I received from Jeweled Elegance, my partner in Speckled Egg’s Nest Swap. Thanks Heather!!

I like an eclectic mix in my center pieces, hand made things, vintage, elegant, cute, unexpected and traditional all together (did I mention busy and gaudy?)

After the:

1.base underneath

2. the taller items

3. flowers and candles

4. larger items

5. I then tuck small items here and there and fill holes, making sure that there is something of interest as a focus for each seat at the table.

One friend wasn’t feeling well, so she couldn’t make it today. I packed up some Cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins, egg casserole and yogurt to take over to her.

Of course, I had to include a pretty!

I wrapped some carnations in a wet paper towel, then slipped them into a plastic bag and tied them up with tissue and a ribbon. The bouquet fit right into this tussie mussie along with a fluffy chick.

And you know how one redo begets another? I am working on slipcover ideas for the sofa now. I have been buying vintage fabrics and will soak them in a tea color dye to make them all tie together better.

So far, I can’t make up my mind which fabric I want where, but do know that I want to get some ticking stripe to use so that I break up the florals a bit.

And I think I decided to go for a trailing skirt on the couch, like in the sketch on the bottom of the pile of ideas.

And of course, I am still not done with the dining room. The corner cabinet still seemed too country-cottage, with its bead board sides. I looked through my vintage wallpaper and found one that matched well in the room and taped pieces to the back of the cabinet.

I didn’t glue the paper down, some day I might want to have the bead boards show again. I do tend to change my mind a bit……

This large glass knob will be great to add to the door, but I don’t have the right length screw, of course. Does anyone ever have the perfect screw handy when you want to change a knob?

The corner cabinet seems better now that I have added the trim and the wallpaper. The glass knob will help too.

The room seemed off balance, so I moved this narrow cabinet into the other corner.

I’m starting to feel more satisfied with the space and it certainly was a comfy brunch, with everyone around the new table! The chairs are very welcoming.

What a pleasantly frivolous day. Brunch, visiting a friend, sketching, doodling around with centerpieces and fine tuning the dining room. I also went to a movie, then rented a nice gory vampire movie to watch with my son. Yep, a fine day of making things pretty and hanging out with people I care about.

Why does getting something new in your house make everything else look dirty? I can’t really be THAT bad of a housekeeper, can I???

antiques/junking, collections, Etsy Goodies, redos

By Karla Nathan / March 6, 2008

All of the re-dos that were spawned by spiffing up the stairway are about to finish up! This snowball has to melt sometime, one thing has led to another, to another, and on and on.

I even CLEANED MY HOUSE! This is getting serious, it has to stop somewhere. I was blissfully ignorant of the dust before I redid those stairs.

After repainting and adding trim to the corner cabinet, I realized the interior of it was a bit of a mess. Dusty and overstuffed.

So, I cleaned all the shelves, and rearranged all the pretties.

I used to store all my vintage linens on the bottom shelf, but decided that I wanted the room less country cottage and more romantic cottage. And less cluttered!! That is a hard one for me.

But I got rid of some of the things on these shelves, packed the linens in a linen closet, and redistributed 3 shelves worth of blue and white knick knacks and dishes onto 4 shelves.

It is a bit more streamlined and less cluttery, but heck, I can’t go clutter free cold turkey!

And I can’t do away with all the cute stuff, I need my pixies and birdies.

And my little angels.

I’m fond of anything winged. Well except mosquitoes of course. And those horseflies that bite.

When I went to hang my new curtains (of course, I HAD to have new curtains, that matched the new look!) I noticed the the cobwebs that had been ignored for … well I don’t want to admit for how long. Anyway, I cleaned all the pottery collection above the window while I was up there. And while up high, I saw how dirty the chandelier was…

And of course, after taking my old table out to the studio, I could see that the tile floor in the dining room needed a good bleaching.

Thank goodness my friends arrived to deliver the new (old) table, I was about to clean the windows!

Ta Da!! Isn’t it fancy???

How elegant is this???? I’m not usually one for unpainted wood, but this set has a nice mix, with just the top as natural wood and the rest painted. And it kind of feels good to buy something and enjoy it as it is, to not have to completely redo it.

The set goes perfectly with the new stairs.

I’m just in awe of the change. I really was never too happy with my old set.

The old set will be perfect in my art studio. It has 3 leaves that I can put in it. When I have big family get togethers, we always go into in the studio so we can spread out and have a sit down meal together.

Actually, you can tell, it isn’t a set at all, it is mismatched chairs from garage sales ($10 or less each) that I painted to match the flea market table.

ooooh, what a difference!!!!!!!! All of a sudden, my house looks all grown up.

But I know that no one at this house acts like a grown up, so I used two cans of Scotchgard on these chairs to protect the fabric.

I am having friends over for brunch tomorrow to try it out. It is going to be so much fun to set the table and get ready for them.

Oh by the way, the packages of tags are coming in daily for my St Pats Two Tag Swap and I am overwhelmed by the quality of the tags that are arriving! I am trying to not peak yet, I am just double checking each package to make sure all is there, and will open and enjoy them all together after the deadline. But WOW you should see some of these tags!! The luck of the Irish is with us on this swap, its like finding the end of the rainbow!!

The mail lady also brought this package back to me. Somerset Life is using this framed vintage doll dress in their next issue and sent back the frame since they were finished with it.

There is mail that needs to go out too. I sold a scrap pack of my stairway wallpaper remnants on Etsy ($6). It just kills me to waste anything, plus, vintage wallpaper is so beautiful it should never ever ever go to waste!

I will be listing more, and also cut up some to put in the St Pat’s Two Tag Swap envelopes when I send out the tags.

You know, there are still a little time left if you want to be in the swap. Have things in the mail to me in a couple days.

Well, if I am having a breakfast party tomorrow, I’d better be in the kitchen, I need to make a fruit salad and get cinnamon rolls and muffins ready for the oven.

It took a few days, but I am finally done with the stairs!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), how to's, paintings, redos

By Karla Nathan / March 4, 2008

Its done! whew, am I glad. So are the dogs, they have been penned up way too much to keep them out of the construction mess. Plus, I knew that Twinkle wouldn’t be too much help with the stair painting. She’s helped me paint before and it usually means tiny little footprints across the room.

Remember last week, I had this?

Now look!!

My stairway had been quite the hodgepodge of wall art, none of it really went together. It was dark, gloomy,a nd I could never keep that carpet clean.

Plus, we have an old house, but the upstairs addition is only 15 years old. I always thought that the stairs looked too modern, plus the whole area was just blah.

Because I was too short to reach up into the corners of the ceiling, I had to paint the walls and ceiling both the same color, I simply couldn’t cut in with a brush. It all had to be done with a roller on a pole.

I am a big believer in painting your ceilings a color instead of white. but might have preferred some contrast here. Oh well, its so much better than before!!

I also edited and rearranged the artwork hanging on the walls. (of course, that also means that I had to redo a wall in another room to make space for the family pictures I took down from the stairway, but I already said, one redo automatically leads to another!)

While I had them all down, I painted the frames white and distressed them. It is a much more cohesive look. Instead of it being the place where my unsold watercolors go to die, it looks like a gallery! (well, not quite, it is still full of rejected paintings!)

While I had the white paint out, I redid all the wood work too, including the banister and the old door at the top of the steps.

A little splash of Strawberry Whopper Pink in the background livens up my living room a bit too.

The thermostat had always bothered me, since it was glaring white. I toned down the brightness with some glaze, and also glazed the closet door next to the sofa.

I had to do the same with all of the steps and trim. After painting them a semi-gloss, bright white, I brushed a pale coffee with cream color glaze into the crevices and cracks, then wiped it all down with a wet rag torn from an old T shirt.

Next, I wallpapered each riser with some gorgeous, old vintage rose wallpaper I’d bought on Ebay. I used Elmer’s glue instead of wallpaper paste, for a tight hold.

When I stood back and looked at the finished work, I was worried it was just way, way too much.

The wallpaper was in such good shape, it didn’t look old!! Too white and too perfect.

So, out came the glazes again, and I toned down the glaring newness and some of the busy-ness of the steps. They are still pretty durn busy, but in a way I can live with now.

And since I was redoing…. Beth had given me this iron arch, it was originally brown. (yes, she is a great friend to have around, isn’t she??? I bought her lunch, but think this arch is worth more than that.)

I painted it white and glazed over it too. Then painted the mirror white, it had been gold, and I’ve used it as a center piece for my white dining room table since Christmas. But I am getting a new table this week!! The top of it is pecan, not painted, so the gold mirror, just wasn’t going to work there any more. Plus, it is always time for a change!

Since I had already repainted or glazed:

stairway walls

stairway ceiling

door at the top of the stairs

banister

steps

kick board

trim

closet door

thermostat

the picture frames

iron arch

mirror

Then, I figured, why not paint the corner cabinet in the dining room, so it will look better with the new table that I am getting this week? It had been a white-white, and I painted it more of a creamy white. Not a big deal to most people, I guess, but it mattered to me. I added the ornate piece at the top of it. I had to stand on a step ladder and hold it in place for about 20 minutes, waiting for the liquid nails to dry. But I took a book with me, it needs to be read before book club next week and I keep putting it off. So, there I was trapped for a bit, with nothing else to do, a perfect time to get some reading done!

The Snow Ball Effect- Avalanche Style

antiques/junking, Etsy Goodies, fairies, holiday decor, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 2, 2008

After seeing that gorgeous stairway while shopping in Virgina, I have been on a redo roll. Avalanche style, right down the mountain, gathering momentum and growing and growing.

I call it the snowball effect for two reasons. One- we’ve had the worst winter I can remember in years and I have been snowed in staring at my house way too much. Staring and finding fault.

Two, because as the project rolls along, it grows and grows.

Redoing the stairs meant that the walls should be repainted while I had the carpet up. I am entranced by Strawberry Whoppers right now and love the color as much as the taste. So, I mixed up a gallon of paint just slightly muted in that shade. (I used some leftovers in the garage, mixed and matched and added some tints till I got just the right pale, malty pink)

Under the rug, I knew the wood was going to be construction grade and meant to be covered with carpet, and that there would be some gaps here and there. But man… it was bad.

We ended up buying new pine steps for $7 each at Home Depot.

And to cover the gaps along the risers and the wall, I found these little corner pieces ($2 each) that just fit.

The steps are replaced, the paint is on, the walls are painted. Now I need to wallpaper them all.

When I cut out and held up slice of vintage rose patterned wallpaper, I loved it so much, I started to hate the rest of the room. The stair way is open to the dining room and all of a sudden it just wasn’t measuring up.

I bought a new (antique) dining set on sale at my friend’s store ($600). Then, of course, the curtains won’t match the new chairs. I picked up lace panels at Target ($60) Doesn’t Target have the best curtains???

And now, standing back from the baby’s room and looking down the stairs, I am thinking that carpet in there could use replacing…. And I saved so much by making my own paint and using vintage wallpaper that I already had and finding bargains for the dining room. And by doing the work myself with my son instead of hiring someone, that labor savings was huge! Heck I am redoing TWO rooms for way under $1000, on Trading Spaces they can barely do one. (well does a stairway count as a room??)

Aren’t I good at rationalizing?

I am feeling very spoiled by getting these re-dos done, but I am not nearly as spoiled as this little one. Sugarwings got some gifts in the mail from blogging friends.

How cute are these?? The little purse is from my pal, Phyllis and the cute collage with the baby’s photo on it is from Mahala. I think I will fill the little bag with Easter grass and toys, and tie the tag to it to give to her at Easter. Won’t they be cute together?

Of course, this little girl is just as happy to eat mud as she is to eat candy. I babysat her all day yesterday and she did quite a bit of mud snacking. (notice her lips)

So Grandmama taught her how to spit. That is a trick I am sure her parents will appreciate. We also went down to the creek to sit on the bank and throw rocks. Spitting and throwing rocks, yep, her parents will be thrilled with me.

Between working on the stairway and babysitting, I found some time to make pretties too. I bought these child’s tea cups from Shabby in the City with plans to give them to the baby, but she is too young yet for china cups.

So, they became nests for a fairy and a couple of sugared birds with vintage millinery flowers. I hope to get them all listed on etsy but time seems to be getting away from me.

Time has not been on my side lately. Listing seems to eat up a lot more time than actually crafting!

I managed to list these two little Easter peat pots that I made, the pair for $10. I made a TON of these last night, because I just can’t seem to make one of anything. For me, creating things is like a bag of Lays potato chips. (remember those commercials?) One is never enough.

If you would like one of these I will sell them to my blog readers for $4 each, plus postage instead of the Etsy cost of $10 a pair, for the saving me the time of listing them!

Same with the child’s tea cup nests- if you’d like one with birds now, it is only $10. $12 for the fairy.

While my house is torn up with remodeling and changing out furniture, I am extremely behind and am happy to give you a discount if it means I don’t have to edit pictures for Etsy right now!

These aren’t the best photos are they? Come to think of it, this isn’t a real pretty posting, with the murky photos and the ripped up stairs. Oh well, there is a Sugarwings picture, that makes the post beautiful to me!

In case you can’t tell, the peat pots are glittery and sweet, I used lots of vintage goodies, old soft yarn and trims, plus some German die cuts. No two pots are alike.

Email me or comment if you are interested. If not, I hope to get them Etsy sometime before Easter passes me by and it is too late!

And oops, I can’t forget this–

My winner for my February giveaway is:

PENNY

And don’t forget, if you are entering my St Pats Two Tag swap, they need to be mailed to me by March 7th. Isn’t that the date I said? I forget.

And honestly, it isn’t my fault- look at my calender!!!! It has the first half of Feb. and then goes directly to the second half of June!!!

Last year the calender I had gave me 31 days in each month, and I didn’t notice until August. Now, two years in a row, I get a bad one, what are the odds of that???? And I never know what date or day of the week it is anyway, so this really doesn’t help me at all.

Thanks everyone for entering my drawing. In March, you get another shot at winning, actually two, because I am giving away a bird house on March 27th too.

Good luck!

I’m a crappy little crafter today

Books, Etsy Goodies, holiday decor, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / February 29, 2008

Beth and I had a fun but frustrating craft day at her house yesterday. Well, I guess I should speak for myself, she was on a roll and doing fine. I, on the other hand was messing everything up, and at one point, said "I am a crappy little crafter today!" And for some reason, that gave us the giggles. Whats a craft day without giggles?

I tried to do a St Pat’s tag for my swap using a rainbow theme. It looked like a Jamaican preschool project.

I gave up on the rainbow colors and stuck with what I knew I could handle. But that wasn’t my only issue. Everything I did, I had to redo.

These tags somehow ended up finished and not horrid after all, but there was a lot of ripping, replacing, and complaining while doing them.

These are for my St Pats Day Two Tag Swap. I will extend the deadline till March 7th if you still want to get in on it. Email me if you do! All you need to make are two tags, and you get two other people’s tags back.

Well, hopefully. I screwed up on Phyllis’s Sweet Treats and Roses Swap and sent her own tag back to her on the recipe book!!

She is in my St Pats swap, so I will make an extra tag to add for her to make up for it.

While at Beth’s I decorated these two old green bottles. And yes, there were some issues as I worked on these too. It simply wasn’t t an easy day for me.

I was smart enough at this point, to use my text from an old book about rainbows, but not try to add rainbow colors after the tag fiasco.

I listed both of these bottles on Etsy this morning, if you are interested in either.

The small one has buttons and a pretty little Made In Japan glass cameo in green on it too.

I had forgotten all about these cameos I had. I used to add them to charm bracelets and make earrings from them.

At one time, I had tons of them. Now, I am down to a couple handfuls. I traded a few to Beth for some of her white, (sorted and cleaned, which is really nice!) vintage buttons.

Notice the nut cups? Beth wants to do a challenge- "what do you do with a nut cup?" Of course, you can always put a nut in it, like she did. I think that if she is going to make herself a hat from it, she should add some old millinery flowers at least.

Look at what found! THE nicest, old wallpaper book I have ever seen. Perfect condition! I just don’t know if I can cut it up and use it, the pages are so pristine. And the book itself is giant! (and heavy)

This picture is on the inside cover, she looks pretty high fa-luting, huh? I’d say this was a high dollar wallpaper book from the looks of it, pretty classy.

And unique too, this metallic penguin paper isn’t typical of what I usually see around.

Another reason to not cut into it is that the designs are all very large. Small patterns are better for collage work. These are beautiful backgrounds, I might just save the book to use as a photo back drop.

What a lucky find! I like flipping through it as if it were a magazine. And the cost was reasonable, only about $20, it cost more than that to ship it! I think the seller should have used book rate, but I was so happy to get my greedy little hands on the book, I didn’t care.

Speaking of spending money on whims, I need to get back to my stairway redo. Time to pickup Sugarwing’s daddy so he can help me pull off the carpet and see just how hard (and expensive) this task is going to be to complete!