Karla's Cottage

Hiding instead of repairing damaged dry wall and a rosey outlook for springtime

A bit ago, we redid a wall in the living room with ceiling tin. These were 8' strips, and were ideal for where I needed them, they seem to look nicer on a wall than the squares would have.

And after purchasing them, I happened to find the border at another shop and it is exactly what I needed! I'd planned on using wood trim and this is so much better. How lucky to find just the right amount of border.

The wall panels are from Nook and Cranny.  When I drove around to the back of the shop to load the pieces, I happened to see the tin crown molding on the sidewalk in front of another store in the West Bottoms.  I bought all the border, but there is a truckload of the wall panels left. ($40 each, but ask for a volume discount if you buy more than a couple)

The room didn't look bad before, I liked the faux finish.  Until you got up close.

My old house settles, and the shape of a doorway kept popping through the drywall. Years ago, during a remodel, we'd covered up a hallway and this door shape would NOT go away no matter how many times I'd patched it.

I don't mind cracks, old houses have lots of them. But not door shaped!

(and yes, you are seeing nasty cobwebs in this photo, not just faux paint treatments and cracks in the wall)

SInce I have tins on the kitchen ceiling, I thought it would look good to also have the wall at the far end of the living room covered in them too. (this is before)

Luckily, I have a very handy son, who installed them for me.  He ripped off the baseboard, and I squirted a ton of caulking back under the wall to help with drafts before he put up the tin.

We decided not to put up more baseboard over it, I like the look as it ended up without it.

The panels plus the crown were just the right size for the wall!  My son wanted to cut the tins and line them up perfectly, but I told him not to. It went against his nature as a carpenter to not have the lines on the tin exact, but I like it as it is. 

(the purple marks show the door outline we were covering up)

I promised him I would tell everyone that, because the lines bother him.  Not me, I'm soooo happy with the whole project!! He had them up in a couple hours.

The lines that might bother me are the ones between each panel.  They need to be caulked and sealed so they aren't as prominent. 

But I haven't made up my mind about painting yet.  I did paint over the rust on the crown, but only because it was too regular and stripey looking.  Random rust makes me happy, but this was not that kind.

For now, I  figure I'll leave the chippiness as is, I can always paint later.  But I do think I need to caulk the seams....

The dogs always think each photo is about them.

So, I indulged the little hams and let them pose.

They love to be in pictures.

For springtime, I hung some rose pattern bark cloth drapes and wrapped the sofa cushion in another bark cloth piece.  It has come untucked on the edges a  bit. I guess that is the sort of thing you should straighten before a photo, huh?

My living room stays cream and white most of the year, and I love that combo, it makes seasonal changes so simple.  A few pillows, a couple curtain panels and a switcheroo of some knick knacks and I've got a new look for a new season.

And the dogs love the BARK cloth.

 

Addiction is still addiction no matter what your vice is

Beth and I had a day out to the antique mall and gave her booth a new look for spring.  (here is her post about the day)

Years ago, we shared this spot, and my hand painted roses are still there on the wall behind the space.  I no longer do this for a living and am glad.  But when I get invited to help Beth, it brings back lots of memories and I have a great day playing with old things and arranging them.

When I had a booth, I just adored working on it. Decorating was so much fun, I almost got ticked off when someone bought something and messed it up. Almost, not really. I was smart enough to know that when you sell something, that means you get to go buy more and redecorate the booth again!!

My husband HATED me doing the booth when I had it.  I spent way too much time hunting, hauling, and redoing furniture. And driving it to Kansas City to get set up at the mall.  I guess what I'm saying, is that I was obsessed.  It was an over whelming addiction to me, all I wanted to do was work on fixing up furniture and redo the booth.  I got to the point where I was resentful when the sun started to go down and shadows made it too hard to paint on things outside. Which meant that I was working pretty late on summer evenings.

It was hard on my body, too.  Some of those pieces could get pretty heavy, and I was too independent (or impatient?) to want to wait for help unloading the van and dragging it all out to the driveway to work on in all sorts of weather. I ached.  My joints hurt.  I was exhausted all the time.

All I ever wore were terrible old clothes covered in paint, and there were painty messes everywhere I went.  I had a big spray gun for priming and base coats, and would over haul 5-6 large pieces in a day, then do hand work and finishing after. I was always covered in over spray, plus I used the clothes I was wearing as paint rags to clean my brush.

I was crusty.

My garage still has the outlines of furniture on the wall, from over spray.  And the floor is covered in spilled paint colors.

It was a very hard job, and I worked hard at it.

But I thought I loved doing it. That is, til I gave it up.  There was an adjustment period, where I couldn't help being sad because I wasn't shopping for broken or ugly things to make beautiful.

But once I got away from it all, I realized just how tired I had been.  And how it had taken over my life.  White paint and roses were my drugs of choice, and I had been hooked deep.

Giving up the antique business was kind of like giving up Diet Coke.  Horribly hard at first. But as time went by, I adjusted and lost the yearnings.  Now, I can pop a top of pop and have a cold one sometimes and enjoy the taste, but don't need to drink the whole 12 pack.  I feel better because of it.

I can also set up a room full of stuff to sell at arty events here and there and get a taste for antique dealing again, without having to furnish a booth or spend 80 hours a week sanding and brushing and hand painting.  I've learned it's much nicer to shop for or make smaller things that fit in an envelope to sell online. 

No more 300 lb cabinets for me.  No more endless hours of grueling work.

(Beth gave me these pretties from her stash- she wasn't supposed to, she helped with my taxes and I helped with her booth, it was a trade)

My life is better now that I'm not a Diet Coke junky or hooked on dirty, ugly furniture in need of redoing.

But man, it was fun to be back at the mall, foofing and verving with Beth.  It's nice to know that I can recover from my addiction and stay on the straight and narrow.

Well kind of. I have been known to buy a 12 pack of Vanilla Diet Coke when I'm stressed. Or buy the occasional dirty, broken piece of furniture that is just too good to pass up.  I don't think I'll test my will power by trying meth and seeing if I can kick it.

 

Beth also gave me this photo. It must have reminded her of me. Although, I'm more of a hoodie type than a bandana wearer. And I need a few more chickens to measure up to this lady's glorious flock.

Anyway, click on it to open to a larger window and save it to your computer from there if you'd like to use it in your own work.

Bottom's UP!

The last time I was in Angie's store  I cleaned her out of little birdy books, in preparation for Birdsong 3.  I have no idea what I will need them for yet, but I always snag a vintage bird book when I see it, just in case. 

Then, she gave me a beautiful, old, old, book in German, with a great font.  (it's the one underneath the smaller books)

As well as a billion tiny birds. They came in a crystal glass, tied up with lace and silk ribbons.   They were much cuter in the glass than they were spilled all over my floor when I got home.  And if you want to know if "billion" is an accurate count, it sure felt like it when I was picking them up, as excited puppies pounced on me each time I reached for a tiny bird on the floor. They seemed to think it was a game invented just to entertain them.

Every single one of the billion birds has been rescued and tucked away safely in a baggie waiting for Birdsong now.  It will be fun to come up with something to do with them for the event.  Thanks, Angie!

The two of us went to Bottom's Up for their big anniversary extravaganza.  Gwen always throws a nice party, and it was good to have a night out.

It was nice to see what magic Carol has done with her display too.

And to meet some new friends. Sadly, these guys couldn't come home with me. I think they would have loved my gardens, though. 

And these silk curtains would sure class up the joint if I'd brought them home with me.

But I did splurge and buy French documents from the 1800s.  That seems to be my main purchase every time I go to see Gwen.  I can't resist them.

She just unloaded her latest container, straight from France.  She'll be bringing more Frenchie goods next month too.  I love to ooh and ah over her acquisitions. She used to live in France and knows the ins and outs of all the flea markets there. And finds the BEST stuff.

Of course, Bottoms Up is stuffed with the best stuff.  Great dealers and fun goods.  And now, the whole district is jammed with shops and dealers open only one weekend a month.  On Saturdays, it feels like a street fair, there is so much going on, food trucks, live music, crowds of people shopping. If you are planning a trip to KC, I'd say plan it for the first weekend of the month and drop in to see what is going on there.

Snowdogs, Snowfairies, Fleas, Spinning Art, and an oddball button. Another typical posting this and that and not much really

We have had our share of snow lately!  It seems like a lot, with two blizzards back to back, especially since we've had some pretty mild winter weather up till now.  Last year was even warmer.  These storms were a reminder that we live in the midwest.  And you never  know what will hit.

The Puppeesh are confused about where they should potty, but seem to enjoy running around in the snow while I freeze waiting for them to make up their minds about whether they will actually do anything or save it till they come inside.

Why did I decide to have winter pups??? Oh, that's right, they are so durn cute I couldn't resist them last fall, even knowing that winter housebreaking might break me.

Sugarwings had a sleepover with us during the first snow, and we decided that the best way to have a snowball fight was to sit in the cozy hot tub while we lobbed the icy missiles at each other.

It would have been much more enjoyable if we'd been smart enough to shovel a walk way to the hot tub.   Look at how deep it was on the steps!  I wore my boots out there, and balanced on the edge trying to get them off, getting my robe nice and soggy as I wobbled and almost slipped in the water with one boot on. 

We had the best time laughing and splashing as the flakes fell on us.

The way back in to the house was better, since we were all toasty and rosy from the hot water, the snow barely bothered me, so I carried my boots and barefooted it quickly inside.

My son built a snow slide in front of their apartment building that kept even the tiniest (and the biggest) of kids slipping and sliding away the snow days.

They had a good hill to use.  He made some good curves along the way, and built up the banks  to keep them on the track. 

He certainly had plenty of snow to work with.  Two blizzards in a week?

Between blizzards, we made a run to Topeka to go to a flea market.  I was glad I took the time off to go, I loaded up on sweet paper dolls.

A ton of jewels too.  This is one baggie's worth. I got 8 bags for $3 each.

Dewdrop loved her first flea market, and was extra happy to see that there was a kid's corner where she could make spin art.

In my goodie bags of loot, there were some odd pieces, like this old button.  Ever seen one like it?

Tami gave me the following info, and I looked it up on Ebay with this and saw one listed for $35. Tami is a Button Expert.  Thanks for the help, Tami!!

(I don't do ebay myself, so I will put it in my Etsy shop for much less. )

Your button is a chinaman, possibly Dr. Fu Manchu. He was a fictional villain character in the novels series by Sax Rohmer in the early 20th ca. The button design and materials can easily date this button around the time of his novels. The button material appears to be Celluloid; however, the base of the button might be Celluloid acetate. The face itself is Celluloid.

Unorthadox places to find good supplies-" harvesting" from ugly things

When I am making things, I am dedicated to using only The Good Stuff. I figure that if I'm spending my time on a project, I don't to waste it using so-so supplies. 

Shiny bits from Hobby Lobby will not cut it for me.  I like the look and feel of aged beauty from the past.

Of course, fleas and garage sales are good places to look for blingy bits, but I've found that to keep myself (and my online Boutique) pleasantly plumped up with glitz, I have to keep my eyes peeled for the best of bargains.

The other day, I came across this light up Christmas tree covered in jewels (the photo was taken after I'd already started pulling off the sparklies). 

It was a bit of a gamble, not knowing if the jewelry would fall apart when I tried to pry it loose, or if the glue would even come off of the pieces.

Luckily 90% came off perfectly fine. (by the way, DO NOT use an exacto blade to ever pry anything, no matter what, ouch)

Getting the glue off was a little harder.

These jewels were heavily coated in dust, so I soaked them in cleaner, thinking that would help the glue come off too.

It didn't.

I discovered that hot water melted the glue away.  It was easy to clean up with hot running water, dish soap and a toothbrush.

But like I said, it was a gamble. You never know what kind of glue was used and how hard it will be to remove. If this had been epoxied, I'd have been in trouble.

I've already put some of the jewels I harvested to use as tree topper stars.

Here are a few  places I've found good supplies CHEAP by harvesting them off of ugly things no one wants:

• A hideously ugly table top Christmas tree at an estate sale, had some lovely little birdies on it, and was only $12.  I got 27 birds from that ugly tree, as well as a few decent ribbons. 
• A $35 vintage wedding gown, not exactly ugly, but not in the best shape. Perfect for me to harvest tons of lace from. 
• A $3 red dress, great to cut up, but not good to wear or display.
• Sometimes even the most savvy estate sale planners don't closely inspect things and let ugly cloud their vision. I bought a beautiful, large, matt white McCoy pot for $1 because it was holding one of the most excruciatingly ugly plastic flower arrangements ever. If the pot had been empty it would have sold for a LOT more.
• A string of mercury glass beads was used to hold a couple of beat up, (badly) hand made  aluminum foil covered styrofoam bells.  The beads were ignored by shoppers because the bells were just too awful.  I got $10 worth of beads for 50 cents because no one stopped to look beyond the ugly parts to the nice beads.
• Vintage rosebud wallpaper was used as a shelf liner for a cabinet in a basement at an estate sale. I asked if I could buy the paper, without the rusty cabinet and got it for $1.
• Sometimes a grab bag of cheapo, 1980s, gaudy jewelry has a couple of hidden beauties in it. I usually buy the inexpensive bag, pick out what I want, and give the rest back to the flea mkt vendor to resale to someone else who might want it instead of taking them all home to throw away.
• Last spring, I found a boxful of plastic Easter eggs that were not kind to the eyes. But- they had sweet bundles of millinery flowers glued to some of them. 

My advice in finding good supplies for bargains, is to look at things more carefully. Many of the things I like to harvest are from craft projects of long ago, that were not well done.  But the items used in them were right up my alley!

Although, it does make me wonder.... will someone be ripping up my projects in the future, saying, "ugh, what a waste of beautiful things in this hideous display!!"????? 

I will be away for a few days, but have fresh posts for you while I am gone.  If you'd like to order anything from my online shops, I'll pack up your goodies on Tuesday the 20th.  Here is some stuff in Etsy that I added before I left.

I replaced some of the sold out wreaths, too.

Little Ghosts, a little puppy, and a little fairy princess

There was a fairy surprise inside the box of swap pages coming from Deb Ganas, a whole pile of fairy garments, wings and slippers.

Dewdrop has a bit of a shoe obsession, so she will glom onto the slippers right away.  Look at how funny the barefoot fairy feet shoes are!  My husband has recently started wearing barefoot shoes for running, he thinks they are amazing. (his are not this cute) I'll have to clock the girls and see if these make them run even faster. I already can't keep up with Sugarwings, but I doubt if anyone could!

And isn't the package with the pages wrapped so sweetly?  I should make sure and get a photo of her artwork too, it's really nice.

So far, a couple of tubs of packages have been mailed out.  It will take a while to get through the whole set of swappers, but I've got a great start on it.

And the dilemma of how to wrap them is solved. Each book is swathed in fabric or tulle.  Some of them are getting these elfish playing card tags. I only have 52 of those, so its a random selection for the tags.

I've got a few different airy fairy fabrics and tulles to use too, that really makes packing them up more fun.  It gets monotonous if every single one is the same.

Of course, no two books are the same either. I'll be sad when I am done assembling them, I love sorting and sifting through to find pages that coordinate well together.

Last week was a short one for the kids.  Not only were they out of school for Labor Day, Tuesday was some sort of day off too.  So, I was able to spend some time with the big group of grands, and went to a garden center close out, lunch and a movie. 

Mexican food, and Para Norman- which was a bit scary but had a wonderful message about accepting the differences in others and not being judgemental.  Too bad it had to be taught by a scary, 300 year old Pilgrim Zombie  Judge.  But I love zombies, so really enjoyed the movie. 

Poor Fin, looked at me about halfway through the movie and said, "why did you have to bring us to a scary movie?"  And Sugarwings crawled up on my lap to clench me. I hugged Fin, held Sugarwings, asked if they wanted to leave, but both wanted to stay. I'm glad they did, it had an uplifting ending and Norman was a town hero. 

We have a family tradition at movies.  As the show ends, we go down to the front of the theater and dance to the songs that play during the credits.  This time, I was too exhausted from lack of sleep due to puppies, but it was a really good song that I was sorry to miss out on dancing to.  Little Ghost from the White Stripes, was so fun that we sat in the parking lot and played it over and over on my Iphone, then sang it all night.

The best part of being a grandmother are those kind of moments.  At this stage of life, I know how fast it all zooms by and I like to stop and let the little ones take the time to explore and listen, and absorb the world.  If we want to sit on a sidewalk and listen to a song a few times, why not? What is the big hurry to get in the car? Home will be waiting when we get there, we might as well grab onto something fun when we see it.

The garden center sale was a doozy.  These weren't half dead, end of season clearance items, these were lush, thriving, pretty plants. I was thrilled to load up a cart at a dollar a  pot, my yard had taken a beating from the heat and the chickens. I discovered that hens have a sweet tooth for begonias and petunias, and all the planters filled with those flowers have been pecked naked.

So, I have some pots to replant for fall and this sale was just what I needed.  I want things to look pretty for Romantic Gothic Ghosts in October! If I get this new batch of plants settled in the dirt now, they should be ideal for company that week.

This photo was taken on 9/5, the little ones are opening their eyes and are getting strong enough to try to walk instead of scooch on their tummies. 

Sparks and White Cloud

For the Faery Book Swappers-

Since the 1st is a holiday weekend, its ok to wait till Tuesday to mail your packages. And please note that it will take me a couple of weeks to make that many books and get them mailed back to you!

During all the puppy and other chaoses around here, I've managed to still squeeze in some junkin time.  Beth, the other Karla and I set out for Sparks and White Cloud on Thursday. Its my favorite place to shop!

It was blasted hot, like its been most of this season, but that didn't stop us.  Well, kinda, just not all the way. It did cut our day short. There was a period when we were all feeling a bit woozy and sick from the heat and decided we needed to sit in the air conditioned car with a cold drink and think about whether we'd lost the will to go on or not.

We'd spent maybe 3 hours in Sparks, and figured we could handle a quick trip to White Cloud too.  They aren't completely set up on Thursday, so there wouldn't be much there.

We were pretty tired, hot, and sick of crowds. There were tons of people there, lines to walk through some booths. I'd never seen it so densely packed with shoppers. It made me kind of sad to see our flea market hidey hole found out by hordes of others!

I'm glad we pulled up our big girl panties and braved the second stop, I found this 1800s ledger book, with over 200 pages of receipts in it!  I paid much more than I usually do for supplies, but I was travelling with two accountants who pointed out how it was only pennies per page, and that didn't sound so bad after all.  It was cheaper than most scrapbook paper.

It was my lucky hat day too.  I must have bought 8 or 9, all creams, whites and pinks.  All for $5 and under too.

And lace! Lovely, lovely lace!!  A friend was selling old, old lace for $1 a package and I bought $40 worth. that is a LOT of lace, but wow, what a deal.  I'll be using a lot of it to finish off the Faery Book Swap and will save some for Kim's Snow White gala in April.  I'll be needing a lot for those kits.

This is for An Enchanted Affaire too.  I found this 1940s lace dress for only $3, and it holds volumes of delicate lace for my kits!!

It came with a red satin lining, which is  a separate dress. That will be going to the little girls for their dress up closet, after I cut it off short enough for them to wear without tripping over.

Sparks never disappoints in the sparkly department either.  I was there the second day and still found all these gems on dollar tables.  There were also old books for 50 cents, photo albums with great mats, and a few other goodies. We weren't there long, but we were there long enough to score big.

During my Indiana trip, I hit a few jackpots too.  More hats! More jewels also. 

And a gorgeous 1950s wedding gown to cut up for the Snow White kits. It cost a bit more than the $3 red dress, but the $30 I spent for it was well worth it.  There is a lot of great, old lace to use.  And don't both of them look perfect with the red flocked wallpaper I've got for the project too?

Usually I shop all along I70 when I take an Indy trip, but I needed to get back to the little ones. And how nice it was to be home and be with them!  Cute, huh? I"m so glad I left the tails this time and didn't have them docked. Look at the blur where this teensy girl is giving her nice long tail a wag.

The Early Bird scores the junk

Thanks for your input on the charges for the Faerie Book Swap. I'm glad you feel the price is reasonable.

I was making covers at 5 am today.  I'm not typically a  morning person, but it was kind of nice to be awake and gluing before I am normally up to face the world.  I worked for 3 hours on them and then started the rest of the day at my usual time, and it was like a little bonus of hours for me.

Not that I'll become an early bird. But I enjoyed the gift of extra time. But not enough to ever set an alarm clock, of course.  If I made a habit of being up at the crack of dawn, it would feel more like slaving away too many hours instead of like a special little bubble of time I was given to get caught up. 

Yes, silly thinking, but maybe my mind is still fuzzy from being up so early.

A lot got done today, by starting so early.  I shopped for a new car (no luck yet), did yard work, edited photos, shopped for some back to school clothes for Sugarwings (eeek- kindergarten starts next week!!), piddled around with a few other things, then sat down and did something creative. 

I've been doing so much assembly line work in making 100 front and back book covers, that I was feeling like a robot instead of an artist. This evening, i took the time to actully make an inside book page so I can be part of the swap too.  I want a book of my own to keep, so I need to have pages to trade!! I have ten or so, only really need 8, but like to have extras.  Plus, I wanted to do something fun.

I drew a dress form and cut it out of sheet music, then glued it onto this old text.  The wings are cut from a 1950s bug book then glitzed with a clear gold Gelly Roll pen, and the dress is made of flower petals plucked from my garden of vintage hats.

I outlined the wings in Black Stickles glitter, then inked the background with pink and black. Over that I lightly brushed some white Tim Holtz crackle paint.

My car has been on loan to my son, so I've been driving my husband's car, while he has been driving the farm truck. We tend to buy cars and drive them till they won't go any more, or till we are so sick of them that we give them to one of our sons.  We get about ten years from most vehicles.

This car is 12 now, and has been a wonderful car, but when it died on me in the middle of NOWHERE, I decided it was time to replace it! On Sunday, I had taken a spur of the moment trip to one of my favorite shops, 4 Corners.  Someone there told me there was a flea market nearby, so there I went on another little jaunt.

Trouble is, the flea was closed, was on a back road2 miles outside a small town I'd never heard of, and the car decided to take a break from travelling and not start after I came back from looking in the windows of the market (didn't see much).

Luckily, I had a book with me, I sat and read a while, then tried to start the car again, and it took off after about a half hour.

I'll go back and check out the flea later, when I have reliable transportation. The place is called Hooterville Flea and Bait Shop. 

How can I not go back with a name like that???

There were hats calling to me from 4 Corners, so I was glad I'd taken the trip, no matter how worried I was about being stranded.

I bought 4 hats, a huge pile of Victorian scrap, die cuts, and old books, a roll of old silk ribbon in chocolate brown, a gorgeous down pillow covered in lace, plus this picture all for $59!!

The picture is not in the best of shape, but that is something I like about it.  The bottom 4" or so was missing, but I rubbed sepia ink on the cardboard backing where part of the print was missing and I don't think it shows much.  I also sanded some of the gold paint off the frame so the white underneath peeks out.

She is sooooo pretty.  Not sure where she will hang yet. Somewhere special!  Maybe in the guest room I am fixing up for my sister's visit.

Well, better get back to the fairy book covers.  15 more to go and I'm finished with the front covers, yay!

A teacup-raven-thingy

Its been very nice to see the interest in our Romantic Gothic Ghosts day in the studio on October the 6th! We  have a lucky 13 signed up so far, before we have shown our projects for the day. I hope that showing them now doesn't spook our guests away...

My class is inspired by this stack of old Edgar Allen Poe books from a garage sale ($1 each),  They are tatteringly wonderful.

You'd think that maybe, these would make me think of teaching a book of some kind???

Well, it would make sense to use the pages in art journals.  But instead, I was intrigued by using just one section, the poem about the Raven.

I cut the poem into 1-3 line quotes to use as banners on a teacup-raven-thingy.

(no name for the creation yet, I hope I can come up with something better than that eventually)

The two quotes I used for my examples are some of the less interesting lines, I wanted to save the best ones for the students.

Our projects will be Halloween Holiday Decor pieces, that have a romantic feel.

NO purple!

NO orange!

Garish Halloweens, Nevermore!

I've bought some white and gray teacups, we will fill them with vintage paper nests and add a raven made from felted sweaters.

I wish we could do the felting itself that day, but it has to be ready ahead of time.  So, I bought a couple of men's 100% wool sweaters at the Goodwill (geez, when did GW prices go so sky high??? $5 each for a crappy, worn out sweater???)

I boiled them in a big pot with liquid Rit dye to turn them a deep, rich black.

Then, drew a raven pattern, cut it out and stitched it up. 

I AM NOT A SEWER. If you aren't either, don't be scared!

But- this was fast and easy.  Black thread on a black bird doesn't have to be perfect, it hardly shows.

She is trimmed out with pretty black feathers, lace and glitter, then topped with a crown that we will make from antique brass window screening, and decorate with rhinestones.  We'll make a strand of pearls for her neck, create the nest, and the arch with the banner and cover it in old millinery blooms.

And of course, the stack of books that the teacup rests on is included. We'll bundle up stacked pages (pre-coffee stained) and tie them with lace and ribbons to use as a stage for our teacup-raven-thingy.

Beth is busy whipping up her class idea too, and from what I saw Friday, its going to be really nice.  Hers is a Gypsy fortune teller's guide book of some sort.  To be used an art journal.  And I gave her one of my Poe books to take apart so she could share the pages with everyone.  So, the garage sale books do get to be in an art journal after all.

For details about coming to the class with us in my studio, please scroll down to the previous post, or click on the button on my side bar.

Now, that I have told you that I don't do orange and purple, I'm going to try to sell you a bundle of traditional Halloween colored millinery.

Well, just because I don't use the colors much, doesn't mean they aren't just right for someone's project. And these are nice, old flowers that deserve a good project to be included in.

And this might be way off season, but here is something new in the Boutique too.

Lots of old Valentines!

I'll leave you with some pictures of whats new in the shop.

I found Hat Heaven (and the giveaway winner)

Our trip to NC was just perfect. 

A highlight  was a shopping day with my sis-in-law.

Actually, we had TWO fun afternoons of junking.  Our first was at the Vintage Village, and I was captivated the minute we got out of the car.

And the best part of it all was Susanna's Antiques, where I went to meet my blog friend, Jenny.

She and her mom have a cute as a bug shop together- filled with too much to fit in my suitcase...

(yep, my eyes are closed in this photo, of course)

Another friend, Becca, took a break from work, and came by to visit too.

The mall was just wonderful. If I needed a light fixture, I'd be looking there for it. They had the best selection of old chandies at good prices that I have seen in a long, long time.

And the atmosphere of the whole area was just plain fun.  I loved all the little cottages and piles of junk out doors amid the plants and flowers. The best part was a fresh fruit stand where we bought ripe Carolina peaches and washed them in a garden hose to eat while we walked around.

I had some great food while on our trip, but those peaches were hard to beat.

Then, I saw the hats.  Hats, hats, hats everywhere!!!!!!!!!

Hat Heaven.

If you need floral hats, head to see Jenny. But wait a bit, I cleaned her out for now. 

Don't worry, she has plenty of other pretty things to buy.

I don't know why I didn't buy this print. 

But I did snag this story book for my grand fairies.

Jenny had some of her work there for sale too, she makes these vintage brooch bouquets for brides.

And how sweet is this?  This bracelet was a gift from her. 

The next day, my sis-in-law, Sandy, and I went to the flea. There is one every weekend at the fair grounds, and it was a good one.  I bought a ton more flowers and hats, as well as bags full of broken rhinestoney jewelry. 

I bought so many hats, that I had to pull all the flowers off to make them fit into my suitcase. Sandy was horrified, she collects old hats and thought I was too ruthless.  But she ended up helping, and we sat on the balcony of her son's home drinking wine, plucking hats and playing with her little Yorkies.

 

Now that we are home, Sandy, Dixie, and Daisy have come to stay with us for a while.  They'll be good for Twinkle, she misses her Agnes Rosebud.

That is, if she doesn't try to rip their cute, fuzzy heads off. She doesn't like many dogs.

After a few days with family in Raleigh, we drove to the Outer Banks.  This was a work trip for my husband, I was just tagging along, which is a nice way to travel. For me at least, my poor husband had to work all day while I goofed off on the beach.

He was able to be done working in time for romantic walks on the beach, and watching the sunset on the sound. Then, stuffing ourselves with locally caught seafood.

We stayed in Duck, NC and it was a very peaceful, quiet beach.  I wonder why there weren't more people there? It was beautiful.

Oh, I forgot to announce the winner of my giveaway!!  This collage goes to:

Linda Owen Postma