Karla's Cottage

How to make a hand painted banner on canvas and tips on painting a rose topiary

Here is a little break from Birdsong talk!

I've spent a lot of years painting murals, I travelled around the country and painted quite a few hotels, day care centers, and even a casino, as well as people's homes.    But the scaffolding and ladders really got to me, so I moved on to other things. 

Every once in a while I'll get to do one again and always enjoy the opportunity. Especially a canvas one that I can work on in my own space and take my time on.  This one was sent to my pal, Kim, for her Tiffany's event, where I am at right now.  (I've pre-posted this)

While this isn't exactly what the front of a real Tiffany's shop looks like, it is just right for the ladies attending Kim's party! Whimsical, fun, and pretty.

Kim wanted something more light hearted than the cold stone of the original building in NY. 

So, we took a few liberties with our design. 

My painting is all free hand..  I just paint as I go.  My lines aren't perfectly straight, but I think that adds to the whimsy and suits my style.

Plus, I know that I could NEVER do straight lines, so I don't even try! But since this was so architectural, I used a level to help out with the door and window shapes.

Here is the inspiration that Kim sent to me.  I used the fanciful nature of this with the stone front of the real building, along with the colors she asked for to come up with the banner design.

Here is my basic sketch for the idea.  We decided to flip the color scheme, so more of the Tiffany Blue would show. The canvas is being used as a backdrop for a photo booth, and with people standing in the middle, not much of the door itself would show.

My first step was getting the canvas ready. I like to paint on drop cloths, but this picture was larger than most seamless dropcloths are.  I found fabric big enough to avoid seams at Darhma Trading Co.

I washed and dried mine hoping to remove the fold marks that way. MAN, WAS THAT A MISTAKE!  It came out of the dryer looking like a wadded up piece of paper.  I had to IRON the whole thing, and 13 x 8' is a lot to man handle over an ironing board.

  I'd say, iron the folds only, don't do it the way I did! 

After struggling with the ironing board till I was  steaming myself,  I laid it out on the floor to cut and pin.  After carefully measuring and cutting, I hemmed the two sides on my sewing machine, and then laid it back out on the floor to pin the rod pocket at the top. I measured and cut it in a way that let me keep the hemline at the bottom as is, no sewing.

By the way, it helps to have a second set of hands to wrangle the fabric and help feed it into the sewing machine, this was a big job and even this lightweight canvas feels weighty when you are trying to sew it due to its size.

Another tip I have is to use duct tape to hold the hem in place along with the pins.  It helped me.

If you are going to hang it with grommets, add these later. We didn't want the ropes to stand out much, so didn't want to use grommets this time.  I cut up strips of the fabric I had trimmed off, and sewed them in half for added strength.  Then zig zagged them to the back of the cloth at regular intervals.

While this will hang from a pole in the rod pocket, I was worried that it would blow or sway in the breeze, so the straps of fabric sewns the the painting's sides can be tied to the structure, and will help secure it and keep it in place.

To do the artwork, I needed a large wall space, so I cleaned out my garage and covered one wall with drop cloths. Then, nailed the canvas up over it. (my drop cloths have also been used previously to make Halloween party ghosts, see the faces on them?)

(yes, I have a giant, sequinned disco ball hanging in my garage, it tells me where to stop my car when I pull in. I've seen people use tennis balls in the same manner but that doesn't seem to be as much fun)

First step was to prime. 

I'm picky about primers, and know its important to use the right one for the job. In this case, a cheap, dry wall primer was fine. And I was glad I used it, because the fabric was thirsty and soaked it right up.

After it was primed and dry, I drew the door, and window with chalk and blocked in the colors.

For a large painting like this, quarts of latex wall paint in flat or eggshell works best for back grounds.

I used a sponge roller brush for the "stone"

To create the awnings, I marked the center of the top of each window, then tied a ribbon to a pencil.  The ribbon was cut to the length from the center of the window to the edge of it.  I held the ribbon at the mid spot, put the pencil on the corner of the window, and while holding the ribbon in place, drew the arc to the other corner.

For depth, I dry brushed a darker aqua over the sponge rolled base color, then did the same, lightly with white. I used white to create the mortar lines too.  The mortar lines are drawn on with a sponge dipped in the white paint.  I didn't want a sharp line that I might have got from a brush.

Next, I finished the window paintings and awnings.  Always work from the background out.  Nearer things are last to paint.

The two topiaries are my foreground, so I blocked those colors in after the windows were done.

Notice the Tiffanys sign? I stupidly painted it too high, over the rod pocket, so painted over it to redo.  Which really isn't a big deal. Its only paint. It can be changed till you get it right.  You might notice my doorknob is different in this picture than in the finished one too.  After I roughed this in, I didn't like  it, and a swath of pink paint over it erased the plain door knob quickly.

For the detail work, I used 2oz bottles of acrylic craft paint.

To get the metallic look that I have on the door knob, jewelry, and chandeliers, I painted them all in regular acrylic paint first to get the shadows, highlights, and shapes. Then, I covered that in  metallic paint.

I used the same 2oz craft bottles.  The silver and white metallic paints are very sheer and take a lot of coats to really cover, but that is what I like about them. I can do just one or two coats over my painting and get the metallic shine, but not cover up the details. But because they are sheer, its hard to build up color.  That is why I do the basic shape in opaque paint first.

When creating a topiary, I always draw the pot with brown paint first, then sketch three circles, connected by twisted stems.  After that, I block in the basic rose shapes, and color the entire background of the balls dark green mixed with a dark brown.

The same principal applies for the foreground as it did for the background. Paint the furthest things first.  I do the sticks and leaves in dark colors, then highlights over that. 

Next comes the leaves from dark to light, adding detail as I go.

I got side tracked and added a few butterflies!

After painting the pot/sticks/leaves/ then roses, I went back and touched up some of the leaves so that they were covering the roses a little bit here and there.

The moss is really easy, just scribbles and swirls with white and gray on a liner brush.  I paint the roses with a 2" flat brush, and the leaves with slightly smaller flat brush, adding veins with a liner brush.

Darker leaves toward the back, lighter in front, gives the illusion of roundness. The roses should face different directions, not all the same.

There is a tutorial on my sidebar with tips on doing a nest.

Layering is important. Make sure it looks like there are items in front of each other.

A few twirling tendrils out the side of the topiary soften the painting.

For the lettering, I used pale grey, outlined with dark brown. On the highlight side, I added a line of watered down white, on the shadowed side, a line of aqua a shade darker than the stones.

Next step, I let the paint cure a few days. Yes, it was dry to the touch, water based paints dry fast. But- I wasn't taking any chances of it sticking together when I rolled it up, so I gave it some time.

To mail it without fold marks, I bought cardboard tube mailers. They weren't big enough to put the 8' high mural inside of, or long enough either, so I duct taped 8 foot's worth of them together, and tightly rolled the canvas around it, then took the roll to the UPS store where they have boxes of all sizes and shapes.

Well, hopefully, when I return from California, I'll have some pictures of my friends and I in front of this storefront! 

For now, I have pics of my own little model whose imagination turned a painting on the wall into a private play house.  Here she is opening the door.

And jumping out of the door to yell surprise.

And dancing through the door.

The pictures I don't have are of her drawing on the door.  Yep, she had some fun with chalk making a picture just like Grammie did. Oh well, it was only chalk and wiped right off, coulda been worse...

A nice nest full of fairies and a nasty nest full of squirrels

As promised, I added directions and pictures to download to create this fairy nest to my 3 Wire Workshop tutorial.

If you've already bought the tutorial, just scroll down and you'll find these directions added to the end of the nest and egg how to's. No additional charges, its a bonus!  Included is a sepia photo of this family and a hand tinted one with my wings attached.  Plus a couple more vintage pictures you could use in the nest instead if you'd rather.

I hope to add some holiday decor ideas and more wreaths in the fall too. 

This workshop comes with directions for a wreath, nests, and crowns, all made from wire, with ideas for embellishments. I've added some instructions for decorated eggs too.

 

 Speaking of nests, we had some uninvited guests build a nest in our dryer vent!   I heard scampering in my laundry room every morning this week, and it took me a while to figure it out. Squirrels had gotten into the vent pipe from the outside and made themselves at home!

We had to take the cover off, reach in and pull out the nesting materials and replace the cover with one that has a cage over it. They had done a bit of damage, so I'm glad I had a sweet, grown up son around to take care of it for me and get the varmits out of there. 

It was a nice day to be out in the yard, and Little Dewdrop kept us company.

Who would have thought that we'd be outside splashing and playing in the water in March? What beautiful weather!

Sugarwings took advantage of the 80 degree day to do some planting and finger painting. 

I think she painted the dirt and herself more than her paper.

And these pictures were taken before she even got very messy. (and no, the paint did NOT come out of her pink clothes, no matter how much I soaked and sprayed it.)

Yep, a perfect day to be outside, we turned on the garden hose and let her play in that afterwards- yay, Spring!!

Hatching some ideas

As I promised when I put the Twining andTwirling Wire Workshop up for sale, I've added a bit more to it for Easter.

What's new is a how to on covering and decorating these eggs.

And some simple painting tips for some other ones.

Right now, I'm kind of stuck on the nests, they are so much fun to make!  But I whipped up a dozen eggs or so too. 

While playing with nest ideas, I made up a flock of fairies too, and will add directions and downloadable pictures to use to the site later on, after Paper Cowgirl.  All included in the $20 price for the entire class along with the wire wreath class I am teaching in Texas this week, and the fairy crowns too.

Wire Wreath Kits

All of my kits are done and packed up, ready to hit the road next week and take them to Paper Cowgirls.

Before I put all of the supplies away, I made up a couple custom kits, this one is for  my Sissy.  I used the very old, pure silk, French ribbon that Carol Spinski gave to me.

And topped some of my favorite wallpapers with an old advertising card and lots of millinery.

The inside lid is covered with text from a 1940s  book about roses and a Victorian calling card.  Then, the box is filled with all the pretties she needs to make a wreath.

While Sissy's kit is special, I think all of the other kits are too, and I hope the students enjoy them.  Each includes:

• written directions plus an online how to, that includes this wreath as well as a fairy crown, and bird nests, also made of wire
• patterns
• millinery flowers
• 3 gauges of wire
• vintage beads and crystals
• feathers
• bird
• ephemera to cover the bird and make the leaves
• lace for leaves
• ribbons and vintage lace
• shredded paper, moss, and a turquoise egg to make the nest

The wreath in the class I'm teaching is in aqua tones, but I made up some pink kits too, just because I love pink.

No two are just alike, if they had to be, I'd never have made soooo many of them, I get bored.  So, I had  some fun with the decor.  When I get to my (small) class, there will be plenty for the students to chose from.

I have a couple listed in the Boutique right now. Please email me if you would rather have pink, instead of the aqua kit, when you order.

Edit- well, those 5 went fast!  If I have any more left after Paper Cowgirls, I'll let you know.  Please email me if you are interested

Next, it will be time to work on the kits for Birdsong.  I hope to get them done WAY ahead of time. Trouble is, I am still waiting for some elements I ordered for the necklace we'll be doing!  I hate to make up the example necklace till I have all the materials in front of me. Don't you hate taking a class and finding out that the best items in the project have been subsituted for something different?

The event is fast approaching, and if my order doesn't come in, I'll have to try elsewhere for the pieces.  But I do promise to come up with something pretty!

There are a couple of openings left, if you would like to come.

And I promise, there really are FOUR classes, my necklace will be done and ready by the time all of my peeps arrive!

Some twists on a new tutorial

My quest to make nests has turned into something much bigger.  At first when I started working on making 20 plus nests for Birdsong, each took me over an hour to figure out.  As I moved on and figured out a few things they went faster and got cuter and cuter.

So, while I was at it, I decided to take some pictures as I worked and do a tutorial.

And since I'd gotten so many inquiries about the wreath class I am doing, I decided to add that too.  And one of the things people ask me about most is the fairy crowns that I do. Since all 3 of these are done with the same basic ideas, I decided to lump them all into one Wire Workshop that I am calling, "Twining and Twirling".

In these, you get all my tips and tricks, hints and how tos.  As well as patterns for the leaves on the wreath and down loadable French text to print and use to cut the leaves out of. Also to decoupage the bird in the wreath, or eggs in the nest with too.

There are lots of pictures, and instructions, examples, and ideas. And I'll probably be adding more to it as time goes by. If you are one of the hundreds of people (thank you, thank you, thanks so much!!!) who bought my dress form tutorial, you already know that as holidays came along, I did extras for the occasion and added them to the existing tutorial for no charge.  I already have some ideas for Easter that I want to play with and will tell you about on the tutorial.

You can click on the button to check out the sign up page.  The cost is $20 for all three workshops. They will be set in blog form, and are up indefinitely.  As long as I have a TypePad blog, and I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon.

By the way, everyone who is attending Birdsong Two, has already got a free entry to the workshop to try it out.  There are three spots left for our party at the cottage in April, if you are thinking about coming, this online workshop is a little bonus you'll get for signing up!

Because I like to spoil my "peeps".

 

 

 

The Short cut way to repaint kitchen cabinets with no sanding,stripping, or even removing the doors!

Paper Cowgirls is open for registration!  My class is the wire and beaded wreath in a spring time color theme with LOTS of emphemera and vintagey goodies to foof it up with. Plus a decoupaged birdie nesting with a tourquiose egg.

Will I see you in Texas in March to make one? There are lots of fun classes to take. I am signed up for the two that I'll be taking, can't wait!

Here are the teachers:

Cindy Mayfield - Yapping Cat

Dawn Edmonson - The Feathered Nest

Karla Nathan - Karla's Cottage

Lisa McIlvain - Tarnished and Tattered

Sandra Feazel  - 7th St. Studio

Beth Leintz - Gathering Dust

Donna Goss - Art Studio 522

The other Karla and I have been promising Beth we'd help her with her kitchen for about 6 months and finally did it. It only took about 6 hours for the three of us.  6 months, and 6 hours, that is.

Beth had the doors washed, areas taped off and covered where needed.

So, we got right to it.  The bonding primer was tinted to the paint color, which makes it easier, since primer can be such a blinding white.

ALWAYS USE A BONDING PRIMER.

Not primer for wallpaper.

Not primer for fresh drywall.

Not paint and primer combined.

Somewhere on the instructions or label, the can should say something like this " will adhere to glossy surfaces"

You will not need to sand or strip the wood, this primer will be ideal for gripping the wood and giving the surface some "teeth" for the paint to hold on to.

Please note, that primer needs a few days to reach its full strength, and it can be scraped up while fresh.Once it has cured, though, its tough as can be! If you want to distress your finish with sandpaper, please do it very soon after painting.

We left the doors on, and painted over the hinges. The door pulls were removed first.

We were in a hurry, so really didn't let the doors dry as much as we should have, so I knew that the opening and closing was going to create some cracks in the drying primer on the dark bronze hinges and that might peek out of the paint a bit, but wasn't worried, because I knew we were antiquing the finish when the paint dried and it would all blend in.

Sometimes, its smarter and faster to just go with the imperfections and make them work in your design!

After priming, we put on about 2 coats of creamy, satin finish paint.  Then went out to lunch while it dried.

When we got back, we mixed 2 oz of acrylic craft paint into a bowl of about 2 cups of clear glaze.

While the glaze is wet, it looks milky, but it dries clear. Always remember that the mixed paint and glaze will dry on your furniture to the same color of the paint you mixed in.

Paint it on, and wipe it off with a clean, damp cotton cloth (an old tee shirt torn up is good), heavier in the corners and indentations.

After putting it on and wiping it off so the corners, indentations and edges were darker, we wanted a bit more of it showing, so, we pulled a glaze dipped brush down with the wood grain, to create striation marks.

I use a cheapo, 99cent brush, instead of the specialty faux finish brushes sold to do this with.

If the lines seem too dark, or heavy, go over them again or blot them with your cotton rag.

After that, we wanted even more design the to project, and decided to fleck glaze dots all over the surface.

Its easily done with a toothbrush, and the same glaze used for the faux treatment. The speckles should be random, and not too dark or big, and never drippy.  Blot if needed. And don't get too carried away.

Ta dah!

The cabinets should get a top coat of poly (which is oil based, smelly and sometimes yellows, but holds up great and is extremely washable) or water based poly, Minwax Polycrylic (which doesn't smell, or yellow and is easier to use, but isn't quite as durable, but still really good).

Beth's sweet husband, Jeff, was volunteered to do the top coat later.

We thought our paint job looked pretty good when done!  But there was still something bugging us.

Ta dah, again!  Doesn't the room look better without the busy magnets on the fridge?  This might be controversial (Beth told me not to pick on magnets, some people LOVE them) but I HATE magnet covered fridges.  I know I am in the minority, and a lot of people really enjoy using their fridges as art and photo display. But I always find the clutter distracting for myself. (although I do have to admit, I enjoy looking at all the pictures on fridges when I am visiting someone and thiers is covered)

And another thing that bugs me is dark wood that doesn't really go with the room.  Her door was too dark for the nice, light space.

I only had 9 minutes till I had to leave, because it was my son's birthday and I had a party to get to. So, I quickly whipped the primer back out and got the door ready for a coat of paint.

Beth said that Jeff would do the paint coat.

Here is what we discussed for the door:

1- paint the door to match the cabinets

2- paint it the base color of the cabinets

3- paint it the wall color

4- paint it the wall color and then do the same faux treatment and glaze that we did on the cabinets over that.

Either choice she makes, its primed and ready to go. And I think the room already looks bigger with the door nice and light, don't you? Which option would you chose? I'm leaning toward #4.

 

How to add embellished pieces to painted furniture

Now that Sugarwings is getting bigger (and so are her clothes), and I have little Dew Drop to dress sometimes too, I needed a bigger space to store the little girl's clothing.  I was lucky to find a cabinet at one of my favorite places, for a great price, but it needed a lot of changes if it wanted to come and live with me.

Here is how it began, kind of deco.  Which I like, but not for my bedroom.

I had some ornate scrolly embellishments in the garage, (you can buy some similar type things at Home Depot, hobby stores, or look online here.) and thought they might help with the transformation.

The trouble with these is attaching them unless you have a nail gun, and even then, they shatter or the wooden ones will split.

I discovered that the easiest thing to do, is to slather the back of the piece with paint-able caulking.

Then, just smoosh it into place.

Make sure you have plenty along the edges, so that there is no gap between the piece and the furniture you are applying it to. You want it to look like it was always there, not just glued on.

With this piece, it was a bit more complicated since the area on the doors I added it to had curved wood.  I was able to squirt in extra caulking to fill those holes.

After pushing it into place, some caulking will ooze out the sides. Clean this up with a q-tip.

After that, prime the piece to get ready to paint it. There are lots of painting tutorials on my sidebar, for different finishes or looks.

For this, I used my favorite bonding primer, Zinsser Bullseye, spray, in the gold and white can.

You can see, I didn't use a heavy coat, this is about 3/4 of a can. Its enough to give the surface some tooth to grab the coat of paint that will go over it.

Notice I took out the drawer first?  I painted the drawer separate so it wouldn't stick. And the paint won't run and drip from the scrolly piece and the handles. Its just easier to not have to be as careful if you don't have to be. The same issue exists on the cabinet doors, I'll just had to be extra watchful for drips.

And since I was too lazy to change the hardware, I sprayed right over it.

Yes, that is a disco ball in my garage.  I don't recommend painting under one, because it attracts cats, and it also got in the way of brush strokes.

The decorations, handles, and all got painted with a coat of Behr satin in a French vanilla color.  Behr is good and heavy and usually does the trick in one coat plus touch ups.

This was a quick project for me, I didn't wait for the caulking to dry, though you probably should.

PS-

I will be away from home for a few days, but will be checking my email while gone, so please leave a comment if you'd like to win a Cuff Tutorial. I'll be giving a couple more away when I get back.

When I return, I'll get your orders from the Boutque and Etsy out on Monday the 5th.

Dorothy shoes

Have you seen Lisa's new tutorial?  She is selling the class to make her darling little ballet slippers that were featured in Somerset Life.

I made some shoes up following her directions, but switched out some of Sugarwing's  out grown shoes for the ballet slippers.  She had the silver glittered "Dorothy" shoes as well as the ruby ones.  (in Frank L. Baum's book, the shoes were originally silver)

Lisa's steps were easy to transfer to another style of shoe.  But I think I have Sugarwing's ballet slippers tucked away somewhere.... I will do those too. I'm hooked.

I wonder if I can find a teensy little Dew Drop shoe to foof up for the Christmas tree too?

Thanks for the flurry of shopping! I spent the morning wrapping up packages to go out in the mail, and have also kept the deal with myself to list a few new things every day. 

In BOTH shops, too! Etsy and the Boutique.

Can you hear me slapping myself on the back?

There are a variety of new goods, and more to come. 

Including some cuffs.  And if you'd rather make your own, the tutorial is available here.

I hope to make up some more kits over the weekend, if you want one to go with the class.

 

For now, I'm waiting for the ingredients to arrive, I've ordered some of the aluminum cuffs to make the kits.  I really enjoy putting kits together, its fun to pick through my pretties and find just the right pieces to match.  I get to do the easy part, then send it on to someone else to create!

Sugarwings and I have been slaving away over the dyed trees too. Its her job to dip the pink ones.  After they are dry, I glitter them up, arrange packages, and then add them to the shop.

This one is Chocolate brown, which I think is a nice change from the pastels and whites. Or as my fairy grand daughter calls it, "shock-ill-it".  She is a fan of chocolate anything, especially milk, so she liked this color. 

This photo is not of something for sale, it was a page that I found in a book and had to save.  My mom's name was Martha Downey!  But her middle name was Josephine, not Eliza. Still, an odd co-inky dink, huh?

My middle name was almost Josephine too.   I've told you this before, my dad named me after the two of them when I was born, because my mom was ill.  As soon as she recovered, she changed the birth certificate.

Because his name was Hubert. 

He named me Huberta Josephine Downey.  

She changed it to Karla Jo.  I go by Karkie, tho and Karla always sounds wrong to me, although 99% of the world calls me that. To me, I'll always think of myself as Karkie.  Family nick names stick don't they? I'm glad mine didn't end up being Hubie.

Thanks again for shopping with me. I'll let you know when the trees and cuff kits are done and ready!

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

We are getting a new kitten, so I think ours will be fun!

Making a kitchen island from odds and ends

 

 When I knew we were going to be remodelling our kitchen, I started making plans for a new island. But I didn't want a "new" one, I wanted an old one, of course.  I knew that it couldn't be large, it needed storage space, wheels, and I wanted a granite or marble top.

I couldn't find a piece already like that, so I thought I'd marry an old cabinet with a stone top that I purchased.

Well, after a trip to the local granitorium (I made up that term, but it seems to fit), I realized that a new slab, even for a small piece of furniture was not in my budget after spending a wad of cash on a whole kitchen redo.  At first, I tried to pretend that it was just in the "construction budget" but, I had to force myself to face the truth.  Just because we were spending a few thousand dollars already, it doesn't mean that a few hundred will disappear into it that vast amount like a drop in a bucket.

What it means, is that I had already spent too much and shouldn't spend a few hundred more.

So, I searched for an old piece of stone at antique stores.  I actually found quite a few, for a fraction of the cost of  new (even though all of them are billions ?? of years old, the ones from the granitorium are like "new")

The best piece I found was 28" by 38" and came from the teller's window of an old bank in western KS.  It was only 50 bucks too!

For a month, I carried those measurements around, hoping to find a piece of furniture to fit them.  I went to flea markets, antique malls, and consignment shops and found some hopefuls, but was being cheap.

One day, I stopped at our Salvation Army to look for some warm pants for Sugarwings (did I mention that I am cheap?) and found this not so old, but not new Lane TV cabinet.  Its nice, solid wood, and could support the weight of the marble.

Plus, it had a green tag and that was 50% off of green tags day!  I got it for $14.

That is about how much I spent on spray primer.  This is the BEST kind to use, and its about $7 a can now at Home Depot. But its worth every penny, no matter how cheap I am, because I hate sanding. With this product you do NOT need to sand! 

There are lots of tutorials on my side bar about how I paint, if you want to redo something and need to know some short cuts.

You might notice that I sprayed the top. That was a waste, since I was covering it in marble. 

I also used too heavy of a coat, because I thought I would be using this as the base coat, skipping the paint step, distressing the edges, and just glazing over it. I changed my mind and painted it white, so could have gone with a lighter coat of primer, since I had paint over it after all. 

Once I had it primed, there were still some problems. One was that the back was just fiber board, stapled on. The other was that the wheels had no where to attach because of the shape of the bottom of the piece.

Also, the cabinet was a bit smaller than the marble.

While the contractor was here to finish up a few trim details in the new kitchen, I asked him to do a little trim work on this too.I figured that for the small amount I had into it, I could afford to pay him to help me with the hard part of the redo and still be way ahead on this.

My garage is full of tidbits and doodads. I found a couple of iron brackets and he cut out notches to add them to the side of the cabinet to support the marble that was too long.

And to cover the fiber board, I added an extra piece of ceiling tile leftover from the ceiling job, then had him trim it out for me so that the rough edges wouldn't snag anyone's pants (or slash anyone's leg, that stuff is sharp!)

We added a block of wood under each corner and screwed the wheels to them.

The marble was attached with liquid nails and set into place.

Then, all I needed was some white paint. I decided it didn't need distressing or a glaze. I kind of liked just the pure white.

After it was done, I realized that the brackets were perfect to hold a paper towel roll. So far, the roll is just tied up with a ribbon, I'll be looking for a better way to hold it in place.

Hey, if you are looking for a project for yourself, on a slightly smaller level, my good pal, Mary is doing another glue book class.

A Christmas glue book!

I was with her when she was searching for ephemera to use. We went to a flea mkt together last summer and it was interesting to watch her sift through all the papers, picking and sorting.  She is very knoweldgeable about old paper.

Mary and Beth were both here for craft day and I got a glimpse of what Mary was making, and I have to say, its a cool class. Button might not look very enthusiastic about it, but he isn't into ephemera like we are.

Craft day meant working on my Cuff Bracelet tutorial, and Beth was nice enough to make a cuff for me to show, using my guidlines for the construction. Pretty, huh?  I love craft day!

Cuff bracelet tutorial

The cuff bracelet tutorial I promised is up and running. There is a button on my side bar to click on for more info, or click here.

Its a $6 class.

The class is online, in blog form, and holds written instructions lots of photos of the steps that I use to make my own cuffs.

(why on earth don't I ever think of polishing my nails before I do one of these???)

Here is a button for the class if you'd like one.

Its up and running, with no end date.  So you can refer back to the blog in the future for a refresher. 

I've also made up some kits for sale. You can find them in my Boutique, on this page.

The tutorial is included in the kit price.

There are a few kits listed and I am waiting on a bulk order of the aluminum cuffs to make up a few more. For now, I have the 1-1/2" size, next week I'll also have the 1" cuffs.  Today I found some toasty, cream cotton velvet too, won't that be pretty?

And if you aren't in the mood to make your own, I have listed a few that I made myself too.

You can find some here, and some in the Etsy shop, here too. (Yay, I got it reopened! And have big plans to restock it for the holidays)

  I've got another half dozen cuffs to photograph and list, but today was busy with putting packages together. I've been in bed with a cruel stomach bug all week and haven't had a chance to get my orders filled.  But if you are waiting for a package from me, thanks for your patience, its on its way now!

Little Dew Drop and the rest of these photos don't have anything to do with the stomach bug, I figured they were much prettier pictures than anything along the lines of what I was talking about. Its been a rough week, but with a trip to the ER for fluids to revive me, I am on the mend.

Seems like the worst part of being sick (beyond losing a week of work, when I am trying to fill my shop for the holidays) is finally crawling out of my dark, depressing, sick room to find the house a mess. Now, I'm not blaming my sweet husband, who spent the night sitting up in a stiff chair at the ER while my veins were pumped full of that wonderful IV nectar that made me better, and who watched Sugarwings on his own while I was out of it.

He was just great. He was helpful, he was loving.

But he just doesn't notice messes.

I honestly think he doesn't see them. 

So, when I finally was able to get up on two legs and left the bedroom, instead of just crawling from the bed to the bathroom, I was a bit down to see how things had piled up around the cottage. 

But the worst part was that I passed the bug on to him and to Ryan and then had to take care of them, while I was still feeling like  noodle legged mush myself.  Not to mention taking over the care of an energetic Sugarwings for the night. 

The two girls were already exposed to the bug last week when their Daddy and his Gypsy were sick, and haven't caught it yet. I'm hoping they don't. Its awful. I feel guilty enough that the guys picked it up while bringing me juice. They were very brave and are paying for it now. So, I'm off to go check on my menfolk, and see if they need a refill.

I hope all is well at your house.  WINTER IS COMING (that Game of Thrones quote stays with me) and so are the bugs. Dang, I miss the summer bugs, as much as I hate mosquitos, they are better than the stomach flu!