Karla's Cottage

Dolly do-overs

The Halloween witches and zombies that I showed you previously started out with a bag of old dolls.  I sorted them into categories-

• beyond repair became zombies
• sorta bad shape, witches (if the skin was messed up, I repainted them green like Elphaba)
• decent shape, but needed work, angels

It is not even Halloween yet, but I zipped through my ghoulish gals in time to take into Good Juju’s September and October sales am now sparkling up some angelic babies for the November First Friday.

This one is actually a tree topper from the 60s.  Her base is a cone to fit on a Christmas tree.  I reused her wings on the smaller girl and made new ones for her from curled feathers.  Both had their hair replaced with wool roving.

My pal Tami invited us over for a craft day and offered styrofoam pumpkins to make over (mine is covered in lace) and tart tin dolls for the projects. I also whipped up my two angels and a few lil schroomies.

She went to a lot of trouble with her sleepy eyed doll.  It required sawing it in half, and gluing in a cork that was also cut in half to the doll could be put back together with the tin in the center.  

The tin makes a cute skirt top, doesn’t it?  Thanks, Tami, for the fun day filled with lovely projects!

My year of embracing orange and a redo-rescue

For the first autumn of my adult life, I’ve been drawn to fall colors.  It kind of coincides with my attraction to the mix of warm woods that I’ve now blended in my house along with the existing whites and creams.

 For decades if was just the whites.  But I sure am enjoying the wood textures we have added.  Also the dark leather chairs by the stone hearth.

Did it start with this dining table?  Maybe.  I’ve added quite a few touches of wood around our house since.

The hutch is painted white, but has a natural top.  This has been my new, go to move.  There are a few pieces with this paint on the bottom, wood stain on the top look in the last few years.

But orange?  That is brand new for me.  And I like the pops of brightness that color brings to the season.

For a while now, I have loved red accents on a white background at Christmas.  Having a neutral background means  that I can switch things up lot lot with just a few changes of color splashed around the room.

This over blown monstrosity was at a garage sale for one dollar, and typically, I’d have walked right by it.  Or paused to wonder how the basket would look spray painted white (probably very nice, filled with roses).

It is actually a very nice shape and looked good with a pot of mums as is.

Instead, I decided to accept the orange and see what I could do with it.

It had a lot of big, velvet pumpkins inside, two I added to the urns in the top pic.  The rest I set aside along with about 50% of the crazy, over the top amount amount of leaves and berries and bows.

The abundance was pared down to a more reasonable amount in the basket, and I still have a lifetime supply of leaf and berry picks to use for something else.  

So that makes three more palatable arrangements and a leftover bag of supplies for $1, plus the 50 cents each I paid for the urns at the same garage sale.  

Plus, plenty of stems leftover to fill this caldron (also from a garage sale).

All filled with my new enjoyment of autumn tones.  I won’t be changing over my entire decor to pumpkin colors, but I am liking the hints and peeks of them I have scattered around.

 

 

Under a magic spell

I really, really, really loved making things for Good Juju for Halloween!

I have collages, dolls, witchy hats, jewelry, mushrooms, ballerina bats (yes, that’s right, ballerina bat skeletons),  signs, painted pumpkins, and my possibly fave- magic potion bottles.

For years, I have been tossing any vintage items I find that seem fitting for this season, into a drawer.  It was quite full of tempting treats to turn into my fun creations.

I found it so inspiring to have an eclectic mix of ephemera and goodies to dig through.

No two came out the same, since I was working with so many originals bits of vintagey goodness.  I had some photos that I’d copied, but the rest is all aged.

While I was at it, I whipped up a few hand made pumpkins too.

Here are some used as bottle toppers.

I went overboard.

A bit.  

As I do.

There is probably enough inventory for next year too.  I should add some to my online shop, but I will be teaching at Jenn’s fantastic event in Charleston mid October, so might not have time to get any listed in time for Halloween. 

Now it is time to halt my spooky endeavors and switch to Christmas.

Which isn’t a problem, I adore creating sparkling pretties for that holiday too.  

It is hard to put away all of the supplies for October, and to stop myself from making way, way, too much of this stuff.  I’ve been on a roll.

Knowing me, I will be every bit as much obsessed with  as happy to  make things for the next holiday. 

I’ve been saving up Christmas ephemera and supplies too.  I have a feeling that crafting with those is  going to be taking over my life soon.

I’m excited just thinking about it!

And it is extra nice to have a reason to make things, after quarantine and Ryan’s death.  I hadn’t had much inclination to create in volume like this.

Hidden Hearts

I have always enjoyed finding shapes in nature.  Especially hearts.  Or fairy wings.  
Typically, I take a photo of the heart and leave it, but some I pocket, like this one from the dog park.  


They have taken on even more meaning since we lost Ry.  He used to be enthusiastic about the ones I’d see when out on our walks together.  I can hear his voice every time I find one now.

 “That’s so cool, Mom!”

So this broken heart really stood out and caught my eye. It shows how I’ve felt since Ryan left.  Still holding it together, but forever broken.

And lookee here at this one!  On Molly’s hip.  She’d had an ouchie and as it healed, the hair grew back as more golden retriever hair than poodle/doodle hair.  And a darker color too. 

“That’s so cool!”

Queenie

If you are squeamish, you shouldn’t look at these pictures.  I’ll tell the story, then leave a gap and have pics at the end.

Poor Queenie, the other chickens pecked her head raw after her foot was injured and she was weak.   I named her that because they messed up the crown of her head, and also in honor of the passing of Queen Elizabeth.

We were babysitting the neighbors flock while they were away.  This young chicken got her foot stuck in the fence and hurt it.  Rich got her down and put her back in with the others after contacting her family.  But wanted to put her out of her misery, he did not think she would make it.

The next day, she was discovered with the horrible wounds from hen pecks, and he brought her home, made a special pen for her.   She was hand fed, and pampered.  Her poor leg was swollen three times it’s normal size and her head was raw.  Rich, again thought she might need to be euthanized.  But I thought that her eyes were bright and inquisitive, and she seemed happy for attention.

Then, a door was left ajar, I think it might’ve been me.  Sugar got out, knocked over the pen and ran away with Queenie.  The poor bird was terrified and my husband was crushed. He cares so deeply for our pets, and any small creatures he finds around here.  He and Sugarwings had a big adventure with a box turtle named Sonny just the other day, and they still talk about that rescued turtle like he was part of the family.

Once again, I looked into Queenie’s eyes.  They still seemed bright and friendly, even though her body was limp.  There was no blood on her, just a lot of dog slobber and a few missing feathers.  Rich felt little hope for her after pulling her out of the dog’s mouth, but he set her special pen back up and he caught her a few grasshoppers.  She has an appetite, and he has been cutting up pork chops, fresh veggies and other treats for her, which she seems to like.

I think she will make it.  Our friends do not want her back, but I don’t know if our flock will accept her either, she might need to be someone’s single chicken as a pet.  Other hens always seem to bully the younger, weaker girls.  Until her head heals and re-feathers itself, and she can walk again, we will keep her safe and segregated.  

I think she is a lovely bird, with her jet black feathers and sparkling, black eyes.  All of our other ladies have orange or yellow eyes, these shiny, black ones are lovely.  And she seems to like us.  Fingers crossed that this sweet little gal does okay!

 

See what I mean?  What a pretty face she has! Even with her injuries, she is a very, pretty chicken.

 

Halloween Jewels

For Halloween, I went all out on the theming for my booth at Good Juju.  Including some necklaces I made.

Lots of them!

Most are just kinda themed for the spooky season, but would be fine all year, but some are full on ghostly or witchy.

See what I mean?  Very nice as a moody piece to wear with a black dress in October, but still pretty for the rest of the calendar.

A nice accent to wear for for Halloween.

For this season, I planned to have enough of this type of merchandise for the September and October sales weekends.

Oh, and if you need the perfect dress to wear with this jewelry, I have that too.

I’d never have had the audacity to paint blood splatters onto a Victorian silk dress in such beautiful condition myself.  But I was thrilled to see that someone else did and I snapped it up to add some atmosphere to my space. It’s pretty cool, I kinda want to wear it to the annual zombie walk here in Lawrence.