Karla's Cottage

Shadowboxes, buddies, and tagging along plus 4- count 'em FOUR giveaways at once!

This week is craft-o-licious!  Beth came by all day Sunday and we had so much fun chatting and gluing and cutting that we forgot to even have lunch till 4pm.  Then, on Tuesday, the regular crowd of snippers and gluers came by to hang out and have an Italian themed pitch in lunch.  No way we'd forget to eat that meal, it was excellent. 

Usually we all bring whatever we feel like making that day, but we tried a little something different this time and had a group project.  Vicki has designed these shadow boxes and sent some for us to play with.

 
At the end of the day, there was plenty of oohing and awing.  Vicki had also included collage sheets to use, and most of us used those plus a mix of vintage goodies we already had.

Clockwise these are done by:

all of us, Shawn (who made the lasagna!),  me, Mary, Beth.  I'm sad that I didn't get a good photo of Marilyn's hers was impressive.  There are photos on her blog of all of them, you can see her masterpiece there.

 

Shawn's daughter, Bethany, bonded with Sugarwings over the jelly bean dispenser in the treat cabinet. Little Bethany has been part of the craft group since we started, but Sugarwings is a wild crafter and I get nothing done after she joins us in the afternoon, so she isn't there for the whole day.

Beth left her Cuttlebug with me on Sunday and I might have gotten a bit carried away making tags from old papers with it....

But what a great use of scraps! Plus, these will be wonderful to make into tag books, and to tie to packages I send out with orders from the Boutique.

One tag book is already done, and ready to list in the shop.

Its not listed yet, but if someone wants it before then, please  contact me, its $20.

And here are all the giveaways I tantalized you with in the title:

1- Today is the last day to enter for the March Giveaway, a rose quartz and china shard pendant. All comments all month, any post are entered.

2 & 3- If you sign up to be my Google Friend, you are entered to win a prize, I am giving away two Peat Pot Pretties with vintage flowers. (details in the sticky post at the top)

4- We have one extra shadowbox from Vicki that I will offer to someone who leaves a comment on THIS post. Thanks, Vicki!! These things are really cute.

5- And hey, is this #5?? Yep, Officially, the April Giveaway starts at midnight tonight.  And I'll do my best to announce what it will be soon, instead of forgetting till the 20th or so...

Presents as thank yous for my new buddies!

My apologies to all of you who made an effort to sign up and couldn't get it to work!! Please try clicking on this link and signing up from that page to sign up as a follower and get a chance at some sparkly, vintagey, spring inspired prizes:

www.karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage

 

Doubling the bribe to get you to be my deer friend, sign up to win!

This is who greeted me this morning when I got up.  She was looking right in the studio window at me, waiting patiently for me to go and get my camera.  She didn't stick around long, after stripping all the bark from my shrubs, she moved on.  Now, with 10 acres of woods right behind us, why does this young lady keep returning to my roses??? 

She (or one of her buddies) gnawed my potted topiary down to a nub.  I don't have much hope for it returning when Spring finally gets here.

 

Speaking of dear friends, my  buddy, Gwen, landed a spot on the cover of Somerset Life with her bottles. My fun friend, Tiffany took the photo at Silver Bella and another pal, Lori wrote the article.  The whole magazine is chocked full of bloggy friends, and I was extra pleased to see so many people that I've met at Silver Bella. 

And while still on the buddy topic, THANKS to those who joined my Google Friend Connect on the side bar below the row of flowers. 

I think I'll extend the bribery for buddies and add another Peat Pot Pretty to the sweeten the pot.  Sign up to be my friend and I'll enter you to win one of these two pots.

You know I like presents!  And I also like my bloggy friends. Thanks for always being a click away when I need to hear from someone.  Its been an roller coaster week around here and I appreciate the well wishes. I won't go into detail on all the dramas and worries. 

But there is plenty of good stuff too, so I'll be sharing that with you later on. 

My button filled vintage test tubes are in Somerset Life too.  Its always such a pleasure to be included with the artists in this publication!

Funny, I'd forgotten I had a stash of these vials set aside.  When the magazine came, I pulled them out and listed them in the Boutique.  ($10 each)

It was a nice surprise to see a "Thanks" that I'd sent in with my work featured in the magazine.  If you have ordered anything from my shop, you might have noticed that I really enjoy packing things pretty.  And it doesn't have to be fancy, or over the top, sometimes the simplest things are the sweetest.

Well, if you ordered anything from me when I first got started, and haven't since, you don't know what I mean. It took me a while to find my style and to really start enjoying the wrapping process.  I have an area set aside in the studio for packaging, but I still rummage around the room looking for fun little tidbits to use as accents here and there.  My early packages were not so pretty.... and hopefully they are even now improving as I go.

I do reuse  and recycle the peanuts, bubble wrap, envelopes, and boxes- that is important to me.  Hopefully, once you get past all the scribbled over old addresses and labels, and get your order opened up, you'll like the way I've presented it. 

It makes me happy to do, and I like to think it makes the buyer smile when she opens it.

I could use some friends... be my friend and have a chance to win a prize!

Have you seen this post of Amy's?

She posted it a couple years ago, and it was so good, I'm glad she recycled it.    It gave me an idea for a craft night project that was simple and fast and really cute.  I had friends coming over to hang out in the studio and thought I'd offer supplies and a project for anyone who wanted them.

I glued vintage paper on plastic eggs, and my little buddy, Adeline Grace, a friend's daughter, made these.  No one else was in a crafting mood.  Addie was prolific, and got more and more creative as the night went on. I asked her if I could be her Grandmother, we seemed to have a lot in common.

 

It was nice of my friends to indulge me and let me make things while we talked, sipped wine and ate treats.   And good to catch up too. I've had the most AWFUL week, just a lot of drama going on behind the scenes that you don't want to hear about.  An evening to catch up with friends was just what I needed.

And it spurred me to clean up my studio, which I also needed to get done.

Do you ever find yourself starting a project as part of a clean up? I'd got this shelf at a junk store for $3 and wanted to make it over.  While I had the spray primer out, I thought I might as well paint this statue too. Someone had added some garish colors to it at one point (so I got it for half price at an antique mall). 

Using the steps in my side bar on how to paint furniture (listed under tutorials), I sprayed primer, glazed and top coated them.  If you don't count drying time, I'd say that it all took less than 20 minutes to do.

When I first saw the shelf, I knew it would be a great space saver on my desk.   It allows me to have more supplies within reach, since I now have two levels. 

 

The desktop is not quite done, I'll rearrange things a bit better when I have more time. I was more concerned about clearing the table tops off for my guests to have a spot to work at.

The big work tables really aren't very  attractive and the plan was just to use two smaller tables, then bring in the folding tables when I had company and needed more space. But it has become a habit just to leave all the tables up and keep them covered in clutter.  I might rethink that plan after my next two craft days coming up this week.

When there is that much flat, open space, its hard to contain myself.  If there is a spot empty, I fill it.

It would be easier to plan craft days if I had the tables stored in the garage and could set them up just when needed.  Which is the opposite of what I had been thinking before, that I should just leave them up so they would be ready for guests. Nope, if I leave them up, I have to spend a couple hours unloading them before guests show up!

 

During clean up, I took a break to blog browse and saw that my friend, Mary, had added Google Friend Connect to her blog. Now, for some reason, I thought those were only on Blogger, not Typepad, so I never added one. 

She also is having a bribe gift to readers who sign up.  Well, I'm not shy about bribes, so I'll offer one too! 

If you sign up to be my Google Buddy, I'll enter you in a drawing to win one of these Peat Pot Pretties with vintage millinery.

Like I said, I've had a VERY rough week. I could use all the friends I can get. Thanks!

Party prep

We are counting down the days till puppy time, poor Twinks looks about ready to pop!  She still has some time to go, and it looks like she is going to spend those days resting.  

The whole time I am in the studio, she curls up in this dog carrier/purse.  She barely fits anymore, and I'd hate to have to sling it over my shoulder with her (and that tummy full of pups) in it at this point.

It was given to her when she was a puppy herself by a friend, and I used to carry her around in it.  It has become her dog bed under my work table.  Now that her birthing time is getting closer, she rarely leaves the bag.

Or maybe she just hides in it to escape the chaotic mess that my studio has become??  I feel like hiding when I look at it too.  I have two craft days  and an Easter Egg party coming up, one tomorrow, so I might need to rent a back hoe to clean this quickly.

Here is something I have learned about having a nice, big studio to work in.

THE MORE TABLES I SET UP, THE MORE STUFF I LEAVE OUT. 

Its really sad, because I enjoy having a pretty place to work in, and I'd never let my house get to this point. My home always looks lived in, but not scary like the studio. I like things pretty and peaceful.  But out here, things just pile, and pile, and pile.  Till I force myself to do something about it.

I knew I'd let it go too far when Sugarwings lectured me about covering up her Play Doh table with packing materials.  We talk a lot about her not messing with my stuff, and I was in the wrong to over flow into her area.  And I sure heard about it too.

It may look like utter chaos, but there really is a working order to it... at least that is what I tell myself. I'm sure that is what all the people on "Hoarders" say to themselves too.

So, today, I've spent the morning clearing away the last of the Alice themed goods. I've listed the remaining 4 tag covers (I think I'd made about 100!)  in the Boutique and all of the materials I used while working on the tags and books are stowed away.

Then, I finished up making Peat Pot Pretties with Charlotte fairies from all of those materials that were still out.  I've listed these two and have a few more to photograph.  Soon, I hope to gather up what I need to make up the kits that you have asked for to make your own.  Maybe after I face the taxes....

There was a big pile of flea market finds that I was trying to get photographed and listed, and that is done now too. 

 
The trouble with cleaning up, is that I can't just put things away. I have to finish up whatever I had them out for in the first place.  And use up the scraps.  So, of course, when I come across something like an old candy box that was torn, I had to make tags out of it.  If I'd packed it away, then it would have just become clutter and would have looked like I was saving torn up trash.  Then, I really would have felt like a Hoarder!

So, I made tags from the box.  And took photos, and listed them. (I'm patting  myself on the back big time over that)  I used tidbits laying around on my desk. That is such a much more fun way to clean than to just pack it all away. Plus, its a challenge to limit myself to using what is on the desk, not getting anything new out. 

And then, when I get to the place when there is not much left to use on the desk, I can get back to the rest of the clean up. 

I'm kind of looking forward to it.  I have all day and all night by myself, till as late as I'd like to stay out here and putter and clean.  I'll watch the Idol results and Runway while I work and eat granola bars for dinner.  

Although, so far, this season of each has been kind of blah to me... Still a fan, but just not as excited about either this time around.  I'm still hanging on to LOST too, but I kind of feel like every time they give us one of the so called, promised "answers" its still a question. So, is Richard right, is the island Hell, or was that just his way of seeing it, because of his background??

 

And please remember, if you want a chance to win this month's giveaway- the shard and rose quartz pendant, you can leave a comment on any post, you don't have to go back to the one where I announced the MARCH GIVEAWAY.

Okay, back to work for me. But first a quick trip to the PO and the gym. 

The Tiniest Dancers

When I found these teeny little ballerinas, I was just charmed by them.  At barely an inch, they are just as dainty and sweet as can be.   I didn't get many of them, just a few to add to the shop along with some of their big sisses, and a few for me to use too.

 

It was a girly day for the Boutique. I added fairies, ballerinas, Charlottes and Alices.

Don't you just love the badly painted faces of the OLD cake topper ballerinas? So ugly they are cute.

This shipment of Charlottes is of all eensy weensy little girls. Each is every bit as dainty as that tiny ballerina, at about 1 inch long. 

I scrubbed at a couple to see if the dirt comes off, and most of it will. But I am leaving it on, in case the new owner likes "patina" as much as I do.    

They are just so tiny and sweet. 

Kind of like these two, the sweetest little dancers ever.

We had a little tea party so Pixie Pie and Sugarwings could open the gifts that were sent to them by Debra Ganas.  They loved them!! Thanks, Debra!!

Sugarwings loves her cuddly dog. But I made a mistake in my Swap Book notes and only wrote down that there was a gift for Sugarwings next to the giver's name, not what it was, because it wasn't open at the time. So, I won't know what is from who!

How rude of me.  I'm sorry. 

She has a couple more to open, and tomorrow is my Sugarwings Day, so she and I will spend some time enjoying the thoughtfulness of the givers.  

You know that feeling after a holiday, or big event when all of a sudden, its over and you wonder what you are going to do with your time?  That is kind of how I am feeling right now, I miss the Alice Tag Book Swap!

So, today I made up a book of my own tags, plus a few kits if anyone would like to make a book. 

What's new?

Enforced time off can be boring.  I won't say that I am sick of TV, because I worship and adore TV, but I am sick of just sitting in front of the set. I like to work while the TV is on. 

But- I'm glad I took the time off, my arm seems right back to normal and the pleurisy is gone.  In my youth, as Sugarwings would say "long, long ago in a land far, far away", I would ignore any ache, pain, illness or problem.  But I've learned over time, that just either makes it worse, or makes it last longer.  So, now, even though I feel wimpy doing it, I go to the Dr. And I take time off. 

Today felt great, back in the studio and office!! I spent a good part of the day taking photos of vintagey goodies and listing them in the Boutique and on Etsy.

 

My poor little Etsy shop has been seriously neglected. My goal has always been to keep 50 items in there (I gave up on 100 a LONG time ago).  Uhm, its not even close to that. Heck, its not even close to 20.

But I tried. And I'll slog away at it and try to get it going again.

But the trouble is, when I go to list things, I start looking through stuff and playing with it and thinking about what I could be making with it....  Listing things is boring. I'd rather be using them for something!

But not nearly as boring as sitting in front of the TV for about a week. So, I'm happy to keep adding things.  When I am done, my reward will be a day to sit and do nothing but make crap for hours and hours. 

These old papers will be fun to work with! I bought a never used box full of vintage wrapping paper. Most is in the Boutique, but you know I had to keep some of it!

(the pink hand is not paper, of course, it is felt. And sweet, embroidered felt! A little glove bag that I listed too)

We still have melting snow here, its on its way out.  There are robins all over the place, trying to find worms in the puddles of slush, so I guess it really is spring, or they wouldn't be here yet.

I'm not going to be fooled by the calendar, or the robins. Its not Spring until I can wash my car and the slush doesn't immediately turn it brown again.

Or at least not until I can put on my little Spring ruffled skirt and prance around outside with my parasol.

Well, maybe I'll settle for that car wash. Since my youth was left long, long ago, in a land far, far away and my figure was left back there with it.

(But isn't that great stitching on these little butts?  I think these towels were really well done!)

The very last of the Alice tag books got mailed out today too.  I figured that it was already 12 days past the deadline, all the ones that were coming must be in.

I wanted to show you some of the little details that were included in the packages sent in.  It was such a joy to open each envelope and see what pretties were inside.  Not only were the tags themselves just great, the wrappings and little extras here and there were just wonderful!

All the treats and tidbits and pretties were really appreciated and will be enjoyed! Thanks so much, everyone!

Confessions of a sloth

Sloth-dom agrees with me. While off of work this week, I've read Edgar Sawtelle plus a few back issues of Newsweek, rented Precious and A Serious Man, went to see Alice, She'd out of my League, Green Zone, and Shutter Island.  Not to mention every single episode of anything that was waiting for me on TV in the DVR.

A few years back, I had tendinitis and learned the hard way that if you don't let it heal up, it can go on for months.  So, I stayed away from work all week and didn't pick up anything besides a remote control or a book.  I'm surprised at how easy it was for me to get out of my work-a-holic habits and just relax.  It might have had something to do with the pleurisy, that kind of made me feel run down and yucky too.

Since it was spring break for Sugarwings and her Daddy, I didn't get any fairy babysitting in, which was a good thing, since I couldn't really lift her with my old lady achiness going on.  But I did get to spend a day with the two of them at Crown Center in Kansas City. There was a fairy tale village sponsored by Hallmark, and it was cute as can be.  Sugarwings was in princess paradise.

 The event is free and so well made! Plenty of interactive stuff too. 

 

She got to pull Pinocchio's strings to make him dance.  That was a nice change for her, usually its my strings that she pulls.

Yes, she has had a lot of practice tugging on my heart strings.

 

Thanks again for all of your messages and nice comments.  I'm trying not to type much, so please don't think I'm rude for not responding.  I've enjoyed reading them all.

And if you want to be entered to win the March giveaway of this rose quartz/china shard/vintage crystal pendant, please leave a comment.  Although it sure doesn't feel like March.  8 inches of snow on the first official day of Spring???

Thanks!

Thanks for all of your well wishes. I tried to return a few emails, but the typing is making my arm ache. I am enjoying reading them, and hope to visit soon.

So, for a few days, I'm going to try to keep myself out of the studio and away from the keyboard. NOT EASY!  

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the tag books they received, didn't people send in some beauties? OK, I'm off to rest up some more.  Its kind of nice, lots of movies, TV, and Sugarwings! Not bad. But I do miss my studio and computer.

March giveaway does really exist and some Tag Book Tendinitis

Happy St Pats!  There is a great parade downtown Lawrence, but I had to skip it today.  Sugarwings went with the rest of the family and I stayed home to rest. 

Remember the Frozen Charlotte flu that knocked me out of commission a couple of weeks ago? It turned into pleurisy.  But on top of that, I seem to have some tendinitis in my left arm, from making over 70 tag books and typing out the labels.  Funny, when you are over 50 and call the Dr. to say that your chest and left arm hurts, everyone starts to panic.

But, I knew it wasn't a heart attack, I could just tell.  But my Dr. wouldn't see me to say what it was, I had to go to the ER.  And since my stubborn, doctor's office hating, husband has high cholesterol issues and a family history of heart problems,  I knew that if I refused to go in to get checked, he would use this as an excuse to not get checked himself if a future chest pain ever came up for him.

Since I KNEW it wasn't my heart, I finished all the tag books (from the tags that were already here, I am expecting a few more yet) and got them to the PO before I went to the ER.  The pain had been around for more than 24 hours, I figured that if it was an emergency, I'd already have been dead.

So, the tags are in the mail, I am feeling better, but am supposed to rest up.  I might take a couple of days off from typing, this hurts!

Sometimes it sucks to get old.  Things hurt more.  And linger longer.

Just ask poor old Bookie and Sparkle, they know how I feel. Those two hardly ever leave their pillow by the space heater.  But I did coax them out to pose in their St Pats finery.

I'm going to take today and tomorrow off to get cozy and rest up while I recover from Frozen Charlotte Flu induced pleurisy and Tag Book Tendinitis.  I've got some reading to do for book club and need to go see Alice in Wonderland.  

Before I go, I wanted to show you the giveaway for March.  Yep, its once again past mid-month by the time I remembered to announce my month long contest....

This is a china shard pendant that I've made from a vintage plate, a rose quartz cab, two rose quartz beads, and vintage crystals.  This giveaway is retroactive, all comments all month, all posts go into the hat. 

Now, back to my ibuprofen. I hope you all find a lucky four leaf clover and a pot of gold today!