Karla's Cottage

Free Fairy Tale images and some workshop prep

If you are wondering why there is nothing new in my shops, it's because my studio has become Kit Central.

I'm gathering up all the elements needed for my Book of Enchantments for Snow White, plus brain storming projects for Birdsong 3, as well as a super secret surprise gathering that I am doing with a dear friend.  (more about that later, but I can't give it away till after the surprise in March)

For my Book of Enchantments, the supply list is out of control!

• a book cover to embellish, and the goodies to do it, including ribbons, lace, a mirror, millinery and flocked wallpaper
• 9 pieces of card stock
• a stack of fairy tale book text
• 2 pictures from old story books
• 2 pages from vintage Snow White stories.   (some are Snow White and Rose Red, and older ones are called "Little Snowdrop", I have books ranging from 1890 to 1959, in the oldest, she is usually Snowdrop)
• a collage sheet of pretty, vintage pictures I scanned
• 1 journalling page to color or use for inspiration
• 4 spells of enchantment that I have written (for: Sweet Dreams, Joy, Hope, and finding a True Hearted Prince)
• 12 pre-cut pieces of vintage lace
• 10 pieces of old wallpaper
• 1 moonstone heart charm
• 1 apple charm
• red rhinestones
• a rhinestone cluster
• ribbons

Oh my! That is a lot of cutting, organizing, packing, and counting.

I found an easy way to count the card stock. I bought packages of 50 that contain 10 pages of 5 neutral colors.  Since I need 9 for each kit, I simply take away one from each color and boom, I have 9 ready to slip into the envelope. They get covered in other papers, so it doesn't matter what shades go in the kits.  That beats counting out 9 for each envelope!

Since my ingredients are so vintagey and unique, I can promise that it's impossible for any two students to make the same book. It will be exciting to see all the creations the class comes up with using the combinations that they get!

I've enlisted a studio full of helpers.

And a cutie to keep us company while we work.

I've put the tiny craft table in front of the TV, which was probably a bad idea, I might never be able to convince my girls that they don't need to watch shows while they work.   But with so much going on, it seemed to extend craft time a bit for the littlest fairy. 

Since I had to cut so much wallpaper, I decided to chop away till I had enough to sell too.  So, once I get my kits bundled up, I'll have paper left over and will actually have new stuff in the Boutique. 

While measuring, cutting, and ironing hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of paper, my mind has wandered around and wondered about Birdsong 3 projects.  I'm working out the kinks on a wire birdcage, and the other one might be a variation of this book, but a Journal of Blessings.   Not sure... But I have been loving the heck out of making books for the last few months and would love to continue making more.

I'm sure you guys will see all the prototypes as I fidget around with them. Thanks for being my sounding board!

If you love these old fairy tale illustrations as much as I do, just click on the images to open them to a larger window and save them to your computer to print.

Birdsong 3, filled with friends!

Wow!  I really feel blessed.  Birdsong 3 is filled in less than a week, before I've even opened it up for registration. I gave past guests, sponsors and their friends first shot and we had an enthusiastic response.

The fact that people who have been here before, want to come back and to bring friends with them means so much to me.  That warms my heart.

My projects are still in the design phase, but Beth has a good start on hers.  Here is a little sneak peek of what she is planning. Her class will involve making 3 felt and lace hearts and planting them in a decked out peat pot. 

While Birdsong is "nature inspired," we do like our nature fanciful and foofed! 

Thanks for all of your interest in our upcoming event.  While it seems to be full, I don't have deposits from everyone yet, so I will keep a waiting list in case there are cancellations.

And if you would like to be a sponsor and donate something for the goodie bags or for the door prizes, we would be thrilled to have you. I'll post a list of sponsors on my blog sidebar until the next Birdsong, and all of the sponsor lists remain up on the Birdsong blog site.

Step by Step Snow White painting and some free Snow White images

For years, I've admired Kim's sense of style and her graciousness in hosting an art event.  Her gatherings are always pure perfection.  Last year, I was honored to be asked to paint a photography backdrop for her Tiffany event and now, I'm just tickled pink to have my original artwork as the button for An Enchanted Affair.



It's a thrill to be teaching there too! Right now, I'm totally swamped getting ready for this class, and making kits. 

But counting out ribbon, cutting lace and paper, gets boring. So, I'm taking a break to write about how I did the painting for the event button.

 

The first step was to look at "moody" Snow White inspiration pictures.  Kim didn't want the cheery, Disney version of the princess.

My first sketch was too sweet. 

Kim and I were collaborating by email, as I'd sketch, I'd snap an IPhone picture and send it off, she'd get right back with me and I'd adjust as we conversed.  Technology sure makes long distance partnerships go smoothly!

Snow's face was made less cutey pie, and she lost the crown.

Then, Kim played around with digital framing and decided this sketch would work. (please ignore the date, this was early planning and it changed to later in the month)

I began adding color with acrylic craft paints.  The back ground is first, with soft tones, to make it seem further away.  As I worked toward the foreground, colors got brighter and sharper. 

Snow White and the trees she is standing under were last to be done, since they were in the very front.

 Here is my finished painting.

But is it really finished?

I did some digital editing to it and made some minor tweaks that enhanced it. 

I used Orton effect, and darkened edges, cleaned up some lines, and a couple of other small touch ups.

Kim used photoshop to add some sparkle, and a vintage frame to give it a story book feel.

Like I said before, technology is great!

I've mentioned in an earlier post that I was knee deep in vintage fairy tale books, and can't stop buying them. But before I amassed enough to share original pages with the students in the class, I scanned a few books to print images to give them instead. Now, I don't need to do that, since I have so many vintage pages to tear out and share.

So, I'll share these scanned pictures with you.

Simply click on the image, open in a larger window, and save it to your computer to print.  These are all from the first book that I bought and I like  that they are not the cutesy Disney version either.   None of the books I found were from Walt, all are a bit different, or even older than his princess story.

If you'd rather have the originals, well there are plenty of the them! Maybe I'll see you in the California class? Contact Kim for details.

Or if you'd like to visit me, here at the Cottage to take a class?  Registration for Birdsong 3 is open to the public on Monday.  Til then, returning guests and past sponsors get first shot at signing up.

The Love keeps going after Valentines Day!

My Valentine Journal is still under construction. What is fun about these books, is that you can just keep adding and layering as much as you'd like. 

When the postman delivered some beyond beautiful mail to me, I saw that all the cards that came were  perfect additions to my book.

This heart shaped collage was from my pal, Lori.  It's meant to hang, and I had it hanging up till the holiday was over, then I decided to glue it into my journal as a pocket.  The slight over hang to the side is nice, because she has used pretty papers on the back of the heart too and I'm glad that they peek out.

I've always admired Lori's work and am excited to have a special example of it in my Book of Love.  

What's in the pocket?  Love notes from Sugarwings.  She wanted her artwork included in the book too, so she made some hearts and notes for me to slip into pockets and envelopes.

Guncle Randy made this card for me. He is a thoughtful guy who whips up cards for every occasion to send to everyone he loves.   That, plus working 60-70 hours a week as an award winning, top salesman for his employer. And taking care of his family of 4 pooches, cultivating a floral fairy garden, and making gourmet dinners with his husband, Guncle Kevin. 

He is a guy who seems to be able to do it all.  And who always thinks`` of surprising others with special treats in the little spare time he has. Which makes the cards he sends even more special.

Hope sent me a card from her company, Paper Relics, and after gluing it onto a page, I added the words:

Hope

Love

Faith

All three of these sweet cards came from friends who I don't see nearly often enough, and that I enjoy so much when I do.  My Valentine Journal started out as a love note to my husband, but as I worked on it, the pages became filled with family and friends.  And puppies. Even a chicken.  There is just toooo much love out there to limit the pages. 

Its good to know that there is room for the book to grow too.  When I think its done and full, there is still space for more heartfelt sentiments, the more I layer and add, the better it looks and the more meaningful it becomes.

ps- if you are into journalling and are sometimes stumped for the ideal quote to add to your pages, Hope has an app for that now!! I purchased it and it's a fun one. 

Vintage Fairy Tales

Right now, my world is filled with up with fairy tales! Yep, I'm getting kits made for the April shindig that Kim is throwing. (she has had a cancellation and has TWO spots open if you'd like to join us there!!)

My project is a journal, called the Book of Enchantments.   I decided to do a journalling page for it.  Here is a snippet. It's  a drawing, with the words and doodles, over a page from a 1940s Snow White book.  I'm copying it before adding the markers and inks, so the guests can either glue it into their books and tint it as they wish, or they can use it for ideas to create their own doodles.

I've colored in about 6 or 7 so far, its kind of addicting. I sent one to Beth too, and she said that coloring books for adults would be fun to have. I agree, its soothing to do.

For the last few months, I've been collecting old, old, fairy tale books to use for this class. I've been lucky to find lots of Snow White and Rose Red in them, so that each student will get originals from those stories.  I'm also including other fairy tale and princess pages in the kits.  Everyone will get an assortment along with the old wallpaper, lace, ribbon, and trims.

So far, I've torn out and stacked up hundreds of pages.  As I go through the books, I'm setting aside the Cinderella pages, since there are so many. I'd like to do some thing special with those later on. (a class, a swap book with kits, not sure what, but something lovely and princessy)

I've also saved all of the Jorenda and Joringle stories.  My sister named her youngest daughter JoRenda, after this tale.  I thought I'd save those pages for a family craft project next time I get together with my sisses.

Okay, back to work.  Or maybe to do some more coloring....

 

What a Doll

My tiny girl came over to play the other night, and was in the mood for a little dress up.  I had been cutting up vintage fabrics to make trim for An Enchanted Affair in April, and came across this dress. It was too cute to start chopping on, so we decided that Dewdrop should wear it.

She wasn't as fond of the hat as she was the dress.

But she liked it when I wore the hat.

I told her she looked just like a little Holly. Which is what she calls a doll, so, she was very flattered.

I scored a big pile of vintage kid's clothes and some sweet hats the other day, and hope to have all the little fairy grand girls do some modelling for me, so I can get photos for the Boutique.  Plus, its so much more fun to play some dress up games before selling them.  I don't buy things just because I think I might make a profit. I buy them because I really like them.

And, hey, they are used already, why not enjoy them a bit before passing them on? Its not like they are New in Box perfect.  I don't care for things too new.

And since I have beautiful grand fairies, who love to play dress up, I think its a perfect match. They can have fun and be my models.  Don't you think this hat would look much prettier on one of the girls?

 (the lace hat has already sold!)

A birthday balloon suprise at the door.

Fin and Clover had birthdays recently, so I decided to surprise them after school one day with a face full of balloons. My son and I blew up a few, and taped a bagful of them to the door frame. The plastic bag only covers the outside of the balloons, they are sandwiched between it and the door.

This was the only door in my house that opened the right direction to make the trick work, so I asked them to go in the studio to get something for me when we parked in the garage.  The door has to open toward the surprisee for the balloons to properly cascade down onto them.

It was a fun surprise, and I think Sugarwings enjoyed planning it and keeping the secret as much as I did.

Afterwards, we took the whole family to TRex, the dino restaurant to celebrate the two birthdays. We have been going there for special occasions since Sugarwings was tiny, and this is the FIRST time we saw that there was a huge play area with dinosaur video games, and crystal caves in the back! I'd seen the sand pit with fossils, but thought that was all there was to it. There is a ton of fun waiting in the back for only $2.50 per kid!

My big kid loved it too.  He is our Mr. Zen the Crystal Guy, so he was wallowing in all the  chakra glory.

The kids loved exploring the caves so much, we barely visited the Roars. Which is what Dewdrop calls anything a little scary like the animatronic dinosaurs there.

The other day, when I was singing to her in what I thought was a very fun way, she held up a hand to stop me, and said,

"Uhm, Grammie?"

I said, "yes dear?"

She answered, "Roar" and pointed to me.

Apparently, my singing voice is lumped in the same category as scary, giant, prehistoric beasts.

 

 

 

Altered candy boxes for Valentines Day

Last week, I played hooky from stuff that needed done and did some fun things.  Actually, I did that more than once... Sugarwings and I had a couple of afternoons together and another day, I snuck out to see the matinee of Les Mis. 

Nose to the grindstone this week, for sure!

I enjoyed having a day to make something just because it was pretty and i wanted to do it.   Some of these are in the Boutique now, but I've waited so long to get them there, that Valentine's Day is fast approaching!

These two are both topped with chalk board paint and decked out in my best Vintage Pretties. Each is a new wooden box, made to look old.

But this one is an old box, foofed up to look better.

 You can see, it started with a lot of what I call "fussy" decor on it.  And a plastic rose??? No thank you.

My first step in the redo was to pull off the plastic rose, then some of the lace and ribbon that I didn't care for.

I added a bead of glue all around the newly naked edge to replace the cheapo lace with something much better.  The Good Stuff.

Ahhhh, feeling better already, with some deep, dark, old velvet.

Next, a layer of good lace, and a row of ruffled chocolate ribbon over that.

Instead of taking the whole box apart in pieces, to get the lace rimmed existing red ruffle out, I simply trimmed off the cheap looking lace and left the rough edges of the red ribbon to show. Next, I took a dark brown ink pad and rubbed it along the outside lip of the bottom edge.

Some netting from an old crinoline, and more chocolate ruffles were added to the top.  Then a whole bouquet of tiny velvet sprigs and leaves, topped with a wonderful old rose.  To that, I tied some espresso velvet ribbon and more of the soft lace.

At the top, some milk chocolate velvet ribbon.

Layers and layers of loveliness. All my favorite things piled on top of each other!

 

Dorkies in flight

Our neighbor, Scruffy, came to visit. He is Twinkle's son and brother to my pups, but looks like a different species!  His fur is thick and black as can be.

They love to run together, and get so excited they practically fly.  Here, I caught them all mostly airborne. Dorothy Rosebud is my best flyer, she is the one in front.

Look at this furball! He is the puppy who had the dark face as a baby. I didn't think he'd turn silver and I think I'm right. Although,  Yorkies can surprise you, their color isn't set for months.  Eventually, all the baby fine puppy hair needs to be shaved off and the new, adult dog is revealed in its glorious new color.  But I hate to trim mine up too early, because I love that puppy stage and will miss it when they get their first hair cuts and look all grown up.

Our two are turning light and are so two toned and raggedy, they almost look like opossums.  We call them Crash and Eddie because the look like the two guys from Ice Age. Plus, they are such goofballs. Which is also why I call them all Dorkies instead of Yorkies. They are a group of dorkie and silly dogs.

What's for lunch? Light Chicken Pot Pie and Rosemary Potato Garlic bread recipes

Usually, I'm not a lunch person.  A protein bar or yogurt at my desk is perfect. But I do love socialized lunches and going out with friends. Or fixing something special for company.  For the Valentine Journal Workshop, we had organic springtime greens with herbs, a fruit salad, rosemary garlic bread, and some chicken thing with puff pastry. 

I don't know what to call it, only that anything you add puff pastry to becomes a special meal.

It was easy to make.  Here is how I did it:

I boiled 5 large, bone in, skinless chicken breasts in 2 qts of water seasoned with sea salt, pepper and garlic.

While deboning the cooked chicken, I added two cups of rice to the pot, along with 3 finely chopped carrots and cooked that in the broth according to directions on the rice package.

In  a skillet, I sauteed half a red onion, two stalks of celery, and a red pepper, all chopped up together, with a splash of olive oil and seasoned with sea salt.

The veggie mix and chicken went back into the pot with the finished rice and broth along with a raw,  chopped broccoli crown, and I removed the pot from the heat so the brocoli didn't over cook, the hot broth just blanched it.

To that, I added  a pinch of poultry seasoning, and  a few shakes of Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute.

8 ramekins were filled about 2/3 with the mixture, using a slotted spoon.  Over that, I ladled broth from the pot, just enough to cover the chicken, rice and veggies so it wouldn't dry out when baked.

With a cookie cutter, I cut hearts out of thawed puff pastry and added it to the top of each. The scraps from cutting hearts out of pastry got rolled together and bagged for the freezer to use later.

These bake at 375 just till the pastry browns.

But that's not all. This made enough to also fill an 8" round casserole pan, and I used the 2nd puff pastry sheet from the box to cover the whole dish, so I had a meal to feed my family later as well as individual dishes to feed my friends.  It can also be made up ahead of time, without baking, and kept in the fridge for a couple of days.  If you do that, you'll need to bake it longer.  Just enough to get hot through and through before the crust browns, so I set the oven a bit lower, 350, so the crust doesn't burn while waiting for it to get hot.

Its a lighter version of a pot pie, without the gravy and the bottom crust. 

All of my table cloths are from garage sales, and some are in better shape than others.  By layering them all on top of each other, no one noticed the stains or holes.  At least that was the plan. Plus, I like the sheer, lacy cloth over the rose patterned one, it makes it a lot more lush.

Our bread was home made too.  I make up my own recipes as I go, but I've fixed this so many times, I can kind of wing it to tell you how much of what went into it.

Rosemary Potato Garlic Bread:

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons organic sugar

2 teaspoons Guar Gum (helps the bread rise, keeps it light and airy, plus lowers cholesterol)

1-1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1-1/2 cup warm water

Add all of the above to the oiled pan in a bread maker

**************************************

1/2 cup instant potato flakes

1/4 cup golden flax seed

3 tablespoons dried rosemary

i tablespoon of fresh, minced garlic

3-1/2 cups organic, unbleached bread flour

Add to the top of the previous ingredients, do not stir.

**************************************

Make a well in the top of the flour pile with your finger and drop in 2-1/2 teaspoons of bread machine flour

Switch the machine to dough setting.  I don't leave mine in for the whole cycle, once it begins to rise, I transfer my dough to a greased bread pan and punch it down a few times.  Then I boil a cup of water in my microwave oven, and place the pan of dough in the microwave, to use it as a hot box to let the dough rise in.  My microwave is over the stove and has a light under it. I've found that with the light on, it stays warm.  If yours doesn't, try warming your stove with a pan of hot water in it, and then turning it off and setting the dough in the oven to rise.

It just seems to me that the bread is so much better when baked in a pan, not in the bread machine.

I oil the top and  bake it on 350 for about a half hour, or till its brown and crusty.

I was able to make the dough before everyone arrived, and bake it while we worked. The mini casserole, fake pot pies were also made ahead, so it was an easy lunch to fix during a workshop. I had time to create a couple of pages of my own while we were in the studio.

The fruit salad was every bit as simple, three pears, one mango, one pineapple, a bag of frozen blueberries and a quart of strawberries. All cut up and spritzed with lime juice, with about a teaspoon of sugar on top. 

I was glad to have fruit salad to serve, because I forgot to turn on the oven for the chicken and everyone was hungry.

I brought out fresh bread and fruit salad to the studio, to hold everyone till the main meal cooked.  Oh well, these kind of things happen.  Quite often.  No one starved to death and I don't think anyone really minded waiting too much. 

I figure that as long as we are having a good time, and everyone has plenty to eat, eventually, no one expects perfection.  

Which is a good thing, because around here, they aren't going to find it!  I'd rather be relaxed and enjoying myself than worry about all the mistakes I could be making.  Life is too short to stress out over the little things.