Karla's Cottage

A gifted shelf

On my last post I was talking about trying get shoppers to notice that my furniture is also for sale at Good Juju.  But not this piece!

It was a gift from my neighbor, Lily, who makes the aromatic candles.  And it is ideal for my jewelry display!

Or so I hope.  Last month I tried to market my sparklies from the new, smaller space and that TANKED.   I’m always up for a shuffle or a redo to make the most of my displays, but honestly, it’s just a guessing game for me.

J

I will let you know how it goes.

 

Crowning glories

Last week, I made some crowns.

And since I had been painting statues and figures, everyone was treated to a crown for their head.

Even if a head was all they had, no body.  And even the wildlife was crowned.  

A few were steam punk style, but most were simply on the regal side.

 

 

 

Oops

Maybe you remember a few posts back, where I said I should be slapped for even thinking I might need more space at the mall?

Welp, I went for it anyway.

I keep telling myself it is only 3x3’, not a big deal.  And it is only for my jewelry, vintage, handmade, and new silver.

Was it a good idea?  Who the heck knows.  I might be, well I probably am crazy to take on more. 

I was excited about the whole decorating aspect of it and happy to have a reason to steal the awning from our chicken coop.  But did I really need a second spot at the mall? 

As if that generous dollop of insanity wasn’t enough, lookee here.  I’m also making bath products to sell there.

 

Playing with Precious Metal Clay

This is my first attempt with precious metal clay.  I partnered up with a friend who has a clay studio and another who has a small kiln.  

We experimented with adding stones, and that didn’t go too well, these are actually amethyst, peridot, and garnet.  After firing, they turned dark.  I still like them, they look like marcasites.  

Melissa has a wonderful studio to work in, complete with a show. Her husband was making pottery while we worked.

This is one before firing.  The clay powder is mixed with an emulsifier and water that make it clay- like.  When put in a kiln, the moisture bakes off and you are left with solid silver.

Here is another crappy, not fired yet, one I did.  Fingers crossed that the emerald chips stay green!

But oooh, look at these!  Melissa’s look professional.  Well, she is a professional ceramic artist, so might know a bit about clay and it shows.

And look!  The citrines retained their yellow!

There was copper to try too. I look forward to seeing how that ring turns out. 
I’ll show you when this batch gets fired.

Holiday Decor is My Fave!

Lately, I have been leaving jewelry making supplies out on one studio table.  That way, when I feel the whim, I can quickly make a piece without dragging out boxes.  The room is a wreck anyway from using a chunk of it as storage, so I have kind of given up on keeping my poor studio tidy.

My most recent creations have been Valentine themed.  Either with hearts, or just an air of dress up and romance. 

The last few months at Good Juju have been absolutely delightful for me.  I simply adore decorating for Christmas, Valentine’s, and Halloween. I tend to be into flowery and over the top, romantic, even gaudy stuff that isn’t exactly what the crowd there loves on a regular basis. The venue leans toward rustic or primitive and my corner screams “fussy” to a lot of the shoppers.  

I do throw in lots of neutrals and even natural woods and browns, but they end up buried under my foofiness.  And holidays were a good reason to have the exception.  


I guess I still have Easter to look forward to…. But after that, it will be a long stretch til fall when I have an excuse to make things my way.  Till then, I’ll try to reign myself in a little and focus more on neutrals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bejeweled Hearts

As much as I loved the jeweled trees at Xmas, I might be loving the hearts just even more!

My only worry is that I will delete my decades of flea market scrounged sparklies and I will have to stop!

So far, all is going okay.  I typically mix in some newer pieces that I have aged too, using a selection of really old, very antique, merely vintage and slightly new all together. 

Running out of frames has been an issue also, but those are more easily replaced.  Goodwill and estate sales have come in handy for that, although  sometimes I have to add a bit of paint or distressing.  
Good jewels aren’t as easy to find.  Luckily, I’ve spent many, many, many years looking out for special pieces!

Hmm, I could possibly be seeing jeweled flower baskets coming this spring.

 

 

 

 

The Guncles’ Christmas Gift

Guncle Randy has been wanting to make a jewel tree but hasn’t had time to do it. So, I decided to surprise him and Kevin with a special, Pet Butler tree.

In my decades of collecting jewelry from flea markets and estate sales, I have always been drawn to animal pins  and to initials.  

So, I just happened to have the perfect ingredients to make this animal lovers’ tree, adding in KS for Kev and RN for Randy.

Besides pets, there is a snowflake for Xmas…

A starfish for Florida…

A fairy, and lots of flowers, butterflies and dragonflies to represent their garden.

 And a goldendoodle for the trunk of the tree for my grand puppy, Olivia Ryan.

 

 

 

 

 

Hearts

I'll be having lots of hearts and wings in my booth at Good JuJu.  This canvas has plaster texture in a heart shape with the roses painted inside. I have a few more, not sure if I got pictures. All are unique.

And remember the jewelry trees I did for Xmas? 

I loved doing that so much, I could not stop!

So, I turned my shape from a tree to a heart.

This one is a combo of the textured canvas with a button collage.  And in front you can see some of my wings.  They are made from a 1800s ledger and I swear, that book was one of my best ever purchases. I have sold rolled up pages from it, used it to line shelves, decopauged it onto table tops, backed collages with it, and now have made wings and hearts. 

And there is still some left!

I almost didn't buy it because it was not cheap. But man, that handwriting! Wow, so pretty. I am glad I went against my cheapskate instincts and bought it anyway.

I also beat out my cheap side and decided to keep these wings that my son helped form instead of selling them.

Since my booth is chocked full of wings and hearts I doubt if one set will be missed.  Heck, I’d be thrilled to have even half of the ones there sell out.

And I sure do love making them.

 

 

My January Set Up for Good Juju

My booth this month is all about winter, and a bright spot in the cold months, Valentine's Day.

One wall is all hearts, roses, with pink mushrooms and wings. I'd hoped to put up cabbage rose wallpaper, but ran into a snag. Oh well, next month. 

But honestly, you don't really see much of the wall anyway, huh?

Another areas are neutral and white.

Which is always a favorite of mine to do. 

Well, the roses make me happy too, but I think that the neutral tones are more popular at this venue.

But I can't always just stick to neutrals, there are other cool items that I find that I know there is a market for. Luckily, my space can be chopped up into chunks where I can do different themes. 

And my new, tiny, wing wall is a great place to highlight a grouping. Here are examples of the ruffled wings (also for sale) and kits to make your own.

Over the holiday, I did some kitchen table crafting. We had supplies out for decorating gingerbread houses, cookies, Sugarwings had polymer clay, Dewdrop had bracelet, and I made dozens of wings and hearts from wire and lace.  The family was coming and going, but mostly staying put because of the bone chilling cold.  I wasn't caring about clutter or mess, I just enjoyed the big group and spent time crafting away in the middle of them. 

I had the best of both worlds. Time with family and time to make things!

I don't even know how many I churned out.  After wings, I started on pink and red mushrooms.  As a person who typically spends a lot of time alone in the studio, I sure was happy to have so much company while working.  My son even joined in and bent wire for me.  It has been sad to go from a bustling houseful of loved ones to me in my studio alone again. Sugarwings is still on winter break, so I am not totally alone, I've got my buddy.

 

 

Bad Girls Christmas

Our annual Bad Girls’ Christmas was again hosted by Angie, in her serene palace in the sky.  It’s on the 8th floor and overlooks the KC Plaza, a wonderful view.

She is a caring hostess with attention to every detail. Everything there is always just perfect there.  Well, everything but my blurry photos.

This one was a bit blurry too, but you can still see the fun!

She lives near Kaufman Gardens so we walk over to see the holiday displays.  It feels good to be surrounded by blooms on a chilly, winter day.  

I brought gifts, Beth loves buttons.

Angie always picks up autumn leaves.

She went all Julia Childs on us and served Beef Bourgignon, and oh man, it was good.  But I’m afraid everyone had to listen to me do my (very poor) Julia imitation too many times.  

I am blessed with the friends I have.  And I know how lucky I am.  When Rich and I were first married, his job uprooted us a lot.  And I had two small boys, one who struggled pretty severely with some disabilities. Those guys both  kept me busy, and between always being new in town, and needing to be with the kids, I didn’t meet many people.

Ryan grew into a delightful, caring, witty man, but his childhood was not easy for him.  I think that his little body could not keep up with his mind, and his frustration about making himself understood, or to do what he wanted caused a lot of turmoil.  


Speaking of Ryan, I felt like I had a surprise visit from him!  An article I was reading mentioned street view on Google maps, and I’d never looked at our home there.  So I pulled it up, and there he was- mowing the field and getting some sunshine.

At first it was shock to see him, but after a moment, I felt a warmth of happiness, almost as if I’d looked out the window and caught a glimpse of him.

After finishing a scrapbook of my pictures of Ryan, I came across something I wanted to add to it with another photo on it.  Then it hit me.

I would never take another picture of my boy.  

So finding this one online was a Christmas gift!

He is always with me, and in my heart.  But I sure miss seeing him on that mower.  Or walking down the sidewalk. Or gleefully throwing his head back in laughter.

Losing a loved one, plus having had those early years of struggle, and loneliness without close friends, makes me even more appreciative of having good friends now.

 I treasure our times together.