Karla's Cottage

Watch out, its Pretty Time!

 

Did you think that I was going to show you nothing but sewing projects? I was able to get some jewelry made this week between stints at the machine and chasing Sugarwings. 

 

Here are a few of the necklaces I put together.  I've always had a fascination with old watches, the older the better.  About 15 years ago, I made a bracelet for myself from old watch faces, and as much as I liked it, most people thought it was odd.  The question I got asked quite a few times when I wore it, was "do they all work?".

Now honestly, is that the point?  I would just say that they run on Pretty Time.

 

So, it does my soul good to see that this type of jewelry is popular now and that my blog friends "get it". 

 

Some earrings got whipped up this week too. And all the jewelry that I had made previously got cleaned and and re-carded and ready for Miss Frenchie's sale April 17th.

 

Display matters!!! I was NOT happy with my previous cards, and the last two sales I went to, my jewelry looked neglected and dowdy just because of a crappy, unplanned display. 

What I am using now is pretty simple, I took some old photos, aged and lightened them, then printed them onto parchment colored cardstock.  All of the cards look nice together, are a uniform size, and have a vintage feel.  I am much happier about my display now!!

(Sugarwings calls the little girls in this old photo her friends, and had me print some for her to color while I made tags)

 

My name is stamped on the back along with discription of the earrings, and the price is on the front in pencil.  The sale is a couple of weeks before Mother's Day, so I am hoping some moms get a pair of my earrings as gifts, so it is nice to be able to erase the price on the tag before they get wrapped up.  Those are the kinds of things you have to think of before going  to a sale. 

Things are getting checked off my list for Miss Frenchie's. 

1- Hand made jewelry- DONE    

2- tags and prices on hand made jewelry- DONE (I should have put these two lines together, but I like having extra things to check off the list)

3- table clothes made and pressed- DONE

4- boxes and shelves covered with vintage wallpaper- DONE

5- piles of antiques and vintage goodies piled up and ready for tags- DONE

6-  cash box and tickets loaded and ready- DONE

Still to do:

1- one 15' x 5' and  one 5' x 10' canvas sign for the side of the building

2- two 5' x 8' murals to paint for the backdrop of my booth

3- gather up supplies, a tool kit, lights, bags, etc

4- make some journals

5-  tag my vintage jewelry and figure out a display for it now.  Should I use the same cards as the homemade stuff? I should probably use that idea, but different photos.  Yep, thats what I'll do.

6- gather up small planters and pots for a garden display

7- paint some garden signs to sell

See, not too bad! I'll make it.  Sure I will.  Some how, I'll fit doing taxes and spending a week in DC there somehow...

 

PS- I've added some more scrap packs to the Boutique.

 

The last ones went FAST. So now that I know you like these things, I added a bit more and beefed the bags up a little.  There is ephemera, and wallpaper, and ledger paper, all tied up with vintage ribbon and topped with a color coordinating millinery blossom. Still a bargain, and perfect for having a variety of papers to use on small projects.  If you are like me, you hate to cut into a nice big sheet of old paper to trim a 2" tag! 

Frenchie Friends

 

Isn't that cute?  I told Beth that I would love to be able to add text to pictures of ephemera and use it in my posts, but am way too computer illiterate.  She whipped up this one and a few others for me. When she comes back on Tuesday for us to work on table clothes again, I hope to have her show me how this is done.   It would look good to post my words on ledger paper, or maybe something rosy? At least sometimes, not all the time, I tend to have an awful lot going on anyway.

 

A lot going on, with busy elements in my blog design as well as in real life.  Maybe that is why I was so drawn to this wintry, isolated porch yesterday.  Its solitude was inviting.

The porch is on the back of the historical home, the Alexander Majors House, where we are planning our next Miss Frenchie's Brocante.

I met some of the Frenchie gals there yesterday for a planning session. My job in prepping for the show is to make the signs, here is a sample of the banner I will be painting for the outside of the building, so people can see it and find us more easily.

I'm also planning on painting some "murals to go" as backdrops for my booth.

 

Not exactly like this, but along these lines.  A French farmers market scene with lots of flowers.

 

These photos are from my scrap book of murals. This is a dining room in  a private home, but the French Market theme was a popular one and I used it in some restaurants and hotels too.  I think for Miss Frenchie's I will tone down the colors and have even thought about doing the scene in just washes of brown with a hint of color like old photos that have been tinted.

 

I'm also planning on painting some natural canvas market umbrellas with a simple vine in sepia  like I did on these hankies.

If you are a follower of Curious Sofa Diaries, you probably remember this post. (and if you are not, you should be!! Debbie Dousenberry is the queen of style)

 

Since I was meeting Debbie and Carol at the Miss Frenchie's site, I thought I'd take some thing to Deb as a thank you for all the hard work she is putting in for the show.  She mentioned that she liked bandannas that were soft and aged, since I didn't have any like that on hand, I faked it.

Brand new, black and white bandannas from Target were what  I had. So, I soaked them in hot water and a cup of bleach for most of the day. 

If you are like me and have darker hair that you pay way too much to a beautician to kind of keep blond, then you know how dark colors when bleached, can turn orange.  (I've had the brassy orange highlights more than once) And that is exactly what the black in the fabric did at first. The trick is to not take it out too soon.  I left it soaking about 8 hours and toward the end, the color lightened up to what I wanted.

Then, it looked too new and clean.  So I dunked the cloth into my leftover coffee, let it dry, ironed it and then drew on it with a brown fabric marker.

 

I had been baking yesterday, so I wrapped up home made granola and cookies and tucked them into the bandannas and then tied on some Eiffel Tower and crown stamped tags. 

As a joke, I misspelled Carol Spinksi as far out as I could, because we've been dealing with Travelocity and Air Tran to try to fix a misspelling I did of her name when I booked flights for the two of us.  On the reservation, I wrote "Spinsky" instead of "Spinksi".  And the airlines have NOT been helpful or friendly or anything good about this.  At first they tried to say she wouldn't be allowed to fly at all on that ticket and it was non-refundable!

Anyone else ever have this problem?

 

After measuring spaces at the Frenchie Barn, we decided we needed a treat.  So, Carol, Julieand I went to visit our newest Miss Frenchie pals at Natasha's Mullberry & Mott.

 

This beautiful bakery is packing up goodies to bring to the sale on April 17th.

 

And I could be in trouble! Their spot will be right next to mine.  All weekend, this is the kind of stuff that I will be staring at.

 

I just hope they don't bring any macaroons, all three of us decided that they were the best ever and I know I couldn't resist.  The bunnies were pretty wonderful too.  We got different varieties and shared a little of each. I immediately called Dibbs on the bunnie's ears.  The ears are always the best part, of any Easter goody.

 

Lets see, I have about 5 weeks or so between now and Miss Frenchie's. Two banners to paint, two murals to paint, stuff to make yet, and lots to tag.  During that time I need to do taxes (ugh) and take a trip to DC, plus of course, all those Sugarwing days I'll have.

Maybe I should go and get to work instead of hanging out on the computer?

I'll leave you with some more delectable goody pics from the bakery, and I am off to get some thing made.

 

 

 

 

 

Hip Hip Hooray!

 

 "I did it, I did it!! Yippee, Hip- Hip- Hooray!"

 I am quoting Sugarwings there, that is what she says when she is proud of something she did. I was telling Beth today while we were working, that its too bad we don't cheer ourselves on more as adults the way a 2 year old does. You can learn a lot from a toddler.  They take so much joy in small accomplishments.  Sugarwings gives herself a good old, hop-hip-hooray quite a few times a day.  I've adopted her habit and have taken on that chant, it really makes the day more exciting.

So, here is a hip-hip-hooray to myself for hitting 500! And a thanks to all of you who take the time out of your day to visit.  As a thank you, I drew a name from comments on post #499 to send out a pair of earrings to:

Gail Horowitz

I was looking through a list of things I'd been giving away over the last couple of years, and believe it or not, I've passed out more than 50 prizes. Which averages one every ten posts.  Geez, I had no idea I was able to get rid of so much crap and clutter around the studio, I mean, gift things to so many of my friends.

 

Twinks took time to chase bunnies today, that was a good sign she is getting over her pups leaving.  Its good to have hobbies.

Beth and I SEWED  today. We decided we wanted our tables for Miss Frenchie's saleon April 17th to look professional, so we made table skirts.  I had some ticking that I had dyed to look old and she had a tub of ivory table clothes.  As soon as we saw each other's stuff, we traded!  I made a "collaged" skirt, as she was calling it, from a hodge podge of whites and creams and lace and pillow cases, and doilies and curtains.

  

This picture is of the skirt, in progress.  A far cry from the ticking stripe I started with, huh?

   

Yesterday, I spent about 12 hours in the studio all alone with my papers, glitter, and glue.

     

Do you ever have one of those days where you just slide into your zone?  Well, today's sewing project sure wasn't one of them, but yesterday's glue fest was. 

 

My favorite part of the day was sugaring the little lambs and bunnies and chicks.  My fingers were all goobered up and stuck together with glitter and glue, but in a fun way. It had been too long since I'd had the glitter out.  I'd been missing it, and didn't even realize.

I'm going to have to raise the glitter quotient in my life back up to a respectable level.  Some sparkle and that self cheering I learned from my fairy grand baby are a couple of things that can take a blah day and turn it into something a little more special. 

 

Or is it just weird that I sit for a dozen hours in my studio with my fingers all glommed together, yelling out "Hip- Hip- Hooray, I did it, I did it!!"?

 PS- Beth is having a good  Giveaway , you should check it out.

Good thing the puppies don't hold still much

 

Today is the last day for naming a puppy.  There sure have been some good ones, choosing will be hard.  Some are almost too good to give to a puppy that will be leaving me in a few weeks!  There are names in the list that I want to give to a dog that I will keep forever!

Beth and I had a fun craft day yesterday, and she brought a Valentine ribbon to tie around this little one's neck. Of course, the minute I put her (the dog, not Beth) back in the Puppy Pond, she was turned into an object of tug-o-war and her sissies pulled off the ribbon and are still playing with it today.

 

Besides making up little heart shaped "Puppy Love" tags for the swap, I spent the craft day covering anything that didn't move with vintage wallpaper.

 

In honor of Miss Frenchie's sale (April 17th), I lined the drawer of this shelf with a page from an old French dictionary.

And speaking of Miss Frenchie's, here are some new additions to our group there, as well as new additions to the blog world! Three Shabby Chicks have  a beautiful new blog, go by and tell them I sent you to say hi!  They only have two posts up so far, but you can tell by looking at them, that they will have pretty things to come.

 

Back to my quest to paper the world- isn't this old silverware box great with the top wallpapered? The interior is a perfect match for the pink of the roses too.

 

Maybe I should name this pup "Vanna White" she is great at showing off the products.

 

Beth and I debated over these metal boxes I covered. We both thought it needed something.  I decided that they should be left as is for now, what they need is a label stating what is stored inside. And for now they are empty. But the vintage cards I glued to the front have the PERFECT place to write on when they do find a purpose.  I think I will take these to Miss Frenchie's sale too.  I used more of the French dictionary pages here too. I wonder if I should come up with a pretty word in French to add to the labels before I take them in to sell? Or leave them blank for the new owner to label themselves? 

What do you think?

Know any pretty French storage type words??

 

These bits and pieces of old sewing goods and trims were just listed in the boutiquetonight, while I listened to Lost.  I got a good over view of the program, but will go back and watch it on TIVO later tonight, and of course I will watch Idol on TIVO too. Yes, pathetic soul that I am, I watch it TWICE in a night.The first time, I am usually working and listening (and tonight, it was while opening some of that package avalanche I have been expecting) so I watch it a 2nd time to actually sit down and see what is going on.

Top Chef is looking good too. Gotta love Wednesdays!  And of course, Thursdays. Although Mondays aren't so shabby either.

OOOOOOHHH, that reminds me!!!!!!! Did you hear about Rachael Ashwell??? She is declaring bankruptcy.  I hope all works out for her business, I'd miss all the gorgeousness.

 

Of course, I have plenty of gorgeousness right here. Little Miss Sugarwings is awful nice to look at.  She is being sweet and cuddly tonight, her Daddy, isn't feeling well, so she is snuggling up to make him feel better. And to keep them company is a fluffy puppy that came in a red felt Valentine purse from Stephanie Oyler. Thanks, Stephanie, she really is enjoying it!

 

Stephanie's gift was part of the avalanche of swap goods (this is about half the stuff!). You can't tell from this photo, but I am being very organized with this swap. Even Beth, the account, said she was proud of me for keeping track of everything. 

  I have a check list on the table where I mark if the address was included, then I slip the address itself into an envelope and mark down if the postage was included and put the money on the pile of dollars.  Tags get counted and marked off the list, then go into the large wire basket.  All ribbons and tissues and boxes and bubble wrap are "harvested" for reuse. I recycle!

On the wall, is another project I started today. Remember the soffit in the studio that I covered in rose and floral wallpapers? On this side of the studio, I decided to feature flocked, neutral colored papers in old frames I painted different shades of white. Its not done yet.  I might add some sepia toned photos.  And more small frames to fill in.

Well, it is time for the Top Chef judging table and I have to be able to look into Tom's eyes for this. I've got a slight crush on Chef....

 

Oh, quickly before I miss Chef's eyes- Beth brought me these wrought iron pieces!! Love them!

Sneaking a peek at the presents

 

What's this?

Your present for December. Well, at least  a little peak of it!  Isn't the suspense of "what's in the package" one of the exciting things about this time of year? So, I decided not to show you the entire giveaway item.  I might have a couple more hints between now and the end of the month, because I know I used to love the hints my Mom would give me about my presents, years ago!

 

Little bits of Christmas are starting to show up around the cottage.  I am supposed to be cleaning up my studio and getting ready for a craft day with friends, but I have been distracting myself with a few minor holiday trimmings.  I set a couple of things in the breezeway, and others up high. All out of the reach of Little Miss Grab and Smash,uhm, I mean, sweet little Sugarwings.

 

And when I say minor, I mean really simple. I was unpacking some displays fromMiss Frenchie's sale and thought I'd redo them a bit to set out around the house.  This crate had been full of bottle brush trees,  the branches were strewn about my booth for atmosphere, and the silver tree had held tussie mussies. 

So, I piled the branches into the crate next to the tree, added the paper stars I'd made at our Thanksgiving craft day, and in a matter of minutes, it was ready to set on the breezeway table.

 

Filling boxes and baskets with vintage ornaments and branches is one of my favorite holiday tricks.  For this tool caddy, I added the branches first, then piled in shiny ornaments, and a few pine cones, tied on a large jingle bell, and topped it off with a glittered dove.  Instant sparkle!

 

Did you notice Twinks in the background of the breezeway photo? She can't believe that I want to point the camera at anything but her. So I indulged her and took a photo of her tummy full of puppies.  Yep, she is expanding, we should be having teeny little dorkies sometime between Christmas and New Year.  Now, where I will keep their nest is an issue. With a two year old running around, I need to keep the babies safe, but let Twinkle still have access to the doggy door.  I don't know, they might all just have to live in the studio, and Twinks will have to give up some of her freedom and ask to be let out. 

Motherhood is like that. Sometimes you have to BEG to be let out of the house.  She'll be finding out soon enough.

 

This bit of holiday cheer is thanks to my pal, Carol. She embellished the box with transparencies, isn't it lovely?

 

Here is a close up. I wish I knew how to do that... its really cool.  If you'd like one of your own, I think she has some for sale.

 

The embellished box Carol gifted me with was from Miss Frenchie's. Where I also got this table, that I haven't made use of yet.  I bought it from Elizabeth and it has the most perfect marble top.  I paint furniture myself so can appreciate what a good job she did painting the base of this little French piece.  It was a total indulgent treat for myself, since like I said, I do paint furniture myself.  But there was something about the lines of this one,  and the fact that the weekend was such a special time, I wanted to buy something special for myself as a memento.

Plus, you know, when you are at a craft/antique show, the money you make doesn't seem real until you get it all home.  Its easier to spend it away while you have cash in your hands and are surrounded by things you love and want! (once again, I'm glad my husband rarely reads this)

And speaking of things that don't seem real- look at the size of these grapes!!!!!!!  They remind me of those big, glass  globe grapes from the 70's.  Didn't every coffee table in the Midwest have a bunch of these sitting on it back then?

Scenes from a sale

 

Miss Frenchy's Holiday Brocante was a wild success!  But at the moment, I'm feeling a little bit worn out like Pearl here. So, I will leave you with a couple of photos of the event for now and write more details later, after I recover.  Thanks for all of your well wishes for the weekend, I appreciate it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joyeux Noel at Miss Frenchie's Barn

   

Things are looking Frenchie-fied at the old barn today!  Set up began for Miss Frenchie's Holiday Brocante and that rustic building was in for a major transformation when everyone started hauling in their goods. 

Elizabeth brought in a huge truck load.  So did Gwen.  My measly pick up truck load felt kind of pale in comparison to the goods the others were unpacking!  When I left this evening, those two were still bringing stuff in.  (and the temps were dropping to below 20 degrees  after a balmy, mid day height of 30)

Deb, Carol, and Elizabeth had a Vision for the set up. Yes, a Vision with a capitol V.

And the place was certainly a diamond in the rough to start with. The place is perfect for this event, lots of space and big, high ceilings. But definately in need of Vision.

I had brought some velvet curtain panels to use as table toppers, but when I saw that I had rusty old tools as background, my plans changed and I moved the curtains to the wall behind my space.

 

Bringing my 'portable' mural was a good idea too.  It is an 8' x 4' plywood board that I cut and painted a couple years ago for a show. Its been out in my shed and I'd forgotten about it.  I like the way it brightens up my corner and has a festive, holiday feel.  The painted tree has hooks on its branches, and I will hang ornaments from each one. In this photo, there are stockings on the hooks, but they won't stay there like that.

My space feels like the dessert table at this buffet....  Look at some of the in progress set ups for the other ladies:

 

 

 

 

 

And all of this is just a few little peeks, not much was ready yet.  I can't wait to see what Deb and Elizabeth do in their corners, they have that Vision to make happen.

 

Hmmm, what could be going on up above?

 

Giant, blow ups of vintage French Christmas cards will grace the railing! It just keeps getting better and better.

 

Come by to see us if you can, I can guarantee, it will be special!