Karla's Cottage

A clutter solution

It has been wonderful having the two grand fairies staying here with us at the cottage part time.  The best part is the morning, when they both come down the stairs with big smiles on their faces and hair sticking up every which way, with that sweet scent of sleepy babies.  They both wake up happy and laughing and ready to face the delights of a new day.

The bad part? Clutter. 

With extra people in the house and no space to put away all the kicked off shoes and scattered toys, the entry way was always a mess.

My solution was to drag this bench in from the garden (I found it at a garage sale about 10 years ago, and have had it outside since) and put baskets under it to toss shoes and toys in. I have space to add another basket for mittens, and probably should pick one up while Michaels has them on sale for 40% off, but was too cheap to buy all three at once.

The bench had a painted plywood seat, that was nicely chippy and I thought that would be fine, till I drug it all the way up to the house, and realized I was covered in ants. The wood had gotten all spongey and wet, and was nothing more than a nest for the critters, so I carried it out to the burn pile and cut another piece of plywood, wrapped it in fabric, and lined it with pillows I had in the closet.

Agnes Rosebud is pretty happy about the whole thing and I'm glad to have the shoes tucked away.

Now, we'll have to see if anyone actually USES the baskets!

Here is a picture of an earlier incarnation of the bench, I'd used it for an article in Romantic Homes a while back. 

This pretty photo of Beth's class is from Kristi Knox Day

Speaking of clutter, our hotel rooms at Paper Cowgirls were really knee deep in it all.  Between finishing up class projects we took, and working on our own teaching projects, plus helping Lisa with her kits, our rooms were like obstacle courses. Which is why Beth's little slide show is soooo funny. She is one witty gal.  Here it is if you want to see it (its very short, only 5 pictures will silly comments)

Karla at the Crafting Obstacle Course

Paper Cowgirls like to Shop!

Did I mention the SHOPPING part of Paper Cowgirls?

Not only was downtown Waxahatchie jam packed with good stores, there was a special event going on with Petticoats on the Prairie and we all got in at a discount for the sneak preview shopping night.

I'm still kicking myself for not buying this pillow!

The chaise lounge wasn't bad either, nicely stuffed with down and so cosy and soft!

And where else could you see a steam punk duck decoy? 

The displays were well done and I did get more photos. But- I had my crappy, little pocket camera with me and very few turned out.  I hear that the newer small cameras do better in low light. I've had mine about 4 years, so I know that updates have made them better since I got it.

My favorite booth there was Angela's.  I know her from her blog, but had never met her in person. I found lots of goodies in her space, including this small, Victorian loving cup, and this toothpick holder with the same trophy shape to it.

I'm using both on my dining table as part of my Easter decor, with some of my eggs and nests from the 3 Wire Workshops tutorial.

She had this lusterware mermaid too.  I couldn't resist it, since Sugarwings is a major mermaid fan. I knew she'd enjoy seeing it in the china cabinet.

It was fun to see some of my pal, Lesa's work there too. I spied these on a table, recognized her style, and wondered how she ended up there from Kansas City, then realized they are from her Bethany Lowe line.

The show was a good mix of hand made creations, market items, and vintage goodies.

One of my fave purchases is this pillow/pin cushion that was a prop used in Alice in Wonderland.   We all fondled it, hoping that Johnny himself had used it as the Mad Hatter. I was making people sniff it too. 

The table cloth its on is something I bought at a place Beth and I stopped at on the drive home.  It was only 10 bucks because of some bad stains.  They washed out easily, and the lace itself is in great shape.

There was a bit of hat whispering going on too.  I found quite a few for pretty good prices while in Texas.

The flea market we stopped at had lots of jewels too. I snapped up a bagful of cameo lockets from one dealer, they are in the boutique now, if you need one.  I kept a few for my own use, but had quite a few, so there are both blue and brown ones in the Boutique now.

There were tables of $1 jewelry too, I scooped up a few special pieces to work with there after doing some treasure hunting to find the good pieces hidden in the piles of 80s plastic beads.  

Beth knows that she can park me at a $1 jewelry table and go on shopping, because I'll be there a while. I take it as a challenge, and just have to delve in to see what is under all the junk.  Usually its worth my time, and I find a few decent pieces of older stuff mixed in with the not so interesting pieces. Either way, it sure keeps me entertained!

We debated stopping, since it was an 8 hour plus drive. But were glad we did.  The flea market was so good we stayed for over 2 hours, and filled a few bags. It was the icing on the cake to top off a wonderful trip!

Paper Cowgirl Round Up

Paper Cowgirls was every bit as much fun as I knew it was going to be.  Last year was a blast, but this year, seemed even more special.

Maybe because it was so small and intimate?  I love big, arty gatherings, but the small ones really are good bonding experiences. Being in Texas with this group of friends, old and new makes me even more impatient for Birdsong to happen in April!  I'll get to see my talented buddy, Lisa again, she and Beth will be teaching here at the cottage along with me.

The best part of the trip was just leisurely hanging out with friends. It was a laid back, low key event, lots of time to just sit and talk, or walk around and shop while chatting.  I wish had more photos of my buddies, there were so many nice people there! I packed my cheapo, pocket camera instead of my good one, and very few of the pictures turned out worth posting.

Over the weekend, I also got to hang with my long time blog friend, Dawn, who I was happy to finally meet along with Karen, whose blog and design work on other's blogs I have enjoyed for years.  Cindy and I have met up at other events and its always good to reconnect.

Dawn's class was a fun one to take.  I've made lots of peat pot babies in the past, as well as little nesting fairies, but its good to pick up some new tips and different ways of looking at a project from someone you admire.

I also took Donna's class, it was a goody too. I'll have photos later.

My own class went well.  It was an itsy bitsy teeny weeny class, only 3 students!  I told everyone that I should have been humiliated by the size of it, but it takes a lot more than that to embarrass me. 

Plus, I sold all of the kits I made up, thinking I'd have a full class, and didn't come close.  So, I did okay financially, and ended up with a small, easy going, peaceful little group in my classroom that was really kind of refreshing. 

Thank you to everyone who bought my kits. I'm sorry to say I don't have any left for those of you were inquiring about extra kits to buy online when I got back. I have plenty of supplies to make more.... but not plenty of time.

Maybe after Birdsong, I can whip a few more boxes up. I'll save your info and let you know if I get more kits together in May.

Our hotel rooms (which were really NICE and dirt cheap, a suite with space to spread out and work was only $69) often looked like this.

Beth and I helped Lisa make her kits the day before her class.  Beth and I worked on samples for her own class. I was able to make two complete collages from the kits that she had for her class, I'm going to save them to use as door prizes for Birdsong.  She has some kits left over if you want to make one of her adorable designs.

In Donna's class, she provided felted wool to make a crown.  I saved all my little scraps cut out from the crown's points and made these lil guys.

Even though I am not a good sewer, I was hooked on stitching up the felt and whipping out little felty guys with the 3" snippets I had left over.

So, when our room wasn't filled with paper scraps, there were bits of felt all over, or big groups of friends staying up late and talking.  I guess what I mean, is that our rooms were always filled with fun!

 

Packing my saddlebags and I'm off to be a Paper Cowgirl.

I've packed my boxes and my cow gal hat and am on my way to Texas!  I'll have new posts scheduled to pop up while I am away, but all purchases from the Boutique will be mailed on Monday after I get home and settled.

There are some digital images added to the Wire Workshops tutorial. They can be used to print and use if you want to make tags or image backed crystals to dangle from the ribbons on the wreath.  I think I like the wreath better with some cute dangly things on it, so I was making collage sheets for the class in Texas, and thought the online students would like them too.

Kind of like these.

When I return, I plan on having a fresh, green salad made with a mix of baby lettuce.  My son has built a cold frame to grow early greens and they are starting to sprout!

Wire Wreath Kits

All of my kits are done and packed up, ready to hit the road next week and take them to Paper Cowgirls.

Before I put all of the supplies away, I made up a couple custom kits, this one is for  my Sissy.  I used the very old, pure silk, French ribbon that Carol Spinski gave to me.

And topped some of my favorite wallpapers with an old advertising card and lots of millinery.

The inside lid is covered with text from a 1940s  book about roses and a Victorian calling card.  Then, the box is filled with all the pretties she needs to make a wreath.

While Sissy's kit is special, I think all of the other kits are too, and I hope the students enjoy them.  Each includes:

• written directions plus an online how to, that includes this wreath as well as a fairy crown, and bird nests, also made of wire
• patterns
• millinery flowers
• 3 gauges of wire
• vintage beads and crystals
• feathers
• bird
• ephemera to cover the bird and make the leaves
• lace for leaves
• ribbons and vintage lace
• shredded paper, moss, and a turquoise egg to make the nest

The wreath in the class I'm teaching is in aqua tones, but I made up some pink kits too, just because I love pink.

No two are just alike, if they had to be, I'd never have made soooo many of them, I get bored.  So, I had  some fun with the decor.  When I get to my (small) class, there will be plenty for the students to chose from.

I have a couple listed in the Boutique right now. Please email me if you would rather have pink, instead of the aqua kit, when you order.

Edit- well, those 5 went fast!  If I have any more left after Paper Cowgirls, I'll let you know.  Please email me if you are interested

Next, it will be time to work on the kits for Birdsong.  I hope to get them done WAY ahead of time. Trouble is, I am still waiting for some elements I ordered for the necklace we'll be doing!  I hate to make up the example necklace till I have all the materials in front of me. Don't you hate taking a class and finding out that the best items in the project have been subsituted for something different?

The event is fast approaching, and if my order doesn't come in, I'll have to try elsewhere for the pieces.  But I do promise to come up with something pretty!

There are a couple of openings left, if you would like to come.

And I promise, there really are FOUR classes, my necklace will be done and ready by the time all of my peeps arrive!

Cartons, Kidneys, and Kits

This week, I've been knee deep in ephemera scraps, covering these boxes in bits of old paper, with a flower and bird theme.

After they got foofed, I started filling them up with goodies to make the wire wreath for the class at Paper Cowgirls.   I've not got very far on the kits themselves yet, I came down with a kidney infection and being on my feet was starting to get to me, so after making the boxes, I quit for the day.

When I do kits, I spread everything out and take up a few table tops.  As soon as my antibiotics kick in, I need to get this finished so that I can have use of the room again. Beth is coming over to help me assemble our Round Robin Swap books to mail to Somerset and I need the space.

Really, I'm not that sick. I went to see my Dr. as soon as I started to feel bad.  I'm old enough and wise enough (finally, something good about getting old! Learning from the past) now that I don't wait till I'm so sick I can't get out of bed to go to the doctor, if I feel a twinge of something coming on, I get an appointment that afternoon and start feeling better fast.  In my youth, I would wait and wait, thinking whatever I had would soon get better, but instead I'd just end up more and more sick. 

The boxes started out not really all that bad in the first place, but they were too shiny and new looking for me.  I found them for $1 each, and liked the size and shape, so I bought a whole carton full of them. 20 cute boxes for $20 is not bad. I saw something kind of like them at Tuesday Morning for $8 each. 

Here they are with a coat of tan spray paint misted over them.  I used it to tone down the apple green interior so I wouldn't have to cover it too, and also to soften the bright colors so they wouldn't show through the old paper I was covering them with.

While I was papering them, I started to feel crappy, and thought it was the lingering smell of the spray paint, and didn't realize I was getting a fever and a kidney infection until later.

No two are alike, but that is how things go when you use vintage goodies. And I'd get bored if I had to make a stack of clones, anyway.

Each one is covered in a similar manner, then tied shut with ribbon and a bird cage charm.

My class didn't come close to filling.  But its not in my nature to do just a few of something.... And these boxes were fun to make, so it was hard for me to stop.  After Paper Cowgirls, I'll have some kits left over if anyone is interested. Each will come with the new tutorial that I am doing now too.

It includes the wreath (with supplies in the kit), a nest, and a crown, all made of twisted and twining wires.

 

PS- notice the Google Friend Connector is missing from my side bar? Yep, they are no longer working on Typepad blogs as of March 1st. If you want more information on how to follow a blog, Marianne has done some homework and explains it all very well here.

She also has a good tutorial on using Google Reader here

and here.

I have asked Hope, who designed my blog, to add a connect button for all of these for me.  She'll be doing that soon.

Twisting some skills

Birdsong Two, AKA- "So nice, we're doing it twice," still has a couple of openings if you are thinking about coming to the cottage to see us.  Sadly, one friend from last year, had to drop out due to a back injury. And there are two other spots still to fill, so grab a couple of gal pals and head to KS to see us! 

Its very meaningful to me that most of the attendees were here last year too.  So, I wanted to do something special for them.  I've started working on some ideas for the gathering. This nest is made of wire, very much like the wreaths I'll be teaching at Paper Cowgirls down in Texas, coming up very soon.

Here is a detail of the wreath, see the similarities?  Once I figured out how to do this natural look/grapevinish wire trick, I've used it a lot. I've made crowns and fairy laurels with this style of wire twisting too.

One thing I've learned, is that working with wire is sure a lot easier with the right tools. I bought a heavy duty wire cutter since I've been cutting so much of it.  I had 18 people in the holiday wreath class at Kim's gathering, and I'm making 28 of these nests. Hopefully, I'll have a few people at the Paper Cowgirls class. So far, sales for my class are tanking.  Its a good thing I don't have a big ego, or I'd be embarrassed.  Its hard to find something that embarrasses me, or that I won't talk about freely.

I wonder if it is the photos that I sent to use on the Paper Cowgirls site? Everyone seems to think its just grapevine. I'm sure the class doesn't look like much, but there really is a lot to it, with creating the wreath itself,twisting the wires and adding beads, covering the dove in old papers, curling and adding feathers, making a nest of ephemera, cutting lace leaves, dying and inking the leaves, etc. 

Hopefully, a lot of useful techniques will be learned.  Or does this project just suck?  I like it, and have taught it a few times and everyone seems to enjoy it and get a pretty piece from the class. 

Oh well, you win some, you lose some.  I'll still have a great trip to Texas with my BFF, Beth and get to hang out with Lisa and Cindy and Karen and Dawn, and all the other fun, fun, people I am looking forward to seeing!

New skills

Congratulations to Agnes Rosebud for catching her first mouse!  She might end up being as talented as her mom, who has a voracious appetite for chasing varmits.

Agnes Rosebud isn't the only one learning new skills.  Dewdrop got a painting lesson from her big sis this week.

Sugarwings is a bit of an unconventional artist. She is always ready to set the paper aside and try something new.  She likes to paint all of her small toys, and anything else that she can get a hold of.  I figure, as long as its just watercolors and she is painting her own belongings, that is fine. I'll wash them down and she can paint them again later.  She;d rather paint her toys than play with them.

She knows to ask before she starts painting any of  my stuff that is within her reach.

  Well, most of the time.  Every once in a while she needs a reminder.  I've not had anything too important turned pink yet, just a few tidbits and supplies. 

We bought some markers for window panes, and she has this big window by my garden door that she likes to work on. I can see why she enjoys this canvas, I like to draw on the window with her.

Their father is a bit worried that Dewdrop will take this idea and redecorate the world with it.  My thoughts are to teach them when they are little where they can paint and where they can't, but give them some interesting options.  He's afraid that she is way too little to know the difference and might just color all of the walls she sees now.

But as a person who used to paint murals for a living, and who painted that faux brick floor that the girls are pictured on, its hard for me to limit them to just paper.  Its good to see them coloring outside of the lines and being individuals.

When I teach a class, its hard for me to limit the kits to just exactly what is needed. I like to have a pile of extras for the students to pick through, so they can create a one of a kind piece, and do their own version of "coloring outside of the lines".

So, I'm gathering up a nice selection of goodies for the Paper Cowgirl class I'll be teaching in March, down in Texas.  The class isn't full yet, if you'd like to dig through the pile of pretties and make a wreath with me.

 

A bag for Paper Cowgirls

One of the best parts about an art workshop/getaway, is of course the whole "getaway" part.  Where you get to relish your time to do nothing but create, hang with creative types, and just be away from your every daywork and  life.

I'm hooked on them. I've met the nicest people that way. One friend from Birdsong saw a cute cowgirl shirt at a garage sale and sent it to me to make something out of it for Paper Cowgirls.

 

My first thought, was why cut it up? Its a great shirt, I'll wear it as is!  But sometimes I forget that I am no longer a "small".  In my mind, I still think of myself as 30 years old and a size 6.  Uhm.... that was over 20 years ago and that is a lot of time for opportunities to expand my waistline.

Small, schmall. Never again.

So, I cut out the Cowgirl lettering and some of the tee shirt around it and added it to a bag.  It fit the bag much better than it fit me.

But my stupid sewing machine (I know it hates me, and plots against me at night when it is alone out here in the studio) refused to do any sewing today. So, I got out the Sealah Tape and Fabric Tack.  Much easier!!

Don't forget, if you want a chance to WIN an online tutorial to make your own mini dress form, and embellish it (complete with vintage papers scanned for you to print and use) leave a comment.

The class is $15 if you don't want to wait and see if you win!

If your name is drawn and you've already purchased the class, I'll send you a kit full of vintage goodies to make your dress form.

Dress form collage patterns

  While I am away in Texas for Paper Cowgirls, I have some new posts for you that I wrote in advance. I'll be back soon "live".
 

My bags are almost, very, very close to being ready to go to Paper Cowgirls. All of the kits are made and boxed up. I'm just adding tidbits to take along for the students to personalize each kit.  And I had time to make some dress form tags too.

Its made up of ephemera and I also scanned it and added it to my Mini Dress Form tutorial site. So, if you are signed up for the classes online (only $15) its printable to use in your own art.

While I was making it, I traced the drawings I used and made a pattern too. That is now on the site as a little bonus project for the students to print and make their own dress form collages. (Just in case someone didn't want to try to draw the stand free hand like I did, I added a pattern for a stand too)

These print up nicely. I like to use matt finish photo paper for a really clear print. I cut them out and glued them to old repair tags, added trim and added one to each kit for the class in Texas.

Extra kits are made and ready to add to the Boutique, but I don't seem to have any time to take photos and add them.  I'll let you know as soon as I get some ready for you. Thanks for all of your inquiries!

 Ps- I'm going to have a drawing for a free dress form tutorial. Leave a comment if you are interested. If you already have signed up for the classes, the drawing will be for a free kit.