Karla's Cottage

Big heads and little crowns, pretty packages and groody fingers

The prettiest of pretties arrived from Sandra, one of my round robin partners.

She sent her last page for my book. I'll miss these pages coming in the mail and the exchange of boxes each month. 

Our books are now with Stampington, so when we get them back, it will be like discovering them all over again. I'm curious to see which pages will be used in which magazines.  They are being divided up as individual creations, not shown as full books.

Sandra sent a boxful of goodies, too, what  a sweet surprise that was!

And she made this gorgeous cuff!

Although, my hands aren't quite as gorgeous as the cuff.  They are actually kind of disgusting.

I've been gluing and dying today.  They say you can tell a lot about a person by looking into their eyes, I think you can tell just as much from hands. 

Mine say, "I love my job and am too excited to stop and put on gloves when I decide to dye something"

Today's batch of dyed goods is full of cheesecloth, ribbons, and lace.  I dipped it in what I thought was leftover, cold coffee, not knowing that my sister, Sandy, had made a fresh pot until I stuck my hands in it.

The coffee was a good start, but I wanted more depth to the color, so I spritzed it with Tim Holtz Esspresso stain, then more spritzing with Glimmer Mist in pale pink, metallic gold and silver for some shimmer.

I'm making this up for the Romantic Gothic Ghost workshop at my home in October. So, I wanted it spooky, but still prettty, hence the spritzes of sparkles.

I've also been reworking the Raven for my class.  I decided to draw some different patterns, and I think I like this one best. Although, now that the bird's head is a little bigger, the crown looks too small...

Yes, I do think I'll need to draw a larger crown pattern too.

Speaking of crowns, this vintage barrette, is now in the Boutique.

Along with a few other little tidbits.

 

Round Robin Honeymoon and an even bigger and better sale!

 

Also, I am in the mood to seriously CLEAN HOUSE.  After all the turmoil lately, I feel the need for freshness.  So, my clearance in the Boutique and Etsy is amped up.

You have to go to the Boutique from this link:

http://www.karlascottage.com?code=January

And you will get 60% off with the code word January.

Use the same code word, January to get 60% off in the Etsy shop.

 

When I was invited to be a part of a round robin group, I almost said no.  I thought I didn't have time, but I am glad I made it work! It has honestly been fun to do, and I am very excited about the art I will get in return too.

This is my latest page for Lisa's book.  Hers has more of a theme than mine does, and Beth's most recent page for this book was really interesting, the "heroine" of Lisa's story got married on Beth's last creation.  

So, on mine, I decided to send her on a honeymoon.

I found a photo in an ad from a very old Vogue of a young lady in lingerie looking into a mirror.  I cut her away from the mirror, glued it onto old text over frayed and faded red velvet torn from the cover of a tattered photo album, and then used one of the photo mats over it.

To the topside of the mat, I glued the girl. The mirror is slightly tucked under the edge of the mat, so you don't see the shape of where she had been snipped away.

To give the mirror some sparkle, I outlined the frame in Stardust Gelly Roll gold ink, and rubbed it away with my fingertip, so it left a subtle sparkle.  I filled in the glass part of the mirror with Diamond Glaze, for a shiny finish.

I thought the girl looked like a young bride, giddy and in love waiting for her new husband to come to her.

The page is decked out with some old jewelry, and the bridegroom is cut from an old photo and glued to a big metal button, dented with time.

As its seen in the book, following the other pages, I hope the story is clear.

Most of Lisa's book, as well as all of ours in the swap, are "low color". But Lisa set the stage for introducing red with the quilt scrap she used on the back of her own page.  And Beth had used a hint of red in the heart she crocheted on the back of hers.

So, I think that the tattered red velvet won't be too much for the book. The back of my page is the center one pictured.  I think that it will have a nice flow with the others.

I  haven't had a heck of a lot of time to create lately. I've been trying to get my Birdsong Two projects together, though (still need to work on one of them!)  plus the other stuff going on around here, I've been out of it as far as pretty-making goes.

But when Lisa placed an order in my shop, I wanted to wrap her purchase up nicely, and ended up sewing this pouch, then decking it out with, well, honestly, with some stuff laying on my desk.  Well, you know, if you only use things you like, and only use good stuff, then the scraps that are laying around are usually worth using too!

See what I mean?  These flowers are OLD. Some of the oldest I've ever come across. Definitely good scraps!

I know Lisa uses "the Good Stuff" too.  She's made up this fairy assemblage for Birdsong Two, and it looks like she has picked out some winners to use in her kits. (she makes great kits, I was in one of her classes, wow)

I'd love to see you at Birdsong Two. 

To check out the details, go here.

And if you'd like to be a Birdsong Two sponsor, please contact me.  As a  thank you for goodie bag gifts that you give to our guests, I'll post your link on my side bar of both blogs for a year.  

Round Robin Book Swap

My pal Lisa, sent her first page and cover for our Round Robin book swap, and included some gifts.

Very generous gifts that  I just love.

Including some artwork!  Anyone who gets a piece of art by Lisa is a lucky person. She's the best.

Here is what she has done for her own book.  Now I am supposed to add a page for her, and send it on to the next person to add a page too. This is getting fun already and we barely started!

And speaking of fun, are you LOVING the new fall TV season as much as I am????  As much as I looooove summer time, I sure do love autumn for the television.  Survivor is off to a good start, Simon is back, and Zoey is adorable.  I'm so happy right now.  My DVR is filling up nicely and I'm telling myself that I won't squander it all by watching it at once. After the dearth of programming the last month or so, I've decided to be more careful with my viewing and save some for slow times.  (yes, I am a TV addict and I schedule my nights around what I want to watch next. Sad but true)