Karla's Cottage

Generosity and Joy

I cannot begin to tell you my absolute dumbfounded joy when I was gifted with boxes of beauty.

Where to even begin?  This is just a portion of the bountiful gorgeousness that came my way.

I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Thank you, Liz!

Free download to make a FALL banner

For this banner, I thought I’d try a new trick (new to me at least).

I scanned vintage text, edited letters onto it, then printed them on card stock.  Using a circle punch, I cut them out and added ink to the edges.

Since straight lines and mathematical shapes aren’t my thing, I’m always looking at craft store clearance aisles for banners.  I’ll pick one up whenever I see it cheap and stash it away for when an idea strikes.

So I went to my cabinet of shapes and goodies to look for a premade banner that seemed fall-ish.

Burlap!  Yep, that’s the one.  And it was long enough to make three banners of four letters. ( Sorry, sold the third before it was photographed). 

After cutting out the letters and gluing them on, I decorated each segment with vintage lace and velvet ribbon and tied them to a string.  Easy as pie.  A wonderful, warm apple pie for fall.

If you’d like to create one of your own, here ya go.  Click on the image to open into a larger window, and save from that.

And yes, there are two separate Ls instead of using the same background twice.  I think it’s more attractive that way.  The old papers are pretty cool, you should possibly save the part you cut off to make into something else. (My scraps became mini witch hats).

Next up, I hope to make “BOO”.  But I’m tight on time, I’m starting a major studio redo.  I might be waiting to do “JOY” or “MERRY” instead.  If I do, I’ll share letters if you’d like to make one too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patriotic and still Cottagey decor

Red, white, and blue are not typically my colors.  But this year, I wanted to play with them and use the tones with my own aesthetic. 


Vintage wallpaper is one of my favorite things, so I whipped up a few flags from it.  The large one is on foam core, the smaller ones on vintage book covers.

While I was at it, I used the scraps to make tags.

With roses, birds, and wallpaper, this color scheme made me pretty happy.

Also, I’ve always wanted to make one of these ribbon flags.  I scoured my home and studio for red ribbon and lace, to find just enough to make this one.  I thought I’d make smaller ones with the scraps, but there wasn’t much left over.  Most of the trims are vintage, a couple of the reds are not.  And the blue tulle is cut from a cute skirt that Sugarwings wore as a little kid.  

The hanger is not a part of it, that is behind the piece.  Sorry, should’ve hung it elsewhere for the photo.  The ribbons are tied to nails pounded into a branch.  I’m going to put a dot of glue on each knot to keep them in place.

This was such a fun project, I’d love to make another, but do not want to use brand new red ribbons.  I might dye some vintage lace and use that.  A soft, faded red would be nice, this a bit bright for me.

All of this stuff will be at Good Juju for First Fridays in June.  I’ll show you some pictures once I get it all set up.

 

 

Sugarplum Fairies

I have been a busy little elf.

Not just making more Sugarplum Fairies, but also making some tiny, itty bitty, snow globes for some of them to hold.

Seriously, I cannot get enough of them!

Well, I just love fairies and angels of all kinds.  Anyone with wings is special to me.

Throw in vintage bits of fabric, lace, and baubles, and I never want to stop crafting.

Slowly but surely, I am restocking my Boutique.  But there are issues with changes in the programs that I use that have made it more slowly than surely.

I’m a big girl, I’ll figure it out.  It’s just annoying and takes more time than it used to.  A few steps have been added to my process, but it works fine.  At my age learning new steps slows me down more than it should.

If you’ve seen my Sugarplum Fairies or Witchy girls before, you might recognize some faces.  I do reuse the old photos that I have scanned and printed, but I can promise that no two ever turn out exactly  the same.

Because, what fun would that be?  

 

The Beauty at Bridgerton

I am home from a varied and jam packed full of fun trip.

And speaking of jam packed- you should have seen my luggage!

I started my journey flying to Asheville, then hiking with my baby boy, then off to Charleston in a rental car  for Jenn Hayslip’s Bridgerton event.  I had one bag filled with kits to teach a class.

Plus my normal supplies to take my pal, Lori Oles’ class, as well as a selection of items to sell, and even more supplies for projects to work on at the beach.

Siesta Key was the final flight of my trip, off to see my sissies.

My two, overly stuffed, giant pieces of luggage and equally bulging carryon had to include warm clothes for the mountains, dress up things for the art event, and beachy outfits. Along with kits, supplies, wares for the market, and little gifties.

All I can say is thank goodness that suitcases have wheels.  Even if they don’t like thresholds and rolling onto elevators , those wheels made the juggling of all those bags possible.

Still, even with all that packing, I screwed up.  I didn’t pack proper attire for the big party.  I brought a dress, but it wasn’t fancy enough.  So, the kind hostess, who also has multiple, amazing, to die for closets full of gorgeousness, had me try on her clothing until we found something that could work on a grandma attending a ball.  

Jenn’s wardrobe is suitable for being the bell of the ball every day of her life and it was a joy to be invited to play in those closets!  Here is what she wore.  And the dress she loaned to Lori.  Neither one of us packed right.

Everyone else brought their finest gowns!  Oh my, the dresses were lovely.

Looked at this beauty! Wow!

Jenn’s adorable husband got it right and was a great sport while looking cute as can be.

Jennifer does not miss one detail when it comes to making every aspect of her events perfect.

So I felt bad about letting her down with my lack of fabulousness.

But that kind hearted lady was gracious and generous about finding a fix for my attire.

I felt very pampered instead of embarrassed by the way she handled my faux pas.

Everything about being in this luxurious home was pampering. 

And beautiful.

Simply, delightfully, beautiful.

I could’ve just wandered around and gawked all day, the home was that pretty.  Lori and I wanted to play a drinking game, where every time we heard someone say the word PRETTY, we would take a shot.  But, since I am a very bad drinker and have never done a shot in my life, I’d have lost quickly.  I’m more of a wine sipper.

Every city that I visited and all the people I saw, made for such a lovely adventure.  I’ll leave you more pictures of Jenn’s perfectly detailed and pretty, pretty, pretty party for now, and will have more about the rest of my travels later.

Cheers!

Under a magic spell

I really, really, really loved making things for Good Juju for Halloween!

I have collages, dolls, witchy hats, jewelry, mushrooms, ballerina bats (yes, that’s right, ballerina bat skeletons),  signs, painted pumpkins, and my possibly fave- magic potion bottles.

For years, I have been tossing any vintage items I find that seem fitting for this season, into a drawer.  It was quite full of tempting treats to turn into my fun creations.

I found it so inspiring to have an eclectic mix of ephemera and goodies to dig through.

No two came out the same, since I was working with so many originals bits of vintagey goodness.  I had some photos that I’d copied, but the rest is all aged.

While I was at it, I whipped up a few hand made pumpkins too.

Here are some used as bottle toppers.

I went overboard.

A bit.  

As I do.

There is probably enough inventory for next year too.  I should add some to my online shop, but I will be teaching at Jenn’s fantastic event in Charleston mid October, so might not have time to get any listed in time for Halloween. 

Now it is time to halt my spooky endeavors and switch to Christmas.

Which isn’t a problem, I adore creating sparkling pretties for that holiday too.  

It is hard to put away all of the supplies for October, and to stop myself from making way, way, too much of this stuff.  I’ve been on a roll.

Knowing me, I will be every bit as much obsessed with  as happy to  make things for the next holiday. 

I’ve been saving up Christmas ephemera and supplies too.  I have a feeling that crafting with those is  going to be taking over my life soon.

I’m excited just thinking about it!

And it is extra nice to have a reason to make things, after quarantine and Ryan’s death.  I hadn’t had much inclination to create in volume like this.

Juju Preview

In my last post I mentioned that I got my booth set up at Good Juju before my trip to Indy.  I have more to add, and hopefully will get it there before the sale this Friday and Saturday. 

My Halloween theme is in full force, with pumpkins and witches everywhere.

I especially love these old sign letters that I found on a junking morning with the Guncles.  I’ve made BAT, EEK, BOO, and CROW with them.

And of course, more mushies in fall and Halloween colors.   Thank you to everyone who bought my tutorial to make their own.  Please send pics when you do!  

If you’d like to make one, you can find them here.

There are handmade witchy hats too.

Plus vintage things, of course.

With a spooky turn to them.

As you can tell, I have embraced fall colors.  Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate their beauty and have e corporates them into my style.

I hope you’ll be in to visit for the show!  Please drop by my booth to say hello if you do.

There are still all sorts of things I need to tag and bring in yet, so this isn’t all of it.

 

 

A lesson learned in the past, that I am remembering as I set up my Good Juju booth

Hmmm, now I am wondering why I spent so much time remaking my wall, when you don’t even see it.  Yep, this spot is FULL.

Adding the “porch” awning allowed me to really overfill.  I love that structure that Rich built for me, even if it got buried and is now hidden.

One reason that I am excited to join the Good Juju venue, is that while it is full of wonderful antiquities and awesome junk, there are also handmade items and lots of artwork.  

All of my favorite things, so right up my alley!

I’ll be having hand painted furniture, vintage paper collage, old stuff, painted signs and canvases, and some jewelry.

These necklaces are my “Recycled Charms”, pendants made of bits of jewelry I have collected over the years.

This side of the door holds sterling silver with genuine stones.

If all goes well, this can be a place where I can indulge my creative whims.

While I am kinda rusty on the antique mall biz, and it’s been a while since I had a booth, I did set up my garage as a shop during Birdsong events, so I stayed, somewhat in the commerce world.

I’m hoping I’m just a little rusty, not completely out of it.

No matter how long I’ve been away, there is one rule that will never leave me- I will NOT willy nilly buy things just because I think they will sell. I’ll only offer goods in my booth that I would want for myself, in my own home, and stay with my own sense of style. 

For one thing, you never know what you’ll get stuck with, so I have things I like just in case they do end up at my own home later on.  My house is furnished right now with leftovers that did not sell.

Also, with a small spot, I need to be able to coordinate the items and have a flow.  Although I do have to admit, that I’ve packed so much into this little corner that the flow could look more like a log jam, huh?

I feel like everything I add to the spot should give me a little tug, one that says, “Hey, don’t sell that!  Think how great it would look on my living room wall! Or in the studio!  Or hey- I can make something with that!”

Please wish me luck, it might take me a while to find my niche at this mall.  For now, I’m throwing all my faves into the spot and seeing how it goes. 

A much delayed, simple project

At my Peeps Craft Day, I had a couple of little side projects to get done too. Once we finished our Easter pictures, we all turned to our own things.  I made some labels for my various spray bottles in the bathroom.  

Finally.

 I like to have them out to use instead of keeping them in a cabinet, and it always bothered me that they never matched my bathroom. 

Silly, because it was such a quick and easy thing to do.  That I had thought about for YEARS.  What makes me put off little projects like that?  It’s not like my plate was so full, I never had time.  

But maybe having them done and displayed wouldn’t have made me as happy as it does now, after looking at the previous labels for years as is?  I sure like them now!

Reusing old album mats for some springtime pretties

These are pretty beat up, but I think they could be used to make some lovely Easter collages.

Don’t you?