Karla's Cottage

Not just a new floor, a whole new look and organizational system in the studio

I have officially moved back into the finished studio!

And I adore each and every little nook and corner.

Not only is the new wall color calming and serene, the new floor warm and easy on the feet, the area seems so much more spacious.

Mostly, it is the same stuff rearranged into a more peaceful set up.  Previously, my computer area was a dark, crowded hole because I wanted it out of sight.  Now it is laid out so that everything is attractive and still workable. 

Inventory for the antique mall had taken over the room.  Now, I’ll be (hopefully) containing it in this corner, behind screens and pretty doors.  

The lighting has had some big changes.  My workspace is now in front of the window, which helps a lot.  I’d had stacked furniture for good juju there and it had completely blocked any sunlight from streaming in, so that stuff is now located in the back corner storage area that doesn’t even have a window to block.

All of the table lamps’ and chadies’ lightbulbs have been switched out to clear, white, daylight LED bulbs.  Which means I have an boxful of mismatched off white and soft white bulbs that I won’t be using.  At my age, I need all of the clear, clean light I can get.

My son added two chandeliers on hooks above my work zone.  I covered the cords in branches and floral vines.

I was able to gather all of the wallpaper cabinets together for a bigger statement.  And they are convenient, right behind my rolling chair so I can glide over and grab supplies out of the drawers.

Rolls of wallpaper are no longer in the big cabinet once used for treats and storage.  That giant piece is now in my breezeway, filled with outdoor cushions that I used to have to stash here, there, and everywhere.

The wallpaper is divided into five different containers and (sorta, but not quite yet) separated by color or style.

Pretty curtains that had been jammed into drawers, now are folded up behind glass so I can enjoy them.

Mt main goal was to find the very best options for all of the stuff that had taken over, and store it away into an intentional way.  Labeled, or plainly in view.  Because I tend to lose or forget I had things.  

A place for everything and everything in its place!

Most of the cabinets are filled with functional supplies.  But I did indulge a bit with just pretties.  The one on the left holds my scrapbooks.

And my hutch still has a few collections behind the glass doors.

Although, about a third of the hutch is now used for supplies, not just pretties.

I’ll show you more details in my next post  for now, I want to go and play in my new studio.

 

 

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!

A Marie Antionette make over on a cabinet and some tips on distressing paint

This cabinet was a bit of a steal, it’s big and spacious, just what I needed for my studio makeover.  Sturdy, but needed some love.

Inspired by all of the period tv shows I watch about kings and queens of Europe, I wanted to use Marie Antoinette colors on it.

And to age the brand new blush, soft blue, and gold I’d just added.

 I add grout to my paint, and use a crackle medium sparingly, not all over.  This is a piece of furniture not faux gator skin, I sincerely dislike overly fake crackly paint jobs.

And when I “distress” the paint, I go for it heavily with a sander to save my poor, old, tired hands.  Daintily roughing up corners with a scrap of sandpaper is hard on the finger joints.

So I give it a blast of the sander, which of course, leaves a trail.

That is a simple fix.  I touch up the zigs and zags with a rough brush dipped into the paint color that I just sanded.

Much better, no tell tale marks from the sander, just some skips in the paint that show the underlying wood.

After that, it gets a coffee colored glaze painted on and wiped off.

I still need to find two knobs for the drawer.  And I will rub a bar of soap or a candle along the drawer runners to make it slide easily.

After it was done, it reminded me of something…. 
I remembered that I had some gorgeous old wallpaper in these colors!

 Perfect!

I didn’t even care that I’d already gone to the trouble of painting the interior.  I was happy to cover up that work with this pretty paper.

And I am looking forward to seeing it in place in my newly redone studio.

A little chance to do some painting

A friend posted a back to school photo of her and her mini me.  It was a perfect little snapshot of joy.

 I loved it so much, I just had to do a quick mixed media sketch of it. I will be gifting this to her next time I see her.

While my paints were out, I decided to do a rose painting for a kind soul who had gifted me with boxfuls of treasures during her de-stashing.  I could never express my full gratitude for her generosity enough.  I hope she knows how much it was appreciated.  

I wracked my brain to figure out what to send as a thank you.  Because of her major clean out, I thought she probably wouldn’t want more “stuff”, but a card was not enough.  After perusing her IG, and seeing how much she loved gardening, so I am hoping that this flower will be something she likes.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

A couple of coincidences

Isn’t this just lovely wallpaper?  It is my all time favorite in years of collecting old papers.  

Often, I come by the same patterns multiple times, but a few special designs are more rare and I do not see them around as much.  This is one I have never come across again, and I save it only for important purposes.  This treasure is way too wonderful to be a tag or a random craft. A pattern this beautiful is meant for lining a cabinet, or being in a treasured book for a friend.

At Juju on Friday, a shopper came in and asked if I had any wallpaper.  Well, I do sell craft packs in my Boutique, but I haven’t been bringing that to the mall.  I had started covering a wall in a different old paper for each season, then selling the pieces I took down after.  

This customer was looking for a very specific one, not just something to craft with.  She wanted the exact paper from her grandma’s home, and had searched everywhere, including online with Google’s reverse image.  When she showed me her photo, I knew I could help!

I have to wonder what the odds are that of all the shops in Kansas City, or even in the Old West Bottoms, and the vast amount of dealers at them all, that we met and she was asking around for my favorite wallpaper of all time?  That night, I cut two repeats off for her and she came back the next day to get it, promising me photos of the shadowbox she is making in her grandma’s memory.

Coincidences make me happy, and I used to collect them in a file.  It’s been years since I wrote them down, though I am thinking I might start again.  My favorite was that a friend was walking down the road, a quite few blocks from our house and saw a bundle of mail in the muddy ditch.  He picked it up, saw it was ours and brought it over.  Inside was a very big check we had been waiting for.  This was the first time he’d decided to go for a walk there, the mail was muddy and not easy to spy.  And it was found by someone who knew us.  

A very lucky coincidence!

Last week when I went to the Sparks Flea Mkt, I bought a bag of junk jewels and inside I found a brooch with my buddy, Beth’s price tag on it from a previous sale.  That gave me a huge smile!  

 

 

Inspiration, ancestors, and leprechauns

Easter isn’t until April, but I have been spending a good chunk of February getting ready for bunny-ing up my booth for the next First Friday at Good Juju.  

And since we are also in the vicinity of St Paddy’s, I’ve added a section of green and good luck snuggled between the bunnies and eggs.

This wall is covered in spring daisies on a soft green background.  It is vintage wall paper, and my plan is to change it up seasonally.  I’ll roll up the used piece from the previous month and have it for sell when I do the change over.  

I offer packets of ironed, cut wallpaper for crafting in my online Boutique but I’ve never sold the stuff this way.  It will be good for bigger projects, and ends up being about 6-7’.

Although, when I stapled this piece up, it was chosen for the pretty green tones, then it dawned on me that around here, daisies were more of a summer flower, not early spring.  Dur. 

 I kinda doubt anyone else will think it through that far.  Ha, can you picture someone critiquing my use of Daisies in March?

“Why, I’ve never seen such a disrespectful display of unseasonal flowers in my life! No way am  I shopping in that uninformed booth!”

Another nitpick?  I’m not totally satisfied with the hairstyle on my shamrock doll.  She has a 1960’s Barbie bubble cut from the front. From behind, it’s a nice updo.  This girl should dump her hairdresser (me).  I might bring scissors and snip in some bangs before she meets our guests.

While one whole corner is set to celebrate the luck of the Irish on their special day, most of my decor consists of green stuff and green Easter eggs.  I have a couple vintage clover brooches, the doll, and two mushrooms made from the same tattered, old material as the doll dress.  

This one has a tiny leprechaun grabbing some shade underneath.

There are also silver pendants with an Irish theme.  I have Celtic knots, green stones, moons, and dragons.  Kinda Irishy.  I not a beer drinker, so have never considered drinking green beer, and really am not at all into the typical St Patrick’s Day type of celebrating.  But I like to remember that I am part Irish and pretend it is my holiday too, like many of us do.

(Also part English and German according to 23 and Me DNA testing. Sounds like there could’ve been some disagreements and a bit of bombing between my ancestors, huh?)

There will be more Easter to show you from the other side.

 And then the last wall is all neutrals, inspired by Yellowstone- which I think starts up again soon.  I do enjoy that show, but I seriously LOVE  the two prequels.  OMG, the romance!  The scenery!  How Gorgeous.  Well, I’ll show that wall later, I have a feeling no one will interpret as Yellowstone, but hey, inspiration isn’t exact because then it’s called copying, right?

 

Peeps Day

We had a little get together for a Peeps craft day at the cottage.  Angie brought a cookie display that was so pretty, it had to immediately become the center piece for our luncheon.

Sadly, three people had other things come up and couldn’t make it.  Beth offered to bring a salad at the last minute so I wouldn’t have find a side dish for the quiche and homemade bread I’d prepared, which was very helpful of her.

She always makes the best salads, too.

I’d tried my hand at making brioche bread, and while it’s a lot of extra work compared to the kind I typically whip up, I think it is way worth it.  But- there is almost a whole stick of butter in it opposed to the tablespoon of heart healthy oil I usually use, so maybe I won’t make a habit of this decadent bread that feels more like a pastry than a slice of bread.

The remainder of the loaf home was sent with the gal pals, thinking I would save myself from all that butter.  But then, Nora left some of her cream pie tarts, Angie left cookies, and well, here I am having both for breakfast and feeling pretty happy to have them.

Lunch was only a little part of the day, the main event for me is always the projects.

We had vintage album mats and little girls images to make Easter wall hangings.  This one is mine, and since I’d previously made a yellow daffodil one, I wanted a different style, but this might be too dark to be springy.  I also don’t like the green pattern in the brown wallpaper and might peel up the girl to add another layer beneath her.  Maybe some blue ledger paper…

This one is Nora’s next to her cute picnic basket that came full of tarts and fruity, sparkly wine. 

(It did not leave full)

Everyone got a hand drawn placemat.  Well, since only half of the group could come, they each got two.

I might make a habit of these.  When I host real events, not just get togethers, I usually draw on tablecloths.  But lately, instead of plastic table cloths that tickle your legs, and are pretty flimsy anyway, I’ve been covering my work tables in poster board and using large scrap book paper as place markers.

While these quick cartoons aren’t exactly major pieces of art, they are a little different.  Plus, I really like drawing, so, yep, I think it might become something I’ll be doing more of.

Although the square size isn’t ideal for dining room placemats, a rectangle would be better.  

Once we finished our Easter pictures, everyone had something else they’d brought to do.  I made some little people to use on something else some day.  Just because I love making little people.  It reminds me of all the hours of playing I spent with paper dolls as a kid.

After the last couple of years that we have had, days like this mean more to me than ever.  It was the best!

 

 

 

More fun from St Augustine and the Guncles

Our five week, meandering trip included 2 single and one four day visit to Guncleland, where the family pitched in and rebuilt some of the fencing.  While guys were busy sawing and hammering, I took some time to clean up the pathways, reset stepping stones, and spread mulch.

They replaced two gates and one length of fence, then added a privacy fence for trash cans and storage.

After a dozen years or so, the garden stones had all sunken down under the earth.  So I un-earthed them and reset the pathways along one side of the house and the garbage can storage area too.

 Which is where I found these!  I felt like an archeologist, digging up ancient ruins.  Apparently, they had been on the ground there, and like the stones, had worked their way deep down under the dirt.

But I preferred to think of them as from an earlier inhabitant of the land.

Our evenings were spent relaxing in the Guncles’ unique home with all eight of our combine canine family having some cousin time.

Oh and eating! There was lots of eating!  That’s what you do when you go to Jax and visit the Gunks.  They feed you endless, yummy, seafood.  I thanked them with a pie.

But it wasn’t all manual labor and big meals.  Randy and I took a mini road trip down to St Augustine to meet up with my sister, Bobbie who was visiting elsewhere in the state.

Where we met some interesting new friends.

In some cool places.

See what I mean? This steam punk  store is a cool addition to George Street.

My favorite thing I saw downtown was this wallpaper in a shop.

Or was it this wallpaper?

No, my FAVORITE thing from the day was this.  I love those two so much!

 

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?