Karla's Cottage

Karlapalooza!

Oh my, I just wrote this post and lost it. Now, if it pops back up and I have two similar ones, please forgive me and ignore the extra one until I get a chance to delete it. 

I will be away from my computer for a bit, and am trying to pre-post articles to publish later during the week, but I just might be screwing it all up. 

What is Karlapalooza???

It started like this:

Lori Karla, (Faerie Window) saw a comment that Karla Natale (Sugar Bear) left on Heather's blog (Pretty Petals), saying that she wanted to visit and go to the flea market Heather does so well with.

Lori Karla thought I had left the comment and emailed me saying that if I was going, she was going.

I said, I am in! where are we going?

My husband was travelling to Pittsburg on business, so I am tagging along and meeting up with these blog friends at the flea market!

Since we had: Karla Nathan, Karla Natale, and Lori Karla, we started calling our trip, Karlapalooza and changed Heather Kowalski's name to "Heather Karlaski."

Unfortunately, Sugar Bear Karla can't come.  But Heather's mom, Kitty (Reflections from the Stone Nest) can make it.

So, we'll  have to call her "Kitty Karla."

These artworks were created by two of my favorite Karlas-

Heather Karlaski did the tussie mussie and Lori Karla made the birdie box and cute tag.

This trip should be such fun!  And there will be photos when I get back, for sure.

While I am away, my husband is taking me out for dinner to celebrate our 23rd anniversary a couple of weeks early.

Bill Clinton's White House chef is going to be preparing a special meal for the members at Treesdale Country Club, and we are going to go! 

That is the good news, the bad is that I need to buy a dress, urhg. I'd rather spend my money at the flea market.

But more good news- my SWEET and handsome and generous and funny husband of almost 23, (almost all great) years, called me to say that his foursome won a golf game today and his prize was $250- which he is giving to me for extra shopping money on the trip! EDIT- I was wrong, my husband didn't win the golf game, I was a bit surprised that he did.  The prize was from some other part of the meeting!  The golf course they played was Firestone, where a PGA tournament will be next week, so winning on a tough course like that would have been quite remarkable for him!  Anyway- I still get the $250 American Express gift card, so I don't care where he won it!!

After the Pittsburgh flea market, and big night out, we are driving to Virginia to spend a few days at our apartment there. 

So, I will not be around for a week, I will try to do the pre-post thing, but really, should be packing instead.....

I won't be able to answer emails or comments, but feel free to leave a comment if you want to enter my two July giveaways. I definitely will enjoy reading all comments later on!

How to find the fairies that are living in your garden, without them knowing that you are spying on them

Thanks again to everyone who gave me suggestions on gift basket goodies.

I am sending out 12 one ounce packs of my home made milk bath salts in tomorrow's mail.

The labels are done on this lush, 'new', OLD flocked wallpaper that I just scored! I have the pile of packets laying on a piece of the wallpaper, isn't it the best???

The fairy on my "Fairy's Bliss" Milk Bath Salts is from an image I got in a trade with Andrea who sent me a big bundle of great old papers to play with.

You know how I feel about fairies.  (I'm a believer).

Well, I just got some very interesting news on how to spot a fairy in your garden, from a reliable source.

I'm going to copy what I wrote for Etsy, instead of typing it twice, pardon my laziness, but there is only so much time in one day!!

"I recently was told by a 7th generation Hungarian gypsy how to find fairies. Honest, I am not making this up, she was very serious when she told me about this, and I can see how it might work.

It requires a blue mirror, and you have to carefully look into it, over your shoulder, not letting the little ones know you are looking for them.

I have always had an interest in blue vintage mirrors and collect them, now I know why!

Here is a good one for sneaking up on the tiny people. It is a small mirror, one in a frame that has been made into a piece of art, so that the fairies will just think you are enjoying the artwork, not peering into the mirror to seek them.

The glittered, horseshoe shaped frame is OLD. The picture inside, the blue posy necklace around the frame, the bow shaped brooch, and lovely white velvet flowers are old too.

Four tiny mirrored squares line the edges of the frame, with a single blue one at the top, to which I have added a rose bud shaped button with a blue rhinestone center (old too, of course!).

The young lady in the picture has been delicately glittered with sparkly gold ink on her dress and a touch of fine glitter on her 3-D wings.

Its all tied up and ready to hang by some gorgeous silver ribbon with blue roses, that I simply can't believe I found to match this frame so perfectly!! (the fairies must have left it on my desk just for this)

To the silver ribbon, I have added a tag explaining how to use the mirror, and accented it with a vintage, pearl white ballerina, meant to top a cup cake. Now she is a fairy, with the sheer white wings I have added to her."

I've had a good day in the studio, and accomplished a lot.  I have photos taken and hope to list a bunch on Etsy tonight, then tomorrow, I have to run errands and get ready for my trip.

I am going to Karlapalooza! (details to come tomorrow)

All of my packages are going out in tomorrow's mail, and then I am afraid I will be away till the 30th, no more packages will be sent until August 1st.

I'll try to write up a few extra posts for you to read while I am gone, but I am afraid I won't be able to answer your comments.

But please do continue to leave comments if you want to enter my TWO GIVEAWAYS.  for the month of July.

I'll announce the winner when I get back from my trip to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.  

I am filling up the baskets for my friends, using the ideas you all gave to me. 

Debbie and Sandy arrive soon after I get home from my vacation, but in between, a brother-in-law and his family will be here. I'll be in a frenzy of preparing for guests when I get home!

But that is what my cottage is all about, I love to entertain, and can't wait for them all to arrive!

12 presents for you for 10,000 comments!

Wow! Thanks for the helpful ideas for filling up gift baskets for my childhood friends coming to celebrate our 50th birthdays together.

I've taken the picture frame idea, and made a couple of frames (photos later, after the glue dries and I can stand them up), and today, my family and I made bath salts to add to the baskets.

Oh- plus I got these two white baskets FREE at a garage sale this weekend, along with the chalk ware lady ($1)

And the mini dresser tray and two perfume bottles. ($1 also).

I wasn't going to go shopping at all this weekend, after my big buys last week.

But.... I was driving by one... and saw a yard full of OLD things. How could I not stop??

This vintage ruffled slip was hanging on a clothes line in that yard, along with some of these antique lace panels.

I need to dress in a vintage prom style for Silver Bella, and am thinking that this slip could come in handy that night, and it was only $10 for all of the lace and the slip.  But that was all the shopping I did, my total for the weekend was $12.  I was proud of myself for holding back.

Have you ever made bath salts? I made up a recipe, using:

sea salt (two containers)

half of a box of powdered milk

about a 1/4 cup of baking soda

and approximately a third of a bottle of glycerin

We mixed in  a handful of ground lavender fresh from my herb bed, and some vanilla/citrus essential oils I had made up a while back.  I'm hoping it will be soothing and refreshing, it smells delightful.

Sugarwing's Daddy did the mixing, he is much more thorough than I am, I would have just stirred it a bit with a spoon and been done. 

He put on gloves and mixed each and every granule by hand for at least a half hour.

Of course, no project in the kitchen gets done around here without my expert helper.  She likes to be in the center of everything we do.

I'd like to make some pretty labels up for the bags of bath salts we made up, probably will do that tomorrow.

And as a thank you, for the people who were so kind to leave comments with ideas for filling baskets- I want to give away 12  of my one ounce bags of the mixture to the first 12 people who say they'd like some.

So, here is what you need to do- if you sent me some advice about the basket, and you'd like to have a small pack (enough for one good, relaxing soak in the tub), leave a comment and let me know you'd like some.

This is to celebrate going over 10,000 comments on my blog during the last post! Thanks again for taking the time to stop and visit and leave comments, I love to hear from you. edit-thanks, I have 12 people who would like a sample of bath salts. I wish I could send some to everyone else too!

Here is my 12:

1-Cheryl

2-Karen

3-Robin

4-Heather

5-Donna

6-Connie

7-Joanne

8-Terri

9-Caitlin

10-Jodi

11-Beverly

12-Betty Lou

(still need addresses for the last 3)

This tag that I just finished is too big to use for the gift baskets, it is 8"x4". If you are interested in buying it for $9, (includes postage-US) just email me.

I loved all of the ideas, and will make use of quite a few, these free baskets will hold a LOT.

Here is what I think I'll add:

*personalized tags tied to the handles

*the match boxes I already made, with mini candles

* CHOCOLATE!! (that was a popular suggestion)

* a magazine (rolled up and tied with a bow)

* decorated frames so they can display a photo of the trip when they get home

*snacks, like granola bars

* a water bottle with a pretty label

*bath salts (homemade)

*Bath and Bodywork's lotion

I'll line the basket with some of the vintage linens I bought last week.

Now, I have to think about the 50th birthday gifts I want to give them!!!!!

I haven't had more than a few minutes to make stuff this weekend, Sugarwings has been staying with us quite a bit, and today FIVE of her friends came to play.

They were all calling me Grammy Karkie and wanting to paint, or play dolls or in the garden hose at the same time.  It was hectic but fun. So hectic, I didn't get a camera out!

The lake was beautiful this weekend.  If you'd like to see a VERY short clip of Sugarwings making up a song while hopping on her PopPop who is laying back and relaxing on a raft, click here.

One of the strangest things happened to us at the lake!

About 6 weeks ago, we caught our anchor on something on the bottom and had to cut it loose, and buy a new anchor.

Yesterday, as we drove across the cove, our motor shut off, due to a rope wrapped around the prop. It must have been floating around, and we just happened to drive across it as it bobbed around the water.

As we untangled it, we thought it looked a lot like our half of a blue rope that was attached to our new anchor, and the we had some trouble getting the mess untangled because it seemed to be stuck to something.  Well, we tugged, and found out it was attached to something- our OLD anchor that we had cut loose earlier this summer!

What do you think the odds are that it just happened to be US who got caught on the rope of our own anchor lost weeks ago??? That rope could have hooked any boat on the lake.  What odd timing that it was us!!!

I wonder if that ladder we lost will be coming back soon???

A busy and brave day for Sugarwings

  The fairy grand baby came to have a sleepover and we were able to jam a lot into one day.

Since the weather was so nice, we did some yard work. I trimmed trees while she watered flowers.  And herself. And me. And Twinkle. And the driveway.

Then, she discovered that the big old birdcage I use for a planter was a perfect doll house for a cast iron fairy that I keep on the porch.

Sugarwings spent a good deal of time tucking the fairy into the cage and telling her "night night" so I was able to prune my roses as well as the maple tree. 

All the roses are now cut back.  It was sad to cut all the blooms off, but I have company coming in a couple weeks, and have learned that if I trim the shrubs back ahead of time for a special occasion, they will be full of flowers when I need them to be.

After a morning of gardening and tucking in fairies, we went to the nursing home where her Hippy Chick Mommy works to go to a carnival.

I hope that someday, if I am ever in a nursing home, some cute little girl like Sugarwings comes to visit me.  You should have seen the eyes light up around the room when she walked in.

I could identify with their need to hold this little sweetie on their laps and give her hugs.  I saw these ladies arms automatically reach out for her as she came near them.

She did sit on a few laps, even the clown's.  That is one brave little girl, I don't think I would have done that at her age.  But you could tell this clown was someone's grandma and pretty nice.

Yep, she is brave!  I took her out on the boat after the carnival and she went tubing for the first time.

That kid didn't even mind walking in the deep, ooshy mud of  the lake bottom, when we pulled up to the campsite where she was camping all night with her family.

There was hardly anyone out on the lake.  Lake Clinton is a pretty spot, 10 minutes from our house and rarely busy.  Its Sparkle's favorite place in the whole world. One of mine too.  Especially when Sugarwings is there with me.

There hasn't been much time to make things with my new pretties from all the shopping last week.  I did squeeze in another tussie mussie, (listed on etsy) and made use of some of the loot.

Some of the vintage jewels were missing stones, and I have been gluing in new ones to replace them.  Here, I used a pearl instead of another rhinestone, it seemed to go well with the style of the cone I had added it to.

I am itching to make stuff with all of my vintage bounty!

Some of my French ephemera from Gwen, and an earring from the garage sale went into wrapping this Etsy purchase.

And these matchboxes have some of the lace on them, as well as the French ephemera from my friend, Gwen.

Good friends from my childhood are coming out to celebrate our 50th birthdays together and I am making up gift baskets for the guest rooms.

Little decorated candles, treats, pretties, I am not sure what else will go in them.   But I thought embellished match boxes would be a good idea to go along with the candles.

One friend lives in Sonoma County, the other on the beach in Florida. When we talked about where to meet up, they both chose Kansas!! So, I need to pamper them and treat them extra special, if they want to come to my cottage for our big birthday celebration instead of lying on the beach in Florida or touring wine country in California!

Any ideas on what would be nice to put into a guest room gift basket?

New blog title: Crazy, Obsessed, Shopaholic, Bargain Hunter's Crowded Cottage

Some one stop me!

I have been on such a roll with the bargains this week, that I can't quit looking for them.  And they seem to LEAP out at me.

I heard the call of the hats yesterday, and asked a friend if she wanted to take a spur of the moment, quick trip with me to go and buy hats.

We only had a couple hours, knowing it was late in the day and the stores would close, but we went anyway, and I was glad I did.

This loot was $1 a single flower and $7 for the loaded hat!

And even though, I have plenty of buttons after last weekend's garage sale, how could I pass this up?

The ironstone bowl is worth at least $15, let alone filled with buttons!

Not only that, but SORTED and cleaned buttons.

The bowl has already come in handy, on my desk filled with these trims that I bought too.

There are some really nice pieces in here, lots of old beading and delicate laces.  These were only $1 a zip lock bagful.

Those trims were the first thing I played with after I got home, I couldn't wait to do something with them! 

These tussie mussies are made of vintage flocked wallpaper, lined with old, French paper, then encrusted with some of the fancy trims, jewels, and flowers that I bought yesterday.

These are gifts. I won't say who for yet, but the hint for the new owners is in the themes I used to make them:

birds*fairies*pretty flowers

This trim was my favorite, so dainty and old.  There was quite a bit of it, too.

I was glad to discover when I cut into it to use it on the tussie mussie, that all the beads stayed in place and didn't run every where. I had been worried about using it, but it was wonderful to snip and glue down.

And yes, I bought more vintage jewelry.  Just when I think I have cleaned out all the old jewelry bargains in the state, I find even bigger and better deals.

Can you believe that a lot of this was in the ten cent box?

Some of it was a dime, some of it was sold in bags full for $3 - $4 a bag.

Yes, I bought all the bags! I'm not even showing all the jewels I got, because I am starting to overwhelm myself with all this bounty.

These were 50 cents each. 

I've not used beaded trim pieces much in the past, but I will have fun making use of these black ones at Halloween, won't they be great on witch hats?

This is an example of how much was in one $1 zip lock bag.   I can see some Silver Bella projects in the future of that silver velvet string!

There was a big bundle of towels and doilies for $5.50, which at first I thought I didn't need. But then, I remembered that I had planned on buying dish towels at Target later this week.

So, why would I pay $3 a towel for plain ones at Target, when I can get a big bundle of beauties for $5, with extras thrown in at an antique store??

These gals were $1 each, and soon will be covered in flowers, beaded trims, and sporting fairy wings.

Now, if I can just stop shopping long enough to stay home and make some stuff with all of this!! 

By the way, thanks so much for all your purchases from me this week.  I appreciate it! (Plus it makes more space for me to go shopping again myself!)

A lucky day (again!!)

Sugarwings will have to take my title as the "Hat Whisperer".  We stopped at a couple of antique shops on the way to the zoo.

(that kid is happy anywhere I carry her, she will shop for hours and love it)

Her job was to find a hat. I wasn't having any luck, and she was doing pretty good finding plain ones, or ones in photos on the wall.  I thought that was what she was telling me about, a cowboy in a photo, but no, she saw this $3 beauty that I missed!

She is the one who found the box of old sewing supplies for 25 cents each too.

Did I need another hat?

I used to pull the blooms off and organize them by color. ( I have a similar, smaller box by my work table, too)

But lately, I have been on such a roll, I haven't had time to sort through them all and pull off the flowers.  Yes, this is a heap, there are hats on top of hats, on top of hats.

But, the way I look at it, these are only getting more and more scarce and I won't always find them at such bargain prices, like Sugarwing's $3 bonnet. 

Especially when all of you out there tell me how hard millinery flowers are to find. 

Same way with this stuff.

Yes, I found more deals on old jewels! All of this (and more not shown)  came from 3 bags marked $4 each.

Would you hate me if I tell you that I found a 14kt gold piece, that I think has a real diamond in it?

These are far from perfect, but old and really cool!  Ideal for projects and gluing.

I know I'll be happy to have sparkly little reindeer at Silverbella to add to my holiday projects.

And I can't wait to use the roses with colored rhinestone centers on something special.

Last night I decorated a few button filled jars with some of my new treasures. 

I had sprayed a flower with walnut ink and it got on this old French book page, and look at how the colors bled and spread.

How cool, that walnut ink turned into a tie dye rainbow of colors on this paper! I made a label out of it and went with a hippy, flower power theme for the bottle.

This tiny jar already had the cutest rosey lid ever. I just added some goobers to the jar itself to foof it up, then tied on a vintage velvet bow and filled it with pretty buttons in colors to match the outside.

Yes, it was a very lucky, lucky day.

Sugarwings and I had a lovely day, with shopping and the zoo. Not many animals were around to see on such a hot day, but we didn't mind.

  Not many people either, it was later in the afternoon, mid week.

So the attendant let us play on the 100 year old carousel as long as we wanted, no one else was there to ride.

We sat on every single animal there, then when it was time to ride, we were told to ride as long as we liked. 

I'm afraid I had to stop the fun early, I get motion sickness.  My head was spinning for a while after a few turns. So we just played on the horses instead of going in circles.

By the way, do you know what a cowgirl says? According to my fairy grandbaby, it is "moooooooooo".

And maybe you can help me with this question-

Do you know what these shells are called? When I showed a necklace that my great aunt had made with similar shells, a  reader pal said she thinks they are rare.

If you have any info, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Don't forget to leave a comment to enter the Christmas in July giveaway and the regular monthly giveaway, if you'd like a few colorful pieces of old jewelry and some cute buttons!

Forget me not?

I don't typically grow flowers from seed, I am more of an instant gratification type. I like to buy big flats of blooming flowers for instant color.

But on Mother's Day this spring, I gave Sugarwings a package of forget-me-not seeds and her own pink, plastic shovel, opened the seed pack, and turned her lose.

Here is my little gardener's first bloom!  I haven't touched the  patch she planted, I wanted it to be all her own, so they are kind of clumped up and not where I would have planted them, but I do love them more than anything else in the gardens because they are hers!

Today will be a Sugarwings Day, and I get to go pick her up soon. I'm not sure what we'll do, maybe the zoo?  She is happy anywhere I take her. Sometimes we just sit on the sidewalk and talk to bugs.  Other days, we'll paint rocks, or water the flowers (and each other).

I might dress her in this vintage sun suit I bought at the Bling and Button Bargain Blowout garage sale last weekend, it was only $1.  It looks tiny, but she isn't very big.  My fairy baby is only in the 3rd percentile for her age group, she is dainty like the forget-me-nots she planted.

I'm glad she is tiny, I carry her everywhere.  We won't pack a stroller if we go to the zoo, I'd rather hug her all day.

Some of you were asking me to show more of the vintage greeting cards I bought, so here is a close up. How cute is this?

I must have bought over 100 of them. I'll use a few in projects, set a basket of them out in my studio to enjoy, and add some to collage kits that I make up to sell on Etsy.

I listed a couple sets on Etsy this morning.  I doubt if I will do many this way, they are too handy to have around for other purposes.

This will be listed soon, I am trying to get my shop filled.  I don't understand why it is so hard to get the inventory up over 50. My goal is 100, but I  think what I 'd need is a couple totally uninterrupted days of nothing but listing, and I'd get BORED doing that.

So, I putz around and list a few things here and there.  I try to be regular about it and update a few days a week.

I listed ONE hanger from this bunch so far. They are the end of my millinery flowered padded hangers, the rest have moved on to their new homes,

If you'd like one of these for $9, please let me know.

Any of them, but this one, it is available on Etsy, but it costs a little more than the others, it has a bigger and more velvety rose and the hanger is older. So this one is "special".

The child sized ones that I made up are going to stay here with me. I will use them for my fairy grand baby's clothes.

Here is a full picture of one of my button bottles that I listed, I only showed a bit of it before.

This one is "special" too.  I try to keep my prices very reasonable, but when I spend a bit extra on supplies I have to charge a bit extra too. 

This bottle cost more to start with (but was worth it!!) so it is $28, filled with white buttons and decorated. sold, thanks!

This bottle didn't cost me as much, and it is only $15, filled with buttons and all embellished.

They both took about the same amount of time, and supplies, and are equally gaudied up. 

Any way, thought you might want to understand my price variations.

Since I can whip out creations pretty quickly, and here in the Midwest, I get lots of bargains for my supplies, I try to keep my prices affordable for my shoppers.

I hope you agree with me that they are a good value!

Speaking of selling stuff, I just got some good news! An email came from Teresa (or T Mac, as I have been hearing her called!) and I will be a vendor at Silver Bella. Yay!

It isn't too early for me to start planning and plotting, pasting and painting!   I plan on filling a 10 x 10' booth.

Heather and Natasha are flying in to Kansas City and riding up with me. I am renting a big van, and taking up my booth goodies, and Heather is mailing boxes of her things to me here to take up too, since she is vending also.

Holly (who will be vending) is driving up from Oklahoma, and Carol (another vendor) is coming  from Kansas City and we are making a caravan up to Omaha for the event. Stopping in St Joe, MO at my favorite antique mall on the way.

Don't you think I need a big glittery banner to tie to the van???