cottage – Page 11 – Karla's Cottage

Free Christmas Decorations

By Karla Nathan / December 22, 2020

I hadn’t planned on doing a lot of decorating this year, and kept the inside of the house mostly just twinkle lights and plain trees with pine cones.

Since our only get togethers with friends can be outdoors and socially distant, and we have been blessed with some nice days to enjoy them, I decided to “spruce” up our yard a little.

Sugarwings took the John Deere Gator back in the woods with her grandfather to trim some trees in the way of the trails out there. I asked them to bring me back some branches. Then stuck the evergreens everywhere.

Even in the patio umbrella stands. And in all of the empty pots. Some, I just laid on the tabletops.

The flower pots are topped off with rocks to keep the pup from digging in them, so the branches are staying pretty good, stuck down in the dirt and wedged between rocks.

Some small branches were put on top of pots and had spray painted pumpkins left from Halloween added over the greens. Plus a little glitter on top of the pumpkins.

The patio itself got a sprinkling of glitter too. It started out as an accident, I was glittering up an ugly sweater and made a mess. It looked good, so I dumped out some more.

There are evergreen branches poking out of every available surface out back, and it not only brightens up a dull, gray, Kansas winter, it smells nice too. They last for at least a month. It probably didn’t even take me a half hour to place branches around the yard, and it sure brightened the area up.

I just hope our weather offers random nice days for get togethers all season, long after the branches are thrown out. With summer behind us and the virus still lingering, we appreciate every opportunity we get to gather (safely) with people we care about.

Hooked on gingerbread houses

celebrations, cottage, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2020

After having so much fun making wooden birdhouses into gingerbread, I just had to make more.

Of course, I tend to go all in with a new craft and flood the market with my creations. But this year, I was making them just for us, so reigned myself back just a little.

And after a decade of making real gingerbread houses that looked like a toddler had done the work, I was excited to be working on one with paint instead of icing. Puffy paint, meant for tee shirts is so much easier to use than those plastic bags of icing that come with the house kits.

Since I was using wood and chipboard, I thought it was important to use cookie colored paint, as much as I like pastels, I wanted it to look as realistic as it could. Plus the village was going into our Cocoa Corner, where our colors were more traditional than my other holiday decor.

Sugarwings has a couple to finish too, and they will be squeezed in when done. There is always room for more!

We have already had to shuffle the area around a little. At first, we were using our tea party cups from Sugarwings’ other grandma who passed away. But with the giant, cocoa bombs we made, we figured we had to get some bigger mugs, so switched the dainty cups for hefty, Santa mugs.

The largest, chipboard house is ideal storage for a ziplock baggie of cocoa bombs. The roof comes off, like a lid and there is plenty of space inside.

When we are ready for our cocoa parties, my grand fairy comes to this buffet to gather up all the supplies and set the table. We have some very strict guidelines for drinking hot chocolate, first and foremost-

Cocoa parties can only occur in front of a lit Christmas tree!

A few more rules-

Tea party rules apply: polite chitchat, best manners, etc.

Watching Christmas shows on the TV while drinking cocoa is encouraged.

The table must have a cloth on it and napkins can be paper, but must be pretty.

Santa hats or antlers need to be on your head.

And some new $6 chair covers too

cottage, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 16, 2020

I was so happy with the way the new curtains from Amazon updated and brightened up the hearth room, that I decided I wanted some slip on chair covers too. I already have full skirted ones that I typically cover up my dining room chairs with, but living with a teething puppy made those impractical.

This is the chair in its natural state. Which I like as is, but I do enjoy switching things up, and prefer the colors lighter for winter.

I was tempted to order cream or white covers, but was worried they might be a little transparent and the pattern underneath would show through.

So I ordered this taupe that matches my velvet recliners in the living room. After putting them on, and seeing how nice they were made, I think a white would be fine to try. And at $6 each, I should go ahead and order another set.

Their shade doesn’t really meld with my hutch. But that tone is something that bugs me, anyway. I love the piece and am thrilled to have found it, but it is too yellowey for me, and it is on my list for a redo. (Possibly a pale, pale greige with an umber glaze over it?)

But that will take some mental fortitude that I am not feeling right now.

The slipcovers are stretchy velour, sold as velvet. Which I knew they wouldn’t be. But didn’t care, because they have that velvety feel and seem lush. They probably should’ve been popped in the dryer to fluff out the wrinkles.

Eh. They are good enough, it’s not like I have company coming in the house this season. I will get rid of wrinkles when Corona ends and I am inviting friends over again.

New Winter Curtains

cottage

By Karla Nathan / December 9, 2020

The bark cloth rose curtains that I found for the hearth room, are a treasure. I’ve been thrilled with them. But being cooped up for so many months had me, not exactly tired of them, but just ready for a little change.

And since browsing Amazon is my new favorite thing to do, I thought I’d take a lil peek and see what I could find.

I already had these white velvet, “winter” curtains in the living room. They were from Target at least ten years ago, so I didn’t expect to find a match. I did find some similar white velvet curtains, with the addition of pom poms, that I think look like snowballs. (not that I want to see any snow, any time soon)

They were pretty cheap, but I figured I’d send them back if they looked flimsy when they arrived. Nope, they were just lovely and had a wonderful feel to them.

They come in lots of colors. I might be saving the floral barkcloth just for spring and summer, then ordering some warm taupe velvet for fall.

A year with few ornaments- A Pinecone Christmas

cottage, family, holiday decor, Ryan

By Karla Nathan / December 6, 2020

This year is different.

Way, way different.

I just wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle Christmas and vacillated between nothing or all out. When I contemplated not having any decor, I felt deflated. When I thought about facing the many giant tubs of Holiday Foof, I felt overwhelmed.

I knew that I needed brightness to cheer up the long stretch of oncoming cold and darkness. So, I thought I’d plug in a few strands of lights and add garlands over my windows, get out some prelit trees, and a few other things near the tops of the tubs.

Digging through decades of collected Christmas ornaments seemed to be asking for a crying jag. What could I come across that would break my heart? So, I decided that all I needed was some glitter and glow, not trees filled with handmade or lovingly collected vintage and family ornies.

A silver tree that I pulled from the closet already had some decorations from last year stuck in its branches. I left those and added a few glitter covered balls and other pieces that I typically considered “filler” not the main show. Nothing sentimental, just sparkly.

Usually, I go ALL OUT, like my hero, Clark Griswald does with his million, tiny, twinkle lights. I pack up every knick knack and replace it with holiday glee. This year, that was done on a minimal basis, I set up a few displays, but mostly just lights. And I was enjoying the process. As my house got more twinkly, I felt more joyful myself.

Then, I found a bag of pinecones in the back of the storage closet behind the unused tubs of memories that I tried to protect myself from. You never know when grief will strike you, and there is no amount of being careful that can avoid it.

A year ago, on one of our trail walks, I saw the perfect pinecones to make gnomes out of. We had Sugar with us, and were on a segment of our walk notorious for squirrels, so she was on full alert and ready to bolt at any time. Ryan and I had our little jokes, and one of them was that certain stretches of our walks were “danger zones” where we had to be cautious with Sugar or we’d be surprised by her leaping after her prey and jerking the leash from our hands. (I know, bad dog training on my part, not her fault).

As we’d turn a corner and come across these spots, one of us would always say, “watch out, we are going into a danger zone”. We thought it was an even funnier joke when we were walking poor, blind, old Twinkle who wouldn’t notice a squirrel if it sat on her head.

I wanted those pinecones, and we started grabbing them up as fast as we could and both stuffing them in our pockets, laughing hard, while joking that we had to hurry and get away from the danger zone. It was silly, but it was fun. That week, we gathered up a few more on other walks, laughing and filling our jacket pockets, rushing to get out of the squirrel infested area before Sugar took off.

Ryan and I had simple pleasures and repetitive conversations about little things. There wasn’t a single time we walked by that area without commenting, and Ryan offering to grab a few more pinecones. I said I had enough, we’d get more the next Christmas.

I had no idea there would not be another Christmas for my son.

Finding that bag of pinecones about wrecked me. After I recovered from sobbing over them, they made me smile. And I started tucking them into branches of a couple trees. I put Twinkle on her leash and we took a walk to that danger zone to fill a big bag with more, and brought those back to add to the holiday decor.

When I see the simplicity of a pinecone in a sparkling tree, it reminds me of Ryan and what we shared.

Jolly Molly

cottage, dogs, Goldendoodle Puppies

By Karla Nathan / December 4, 2020

Molly (Molasses, to go with Sugar and Honey) is about as laid back as any dog I have had. Sugar was that way as a pup, too. They seem to understand what is said to them with very little effort. She learned “leave it” and “stay” in one try.

While she is a mature acting pup, she is still just a baby, and is such a spot of joy in our lives. She is a happy puppy, and is always at my feet, looking up to see if she might be getting a petting soon.

Of course she is!

While it seems crazy to have taken on a sixth dog, she is just what we needed. Training a new puppy can be exhausting (she still needs to go out in the middle of the night, is ready for breakfast at 5am, and thinks the vintage paper on the walls or our dirty socks look delicious), she is worth every second of effort.

With Sugarwings going all teenagery on us, Dewdrop and her daddy living across country, and Ryan…

Well, nothing can help with losing Ryan.

But this jolly little Christmas elf might be just what I need to get through the holidays.

Natural themed holiday mantle with dried hydrangeas

Corona virus, cottage, flowers, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / November 29, 2020

Earlier this year, my husband helped me gather some vines in the woods to make a wreath. I’d added a few dried hydrangeas and turkey feathers to it for fall.

When it came time to redo the mantle for Christmas, I was still enjoying the look. So my changes are minimal. The feathers were plucked from the wreath, and more dried blooms were tucked into the branches. Nothing is glued or wired, so redos are as simple as sticking stems into the twisted vines.

The plan was to hang some ornaments on it too, but I decided to keep it simple.

For sparkle, I did add a few ornies to the candle holders next to my Great Aunt Caroline’s clock.

A flocked garland was laid along the oak mantle, and I thought I was done.
But then, I had to figure out a safe place to store all of the hydrangeas I’d dried from the garden and displayed around the house. I’d taken them down to make way for Christmas trees and didn’t want them to get smashed.

For the twenty plus years we have lived here, I desperately tried to grow hydrangeas. I have no idea the body count of plants that I killed over the years. I figured I should just be planting twenty dollar bills and save myself some effort.

Then 2020 rolls around. The year that sucks for the entire world. Everyone but the hydrangeas in my garden!

My harvest was gorgeous and plentiful. And I am happy to have the mantle focused on one bright spot of this year.

Goodbye to the Garden

cottage, flowers

By Karla Nathan / October 30, 2020

After what felt like endless days of bleak, cold weather, feeling like I am ankle deep in puppy pee, we are getting some sunshine! Yay, pups will get to run outside and have fun, I can thoroughly clean their living quarters and air it out.

The countdown to freezing cold has us getting done as much outside as we can. My husband and Guncle Randy cleared the garden of tomato cages and stepping stones, then set the chickens free in it to scratch and salvage.

Earlier, I dried a lot of marigold seeds to plant next year, and I think that the hens are helping spread some that will grow later on their own. Maybe a tomato or two also.

This photo is from summer’s heyday.

With the garden in its lushness. I had a bell pepper plant taller than me this year and it was a constant producer of sweet, yellow peppers.

This was one of our best garden years, ever at this house.

I guess 2020 had a good point or two after all?

This is the view from Ryan’s patio, we redid an over grown bed in the center of the garden and made the parking area bigger.

It made an excellent spot to park the camper.

I think for what we have spent on replenishing layer upon layer of gravel for 28 years, we could have paid for some really nice concrete.

But isn’t fresh gravel pretty?

An all natural fall wreath from gathered pieces

cottage, flowers, Hearth Room

By Karla Nathan / October 20, 2020

Years ago, when my son was working at the Renfest, he planted a magic wand tree in my yard for future projects. It’s about as tall as I am now, and since he is no longer making wands, I decided to harvest a few of its curly branches.

Aren’t they cool?

Great curves and twirls!

My husband went for a walk in the woods and clipped the other vines for me, then helped as I wound them up together and twisted them into a wreath.

Usually, I cover my bluebird and rose topiary painting for Christmas time, since the picture is so springy. This year, I thought I’d get an early start and give it a fall treatment with burlap and a wreath.

The frame of the painting is half of a Victorian door, and is so heavy, it has been bolted to the wall. The only way I can change up the look is to insert a piece of covered foam core board over the glass. I like having the option to change things up for the season, and this has worked out pretty good for me.

The heavy mirror is also bolted down, so I hang items over it, for now a bird print.

This year might have sucked for many, many reasons, but 2020 has had a couple bright spots.

One is that it has been the year of hydrangeas that I always dreamed of! I’ve gathered and dried armloads. Some got tucked into the vines of the wreath along with feathers from a wild turkey, shot by my friend, Karen Hillman (she also treated me to some of the juicy, turkey breast and it was just the best).

With all the puppy activity around here, it was relaxing to have a quick redo to work on. The wreath itself was simple as can be, just twisting and tucking, no wire or glue.

I might take the dried blooms and feathers out for Christmas and add ornaments when the time comes. This wreath will be very versatile since nothing is permanently attached.

And now that I think about it, that magic wand tree is going to be good to have around too. Maybe I should craft some witchy wands for Halloween.

More mini redos

cottage, how-to projects, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / October 17, 2020

Sometimes, all you need is a little change.

Like the mini overhaul of this, already pretty bottle of bath salts from TJMaxx.

I just glued a bit of wallpaper around it and glued a silk rose to the neck. It took a matter of moments for a new look.

The Bath and Bodyworks bottle got a makeover too. The labels were kind of vinyl-ish and peeled off easily. Once they were off, I glued some wallpaper flowers and a bird onto it.

While I was at it, I slapped a flower on the dish soap bottle too.

Making something prettier doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes, just a simple little bit can make a big difference.

Since they are soap bottles and get wet, the paper doesn’t always last. I have glued other ephemera to the same dish soap bottle in the past. So, there is no reason to spend a lot of time on the project and making an arty collage label.

Have you used the foaming soaps before? I really like them. I didn’t realize at first, that the foam was made by the pumper, not by the type of soap. Instead of replacing the empty bottle, I now refill it.

My mix?

Fill one third of the way with a plain, liquid soap like Ivory, or another inexpensive brand.

Fill the rest of the way with water.

Add a drop or two of essential oil. I used grapefruit and rosemary. Sounds like an odd mix, but it smells great.