holiday decor – Page 28 – Karla's Cottage

Some free Thanksgiving Images

By Karla Nathan / November 21, 2012

While on our trip to NC, the guncles and I had some flea market fun together. We always try to fit in a junkin day when we get to hang out, and the Raleigh Flea Market was a great choice!

One booth had a stack of old books, for $1 each. I've scanned some of the pages for your projects. Just click on the image to open it in a larger window before you save it to your computer to print.

We are having our turkey a day early, the best time we could scramble the most of us together at once. So, I'd better go and get busy, there is a ton to do. We want to keep it simple this year and not make it an all day food fest with nothing but hard work. I'm taking everyone to see Wreck it Ralph, then having a later dinner. So the key, is prepping ahead of time!

Which means, I'd better get preppin.

I hope your holiday is a blessed one!

Sparkles is purdy

celebrations, holiday decor, Tutorials, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / November 19, 2012

When I did a little make and take of Christmas stars at my friend, Angie's, store, I had a lovely evening. Her place was so festive and pretty for the upcoming holidays. I got there just as the sun was deciding to set and there was a soft glow of lights coming from the shop windows. Yep, just lovely.

See the flowers on her doors? Years ago, when she first rented the place, I surprised her with little rosebuds on the door panels. I came by when the place was closed and whipped out a few roses as a welcome to the new place. There aren't many people you could do that for, just randomly show up unannounced and start painting on their building, but I knew her well enough to know she would like it.

We used to work together on projects in the past, she'd hire me to paint for her, and I'd invite her to be a part of the antique shows I used to have at my house. It had been a while since we'd done a project together, so I was really looking forward to being at her open house.

There wasn't much traffic at all for my little make and take, but I still had a great evening. Its nice just to have a reason to hang out with good friends and pretend that its "work" so that you have to be there. And she is a nice person to hang out with.

The same day, I meet up with some other friends that a good to spend time with, Debbie, Carol, and Amy. We are all going to speak at Carol's workshop for creative businesses.

They are some seriously fun and friendly people, who are also very successful in what they do. I was a bit overwhelmed after our discussion about what we were going to say during our talks. Amy has written many books, owns a couple of businesses, Debbie is a nationally known stylist among other things, and Carol's store and photography business are gorgeously done. All are quite knowledgeable.

There was lots of talk of business practices, employees, and other professionally sounding things like power point and publishers and such.

What was my contribution? It kind of sounded like this:

"Me like purdy stuff"

Yep, a bit out of my league with these ladies.

The talk is sold out, and Carol has a long waiting list of people who want to come. I certainly don't want to disappoint anyone. I'm better at making things than talking about my so called business.

So, what do you think? If you were attending, what would you like to hear?

Carol is letting me do a small craft along project, that will later be used as props for her photography styling talk. I'll be happy to have that to do, but I'm also talking about blogging and tutorials as we work on our sparkly make and take doodad.

If you were coming, what would you like to hear about blogging or business from me?

Besides, "Me like sparkles. Them is purdy"

A rainbow of trees

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / November 13, 2012

It certainly tis the tree season around here! I'm on a roll with these pastel sweeties. Hopefully, I'll get some listed in the Boutique or on Etsy, before I go out of town. But I don't know if I will or not, I've got a list as long as my arm full of things to do, so adding more pretties to the shops might have to wait.

We are headed to North Carolina for a nephew's wedding. If you are kind enough to buy something from me while I'm away, I'll be mailing it on Tuesday the 20th, when I return.

The holiday season is fast approaching. If I had a lick of sense, I'd have all my Christmas sales items prepped and ready to go early in the year.

But, for me, my job is more than just working and I run my business in a way that makes me happy and keeps me entertained. I enjoy making holiday things AFTER Halloween. Not way in advance like a smart business person would. I love the feeling of Christmas on its way, and the anticipation of getting out my baubles and tinsels to play with is the best part!

I do my holiday retailing in real time. Not way ahead like I should. I don't always get done as much as I should that way, but I love doing it.

So, here I am mid November, taking a trip for almost a week, getting ready for Thanksgiving, I have an article due for a magazine, a workshop to prepare for, and I have a table top full of mini trees to finish glittering up, photographing, and marketing.

Uhm, I did say that I enjoy this, right??

Well, honestly, I do. Like I said, this is more than just a job to me, its a lifestyle. I love what I do, and making Christmas things during the season is an activity that makes me happy. I might always be a few steps behind in getting them done, but those are delightful, little skippy steps, not trudging, drudgery type steps.

Sugarwings agrees. Every year, she helps with the mini trees. This year, she was big enough to mix all of her own colors and dip them by herself. This is her pile that she is keeping to make into Christmas presents for her family.

She did say that maybe I could sell a few for her, but only if they were $10,000 a piece. I let her know that if she gave them as gifts, they would be priceless to her family, and that we didn't need to sell them.

The paper towels that we dried the trees on will be cut up and used in a project too. The dyes made a pretty watercolor effect on the paper.

I do have some more holiday goodies listed and for sale in the Boutique and promise to soon have more in the Etsy shop. I have a million or so trees to add to it, as soon as they are glittered and sorted. Some I will set aside to top off more decorated spools too.

What I added to the shop over the weekend are some star ornaments.

And a few kits if you'd rather make your own. These come with everything you need, including glitter and mica flakes.

Each kit contains the materials to make 2 stars complete with vintage Christmas card cut outs for $8.

A day off

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / November 11, 2012

At a garage sale this summer, I bought a baggie full of hand crocheted snowflakes.

They would have been sweet on a Christmas tree as is, but I thought they'd be even better foofed up. Plus, I was in the mood for a day of plain old gluing and playing with pretties.

First, I stiffened them with a mix of liquid starch and glue. Then, I glittered them up with a sprinkling of mica flakes.

Over that, each one got a centerpiece of something vintage and precious.

Next, came dangling ribbons and lace.

Some, I have kept for my own tree, the rest are available in my Boutique and on Etsy.

While I was in a gluing frame of mind, I added some trees to old spools and prettied them up too.

There are days when a having a simple project that has no goal other than being lovely, can be calming to the soul. I didn't want to have to think much, or plan, just let my fingers rifle through my dishes of jewels and flowers randomly adding dainties to some sparkly Christmas things.

It was just what I needed. A day to be alone with myself and my thoughts, to work out some worries. I always think better when my hands are busy.

By the time I was done, I had a full table of delicate pastel pretties. And a happier outlook.

Just another reason why its a good idea to purchase someone’s tutorial

holiday decor, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, Tutorials, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / November 7, 2012

Don't you just love tutorials to stimulate your creativity?

My pal, Dawn, has a good one going right now. But I have a confession to make.

My BFF, Beth, came over for craft day after purchasing Dawn's tutorial and was making wings while I worked on other things. I kept watching her and was intrigued. I thought I'd whip up a pair myself.

No, I didn't purchase the tutorial.

I kind of glanced at what Beth was doing and "winged" it myself.

Well, I learned a lesson. The reason you PAY for a tutorial is because the person who wrote it, already worked out all of the kinks and came up with the best way to make the project. She includes tips and tricks that she has learned along the way.

Mine were a mess. I didn't follow the steps and when I got them put together, they were a floppy, sad, droopy pile of wrongness.

I ended up having to redo them and go through a lot more steps (in the wrong order) to figure out how to fix them so that they didn't look like they were made of wilted lettuce.

My plan was to do something inspired by Dawn, but not by copying her. I used different materials and my own patterns. And I wasn't even thinking that it might not be the polite thing to do.

If I was smart, I'd have paid the $5 and did it correctly the first time.

Not only did I make them wrong, I started to feel bad, like I had been stealing from a freind. She did all the work to create the art, and the instructions. I sell tutorials myself, so I would be sad if I saw a friend's blog filled with projects she had taken from my offerings.

I didn't mean to be dishonest, I was just tempted by how pretty Beth's turned out and started to make some myself. But, its a tough art world out there and we should support each other, not take advantage.

So, I've paid for the class now and feel much better. $5 isn't much to spend to ease my conscience and do right by a friend.

That said, I want to say that if you purchase one of my online classes, I don't mind if you make projects with a friend. I would hope that you wouldn't pass the codes on to others, I do want to sell the tutorials. But it is reasonable to expect that you might share with your pal if you guys are working together. I wouldn't be upset.

Still, I felt like I owed Dawn the five bucks and I was happy to send it to her. I'll be making more of these pretty sets of wings, but I'll be doing the framework HER way, to save some time in making them sturdy! I can still add my own flair and design style to her pattern. That is the fun part of having a set of instructions to use as guidelines.

This set of angel wings is going to Kim's as a door prize for her Winter Wonderland workshop.

This piece, "Visions of Sugar Plums", is on its way to another friend, Karen, who is hosting a holiday workshop too. I've also included a few packs of old millinery for her to raffle off.

I've got a few packs of flowers added to my Boutique now, these are Nice November Neutrals. But I think they'd be pretty year round, don't you?

And I've been busy adding mini, dyed and glittered trees to my Etsy shop.

This year, I've got some new colors, the previous one is a Peppermint Trio, and this one is Gumdrop.

Of course, I'll always have white!

Here is another new one, Winter Sky Blue.

I've been in front of the computer listing away. Thank you to all who came by and shopped with me! I am going to make more trees, there are still some in the shop, but there will be more coming. Contact me if you have a custom color in mind.

Ps- I will be at my friend, Angie's, open house at her shop, My Father's Daughter- 646 Locust Street Lawrence, KS 66044

I'll be doing a make and take using one of my own tutorials. Its a holiday star, and I will provide all materials if you want to make a glittery ornament and do some shopping.

Back to the Beautiful Belamar

holiday decor, Snow White, Sugarwings, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / November 1, 2012

Did you hear the news about the Snow White bash that Kim is throwing? Due to some unsurmountable issues, she has had to change the venue, which also meant changing the date.

We will be leaving the Disney location and going back to the beautiful Belamar, which is a place I just love.

It's imtimate, boutique hotel lay out makes it ideal for meeting and mingling at an arty gathering. I always know that if I have a few spare moments, that I can wander out to the courtyard, lobby, or lounge and find a friend around the corner to sit and talk to.

Now, I'm batty about Disney and loved the idea of visiting there, but I think that for one of these events, a place like the Belamar is much more convenient and cozier.

Plus quite a bit cheaper!! The classes themselves have been lowered $44 dollars and the hotel rooms are about that much less per night. So for a 4 night stay with classes you save $204 over what you would have spent at the original location.

You know that I'm cheap, so savings are great- but the best part is the smaller gathering place. I go to these events to mingle and meet other people who "get" me and my style. Ladies that I know I will have so much in common with, because we have so many loves in common.

At the Belamar, we are in a spot that is perfect for hanging with friends. We have our very own building with a lovely courtyard to spend time in, and are able to work late into the night if we want to finish projects started during class. Kim sets up a sweet and treats buffet and we can wear our jammies and have a slumber party while we chat.

Of course, I always learn some tricks from the classes, and come home with some nice pieces to treasure, but for me, that is a side benefit from the weekend. I'll be teaching at this one, so I hope that the ladies get something they love out of my class, but I know that its the camaraderie that takes the cake.

That said, the other teachers are amazing artists and I have already signed up to take the classes myself! I wouldn't miss them.

(feel free to click on this vintage image to save to your computer and print to use)

Will I be seeing you there next spring? I have to say, I love these events. Kim is a detail oriented person and spares no expense at making every inch of the room something beautiful to behold, and portrays the theme perfectly.

She transports everyone to a magic location with her decor and attention to all the little things. Plus, she is a thoughtful, caring hostess.

Now, don't be misled by this vintage page I just added, her Snow White will not be the typical Disney fluff of an endangered princess, we are going darker and deeper, more like the heroines portrayed on Once Upon a Time and Snow White and the Huntsman.

And please don't feel like you have to spend a fortune on an over the top outfit to wear. While we get a rare opportunity as grown ups to play dress up and TONS of photo ops, not everyone goes all out with the theme. For Breakfast at Tiffany's last spring, I simply wore a borrowed black dress, in a more modern style. I didn't go all out Audry. But it sure was fun to see all those who did!!!

Feel free to email me, karlanathan@sbcglobal.net if you have any questions about attending. I've been to 3 of Kim's workshops at the Belamar and would be happy to help out any newbies who might be going. My husband's sister, Terry, who came to visit me for Romantic Gothic Ghosts is also a first time attendee at one of Kim's parties, and I will be big-sissing her for the weekend. I'd be thrilled to add you to our group. Kim lets us asks ahead who we want to sit with, and we can request a "newbie" table together if you want.

While this photo of Calliope is more Halloween fairy than fairy princess, its still more the "feeling" of a darker princess that we will be having next spring.

We attended "Ghosts and Giggles" at Lions Gate Country Club over the weekend, and it was the cutest little Halloween party.

Sugarwings was Ariel (as usual!)

And Little Love was a Puppy Dr.

We had a grown up Ariel too.

There was dancing, games, balloons and a clown. Plus a great dinner complete with ice cream served in tombstones and topped with Oreo dirt and gummy worms.

I hope your Halloween Holiday was a fun one too!

Now that Halloween is respectfully over, I'm going to join in on the Christmas Retail Rush and start listing some yuletide items in my Boutique.

As well as a whole new catagory, Vintage Garments.

I'll be adding even more to it soon. I've been collecting vintage dresses for little girls just so I could dress Sugarwings in them for me to Ooh and Awe over. Once they are outgrown, I'm ready to pass them along.

Plus some doll dresses, and millinery pretties.

I'll leave you with a few more pics of what's new.

Carmel Apple Cake, and a little dinner party

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Food and Drink, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / October 31, 2012

Last week when our friend, Mary, came from VA to visit and haul pups
across country to deliver for us, we threw a little dinner party.

And invited the pups of course!

Between kids and dogs and toys and all the rest, I don't know that my house will ever be cleaned up all the way again. The floor is covered with all the critter stuff. And probably will be for a while. But, its nice to have the babies indoors again. They started out in a small crate in the living room, then moved to a child's wading pool there. Soon, they were too big, and needed an enclosed area in the garage.

Then, that wasn't enough, and they ended up with about 75% of the garage. Today, I took it all down, fences, panels, tables, chairs, all of the white trash bits of this and that I built the cage out of since our two pups are officially our own dogs and live in the house. They wouldn't stand to be put in a pen out in the garage, Albie would have something very loud to say about that.

Its sad to have the rest of the babies gone, but I'm lucky to still have a couple left here with me. In the past, I have raised pups and not kept any. After this experience with Sugarwings, that will never happen again! It was heartbreaking for both of us and we were left sad and empty armed when the last pup was gone.

Three dogs went with Mary last Monday night. One to my sissy and he will always be family. One to Mary, who works with my husband, so that little guy will be around too. And Mary was kind enough to deliver one to my Bella friend, Heather.

The house seems pretty quiet without everyone, but the dogs we do have are keeping me busy. How did I ever keep up with 9??? These were small pups, but man, could they fill up a potty pad. At least they used them! That was really nice, these babies were all really good about being paper trained fast. Now, the transistioin from paper to grass is the hard part. Especially with cold weather coming.

I always said I'd never have a winter pup, spring is so much easier for training.

But I'm glad I have Dorothy Rosebud and Albie Strong and Brave (Sugarwings kind of renamed him, she is also the one who named our cat, Sweet Sweet Sweety)

I am going to miss my Halloween decorations too. This year, I really went over board, that isn't something I usually do. But having the family reunion and Romantic Gothic Ghosts was a good excuse to go all out.

While the place was spookily foofed up, I was happy for an opportunity to have a little dinner party.

My husband broke out the good wine for the night. And we were given a bottle of Silver Oak as a gift from Mary thanking us for the puppy too! We had given her a tiny girl a couple years ago and she was happy to get a baby brother for her little Lola. But she did us such a big favor in delivering the babies across country, that was thanks enough. Plus, a free puppy really isn't all that cheap when you fly out to get it and rent a car to drive home!

It was so sweet of her to go to so much trouble for one of our babies. We should have bought her a bottle of wine instead of her buying us one.

For dessert, I baked a carmel apple cake. Easy to do, I used a yellow cake mix, subbed applesauce for the oil and added two large, chopped up, Honeycrisp apples.

I didn't know how to make carmel icing, so I winged it.

A whole bag of Kraft Carmels got melted in about 1/4 cup of milk, then I added a 1/4 stick of butter and started beating in powdered sugar till it turned to icing. It was almost fudgy, it was so thick. Maybe less powdered sugar next time? But while being very rich, it was also very tasty.

Over that, I sprinkled pecans, and drizzled melted dark and white chocolate, because the best carmel apples are those kinds with all the good toppings, not just carmel!

Happiest Halloween

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / October 29, 2012

We had a Halloween party that kind of morphed into a multi-layered event.

At first it was going to be just our Gypsy and I making some masks.

But for most holidays, I try to have a kid's craft day with my friends, so I decided to invite all of them too.

And we decided that maybe it would be fun to have a bonfire also, and invite husbands to hang out there while we made things.

We figured that while we were all together that we should do a pitch in dinner and make a whole evening of it.

Complete with a late night, impromptu tea party in the gazebo with the little girls.

And of course, some puppy cuddling too!

So, I picked up a bunch of supplies for the kiddos.

And found these paper mache masks at Target for only $2 each.

Michaels had these wooden ones for $1.

After dinner, we worked out in the studio off and on between visits to the bonfire for s'mores, or having a game of flash light tag.

I'm always impressed at how hard the kids work when we have these craft parties.

There is a wide range of creativity, and you never know what they will come up with.

There were mini pumpkins for the kids to decorate too. The younger the kid, the more projects you need to have. Older kids and adults can spend all evening on one thing, but the more petite artists like to move from one piece to the next pretty quickly.

We had perfect weather for the night. Wow, what luck! It was nice enough to dine outside, but just chilly enough to enjoy the bonfire too.

And while I preach anti orange and purple for the holiday, its still fun to have some more obvious decor for the kids.

I had plenty of traditional colors in the ribbons and stickers too. As a matter of fact, I had more than enough, so I bagged up leftover stickers and took them to Sugarwing's kindergarten class to use.

I think the little ones had a good time.

I know I did!

A puppy dilema and some holiday Shine

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), holiday decor, puppies!, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / October 23, 2012

Before the babies started to leave us, Aunt Sandy and I took them all outside on a pretty day to get some last pictures of them all together.

She bought them each a colorful, embellished tee shirt from the Dollar Store to pose in.

The trouble was, they wiggled out of the shirts as fast as we wiggled them in.

And corralling them in one spot wasn't easy either. The swing was a good place to hold them captive for a bit.

But we still couldn't get all 9 to look at us at the same time. Even with Aunt Sandy holding their mom above my head as I kneeled in front of them.

At first, they were just too excited. But of course, that means, that soon, they all tuckered themselves out with the excitement.

So, we took advantage of their exhaustion and got some close ups.

Not everyone was worn out, these guys are little bundles of curiousity.

And snuggles.

This is our forever baby. The New Agnes Rosebud, as Sugarwings insists on calling her. I keep reminding her that the name is Dorothy Rosebud, but she likes T.N.A.R.

I have a major decision to make on pup #2

First of all, I don't know if I am up to the task of taking on two.

Second, if I do, how can I chose? These little boys are as sweet as can be.

One baby might be all I can properly tend. Of course, after weeks of bottle feeding and care-taking 9, 2 or 3 should seem like a piece of cake!

Twinkle still is tending to them too, so she'd be a help. But Aunt Sandy is back to work as an RN and has some long days, so I can't count on her for puppy wrangling with me as much as she did when they were tiny. She was a huge help. I don't think one person could have raised all nine and gotten any sleep at all.

While Sandy lives with us, we have her two Yorkies too. We can not convince them to use the doggy door, so I'll be taking them out for potty breaks while Sandy is gone on her long 12-14 hour nursing shifts. Maybe I should take advantage of that and haul pups out at the same time. (yes, we'd be a FIVE dorkie household if I kept two!)

But its not the housebreaking that worries me. Even though that is a concern.

Its the attention. I want to be able to nurture the babies and spend lots of time with them. I'm not sure that I want to divide up my time between two pups at once. Will I be able to raise two at a time to be wonderful companions?

On the other hand, these might be the last puppies we ever have! And I have to admit, without bragging, that I raise good pups! I've only kept two dogs from previous litters and they were the best dogs ever. Attention from the minute they are born, lots of cuddling and exposure to various experiences makes for a confident and good natured adult dog.

So, I hate to miss out on keeping another one like that!

Well, I still have some time to think.

Not everyone is gone yet. And not all are spoken for. Maybe once the herd is thinned down a bit, and I'm left with a couple of babies, I'll find it impossible to part with the last little boy.

I've bonded with this little snippet, and am just afraid that I won't be able to give enough of myself to one of her brothers too. And these guys are all sooooo special, that I want them to have the very best home.

And this might not be the best home for him, if I give my time to his sister first.

But, if my husband bonds with one, then it could be his dog, that could work…

Thanks for listening to me muse out loud about my dilema. Its a small problem to have, and I shouldn't even call it a problem, how many people would be complaining about whether or not they should adopt one or two of the worlds cutest puppies? I'm pretty lucky if this is all I have to ponder and worry about!

I know how lucky I am, and I am so thankful that good things have come my way.

I've already gushed about how excited I am to be one of Kim's Fairytale instructors at the Enchanted Affaire in April, and you'll probably for sure hear more gushing about how much I am looking forward to that as the months go by.

Now, I've got something equally wonderful to tide me over a bit- Carol Spinski

and I had lunch last week and she was brainstorming some ideas about a get together at her home for the holidays.

I'm so glad the details worked out for her and its a go, and I get to be a part of it along with Amy Barrickman and Debbie Dousenberry.

These three are in the latest issue of Matthew Mead's Holiday magazine together in a Christmas spread shot at Carol's farmhouse. If you'd like to see her magnificent home in person, and get tips from these three pros, as well as make a sparkly tree ornament with me, here is the info:

Contact Carol Spinski for reservations.

This will be a one day, interactive workshop for entrepreneurs, business
and creative types filled with ideas and inspiration provided by our
featured guests, all with amazing backgrounds and talents.

Hurry! Only 15 openings available. $125 for the day

Schedule:

9 – 9:30 am   Morning coffee, muffins and introductions.
9:30 – 11:00   Carol Spinski: Tips and resources to help your creative business sparkle.
11 – 12:00   Karla Nathan: Make and take ornament. Topic: Blogging and how to do online classes/tutorials.
12 – 1:00   Lunch
1 – 2:30   Amy Barickman- Expanding your creative business.
2:30 – 4:00   Deb Dusenberry- Making your brand shine; display, graphics, store front, web presence.
4:00-
5:00   Carol Spinski- Photography tips for marketing and web. Stylized
photo shoot using the make and take ornament from Karla and other props.

Simple Pleasures

holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 22, 2012

I could go to the Pumpkin Patch a dozen times and not get tired of it. Sugarwings agrees I think.

We usually hit it a few times a year, since she was barely big enough to toddle around.

Oh my, she has grown so much!

But she loves the maze, and the fields of pumpkins every bit as much as she did when she was tiny.

Of course, she has fun wherever she goes. That kid is as happy sitting in a pile of dirt as she is going to a movie, boating on the lake, or any other activity.

That is a sunny, happy outlook that will do her well in life. Finding pleasure in the little things is a lesson we could all use.