holiday decor – Page 28 – Karla's Cottage

Valentine Workshop

Books, holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / January 16, 2013

It's been fun to make a Valentine journal for the upcoming workshop. The books are stuffed with vintagey goodness, and lots of fun, romantic details.

Since it's a journal, I decided to add some "journaling" which I have never done before. Of course, leave it to me to decide to teach a class about something I've never tried. But I think I worked out the basics on what to do in which order for a balanced effect. How to fix mistakes (they happen, for sure!) and some other tidbits of advice.

Seems to me that journaling isn't any different than other art forms that I do. It needs to be pretty and looked at as much as an arty creation as it is a written paragraph or phrase.

I'm printing out some prompts for students to use, and will have some basic guidelines to help get them going too.

I've been gathering up piles of pretties for supplies.

I've got lots of old Valentines,

Victorian postcards,

Charms,

and German die cuts of roses, plus tons of ephemera to use as the pages themselves.

We will build a book from scratch from old papers in neutral tones, then fill it up with lots of rosy toned hearts and flowers.

The cover will be decorated similar to an old fashioned box of chocolates, with a flocked heart, ruffles, and a millinery rose.

We'll add love notes, and envelopes to save romantic souvenirs from our sweeties. In my own book, I'm making places for photos too. All students can email pictures to me, and I will size, edit and print them for the books and have the pictures ready when everyone arrives.

The class will be all day, at my studio in Lawrence on Saturday, Feb.2nd.

Lunch and luscious chocolate treats are, of course, included!

Cost is $100 and covers everything you will need from cover to cover.

And we will be using The Good Stuff to make this book!

Its a small, intimate class, and we should be able to get the book completed that day. But remember, with a project like this, they sometimes never end! You will want to continue adding adornments and doodlies after you leave, too.

I'm away from my computer on a dream trip to Hawaii right now, but please check back for fresh posts left for you before I flew off. If you want to order from the Boutique, all orders will be shipped on the 30th. If you'd like to enter the drawing for one of Amy's books, please leave a comment on any post.

If you'd like to sign up for my Valentine workshop, please email me for an invoice at: karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

Mixed media with watercolor tips and tricks

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), drawing, free images, holiday decor, how to's

By Karla Nathan / January 3, 2013

Well, the holiday season is winding down, time for getting on with the New Year. If you aren't all Santa-ed out, I've got some how tos for the painting I used as our Christmas card this year.

First step is the drawing, in pencil on watercolor paper.

Second, I draw with ink over my sketch, then erase the pencil marks.

Since I want the background to have a soft, faraway look, I don't draw it in ink, only pencil.

Next, I wash in the sky and shadows of the snow, carefully keeping the drawing in the foreground clean and dry. Keep in mind that the color is deeper at the top, and gets lighter toward the horizon line, along with a touch of blush tone above the ground and trees.

Before the sky dries, I add color to the tree line and a bit to the shadows of the pines.

When the sky is starting to dry, and the paper shows a slight sheen of dampness, I sprinkle salt lightly over it.

As the paint finishes drying, the salt absorbs moisture, along with that, color. It makes a pretty snow speckled look.

I let dry completely and brush off salt before proceeding any further.

Here is where the watercolor cheating comes in, by adding white paint. (so I just call the painting, "mixed media") First, I paint in the bare branch trees, with faded browns and purples. Never deep or harsh or bright colors for a background, they have to look faded and distant.

I do save the white of the bare paper, as you should in watercolor, but I really like a touch of pure white over it for even more depth. I use white acrylic paint for snow and highlights.

Next, the foreground gets painted. When working with watercolors, the trick is in knowing that the color flows wherever the paper is wet. You have to be careful to paint small areas at a time, with drawings like this, and not do adjacent areas until the first section dries. So, I wet a segment, such as this part of the jacket, and drop in bright red. While still wet, I add darker red along the shadowed areas.

I would do the other side of the jacket, waiting for that to dry before painting the sleeve or belt, since they are right next to what I just painted. If I were to paint the belt right away, the red paint would run right into it, as well as some of the black flowing into the red, where that was still wet. Water pulls the color.

Black is always more interesting if you mix it yourself, using a dark brown and dark blue, never use black watercolor paint.

When the painting is done, I dip a wet brush into white acrylic paint and flick it over the picture for more snow.

I take my finished paintings to a copy shop and have them shrunk down and printed four per page to make into Christmas cards.

The trick then is to get them signed and mailed…. I am afraid I didn't send a single Christmas card this year!! After all this work.

My husband did send some out to his co-workers and we used a few on bags of home made candy that we gave away along with a bottle of wine to some friends.

My husband works in the golf industry, so likes the club swinging Santa. I was more into puppies for this season. After Twinkle's nine babies in August, I thought a pup was a good theme for family cards. But once again, I didn't get these mailed either.

At least the cards got made. Maybe I can add hearts and call it a Valentine? No, I think I just missed the boat this season and am out of the time window to mail anything this Christmassy.

Let's call this a belated Christmas card from me to you. You can click on the image to open in a larger window, save to your computer and print it.

Our Christmas

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / December 30, 2012

It's hard to say goodbye to Christmas this year, but on the other hand, on the 26th, I was itching to take down the tree. I wasn't able to, due to other goings on, but I was ready to see it go. I think its because the lights all went out on the tree the minute the last gift was opened! That was some sort of sign. Plus, I feel like a dark tree is a bit sad. So, into the closet it goes, and I'll deal with the kaput lights next year.

We had an extended Christmas celebration, with all the kids over on the 24th for brunch and gifts, with a hot cocoa and cookie party afterwards.

Dewdrop came over with her parents on Christmas morning to see what Santa left under Grammie's tree while all the rest of the family visited other relatives. I think it was special for the youngest of 7 to have a whole morning of being the center of it all and opening gifts just for her. She was pretty excited, and a joy to watch.

We spent a lazy day, watching our littlest fairy play. My son, Mr. Zen and his Gypsy cooked a great meal for us all. Broiled lobster with seafood pasta.

YUM! The only thing better than having someone cook a meal for you, is if the meal is lobster.

Sugarwings had a sleepover on Christmas night, so Santa could bring some gifts to Grammie's tree for her too. She loves the whole spectacle of Santa, Christmas, and the arrival of gifts, but I think the stories and ambiance are what she appreciates even more than the presents. We decided that if we didn't buy a thing for her, and told her that the Grinch had come and taken everything out from under the tree, she would have been so excited, she would have popped.

That kid lives for fantasies and her imaginary world. She'd love to be plopped into the middle of the Grinch story and wouldn't think twice about not getting a present.

On the other hand, she was in heaven with the magic of everyone's gifts.

Many of the photos I tried to take look like this. She is darting about from one person to the next, excited to see what is under the wrappings. When I'd snap the picture, I'd get a blurry image of Sugarwings racing in to check out the latest, greatest gift her siblings got to open.

Yet, in the middle of all the gifting frenzy, she did the sweetest thing ever. We had 14 people squeezed into this little living room, along with three Christmas trees. So, Aunt Sandy made herself comfortable on the stairs.

When Sandy got a gift, Sugarwings would take it to her and sit to watch while she opened it. And finally, took her by the hand and led her to the center of the room and told her that she was "part of the group" and shouldn't be sitting by herself.

I was so proud of our little angel, who was caring about her great aunt during all of the hullabaloo, and not wanting her to feel left out of all the joy.

And joy there was. Plenty of it!

I think the dogs had a good time too. With so many kids around, there were plenty of crumbs. Twinkle tends to park herself under the highchair at most gatherings.

We kept the meal simple, honey baked ham, French toast and hashbrown casseroles made the night before, sweet corn frozen from last summer's farmer's market with some peas added for color, and scrambled eggs straight from the hen house, with chopped spinach and red peppers to be festive.

Paper plates, plastic forks, and foil pans made it all even easier. There was minimal clean up time, so we could get right to the fun stuff and gather around the tree! For some of us, it was hard to wait for that part.

I'll leave you with some photos of our day and I hope that yours was joyful as well.

Merry Christmas!

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 25, 2012

Visions of Sugarplums

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 24, 2012

I hope you and your loved ones are having a beautiful time together!

And I hope that you have been very, very good, because you know who is coming tonight!

Let the sugarplums begin their dancing!

I know my dreams will be full tonight.

Sometimes I just babble on too much about things no one wants to hear

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

By Karla Nathan / December 23, 2012

House breaking puppies in the winter is NOT easy. Especially when they think that the corner behind the Christmas tree is the best place in the whole house to poo. Much better than braving the winter chill outside and much sneakier than leaving their "gifts" to me in an easy to get to place. So, I found some old wire fencing in my shed and wrapped it around the tree a few times.

They sure look sweet and innocent, don't they? Its shocking just how much poop two puppies can produce. Normally, they use the pads I have laying around the house (yes, its not very attractive, but better than them using the floor), but they are drawn to the white cloth that I used as a tree skirt too.

The little puppesh still like to climb into the bowl that Twinkle slept in while she was pregnant and that all nine used to sleep together in. I guess its home to them. There are pillows and other softer spots for them to lay down, but they love that bowl.

Someone needs to tell these guys that they might be getting too big to pile in together.

I've had winter puppies before and always told myself, never again. They are slow to learn how to go outside and not on the pads because I am too cold to take them out as much as I should. Just shoving them out the door doesn't do the job, they need to be told that they are good dogs at the moment they squat, not when they come in.

I need to be strong and face the cold, or that Albie will soon be lifting his leg and hitting the furniture, not the pee pads!

But why am I even talking about all of this? Does anyone peruse blogs to hear about dog pee?

Probably not.

But you never know what you'll be hearing about here.

Maybe I'll just shut up and show you some pretty pictures.

Holiday parties galore!

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

By Karla Nathan / December 19, 2012

We had a big weekend, with lots of holiday fun. Friday night, our Hippy Chick and the two little grand fairies went with us to dinner and to see "Rise of the Guardians". Dewdrop loved it, because the "night mares" that the Boogey Man created were horses. She is a huge pony fan, and yelled out "go Honies!!" every time she saw one of these spooky creatures in the movie. To her, they were the heros.

Afterwards, we drove around to look at Christmas lights. One home here in Lawrence had an elaborate display set to music, complete with a video of a life size Santa eating milk and cookies in the upstairs window. At first, we thought they actually had Santa up there, it was realistic as can be. Then, the video started to loop and we started to clue in on what was going on. All of a sudden, the size of the picture changed and his whole head filled the window, that part was a bit creepy and unexpected.

Then, on Saturday, we had a holiday pitch in dinner and craft party. And on Sunday, we had breakfast with Santa at one of the clubs my husband works at.

For the craft party, a friend had a bagful of clear glass balls she wanted to use up and we were challenged to find ways to create with them. So, I experimented with a few ideas, and filled a couple of tabletops with supplies for everyone to play with.

Some became snowmen, some had fairies or family member's photos inside.

I also had boxes that everyone could decorate and either top with a snowman head, or leave as is.

Another friend brought clothespins for the kids to make into toy soldiers.

Here is a snowman that Addie made.

Everyone's projects turned out quite different, which is one of the fun things about these kinds of parties.

Dinner was great too, pitch ins are my favorite. Every time I look into a pot or bowl someone else brought, it's like a little surprise party for my tummy. I love food that I didn't fix myself!

My studio didn't get much in the way of decor for the holidays this year. I set out some of the things that I'd made for sale, which is an excellent way to decorate, because hopefully, when the season is over, the stuff is gone and there is nothing to put away.

Well, that is if things go as planned. But, these wings will still be in vogue for Valentine's Day, so I'm not worried if I have a couple left.

Our weather is once again freakishly un-winterlike this year. So after making their projects, most of the kids played outside. Sugarwings soon turned her princess gown into something that looked like it had been dipped in Hershey's syrup, she had so much wet, gooey mud on herself.

After she and her little friend got cleaned up, we settled them in front of Frosty the Snowman on TV and gave them some hot chocolate to warm themselves up. It might have been warm outside for winter, but not really warm enough to play in the water and mud.

The husbands watched the KU game and played pool, we made things in the studio, and kids divided up their evening by crafting and playing outdoors. I think they even explored the Fairy Berry Trail in the dark.

Yep, it was a good weekend! I even managed to get about 75% of my Christmas shopping done.

But please, don't mention wrapping. ugh.

I will be away from my computer till Sat. the 22nd. Sorry, I can't get new orders from the Boutique or Etsy out in time for Christmas. Next shipping date is Dec. 27th. Wishing the happiest of holidays to you!!

Making a woodland sprite

flowers, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 17, 2012

My home at Christmas makes me so happy!

Joy, Merry, and Happy are words that I have all around the house.

The decor is warm white with hints of pretty, soft colors.

I even have some red, but it's a faded tone.

Every year, when I buy a pink poinsettia, I cut the flowers and make bouquets of them with roses to pop into vases instead of leaving them on the plant. But this year, I had made this planter at a ceramic class and was excited to have something to put in it.

I might buy another pink poinsettia to cut flowers from, they are usually only $3 or so for a small one at Walmart.

Some friends were taking a class from a local artist and invited me to come along. I really didn't have time, and have no background in ceramics, but it sounded like such fun, and I'm glad I made time, it really, really was!

It was an interesting class, and was much easier to do than I expected. Our instructor, Jan, had the clay rolled out and ready to go, we took the slab, wrapped it around either a paint can, jar, or cylinder, and then embellished and added to it as we wished.

Jan is also a painter, and had a lovely gallery of her work in the studio.

It was a cheery place to spend the afternoon with good friends.

All of us went for completely different looks. Shanna had taken ceramics at KU, and showed me how she did her great textures, by rolling lace and other odds and ends onto the clay.

I went with a woodland fairy look, so I stepped outside to pick leaves to roll onto the clay like we did the lace.

For the holidays, I'm calling her and elf, not a fairy.

We came back a week later to glaze, and that sure can be a crap
shoot, can't it? I was going for "white velvet" on the base with
metallic gold on the textures.

The gold was more espresso than metallic.

So, I added some Rub'n Buff with my fingertip to accent the veins in the leaves and some of the other areas. I used bronze, silver, and gold. Those helped quite a bit. I've used it
on furniture before, but wouldn't have thought of doing it on a clay
pot. Jan had a selection of colors of it for us to try.

Jan is offering the class again next spring. I plan on being one of the first to sign up to make another head!

How to hand dye ribbon

holiday decor, how to's, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / December 15, 2012

The angel wings tutorial that Dawn is selling are still inspiring me to create some wings of my own! Her instructions are a bit different than what I do, if I am creating something I like to make sure it looks like I did it, not like someone else's design. But the original idea is all Dawn.

So, I draw my own pattern, and no two pair are exactly the same, each is cut out differently. I also used dyed crepe paper for the ruffles and added vintage millinery (of course!!)

The backs are covered with sheet music and then lace cut from old curtains, so that it peeks out from behind.

This pair is in the Boutique, the other two sold as a custom order. I made up three pair for her to chose from and she picked two of them, that was a nice feeling!

The dangling silk ribbons are hand dyed, the same way I did the crepe paper. Here is how I did it:

The ribbon pictured on the wreath is silk, and was dipped in coffee and then spritzed with Glimmer Mist in a dark brown color. This ribbon is satin, and I dyed it rosey in a similar manner.

First, I cut off a length from the roll, and to get the edges even, I wrapped it around a small bottle.

I pulled it off the bottle, and dipped it into water. The white ribbon is a little pink at the moment because I am a slob, and my hands were all dye-ey and a mess, some red from my hands leached into the water. But that was okay since I was dying it anyway.

(some snowy cotton trim for a Santa hat that I was working with later, should have been treated more carefully. Pink snow isn't what I was going for)

The wet ribbon gets dipped into the dye about half way or so. I dipped it a little deeper this time, I wanted more color than white for the final result.

I used paste food coloring heavily added to hot water, which means its not washable. If you are coloring ribbon for sewing clothing or something else that will be washed, use Rit or fiber reactive dye.

(ugh, this looks more like a Halloween photo than a Christmas one, that dye is gorey!!)

Next, I dipped the other side.

The hard part is to let the ribbon set for a couple of days till it dries. It needs to be left alone till all the moisture is gone.

Now, the outside of the roll is all dyed , but the interior is a nice variegated color, where the dye doesn't seep all the way to the center.

You can see the principle in practice more clearly in the crepe paper, since I dipped my ribbon so deeply into the rose colored dye. For the crepe paper, I just dipped the edges in. Since the rolls are wet to start with, the moisture pulls the dye toward the center. The deeper you dip the roll into the color, and the longer you leave it in, the stronger and wider the result will be.

I've added angel wings to the Boutique.

Along with stockings made from vintage sockies.

Stuffed and filled with vintage pretties.

This one has mica flakes, the others do not. If you order one and would like mica flakes added, I'd be happy to at no extra charge. Its a quick little thing to do.

How to decorate vintage apothecary and canning jars for Christmas

holiday decor, how to's

By Karla Nathan / December 13, 2012

I like the look of jars decorated for the holidays. But, I also like to use the jars in my kitchen and around the house for various things, so didn't want to tie up a jar forever just to set it out for a couple of weeks for Christmas.

My solution was to do some temporary displays, no glue, just pop some pretties in and add fake snow.

I make a lot of jars that are permanent decorations too, like this paper clay snowman on top of an old spice jar.

When I do that, I use a very sturdy glue. I start by drizzling the glue into the bottom of the bottle, and then stick my main pieces in, and over that, I sprinkle mica flakes and add mini mercury glass beads. (mica flakes are nicer for a piece that you want to last forever, I only use the Hobby Lobby fake snow for the temp jars)

If you are doing a permanent bottle or jar, its also important to make sure the lid (whatever you use for that) is attached securely too, like this bottle brush tree topped bottle.

But since I wanted to re-use my old canning jars, I didn't use any glue. These jars have been handy for so many things already, besides just leftovers, they have been vases for fresh flowers and center pieces for our family reunion.

So, I gathered up some supplies, branches cut up from sparkly picks found at Michael's 70% off holiday craft aisle, and some fake snow from Hobby Lobby's 50% off shelf.

First, I plopped in a branch for height in the back, then added a figurine to the front. After that, I poured in the fake snow.

A dowel rod was good for moving pieces around to get them to where I liked them.

After the main pieces were in place, I dropped in some mini shiny brites and a bottle brush ball from an old corsage.

Then, I tied an old ribbon to the top and added some millinery.

This one was done the same way, a branch in the back first, then the figurine, a deer that I added some holly to. It got a bottle brush tree too.

Next, the snow, another frosty branch for in front of the deer, and a bow with millinery on the rim.

This one is even more simple. Its a small apothecary jar, with a pink bottle brush tree, fake snow, and a handful of little mercury glass beads.

Part of an old Christmas corsage is tied to the top.

I can never get enough of those old corsages! They can be tucked into the tree, dropped into a jar, tied onto a lamp shade, or worn on your coat.

I cut one up to decorate this bottle brush tree glued to a wooden painted candle stick for Carol.

Parts of an old corsage were used to make this stocking from a vintage baby sock.

Old corsages are a great source for the little beads I like to use too. I also buy garlands of beads to take apart when I find them at a good price.

One thing to beware of if you are making temporary jarfuls of holiday cheer, is to keep them out of reach of curious fingers. Kids will want to shake them like a snow globe and even adults can be enticed into picking them up to get a closer look.

Which means, its not a display anymore, its a jumble.

Of course, no real damage is done, it's easy to poke a stick down in the jar and move things back into position again.

For me, it was a very quick project just dumping in some stuff on my desk and poking it around with a stick till I liked the look and adding a bow. I used chipped, junky, or plastic figurines in my jars, but under glass, they look so much more special!