holiday decor – Page 3 – Karla's Cottage

A Nightmare Before Christmas combo with a few turkeys thrown in

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / September 30, 2024

Yep, it’s that time again.

I am all set up and ready for First Friday Weekend in the Old West Bottoms of KC.

And for October, many dealers have taken on a range of holidays. We are still featuring Halloween, and autumn, and there is some Thanksgiving decor here and there too.

And for everyone who thinks it’s too early for Halloween, here’s a lil bit of Christmas for ya. It seems way too early for me too, but in the past couple of years, I did not get on board with early Yule tide wares and my October sales were lacking. I don’t know why I didn’t just go whole hog holiday, xmas is my absolute fave and I have a ton ready to go.

Fall is not my best theme, well excluding Halloween, that is

I love the Romantic Gothic, spooky stuff. So I have a combo booth with a different theme on each wall.

Plus my regular jewelry set up and some pretties to go along with that.

These are some of my witch’s brooms. I still have a big selection of those. Actually even though my Halloween sales last month were good, there is plenty left of it. I tend to go way over the top when creating for the seasons. In my mind, as I’m crafting and collecting, my booth must be full sized, not a tiny little half space.

It can look a little crowded, with so much inventory in an 8 1/2’ area. I’d love to have more space!

But knowing me, I’d just overcrowd that too.

Come and see us if you can, like I said, this month- there is a little bit of everything on top of our regular wares and vintage goods. Say hi and wish me a Merry Halloween if you come by.

Skeleton fairies at the cottage

cottage, Halloween treats, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / September 14, 2024

This fall, I hadn’t planned on going full tilt Halloween around the house.

But I’d enjoyed spookifying my Good Juju booth so much, and I had family coming, so I indulged in ghoulishing up a few corners of my cottage.

Most is pretty simple, white pumpkins and crowns, a few glass pumpkins with lighting.

But we have some skellies too. This fairy skeleton is glittered and perched onto a poison toadstool. Her wings were harvested from a cicada and then laminated I think they have a bit of a skeletal look themselves.

I have a good time making decorations for any holiday, but I have to admit that I seriously LOVE the lit, glass punkins from Homegoods I only allowed myself a couple. I’d love to have a roomful.

Of course, you always need witches too.

And funky witch boots.

I’ve sprinkled some glittered crows around too.

This candle was from a garage sale. It isn’t my style exactly, but I liked it. So I guess that means it is my style for spooky season?

Talk about a change of looks for me- get ahold of that shower curtain.

My first seasonal curtain switch, ever. My sister, Bobbie, changed hers out for each holiday. Things like that made her happy, and she had collections for all seasons. On her birthday this year, I decided to honor her tradition by starting one of my own. Typically, I prefer vintage fabric, but I have to admit this makes a statement. And is a lot of fun.

I just might find myself shopping for a Xmas one too.

It looks good in person, you never know for sure when shopping online, but I really like it.

Summerween

family, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 15, 2024

Dewdrop came to visit! And Sugarwings is back from North Carolina, so I hung up a welcome back garland and planned a Surprise Summerween Party.

We made zombie finger cookies to snack on.

And carved watermelon Jack-o-lanterns,

I unpacked a tub of Halloween decor to set up when they got here after their 14 hour drive, and we relaxed by the glow of the pumpkins while watching a scary movie.

Our movie was Abigail, about a vampire ballerina, an excellent choice.

We left the decorations up for the week, so the party goes on.
I hate to think of it coming to an end. My plan is to soak up every minute of this visit and spoil these sweet, lil punkins, I mean, melons, as much as I can while we are all together.

How I Spent my Christmas Vacation

cottage, family, Hearth Room, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / January 4, 2024

It’s that time again, I am set up for the First Friday weekend at Good Juju.

And I am ready for Valentine’s Day, with a booth full of hearts, roses, crowns, and cherubs.

Being in retail causes a twisty relationship with holidays.

In the midst of Christmas week, I was cutting out hearts.

You have to be a couple jumps ahead to sell holiday decor, so here I am, still chomping on candy canes and sipping cocoa while I create romantic crafts.

That’s okay. I love holidays and I very much enjoyed my Merry Valentine craft afternoons between Xmas movies with the grand fairies.

Not the whole week was as much fun as time with the grand fairies or with my craft supplies. We discovered a major, hidden water leak that had rotted out the whole back wall’s support system in the hearth room.

Luckily, my talented son was here to carpenter it all back to normal. In the meantime, we had three days of chaotic mess, door open (or off) in the cold, and expensive Home Depot runs while the guys worked their frozen little bottoms off to get things fixed.

The hens thought it was great fun to have an open door to wander in whenever they liked. And I zipped through taking down all of the Christmas decorations in record time to make space for the guys to work.

It was pretty bad. Did I mention the words, rotten, chaos, and expensive?
Yep, those sum it up.

But I also have to throw in “blessed”.

Because, while it was cold, it wasn’t horrible or icy, and the guys could work on the outside. And our boy was willing to extend his vacation to do the emergency repairs. Who knows how many months it would take to get this fixed if we waited on setting up a contractor?

But with Adam here- 3 days and DONE!

I was able to keep right on with my Valentine Christmastime crafting.

Merry Christmas!

family, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 25, 2023

I hope you are having a blessed and Merry holiday.

Our boy and the littlest Grandfairy will be here with us.

We hope to have lots of cocoa parties, cookie decorating, and family walks in the woods.

Fin will visit, and Sugarwings’ mama will be here, unless a mom needs her to catch a newborn on Christmas.

We will miss our large group, this year we are split between different states.

And a big chunk of my heart is in Indiana with my sisters. I’m missing them more than usual this season.

But I know how lucky I am to have a big, loving family, whether we are gathered together physically or just in our hearts.

The cottage living room at Christmas

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 22, 2023

Since I’ve been back from Indy, I’ve been on a holiday whirlwind of activities.

Including the best tradition of them all, a cocoa party in front of the tree with a Christmas movie on. We watched Genie with Melissa McCormick and had lots of giggles with it. At least Sugarwings and I did, my husband soon retreated to his ballgame, but he did try to watch with us.

We’ve also enjoyed Family Switch, even though there were soooo many plot holes. But that was part of the fun, Sugarwings and I like to dissect some shows as we watch them. And this was a very cute show. We aren’t hallmark movie watchers, we are more into the family comedies or the traditional Santa stuff.

I treated myself to 2 cozy fur throws on sale at Costco, one is for the sofa. It looks like a wolf and is super, soft fur on both sides to curl up under for living room movies. But the Grandfairy has decided to pilfer it and I’m always finding it in their room.

That’s okay. A velvet lined, white one is in my room, and so far, I’ve been able to keep it secure. The weather hasn’t really even turned too cold yet, but I’m already snuggling up under it every evening.

This week, I’ve had my book club dinner party and got to see two groups of good friends for a Merry Christmas lunch out. One was in KC, and I snuck in a couple of hours to work on my booth at Juju.

The world around me might be festively decked out for Yuletide, but at the mall- it’s already full on Valentine’s Day. I felt like a split personality, going from a Xmas lunch to a being surrounded by hearts and roses. But hey, in retail, you gotta be a few steps ahead of the season.

Well, I’m still trying to finish shopping and wrapping gifts, and haven’t baked one single goodie yet. So I’ll leave you with some pics of the living room and get back to it.

2023 Book Club Christmas Party

cottage, friends, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2023

One of our bookclub members, Margie Carr, wrote a well received book about early, influential leaders of Kansas City who lived in a one block area.

I fell in love with the cover’s photo of two of the girls from that street.

Margie gave me permission to surprise our members with hand crafted ornies using this picture. The gifts were part of my centerpiece, and everyone got to choose their favorite one to keep.

With my trips to Indiana to be with my family while my sister is ill, I’d originally had to cancel the party, but was able to reschedule.

After a lot of last minute shuffling around, and voting on what dates the most of us were available, we managed to get a good chunk of us together on one night just a week before Christmas.

For a bit, it didn’t look like it would come together, that is such a hectic time of year.

Luckily, a date worked out, and I even had time to go to the grocery store for supplies and make pot pies to serve.

The Christmas tree pie didn’t turn out as good as the snow guy. You could kinda tell what it was, but the crust sunk in a little as it baked.

I’d even made a grid behind it for support and it still sank a little. You could still tell it was a tree, and actually, bubbly gravy over the crust is pretty dang tasty, so no problem.

This is a night I look forward to each year, and I was so happy that we all were able to get together.

Our club is filled with funny, informed people who make interesting dinner guests. Plus, it’s a great excuse for me to set the table!

And they brought beautiful desserts.

I had such a nice evening, thanks for coming, to all who were able to make it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / November 22, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

For me, Thanksgiving is just a speed bump on the way to Christmas.

It’s my husband’s favorite holiday, though. So over the years, Sugarwings’ and I would say, “We must respect the bird” and not go full on sparkle, tinsel explosion over the house til after the turkey is served.

For various reasons, I’ve had to decorate early any way, like a Snowbird Song event or a Holiday Home Tour and once that floodgate was open, I didn’t even pretend to have any tiny bit of respect for that dang turkey dinner.

I love my decorations and trees and want them up for the whole season, so I start the first week of November and enjoy it for as long as I can.

Our new chant? “We must respect the pumpkin!”

Also, being in retail, it’s smart to get a really early start on making stuff. This year, I’m way behind due to my studio make over and a few other things going on. I had big, big plans to fill my Boutique, but, oops. That didn’t work out. I made some goodies for Juju though, and am sure there will be things left. But it might be too late to market them for this December.

Another Santa Redo and a possible mink hunt

holiday decor, how to's

By Karla Nathan / November 17, 2023

I rescued another Santa Claus, this one only one foot, instead of four feet high. So he was a bit easier to redo. I’d love to restyle more little St Nicks, but I’m nearing the end of my white mink stash. I’ve been using it for tiny collars on the dolls I remake into angels too. A little bit goes a long way, and I’ve been tearing up that same tattered stole for years, but now, it’s time to either start hunting minks or find another craft.

For the Santas, I always start with ripping off the ugly patch of white fuzz that passes as a beard and replacing it with curly goat’s hair. I cut away the hat, reshape it more to my liking (or make a new one) the replace it’s fake fur trim with mink.
Now, I’m not against fake fur at all. The problem is that on these dolls, it’s usually the cheapest, ugliest fake fur that the manufacturer could get away with. There are some types that would be perfectly nice, but this stuff usually is so bad that it couldn’t even be good enough for carnival prize stuffed animals.

The jacket trim needs to go next, as well as the plastic belt. For this guy, I added a panel of very old lace down his front and cut a strip of creamy suede to wrap around his bowl full of jelly, I mean, belly. It fastens with a mother of pearl buckle glued into place.

Sometimes I use fur around the cuffs too, but since my supply is low, and also because it was pretty, I made cuffs of tattered velvet. I was lucky with the jacket he wore, it was white brocade with silver thread and I kinda liked it, so left it as is. Some stains and bad spots got covered up with the lace then velvet and the coat looked good as new.

He got a bleached tree to hold. Its base is tied with a velvet ribbon so there was something stable to hold the glue when I put it in his hand. Plus it’s a nice touch.

Since I am not a sewer, the Santas, like all of my fairies and angels, are glued into place. I would be kicked off of Project Runway for sure, but it seems to be okay for these dolls, they have no complaints. And I hate sewing, but love designing clothes for dolls from bits of vintage scraps. So this is what works for me.

Nutcracker Ballet Creations

antiques/junking, fairies, Good JuJu, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / November 4, 2023

Over the years, I’ve collected ballet slippers, and this overflowing box of daintiness inspired a theme for one corner of my booth.

So I kept my eyes open to other items to fit in with a Nutcracker Ballet design.

I was thrilled to come across this toy solider outfit!

Then came across wooden nutcracker cut outs, perfect to embellish with vintage, sparkly bits, paint, and even white mink.

My grand fairies have out grown (in size and desire) all of their little pink tutus and dance costumes, so I felt like this display was a fitting farewell to the items.

One garage sale I visited this summer had these ballerina prints. I added paint, glitter, and gemstones to them for a new life.

I made sweet, candy colored trees and sugarplum fairies, gathered up crowns and crafted some of my own crowns too.

My booth is SMALL. So the ballet goodies are all cozied up in a cabinet together with a little table in front. Sugary sweetness is pouring out of every inch.

To pull it together, I copied sheet music from the show to use as back drops.

There are hand painted and embellished little nutcrackers too, but I don’t think I got photos. Here are some ornaments I made with character images, glitter, and vintage paper.

This was such a fun idea to take and run with for the holiday. I’ll let you know how it goes over at our First Friday weekend (which is still going on today). And I’ll leave you with a few more pics.