holiday decor – Page 31 – Karla's Cottage

Wigged out for the holidays

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

By Karla Nathan / December 28, 2011

This is my favorite holiday photo from our weekend. Little Dewdrop snuck up onto the table while her elfish father was fixing dinner. He wore the hat and cape for most of Christmas and I thought it added a festive touch.

We spent a lot of our time in the kitchen, and having it be one, big open space was just great. Now, why didn't we think of this years ago? Its made our house such a cozier place.

We had one wonderful meal after another, and since the kids were staying with us instead of driving back to the woods and going to their yurt each night, we even went all out for breakfast in the mornings. On Christmas Day, our Gypsy made this fluffy, puff of deliciousness for us from a recipe we saw in the Sunday paper that morning.

Poor Sugarwings had been pretty sick all week leading up to the big day, and stayed here with us for most of the time, with her parents having sleepovers with her at our cottage. She rallied by the time Christmas Eve came around, but was still not quite herself.

We were sad to see her so weak and tired, but It was nice to have a houseful for the whole week, instead of just seeing them for the dinner and present times.

This year, between Sugarwings being sick, and me travelling, I was behind on gift buying. I did a whirlwind shopping trip, throwing things into the cart as I buzzed down the aisles. By the time I got home, I wasn't even sure what I had for who, I just hoped it was done. And for some reason, I bought wrapping paper, not bags…. silly mistake! If you wait till the last minute to buy gifts, there is no time for wrapping, those late gifts need to be slipped into bags.

That was NOT the highlight of my week.

But watching these little fairies tear through that paper was.

Dewdrop was very fond of her new toys. She was busy giving all the dollies lots of kisses and hugs.

She wasn't quite sure what to think about the dress up wig that her big sister got though.

I think it added a lot to the festivities, as she wore it to pass out the gifts.

We had two celebrations, all gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, and Santa's presents on Christmas Day. My husband's family has always done it that way, and it has become our tradition too.

I grew up with being able to open one gift the night before, saving the rest for the main event. I was always disappointed that the one preview gift was PJs every single time. I thought it was just plain old bad luck that I always picked the one gift that was not fun at all, when there was a sparkling pile of things waiting under the tree for me.

Of course, now I know that Mom planned it that way, so that I'd have new jammies on for Christmas morning when I woke her up at the crack of dawn. But at the time, I was crushed that once again, I got pajamas, not a Barbie on Christmas Eve.

Now, I am pulling my own version of the jammie trick, and let the girls each have one gift to open after dinner, before bath time and the rest of the gifts. Yep, they each had a new pair of matching PJ's as their sneak peek gift just like I did when I was a kid.

We had a third holiday bash on the day after Christmas, with the rest of the family (at least the ones in this part of the world) over for dinner, and all 26 of us fit into the new kitchen.

The house seems really quiet now with everyone gone. I've kind of gone into hibernation, with a good book and a box of kleenex (I caught Sugarwing's cold). I've not even checked out the post holiday sales yet, and don't know if I will. Although I keep thinking about all that clearance price Russell Stover chocolate…. out there, just waiting for me, all marshmallowey on the inside and shaped like chocolate Christmas trees.

But I'm kind of enjoying being snuggled up with a book and staying home in my jammies. I think I'll pass on the sales and go have another slice of that white chocolate peppermint cheesecake that I made instead. By the time I leave the house, the only thing that will fit me will be my elastic waist jammies.

If you are into holiday sale prices and don't want to leave your comfy home either, I have a sale in my Boutique and now on Etsy too. And yes, it covers tutorials, millinery, charlottes, and all of the other vintage goodness in my shops.

Everything is 30% off in the Boutique if you use THIS LINK.

And the small print says: The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days. You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words- happyholidays – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

For Etsy, use the same code word- happyholidays -to get 30% off there too.

And by the way, a Very Happy Holidays to you all!

A new holiday tradition?

celebrations, Dew Drop, fairies, family, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 26, 2011

We had a Fairy Merry Christmas, and I hope that you did too. On the Day Before the Night Before Christmas (the title of one of our favorite songs around here), we had the girls here for a sleep over.

They decorated bottle brush trees in the studio, then decided to fix up the Gingerbread house for the fairies that live on our Fairy Berry Trail through the woods.

It got a whole new set of furniture, made of graham crackers.

After the painting/gluing in the studio and the icing/sprinkle excitement in the kitchen, we decided a bubble bath was in order. I poured them all (plastic) flutes of sparkling juice and filled the tub with Sugar Plum Fairy bath salts.

Calliope said that she felt like a princess. That gave us the idea to surprise them all with a princess party after their soak. The Hippy Chick ran upstairs and found some dress up clothes that were appropriately royal and had them laid out for the girls to slip into when they were done bubbling.

Of course, our girls lean toward the fairy side of "fairy princess".

Our tiniest sprite got to play a little dress up, but fell asleep before the other festivities began.

It was girl's night at the hot chocolate party.

One of the fun parts of the party is mixing your cocoa just the way you like it. We serve warm milk in teapots, and pass around Giradelli chocolate, mini marshmallows, shaved white chocolate with peppermint, candy canes, and for the moms, some Kaluha.

It was special. I'm lucky to have all these little girls to play dress up with. They are pretty sweet.

and now for the winner of my Christmas Secret Surprise Giveaway! Its a hand painted and decorated box with a nesting, ephemera covered bird on it. Pretty for the holidays, but not so Christmassy that you can't leave it out all winter. I'll fill it with some home made bath salts and send it to…..

Deborah Woodrow

And remember, if you have Christmas gift cash to buy yourself a gift, come on by the Boutique. Everything is 30% off if you use THIS LINK.

And the small print says: The only catch is, that I won't be doing any mailing for a few days. You might not recieve your box till after New Years.

And if you click on the website directly, you can't get the sale price, its only available from THIS LINK

When you fill your shopping cart, you need to type in the words- happyholidays – then hit "recalculate" to get the special price. Its simple to do.

Merry Christmas!

Book club holiday party gifts and decor and treats

Books, celebrations, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Kitchen remodel

By Karla Nathan / December 22, 2011

Last Monday, I hosted our annual book club holiday gathering.

All of the dining table chairs were moved into the living room for the guests to gather in a circle and the dining room table was covered in a vintage velvet quilt and filled with goodies.

If I didn't have old lady eyes and needed the over head lights on, I'd keep my house lit with ambient lighting instead! I love the glow of all the small lamps tucked around the room. And of course the Christmas trees add a beautiful glow to it all too.

December is the perfect time to add lots of little mini lights. I love to use them under old lace curtains on the buffet.

The fairy lights add a nice twinkle to everything sitting near them.

This little paper weight was a gift from my sisters. Bobbie Sue added a photo of the three of us to an old paper weight that Sissy had. She made 3, so we each got one.

For book club, we all wrapped up a book we'd enjoyed that year for a trade. I got extremely lucky! There was a book I'd read in my 20s that I LOVED and wanted to re-read. I've looked for it for 30 years, but didn't remember the author's name or title. And it showed up that night at the swap!!! Its from 1978 and is called "The Mirror".

The book I gave away that night was "Room" and its very disturbing, so I wrapped it extra nice and added a brooch to the package.

The night before guests came, my son's Gypsy Beloved helped me make some gifts. We whipped up goats milk bath salts with a vanilla rose oil scent, and some brown sugar scrub too.

Sorry, no real recipe, I kind of made it up as I went along. But each are sooooo easy to make, I'll give you the ingredients if you want to wing it:

Bath salts:

Box of powdered milk (goat or otherwise)

epsom salts (whole bag)

cup or so of sea salt

scented oil to your own taste

Sugar scrub:

Half pound of brown sugar

Full bag of epsom salts

cup of sea salt

about 2 cups of coconut oil

about a half cup of glycerin

scented oil to your own taste
The scrub is great for rough, dry, winter skin. And the milk bath is really relaxing. I use both regularly.

I wrapped them all in small plastic bags sold at Michaels in the cake decorating aisle, and tied up the bath salts with white lace and a mini bleached tree or wreath. The sugar scrub got wrapped the same way, but tied with rick rack and a tag made from an old Shiny Brite box.

It was wonderful to have my new, big kitchen to host a party in. I can't begin to tell you how much I love that room.

The treats that night were pumpkin cheesecake, fudge, german chocolate brownies, pumpkin muffins, a veggie tray, pita chips, flax seed chips and salsa.

And of course wine!

I hope that your holiday has been filled with special occasions and more to come. Its a festive season, and I can't get enough of it.

And please don't forget, I'm picking a winner of a Holiday Surprise gift.

Just leave a comment between now and Christmas to enter.

Short Cut layered Fudge with Belguim Chocolate

Food and Drink, holiday decor, how to's

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2011

For more than 30 Christmasses I've been making short cut fudge, the same way every year. But in the last few, I've noticed that it wasn't going as well as it used to. I blame the products, I think that they have changed gradually and just aren't as good. Nestle Toll House Chips just weren't working the way they used to over the years when I made up batches and batches of treats.

I think that they maybe aren't as pure as they were decades ago. I wonder if more paraffin has been added to keep the costs down?

Anyway, I believe that you don't get good results without good ingredients, so when I bake, I Use the Good Stuff, just like when I create in the studio.

Now, I've switched to only Belguim chips, and the results are worth it!

Here is how I make them:

One and one half bag of chips plus one can of sweetened condensed milk (I use low fat, yes, I know its still a sugary, fudgy concoction, but I think every little bit helps, and if it tastes good, go ahead and cut out a little bit of fat when you can!)

Warm the milk in a pan, then add chips.

Melt the chips.

With a mixer, beat on high speed for way, way longer than you think you should have to! The fudge will lose its sheen and get thick, then you'll know its time to pour it into a greased pan.

I make about 3 batches at once, so you can double or triple the recipe, easily,

Here is what makes it extra special- buy dark,white, and milk chocolate, as well as Reece's peanut butter chips and make multi fudge flavor layers.

This one is dark on the bottom, sprinkled with pecans, and ground white chips (I dump them in a blender to chop them up). After that, there is a layer of milk chocolate fudge that is again sprinkled with more white chocolate crumbs.

There is also peanut butter layered with dark chocolate picutured here.

The layers look impressive, but its an easy and tasty trick.

Of course, presentation is important. Doesn't everything look better under glass?

Please remember that I am having a giveaway, of a special surprise.

Just leave a comment between now and Christmas, all posts, any posts, as often as you'd like.

Gifts and Giveaways and free images, Happy Happy Holidays!

Books, free images, give away, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 18, 2011

Last week, friends came by to help me practice my "Song of the Season" class that I am teaching at Kim's. As a thanks, and a Happy Holiday, I made up a little goodie bag for each of them.

These great scented candles from Bath and Bodyworks were on sale for 5 or 6 dollars, I can't remember, but it was a very good deal, so I bought a bagful to pass out this season. Each one got foofed up for the person it was going to. My pal, Angie loves pink roses as much as I do, so hers is topped with a circle of my favorite wallpaper in the world, and I wrapped a coordinating old, gold striped paper around it, tied it with a pink bow and added a millinery rose and a bit of sparkle.

Beth and Karla are both accountants, so their candles were decked out with pages snipped from a 1910 math book.

A bit of glue, a scrap of paper, and some foof, and they were quickly personalized to suit the giftees.

(the scent I chose was Vanilla Peppermint, and it reminds me of the happy evenings Sugarwings and I have spent with our cocoa parties by the Christmas tree. We like to stir the hot milk with candy canes, and then either add a spoonful of shaved chocolate, or a squeeze of vanilla agave syrup to our cups)

There is still another gift for Beth, but I didn't have it ready for her that day. She brought a Christmas present for me, and of course, I did NOT wait till I had one for her before I opened this. It was wrapped way too pretty. And even if I did pretend to be polite and wait, I'd have opened it as soon as she left anyway, then would have had to scramble to re-wrap it for when I had a gift ready for her and we could officially trade.

Her present was layers upon layers of gifts! A tattered old corsage and a hand made, ruffled scarf as a bow topped it all off. Under that, old wallpaper in gray and sage (I've already made something with a scrap of it, too).

Inside were two books, one was a 2012 planner done by local talent, Greg Johnson.I've never owned one before, but have always wanted one of his annual creations. I stole this photo from my friend, Debbie, she sells them in her Curious Sofa shop. You can get one for yourself, here

The other book is a flower child book from 1910. In the cover it says:

"To every child-flower that blooms within the curious garden that we call home, this little book is lovingly dedicated"

Its going to be a favorite of Sugarwings and I! Way too nice to cut up and use for projects, but I'll be scanning and using the pages, for sure.

These pages are for you. Just click to open in a larger size, save to the computer from that window, and print.

My dear friend, Shanna brought this beauty to me. She is a stained glass artist and makes wonderful Christmas ornies. My tree is full of her creations. This one is a new design, a tussy mussy, with hand painted enamel designs.

Now some more gifts for you! I picked three names from the comments this last week, and they have a choice of a dress form class or a cuff class online.

The winners are:

1-Debbie Jullirat

2-Wanda Contrears

3-Nancy Thompson

Will the 3 of you please email me to get the info for the tutorials?

Since its Christmas and I love making and giving presents as much as I love getting them, I'll do another giveaway too.

Between now and Christmas, leave a comment and I'll draw a name to win a surprise prize.

Hitching up the reindeer, hopping in my sleigh and taking a trip!

holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / December 16, 2011

This weekend is going to be really special! I'm on my way to sunny California to hang out at Kim's and be a guest artist at her holiday gathering.

Its not easy for me to be away from home this close to Christmas. I'm a homebody all the time anyway, but December is when I really settle down into my nest!

But this weekend will be a wonderful, holiday happening, so that will help me feel less homesick for my own Christmas tree.

I've been to two of Kim's large events at the Belmar in Manhattan Beach, and they were over the top fabulous. I love attending her themed workshops. I'll be going to Breakfast at Tiffany's this spring too.

Knowing how wonderful all of her arty gatherings are, I am thrilled to be teaching at this private one at her home.

I'll be away from my computer for a few days, but have prewritten some posts to pop up while I am away, so please do come by. And all orders between today and Monday will be sent on Tuesday the 20th.

The class will be this wintertime wreath, with a nesting bird. I'll be teaching a spring time version of the same wire wrapped wreath at Paper Cowgirls in March, too. Maybe I'll see you there?

Fumpity Fump Fump

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, flowers, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings, videos

By Karla Nathan / December 12, 2011

We were out shopping the other day and Sugarwings saw this sign on a stand and in her mind, it was the perfect microphone, so she started to serenade all the shoppers. The kid seems to have inherited my singing voice. And also the joy of singing out, loudly.

Its a short video if you want to watch it, and my favorite part is where she is distracted by something shiny and walks away just as she sings "look at Frosty go".

This year, the holiday month seems to be racing by faster than I can keep up.

Its happening too fast and will be over before I know it! So, I'm slowing down and making myself take in every minute of it. Sugarwings has been spending a lot of time with me and she agrees that we need to make the most of our days. We've had a hot cocoa party every night that she sleeps over, lit only by the lights of the tree.

We make an event of it, setting the table with our best china, filling our favorite tea pot with hot milk, and passing around tiny bowls of shaved chocolate, mini marshmallows, and peppermint sticks. Not only are we getting a delicious bedtime snack, we are learning about manners, polite conversation, and building memories to treasure.

We are watching all the holiday specials that we can cram into our time together, without losing out on time to create and cook too. As much as I love holiday baking, its even better with her.

There has been a ton of cookies and fudge being whipped up, as well as a gingerbread house we had to put together with hot glue before we could decorate it.

I'm trying to show Dewdrop about the joys of baking too, she held the mixer for us last week. Its a start! Soon, I'll have two little helpers.

With her Daddy being so busy getting the Yurt weather proof and ready to live in for the long, cold winter, and her Hippy Chick Mommy studying hard for her first semester of nursing school finals (I'm proud to say that she is an A student!), I've been lucky enough to have lots of holiday play time with my fairy girl.

Sometimes, we invite guests to the parties too, like Luna Moona, her Raggedy Ann doll.

Last week, Dewdrop came to her first bedtime cocoa party and I have a feeling, she will be a regular at them with us next year. She adores anything that has to do with food.

And for some odd reason, Sugarwings has been setting an extra place at the table for my sisters. She is fascinated by them and talks about them a lot. I guess she knows how much I love and miss them, even though she has only met them a handful of times in her short life and they live far away.

Yes, its been a sweet December!

Holiday French Ephemera labels, free images for you

free images, give away, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 11, 2011

Holiday decor is an ongoing thing around here. I thought I was done, and was going simple this year… but every day it seems like I think of "one more little thing" that I want to do.

We spend more time in the kitchen than anywhere else, now that it is all remodeled. Its homey and a great gathering place for the whole family. I've got a table top tree in there on the buffet, and the big tree in the living room is placed so that you see it from the dining table.

But the rest of the kitchen looked like it could be any old day of the year.

So, I made up some quickie labels using some French images I got from my pal, Gwen of Bottoms Up. They were chocolate cards, I digitally removed the words and added my own holiday themed ones, and then removed the colors and tinted them all slightly neutral.

I always print my images onto matt photo paper, the results are much prettier than just copy or laser paper.

The backs got a quick smear of glue stick, and the cut out labels were then pressed onto my everyday cannisters. You have probably heard me complain about glue sticks in the past, the glue never lasts. Which is perfect for this, because its only a temporary look.

And yes, if I was really going all out and doing it right, I'd empty the canisters and fill them with candy canes, cookies, ornaments and other holiday foof. But no, this was a very easy, very quick project just to add a vintage and Christmassy feel to this corner. In January, I'll just take a soapy, hot sponge and wipe the glue away, and with little fuss and bother it will all be back to normal.

If only putting away the tree was that simple!

In the spirit of the holiday, I'm also giving away some tutorials. Please mention in your comment if you are interested in one or the other of these.

Oh, and by the way, I'm still adding more and more trees to the Etsy site, and there are still a few in the Boutique.

Its nice to see that they are still so popular, since I enjoy making them so much. I've had to replenish the stock a few times, but it is getting late in the year, so probably won't be adding any more after this. Thanks so much for shopping with me!

**************************************

Here are the images that I used for my canisters. Just click on the image to open it in a larger size before you save it to your computer to print it. Some of the edges are cut off, but that didn't bother me, and it doesn't really show once they are all cut out.

Using the Good Stuff with Sugarwings

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 8, 2011

Sugarwings and I have been creating.

Have you seen these plastic, snap apart ornaments at Michaels? They are a couple dollars, and come in clear of iridescent. Sugarwings calls them bubbles and when she saw that I had some, she wanted to make a snow globe with one.

The rainbow effect of the surface makes it hard for you to tell what it really looks like in the photo, but in person, its really cute. (I'm afraid that you can see my reflection better than the tree inside) She chose all the pieces to go inside, and placed them where she wanted them, then I used hot glue to adhere them into place.

It was her idea to make the white reindeer look like he was flying. He is attached with a pipe cleaner stuck into a bottle brush tree, so that he wobbles when you shake the snow globe.

We drizzled a little glue into the bottom, then she scooped in some mica flakes.Some of the mica is glued down, the rest flies like snowflakes when the ball is shaken.

It was my idea to glue the ball shut tight, then to add ribbon around the seam to keep it that way, but she chose the ribbon and helped press it into place.

I was impressed with her creation. But of course, she "used the good stuff". I think that by turning her loose in my vintage stash, she was able to really make something worth saving for years and years.

There is a big pile of these balls on my desk waiting for me to make stuff with them, but I might be running out of time, Christmas is coming, I have no shopping done, and I need to make up my kits to teach at Kim's on the 17th.

I've only made these two angel ones so far, and I decided to only use one half for each of mine, instead of sealing them back up with the connecting piece. Oh geez, doing it this way DOUBLES the amount of orbs I need to fill! Maybe I should pass these on to Sugarwings to decorate instead, she seems to be pretty good with them!

I've sent emails to the winners of the cuff bracelet tutorial and they are:

Gypsy Rose

Debbie Blanken

and

Kim Budash

If you'd like to win one, or the dress form tutorial, just leave a comment and let me know. I'll draw a few more winners next week.

The Halls are Decked!

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 1, 2011

My plan to get the halls decked before Thanksgiving worked out, but barely. And there is still more to do, even though I am cutting back and keeping it simple this year, I'm sort of going all out in the living room and kitchen. The rest of the house stays as is. Normally I decorate every room.

And I adore my new white tree! Honestly, it was NOT the one I wanted. But it was the one I was comfortable affording. I'd love to have a really tall, heavily flocked tree, but there is no way I want it bad enough to pay what those things cost! I did a lot of looking online and had no luck. This tree was only $160 or so at Lowes, and came with white twinkle lights. Its 7 -1/2', and with it up on a table top, I can pretend its a giant tree without spending 300 to 400 bucks.

Little Edy Angel seems happy with it. (Maybe because I've hoarded so many ornaments over the years and she is used to a hoarder's lifestyle?)

When I decorate, I usually take down most of the pictures on the wall and put up something more holiday-ish. And I like to hang a large mirror behind the tree for added sparkle in the room.

Our tree has a lot of sentimental items on it.

A baby shoe from my husband's mom.

Stained glass stars a friend made.

Sugarwing's outgrown Dorothy shoe that I foofed up with Lisa's tutorial.

A few other things I've made over the years, including some projects from Romantic White Christmas that Beth and I co-created last year. (this is made with lace I got from my Great Aunt Caroline's estate)

Balls with vintage jewels glued onto them from an article I did for Victorian Decorating a few years back.

Tidbits of old jewels clipped to the branches, some from my aunt, some from my grandma, and some just from fun days out junking with my friends.

Old postcards tied up with tinsel from another article I did.

There are also things from my childhood, family photos made into ornies, gifts from friends, and lots of other things I love. I always say that if you collect things you really love, they all seem to go together in a pretty way.

I will be away from home for a few days, but will be checking my email while gone, so please leave a comment if you'd like to win a Cuff Tutorial. I'll be giving a couple more away when I get back.

When I return, I'll get your orders from the Boutque and Etsy out on Monday the 5th.

What's going onto your tree?