holiday decor – Page 47 – Karla's Cottage

Studio Transformation in Progress (with a little help from a friend)

holiday decor, jewelry, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / September 19, 2007

I am getting a lot of response for our upcoming party on the 25! Thanks!

Also, thanks to Beth for helping today with my art studio’s transformation into Christmas gift shop.

Beth came by today to help unpack boxes of ornaments and arrange things. She’ll also be a part of the sale in Dec. and will bring antiques and art to sell that weekend.

If you are wondering how I can do without my studio for a few months, I won’t be. The other half of the room, is ART CHAOS and will stay that way till the week before the sale. I’ll shove all of this into boxes and set out the things that will be for sale.

Decorating for Christmas so early has been weird for me. On Sunday I went to every store in town looking for ornament hooks and I am sooooo early, that Wal-Mart didn’t even have any out yet!! I finally got some at Hobby Lobby on Monday, but they aren’t open on Sundays, so I was out of luck that day.

There are some corners I really like in the room, but I am not sold on the over all look yet. I have until Monday for the photographer to come (there will be an article in a local magazine about the Holiday Homes Tour).

I really like the silver chandelier covered in vintage gold and silver ornaments. Not easy to sell ornaments off of, but I will have big bowls of balls set out for sale too, and people can shop from those first.

This part of the room is all gold and silver with touches of neutral tones and a splash of aqua.

I’ve set out some of the jewelry I made as part of the display.

And this area is PINK!

Last night, I painted this desk/vanity white and added pink roses and vines, and today we piled it up with bunches of pinky goodness.

These lights are from Walgreens, they have pink bulbs (well you might have noticed that already) AND a pink cord!!

I will be painting a few dozen ornaments too. But for now, hung up tussie mussies, tags, and these collage ornaments that I made with old papers and glitter.

Beth and I "tag team" baby sat for Sugarwings while doing all this decorating today.

Which brings me to today’s photo of "What I LOVE About My Home"

Well, Sugarwings, that is a given. But, I am also crazy about her highchair. Its an old one that is all chippy and you can see the previous colors of paint through the pink top layer.

I can just picture the young mother repainting the high chair for each baby she had. It started yellow, then green, blue, and finally the perfect pink. I sanded and cleaned it,to make sure no paint would flake off for my fairy grand baby to snack on, then gave it a spray clear coat to keep it safe for her.

Don’t forget about our Romantic Country Party a week from today (Tuesday).

And remember that each comment enters you in the Sept. drawing for a Cottage Collage Kit or something made from one- your choice!

Procrastinating and Nit Picking

Etsy Goodies, Hand Painted Furniture, holiday decor, housework, I do tend to run on, don't I?, jewelry, magazine pictures or articles, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / September 17, 2007

These cute little peat pots are on Etsy now for $9 a pair. They have portions of a poem I cut out of a Victorian book tucked into the flowers, and a pansy picture from the same book on the front.

Now, why would I be listing on Etsy instead of working on my upcoming photo shoot? I listed a few things this morning,even though my shop is well stocked.

Maybe I am avoiding this?

And this? Both of these rooms have to be cleaned up and Christmassed up by one week from today.

Its more fun to fine tune the decorating I already started in Sugarwings room.

Playing with her pretty little pink things and fussing around with rearranging and adding to it, is so much better than taking a shovel to the studio and the library to clean them up!

Beth gave my fairy grand baby this little angel night light.

I haven’t decorated her doll house yet- just a little bit of decking the halls so far. I am waiting till she is older and we can do it together.

A peek-a-boo angel is in a window.

A pink and white reindeer is on the roof, and that is enough for now.

I added a few more ornaments to her tree.

And I did a bit of rearranging in the guest room too. Just added a few little details to the room.

I moved a few of the things that I’d brought in yesterday after looking at the photos I took.

I like to take snapshots of a room when I have rearranged it, then look at those to critique and see what needs changing. The photos never look as good as the room does in "real life" and are a great tool in getting it right!

(can you see the glitter in the paint on the walls?)

I only made a few small changes and added a couple of things, but I am happier. What do you think compared to yesterday’s pictures?

I added more decorations to Grandma Nathan’s foil tree too.

I made a star for the top of it, with an old photo of my mom.

I got the idea from Beth who made

this star for part of her Silver Bella Swap.

These sheet music Victorian boots are from a couple of years ago and I found them when I attempted to get started cleaning my studio. So, I used that as a good excuse to stop cleaning and took the boots over to the guest room and fussed around with them.

I put another under the glass tray top of this side table, with old post cards over a piece of rose patterned gift wrap.

Here is a close up of my Wilton Cake Decor crowns with old jewelry on this tiny tree. I bought a big box of mixed cake toppers for $5, and even if these 6 crowns are all I use out of it, I am happy with the box!!

I think I might be procrastinating a bit right now.

But I do see things that need changed in some of these photos, maybe I should go back up to the guest room and futz about again!

I don’t want to deal with THIS!! It is something I DON’T love about my home, the way the library becomes a catch all and books never get put away.

But, I’d better get to it, that mess won’t clean itself, and there are cameras on their way here in a week.

Thanks to all of you who are interested in participating in my Romantic Country Party on the 25th and will be showing photos of your homes that day too!

ps- Phyllis has a blog anniversery coming up, lets all wish her a happy birthday!

Christmas Comes Early-way too early- and a visit from Dusty

Etsy Goodies, fairies, Hand Painted Furniture, holiday decor, I do tend to run on, don't I?, magazine pictures or articles, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / September 16, 2007

Thanks for all the people who are letting me know that they will be part of the party!!

Here are the rules again, since there have been questions-

For fellow bloggers:

1- Take photos of something you love about your home.

2- Comment on my blog about your post Tuesday Sept. 25th and I will list all the participating blogs and link to them, so our party guests can mingle.

3- If you’d like to let people know that you will be at the party, you can add the button invitation to your side bar

4- All participants will be entered to win a copy of Romantic Country

For readers:

1- Leave a comment the 25th about something you love in your own home and you will be entered to win a copy of Romantic Country

Thanks! I can’t wait to Party Hop from blog to blog and see your homes!! And don’t forget, that every comment you leave throughout the month, enters you in my Sept. giveaway drawing, for either a Cottage Collage Kit with old wallpapers, or something made by myself from one of the kits.

What do I love about my home?? Well, love and care goes into every inch here at the cottage and I love it all. That is, until I get tired of it and have to make a change!

Right now, I am prepping for a photo shoot.

I am decorating the guest room for Christmas, and will just leave it up for the Holiday Homes Tour first weekend of Dec.

Its not done yet, these are the in progess pictures.

I’m trying to keep this room Romantic and lush, with gold, silver and roses.

I’m adding some angels, and vintage postcards of lovely ladies.

I found this tiny tree at a garage sale this summer for a nickel. I added vintage Wilton cake decorating plastic crowns that I sparkled up, and some old jewelry.

I’m also decorating Sugarwing’s room.

I spent part of today making tags and paper doll dresses to hang on her little pink tree.

They were fun to make, since I had rolls and rolls and rolls of new -old- wallpaper to play with!

I also am hanging vintage ornaments in pink, aqua, and soft green.

And of course, I hung all of the sugar coated fairies I made (from inspiration by Holly.)

They are so dainty and sweet.

Here are some of my great new wallpapers! I spent a huge chunk of my day yesterday ironing and cutting and packing the papers up for Etsy.

As much as I love it all, no one could use that much, even me!! So I am making up packs of it, since I also spent a huge chunk of money for it all.

I also made up specialty packs, like this chocolate and roses pack. I only had enough of the right colors to make two of these.

And since I am in the throes of Christmas, while every one else is enjoying fall, I made up some vintage Holiday packs.

My friend Becca bought one of these Cottage Collage Kits of my pretty wallpapers, and I made a blue bird tag for her in honor of her blog name "Bluebirds and Roses".

And speaking of friends,look who came to see me, Dusty. His mother, Lady, used to be one of the horses we boarded for a few years. She lived with us while pregnant, but her family built a barn for her right before Dusty was born. I almost felt like I was his grandma, or at least his great aunt. It was so nice to see him.

Maybe I have run on long enough now??