holiday decor – Page 5 – Karla's Cottage

Merry

By Karla Nathan / December 10, 2022

Isn’t that a great word? Merry and Joy, are my faves for the season. I made this banner years ago when those pearl letters were all the rage. I couldn’t find a Y, so bent the J.

A mini banner over this window says JOY. But I didn’t photograph it at the right angle.

My halls aren’t quite as decked as they often are, but I felt like I had plenty.

A few trees…

A ton of lights….

A colorful coca set up…

Some elves…

A vintagy, crafty display…

And Shiny Brites galore!

It’s all the shininess and lights that I love so much.

When the days get dark and cold, twinkle lights and reflective surfaces are just what I need.

And look, the Christmas cactus gifted to me last year has bloomed right on time.

These jewelry trees have been so delightful to create!

holiday decor, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / December 7, 2022

I can’t believe that I haven’t ever made these before. But am sooo glad that I did this year!

And I made quite a few.

Most are sold- THANK YOU!

But I will have a few to add to the Boutique. ( www.karlascottage.com )

I don’t think I even got photos of all of them. And there are a couple in my car that I brought back from the Good Juju holiday weekend. I’ll add those to the Boutique this week.

Here are a few that I did remember to photograph.

After blowing through all of my stashed frames, I started using trays, book covers, and even plates. It was a frenzy. The dogs are lucky that they don’t have bejeweled trees glued to their fur.

How to make a tiny snow globe

holiday decor, how-to projects

By Karla Nathan / December 4, 2022

I cannot get enough of making Sugarplum Fairies. While I reuse the vintage scans, I never make the same girl exactly the same twice, each is a unique little sprite.

I wanted some of them to have snow globes and found packages of tiny, round glass jars at Hobby Lobby. They had tops meant to hang on necklaces, but I didn't want to use those.

Instead, I thought a button would be cute to use as a base. There were NO trees to be found that small, but I have discovered that the little bottle brush trees that I bleach and dye are pretty easy to trim to fit.

First step is to put a pinch of glitter or mica flakes into the jar. Then a bit of glue around the rim.

After that, I twist my tree into the globe as far as it will go.

The super sharp, Tim Holtz scissors are ideal for cutting the wire of the tree. I trim it to the edge of the glass. (Make sure you don't trim it so short that the tree gets lost inside the globe, the bottom should be even with the hole or slightly longer.)

After the tree is cut, glue a button base to the opening. Having the brush of the bottom of the tree at the very edge of the glass gives you something to glue the button to, and keeps the tree in place.

Aren't they cute as a button? Ha.

$1 garage sale tree makeover

holiday decor, redos

By Karla Nathan / December 1, 2022

Here is an after close up of a tree I found this summer at a garage sale. I started with the after, because the before was so ugly, I might have lost your attention.

It was definitely in the “walk on by” category of garage sale finds.

Here it is in all of its glory. But if you look closely, there is potential.

Those are little vintage shiny brites that were used on the original creation. And the tiny, wooden train isn’t that bad. There was a salvage pile, a toss pile, and a package up and sell at the mall pile.
I also cut off all the non working lights.

The next step in this glow up was white spray paint for a flocked look. I painted the board it sits on too. After the paint dried, I carefully spritzed it with spray adhesive and generously sprinkled mica on it. After it dried, I shook it upside down to get out the loose flakes.

Then, it was time for the fun stuff. Batting was wrapped around the tree to create snow as well as something to glue deer hooves into. I cut some sticks from my yard and made trees from them, plus added some bottle brush trees.

The wood itself wouldn’t have been easy to attach anything to. By using the batting, I was able to give the skinny legs of the deer and the twigs a better base for glue. I also tried to cluster them, so I could glue everything to each other for even more stability.

Keep in mind, for any glue project, the surface you attach something to is only as good as what you attach that to. For instance, if I hadn’t really, really, really glued the batting to the wooden circle really, really good, it wouldn’t matter how much glue I used on the deer and trees. If the batting came up, they’d fall off.

So, there was plenty of glue underneath it all too. And lots oozing about here and there. I gave it a coat of mica flakes to hide that mess.

The gold and silver packages got reused, and tied up with brown string with little, vintage bells.

There are birds and pinecones in the branches.

And a star on top.

I like it so much better now.

This tree will probably be at the Good Juju sale today, I still haven’t decided if I’m selling or keeping.

There is an extra sale date for this weekend! A party on Thursday night.

Then our regular dates of First Friday and Saturday.

Dollar Store Santa Hat Redo

holiday decor, redos

By Karla Nathan / November 28, 2022

This hat is from Dollar Tree, and while I am a huge Disney Fan, it isn’t exactly the look I wanted for the holidays. Typically, I’ll glue a couple flowers onto a red, furry hat or some antler headbands, because you know, Christmas fashion is important, right?

But this year I was inspired by a falling apart, vintage, white mink stole I came across. And of course, the first thing I thought was- “This must go on my Santa Hat!” (I have also been using bits of it on some Sugarplum Fairies that I made)

The fabric on this pink hat is pretty thin, so I snipped off the white band instead of adding to it. I was worried that the weight of the fur would make the existing trim droop.

Since I detest sewing, and how do you sew through a pelt anyways, I used Fabric Tac to add my fur trim. First, I put a piece of cardboard covered in plastic inside the cap so the glue didn’t adhere the front to the back.

I trimmed the fur into pieces to fit around the hat and glued them down, using clothespins to hold them in place.

The adhesive made it just a little stiffer than I might have liked. The Ultimate glue dries nicer, but I didn’t know if that would hold. I wish I’d tried that first. But this is okay, just not great.

I added velvet petals from an old rose I pulled off a vintage hat and centered an Angel in them.

Before attaching the fur, I buffed the edges really good with my fingers to get off any bits of fluff that might have come loose while cutting into it. I sure don’t want tickley pieces landing on my nose while wearing it. It doesn’t seem to be shedding, so I think it’s good.

The original pom pom got cut off and I half assed made one from folded fur, glued together and adhered to the tip of the hat by wrapping gluey ribbon around it tightly.

I might add some bling or more flowers after I try out wearing it, first I want to make sure it isn’t heavy or uncomfortable. I wish I could find a velvet hat to redo, I’d prefer that, but since I do not want to sew, or to spend much, this on is just fine. I’ll enjoy it!

Have a Lovely Thanksgiving!

holiday decor, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / November 23, 2022

Sugarwings and I jumped ahead into Christmas celebrations before Turkey Time.

Again.

We have a Thanksgiving celebration planned with most of the family, after some twists and turns to accommodate my husband’s schedule (he took a consulting job) and travel plans for part of our North Carolina group.

Before all of that, the Grandfairy and I had our first cocoa party of the season and did some crafting too. This is Sugarwings’ clever take on a gingerbread house storage box. We will keep our Nutty Buddies in it.

And why on earth do we consider Nutty Buddies a Christmas treat? Well, they are named after Buddy the Elf, of course.

At least in our minds.

Red and Green aren’t my typical colors, but when it comes to cocoa parties, I’m all for the shades of a traditional Xmas. The teapot was my mom’s, the tray was one my boys set out with cookies for Santa on it, and the tablecloth has been around since I splurged on it at Kmart in the 1980s. Back when we were on a tight budget and most things I decorated with were handmade.

I remember the turmoil of the purchase. This was back when I’d put toys on layaway at Kmart and pay on them for months before Santa swung by to pick them up. Buying a tablecloth was not in the budget.

Sometimes you gotta do something special for yourself, and this bit of floral fabric was a major indulgence that I treasured. And still do.

(By the way, Spray N’ Wash is great at getting cocoa stains out of so called “family heirlooms.”)

A new look for old Christmas ornaments

family, Hand painted, holiday decor, Ryan

By Karla Nathan / November 18, 2022

Sometimes an inspiration comes from one simple idea. Other times things just fall into place as you are going and it all just seems like you planned it out, but you didn’t, it just came together.

I had been gifted this magnificent buffet, with inlaid MOP, burned wood, and a pure white, marble top. It is nicer than any piece of furniture I’d have ever bought for myself, and I wanted to highlight it for the holidays

To honor the lovely wood, I thought I’d go more natural with the tree I usually set in that area.

Well, natural for me at least. They’re still sparkly silver! But the decor is centered around nature and family. Birds from my Mom’s house, hand made bird ornaments from friends, deer, fairies, stars, and lots of pinecones, from the day Ryan and I gathered them together.

Every time I think of that day, I have to laugh, it had been so funny for us, freezing, while stuffing pinecones in pockets and inside jackets while the big doodle dog pulled on the leash and I slid down the sidewalk, with Ryan trying to hold me back.
We laughed so hard and joked about it for months, every time we walked by there.
Of course, it was also the day the dog jerked the leash and messed up my shoulder, but we were still laughing and I remember rolling on the wet ice, laugh crying at one point.

I have only been brave enough to walk on the trail where we found those pinecones a couple of times this year. And one time resulted in the same laugh/crying on the ground again. This time, all alone. And the pain from the loss of Ryan is much worse than a torn rotator cuff.

The Christmas after Ryan died, I returned to our spot and gathered up every pinecone I could find. Almost as if I could NOT leave any behind, they were all symbols of Ryan and I and where we used to spend so much time together. So now, I have a lifetime supply of pinecones and they will always be a part of my winter decorating.

This Christmas, I filled the bowl of this garden planter (free at a a garage sale!) with lights and my precious memory pinecones and added a tree filled with hand painted ornaments I’d made for my boy over the years.

When my boys were little, I was a single mom working as a waitress and depending upon my own mom for help. At the holidays, I would paint dozens of glass balls to sell to anyone I could to raise money to buy gifts for my kids. I never left the house in December without a boxful and was even known to approach strangers in parking lots to sell these.

And every season, I painted and dated one for each family member.

The ones I did for my boys were very 80s themed!

Ha, Gremlins and ET!

He loved Frosty and Rudolf. Ryan loved shows all of his life and it’s fun for me to look back through these and realize just how many were based upon his favorite movies that year.

And as he got older, his first car, the horrid, orange, “Punkin”.

I haven’t unboxed the family ornaments in years, they haven’t been my style or fit in with my current trees. And I was saddened to see so many were missing. And I wondered why I quit this tradition. But I am lucky to have these.

Even this heart breaker.

It was a happy Halloween

celebrations, cottage, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / November 12, 2022

At this point, Halloween is long past, withering away in its crypt.

Due to my inability to use my blog, I didn’t get to share the holiday, so I’ll post some highlights now. As I upload these pictures, I am sitting in the glow of my Christmas tree.

But that doesn’t mean much. Around here, the flip is fast. Almost, but not quite like at Disney, where over night on October 31st, the entire park is transformed from one holiday into the other.

We go through more of a Nightmare Before Christmas scenario, where they are jumbled together for a couple days during the switcheroo.

Sugarwings loves the spooky decor and does not want it touched if she is with us. But I needed help with getting the big tree put together and Rich was going out of town. My choices were to ask him to help before he left and have the tree set up, with all the heavy boxes of decorations piled up around the pumpkin and bat filled house or do it myself later.

Of course, I asked for the help! So we had a messy mix of two overlapping decor styles.

I used to wait til thanksgiving weekend to deck the halls. Our motto was, “You Must Respect the Bird” and wait for that holiday to pass before enjoying twinkle lights. But not any more. I have changed it to “You Must Respect the Pumpkin” and don’t even let the jack-o-lanterns start to moulder before I fill the house with joy and light fro the trees.

But no, we don’t totally gloss over Thanksgiving. I de-skull and un-spookify the table, but leave the pumpkins out on it till after the turkey has been consumed. The pumpkins either light up or have glitter, so I am happy with the compromise.

Sugarwings still trick or treats, and since my mind is already on gingerbread and garlands, I asked her to save some candy for building our gingie cottages.

As much as I love spring time weather, and the heat of summer, this has to be my favorite time of year. I dread the coming of cold weather, but love all the hustle and bustle that comes around when the leaves drop and snow starts to fall.

Ugh, did I really just say that!? Snow and falling leaves can be truly despicable (and way too cold).

But I do love the transition into Christmas, so if I have to put up with a chill to get to be surrounded by twinkle lights, we’ll, I guess I’ll just deal with it.

It’s back!

antiques/junking, holiday decor, Web/Tech

By Karla Nathan / November 9, 2022

WOO HOO!!!!

A PHOTO LOADED!

It has been a very, very long time since I could work on a blog post. For the last couple weeks, I have been checking in daily, trying to add a picture and getting a wide variety of nothings, error messages and even a splash of gobbilty gook.

It feels good to have the hosting site up and running again.

Over the last 16 years, my blog has become a part of my life. Not just a habit, or a business tool, much more than that.

I rarely look back through it, unless I amending to see a specific project, or figure out a date about when we went somewhere, or redid a room.

But when I do, I tend to get sucked down the rabbit hole, and find all sorts of tidbits about my life that I’d forgotten. I see things I do not ever remember seeing, let alone creating.

Sweet faces of babies that are now teens, and such fun things we did together.

Writing in my blog has been worth it for the family memories alone. But seeing my creations, friends, vacations, pups, and decor over the years can be a nice surprise.

When I began writing this journal, I had zilch of an inkling that I’d still be doing it this long, or that it would be more than just a business tool.

At this point, I don’t know how many people even read blogs, I no longer read my stats (which certainly aren’t in the thousands a day any longer). And it has become harder to respond to comments, because of some odd change that the hosting site made. But I still love reading the messages.

And I like knowing there is someone out there who cares.

So thank you to those of you who are still with me and have checked back during this outage.
I am quite pleased to have it back again!

Enjoying the present while dreaming of what’s next

Food and Drink, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / October 25, 2022

While I am enjoying my Halloween/fall decorations, I am writhing with impatience for getting out the Christmas ones.

I love Christmas and all of the twinkling lights, gingerbread houses, pretty ornaments, big trees, little tress, tiny trees, candy, baking, cookies, presents, oops, I got carried away, didn’t I?

I do love it all.

Still, my outlook on life is not to wish away time I have right now by looking too far ahead. I try to enjoy what is in front of me, and not let anticipation for what’s next stop me from being present.

I tell myself that it is okay to be excited about an upcoming trip, holiday, party, or even tv series. But NOT okay to ignore what is happening right now. Which can be hard to do.

This fall, I sat out a few things, but mostly let Sugarwings go at it. They got out the bucket of decorations and did whatever they wanted with them, starting up in my husband’s office where our big tv is. We were gathering there to watch Hocus Pocus 2, and made up special party trays for it.

The food was yummy and the kiddo’s decor was fun. We also thought the movie was pretty dang cute. It was even better with pumpkin colored lights and plastic spiders in a darkened room.

Right now we have a dining table filled with pumpkins, real and lit up. And I am enjoying Sugarwings’ exuberant design skills.

And I am doing my best not to long for the twinkly lights of the Xmas tree.

Luckily, I get an early fix! Good Juju is coming up on the first Friday of November. I am going to be going all out on my holiday decor there. That will hold me over til after Halloween so I can keep my promise to myself of not wishing away the present with dreams of the future.
Which is tough because those lights sure beckon to me.