holiday decor – Page 6 – Karla's Cottage

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.

My year of embracing orange and a redo-rescue

antiques/junking, cottage, holiday decor, redos

By Karla Nathan / September 25, 2022

For the first autumn of my adult life, I’ve been drawn to fall colors. It kind of coincides with my attraction to the mix of warm woods that I’ve now blended in my house along with the existing whites and creams.

For decades if was just the whites. But I sure am enjoying the wood textures we have added. Also the dark leather chairs by the stone hearth.

Did it start with this dining table? Maybe. I’ve added quite a few touches of wood around our house since.

The hutch is painted white, but has a natural top. This has been my new, go to move. There are a few pieces with this paint on the bottom, wood stain on the top look in the last few years.

But orange? That is brand new for me. And I like the pops of brightness that color brings to the season.

For a while now, I have loved red accents on a white background at Christmas. Having a neutral background means that I can switch things up lot lot with just a few changes of color splashed around the room.

This over blown monstrosity was at a garage sale for one dollar, and typically, I’d have walked right by it. Or paused to wonder how the basket would look spray painted white (probably very nice, filled with roses).

It is actually a very nice shape and looked good with a pot of mums as is.

Instead, I decided to accept the orange and see what I could do with it.

It had a lot of big, velvet pumpkins inside, two I added to the urns in the top pic. The rest I set aside along with about 50% of the crazy, over the top amount amount of leaves and berries and bows.

The abundance was pared down to a more reasonable amount in the basket, and I still have a lifetime supply of leaf and berry picks to use for something else.

So that makes three more palatable arrangements and a leftover bag of supplies for $1, plus the 50 cents each I paid for the urns at the same garage sale.

Plus, plenty of stems leftover to fill this caldron (also from a garage sale).

All filled with my new enjoyment of autumn tones. I won’t be changing over my entire decor to pumpkin colors, but I am liking the hints and peeks of them I have scattered around.

Under a magic spell

Good JuJu, holiday decor, Romantic Gothic Ghosts, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / September 22, 2022

I really, really, really loved making things for Good Juju for Halloween!

I have collages, dolls, witchy hats, jewelry, mushrooms, ballerina bats (yes, that’s right, ballerina bat skeletons), signs, painted pumpkins, and my possibly fave- magic potion bottles.

For years, I have been tossing any vintage items I find that seem fitting for this season, into a drawer. It was quite full of tempting treats to turn into my fun creations.

I found it so inspiring to have an eclectic mix of ephemera and goodies to dig through.

No two came out the same, since I was working with so many originals bits of vintagey goodness. I had some photos that I’d copied, but the rest is all aged.

While I was at it, I whipped up a few hand made pumpkins too.

Here are some used as bottle toppers.

I went overboard.

A bit.

As I do.

There is probably enough inventory for next year too. I should add some to my online shop, but I will be teaching at Jenn’s fantastic event in Charleston mid October, so might not have time to get any listed in time for Halloween.

Now it is time to halt my spooky endeavors and switch to Christmas.

Which isn’t a problem, I adore creating sparkling pretties for that holiday too.

It is hard to put away all of the supplies for October, and to stop myself from making way, way, too much of this stuff. I’ve been on a roll.

Knowing me, I will be every bit as much obsessed with as happy to make things for the next holiday.

I’ve been saving up Christmas ephemera and supplies too. I have a feeling that crafting with those is going to be taking over my life soon.

I’m excited just thinking about it!

And it is extra nice to have a reason to make things, after quarantine and Ryan’s death. I hadn’t had much inclination to create in volume like this.

How to make zombie dolls

Hand painted, holiday decor, how to's

By Karla Nathan / September 7, 2022

Recently, I asked around for dolls to turn into witches, and got a number of vintage ones from a friend, as well as finding some while junking. Some were ideal to turn into witches, some were just too nice. The ones in excellent condition with perfect hair will be Christmas angels, and the ones that were a little scruffy became my Halloween witches.

But the beat up beyond repair gals?

ZOMBIES!

Witches can be cute, but zombies need to be creepy. So anyone missing limbs, or with big cracks was ideal to use.

Adorablely cute dolls made sweet witches.

But a crack like this is hard to get past.

I discovered that the cracked face on these old dolls could peel off like the shell of a boiled egg.

Underneath was a rough, porous material that needed just a little sanding to make sure the glue was off before painting.

With appendages, I cracked off some of the “shell” and painted those like wounds.

Same with the torso. I left most of the hard layer on and painted the edges to look like cuts.

After painting the doll, I use old, tattered doll clothes along with some vintage elements to dress her. The clothing gets some tears and cuts plus dirty and bloody paint splotches.

I glued her legs on at odd angles so she would look stiff, like a zombie shuffling around.

All of the dolls were fun to recreate into new looks, but I have to admit, I really got into the zombies!

The Witchie girls were a similar process, but I made sure to use smooth skinned dolls without cracks. If the skin tone was discolored or stained, I painted them green.

They were hard to stop working on, I could’ve made dozens. I can’t wait til it’s time to make the angels too. But for now, I’ll just make a pile of witch hats to sell, the ones I took to the mall were gone quickly. I sold a couple dolls, but mostly, they just got photographed a lot. I think that means people were going to try to create their own? Well, if so, here are the steps to follow.

Juju Preview

antiques/junking, Good JuJu, Hand painted, holiday decor, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 30, 2022

In my last post I mentioned that I got my booth set up at Good Juju before my trip to Indy. I have more to add, and hopefully will get it there before the sale this Friday and Saturday.

My Halloween theme is in full force, with pumpkins and witches everywhere.

I especially love these old sign letters that I found on a junking morning with the Guncles. I’ve made BAT, EEK, BOO, and CROW with them.

And of course, more mushies in fall and Halloween colors. Thank you to everyone who bought my tutorial to make their own. Please send pics when you do!

If you’d like to make one, you can find them here.

There are handmade witchy hats too.

Plus vintage things, of course.

With a spooky turn to them.

As you can tell, I have embraced fall colors. Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate their beauty and have e corporates them into my style.

I hope you’ll be in to visit for the show! Please drop by my booth to say hello if you do.

There are still all sorts of things I need to tag and bring in yet, so this isn’t all of it.

Peeps Day

celebrations, cottage, drawing, Food and Drink, friends, holiday decor, wallpaper, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / April 14, 2022

We had a little get together for a Peeps craft day at the cottage. Angie brought a cookie display that was so pretty, it had to immediately become the center piece for our luncheon.

Sadly, three people had other things come up and couldn’t make it. Beth offered to bring a salad at the last minute so I wouldn’t have find a side dish for the quiche and homemade bread I’d prepared, which was very helpful of her.

She always makes the best salads, too.

I’d tried my hand at making brioche bread, and while it’s a lot of extra work compared to the kind I typically whip up, I think it is way worth it. But- there is almost a whole stick of butter in it opposed to the tablespoon of heart healthy oil I usually use, so maybe I won’t make a habit of this decadent bread that feels more like a pastry than a slice of bread.

The remainder of the loaf home was sent with the gal pals, thinking I would save myself from all that butter. But then, Nora left some of her cream pie tarts, Angie left cookies, and well, here I am having both for breakfast and feeling pretty happy to have them.

Lunch was only a little part of the day, the main event for me is always the projects.

We had vintage album mats and little girls images to make Easter wall hangings. This one is mine, and since I’d previously made a yellow daffodil one, I wanted a different style, but this might be too dark to be springy. I also don’t like the green pattern in the brown wallpaper and might peel up the girl to add another layer beneath her. Maybe some blue ledger paper…

This one is Nora’s next to her cute picnic basket that came full of tarts and fruity, sparkly wine.

(It did not leave full)

Everyone got a hand drawn placemat. Well, since only half of the group could come, they each got two.

I might make a habit of these. When I host real events, not just get togethers, I usually draw on tablecloths. But lately, instead of plastic table cloths that tickle your legs, and are pretty flimsy anyway, I’ve been covering my work tables in poster board and using large scrap book paper as place markers.

While these quick cartoons aren’t exactly major pieces of art, they are a little different. Plus, I really like drawing, so, yep, I think it might become something I’ll be doing more of.

Although the square size isn’t ideal for dining room placemats, a rectangle would be better.

Once we finished our Easter pictures, everyone had something else they’d brought to do. I made some little people to use on something else some day. Just because I love making little people. It reminds me of all the hours of playing I spent with paper dolls as a kid.

After the last couple of years that we have had, days like this mean more to me than ever. It was the best!

The Easter Bunny has Come to Town

cottage, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / April 8, 2022

I felt like adding some springtime to my house when I got back from Florida, even though it was cold here.

Or maybe because it was cold here?

Well, a bit of hoppiness warms things up, either way.

Before we left, I had Valentine pretties in place, and was smart enough to quickly box them up before heading out of town. Because as nice as it is to come home, it’s a bit sad to return to decor past it’s prime by a month or so.

Instead of just doing some springtime displays, I went full on Easter Bunny.

It was up a tad early, but I’ve liked having time to enjoy it. And of course, putting out the bunnies also means it’s time to set out the candy dishes of jelly beans, and I have really, really been enjoying those.

Galentines Day

cottage, Food and Drink, friends, holiday decor, jewelry

By Karla Nathan / April 5, 2022

Since it is almost Easter, how about if I show you pictures from…Valentine’s Day?

Right before our never ending trip, I had friends over for a Galentine bruncheon and farewell for my pal, Karla who was moving away.

I made a photo album for her and painted a Kansas Sunflower on it. Beth printed photos of our times together and we worked on book pages while we hung out.

When I saw these iridescent crystal beads at an antique store, I knew they’d be pretty on some copper chains that I had and that I wanted to make them up as Valentine necklaces for my friends.

And while they did end up ideal for that holiday, I think the pretty pastel color makes them nice for any springtime day. I’ve been wearing mine.

I’ll leave you with some photos of our day and in my next post, I’ll show you my lazy, decor transformation from roses to bunnies.