holiday decor – Page 7 – Karla's Cottage

Simple Treasures and Dealing with Grief at the Holidays

collections, cottage, dogs, family, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 25, 2021

2020 was such a wreck I almost didn’t decorate for the holidays. But with a grand fairy around, one whose year was as bad as mine, I needed to.

And the twinkle of lights during a dark winter is very uplifting.

So I did some holiday foofing, and was glad that I did. But when I found the bag of pinecones that Ryan and I gathered on a walk, the recollections of that day wrenched my soul.

We’d had Sugar with us, and we were in an area we called The Danger Zone, because there were so many squirrels. Balancing a squirrel crazed dog on a leash while trying to fill our pockets with pinecones, and having them fall out every time we bent over made us laugh til I cried.

And I cry now, just thinking about it.

But it was a fun memory, one to hold on to. So, last year, I put out just the trees with lights and pinecones in honor of him and how much we laughed that day while picking those up.

I will always have a tree decorated with pinecones for Ryan now, and use them throughout the house.

Every day is hard when you lose a child. But little things, like a pinecone, that can bring back flashes of a very happy day, are treasures that can help.

I have added his picture to one of the pinecone trees, and I love this one because it shows his caring and kindness.

I have used a bit more red around the house too. It was his favorite color.

And I have done mosaic glass on vases that flowers were delivered in after he died. They have flickering candles inside and make me think of how many ways he lit up my life.

This is our second Christmas without him. Sometimes I am shocked that so much time has gone by.

Other days, it feels like he has been gone forever.

I look at Molly, watching her grow from a wriggly little pup into a lovely dog, and realize that Ryan never even met her. She is a living symbol of my time without him.

I can just hear his voice if he knew we kept this pup from the litter. He’d probably say just what his brother did- are you crazy!? You do not need another dog!

But he’d have loved her to pieces.

She and I go for long walks on the sidewalks Ryan and I followed and some days we stop at the Danger Zone where all the pinecones fall and I tell her about him. She is a good listener.

There are so many happy stories to share. And so many pinecones covering the ground. Each is a reminder that nature renews itself, life goes on. That the little, simple things are what is important.

Another party!

cottage, friends, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 23, 2021

It’s the season for celebration, right?

I have been making the most of it and doing every activity, party, gathering, fun thing I can think of.

And I was lucky to have some fun, local Peeps who could join me for a craft day. My studio could use the laughter, it’s been a quiet place lately.

We had a luncheon, lots of snacks, and lots of fun.

I’d made up some little kits to work on.

And had a few other bits and pieces for projects.

And people brought their own things to make too.

Glue was flowing, scissors were snipping and it was so nice to have guests to share my space.

A book club party with bookish party favors

antiques/junking, Books, celebrations, collections, cottage, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2021

The annual holiday party for our book club was at my house, well, I have to admit that it always is at my house. I tend to hog the date because I love parties so much.

And I love party favors! I decorated the table with the book page/paper ornies that I’d made and sent one home with each person. You can’t see it in this pic, but each ball has a tiny, book charm dangling from it.

Here is the table before my friends arrived.

I have been collecting 49 cent Christmas plates from Goodwill all year, there are a few different patterns, but I like the mix.

It’s all a bit of a mix match. The water glasses almost all are the same, but the silverware, wine glasses, napkins, and plates are all over the place. The placemats are pages from the Grand fairies’ outgrown Christmas books.

Here is what I have learned about hosting a party:

NO ONE CARES IF IT MATCHES!

But they do appreciate an effort to make things pretty for them. I doubt if they cared that the plates were only 49 cents each and were various patterns. Or that to have enough wine glasses, I had to use a very non traditional, purple one.

They might have cared that the pie was a little dry.

Durn it. I used frozen blueberries, but made it the same as I usually do with fresh ones. That just isn’t the same, I love the juiciness of the fresh ones. Frozen requires more sugar, liquid and some lemon, I think.

The peach pie was better. I used pecan flour, eggs, some juice from the canned peaches, cinnamon and brown sugar in it.

This was my first time using Aldi’s crust (I never make my own crust). It was so-so. Not very flakey, and a little dry. I’ll stick with Sprouts, their crust is always ideal. Plus it is vegan, which is good when I am feeding my family.

Also, this might not be the prettiest place to set out desserts, but it worked.

I found some “Vintage Tinsel Sprinkles” at Homegoods and happily glittered all the treats. I love them so much that I had some glittery, festive-ness on my peanut butter toast today. Using my holiday plates.

One very nice thing about my big stack of thrift store plates is that I don’t have to be gentle with them. They are special, but they aren’t worth anything, so we have been using them daily since Thanksgiving.

Dishes are breakable, so I never want to own any that I am afraid of using. I like plates that I can enjoy.

Why yes, that is a white, Halloween pumpkin and glittered Easter egg on my Christmas wreath

cottage, dogs, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 18, 2021

This wreath stays up on my door with some switcheroos throughout the year. I never attach any thing permanently, picks are just stuck through the grapevine for quick changes.

For past Christmasses, I’ve put ornaments in the little nest. Or vintage birds. But I kind of like the glittered eggs that were in there for Easter, so left them.

I also left one of the velvet pumpkins from fall decorating, and most of the pastel, autumn blooms. Some glittery poinsettias and frosted greenery were tucked in around them and I was done.

Lazy and easy, but I’m happy with it.

The rest of the entry way was quick too. Of course a sweet, little Dorothy straight from the groomers adds a pop of prettiness!

All I did was pull up the dead flowers and stick mini trees into the pots. Very lazy. But better than dead flowers, right?

I can be very lazy when I know I am roofing up something just for show, not to sell or to keep for reuse. Like this teensy, flocked tree from Walmart in the flimsy, plastic pot.

For a fast makeover so that it would look nice in my guest bathroom, I covered the pot in sheet music topped with some wrapping paper and added a ribbon and buckle to the rim. Quick, easy, not a lot of thought went into it, but it brightened the pot up.

I’ll probably pop the rhinestone buckle off for future use when the rest get thrown away after the tree is done. I don’t know about you, but I have never been able to keep these things alive to plant outside for spring.

My philosophy is that a small, creative touch improves most things. But doesn’t have to be a big, overwhelming project. Especially at the holidays when we are stressed.

Do what you can and enjoy what you do.

Holiday homes

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 16, 2021

Recently, I had a little luncheon for friends.

I was going to use a tablecloth, but decided to leave it off so I could turn on the twinkle lights taped up underneath the table. But the wood looked stark with the white dishes, so I used placemats made from old book pages put together with metallic tape.

That helped.

It had been such a nice day, out on the holiday home tour, looking at all the festive-ness around town. Then wine, soup, and cupcakes at the cottage to talk about the decorations we’d seen.

I’ll leave you with some photos of the afternoon.

A simple corner

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 14, 2021

There isn’t a lot of Christmas decor going on here, sometimes a little bit is enough.

The cocoa station

Food and Drink, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 12, 2021

Around here, the holidays mean lots of hot cocoa by the lights of the trees, watching Christmas movies.

Since it’s a regular thing, I want it to be convenient. And festive!

We keep all of our supplies together, with trays leaned up behind them. So we pick up a tray, and load it with what we need for our party, then carry it to the tree to enjoy.

I keep a supply of candy canes for stirring, vegan and regular marshmallows, cocoa powder that we can use the hot water dispenser with, as well as cocoa that needs a teapot of hot milk to make, along with teabags, (because I can’t always handle as much hot chocolate as the grandfairies can) and treats.

Some of it is tucked away inside this chipboard box that I turned into a gingerbread house.

This one holds a baggie of cookies.

And there is always whipped cream in the fridge ready for the festivities.

A bit of my holiday decor

holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 4, 2021

This year, I got my Christmassy Foof up early.

Again.

Typically, I use the excuse of hosting an art event or being on the holiday home tour for decorating before Thanksgiving. But this year, I just wanted to.

And that is enough of a reason.

For me, it is scaled back, not as elaborate as in the past. But more than last year.

2020 was hard. I needed some sparkle to lighten my load, but I wasn’t up to the full spread.

This year, I decided to set out a few more things.

It doesn’t usually take much time to do, since I pack it all up in a very organized way. But last year, when I dug through a few boxes for bits and pieces, I made quite a mess of all of it.

These photos are of my dining room hutch.

It is a winter forest, with trees, deer and fairies.

And lots of white lights!

I have a love/hate relationship with the battery powered LEDs. Over all, I love them to pieces. They run on remote control so they can be added to hard to reach places or spots with no plugs. They have a timer so they will automatically come on each day then turn themselves off. They have multiple settings and look pretty in any setting.

But oh man- the tangly mess they make! That long, long wire gets all twisty and stuck. Ugh.

But the pros outweigh the cons. I like having lights on this piece, and there is no plug in anywhere, so the battery operated strings make all the difference.

The main part of the house is all that I’m decorating this year, and I’ll have more photos of it later. Some years, I do every single room, and I love it that way. But I am pretty happy with just the downstairs decked. Every morning, all of the power strips are flipped before I even have my coffee, so I can enjoy the twinkling lights all day long.

And that is very satisfying.

How to make folded paper Christmas balls

holiday decor, how-to projects, vintage paper/collage art, wallpaper

By Karla Nathan / November 28, 2021

These layered balls ended up being pretty easy to make once I figured it out. My first ones didn’t come out as nicely, but they got better as I made a few.

My first mistake? Using only vintage papers, and not being careful to find ones that aren’t brittle.

I discovered that the ideal paper is scrapbooking card stock, but since I love the old stuff so much, I tried using some book pages and wallpaper too. Plus, a mix looks pretty together.

Vintage flocked wallpaper is ideal, and some more sturdy wallpapers are too. But most of the antique ones disintegrate when folded.

I used some Xmas wrapping paper also.

If you have a fragile paper you just love, and really want to use, maybe try backing it with card stock first.

These were some that worked for me, as well as some book pages. To test it, fold the paper a few times and see if it cracks. If not, it should work okay.

Cut and fold all of the pages ahead of time, so you have a pile to work with and not have to pause while gluing.

Fold each piece with the most interesting side inwards, so you are gluing the outsides to each other.

Glue one folded piece to the next until you have a stack that looks like this.

Another discovery that I made is that it’s a good idea to glue all of the folded circles together and set them aside to dry. If you try to make the orb while the glue is wet, the paper is more fragile and will easily tear.

While still folded, you can ink the edges.

Add some strong glue (I like The Ultimate) along the folded edge.

Cut ribbon or string, and fold it in half with a loop at the end.

(I used pipe cleaners down the center of some, and it did work, but for me, it was too easy to poke through the papers with it, string or ribbon is better).

Then stick the ribbon into the glue, with the loop at the top and the two ends hanging out of the bottom.

Open the pages.

Apply glue to both half circle sides, then press them together to make the orb. Smoosh them together and there it is! You might need to carefully pick each layer apart, gently manipulate them, and form the circle.

If you get a tear when opening it up, just attach an extra circle over that segment.

You can use the two trailing ends or your ribbon or string to tie a bundle of netting and ribbons to the bottom.

Or use them to tie on charms. Or do both! (I liked the idea of book charms with the old book pages).

How many circles did I use? Well, they are all different. The thinner the paper, the more you need. The heavier papers fill out nicely without as many. And because they are thick, too many makes the stack so high that when you put them together you have a huge gap in the center.

So, about 20 for thin papers, half that much for heavy ones.

An elfin makeover

cottage, fairies, holiday decor, redos

By Karla Nathan / November 23, 2021

This is the after from my mini redo. I had the cottage halls decked and thought I was done, but decided this area wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be.

This is the before. Cute stuff, but for my home, there might have been a tad too much red. And it’s was too busy with lots of small things lined up.

So I fetched this hunk of gorgeous-ness from the studio, glittered up some elves, and moved a few of the guys to another location.

This cabinet was a gift from a Peep, and it is such a lovely piece. It was just what I needed to take away the cluttery feeling of so many tiny figurines together.

The glue is still wet on this fella’s rhinestone buttons. Aren’t these sprites sweet in silver and gold glitter?

I used cream chalk paint over the high gloss red glaze, and sprinkled glitter or mica onto the paint before it dried.

The red felt pants on the other gnomes had a wash of white paint over the bright fabric to made it look pink as it dried.

I had debated whether or not to mess with this, since all the decorating was done, but decided that I’d enjoy it more if I made a few little changes.

And I do!