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Edited note:  Oh, my gosh! Thank you, to all who came by and ordered from the new store already!  I will add more vintage floral packages in the next couple of days, and  I have added two more Tag Book Kits and two more Bingo card sets, in case those were out when you checked in.

You knew I was going to do this eventually, right?  I love puppies, I love hats, the two had to be together sooner or later!!

Aren't the little cuties getting BIG?  When they were born, they didn't even fill up a hand.  Now look at the size of this little princess!!!

I have to admit, they are not easy to photograph.  95% of my pictures are a blur. Anyone have tips on taking pet pictures?  Of wriggling little pets?

And guess what????  I did it!!! I figured out the problem with my website and have it open and ready to shop in.  I'll be adding a button back to the side of my blog, just click on this picture (on the right hand side bar)  to enter "The Boutique at Karla's Cottage."

As a thank you for coming by to visit, the first ten shoppers will receive a vintage valentine in their package.

Please, let me know what you think of the site, if you get a chance.

And don't forget, I do have a January giveaway present for you all comments on this blog, all  month, are entered.

I will leave you with some photos of the inventory I am featuring in my brand spanking new web shop.

Yesterday, the Miss Frenchie's group had a meeting at Mission Road Antique mall. One of our members is Gwen, who has a booth at the mall, so I thought I'd show some of her wares.  She travels to France to buy her inventory, and has a great eye, this is some GORGEOUS STUFF!!

The meeting was productive, as well as entertaining.  Our luncheon turned into almost 3 hours of chatting. As much as I love my little fairy grand baby,  my family, and my studio, it was nice to get out, be in a lovely setting and talk about interesting topics that didn't include kiddie activities.  Even grammies need days out sometimes. 

Plus, these women are smart, professional, and creative.  Besides business plans for the April in Paris show we are working on, design, blogs, magazines and interiors were talked about.  Carol can quote the Wall Street Journal about business, and Debbie is sharp as a tack about colors and well, just about anything in retail and design.  While hitting other subjects of interest, we still managed to stay on track and discuss what we were there to talk about, Miss Frenchie.

 I've been president of our local art guild in the past, and I have to tell you, keeping creative people focused on  the subject isn't easy. But I was impressed with this group and the way we had a good time, but still got business done.  Deb took on a leadership role and handled it all well.

From what everyone had to say, I can promise that this next sale will be a wowzer.  More vendors, more time for preparing, more visual va-voom for each booth!  And I thought the LAST one was spectacular.  I just can't wait till the next one!

This cabinet was making me wish I hadn't spent all my money on Christmas gifts.  It would look perfect in my studio…. What a yummy blue interior.   Gwen's stuff is always yummy.

There is something about this time of year that has me wanting to redo, fix up, change my house.  Partially it is from being cooped up inside and seeing the same view over and over.  Also, having all the glitz and glitter of the holiday decorations, makes the house seem more special and when they are gone, everything seems a little more dull.

Right now, I am housebound, hanging out with Twinkle  and waiting for puppies. She and I slept in the living room so I could check on her every hour and sleep with the light on, but not disturb my husband.  That poor dog is past her guesstimated semi-calculated due date and I can tell she is ready.  So, I am using "our" confinement time to read, be lazy and kick back.

Beth loaned me "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" and I am loving it.   I just finished two books by Jennifer Weiner and one by Sophie Kinsella.  Why can't my favorite authors be more prolific??? I am all out of their books now and who knows how long I'll have to wait till a new one is out?

We have a fire going in the wood stove, I am going to make a pot of soup and go cuddle up with my fuzzy baby who just isn't feeling well and read the rest of my book.   We thought she was in labor last night, and was once again pretty restless.  Or was that because I was checking on her every hour and the poor thing got no rest?

Wish us luck. I hope that next time you hear from me, I'll have puppy photos to show you!

Well, I might have recovered from Miss Frenchie's sale now!  I've had a lovely, relaxing afternoon of touring holiday homes with friends, and going to a movie. Plus a book signing by another friend, who does the most amazing work.

Have you seen this book yet? It was named by the New York Times as one of the top illustrated children's books of the year. Its written by Stephen Johnson, a multi talented artist who has a whimsical twinkle in his eye.  I always enjoy seeing him at parties, he has a way of making conversations go in odd little directions that are a lot of fun. 

 A typical question from him over the wine and cheese at an art opening or cocktail party goes like this- "Have you thought much about polka dots lately?".  Not your typical topic, but somehow it was an interesting one that stuck with me long after it was over. Who knew that a group of us had so much to say about a simple little polka dot?

Here is a sample of his book, I bought a copy for the fairy grand baby.  Its quite unique and totally Stephen!  Lots of quirky thought went into it (along with talent.) Sorry about the bad photos.  I'll bet that even if I did have that Canon Rebel I am jonesing for, the bad lighting at my house at night would still make for bad pictures. At least, that is what I am telling myself.

As Miss Frenchie's sale wound down, I managed to do a little shopping for myself from the other vendors.  (more bad lighting, more bad photos, more apologizing)

The doll is from Beth, she had a shelf full of these beauties! The "crown" bowl was from Carol, French post cards from Gwen, and the ornament was made by Julie.  I'd never met Julie before and didn't know much about her. We were all admiring her work (she knits too, and had one of a kind scarves). Someone asked her if she got the center medallions for the ornaments at Michaels, and she said, no, she made them. 

Gwen said, "but I've seen these at Michaels".  And Julie explained that she DESIGNED them for K & Company and Michaels sells them!! 

I feel like I've been runnin with the big dogs this weekend!

Here is a photo of her ornies.  She sold out completely, the first night, then brought in more for Saturday, just to sell out right away again.  I was lucky to get one. 

Julie was just one of the interesting people at Miss Frenchie's.  I was thrilled to be part of the group that came together for this show.

Elizabeth was a whirlwind of energy, and  manages to look beautiful the whole time.  She drove in from St. Louis with a giant rented truck filled with jaw dropping goods, stayed up all night transforming the barn.  All while looking like she was posing for a magazine herself, as she was busily taking photos for an article for Romantic Homes. (yes, hopefully we'll be hearing about Miss Frenchie in one of our favorite magazines!)

She had great displays, plenty to drool over. I eyed one of her small side tables all weekend, then when it was still there at the end of the sale, I ended up giving in tomy longings and buying it for myself as a souvenier of the event. I'll get pictures of it as soon as I figure out where to use it.  I might put my Christmas tree on it for now.  Although, putting the tree up on a table will just tempt Miss Sugarwings to climb up to get it.  My tree might be more stable sitting on the ground for her to pluck pretties off of. 

Bethhas an interesting post about Miss Frenchie's.  She sums it up well, explaining that part of the joy of the whole weekend was that people "got it".  These fellow vendors and the shoppers there understood why Elizabeth scattered book pages around the floor of her area.  Although, Gwen's sweet little mom was pretty cute trying to sweep them all up!

And everyone "got it" that old starched collars looked great hanging from a chandelier.

Of all the booths, mine was the tamest.  It looked more like a craft fair booth than a super dooper Miss Frenchie celebration display.  I knew it going in, and felt a bit down about it, but dealt the hand I had. Or is it played the hand I had? Speaking of cards, Beth did mention that I don't exactly have a good poker face and she knew I was unhappy with my booth. 

But all day today, I have been daydreaming about April and our next show…. I plan on having a spot that makes me look like I can keep up with those big dogs I am running with!  

Or playing poker with. The way I am mixing metaphors, who knows what I am talking about.

Any way, I want to thank all those style mavens who made up Miss Frenchie's group and say once again how honored I was to be a part of it all.  Wow, these gals can verve a booth!

Thanks to:

French By Design
Sisters and Partners – Gwen McClure and Teri Elliott
Featured at Mission Road Antique Mall

Elizabeth Maxson, formerly of Elizabeth House, St. Louis
Designer, Stylist, Photographer
Contributing editor, Romantic Homes magazine
Website: elizabethhouse.us

Yesterday, I had a few friends over for crafting. Shawn brought these wonderful treats, her homemade marshmallows. She also brought a pot of Italian Wedding Soup.  I wonder if I could get her to drop by a couple days a week with goodies like that if I planned more craft days……

This is Shawn with her sweet little girl, Bethany, who made lots of things as gifts for all of us throughout the day. (like the tag necklace her mom is wearing)

Sugarwings was there for most of the day too, but she was an overwhelming force of nature. I was so busy chasing her that I wasn’t able to get the camera out till after she had left in the afternoon, I was worn to a frazzle by her antics.

I told the other bloggers that were here that I wouldn’t be surprised to read on their blogs today: "The truth about Sugarwings and what really goes on at Karla’s Cottage". 

Shawn is wearing a tiara I gave to her, she will be wearing it for Silver Bella, because she offered to drive up from Kansas City to help me with my booth!! How sweet of her, I am so relieved to have someone help me schlep all the junk from the truck and (hopefully) wrap up the packages as things (hopefully) sell.

Beth and Shawn both brought their Cuddlebugs and I was able to emboss and ink a bunch of tags then add vintage ribbons and crown stamps to them.

That was a simple project that I could do while tending to the tiny, two year old hurricane that was ripping through the studio all day. 

Beth was in a similar frame of mind, we were doing mindless work, of wrapping up packages of things.  She was getting ready for a sale she will be setting up next month and wanted these packs of pretty colored old tags ready for that.

Beth wrapped up ribbon to sell too.  It was just a good day to sit and talk and put things together. 

I’ve been looking around for a crown stamp that I liked and had no luck. Shawn had one with her and I used it on some parchment card stock sprayed with glimmer mist to make these small, square tags.  I was just going to make some to use on packages, but they came out so cute, I decided to bring some to Silver Bella to sell at my booth. I wish I had used the dotted Swiss Cuddlebug embossing plate more, it is my favorite one.

Marilyn and Shawn both got some Halloween pieces made, Marilyn was working on a book, and Shawn was making ATCs

Look at what they brought as gifts for all of us!  Marilyn is also a quilter and she made this patchwork scrapbook, filled with wonderful papers, and Shawn gifted everyone with a "Fright Night" collage.

Today, I am putting aside Silverbella packing and babysitting and being social to do some "real" artwork. Well, at least I hope it turns out good enough to be called real art!

I have a deadline to get a watercolor still life done for a show I am supposed to be entering.  So, I’m off to paint a pear.

ps- Since I haven’t been adding new things to the Etsy shop much due to other committments, I decided to at least mark some stuff down.  Check HERE for sale prices. I hope to add more to the shop this weekend. Well HOPE to at least! Thanks so much for shopping there!

My website- The Boutique at Karla’s Cottage

My Etsy Shop- Karla’s Etsy Shop

Tutorials- Romantic White Christmas and Romantic Gothic Ghosts

Mini Dress Forms

Wire nests, crowns, and wreaths

Cuff bracelets

My Flickr Site- Karlascottage

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My best bud and crafting companion:

Beth Leintz of Gathering Dust

A fun friend full of ideas:

 Carol Spinski of Raised in Cotton 

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Teaching venues 2011: 

Bird Song

Once Upon A Dream

Paper Cowgirls 

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Attendees at Bird Song, a nature inspired art weekend at my studio:

Teachers:  Carol, Debbie, Lisa, and myself.

Bird Song Sponsors

• Beth Leintz- Gathering Dust
• Celeste at the Victorian Tailer
• Dawn at the Feathered Nest
• Dee Waddell at JoDees
• Heidi at Sugah Beez
• Hope Ellington at Vintage Whimsy
• Karla at Cut from a Different Cloth
• Kay Ellen Hammer
• Lisa McIlvain at Tarnished and Tattered
• Lonnie Jenks at My Farmgirl Life
• Lynn at Create… Btreathe
• Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage
• Mitzi at Mitzi’s Collectables

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My East Coast buddy:  Robin at Thrifty Miss Priss and the group from the Blogger’s Day out in Leesburg:

       Hope from Paper Relics
Beth from Gathering Dust
Stephenie from Just a Little Bit Pink
Robin from Thrifty Miss Priss
Jessica from Such Pretty Things
Pamela from Pamela Janes Studio

Amy from Inspire Company
Heather from Pretty Petals
Andrea from Everyday Beauty

While in Leesburg, we got to meet the GRAPHICS FAIRY  herself!!

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Admirable Editors I have  enjoyed working with:

Barbara Jacksier

http://fabulousfifi.typepad.com/

http://jennydoh.typepad.com/

Gloria Gale

Jana Holstein

Christen Olizarez

Beth Livesay

Amanda Crabtree

Jennifer Jackson

   (an article for Harris Publications)

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Blog Friends who have come to visit me at my cottage:

Andrea

Jenn

Lisa

Lori

Jessi

Kim

Cheryl

Stacy

Lonnie

Heather

Natasha

Suzanne

Carol 

Debbie

Of Bluebirds and Roses

http://marilynbutler.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.bonoramamama.blogspot.com/

Hope at Vintage Whimsy

Rachel at Rach-ology

Laurie at Indulge your shelf

Stephanie at Crowns and Pearls

Lisa at A Peaceful Place to Be

Linda at Desires of the Heart

(the Glitter Lounge, at Silver Bella)

And when we go to Silver Bella, we always visit  Marilyn at Wallpaper Heaven (otherwise known as Hannahs Treasures.

Marilou at Lulus’s Lovelies *************************************************************************************************************************

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There are so many wonderful blogs out there to enjoy! Would you like to trade links so we can tell our readers about each other?

http://www.livelaughlovely.com:80/

http://www.theredbulletinboard.blogspot.com:80/– Jenny

http://www.lifeinmystudio.blogspot.com:80/– Debi

http://www.songbirdisnesting.blogspot.com/– Marianne

http://www.missmollycottage.blogspot.com/– Angela

http://vintagerosedesigns.blogspot.com:80/– Sonia

http://www.more-than-heirlooms.blogspot.com/– Myrna

http://thepottingshed-anythinggoeshere.blogspot.com/  Joann

http://wwwdesiresoftheheart.blogspot.com/– Linda

http://www.opulentcottage.typepad.com/– Andrea

http://www.vintiquitiesworkshop.blogspot.com

http://mitziscollectibles.typepad.com/ 

Jamie

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Creations from Romantic White Christmas

Amy’s Mitten

Andrea’s wreath

Dorthe’s Mitten

Ginger’s tree topper

Lisa used the boot pattern to make a fiber art piece!

Cami made up quite a few and used the projects as winter decor, not for Christmas

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Local Lawrence, KS Art and shopping

Please click here to return to Karla’s Cottage blog.

The new issue of Romantic Country is on the stands now and looks like a really pretty one.  I can’t wait to make time to sit down and savor it. Especially the article about the Rachael Ashwell’s new Shabby Chic home. I’m intrigued by that. 

But, life has been hectic the last couple of days, so I haven’t had a chance to do more than look and see if my article was in it or not!

And, yep, there we are, Carol and I are in there.  She has made the most wonderful projects for the pictures, and we will be having a giveaway with one of her ideas coming up soon.

Stay tuned for details! 

By the way, just LOOK at all the blogger friends listed in the credits.

And did you also notice Diane Guthrie in the photo credits? She is a great pal, and my family and I met up with her this weekend for a bit of  "agri-tourism" at a local winery.

Diane was doing a photo shoot for New Holland Tractors and needed some models to pick grapes for the day.

So, here we are, the newest tractor pin-up girls, soon to be plastered on barn walls on farms everywhere.

Diane was sweet to take some extra photos of the 4 of us, my two sisses and niece, so we have some professional quality photos of all of us together.

I think that back in the 70’s my sisters and I went to have our portraits done  together, but not since then.  This will be a nice one to frame and keep.   It is so  much better than going to a portrait studio, this picture will be full of memories of our fun weekend together.

Our morning at the winery started out foggy.  (by the way, these are now my photos, not Diane’s, but I am sure you could tell that).

The atmosphere was moody and romantic.

But I am afraid that once the novelty wore off and the fog burned away to become hot sun, we are the ones who became moody.

This wasn’t just playing, we actually had to work!!

We picked grapes for HOURS.  It was kind of fun and we had a great day over all, but it went on tooooo long. 

Still, it was an experience that was worth having, and I am glad we went.  I felt a bit bad about making my family be migrant workers for one of their vacation days, though.

Once lunch was served, we started to feel much better and quite pampered. The food was the best!

How can you feel grumpy when there is an all you can eat hand made chocolate buffet?

We were given little boxes of wine infused chocolates to take home (made by Sleepy Jean and absolutely, melt in your mouth, delicious!)

The company was good too.  This is Moofy, he picked up anything left lying around, water bottles, coffee cups, etc. and put them all in a pile by the house.  I wish I could train Twinks to pick up trash instead of trashing things!

After lunch, we met Sugarwings downtown for a quick carousel ride on the horsies in front of the Lawrence Antique Mall, where I just had to pop in and do a quick hat hunt.

Jackpot!  I found a fall colored rose strewn hat and have already ransacked it for the flowers.

Hmm, the creature on top didn’t come with the hat, he is a tomato worm that Bobbie Sue made from Sculpy.

We ended our day by sitting in the studio and making creatures from sculpy.

I whipped up a "flight" of fairies.  These are babies, newly hatching from their cocoons and are tucked into another hat I found this weekend.

Poor fairy babies, they don’t look too pleased to have a changeling in their nest!

Today, was back to work, the family is gone now.  So, I plucked the new (old) hat clean of its roses and listed them in Autumn craft packs on Etsy.

There is a total of 4 packs, just in time for you to make some Halloween finery for yourself.

And now, I need to get back to work again.  Silverbella is looming over me, I need to get ready!

check back with me in the next couple of days and I will have the Raised in Cotton & Karla’s Cottage Romantic Country Inspired Giveaway ready for you to see. 

Well, my family is left, on their way back to Indiana and it seems pretty quiet and lonely around here, with them gone. We had such a fun visit,  I don’t even know where to start, junking day and my new vintage gown and pile of hats? Renfest and Sugarwings dancing with fairies? Grape picking at a local winery? Sculpy night and the fairies we created?

How about Sugarwings and her favorite part of the Renfest? She adored this dragon and talked about him all day.

All of us loved the festival.  Sissy really got into the spirit of it by dressing as a fairy.  I was inspired by her and had to put on a pair of wings myself.  All I had was a tiny pair that the fairy grand baby loaned to me, so I added a vintage rose and some rhinestones  to them to give them more oomph.

And I also followed Sissy’s lead and added a bird to my garland.

When our little one saw the birds, she had to have one on her head too.

Her daddy learned how to do magic tricks with an orb. 

And we got to meet lots of real live fairies.

One of my favorite things was the dance of the fairies.

Our little sprite couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t supposed to be a part of the act.

When volunteers were asked to come up from the audience and join in, of course, Sugarwings was the first one up there.

She did her special dance, that looks like a marionette flying through the air, we couldn’t tell if her feet ever touched the ground during the performance. And of course, all of our group agreed that she stole the show from the other fairies.      

Durning dance, Sugarwings met some kindred spirits.  The only thing cuter than a little toddler fairy is a whole pack of them. Or do fairies come in packs?  Flocks? That sounds better.

This sleepy fairy says it all for me. Lots of fun and magical times are being had this weekend, but I am worn out!

I’m just popping in to say hi, while downloading our photos from the Renfest.  It was a beautiful day and Sugarwings had a great time showing off her dancing skills in a fairy circle.

More photos later- I hope you are all having a lovely weekend too!

This air clay and sculpy is just the best!  So far, so good, on figuring out what needs to be baked and what doesn’t. At least, I think I got it right….

I’ve only had time to paint a couple of the pieces and glitter them up.

Instead, I have been hanging with Sugarwings, she had a couple of sleepovers in a row.

And I finally managed to convince her to put  on the vintage dress from Auntie Beth for a short lived tea party.  A couple of minutes into the tea party, she got up to read a book to one of her fairies ( a gift from Sugar Bear Karla), then yelled-

"Pree dress OFF- I paint!!!!"

So, we spent the majority of the last couple of days making play dough snakes and painting.  Instead of saying ‘art studio’ she says ‘our studio’.

While she painted, I decked out this witch that I had made from sculpy (it had to be baked, and I baked it in the oven with the vintage marble "crystal ball", and the glass didn’t explode.)

She is wearing a hat made from old black velvet topped with a flower from my stash and a dove that I painted black and glittered to be a crow.

Her eyes are green crystals, but I think black would stand out more. I might pry the glued in crystals out and change them for a darker color. She looks kind of eerie with the light eyes.

There are a few air clay punkins that got painted too, but they are not done yet, just paint and glitter so far.  They have big plans for their future.  After the next issue of Romantic Country is on the stands, I’ll show you what to do with the pumpkins!  But it is a surprise until then.

And what happens to the pumpkins will also be involved with the fall giveaway from Carol and I, so remember to leave a comment if you want to enter that! (as well as my Sweet September Giveaway)

The three tags are for my sisters and niece who will be here in a couple hours!  They are driving in from Indiana where we are all from, and they still live. We will be going to the Kansas City Renascence Festival together on Saturday, and also doing some grape picking at a B&B and being treated to a gourmet luncheon there after a photo shoot that I am helping with on Sunday.  So, I might not have time to post in the next few days, or answer comments. But please, do leave me some, I will love reading them when I catch up! And each one is an entry into the TWO giveaways.

Since the fairy grand baby has been here for a couple of days and we have done nothing but paint and play dough, I haven’t had time to get ready for guests. Today is hectic! Groceries, cooking, arranging flowers, burning muffins.  Yep, I made a double batch of Pumpkinbutter muffins and burnt them so bad the house was full of smoke. 

Looks like pop tarts for breakfast tomorrow.

And the tags were all I had time to make, since I’ve had my helper here for a few days.  We went to TJMAxx and bougght a couple of their fairy dolls to give as gifts since nothing got created. 

Well, I’d better get moving with the rest of my preperations, I think I hear the baby monitor now, which means my little window of computer time has come to an end.

Have you ever played with Sculpy or air clay? After seeing Sugarwings have such fun with her play dough, I thought I should give it a try.

And in the upcoming article Carol and I worked on for Romantic Country, Carol has created some amazing fall decor with the stuff.

So Carol came by today to give me a lesson.

Instantly, I was in love with this new craft!

I tried both kinds of product, but didn’t realize one kind needs to be baked and the other doesn’t. So of course, I mixed them all up…. I am hoping I figured out which is which correctly.

So, some are going in the oven and some are not. I’ll see how they turn out.  If they burn or crumble, then  maybe I don’t love this craft as much as I thought!

In honor of the beautiful things that Carol made for the magazine article, we have decided to have a giveaway of one of the creations. We will also be selling some pretties from the shoot, and offering kits for you to make your own too.

Until the story comes out next week, these pictures will be your hints about what we will have to offer. (and no, it isn’t mice)

But I can tell you now, that Carol sure has some mad skills.  Wow, pretty stuff!

Miss Carol will be my Silver Bella roomie, and she had an idea to throw a party (Carol is a non-stop, idea producing machine).

So, on the first night of the event, we have invited the girls from our Pre-Bella Swap to our room, other wise known as the "Glitter Lounge" for wine and chocolate.

And of course, if you are inviting Bellas, you want it all to be pretty!  Today, we made wine charms with little silver bells on them.  We also added vintage beads, some charms, and semi-precious beads from my stash.  All of our glitter gal guests will get a charm to keep as a souvenir.

I want to find some tiny crowns to add to them too.

Speaking of machines, you should have seen the stuff Beth made today while Carol, Gwen and I planned Silver Bella projects.  I wish I’d gotten some photos of her pile of tags, she was a work-a-holic.

And she brought us each a bundle of these warm, Autumn colored ribbons.

Gwen is starting a blog too, as soon as I have an address, I’ll be telling you all about it.  She is fascinating and such fun. Its not every day that you meet an FBI anti-terrorist agent who collects French ephemera!

Sweet Gwen let me copy some of her rare and wonderful papers that she just picked up from FRANCE last month.   She will also be attending Silver Bella and is going to be a vendor there, and this is a sample of some of her wares. Directly from France and straight to Omaha!

Bellas will get first pick from Gwen’s French loot. That right there is enough reason for you to sign up to go to the event, if you haven’t already!

Just listening to her describe some of the displays for the booth she is planning made me drool. Then, she spread all these Chocolat cards out on the table and I swear, we almost needed a mop, the drool factor was way up there.  

Details will be coming about Raised in Cotton and Karla’s Cottage’s Fab Fall Giveaway in honor of the magazine article, but for now, remember that every comment counts toward my Sweet September prize!