Cottage & Family:
Room

We are so excited to start the
Creatively Made Home
e-course and wanted to share it with you!!

Creatively Made Home is an all new e-course about creating a home that reflects your heart in everyday living. It is about inspiring and encouraging you to create and style a home that you and your family love to live in...

This five week online course is hosted by 5 friends who want to help you to define your decorating style so that it is a true reflection of your heart.

Creatively Made Home is hosted by:

Tracey Leber

Sara Duckett

Kimberly Taylor

Jennifer Rizzo

and.....Jeanne Oliver

Here is the jam-packed schedule for the course:

* Each week you will have amazing truthful videos from not only the five teachers but other creative women.

* Each week we will take a room from one of YOU and all five women will give their suggestions telling you how they would transform the room with their style.

* There will be 50+ project videos.
These will be incredible videos that include everything from gardening, cooking, gift giving and decorating.

* There will be written tips from each woman telling you how she starts a room, picks paint, fabrics, etc. You will learn where to start when putting your own home together.

* Tons of beautiful house photos from each of the five women.

* Videos that truly reflect what life is like in each of their homes. The stuff that life is really about.

* Each woman will share their own truthful journey about how they started making their home a reflection of their hearts.

* Each person registered will get an easy entertaining e-book to download.

It will contain go to recipes for beautiful and easy entertaining (they do go together), photos of table settings that take the stress out of having people over, favorite drinks and so much more (and their funniest entertaining story).

* There will be a private Facebook group to connect with other class members.

* There will be a once a week live discussion with one of the teachers!

* You will get printables and pdfs to keep and use again and again.

This course is about loving your home, loving your family and blessing those around you....and having fun doing it.

This course will lavish you with ideas, beauty, inspiration, joy and encouragement!
Come and play house with us.

Class begins October 22.
Registration is now open!

The price of the course is $58 for all 5 weeks!

To sign up for Creatively Made Home, go *HERE*

We can't wait !!

Who needs curtains
when you have a valance
of hydrangeas ?

I am totally on a mission
this year to figure out
how to dry hydrangeas~
This is my attempt
today ~ Actually these
bouquets are cut at different
times of the bloom to
see which timing is the best ~

I LOVE how the colors are
all so different ~
The bright pink are from
a completely different
plant but all the others
are from the same one ~
Next year I am going to
have some blue ones ~

This picture is some
I dryed in a vase of water ~
They were bright pink when
I cut them and they dried
kind of shriveled and not
really how I want them ~

These are some I cut at
a later time of the bloom
and put in water to see if
that makes a difference ~
So far they are not dry but
I am curious how they
turn out in comparison to
the hanging ones ~

Pretty soon every curtain
rod in my living room is going
have hydrangeas hanging
from them ~
I am thinking I kind
of love them!! I hope they
keep the different colors ~

Kristin and I have been busy busy with our website
the last couple of weeks!!

But ... in between the busyness there are
babies coming very soon!!

Kristin's baby boy, Isaac's room, is
in a vintage airplane theme ~ She wanted
to use one of her husband, James' photographs,
but wanted it to look old ~

This is a quick step by step but
you can get more detailed instructions on her
family blog ~

First we got the picture laser printed at
Staples in a 20x30 inch size ~
Then we went to Home Depot and had them cut
a piece of wood in to 2 pieces 10 x30 inches ~

Place the 2 pieces of wood side by side
( we attached it together at the end but
you can do that step ahead of time )~
Then brush on Acrylic Gel Medium
and spread pretty generously ~
Place your paper with the image face down
and smooth out ~
We had a couple of wrinkles and actually it
ended up adding to the vintage look ~

Let it sit overnight ~
Then dampen the paper with
a wet cloth ~
When the paper looks wet rub with your fingers and the paper kind of rolls off ~
Kristin cracked me up because her fingers
didn't have finger prints or something because
she was having issues with this step ~

You can keep dampening the paper when it dries out
until it is
all rubbed off ~ Some of the paper was left
and it ended up grabbing the stain and looked good ~

Next Kristin stained over the entire piece ~
Then she sanded the edges
and rubbed the edges with
Pigment ink with a sponge ~

Lastly we waxed it with Annie Sloan clear wax
but you can also use Mod Podge to seal it ~

After it dried the wood was attached together
on the back with metal flat brackets ~

The whole project cost less than $30 ~

It turned out great and looks awesome
in Isaac's room !!!

Today I piled my dining room

table full of vintage lace,

ribbons, buttons and just stuff ~

It is so relaxing to me to just

sit and create ❤

This is a new rendition of my

Flea Market Tote that I did last year

and I LOVE it!! There is something

about laces all arranged together

that is so pretty ~

I am trying to play around with

PicMonkey too :) I am really liking

it alot!!

Pre PicMonkey~

and after PicMonkey ~

So I told you a couple posts back

about Funky Junk Interiors

"She's Got Guts" challenge ~

It was to take something random

and do something with it that

you might not normally think of ~

Today is the link party day!!

Remember the grain buckets that

I got a couple of weeks ago ?

I knew that my challenge had to be

with those ~ So I went out to

my workshop and just

grabbed stuff that has been out

there forever ~

We have been redoing our bathroom

and my studio ~ I needed some

farmhouse style things for those

rooms so that is where my brain was

headed ~

The first thing is this wayyyy awesome

basket that I found at a flea market ~

It is perfect for a

studio organization piece ~

I tied on two of the grain buckets

and used them for buttons and pictures ~

Now I love it even more than I did before!!

The next thing was for

a blank wall in our bathroom

that I really couldn't figure

out what to put on it ~

This old frame worked great with

hanging grain buckets ~ I put in chunky

farmhouse soaps and a candle that

is battery operated {I love those! }~

Lastly was for our

other bathroom ~ I took an old

door front and repainted it with

Old White Chalk Paint and put some

dark wax and clear wax ~ Then attached

the grain buckets to it for more

soaps and another candle ~

It was a great thing to

stretch my imagination and do

things that I really hadn't thought

of before ~

It totally feels like it

has been forever since

I have blogged!

We have been moving our daughter

and son in law into their home

and redoing our master bathroom

and life just flies by ~

In between that I have still

been working on things

for my website ~

I have been LOVING

all of the pictures of

vintage weddings

using burlap, lavender, muslin

and old stuff ~

So going along with that theme

I decided to make a little

flower girl basket and

ring bearer pillow ~

I just love the combination

of burlap and muslin ~

They are on my website here ~

My youngest daughter, Stephanie

and her husband Noah just bought

a cottage home that they

are going to redo and decorate

in a vintage cottage style ~

We went to the coolest store in

Dallas today called

Discount Home Warehouse Architectural Salvage ~

They go into old homes and salvage all of the

really amazing old things and then

sell them at their huge shop ~

I am thinking that would be the

Steph & Noah want to replace all of the

interior doors with old vintage chippy doors ~

This is the "door room" ~

There were some really neat old

pillars and columns but they

needed to find a vintage pedestal sink ~

They ended up with the one that Stephanie

is trying in the 2nd picture ~

Noah truly needs to be an

American Picker because he

rocks at it!!

Decisions .... decisions ...

They have a bunch of clawfoot tubs, mantels

for amazing prices, tons of old metal,

wood shutters for $10 each!!

Once again these are crummy pictures

with my Iphone ~ I am going to

start bringing my camera with me

on these adventures ~

Dallas has some really fun places to

explore ~ We went to some wonderful

antique shops too but they were kind

of pricey ~

Chat soon!!

I have been really really wanting to

go shopping in

McKinney Texas for quite awhile now ~

Today I decided to hop in the car

and hit the road ~

McKinney has the cutest old town square

with great shops

and the most wonderful old homes

all around the square ~

So I took quite a few pictures of the shops

in the

square and what am I going to show you ?

A Bathroom !!

I asked Patina Green if I could

take pictures and blog

because I pretty much adore their shop !!

You can buy

fresh breads and produce there,

eat there and buy gorgeous

home decor there ~

But after gallons of ice tea on my drive I had to (check out)

the bathroom there ~

Ohhhhh my gosh I was in love !

Maybe it is because

we are in the process of getting quotes on our

horrible, ugly bathroom ~

Here are some pictures I took while about 4 women

(probably dying) were waiting outside the door for me

to hurry up ~

These pictures were with my Iphone so not so great ~

I will show you more pictures I took in a couple days of their shop and

around McKinney ~

I have to say what drew me to McKinney today in the first place

was Annie Sloan Chalk Paint that is available at

Lady Butterbug's ~

Mr. & Mrs. Butterbug are pretty much the sweetest

couple ever!!

I signed up for a class and bought a kit and

am ready to go!!!

I am so excited to try Chalk Paint after reading about it

pretty much everywhere !

I found the old brush in one of the antique shops and had to have it just

for pictures :) I am wondering if

old brushes will be a new flea market hunt of mine ....

I just wanted to show you a quick, inexpensive

and super duper easy ruffle curtain ~

This is what I am working on

today so I thought I would

show you the steps as I go ~

Curtains like these have been shown in

blogland before but

I am not sure where so if

you know let me know :)

Ikea was my spot to get the curtains because

they are a great price and

the fabric is awesome !

They say not to dry them in the dryer but

I did and the fabric came out kind of like a

lightweight drop cloth feel ~

First I cut the white set to the length

I needed because they come real long ~

Then I ripped 2 lengthwise strips of

the darker about

9 inches wide and sewed them together

to get the correct length for gathering ~

Then I used my handy dandy ruffle foot and

pleated them ~ If you don't have a ruffler just

gather any way that you would like ~

Next I measured and pinned

the ruffle to the bottom

and sewed it on to the curtains ~

I left the edges raw on the ruffle

because I like them like that ~

For the ruffle it just took one of

the darker panels

so I have another one left which is tons

to make pillows out of ~

It would be cute to add another ruffle too !

These are actually for my bedroom but

I would love some outside too !

The pictures kind of look weird but

I was having fun in grittiness with picnik :)

Later today:

I made a pillow with the extra

curtain panel ~

I love the ruffles and rose

{I bet it was hard to tell I LOVE ruffles :) }

You can find it on my website ~

AHHHHH a tornado has officially
struck my house ~

Do you ever get in those modes
where all you want to do is create
and the house falls apart around you ?

Well that is me since we got home ~

I had to plant some flowers since it is the end of May
and very much overdo for Texas ~
( I got that accomplished yesterday )

My suitcase is half unpacked and laundry
is everywhere ~

My "not so white" slipcovers
in my living room are in the process
of getting washed and bleached ~

I am working on a HUGE project
for someone and it is all over
my dining room and living room ~

And all I wanted to do is create
so this is what I did today instead
of what I needed to do ~

I seriously think I have ADD ~

Ohhh and I was going through pictures of
our trip to Cabo ~
I didn't realize Cabo was so deserty
(until we got there) but the weather was amazing !!

Okay I am off to try and focus on getting
something I need to do done :)

I REALLY REALLY need to continue my purging quest

but for some reason I have just quit ~

That is totally how I am ......

Anyway, so instead of purging I am creating more

disasters all around me ~ I just want to antique shop

and create !!

Isn't that what we are supposed to be doing ???

I actually have an office/studio and a big huge workshop outside

but where do I end up ........ in the kitchen and dining room ~

I really don't like to cook much

so I guess this is a great thing to do

in the kitchen :)

See how the island has a cute apothecary full of flour ~ Well

I am pretty sure it is just there because it is cute ~

My dining room table is a full too !!

I am thinking it is supposed

to be a place to eat but my hubby is a pilot

and not home much for

dinner and my kids

are married so it is a giant craft table ~

Works for me !

I do my Bible study here too :)

I love to start my day with Jesus ~

I have not gotten alot of cooking done

over the last couple of days but I have

had alot of fun crafting !!

Okay I am really really going to clean these areas

right now ~

Chat soon !

Well the closet is clean and I have

moved on to more closets :)

So since I don't do alot of pink anymore

and that is what I have alot of in

closets ~ I am listing it in my Flea Market

category as well as some of the other

categories on my website ~

The Dallas Home & Gift Show is next

week and I am dying to BUY stuff !!

So I have to clear out the old

to bring in more !

Here are some Flea Market Category things ~

Also I am not going to be carrying magazines

anymore so .......

We have buy a Romantic Homes

Bedrooms and Bathrooms and get a Kitchens

for free !

And with a purchase of $30 or more you

can get a free Romantic Homes February

which is sooo gorgeous !!

I have been in love with creams for quite awhile now,

which you can probably tell by my website

and blog if you have been following me :)

For awhile we have had a pretty much

pinky and white shabby chic style home but I wanted

to redecorate so we are slowly

but surely taking room by room ~

I have always loved to change stuff!!

Anyway, so I decided to go from my complete

white white things

to creams but still keep some white here and there ~

I got a wild hair to tea dye

our white slipcovered sofa and chair in the bathtub ~

It came out cool but truly, a whitish couch with dogs and

well ..... pretty much people too, doesn't work too well ~

I also took some white wood pieces that I had and made

them a creamy color and

really love how they came out!!

Then I wanted to change my wall decor

behind my couch but am kind of

on a personal challenge to not spend alot of money ~

Sooo.... I dug in my own stash

of stuff I have had around waiting for a new home

and created something completely new with

stuff getting really dusty out in my shop ~

It has been so much fun and even more fun

recreating with what I already had!!

After Christmas is over and my decorations are down

I will show you

my new mantel decor and other things ~

The other day I was in at Lone Star Antique Mall

and found (at Bountiful ) this most precious purse filled with

shredded vintage paper and a sweet vintage photograph ~

I just adore it so it is going in my bedroom that is

going to be transformed after the hub bub of Christmas ~

I am loving transferring images to fabric

so today I washed some muslin bags to

make them look wonderfully crinkly and then

added some crowns ~

Also the other thing that I just love lately

is shredded vintage paper ~

How cute it is in so many things just like the purse ~

I will have some for sale soon .... just because it is fun !

So I just looked at my clock on my

computer and it is only 8:30 and

I am sleepy ~ What is up with that !

When does the time change again ??

This is my latest project--- now currently residing in my dining room, by hopefully making its way back to school! For the past year I have been planning to do a large scale Chihuly projects. Last year I collected hundreds and hundreds of soda and water bottles (so many that my art room began resembling a recycling center or landfill). Initially I was planning on using them to create swirls to fasten together to make a Chihuly inspired chandelier. But recently I saw a awesome project on Mr E's art blog for a funky Chihuly chandelier and I knew this was just what my hundreds of bottles were destined for! I followed his wonderful instructions, and threw in a few swirly cut up bottles in a well for a little extra funk. My chandelier (which was created by 1st and 2nd grade students), has a framework of a tomato cage wrapped in chicken wire. The tissue paper wrapped bottles are fastened onto the frame with strong wire.

It is the Dallas Home & Gift Show time again and I was so anxious to see what the new stuff is going to be for next year ~

"Market" is only twice a year in Dallas ~ once in January and then in June ~ We displayed in January but aren't this time ~ We will be back there in January again though :)

There were alot of bright colors but my favorite were the creamy items ~ They were everywhere which thrilled me because I LOVE them ~

Here are just a few pictures of some yummy things ~ some of which we will have in our shop ~

I want this sofa ~ It had a print on it too which is hard to see ~

This is a lamp that was beyond amazing !

There is free food and drinks everywhere ~ this is at one of the showrooms for a Mexican lunch ~ You definitely do not leave hungry at the end of the day ~

Well I am off to scour my catalogs that I collected and hit it again tomorrow and Sunday
~

I am supposed to be in Las Vegas with my hubby but the flights were packed full so market it is ~

It is fun though !

Over the weekend I went to the sale at Cottage Panache and fell in love with all of her gorgeous things in her shop ~

I got to get some of Lisa's wonderful treasures before she sold out ~

Soooo I have always been a pink shabby chic girl but Oh my gosh my heart skips a beat over creams and tarnished silver ~

Rene at Miss Gracie's House has me completely inspired to redo my bedroom, well whole house, in creamy yumminess ~

I have noticed that alot that I get for my website has these colors too ~ I will never get away from a little touch of pink though as you can see from the pictures ~

The last post showed some of the things I was working on and these are some of the things I got over the weekend and just listed at Katies Rose Cottage ~

I just love the soft and relaxing feel of this look ~

These are a couple of our necklaces that have the same look even though we have more than this at Katies Rose Cottage Designs ~

The teapot necklace is new ~

The other day I decided to take my sewing machine out of hiding

and actually use it again ~ My mom and dad had a sewing machine store

when I was growing up so I would spend days and days sewing

after school ~ My dining room table looks like a tornado hit but it is fun sewing again ~

I am loving making these petite pillows ~ I had this gorgeous gorgeous

crinoline that has some ripped issues that could not be mended ~

So it is now sweet little ruffles that will be everywhere because they

are soooo cute !!

The pillow with the picture I did not make ~ I love

the little picture so it is in my guest bedroom ~

Sweet gift idea using a pillow from Katies Rose Cottage

and Jewelry and Cards and Tags from Katies Rose Cottage Designs ~

It is so fun as I read in blogland all of the signs of spring and the wishes of spring that is just around the corner ~

I have seen so many sweet little bird nests and it makes me happy everytime I see one !

In California there is green all winter and in some places flowers too ~ In Texas winter is brown so spring means new green everywhere ~ there is nothing better than to see green peaking through the winter brown ~ I actually saw green in my lawn yesterday and it made me so happy !! Even though it is just the weeds because that is what turns green first, those weeds looked soooo promising of warmth and flowers to come !!

I got the cutest most cutest little nest from Barbara Jean at Treasures from the Heart ~ It is Adorable !!! Can you tell I love it !

I am finding myself wanting to put nests everywhere ~ This is an apothecary I made for my website but am going to keep it and put it on a bookshelf in my living room ~

I am having a hard time finding just blue eggs ~ The ones in the baby shoe in the post awhile back where handpainted ~ Does anyone know where to find just the eggs without the nest ~

This is not done because I am still working on it but will be soon :)

Have a wonderful pre - spring day !

I just wanted to let you know that the December 2009 and January 2010 issues of Romantic Homes magazine are 40% off right now ~

Also Romantic Country Bedrooms issue is 40% off ~

We have 2 issues of Where Women Create May/Jun/Jul 2009 for 50% off ~

You can get them here ~