Cottage & Family:
family

Part of blogging for me
is so that we can not
only share inspirational
ideas but also so you can
get to know us too :)


If you don't already know
I have two daughters,
Kristin and Stephanie,who
also are part of
Katies Rose Cottage ~

They both have babies and
this was our first
adventure on an airplane
with them ~
Their daddies got to go too
so that was fun!


Alot of our family lives
on the central coast of
California so that is one
of our very favorite places and
where we headed ~


They were excited to have the
babies visit the beach since
it is one of all of our
favorite places to be ~
The weather was chilly but
it was still a beautiful
and sunny day!
We went to Avila Beach which
we love!


Ellie thought it was
just the best thing ever!
The swings were great...
The sand was great!

Isaac pretty much didn't like
it at all! We are definitely
going to have to teach
him that it is fun!
Mommies arms were great!

This is my mom and I
with Ellie ~

My son in law James
took the following pictures ~
It is awesome having
a photographer along :)

Ellie loved swinging!

Isaac loved hiking!

This is my most favorite picture of all .... My mom and dad
with their great grandbabies!!
What a beautiful and precious
picture!! I adore it!

It was fun and there
is so much more family
and pictures but
this is just a glimpse
of our time there ~

Thank you for visiting
with us!

Lori

It is so fun now that we have babies
we can do all the fun holiday festivities with them ~

Yesterday, we went to Hall's Pumpkin Farm
so we could take pictures of our family with the pumpkins ~

Grammy and Grandpy with the babies ~

The Farm was so cute!

Noah and Stephanie with Ellie ~

James and Me with Isaac ~

He is so inquisitive! He loves to discover new things ~

Ellie being her sweet little self ~

It's so fun to do holiday things ~
Lots of love,
Kristin

My husband and I got
to spend a week at the
central coast of California
visiting with family ~
That is where we are from
so it is going home for us ~

When I go back I often
am amazed at what I took
for granted when
we lived there ~
I just LOVE the beach and
LOVE the mountains that
you have to drive over
to get to the beach ~

This is Avila Beach
where I spent so many
days in the summers~
I want to come spend
a week just here now ❤

Who would have thought
that swinging on the beach
could be the most fun ever!!

I LOVE my mom and dad's house
that is on a mountain that
overlooks 3 towns ~

I LOVE driving the winding
roads seeing the beautiful
wineries and vineyards that
are everywhere ~

Spending time in California
with my family that lives
there is just some
of our best times!

This is my sister, Kim
and I in Morro Bay~

Thankfully we get to
go back a few times a year
which is a blessing for sure!

Lots of hugs,
Lori

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 !!

Oh my goodness I kind
of feel like we have fallen
off the face of
blog world lately ~

This has been such a fun
summer with a new baby
in June and a new
baby in August ~
What precious precious
blessings they are!

Our family came from
California to meet
the babies ~ We have
made some wonderful memories!

While family was here
Kristin and I did a
little creating ~

Here are some of the
new things that
we added to the
Vintage & Handmade Category ~

We are on a roll!

Chat with you soon!

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 !!!

I am really excited to
have my daughter Kristin
join me at Katies Rose Cottage!

From Kristin.....

I am so excited to be starting this adventure with my mom :)
It is a joy to be able to work with her,
learn from her,
and get to indulge in
all things vintage! Here's a little about me~

My husband James and I have been married for 5 years
and we have a
little baby boy on the way (due less a couple of weeks from now!).
We are so excited and blessed to be parents and
I cannot wait to share our
little family with you as we grow!
I love to travel, so having a pilot for a dad and a travel photographer
for a husband works out perfectly
;) I adore cooking, creating, and all things vintage!
I've been
praying about God's direction for my job
for about three years and
with a little one on the way, I knew I had to make a change and start
doing something that will spark my passions
. While I've always wanted
to own my own business as so many member's
of my family do, the
opportunity just never presented itself.
However, going on all of my
mom's shopping adventures,
rummaging through her office to create new
treasures, and seeing the joy she has
in her job made me secretly want
to work alongside her.
Then, as I watched her grow in her business,
God did an amazing work!
He opened the door for me to partner with my
mom so I can finally do what I am so passionate about :)
I am thrilled
and blessed to have the opprtunity
to work along side of a godly,
creative, and beautiful woman, my mom :)

Then gather the each fabric strip
right on one edge
( don't gather the sheer strip )
~ I used my ruffler foot
which I pretty much love!

After they are gathered I cut snips
about every 1.5 inches randomly
and ripped each snip
almost to the gathered edge ~

Next stack all the layers with
the shear on top and stitch through all ~

Then cut a circle to fit out of canvas and
glue it on top of the ribbons ~

After that I tied a vintage skeleton key
to one of the ribbons and glued a pin on the back ~

That is it!
A fluffy tattered rose ❤

I am really still alive even

though it has been forever since

I have done a blog post :)

Life has been crazy the last few

months with my preggie girls ~

{Steph is 20 weeks & Kristin is 29 weeks }

Stephanie, my youngest daughter, is

20 weeks and has hyperemesis which

is crazy over the top morning sickness ~

She was literally in bed for 3 months

and in the hospital 4 times ~ She had

a subcutaneous pump in her stomach

for most of that time which

helps with the nausea ~

It was a good day when she could

just talk and smile ~

Needless to say my focus has changed

to my girls ❤

The pump came out a couple of weeks

ago and she actually can do things now

which pretty much is a total blessing

and an answer to many prayers ~

Last weekend we

flew to California for

our annual girls trip with my mom,

sister and niece ~ We just spend the

time shopping and laughing alot :)

{me, Steph, my niece Chelsey, sister

Kim and mom Sue standing...

Kristin was not in this picture :( }

{the shoe dilemma ~ I am not sure why it was a dilemma though since they were only $5 hehe! }

{Chelsey and Steph...bestest friends }

Sometimes life as we know

it stops and what is really important

becomes loud and clear ~

{my niece, Chelsey }

Last week I got to go to

stay with my mom and dad in California ~

My sister, mom and I got in a crafty

mood and decided to try a

mercury glass tutorial from Pinterest ~

We started with cheapy glass pieces

to experiment with ~

First you we sprayed on

Krylon Looking Glass spray that we

found at Michaels ~ The tutorial

said to put it on the inside of

the glass bottle ~ I tried the candlesticks

and painted the outside and it worked great!

{my niece, me and my mom }

The other pieces we sprayed the inside

and the outside ~

Then you spray your piece with half

water and half vinegar and let it sit

for a minute ~

Then you just pop the little bubbles

with a paper towel ~

It was so fun and super easy!

Next time I want to try spraying

something darkish first so that

it has a darker look

under the popped bubbles ~

Life has been craziness the last 2 months

with some family things that have

taken my attention ~

Times like these completely make me

realize what truly are

the most important things !

On another subject though ......

So I kind of freaked out a bit when I heard

Picnik is closing !! Oh my goodness !!

I am a total computer

goofball and learn my thing

to do on my computer and

once I get it that is it .....

don't throw new stuff in there

because my brain freezes!!

I have been using Picnik since

the beginning of Picnik

( however long that is ) and now

I have been trying to teach

myself how to do my photos in

Photoshop Elements ~

I have been doing the pictures with

the frame thing forever ~

and now they are frame-less .........

which I kinda like !

I am all about a clean look and it makes

my website look less cluttered ~

Haha.... you wouldn't know that I don't have

a drop of A type personality

in my body by that statement!

Anyway today I added more things to my website

and am trying to transition my brain and website

over to Photoshop Elements pictures ~

I am going to kind of miss the

collage thing though !!

Does anyone know how to do collages with

anything else besides Picnik ?

My sister and niece have

been visiting me in Texas for

the last week ~ They live in California

and so we try and go back and forth

as much as we can ~

We hit the road shopping all week

starting with Canton's First Monday

{never can get enough junk!! }

Then as much shopping and

crafting as we could squeeze in ~

It was really cold and rainy most

of the time so we spent one day in

front of the fireplace watching movies

and Chelsey ( my niece ) taught

us all to crochet ~

{below is my daughter Stephanie and above

is a good friend Bethany, my niece Chelsey and

daughter Kristin }

Kristin added a rose and I just

love it !!

One day we decided to go

to the Gaylord Texan Hotel because

it is just gorgeous at Christmas ~

{ my sister Kim & I }

{my niece Chelsey, sister Kim, son in law James

daughters Kristin & Stephanie }

It is always fun to have them come

visit and sad when they leave!

I miss my family in California like crazy!!

I guess it is time for us to take

a trip there again soon ~

I just got home from a few days

in Central California ~

Oh my goodness it was glorious

there! The weather was awesome

( it was great to get away

from the Texas heat )

and well I just pretty much

love it all ~

Family, childhood memories, the beach,

the mountains, the vineyards,

the weather... I could go on and on ~

It is funny how when we lived there

I completely took the beautiful

hills and ocean for granted ~

It has been 16 years since we

moved to North Texas and I am

a happy gal to have family

in California and flight privileges :)

I am a lavender freak so seeing it

all over is amazing to me!

This is a beautiful bed and breakfast that

a friend's wedding was at in Templeton ~

This is a really fun place in Avila Beach called

Avila Valley Barn ~

This is my sister and niece

picking yummy apples ~

I have been home a day and am totally

ready to go back ~

Hopefully in October for the

Remnants of the Past Vintage Show

and

Three Speckled Hens Show ~

Now it is back to work (fun)

for me ~

I have introduced you to my family in the past but
I wanted to introduce you to my girl's blogs ~

Kristin, our oldest daughter, has been doing photography
with her husband for a while and recently launched her own
photography website and blog ~

Her business is called Kristin Brandon Photography ~
They are traveling to Italy soon to shoot a wedding!
I am so excited for them !

Stephanie has started a blog journaling her and her
husbands cottage home transformation ~
They actually are just closing on it today and are
having fun going to Salvage Shops, Flea Markets
and Craigslist to find vintage things for it ~
Her blog is called College St. Cottage ~

It is so fun to watch them get excited
about all of the treasures they have found ~

{ Photos are by Kristin's husband James
at James Brandon Photography }

Both of the girls are just introducing themselves and their blogs
so they would love to have you stop by ~

I am longing for a Beach Cruiser Bicycle :)

Every time we go to California and are by the

beach I see people with

their wayyyy cute bicycles!

Then when we went to the

Orange County Swap Meet

there were so many super cute baskets ~

Everyone in my family in California

have them

and always talk about riding

on the Bob Jone's Trail

at Avila Beach ~

So needless to say I am thinking I need one

even though I live in north Texas ~ I can pretend

I am by the beach :)

Oh my gosh I found the

sweetest bicycles ever !!

They are on the Beg Bicycles website

It would be wonderful to ride to

the flower market

and fill my basket full !

{Images courtesy of Beg Bicycles }

{I am not sure who to give credit on this picture because it was a google search }

I loved this picture too because

it is so pretty all in white ~

Target has some

pink bicycles with baskets~

I am thinking my birthday is

coming really soon :)

I just found this

super cute design and printed

it on a bag ~

It is perfect for my new obsession ~

This is a crazy busy time of year for our family and

just with life ~ fun stuff though !!

I wanted to do a quick blog post to let you know that I haven't

fallen off the face of the earth and to show you a few

of the new things on my website ~

Jewelry is now 50% off too !!

Think of Mother's Day coming up :)

I LOVE Lavender !!

Every time I go visit my family on the Central Coast

of California I drag them to a Lavender Farm ~

There are certain things I just love to do when I am there and

totally took for granted when I lived there ~

Besides the lavender farm, the ocean is a must :)

My mom's friend grows lavender and she saved just

a ton of it for me ~ I was soooo excited !!

Here are just a few of the pictures of the lavender

I am totally hoarding but ya know there are only so many

places I can put lavender in my house ( I guess.... )

I actually do make sachets for my website

and had a tutorial here if you would like to visit ~

Oh my goodness it is crazy cold out today in Texas !!

I have been busy creating stuff since it is too cold

outside to even step foot out there ~

But instead of showing you more ruffled stuff I decided

to reintroduce you to my family ~

It pretty much says the same thing in my

"About Me" page but oh well :)

Dana, my hubby, and I have been married 28 years ~

He is a pilot which is totally fun since our whole family

adores traveling and we do it as much as we can ~

I do have to say that we are originally California kids

since we grew up there and miss it alot ~

We have quite a bit of family still there ~

If you are my facebook friend you

have seen this picture alot but I LOVE it ~

James took it of us and it is where I want to be

pretty much all of the time ~

We have 2 girls that are 24 and 21

and are both married ~

Kristin and James got married 3 years ago ~

James is an awesome professional photographer

and Kristin works at a bank ~

Her passion is mentoring teenage girls

and also she loves to cook ~

Stephanie and Noah got married 1 year ago ~

Noah works at a huge

church in the sound area which he is going to school for

and Steph is in school for a Marketing degree ~

She likes to cook too so I recruit them

on the weekends since I hate to cook !

They all live close to us so that is wayyyy cool !

We get to spend time together quite a bit

which is always a fun time ~

I am off to the warmth of the fire ~ my office is cold !!

I am almost done with my website transfer ~

YAYYY !!!

So right in the middle of it I decided it was time to make

a pillow ~ my brain kind of works that way !! I think it is

not being able to focus or something :)

Anyway .... this pillow is super easy because the edges of

the ruffle are raw it is just rip and sew ~

First, I am using an 18 inch pillow form so I cut the front 19 inches

and the back I am buttoning so cut 2 pieces 19 by 13.5 ~

In the back fold over 4 inches and iron ~

Next, pin and sew with right sides together

overlapping the ironed

back just a bit ~

Then you make a button hole and sew on

a button for your closure ~

You can do the button hole before you

sew it together if you would like ~

Next I ripped muslin in strips of 6 inches wide ~

The ruffle needs to be about 2.5 times

the length of your side for ruffling ~

I have a ruffle attachment that I did

mini pleats with but you don't

have to have one, you can just gather

as you normally would ~

Then I laid the pillow front side

down and pinned the ruffle

to the front and sewed it on just guiding

my foot along the

pillow edge ~

I sewed ruffles to just two sides ~

This is what it looks like from the front ~

After it is all done you can leave it

as it is or embellish the front

with something ~ I added a big rose

made out of the same

muslin that is pinned on ~

That is all and it is really quick !

This is another pillow that I made ~ It is out of a tablecloth

like the ones I have for sale on my website ~

I ended up making 3 for my couch because they

were so quick and easy !!

Do you notice my tea stained couch is white again ?

Well after spending Christmas and

New Years with the whole

family staying here along with 4 dogs with

wet muddy feet (even though

we wiped them off )

the slipcovers got bleached a few times ~

I love it this color but wow it is hard to keep clean !

I haven't been blogging for about a week now because

my mom and dad have been here visiting from California ~

We always enjoy our times together and I truly miss

being closer to them ~

This picture is my dad, mom, hubby and daughter ~

My mom and I had fun creating one night and worked

on some vintage bottles and books ~

They are all on my Katies Rose Cottage website ~

The other thing I have been working on is adding some of

our new charms to Katies Rose Cottage Designs ~

There will be alot more added over the next few days too ~

I love all of the new designs so much !

It is time to list some more or go to bed .... hmmmm ~