Cottage & Family:
hope

I have been really bad about updating my blog
lately!!

We have been spending much more time
on our Facebook business page ~
It is just easy to add little tidbits
of things over there :)
So if you would like to hear from us a bit
more often, take advantage of sales or just a new thing
we have heard of or learned make sure
and come over and Like our page ~
You also have to make sure and do the drop
down menu under the like button and click on
the "Get Notifications", "Add to Newsfeed"
and the "Add to Interests" button ~

Click on the picture below to take you there ~

We are still going to blog too but just
not as often :)

We hope to see you there!
Lori, Kristin and Stephanie!

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 ~

I am loving these vintage farmhouse tools!
As I was packing up shipping boxes today,
my mom rediscovered these amazing vintage tools
in the depths of our workshop. What an awesome find!

It is so much fun to find treasures, but it is even
more rewarding to discover them for a second time!

I have to admit, it was tempting to keep these for my own house!
But, I couldn't keep these treasures to myself,
they are just too vintage not to share.
I hope you love them as much as we do!

~Kristin

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 was so beyond thrilled to get to be one of the featured

artists in Sew Somerset magazine! Oh my goodness each and every one

of the Stampington & Company magazines are just so very

beautiful with amazing photographs, ideas and articles ~

I have had so much fun making

Vintage Pocket Pillows and they

are what are in the magazine ~ WOOHOO!!!

I just listed the featured pillows at

Katies Rose Cottage for sale ~

I hope you are all having a wonderful

Christmas season so far ~

Chat with you soon!

NJ DOE workshop

Every year in NJ we have a big education convention sponsored by our teacher's union. We all receive two days off from school to travel to scenic Atlantic City! This year was my first year attending. I got to attend a few interesting workshops, got a massage at a fancy hotel, saw some Chihuly chandeliers, won $9.95 in the penny slot machines, ate an overpriced Italian meal (during which one of my coworkers accidentally pored olive oil into her hot tea thinking it was honey), and saw a beautiful display of student art work. Enjoy the pics!

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.

One of my favorite pastimes is surfing the web for ideas to incorporate into my art teaching repetoire. It is great to see ideas from other artists and teachers. This year I have found two ideas that I will be using at the beginning of the year:

Really cool rainbow mural

and

Fun paper sculpture for Kindergarten

I will also be trying some Chihuly style sculptures that I saw on

Chihuly Art lesson repository

I hope you have some fun surfing the web for new art ideas too!!!

It is 10:36 p.m. and I just walked in the door from day 2 at market ~ The day starts early there since we arrive about 7:30 ~ Ohhhhh my gosh I think I am tired ~

But.... it was a really really fun day ~ It is so great to get to meet in person people that I have talked to through blogs or websites ~ Yesterday was fun too meeting people and seeing friends but I didn't even think of taking pictures ~ So today I got a few ~

My daughter, Stephanie just got back from her honeymoon late last night and came up to see me ~ she is so precious and we had fun walking around for a bit and seeing things ~

Brenda from Just a Bed of Roses and her daughter Shellie came by ~ it was awesome to get to meet them after feeling like I have already known them for a few years ~

I hope the other ladies come back by so I can get pictures of them ~ hint, hint .....

This is a picture of the Vintage Rose Boutiques gals at the end of the day ~

Spring is here, and you don’t even need to look outside your kitchen window or open your front door to know it. Just waking up to the sweet melody of a backyard robin cheerily singing outside your window is enough to tell you that life is renewed and spring is reborn. The birds of spring have returned and the earth reawakens.

Outside, in our fenced yards and open fields, brightly colored bluebirds and streaked song sparrows flit between tree branches and land carefully among the budding leaves. Singing songs of love to each other, chirping madly over jealousies. Bringing home odds and ends to build their nests - bits of bright string, broken twigs. Items insignificant to everyone else, but the stuff of life for the feathered set.
With the return of spring, we find our winged friends building homes in every unclaimed corner…. under the eaves of buildings, in riverbanks, on rocky ledges, suspended from tips of tree branches, hidden under flaps of loose bark. Even in the nest boxes we offer up with hope. Hanging baskets, mail boxes, old boots, flower pots. Any place that somehow looks like home.
No matter where we live, or what the season, avian accessories create eternal springtime in our homes too. Birds and their nests placed carefully upon our shelves, painted delicately on a wall, stitched on a delicate needlepoint. Perhaps we invite into our homes the same birds we see each spring.

Make sure and join Katies Rose Cottage and the participating shops at Make Mine Pink for Pink Friday "For the Birds" ~

The vintage images are from Lunagirl.com

This Friday join Katies Rose Cottage and Make Mine Pink for our Pink Friday shopping event ~

This week's theme is "In the Hope Chest "

I remember when I was a little girl going up to my Great Grandma's attic ~ it was filled with treasures from years and generations past ~ it was so much fun to hear the stories of each treasure lovingly put away in trunks and chests ~

When I was in High School my mom and dad gave me a hope chest that I filled with special linens and other things that I would someday use in my own home ~ these were things that my grandmas and mom would pass down to me or things that I collected that I loved ~

Have fun shopping and dreaming ~

Ohhhh what a fun day !!! Market Day 2 !!!
Remember how I said I was going to get up bright and early to beat the crowds, well.... I didn't ~ I got there about 9:00 in the morning and hoped to get a decent parking spot but knew it would probably be on the top floor of the parking garage ~ the parking garage is off in the distance on the left of this picture ~

Well 30 minutes later we got routed in front of the Dallas Children's Hospital to park, which is 2 exits away from the Market Center ~ it was a nice brisk walk in the freezing weather to the buildings ~

Once I got in, I decided that I was not leaving until I saw pretty much everything ~ it is HUGE so I was there all day ~

There were tons of pretties and I definitely spent my allotment ~ I can't wait to get it all !!! There were alot of apothecaries and cloches, which I love ! They had everything in them and they are great because you can change them with the seasons ~ I also noticed alot of birds and bird nests which are so sweet ~

I love anything Wendy Addison ! The pink Christmas in my previous post and this Christmas tree are all her things ~

I look so forward to going to the Dallas gift markets that are a couple times a year ~ the Jan. market started today ~ I was ready to go bright and early this morning although I was kind of stressed a little bit when the news this morning said that over 50,000 people have come to Dallas to go ~ I am not much for huge crowds, I am a "find the hidden treasure kind of gal" ~ but..... off I went to see what the new trends are ~

It was tons of fun and I am ready to go back on Friday, I can't wait !!! There is so much to see !! I saw alot of soft pink Christmas trees so that made me happy ~ this show shows alot of holiday for next Christmas ~ ahhhh!!! next Christmas... I need spring and summer first, my Christmas isn't even up in the attic yet ~

This is a picture of one of the three buildings and this is just a teeny tiny portion ~

I will show you more on Friday when I get home ~ I am bound and determined to be there at 7:00 in the morning so I can park somewhat closer than the top floor of the parking complex that is way too far away ~ I also want the Starbucks coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts that they have ~ I am thinking I will hopefully walk of the million calories of the donut ~

I hope everyone has been shopping the boutiques at Make Mine Pink this week because there have been tons of wonderful sales going on for our Christmas Extravaganza !!

Make sure and check the home page on my website everyday because the specials are changing daily ~

Today you will get a FREE "Roses" charm with every order of $35 or more ~ WOOHOO !!!