Cottage & Family [life and much more] 

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!

I am so excited to announce
my husband's new ebook,
"10 Tips for Improving
Your Photography Today"

If you sign up for his
newsletter it is free!

Click on the ebook to sign up today ~

My hubby is a landscape and
portrait photographer;
his passion is teaching
others how to improve their
photography. Take a second
and check out his website ~

Lots of love,
Kristin

My friend Anne at Fiona and Twig
just did a blog post showing the amazing
Magnolia Pearl Ranch
that is for sale!!
It is truly breathtaking!

There is also an awesome giveaway
of 2 Magnolia Pearl outfits
valued at almost $2,000!
Oh my gosh!

Robin Brown and John Gray
of Magnolia Pearl Clothing
are selling their
beautiful Ranch located in
the Bandera countryside
of the Texas Hill Country~
It is 38 acres with
3 complete homes,
18 external structures,
3 outdoor shower baths
which are supplied by
on demand hot water heaters ~

Among the many features
of the 3 homes
there are 25 chandeliers,
iron beds, 3 clawfoot tubs,
stone fireplaces and
spacious porches as well
as many outdoor structures
like a chicken coop with
a chandelier!

The interior ceilings
are covered in antique tins
from an abandoned movie theatre
in New York City ~

This gorgeous property
has been featured in
numerous magazines as
well as being the subject
of a book published by
Country Living ~

Make sure and stop by
Fiona & Twig for many
more pictures and the
contact information ~
Enter to win the giveaway
too!!

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

We are so excited to be
a featured business for the
One Sweet February Giveaway
at Pink Lemonade Company!!

It is a month long
of giveaways featuring
a different artist each
week and our feature is
this week!

Make sure and stop by
Pink Lemonade Company!

Here is a simple
Valentine's Day idea!

We found these hearts
at Hobby Lobby and
embellished them
with vintage laces,
vintage buttons
and crinkled ribbon ~

Super Simple & Sweet!

Can you believe Christmas
is over and
Valentine's Day is just
around the corner!

My daughter Stephanie,
who creates our Ellie Grace line,
has done some custom
orders for Valentine's
baby headbands and
a bow tie!
They are so cute that I
wanted to show you ~
I am sure some Valentine's
baby headbands will
be showing up
on the website soon too!

We have had so much
fun this Christmas
season having two
babies to celebrate
with!

We really wanted to
take them to see Santa
even though we thought
they may cry ~

Isaac sat on his lap
kind of not sure
what we were doing
and Ellie slept through
the whole event ~

We saw Santa at
Bass Pro Shop so there
were some other things
to do while we were there ~

The babies tried out
camping chairs ~

They got to take their
first Merry Go Round ride ~

Hung out with Daddy ~

Sat on a buffalo ~

And last ... sat
in front of a huge fireplace ~

Ellie, Noah & Stephanie

Isaac, Kristin & James

Babies with
Grammy & Grampy ~
(Grampy was on his way to work)

Merry Christmas!!

This year I wanted all
of my Christmas decorating
to be creams, burlap,
mercury glass and greens ~

The challenge was to
take things I had and
kind of recreate them
and also to use things
that I had around
my home already ~

We have an artificial tree
but I wanted fresh greens
for the awesome smell ~
I went to Lowes and they
gave me cuttings that
were just laying around
from their fresh
Christmas trees ~ It was
awesome!! I left
with an armload ~

Then I got some of my old
glass ornaments and
washed them in warm sudsy
water to make them
turn into a wonderful
mercury glass ~

Next I took a wreath that
was shoved in the attic
and took off all the old
decorations ~

Then I added
clippings from the greens
all over and used
some hydrangea
blossoms that were still
on bushes ~
Then added some of the
mercury balls that
I had washed ~

This is our mantel with
stocking for my precious
grand babies ~

I am still using the
hydrangeas that
I showed you in this post ~
The colors have faded
but they work great for
my tree ~

My armful of greens
helped create all of
these simple little
Christmas vignettes
and it smells great!

Have fun decorating!

hugs,
Lori

This year we wanted to renovate
our Christmas decor, but
we had so many Christmas
decorations already!

So, we decided to reuse some old
decorations, add a few Black Friday
finds, and a touch of vintage
flare to make a handmade Christmas
that was in our holiday budget ~

Our creation tools:

Adding German Glass Glitter to
the ornament toppers and
music sheets to the ornaments
added vintage touches ~

We also made some Mercury Glass
ornaments ~
You can find the tutorial for
Mercury Glass here ~

After a day of creating we
had all new decorations
for our handmade Christmas ~

Have fun this Christmas adding
your own handmade touches to
your decor ~ Merry Christmas!

We love the farmhouse look
of vintage enamelware ~
Since Christmas is right
around the corner, we
thought we would show you
an easy decorating idea
using enamelware for the holidays ~

All the fun things we found
at the flea market ~

First, we drilled holes in the
bottom of a bucket ~

Then added soil from our garden ~

And planted holiday plants such
as rosemary which we can use in
our Christmas cooking ~

The finished project is an easy,
colorful addition to your
vintage decorating ~

We have lots of enamelware
on sale here so you can create
your own farmhouse decor ~