Karla's Cottage

A pet portrait

This is a sweet girl that I painted for a friend.

 

I have enjoyed doing more paintings this fall and hope to continue the trend into the new year.

A bit of my holiday decor

This year, I got my Christmassy Foof up early.

Again.  

Typically, I use the excuse of hosting an art event or being on the holiday home tour for decorating before Thanksgiving.  But this year, I just wanted to.

And that is enough of a reason.

For me, it is scaled back, not as elaborate as in the past.  But more than last year.

2020 was hard.  I needed some sparkle to lighten my load, but I wasn’t up to the full spread.  

This year, I decided to set out a few more things.  

It doesn’t usually take much time to do, since I pack it all up in a very organized way.  But last year, when I dug through a few boxes for bits and pieces, I made quite a mess of all of it.   

These photos are of my dining room hutch.

It is a winter forest, with trees, deer and fairies.

And lots of white lights!

I have a love/hate relationship with the battery powered LEDs.  Over all, I love them to pieces.  They run on remote control so they can be added to hard to reach places or spots with no plugs.  They have a timer so they will automatically come on each day then turn themselves off.  They have multiple settings and look pretty in any setting.

But oh man- the tangly mess they make!  That long, long wire gets all twisty and stuck.  Ugh.

But the pros outweigh the cons.  I like having lights on this piece, and there is no plug in anywhere, so the battery operated strings make all the difference.

The main part of the house is all that I’m decorating this year, and I’ll have more photos of it later.  Some years, I do every single room, and I love it that way.  But I am pretty happy with just the downstairs decked.  Every morning, all of the power strips are flipped before I even have my coffee, so I can enjoy the twinkling lights all day long. 

And that is very satisfying.

 

 

 

How to refresh your tile floor for under a dollar

This is the after photo.  I am sooo happy with it!

This is the before.  Years of wear had discolored the grout.  I’d tried peroxide, bleach, scrubbing with a tooth brush, every kind of soap and cleanser I could try.

I even hired a company to steam clean the floor.  No luck, the grout was turning black in the heavily trafficked areas.

I cannot speak for the longevity of this solution- yet.  But as someone who works with paint a lot and understands the properties of it, I’m not too worried.  

And even if I only get a year or two out of it, it is a fast, cheap solution.  I could spring for another 79 cent bottle of acrylic craft paint and an hour of my time to redo it.

Here are the tricks I learned- 

• Using a brush that fits the grout line, apply the paint full strength, not watered down.
• Keep a wet towel handy for mopping up big smears on the tile.
• Don't fret the small smears.  Grout is porous and it’s “tooth” will hold acrylic paint.  Smooth, porcelain tile will not.  So, paint the lines and if you get a bit on the squares, just wait till it’s all dry, and wet mop.  The lines will stay painted, the tiles will come clean.  But very important- don’t wait too long or you might need some elbow grease to remove it.  It will come off, but will be harder if you leave it more than a few hours.  
  
  

 

 

 

How to make folded paper Christmas balls

These layered balls ended up being pretty easy to make once I figured it out.  My first ones didn’t come out as nicely, but they got better as I made a few.

My first mistake?  Using only vintage papers, and not being careful to find ones that aren’t brittle.

I discovered that the ideal paper is scrapbooking card stock, but since I love the old stuff so much, I tried using some book pages and wallpaper too.  Plus, a mix looks pretty together.

Vintage flocked wallpaper is ideal, and some more sturdy wallpapers are too.  But most of the antique ones disintegrate when folded.  

I used some Xmas wrapping paper also.  

If you have a fragile paper you just love, and really want to use, maybe try backing it with card stock first.

These were some that worked for me, as well as some book pages. To test it, fold the paper a few times and see if it cracks.  If not, it should work okay.  

Cut and fold all of the pages ahead of time, so you have a pile to work with and not have to pause while gluing.

Fold each piece with the most interesting side inwards, so you are gluing the outsides to each other.  

Glue one folded piece to the next until you have a stack that looks like this.

Another discovery that I made is that it’s a good idea to glue all of the folded circles together and set them aside to dry.  If you try to make the orb while the glue is wet, the paper is more fragile and will easily tear.

While still folded, you can ink the edges.

Add some strong glue (I like The Ultimate) along the folded edge.

Cut ribbon or string, and fold it in half with a loop at the end.

 (I used pipe cleaners down the center of some, and it did work, but for me, it was too easy to poke through the papers with it, string or ribbon is better).

Then stick the ribbon into the glue, with the loop at the top and the two ends hanging out of the bottom.  

Open the pages.

Apply glue to both half circle sides, then press them together to make the orb.  Smoosh them together and there it is!  You might need to carefully pick each layer apart, gently manipulate them, and form the circle.

If you get a tear when opening it up, just attach an extra circle over that segment.

You can use the two trailing ends or your ribbon or string to tie a bundle of netting and ribbons to the bottom.

Or use them to tie on charms.  Or do both! (I liked the idea of book charms with the old book pages).

How many circles did I use?  Well, they are all different.  The thinner the paper, the more you need.  The heavier papers fill out nicely without as many. And because they are thick, too many makes the stack so high that when you put them together you have a huge gap in the center.

So, about 20 for thin papers, half that much for heavy ones. 

 

Thankful

Our Thanksgiving day was chilly, but we got to get outside the day before.

And I was very thankful for a pretty day in November.

In Kansas, you just never know what the day’s weather will bring.

So when you get a good one, you should celebrate it!

Especially if you are surrounded by loved ones (and dogs) who love to be outdoors too.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you are having a day full of gratitude and blessings.

And a tummy full of pie!