A Handmade Present Is Always Fun To Receive

I was talking to Ms. Cottage Way Of Life recently, she told me how she's really into Lolita fashion. "What the heck is that," I immediately asked, visions of Vladimir Nobokov's tarty teenager passing through my mind. It didn't sound so great to me. It seems though that Lolita fashion really has nothing to with sex but is about dressing up like a cute or elegant little girl. "Ahhhh," the light bulbs went on, "that explains all the adorable Japanese girls I see walking around Disneyland dolled up in cutesy-girly-girl attire."

Ms. Cottage Way Of Life was seeking my aid in adding to her Lolita fashion collection, some girly headbands would be nice. "I've got just the thing," I said, "I've been exploring Kanzashi, headbands could be made that would fit right into the Lolita thing."

So, dear readers, I thought you might like to see what I came up with because it would be a dandy idea for a quick, handmade, Christmas present that I'm sure any headband-wearer on your list would love. And really, it costs very little but looks great. You probably even have the supplies just laying around the house.


Kanzashi are traditional Japanese hair ornaments. The kind I am specifically referring to are fashioned from folded pieces of fabric that are assembled to look like a flower. They look complicated but they are super easy and pretty fast to make.


You start out with squares of fabric. You don't need a whole lot of fabric, nice size scraps would do.


The squares are then folded until they resemble what you see in the photo above.


After you make enough individual petals (how many depends on how full you want your flower to be), you sew them together with strong thread (I used carpet thread that I waxed).


Once the petals are all strung together you fluff them out and they resemble the flowers you see in the above photo.


Then you need to glue a circle of fabric on the back of the flower (to hide the raw edges and stabilize the flower) and something decorative (I used vintage buttons) in the middle of the flower front (also to hide raw edges).


Affix a few of the finished flowers to a headband with a strong fabric glue (I used Fabri-Tac glue).


And voilà, super cute headband perfect for present-giving!

You'll find a tutorial on how to fold the Kanzashi petals here.

The Porch Gets Dolled Up For Christmas

The porch here at the Cottage got the Christmas treatment this past weekend. Decorating was kept fairly simple as for some reason, I just wasn't feeling it. But ... I wanted to get something done because the month of December flies by and if you're not mindful of that you find it's gone and you never accomplished what you wanted.


I cleared off the old green bench and just layered in some green garland, a rusty old scale with a crown perched on top, and a tub full of pointsettias.


An old sled and a rickety old white stool with perfect peeling paint, were also tucked into the vignette. A lighted Christmas tree was popped into an old garden urn, and then it was time to think about a weath for the front door.


What to do though? I didn't want to use a wreath I had, I wanted something different.

Meanwhile ... Mr. Cottage Way Of Life was busy adorning the front of the Cottage with strands of tiny lights and he had boxes and boxes of decorations all over the driveway. I spotted a pile of plain wreaths I had bought at an after Christmas sale. So I snagged one and started rummaging around for things to tuck into the naked wreath.


An old fishing creel hanging in the attic was put to use. It fit nicely into the middle of the wreath. Into the creel went a strand of silver beads I had bought for a project and never used. I'm always buying bottle brush trees. Next to the silvery beads was the perfect spot for the newest member of the Cottage bottle brush forest.


I decided I didn't want traditional greens & pointsettias for the wreath so I pulled some roses from my stash of faux flowers and into the wreath they went.


I added on white damask ribbon tied up in big old bow, a few silvery sprigs, and ta da! Done.


I like it. It's festive, has a little bling, and is different from what I've done before.

Okay, porch decorating done, one thing on the Christmas list down. How many left to go?

The Glitter Was Flying & an Update

The decorating has begun here at the Cottage. I'm not sure if I want to put a tree up this year, but that doesn't mean the Cottage will not be festive. I'm starting with some inexpensive cardboard houses I found at Target.


In the photo above, you see the cardboard house before. The little houses are quite reminiscent of vintage Christmas houses, but without the high price of the old ones. A good reason to love them and head to Target and snap them all up. At $9.99, they are a bargain.

Now, I could have left the houses "as-is" but ... I decided to embark on a refurbishment plan to glitz them up and make them even more snazzy than they are already.



I grabbed a bunch of Martha Stewart glitter in various hues from the cupboard, a bottle of glue, a couple strands of vintage mercury glass beaded garland, and a jar of mica snow ...

And got to work in the studio.


The glitter went flying, swirling through the air. It looked like pixie dust sprinkling everywhere. And suddenly ... that plain little cardboard cottage was pink!


Bottle brush trees were dressed with newly fallen snow and golden ornaments!


Another cardboard house turned blue!


A little glitter, a little glue ... a lot of holiday magic!

Update:

Rudoo asked:
Are the houses back in the Christmas section at Target? Do you have to build them or are they already built?

Yes, that's where you will find the houses, in the Christmas section. They were set up on shelves near the back walls in the Targets I visited, in a display so you can see what they look like, but the houses for sale are boxed up. The houses also come in larger sizes for $19.99 and a whole village of three houses with bottle brush trees (I think that's $29.99 but I can't remember the exact price).

And no, you don't have to build them, they come assembled and ready to display. Oh, and a little bonus, they light up with batteries (which are included), pop the batteries in, flick the switch, and voilà! Illuminated, glittery, magical, Christmas houses. Pretty cool.

A Happy Thanksgiving To You ... And You ... And You!

I know I've said this before ... but ... where does the time go? I've had several posts I meant to get to and didn't. There were projects I've been working on to show you and haven't.

It's a busy, busy time for all I guess.

Papiêr mâché turkeys molded in chocolate molds that I've been working on - they're painted now, but I didn't get a chance to take a photo!

I'll be working in the kitchen all day today as a pastry chef. It's my job to bring the desserts to the family Thanksgiving feast. Pumpkin pie is required, so there will be that, of course. But ... I want something different, so I will be whipping up some crème brûlée too. I'm also thinking about maybe just some plain old brownies, as well. Maybe, maybe not. Brownies are just so ordinary, but my friend Olivia tells me brownies are the thing right now where she lives in France. Can you imagine? All those marvelous pastries and they want brownies, a plain old American dessert. Maybe, brownies would be just the thing though, nice rich brownies, loaded with butter and chocolate (and maybe a splash of cinnamon). Mmmmmmm.

So ... I just wanted to take a moment to pop in and wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

I hope to return to regular posting next week but until then ...

My wish for one and all is to spend Thursday surrounded by family, good friends, and a wonderful feast, so that you all will have a truly, marvelous, Thanksgiving!

A Birthday With The Big Cheese(s)

Yesterday was Mickey Mouse's birthday. He turned 81. Do you believe the Big Cheese is that old?

My friend Tina, who teaches 1st grade, had all her kiddies create birthday cards for Mickey and Minnie, who shares the same birthday with Mickey. I wish I could have shown you some of the cards because they were the cutest things, so sweet! One kid even taped a pencil to each card because he wanted Mickey and Minnie to have a special present. How cute is that?

So last night, we went to Disneyland and to deliver those special birthday wishes to Mickey and Minnie.


Minnie was sooo happy to get her bundle of birthday wishes ... I think she was especially pleased because it seems everyone always remembers Mickey but they forget to send birthday greetings her way.


Of course, Mickey was not left out. He was pretty happy to get lots of birthday wishes too!

A Nice Surprise

As I'm sure most of you do, I visit quite a few blogs, sometimes leave a comment, then move on and forget about it. Recently I had a look at a favorite blog, that of a store on my list of I must go see, The Attic. The Attic Girls were celebrating their 100th post with a giveaway. Well, I left a comment and then forgot about it. I imagine you can figure out where this is heading ...


I won! My gosh, was I ever surprised to be the winner of The Attic's 100th post giveaway!


A lovely package arrived in the mail. It was just like Christmas!


Inside was the prettiest typewriter key necklace, one of the many lovely things you will find for purchase at The Attic.


It's so fun to wear. And it makes me feel lucky! :-)


The Attic will be celebrating the holiday season with an open house on Friday, December 4th. If you are anywhere near the Sand Diego area, it looks like a must see event. I mean ... how could you possibly resist when the theme is Gnome For The Holidays!

Theatrical

Last week I found this ...


At first I wasn't going to buy it (because it was a little expensive), but then I knew if I left it behind I'd think about it ...

Become obsessed with wanting it (thinking of all the possibilities for it), go back to purchase it, and it would be gone.


I decided to cut out all that longing and obsessing and driving around, and I just bought the thing ... a vintage-looking-sort-of-Victorian-ish theatre/lantern (the lady I purchased it from called it a lantern but when I first spotted it I immediately thought it looked like a toy theatre - or at the very least a really cool case in which to display treasures).


I set it on my work table in the studio (along with the two papier mache turkeys I still need to paint) and got busy going through my old books looking for vintage graphics I could use to make it into toy theatre. In a 1870s Godey Lady's Book I have I found a perfect Thanksgiving scene to use. Now ... I'm busy, busy, working on cutting up the scene & reworking it to fit inside the theatre. And I think I'll be getting out my watercolors to add some color and depth to the scene so it looks a little more theatrical once I get it in place in my "toy theatre."

Oh ... the possibilites with this thing ... I need to find some old images of Santa to switch to in December!


And ... I scanned the vintage turkey image from the Godey Lady's Book to share with you. Maybe you'd like to use it to make something for Thanksgiving. Just click on the image to enlarge it and then save it to your computer and get creative!

If you make something with it, be sure to let me know what you created, I'd love to see it!