Notes from A Cottage Industry

Sharing a little cupcake love.

A couple of week's ago I attended my daughter's MOPs group and taught a cupcake decorating class. I shared how to make simple spiral posies and coordinating teeny tiny leaves on both average sized, and baby cupcakes.

It was a hands on class and the Moms all got to decorate their own cupcake as I went table to table demonstrating the easy technique. By using a number 2,3, or 4 tip and piping a simple spiral coil, you create a little posy. Using a leaf tip (number 352) you simply press the tip next to the posy, squeeze slightly, stop and tip the tip away, and voila'! You have aperfect little leaf.

So, Much. Fun.

And so yummy.

A fun little potluck detail.

My picture is lousy, and if I get time later today I will take another, and edit my post. I wanted to share a little sign I whipped up last Monday for a potluck luncheon we threw for a couple of teammates at work whose birthdays slipped past us all the week before.

I make signs for any and all occasions, and I like to put them in my vintage sign holders, or have them sticking out of my one of my old typewriters. I found the wording for this sign on a cute card on this adorable site, and tweaked it to work for our coworkers.

It was a hit.

Less is more. (And prettier too.)

For a small home, my cottage has pretty decent storage space, I think. This being said, when you have less space, you learn how to pare certain items down, and that is where it can get tricky.

For example, you may not know this about me,(or maybe you do) but I have a rather out of control obsession for table top items. Flatware, dishes, serving pieces, salt and peppers. I can't seem to resist.

That means I have to curb my stock of other household items, because there just isn't enough room to be all out of control in every area of homekeeping. My personal space-in-the-closet-saving secret is in the linen department. (Well, okay, not entirely because I do have to admit to a few seasonal duvet and pillow sham sets, as well as seasonal euro pillow shams for my sofa, but I keep that overstock in the big trunk that I use for an end table in my living room.)

Where was I? Oh yes, saving some space and making things look cozy. What I do is:

1. I buy only white sheets and towels. (Years ago, it was Robin's egg blue). This way they always match.

2. I do not have overstock beyond one extra set of sheets. (one flannel set for cold weather, one fluffy white cotton set for warm weather times) and just a few fluffy white towels in my overstock stash.

When you stick with two sets of sheets for your bedding, you're ahead of the game. Each Sunday I wash my sheets. They come off the bed, into the washer and dryer, and then right back on the bed.

When you stick with one color towel for your entire home, you can grab extra towels for a guest, and they match. (Maybe I am alone in this, but I don't like having a hodge-podge assortment of rainbow colored towels)Besides that, I absolutely love the look when I open my linen closet door.

See what I mean?

All neat and tidy. So soothing, calm and zen like.

(And this is it before I paint it! Imagine it when I get a nice fresh coat of white satin enamel on it.)

I use assorted thrifted baskets and jars for storage to continue the monochromatic, kind of vintage cottage feel in the linen closet as well.

Less is more, in this case. (For me anyway.) How do you save space in your home?

Up. (A first birthday party edition.)

Have you seen the Disney movie, Up?

(A delightful movie, especially if you get to watch it in 3D!)

Grand-babe number seven loves balloons so much that his Mama decided to focus on them by doing an "Up" theme for his first birthday. (She out-did herself...again!) The birthday boy wore his "1" tee shirt with suspenders and a little Carl (from the movie)-like cardigan.

So adorable.

As guests arrived at the party, they followed the arrows and signs to Paradise Falls and when they entered the front door, they were greeted with this...

The buffet table was set up with Dug the Dog,(borrowed from a friend!)

...pictures of Carl and Ellie (free images on the internet in dollar store frames)

...plenty of tennis balls, and the big jar of coins, being saved for that trip to Paradise Falls.

The little guests made their own boyscout sashes with merit badges...

 

...and probably my most favorite detail of the party was that everyone got their own special Grape Soda-pop Adventurer bottle cap pin just like Ellie gave Carl when they met.

Everyone had so much fun!

If you haven't seen Up, you should. There is a great message in this movie, a lot of giggle-out-loud spots, and sweet moments.

Let's start with the loo, shall we?

...but first, I want to say thank you. Thank you for being here, checking in to see if there is a post on my poor neglected little cottage blog, and thank you doubly for all of the comments full of well wishes and outpouring of love and support! It meant the world to me.

So....on to today's post.

I thought I'd introduce you to my new-to-me home, which is a little 1952 cottage that is in desperate need of some lovin' (Perfect for me!) and I thought I'd start with the necessary room.

The loo. The powder room. The bathroom.

The one and only bathroom had a floor that was in pretty rough shape when I got the place, and it had to be addressed before I could move in. (To fix the floor meant removing the toilet, coz, while I could live with a rotted floor, a girl needs a toilet.)

We (one of my amazing son-in-laws)repaired the sub-floor and installed black and white vinyl squares. (on the diagonal!)

And, as long as we were tearing out the floor and the toilet, we might as well replace the gawd-awful vanity, right? As luck would have it, I had a perfect old dresser that has been with me for a long time. I got a sink from Home Depot and the amazing son-in-law worked his magic.

 

Yeah baby. That's what I'm talkin' about. (...and to think he did this in a matter of a couple of hours!)

I took the old funky shelf-cupboard thing above the toilet, tossed the sliding doors, slapped a coat of black paint on it, and re-hung it.

 

A black and white framed grand-baby-in-the-tub photograph (taken by Gramma Cupcake) on the freshly painted robin's egg blue walls, (white baseboard and trim as well as new molding on the window to be installed as we find time) and it was was on it's way to becoming a bathroom worthy of hosting my bubble bath.

Broken picker.

I have a new home address.

Actually, it's not all that new really, because I made my move before Christmas.

I meant to tell you sooner, truly I did. It's just that I couldn't quite find my words each time I sat down to write a post here to share my news, and so, as I sat there, pondering what to write, the days went by, and I still didn't find my words.

Part of why I struggled with sharing this, is because I have always shared so much of my soul here on this blog in the past, and this time, things are not crystal clear. There isn't a bad guy in the story, but love can only overcome so many obstacles. We’re no longer living together, and at the same time, we’re not really apart either.

Regardless of reason, or knowing that what I'm doing is what is best for me, the underlying feeling of another possible failure wrapped around my heart can be at times unbearable. I catch myself over analyzing things and dissecting past interactions and situations in my mind. I have come to the conclusion that clearly my picker is broken.

Defective.

Ka-put.

My Rock n' Roll Buddy remains a big part of my life, and time will tell where we go from here. It's just that life is far more complicated than we'd like it to be sometimes, you know?

So....I have a (sort of) new address.

And I'm doing just fine. (For the most part.)

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

I hope you had a Valentine's Day filled with love.

Weekly words to live by.

The difference between winning and losing is most often...not quitting.

                                           Walt Disney