Notes from A Cottage Industry

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

What are your thoughts about "Christmas in July?"

....er....October?

(Welp, this post was started in July, worked on in August, (and September!) and now, finally published in...October.)

Ugh.

(What can I say? It's been quite a year.....and a half, give or take.)

...

Where was I?

Oh yes, Christmas in July. You've most likely heard the phrase, and of course the Hallmark Channel commits to the idea in the most major way, with daily Christmas movies all of the month of July long, but I was thinking of the "Christmas in July" concept because I have an Advent Calendar project I created. 

It seems to me it is much easier (and much more affordable) to create and assemble it over a longer time period..(Truth be told, I first thought of this idea last December, and of course, by then I was far too behind the eight ball to get anything made, sent out, or set up, and...well, you get the picture.)

Anyway.

I had so much fun creating my advent calendar, that I ended up creating not one, but two different styles, and I'm going to share them with you over two posts. Hopefully they will inspire you to create an advent calendar of your own for a special person in your life. Both Advent Calendar set ups will be available in my etsy shop for any of you who are not wanting to create one from scratch!

The first Advent Calendar is an assortment of bags and boxes, all numbered 1 through 24, meant to be tucked into a basket, crate, or even a small suitcase to display. I created this basket version with my Ralph in mind. (This is why I got inspired to do one in neutral color tones. I was thinking it would look a bit more masculine, and, the fun thing about it is that it can go with any color and style theme.) While not created in the traditional red and green Christmas colors, little adornments will add the customized pops of any color you choose! I'm going to place this on the bench at the foot of our bed come December first, and I think it's going to be perfect there.

It really was quite a simple project, and I had so much fun gathering the bags and boxes to hold the little gifties.

I designed two pages of number sheets so I could print them in two different colors. (I chose to go with white and kraft brown to keep it neutral, as you can see...)

My Christmas-y feel comes from the little adornments I am adding to the various packages...

As I said, if you love this idea, and do not want to start from scratch yourself, this kit is now available in my etsy shop. I've created it in two versions, a hard copy here, complete with packages and ribbon, and as an instant download, here, which enables you to print your tags on any color cardstock you choose. (All white for a snowy, classic look? Blush pink and grays for that soft romantic feel? Terra cotta and olive for a boho style? Traditional red and green? It's up to you!) You also can get as fancy or plain as you like...matte your numbers to another color, add candy canes, holly, bells...whatever...or not.

The real beauty of starting this project in July August September October is that we all still have from now through the last day of November to fill those little prezzie packages! 

Oh! And if you are thinking that buying twenty four gifts will cost you a bundle, think again. Some of the gift ideas off the top of my head are coffee or fast food gift cards, candy, Christmas ornaments, and pretty much half of the clever products found in the Dollar Store.....

Also, the items in the wrappings need not be purchased gifts. You can fill the with children's packages with riddles, homemade gift certificates for playdates, hot cocoa by the fire, and adventures to the library (or where ever...) or a "skip a chore" card. For your sweetheart, homemade certificates for a foot rub or back massage, a favorite homemade dessert any day they like, or a sofa picnic while watching a movie on demand of their choice. (In my home this would most likely be be a night of binge watching Judge Judy episodes, with the added promise of me not rolling my eyes at the number of "former friend" cases.) Making an advent calendar for a best friend could include motivational thoughts for the day, mints, or even some super soft socks, Hopefully you are getting the idea....The possibilities are endless! (My advent calendar kits also include an idea list of affordable items compiled fr you in two lists; one for kids and one for grownups, to place in the packages.)

What are your thoughts on the idea of a fun, and possibly unexpected advent calendar for someone special in your life? Is this something you would create?

**Next post I will share the second style (a wall hanging version) of the advent calendar I have created for my precious grands. 

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Let's all take a moment to just really let this quote sink in. 

One last wistful look at summertime in the garden, 2021.

It's been a week. (I feel like I pretty much say this every week.)

Oy.

Okay, let's see if I can get my week together and share the posts I wanted to share with you last week.

I'm going to begin with a few last looks at some of my outdoor spaces from the way-too-hot-to-handle-and-nearly-finished summer here in the Pacific Northwest, because if I wait any longer, it will be full on Pumpkin spice weather and no one will care a lick about seeing my struggling blooms from the past sunshine-y days. (No photos of the bigger area of our backyard where we have our fire pit (I think I shared that last summer, no?) and since we spent the bulk of summer with a no-burn order in place, it didn't see much action.

I had such big plans for the unfinished side yard areas of my backyard last spring. I started off with my usual row of hanging baskets of petunias, and then the first heat wave (One hundred eighteen degrees one day here, which was hotter than Phoenix and Las Vegas!) hit, and all plans were halted while we tried to keep things cool(ish) indoors.

Most of my existing flowers looked like they had been in a pizza oven after the heat wave, and then a couple of weeks later we got to experience a second heat wave, so I decided to table the idea of completing the garden area next to the covered patio for this year. (Plans of two more raised beds with pumpkins in them, a small porch for my shed, and lots of pea gravel will have to wait another year...)

Instead, I tried a bit of minimalist flower display by adding a cute old ladder I had thrifted filled with small flower pots of pansies, petunias and those pretty blue-purple-periwinkle colored tiny flowers that I can never remember the name of.

It worked.

Kind of.

Well, it worked for this year anyway.

My raised garden bed that originally had strawberries was struggling as well, although not from the heat, but a resident wild bunny that has taken up residency under our shed. (I say wild but during the first heat wave Ralph began leaving little bowls of water here and there for him, as well as pouring extra birdseed on the ground beneath the bird feeder, so that he (she?) has become quite comfortable thankyouverymuch with us popping out to the yard...)

I replaced the struggling strawberries with flowers and added a small wire fence. (I have no idea if the little wire fence deterred Mr. Bunbun, or if he simply doesn't like the smell and/or taste of those flowers, but I am claiming it a victory for me as a "gardener".)

I planted a few lavender plants along the fence near the back patio and behind the raised bed. I love things that will (hopefully) come back year after year, and I so enjoy the fragrance of the lavender as we sit on the patio in the evenings when it feels cool enough. Here are a few more views of the back patio area and small garden...

My small kitchen garden, wheelbarrow, and a few potted flowers rounded things out so to speak, and I called it good for 2021. How did your outdoor living areas fare this summer? Who else is ready for full on autumn to arrive?

 

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly Words To Live By.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Hellooooooooo, August! 

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by. (and happy 4th of July to you!)

Weekly words to live by.

A little late in the day, but finally posted this week's weekly words to live by. Hope you are enjoying a relaxing Sunday, my friends!

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.

Easy Easter brunch menu.

My Mom will be joining us for Easter brunch, and I'm keeping things easy. After all, it's much more about who is around the table, than what is on our plates. I'll do my favorite assemble-the-night-before breakfast casserole (remember it here from a few New Year's back? I shared a download of the recipe.) and I thought I'd do mixed fresh fruit bowls to accompany it.

Ralph got me these champagne coupes a couple of years ago for Christmas, and I think they look fabulous as the individual fruit bowls, holding just the right amount of fruit. A dollop of whipped cream on top and a tiny sprinkling of toasted coconut will fancy them up.

Juice and coffee will round things out. No big mess in the kitchen, and we can all enjoy our visit. What will you be doing this Easter Sunday? Is it a big holiday for you, with family, or not so much? Whatever you will be doing, I hope you have a wonderful day!

A second idea on an Easter tablescape with a farm-to-table feel.

I hope two tablescape posts in a week (back to back, no less...) isn't gonna be overkill here, but I saw an idea and I was overcome with inspiration to try my version of it. (A fellow instagrammer used fresh baby carrots down the center of her table, and that's all it took...)

I had fun creating this look, and again, other than buying a bunch of baby carrots at the grocery store, everything came directly from my own home.

I started with a runner made of artificial moss that I have had for a gazillion years as my backdrop, and I gathered up several of my flower pots to set the garden mood, along with my always-on-hand Ikea fake mini boxwood shrubs.

A short stack of old books borrowed from my entertainment center shelf added some height for one of the pots, a few plastic eggs (The kind that are meant to sort of look real-ish) and those inspiring baby carrots came together in less than 5 minutes to create my vignette on the table. Here is a look from the back side of my vignette...

I opted for my wicker trays to use as placemats or chargers, my old thrifted Sur La Table grey cloth napkins tucked in water goblets, and I then whipped up some fun little tags with a charming, and oh-so-serious bunny wearing a carrot and green onion bow tie. A bit of Dollar Tree jute replaced the white string on the manilla tag, and attached the tags to the pair of baby carrots on either plate.

Easy peasy, and quick too.

Now, I just need to decide which of these two tablescapes I'll use on Easter (or will I come up with another one?) as well as deciding on my Easter brunch menu. 

My latest favorite color combination in a simple and relaxed Easter time tablescape.

I have a little eye candy inspiration for those of you who enjoy setting a pretty table for holidays. (Or, any day!)

Have you noticed how popular the pale blush pinks and corals have become this spring? I am loving them so much that I decided I would feature them in my Easter tablescape...

I started off shopping my house for weathered worn tea-stained colors, and I came up with some old books missing their covers, a couple of my peat pots, and a pile of old dictionary pages. (Think outside of the box! It needn't be a kitchen related item, or a vase of flowers!) I also grabbed a couple of my painted clipboards in the blush coral shade,(Yummy!) a few of my printed out copies of vintage postcards.

I decoupaged some plastic eggs from the Dollar Tree with torn pieces of the pages, and printed a couple more pages with the coral stripes to use clipped to my clipboards. These then became my placements. (..or chargers, whichever you like to think of them as...)

I put the plates on the clipboards, and added a printed postcard as a little accent piece, then added my flatware and napkins.
I placed a blush colored gift box (Filled with Easter candy, but it could hold any little gift or treat you like!) adorned with a vintage print of some sweet bunnies in the weathered shades of creams and camel, and tied it with a camel colored ribbon. A name tag for "You" and "Me" made them extra special.

A peat pot with some Dollar Tree excelsior straw and a decoupaged egg tied with a snippet of pale pink and camel ribbon and a small millinery flower  placed by each place setting added another little Easter touch.

For my centerpiece I stacked the old books, and used a flower pot from my yard filled with an Ikea artificial peony plant. More decoupaged eggs and an additional printed bunny postcard rounded out my centerpiece.

I have the cutest (I think so, anyway...) little vintage silverplate pepper shaker shaped like an egg, that I added to the table, along with my favorite silverplate salt cellar, and my tablesetting was complete.

I hope this post has inspired you to shop your own home and set a fun table for a meal sometime soon!

Dining room wall decor update, at last.

Ohmygosh, could you hear my nail gun and me squealing with delirious glee at 1:45 am last Thursday night? (Or Friday morning, depending on how you view that time I refer to as "the middle of the night".)

I am 100% happy at long last with my dining room wall! (For now anyway. You know how I like to change things up in my house all the time.) It took me three days off and on, working ten or fifteen minutes at a time, (I was busy with etsy orders and my booth space, and had to allow drying time for the paint between coats....) but I finally completed my sign, and it is just what I wanted.

Neutral, kind of understated, and personalized, all at the same time. What do you think?
I began with a twelve dollar board from Home Depot. It was a four foot by four foot board (some sort of thin plywood) and I had the guy cut off one foot. (Which I will craft into another sign to sell in my booth and recoup my twelve bucks and then some...)

I painted it with primer....

I painted it a butter yellow that I had from a tester bottle for my Mom's laundry room way back when. It took a little adjusting to get the color muted just right. (I added white paint)

I then used Annie Sloan dark wax around the edges to weather it a bit. Then, I patted a paper towel of watery white paint over the glaze, and the oil to water mix made it kind of do a weathered looking thing.

After that, I printed, transferred, and painted my words.

We live on Harney Way, which is why the sign reads "The Jewel of Harney Way" at the top.The idea for this line came from a visit to my best friend since fifth grade's home several years back, when she still lived in northern California.

We had taken a walk one morning and we passed a little cottage with a picket fence. On the gate was a bronze oval plate that read "The jewel of such and such street" (I don't remember the street name) and I thought it was precious.

I knew I wanted to steal this idea so I squirreled it away in my mind, but once I put up my own picket fence at our cottage, I was torn, because I already had my little sign that seemed also perfect for my gate to welcome friends. Here is a picture to remind you of it from last summer...

...so, I kept waiting to use the idea. I thought it worked on my dining sign, so here it is.

It's not perfect, and I still might weather the paint a bit more, but I am feeling all sorts of crazy mad love for the wall now. It fills the wall, without being too showy, which is just what I was after.

Now, to decide about the black hutch...

Out with the old, and in with the older.

...and so much cuter, if you ask me.

Remember my old one?.....

Eeeeeeeeewe.

It worked fine, and did it's job for me in the kitchen for these past six plus years, but I've got to say, I am not gonna miss it one bit.

I think the new-to-me white range looks more intentional, in a Susan-Branch-ish we-love-vintage-things kind of way, as opposed to the-70's-left-their harvest-gold-stove-here-and-no-one-wants-it-back. (This being said, I was able to sell old yeller super quick on Facbook Marketplace...yay!)

Extra special thanks to my son-in-law for doing 99% of the heavy lifting up the porch steps and through the tight opening to the kitchen! (and climbing out from behind the range once it was plugged in)

So....I've got to ask you...do you like it, or do you love it?

.....

In other news, it is week four of my spring cleaning, and according to Clean mama, it's beds and floors, and I am totally onboard! Who's with me?

Weekly words to live by.

#weeklywordstoliveby #notesfromacottageindustryblog

My spring cleaning continues this week in the one and only bathroom in the house.

Is anybody doing spring cleaning along with me? According to Clean Mama, whose system I am attempting to follow, says "....last week we cleaned the baseboards, did deep dusting and light fixtures last week. If you didn’t, catch those things up as you’re deep cleaning the kitchen this week.
Monday - Clean Toilets - tank to floor, - Clean + Clear Bathroom Counters, Clean Bathtubs + Showers  (Bathrooms Day)
Tuesday -  Launder Curtains/Drapes + Clean Blinds (Dusting Day)
Wednesday  (Vacuuming Day)
Thursday - Wash Bathroom Floors  (Floor Washing Day)
Friday - Wash Interior/Exterior (?) Windows, Clean Window Sills + CATCH UP ON ANYTHING THAT DIDN’T GET DONE (Catch-All Day)
Saturday - Wash Bath Mats + Shower Curtains  (Sheets + Towels Day)"

Two things here; first, I love how she lays it all out for me. It's not overwhelming, and it is 100% doable from my standpoint. Second, and a full disclosure here, I missed doing the baseboards in the bathroom last week. Yep, I somehow skipped them. I'm doing them today,(Even though Clean Mama said Friday is catch up day. I am inspired today to do them!) along with the toilet, and done a week late is okay by me.

I am not at all sure what happened to me last week, but somehow I couldn't get myself caught up enough to share my Easter tablescape ideas. They will be here this week, for certain, as I am planning not one, but two small gatherings next week! I am planning one with my grandsons, and one with a friend. If I can find time to photograph it, I will also share my Easter breakfast table plans. (No promises on that one, since I am desperately trying to underpromise and over deliver here this week!)

How about you? Are you feeling like you are ready for entertaining in small groups yet? I am feeling guardedly optimistic that this summer is going to be much less isolated, and I am so looking forward to it! We have a nearly six month old grandson we have yet to be able to meet, and the thought that we just might get to travel and see him, along with his brother and sister are at the top of my list, as you can imagine....

 

Weekly words to live by.

#weeklywordstoliveby #Notesfromacottageindustryblog