Inspiring ideas for the handmade home.
The Christmas Porch
Pictures from Christmas past at the little white cottage.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
A Chippy Christmas Urn.
A Vintage Watering Can dressed up for Christmas
Fresh Christmas Arrangement
Pepperberries and Fresh Christmas Greens
Home Made German Glass Glitter Santa Boot with dried Hydrangeas
The Attic Faux Fireplace
The Attic Bedroom.
Winter Quilts.
Ironstone Bowls full of Christmas.
The Sitting Room.
The Guest Room at Christmas
The Christmas Headboard.
A recurring theme in my blog is always about making things easier. Around the holidays, I try to work with what I have so I got the idea to hang mercury glass ornaments of varying sizes from my dining room chandelier with vintage seam binding. Cut at different lengths, the vintage seam binding helps hold the ornaments at different heights and gives the “floating” centerpiece great visual interest.
The light itself is an oversized single burlap drum shade from Potter Barn. It has this great fabric ledge on the inside that turned out to be a great place to tuck twinkling string lights that show through the burlap to give this great softened twinkling holiday light effect. To make this happen, I found a screw in lightbulb socket with a plug and just screwed it into the extisting bulb socket, added the normal lightbulb and plugged in the twinkle lights.
The result is this great floating centerpiece with a soft, holiday lighting effect. A simple project that has maximum impact to the entire room.
I hope you find some inspirtation for your house for the holidays!
Always,
xoxo
Cindy
German Glass Glitter and Mercury Ornaments.
Pretty Twinkling Lights tucked on the fabric ledge.
Lightbulb Socket found at any home store.
A Scenic Winter View.
Country Living HOLIDAYS 2002. I have read that issue literally hundreds of times and in ten years, it continues to resonate with me, not just during the holidays, but all year long. One particular article about a family who lived in a small barn as their main house was being re-built after a fire is the one that caught my eye.
The barn had been decorated to have all the comforts of home while the family was temporarily displaced. I loved the worn surfaces and the light palette. I was drawn to the antique pieces that had a European feel to them. I admire the the utter simplicity. As a result, I have spent the last 9 years trying to emulate that style in my own little cottage.
Since this was a holiday issue, the lodging has been decorated in a really restrained way for Christmas, but feels no less festive than the most decorated homes. As the holidays have come and gone, I find myself trying to do more with less. Having an appreciation for simplicity and the reduction in stress that goes along with it.
Thanks for stopping by for my first Christmas post. I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
My All Time Favorite Issue.
The Winter Barn.
The Cozy Cottage Kitchen.
Where we gather.
The Well Appointed Couch.
Lovely Old Doors.
White Painted Plank Walls.
Dormers and Angles Make Cozy Nooks.
Black urn and white pumpkin dressed with gauze for an ethereal look.
My last fall post for the year…I’ll be starting on Christmas posts next week. Can’t wait! I took down the Halloween decorations on my mantle and simplified with a fall theme to bring me into the Thanksgiving Holidays.
I tend to fill the visual space in a plentiful way; showing restraint is not always easy for me with regard to design. But I started with more and played and edited the props until I got to the final, simplifed version. It was kind of liberating to keep it as simple as it ended up.
I also included some other pictures of my outdoor decor, but I am “fallready” and ready to coast for a few weeks and then start Christmas decorating.
I hope you find some inspiration!
xoxo.
Cindy
As a post blog article note, many people are using the “like” button posted above this article in order to be eligible for the giveaway. The like button on this page only applies to this article, not the blog fb page. In order to be submitted for the giveaway, please click on the Facebook icon above, which will take you to The Leaning Cottage fb page where you can hit the like button that is associated with the page. Thank you for your patience in allowing me to clarify!
I see Giveaways on other blogs all the time, so it would seem it is time to have one of my own. The giveaway period ends on October 31, 2012. There are two ways to win: add yourself to my subscriber list and confirm (subscription request is on the right hand side of the screen, in the sidebar) and/or “like” my page on Facebook. Current subscribers and current friends on The Leaning Cottage page on Facebook are automatically entered. You’ll get one entry for a subscription to the blog and one entry for liking my blog page on Facebook which means you can have up to two chances to win.
What will you win? You will win the following spice rack, which includes a handmade wood shelf, 24 spice jars with custom labels, two large and two small vintage style amber lab jars for extracts, also with labels and a pair of vintage Kerr Jelly Jars for salt/pepper storage. The giveaway does not include jar contents such as spices and extracts. You supply those:)
The Leaning Cottage Giveaway
Please pass this information along to your friends!
Until next time,
Cindy
19th century scalloped cookie cutters.
I am thinking alot about the holidays. The decorating I want to do, the things I want to bake and the gifts I want to give. Standing in the check out stand at the grocery store, I spied a holiday cookie magazine and decided to give one recipe a try. My lovely neighbor, Darlene and her family are always the recipients and by extension, the judges of my experiments. Seems to be thumbs up all the way around for these delicious and festive Cherry Almonds Half Moons. Looks like they will find a permanent place in my recipe files. Recipe after the pictures below.
Cheers to what lies ahead.
I hope you find some inspiration.
xoxo.
Cindy
Chilled and freshly rolled.
A dollup of cherry pie filling.
Not neat, but lovingly home made.
Folded over, sealed and ready for the oven.
Almond glaze drizzled on the warm, just out of the oven cookies and topped with sliced almonds.
Warm pastry enveloping a sweet, cherry center.
A treat for the Holidays.
1 c. butter, softened
1 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 t. almond extract
2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. canned cherry pie filling or cherry preserves
2 egg whites
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 t. almond extract
1 – 2 T. water or milk
1/2 c. of sliced almonds
1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in 1 t. of almond extract until combined. Beat in the flour, on low, until dough comes together. Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in a disc shape in clear wrap and chill dough for about 1 and 1/2 hours or until dough is easy to handle. A couple of notes on the dough. Once it is mixed, the dough is actually a little bland. However, once it is filled with the filling, baked and add the sweetness of the glaze…it all seems to come together very well. Secondly, if the dough is too hard once it comes out of the fridge, let it sit to soften a bit. It needs to be somewhat pliable to roll out properly.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside. On a lightly floured surface roll half of the dough at a time to 1/8 inch thick. Using a 3 – inch scalloped-edge round cookie cutter, cut out dough. place the rounds 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Spoon 1/2 t. of filling in the center of each round. Fold dough rounds in half, enclosing filling; press edges to seal. Whisk egg whites until frothy; brush cookies lightly with egg wash. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until cookies are light brown.
4. In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar, the remaining almond extract, and enough of the water or mil to make the icing a drizzling consistency. Sprinkle with almonds. Let cookies stand until icing is set. Makes 32 cookies. (recipe from Better Homes & Gardens)
End of season flowers in a miniature, vintage glass pitcher.
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I am always on the hunt for pretty little things that can be used in very practical ways for home keeping and organizing. These lovely little shells do the trick as soap and sponge holders in my cottage kitchen. As my style has evolved into a more coastal style (see a previous blog article, Coastal Leanings) they fit right in.
I picked up these two little shells from my good friend, Vince at GOOD LOOK, Inc. around the corner in Princeton, Texas. I am grateful to know him, as he reminds me and helps me every day to see the beauty in simple things. He has recently opened an online shop where he offers his beautiful antiquities at secondshoutout.com. His wonderful eye and great style are available to the masses since he now ships. Please give him a look, you’ll be glad you did.
What pretty little things can you use to organize your home?
I hope you find some inspiration.
xoxo.
Cindy
Faint hues from faded flowers and handmade lavender and oat soap.
Vintage bottle for soap, vintage pitcher for flowers and lovely little shells for soap and sponge caddies.
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Lovely kraft paper labels to add some vintage style.
I used to store my spices in small round tins with vintage labels. That worked for a while, but at some point I decided I wanted glass jars. Searching high and low in the Internet, I finally found the ones I wanted at a lab supply warehouse. As I was jumping around their website, I came across amber etched stopper bottles and decided they would be great as vessels to hold and preserve my extracts.
Using a mixture of old apothecary jars, vintage squat jelly jars, new amber jars, larger tins and clear, straight sided jars, I was able to store each kind of item conveniently along with adding visual interest that variety brings.
I built the shelves for these items to fit the space. The spice shelf was built to be inset in a window that is permanently sealed shut that is in exactly the right spot to be able to grab and go anywhere in the kitchen.
I hope you find some inspiration.
xoxo.
Cindy
Old and new jars to hold each kind of item.
Inset in a sealed window that is easy to display and convenient to access.
Old apothecary jars to hold larger quantities.
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Clever Vintage Kitchen Organization Solutions Featured at Whisperwood Cottage Blog, Talent Scouts for Cottages and Bungalos Magazine.
My lovely friends at Whisperwood Cottage, who are also talents scouts for Cottages and Bungalos Magazine, featured my blog in their article about vintage kitchen storage. Happy to be chosen and happy to be featured. Thanks so much!
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To get to the article, click here.
A variety of vintage and antique containers.
For a long time, I used to collect vintage aluminium measuring spoons that came in a set, held together with a small ring. The problem, however, was that aluminum does not come through a wash cycle in the dishwasher very well and keeping them on a ring was necessary to keep them from getting lost…but kind of inconvenient for practical use. It seemed that being able to grab them and use them individually made more sense…but I wanted to find spoons that were more substantial and had some style to them.
I was perusing an import store and found a set of white china measuring spoons for a very reasonable $2.99 a set and decided on the spot that I wanted several sets to break apart and use a variety of little vintage containers that I already had in my collection.
Even the most functional storage can be beautiful and useful.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
Stored by measurement, as a group.
Organization that Works!
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