Cola's Cottage

Please visit me at www.colascottage.com . We specialize in romantic art of roses and children, and handmade vintage style decor. We also offer vintage finds and apparel.

Monday, June 15, 2009

New Beginnings


Hello friends ~ It has been a while since my last post. I have experienced a loss in my life from someone who I loved to cancer. It has been a very long winter and spring and a healing process. If you have experienced this kind of loss you understand that change is inevitable. Having faith and knowing that it is not goodbye forever, and that we will be reunited in heaven brings peace. God's grace and time can heal our pain.
Unfortunately in my life and in my family's we have experienced loved ones called home too early. Along with the sadness that it brings, it has also brought out love and hope. Through our grief and pain, we find loved ones supporting each other and we celebrate their lives while they were with us.
I have found that through my art I have been able to bring healing and it has brought about new purpose in my life. I lost my sister to a genetic illness at the age of 19. After her passing I found healing in drawing her. After loosing other loved ones I have shared my gift with their families through my art. It is a blessing and gift from God that I am able to give.

I hope to continue this and give to others through my site, and offer art and gifts that celebrate life and love. Sadness and grief has given way to love and hope. Passion for life and how we touch each others lives is what life is about. I want to share that to celebrate the joys and moments of our lives.

I have been busily creating now inside my studio with my new found purpose and had my first sale of the year. It was a lovely day and had many dear friends visit me. I would like to share the day with you through my pictures. I hope you enjoy!


This is the front of my studio. We created a room within a room with the banisters and cornice. The cornice is from the 1880's and has the old square nail heads. I love color, but we went with a monochromatic theme for this sale.



These are my new creations I plan to infuse into my site. I love the mixed media, altered art form. I have long wanted to print my own art and have started to do so. By creating one of a kind peices adding yarn, vintage fabric, buttons, jewelry, keys and pretty papers with my printed art, I create something unique and beautiful. I am able to put my love for drawing and painting together with crafting from vintage finds.


The picture is of my sister who passed away. It has been over fifteen years now, and it brings me joy still to create with her in my art. I look forward to sharing more with you in my next post. I have more pictures to share with you of my sale, my gardens and my art. Thank you for visiting and I would love to hear from you!
Hugs and Blessings ~ Nichole










Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Finished painting

I am so grateful to all of you who visited my blog and left such wonderful comments about my painting. It was exactly what I needed to complete this painting. Since I last posted I have been working hard to finish it, and besides showing it to my family to critique it, I think it is done! I always like to set it aside for a few days and then I can look at it with "fresh" eyes, so I may change it a little.



This is a painting of my daughter Alison and her friend Alexis who is also the daughter of my friend Tracy. Tracy and I are partners in our seasonal sales that we hold in the studio. One day we hope they will participate in creating with us as they are both very artistic. I am very fortunate to have them as adorable subjects to paint!

It has long been a dream of mine to have my art in print and to be a plate artist. One day when I have a good portfolio I will send it in to Bradford Exchange...one day! For now I am happy to be creating in my studio and having my online business and seasonal sales. I cannot wait to begin another painting. It will be a companion to this one. I love to paint roses and flowers along with children. My passion for flowers and gardening carries through from the earth to my paintings. I thank God for His many blessings and giving me this gift to share through my paintings. Thank you to all of you too for letting me share it! Very soon I hope to offer this in print on my site along with my other print of Alison. I will keep you posted on that!

Blessings ~ Nichole

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Please take a peak!!

As an artist it can be both a blessing and a curse. In one moment you are elated and inspired and then when things aren't working then you are tortured by insecurity and doubt. I try to explain this rollercoaster of emotion to others and they look at me kind of funny, hehe! Being creative and artistic is either a blessing that naturally flows or it is a draining and sometimes frustrating experience. To create on demand when you are not inspired is hard.

I am happy to say that as my kids have grown older my passion for creating and painting is in full force. I still have my days where I feel like pulling my hair out but for the most part it is fulfilling and rewarding. I thank God everyday for His blessings He has given me.

Years ago when my children came along and my life revolved around changing diapers and feedings I lost my desire to create. In the beginning I did not mind. I was in that"baby bubble" and I was content. About the time that my daughter turned two I started to feel something was missing. I started to dream about ideas and put them on paper. It took a few years but I now have my own online boutique where I sell my creations.

I have been painting on canvas for about a year and a half now. Between my business and family it is hard to find time to paint but I have three paintings now. One is completed and I have it for sale on my site and the other two are a work in progress. I am going to be brave and show you one of them that I am working on. I was hoping that by doing so I can get some feed back. Most of the time I don't like to show my work in progress. Sharing your work can be scary and humbling. An artist puts so much of themselves into their work and they always want to do their best.

This painting is of my daughter Alison and her friend. I have been working on this painting off and on for about a year.

As I have just uploaded this I cringe a little because I can see what I need to work on. I am also a little excited though too because it feels good to share. I sit in my studio and paint my little heart out with no one to show it to. My goal is to have this done very soon because when spring comes it will be hard to work in the studio when my gardens and the birds are calling me to be outside. I cannot wait to hear from everyone who sees this what they think!! : )

Blessing ~ Nichole

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Hello again!

Hello All ~ It has been a while since my last post but I have been quite busy in the meantime! I have fulfilled a dream I have had of designing my own line of note cards. I have created two that are in print and I am in the process of drawing and designing more.

My artist friends and I constantly joke about how cool it would be to have clones of ourselves and then we could accomplish all that we want to get done LOL! I have so much on my plate with my own art and then custom work that I recieve it is hard to get everything done. I am anxious to get all of my work done so when spring arrives I can be outside gardening, which is my second love to painting and creating. I am hoping that waiting for spring won't be as painful as it has been in the past because I have so much more to work on in my studio than in years past.

Below are the new note cards that I have created. They are available for purchase on my site.







The top one is a drawing of my daughter and my friend's son. They were a little younger and have grown too much since! The card below is a drawing of my sister who passed away at the age of 19 from an illness she was born with. I love to draw her and it has been a healing process and wonderful memorial to her.

All of my drawings and paintings mean so much to me. I am afraid I may spend too much time on them, and they are invaluable to me. That is why am so lucky to be able to offer them in prints and note cards.

I will try and keep up on my posts and keep you informed on all of my projects. Soon I will be able to share my photos of my gardens again!

Have a wonderful blessed day! ~ Nichole

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Our Enchanted Christmas Sale Event

Once again we had a wonderful sale and it truly was enchanting. What fun and joy we have doing this for our customers! Our sale began Friday night and when you walked in the door the sound of Christmas music and the smell of Apple cider filled your senses. As in years past we redecorated and surprised our friends with a new cottage.
Thank you to all who came and made this sale a wonderful experience.

If we had more extention cords we would have had more lights, but as it were we used everything we had. At least this year we did not blow any fuses, lol!

Our new feature for this sale was this room within a room. My talented husband built this frame from an old 1800's architectual door frame piece. Old banisters were used to support the opening.


My hutch was decorated with moss and hydrangias and the traditional tree was replaced with tree branches painted white and lit up with white lights.

I love this room so much, I just want to put it in my house! It is so calming and beautiful! One day when my kids are older I may be able to have that.


These hats are made by my talented mom. All of her hats are original and she does not follow any pattern. They will soon be on my site and I hope that she is successful at selling them! Everyone who has one loves them and everyone who sees them comments on how nice they are.



This room is my daughters play house. She loves it and wants to keep it this way forever. We moved all the pink and roses out here and decorated the ceiling with white lights and a pink crystal chandelier.


Now I can look forward to decorating my house. We usually have two trees as my kids love to have one in there room. I am feeling like I want to have a vintage style tree, wheras I have had a pointsettia and floral tree in the past. We will see what I come up with and I will share it with you!

Blessings~ Nichole

Sunday, November 9, 2008

An Enchanted Christmas

Once again we have been busy getting ready for another Christmas boutique sale event. This year our theme is An Enchanted Christmas. Along with getting ready for this wonderful sale I have taken on a seasonal job making Christmas wreaths for a local landscape and nursery company. Trying to do both has been challenging, but I am determined to do it all. If no one has ever told you how hard it is to make wreaths I will tell you now that it is so.

My friend Tracy and I have luckily been working on setting up this sale for a while now and it is coming together nicely. Every sale and every year is a little different. This one will be no exception. We cannot wait to see their faces when they walk in the door! We have a wonderful guest list of ladies who shop while the men folk are hunting. It is fun for all and we create tours as other ladies do the same at their places.

Here is a sneak peak at our studio!

In years past we have always done the traditional Christmas trees in our studio and this year we decided with our space being so precious we would do something different. In my next post I will share with you the photos and tell you all about it. I cannot give out too many details or I will spoil the surprise for our shoppers!

Here are a few of the things I have been working on with my rose painting...




Above is a canvas giclee print of my painting that is stretched on stretcher bars. I have also been working on note cards of my print. Along with that I will be offering gift tags and more note cards and tags with other art I have created. I am so excited to share it with you!

Blessings ~ Nichole

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Marie Antoinette Blog Award



I have been awarded the Marie Antoinette Blog Award by two lovely ladies ~ Jacalyn at RME Bath and Body Shop and Katie Newman Gifts and Home. Thank you for the honors! Please visit their blogs at http://rmebathproducts.blogspot.com/ and http://www.katienewmangiftsandhome.com/store/blogIndexWs.asp .
Here are the rules:
1. Please put the logo on your blog
2. Link it to the person from whom you received the award
3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs
4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them (I'm letting them know here too)And the winners are: