I am skiing with “The Donald”

Depending upon who you are, you are probably thinking that I am skiing with either Donald Duck or Donald Trump…the latter is that of which I am speaking. Am I really? No, but it is one big goal that I write on my dry erase board in the home office of various houses I stage. [...]

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe

AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD STARTER
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup milk
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container, combine flour and sugar, mix thoroughly. Slowly stir in [...]

The Christmas Story

I love pop up books, especially the really good ones. I just created a scene in a property that had a pop up book of “The Christmas Story.” In addition, I set some big fluffy pillows on the floor and a few old quilts. Next to one pillow, I had the book—open and face down, [...]

Plan to Breathe

It is the holidays. I never know if people actually take time to breathe or just run so hard it makes them crazy. In our office, we have noticed that most of our emails have died down, which is good…I love it when things are quiet. That is why I get up early, [...]

The Starbucks Experience

We all know that a cup of coffee sounds relaxing, despite the caffeine buzz, but does it really relax you?  Here is the way, I like to present it… a coffee maker, 2 mugs, a creamer and sugar set, a bag or two of Starbucks coffee (depending upon your customer) and 2 small bottles of [...]

Recession Sunshine

The most Millionaires are always made right after a recession. There is a little silver lining to an otherwise gloomy outlook after all. I think as an optimist, I always like to look for a little sunshine in everything and lately, there is so much gloom—how can you possibly see the sun?  I will admit, [...]

“Live” Turtle

Okay, okay, enough of the holiday ideas.  Have you ever heard of being “charged” by a turtle? I know you know my story of being “charged” by  a chipmunk…frightening! J  Another great staging tip is to have an aquarium and place either a live or fake turtle inside—on the outside, place a large message that [...]

Amish Friendship Bread

I realize that this headline might have caught you off guard.  Have I caught you wondering “is Karen a baker?”  Well, the answer is no, I am not, although I am planning on knocking out about 10 dozen various types of cookies when I get home, but that is just a once a year thing.
Obviously [...]

Christmas Flowers

In keeping with our “flower” theme this week,  I thought I would share one more very cool tip…imagine a centerpiece that is filled with presents…and flowers.  All you need is a big glass bowl or big round glass vase, wrap dozens of small jewelry boxes with colorful holiday paper and bows and then stick you [...]

Holiday Baking Flower

So I was in Linens and Things the other day, because you know, they are closing, so there are bargins everywhere (I guess I could just end with that tip because it is already pretty good) and they had clear canisters for flour, sugar, coffee, etc.  I stood and looked at them for a long [...]