June 2015 – Karla's Cottage

Birdsong FIVE kits for sale

By Karla Nathan / June 30, 2015

This is the project led by Lori Oles for Birdsong 5. Delightful, isn't it? And after she left, I found it in my studio, left behind as a surprise gift! All of the teachers trade kits too, so I also have one to make, which I am looking forward to doing. I was a bit busy during her class and didn't get a chance to sit down and work on my own.

I asked Lori and Lesa to make up a few extra kits just in case we needed them, and also to offer to our past Birdsong Peeps and sponsors who couldn't make it for the weekend. Lesa had a few personal orders to fill too, so her kits went really fast.

I have a few more of Lori's if you'd like one for $40, please email me at::

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

While I was kitting up packages, I made ton of extras of my own kits. For one thing, I really love pulling together coordinating elements and packing up pretties for someone to open and enjoy. And I did a LOT of kits for my two classes.

Only one is sold out, I have the others still available.

You can find the Doodling Tips and ideas here.

And everything you need to make this collage page is found here in neutrals.

Here for pinks and here for blues. Please keep in mind that all are going to be unique, since I've filled them with vintage papers and materials.

There are also journal making kits available. With aqua , moss, or chocolate velvet ribbon. Every kit comes with instructions. The journal kits have hand illustrated ones so you have diagrams to look at.

While getting ready for the class, I made lots of examples too. I've got two of the books listed for sale, this one comes with an ephemera pack to finish the pages.

Both are fully constructed and ready for you to finish and fill.

And believe it or not, I ACTUALLY ADDED SOME THINGS TO THE BOUTIQUE!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I had to use all caps, because that was my equivalent of shouting it from the rooftops. I'm so impressed with myself for finally getting around to cleaning up my little online shop. (I'd much rather be impressed with myself for getting this done, than ashamed of myself for the long term neglect up til now, that is better for the soul)

Now, I'm not saying the store is fully stocked, as of yet…

But it is a start!

And you know what? It was fun to do. I'd forgotten how much I liked filling up the pages of goods. So, I've planned to set aside some time every day this week to add a few more things here and there.

I've got a lot of things to market, so I hope I can keep up this momentum. Please check back to see.

Edit- Lori's kits are now sold, but Lesa does have a couple, please contact her here: https://www.facebook.com/lesa.dailey?pnref=story

Farewell Seashell Fairies on Siesta Key Beach

celebrations, fairies, family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2015

When I travel to beaches, I've made a tradition of collecting shells to form a fairy, then leaving it on the beach my last day as a thank you. I always wonder if a kid finds it and enjoys the treat, and smiles. We share so many smiles on the beach, I hope that I can leave some behind for others too.

But they are very special to me, and I spend the week looking for the right shell inspiration. This year, I was lucky to find this broken sand dollar that made an ideal skirt, a curved shell for a gown bodice, and wings that actually look like they came right off a dragonfly, not a broken shell.

The best finds weren't mine, Kai Kai found this curved, pasta like thing that made a lovely, bent arm to hold the heart shaped shell Miss Tree found in the same spot her daughter snared that tube/arm thing. I don't know for sure what it is, it is a cluster of little bits, and is a perfect little heart, practically complete with ventricles and such. That is, if like me, you know nothing about anatomy.

Creating farewell fairies was an even more special event for me this time, since the family joined in. My son made a Warrior Sprite.

Miss Tree formed a curly headed faye, that seems to be jumping for joy.

Kai Kai left the beach a fairy riding a galloping unicorn. You can almost see the movement.

That inspired Dewdrop to use shells as double unicorn horns for herself.

Her sand fairy was a big happy face. Which did a very good job of expressing how we all felt about Siesta Key Beach.

Here are a few more seashell fairies from other beaches:

Outer Banks
Maui
Missouri
Siesta Key, Daddy's Ashes Angel

A bounty of blossoms

bird song art event, flowers, Food and Drink, parties, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 26, 2015

If Beth and I look slightly delirious with joy, it is because we most certainly were. And Sugarwings was here to capture the moment.

We had a very good reason to be soooooo happy. Our pal, Carol had posted a photo years ago of some beautiful, gorgeous, dreamy, scrumptious, silk flowers and it was one of those pictures that stayed with me. Then, for some crazy reason, but lucky for me, she posted that she was selling them all! In one big, giant lump of unbelievable beauty.

Beth messaged me when she saw it, and I had a little stab of jealousy, but then was happy for my friend. Then, she said she was waffling and I asked it if would help to split it.

Yep! She shared the bounty! And I contacted Carol before the treasures were scooped up and we missed out.

Carol lives just down the road, and dropped it in the mail box, by Priority, that afternoon. The next day, Beth and Sugarwings were here for craft day and the box arrived. Perfect flowers and perfect timing!

See why we squealed??? This is new, old stock. Never used. Here is how Carol described them on her blog. And she also says she has more goods to sell in the next couple months, so if you are wanting some very special things, keep an eye out for what she'll be offering!!

Over the Summer, I’m going to be offering for sale a select few of my very special and very vintage stash of goods.

To start will be my collection of Vintage Millinery Flowers and Trims that I’ve kept tucked away for several years. This amazing old store stock, is from the Emery, Bird, Thayer Department Store of Kansas City, Missouri. Handmade of vintage fabrics, ribbons and some velvets including many flat appliqués and trims in gorgeous muted shades of color. A few still have the original EBT sale tags. There are over 100 pieces to this collection, some range from very delicate petite to large size flowers and trims. If you’re a collector or crafter of vintage millinery, you know how rare it is to find a grouping of embellishments such as these.

There was bag after bag after bag of these beauties in our box of delights. Plus some cool trims. They were easy to share, too. We opened one bag at a time, and between the, "Oh my gosh, look at this one" and the "Oooh"s and "Oh my goodness"es, we managed to take turns picking out what we wanted, one piece at a time, till the piles were gone.

Then, we found a bag that had slipped off the table and landed on the floor, and the squealing resumed.

Sugarwings took a thousand or so photos, which took her away from her own work, but she was having fun watching the old ladies be silly.

She wasn't allowed to touch our blooms. She was deep into her own Project Runway style creations and had a tad of paint and glitter on her hands.

Earlier, we'd hosted a Birthday Luncheon for Beth and Angie, with Sugarwings as my co-hostess. She decorated all the cupcakes, and set the table using her favorite trick. Here is what she does-

Make an a-okay sign with both hands.

Notice that the left hand looks like a "b"

The right hand looks like a "d"

The "b" stands for bread plate and goes to the left, the "d" stands for drink and goes to the right.

That is a quick way for a kid to learn about where things go at a table setting, and she enjoys doing it so much, she makes the a-okay sign each time she sets the items down, even though, she already knows where to put them.

The day was so much fun. And while I am supposed to be getting caught up after Birdsong, and trying to put the studio and garage back to normal, while also selling leftover kits (first offered to sponsors and past attendees, soon to the rest of our friends), it was nice to have a day just to laugh. All day long. And that is what we did.

Sugarwings was glad I didn't have the studio back to normal yet. I still had the big tables up, her small ones weren't back out yet, and the larger ones were still covered in paper.

Instead of doing a project on the table, she made the paper covered table her actual piece. It was a fashion themed day for her, and she had previously drawn dozens of gowns in chalk on the patio, side walks and breezeway floors, for us to take a walk through her "fashion museum".

Then, the table cover became a full length ball gown, covered in red glitter and embellished with sparkling tape.

Afterwards, she cut it out, and we hung it up in the studio. I love to see her creativity run amok. She was into this for hours.

My project for craft day was working on Lesa's kit. I'd already made one of them, and someone gave me their kit to finish, and I was happy to do it, I love these little birds. And again, perfect timing for the flowers to arrive, just when I needed them to make this special birdie, extra, extra special!

Thank you for parting with the blossoms, Carol, and thank you, Beth for sharing with me.

All of Lesa's kits are sold now. I have a couple of Lori's and I made quite a few extras of my own. I'll be marketing them as soon as all the Birdsong Peeps have had a chance to get first pick at them. So please do check back if you are interested in one. I'll also have some posts about Birdsong coming up soon.

Scenes from Siesta Key

family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 24, 2015

Our trip to the Gulf Coast was ideal. We found the perfect condo (Siesta Sands) for the family, although it wasn't quite big enough for us all, we were able to get another unit right across the street, so that everyone could use our place as headquarters for beach time, cocktails, and meals. Beachpoint, I think is the name of the colorful, funky, fun place right behind Siesta Sands, it was exactly what we needed, and very friendly.

And there was a retaining wall for our resident yogi to work out on.

The reason I chose this place to return to, after staying there with my sisters in October was that it is very laid back and comfy, not fancy, and the front yard is a giant, open expanse of sand leading to the Gulf. The sand is pure white, made from quartz crystal, so is cool to the touch. The kids could play right by the condo in the never ending sandbox playground, without burning their feet, or without us worrying about them slipping into the water when we turn our heads.

This was how they spent the majority of their time.

That is, when we weren't doing this.

Or this.

Well, there was some of this too.

Sugarwings got pretty good with the boogie board.

And we had a troupe of entertainers with us to put on acrobatic shows at sunset.

It was all very peaceful, and relaxing on the beach, but it wasn't exactly a restful vacation. Any time you travel with a group of ten, there are lots of details to keep an eye on and lots of meals to handle. There was grocery shopping, cooking, and laundry to keep up. And the never ending sweeping up of the sand.

The family pitched in, I had simple breakfast items around, but they ended up cooking eggs, and the Hippie Chick made her famous gluten free, berry pancakes. Then at dinner, everyone was busy chopping and stirring, and the big girls were in charge of trash and recycling. It was a lot of food for a lot of people, but we did a pretty good job of making a special dinner every night.

Of course, when you have a porch over looking the ocean, and a cocktail in your hand, dinner will taste pretty good no matter what it is!

The condo we stayed in had a decent kitchen, small, but complete, and we ate "at home" as much as we could. I made daily trips to Trader Joe's and the seafood market so that we always had fresh fish, and also so that I didn't over buy. I didn't want to end up with excess food that we couldn't eat, so played it day by day. That was much more affordable than trying to go to restaurants, which we knew we'd have to do once we checked out and went to Orlando.

I think that my favorite meal was the tilapia. I marinated it in an actual margarita, tequila, triple sec, lime juice, a bit of sugar and some sea salt. Oh my, it was flavorful and juicy. Not having a full cupboard of spices and essentials and not wanting to over buy, I had no breading for it, so I ground up cashews in the blender, with a little bit of cayenne pepper, and baked the fish with a little olive oil drizzled over the cashew coating.

Another favorite was fresh, gulf shrimp, sauteed in garlic, olive oil, and sea salt, then served with tortellini. Sometimes, the simple meals are the best aren't they?

My sons, Miss Tree, and the Hippie Chick all went out to the water after the rest of us were tucked in and got to experience the glowing water. This phenomenon is caused by tiny bioluminescent plankton, and when movement occurs, streaks of blue light shoot out like glitter.

I hate that I missed that, I remember my grandma telling tales of skinning dipping in the glowing water there and I'd always wanted to see it. Not my grandma skinny dipping, the sparkles in the water.

But after Birdsong, I was pretty well worn out, and I wasn't exactly a late nighter on this trip.

We kept out of the sun in the middle of the day, doing out best to get Dewdrop to nap then, while the bigger girls watched shows, and I ran errands.

My Handsome Husband and Ry Guy actually bought a temporary gym membership and worked out while everyone else rested!

It surprised me to see how quiet the beach was. There wasn't a crowd at all.

The temperatures were perfect, I'd been worried about the heat in Florida in June, but by the water, the breeze was lovely. uhm, not so lovely in Orlando at the hottest happiest place on earth….

We made use of a lot of umbrellas, scarves, and kept an eye out for shade too. Mr. Zen managed a whole week outdoors without a sunburn, not even using sunscreen.

A couple of us brought small umbrellas, and one of the condos had some to borrow. They worked so well, I used mine at Disney too. Instant shade, where ever you go. Plus, it felt very festive to be walking under a parasol.

Dewdrop was enamored with the "kid waves" but didn't care as much for being out deeper. Sugarwings on the other hand was a little too brave and would have swum to the other side of the Gulf if we'd let her.

All of us were sad when it was time to go, but knowing that Disney was waiting for us helped. Although, it was much more crowded and hot than the beach, I'm always thrilled to go there. Still, I was happy that most of the trip was spent in our cozy little condo, where life took on a Jimmy Buffet feel, and the world was not as hectic as it was in the land of Walt.

It really can't get any better than this.

A renewal of our vows on Siesta Key beach

celebrations, family, Travel, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 21, 2015

Over the years, I've told my husband it would be fun to throw a big party and renew our vows. I've also mentioned eloping to Vegas and getting remarried in an Elvis chapel. He always scoffs, even though he tends to be a pretty romantic guy, he wasn't interested. I'd kind of forgotten about the idea, then while in Sarasota, we watched a wedding on the beach at sunset, as we finished up dinner on our patio.

I was inspired to bring up the idea again.

And this time, he said yes, and accepted my proposal.

It probably didn't hurt that the little girls were so excited, and that we only had about 10 minutes to pull it all together before the sun went down. I threw a couple of sundresses on the two little beauties, the condo neighbors gave me a bundle of flowers wrapped in foil, I slipped one of the girls headbands over my wet hair and then put Sugarwings in charge of the rest.

At first she drew a pathway in the sand with a heart to stand in, but it led towards the real wedding party, and we didn't want to bother them. So, we found some tracks left by a wagon and followed those. She put some leaves and rosemary (from the plant we bought to cook with while there) into a sieve that we'd bought to play in the sand with and she walked ahead, as our flower girl. I grabbed the rosemary pot to carry as well as my flowers.

I handed my camera to our Hippie Chick, and people started finding jobs to do. Dewdrop was our ring bearer, and had a couple of colorful hair ties with flowers on them to use as rings (provided by our talented wedding planner, Sugarwings).

Adam was best man, and Ry Guy walked us down the wagon trail path.

Avanhi has a sultry, sweet voice, and sang my husband's favorite song, Aloha by Nahko Bear and Medicine for the People.

We were right in time for the sun to go down, and the beach had an orange glow. No one really had a plan, there was a lot of laughter and it was all very free spirited.

So much so, that I never once considered the actual vows….

So, I whispered something racy in his ear.

Then he went and had a BEAUTIFUL speech. Very lovable and sweet.

And Ryan had a thoughtful, loving statement to make too.

As well as Adam. What had started out as a fun, little lark had become a moving, and tender moment.

We were in Florida with our big family gathering to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in August, as well as Sugarwings' mommy's 30th birthday a few days later.

When we planned the trip, the vow renewal hadn't occurred to me. Which makes it even more special, although if I'd planned it, I think I'd have worn some makeup…. and thought up some vows.

But I don't think that there is anyway on earth that months of planning could've created a better moment.

It's not what you spend, what you say, what the whole thing looks like.

It's the love that goes into it.

And we had that.

And of course, a fantastic wedding planner never hurts either.

A nice beach walker offered to take a photo of all of us together.

I'll leave you with a few more photos of our perfectly, imperfect ceremony. And here are the lyrics to the song we all love.

Smiles

Dew Drop, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2015

We had lots of smiles on Siesta Key beach. And I'm still smiling just thinking about the week. At least I am thinking about smiling. I think my body is too exhausted to move the muscles needed to create a grin. I need a shell like Dewdrop is using for one. Except, I could be too tired to hold it up.

More later if I can ever move again when I get rested up.

I loved Birdsong, I loved the vacation, I love my family, I loved Disney, but man…that was a lot of on the go activities for one old broad.

Gift bags for Birdsong and free images

bird song art event, free images, sewing?

By Karla Nathan / June 16, 2015

Every year, my gift bags have been something different. This year, I found a sale on heavy duty canvas tote bags with free shipping, since I was buying other supplies there at the same time.

Dying silk 015

And when I saw this- yards of rosey fabric at Victoria Trading Co's outlet store for a DOLLAR, I knew just what I wanted to do with the bags. But the fabric was a little too gray for the natural canvas, so while I was dying silk, I dyed it too.

I dyed some of these cut, silk velvet scarves too. Yummy! These are available in white from Dharma Trading Co, where I buy all of my fiber reactive dyes.

This is the original robin that I used for the bags (and the Birdsong 5 button, although I didn't use the words on the bags)

And here it is doctored up with some faded sheet music behind it, and the reds changed to pinks. You can use the image yourself by clicking on it to open in a larger window, and saving it to your computer from there.

I knew I wanted to print an image from a vintage card onto fabric, sew it onto a square of this floral fabric and create a pocket on the bags. But…. not only were my sewing skills not quite up to par, my machine was not behaving as it should. It could be that I sewed too much glittered tulle with the machine, I can see where that could mess up the innards.

So, I used pinking shears to cut everything out, and fabric tack to add them to the bags, then embellished with millinery and ribbons using more glue. I'd say the pockets are sturdy enough, but I doubt if I'd put anything too heavy into them. My plan was to put a list of sponsors in the pockets.

Both sis,Terry and bro, Randy are into steampunk much more than flowery birdies, so I made this design for them from 5 different pictures I got from the Graphics Fairy.

It was pretty complicated to do, but not that bad. I found a guy on a bike, erased the bike with the cloning tool on picmonkey, then added a raven using 'upload your own backgrounds', after that, I layered some clock faces, light bulbs and other pictures with backgrounds, and faded those, tinted it all sepia, then used 'clone' to erase part of the man's leg so that it appeared to be behind the bird. After that, a little coloring in with eye tint, and it was done. Oh, and I drew the halter with a narrow, black line from 'drawing' and a yellow dot.

If you'd like to use this image I made up, feel free. Just click to enlarge in another window and save from there.

My buddy, Lori, got a custom image too, done in the same manner, but in a more romantic style.

I'll share her too, grab this one if you'd like also.

Over all, though, the bags were the same birds and floral fabric. I like the way the colors look in the room.

A Fused Glass party

celebrations, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 14, 2015

Before Birdsong 5 got to rockin, and then I flew away to Florida for a family trip, I pre-wrote a few blog posts to pop up while I was otherwise occupied. This is a story from earlier in the year, and I've also got some pics of pre-Birdsong coming up too.

My friend, Shanna, is an accomplished stained glass artist. She also does mosaic, and fused glass. And best of all, she is a kind hearted, generous soul who likes to open up her studio to her friends. We have an ongoing group studio day for mosaics, and even though I gave up working with glass years ago, I still join in and bring something else to work on so I can hang out and chat with friends.

But,when she hosted two birthday parties with fused glass projects, I just had to participate and try my hand at them.

Here are a couple of my results, I love the diacrylic glass, and all the sparkles it has in it. But I'm not very good at making these, it takes some practice. I discovered that it is very much like glazes in ceramic, the kiln firing changes your creation quite a bit and it's kind of a gamble when you are putting it together, unless you know how the heat will affect the end result.

Basically, you layer bits of glass, holding it in place with small drops of glue, then pop them in a kiln. Here they are pre-firing.

Shan provided a huge selection of glass for us to work with.

My other friends have higher levels of glass skills than I do, and could cut the glass as needed. I used the pieces as is. Everyone got nice jewelry from the night- after the pieces were fired, we glued bails to the backs and turned them into pendants or earrings.

Mosaic Day is on Thursdays, not every week, but quite often.

There are always a wide variety of projects going on. Diane asked me to sketch an iris for her to fill in with cut pieces of glass. I'm okay with a marker, but when it comes to glass, I decided to let the experts play with that…

See what I mean? Shan is quite the expert, I love her work!

She has a beautiful home, with lots of windows to display her stained glass.

And for her dog, Oscar to peek out of. Ozzie is one of my grand dogs from Twinkle's last litter. I'm always happy to see him when I visit, he is one of the sweetest of all the pups that came from our home. It could be Shanna's influence, she is a sweetheart too.

She is always generous, and is over the top talented.

This is the fused glass pendant she created. The necklace was her birthday gift to me. Nice, huh? Thanks, Shanna!!

Hand made name tags

bird song art event, vintage paper/collage art, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 12, 2015

Every year, for Birdsong, I like to make the nametags a little different. This year, I edited a vintage birthday card with bluebirds to make the tags. Each is printed onto matt photo paper, and glued them onto card stock for sturdiness.

I used glitter pens and markers to fancy them up, and added a small crystal, one for each year of attendance. These tags are for Peeps who are coming to their first Birdsong. I've been calling these ladies my "fledglings."

After drawing on and adding a crystal, I embellished with lace and flowers.

When possible, I like to personalize them. I couldn't pass up using this swoop of pearly lace that looks like a "J" for Jenn.

My friend, Sandra, coming up from Texas, used to live in Lawrence and is a Jayhawk fan. Her bluebirds had a little transformation into Jayhawks to welcome her back to Kansas.

Two other friends are colorful creatures, as bright and happy as the colors they love. I had to make special tags to match their rainbow personalities.

And Betti's initials are BZ, which has led to her fondness for bees, so I drew one on her tag.

Beth and Michelle have similar styles and both work with old, bold graphics a lot, so I changed theirs up a bit too.

It was easy to jazz up family tags. I know Sissy loves roses, Randy raises butterflies, and when I think of Karen, I always think- sparkly and pink. Terry is into steampunk,so her bird got a top hat. Hmm, I should add one to Randy's too, he is a steampunk fan. Even though the top hats I drew for Terry are just plain hats, not foofed up with gears and other steampunkiness.

The three ladies who have been here for every single Birdsong from the very first each have earned their 5 Year Pins. I pinned them right to the nametags for now, they can take them off later if they'd like to.

I could just keep going on and on with the name tags. I might just host the event for the sheer pleasure of having a reason to make these.

I'll be busy as can be the next few days with my husband's birthday, entertaining and feeding 30 plus visitors including 4 houseguests, 6 trips to the airport, and right after that, flying off to Florida with a party of TEN to relax on the beach. But I have pre-written a few posts, so please come by. When I return, I'll have pictures of the Birdsong Five Bash, and of grand fairies splashing in the waves.

I hope you are having a wonderful kickoff to your summer too!

Sweet Snippets

bird song art event, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 10, 2015

Last year at Birdsong was the first time I'd seen a snippet roll. They are an interesting project, and can be displayed rolled up, or hung on the wall.

Barb (one of our peeps) has hosted a snippet swap for our party, and I debated on whether or not to join, but was enticed by the idea of making one. And when my pal, Shawn, needed a partner, I decided to jump in.

It was right at the time I was heading to Texas for the retreat, and I hoped to have some spare time to work on this, so I filled a bag with tidbits ( I guess I should call them snippets, not tidbits, huh?).

This Victorian, hand embroidered and painted lace was something I've clung to for years and haven't found just the right thing to use it on yet. It was just what I needed for this!

Now, I've never made a snippet roll before, and really wasn't all that familiar with them. I'm under the impression that some things are meant to be able to be taken off. But I don't know where I heard that. It could be wrong.

I could've made it up.

But either way, I added some charms that tied on, a dress clip that clipped on, and a itsy bitsy corsage that pins on.

Recently, I realized that I never, ever use my silver cutlery for dining. Just a few favorite pieces and that is all. So, I'm on the path of finding homes or uses for it. I pulled out this spoon to use instead of a typical spool for the top of the roll.

Between redoing knots in the silk ribbon ties, and glue holding it in place, I got things a little messy. So, I glued more crap over the messy spots embellished over those areas.

This charm had been on my desk forever. I'd painted it way back when and I guess it was just waiting for the right home.

I loved making the first roll so much, I decided to make a mini one to give to the swap hostess as a thank you.

I'd packed a big spool, just in case the spoon didn't work, so I put it to work on this snippet.

Karen had a vintage wedding gown to share with us, and I cut off a bit of the hem to use as the back drop for the additions I was gluing down.

Guncle Randy had given me a scrap pack full of great ephemera, and this nest was packed in there.

There is a possibility that I see more snippets in my future. This was another instance where I was glad I made the time to enter a swap. I'm in three of them, which isn't like me, because I always think I'm too busy. But the cottage, the matchbox easel, and now this snippet roll have all shown me that making the time to join the fun is worth the effort.

I'll show you what I get in return once I get back from my trip to Florida.