bird song art event – Page 14

It has begun!

By Karla Nathan / July 12, 2011

Between babysitting fairies and floating around on the lake, I managed to start unwrapping the never ending packages of tags that are coming in the mail. And oh my- they are good ones!!

Now, in past tag book swaps (Puppy Love, Dorothy, and Alice), I've seen some really nice work, and very clever ideas. But in this swap, I have to say that the word I am using over and over is Pretty. The theme seems to lend itself to very pretty tags.

Check out the ones loaded on our Flickr group to see what I mean.

There have been some very thoughtful and pretty gifts too! This box is filled with sweetly scented dried flowers and this lovely hand made flower by Abby.

And I am always surprised at how charming the wrapping is for so many of the packages. This is from Darlene.

See how cute Mary wrapped hers?

And my goodness, LOOK at this pouch from Liz Waring.

Lynn tied her package up with a ribbon flower.

This gift is from Wendy.

Its my own Blue Bird of Happiness!

Sabrina sent this pendant that she made.

You would think that is more than enough, but it just kept on coming. I am touched and thrilled already when I open the mail box, or step outside my door to see a giant pile of tag packages on my porch, but the generosity of the swappers really blows me away.

Jill made up a goodie bag with this little doggie brooch in it for me.

And if you have ever read my blog, you might have noticed that I like flowers… aren't these pretty ones from Julie.

This creative thank you note was sent by Karen

My pal, Stephanie sent this book, as well as an extra tag for my book. Lots of kind hearted swappers gave me an extra tag for my own book. Mine will be overstuffed with wonderfulness!

Thank you for all the goodies, ladies. You really did NOT have to do that! (but I love what you sent!)

I'll have more photos later on.

Here are a few of the tags that I made for the swap. I got carried away and made too many, but its good to have extra.

To sparkle up the one on the right, I used some of the vintage rhinestones that I carry in the Boutique.

For now, I am opening and sorting the incoming tags. I will probably have two full tables of them by the time they all get here. You all remember that I extended the deadline, right? I have a trip to Utah that came up after I planned the swap. So instead of the tags being due by the 15th, they should be mailed by then.

That way, the tags should all be here when I return from my trip, and I can start the assembly process.

Now, that is not the quickest thing to do. It will take most of the week to get them put together, packaged and labelled. So, if for some reason you are running late, please, please, contact me before you spend a fortune on over night shipping!!!!!!! I will let you know if you still have time to get them in before I'm done.

Not that I am encouraging procrastination. I just hate to see you spend way too much money on shipping to get it here fast and then have it on my desk for a week after all.

Birdsong Tag Book Swap, open to everyone

By Karla Nathan / May 13, 2011

Since all the hoohah of getting ready for Birdsong is over, and the flock has all flown away, its been lonely around here! I know I've got to get ready for Paper Cowgirls and I am so glad to have that to look forward to, but I am having an empty nest feeling right now.

So, I'm throwing a swap.

And while keeping it bird themed, we'll even keep the Birdsong name.

If you want to enter, please email me. karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

And here are the rules:

Theme: Birds
Size: approximately 2-1/2 x 5" but not limited to that. I was just going by a standard shipping tag size, but you don't have to use those, something in that area of size range is good.
Materials: ANYTHING you want. cloth, cardstock, chipboard, tin, plastic, hundred dollar bills, gold coins, ephemera (ephemera is as good as gold to me, you know) You can finish the back or not, as you wish. People do it both ways, but do SIGN the back. If you have a blog include the address.
STYLE: Up to you! all the same, different- does not matter, they go to 7 different people, please just include something about a bird anywhere on the tags. And you DO NOT have to use the images I provided, of course. Those were just in case you need some, for this or to use in something else.
Due: Mail by July 15 I will start assembling the 21st
Amount: 7, you send in 7 and get 7 other tags back, I'll make one for a cover to each book that I assemble -so that makes 8 total. (you MIGHT get one of your tags back, you might not)
Cost: $6 US for postage and materials – $8 elsewhere
Include: Your name and address on a seperate piece of paper, your SIGNED tags, the $6

Send to:

Karla Nathan

1754 E 1200 rd

Lawrence, KS 66049

Here are some sheet music pages with a bird theme if you'd like to use them as backgrounds. I'll be scanning and posting some bird images as well later on, if that is helpful.

To use these, click on the images, open in a larger window, then save that to your computer and print it from there. It will be a clearer copy that way.

Here is a button you can use if you'd like.

I drew a bird with markers, scanned it, and digitally layered it over some of the bird sheet music. Then, (and this part was fun) I drew branches for the bird to sit on with the doodle tool on Picnik. After that, I faded the branches and added the text. It is sized to 200, so should fit as is onto your blog side bar.

Join the Flickr group here.

All of my past posts mentioning swaps can be found HERE if you'd like to see some of the past tag book swaps. I've hosted Dorothy, Alice,and Puppy Love among other swaps. Just scroll down to see them in various stages and different swaps.

Blessings

bird song art event, Sugarwings, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / May 4, 2011

Clover update: I answered so many emails about Clover and posted on Facebook about her, but I forgot to mention here, that she was OK. She had an abscessed tooth that got so bad, her tonsil got an abscess that grew so large it was cutting off her breathing and she needed emergency surgery to drain the swelling.

She woke up feeling "super" as she told the nurse. She's on antibiotics for now and is home from the hospital and back in school.

Its terrifying to think that a tooth ache can become life threatening!

Now that my little chicks have flown the coop and my studio is empty once again, I've been reflecting on just how lucky I am to have such a wonderful group of ladies come to see me.

Here is a before photo, taken while I was waiting for the group to arrive. Who knew my studio could clean up that well?? I was able to comfortably (at least everyone assured me, they were okay and comfy) seat 25 ladies.

To save space, I didn't do centerpieces, instead I simply drew on the plastic table cloths to foof them up a bit. At first, I was going to do a seating chart and write their names on the table (my pal, Lori's idea) but Beth told me that I should let them chose their own seats and I think she was right. Lori meant that I needed a personal touch, not just a seating chart.

I went with inspirational quotes featuring birds instead and added some quickie pictures. It was about a 15 minute project to do all five tables, so not the greatest art, but it was just "atmosphere".

Each table had a roll of paper towels and a box of baby wipes. Not so fancy, but necessary. I was going for practical and comfortable instead of gorgeous. And every inch of space counts when you are trying to create at a full table!

(I snitched this photo from Beth's blog- its taken before the table cloth got put on the garden tables)

Luckily the weather mostly cooperated and we could have meals outdoors. On Sunday, things got chillier, so I decided to build a bonfire for everyone to warm up by if they didn't want to stay indoors during lunch break. You should have seen me scurrying through the woods grabbing fallen branches and twigs for kindling! But by the time lunch was ready, I had a roaring fire going and was pretty proud of myself.

But its not easy to build bonfires while setting out lunch and I had a nagging feeling that I'd forgotten something. And yep, in my fridge sits a neglected vat of homemade coleslaw. It looks like a lifetime supply, but coleslaw does not quite last a lifetime.

My studio feels so empty with everyone gone.

About half way through Sunday afternoon, I was already starting to miss them and they hadn't even left yet. Luckily, the ones who weren't too worn out and those who weren't travelling that night or early the next day started making plans to go out to dinner and I was able to join in. I wasn't ready to say goodbye!

And the next day, I still had Sherry and Lisa at the house. Sherry treated me to lunch downtown before she flew home, and that helped.

But today? I miss them all!!!

Over the weekend, it was just too hard to express how much the weekend meant to me. I tried a few times, and would start to cry when I attempted to tell the girls.

So maybe I can say it here, in writing. Where you can't see my nose turning red and my eyes welling up.

When I cry, my nose goes all Rudolph on me.

You know I love blogworld, right? I've met some wonderful people online. And at various events around the country, that I've been lucky enough to attend. There is such a feeling of community, and creativity in the air at these places.

Silver Bella was the first that I attended and it got me hooked. I'll miss going there and am sad about its demise. But it wasn't the event itself, it was the people I met that mattered. (That place had its flaws, which I was able to overlook till this year.) Now, after flying out to Kim's weekends in CA, hosting my own, and making plans to go to Jenn's and to Paper Cowgirls, I see that we don't have to go to Omaha to capture the feeling. We can snatch it no matter where we gather, and honestly, I think that these smaller, more intimate gatherings are even more chock full of that glittery glow than the giant affairs are.

It meant the world to me that these women travelled from all over to be HERE, with me, that they trusted me with their precious time off from work and family and would come all the way to Kansas (a place not exactly in the top ten of vacation hot spots) to play in my studio with me.

Life has not always been golden for me, and I think it takes some really bad times to know just how blessed the good ones are. But having gone through rough periods, it can also be hard to have a healthy sense of worth, being beaten down can always leave a person doubting themselves no matter how hard they have worked to build up a new and positive life over the ruins of an old one.

So, I have to say that at some points during Birdsong, I was overwhelmed thinking that all these kind ladies flocked in from all over the country to come to my cottage in Kansas. And that caused some verklempt-ness. I felt a bit like Sally Field at the Oscars when she said, "you like me, you really like me!"

But luckily, I just got weepy instead of embarrassing myself with dopey words. Oops, I just wrote them for thousands of people instead of saying them in front of a couple dozen.

Am I a little too worked up over such a small gathering? Well, it wasn't 200 people that is for sure. But I know how hard it is to budget time and incomes and to pull off a girl's weekend for most busy moms or grandmas. So whether it was 5 people or 500 people, it touched my heart that these ladies each chose to come here.

I hope they know how much I appreciate that choice they made with their vacation time.

But now, its back to my every day life, with no big weekend to plan for. I thought I'd feel let down and lonely, but with this little fairy friend to keep me company, how could I? Plus, the weekend was just too good to feel down now.

Our Weekend at Birdsong

bird song art event, We're having a party, Workshops

By Karla Nathan / May 2, 2011

Birdsong weekend is past now, and I will treasure it always. What a beautiful time, with beautiful ladies.

A big thank you is owed to all of the sponsors who filled up our goodies bags with treasures that the girls just loved.

Our teachers provided lots and lots of extras with every kit, and we all had such fun creating their designs.

Lisa brought out the heat gun and showed us how to become pyromaniacs and uplift a cool project into something smokin hot!

Debbie's lampshades were even better in person than they were in the photos if you can imagine that. And she brought so many trims and baubles to add that no two people ended up with the same look.

But the best part of all??? The great group of gals that came to play.

I was honored to have them all as guests in my home.

It was a privilege to call them friends.

I'll leave you with some pictures of our weekend. And hopefully, I'll be seeing YOU at one of our future gatherings??

A wonderful weekend

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / May 2, 2011

I had a wonderful weekend at Birdsong!

This photo sums up how much I enjoyed it. I just hope the guests had as much fun.

There will be lots more photos later. Right now, little Clover is ill, and I'm going to the hospital to see her. Please send your best wishes and prayers to her, she is having an emergency surgery.

Flocks of fun

bird song art event, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / April 30, 2011

Have you ever made cake pops? They are way too much fun. I saw them in a book my hairdresser showed to me, and was instantly intrigued. I looked over the details, and it seemed pretty simple, so I tried them immediately when I got home.

I made mine slightly different from the cookbook (by Bakerella).

Here is what I did:

First, bake a white cake, let it cool, then crumble it in a large bowl.
mix in a half a can of white icing (the cookbook called for a whole can) with a beater
Form small balls, I got 36 from one cake, warning- these are calorie dense!
Keep in fridge till needed, then pop a few in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before dipping.
Melt almond bark in a deep, narrow dish. I used a measuring cup.
Dip one end of lollipop stick into melted bark, then freeze them.
Have something set up for the balls to drip and dry on before you start dipping them in the almond bark. I used an upside down egg carton, with holes punched in each egg shape.
Don't leave the balls in the freezer too long. That is why I stuck them in there in shifts. If they get too cold, they fall off the stick. I worked in groups of 8 or so at a time.
I formed the balls into bird shapes right before sliding them on the stick and dipping them. The stuff is like play-dough, so you can form simple shapes very easily.
Let dry, then decorate. Sugarwings and I have a vast sprinkle collection, so I had lots to chose from. Bakerella has lots of ideas, and themes. I kind of made up my own. She also has lots of recipes and flavors to try. I stuck with white.

After the topping set up, I wrapped all of my baby birds up gently and stored them in an air tight bowl, then froze them till my guests arrive for Birdsong.

My home is beginning to look like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, birds everywhere! Here are the name tags I made for the event, all ready to go. I hope our antendees like them.

Sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking breaks to read them. And I will have a gift for you from the event, I'll draw a name from all the comments this week and next.

Birdies

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / April 29, 2011

Birdsong weekend is here! I'll have lots of photos of the gathering to show you, but in the mean time, I have pre-posted pictures of the prep work and decor I've done around the house for it.

Instead of spending a lot of money on decorations, I went with stuff I already had, and kept the costs low for the students.

I am extremely lucky to be able to host a workshop in my own home, with little over head costs.

Because of that, I am able to pay the teachers very well, and provide home made food and tasty treats for all of the attendees.

One night, I am ordering pizza, instead of cooking, because I want to be able to hang out and have fun too. My handsome husband was kind to offer to grill that night, and I almost took him up on it, then I realized, I'd still be in the kitchen half the night doing side dishes and clean up.

So, pizza it is.

Other events I've been too, like Kim's and Jenn's, are beautiful beyond belief. I love attending them, and appreciate all the detail and love that goes into all the decor. But for my own art gathering, I'm keeping it simple.

There will be little birdies everywhere, but I haven't spent one penny on buying anything to decorate with. (of course, I probably have too much stuff already, according to my husband)

This is going to be casual, laid back, and relaxed. I hope my guests enjoy the weekend and feel at home here at the cottage!

Please check back, there will be new posts to read.

Sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking time to read them. And I'll chose a name from commenters to give a Birdsong memento to later on.

April Showers bring May Flowers Sale in the Boutique

bird song art event, flowers

By Karla Nathan / April 27, 2011

Are you tired of my Nesty/Birdy blathering? I tend to be an enthusiastic person and I'm pretty excited that Birdsong is just around the corner! So there will be a few more posts with more stories of Birds coming.

I'm almost ready for it, and am so far right on schedule. So I'm taking Thursday off to head to my favorite flea market with Beth.

Today, I'll pack goodie bags, and finish little odds and ends. Friday is food shopping and cooking.

One of our sponsors is Mary Green, Queen of Ephemera. I asked her if she had any game cards with letters for sale and she showed up with a whole bagful of alphabetical cards and had separated out all the N,E,S, and Ts for me to give to the students to use in their banners.

My plan for the mini vendor night was just to wrap up a few millinery packs to sell. But- once again, I got carried away. Since I had to move so much out of my studio to make room for classes, I decided to use vendor night as a clearance sale so I didn't have to move as much stuff back into the studio again.

Most of it, is stockpiles of things that are waiting to get their photos taken so that I can list them online…. so if they don't sell during our party, I can always add them to the Boutique. Others are things that just need to find new homes, since I am not setting up and doing shows like I used to. I've got lots of less than 1/2 price items to sell, and plenty of $1 things too.

Not to mention those flowers that I originally planned to sell that night. And since that is what I do, I made up way too many packs of flowers. I'm adding all of these to the shop today.

I won't be able to ship anything till after this weekend, which fits right into a special I am going to have. My April Showers Bring May Flowers Sale. Free shipping on all millinery for the month of May, with more flowers being added throughout the month.

Just purchase your posies as usual, and I will refund the postage after packing them up to mail. Sale starts NOW.

I'm off to go and work on adding flowers to the Boutique and fine tune some details for Birdsong. I'll leave you with some pics of Sugarwings hopping down the Bunny Trail on her Easter Egg Hunt last Sunday.

It was too chilly to dress her in a frilly dress, so she is wearing a warm, brown sweater and pants. I called her my little Chocolate Bunny.

Side tracks, swaps, and soaps

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / April 16, 2011

Gifts for the goodie bags are still coming in! These treats are from Dawn. She was originally set to be a teacher with us but had to change plans because she was starting up this soap business. And now, she is kind enough to share some of her beautifully packaged, egg shaped soaps that her family is making.

Its wonderful that she has sent us these, but I'll miss her at our workshop. Hopefully she can come to a future one?

Slowly but surely, I'm getting ready for Birdsong. All of the swaps I needed to make are ready to go, and next is to make name tags for everyone.

I'm going to hang out with Beth tomorrow, we'll go to estate sales in the morning then have craft day at her house in the afternoon. I'm hoping to cross name tags off my todos by the end of the day.

My son and I cleared the garage that adjoins my studion of everything in it. Then, we moved all the extra furniture from the studio into the empty garage. I'm trying to turn it into a shop for a mini vendor night, while making room for extra tables and chairs in the studio itself.

My problem is, that I keep getting sidetracked. I thought the walls looked too empty, so was rummaging around for things to hang in the garage, and ended up wasting time making this sign. Now, really, in the scheme of things, did this need to happen?

Well, maybe. If I had to just work nonstop on clearing and setting up, I'd go insane. Its the little side track projects that keep me going. But on the other hand, they also make the job twice as long. I've been working on this garage for 3 days now and I probably could have done it in a half day if I'd kept on task.

Oh well, it all gets done somehow.

I've got 2 weeks to get finished with set up, and in that time, I also have two practice classes with friends to be all set to teach the banner class, an Easter Egg hunt to throw, an article to write for Romantic Homes (yay!- thanks Beth Livesay), a day at my favorite flea market, and a party to go to. Hmmm, maybe I should not be letting myself get side tracked anymore….

I should get to work NOW. Sorry I won't have a chance to repsond to comments, but I will love taking breaks to read them.

Some prettiness in the mail

bird song art event, fairies, parties

By Karla Nathan / April 8, 2011

Sponsor gifts for Bird Song are still coming in, and ooooohhhh myyyyyy! This envelope of rosy goodness just made me sigh when I opened it.

These little trims came from Lisa Super and are packaged so sweetly. My guests will love them! Thanks, Lisa!!

And how excited will the classmates be to see these kits? Look at the quality supplies included!

Each kit is unique and are extravagantly packed with everything you need to make a decorated baby shoe. And the shoe itself is already assembled, so all that needs to be done is the fun stuff.

These are from Lynn and she has the kits on sale right now in her shop if you aren't going to be here to get a kit from the goodie bags at Bird Song.

Lynn's sister, Karla, sent goodies too, and look at how cute these packs are. She has included lots of vintage bits and trims for the students to play with. Thanks, ladies!

I'm so impressed with the generosity of the sponsors. And there is more to come. A little bird told me that Dawn will be sending some of her lovely soaps…

A full list of sponsors can be found on the side bar of this blog and of the Bird Song blog.

Since re-shuffling the class and seating, I have an open spot now.

Please contact me if you are interested.

After having a houseful of arty friends last weekend, my house feels empty, and I can't wait to see all my guests at the end of the month for Bird Song. I'll have a few staying at the house, but of course, there isn't room for all of them. But wouldn't that be fun if there was?

This cute Elephant is from Jenn, she gave me a whole set of these tags and I just had to tuck them into my Easter display. By the way, she has spots available for her magical event this fall. After hearing her plans for decor, I have to say, you shouldn't miss it.

While the theme features fairies, they are not the cutey pie colorful fairies that you might think. She is going for a woodland, GORGEOUS dreamy paradise filled with grown up, glam fairies. More like you'd see in Vogue than in a story book. As a matter of fact, Victoria magazine's latest issue has a spread about a woodland dinner party that looks a lot like what Jenn has been planning.

Did I say GORGEOUS yet? Wow, I can't wait!