bird song art event – Page 6

You do what you can do, and what you can’t, you can’t, right? Or, “Hey, look at this fuzzy kitty!!!”

By Karla Nathan / June 3, 2015

Plans are humming along and the studio is ready for guests! I had it all cleaned up, with tables and chairs set over the weekend. If you think Albie looks sad, don't let him fool you. I've been taking plenty of breaks to cuddle kitties, play playdough with grand fairies, harvest rhubarb and bake pies, as well as get ready for guests and talk to the dogs.

There are still tons, buckets, and gobs of things to do yet for Birdsong. Like filling treat bags, making airport runs, going to the grocery store, etc, etc. But I'm pretty happy with my state of affairs and as long as I don't sprain my elbow by patting myself on the back, I think I'll be prepared for the party on time.

I was a bit worried, that I'd be behind, because my poor little boy had a traumatic injury (a smashed and broken finger) and I was helping out with the grand fairies more than I'd planned to so he could rest up. But once I figured out that no one would notice if my kitchen didn't get painted, or if I didn't replace my white velvet, winter curtains with the spring time floral curtains, I was able to enjoy the extra time I had with the little ones and tell myself what happens, happens. I'd just distract my guests with cute kittens if they started to notice details that I didn't have time to perfect.

Now, I don't mean to sound shallow or uncaring, because of course, I was horrified for my son, and sick to death thinking about how serious the injury could have been, and upset about how bad it actually was. But being human, I have to admit that I also freaked out about the timing and that I needed to get things pulled together for Birdsong, plus our entire family is leaving for a vacation together right after and I was afraid surgery for his hand would cancel that.

He is still in pain, but will be okay. And I had a great day at the zoo with my two favorite kiddos. Did I change the curtains? Nope. But I have 5 adorable kittens I can wave in front of anyone who notices that the curtains are wintery. They won't care for long.

And I even took a night off to go see the Last Carnival's performance downtown.

Some more of my favorite kiddos were in the show.

It was a fascinating performance, and every time I go to watch the troupe, they seem better than the time before.

Lovely sponsor gifts are still coming in, my friend, Kim, sent this beautiful, beaded bag filled with pretties to add to the door prizes. I can't wait to see the faces of our Peeps when they see the generosity of the sponsors. Thanks to all of you who sent gifts!

Prettily wrapped scrap packs came from Pam too. She is a long time Birdsong attendee, and always a welcome addition to the group. I like the image she used on her labels, I have a feeling I'll be seeing that nest cut out and pasted into the journals we are making.

And what is in the pretty pink packs? More fun items to work with. I'm happy to get ahold of that old ledger page, myself.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures of the circus show. And I'll get back to work on my last minute details for the party. I've pre-written some posts to pop up over the weekend while I'm busy having a blast with my friends, so please do check back.

Birdsong Sponsor gifts

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / May 30, 2015

It feels a little like Christmas around here. Boxes of sponsor goodies are arriving daily!

Sandy Babb sent not one, but TWO of these spectacular canvases as gifts. And these aren't teensy, they are good sized wall art. The amount of detail that went into each is staggering for such large pieces, too.

See what I mean? This "egg" is a spoon!

It's all quite lovely, from the woven backgrounds to the hand stitching and painting and beyond. Look at all the precision and creativity that went into this.

Sponsor gifts can be many things. Some kind hearted souls share crafting supplies, and others send gifts of their own art work or crafts. Michelle sent a beautifully coordinated bag of pretty supplies for each attendee.

And all are arranged so prettily that each looks like a little mini collage itself.

Tami's packet of trinkets are a sweet selection too.

Karen made a lovely collage of pretty paper onto a shutter then wrapped it up with a treasure trove of trims to give away as a raffle prize.

Linda fashioned Boho chic chicks for everyone complete with a cute label including her smiling face.

My Texas pal, Stacy of Whitworth Ranch Retreat, offered a free art retreat for some lucky Peep!!. She emailed a letter and I foofed it up a bit since it is such a special prize. This includes food (and Stacy is quite the talented cook), lodging and classes. If you want to join our lucky winning Peep, I think there are still spots available to attend the classes and stay at this charming B&B.

My peeps are going to be thrilled with their tweet bags and the door prizes, thanks to the kindness of the sponsors. Some are people who read about Birdsong and wish that they could be here. Others are attendees themselves, or past participants who couldn't make it this year. We also have a couple of businesses that are donating too. It has been a nice variety and all are very generous in making my Peeps feel spoiled!

Countdown to Birdsong!

bird song art event, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / May 22, 2015

I'm not the only one getting ready for Birdsong, a couple of our past guests who couldn't come to the party this year were kind enough to send door prizes. This lovely pillow is from my friend, Suzanne.

And Terry sent craft packs. She finds wonderful stuff, and has an etsy shop where you can snag some for yourself.

We also got some generous ephemera packs from Wendy, who has an etsy shop filled with goodies too.

Last year, I met Patty at Kim's Downton Affaire in LA, we were table mates. She will be at Birdsong this year and has also sent gifties from her Etsy shop to her fellow Peeps.

And she included a gift for me! I'm always enraptured by sparkly bird pins.

Our Peeps will be thrilled with all of the gifts, and I am too! Thanks for being a sponsor, Suzanne, Patty,Terry, and Wendy!

And I guess I can say we have "corporate sponsors" now that Gundren Sjoden has sent us a package too! All the way from Sweden, care of my dear friend, Betti.

They not only included two gifts for my friends, but also a $15 coupon for their store.

My tweet bags are all done and ready to be filled. It is going to be fun to stuff them with all the goodies that have been sent. I've got more coming, and will be sure to show you those too.

Now, most hostesses like to keep the goodie bags secret. But not me. I feel like the thoughtfulness needs to be shown off and public thank yous sent out to the givers. I don't think the Peeps mind seeing some of the treasures that will fill their bags. And I'm sure that they are happy to see the sponsors be thanked along with photos of the presents.

Kits for Birdsong and some sweet scented soaps

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / May 14, 2015

I'm DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For Birdsong this year, I'm doing two classes. One is making a journal cover and adding pages. The second is filling it up.

Beth and Hope are each chiming in on the second class and offering mini tutorials on journalling. And I'm offering a doodling kit, a special kit for a single page, a packet of ephemera and wallpaper, plus a packet of embellishments.

Yep, count 'em- FIVE SEPARATE KITS for this journal. (plus one from Hope, one from Beth)

What was I thinking??? But they are all done, packed up and ready to go, as of mid April, almost two full months before the class is taught. (edit-I write my blog posts kind of far in advance sometimes, this is one of those that I wrote, put in the file, then had other things to talk about, so it got pushed back)

Now, onto making name tags, gift bags, and getting the house and studio ready. It really does take me months to do. But worth it, I am so looking forward to the party this year. (edit- May 13th- done, done, and done! Can you hear the swatting sound I'm making as I pat myself on the back so enthusiastically??)

And I have to admit, I do enjoy putting kits together and coordinating colors.

And do you know what else is fun? Getting gifts from sponsors to give to our Peeps! This abundant basket of hand crafted soaps came from Beth's sister-in-law, Joey.

My car smelled wonderful after having this basket in it for the day. Now my studio is filling up with the soft scents. Lucky me, I get to enjoy these before I draw a name to pass them on to their new owner!

Here is a cute story that Joey sent along with her soaps, I thought you might enjoy it too:

A few years ago I was selling my soap at a huge "convergence" of nuns in Minneapolis. (My husband and I have been Associates of the Fargo Presentation Sisters for 17 years. Don passed away in 2013 but my work with them continues.)

One of the Sisters from somewhere in North America, Newfoundland, think, asked, "Is this soap any good?" And I answered,"Have you seen how young the Fargo Presentations look?" She immediately bought 3 bars. I always clarify, when I say "Presentation", I mean IRISH Presentation Sisters, founded in Cork City in 1775 by a woman named Nano Nagle whose feast day is today, April 26. She was brave enough to defy British penal laws by educating poor Irish children in "hedge" schools, investing her own fortune, risking her own freedom and founding this congregation which now has Sisters on every continent but Antarctica! They believe in compassion, inclusion and justice. The Fargo Presentations have had their arms wrapped around me since first grade, and I love them dearly. They all use my soap and have lovely skin, they look half their age.

Now there are some French Presentation Sisters, they are probably very nice people, but I bet they are pretty wrinkled.

And more sponsor gifts

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / April 17, 2015

What a darling bunny doll!

She came with a boxful of friends from Elaine Kerwin to be given as door prizes for Birdsong.

Some of the girls are called "spoolies".

For a very good reason! Thanks, Elaine!!

Beth’s Birdsong Sponsor gifts

antiques/junking, bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / April 12, 2015

A couple weeks ago, I had an estate sale morning, then lunch and craft day with Beth. Poking around her home and checking out her latest auction and estate finds is always fascinating. This is a little pile of interesting things on her side table.

And woo hoo, lookie here! She scored this watch cabinet full of lenses. Or are they called crystals? The glass parts of a watch, no matter what you call em, are good to craft with!!

She has so many that she offered to share, and we are packaging some up for the "Tweet Bags" for our Birdsong guests.

Beth has been beyond generous with Birdsong, each year she creates an apron to use as a door prize. Here is her latest, under construction. What a delicious gift for some lucky Peep.

Or as Beth said, "Another apron for Tami". Well, odds are that Tami might win, she has TWO of these prizes from previous drawings!! And after visiting Tami's studio for craft days, I have to say, they have found a good home, and look gorgeous hanging up there.

Her boy, my grand dog, Button, didn't think I should take his picture, so I pretended to take it only of the apron.

I didn't fool him.

It was a good day, for estate sale shopping (I got a $10 vintage wedding dress to cut up and new pans for my kitchen), lunch with friends, visit with a grand dog, a mini redo at Beth's booth at the antique mall, plus I got to paw all of her vintage finds.

PS- if you'd like to be a sponsor, for the goodie bags or for the drawing, please email me at

Karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

I'll add your link to my sidebar until the next Birdsong and you'll make our Peeps very happy!

Juniper June

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / March 31, 2015

Lesa Dailey has her project planned for Birdsong and boy, is it a cute one!

Little Miss Juniper June!

I just love all of the details.

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for our classes. I could snuggle a couple more of you in if you want to come….

Dying silk ribbons

bird song art event, how-to projects, Tutorials

By Karla Nathan / March 23, 2015

I wish every project involved silk or velvet ribbons…

The Birdsong journal for my class needed velvet ribbons. It is really hard to find affordable velvet ribbons anywhere!!! I found them in white at Dharma Trading, and while there, fell for the silk too. And the dye, and some scarves to dye, and well, more than I should've bought.

I've been a fan of this dye for years and use it a lot, for many things (including bottle brush trees, wool roving, and tie dye).

For ribbons, I didn't bother with instructions, or presoaks. These ribbons are meant for journals, not sewing on clothing that will be washed.

I've also used koolaide or food coloring to dye ribbon, and that works fine too.

Since I bought the ribbon in bulk, but didn't want it all the same color, I had to remove it from the spool. It needed to be re-rolled up to dip dye (like I did crepe paper here). A pencil worked great to roll it back up and I stored the rolls in a plastic tub so they wouldn't unroll again.

Each roll got dipped halfway into the dye.

Some I used one color on and left the other half white.

Others, I flipped over and dyed the other half a second color.

These small bundles were left to drain on paper towels for a couple days.

The pile of ribbons in the back? Those are nicely crumpled instead of rolled, and were left all smooshed up to dry with that wrinkly effect.

For this, I just dunked a bunch of ribbon, and squeezed out the moisture, and left it to dry still scrunched up.

This is some ecru silk that was done that way. If you don't want the solid color ribbons crinkled, hang them up to dry instead.

More tips:

You should wear gloves.

If you want the dye to bleed, dip the rolls in water first.

Mix your dye in small batches, it doesn't take much. And try the color very diluted first, it's easy to add more dye and re-dip the ribbon if the color is too pale. If it is too vivid, you can try dipping in clear water, or holding it under running water, but that might not take out enough of the color. Start light, work up to darker. You can dip a paper towel in the mix to see if you like the color, if you aren't happy with the shade, add more dye or more water before using the mixture for the ribbons or lace.

If you want a two color ribbon with white in the center, barely dip the edges in to the dye.

While I had the colors mixed, I might have dyed a few more things too. Newer white ribbon dipped in ecru dye sure looks nice and old afterwards.

And this fabric was a bit too gray for my purpose. I'm sewing it to these canvas bags, but I wasn't happy with the original color (right) so I dyed some in pink, some in ecru.

Both did a good job of taking out the cool tones of the gray. I knew some dye would be the solution to the cloth not matching the bag. But the cloth was such a good deal, I couldn't turn it down. I found a bunch of it for a dollar at the Victorian Trading Outlet center, they use it on their ironing board covers. And I love the roses.

Especially topped with robins!

Victorian Trading Co. outlet store

antiques/junking, bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / March 17, 2015

Happy St Paddy's Day!

This picture is from a display at Victorian Trading Company's outlet store in KC, KS.

They have all the holidays covered there, year round.

If you ever need a Santa fix about mid summer, this is the place to go. Of course, you can always wait a couple days and most stores will be hawking their Christmas goods about then….

But year round Halloween is harder to come by. They have lots of it here!

As well as stock up goods, like apothecary jars.

And pretty things, just to treat yourself.

It is my number one favorite place to buy a new coat. And many of my clothes are from the clearance rack here.

You never know what will be in stock, but I've discovered that if there aren't many clothes to look through that day, there might be a whole, huge selection of some other things that I had no idea I needed, but fell in love with when I saw them.

There is always free hot tea, sometimes with cookies. I keep thinking I'll try the different flavors, but each time, I have a cup of maple tea.

The catalog is something I've drooled over for years, before discovering that the one and only outlet store is right here in my area.

It is a very unassuming place, in a warehouse district.

Much more exciting on the inside than what you'd think from the outside!

The manager has offered a special gift, of this pretty, soy candle to all the Birdsong Peeps in town for our party June 5-6th. And a nice discount coupon too! How generous of her.

Last year, many of the ladies stopped by to shop, so I thought I'd ask if the store would like to do something for them this year. And Diane, the manager, was happy to help out. She even remembered some of the ladies by name and is looking forward to seeing them again.

You can find out more about Birdsong here. Or click on the button on my sidebar to go to the sign up post if you'd like to join us.

Or, maybe you'd like to be a sponsor too? If so, please email me at:

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

Deb Mitchell, a friendly blog reader has sent a package of birdie charms for the tweet bags. It's my first package to arrive for the event and I was so excited to open it. Over the years, the BEST stuff has come in the mail for our Peeps to share. And it gets to be like Christmas as the packages start rolling in! Thanks Deb!

***********************************************************************************

PS- I've got 50% off the Boutique right now. But you MUST use this link:

http://www.karlascottage.com/?code=Fling

to get to the sale site. If you go through the regular link, the 50% off won't register. If you can't click on it to get to the page, you might want to try cutting and pasting it to your browser. Thanks for helping me spring clean!

My classes for Birdsong 5

bird song art event, Books, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / March 8, 2015

For quite a while, I've known what my 2 Birdsong classes will be, but I have had to wait till I pulled together all my materials before I could finish the examples for the class.

When I take a class, I like to see a full photo of what I'll be doing, not just a snippet of a corner. It's good to plan for variations and extras that I'll want to pack to personalize the project.

And when I teach a class, I have to know that the examples are accurate. That I'll be able to find enough of each item needed to make sure every kit is equal and of the same quality as every other kit.

But while I do want the kits equal, I do like them to have some flexibility and choice. So, I've got options for the students. These books can be made with the canvas as the outside cover, or as the lining. I've got a few selections of vintage fabric to use along with the canvas.

And I have been hand dying velvet ribbons to coordinate with the vintage curtain fabric and barkcloth that I've purchased to create the covers.

As well as hand painting little charms to dangle from the ribbons of each book.

(back of the book)

There was no problem with finding plenty of old lace, I have it by the bucket load out in the studio. I'll be measuring and cutting it to stuff the kits with, and since it is vintage and the velvet is hand dyed, no two books will turn out exactly the same.

That is my favorite part of a class! I adore looking around the room and seeing all the individual takes on the project.

(backs again)

This class will show step by step how to create a journal from a provided pattern based on an old cabinet card photo folder.

And will include some old photos to add to the books.

After we have assembled the books made of old, floral fabrics and canvas (no sew), the foofing will begin, with lace, velvet, millinery, ribbons, charms, and a vintage picture.

This book has the floral fabric used on the inside cover, instead of on the exterior of the book. All the books will tie shut with soft ribbons topped with sparkly bits of rhinestones.

On day two, for my second class, we will fill the pages up. I have pages of tips on doodles, lots of vintagey goods, and plenty of images and wallpaper to provide to make each book a work of art.

But that isn't all! Beth and Hope will each pitch in for part of the class with their favorite tips on art journalling. It's a three for one class!

Each student should be able to leave the weekend classes with a completed book, some finished pages, and lots of ideas on how to complete the journal at home, as well as a fun bag of supplies to work on the rest of the pages with.

Classes are at my Lawrence, KS studio, here at my cottage on Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6. More about the event can be found here and here.

The other two classes will be taught by Lori Oles and Lesa Dailey. How lucky am I to snag this magnitude of talent to come to teach here???