Indulge Your Shelf

The final swap I did for Birdsong Two was 16 charms which we sent ahead to the hostess so she could create a necklace for each of us. I decided to create mine with buttons !  I used mother of pearl buttons, china buttons, glass buttons, metal buttons, and 16 matching, finely pressed medallion buttons. I designed them into little dangles, or chandeliers, each with three different vintage buttons. I added a beautiful antique glass aurora borealis bead that had belonged to my grandmother to each; and then used some Czech glass beads and some pearls for other elements. It was a lot of fun, and gave me some good practice for bending findings which I will have put to good use at Birdsong Two, as one of the projects is a gorgeous necklace we build from scratch! I can't wait to show you this finished charm necklace from the swap -- as well as the one I made at the event! Here's a gift I made for Beth Leintz , one of the Birdsong Two teachers; she has a little terr...

At Birdsong Two we exchanged our swaps so I can show you what I made: This is for the banner swap I hosted; we were in groups of 4 and each making a different letter to spell out the word "SING"; I had the letter "I". I had two little plastic flower pots that I cut in half, then mounted on a beautiful old doily that I got from my friend Terri ; I filled it with straw, a pretty speckled egg, and vintage millinery flowers.  The "I" is that coiled spring -- and in the background, a page from an antique Hans Christian Anderson book. On the reverse: vintage wallpaper pieces, and an old tag from a mill in Kansas. We won't have time to assemble the banner at Birdsong Two, so I gave everyone suggestions/instructions to do it at home and made up these little gift bags for them to transport their banner pieces in.  I decorated each bag with a bird stamped onto a page of an antique poem book, and some trim and a button. I personalized a little t...

Birdsong Two is this Friday and Saturday!  I'm already on the road but scheduled a couple of posts for while I'm away! One of my favorite parts of going to one of these art weekends is seeing friends again, and it's so wonderful when you can spend time with people who "get" you and love the same things you love!  I had a super great time rummaging through all my stash and putting together some gifts for friends -- wanna see? I made these 5 ephemera packs; first, I sewed together some 12x12 scrapbook pages into little folders, and decorated them with lace; I used the paper from a piano roll, which I cut into heart shapes, and stamped with a really sweet bird stamp.  Then each one got a vintage millinery flower and a vintage stencil with the first initial of the friend who was getting it. Then I made a little button card for each package, and a tag that to hold some pretty vintage crochet lace and a vintage brooch; I chose brooches reminded me of birds/feathers...

I took this photo of my son: and sent it off to an Etsy seller named Kerstin ; she sent me back the silhouette on vinyl, which I then put into an antique frame: I love it!  It's just what I wanted!

You already know how excited I am to be traveling to Karla's Cottage for Birdsong Two ; my buddy and I are leaving a couple of days early so that we can stop and go junque shopping all along the way and still arrive the day before the event and get settled! But please keep visiting, as I have scheduled a bunch of posts throughout the weekend while I'm away! I ordered these fabulous bird temporary tattoos for us Colorado chicks to sport while we're at Karla's! Yesterday I spent some time packing gifts for Karla's granddaughters... I can see Sugarwings in this frothy little vintage apron! I added some tin tea party supplies, and the sweetest little animal-cracker sized cookie cutters! For her baby sister -- an age-appropriate kitten-in-a-cupcake!  I couldn't resist it! I wrapped up surprises for others I will be seeing, as well!  I love giving gifts, don't you? In other vintage-y goodness news, I picked up a grab bag in the craft secti...