Birdsong Three: the classes

There were four classes during Birdsong Three -- and so much creativity, with so many talented people assembled in Karla's studio!

This was "my" table this year: left to right, Rebecca, my friend (who is now safely back in her home in Black Forest -- whew!), Terri, who I first met at Silver Bella 2010 and have long wanted to get together with again, Lisa another Silver Bella/Birdsong 1-2 and now 3 buddy, and me.  Look how happy we were to be starting on our first project!

The pretty little chair I was sitting in all weekend!

The first project was Beth's: we stitched birds, flowers, hearts, etc. and stuffed them, and then assembled them in a decorated peat pot.

It was fun and relaxing!

Here's mine next to Rebecca's -- see how everyone's turned out so different?  Rebecca used a lot of the soft lavenders and purples.

Here's mine next to Terri's...I love how she did hers in blues and how they coordinate!  I like the shape bird she chose better and I'll probably use it for my next one.

Here's a close up of my favorite element on my assemblage: the heart.  Beth provided so many beautiful things to choose from in the supplies!

I have to tell you -- I really struggled with my bird.  One of the weekend's funniest moments for me came when I showed Karla my finished bird (on the right.)  I said, "Look I added a little tail!"  And she said, "That's not a little tail!"  I laughed so hard!

 Even the back is pretty!  It was fun!

Our next project was Karla's fairy cloche!  We got to create this little cage structure, from scratch using wire and Karla's expert instructions.

It was pretty complicated but we all had fun twisting all the wires and then decorating it! Pictures were provided for us to add wings to and make little fairies inside, but I brought along one of my own.

It's a picture of me when I was in Kindergarten; I had a short little cropped hairstyle.  I hated it then and discovered I'm still not fond of it now -- so I gave myself a flower hat.

I put the "mini me" on a swing in the cloche, but later took it out.  I like it better empty for now.

You can make one, too!  Karla has a tutorial on her blog with several versions of this project!  On the second day of Birdsong Three, we started with Lori's fabric and paper wreath.

She gave us the most wonderful kits full of frothy neutral fibers and fabrics, and gorgeous ephemera.

First, we worked on the tags that hang on the wreath.  We had bird-themed paper motifs and some of pretty women; I decided to mix it up and used both.  We decorated them with modeling paste using stencils -- it was my first time ever working with modeling paste and I loved it! 

One of the things Lori taught us to do was make this little rosette from pattern paper and a pearl.

 Some of the tags began as playing cards...

Part of the beauty of the wreaths was the effect of all those layers of fabric and ribbon.

The rest was simple: we wrapped a wreath form with beautiful fabrics, dotted it with sparklies, and finally, arranged the tags on the bottom of the wreath.  I lost count of how many tags I did -- I think maybe it was 9.

Here I am showing it off, with Lori.  And here it is at home:

All too soon, on Saturday afternoon, it was time for the last project: Karla's necklace.

Her kits came in sweet vintage egg cartons!

We were very excited to start...

First we made the medallions, because they needed a couple of hours to dry.

We painted the metal, then added ephemera and fiber and vintage jewels, then used a resin over it.

Then we took some lovely seam bindings and lace and knotted it, and then added the charms we'd painted and assembled.

Here's my finished necklace.  I love the delicate look of it...

and the way the resin stuff reacted with the metals and gave it an "aged" greenish look!

It's easy to tell that we all had an awesome weekend.  Here's Karla with the only guy brave enough to hang out with us all weekend -- her brother-in-law Randy (who is a DOLL!)

Here I am talking to Barb from Iowa on Karla's pretty porch.  We had such gorgeous weather all weekend!

 

Here's Suzanne, my erstwhile travel partner, who drove up with her friend Cheryl this time.  I didn't see much of her all weekend but I could tell she was having a lovely time!

I have so much more to tell you about, and lots more photos to share, so please check back!