Indulge Your Shelf

I hope you're not getting tired of hearing about Birdsong Two yet, as I still have more of the fun to show you! This year, I sat at a table filled with the gals from Texas: my buddy from last year, Cami ... and her buddies (left to right below) Tammy, Nicki, Kristi, me, Cami, and my buddy who came with us from Colorado, Rebecca! photo by Karla Nathan After another amazing meal... we re-assembled for our final (boo hoo!) class, taught by Karla: a necklace she designed called Pieces of Time.   The kits came so sweetly wrapped in these incredible, vintage bird seed boxes! Inside the box was everything we needed to create our necklaces!  Karla sought out ALL vintage and antique elements for the kits.  We had all brought along jewelry tools and set off to work with Karla's detailed directions and assemble our necklaces!  She taught us some great tricks!  I've made jewelry before, but after Karla's class, I'm much better! Here's my finished ...

Lisa McIlvain taught us how to make this Faerie Theatre scene inside a cigar box.  It was a very fun and relaxing project that had me thinking about Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream! The first step was to cover the box with wonderful vintage wallpaper; then we lined it with some wonderful old sheet music... and hung glittered stars from the top.  The we added a moss and bark forest floor and a cotton sky. We created a curtain from scrim; here I've attached it to the cigar box using antique furniture tacks. Then, the most fun part was creating tiny faerie wings from scrim wrapped around wire forms we made, which we then painted with beeswax!  (That's our Muse/Teacher Lisa sitting in the chair.) We gave our vintage photos of kids faerie wings -- don't they look awesome?  It was my first time ever playing with wax, and I think I am hooked! Here's my finished piece...I made the faerie boy sit on a 'log', and he's holding a spark...

Did I mention that during Birdsong Two, Karla had an evening of shopping on the first night? photo by Karla Nathan It was a real treat, especially because we hadn't seemed to be having much luck at the local antique stores on the drive!  All the teachers -- Karla, Beth , and Lisa -- brought antique and vintage stuff to sell, and Karla sold some of her beautiful creations as well! photo by Karla Nathan Then -- a bonus: Debby from The Curious Sofa set up in the breezeway and we got to luxuriate in some of her beautiful wares! I bought a cute little paper chatelaine piece from her...it's missing its tiny pen, but I loved it anyway!  So now, guess what I'll be on the lookout for?! Then I found a tiny box of Dennison labels among her treasures -- and bought that, too! Debby had been one of the teachers at last year's event, so it was great to see her again. photo by Karla Nathan My buddy Rebecca scored that lovely hydrangea print hanging to the le...

For the second Birdsong Two class, we were presented this kit full of supplies -- including the all-important chocolate! We used wire screening and masking tape to create a little mushroom; then, we  tore up ephemera to paper maiche over it. It was so much fun!  We glittered the mushroom's cap, and then started building a little woodland scene under it with bark, moss, flowers... and a winged sprite, which we made from a frozen Charlotte.  I made mine hover in the air by suspending her on a wire. With lavender buds sprinkled on the moss, it smells as sweet as it looks! I really love it! Do you want to see some of the wonderful gifts we received in our sponsor packages? This pile of goodies was waiting for us at each place... decorated with a tag Karla made, bedazzled with a homegrown four-leaf clover! Included were ephemera, supplies, buttons, a necklace, and all kinds of wonderful stuff! Karla had a drawing to give away prizes -- with ever...