Birdsong Projects

On to the Birdsong projects! Lori Oles got us started on Saturday morning. We were each provided a granola bar/nutrition bar box and lots of vintage paper, lace, twigs and trinkets to transform our humble cardboard containers into beautiful shadow boxes. As always, the finished pieces were each unique and lovely.

I kept mine fairly simple. Hope Wallace Karney of Besottment by Paper Relics was there and gave us all a wonderful bird-themed collage sheet. I used the "fly" letters from that sheet. My tiny bird came from a piece of paper my friend Laurie had in her stash, and the lace and ribbon rosebud on the front were from my personal cache of best bits. I love the mossy wood-look paper Lori had for us to wrap around the outside, and the little twig-and-roses collage on top.

Lori provided enough items in her kit to complete at least one more shadow box, so I need to do that.

Class two on Saturday afternoon was Karla's Peat Pot Fairies. Most of our table opted for feline or canine fairies, as Karla had sheets of Dresden animal faces as well as pretty fairy and angel girls. Here's my little hound.

I love her ruffled crepe paper pantaloons and her glittery fairy dress.

Isn't this flower lovely? The perfect shade of aqua.

Sunday morning's project was Andrea Singarella's bracelet. I LOVE this bracelet! The blue beads, bling and bird charm are all lovely. Andrea and Karla had additional supplies for us to make earrings if we had time - and I did. Love those, too!

We had one more project with Karla - a lace and vintage paper mobile - which I didn't complete. I'm still working on it and hope to have it ready for viewing soon, but I'll be sharing swap photos in my next post.

For more Birdsong photos, check Karla's recent posts here, here and here.

Pre-Birdsong Shopping

On the Friday prior to Birdsong, many of us shopped in Kansas City's West Bottoms district. This area of old warehouses comes alive one weekend a month with vintage and antique shops and thousands of happy shoppers. Bad blogger that I am, I didn't carry my camera and my usually reliable iPhone produced some blurry shots (nothing to do with the photographer, I'm sure!)

Our favorite shop was the first one we visited, Good JuJu. Lots of fun things here. 

Blurry, but you get the idea. This was the display just inside the door. 

Laurie wanted a pic with the sign. Loved the name. Loved the shop.

I was really drawn to the color of this buffet. We saw it in the building behind Laurie in the photo above. I have my grandmother's buffet and have wanted to paint it for years, but have never been able to commit to a color. I'll have to think about this one.

Most people took photos of the shop signs. I took photos of a few buildings. These aren't overly special, but I love the look of old architecture. Someone said this one serves as a haunted warehouse for Halloween.

Almost forgot to include my purchases! I didn't get a lot - a music theory book, receipt book, vintage trim, a metal number 2, seals, a Victorian scrapbook page, and a jar of vintage stickers. Just a few of the stickers are shown here.

I'll be posting about Birdsong 4 Day One projects next. Hope you'll check back!

Gearing Up for Birdsong IV

I'll be heading to Lawrence, Kansas later this week to shop and attend Birdsong IV in the amazing studio of Karla Nathan. If you've been reading my blog for at least a year you may remember all the fun of Birdsong III. You can see photos here, here and here.

Birdsong IV includes two classes with Karla, one with Lori Oles, and one with Andrea Singarella. Karla and Lori taught wonderful projects last year and will again this year. I've always admired Andrea's work and look forward to making a beautiful bracelet as her project.

I'm in two swaps this year. The first is a one-on-one banner swap so I'll be showing photos of my creation and the banner I receive after I return. The other is a altered bottle swap. We aren't partnered for this one, so I can show you what I created.

When I found two small metal trays (probably ashtrays) earlier this year I knew I wanted to use them as frames. My altered bottle design began with this vintage postage stamp and one of the trays. I used Glossy Accents to set the stamp and the rhinestones.

I added a knob backing plate at the top, backed it with lace, velvet ribbon and feathers from my neighbor's guinea hens. I added a silvered knob at the top and tied seam binding, lace and ribbon around that. An embellished key and a bird charm were the final elements.

The back has a lace applique. If the recipient doesn't like the over-the-top look of the front, they can display the back.

This was my first altered bottle and I rather like how it turned out. I hope whoever receives it feels the same!

I'll have more on Birdsong next week. Hope you'll check back then!