A Couple of Birdsong Bits

At Birdsong in June I won a lovely door prize and realized I didn't include it in any of my earlier posts. Karen Hillman of Ancient Queen Designs handmade these beautiful candles with matching glass trays. They smell wonderful! Karen suggested burning them down a bit and then placing battery operated tea lights inside.

The candles were packaged in a lovely matching box. Thank you, Karen!

The night before Birdsong started, Karla's friend Angie opened her antique store, My Father's Daughter, for our group in honor of her birthday. There was food and fun, including an opportunity to make a little art. Beth Leintz of Gathering Dust brought tons of amazing supplies and we made collages on old file dividers.

I may add a few millinery flowers to mine. I'm still studying it. I would never have thought to use these dividers in this way, but they make a sturdy background and the metal tabs add lots of interest. Thanks, Beth and Angie!

A Banner, a Book and Boxes

Back in July we had a family reunion. As a way to generate funds to pay for future reunions and as a fun activity, we have a silent auction. Many of us like to make things for the auction, creating a "family heirloom," so to speak. The auction usually leans heavily toward things for adults, so I decided to make this little banner that might appeal to the young ladies in the group.

Everything I needed was already in my craft room so it went together pretty quickly. I used papers I love from a 6x6 pad, and couldn't resist using four layers of trim at the bottom. More is more, right?

A couple of weekends ago some friends and I got together to make cute books from a single sheet of 12x12 paper. I'm not sure what I'll do with this particular one, but I like the format and may use it with other papers. There are eight pockets that can hold tags, photos, gift cards, etc. It closes with a covered hair band that's attached to the back. 

We also copied templates for matchboxes and made a few of those. I have no plans at all for these right now and haven't bothered to dress them up, but I'm sure they'll come in handy at some point. I know I'll use the template again. It could be enlarged slightly so the box would hold a giftcard. I started a Pinterest board of altered matchbox ideas here. I've just pinned a few so far, but there are thousands out there along with various templates.

That's it for now, but I'm working on a couple of other projects I'll share soon including pages for Karla Nathan's Nature's Blessings Journal Swap (read about it or join in here.) I'm also going to a Birthday Soiree at Paper Crown next Saturday. There will be two classes, lunch and lots of fun. I'll try to remember to take pictures!

Birdsong Peeps and Swaps

One of the best things about Birdsong is the "peeps" as Karla calls us. Here's a group shot of most of us.

I was thrilled that my sister-in-art Terry came all the way from California to attend this year. This is our second time to attend a creative event together. If you're new to my blog, you can read about our initial meeting here.

Below is a pic of our table group at Karla's - me, Laurie, Tamatha, and Terry. Lisa was also at our table. She's busy in the background shooting photos. That's Hope Wallace Karney at the next table behind Laurie. So excited to meet her, and to have a chance to look through her current journal!

(Thanks to Karla for this photo and the group photo.)

There were three swaps this year at Birdsong. I joined two - the altered bottle swap and the banner swap. You can see the altered bottle I made here. For the swap the bottles were numbered and each participant drew to see which bottle she'd take home.

I received the bottle made by Lee. It's sweet, simple, and filled with vintage pearl buttons from Muscatine, Iowa. You can read about Muscatine's button factory history here. The front of the bottle has a pretty translucent bird, bits of lace, and charms. Lee handmade tiny paper and button flowers. The bottle is bigger than it looks in the photo. I'm not sure if I'll leave it as is or use some of the buttons, but I do love it!

I was partnered with Tami for the banner swap. The word choices for the banners were either Birdsong or Fly Away, and each banner was to have eight panels. We both chose Birdsong and a neutral palette with pink and/or aqua.

Each of the eight pennants of Tami's banner for me are completely unique and wonderful. I love all of the beautiful details she incorporated.

(Sadly, I somehow tore the crepe paper on this one before getting it home,
but I've since replaced it with some from one of Karla's project kits.)

Tami wasn't aware of it, but she incorporated a line from one of my very favorite songs.

Isn't it all so amazing? I am truly honored to be the recipient of all this creativity and hard work. It is now hanging so that it's the first thing you notice when you walk into my craft room.

The banner I made for Tami is simpler (typical for me!) I used sheet music for the base and adhered lace using Glitter Mod Podge. I surrounded the pale aqua ovals with vintage millinery and lace bits. At the bottom of each pennant I attached lace, tattered tulle and vintage tassel trim. I won't show an individual photo of every pennant as all are in the same style, but each one has different lace as a background and a different arrangement of vintage millinery and lace bits around the letters.

I'll be sharing some recent projects in my next post, but I may sneak in another Birdsong mention or two when I finish my last class project or run across something I've left out that I think you might like to see.