Christmas Tag Class

The week before the Santos class, Jackie taught a Christmas tag class. She always incorporates several techniques that are new to most of the class. We each made three tags. As always, Jackie had cute kits ready for us, yummy treats and darling name tags. I don't know why I never think to take a pic of the name tags. I have an inspiration board full of them.

For the first Santa tag, we stamped aqua swirls using paint rather than ink, and we embossed the Paris postmark. My funky green background paper was not the best choice for my photo shoot!

For the second Santa tag, we used colored pencils and two types of glitter. I have a bit of faux holly that I plan to place on Santa's hat and some trim I want to use at the bottom - if I can ever find it!  We used paper tape and a clip to attach the little banner.

This one is my favorite. We used glimmer mist on the tag, then stamped it. We added the postcard, then stamped the pear and covered it in gold leaf.  It's really beautiful. Then Jackie had us melt silver and gold crayons and spatter the tag.  Everyone loved this technique!  There's also a tiny "shrinky dink" postmark. The holly leaves are layered and glittered.  So much fun to make!

I have another class tomorrow - this time at My Heart's Fancy - weather permitting. Also, I still need to post about the Halloween soiree at Paper Crown, but I haven't been able to get good pics yet. Soon!

Christmas Santos Class

Thursday evening was spent at the beautifully decorated (as always) Paper Crown, creating in Jackie's Santos class. We had a large group and each and every santos was lovely.

We started with a cigar box, so the piece can hang on the wall or sit on a shelf or stack of books.  The santos figure is made from Character Constructions stamps. Jackie provided beautiful kits and lots of extras to use.  After I got mine home I added three tiny vintage ornaments in silver and aqua - my main colors for Christmas decor. The paper around the sides of the box is aqua, too.

If you'd like to see more, there are class photos and more of the finished santos on the Paper Crown blog here and on Jackie's blog here. A big thank you to both for another wonderful evening and another creation to treasure!

Paper Cowgirls Altered Tin Swap

Those Paper Cowgirls are at it again - a altered tin swap this time. This is a first for me, but I liked working in this format. Our theme was time and everyone was free to interpret that in their own way.  I was fairly literal, as usual.

I used printed canvas to cover most of the tin, with a stripe of Smash brand paper tape.  The little banner is from Bazzill Basics Banner Garland pack - little printed banners with the string sewn right into the paper. You just punch them out, being careful to keep the string intact. The banners are 12", but I only needed a tiny piece. The clockface and hands are from Bo Bunny.

The papers are from a My Mind's Eye 6x6 pad - Follow Your Heart. I had a sheet of 7 Gypsies stickers with a time theme that worked perfectly.

I made a little fold out "book" that tucks into the tin.  The seam binding bow holds everything in place.

The back is pretty basic, with just the canvas and a little Making Memories tag.  I'm not sure why I'm listing all the brands, as most of these products are several years old so you wouldn't be able to find them anyway! Just trying to use what I have for a change.

I wanted to send a little something to the swap hostess, so I created this ATC for her along the same theme. I finished the ATC late at night so the photo was shot using my dining room lighting rather than natural light and is therefore atrocious. I found a little sticker to add to the back that reads, "Created in a timely manner by_____." Since the swap items are due to her on November 15 and I mailed mine on the 12th, I just had to add "not very."

I am terribly behind on blog posts but hope to have more up soon.  I have another swap due on the 22nd - a White Christmas Tag Swap - and I need to post some wonderful Halloween projects before Thanksgiving rolls around! I also need to post about my "new" craft space. Woo hoo!  Hope you'll stop by again soon!

Mini Canvas Class

One of the local shops, My Heart's Fancy, recently offered a mini canvas class using some of the newest Distress Paints. A friend had taken the class earlier and I loved her canvases, so my friend Chris and I signed up. Both canvases were quick and easy with paper backgrounds, Distress Paints, stamps, rub-ons and Mod Podge.

I totally forgot to photograph the sides of the canvasses and can't get a good shot now since it's after midnight. One is painted with black and white stripes and the other is covered in black and white polka dot washi tape.

I'm a former orange hater, but lately I've wanted to add a few bright pops around the house. Since I've been reorganizing, I haven't hung them yet but hope to soon.

There are several classes coming up in the next few weeks so I'll be sharing more soon.

Crowning Glory

Paper Crown, the shop I consider to be my "home" paper arts store, celebrated seven years in business recently.  When the shop first opened, owner Cindy asked people to make paper crowns for display.  I was still working then and wasn't aware of Paper Crown and all the fun of paper arts. Now that I shop and take classes fairly regularly there, I didn't want to miss out on the chance to make a crown for the seventh "birthday" of the store. Blogger wasn't working for me at the time so this is a bit delayed, but here's my crown.

It's a bit papal, but I needed all that space to add vintage appliques, beads, tulle, crepe paper, brooches and sequins.  The gold rosette and the festooning around the bottom are made from vintage Dennison crepe paper, circa 1950s, that I found in the original packaging at a flea market.  The background paper and the cream lace rose are new, as is the gold glitter trim around the top.

If you'd like to see the other crowns, just click here. They're all lovely, and lots of techniques and great products are on display. I'll have another crown to show you soon, made for the Halloween Soiree tomorrow at Paper Crown.

A big thank you to Cindy for stocking her shop with tons of beauty and inspiration for the past seven years, and for finding so many talented instructors. I look forward to many more years of shopping and creating at Paper Crown!

The Pumpkin King

Looking forward to this event on Saturday!

If you're in or within driving distance of the OKC area, call the Paper Crown to reserve a spot. Then join us this Saturday to make a darling piece for your Halloween and enjoy some fun and festivity! More info is available on the Paper Crown blog here.

Antique and Vintage Show October 19-20 in Oklahoma City

A friend and I will be selling at Buchanan's Vintage and Antique Market this weekend at the Oklahoma City fairgrounds. If you're in the area, it looks like it will be a good show.  We set up Friday evening and it was hard to resist looking at all the great things in the other booths. I'm going to have to remember that my goal is to move things out, not bring more in!  Here are pics of some of the things I'll have for sale. Please excuse the terrible iPhone photos. It was dark and I was tired!

I was finally able to make the switch from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome as my browser and that seems to have fixed my Blogger issues.  Since I last posted, I've been on vacation, had new floors put in a couple of rooms, and moved my craft room to a bigger space.  More posts soon! I've missed my little blog!

Debby Schuh Classes

Debby Schuh of The Memory Bee was in Oklahoma City last week for four classes. I took her two Friday classes - Little Me journal and an Oklahoma memory book - and while we didn't finish either project in class, we made a great start and learned lots of great tips to make quick pages that look amazing! Debby was a lot of fun and provided extremely generous class kits, so there will be lots to play with to finish the projects.

I'm still having major Blogger issues so can't post photos, but you can check out Debby's blog via the link above (scroll down past the cute donkeys) or go to Jackie's blog here to see her post about her completed Little Me journal. Check out Lisa's blog here to see her finished Oklahoma memory book.

We're in the process of emptying out my craft room and our guest room so we can remove the carpet and have tile put down. I knew I had a lot of STUFF, but until I had to pack and move it I didn't realize just how much there really was. It's really ridiculous - SOOO much more than I could ever possibly use - and I've come to realize that the main reason I don't make things more often is that I'm totally overwhelmed by the options, and the search for whatever it is I'm thinking of. We are moving the craft room to a bigger space during this process, but I still plan to take some time when everything goes back in to purge. But before that, we'll be spending a week at the beach while someone else takes care of our house and our pups, and puts in the new tile. I have a feeling we're going to need this vacation badly by the time we leave here!

My Esty shop will be on vacation for a couple of weeks for restocking and R and R. 

Happy September!

Paper Cowgirl Rolodex Art Card Swap Returns

Whew! That title is a mouthful! If you're a regular reader you'll probably remember the rolodex art cards I made for the Paper Cowgirl swap. I posted about them in previous posts, but can't link to those posts right now due to Blogger issues. Grrr!

I received my return cards a while ago. Cindy from Paper Cowgirl sent them in this fabulous handpainted envelope! She made one for each of the participants.

I received all these lovely cards!  Not everyone signed or labeled their cards so I'm not going to list names, but every card is unique and wonderful. Click on any photo to see a larger version.

I'm still having problems with Blogger so this is an abbreviated post. I'm hoping to figure out the problem soon, but right now I'm having to switch to HTML to be able to type anything in, and random photos won't upload. The good news is, I was at least able to post and couldn't even do that yesterday!

Blogger Blues - the only thing Blogger will let me type right now is titles! Hopefully I'll be posting again soon!

A Little Junqueing and an Old Car

It's been a while since I've shown any fun finds. There hasn't been a lot lately but I did pick up a few little things the last couple of weekends. 

The hat is certainly not the most attractive as it's a wild orange and yellow print, but the beige flowers will most likely be removed and used on projects.  The blue and gray roses are vintage pins.  The holiday apron pattern will most likely go in my Etsy shop.

The pretty lace collars and cards came from the same sale, along with the woven department store ribbon from Cash's - one roll has 1953 and the other rolls has May and Cash's. I need to research this as I don't remember a business called Cash's here, nor do I know how the ribbon was used. If anyone knows, I'd love to hear.  The photo was my sole purchase at one sale.

My friend Leann messaged me about an estate sale near me this past weekend.  Our friend Chris and I were headed to Leann's to craft this weekend, so we stopped by the sale on our way.  I found these cute books. The larger book has only one page of journaling and the smaller has none but I was still pleased to get them. Chris did find one of the record books that was filled with financial journaling, and even used a couple of the pages in one of her projects later that day.

I liked the olive green, pink and gray embroidery on this table runner, but got it home to discover that each end was worked in different shades of pink and green. Now I have to wonder if the maker ran out of thread and made do, or if they changed colors for some other reason.  

This little fruitcake box was filled with garters and straps, apparently stockpiled but never needed.  The packages appear to date from the 1950s and 1960s.  Here's my favorite:

I have no idea what I'll do with these. They'll be added to a small collection I've gathered from the purchase of various boxes of vintage sewing supplies. I did use one garter on a Birdsong project, so maybe the others will be of use someday.

My favorite find was this little hat for $1.  There were several other hats at the sale - all marked $20 and none as cute as this.  It was in the garage with some holiday decorations - can't imagine why, but I'm glad I found it.  I'm crazy for those ruffles around the edge, and the shabby rose makes me happy, too.

That's it for now.  The DH may be taking some leave on Friday so hopefully we can find a few good sales.  That's if I can pry him away from his 1939 Chevy. He's making progress. After years of sanding and hammering and welding he's starting to fit all the pieces back together. The doors will go on this weekend. 

It started out about like this but rusty and dirty. I can promise that A LOT of work has gone into it up to this point, and there will be a lot more as he's doing it all himself.  He's getting to the critical and expensive parts now, but hopefully someday there will be a great looking - and driveable - vintage vehicle in our garage!

ATC Swap

Kimberly Laws of ArtJoyStuff is creating 52 ATCs this year - one each week - and swapping with 52 other crafters.  You can read about it here.  Her work is amazing - to prove that point, she was just selected for the first-ever Gilded Life Design Team!  I was lucky enough to swap for her ATC #30.  I had been tempted all year, but this little beauty was just calling my name.

Kimberly sent along an extra spray of those tiny turquoise flowers - just my color! 

It took me a couple of weeks to come up with something I thought was worthy, but after a couple of false starts I found an old necklace bit that I had been saving for something special and things picked up from there. 

At an estate sale a few weeks ago I found a bit of unusual pique trim that I loved, so I included a piece for Kimberly to use in one of her creations.

Thank you, Kimberly, for a wonderful swapportunity!

Colleen Moody's Briley the Birdie

Just before Birdsong, I learned I had won admission to Colleen Moody's "Briley the Birdie" class. The class is part of Artful Gathering, an annual online art retreat.  Friends had made birdies during an in-person class with Colleen some time ago. I really wanted to make one, too, so signed up for her blog giveaway and was thrilled to win! 

I wish I could say that I finished one or two birdies during the six weeks of class, but between Birdsong prep and the actual event, then a week of catchup when I returned home, I didn't get started until three weeks in. Now don't get me wrong - there was plenty of time to finish.  I'm just a moody crafter and if I'm not in the mood, it's better to just wait and resume when I am.

I did manage to start on two birdies before my creativity waned. This was my first experience with the paperclay and I like it. 

I also made two sets of feet, but I'm not sure if I like them so I may try more. There are instructions for clay wings, also, but I opted to purchase feather wings from Colleen. 

Class is over tomorrow and I'm obviously not going to finish by then, but I WILL finish.  These little girlies are just too cute to not finish, and Colleen's birdies and all the beautiful creations by the class participants provided tons of inspiration. It may be a while, but I'll be showing MY finished birdies to you at some point! Be sure to check out Colleen's blog here to see her beautiful Briley and here to see a few of the very lovely class creations.

Thank you so much, Colleen, for selecting me for your giveaway! I will eventually make you proud!

Birdsong Classes and Tag Book Swap

There were four classes at Birdsong, two taught by Karla and one each by Beth Leintz and Lori Oles.  First up was Beth's decorated peat pot.  We were given a lovely little kit with vintage fabrics and trims with which to sew birds, flowers, hearts or whatever we wished. Beth also piled a table high with additional fabric and trim that we could use.  Next, we decorated a little peat pot and added our creations. It was a perfect way to start the weekend, hand sewing and chatting. I used blues, of course.  You can see more on the class on Beth's blog here.

Our Friday afternoon class was Karla's little fairy cage.  Some of us (including me!) had some difficulty getting the wires on this project to stay put. There was some groaning and a bit of drama, but Karla was patient and full of great tips and ultimately we ended up with darling little fairy cages. During the process I didn't think I would want to try this again, but the result was so worth it and I got so many good ideas for other options that I imagine I'll be making more.  If you'd like to try, Karla is offering the on-line class in her shop here.

Saturday's a.m. class was Lori Oles' lacy tag wreath.  Photos don't do this one justice.  It's so pretty, and the kits she provided were wonderful - filled with vintage ads and photos, lace, ribbon and sequins.  Like Beth and Karla, she provided a table full of additional goodies to choose from.  I had trouble making up my mind so will probably add a few things to a couple of my tags at some point. 

I first encountered Lori's blog prior to Silver Bella 2010, and sort of idolized her because I loved everything she made and she was one of the first mixed media artists I was aware of. At Birdsong I learned that she is not only talented, but so much fun and very sweet.

Saturday afternoon brought Karla's necklace class. She provided kits packed in cute vintage egg cartons, courtesy of Suzanne Wingfield. There were extra ribbons, bird drawings, beads and bits to choose from, too.  I was really pleased with my necklace, and with all the projects.

We were all a bit sad that the weekend was drawing to a close, so were pleased that we had to hang out a bit longer at Karla's waiting for the resin in our necklaces to dry!  For more photos of all the classes, check out Karla's blog post here.

There is so much about Birdsong that I haven't posted on - sponsor gifts, gifts from friends, vendor night shopping - so I may try to sneak things in here and there. I've enjoyed reading all the blog posts from the attendees. They kind of made returning to the real world a bit gentler.

For this post I'll close with sharing the tags I received in the tag book swap.  Stephanie Oyler hosted the swap, and each participant made and received seven tags.

Upper row:  Cover by Stephanie Oyler, Suzanne Wingfield, Hope Ellington, Mercedes Scott, tag by Stephanie Oyler.
Lower row:  Linda Postma, Lisa Phillipi, an extra tag given to me by Laurie Jackson, Tami Hacker

Love them all!  I showed some preview pics earlier, but here are a couple of the tags I made.

I hope you've enjoyed all the Birdsong posts.  NOW, on to other things.

Karla's Wonderland

Karla Nathan's home is an amazing place.  In her house and adjoining studio, there are wondrous things to see wherever your eye may light.  In the studio there are little creations everywhere, and her supply stash is out of this world!

If you read her blog you know that she shares many photos of her home and studio, but I can promise you that the real thing is even more wonderful than the photos convey.  Every wall and furniture finish, every fixture, and every surface has been creatively and lovingly adorned by Karla's talented hand. 

For Birdsong she and her family provide delicious, nutritious and beautiful meals that leave you totally satisfied and wishing they were around to feed and pamper you on a daily basis. You feel like an honored guest. Of course, the opportunity to create and visit with others who share a passion for mixed media is the main reason we were there. The rest was a wonderful added bonus!


Photo from Beth Leintz


My poor photography skills could never do justice to any of this, but here are just a few more things that caught my eye during Birdsong weekend.  Hope you enjoy! 

The yard is lovely, too!  I took lots of little breaks to walk outside and enjoy the beautiful day and all these little vignettes.

I've been trying to hang onto Birdsong as long as possible, but I do have other things to post about so I'll try to wrap it up. Just one more post in a day or two about the class projects. After all, there's always Birdsong IV to look forward to!