Karla's Cottage

Birdsong Eve

We've gotten the nicest gifts for Birdsong! Hope made these felted nests with sparkling, sugared birds and even included bags of mica flakes for everyone too.

Karen sent this lushly embellished train case for a door prize.

Not only is it made with sweet birdie details, she has also filled it up with "tweets" too. 

In the box were some birdie beverage napkins to use for our weekend, and a big ass bag of candy. Sadly, it came a week before the party, so the bag isn't quite as full as it was when it arrived, and my ass is the big one now.

Terri has sent these ephemera packs, and I spy a bird theme in the packages.

Look at the sweet details she added to the label!  A touch of glitter is an elegant touch.

I've been whipping up more samples for my class, because these three were shipped off to Jewelry Affaire.  I was very pleased to share our Birdsong weekend project with Somerset.When the magazine comes out in October, it will be fun to reminisce while looking at the photos. 

Our party starts soon, I'm all tingly just thinking about it.  This year, I've promised myself to be done and ready plenty early.  I want to relax and enjoy my family and friend's visits. We are doing a dinner party on Thursday night and calling it "Birdsong Eve".  There are 26 of us meeting at a restaurant downtown to kick off the weekend. 

I'll be preposting to my blog, but will not be checking emails much, so please forgive me for not answering comments.  I'll be back next week with pictures of our gathering.

Bird collage pendants

I did it! Not only did I finally figure out what my second class was going to be for Birdsong, I got lots of samples made and packed every single kit up and have them tucked away ready to go when my peeps arrive!

Beth, Mary, and Karla came over on Tuesday to participate in a practice class, here are a couple of their pieces.  The book they are lying on is filled with little bird images and was published in the 1800s.  I've used these old birdies in the kits, so of course, no two will be alike.  In case someone gets a bird they don't care for, there are plenty of extras to chose from so the artist can find just the right little creature to put on her collage.

This is the actual pendant we will be working on, it's a large one, so we have space to play with the collage.

Now, I just need to get the bird cage kits packed up for my other class.  All of the elements are prepped and ready, I just need to get them wrapped up.

If you would like to make a bird cage/wire cloche, I have spent weeks working out the best way to make them and have made a tutorial with step by step illustrated instructions, along with downloadable images to make fairies to keep in the cages once you get them made.

I've come up with a way to make the cages that I've not seen anywhere else. My son helped me come up with some great ideas that simplifies the process and keeps the wires from springing out every which way and driving you crazy.

He really deserves a lot of the credit, the boy is great with wire, and is a talented jewelry maker.  This bracelet that we collaborated on will be featured in Jewelry Affaire.  I'm thrilled to be doing an article with my son!

And greatly appreciate his input on the birdcage problems I was having. 

 

A Book of Enchantments

The weekend in CA at An Enchanted Affaire was filled with fun and friendship-from so many nice people...

People like Charlotte, who I've known a long time through blogs...

And my husband's sister, Terry, who came along to her first big art weekend...

And goofy gals who I am lucky to meet up with again at various getaways like this...

And tables full of new people to get to know. 

Teaching at one of these is the best way to meet people, I was flitting from one end of the room to the other, pausing to talk to everyone at the tables. 

Here is part of my table.  I took classes as well as teaching this time, and asked to have "newbies" sit with me if they wanted. It was fun to get to know some different people. At most events, I sit with my same friends every time (and really LOVE that) but I realized that I'd met them all at these kind of places and I should open myself up to meeting some more new friends. 

Good idea!!

This is another one from the class I taught. Being up and moving around during class made for a good time to get photos of everyone at work. Normally, during class, I'm so involved with the project, I don't get to see what everyone else is doing.

Hopefully, the ladies enjoyed the class.  The first half of it was pretty much busy work, tons of gluing paper to card stock to create the background of the book.

After making the pages, we crafted the cover and assembled the book.

It looked like most people at least got that much done, not many were able to start decorating, though.

But I provided an overflowing kit full of goodies, so they had plenty to play with later when they were ready to start embellishing.

If I teach this again, I think it would be better in an all day class, so we can do the decorating of the interior of the book too.

There were lots of examples for interiors, and many ladies took photos inside of my own books for later on when they finish theirs.  

Here are some completed covers by the students.

Here is another.

When they started working, I'd told them that it was absolutely impossible for any two of them to have the same book when they finished, even if they tried their durndest.

With vintage supplies, and a big page of collage images to chose from, the completed books were bound to be filled with variety!

Since my book was titled, " A Book of Enchantments" I decided that I needed a few enchantment spells to add to it.  So, I wrote 4 little poems about finding joy, happy dreams, a true prince, and hope.  They are printed on vellum and are part of the embellishment package.

(by the way, I made extra kits, if you want to buy one for $65, there are a few left. Many ladies bought a second while there, so I think that means they liked them)

EDIT:  my email is down, if you could leave a comment or contact me on FB, I'll check those to see if anyone is ordering kits.  They are selling, but there is still a few left.

Kim had asked all the teachers to provide a prize for the drawings, so I brought this assemblage.

It was won by my pal, Natalie, another teacher.

I LOVED HER CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I used a smokey quartz and ruby on my own creation.

I'll leave you with a few more photos from my class, and still have some more pictures of the event to show you later.

Collage filled lockets for Snow White

Earlier I showed you these lockets from Victorian Trading Co. that I foofed up with some Snow White themed collages inside.  I didn't mention what they were for though.  These were packed to take to CA with me to use as table mate gifts.  They can be added to a ribbon or chain to wear, or tied to the journal we are making.

I made one for myself too, using a copy of the image I had painted for the event.

The little door lockets came with a key on a chain, but I changed that and added a few more trinkets.

Then tied it to a red silk ribbon.  While working with the locket and trying to bend a crooked door, I broke the door in half. ( Hence, me keeping one for myself)  I tried to repair it with metal glue, but honestly, I don't trust the stuff. I hope it holds. I added a mini strand of rhinestones to help keep it together too.

It's been a bit of a locket kick for me lately.  I also joined the swap hostessed by Terry Frias.  I made one of the door pieces up as a hostess gift for her.

My swap partner was my husband's sister, Terry Neibaur.  

We had a questionnaire to fill out about styles and preferences. Terry said her birthstone was garnet, and she liked gems but not bright colors, and wanted something more delicate, but steam punk or fantasy.

I was able to find garnet beads in some pretty colors of green and gold, and a teensy locket. The larger beads on it are bronze colored pearls which I thought would be pretty with her red hair.

  This photo (taken earlier) shows a key, but it was only temporary till I could find something steampunky or fairyish. 

Here it is after I fantasied it up.  And added a gear with a rhinestone to the center of the pendant. I'm not a steampunker normally, but I think the gear is at least a nod to the genre.

Terry's favorite princess fairy tale is Sleeping Beauty, and even once named her shop, Briar Rose. When I found this page in a vintage storybook, I knew I had to save it to make something for her.  Terry even has the same hair as the lovely princess on the page.

So, I created this box to wrap her necklace in.  The text on the outside is from the Sleeping Beauty story, and the inside is covered in vintage velvet.

  Hope she likes it!

********************************************************************************

 

I've been working on this wire birdcage tutorial, and now have it ready to send to you!  You can get the details here.

Jewelry-o-rama in front of the TV

My son and I have both been making some jewelry.  He does wire wrap and crystals, more of a new age look.  But I thought one of his amethyst crystal pieces would be perfect for me to wear to Snow White.

He does a silver wire base, adds crystals to it, puts it into a mold and pours epoxy over it all. Or something like that.

Then, he added the strip of violet suede to make a bracelet. I had some gemstone beads, in ruby, garnet, amethyst, and laborite that I made chains out of for the sides.

These beads aren't my typical colors, but I loved the stones. And the bracelet Mr. Zen created.  So, I added some of the gems to my pendant from Victorian Trading Co.

It's been jewelry-o-rama around here lately. A friend of mine and Guncle Randy's, Regina,  gave me a bag of gemstone beads and I can't stop playing with them.  Last week, I was meeting friends for a little birthday celebration at our traditional hang out.  (we do happy hour appetizers and half price wine at  a place called 715 when one of us has a special occasion)

So, I whipped up a few pair of earrings with stuff laying around on my desk to take as party favors.

Besides making jewelry, I've been puttering, getting things set for Snow White and Birdsong mostly. And watching too much tv.  What's on the DVR that I've been getting caught up on? Loads!

• The Voice- Blake and Adam are adorable
  
• The Following- thrilling
  
• The Americans- well made
  
• Game of Thrones!!! - I'm a huge fan of the books too, why can't he write faster?
  
• Shameless- Smart kids trying despite bad surroundings, and don't you think that Lip looks like a young Robert Mitchum? (oh my, that shows my age, and also makes me feel like a pervy old lady to be eying that kiddo)
  
• Girls- annoying people, but interesting writing
  
• Modern Family- best comedy on TV
  
• Once  Upon A Time- well dur, it's a fairy tale
  
• Idol and Survivor ( I'm not as enthusiastic, but can't quit them)
• I haven't gotten to Bates Motel or Hannibal yet, I heard they were good
• The Middle- Sue Heck is my hero, she never gives up
• Mad Men- John Hamm? Swoon!  I wish he'd do more comedy too.
  
• Sofia the First- Sugarwings and I love her to pieces and she looks like my little girl
• My Little Pony Friendship is Magic- Dewdrop and I end up watching this while I work at my desk and she paints at her little table so her parents can work in the garden, and I have become a fan against my will.

My list is actually much longer than this, but I'm embarrassed to  let you know just how much TV I watch.  It's pretty bad. 

I've also been reading the Walking Dead graphic novels since I am having withdrawals from the show.  Trouble is, they are eight bucks a piece on my Kindle Reader app, and the books only last an hour or so.  It looks to me like I could spend a small fortune in a day or two, so I stopped at #5.  That took some will power!

 

I've been working on this wire birdcage tutorial, and now have it ready to send to you!  You can get the details here.

Blue bird lockets

Between painting projects and gardening goings ons, I've been making some lockets.

These have a, yes, you guessed it, Snow White theme.  Hmmmm, wonder what I'll do with those??  (I am in a locket swap but none of these are the item I have made for it, I'll show you that after the gifting)

I've done mini collages on the insides, and coated them with Diamond Glaze. It's not dry yet, you can see where it is a bit milky around the edges.  I'm waiting for it to get good and dry to add beads and whatever to the exteriors.

These lockets with doors were cute as is. I thought they looked like doors to the Dwarves' cottage.  I found them at Victorian Trading Co.

We have the only outlet store for the catalog here in KC. Typically, I prefer junk shops, but this store is my weakness.  And having everything there 50% or more off the catalog price doesn't hurt.

 

This photo is from the catalog.  They call it a Fairy Door, and that works for me too, of course! But I thought it would be great for Snow White. The other lockets I made collages for are from there too. 

The reason I was shopping there was to find a dress that had a fairy tale feel.  I tried on everything in the store, some were too Victorian, a lot were too young looking, most were too small. But I did end up with these two (I didn't get green, I got taupe)

They could probably be worn to a Downton Abby party too, if anyone wants to invite me to one. hint hint???

I'm thinking about wearing them with velvet jackets and boots. Less fussy, more me.

And the best part is that they were much cheaper than the catalog, less than half price, plus for every $100 you spend, you get a $20 gift certificate.   Which bought me a bagful of lockets!

 

 

 

Pools Of Light

My sissy is a vintage jewelry expert.  She collects a wide variety of beautiful pieces and I've learned an appreciation about the subject from shopping with her or looking through her vast, luscious piles and stacked boxes of precious pretties.

I've long admired her "Pool of Light" beads, without really knowing what they were,thinking  just pretty little crystal ball type dangles.

So, when Beth had some junk jewelry for sale and had some of these little marble thingies in it, I was quick to snap them up to make my own necklace with.

Then I did some research about the balls, here is one thing I found:

For thousands of years this optically clear quartz has been used as gemstones because of its enchanting ability to absorb and affect light in the way that it does. Images viewed through genuine rock crystal balls appear to be reversed or upside down. They are brilliant, luminous and will be a conversation piece wherever worn. These literal works of art are finely crafted and are from turn of the century.

I  also found out that they were very expensive.  And felt a bit guilty about buying them from her for a couple bucks.  But I'd already made a necklace for myself, and one for a birthday coming up for some one else. 

And I did NOT want to take off my necklace!!

So, I made a necklace for Beth too, using pieces I thought she'd like, including an old luggage tag from the Santa Fe railroad.

And that didn't seem like enough, so I foofed up a box for her too.  Its an old jewelry box, and to the top, I added text that included the word "prism" (seemed fitting) and a die cut rose. Over that, I smeared modelling paste, let that dry and added ink.

To the interior, I glued text to the inside lid, and a tiny die cut rose over that. 

Next, I layered hand writing from a ledger page, that had been waxed, so had a nice, transparent quality, and scraped it away from the rose under it, and glued a teensy millinery posey under that.

While my jewelry tools were out, I made this necklace too, as well as some earrings for a pal.

Its inspiring to have beautiful baubles to work with, so I was on a roll.

I did a bit of painting that day, too. I'm not done with this one, I'm adding some 3d wings to her too.

 

Last day to enter the drawing for the bird themed collage! Drawing is Saturday.

I'll leave you with some photos of newer listings in the Boutique.

Beads, Baubles, and peas

This is the last of the four Tiffanys projects that I made in Cali.  It was in my pal, Lonnie's class.

I brought quite a few of my own supplies, including the blue enamelled flower along with me, but she provided high quality, pretty things to work with too. 

As a matter of fact, between what she gave us in the kits and what I brought, I was able to make two necklaces in her class.  I didn't really master the techniques she was teaching, I kind of went off on my own, but she was a good teacher and had a great way of doing her examples that made it easy to follow.

One of the necklaces that I made will be for me to keep, and the other is a birthday gift for a dear freind.

This post was written before I went to Raleigh and Nags Head, and as I am writing it, I am snacking on the latest dish from my Summer of Salads. 

Its a pea salad, that you can make with fresh, farmer's mkt peas, or frozen ones right from the bag.

• about a 1/2 bag of peas
• 1/2 a sweet red pepper, chopped
• about 1/2 cup of chopped purple cabbage
• 1/2 a sweet Vidalia onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup of fat free feta cheese crumbles
• 6 boiled eggs, chopped (mine were straight from the hen house!)
• sea salt, garlic powder, and pepper to taste
• olive oil based mayo, enough to moisten (I don't like a lot of dressing, so added mine a couple spoonfuls at a time till it looked right)

Another salad for the week was a simple fruity one.

• one honey dew, cubed
• one quart of strawberries, halved
• juice of one lime
• drizzle of agave syrup
• a splash of pomegranate juice
• two sprigs of mint leaves

My latest obsession is mint sprigs. Especially in this concoction-

• one can of lime selzter water
• a 1/4 packet of drink powder
• pour over a pretty glass filled with ice
• add a pink straw
• top with mint leaves

I sure don't miss Diet Coke when I have one of these in my hands. I used to think that those drink powder packets were silly. Why not just buy a drink already made up? They are meant for bottled waters, and I really thought it was ridiculous to buy a drink twice. The water, then the powder.

But, I got a sample of them, and took some along on my last trip and they are nice to have around and taste pretty good. Especially if you use club soda with them, and only a tiny part of the packet at a time, I usually get four drinks from one. And since I usually mix my soda with juice anyway, it doesn't feel extravagant to mix this in like it would if I used it in a bottle of water.

  
Please remember to leave a comment if you want to be entered into the drawing for a collage giveaway. 

And if you know of any good junking areas around Raleigh or Nags Head please email me with some shopping ideas!

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

 

 

Birdsong Two Necklace

My necklace for Birdsong Two is finally ready to post!  I know its taken me forever to do, but I had a couple of hold ups on the supplies and didn't want to create an example that wasn't equal to the components that the students were given.

When you want to work with vintage pieces, its not as simple as ordering 25 sets of the same thing online. I had to scrounge to find the right beads, pearls, crystals, and watches to use.

The watches that I found are exactly what I wanted, all on the smaller side, dainty, and old.

There are different colors of watches, so I matched the chains and findings to the metal tone of each watch. Some are shiny golden, some dark bronze, some silvery.

To be sure that it was a good design, and easy to make, I whipped up a second one following my own instructions. This time I used a bigger watch, that wasn't as sweet and dainty as the ones I'll be giving to my guests. I also made it with different beads, so I wouldn't use up all the ones for the class, but I put it together with the same amount of beads and followed the basic plan as the original one.

I've been wearing it all week, and have got a lot of compliments on it, and it has been comfortable to wear, which is important to me. I don't like pieces that turn this way or that and always have to be adjusted, or are too heavy and in the way.

If you want to make one, Its not too late to join us at Birdsong in April!

We will make 4 projects, in two days.  There will be a swapping party on Friday night, and lunch is provided both days.

Or if you'd like to sponsor the event and make gift bag goodies, please let me know.

PS- These photos were edited on picmonkey.  I don't think I'll miss picnik at all! Picmonkey is every bit as fast and easy. As a matter of fact, I think its more simplifed and quicker.

Yay!

Gathering the Good Stuff and whispering up a load of hats

Maybe I've mentioned that I've been behind a bit?  Well, I'm getting caught up.  Finally, I think I have all the supplies needed to create the necklace for my Birdsong Two project.

Since I was only using vintage beads, I had to scrounge to find enough old necklaces to take apart before I could make my prototype pendant.

Slowly, but surely, I gathered beads, crystals, and pearls in clear, taupe, cream, white, brown and pale pink.

As I accumulated baubles, I snipped them apart, carefully counted and sorted the treasures, and then made up a chart to keep track of how many of each that I had.  For every kit, I needed beads in increments of 25, (Plus some for the examples too) so I divided them up into bags of 25, 50, and so on, then did a little sketch of each one, added a description and a number into my ledger.  As I sorted, I started a separate bag of beads to set aside for the example, making sure I had the exact number for myself that I have for the class kits.

Yep, it would have been so much easier to order a package of pearls on-line or at Hobby Lobby.  But I wouldn't want a necklace made out of those, why would I think my guests would want one?  We are going to Use the Good Stuff.

My jaunts to antique malls have been fast and single minded.  I've had Sugarwings, her Daddy, his Gypsy and our little Dewdrop staying with me while we nursed the broken wing of our little fairy. They all tagged along with me to get out of the house and the searches were to the point, no time to meander about.

But, who could blame me for spying a floral hat here and there while I was on a desperate hunt for crystals?

Its been  Hat Bonanza Bonus Week around here! And I found a handful of necklaces too, old pearls, lots of aurora borealis crystals, and some mother of pearl.

There are probably enough gems in my treasure chest to start crafting my necklace. My chart might seem a bit of overkill for sorting beads, but by nature I am not an organized person. I have to severely train myself to be careful, double count, and make lists. If not, things go in one ear and out my mouth. I'm  not even organized enough for the traditional in one ear and out the other style of doing business.