Karla's Cottage

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.

My Snow White Weekend

Kim's big bash was so much fun! And everywhere I turned, there was some form of my artwork.

First of all, the giant mural filled a whole wall at the back of the room-

but also Kim had blown up images from the background of the smaller painting I'd done that she was using for the event button.  (this is one that I kept for myself, Kim sold the rest. She also gave me the large poster from the lobby)

This one was my favorite one.

She hung banners from the ceiling, for a very royal feel. Here is the room set up for vendor night before everyone arrived.

For my vendor table, I made tags from the images on my mural. I like them so much that I'll use them for Birdsong too.

My Snow White painting was plastered on everything from the chocolate lollipops, the itinerary, to a lot of swap projects or tags.  I was a little overwhelmed by her.  But it was a good kind of overwhelmed.

Kim never misses a detail, and our work tables were beyond beautiful.  Everyone got a bevelled glass "casket" with a velvet heart,  and a matching crowned frame. All were extra good quality items, and pieces I will treasure forever, not just little party favors. 

And look at the centerpieces!!!!  Gosh, they were something. What a pretty view we had while working.

My Snow was on the back of every chair, in a frame we were each to keep.  Along with a goodie bag stuffed with treats.  The bag itself was a heavy canvas, yet again, another Kim trademark. Her gifts are high quality items that will last and so nice that you'll be glad they did.  No cheesy, cheapy things that are just for show for the day. 

And look at how lush the fabrics are the she drapes the room in.

The weekend truly was enchanting.  I'm so impressed with Kim's talent and eye for beauty, plus her gracious style of hostessing.

Thanks for another memorable weekend, Kim!

(and I'm soooo looking forward to next year, the theme of Downton Abby will be delightful- that is if all the characters are not killed off by then)

 

An Enchanted Forest painting and some deep (for me) thoughts on aging and time (but no math)

I thought I'd show you some steps to the Enchanted Mural I did for Kim's event.  I posted a few beginning photos here and there while I was working on it, but as it progressed and started to look like something, we wanted to save the "reveal" as a surprise for the Fair Maidens attending the party.

It measures 8-1/2' x 16'.  Too big for my garage wall! I had to bunch it up under the soffit, and move it down to paint the top after  I was done with the rest of the picture.

The first step was background color, blue sky, brown ground. I didn't bother to prime it this time.  I also forgot to cover my wall with plastic. 

Oops. 

Which would be fine, if the whole mural had seeped through, would be kind of impressionistic and fun. But no, just blobs of blue and brown.

Next, I painted the horizon and hills off in the distance, all in faded tones. After that, the grass.  And I sketched the trees in chalk for the trunks, then blocked in the dark leaves at the top.

I was going for a look of standing at the edge of a dark forest, looking out into a meadow and off into the distance.   I thought a road leading to a castle far away was appropriate for the Snow White story. 

Here are a couple of "during" shots as I tweaked the sunlight.  You can see that my background behind the pink tree on the left changes.  I did a lot of re-dos on that area.  But hey, it's only paint, you can change as much as you'd like. And I was making it up as I went along, so some things didn't work as well as others. There was a lot of painting over.

This is the final effort for that same spot under the pink tree.  Deeper shadows and some yellow splotches of sunlight.

The whole thing is done in layers. I felt like I really got to know that forest.

Like the fact that there are more pink trees far away to the right. They got covered by trees in the foreground. If I had done a drawing first, maybe that little issue wouldn't have come up, huh?

Here is it is, filled in a bit more.  Notice the shadow across the road under the trees?

I added little surprises out in the woods too.  (early version)

(Completed version)

This is where Snow White lived with her stumpy buddies. 

Her friends, the deer are in the woods too.

As well as a bunny and some butterflies.

I added a couple mushrooms.  I wanted to do a whole fairy ring of them, complete with dancing fairies, but I actually was able to stop myself in time.

This mural is meant as a photo backdrop.  No one will see the tiny goings on in the background for the photos.  But I was so involved with my own day dreams, I got carried away and spent way too much time on the far away details. They made me happy.

But they really took too much time away from my real life. I spent so much time wandering around the woods in my make believe life that I got nothing else done.  I've not added any new things to the shops, I've had no income. That is why they call us starving artists.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in creating that we don't care about selling.

But I am far from starving. I tend to snack as I paint.  Not a good thing for the waistline. I figure this mural cost me $1000 in sales online and added 5 lbs to my belly. 

Oh, but I sure loved being in this fantasy world!

Years ago, I did murals for a real job, but have gotten away from it.  I used to be super fast, because I did so many.  But with this I really zapped my time. 

I was wondering if it has something to do with getting older? (I'll be 55 in a couple weeks)  I seem to do everything slower as time swoops by me so fast.

Here is how I figure it:

When you are a kid time drags. Remember waiting for your birthday?? Those months seemed to take forever to go by.  But compared to the amount of time you'd been on the earth, it was a pretty large percentage of your years.  Lets say you are almost 5, maybe about 58 months old.  So those two months till your 5th birthday are.........

Wait a minute, I don't do math or percentages, what am I thinking???? My point is that two months of your life as a child is a huge chunk of time.  Two months of your life as a 50 something adult is nothing.  You've lived through 600 some months.  Time goes by faster due to your frame of reference.

That is what I am blaming on my slow down.  I take forever to get anything done and I used to be lightening fast. I think it is because time is slipping by so quickly that I don't register how long I've spent on a task. All afternoon at my desk feels like an hour or so.

Plus, as I said before, I got a little carried away on this project while living in the imaginary forest.

Case in point, this castle? I spent two hours on it. 

(the blue birds and leaves are just blocked in at this point, no details)

And you can barely see it. I wanted it to look very far away, and it does, but did I need two hours of detail to do that?  Oh well, I love the castle, so I'm glad that I did.

Another thought on aging:

As I get older, I care more about details.  I wonder how many more big projects I'll be doing? They seem to matter more to me, so I put more into them.  Not that I plan on kicking the bucket any time soon, or that I expect to be too creaky at 60 to get anything done.  But I'm just more aware of the remaining years and how precious they are.

Okay, back to the painting?

While I wanted the forest to seem dark, to emphasize the light in the break in the trees, I didn't want it to seem scary. The shadows are a pretty blue, and while there are bushes and grasses, it's not over grown and tangled. It's a friendly forest.  And since it is a photo back drop, I had to watch out for hot spots.  No glaring whites or brights, all are faded or toned down.  Which gives it a dreamy look, I think.

I'm afraid I can't get a photo of the complete thing while it is in my garage, there is no space to hang it up all stretched out. When I lowered it to paint the top, I had to roll up the bottom few inches.

Curtains will cover a foot at the top and 6" at the bottom will have to be rolled under to make it fit.  Curtains will also cover 2 feet on each side. I didn't know this till it was 90% done, so I went in and brought the leaves down lower and darkened them to keep the effect of a dark forest.  If the leaves were mostly covered at the top, it would change the look of the design.

This is a nest I added and wasn't happy with.

This is what it needed!

Much better!

If you want directions on painting a nest, I have a free tutorial here.

I'd have added more blue birds, but was afraid that they were so bright that they might stand out too much in photos.  And they could look like they were sitting on the head of someone standing in front of them in the photos.

And I think one of them will be cut out by the curtains, but maybe the tie backs will save it.

Sadly, it is also too big to hang anywhere at my house.   I donated my time (not planning that I'd spend ALL my time on it,) not the mural itself, so I get it back after the party.

I'd thought about selling it, but I have grown attached. I might cut it up in sections and wallpaper the grand fairies' room with it.  I'm not sure yet. 

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

A very special surprise

What a great trip I just had.  Even with a bad cold that got worse daily (I hope I wasn't sprinkling germs on everyone like fairy dust every place I went) and a trip delayed by weather that left me stranded one night.

The utterly delightful, Karen Hillman, wanted to do something extra nice for her pal, Judy, to celebrate her 50th birthday.  So she arranged a surprise arty party for her at the Cozy Cottage in Mt. Dora.

The place is a real life doll house!

It's full of air, and light, and joy, all designed by Karen.

All whites and pastels and filled with embellished sweetness.

It looked like Judy was certainly surprised by Karen's gift.  What a hard secret to keep for the months she and Judy's family had been planning this.

We were all touched to see how happy Judy was.

Not only did I get to make some new friends and have a lovely day at the cutest home on the planet, I got to visit my Great Aunt Caroline's former hometown, that had lots of special memories for me, and I was able to spend an entire weekend with Guncle Randy, and go to his home in Jacksonville before flying home.

Karen was kind to include my baby bro in the festivities. I knew he would hit it off with the ladies and fit right in for the classes. He's a lot of fun.

I'll have more pics of the class and the rest of the trip coming up.  Every where I turned was one photo op after another. Beautiful backgrounds and smiling faces galore!

Mt. Dora is a town that I used to visit with my sisters to go see our Great Aunt Caroline. So everywhere I looked, something reminded me of them.  And even the birthday cake was topped by the same fairy image that Sissy used for our Fairy Book Swap

Gloating in my Early Birdness

Well, I still don't have the piles of extra wallpaper photographed and listed for sale in my Boutique. But the KITS ARE DONE!!!

  As I was cutting up hundreds upon hundreds of pages, I thought it was going to seriously deplete my supply.  But, I think I'm safe there... (I have two more storage places for papers too)

The fairy tale books that I have been buying went up on top of the Treat Cabinet for storage.  I like having them separate from my other hoarded piles of old books, so that I don't accidentally use the pages for wrapping paper.   These are special! 

My poor, poor studio, still has not recovered from kit making for an Enchanted Affaire.  But look! The kits are DONE.  Two giant boxes are filled up and ready to mail when the time comes. What a nice feeling to have it all packed up a month early.

Well, mostly all of it.  I still have to box up examples, extras, etc to take along.  I'll probably add those to  my suitcase.  These boxes are heavy...  what makes me decide to make such elaborate, complicated, heavy kits to ship all the way across the country??? I tend to get carried away by what would be exciting to do, not by what is practical to do.

The kits are wrapped in papers and ribbons that can be used when creating the project. And what is fun about these packets of goodies, is that no two are just alike. It would be impossible for two people to make the same book.  And they are chock full of The Good Stuff. Yummy!

Fluttery Florida Fairies

For the little class I am doing in Florida while hanging out with Guncle Randy, I'm packing plenty of pixie making materials.

Some will be free standing, others will perch in cages. 

Instead of making up kits for each person, I decided to bring piles of supplies for everyone to chose from.  They will make a cage/cloche thingy, then pick a fairy to add to it.

Everyone can make multilple fairies, which should be nice.  Fairies probably don't like to be all alone.

Sugarwings says that they won't stay in the cages any way, the holes are too big and the little guys can crawl right out.

I hope everyone enjoys all the goodies I'm bringing to play with!! I know I am looking forward to delving in and making some more myself.

There is only so much time in the day, so I try to make the most of it!

There is not much new around here, I'm still wading through piles of Snow White books and items to stuff into the kits.

See what I mean?  Every table in the studio is heaped up with carefully sorted (even though it doesn't look like it) goodies to do with the kits.  I even set up two extra tables, and also filled tubs. 

But hey, there is HOPE! Look at the stack of wrapped kits on the far table, in front of the window. Yep, the packaging is almost done.  The rest of the room is just littered with the detritis of making the kits.

Those stacks of cut wallpaper on the table?  Some of those are sorted into piles, ready to photograph and add to the shop.  My son and I got just a tad carried away on those chopping and ironing days we had.

But the truth about why nothing else is happening around here, is that I am soooo hooked on the books themselves.   I've made up four examples for the class, including one that I'm am keeping for myself and personalizing with family fairy tale photos.

On this page, I've taken a page from one of the children's story books, and cut Black Beauty from it, with another page behind the horse as I cut it out so that I ended up with a second animal shape.  (it was an accident, but one that I am glad that I did!)   I added a unicorn horn to each, flipped one over, layered them on the paper, and tinted them with glitter markers.

Dewdrop adores "honies" above all things.  She is a "My Little Pony" addict, and calls them honies.   So, this page is for her.

There are other things I could be doing, but this is more fun.  Plus, I thought the students  might appreciate having samples in different stages to look through.  This one will be almost complete, but I am saving space in it to add pictures from the event itself.

There has also been some Birdsong3 behind the scenes details to tend to.  It's funny how much time such things take up, even when the event in months away.  Oh, but how worth it! I'm really excited to know that I have both of these fun weekends to look forward to.

Hopefully, once I get all of these kits boxed and ready to mail, I can concentrate on making Birdsong projects and kits.  And selling that pile of wallpaper. And doing my taxes (Beth offered to help!! Yay, there is nothing better than having an accountant buddy at tax time. And all I have to do for her is redo her antique mall booth.  Heck, that is a pleasure to do, not a hair pulling, tear inducing, fork in the eye, task like tax prep).

There are also extra kits from last year's Birdsong that I forgot about. And need to add to the Boutique. I'd planned on listing them last year and haven't yet. I also found a stack of surplus Fairy Book covers that I'd planned to sell too. 

But there is only so much time in the day.  You know what I have noticed?  I can keep going full tilt and workiing my backside off (not really, it actually seems to grow, not diminish) and never really get ahead.  Because there is always more to do, and only so much time in a day.

I've noticed that my income seems to level out, no matter what I am working on, because nothing is "extra", it ends up taking the place of something else.  So, if I do shows, I am ignoring my shop.  If I concentrate on the shops, I am not having time to make things.  And on and on.

You just can't do it all. At least not at the same time. But that is what is such fun about my so called job.

I can switch it up, go from classes, events, creating, selling, shows, one to the next.  It certainly never gets boring!  When I focus on one area, it does very well, especially the Boutique. But my life would be very dull if all I did was photograph and list and ship every day.  So, I'm glad I can stretch out and try different venues and take breaks from the online shop.  It's still there, still selling, but not as much when I'm not adding to it reguarly.

Yes, changing my focus might not be getting me ahead financially, but it sure keeps me hopping and happy!

 

Free Fairy Tale images and some workshop prep

If you are wondering why there is nothing new in my shops, it's because my studio has become Kit Central.

I'm gathering up all the elements needed for my Book of Enchantments for Snow White, plus brain storming projects for Birdsong 3, as well as a super secret surprise gathering that I am doing with a dear friend.  (more about that later, but I can't give it away till after the surprise in March)

For my Book of Enchantments, the supply list is out of control!

• a book cover to embellish, and the goodies to do it, including ribbons, lace, a mirror, millinery and flocked wallpaper
• 9 pieces of card stock
• a stack of fairy tale book text
• 2 pictures from old story books
• 2 pages from vintage Snow White stories.   (some are Snow White and Rose Red, and older ones are called "Little Snowdrop", I have books ranging from 1890 to 1959, in the oldest, she is usually Snowdrop)
• a collage sheet of pretty, vintage pictures I scanned
• 1 journalling page to color or use for inspiration
• 4 spells of enchantment that I have written (for: Sweet Dreams, Joy, Hope, and finding a True Hearted Prince)
• 12 pre-cut pieces of vintage lace
• 10 pieces of old wallpaper
• 1 moonstone heart charm
• 1 apple charm
• red rhinestones
• a rhinestone cluster
• ribbons

Oh my! That is a lot of cutting, organizing, packing, and counting.

I found an easy way to count the card stock. I bought packages of 50 that contain 10 pages of 5 neutral colors.  Since I need 9 for each kit, I simply take away one from each color and boom, I have 9 ready to slip into the envelope. They get covered in other papers, so it doesn't matter what shades go in the kits.  That beats counting out 9 for each envelope!

Since my ingredients are so vintagey and unique, I can promise that it's impossible for any two students to make the same book. It will be exciting to see all the creations the class comes up with using the combinations that they get!

I've enlisted a studio full of helpers.

And a cutie to keep us company while we work.

I've put the tiny craft table in front of the TV, which was probably a bad idea, I might never be able to convince my girls that they don't need to watch shows while they work.   But with so much going on, it seemed to extend craft time a bit for the littlest fairy. 

Since I had to cut so much wallpaper, I decided to chop away till I had enough to sell too.  So, once I get my kits bundled up, I'll have paper left over and will actually have new stuff in the Boutique. 

While measuring, cutting, and ironing hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of paper, my mind has wandered around and wondered about Birdsong 3 projects.  I'm working out the kinks on a wire birdcage, and the other one might be a variation of this book, but a Journal of Blessings.   Not sure... But I have been loving the heck out of making books for the last few months and would love to continue making more.

I'm sure you guys will see all the prototypes as I fidget around with them. Thanks for being my sounding board!

If you love these old fairy tale illustrations as much as I do, just click on the images to open them to a larger window and save them to your computer to print.

Birdsong 3, filled with friends!

Wow!  I really feel blessed.  Birdsong 3 is filled in less than a week, before I've even opened it up for registration. I gave past guests, sponsors and their friends first shot and we had an enthusiastic response.

The fact that people who have been here before, want to come back and to bring friends with them means so much to me.  That warms my heart.

My projects are still in the design phase, but Beth has a good start on hers.  Here is a little sneak peek of what she is planning. Her class will involve making 3 felt and lace hearts and planting them in a decked out peat pot. 

While Birdsong is "nature inspired," we do like our nature fanciful and foofed! 

Thanks for all of your interest in our upcoming event.  While it seems to be full, I don't have deposits from everyone yet, so I will keep a waiting list in case there are cancellations.

And if you would like to be a sponsor and donate something for the goodie bags or for the door prizes, we would be thrilled to have you. I'll post a list of sponsors on my blog sidebar until the next Birdsong, and all of the sponsor lists remain up on the Birdsong blog site.