The Early Bird Gets the Earworm, Birdsong recap #1, of about a gazillion, there were a LOT of pictures and fun things to tell about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't even know where to start.  I had the BEST week!  Birdsong itself was only a couple of days, but with all the pre and post activities and visitors, it was a week for me.

I guess the place to start is at the prep and set up?

I love decorating and getting ready for the guests.

Making name tags, hanging banners, covering the tables.

In the past, I've used white plastic table cloths, or white craft paper to cover the tables.  This year, I bought rolls of white gift wrap at the dollar store, and have to say, it was not only the cheapest way to hide my marred up, marked up, messed up tables, it was the best way to do it.

The gift wrap was heavier duty, and lower cost than any other cover I have used. I always draw on my table covers, and previously, used quotes about birds. This time I used song lyrics.  Which was pretty, but oh my goodness, those were whirling through my head non stop.

When I get an "ear worm" song stuck in my head, I tend to just go with it and sing along. But this was a cacophony of tunes, from the Beatles' "Blackbird" to Stevie Nicks' "Rhiannon".  I also used "I'm Like a Bird," and a couple others that are still humming along in my brain.

 I also spruced up my folding chairs a little better.  Before, I slipped a pillow case over each one.  This made the room look more uniform, but it was a bit sloppy.  I always thought I'd cut them off and stitch them up to fit, and finally, for the 4th Birdsong, I finally did.

It was such a quick project, I don't know why I waited so long to do it.  All I did was cut off the bottoms and the corners, turn them inside out and do a fast zig zag around them.  They remind me of tea cozies, so I call them my chair cozies.

I also wrapped some drop cloth fabric around some of the other chair seats.  That was pretty quick too, instead of stapling, I just wrapped the seats like little presents and finished them off with Sealah tape. 

Last year, I'd hung some branches from the ceiling, and liked them so much, I think they just might be permanent. I've changed what I dangle from them throughout the year. For this gathering, I hung some birds and the cages we made from this class.

On one wall, I have a grouping of framed wallpapers.  It's a perfect spot to switch up for occasions too.  For this one, I added vintage bird pictures, some things I'd made or gotten in swaps.

And this party was the perfect excuse to redo my table top display. I took all the clutter from the top of this one, and redid it with fresh clutter.  It's now home to all the examples from our fairy class.  

PS- If you'd like a fairy kit, I made a few extra.

Please email me at:  karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

to order one for $40 plus postage. They come with illustrated instructions and plenty of supplies for foofing the girls up.

My decorating time was also deep cleaning time.  Throughout my whole house, as I spiffed up a room, I delved into refolding linens, cleaning out closets, filling boxes of things to send to Goodwill or to add to the sale in the garage.  I even sorted through every single tool in the garage and redid that area too. 

Most of my decor was using what I already had.  These angel wings got a spritz of blue Glimmer Mist, and I wrapped lace around the dress form and added some birdie brooches from my jewelry box.

That keeps costs down for the event.  I don't spend more than a few bucks on things like the table covers, all of my decor is done with clutter and crap I have lying around pretties from my studio.

Another new idea for this year, was to add seating in the living room for meals. 

There isn't enough space in the dining room for those who didn't want to eat outside.

Although, we got pretty lucky with the weather. We had a miserable, drenching start to the weekend, with a monsoon as everyone got out of their cars. But after that, the clouds cooperated and we were able to make use of the new patios.

I'm so in love with the new backyard! Even after all the stress and hard work of getting them done in time for Birdsong.  I think that the remodeling was so hard that all the other work felt like a breeze.   After all of that, I was thrilled to just be rearranging things in the studio and sprucing up for the guests. That patio about did me in.

I'll leave you with some more pre-Birdsong pics and will be back with more photos of the weekend in a couple days.

Comments

[Gail Sell]

Love, love, love your home, studio and BirdSong!!

[Miss Rhea]

Looks like you had lots of fun Karla :) LOVE the pink and blue hair on the fairies!!!!

[Karla Nathan]

Im always happy to have you as a guest here, Gail!

[Jeannie McGehee]

I need to go change my shirt again as I am drooling over the entire decor...what a wonderful way to spend a weekend! The studio is just gorgeous and the decorating is over the top!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...I think I need to visit and sit on the patio at least for a few days--just to enjoy the beauty...maybe next year :)

[Karla Nathan]

Thanks, Rhea! We had fairies of every color filling the room that day.

[Tami Hacker]

Thanks again Karla for your gracious hospitality and beautiful home & studio at Birdsong 4...can hardly wait for Birdsong 5!

[Victoria]

I saw this on Pinterest and Oh my goodness, this is amazing! I would give my eye teeth to do something like this!!! Everything is so magical, it takes me back to being a little girl in England and believing fairies really do exist:)

[Karla Nathan]

Of course fairies exist!! Thanks for coming by, Victoria.

[Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions]

Your studio looks so great, Karla! Love the framed wallpaper and how you utilize them. The fairy kits are display are so pretty. Love how you've set up the tables with the gift bags on the chairs and the decorating of the white paper on the tables.

Your patio turned out great!

[jeanie]

I'm so glad you shared the studio and how you did it -- some great ideas but I just love looking at the magic of it all. Incredibly beautiful in absolutely every single way...!