Karla's Cottage

A Matchbox Swap for Birdsong

My pal, Betti, offered to host a swap for Birdsong. It was a new idea for me.  We have done a matchbox swap every year at the party, but this one was a little different. Her idea was to attach the matchbook to a mini canvas, and stand it on a little easel.

I enjoyed doing it so much, that I made up four of them (there were four easels and four canvases in the packages from Michaels).  This one I crafted for Betti as a thank you.  She has a blog called Betti's Beehive (hence the little fuzzy bee that I added) and loves bright colors, to match her vivid personality. 

For all of my creations, I covered the canvas in old wallpaper, and made two copies of an old photo.  One, I glued down to the wallpaper covered canvas. Then, I embellished the matchbox, and glued it down.

After that, I took the second copy and cut out the arms, and glued them over the box to make it look like the person was holding the box like a wrapped package.

All the easels were painted white, then rubbed with ink pads.  I added a few embellishments and filled the box with tiny treats.  

I'll show you what I get in the swap when I get back from my trip. (I've pre-posted this before heading to the beach)

Here is the cute, and colorful example that Betti made for the swap. 

A little cottage creation

 

My long time friend, Gail, hosted a swap for Birdsong.  It involved those paper mache cottages you find at hobby stores. The minute she announced it, I HAD to make one!

My first step was to paint all of the edges and corners that might show.  Then I covered the roof in vintage wallpaper, cut into scallop shapes to make shingles.

The rims that fit the lid to the base of the box were also painted white, because if you cover that with paper, the box lid sticks and never quite fits right.  I also painted the inside and front walls pink, and wallpapered the back inside wall.   I thought it would be much too complicated to try to paper the walls of windows, too many tiny holes to sand around!

The bottom, or floor, is covered in a large patterned, flocked wallpaper.

Next, I covered the chimney with another wallpaper, and poked two holes in the top of it to thread wire through and attach a bird cage from.  The little glittered cage now dangles over a table made of an empty spool of ribbon covered in a paper doily.

I lazily cut out strips of lace to cover the upper and lower windows instead of making separate curtains for each.  They are gathered up and squished into a bead of glue to hang.

The chairs are made of chip board and are covered in scraps of vintage fabric we are using for my journal class.  And the portrait on the wall is a small frame that I painted and added a post card picture to. It is a little over sized for the room, but I prefer to think of it as dramatic.

The final interior touch was a bowl of posies.  They are millinery blooms in a mini tart tin.

The exterior was covered in strips of text from a 1930s Kansas Primer.  Well, I'd hoped it would look like siding, but it really doesn't.  The window and door trim is strips cut from an old book about birds.

I glittered the "siding", added moss on the "ground" and two small pink trees. Then, I thought it looked way, way too Christmassy.

 
Adding some blooms to the trees and some flower beds around the foundation helped.

I thought a bird's nest made it more springlike.

As did some climbing vines.

But my favorite part? The anticipation of the excitement of swap night at Birdsong!  Swaps are such a generous sharing of talent. I am always touched by the thoughtfulness.

Mulberry season

It's mulberry season here at the cottage.  Which means that Sugarwings spends hours up on a ladder snacking away, and filling bowls up, just to spill onto the ground and start over again.

With dozens upon dozens of mulberry trees (which is how the Fairy Berry Trail got its name), there are plenty to go around, so if a few spill, no one worries about it. The chickens are actually pretty happy about that when it happens.

Dewdrop has a ladder of her own, but prefers being down on the ground. 

Especially if there is anything soft around to cuddle.  I'm always surprised at just how silky, soft a hen is. they are so nice to pet. Sadly, only a few of our ladies are friendly. The dozen we bought this spring still act like we are only entering the coop to murder them, not to feed, pet, or gather eggs. But there are still some older gals around who don't lay eggs anymore, but who are very sweet, little pets.

We had a nice family evening, watching Sugarwings drag her ladder from one tree to the next and eat her weight in berries. I popped her into the bath before dinner, and as soon as she was done eating her grilled shrimp, she was back outside and climbing up the steps again, this time way, out in the woods- with no bug spray on.  I had to toss her right back in the tub again before she left with her day, so she wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night, itching and scratching from chigger bites. (if you use soap after being out in the woods, you wash away those pesky things)

We managed to get one bowl filled with enough mulberries (thanks to her daddy) to make a cobbler.  I used about 6 stalks of rhubarb and a pint of strawberries in it too, since mulberries are a little bit bland.  

This was far from bland, and I had a big dish full for breakfast this morning.  Now, that is the way to start a day.  I'd love to make more for my Birdsong peeps who are arriving soon, but I have a feeling, time is too short. I need to bake bread, cupcakes, and a few other treats yet.  And this cobbler isn't going to last long enough to feed it to my guests this weekend, although I do know someone who is up to the task of picking enough to make another one.

You do what you can do, and what you can't, you can't, right? Or, "Hey, look at this fuzzy kitty!!!"

Plans are humming along and the studio is ready for guests! I had it all cleaned up, with tables and chairs set over the weekend.    If you think Albie looks sad, don't let him fool you. I've been taking plenty of breaks to cuddle kitties, play playdough with grand fairies, harvest rhubarb and bake pies, as well as get ready for guests and talk to the dogs. 

There are still tons, buckets, and gobs of things to do yet for Birdsong. Like filling treat bags, making airport runs, going to the grocery store, etc, etc.  But I'm pretty happy with my state of affairs and as long as I don't sprain my elbow by patting  myself on the back,  I think I'll be prepared for the party on time.  

I was a bit worried, that I'd be behind, because my poor little boy had a traumatic injury (a smashed and broken finger) and I was helping out with the grand fairies more than I'd planned to so he could rest up. But once I figured out that no one would notice if my kitchen didn't get painted, or if I didn't replace my white velvet, winter curtains with the spring time floral curtains, I was able to enjoy the extra time I had with the little ones and tell myself what happens, happens. I'd just distract my guests with cute kittens if they started to notice details that I didn't have time to perfect.  

Now, I don't mean to sound shallow or uncaring, because of course, I was horrified for my son, and sick to death thinking about how serious the injury could have been, and upset about how bad it actually was.  But being human, I have to admit that I also freaked out about the timing and that I needed to get things pulled together for Birdsong, plus our entire family is leaving for a vacation together right after and I was afraid surgery for his hand would cancel that.  

He is still in pain, but will be okay.  And I had a great day at the zoo with my two favorite kiddos.  Did I change the curtains? Nope. But I have 5 adorable kittens I can wave in front of anyone who notices that the curtains are wintery. They won't care for long.

And I even took a night off to go see the Last Carnival's performance downtown.

 Some more of my favorite kiddos were in the show.

It was a fascinating performance, and every time I go to watch the troupe, they seem better than the time before.

Lovely sponsor gifts are still coming in, my friend, Kim, sent this beautiful, beaded bag filled with pretties to add to the door prizes.  I can't wait to see the faces of our Peeps when they see the generosity of the sponsors. Thanks to all of you who sent gifts!

Prettily wrapped scrap packs came from Pam too. She is a long time Birdsong attendee, and always a welcome addition to the group.  I like the image she used on her labels, I have a feeling I'll be seeing that nest cut out and pasted into the journals we are making.

And what is in the pretty pink packs?  More fun items to work with. I'm happy to get ahold of that old ledger page, myself.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures of the circus show.  And I'll get back to work on my last minute details for the party.  I've pre-written some posts to pop up over the weekend while I'm busy having a blast with my friends, so please do check back. 

Kitties

Our kitties are venturing out of their nest and exploring a bit. But it is on wobbly legs, and they all still look very confused about the world around them. Although, this tough, little calico has learned to spit and hiss.

There is very little hissing, that is the first I've seen of it so far.  Mostly, we get this dopey look and a little crying.

Out in the yard, we have a bird that can mimic the sound of a baby kitten. I have no idea what kind of bird this is. but it has fooled each and everyone of us into thinking there was a problem with the fur babies and we have at one time or another gone out to find where the poor kitten is trapped and crying for help.  Just to realize it is a bird, not a cat. We all finally compared notes and now know to ignore the tricky bird. (any ideas on what kind of bird that might be?)

Then, last week, I had the studio door open to enjoy the springtime air, and heard that annoying bird crying out for a couple hours.  Ugh. 

Till it dawned on me that the sound seemed to be coming from the deck, not the trees. I went up to check on the kittens to find that Punkin had moved two of her children into the litter box and she was just sitting and watching them.  I don't know if she was potty training, or if that was punishment of some kind, or who knows what. But those kitties seemed very happy to be back in their cozy nest after two hours of crying and being stuck in a toilet.