Birdsong 4

Wow - it's been a while, hasn't it?  Let me get right to it then.  :)

A couple weeks ago, I traveled with my friend Terri up to Lawrence, Kansas for Birdsong 4 at Karla Nathan's home.  I've been every year since the first one and it's always a great weekend. Terri and I travel well together and it's always nice to hang out with her.

Karla recently had a new patio installed and everything was looking great for us.

Lots of plants, flowers and fresh herbs that Karla uses in her cooking.  Karla is a fantastic cook - everything is healthy and delicious and prepared with lots of love.

 How cute is this?  It's always fun to just take some time to look around.  Karla is always moving things around so we have new vignettes to look at and enjoy.

 Most of us traveled up a day early to shop at West Bottoms which is a warehouse area with lots of antique shops.  It's only open one weekend a month so this is where we got the weekend started. Here's Terry and Laurie:

It was a long hot day of shopping and walking and we were pretty exhausted at the end of the day.  But the fun didn't stop there - Karla's friend Angie invited us all to her shop for a lovely party.  Beth set up a make n take in the back room so we got to eat, shop, create, and socialize. Fun, fun, fun!

If you are a usual reader of my blog, you know that I love swaps!  This spring was so busy for me that I didn't have a chance to sign up for any this time.  I knew that I would be sorry when the time came for the swaps, but I didn't want to commit and then not be able to do my best work, or have to rush and stress out.  This years swaps were a banner swap, an altered bottle swap, and an altoid tin swap.  They did not disappoint!  The talent in this group is amazing. 

Here is Linda with her bottle swap.  She is always so colorful and happy.  :)

Here are Suzanne and Tami showing off one of the beautiful banner creations.

 Hope, Karla and Randy:

This is an altoid tin that was decorated by Terry Frias for Pam.  I want it!

My crafty tablemates seated clockwise from the left are Terri, Laurie, Tammy, and Terry. Laurie is a four timer to Birdsong - just like me.  It was Terry's first time, but I bet it won't be her last!

Just down the table is Hope and Linda.

It's so fun to see old friends every year and of course, to meet a few new ones too.

Rhonda, Linda, Gail and Nora checking out one of the swaps.

In the next post, I'll share pictures of our projects.  :)

Weekend in Dallas

Last weekend, Doug and I traveled down to Dallas to attend a work related function for his company.  The North Dallas branch is merging with the Oklahoma branch and this was a "get to know each other" meeting.   Honestly, I didn't want to go, and kind of complained about it several times leading up to actually getting there.  I just wanted to stay home and get a few things done around the house. But we went and ended up having a nice, relaxing weekend. 

  We stayed at Hotel Zaza in Dallas.  This summer, the hotel opened up it's new bungalows which are adjacent to the actual hotel. Our group was the first to actually stay in the bungalows.

  Each one is decorated a little differently, and the bungalow we stayed in was so comfortable, we wanted to move right in. This was one of our two sitting rooms.

Sitting on that beautiful sectional, we could watch one of the three big screen TV's here in our suite. 

 Looking from the other direction in the main sitting room, there was a little kitchenette complete with a microwave, coffeemaker, espresso machine, and mini fridge.  Behind the wall of the kitchenette was another seating area which was adorable.

 There were two full marble bathrooms which were gorgeous, and this was our bedroom.  Two veery comfortable queen beds with luxurious padded crown headboards, and of course another huge TV.

On Saturday, the guys went off to play golf,  and the ladies got to pick a spa treatment.  I had a wonderfully relaxing massage, and then went back to the suite to take a nice nap. Saturday evening, we reconvened outside in the courtyard of the bungalows for a magnificent dinner.

Hotel Zaza knows how to cater to their guests.  The food was fabulous the entire weekend, and the staff is on top of their game. The main hotel was very trendy and by the looks of the pool area on Saturday afternoon, it's a place to be seen.  I didn't venture out there - too hot and too crowded, but the bungalows were quiet, and very relaxing.  Overall,  I would highly recommend this place, and we were definitely happy we went.

Cabo vacation

Last week, we took a vacation with some friends to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for some fun in the sun and some relaxation. 

 We went to Cabo with John and Kristi.  Doug has been good friends with them since college.

 This was our walk down to the beach each morning.  Not too shabby!

 The weather was hot (just how I like it) and we had plenty of sun.  Although with my fair skin, I stayed most of the time in the cabana which was fine by me.  I read a good book, people watched and still managed to get a pretty decent tan.

 The waves in front of our beach were pretty intense at times, but we walked a little ways down the beach and found the perfect spot for swimming.

 We saw lots of people posing provocatively for photos so as a joke, Doug stretched out on the sand to pose for a picture.  Just as I snapped this one, a huge wave came up and he got soaked!

Now it's back to real life, but it was fun while it lasted!

Sneak Peek

Things have been totally *crazy* around here with multiple house guests, traveling to Florida, working and teaching a Medical Terminology class, but somehow, I'm squeezing in some crafting time too.

I am participating in a charm swap and below is my charm. Simple, but sweet - I think!

My charm was inspired by a class I took with Shea and Debbie at Creative Connection a few years back.  This version is much simpler than the over the top, blinged out version we made there.  I like it though,  - just the way it is.  It's a small glass jar filled with glitter and pearls and a little definition of the word "Nest" tucked inside.  I topped it with a sweet floral bead cap and another little pearl bead.  There will be 12 other charms and our hostess Gail,  will be attaching them to a necklace for us.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my friend Laurie, who I met at last year's Birdsong, is hosting a banner swap.  My letter, as seen below is "I".  It's still a work in progress but I'm feeling good with the way it is coming along.  Our banners will read, "sing".  

 I'm still working on my matchbox and don't have anything to share just yet.
On Friday, I'll make my way to Ft. Worth to attend Ann-Denise's High Tea on Saturday, then next weekend to Karla's Birdsong Two in Kansas. **YEAAAAHHHH!!!**
Don't hate me.  ;)

Amelia Island, Florida

 We took off at the end of the week last week and checked in at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island.  This was the view from our balcony.  Not bad!

 We took time every day to walk past the dunes and down to the shoreline.  I kept taking deep breaths of that beautiful sea air.  Oh, how I missed it!

I picked lots of shells - big ones, little ones, shiny and dull.  There were *millions* of them! 

 Don't you love the little sandpipers?  I could watch them zoom around all day.

On two of our trips to Old Downtown in Fernandina Beach we ate at Arte Pizza.  They have a wood fired oven that gives their pizza the most delicious taste.  Mmmmm. Their antipasto was awesome too.

We also ate at a place on the water called Brett's Waterfront Cafe.  At first we thought it looked too "touristy" but the food was actually very good. I ordered Chicken Cordon Bleu and it was more like fried chicken with a piece of ham and cheese on top with a white gravy but it was very tasty!  On the evening we ate with Doug's friends we ate at a place called Espana which was a Spanish restaurant with tapas and paella.  I'm not a big fan of Spanish food but I ordered the scallops and they were very good. 

While Doug played golf I went shopping.  The Picker's Market was a cool place with lots of junk because they had the most amazing selection of large iron pieces and made me wish I had a Uhaul to take a bunch home.  Not this trip. :(  Maybe next time!

Doug and I traveled to Omaha this weekend to see Rachel and Jim get married. I wasn't able to get as many photos as I had wanted because there were so many people and I just couldn't get any great photos. There were several photographers and videographers there so I'm sure Rachel will post a bunch of pictures on her blog when they return from St. Lucia. As we walked up to the church there was a bagpipe player. He played both before and after the ceremony.

Inside the church:

Doug practicing ringing the "bells" for when the newly married couple came out of the church.

Mr. & Mrs. Jim McGough:

The sweet little house for the cards on the gift table.

These were the cute name tag favors:

Whirlwind weekend!

Rachel's getting married!

Some of you may remember that I met Rachel at the first Brave Girl Camp we attended in February, 2010. We hit it off right away and found that we both had a love for being creative and attending creative getaways.

Over the last two years we've met several times at various creative events, Mary Englebreit, Creative Connection, Silver Bella, Birdsong, and Rachel's own event: Handmade U.

We've had so much fun over the past two years.


So, this weekend, Doug and I are headed to Omaha for Rachel's wedding! I've got to charge my camera and be sure to take lots of pictures. I'm sure it will be an event to remember.

A Wicked Tea!

I made my way to Roanoke, Texas this weekend to attend A Wicked Tea at Ann-Denise Anderson's new studio: P'Arty Place. It is located in the back of an awesome creative "mall" called The Plaid Peacock.

I was so excited that I arrived an hour early for the festivities and went next door to this adorable Book Store and Coffee Shop.

Look how cute - I could have spent hours here if I didn't have an art event to attend!

Ann-Denise created such a fun and whimsical setting and there were delicious treats everywhere you looked!





View from my seat - don't you just love our clock face place mats and our customized cauldrons? The adorable tag was made by my friend Cami.

Sandra Feazel taught this fun stuffed pillow. We took a simple white bag and painted it, stamped it, glittered it and mod podged it to create a custom paper to attach to our pillow form. The ones shown are of my classmates. I need to finish embellishing mine.

Our class kits were in these hand painted buckets.

Lisa McIlvain taught this spooky Raven Assemblage.

I've always wanted to work with wax and had so much fun doing so. I've already asked Doug to buy me a heat gun for Christmas. :)
Our final class of the day was a cotton spun doll taught by Ann-Denise. This is the incredibly detailed doll that Ann-Denise made - her crepe paper outfit is adorable!

I was able to create my doll out of the spun cotton but didn't get a chance to finish dressing her because I ran out of time. Honestly, by the end of the day I was exhausted! As soon as she is complete, I will post a picture.