Birdsong Two Swaps

So, everyone knows that when you attend an event, the one thing you don't want to miss out on is the swaps.  As a rookie event attender, I missed out because 1.  I didn't know what to expect and 2. I didn't feel like my creations would be good enough when compared to the others.  Let me tell you this - if you miss out once, you will *not* let that happen to you again!

So, last year when I attended Birdsong, I signed up for the Frilly Paper Bird swap. Click on the link if you want to check it out.  At first, I had creative block but once I made a decision on how I wanted my birds to look, I was thrilled with how they came out.  However, in the interest of time, I didn't participate in Beth's Journal Page swap nor the Matchbox swap and when I saw those amazing creations going around, I almost couldn't believe my eyes.  I vowed that this year, I wasn't about to miss those swaps!

For the matchbox swap, I created a sweet lace covered box with a little, handmade bluebird on the top. We drew numbers to determine which box we would go home with.  Each and every matchbox was absolutely beautiful but I was lucky to receive this adorable box from Rhonda - another Oklahoman - who attended Birdsong last year too!

 When I opened this little treasure, it was packed full of amazing goodies.  Wanna see?

 Can you believe all this was neatly packed inside?  If you click on the picture, you can see a larger image.  Stamps, tiny colored pencils, ribbon, charms, buttons, bird related images, lace, a key, a jar of beads, and a few little handmade pieces too.  I hit the jackpot! Thank you Rhonda!!

 Next, I signed up for Beth's journal.  I created a page for Karla's journal last year but I didn't participate in the overall swap.  Since I didn't have a journal from last year, Beth was sweet enough to create a cover for me.  Cute, isn't it!?!

 I don't know who this first page was created by but I love the colors and the key charm the bird is holding in its beak.

 Below is a precious page from Tami of Vintage Connections.  The pinks and blues are so eye catching and that precious nest that has an egg!

 Marj Sell was a first time attendee to Birdsong Two but she didn't let that stop her from joining in on the fun.  Marj is a scrapbooker so I bet making a page was a breeze for her.  I love the simplicity of her page.

 Grace was one of the girls that came from Iowa this year. You probably can't tell from this picture but that numbered diagram of the bird is on vellum which is layered on top of a piece of nature inspired paper.  The fern is real and along with the burlap, this page has great texture.

 The next page is from my sweet friend Nora.  That beautiful piece of lace is so her!

 On the left is the back of the first page and on the right is a second page that I swapped with her.  I probably broke the rules but I got back one of my own pages in my journal and she wanted it so we just swapped again.  I ended up with two of her pages which I love!  I can always make myself a page, right?

 Sweet Laurie from Indulge Your Shelf hosted a "SING" banner.  Do you recognize my "i"?  The
"S" was made by Barbara from Iowa. She also hosted the Matchbox swap.  The "N" was created by Nora - recognize her style? The "G" was created by Rhonda from Oklahoma! It's funny how these things work out.  I can't wait to get my banner strung and hung (hahaha!)

 Laurie made these precious bags for us to use to swap. It was a great idea to keep things organized.  We each had a bag with our name on it and on the back of our tag was the names of our swap partners. Then we had a safe place to store our letters after the swap.

 The final swap was a charm swap that was hosted by Gail Sell.  We had to make 16 charms and send them to Gail to put on a necklace.  As usually happens with a swap, some charms were late, some didn't get mailed to her previously, and to top it all off, it's a LOT of work to attach all those charms to a chain! She attached the ones she could and gave us the others to attach for ourselves.  My charm is the little glass bottle. You really need to click on that picture and look at all the artistry and love put into creating all those charms.

So now you see why I didn't want to miss out! I totally overextended myself and drove myself a little insane by signing up for all four swaps, but in the end, I'm so thrilled that I did.
Next post I'll share all the wonderful gifts from the Birdsong peeps as well as the sponsors.  Were we ever spoiled!

Birdsong Two Projects

I'm sorry I  made you wait so long for this post but here it finally is.  I love to attend art retreats but the problem with me is, if I don't finish the project during the allotted time for class, the project comes home and never gets finished.  I'm determined to remedy this problem however and I'm thrilled to report that this morning I put the finishing touches on all my Birdsong Two projects and now they are done!

Lisa McIlvain from Tarnished and Tattered taught this adorable Faerie Theatre.  

Everyones projects came out so different but so sweet.  Some people were prepared enough to bring their own photos to personalize the project.  Plus, as with all the other projects we worked on this weekend, we not only got kits for our projects but there was an entire table filled with additional "stuff" to use if we wanted to. 

 Karla taught this sweet fairy vignette.  We constructed the mushroom out of screen and covered it in vintage paper and pretty mica flakes.  As with Lisa's project, there was tons of stuff we could add.  I waited until I got home and added the rosy looking flowers.  Also if you look close enough under the mushroom, you can see the sweet little bird I added too.

 Beth Leintz from Gathering Dust from taught us to make this fun collage.  She taught us how to create dimension in our work - something I need to make use of.  She also taught us how to do contact paper transfers.  I didn't end up using one on this but I can't wait to try it out.  I love how my collage turned out!

 Finally, Karla taught how to make this beautiful vintage watch necklace.  She collected all vintage beads that were just perfect!  I actually finished this *before* I left Birdsong.  I absolutely love it!

I still need to blog about all the sweet gifts and of course what swaps I received.  Better get on that.  :)

Birdsong Two

This weekend I traveled to Kansas to attend Birdsong Two at Karla's Cottage. Looking at the outside of this adorable home, don't you want to step inside?

I was here last year for the first ever Birdsong, but still - when I stepped inside I just am amazed by everything I see.  Inspiration everywhere! I was so thrilled to be able to attend again this year.

Here are the girls hard at work - and this is only half the room.  There were a bunch of girls on the other side too.  There were 25 students and 3 teachers.  All that creativity in one beautiful space.

 Of course, I've teased you with the swaps I've been working on.  A few days back I posted a sneak peek at the "SING" banner swap in which I was given the letter "i".  My sweet friend Laurie from Colorado hosted this swap.  There were four groups and each group ended up with different banners.  I'll show the group photos in another post but for now,  here are my completed panels. When I put my SING banner together, I'll take a picture to show it with the additional letters I received.

 Next up was a Nature Journal Swap.  I didn't have a chance to participate last year and I was so disappointed when I saw all the beautiful journals that everyone swapped.  There was no way I was missing out on the journal swap this year.  The theme was nature, and of course I had to include birds for Birdsong, right?

Last year I also missed out on the matchbox swap and watching those beautiful creations get swapped last year I decided no matter how busy I was, I was participating.  I had ideas of what I wanted to do but I just couldn't bring them to be.  So, at the absolute *last* minute I thought about making this sweet little bird. I just love it. In fact, I wasn't sure I wanted to give it away.  ;)

The last swap I signed up for was the charm swap.  Again, I went around and around trying to decide what I wanted to do.  Originally I wanted to make a wire nest but I thought everyone would think of that.  As I was going through my jewelry I came across a beautiful charm necklace that I made in a class at Creative Connection a few years back taught by the fabulous ladies of A Gilded Life -Shea and Debbie.  I scaled the charm down a bit and made a less decorated version but I thought it looked "just right". Hope everyone liked it!

There's more to share so be sure to check back - you won't want to miss - I promise!

Ann-Denise's High Tea

As always, Ann-Denise's High Tea event was spectacular!  Even before we entered her home, this beautifully decorated dress form was a glimpse at what was to come.  

The decor for this event was in theme for the High Tea and felt light and spring like.  

Ann-Denise of course went all-out with the decorations.  We each had party hats with our name on them, a sweet paper tea cup, and can you see that cute little spoon at my place setting? Ann-Denise made those by pouring them into a mold and then painting them for us.  Isn't that fun!?!  Plus, the centerpieces - you really have to see them in person to get a full appreciation of how beautiful they are. Each table had a unique centerpiece.  

Sandra Feazel, our co-host and instructor for our Tuffet project, handmade these beautiful Tea banners. We each got one to take home with us - I'm going to hang mine in my office today.

 A close up of one of the centerpieces:

 Look at this cute tea cart just waiting for some delicious goodies to display.

 Ann-Denise is a wonderful cook.  We had cream of cilantro soup, tea sandwiches, a delicious vegetable rice, garlic toast, fruit, white chocolate raspberry scones, tomato basil soup and of course, tea.

We had three projects we were supposed to work on: Sandra's Tuffet, and then Ann-Denise was to teach us a pincushion and a paper tea cup.  We all got so involved in the tuffet project that we used up the entire day.  In fact, I didn't even finish my tuffet (what's new, right!?!).   I want to do more decorative painting and fluff it up.  Hopefully, I can work on that this evening and get it close to finished.
Whether or not I finish I will post pictures of it in my next post.  As for Ann-Denise's projects we will be getting kits for those, and I'm sure they will be over the top!

Sing Banner - Letter "i"

Here's my letter "i" for the banner swap next week at Birdsong Two.  Can't wait to see the "s" "n" and "g" that will go along with my "i"!

Now I have to finish my matchbox swap and 6 journal pages - but first, I have to pack to go to High Tea this weekend at Ann-Denise's house!  

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.  ;)

Family Visit

It seems like I haven't blogged in forever.  These past two months have been so busy I hardly know which end is up.  I knew March and April were going to be crazy but wow - I'm ready to slow down a bit.

This past week, my sister January and her boyfriend Ray came for a visit. 

Ray has never been to Oklahoma so on Tuesday, we took them over to see the OKC Memorial. 

 Here they are in front of the Survivor Tree.

 While in OKC, we of course took them for pizza at the Wedge and then headed over to the outlets.
On Wednesday, we took them to Claremore so Ray could visit the JM Davis Gun Museum. Even though I'm totally not into guns, it is an interesting place to visit and I know Ray thoroughly enjoyed it.
On the way to Claremore we stopped for a visit to the Blue Whale on Rt. 66.

We were constantly on the go. It was a whirlwind but it's always fun to have family in town.

The rest of the month will continue to be busy.  I am going to Texas next weekend for Ann-Denise's "High Tea" which I'm so excited about!  KC Willis was supposed to be in town to teach a fabric collage class but due to lack of participation in Tulsa, she cancelled her class here.  Bummer.  The following weekend, I'm headed to Kansas to attend Karla's "Birdsong 2".  I must totally be crazy because I signed up for FOUR (4) swaps: a charm swap, a banner swap, a matchbox swap, and a journal swap! 

We are getting wicked storms in Oklahoma this weekend so I plan to stay up in my craft room crafting the weekend away.  :)

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!

Relaxing in Amelia Island

Doug and I are relaxing at the Ritz on Amelia Island, Florida.
There is just something about the salty sea air that slows me down and forces me to relax. Walking the beach, picking up seashells and just totally relaxing.
Ahhh - this is the life! ;)

Sherry Goshon's class

I wish you could have seen this doll in person.  Pictures just don't do her justice!

The detail is amazing...

Wow, what a weekend ~  I picked Sherry up at the airport on Wednesday night and we went non-stop until we dropped on Sunday night.  This was my first doll class and will not be my last - I *loved* it!
My doll is not quite finished because I still have some costuming to do and I promise to share when she is complete.  

Projects on the horizon

Did I mention last week that we ordered scooter fabric from Spoonflower?  Well, we did and it arrived yesterday in the mail.  Obviously, when ordering it I didn't realize the scooters were going to be so big,  since I didn't pay attention to the scale that is provided on the website.  

I thought the scooters were going to be little, say, about an inch tall but instead, they are about six inches tall. The important thing is that Doug LOVES this fabric. He loves the argyle pattern and he loves the size of the scooters. As I sit typing this, the fabric is in the washer so I can get to work on sewing the scooter pajama pants I promised him. I'll be sure to let you know how they turn out. Maybe Doug will even model them for a picture!
Next up for projects is this little step stool I found at the thrift store, oh, about a year ago.  It's been in the garage while I've waited for some inspiration. Today I'm going to pry off that ugly vinyl top, give the base a good sanding and add a coat of primer. I don't have the perfect fabric for this yet but at least I'm going to get it painted.

 We are going to a specialty fabric store on Thursday (more on that in a minute) so I may be able to find something cute then.

This poor old shelf.  I think I bought this at hobby lobby back when I was in law school.  That means, it's moved with me 3 times and has been in the garage gathering dust.  At one point, I did sand it and fill the holes with wood filler but that is as far as it got.  Today, I took it out back, sanded it again and refilled some of the holes where the filler had shrunk and I'm going to give it a coat of primer. I have a vision for this and I hope it turns out as cute as I'm thinking.

It's going to be a busy week.  On Wednesday night, I'm picking up Sherry Goshon at the airport.  Next  weekend, she is teaching the Tulsa Dolling Dames how to create this awesome doll. This will be my first cloth doll class and I'm beyond excited.  I've been gathering my supplies but I still have to find my fabric for the doll's costume.  

On Thursday, a bunch of us are supposed to go to some specialty fabric store that I've been told is hit or miss.  Sometimes you go and there is so much stuff to buy that you can't even think straight.  Other times, not so much.  I'm hoping for a happy medium.  :)
Next up is lunch at the Amish Cheese House.  Everyone is raving about it and even Doug has said it is really good.
Friday and Saturday are the days for the class, Connie is hosting our lunch on Friday and then Sunday we are all going to Jean's house for a potluck lunch.  Should be lots of fun and I'll try to remember to not get so involved with what is going on that I take some pictures to share.

Pajama Pants

Here's a quick peek at the pajama pants I made in my sewing class.  They are made out of a soft blue flannel with sweet little pink roses. Are they ever comfy! Don't mind the dog's toy box in the background.  This is the only full size mirror where I could take a picture of myself.

I left the legs extra long because I love them that way. I can never find jammies that are long enough for my long legs - it always looks like I'm waiting for a flood... Doug liked them so much that he wants me to make him a pair too.  He wants them made from material with Scooters on them so I  searched the internet and found some suitable fabric on Spoonflower.  As soon as it arrives, I'll sew his jammies for him.  :)

Sewing Class Complete!

The last 8 weeks, I've been taking a beginner's sewing class.  It has been alot of fun and I've learned so many things but best of all have been the projects.  Our first project was to make this cute reversible tote.  I love pinks, polkadots and paisleys, and I think my tote turned out so cute!

I'll have to post my second project once I'm finished - we made pajama pants and I just have to add the drawstring and hem the legs and they will be done.  It's on my list for this weekend.

Our third and final project was this sweet zippered makeup bag.  I just love it and I can wait to make more!

I'm going to be first in line as soon as the Intermediate class is announced - I can't even wait!  Oh yeah - there is going to be a serger class too - Sign me up!

Easter Crafting

On Saturday I had the girls over for crafting. Lori and her daughters Kasey and Lindsey came over and our original plan was to decorate some large paper mache easter eggs. That plan went sideways when I couldn't even cut into one of the eggs with my exacto knife so we moved on to plan B.  Lori took this picture of us busy at work. Please don't mind the messy craft room. 

We decided to decorate paper mache boxes instead. Didn't these turn out so cute!

From Left to Right: Mine, Lori's (and she said she couldn't craft!!), Kasey's and Lindsey's.
Can't wait until the next time!