Button Brooches

How was your weekend? Mine was a wee bit challenging. One child is teething and the other one seems to be going through an insecure period! Not good conditions for creativity... but Dad took them off to the library yesterday and I had a moment to myself!

So using this fabulous tutorial I made a few button brooches to take to the market this weekend. They turned out really well I think.

I want to have a few things there as examples of what you can make with the buttons to inspire people. What else do you think I could make?

I also managed to fill a whole suitcase with clean shiny tubes of beautiful buttons for the market.
They were covered with 30 years or so of dust and some of the older plastic lids had disintegrated and needed replacing. A lot of the buttons on the top were faded too and needed replacing. It's quite labour intensive. I'm hoping to have at least three of these full of buttons to sell on the weekend so I best get busy!

Fernando

Can you hear the drums

fernando?
I remember long ago another starry night like this
In the firelight fernando
You were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar
I could hear the distant drums
And sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar....

My (new) creative space

Well the big move is complete, and my new creative space is part of our bedroom and our bed and the front hallway and most nights the lounge room floor. I have been huddled in from of the heater most nights sorting washing and replacing lids on buttons for the market. Mostly while watching bad cop shows. Riveting stuff I can tell you.


I am slowly settling into this new arrangement- I'm currently working on a woolen owl called Fernando. I spent hours deciding which buttons to use for his eyes- it's hard to decide when you have 30,000 to choose from!

My Creative Space is hosted by kootoyoo

Charlie meets goat

I just had to post this!
From our adventure to Collingwood Childrens Farm this morning.

Before...

After!

Apart from this minor incident we had a glorious time, the sun was shining and we even got to see some newly born piglets!! So cute :)

And Escher was as happy as, well, a pig in you know what, holding the guinea pigs.

A lovely day was had by all- hope your day has been the same!

Creepy Sweet Wishes

I love love love Mark Ryden, well his artwork anyway. I have some of his prints above my bed and this morning I was looking at them thinking I'd love to make a bunch of softies and dolls based on his amazing characters. So while doing some research for my new project I came across this. Its so so creepy but I LOVE it! Hope you do to! :)

My Creative Space

My creative space is on the move. I have had to give up my beautiful studio so that wee Charlie can have her own room- Adam's snoring keeps waking her up. Though it will be nice to have more sleep and be able to read in bed, I'm quite sad- I have had to re-house a whole studio full of stuff in random parts of the house. So now my creative space exists mostly in the bedroom, partly in the hallway and wee bit in the laundry.
I also can't do any crafting until it's all sorted out...which is tough!
So my machines are having a well earned rest on my bed :)

My Creative Space is hosted by kootoyoo

A vintage button treasure trove!

I've been a busy little bee sorting and cleaning and organising buttons. I'm almost finished one box, just another 31 to go! God am I crazy?

Here are few of my favourites so far. They are all colours of the rainbow and remind me of looking through the glass of the dairy lollie counter as a kid, trying to decide how best to spend my 50c pocket money.

They are bright and yummy and they make feel really happy! I'm so excited thinking about all the fantastic things they are going to be made into. Rescued from a backyard in Frankston and given a new life! Oh yay!

Round She Goes

Come along and share in the joy of button euphoria at the Round She Goes Market. I will also be selling vintage knitting supplies, trims and haberdashery including patterns and some fabulous vintage clothing.

Hope to see you there! be sure to come and say hi :)

From Despair to Euphoria: Tale of (30) thousand buttons.

I've had no laptop for over a week!!! Oh my god I felt like I was missing a limb, a really important constantly used limb. I can't describe the feeling of despair I encountered when the spotty girl at the mac service center told me it would take a week to order a new part for my power cable. Yes that's right, power cable. It took a week, to fix a power cable! Why not just replace it?? Honestly how ridiculous!

Anyway that feeling of utter devastation was soon replaced with euphoric joyousness (is that even a word?) as I filled my van up with 32 boxes full of vintage buttons I had just purchased. I have 32 of these babies!!! Oh my god they are AMAZING! I've since spent hours going through them all....wow look at these ones, oh god look at those ones!

They are all still in the original tubes from the shop and there are so many I had to take over the next door neighbours shed. People who don't know me that well might be thinking I'm mad! So I plan to spread the love and sell some of them once I have sorted through them all so stay tuned for market details!

Words and Pictures :: Souvenirs

My cheesy Queensland souvenir. Not from Queensland as you might think, but an op shop in Lilydale (dodgy outer Melbourne suburb).

words and pictures is hosted by Pip