Buttons

I've had a little stash of buttons for a couple years but have never been a button collector.

I'd swear I have another jar but haven't seen it since moving last summer.

Recently I have read posts about buttons from some of my blog friends such as Linda from Unlimited Possibilities  and Laurie at Button Floozies and started to pay a little more attention to buttons at estate sales or flea markets.  Recently I found Kathy's blog, Kluless and fell in love with how she displays her buttons. If you look here and here you can see how she put her beautiful buttons in a vintage jewelry box. So cute but I didn't have a box like that. Then I was out with my sisters the other day and spotted a great antique shop that I'd never been to. As soon as I walked in the door I saw a perfect jewelry box to use for my buttons and it was only $3.

The next day I pulled out my buttons and grabbed my new box and I started to sort. Actually, before I started sorting I noticed that when I moved the box, I could hear something sliding around on the inside but I couldn't get at it. I suddenly started dreaming of a diamond ring or something valuable. I had to pry up the floor to get my treasure but only found the key to the box. It was a nice dream while it lasted. Ok, back to buttons. First I must tell you that I don't know a thing about old buttons but that some are pretty and some are not so much. Here is what I came up with so far.

This isn't all the buttons, just the ones that fit in my "some are pretty" category. So far I love the ones with the rhinestones the best.

The three on the top right don't even have stones in them but they appear to.

I seem to have tons of mother of pearl buttons so obviously they aren't rare. I have lots more of them in the can and jar.

I got some books from the library to learn more about buttons so I have more to go on than some are pretty and some not so much.

See these four cans?

They are filled to the brim with old buttons. One can is my mothers and the others were from both of my grandmothers. Technically they still belong to my mother so I can't go take all the pretty ones out and put them in my jewelry box no matter how much I want to. My sisters probably wouldn't like that either. But I will have fun looking through them and learning to identify the different types. My little round box has the same floral design as this much bigger button box. 

So, thanks to the lovely button collecting ladies I mentioned earlier, I am inspired to learn more about buttons. Should be fun! I hope I find buttons at the estate sale tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!!!

Christmas Stuff

I made an ornament for a friend and it was so fun to make so I thought I would share it.

The pocket watch is from Tim Holtz.

I got the background image from The Graphics Fairy. It is this beautiful image of reindeer which I also have on my computer as wallpaper this month. 

I put some glitter on the ends of the branches and put it in the back of the watch. Then I glued this adorable deer that I found at an estate sale onto the back and also put some cotton batting and snow glitter at his feet.

Then I put the watch together.

I picked out a shiney button and some trim and put them all together as an ornament.

I also made this card for my mother.

You can find this image of the squirrel on The Graphics Fairy right here. The bow and words are here. This is kind of a joke for her because she gets very mad at squirrels because they chew on her house. I wanted her to see their softer side.

 Tee hee!

I hope you are having lots of fun with your Christmas crafting!

Christmas at Phipps

If you are ever in Pittsburgh, you must see this beautiful place called Phipps Conservatory.

It was built in the 1890s by Henry Phipps as a gift to the city of Pittsburgh.

This is the extension off to the right of the main area and the same sized extension goes off to the left also. The inside is stunning and they change the displays with each season. I'll just share a few of my many pics but you have to come see it for yourself. 

This tree was so big I couldn't get the whole thing in the shot.

Not Christmasy but a fabulous glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly. I love how it mimics the plants.

Look at these plant chandeliers.

How about these picture frames? Aren't they gorgeous?

This was such a wonderful place to visit and I can't wait for the spring show!

December Collage Challenge

Time for the monthly collage challenge put on by Mary Green at Greenpaper. Mary posted some beautiful images and all you have to do is make something out of at least a part of each image. I thought this lovely lady needed a blouse with a bit more pizzazz so I made one from the map. I did alter geography a bit by moving the Caspian Sea. I hope no one minds! I added that sea and a little clock to mimic the front of her original blouse. The flower from the third piece was used to bring some color to her hat.

It is always fun to see what everyone else does with the same images so check them out right here.

Thanks for the challenge, Mary! I always enjoy them!

Got Lace?

I went out picking on Saturday morning. It’s my new favorite thing to do. I went to an estate sale where a sewing and crafting hoarder lived. Fabric boxes to the ceiling, multiple sewing machines and tons of craft supplies. It was overwhelming because you couldn’t possibly look through all of it since there was so much. I managed to leave with only a couple things. I got a great old cutter quilt for only $2 and also this beautiful embroidered piece.

Then I went to a church flea market and was thrilled to find a huge box of vintage lace and linens. I only wanted the lace and they were kind enough to sell me just what I wanted so I didn’t have to buy a pile of tablecloths and napkins. I would have bought it all just to get this lace though. There are many pieces of handmade lace and one plastic bag in the box was filled with old cuffs and collars.  Two of the collars are the high neck kind they wore a hundred years ago. I’m selling those to pay for my Saturday habit. The rest are just waiting for me to create with them.

Last night right before I fell asleep I had an idea that I thought was brilliant. I was going to cover my mannequin with pieces of lace, like a collage.  I dreamt about it all night.  This morning I thought I was crazy for coming up with such a silly idea.  I told my mother about it and a little later she asked me if I had read my horoscope. “No, I don’t believe in that,” I said. She then insisted on reading it to me.

“Talk is cheap, but your ideas might be priceless. Your creative ideas can bring you recognition and monetary rewards. New ideas or information may revolutionize your prospects.”

This is different than the one I imagined.  It was more of a patchwork piece because the pieces were smaller. Since I’m not chopping up this gorgeousness I had to work with whole pieces. It's just pinned on.

Now, I’m not expecting I’ll win the lottery today (I didn’t buy a ticket) or be the next winner on Project Runway but this was still a great creative exercise.  Don’t throw out your ideas and call them silly.  Encourage them like my sweet mom did and just create!

Finished Gluebooks

Hi! I just thought I would show you how I finished up my Christmas Gluebooks. I made two different sized books. These are the last two pages of each book.

When I photograph these they come out too dark. Scanned they come out too light but you'll get the idea.

The last step was to put holes in the pages and tie them up with ribbon. I love the way they turned out!

You can still sign up for the My Christmas Gluebook class. It isn't live anymore but it is self paced and you have lots of time to make some books for Christmas. One of the best parts is seeing what the other students created in the Flickr group. I'm really happy I took the class! 

My Christmas Gluebook

I've been busy working on the My Christmas Gluebook class given by Mary Green. It's lots of fun! Here are a couple of my pages.

This is getting me in the mood for Christmas!

Stuff

Since doing the Gluebook Page Swap, I've enjoyed getting back to doing some pages for myself.  I did these in a Moleskin though, not the gorgeous binder from the swap. Not sure why I didn't think of that.

 I love making these crazy backgrounds with my scrap pile. I could probably be happy just making a book of backgrounds, that's how much fun it is for me.

This one is similar to one I made for the swap. This is all vintage paper except for the lady. I love how bright the paper flowers are after all this time. They were very brittle though and hard to glue.                                 

Check out this 830 page pile of messy gorgeousness!

It is the Werner Universal Educator from 1895. I got it for $2 at the flea market. I was beyond excited when I saw it and when I got it for 2 bucks because it's filled with images that I've seen on The Graphics Fairy. I even used one of the downloaded images in a collage recently. But now I own them!!! Woot!!!!  Is that a kid word or do adults understand "Woot!"? I'll bet you understand! 

I'm lucky I keep finding these old books that are falling apart so I can use the paper for collages, right?

Wrong! I still can't do it and my brother-in-law made me feel like poo when I said I was going to.

 So many nice bloggers share images so that would be a good thing to do with it.

I just don't know how. Do you where I can get some instruction on that ?

This lovely photo was tucked inside.

This image is glued to the inside cover. Gosh, I love old stuff!!

I'm also working on the "My Christmas Gluebook" class that Mary Green is giving.  

This is a cover for a book I am making. It's lots of fun so if you haven't signed up, check it out!