Buttons

New in the Shop: Trinket Box featuring Liberty London Fabric

I have a new box in the shop and it started out as most of my "for fun" projects do. I sat down with all of my favorite things and started playing. In this case, that button and those charms found their way to each other and I paired them with Liberty London's Fairford pattern for a happy little match.

Here's what happened next! Click on the photo to see a larger version in a new window.

Perfect Holiday Wrapping

Look how crafty my sister-in-law and brother are! We got to open their presents after our long drive back from snowy North Georgia and it was a major treat! Of course, who doesn't love a brown paper package tied up with string, but look at those other sweet touches ♫ buttons and pom poms, and stamping of stars... these are a few of my (other) favorite things ♫

They used rubber alphabet stamps to stamp our names, traditional brown paper, and a few other special techniques. There were pom poms on multiple gifts that made me want to turn into a little pom pom making factory! Stacy saw the tutorial on the Purlbee blog, and picked up one of the contraptions at Joanns. The third present's wrapping job comes from Alton DuLaney's presentation on Rachael Ray's Show. After delaying the unwrapping so I could take some photos, the gifts were just as fab as the wrapping. :)

I love when we get to stretch the holiday out! Tonight we're off to Tampa to see more relatives. I have twelve large books to round and back today, so the drive down and back will give me some time to relax my arms before I sew 24 endbands tomorrow! Is it possible? We'll see!

New in the Shop

In preparation to leave the country, I've been catching up on emails, making my to-do lists, and crossing things off bit by bit! Meanwhile, these photos are of two books that are new in the shop this week. The photo above is of a single needle coptic stitch cover with paper from Chena River Marblers, with a closure using twine and buttons from my vintage button jar.

This coptic uses the four needle stitch and is covered with some of Claire Maziarczyk's beautiful paste paper and a vintage transfer of three happy radishes! Aren't those little veggies darling?

The marbled coptic would be good for drawing or journaling, and the radish coptic would be good for writing in metallic pen or using photo corners to make it a miniature photo album.

Oreo Button Book

 
This was my Sunday morning project. I had my jar of buttons open, along with all of my tiny supplies for making book earrings, and my fingers just went to work making this tiny coptic with button covers.

  
The pages are a thick cotton paper. After tracing the button size onto the paper I cut them out with my olfa blade, stacked them together, and then sanded the edges.

  
The covers are about 28 mm in diameter, so they're a bit bigger than a quarter.

  
I used one piece of thread and two needles for the binding. Aside from being used as the closure, the brown thread is also used to cinch the threads together where the covers meet the spine, otherwise they were sort of free-floating.

 
Now what do I do with it? Maybe I'll use it as a button sketchbook. I'll pull my favorites out of the jar and capture them in graphite!