 |
| here |
Archive | buttons RSS feed for this section
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
>Buttons by Candlelight
21 Jun>My friend & fellow Guildford Craftacular craft fair organiser, Celine from Apple Juice, held a preview evening last week, in advance of her summer markets. As well as all her latest designs on preview, there were lots of jam jars filled with candles dotted around her living room. The jars were all decorated with pretty vintage french linen & lace, which she had not only embroidered but she had added some buttons too! Do check out her blog banner – it has some of my old vintage carded buttons.
>Father’s Day Shirt Cuff & Buttons Card
17 Jun>
If like me, you have not got around to forcing encouraging the children to make a card for Father’s Day and need one in a jiffy – this simple Father’s Day card tutorial posted on Factory Direct Craft takes only a moment to create, looks great and is perfect for the button-down wearing dads in your life. Choose plain white buttons for a more conservative look or go wild with colour for funkier style.
You’ll need:
• Cardstock in blues, greys or other shirt-like colors • scissors • pen;
• a needle & thread • 2 buttons per card • a template.
• Cardstock in blues, greys or other shirt-like colors • scissors • pen;
• a needle & thread • 2 buttons per card • a template.
(You can make your own shirt cuff template or you can download
the original template here. The link to the download is under “Things to do’.)
the original template here. The link to the download is under “Things to do’.)
The How-to:
1. Using the cuff template, cut out one shape for each card you want to make.
1. Using the cuff template, cut out one shape for each card you want to make.
2. Write a message on the inside and Happy Father’s day on one end of the outside.
3. Fold (without creasing) so that the ends meet and stitch the buttons in place.
Voila! A cute Father’s Day card in a jiffy!
>Anouchka Potdevin
19 May>French artisan designer Anouchka Potdevin, has worked as both a photographer and metal worker and has, for the last 6 years concentrated on re-making a variety of vintage furniture, porcelain, chairs, stools & jewellery.
Anouchka works across a broad spectrum of design fields; from interiors to product design; fashion to lighting design for a range of clients, but it was the more personal work on her blog that instantly caught my eye. Inspired by various iconic singers & a Vuitton catwalk model whom all have fabulous hair, she has drawn some simple stylised portraits on canvas and used black plastic buttons to portray their hair – and it’s all a ‘fabulousness’ overload! I think they look incredible!
 |
| Vuitton catwalk model |
 |
| Vuitton catwalk model detail |
 |
| Diana Ross_1 |
 |
| Diana Ross_1 detail |
 |
| Diana Ross_2 |
 |
| Diana Ross_2 detail |
 |
| Erykah Bad |
 |
| Erykah Badu detail |
 |
| Lauren Hill |
 |
| Lauren Hill detail |
>Tutorial Tuesday – Make a Button & Wire Brooch
17 May>
Sister Diane (aka Diane Gilleland) from Crafty Pod has, as per usual, another fantastic tutorial for making these wonderful wired button brooches. With simple, clear instructions and step-by-step photographs, you can choose to make either a lovely ‘Shooting Star’ or ‘Vase of Flowers’ brooch, using some of your favourite buttons. Diane’s great little tutorial is here.
I was also really really pleased to find out that Diane was recently made Editor-in-Chief of Craft Magazine. I have been a long time fan of Craft magazine, since finding the early print issues. The magazine is now online only and is about the intersection of crafting, art, technology and sometimes just plain geekery, but it’s always fun and it has managed to bring a large diverse craft community together, in a way that no-one has done before. Do also sign-up for the Craft monthly and daily newsletter – there is nothing better than a dose of inspiration to start the day!
>Tutorial Tuesday – Dyeing Plastic Buttons
10 May>
I had never even considered dyeing my own buttons until I came across this tutorial on the RIT website. I have a huge amount of white and translucent buttons, which are all a bit dull and I can never quite find a use for them, but I also can’t bring myself to get rid of them!
Dying the buttons would be the answer to my problems – but one of the biggest problems I have – it that RIT dye is not available in the UK as far as I am aware and I can’t find an equivalent product. So if you do have access to RIT, then do let me know how you get on – I would love to know! Or, if you know of a dye, available in the UK, then do please let me know too!
Supplies Needed:
-
Rit Liquid or Powder Dye: Any color or mix dye to create a custom color. Colors used in photographs: Sunshine Orange, Evening Blue, Scarlet, Fuchsia, Lemon Yellow, Violet, Apple Green, Golden Yellow
-
White Buttons
-
Measuring Cup
-
Measuring Spoons
-
Disposable Plastic Containers for dyeing buttons
-
Spoon for mixing dyes
-
Rubber Gloves
-
Plastic Table Cover
-
Paper Towels
Instructions:
-
Cover work surface with a plastic table cover.
-
Decide what colors you like and prepare dye according to the basic recipe below. Liquid dyes are more concentrated than powder dyes so use half as much dye. Always test color with fabric scrap or paper towel before dyeing buttons. If color is too light, add more dye; if it is too dark, add more water.
-
Basic Recipe: Measure and mix 1 teaspoon liquid dye or 2 teaspoons powder dye with 1 Cup HOT Water. Shake liquid dyes before measuring. Water should be about 140°F. If your tap water is not hot enough, heat some in the microwave or a tea kettle.
-
Pour dye and water into a plastic container; stir. Make sure container is deep enough.
-
Immerse buttons in dye solution for 2 to 5 minutes. Stir occasionally and check color frequently. Remove buttons when desired color is achieved. Rinse buttons. Then wash with soap and water, rinse and dry with paper towels.
>The Dragons are coming to a Summer near you
7 May>There is something quite mesmerising about watching Dragonflies during the summer – their iridescent coloring and double wings make them look as if they are hopping and dancing through the sunlight. Kajsa, from the wonderfully crafty blog, Syko (she also wrote Scandinavian Stitches), recently made these amazing Dragonflies using a design template by Amy Adams, from her recently published Countryside Softies. I love Kajsa‘s interpretation of the dragonfly, with it’s huge shiny gold eyes! I also love the fact that it is small enough, to use up all those scrappy bits of fabric, that are always too small to do anything with, but that you can’t quite bring yourself to throw away!
 |
| via flickr |
“Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragonfly
hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky.”
hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky.”
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Silent Noon
 |
| via flickr |
If you fancy having a go at making your your own dragonfly, you will be pleased to know that the publishers of Countryside Softies, Stashbooks have made a FREE pdf download available! Go here to download! And don’t forget, if you do make anything using buttons, then head over to the Facebook page Bonkers About Buttons and post your photos – we would love to see them!
>The Hoffman Challenge
6 May>
Jill from Jillions of Buttons recently posted some photos on her Facebook page that she took while at the 2011 Denver National Quilt Festival VI. Some of the quilts look spectacular in their workmanship, but the one I fell in love with, is this particular entry which is part of the The Hoffman Challenge 2010.
This year The Hoffman Challenge is celebrating its 24th anniversary. The Challenge originally started with 94 enthusiastic quilters, and in some years, the number of entries grew to more than 700. Every year, a new fabric is specifically designed and released for the Challenge and all entrants should use and interpret that particular fabric as the primary fabric in their quilt.
In addition to the three quilt categories (pieced, appliqué and mixed technique), categories include clothing (wearable art), accessories, and dolls. While the majority of the entries come from the United States, a wide variety of international entries are also received. Each year, the top entries are grouped into traveling collections and visit quilt & fiber shows, seminars, quilt shops and quilt & doll-makers guilds throughout the USA and Canada.
While I normally tend to prefer abstract quilts designs as opposed to pictorial, this one really struck a cord with me – having grown up near the sea, I have always loved sea anenome’s and I love everything about this quilt – the colours, texture & buttons make is really sing and I feel like I could almost pick it up!
>Button Book Giveaway Winner!!!!
23 Apr>
Huge apologies that I have been a little slow in posting the name of the winner of the Button Book Giveaway by Stephanie Davidson but a combination of Easter holidays and the children on school break, have meant the usual routine has been a little all over the place.
I also had to spend a few days recovering, after spending an evening searching for my neighbours daughter’s finger from a loft window!!! yes, you read that correctly! The finger was found eventually but it was all pretty traumatic, not only for the children who witnessed it, but for myself too!
So, swiftly moving on… after much ‘tooing & froing’, Stephanie & myself could not decide between us who was more worthy of the little book, as you are all worthy in our eyes & you all left some brilliant comments, so we settled on using the Random Number generator.
And the Winner is…. comment number 11 – Rachel Martin! Well done Rachel, hope you love the little button book! Do please get in touch with your details, so we can post it out to you! And a HUGE thank you to everyone else for the comments you left, we loved reading them!
>Tutorial Tuesday – ‘Memory’ Button Bracelet
22 Mar>After giving birth to a long-awaited daughter in December 2008, I was given some really lovely baby clothes and as is always the way, they grow out of them far too quickly. I am not a hoarder by nature, but I couldn’t bear to part with most of them, as I could picture my daughter wearing every single one of them.
Over the last year or so, I have been slowly working on a quilt for my daughter, using all those tiny baby clothes I had hoarded stored away. You would be amazed at how long it takes to cut up such small clothes into 4″ squares – it takes forever! I have lots of little scraps, some of which I am planning on using to applique designs to the quilt but some are just too small to do anything with… till… I came across this great little tutorial, on Cut Out & Keep, an online community for making & sharing step-by-step craft tutorials!
 |
| One Button, One Memory |
I love the name of this self-covered fabric button bracelet – ‘One Button, One Memory’. What a great way of using all those little scraps of fabric, that you have either kept for sentimental reasons or purely because you love it. I have the most beautiful vintage silver charm bracelet that my grandmother slowly made up for my mother over many years, adding little charms from all her travels and I think you could apply the same principle to this memory bracelet, add new buttons, along the way, using scraps of fabric that have a special memory. Happy Memory Making!
And don’t forget – if you do make anything using the tutorial links, I’d would love to see them – head over to the facebook page, Bonkers About Buttons and post your photos!
>Feather Fascinator
19 Feb>
With exquisite photography & inspiring recipes, food blogger Ashley Rodriguez from Not Without Salt will not only make you salivate, she’ll also make you ‘ooh’ & ‘aah’, as she turns her hand to her first love, Arts & Crafts.
Using one of Martha Stewarts video tutorials, she created these beautiful Feather Fascinators – I love the depth of colour in the feathers and the buttons finish them off a treat!
