It's a Creative World

Weekend Workout 21 - Button It

Hello, my name is Eleanor, and I have a button drawer. :)

For weekend workout number 21, I challenge you to use buttons. Anywhere. Anyhow.

Here's my button love, it's a framed piece, or it will be when I find just the right frame (I know, I'm always saying that, lol) hopefully it will be framed before my pearl wedding anniversary in 2013.

Do you have plenty of buttons? Here are mine:

Do show us what you do with yours!

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Hiya it's Jayne here.

I am showing two things made using quite a few Buttons. I made a scrapbook layout a while back, I just love the texture of all the cream buttons on the moon... The little Alien was drawn by my youngest daughter.  :)

 

I also made this card for Christmas last year & it's great if you want to use up a lot of Buttons... I like the pastel colours but you could use more 'Traditional' colours if you liked. It is very simple but effective. I don't recommend posting it though as it is a little heavy !

 

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BRIGHTER BUTTONS

I have a few very plain cardigans, which are wardrobe staples for certain occasions, but which I fancied livening but not permanently.

I'm no great shakes at crochet, but I can manage a couple of simple stitches, which is how I made these:

It's no secret that I love pink and green, so if I'm wearing a skirt or dress in those colours, I can button up with my black cardi and little toning button covers. (a white cardigan would look good too)

Spring on the way? This little hyacinth button slip-on is just the thing on this fine soft cardi.

And when autumn chill has me reaching for my brown cardigan, a cosy button wrap brings cheer. (I know it's a weird place for a button, it's always puzzled me, but it really is up there, honest...)

Light was fading, by the time I got undressed and dressed again for the third time, but you can get the idea I hope!

I used hook size 3, and King Cole Bamboo cotton for most of these, and as Mandy is the crochet queen around here, I won't even try to write proper instructions, but I began with a sliding loop, or magic circle, as it was important that the central hole could be cinched up to fit tightly around a button. There are lots of tutorials for the magic circle on youtube, but I learnt from a book, and then it was simply 12 trebles into the ring for round one, followed by a colour change and 2 trebles into each of the 12 spaces and fasten off. Any shape of motif would do, as long as it has a sliding loop centre. Mini granny squares would be sweet, or petalled flowers.

I'll be back another day with more button fanciments.

Eleanor

xx

 

COUNTRY HEART STRINGS

Hello, Eleanor here, and with a week till Valentine's Day, you've got time to make a special garland / tie for a gift / table decoration, or even an accessory for a winter bush ;).

I started with a moda jelly roll, a couple of years ago, and although it was depleted a little by various projects, such as notebook covers and bookmarks, there was still enough remaining over the weekend to make a pretty, romantic string of hearts.

I chose all the strips (precut 2.5 inches wide) which had some beige or red in, and cut a few 6 inch lengths of each. I folded each of these in half right sides OUT, making 2.5 by 3 inch rectangles, and pinned on a paper heart, from a template here. OK so I know hearts are easy to draw for yourself, but it's only kind to use ones others have prepared for you, don't you agree?

I cut out the hearts and replaced the pin in the 2 layers (still right sides OUT) to keep them together whilst I sewed them, with a simple country sort of running stitch. I then raided the button box for toning buttons, using them to join the hearts. After I had draped the garland on the bush outside:

I brought it in and tried it on an old cupboard:

But this is where I like it best:

I think I'll make a special meal for my boys next Monday evening, and dress the table with my heartstrings.

How will you show your love this Valentine's Day?

xxx

Flower bookmarks

We all love reading in our house and often use scraps of paper as a bookmark. Looking at my huge stash of flowers and buttons I decided to make some pretty bookmarks.

I cut some ribbon into approx 12" lengths, and sewed a hem on each end.

I put flowers together in colour combinations before I started sewing them on the ribbon.

I sewed buttons on the end of each bookmark.

I've used up some of my stash, and have some pretty and useful gifts for Christmas.

Debbie x

 

THE BUTTON BOX

I love rummaging through button boxes/tins, don't you? Here's mine:

 

I was looking for autumn colours, and this is what I wanted to embellish:

 

Plain and boring isn't it?

I want to wear it with this skirt:

So this is what I did: 

I'm almost ready for autumn:

(I was examining a stitched on jewel when my son took this photo, and in the end, we preferred it to the ones where I am squinting into the sun)

Eleanor

x

its my bag, baby!

Hiya Claireliz here with a project that I am so pleased with that I bounced like Tigger when I had finished it.

It started with a plain canvas bag I was given as a freebie from my local craft shop, I had wanted to alter it for quite some time but had never found the right material... until I nipped into the local fabric & haberdashery shop in my lunch break the other day, then it all fell in to place...

a bit of material, some lace, a bit of metal chain & a crochet doily that has been sat in my hallway, unused, since we moved in here 6 years ago.  I cut two squares of gingham & two strips of the spotty one & ironed some Vilene onto the back of each piece to strengthen it a bit....

...then I tacked some Broderie Anglaise edging to the spotty strips... 

...so it looked like this...

...then I used the sewing machine to attach the frilly,spotty strip to the gingham square...

...then I cut a pocket from an old pair of jeans & stitched some lace to the top, then attached the pocket & the doily to the gingham square...

Then I stitched the square to the front of the bag, I used the sewing machine to stitch the top & sides but had to handsew the bottom of the square....

Then I added some buttons, some pearls & a little heart that came as packaging from a craft shop....

I made the flower by handstitching down one side of a strip of lace then ruffling it & stitching it together, this was then sandwiched between a huge red wooden button & a little red one...

Finally I stamped a birdcage onto two pieces of cotton, stitched it a bit , added some wadding then finished stitching together & added a chain to make a birdcage charm...

And here is my finished bag (photographed on my washing line lol) so this is the front ....

and this is the back....

  
 
 well thats all for me for now but I will ba back later in the month with Simple Things & a post towards the end of the month, I hope you enjoyed seeing this project as much as I enjoyed creating it.

See you soon

Claireliz

xx

SIMPLE THINGS JUNE *GRACIOUS*

Hello! It's time for Simple Things once again.

Here's Eleanor - The word graciousness is inextricably linked, in my mind, with hands.

Hands show love, and care. We gently soothe with our hands, we uplift and we console.

With our hands we greet, and bid farewell; we lovingly give and we gratefully receive.

Here are my own hands, they are not pretty hands, rather workworn, but I hope they are gracious.

They, and the title, are embroidered simply, and unembellished, for my quilt square this month.

 

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Hi Debbie here with my take on Graciousness. I found this quite difficult so looked in a dictionary and the meaning of graciousness was defined as kind gentle and generous. I found some quotes for each word and mounted them in painted slide mounts.

    

I layered ripped tissue paper to start making the background and layered torn shapes, if you start thinking of squares they will turn out really random. I painted gesso over to tone the colours down a little.

 

I added tissue paper butterflies and green 'flags' for the top and bottom of the page.

 

I cut some slide mounts using a sizzix die and painted them. I used letters cut from magazines for the words.

 

I then added extra detail with a black fine sharpie and a white tippex pen.

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Dolly here with another flower themed page for my Simple Things album.

 

 

As soon as I saw the word it reminded me of a colleague I worked with for a long time. She was a wonderful lady and a great inspiration and I remember, after a particularly trying time at work when i was very cross about soemthing she said that the most important thing was 'To live your life with grace and graciousness.'

I have never forgotten those words and she was a wonderful example of living her life based on that ideal. I have remembered them often when times have been very trying and have tried to emulate her.

It was therefore important to include those words on the page.

 

I have included definitions on my pages and here is the definition for this month.

In keeping witht he flower theme I chose a very delicate flower, appropriate for my friend. It is a picture of blossom in my garden this spring.

 

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Hiya Claire here with my take on this months word Graciousness, I also found this tricky but I do love a challenge, the dictionary definition I found was: having or showing kindness, courtesy & compassion.

I decided I would use a quote for this but after hours of random googling I was still struggling until I saw this snippet from a bible quote... Graciousness begins with a pure heart.

I'm still using the Fancy pants Whimsy paper & I stamped a border using a Banana Frog stamp, then cut a heart from chipboard, painted it red, then sprayed it with Lava Red Cosmic Shimmer Mist & inked the edges with Black Soot distress ink...

I coloured a cream slide frame & some smaller prima blooms with various shades of green & blue, Cosmic Shimmer & Glimmer mists, & added a chipboard piece that says Grace.

  Then I put it all together, the quote was stamped using Banana Frog Stamps & I used another Banana frog stamp for the hearts which I then doodled around with my black pen

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Hi, Mandy here,

Back at the beginning of the year when we began the ‘SIMPLE THINGS’ Project, I decided to make a fabric book and use it to try out new techniques  that I may not have done before.  I also wanted to re-cycle whenever possible.  Well this month I used the cotton print fabric & buttons from a skirt I used to wear about 15 years ago.  I was aiming to make my fabric page sort of like a scrapbook page, but with patterned fabric instead of patterned paper.   The fabric was really too floppy to work with so I used some iron-on interfacing to make it more manageable.  Here’s my page, using the word ‘Grace’...

 
I used messy-machine-stitching...

 
There’s  some hand-stitching too....

 

The crochet butterfly is my own design (pattern on my blog) and the row of yellow circles is crochet over metal washers.  Like all the previous months, I’ve used a quote and for GRACE I quoted one of my favourite Grace Ministers, Joseph Prince.

 

I can't believe I used to wear a skirt with that pattern (!)

Looking forward to next month,

Mandy

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Hi, Caz here!

When we started this project we collected the words. We all gave suggestions and made a list asigning each to a month. Graciousness was my suggestion. I have no idea where it came from and if I even knew what the word meant. It just came and I suggested.

So, roll on June and time to make my page. And there I sat, and sat, and sat some more. NOTHING came, absolutely nothing.

But it's funny how fate leads you down a path you didn't know you needed to be led down. And I am so thankful for this word and it's meaning.

 

I would usually have started this next paragraph with 'I'm not particularly religeous but......' For some reason I feel embarrased about admitting I am religious! I have no idea how or why, and I am certainly going to stop saying it after creating this page. I don't go to church every Sunday and I don't say Grace before my meals but I do believe in the Lord and I do try live my life by his example. I am learning to accept myself and who I am with each passing month of this project. And I love it!!

Thanks for visiting!!
Caz
xx 

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We admit the word this month was a toughie; try and join us next month,

it's ACHIEVEMENT.

Cheerio.

Bags galore

Handbag, shoulder bag, or cross body bag, just cut the strap to the length you prefer.

It's Eleanor here, and personally, I like a bag across my body, leaving both hands free, besides which I must have funny shoulders, as shoulder bags slide off.

I went with a friend to a quilt exhibition the other week, and couldn't resist some bright butterflies on a black background, so I bought half a yard. Then I saw this year's must have scrapbook colour, turquoise, in a stripe which called out to me, so I bought half a yard of that too. Then I made this bag:

from a wonderful tutorial I first spotted over 2 years ago, on Vintage ricrac. No, not that tutu bag, gorgeous though that is, it's this one here 1 hour bag tutorial.

I liked it so much that I made another:

 
and another (actually I made this one way back when):

and having discovered where to buy magnetic snaps, from a girl called Julie, in her shop here, at a great price, and next day delivery, I made another:

Here's the snap:

Oh and here's another bag:

It's such an easy bag, and believe me, you get on a roll, and look for pieces of fabric to use, like teatowels and pillowcases, even old dresses which don't fit you anymore.

That's what this one is made from, some precious Laura Ashley fabric from a dress I wore 25 years or so ago (with a lining from a toddler dress of my now 20 yr old daughter):

But the very first bag  I made from Jodie's tutorial was this last one, once a teatowel (would you carry a handbag made from a teatowel? I would!)

Have I persuaded you that you really must make this bag? I hope so.

Do visit Vintage ricrac, and if you make Jodie's one hour bag, we'd love you to show and tell!

Bye for now.

Scalloped Scrapbook Embellishments

Hey again, Mandy here.

I am on a roll making my own scrapbook embellishments.  I just love making a pile of embellies which I can reach for, rummage through, and find something suitable to add to a layout.  This is what I got up to recently...

First of all I created the circle wordart on my computer (using Microsoft Office Word).  It took some fiddling about to get exactly the right size so that when printed out, each circle of words fitted nicely inside my 2" circle punch.  This is what the sheets look like printed out on different cardstock...

 
Here is the pdf file to download and print them yourself.  Just check your printer doesn't helpfully  adjust the print size in any way!   Download Circular Word Art for 2 inch punch

Once I had my printed sheets I set to work punching out a pile of 2" circles with the wordart and an equal amount of  2.5" scallop circles.  I used dark brown chalk ink around the edges of the circles...

 
For the middles I used everything from buttons & brads to crochet flowers and stamping!   

 
In the photo below I used 'Saddle Brown' STAZON to stamp text onto a pink silk flower...

 
 

I really like layering when it comes to embellishments so I dug out a 1" circle punch and after stamping onto vintage bookpaper, punched this small circle to layer ontop.

 

 I also did some simple stitching with embroidery floss onto felt circles.  Here are some of my favourites...

 

The large yellow brad (on the top right below) has been stamped with brown STAZON and a text stamp...

If I decide I need a particular colour or specific words for a layout I'm making, then it wouldn't take too long to make up one particular scallop embellishment, but for now I have a pile to reach for!

Bye for now...

Mandy.
 
 
  

Button Up

Hi – Dolly here

Are you like me and have loads and loads of buttons and almost never use them! I LOVE buttons. Can’t resist them. But I almost never use them and they are such a good embellishment.

Here are some ideas to help use up some of that ever increasing pile of buttons on cards and pages.

One of the obvious ways to use a button is to make it act as the centre of a flower.

 

You can either sew the button onto the project or use a strong glue like Glossy Accents to fix it.   Personally I don’t like buttons that don’t look stitched but it is often too fiddly to stitch them onto projects. I tend to thread cotton through the button and tie it, without stitching it on, and then stick it on so it looks as though it is stitched but it is a lot less trouble.

The buttons on this card make up the stem of the flower and it is a fun way to mix different colours. As they were quite small I didn’t use any thread with these.

The buttons on this page acted as the frame for the photo and I love the way you can use lots of different colours as well.

 

On this page the button acted as a decoration for the pull tag just to make it a little more decorative.

 

I also like using buttons as elements of a design in their own right, like on this page.

 

Finally I love the Papertrey Ink stamp set that uses buttons as the whole focus of the image. This little birdy has such a cute chubby little button body.

 

And do you know what – you can do it digitally as well.

There are some awesome digital buttons out there that look so realistic.

 

 

 

So get those button boxes out and get using them on cards and layouts.