BUTTON, BUTTON, PAIRS OF BUTTONS...

I recently participated in a Button Swap on Swap-Bot. I figure no matter how many buttons you have, someone else will have different ones, so sending off some of my duplicates and waiting for new buttons to come back to me sounded like fun.

When the time came, I gathered up the requisite number of buttons, plus a bunch, sent them off, and honestly, just kind of forgot about the swap. (One of the advantages of having a short attention span is that so many lovely little surprises arrive in my mailbox, lol!)

Today, a packet of buttons arrived. I suspect I will never use them. Because, tell me, isn't this absolutely the most fun "button card" you ever saw? I just love it! How could I bear to remove the buttons?

In other news, I really needed to bake something today. Some version of Dump Cake seemed to be in order, but...but...something new. Lemon Peach Crisp has made its debut, and it is YUMMY.

LEMON PEACH CRISP

2 Large cans peaches (about a quart each), drained
1 Peeled apple, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Almond flavoring
About 10-12 teaspoons strawberry jam
1 Lemon cake mix
1 cube butter or margarine

Mix the fruit and almond flavoring together, right in the 9"X13" cake pan you'll be baking the crisp in. Drop a dollop of strawberry jam in the center of each planned serving. (I figured the pan would divide into about 12 good-sized servings.)

Now pour the dry cake mix over the top of the fruit mixture and jam, and spread it out evenly. Slice the butter thinly into pats and lay them out over the top of the cake mix.

Bake at 350 degrees F, until the top looks lightly browned and crispy. To be honest, I forgot to look at the clock, but it was about an hour, maybe longer.

It really was good! Now, a note or two: I'm not sure the strawberry jam made a difference, so you could probably skip that. Or mix the jam in with the fruit. Either way. I didn't want to go overboard with the almond flavoring, as it can easily be overpowering, but I think the amount could be doubled to a full teaspoon, for even better flavor.

Happy St Patrick's everyone!

THRIFTY THURSDAY: MORE Buttons!

Whoo-hoo! Another jar of buttons at the same Goodwill as last week! This was a smaller jar, but it was priced at just $2.99, so I didn't even hesitate. Off the shelf, and into the cart.

First, an apology for the photos, which are blurry. Must be time to recharge the camera batteries. But I think they're clear enough to show how really cool they are, even the brown ones:


Some really great black buttons, too, especially that one with the red rhinestones:


Interesting white buttons:



A number of clear buttons were in the jar, including the two larger, cupped, buttons. I realized when I picked those two up that they're glass:

These red buttons are a lot prettier than they appear here:


Ceili (KAY-lee) thinks they're Very Interesting!

Oh! I have to tell you about Mama's score at the local thriftstore yesterday! They were having a bag sale--anything you could get into the bag they gave you, for $5.

I think I remember what she got in her $5 bag:

• An old fashioned pitcher and bowl set
• Two pieces of Depression Glass, one in Lariat pattern, the other I can't remember
• Two pairs of shoes
• Three unopened packages of tissue paper, in gold or silver
• Two pair of earrings, one heart-shaped, one jade
• A linen-look blazer
• A dress
• Four gift bags

My Mama rocks!

How about you? Picked up anything wonderful/cool/super-thrifty lately?

THRIFTY THURSDAY: BUTTONS!

Feel free to call me a cheapskate. I've been known to turn down a $5 jar of buttons because I thought the price was too high. I almost did that just the other day, but...but...it was a quart jar, and the buttons weren't all white. In fact, there was quite a lot of color visible, and a vintage button or two, too. I put the jar in my cart. Still, I thought about putting it back. Several times.

I'm so glad I didn't! The photo at the top of the page is all the buttons, poured into a 13X9 cake pan. Here are pictures of some of the more special buttons:







I'm a happy camper!

By the way, did you notice that little green button kind of to the left, in the green bunch? It has three holes, something I've never seen, ever. There were a number of those. Have you ever seen buttons with three holes before?

Tomorrow is another day in Dundee, taking care of my six-year-old granddaughter. Sweet happiness. Time to go downstairs and decide which projects to take which materials for. Hmmm....

Gettin' at the Knittin' Kitten

There's a place here in town called Knittin' Kitten. I think of it as a concept store, because I've never heard of another one like it. It is a resale store that sells only sewing, knitting, crochet, and craft supplies.

Now, I ask you. How cool is that?

It's been a slow year for a lot of people, and an exceptionally slow summer. I'll be so glad when this economy picks back up. One of the shops to suffer, has been Knittin' Kitten, but thanks to Diane, over at Craftypod, those of us in the Portland area who know and love the shop have been alerted, and many have made it a point to go shopping. This is a valuable, and fun, resource, well worth supporting.

Today, I made the trek, and got scrumptious goodies:




If you're a delighted with those Hello Kitty and butterfly buttons as I was, you'll be happy to know I left some there. I was tempted to get them all, but I didn't want to be TOO greedy. Such lovely prices, too--I got the entire haul for under $15!

Watch for those buttons to show up in bracelets soon. I'm fairly itching to get at them.

For those of you in the Portland/Vancouver area, Knittin' Kitten is located at NE 74th & Glisan, in Portland.

BUTTON BUTTONS, I'VE GOT THE BUTTONS!

Oh, boy, did I score when Mama, Meggie, and I went to the Goodwill the other day. We pulled into the parking lot, and one of Mom's friends was standing a car or two away. They said hello, and stood chatting, and Mom's friend told us she'd just come from the Goodwill herself.

"You know," she said, "There's a gallon jar of buttons on the top shelf in the craft aisle. I almost bought it, but it was twenty dollars."

Twenty dollars. Whew. That's a lot to shell out for a jar of buttons. Mama and I discussed it as we were walking into the store. I was suddenly struck by something.

"Mom, think about it," I said. "We'll spend twenty-five cents to get a shirt we can cut the buttons off of it. Imagine how many shirts we'd have to buy to fill a gallon jar!"

That was almost enough to settle it even before we saw the jar itself. It didn't take long to decided I needed that jug of buttons. We practically had a party, the three of us, going through it back at Mama's. I poured the buttons into a 9X13" baking pan, and six hands pawed, and three mouths "aahhhh"ed.

This is most, but not all, of the buttons:

Two close-ups of some of the buttons:


The first card of buttons I pulled out had six of these on it:

We, as in my dear husband and I, will be leaving tomorrow, driving to Arizona. I plan on sorting buttons while he drives, and can hardly wait to get started!
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MORE SHANK BUTTON JEWELRY DESIGNS

Yesterday felt like a day to make a bracelet, so I did. Then I made earrings to match, and then more.

In the past, finding a way to incorporate shank buttons in jewelry has kind of stymied and frustrated me, because there are so many really beautiful buttons just crying to be used. I begin to think I've found the answer.

So, if you want to try this, you might start here:

A Small Shank Button Tutorial

because that's actually where I started. The bracelet simply enlarges on it. So, pictures first, and then a bit of explanation on the difference between using the buttons for a bracelet and using them for earrings.

This is the finished bracelet:


And this is what I used:

• 5 vintage shank buttons, about 5/8" (1.59cm)
• 5 charcoal mother-of-pearl flat circle beads, about 1" (2.54cm) in diameter
• 12 oblong vintage black plastic "jet" beads, about 1/2" (1.27cm) long
• 12 head pins, 2 1/2" (6.35cm) to 3" (7.62cm) long
  
• 36 black seed beads
• 2 round vintage plastic "jet" beads
• 4 small silver bead caps
  
• 1 clasp
• Non-tarnishing silver wire, 20 gauge

Here's a photo of the back of the bracelet:

As you can see, I didn't fill the gap between the shank of the button and the ring bead, which added one more possibility for movement to the piece. It also wasn't necessary to bring the wire to the back of the bead to prevent the beads' spinning to show the wrong, or back, side--your wrist will do that.

So the process would be to make a wrapped loop on one end of a piece of wire about 2 1/2" (6.35 cm) long, string on one side only of the circle bead, then the shank button, and then run the wire through the other hole in the bead, ending in another wrapped loop. After the first bead group, of course, you'll want to join the wire-wrapped loops as you go, to create a chain of wire, buttons, and beads.

When you've joined the five buttons, measure the bracelet to your wrist, to see if you need another button-bead link. My wrist measures about 6 3/4" (17.1 cm), so five was about right. More length will be added by the clasp assembly, in this case a silver capped bead wire-wrapped to each part of the clasp and the bracelet ends.

After you've created the basic bracelet, string the head pins:

• 4 head pins strung with one oblong bead and three seed beads
• 4 head pins strung with one oblong bead and two seed beads
• 4 head pins strung with one oblong bead and one seed bead

Attach one of each group to the loops joining the bracelet links, using a wire-wrap or simple loop. (I prefer to wire-wrap, as it's sturdier, and looks nice, myself.)

Note: While my seed beads were all technically the same size, I did pick through and put a slightly smaller bead on the top of each stack.

To make the matching earrings, I followed the process given in the A Small Shank Button Tutorial.

With these earrings, I did fill the space between the button shank and the inside edge of the circle beads, as I wanted the button to be centered on the ring. The beads you'll need for that will depend on the dimension of the button shank.

As you can see from the photo, I also brought the wire used for the stringing and upper loop to the back, to provide that spin-stopping function.

Finish the earrings with a dangle made from one oblong bead and a seed bead, and add the earring wires.

Just for fun, here are three more pairs, made using the same basic technique:


Notice that in the last pair, I brought the spin-stopping wire to the front, for some extra design oomph.

Well. That was fun for me. Hope it gives you some fun, too!

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SHANK BUTTON EARRINGS--A SMALL TUTORIAL

Do you ever get the urge to just make something? Maybe you don't have a lot of time, but there's that need. It was that sort of a day for me. When time is limited, earrings can feed the creative hunger I feel, and anyway, the beads and buttons were already out, because I'd finished a bracelet just before going to bed last night. Since I'd been working with green, I just dug around in the green button baggie until I found a pair of buttons I liked.

Then I turned my fifteen minute project into two that took considerably longer by deciding to do this tutorial. Well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

You'll need the usual array of beading tools--round-nose pliers, flat-nose pliers, and wire nips. And also

Fine gauge wire (I used 24 gauge)
2 matching shank buttons
4 matching flat, square beads (other shapes would also work--they just need to be flat)
2 seed beads

I'm going to assume basic wirewrapping technique, just enough to make a wrapped loop, to keep this brief, and also because I know others have already put tutorials for that up, and mine wouldn't be as good.

So start by cutting a length of the wire roughly a foot long. You want to give yourself enough to work with. Make a wrapped loop on one end, and the thread on a flat bead, a button, and another flat bead:
I noticed when I was working with my beads that the hole ran at a bit of a slant. If yours are similarly drilled, put the off-center hole against the shank of the button. Also, check to see whether one side of each bead is prettier or more evenly colored, and be sure to put the nicest side facing out.

This is where it gets just a bit more complicated. At the top of beads you've just strung, make another wrapped loop, but instead of cutting the wire, bring it down the front of the top flat bead, and under the button.

Now wind the wire once around the shank of the button, pulling it tight. Bring the wire down the lower bead, crossing it diagonally, and loop it around the wire-wrapping at the bottom, then back up the front of the bead, and under the button. Pull the wire in against the button shank, cross the upper bead on the diagonal, and wind it around the top loop a time or two, and clip.

That's a lot of words for something that really happens almost intuitively, so study the picture below and go with your instincts.

The last step is to wire wrap a seed bead, and hang it from the bottom loop.



I think they turned out rather well.
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