Day 333 - Recycled book page cards

I have been making some cards using recycled unloved op shop books. I also had a few pictures leftover from making my decoupage shoes so I made a card with them.

Day 287 - Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all. About 9 hours of the year left here. Wishing you all love and happiness in 2013. And maybe a little adventure too. x x

 

Day 153 - Coat spruce

Ok, so I'm doing a bit of midnight blogging and crafting. I'm leaving for Melbourne early tomorrow so won't have much time, and anyway, sleep is for the weak isn't it?

Have I mentioned how much I dislike winter? Blah! I try to be positive in life but winter is something I cannot find a lot to love about. There's jumping in puddles, listening to frost melt, and my fire, but those are just temporary distractions.

I have had this winter coat for so many years. Before kids (BC). It needed a brighten up. We are heading to Melbourne tomorrow for a wedding in the evening and since it's so cold I thought I may need the coat to get to and from the wedding so I needed to give it some colour. Here's how it went down.

Ingredients - coat, fabric, self cover buttons, little stuffed Russian dolls I got at a market a couple of months ago.

New look. Better! I'm feeling a bit camera shy in these wee hours of the morning.

I love checking on my kids before I go to bed at night. This is what Mr Divine looks like in the wee hours of this morning.

Day 114 - Button Play

Today we played around with buttons again. It's school holidays and the weather is fairly terrible so it seemed like a good way to spend the afternoon. Every time I get out my button tin the kids spend ages pouring over the buttons deciding which are the most interesting or the 'coolest'. Just playing with them seems to be enough.

I made a button bracelet, Juliet and I made a button love heart together, and as usual Liam started a project (button necklace) but didn't finish it. Little A sorted and sifted his buttons, and ran through the pile creating his usual chaos.

It was a lovely quiet day, with a workshop in the morning and the kids creating their own comic books in the afternoon. I do love school holidays.

Day 87 - Shoe Reno

I bought myself a second hand sewing table on Ebay a few months ago and the previous owner left a few bits and pieces inside. There were a few buttons and trims. The saying one man's junk is another man's treasure comes to mind. :)

One of the things in the sewing table drawer were these buttons that you cover with fabric. I decided to cover them with one of my favourite vintage fabrics in the gorgeous greens that I adore. Then I wondered what to do with them next. I tried them on a few tops and dresses in my closet, but ended up choosing a pair of old and comfy shoes. Here's how it went down.

Day 73 - Button Lampshade

I've been working on this little bit of  button goodness tonight and since it has stretched into the early hours of the morning I decided to blog it too. I was in my own private heaven with a glass of wine, peace, quiet and solitude, a little spot next to me fire, and of course, my hot glue gun.

I bought this lamp shade at a church charity shop yesterday for $7 and was feeling very excited about this project. Most of the buttons are from my Grandma's vintage button stash that I got from her not long before she passed away, so it's a lovely reminder of her and all of the things she used to make for me as a kid. I love it! It makes me smile.

Day 66 - Button garden brooch

Today I made a button and felt garden brooch. This is for me - although I suspect a certain 5 year old in my house will also want one when she sees it - as long as it comes in pink.

Hope you are all having a great day. 

Day 15 - It's all about the button jar

We had so much fun with the button jar the other day that Juliet decided she wanted to make a button necklace with some of the other buttons she liked. It's school holidays and we just loved staying at home today, enjoying the delicious autumn weather and leaving our pj's on. We ended up making many trips to the craft cupboard doing some box painting, colouring in, drawing, cutting, stencilling and beading. It was a very happy day of sunshine and crafting with the kids.

Juliet (my 5 yo) threaded her buttons onto a piece of hat elastic which is really easy to use for kids to thread. She placed a couple of beads between each button to show off the buttons more and to allow them to sit better. Liam (my 7 yo) also made a 'boy band' with buttons he thought looked boyish. If you have little ones who can't thread very well yet like my 2 yo old a great start is to thread beads onto a pipe cleaner as it doesn't bend when they try to thread it.

Craft Cupboard materials

- Reclaimed vintage buttons
- Hat elastic
- Fabric
- Glue

Juliet's creation.

Liam with his wrist band.

I decided to make a brooch and I wanted it to look a bit like a flower so I started off with this kind of wool spun button and added a green button on top with a couple of beads. I just kept expanding on this theme as I really loved the colour of my green button, so, I cut a little square of green vintage fabric from a scrap and a little square from an old doily to put underneath it. To give it enough substance to sit like a brooch I glued it onto one of the giant wooden buttons I had then glued all of this onto a brooch back.

My Creation

 And just thought I'd share some other craft cupboard uses for the day too.

Day 12 - A jar of buttons.

When you were little did you love going through an old jar of buttons? Since I've been trying to do my daily craft activity my 2 year old son Aidan has enjoyed playing with a big jar of reclaimed buttons, most of which were part of my Gram's craft cupboard. She passed away last year at the wonderful age of 90 so they have a lot of sentimental value too. One of the wonderful things about this is that my Gram used to sew for us all the time when I was little and I actually remember some of these buttons being on the outfits she made me. Discovering things like this is part of the beauty of my 365 day challenge.

My five year old daughter also enjoys looking at the buttons and spent the afternoon yesterday finding what she called the 'interesting ones'. This inspired today's project. It's a collaboration. It's a top with a bit of a lace collar and lots of buttons sewn on. It's all hand sewing so anyone can do it. The top we just got from Juliet's wardrobe.

Craft cupboard materials.

- assorted buttons
- lace doily/collar

The result is quite striking and makes a plain (and cheap - I think this top was about $3 at best and less) top look a lot more interesting.

Happy camper...