A Fabulous Vintage Button Necklace

I have been very excited to begin a tutorial that a friend pointed out to me earlier in the summer for a necklace made from old buttons. I made my first one this morning and I love it!



I have made button bracelets and rings, but never attempted a larger piece. The minute I read about this tutorial from Yellow Blackbird I knew I had to try one for myself!

Aubree discovered a button necklace over at Lenora Dame for $70! Here it is:


Here is the one she made for herself:


Isn't it great? And $70 bucks? Are you kidding me? If I could sell mine for $70 I'd be a crazy-rich jewelry artist! I have millions of buttons from my Mom's shop!

Here are a few that I pulled out this morning to work with:


Here it is all finished! (I went a little nutso on mine--I think I have twice as many buttons on there as Aubree does.)


Do I look pleased with myself OR WHAT??? (That is a brave pic--no makeup and bed-head hair!)


Oh my goodness I am in love with these.


I could just stare at this thing all day. I can't wear it--I won't be able to see it!


So I do actually have a job (I work from home as a communications consultant) and I do have a big project today--but you can bet that as soon as I complete it, and as soon as the kids are fed, and the laundry is done, and the grocery shopping finished, and the baths taken, and the books read . . . I will be making more!!! LOL

Update 2 hrs later . . . I made ANOTHER ONE!!! (This may end up being a worse obsession than the Ruffle T-shirts!!!)



I am linking up today to the Creative Chick Parade, a blog hop supported by several of my most favorite funky and crafty blogs.

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Happy Tuesday!

A Little Friday Love for My Vintage Stuffed Toys

I have a few old stuffed toys that I think are really sweet. Actually, I don;t have them, my daughter Ella who is 2 years old does. (Gifts from Grandpa).


The newest one is this cute curly-headed doll holding a flower. She reminds me of some stuffed cats that my Mom made when I was little--I think the fabric was pre-printed with the cats, and all Mom had to do was cut out the back and the front and sew them together. This doll looks like that. I can't guess the age--maybe 40s? The best part about her is how vibrant her colors are.


When Ella was just a baby she received this stuffed chicken--poor chick had kept her comb and beak on for 50+ years, only to lose them within a week of being handled by a drooly baby. Oh well--such is life, right? I love the hand embroidery on this chick.


Here is my favorite--the little sheep. His expression is so neat--like he's on the sly. I also appreciate the method for his wool--it looks intricate and complicated. It seems as though he was well-loved in his time. Maybe that expression is saying "I'm real, you know." Like in the Velveteen Rabbit, my favorite children's book by Marjorie Williams.


I guess they make a sort of motley crew together, here on my most-favorite vintage blue step stool. Keep a look out for an upcoming "A Little Love Friday" post about my vintage stools!


Happy Friday!

This post is a part of:

Fun Applique Tees for James

A few nights ago my fun friend and craft neighbor Flannery invited me over to do some appliqued t-shirts. Let's just say that after I finished the first one I was HOOKED!

The first one I made was this fun lowercase j for James. The shirt is from Target ($6) and the applique fabric is from one of Flan's husband's old seersucker shirts. (Thanks Garland!)


We just found a font that we liked in word, printed out the letters (a few hundred times) to get them the right size, cut them out, traced them on heat 'n bond that was ironed to the wrong side of the applique fabric, cut the letter out, ironed it on to the shirt and then zi-zag stitched around it!

One of the reasons I love my sewing sessions with Flan is that I learn a lot. This time I learned three important things:

1. She has a self-threading needle doo-hickey on her machine. Grrrr . . . why don't I have that???

2. Once you iron the Heat 'n Bond to the wrong side of the fabric you have to peel away some paper stuff to then affix the applique to the shirt when you iron it. (Thus "Heat" and "Bond" DUH. (Stephanie--not sure how those applique onesies I made you are holding up . . . LOL)

3. Flan showed me that if you kine up the edge of the applique with the inside right edge of the sewing foot, the zig zag stitch will perfectly overlap the teeniest bit right to the edge of the applique (see poorly-drawn diagram below)


So needless to say, after that first "j" shirt I became a sewing fool. You know how I get obsessed. Like with the Ruffle Shirts. I couldn't make just one ruffle shirt. OH NO. I had to make 8. Well, it was no different this time. I made four shirts for James, one for Ella, and two for my youngest nephews.

Here is a #4 shirt for James (I was pretty happy when he asked if he could wear it on his first day of school!)


Remember the 80s Solar System curtain panel fabric project? Well I made a shirt from that, too!


Here are some shirts I made for my littlest nephews, Garrin and Matthew and one for James. I found these long -sleeved t-shirts at Old Navy for $6.


I found this great tough-guy but still cute for a little boy fabric for the appliques. Just look at that precision stitching. I know! I can't believe it either!


Here's James on the first day of school in his #4 shirt. I just love that I made him something special that no one else had!


This post is part of a few link up parties. Go and visit!

Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake

For today's link up party I decided to blog about my favorite baked good--Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake! My Mom made it every year for my birthday.


She used a recipe from Marjorie Standish's Keep Cooking the Maine Way. I blogged about Mrs. Standish's cookbooks here.


This is unbelievably moist. I think it's due to the fact that you separate the eggs first, whip the whites with some sugar and then fold them into the batter at the very end.


The cream cheese frosting is out of this world--and so simple to make! I could never eat it out of a can when I know how amazing this frosting is. (Oh, and I double the cream cheese and the butter but I use less sugar.)


Sometimes I make two 8 inch rounds, other times I just use a sheet pan. That's what I did this time around.


Yum! Make one--and if you do, let me know how you like it! (I think I have one piece left--breakfast, anyone?)

Please go visit these fun link parties for more great recipes and crafting ideas! And don;t forget to follow me and leave me a comment.

Thanks!