• Blog - Crafts

    Vintage button stacks

    A few months ago, one of the knitting ladies casually asked me if I could use any buttons in my art. She had come across her mothers collection while cleaning out the attic and wanted them to go to someone who would appreciate them.  The next time I saw her she had the stash hoard with her. I was shocked! It was a huge box. Over the past few months I’ve slowly sorted through… cleaning and throwing out broken bits from the several pounds of buttons.

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    This is just a very small fraction. Seriously.

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    I thought it may be fun to make some necklaces so I turned on Netflix then started sorting and stacking.

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    I kept auditioning different buttons until I found a stack that that spoke to me.

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    I used E6000 to adhere a bail to the back of each stack as well as gluing the buttons together.

    I also saved out a few fancy mother of pearl buttons to try out some wire wrapping. So far my results are less than pretty with that endeavor. Practice, practice.

    I’ll share the completed pendants when they are good and dry.

  • Blog

    T Tuesday: sugar rush edition

    T stands for Tuesday_200Welcome to T stands for Tuesday…grab a cup while we chat.

    sugar rush tea

    We have way too much sugar left over from Easter. Thank goodness I don’t like marshmallows or these would be dangerous sitting all unwrapped begging to be eaten.

    sugar rushThis is my weakness…chocolate.

    “My weakness is strong.” ~Patton Oswalt

    Maybe fueled by sugar or just that spring cleaning and purging mode but I have dug out a box of items that have been squirreled away for far too long.

    sellingBack in the late 90’s I used to sell on eBay. This box was forgotten in the back of our storage room until now.  I also went thru my cookbook collection…some of it just has to go. Recently I’ve started selling a few things on eBay again but the fee structure is pretty steep. But you can’t sell just anything on Etsy.

    gracie watchingWhile I work…Gracie watches the world go by.

    painting

    I did get creative this past week as well. This 6×6 canvas makes me quite happy. Its a recycled canvas…meaning I hated the first painting I did so I covered it all up and began anew.

    I’ve also worked in my coffee theme AB again but you’ll have to come back tomorrow if you want to see that.

    I’ve got lots on my list today, more than I’ll ever accomplish.

    What are you doing today?

  • Blog

    Friendship

    I spent some time on YouTube last week….likely sent there from Pinterest.  (See why I try and stay away from the screens…I get lost…sidetracked…and waste oodles of time.)  I often like watching “fast forwards” of journal pages, collage and painting. I’m most interested in seeing how people go from blank page to competed project. Not the particular products they use. Not to emulate what they did.  Just the process. The stumbles.  The bad choices of color or image and how they kept going and turned it into something amazing…or not.

     I often search out new unique ideas in an effort to continue to use the stacks of book pages I’ve torn from my journals and salvaged books. Since I’d been using some paper flowers on my cards and other projects recently, I thought I should potentially make them from book pages myself.  I found a rolled rose tutorial. The technique is very well explained yet I immediately deviated a bit from what she said. I’m not big on following the rules and directions. I prefer to make it up as I go along. 20140603_5026This first one is made mostly like the tutorial states…so it’s a tightly rolled flower.

    20140603_5025

    These are more my own style and lay much flatter…more useful in a variety of projects.

    But the ones used in the project below are my first blossoms. I just had to see how some spray mists would look on them. Gorgeous! Now what…20140601_4994Well…I had picked up a bunch of embroidery hoops at a garage sale a couple weeks ago to add to my ever growing collection. I have a thing for circles. I can’t seem to pass them up. This hoop happened to roll onto my work surface and land on some glimmer mist splattered paper. The idea I had seen on YouTube popped into my head. An embroidery hoop as a frame. Of course, that video used 3 hoops and was a wall hanging scrapbook layout. Like I said…I use videos as inspiration…not copy.20140601_4995It’s a little bit vintage… a little bit shabby chic…and a whole lotta me. 😉