Gran's Button Tin

A few weeks ago my gran sent me her button tin. I had known for a while that she had it in mind to pass it my way, and I expected a hoard of buttons from past garments and sewing projects. I had no idea that the contents of this rather beautiful tin would be quite so old.

It turns out that my great great grandfather was a tailor by trade, so you see a love of buttons is in my blood! Many of these buttons belonged to him, and are now so old and delicate that a few of them started to disintegrate as I stirred my fingers around the tin. 

A collection of old leather buckles was included...

And a leather button so old that it looks rather alien to my eye!

Others are more recent and clearly my gran's own buttons, some being quite 1950s and '60s in style. Even so, the cardboard some are attached to is now very delicate. 

I'm starting to slowly clean up some of the more robust buttons when I get a spare few minutes here and there, and I'm not sure what I can do for the older ones other than wrap them up safely in their cheery yellow tin and treasure the thought, next time I'm making a batch of my own buttons, that I'm now the proud owner of a piece of my own personal button history. 

So many people have special memories attached to their elder relatives' button tins. I had never seen this particular collection before, but as my gran turns 90 years old this Wednesday, I feel like I'm the one to have received a special gift.

Quick Project: Beatrix's Button Collar

It's Beatrix who has a crafty make to show you today...

While every girl likes to change her look, Bea isn't a fan of fripperies and unnecessary clothing, so we try and keep things simple. She has a few handmade bandannas, and a fair few collars, which are all nylon so she can be a proper dog and get muddy, and I can be a relaxed doggy parent who whips them off her and throws them in the washing machine without any fuss.

It did however occur to me lately that it's odd that the face of Miss Beatrix doesn't have any sort of buttons of her own. So I dug out an old collar, which I've never liked, and she never chooses when I open the vintage tin of collary-goodness, and decided to jazz it up for her. 

I spread some buttons out on my craft table and she nosed at the ones she liked, (obligatory safety notice about making sure your pet doesn't choke on such things - luckily Bea learned long ago that eating buttons is one thing we will fall out over!) and I set to work. 

Various Beatrix Potter buttons and a bee one had to feature, of course!

I used a thicker thread than usual and spent extra time sewing the buttons on securely, before making sure she couldn't reach the collar when wearing it. She's been happily trotting around the house in it, tail wagging, and went to show it off to my next door neighbour yesterday. She might be a tomboy, but this girl still loves compliments.

Impatience was kicking in at this point, as Bea spotted a pigeon.

A nice quick Sunday afternoon project, and now my girl has another collar for her collection!

Make a Button Bracelet

I adore making my own buttons, but I also collect them and keep my collection in a pretty glass jar! Here's a couple of quick and easy ways to use buttons to make bracelets...

You can buy gorgeous elastic in all sorts of colours on eBay for pence. Cut a length double the circumference of your wrist, dip the ends in either melted wax or pva glue - allowing them to set/dry - then have fun threading your chosen buttons on. 

There's just one rule for this method. Whichever direction you leave the last hole of one button, is the direction you enter through the next. So it might go up then down, then down then up, then up then down, then down then up. This will make the buttons layer up nicely in an alternate pattern. 

Keep going until your buttons reach around your wrist, then simply tie a knot and trim the ends, again dipping them in wax or PVA to stop them fraying. 

You can also double stack your buttons, with smaller one sitting on larger ones. 

If you have one special button too nice to hide among others, you can simply use waxed cotton or baker's twine to wear it as a sort of wrist pendant. Cut a length, double it over, then thread the looped end through one of the button holes. pass the loose ends through the loop and draw tight.

If you use this method you can tie a sliding knot so you don't have to keep tying it on. I shared a quick and easy tutorial for that yesterday here.

Hope your week is full of buttony crafting,

My First Craft Fair

 

Last Sunday saw me host my first craft stall, selling my handmade buttons! The fair was called FORGE and was hosted by Hallam Roses WI, who did a fabulous job organising and promoting it all.

There was a good steady stream of browsers throughout the day and I'm pleased to say that sales were very good. I had been warned to develop a thick skin at craft fairs - some people speak to one another about your hard work as if you aren't there, but I was lucky this time. One lady laughed when I said I make my buttons out of polymer clay, but that was just a little confusing!

I really enjoyed putting my stall design together - including the bit where Bea and I went sneaking around woodland at 7am on a Saturday looking for that perfect branch before stuffing it in the back of my car and carrying on, whistling cheerfully, with our walk! The watering can I chose because I thought it looked rather Peter Rabbit. 

My lovely mum helped me out on the day, and a number of friends dropped in to show their support too. It was so special to experience this big goal in my year surrounded by family, friends, and other talented makers, and the weekend before my birthday too!

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent tweets and messages of support and encouragement on Sunday. I've been talking so much about making the stock for this fair lately that it's been my sole focus around my day job. and I'm really looking forward to doing more craft fairs soon. 

Peppermint Cream Buttons

You know in those last few moments before you fall asleep, how weird and wonderful thoughts can occur? This was one of those. As I'm sure you'll imagine, I tend to have buttons on the brain quite a lot of the time, but why the notion of peppermint cream buttons suddenly sprang to mind just feet away from the Land of Nod border... well, we'll never know.

I made a large batch and split them between my office and craft club, where they went down rather well. I think they would make rather lovely wedding favours, too. 

This is a confectionery I've made many times over the years, but I finally decided that seeing as this lot would need to last over several days, and away from the fridge, I would adapt the recipe so as to leave out the egg white. Please welcome instead... condensed milk!

The following is for a large batch; just halve it if you require less:

Ingredients:

450g icing sugar

230g condensed milk (plenty in one tin)

A few drops of peppermint essence

Chocolate (optional)

Food colouring (optional)

A small round cutter - I made one out of a plastic lid and gave it a good wash

Pour your condensed milk into a bowl (mmm, Winnie the Pooh moment) and sift the icing sugar into it. Give it a jolly good mix, then add your peppermint essence and food colouring if using. I split the mixture into two and made one half green. Knead the mixture until smooth.

Roll out your mixture in batches - keeping the unrolled batches in clingfilm to prevent them drying out - to about 5mm thickness. Cut out your rounds, and place on greaseproof paper. Leave to firm up for ten to fifteen minutes, then use a cocktail stick to make holes in your peppermint buttons and draw a rim around each. I made half buttons, half hearts. (I also used a posh doodah for my decorating, but a cocktail stick works perfectly).

Pop your creations in the fridge, and if using chocolate, drizzle it on or dip the buttons once nice and firm.

Enjoy!

I had some leftover condensed milk, which I used to make flapjack. Peppermint creams make lovely gifts, after dinner mints... or in my case, crochet class rewards!

A Buttony Giveaway

This giveaway has now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered, the winner will be announced later today!

As promised I am pleased to offer up a small giveaway in celebration of this blog reaching 200 GFC followers!

When I started blogging I distinctly remember getting excited that one of my posts got eleven views in one day. I quickly stamped on that habit - not because I'm not grateful that people want to read my blog - but because I never wanted to define this blog's success by its pageviews. I'm far more excited that over three hundred and fifty of you - through various platforms - have identified enough with something I've said to want to hang around to read more. I do a little dance whenever someone joins me, and am thankful and overjoyed that each and every one of you is here.

So as a little thank you, the winner of this giveaway will receive their choice of any two items from my Etsy shop. To enter, all you need to do is comment below. This giveaway is open worldwide, and will close on Tuesday 19th March (Beatrix asked me to choose that date as it is her birthday!)

Enjoy, and thank you again for joining me in the often mad but always welcoming land of Miss Beatrix.

#simplepleasureschallenge February and An Update

February was a crazy busy month! I've had a to-do list as long as my arm written on my glass notice board every day lately, but I love having a full diary and lots to keep me moving and motivated. I always have more creative ideas when I'm busy, which can be irritating when I don't have time to pay attention to them, but as long as I write them down in my trusty notebook I know they'll be waiting for me when I'm ready. 

I always breathe a sigh of relief when March arrives, a clock change is on the horizon, and Spring bulbs start to appear. The #simplepleasureschallenge keeps me noticing these small changes as the days and weeks speed by.

Beatrix was absolutely thrilled to be featured in Miss Imogen Smith's Doggy Doodles series, complete with my very favourite teacup. Imogen is so talented and I was gobsmacked at how well she captured Bea's cheeky personality and smile. 

Some new buttons have arrived in my Etsy shop over the weekend, and some very Spring-like energy seems to be flowing from my paintbrush, as there is now a march hare and a lamb available. I'm working away on some custom orders and new designs as well at the moment, including my 'pouring teapot' buttons in different colours. 

February 2013 will go down as the month #PostCircle launched! The response has been incredible, with over 60 participants signing up. As you'll appreciate this takes a fair bit of organising; I spent a few hours sorting us all into groups last night, and as soon as the last surveys are in I'll be sending emails and we can get started! New members can of course join in at any time (and yes, chaps you are more than welcome too!) but I know you're all eager to get posting, so please bear with me and I'll be in touch in the next day or two.

Lastly, the perceptive among you have contacted me to say that my navigation bar and social media buttons are currently absent without leave. I've been having a few technical issues but have decided to take this as an opportunity to freshen things up a bit. I'm going to be working on designing new ones myself over the next few weeks, along with giving the Creatives Unite, Recipes and Bloggy Pals pages a makeover. Thank you to everyone who answered my cries for web design advice on Twitter last week, I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew but with your help I'm well on the way to learning some new skillz innit!

Oh, and speaking of new skills, the learning to crochet? Let's just say that I'm grateful that Creatives Unite is now two hours long!

Enjoy your Monday,

Exciting News! Miss Beatrix Opens an Etsy Shop

I am pleased to announce that I have opened an Etsy shop! I have spent many hours making and painting my own buttons and am now able to present them to you.

The buttons are available in three different sizes, and while only a few are in the shop at the moment I have a whole notebook full of more designs in the pipeline, so you can expect more arrivals over the next few days.

I am also able to take custom orders, so if you have an idea for an image you'd like to see on a button just drop me a line - there's no extra charge!

Each button is individually made by hand and then painted - so each and every one is different, quirky and unique.

As a little celebration tonight's Creatives Unite will be a two hour special - a sort of Twitter party if you will - from 8-10pm. There will be virtual tea and cake aplenty, as well as a button giveaway.

Hope you can make it,







PS: Hope you liked Bea hosting in my place this week - she certainly enjoyed the biscuity fruits of her labours! x