Crazy Thrifty Crafts: button jewelry

Showing posts with label button jewelry. Show all posts

Friday, February 8, 2013

New Work and New and Old Friends

I had a couple of bad days this week. Not that anything bad happened. It's just that I was down in the dumps, feelin' the weight of the world, all of that. I think my mother would characterize it as feeling sorry for myself.

A cheerful 70s brooch complemented with
ceramic and glass beads and vintage faux pearls.

A day like that messes with my motivation. It derails all my plans to get things accomplished. Suddenly I feel like all I can do is the bare minimum, go through the motions.

So I taught my students, I went to my metal fabrication class, and I practiced guitar once or twice. At night I read a little and watched Downton Abbey on Netflix (I've just started watching the first season). I didn't make any jewelry at all, so the pieces I'm posting today were made in the last few weeks because I just didn't have it in me this week.

And Tuesday and Wednesday were kinda just dragging along. I just felt lonely and useless and stuck in this house, and . . . well . . . you know the feeling, right?

But in the course of those two days, here's what else happened.

Tuesday, my buddy from Rhode Island calls. He and I have been friends for 30 years and we spend way too much time on the phone talking about politics, relationships, music, you name it. He can converse on almost any subject fairly well and we, usually, enjoy one another's company immensely.

Rustic and romantic with rose quarts and glass beads on a leather cord.

Wednesday, one of my dearest and oldest friends calls from further north of here. She's another one I talk with regularly. I confess to her about how the last couple days is going for me. She doesn't berate me, she doesn't try to motivate me, she just listens to me and then tells me that some days are like that and she understands how I feel.

Wednesday night rolls around and the phone rings again, and it's my new friend who lives in southern Ohio. Since he's kind of a new friend, I don't burden him with my troubles, but we're talking about this and that and he suddenly says the sweetest thing in the world and I could feel the tears well up in my eyes. After a couple seconds of silence, he sensed something and commented that I must be in deep thought. I managed to laugh and told him that I was just struck by how sweet he is.

An amber earring anchors this charm necklace
filled with vintage baubles.

So Thursday rolls around and I wake up to the sun shining in central Ohio. If you live anywhere near here, you know how long it's been since the sun shone for any length of time. And I'm still kinda feelin' sorry for myself, but I manage to get up and get moving, get some work done and head out the door to buy new glazes for my ceramic pendants.

And as I'm getting through the checkout line with six new pots of glaze--all cheery Spring colors, I promise--my phone rings again. This time, it's a new friend I met on Block Island last summer. And his voice is joyful and soothing, encouraging, affirming, and grateful. He makes me smile and I am forced to realize that I have such wonderful friends who care about me and want me to succeed and be well and be happy and I have no good friggin' reason to be feeling sorry for myself.

So enough of that! Let's make some more jewelry!

An old key, tigers' eye and czech glass hanging randomly on a ribbon.

I'm calling these my buttony-button wrist wraps.

These will be my summer staple.

I'm off to glaze ceramic pendants with cheery Spring colors!

A vintage brooch combined with contemporary glass beads.

I'm springing over to these fine ladies' parties:

The Dedicated House Make It Pretty Monday

Friday, November 16, 2012

Button, button, who's got the button?!

Thanks to Mod Podge Rocks, I was made aware this morning that it is . . . wait for it . . .

National Button Day!!

And this is how I'm celebrating . . .

This just arrived in the mail yesterday, a cookie tin full of old buttons I bought off e-Bay.

If you've been paying attention, you know that I've been making jewelry out of old buttons. Like this pendant necklace made from vintage mother-of-pearl buttons, vintage crystals and faux pearls, hanging from organza ribbon.

Or this bracelet made with super cool vintage brass buttons. (Not sure I can give this one up!)

And I'm probably getting a little carried away. I'm even making Christmas button necklaces and earrings.

As I started running out of buttons, I turned to my dear friend, Mr. e-Bay. Comfort me Mr. e-Bay. Let me know there is more junk out there for me.

And as usual, Mr. e-Bay was happy to satisfy my needs. Ahhh, if only the rest of my life were this simple.

First I have to sort my buttons by color.

Beautiful shades of blue. Something really beachy is gonna come out of this pile, huh!

Holy mother-of-pearl! These could adorn a bride's wrist as she walks down the aisle.

Pretty in pink!

Happy National Button Day, friends! Time to get my craft on!

I'm sharing my button obsession with these beautiful blogs!

C.R.A.F.T. Making Monday Marvelous

Skip to My Lou Made by You Monday

Kathe with an E You're Gonna Love It

Our Delightful Home Show Me What You Got

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Where ya been? Whatcha been doin?

I'll probably never be one of those highly successful bloggers with thousands of followers. I should have known when I started this blog back in the beginning of this year that I would have a hard time sustaining a steady blogging or crafting schedule. I don't know how you people do it--posting every day, or even every other day, or even once or twice a week, which now seems completely daunting to me!

Much like my pool playing, I'm not always a consistent crafter. I tend to craft in spurts. I'll get a jag to do some sewing and then spend a few weeks sewing all kinds of crafty goodness.

Or I'll get a full head 'o steam about paint projects and start to paint anything that's not tied down.

Then, I'll suddenly drop painting and start decoupaging and then everybody gets decoupaged presents for Christmas that year.

But then, just as easily, I'll spend weeks not doing anything the least bit crafty or DIY in nature.

That's just how I roll.

And so it goes with the blog too. I've been as consistent with blogging as I have been with my pool playing. Maybe I'm not the compulsive type.

That being said, although I haven't been blogging a whole lot, I have been busy making jewelry in preparation for three craft shows the next three Saturdays. I'm hoping that you, my trusty followers, will appreciate that sometimes, rather than constantly writing about what we're doing, we have to spend time actually just doing so that we'll have something to write about later.

So I've been working up new jewelry designs using vintage buttons, shell buttons, vintage brooches and other pieces of old costume jewelry. I've also been using various wire-wrapping techniques.

I'm having so much fun with the button jewelry pieces particularly. They have that vintage shabby chic somethin-somethin' goin on, dontcha think?