Button Swap Day!



Today is the day that we get to see what everyone who participated in Michelle Mach's button swap.  I've been really excited about this, since it's always so inspiring to see what everyone comes up with in a swap.  The pieces are all so different, but so inspiring! 


Anyway, the idea behind the button swap was the usual formula, Michelle took all the names of the people who signed up and paired them with other people.  You had to send your partner 3 buttons from your stash, so much the better if one or more were vintage or handmade.  Well, I was paired up with Hope of  Craftyhope.blogspot.com.  Well, I was overwhelmed when Hope's package arrived!  It was amazing!  She not only sent the 3 required buttons, which were fabulous, but she sent a whole stash of other buttons!  And, to make it better she made adorable tins and a card to go along with the buttons!!! 

Isn't that fantastic?!!  Well, I love the 3 buttons, especially the carved ivory flowers.  And the were all so vintage looking, that I decided I had to do something that played on the vintage feel of the buttons. So, I went back to my idea of using knitted wire in a mixed media design.  At a bead show I had gotten a new color of art wire, Rose Gold.  It's a lovely old-timey pink with a golden glow.  So, I thought this would be the perfect project to use it.  I knitted a cuff and decided a linen base would keep to the vintage look.  I was going to sew the wire to the linen and then the buttons on top of the wire, fringe the edges of the linen and sew snaps on as a closure.  That was the original plan.  But, as you can see below, that's not exactly how it ended up.

When I laid it all out, I thought the piece looked very flat and uninteresting.  Just layered, linen, wire, buttons, was terribly boring.  So, I took the wire and scrunched it up.  In doing so I creating a ridge which I then maniputlated some more to create little 'cups' to nestle the buttons into.  I loved the dimensional feel of the piece, and an added benefit was the wavy edge that resulted from scrunching the wire.  I knew I had something I liked a lot.  So, I proceeded as I had planned and sewed the wire to the linen and the buttons nestled in the wire.  Of course, my favorite button, the carved flowers, figured prominently, and another of the original 3, a fantastically shabby chic glass button.  But, I also used one from the extra stash Hope sent, the little pink with the flower and rhinestone center.  A pearl button that I had in my stash finished off the set.

I'm really pleased with the cuff.  I wore it yesterday and received compliments on it.   That was nice!  

This was a fun swap.  I love buttons and it allowed me to try another idea for knitted wire.  This cuff has generated another idea for a cuff with a summery seaside theme.   The swap also introduced me to Hope and her great work.  So, a win, win all around! 

Michelle is sponsoring a contest to coordinate with the Button Swap Reveal.  If you comment on all the participants blogs you'll be entered to win a button collection.  So, below you'll find the list of participants in the button swap.   Go check out what everyone did with their buttons and you may win some buttons, and everyone can use more buttons, can't they?  I don't think you can ever have too many!

1. Cat-  http://boobeads.blogspot.com/

2. Cindy- http://www.sweetbeadstudio.com/

3. Cory-  http://art-with-moxie.blogspot.com/

4. Cyndi- http://www.beading-arts.com/

5. Dita- http://www.alankarshilpa.blogspot.com/

6. Donna, Marti, and Michelle- http://www.michellemach.com/blog/

7. Erin- http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/

8. Hope- http://craftyhope.blogspot.com/

9. Inca- http://zerenitydesign.blogspot.com/

10.Katrina- http://armyofsockmonsters.blogspot.com/

11. Krista- http://frenchelegantjewelry.blogspot.com/

12.Kristie- http://www.artisanclay.blogspot.com/

13. Linda D.- http://lutkaandco.com/

14. Linda L.-http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/

15.Lody- http://www.lodysbeadworks.blogspot.com/

16.Lori- http://www.lorianderson.blogspot.com/

17. Loretta- http://www.designsbyloretta.blogspot.com/

18.Malin- http://beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com/

19. Mary- http://mkaymac.blogspot.com/

20. Maryanne- http://zingalasworkshop.com/

21. Melinda- http://orrtec.blogspot.com/

22. Saskia- http://perlendistel.blogspot.com/

23. Shannon-http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/

24. Shirley- http://beadsandbread.blogspot.com/

25. Stephanie- http://www.stringaholic.blogspot.com/

Hope you have fun checking out all the participants.  



Bartering

I mentioned a few posts ago that a friend of mine makes beautiful baskets and she and I decided to barter jewelry for a Scottish yarn basket.  Well, she delivered my basket last week.  And, it's gorgeous!!! 

The color looks a little lighter than it actually is, but isn't it gorgeous?!  Judy is meticulous in her workmanship and it shows in the finished basket.  She dyes her own reed and treats the finished basket with linseed oil to prevent it from drying out.  I'm so  thrilled with my basket.  I will have it filled with lovely yarn soon.  After all it is a Scottish yarn basket!!  The funny thing is that Judy has recently become an avid knitter, but she made these baskets before she started knitting.  Now, she'll have some yarn to put in her basket! 


Here's a close up of the God's Eye with which she starts these baskets.  Amazingly beautiful, isn't it?

I'll let you decide who got the best deal out this barter.  I made her a wire and pearl ring and pendant which you can check out in a previous post, which for some reason I can't link to right now!  But, look for Wire Working for a Friend if you want to see what my end of the deal was. 

Enjoy your day.  We're having lovely early spring weather today, so I'll be in the garden.

Thanks for stopping by.













































































A New Twist on Wire Knitted Jewelry

I've been making wire knitted jewelry for a while and I've been jotting down ideas for different designs.  At the end of last year when I entered the Bead  Mavens Ice Queen Challenge I decided to knit a necklace with a cascade of Swarovski crystal snowflakes, columns and rounds.  I blogged about it at the time.   Since then I've had other ideas for changing the basic necklace/bracelet.  One of the ideas was to combine my love of freeform beadwork with the knitted base.  This is the first bracelet I've made using this combination of ideas.

Except for the MOP rings, all the beads were part of a kit I bought last year from Ellen at Eathfaire.  Ellen has wonderful bead knitted jewelry kits with great combinations of beads.  This one was intriguing because of the shells that she incorporated, along with those rather new peanut beads, and some wonderful colors of seed beads.  But, those shells, while being really unique shapes, some look like little roses, had sharp looking holes and the thread Ellen uses is a metallic embroidery thread.  The color was great but I was concerned that eventually the shells would fray the thread.  So, the beautiful bead soup sat in a bowl on my work table for a year while I decided what I wanted to do with it.  I had decided right away to use wire to knit the bracelet.  I strung the beads and shells they way I normally do, but I didn't like the way the finished bracelet looked.  So, I took  it apart and let it sit for another several months!  In the meantime, I found the MOP rings at Michael's and the color and the MOP went with the bead soup and shells so well that I knew I  had to use them in the bracelet.  Finally, I thought of doing freeform beading over a wire knitted base.  It has opened up a new path for my wire knitting!  I love creating this piece. 

I began by wiring the rings to the base and then using Fireline to begin the stitching.  I attached the Fireline to the one of the rings so that I wouldn't have the tails or starting knot showing on the reverse side of the bracelet.  From there I just let the beads and shells tell me where to go, which is the best way to do freeform beadweaving in my opinion. 

I'm very excited about this pairing of two of  my favorite techniques.  I had a great time making this bracelet, and I have enough bead soup and shells left over that I'm thinking of making a necklace to match. 

Here's another view of the bracelet. 





I hope you have a wonderful day.  Thanks for stopping by.

Button Swap



I've never participated in an online swap before but I've always thought it would be fun.  When I found out that Michelle Mach was hosting a button swap on her blog I decided I would join in the fun.  I was paired up with Hope Smitherman who is a very talented artist from Alabama.  Hope and I discovered that we have a love of vintage, buttons and otherwise, in common. 

Well, the rules for the swap were simple, send your partner 3 buttons of any kind.  If one or more was special in any way, or vintage, all the better. Once the buttons were received the participants are to come up with a project using the buttons. It can be anything, from jewelry to home decor.  Of course this meant I had to spend an afternoon going through my extensive button collection!!  I know, it's a tough job, but what could I do!  After a great deal of dithering over which buttons I should send Hope, I finally was able to chose three that I thought she might like.  I was so preoccupied with choosing the buttons and deciding on a presentation that I forgot to take a picture of them!  But, I chose a  green dichroic glass button made by my friend Terrie Voigt, and two that I've had for a long time.  I don't know if they were both vintage, but one was a dark teal and the other was a gray MOP.  It was difficult to chose which buttons to send because I wanted them to be something Hope could, and would want, to use.  Well, I'm happy to say that she loved the buttons, which was such good news for me! 

Naturally, I wanted to create a fun presentation, so I used my favorite, a tag.  I attached the buttons to a small tag and attached that to a larger tag that I had distressed and embellished with sewing motif fabric and a paper flower with a button center!!!  Seriously, what else could I have used for a center.  I'm really sorry I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of all this.  The finished presentation was pretty cool.  Of course, wait until you see what Hope sent me!!!

What I sent Hope pales in comparison to what she sent me!!!  I was just overwhelmed when I opened my package.  Not only by the presentation, but by the amount of buttons! 

Look at all that!  The three buttons in the middle front are the three for the swap.  But, all the rest are just Hope being incredibly generous.  She too spent a long time looking through her button stash and decided to share some of what she has with me.  I was amazed at the wonderfulness of it all!  And, if the amount isn't amazing enough, the presentation is incredible.  She created two tins to put the buttons in and a beautiful card, plus the tag for the original 3 buttons.



Here's a better picture of the tin the 3 buttons came in.  The other loose buttons came in a smaller tin embellished in the same way!  Then she sent two cards of buttons!

 



 I was so touched by her generosity.  And, the buttons she chose are all fabulous!  I just love them all.  Deciding what to make with them is now my problem!  I want to make some thing really cool so I can show off the buttons to best advantage.  I have a few ideas and I need to take some time to decide which one will work best.  But, I just love what I have to work with and it will be fun creating something special with these vintage beauties.

Well, thank you for stopping by.  Enjoy the day.  We're having some beautiful spring weather here, so I'll be in the garden today.  I hope you do something fun with your day, too.



Blog Partner

I'm so pleased to say that I've become a member of Artbeads.com Design Partner Program.  I know a lot of bloggers are members of the team and it's an honor to be included with these bead artists.  I was just accepted into the program, but I was still able to participate in the current "Winter Enchantment".  The idea behind the theme is what you find inspirational about winter.  I have to say that winter isn't my favorite time of year.  Once the glitter of Christmas is stored away for another year, I tend to huddle in the house as much as I can.  But, since I was a young girl the bright spot of winter was Valentine's Day.  It's not because I'm  an extreme romantic, although I do like soft pretty things, but because it was a touch of bright red and cheeriness in the midst of the gray of February, when everyone had enough of gray skies and gloomy, snowy weather.  It was a chance to make things with the color red, to enjoy pretty things like hearts and flowers and to eat fun things like heart shaped cakes iced with pink icing.  Yes, my mother always made me and my cousin a chocolate heart shaped cake with pink icing.  I still have her heart shaped pans!  So, when I found out that the theme of this installment was Winter Enchantment I knew immediately what I was going to chose.

These were the items I ordered for my project.  I love the Crystal Red Magma heart and I love that color with copper. So, copper chain was an obvious choice. I, also chose the copper heart leaf pendant because I've been wanting to use one of those copper leaves in some project. This one was so pretty and perfect for my idea that I was thrilled to find it.  So, as I ordered my pieces I designed my project.  I don't ever do that, but this idea presented itself almost as a whole as I began chosing components!  Wish that would happen more often!

This is the finished necklace.  It came together almost as I had envisioned it.  Again, very unusual for me since most of the time I don't start with a clear idea of what I'm going to end up with!



And, here's a close up.

 

I used the copper pendant as a closure, making the hook out of 16 gauge copper wire.  A nice feature of the design is that I can use the hook in one of the links of chain and have the copper heart hang free.  That was something I hadn't anticipated but I like the option of having a long necklace, or a shorter one depending on what I'm wearing it with or my mood!

Well, I hope you all have a restful Sunday.  The weather in my part of the world is gloomy and rainy, a perfect studio day!

To comply with FTC regulations I must tell you that I review products for Artbeads.com free of charge.  My statements are an honest assessment of the products and I receive no compensation from Artbeads.com for my endorsement. 





It always needs beads!

I've always loved fibers and fabrics.  But, just as long as I've loved fibers and fabrics I've loved beads.  So, you'll usually find beads in almost everything I make. I love to embellish everything!!  I usually don't consider a jacket completed without a bead or two.  Same with an art quilt.  And, once I started knitting with beads, I started feeling the same way about fibers.  When I began felting knitted bowls and handbags it didn't take long to realize I had to get beads in there somehow.  With handbags, I often needlefelt over the machine washed handbag.  Then I'll sew beads onto the bag, embellishing the needlefelting.  But, then I discovered a pattern for knitted, felted bowls.  I love bowls and vessels made out of fiber or  beads.  Of course, I had to try the pattern! I knitted the bowl out of two colors of Manos kettle dyed yarn and then threw it in the washing machine.   This is the result.  Of course it's been embellished!

I decided I would applique ribbons, trims, beads and ribbon flowers in a vining pattern.  I made ribbon fuschias, and then stitched ribbon wrapped wire down with beads.  I added leaf trim, one of my favorite trims, and then stitched scattered beads to fill in.  I was especially pleased with the results.  I love the ribbon fuschias.  Here's a close up.

I was hooked on making these bowls for a while.  I made an all white/ivory  frosty one for a Christmas charity auction.  Unfortunately, I finished it with no time to spare, so there's no photo of it.  And, I made a royal purple which my daughter had to have for her college dorm room.  She took it back to school before I had a chance to jazz it up!  But, she likes it plain.  I don't know what's wrong with her!!!  Then I had two skeins of yarn left over from a sweater I made so I made a bowl to keep knitting tools in.  I thought it would be fun to sew buttons on it rather than ribbons and flowers.  So, I chose shell buttons in different sizes and colors and stitched them down with beads.  You knew I'd get the beads in there somehow!

The yarn had slubs of color in it which gave the felted bowl an interesting play of color.  I used those colors in chosing the buttons and stitched them down with green and turquoise beads. To fill in between some of the buttons I added some shaped beads.  I also decided to line this bowl.  I could see some of the stitching inside the bowl, so I decided I would cover it with a coordinating batik fabric from the stash.  You can see a little of the fabric in this closeup.

I like the look of the lining.  I cut a circle of fabric large enough to fit the interior of the bowl and then pleated it as I hand stitched it to the top of the bowl.  It's a great place to keep tape measures, point protectors, scissors and such on my table. 

I made these bowls a couple of years ago and I've been wanting to experiment with other yarns and styles.  So, stay tuned and we'll see if I get back to felting bowls.  I have some fun ideas for embellishing them and when I start to get new ideas I usually can't resist trying them out. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Hope you have a great day.





Happy Heart's Day!

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!