Cherry pipping

Isn't this the best little tool? When we were kids we used to take all the stones out of cherries when we were bottling! Can you imagine the stained fingers?

KK

I sent a handmade necklace in lilac, to Leeanne. I received a lovely selection of covered and colour matched buttons from Andria. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody else's surprises!

Vintage buttons

When vintage buttons fall into my hands, something happens....

Guess these 3 MESTup sellers...

Melbourne Etsy Street Team met up for lunch. Can you guess which MESTers relate to these 3 photos? Here are some clues: one makes neck warmers, one doesn't charge enough for her pearl earrings, and one makes art smocks. Ah, you want a prize!  OK speak nicely to me, leave me a comment, and I'll see what I can do.

Choker, princess or matinee?

 A cake from the church fete,

an afternoon with navy blue buttons,


 and I'm done!

One collar length, one choker length, one princess length, one matinee length and a bracelet!

Put salt on its tail

The way to catch a wild bird is to put salt on its tail. That's what my dad told me, anyway. So I put salt on the tail of this one...

and look what happened....
The moral of this story is, leave wild birds alone!

Thanks to Samara for featuring me as this week's Dusty Diva http://maddabling.blogspot.com/

Paper bird

Who saw the article in Melbourne's Herald Sun last Saturday, featuring Carol's paper birds? Well, lo and behold, there she was at Healesville market on Sunday. We had a good chat (surprise, surprise!) about etsy and MEST and DUST, and I bought a kit. Carol even gave me a 'fellow crafter' discount!   My kit has Japanese paper, but what a nice way to make an invitation, a thank you, a music teacher's gift, or even a house warming memento made with the appropriate page from the Melways.

Carol and her husband said they are so busy they need more time to stock up their etsy shop, Itchy Bird.

Melbourne MESTup!!!

There were so many exclamation marks used yesterday at the Melbourne Etsy Street Team meetup, some spilled over into my blog title!!!

 

 Kate from BigDreamsEmbroidery

 Andria, from shagpile

 Leeanne, from thecabbagepatch                                                                        Sylvana from bsylvar

                                          
Oh yes, and couple of us were actual football tragics;
 Kass from made'n'found  (Kass established MEST) and Jan from jskipcreations

       Kate's embroidery makes a great banner.... Turn around, Jo!

                                        
There's Jo from ruby-jo finally looking at the camera!
See more pics here.

PDF what's that? a new line? Free to DUSTers?

Anyone can make their own DIY button bracelet or button flowers by following my photographs and instructions! It's a new line in my shops: button tutorials delivered through cyberspace!

The first two DUSTers who ask me, will get them free!

My UK pupil

A lovely etsy customer, who now calls herself my UK pupil, bought a bracelet kit from me. She was so pleased with it that she went on to make a necklace and another bracelet.  I gave her a mark of 11 out of 10 for this stunner! Well done, Bev!

Scrap bookers, card makers, who wants Noddy?

... and what did you think of Mr Plod?

My friend didn't know what to do with her damaged children's books. When I told her that lots of people crave them for their craft, she happily handed them all over. I've listed some in my craftumi shop and also on etsy. Now there are only three more boxes of books waiting!

Glam button cuff

These button cuff bracelets are a new line for me and I'm pretty pleased with them. I think they're very glam!

Black and white button cuff by hundredsofbuttons on etsy

It's a new price range for me, too. (What are your thoughts at $60 USD?)

Mum's button tin, Dad's army button

In my Mum's button tin I came across a brown button like this, which I recognised from my dad's army greatcoat. He and every other farmer in the district wore their army clothes in those years as they were soldier settlers and didn't have much else. That brown button became part of my personal favourite necklace.  This dark one was picked up recently from an op shop and I put it in the centre of this grey green necklace. I was pleased with the effect. What do you think?

Sharp enough?

Picasa has helped me to play around with effects, and these are some results. The blue and white button flowers were a gift for a button collecting friend named Joyce.The others were sold from my etsy shop.

Up to my neck in neckwires

Whenever I'm asked if I make a certain item, it leads to a 'making frenzy.' Then comes the waiting. Is that person going to get back to me? Check out my flickr photostream to see more...

Bed on wheels

I

It'll do!

What a Lark

On a visit to the opening of Lark's lovely new shop in Daylesford, I happily recognized some fellow etsy sellers' work by Rachel from missisaau and ButtonsByLouLou.
Childhood memories of scrambling through scratchy berries to get around Lake Daylesford were washed away by glorious autumn sunshine. What a great weekend!

Lace buttons and book thongs

After seeing the cost of new buttons, I came home and made these lace buttons. I think they're quite glam.

The book thong idea is adapted to fit my magazines. The cord doesn't slip out of place, and is a better option than a standard book mark. And it's all done with buttons, of course.

New season's flowers

Spring or autumn?

Bibs for babes

I found some superb bibs,which is your favourite?

and a job forever

A garden is a thing of beauty and a JOB forever.

Bags of button fun

I have discovered the best sturdy little army bags. They are great messenger bags, and of course they shouted out asking to be embellished with buttons. These two sold quite quickly. I'm tempted to make more. Any suggestions?
I like string bags, too, but they must have buttons!

I'm still buttoning!

I haven't stopped buttoning, just take a look! But I have been neglecting this blog lately. One of my recent orders was from a teacher who is planning a rainbow theme. Thank heaven I had bought a lovely rainbow wrap from Leanne from rainbowrevolution, so I could check the colours. It was so much fun to do that I'm still using red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. I've even decorated an army bag with them. And I still seem to have hundreds of buttons!

As you can see, my young visitors have had fun decorating wooden letters and numbers, too.