ad libitum

BUTTONS, BEADS, AND HEARTS.

My friend, Lorri Scott, is going to teach two classes (dying ribbons and making a nuno felted wrist wraps) and vend on the Tucson Bead  Show February 9-12. She wanted some beads and buttons to use as embellishments for her beautiful wares (really, take a look at her classes and her ribbons, scarves, wrist wraps, and dresses on her blog or Etsy shop - or, better yet, go to the show in Tucson). I was happy to send an order off to her.

Below are some hearts for her to string her ribbons through.

An assortment of the beads and buttons I made for her.

The beads.

Sewing buttons on cards.

The cards of buttons before I packed them up.

TIME FOR MORE BUTTONS

I have a lot (A LOT) of polymer buttons. So, you would think that when I want a button, all I would have to do is dig into one of the various containers of buttons that I have. But, you'd be wrong. I need some shirt buttons (smaller than I usually make) and I want them to look vintage and antique-y. So, I spent last Tuesday and Wednesday making more buttons (after I made the small buttons, I added some medium sized ones, because I never know when I'll want some of those.

 

Here's a photo of my latest gaggle of buttons:

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY ~ PINK

 

MY PMC CLASS IS OVER...BUT NOT MY LOVE FOR PMC

Last week was the end of my pmc class. There's talk of forming a local pmc guild and I'm very interested. I love this very  incredibly expensive, but worth it, silver.

Here is some of the work I've done these past 12 weeks.

I made some hearts

We made some of our own texture plates. I love using texture with my pmc and made these disks.

...and textured pendants.

I learned how to make box beads...

I made a batch of pmc/faux bone (out of polymer) tube beads.

And, I made an assortment of "godess" pendants

And the, I decided I wanted to make a pmc doll. Her name is Lilleth and she's almost 7 inches long. (She's also the most expensive doll I've ever made.) Her head is from a face mold and has ribboned pmc strips in the back. Her shoulder is made from one of my pmc/faux bone tube beads. Her torso is a heart shaped box bead. Her hips are a silver tube bead. Her arms and legs are textured silver ribbons that I twisted around a straw before I put them in the kiln. Lilleth is almost 7 inches tall.

I loved making Lilleth so much, I have started another doll. So far, all I've made is the head (a spere pin made out of textured silver ribbons) and the torso (a box bead made from one of my favorite texture pates).

MY FIRST MATCHBOX SWAP

I recently discovered decorating matchboxes (who knew?), filling them with little treasures and sending them out for swaps. My friend Kathy organized a small valentine matchbox swap. I have sent mine off and am anxiously awaiting the returns to come. I painted the matchboxes red, inside and out, glued small sewn hearts on them, and filled them with small heart-shaped polymer buttons that I had made. I think I forgot to sign them (I'm really bad at remembering to sign my work). Oh well.

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY - CARING

Today's word is "caring."

I made this inchie by cutting out a piece of fabric paper (using  Beryl Taylor's technique  of gluing a cocktail napkin and tissue paper to muslin) and sewing a heart shaped polymer button to it. I've been making a lot of heartshaped polymer buttons for some valentine projects.

VALENTINE WELCOME BANNER - AND ANOTHER PURSE

It's time for another welcome banner; this time the theme is valentines and the shape is a heart instead of a triangle. I have "W" again.

 

I found two great heart fabrics at my local quilt shop and decided to try to quilt freeform hearts onto the fabrics.

I cut out the hearts using a pattern to make sure I stayed consistent with shape and size (not susually one of my strengths).

Here's what I decided would be the front of the banner.

And, here's the back.

I mailed off my banners without taking a photo of the completed one;,but I had made an upside down one (oops), so I have one to show you. I was lazy and just placed the heart shaped button on the bottom instead of sewing it on. So, this is almost what my "W" banners look like.

I had some left over fabric; so, of course, I made a purse.

 

NEW YEAR'S PROJECTS

I pick and choose the superstions I decide to believe in. A few years ago, I heard that what you do on New Year's Day is much of what you will be doing for the rest of the year.  I had a good day, so I'm believing this superstition this year. I tidied my studio a little (made some work space). I Bubble-jetted some fabric for future projects. I made some revers applique blocks. I started to make a purse. And, I played on the computer and talked to some good friends on the phone. All these are worth doing throughout 2011.

Here is the reverse applique purse I made.

Here are the buttons I made for the reverse applique purse.

I made a large batch of buttons - some for a friend to put on the sweater she knit, some for the purse I made for this winter, and some "on spec."

I woke up early this morning, so I decided I would make a purse for this winter. I ended the year with some fabric shopping, so I had plenty of fabric. As usual, I makde it up as I went along, so there were some mistakes ("mistakes were made"): such as the side pocket that is not wide enough for my cell phone, so it is now a pocket to hold my keys.

 

Here is the front of my purse. The bottom pocket is a photo that I took in Alexandria, Egypt of a window. The upper pocket is printed on patterned fabric (hence, the Bubble-jetting exercise). You can see (if you look VERY hard) the key pocket on the bottom of the left side of the purse. On the right side of the purse is a long pocket to hold my folded cane or a skinny water bottle. The button on the top actually has a purpose; it's the [very loose] closure (an elastic hair tie wraps around it).

Here is the back of my purse. The pocket has a rhinestone zipper (I bought it monts ago for a project that got shelved).

Below is the inside. There are two fairly large zippered pouches and two small pockets.

Tomorrow is the first Every Inchie Monday  of the year and I will post my inchie that is based on the word "eclectic." You can join the inchie project at any time. You can click on the sidebar and get to the blog to see details.