Vintage Buttons Make Me Happy

I collect several things, but none so much as vintage buttons. If I see buttons, I have to have them all. I am someone that sees the buttons on a piece before I see the rest of the garment and have often bought things for the buttons alone and then torn them off, sewn on new ones and donated the unworn piece. Buttons make me happy, be it that they hold someone's history or the colors are so bright, the materials are so different or any other reason, I just enjoy seeing them.

I keep so many in jars that I cannot bear to part with, but I also craft with many of them. Button bracelets are one of my favorite things to make with them along with brooches, rings and of course putting them on clothing!

My children volunteer at our local history museum and this past weekend worked WWI days, where they work as village interpreters of children during that time. Here they are in the 1 room school house. Everything they do MUST be done in that time period, even the lunch and snack they bring. This of course sent mom on a scavenger hunt for the right drinking receptacles and lunch totes. They have been doing this for 2 years now and it has been such a learning experience for not only them but for those of us that go and see them too! Being on the hunt for certain items has led me to many vintage and antique shoppes and that has been so fun for my button addiction!

I was finally able to procure a basket with embroidered napkin for my daughter and a vintage lunch pail with lid for my son. They are using dairy glass jars for drinking and mason jars for their snacks, or they must be wrapped in brown paper.

At this past event, they had several vendors set up and I was able to pick up this super cute bag shown on the bottom left, I knew I loved it straight away but also knew exactly what it needed. I got right to work when I got home and added a line of buttons on the front pocket. Now it is absolutely perfect! This shout-out goes to The Hotsy Totsy Housewife for having such amazing goodies and I cannot wait for WWII days to see what else I will buy from her! The purse & the lunch pail were perfection but I also added on a skirt and wish I had picked up more!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

 

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Flashdance?!

I am an 80's girl at heart, I love the music, the clothes, the movies...EVERYTHING! So this is a quick project that anyone can put together in no time at all! Grab your button stash, old or new and join me. I have a HUGE collection of vintage buttons that I love to create with, so this is heaven for me to work with.

Now that the weather is getting cooler, it's time to bring up that Winter bin and toss the clothes that you have NO IDEA as to why you saved! BUT WAAAIIIIITTTT!!! Grab those sweaters and give them a NEW LIFE, we're making LEG WARMERS! Don't leave your little girls out either, this project is so easy that my 6 year old has joined me too. Take all the old sweaters that you have no use for and cut off the sleeves. You can hem up the cut edges, but I leave them raw, since I let the bottoms of my legwarmers graze the floor and they get torn up pretty easily.

Once you have those sleeves cut off, add decorative buttons at the top of the leg warmer. They look so cute, that my only problem is to decide which pair to wear tomorrow!! I love to also cut some shorter and tuck them into the tops of my boots so that just the decorative cuff hangs out to look like a super cute sock! I do this more with thicker long sleeve shirts that I am about to hand off!! Hope you love this! Have an excellent weekend my friends.

More Fun with Buttons!

I have already mentioned how much I love buttons before, but my passion are vintage ones! Celluloid, pierced buttons always seem so magical! When I work with buttons for pieces in my shop, I often find little hands that are itching to get in my prized collection! I've learned to keep a sorting tray on a low shelf with a small jar of buttons just for them! They use these to sort the colors and sometimes pull out interesting ones along the way! A quick and easy tip to get some time for yourself!!