I like big buttons and I cannot lie

It seems like I keep making references back to previous posts. It's a sneaky way to get more clicks, for whatever it's worth. Anyway, remember a couple posts ago I mentioned I was making buttons for this purple velvet jacket?

I did it! Buttons completed and sewn on!

Ta da!

I won't say they were altogether successful, and I'll show you why. If you're not into Mod Podge or resin or shanks, you're excused - go on to the next blog or watch Dr. Who or have a cup of tea or something.

Back to the buttons - I decided to use cutouts from pictures in an old Sotheby's catalog that I got at the thrift store, and cover them in resin. So first I had to seal them with Mod Podge.

 
Then I glued some bits of chain around the edge to help hold in the resin when I poured it. It worked on most of them.

To pour resin on the backs, I wrapped masking tape around them after the first pour had set (a little more than 24 hours). The tape also only worked moderately well at holding the resin in, but I just trimmed off the  excess.

While the resin on the back was still sticky I added shanks from self-cover buttons, which set in the resin.

I did a second pour on the top, which made them rather thick. Maybe too thick, and also blunt on the edges, so they don't slide in and out of the buttonholes easily. That's why this is called an e-x-p-e-r-i-m-e-n-t.

The other thing is that shank buttons tend to droop a lot when they're big and heavy. Lesson two - large buttons should have holes through the middle, and maybe even four holes, so they won't droop under their own weight.

So, not completely successful, and neither were the photos! It was impossible not to get reflections. But these buttons will do until I get around to experimenting with polymer clay instead.

Linking up my velvety Prince-like jacket with Visible Monday!

Val

I'm on the hunt

It's October, a beautiful month of long evenings, colorful leaves, and my birthday. It feels like time to start something new, or return to something old. I haven't taken part in the Scavenger Hunt at Made with Love for quite awhile. But since I went on a Treasure Hunt in September I was already on the hunt, so this ties in perfectly. Here's what I got.

Woven
Off to a boring start. The best I came up with was a woven seat on a restaurant chair in Dubois, Wyoming.

Repeating and Day
This is a building at the University of Oregon, I think for sports or something. Repeating lines, reflecting the daytime sky, and repeated in the pool around the base.

 
Greedy
In a shop in Cooke City, Montana.

Flowers
Hollyhocks in the brisk, bright morning in Dubois, Wyoming.

 
Curly
A petroglyph with curly bits near Torrey Lake in Wyoming.

Adventures
The whole trip to Wyoming was an adventure, but maybe this picture sums it up.

That hill was much steeper than it looks, and the road only got worse from here!

 
Line
A fence line in Sunlight Basin, Wyoming.

edited on Oct. 2 - I'm linking this one up with the TAG Gallery Blog for Wild Blue Yonder. So many wild blue choices in this post!  
Mesmerising
The grass and the cottonwood trees were rustling in the wind, and I was truly mesmerized as I stood there in the peace and calm.

 
Triangle 
This is back home, hanging from a tree near where I'm working.

Dreamy and Whatever you want
Beautiful roses of every color, taken about a month ago at the local rose garden.

That's enough hunting for now, although I can't wait to see what's on the list for October.

Val

PS - I made some fun link buttons for my Etsy shop, Facebook and Pinterest on the right sidebar. Give me a click!

Brooches and Buttons

Hello, all!

The lovely Kezzie has been sharing some of her funtabulous brooches on her blog, and in a comment on my blog she sort of demanded that I do the same. I do have a few really nice brooches, which I haven't been wearing much lately. Summer clothes can't hold up anything that weighs more than a piece of lint. But now that lapel season is on its way, let me show you some of my pretties.

Before I do, though, I HAVE to mention that I just reopened my Etsy shop - click on the link and bring your credit card! Of course, my "chaos" brooches are listed. Please have a look and give me feedback.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes, brooches. I have posted pics of these before, and I'm probably better off using old pictures than the newer ones. This is what I accomplished taking a selfie today:

The brooch is a beautiful blue butterfly I bought from Bella at Citizen Rosebud. Here's a usable photo with a smug smile.

The butterfly was also seen here. Lovely, n'est-ce pas?

--- edited on Sept. 29, which happens to be TARDIS Tuesday, and I'm wearing blue so I shall link up with My Closet Catalogue.

This is one I made for myself using a sticker of an Edward Hopper painting and putting resin over it.

I've grouped it with some buttonflowers from Megan Gann (who used to have a blog but she seems to have quit the blogging life). The little yellow curves in the buttonflowers match the hat in the picture.

Here's a photo from 2012 with me wearing a brooch I got at a charity shop in England.

This is when Mr. S did some photography for me, before we started bickering each time (Me: Hurry up! You're taking too long! Him: You keep making silly faces!). Ah, memories . . .

And here's a micro-mosaic set that belonged to my grandmother's cousin Naomi, who had no children of her own so my mother got them. And now I have them.

 
I know I mentioned buttons in the title, and I was going to tell you about the buttons I made - yes, made - for this purple velvet jacket, which was a hand-me-over from my niece. But maybe that will wait for another post.

Linking up with the longest running link-up on the webz - Visible Monday at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style. Are you going? I'm bringing a cheese ball (his name is Guido - haha!).

PS - when I added my link, it wanted to shorten the title to Brooches and Butt. 

Val

The Cliche of Chaos

I wanted to write about chaos, but couldn't think of anything original to say. I wrote about the origins of the word "chaos" on my Wordcraft editing blog. But when it came to writing about actual chaos in any meaningful way, everything I wrote seemed so . . . predictable. The world is in chaos - it certainly is. Learning to live amidst chaos - yeah, we've all been there. Embrace the chaos - cliche monitor going ding, ding, ding!

Why chaos? I like the word, it's rhythmic with a nice pivot, and it's a sneaky way to show you my latest creations. I've been making brooches in a chaotic fashion, and it's fun! Much like nature, the colors and wires create their own order and their own beauty. But since my verbal imagination didn't seem up to par, I decided to use quotes from other people in this post.

If you want to see more of these brooches - they are for sale - pop over to my Muse Marketplace page.

 We live in a rainbow of chaos. Paul Cezanne

 

red, white and blue

Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos. Stephen Sondheim

autumn

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit. Henry Adams

frog pond

 We adore chaos because we love to produce order. M. C. Escher

 

just - chaos

This last one is sort of honey-colored, so I'm linking it up with the TAG Gallery blog - Anne has set up a link-up around the color of honey. Check it out!

Val

A Sense of Time Passing

My doctor is retiring. I'm moving away next year, and she decides to retire. I didn't realize she was hanging on just for me.

And now that the word is out that we're moving, a nearby nursery is closing up and their multi-acre parcel will be built on.

Since they're adjacent to a park with woodland, they've always allowed people to walk through their groves. But that walk through the woods will soon become a walk past a retirement community.

Good thing we won't be around or they might think we belong there, like we're dinosaurs or something.

The owners are keeping one corner of the land, where they'll build a new house. I hope they keep the beautiful old trees and rhododendrons.

And I hope the bulldozers don't spark any fires in this hot, dry summer. Even the squirrels are worried about that.

Here's me, although in a different location on my lunch break. I'm wearing the same clothes I wore here, and I'm using the little red gingham bag I got from Bella (seen here) to carry my lunch.

This must be when I turned to watch the minutes running past me, saying "You're going to be late!" I think I sat back and stayed a little longer.

Val

Rule-breaker

"Are you a rule-breaker, Val?"

I didn't really know how to answer that question. All I did was lead two of my co-workers off the public path near our office and into the vegetable garden at the university.
 

I wouldn't say I'm a rule-breaker - mostly because I'm afraid of being caught. I think I'm more of an explorer. 

And there were no signs saying we couldn't walk through the garden.

There are signs, however, asking you not to eat the produce if you didn't cultivate it, and I admit I have broken that rule. But who's going to miss the occasional raspberry, blueberry, pea or grape?

 I haven't taken any tomatoes, but they are tempting!

Rule-breaker? Moi? Maybe.

I noticed that same co-worker eyeing my toenails today. I think I'm winning her over!

How 'bout you - are you a rule-breaker?

Val

Garage Sale

I started writing this post in various ways because I didn't know if I could make a garage sale sound interesting. So I decided if I told you a big secret - and the reason for the garage sale - it might keep your interest for a little while. Here it is:

Next spring Mr. S and I will move back to Britain. Yup, that's right. The Queen needs us.

I lived there for ten years, and now my British husband has lived in the US for almost ten years - we're so balanced! This time it'll be for the duration. We'd been planning to go back at retirement because of my stepkids and three beautiful granddaughters. Since I no longer have a permanent job here with benefits, there's another reason to go - free healthcare not dependent on having an employer. I can work freelance!

I sense the Canadians and Aussies and Europeans reading this are tut-tutting at our primitive system in the States. There have been positive changes in the last few years, but healthcare will probably never be free here in the "land of the free."

So we're going to bugger off back to Blighty, watch the kids grow up, visit stately homes, read the Telegraph and brush our teeth with tea. A major change like that is pretty, well, major, so there's a lot to do and a lot of crap to jettison.

That's why we had a garage sale last weekend.

the night before

It was actually a lot of fun, and hard work. We talked to so many nice people, many who live nearby. The first day I think we sold about 50% of what we had. The second day was not as successful - and the people were odder - but I did sell a necklace I made, and I sold Cafe Tout Petit.

gratuitous photo of altered tin

I sold these three dessert plates and the matching coffee pot, which I bought at an antique store ages ago. These will be used at two separate weddings!

Although I also had these out, I didn't sell these beautiful plates that I bought even more ages ago at a thrift shop. I just love the big tulip with the cabbage roses, and the little gilded mock handles on the side. Swoon. Maybe I'll keep them.

And nobody wanted this little jug - it's the bees knees!

I'll keep you posted on our progress. Hang on for a wild ride!

Val