Button Button....

....who's got the button?  I do!

Subtitle: Tiny Corners

Roseanne sent me a delightful Substack article by Elissa Altman called beauty is the language of care* On Finding the Tiny Corners of Peace After Being Hit By a Bicycle Messenger

I loved the whole piece...so much of it relatable. But my biggest takeaway is thinking about our days as being filled with tiny corners. The experiences we have....the interactions with others...the art we make...and the posts we write...all tiny corners of peace.

My day was just packed full of wonderfulness...each nugget could be a whole post. But for today I'm choosing just one tiny corner to share....I'll save some of the others for another day.

I love being a resource for people.....I always say...If you need something...ask me before you buy it! If I have it...it's yours!

So when Marita was mourning the closing of our local JoAnn Fabric store as a resource to replace some broken buttons on a thrifted shirt....I had her covered.

This jar of buttons has been collected over time. Many I have acquired/found or thrifted...some I inherited from my mom or grandma....and some may be from my sister Angie and Connie. And this is only a drop in the bucket...button bucket that is....of my entire collection. I love buttons. So if you need buttons....let me know...I'm ready to share!

It was fun sifting through the jar searching for small 4-hole buttons for Marita.....she didn't even mind that they didn't match perfectly. And how fun for her to think about who these buttons might have belonged to. A connection she will have to people she will never know except in her imagination.

Thrifted buttons...for a thrifted blouse.

And I just love handling buttons....there are some pretty cool vintage ones in the jar. I have such fond memories of going through and sorting my grandma's buttons.

I have always been fascinated by this facetted one....it's just so sparkly. I think I need to do something with it.

 

Thanks for coming along with me into one tiny corner of peace in my day.

Mystery Piece

Subtitle: Always Look Again

Second Subtitle: Underserved Hoopla 

Sometimes I start a draft of a post ahead of time....uploading a few photos...or just getting an idea down. Then I settle in for the evening and finish it up.  

Just caught the sun before is set yesterday.

I started this draft yesterday....and was going to finish it tonight....but the story actually changed. I decided to go ahead and tell the WHOLE story anyway starting with my first draft.  Sorry about that...but I just have to.

First draft I started yesterday:

About a year ago I wrote post called "Let The Mystery Be"....and I was tempted to use the same title for this post.  I have another mystery....this time it was a mystery piece.  

I picked up this piece several times while doing the button puzzle trying to figure out where it belonged.

If you do puzzles you've done it too....hold the piece up to the picture on the cover trying to find the exact spot where it goes. I did it over and over with this piece....and I just didn't see it.  

It actually looked familiar and was in keeping with the colors and feel of the puzzle.....so I knew it would eventually find a home.  Or would it?

I finished the puzzle....and there wasn't a spot for it.  Was it an extra piece? A piece from a previous puzzle that didn't get picked up? It was a mystery piece.

I guess I just have to let the mystery be.

Isn't it gorgeous!!! It's up there as one of my favorites!

I even celebrated the puzzle playing with my own buttons. Here's "Vivienne's Buttons" and a few of MaryAnn's buttons. They were a little hard to see.....

so I did another arrangement. I can lose myself in this kind of thing.

Second draft....about 7:00 this evening.....Look Again.

Before I posted this I thought I better do one last look.....I wouldn't want to make all this hoopla about something that didn't really deserve it.  So I checked the puzzle again...this time running my hands across the whole puzzle. Sure enough....I found the spot and I know exactly what happened.

Because I like to work right in front of me I often do the top of the puzzle and move it up before I attach the whole border. The top often ends up tucked  under the lamp or the puzzle box....or my decorative sit abouts. I actually thought I had finished that top row of jeweled buttons so never even considered that it would go there. AND....the piece was the same color as the table so the empty space blended in.

If you look closely at the finished photo above....I bet you would not have known there was a piece missing.  

Each one of those jeweled buttons at the top has a little star like this....so that's why it looked familiar.  So the lesson is....always look again....and sometimes look with your hands.

Sorry to put you through all that...but I needed to tell the WHOLE story about the mystery piece. And I decided it was OK to write about Underserved Hoopla. 

Lines or Circles?

For today....it's circles!  (This will make more sense if you read on to the end)

It's always good for me when I take the time to do something creative....and it can be any number of things. Here's last night's watercolor play....

...with last month's papercut laying on top.  They might become greeting cards.

Lines or circles?....was the question on today's card......I'll write more about these Conscious Creativity Cards another time.

 I love having a 5ftinf puzzle on the table....and this time it's Vivenne's Buttons.....so yes....it IS all about circles.

Button Button...

...who's got the button?

I remember playing this game as a kid.... and Wikipedia describes it just like I remember.

The button puzzle is done.....and it's beautiful.  This was a fun one and I loved every minute of it! Thanks for loaning it to me Margie!

Paul and I had dinner last night with our good friends and it gave me a chance to see the progress on Anne's cathedral window "Fun-A-Day" project.


 It's really coming along....she's right on schedule.  I love all the patterns that get created: diamonds, circles, and long petal shapes.  The batiks really pop against the dark green fabric. Nice job Anne!  Glad you're having fun...a...day.


                                                                   

Faith's Buttons!

Not one thing on my list today had anything to do with buttons. 

But when someone gives you buttons....you just have to play. Thanks Faith!

Inspiration Fabric

I found this fabric in my stash and it's become the inspiration for the mixed media in my art challenge. I think it captures the feel and color scheme of Lynn's watercolor...and I love the contrast of the circles to the squares. So I added fusible webbing and I cut out some circles.

I'm going to use them in a variety of ways but here I did a simple sun spray in black floss and fused one of the circles.....so much easier than glueing. I think black floss can be used in a "zentangle" kind and way...which is kind of cool because that's kind of Lynn's thing. Hmmmm...it's evolving in my head.

I'll use buttons and beads...and of course the circles.

I need to think outside of the box (ha ha) and use the circles creatively.

Surprise Yourself!

A friend just posted this on her Facebook page for the third year in a row. She says it's become her New Year's theme....and it's a good one. I especially like the last line..."I hope somewhere in the next year you surprise yourself."

I recently commented that I thought my wool and button swirl was too tight. I'm now meandering out a bit with some tiny needle felted circles and embellishments. We'll see...I do think I like it better.

Embellishment

I just started a little bead and embroidery embellishment on the wool and button project. 

As I see the larger view on the screen I think it might need a few french knots and tiny beads meandering a bit more off the edges of the swirl.  It may be a little "too tight."

Stitching Circles

While Margie was napping, my creative project today was stitching circles and buttons.

I started this project back in May....and it's been sitting patiently waiting.  It was a good take-a-long- project to bring with me because it didn't take up much room....and it's just plain fun.

Button Button....

...who's got the button?  Anyone else play that game when they were young?

I recently ordered a bargain bag of misc multi colored buttons from Etsy.  There are several projects where I've used a spectrum of buttons and my supply of some of the colors was getting low.

Ever since I made the "beach balls" piece for the show (I actually made two) I've wanted to do a version in a swirl.



So I've cut some circles out of felt and wool and chosen some buttons. Some of the circles will be needle felted right into the gray wool felt and some stitched on. I will likely work in some beads and maybe even some embroidery stitches. In the end it will be mounted on a black square canvas. I think it will be a fun piece.