Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

So snotty today ....
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Tatty Devine Snotty Necklace, 2. Snotty Nose Pie, 3. Snotty Nose, 4. traditional dutch farmers fabric

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

No comment ......

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. ArtMind
2. EmmainWonderland
3. eleanors
4. sofiasobeide

Button Wednesday : My Button Warehouse

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


As you all probably know already, I have a lot of buttons :) And it's pretty difficult to know what you have with these amounts. So, I had to have a "system". Firstly, I sorted all the buttons and put them in all possible containers, yoghurt pots, glass jars, cigar boxes, deep freeze boxes etc., and glued the respective buttons on the outside of the pots/boxes. Secondly, I "counted" all the buttons in each pot (weighed the empty pot/box, counted 50 buttons, weighed them, weighed the whole pot/box with buttons, and calculated the number of buttons). Thirdly, hubby built shelves in our shed and numbered them. Fourthly, I bought files and sheets, and sewed one button from each pot on sheets that were neatly divided into squares; gave them a number and wrote the amount and diameter next to the button. Fifthly, the pots/boxes were put on the shelves, and I made an Excel file with all the buttons with their number (written on a label on the box/pot and in the files) and their respective numbered place in my shed. I am almost ready .....








!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

And more talking today ....
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. "Talk, talk......Talk, talk talk talk....,all you do to me is talk talk", 2. No talking to the driver, 3. Talking Chairs, 4. He never stops talking

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

Everything and everybody seem to be talking to me these days ......

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. marlysarts
2. eleanors
3. hueconcept
4. MatkirschPhoto

Challenge : Morocco

The challenge of the European Street Team for these two weeks is from creationsbyeve and is called "Morocco".

Source: Fibula [Morocco] (1981.5.2) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The first week I had no idea what to make; then I decided to look at my postcards with traditional costumes from Morocco. And the inspiration bubbled in my head. There is a very striking piece of jewelry, called a fibula, that is part of the Moroccan Berber costume. Fibulae were decorative, symbolic, status indicating, and functional. They were used as clasps to keep capes, mantles and other garments in place. Fibulae from the Islamic period consist of two triangular endpieces, which are pinned into the clothing, and a chain that connects them. The inverted triangle represents the female form.

Source: Fisher, Angela. Africa Adorned. London: Collins, 1984

So, I started to make a fibula from buttons. I made two triangles from heavy brass buttons by sewing the buttons together with strong brown yarn. They are connected to a golden-coloured chain at the bottom and two large golden-coloured metal rings at the top. At the back of each triangle, a golden-coloured brooch pin is sewn. It's for sale in my P8 Button Art and Accessories shop on Etsy.

Button Wednesday : Button Bras

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


Via Flickr, I came in contact with Francesca from Italy, who also has a lovely button blog; so we decided to swap blog posts a bit.
She made a lovely blog post about some button bras. The one above is from an exhibition organized by the Members of Quilters of South Carolina for Breast Cancer Awareness. The exhibition consists of fifty original works of art, one-of-a-kind bras, which are unique, entertaining, humorous, and beautiful to make the public aware of breast cancer, to memorialize those lost to the disease, and to honor survivors. Have a look at all the other gorgeous specimen, because I only show the button one here !

Googling, I found two other gorgeous artful button bra projects. The first one is supporting breast cancer services and research in Hawaii; Sunshine by Lorena with over 100 buttons:

And the second one is in an exhibition of the University at Buffalo with bras crafted by UB staff and community members to raise money for breast cancer research; The Full Bloom by Mary B. Henesey:

The following bras are created for the lovers of belly dancing. The first two are from Etsy seller Gothabilly13, and the last one was on sale on Ebay. I like the way the makers used the buttons as a decoration for the bra cups. Funky and colorful, must do really well on stage.





!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

I am in a sewing mood today ....
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. sewing ttv, 2. my sewing machine tattoo, 3. Sewing is Fun, 1958, 4. Heart and sew

And here a look into my work place with the bag I am sewing.

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

This weekend I have harvested my first tomatoes, and they tasted so nice ! So, a tomato-like moodboard from me today.

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. swiedebie
2. DeerLola
3. AMIdesigns
4. svitrolica

And here a quick pic of the real thing....

Button Wednesday : Artist Lauren Levy

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


I love Flickr; there is so much to see, so I surf Flickr regularly to find great pics. It always boosts my creativity. Some weeks ago I found the Flickr page of Lauren Levy from Austin in Texas, and I was stunned. Lauren uses buttons, wire and other diminutive objects to create small, fetishistic sculptures of startling power. They often have garment shapes or animal forms. She strings shiny, coloured buttons on steel wires, and then knits them into sculptures. Because her works are intimate and intricate, requiring long periods of time to make, they show the emotional depth of her own personal experiences. While some of the works refer to tragic events, others are very playful. She says: "When I was small and visiting my great grandmother, I was rewarded for good behavior by being allowed to play in the button box. Buttons are for me the perfect medium for personifying the notions of loss, joy, grief, tenderness and consequent insanity of these extremes."

I let her work speak for itself here:







!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

If you saw my post from yesterday, you know that I was making button flowers. The rest of the Monday I made an enormous amount of flowers and bouquets; it's great fun ! So I am still in a very flowery mood and will make much more today ! So, I could not help looking in my flickr favourites for more flowers....
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Flowers, 2. Sakura Synthesis, 3. Fabric Flower brooch / pin, 4. Plush plant

And here a look into my work place with all the (un)finished flowers.

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

Yesterday I made lots of button bouquets for the coming autumn markets in September; used lots of my old buttons, and made the rest of the flowers from an old plastic table cloth. So, I feel still very buttony today.

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. Ellescornershop
2. amoronia
3. bigbluebed
4. wearaddiction

And here a quick pic of my button bouqets....

Tidbits : Clouds

We have the most amazing sky and clouds above the Schlei fjord, sometimes also in the most amazing colours. Yesterday was a great day for clouds, so I took some pictures:


At the end of our road along the Schlei lives another Dutch woman, Betty Kerstens, who only paints water and .... clouds. She thinks it's here the best place for her to live ! Have a look at her website ! Here's one of her cloud paintings:

Button Wednesday : Big Flowers

It is Wednesday again, so it's BUTTON DAY on my blog. It would be great if you could do the same; make your Wednesday a button day too. Have you seen a lovely, beautiful, stunning, crazy button or button-related thingy, or did you make something with a button / buttons, or did you even make buttons yourself, blog about it on your blog on Wednesday, and give the link here via Mister Linky at the end of this post.


Last year I had a biking tourist in my shop who came from the south of Germany and she bought a set of earrings from me. If that's not happiness enough, she sent me a little parcel this year with some very unusual buttons ! She wrote that she found these buttons and had to think of me, and because she had my card, she decided to send them to me. Is that not super cool !!!

So, what makes these buttons so special ? In the first place they are big, you can see that on the pics with my fingers. In the second place they are flowers, so they are goofies (and I always like goofies). In the third place they are a construction set of three parts; two disks with petals fitting into each other, and a bud with shank that fits into the hole of the petal disks. Very ingenious !


I would love to paint these buttons; they are made of white plastic. Does anybody know what kind of paint I need for this ?


!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

Made a lang walk along the Schlei again yesterday with Peggy. Can't stop loving it, the water and the air above it is every time different. So I dedicate this Tuesday to the Schlei !
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Bridge over the Schlei Fjord (I_^_I), 2. Die Schlei Princess, 3. Fisherman on the Schlei Fjord - Northern Germany, 4. Schlei 2

And here the bridge from the first picture seen from the water
And some more mood pictures: