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One month ago I went with my neighbour friend to a flea market; she told me she had so much linen, doilies, tableclothes, etc. from her mother, grandmother and aunt that she wanted to get rid of them. So we went to the market and sold almost nothing ..... But I was secretly very happy about that :) I loved all this old stuff and my mind was already going crazy with ideas what I could do with all these old textiles. So, we did a deal, she wanted some old porcelain plate from me and I got the doilies; and a lovely bouquet of button flowers gave me the old linen ! And I had to promise her that she would be the first to see the first creation with it. Well, I did keep my promise, and as a consequence my friend Anne is posing on the pictures of my first snowflake bag too. She was happily surprised to see her old doilies making such a lovely appearance and loves the snowflake bag (so I will make her one).
I have a lot of lovely beige, grey and white woollen fabrics (loden fabric), almost like very thick felt, and the doilies look great on those fabrics. So, I made this bag of such woollen fabric, lined it with beige cotton and put a large metal white zipper in it. On both sides I sewed the doilies, and I sewed a strap of heavy cotton webbing with large vintage mother of pearl buttons on one side of the bag. It's big and beautiful ! And it could go directly into this week's EST challenge because of the snowflakes :)
And it is for sale in my etsy shop ! Lots of snowflake bags still to come .....
This week's earrings are from the famous sea-urchin collection of my EST friends Estella and Esther from staroftheeast. It was the second pair of earrings I bought on Etsy (January 2008). They are in my favourite colour, I love the natural beach aspect of them and I love how they dangle. I wear these earrings especially when I wear purple, but they look also stunning with a black outfit.
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.
This Button Wednesday is about coin buttons. There are real coin buttons and fake coin buttons.
Many coins were made into buttons. If the dates of the real button coins are a criterion (some dates go back to the 17th century), this is already a very old habit. The face side of the coins is the front of the buttons, and a shank was soldered onto the reverse side. This can still be seen in the traditional men's costume from Zeeland in The Netherlands; the men wear trousers with a flap in the front, and the flap is closed by large silver coin buttons; often 18th century old silver guilders or English coins. See this lovely old postcard from my own collection:
Later in the 19th century, small silver USA coins were made into buttons for use on men's vests and given to young men reaching their 21st birthday, the so-called "Freedom Buttons". The earliest silver buttons made by Native Americans in the American Southwest were made from silver coins and they were often used as currency too.
Metal buttons made to resemble coins were made in the 20th century; they are often Austrian in origin, and they are very popular in Bavarian and Tyrolean traditional costumes. These buttons have blank backs (see the picture below). Some coins even depict antique Roman and Greek coins. I only have some fake coin buttons in my collection, but I must say that some are really pretty.
And here two lovely DIY's for coin buttons:
Craftzine: Coin Button
curbly: DIY Coin Buttons
!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought some earrings on Etsy this week, and then I realized that I had bought so many lovely earrings on Etsy that I could fill many blogposts about it. So, I decided to do just that: every week I will show you a pair of earrings I bought from some fantastic artist.
I start with the first pair of earrings I bought in January 2008; they were from seller Suuskeramiek from Rotterdam in The Netherlands. She closed her ceramic shop on Etsy, but she has a lovely web shop, and she is still selling beads on etsy as sunyno. I wear these earrings especially when I wear black, but they look also lovely with a white outfit.
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 made already two Button Wednesdays about lamps (here and here), and this will be the third one :) But this time it's more about lampshades, and even some links for you to try it yourself. First (picture above) I want to show you a button lampshade from Tracey Kendall for Habitat (2006); this is the same Tracey Kendall I blogged about earlier to show you her amazing wallpaper. Her lampshade has small pearl buttons all over it, attached by kimble tags.
These three gorgeous lamps are from greca; they are called planet, sunset and tube. The sunset is my own favourite. Argentinian based Greca makes lots of other funky button creations too.
The next three lamps are from Israelian based design studio Mesila; they are all made from Sara Bookshpan's inheritance (sounds very much like my own inheritance....).
And here a list of DIY button lampshades:
Trash to Treasure: Button Details from
HGTV Start at home
HOW TO: Button-bling lampshade makeover from CraftCrafty
Easy Button Lampshade from Better Homes and Gardens
Button Lamps Shade by Katy Boothe
Button Crafts and Collectibles: How to Make a Button Lampshade from Home Improvement
!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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 week the Oktoberfest in Germany ended, so I thought I will do a Button Wednesday around the Oktoberfest. As an unknowing and straightforward Dutchie I do this in October and not in September, as I never understood why the Oktoberfest was held in September..... On Wikipedia I read that the first Oktoberfest occurred in Munich, on October 12, 1810; so they had it right once :)
I digged into my buttons and made a selection of real Bavarian specimens, starting with the Dachshund.
The first three buttons are from metal, showing a man in traditional outfit with a goat (maybe more Swiss than Bavarian....), a rucksack and a ram's head. They are followed by two real horn buttons, a lederhosen and one with Edelweiss. The last button in that row is a typical Bavarian glass heart. Then three fake horn ones, with Edelweiss, flowers and stag antlers. Can it go more kitschy ?
!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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.
photo: Light Bulb CreativityI showed some Button Wednesday's back already a fantastic button wall lamp, and now I found this button pendant lamp, which I totally love too. The lamp is from Alex Garnett and Nahoko Koyama from mixko. They state: "For reasons unknown we hold great affection for the common button form". So much so that they have made a button pendant light that uses the electrical cord as "thread".
photo: Button Light
!!!!!!!!!! If you have something for The Button Wednesday, give Mister Linky your name and the link to your button post !!!!!!!!!!!!!
This week's theme for the flickr favourites is "show what touches your senses, gives you goosebumps, makes you all gooey inside...". Difficult, because there is so much that hits me emotionally, but my heart really jumps when I see how people make real & big art from materials and techniques that are familiar to me, like paper, wool, knitting etc. My mind always goes like "wow", I wanna do that too, make something big and unexpecting.... Well, who knows, maybe one day ....
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.
1. 005-012, 2. Bleached Coral Garden, 3. Emotional Sculpture-ES006 by Johan Ku , 4. sam4
