Monday Mood Board : Hydrangea

The Hortensias or Hydrangeas are starting to blossom here; I love them. And they are very succesful in my garden. I even think about exchanging my roses, that are always full of plant louse, for hortensia. Also I found out that there are many varieties, so a mixed variety Hortensia garden looks nice to me. Work for the autumn ! But back to the blossoms, here some sweet Hortensia pictures from four of our European Street Team members on Etsy.

For more monday mood boards see Estella and Esther's blog.

1. photographybykarina
2. starrybluesky
3. PaperFairytale
4. PixelsTransfer

Monday Mood Board: Peonies

This weekend the peonies started to bloom in the garden. It's a pity that we had so much rain yesterday, because they are so soft and suffer a lot from the rain. But I took some pictures, and here some gorgeous peonies from our European Street Team sellers on Etsy !

For more monday moodboards see Estella and Esther's blog.

1. bidesign
2. PetitVillage
3. OneLittleHouse
4. aldonasuneviciene

And a picture of my own peonies:

Button Wednesday : Oktoberfest

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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tidbits : Monday Moodboard

The Hydrangea is so beautiful at the moment; my garden is full of them. I also picked some flowers for in a vase in my living room; they stay there the whole winter. So my moodboard today is about "Hydrangea", my favourite flower in my garden; great finds from some of our European Street Team members on Etsy.

For more monday moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

1. ZenzPhotography
2. staroftheeast
3. MGMart
4. hybridhandmade

Button Wednesday : New "Old" Acquisitions

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.


When we went to the GP last week, I discovered a new junk shop in his street, so I went immediately in and searched for buttons.... Found some lovely ones; dark glass with painted flowers, greenish glass flowers, clear glass flowers, a large mother of pearl one, a lovely green plastic one with long oval holes, old tarnished metal edelweiss ones, fake wood ones with metal edelweiss on it, a lovely wobbely old fashioned one, etc. So happy with my new finds !
I took the pictures above on the balcony just now and it was very very windy; one of the more airborne ones flew away in the brand-new gutter.... Hubby will recover that one when it does not storm anymore :)))



!!!!!!!!!! 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....

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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Challenge : The Tulip

The challenge of the European Street Team for this week is from ZsBcreations and is called "The Tulip".

As a Dutchie I am a bit biased of course and I had to make something special for this; thought about tulip bags, hats, even a tulip made from buttons, but then I decided to go for an apron. I saw a picture of an old apron pattern with a tulip pocket on Etsy, and the whole thing started to take form into my head.

Then I remembered the beautiful vintage linen dish clothes I bought last year on a flea market here in northern Germany, and the design was complete. It's for sale in my P8 Accessories shop on Etsy. Maybe the beginning of a new line ?

I wish you could feel the vintage linen; it's gorgeously rough and there is a beautiful stripe pattern woven into it.
At the end of this post some of the tulips in my own garden; I hope they will appear soon again !

Challenge : Overview 4

The European street team of Etsy organizes weekly challenges in order to stimulate its members to create other things as usual.
I enjoy these challenges very much; so here again an overview of my entries in the last 14 challenges:



Caffeine Molecule
Challenge by binkaminka: Insomnia


Chocolate Molecule
Challenge by Leelabijou: Inspired by a Movie ("Chocolat")


Cute Birdie Brooch
Challenge by carmenesque: Birds


Serotonin Molecule
Challenge by antigoni: La vita e bella

Baby's Breath
Challenge by alatvian: Cheap and Gorgeous


Black Orchid
Challenge by vilte: Wild versus Elegant


The Audrey Hepburn Pouch that never was ...
Challenge by meltemsem: Audrey Hepburn


Pastel Silk Pouch
Challenge by AmandaYuDesign: Pastel Color

Kraplap Bodice in Jade-Green
Challenge by kraplap: Traditional Costume

Checkmate Bracelet
Challenge by StormsHandicrafts: Checkmate

Dots Messenger Bag
Challenge by staroftheeast: Dots

Retro Flower Messenger Bag - Green
Challenge by iragrant: The colours which make you happy

Square Dot Messenger Bag
Challenge by LaTouchables: The Hidden Site

Honeycomb Amulet Bag
Challenge by steinschmuckdesign: Mystic

Buttons: Weekend Deal Flower Brooches

This weekend June 13, 14
FREE SHIPPING
for the flower brooches on Etsy !!!!!

Buttons : My Flowers Made in Singapore !

About 2 weeks ago I got an email from Betsy who told me she liked my button flower brooches which she had seen on Flickr and asked me if she was allowed to use them as inspiration for her crafting club KBCC in Singapore. KBCC stands for Knotty Bicsie Crafting Club and was formed in March 2008 ("It has been a fun-filled journey"); they meet on the last Saturday of every month to craft. I went to the KBCC blog and was so pleasantly surprised to see this group of very enthousiastic crafters at the other end of the world, it really warmed my heart ! I feeled pretty much flattered that they would use my button flower brooches for their next meeting.

After the event, she promised to contact me again. She wrote "Thank u for sharing your brilliant ideas! Everyone at KBCC last Saturday was so inspired by your creativity & skills! check out our amateur work on our blog". When I looked in the blog, I felt so happy ! There were the most lovely button flowers you have ever seen, lovely colours, some with long tails and a few sewn onto paper, everything so happy and bright. I don't know how to say this, but I think the happyness and creativity are shining from the page. More of their beautiful creations in the KBCC blog. Thanks Betsy for this wonderful experience ! I wish I could have been there....

Challenge : Spring

The challenge of the European Street Team for this week is from palepink and is called "Spring".

Here where I live, the winter aconite is number two every February: snowdrops poke their little heads through the snow a week earlier. But with their intense yellow optimism, the winter aconites make the picture complete; they are the true forbodes of spring. I really love that bright yellow and green flower !

(pictures taken from Flickr: Claude@Munich and Buspass)
Inspired by this lovely flower, I made a brooch of one large vintage green button in the middle with lots of small yellow buttons sewn around it (with yellow embroidery floss). Everything is topped off with one lime green shank button and a green synthetic velvety fabric leaf.

Buttons : The PhatSheep Handmade Button Swap

For the first time I participated in a swap. This was the Handmade Button Swap organized by PhatSheep. We had to handmake a coherent set of 6 buttons and an item of our choice that's using a handmade button. And this all before the 14th of February. I found it very exciting !

I decided to make some buttons by casting ceramic powder (into chocolate forms), drilling holes into them and painting them with turquoise and silver mother of pearl glass colour. It was great fun !

The item I made was a brooch made of one large vintage grey button in the middle with lots of small vintage grey buttons sewn around it. Everything is topped of with one of the ceramic buttons I made for this swap, turning it into a blue-silvery flower.

This was the extra item I made, using a much larger specimen of the handmade buttons I made for the swap. It's a necklace made of a sheer grey-silvery fabric tube, filled with silver painted wooden beads and knotted together with the large ceramic shank heart button in the middle.


And this is what I received today from noisette handmade. She made me a set of 6 beautiful linen buttons painted with 6 different motives: ladybird, bird, leaf, heart, apple & mushroom. They are so sweet ! Her item was a linen pouch with a blue & white striped bottom and a large linen button sewed on it; it's so cute ! And I got an extra blue felt flower brooch from her too. Moreover, she gave me some lovely piece of fabric, some pieces of trims, some red buttons and chocolate (!).
Thank you so much noisette to make this first swap an unforgettable one ! You can see all the entries coming in here.