Bags : Snowflakes

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 .....

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

Today I was drooling about all the gorgeous zipper creations I found on flickr, so my flickr favourites are ZIPPERS today.
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Getting the roses made, 2. WheelerWillisJewelry zipper bracelet 1, 3. OutsaPop zipper necklace 3, 4. zipper on canvas no. 2 :: © amalia versaci 2010

Buttons : Button Wallpaper

I saw this gorgeous wallpaper on the internet and thought how great it would be to have my studio decorated with this ! This wallpaper is from Tracy Kendall who makes the most awesome wallpapers you can imagine. She writes: "My work is based on seeing interiors, sometimes my own, and translating elements of the interior into wallpaper which can then be re-introduced back into the room. I want them to convey a strong idea but not to dominate the room so much that there is not room for anything else." The first wallpaper she designed in 1996 for her own kitchen, after that many magazines started to feature her work and in 1997 she started to develop and sell her wallpapers.

Of course she has made much more designs than only these buttons; cutlery, flowers, sequins, and this beautiful zipper too: