a zombie, a key and a button

I haven't done much crafting so far this January, I have been working on a little zombie doll with a loose eyeball and made a few cards and a little necklace made with a vintage button and rusty key. I'm not sure if I'm keeping the necklace for myself, listing it on etsy or parceling it off to a friend, but it was fun to make and got me thinking creatively again.

zombie in progress

The little zombie doll isn't quite finished yet, she needs a few more embellishments and staining with tea/coffee and possibly giving an arm or two as she is pretty much a skinny little brick shape. I shall have to think about what she needs doing to her, she is far too clean and neat to be a decent shambling zombie...it won't do at all. Little bits of creativity to keep me going.

My friend Selena has a fabulous idea for selling some fantastic vintage finds on a separate page of her blog called Little Shop. Each item is listed and the first to comment claims the item to be paid via paypal, which I think is a brilliant ideas. Selena said that the idea might work for my crafting as an alternative to my etsy shop. I do love etsy but it takes a lot of work and eats into your profits quite a bit if you are a small fry crafter like me. I haven't decided what to do yet but I do have a bunch of badges that I made that could do with finding new homes. and one or two dolls that need homes too. I don't know what I shall do but these thoughts are swirling round my head and I thought I would share them with my lovely readers.

twinkle twinkle button bat

I'm alive still but things are so busy here with a week till we fly to Seattle and I have had parcels to wrap, crafts to make, all manner of birthday prep for H, the collecting of gift items for my parents, and for the two parcels I will send to Selena and Jaci when I get to Idaho (much cheaper than posting from here), we have all had colds and Matt is still busy with weddings and all manner of studio based jobs. Its enough to make your head spin, I'm not used to running around like a headless chicken every single day... well maybe not that bad but it does seem like were are ridiculously busy the last month or so.

I can't wait to get to Idaho and not do much other than drink lots of coffee, play with the pack of pugs, eat my dads wonderful cooking and shuffle round the holy trinity of Target, Barns & Nobles and Old Navy ... with a few other shops in there too... honestly I'm not a shopaholic... I normally despise shopping except for book and craft shops but I love shopping in the states and looking at all the things you cant get here... and hauling back as much as our suitcases will hold.

Today I parceled off three packages one to a friend who forgot things at mine, one packages of Halloween swap goodies, and an order for Lillian the doll (with a few goodies pack inside as the buyer is a lovely twitter friend.) I baked cheddar muffins...and cheddar and marmite ones too.. and I have just coffee stained a stack of note cards to make more story notes and the pictured little button bat. I'm so pleased with how the button bat turned out that this one is the 3rd I have made since yesterday

Right its getting late and the jacket/baked potatoes must be done by now...I'm starving.

Amarantha

Amarantha is on sale in my etsy shop

Amarantha is a tiny little library demon. Books unwanted and unloved have a way of finding themselves in her possession. Sad lonely little books thank have no library, no bedside cabinet, no shelf to call home. Books that weep their sorrows in tears of black ink.

Amarantha dresses in gowns of newspaper and lace, with shining buttons of onyx black and heart’s blood red. She drinks only their bitter ink tears and takes their sorrows away. Amarantha dreams only in black and white. Midnight black and lace white dreams and nightmares of words and stories and book upon book. Reading you will always find her reading and singing to her books.

She loves her books, her charges and hugs them and dusts them to keep them tidy and clean on the black painted shelves in her bespelled library. She will lend you her books, but the price is high, she will keep your soul on hold. And if you are cruel and steal her books and never bring them back, then all the shame on you my friend for you may find yourself a sorrowing book on a black painted shelf in the library of a tiny demoness.

She needs a home that loves books as much as she, and you may find that once she is there that you have books on your shelf that were never there before. And when you go out shopping books will hop in your cart, and you will never leave a bookshop without a sad little book or two. Flea markets, garage sales and boot sales will be the place where you cannot resist the call of the poor little books and their inky tears and cries. For once Amarantha the tiny demoness lives in your home you’re under her spell too.

Amarantha stands about 7 in tall. she is made from cotton, vintage buttons, vintage doily, and yarn. She was stained up with a mixture of coffee, vanilla and cinnamon. She is a primitive style doll and meant for grown up kids, as small children may work her buttons apart. Amarantha comes with pretty card with her story typed on it with a vintage typewriter. She will be wrapped in vintage dress pattern paper.

Thank you for having a look at Amarantha and reading her story. Please convo me with any questions you may have.

button jewellery a mini tutorial

the Red Queen Pendant

ingredients:

vintage buttons
craft glue
glue on bails (or small pin backs)
needle and thread thread
chain or necklace

Instructions:

step 1: gather materials together and stack two or three buttons together until you find a combination that you love.

step 2: thread the needle and sew your stack of buttons together (alternatively you can glue them on top of each other, but I like the look of the thread keeping the buttons together)

step 3: decide where the bail/pin back will go on the back of the stack and place a few drops of glue on the back of the button and on the flat part of the pendant bail. Leave for a few seconds then stick the bail/pin back to the button stack.

step 4: let the glue dry then string the button pendant on a chain or pin the button pin to anything!

crafter's notes: I know it is only a super simple tutorial but it is fun and funky, and I will happily be wearing the red, black, and mother of pearl button pendant when I go out today. The pin below was my first attempt with a large renegade chartreuse button that had hidden in one of my button jam jars. If anyone wants it I will gladly give it away as chartreuse and I are no friends (the colour makes me look ill or possibly just a very lively zombie).

Chartreuse it is

off the cuff

fabric wrist cuff...although it would look stellar on a coffee cuff
mmmm coffee... where was I?

In my further adventures of not doing the things I should be doing, I made this little fabric wrist cuff. What exactly I should be doing I have no idea, perhaps you can tell me, because I haven't got a clue. I have seen wrists cuffs on etsy (some pretty and some very expensive) , and looked at a tutorial that was sort of triangle shaped and that seemed not quite right. Then I thought I would just have a play around with whatever scraps of fabric were currently breeding dust bunnies on my desk.

it is slightly more even than it appears..
the book kept folding up on me...honest

The fantastic alphabet fabric was sent to me by the brilliant, talented and funny (funny ha ha not funny peculiar...although come to think of it...nevermind...) Jodie (of Ric-Rac infamy), yeah that one, and if you don't know her blog, get your bum over and have a look are her creations, with or without the mad scientist laughter. Anyhoo I think I may have lost the plot...I think I best go find a new one or at least a slightly used plot to upcycle into something else.

is it just me or does the big button look like a record?

Vintage Doily Needlebook

vintage doily needle book

I admit its probably a scrap of lace, not specifically a doily but I'm still over the moon with how this little needle book turned out. This is by far the neatest sewing I have done so far, which isn't to say its very neat but its getting there. The fabric is the same linen and cotton blend that I have been using for my warm bags, the inside of the needle book has beige felt and a blue with white polka-dot cotton fabric. The red button is from Megan, and I may need to hit her up for some more vintage buttony goodness very soon.

inside the needle book