Indulge Your Shelf

I'm encountering an ongoing dry spell in these parts for thrift shop finds; but, that's okay because there was a sale at Saturday's button workshop.  I bought some new buttons to love, all of which were used, and which were thriftily priced, ranging from 25 cents to $1.00! Let's start with plastic; or, as we say in the buttoning world, "synthetic polymer"!  I love these -- the clear one between the two aqua buttons is lucite; the one next to is is painted with a lovely little blue jay, and the blue one just above the large red cameo button is my first "design under plastic", or DUP, button!  The red one with the cameo was my splurge of the day; I wanted a button to remind me of Jane Austen, and so I paid $4 for it.  It's actually plastic on a red celluloid wafer. I really liked this one because it looked like a fancily-carved radish to me! And I liked this one because it reminded me of the wallpaper in my the house I grew up in!  Yes, I know, ...

That's the name of our Colorado State Button Society Annual Show, and here's the flyer that I'm very happy with, which I produced for the show: Sorry -- it comes out a little fuzzy as a .jpeg for some reason, but in real life it's sharp and pretty!  Today, I'm at the Judging and Entering Workshop for the show's competition; this is where we learn all the rules for each show's challenge so we can enter our trays of buttons.  I don't expect to be doing a tray to enter this year, since my experience last year wasn't so great .  But, you never know! Of course, the best part of the day isn't the morning classification classes, but the afternoon button sale!  I hope to have some fun photos to show you in the next few days from that! Happy Saturday, everyone!

Wow -- I was able to get out for a bit yesterday afternoon just to clear my head, since my husband was home to care for our sickly son.  I went to an antique store and two thrift stores and found NOTHING!  It is, I think, that dismal time of the year before spring cleaning and summer junking.  Slim pickins' at the shops for sure.  So, I thought I would show you yet more from that same estate sale I've been writing about, as I did buy a lot there: There is always the requisite grab bag of seam binding and trims, but this one also had that cute white and blue silhouetted doggie ribbon!  So cute!  And I love the flowery trims, as well as the rick rack in unusual colors, some perfect for spring! This (above) just made me laugh: a kit from the "Fad-of-the-Month Club"!  Can you imagine?  It contained two of these plastic fans, with little vials of enamel and dyes to mix into it to make different colors that you would paint as shown onto the fans with ...

I feel great at having finished up three new journals and a whole stack of tags -- which are already almost all out the door.  It's so nice to have wonderful friends who like your work! I love this one -- a special order for a gal who had a black poodle as a child.  The cover is from a Dana Girls book; the matching green tatting was a gift from my friend Jeanelle, and I think it's the perfect addition, don't you? A couple of my favorite pages from this journal... including a cute old greeting card!  Look at the back: I also love this page which is one of the end pages of a child's book: This journal was for a girl that my friend described as "a Southern belle"; I had fun with this one because she loved antiques, lace and buttons: Among the pages I added to this journal was one from the wonderful lace sample book I was gifted by Linda Sue : I also slipped in this card, below, which was so cute with its real millinery netting pasted over the hats! I hope...