ButtonCompany

The Monday Project - Tortoise New Home Card

2011-08-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen Augustus? He's pretty suave I think, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. So when Rachael asked me to make a card inspired by Augustus, it all came together fairly naturally. So without further ado may I introduce little August - and his arrival is just in time for the first Monday Project in August (see what I did there?)

you will need:

Tortoise templates

Natural/ Kraft card blank, about 6" x 4"

Lighter green card scraps (approx 4" x 6")

Darker green card scraps (approx 3" x 4")

Mixed olive green small buttons (1cm and smaller)

Fine black pen (or a good biro, I'm not fussy)

double-sided tape, glue, and a few small sticky fixers.

Rubber stamps for a greeting

Here's How To:

Make sure your card blank is folded in half. Then put it to one side, and trace and then cut out your templates.

Stick your tortoise body onto the card blank, keeping it low. Draw around the tortoise body with your black pen, and draw on a face. You can see where I've done this in a few steps time - to be honest I forgot and stuck on the shell before doing this, and had to be careful not to get pen on the shell. Do as I say, not as I do, I guess.

Score the fold line on your tortoise shell, and fold firmly. Stick a length of double sided tape on the shorter part of the shell, and stick onto your body, placing it in the obvious position. Press down firmly - and you should have created a flap.

Next, using your glue (and we use Gutermann HT2, my fave of all glues - seriously, I should get shares in the stuff I harp on about it so much), randomly glue buttons all over the shell. Be careful not to glue any directly over the fold line, because (sorry if I'm being too obvious here) you won't be able to fold it.

Get a scrap of green card (doesn't matter which colour) and write on your greeting. It needs to fit into the top right hand corner, so bear this in mind when composing your text. Decorate around the edge with your black pen - faux stitch lines are always a winner with me.

Stick on some sticky fixers - I like the greeting to be a little raised always - don't ask me why, but I always do. Stick on to your card and you're done.

Under the flap is left for any secret messages you may have, because a tortoise always keeps it's secrets under it's shell. Everyone knows that.

The Monday Project - Button Cake Flags

2011-07-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here at the buttoncompany, we like to name our cakes. That's because if you don't name it, chances are you won't get to eat it either, someone else will have gotten to it before you. We like our cakes. So here are some heart button flags to ensure that you can have your cake and eat it every single time.

You will need:

Wooden Coffee Stirrers

Plain cardstock

Heart buttons, bigger than 1cm

Glue (we used Gutermann HT2, a brilliant textile glue)

Alphabet stamps and ink or (pretty handwriting and pen!)

Scissors

Cakes!

Here's How To:

Cut your coffee stirrers in half - each half will make one flag.

Cut your plain cardstock into strips about 1cm wide by 6cm long, and then from one end cut out a triangle shape.

Stamp your names onto the card flags, towards the right hand side. I always like to start from the last letter and work backwards, to make sure my spacing is okay. This is easy if you have a palindromic name like mine (anna) but requires more thinking if you are called something long with lots of letters, like, hmmm.. Madeleine?

Anastasia? Be prepared for a do-over if necessary.

Next, with your scissors, round the left hand edge of the flag. Leave a little bit of space between the edge and the name, but feel free to trim a little shorter than the original 6cm. This rounded edge will help hide the card under the button.

Next, with your glue, glue the cut end of the stick (you don't want splinters in your cake) to your back button, then the flag to the stick, and then your front button onto the flag.

Make multiples, all with your own name, and stick them in all the cakes you can find. Or, use them in birthday parties or hen do's or any occasion where you want to eat cake. Yum.

a x

The Monday Project - Save The Date Button Cards

2011-06-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

So I don't know anyone getting married at the moment, but last year I had to design my brother's wedding invitations and things. Of course, my first thought was: buttons. Bizarrely, my brother isn't into his buttons so much (I know, right?), so this ended up a no-go. Nevermind, ignore my brother and his non-button love, here are some save the date cards that embrace the button love.

You will need:

Plain Card

Patterned Card

Small Button selection - to match your colour-scheme

Needle & thread - to match colour scheme

Corner Rounder Punch - optional

Computer & Printer (or rubber stamp, or beautiful handwriting and a steady hand)

Paper trimmer

Sellotape and double-sided tape

Here's How To:

Set up on your computer the information you need in a fancy font. (Remember you can download hundreds of beautiful fonts for free off the internet, to get exactly what you're after). Copy & Paste over the whole page (you can get about 12 to a page). Print onto your plain card. If you don't want to use your computer, you could get a stamp made up, or you could do it all by hand if you're a confident calligrapher.

Cut each card out - you should end up with a finished size of about 6cm x 8cm. When you cut, cut close to the left hand side of the writing, and leave a gap on the right. Measure and cut the patterned card to about 1cm larger than your plain card.

At this stage, with your corner punch, you can round off the corners of either one or both of your cards. Experiment, see what you like. Oh, and check out the top picture, can you spot the deliberate mistake? Hmm..

Next, thread up your needle. You don't need it for the wrapping around the card, but it'll make life easier for putting the buttons on. And it helps to have your tape in an easy dispenser too, if not, three hands may be an option you'd like to consider!

Stick the end of the thread onto the back of the plain card, on the other side of the blank part. then wrap roughly three times around the card. Fix on the back with a bit of sellotape(fig. 1 & 2). On the fourth time around, thread on your buttons. Place them where you want on the card, and pull the thread tightly to the back. Fix again with tape.

Now, with double-sided tape, centre this card onto the patterned backing card. Stick down firmly, et voila. You're done. Repeat 150 times (or however many guests you have!)

By the way, the names 'Marjorie & Edward' and their wedding date were randomly generated by Rachael- but if by chance someone happens to be called that and is getting married on that date - they can totally steal this idea ;)

The Monday Project - Off-Centre Button Brooch

2011-06-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've made plenty of stacked up button brooches in the past - and we've even sold kits of them in the past too - but this is a little take on the theme. So today's Monday Project is the off-centre button brooch, which does stack buttons up, but it puts the stack off to the side, giving the old classic a bit of a twist!

What you need:

1 x large button (5cm diameter works well) you can find them here and here. We've used coloured agoya shell buttons, as the colour on them is like no other. Here's a couple.
1 x brooch pin (any size will do)
1/2m waxed cotton cord in a complementary colour to your buttons, thin enough to go through your button holes.
Small selection of buttons (for the topper)

Here's How To:

Decide what buttons you are going to use on your topper. This could be one, or could be two or three. On my sample I've used two. Thread the cord up through the back of both buttons, and down through the front, pulling them tightly together. Pull them to approximately 1/3 of the way along your cord.

Using the longest side of your cord, thread down through the front of one hole of the big button (fig.1). At the back, thread through the base of your brooch pin - making sure the flat side is flush to the button back(fig.2). (The amount of times I've done this the wrong way round I am too embarrassed to tell you.) Then thread the cord back to the front of the button (fig.3).

Position your button to one side as desired. Pulling the cord tight across the button, pull around to the back and wrap around the base of the brooch back (fig.1). This will give you an anchor with which to tie your knot (fig.2). Tie your knot tightly, and trim the ends of your cord close to the knot (fig.3). You may want to dab a little bit of glue or clear nail varnish on the knot to keep it doubly-secure.

As you can see in the top picture (the whale button) you can use shank buttons too. I tied a knot at the back of the shank to secure it in place (it wobbled otherwise), and double cord for extra effect. Then used a fine permanent ink pen (like a cd-writing pen) to draw on the bubbles. I have also in the past used charms on the tops of the buttons (dragonflies and butterflies make for a cute flowery effect!).

As usual with button jewellery, the concept is super simple but the possibilities are endless... so I'd love to see what you all come up with.

a x

The Monday Project - 2 Tier Button Necklace

2011-05-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have a million variations I think on the button necklace, and over the next few months I'm going to try and get them all on here for you - as well as some other button projects as and when I come to them. For now, here's a variation on a simple theme - the double stranded button necklace:

What you need:

30-40 mixed buttons. I like smaller (up to 20mm ones, but bigger ones work just as well.) My necklace only used 30 buttons, but I like a shorter necklace than many people.
2m of 1mm or 0.5mm waxed cotton cord. (This is much longer than you will need, but trust me, it's just easier having more than less.)
1 lobster clasp
1 calotte (crimpy thing)
1 split ring (any size will do)

Here's how to:

Thread your lobster clasp onto your cord, approximately 3/5 of the way, and tie a knot (as shown.) The different lengths of the cord will help with your two tiers.

Start threading your buttons onto your cord. Always thread from the back to the front. For 4 hole buttons (fig.1) thread diagonally, and for shank buttons (fig.2) tie on with a knot at the back.

(Here's a secret to button jewellery: people ask me all the time what keeps the buttons from twisting around and not facing the front all the time - after all, they do it in the books, right? - wrong. They only lie flat in the books because the photographer has laid them all out flat. You know for sure as soon as it's picked up the buttons will twist around in whatever which way they want. They're buttons, they like to thwart you in their un-neatness. Deal with it.)

Space the buttons a few centimetres apart. The thickness of the cord should hold them in place. If your cord starts to fray and it gets hard to thread, whatever you do, don't suck it! Trim it off with a pair of sharp scissors - that should do it. This, and the knots, is one of the reasons you want extra cord to start off with. If you are working with children, their sticky fingers will mean you probably have to cut off twice as much as you do with your cool, dry hands.

Hold the necklace up to yourself several times to check length. This is a personal thing - some people love it longer, some people shorter. I guess I'm a short-to-mid kinda girl myself. When you're ready with the length, tie both the ends together. Pull the knot as tight as you can to make it as small as you can. Make sure you are ready to knot, 'cause unpicking this will be a pain! Because of your different lengths of cord when you started, when you hold it up to yourself, you should now have two tiers!

Get out your calotte (I had to look up what this was called, before this I knew it as 'one of those crimpy things'), and lay the knot across it. Close the calotte, trapping the knot. Before you do this you may want to fix the knot with a dab of glue or clear nail varnish. I sometimes bother, sometimes I don't! Trim the loose ends. Excuse the fluffy ends on my pic, I didn't have my nice sharp embroidery snips with me. Fold down the loop, trapping your split ring in it.

Check you like the placement of the buttons. If you don't, just move them about a bit until you're happy. And that's it. Make again in as many different colours as you have in your wardrobe!

a x

Creative & Contemporary

2011-05-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

It's time for another customer profile! Let me introduce Victoria Avery from Creative & Contemporary:

Creative and Contemporary is my company which i run from my home in Surrey. I specialise in making handmade decorations for wedding and parties, helping to add creativity and quirkiness to special occasions.

Making things by hand has always been something which interests me, and the idea for Creative and Contemporary came about after helping my sister with her wedding preparations. I was given the task of creating all her decorations as she just didn't have time, and she didn't want the standard decorations you can buy in the shops. Helping her made me realise that there must be hundreds of people who want handmade, beautiful decorations which are different to the norm. So I decided to create a range of unique, affordable decorations, and launched my first products in January 2011.

Customising products for individuals is really what I love doing. Creative and Conte

mporary allows people to add their own special touches to my creations, be it customising text which is stamped on, or matching colour schemes. I am also always happy to think of new ideas for interesting themes.

I currently sell my products through my website www.creativeandcontemporary.comand also through Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/CreativeContemporary

Thanks for getting in touch, Victoria, we're loving the button name place hangers!

If you would like to be considered for a customer profile, let me know, I am planning on doing some more over the coming months!

Alpaca Select & The Button Company

2011-05-07T02:55:00.000-07:00

We always like it when we find people using our buttons in creative ways, so we were delighted when we found that Liz Baxter, an English knitwear designer, was using our buttons in her designs for Alpaca Select.

This is the Thea kit, which uses our vintage theme bag. I usually associate the vintage themed buttons with more period tones, so it's really refreshing to see them on a pink background - I think it really works.

And this one is the Asha kit, which also uses the vintage buttons (but I think would also look great with Wuthering Heights, don't you agree?)

So after this I've decided I really want to know where our buttons have found themselves after we send them out into the world. What projects have they been used on? Let us know what you are using our buttons on - we'd love to see!

Rule Britannia... Rule Buttonia

2011-04-18T14:54:00.001-07:00

With Royal Wedding fever upon us all, we had to have some appropriate buttons. If you look closely, one of those buttons in the picture even has Britannia on it. Get us.

And if you've seen some of our felt rolls, ric rac mixes, & button jars in John Lewis over the past few months, you may fancy looking out for our new colourway - Rule Britannia. I think mini felt bunting in red, white and blue with a bit of button & ric rac embellishment would be perfect for all your Royal Wedding street parties. I may even get around to doing this myself. These felt rolls are only available in John Lewis, and are of a limited quantity, so get your hands on them quickly or they may be gone before you get a chance!

And the winner is... drum roll please

2011-01-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

None of you!

Haha, only joking.

Before I tell you, I should tell you what inspired this colour mix. It was a range of fabrics from a French company called Mas d'Ousvan - I don't have any left but here is a link to one of my favourite prints: Angele Bleu

I didn't want to tell you the inspiration because I like people to make up their own minds without interference from me. And I loved all the ideas of beaches and vintage and linen, but at the end of the day what still kept coming back to me was the idea of provincial france. And while I'm not going to go with quite that, I think it's only fair that the winner is:

I am inspired (email me with your address and I'll get your winnings on their way to you!)

So ladies & gentlemen (although I get the feeling it's MAINLY ladies!)

Here is is:

"En Provence"

But fear not the rest of you - I may have another naming competition coming up soon, and with that one I promise I don't have any secrets. Keep your eyes peeled.

Oh, and by the way. If EVER anyone feels like coming up with a new colour for us - we are always looking for new ideas. And if we use your ideas we will of course always give you buttons in return!

Help! I need a name... but I'll give you something in return, I promise!

2011-01-07T05:50:00.001-08:00

So, usually I am pretty good with coming up with names for our theme bags, (in fact, often the name comes before the colour!) but sometimes the names take longer to come up with than others. It's then that I usually turn to the rest of the ButtonCompany team, and usually they come up with something that helps. But this time we are all stumped.

Soooo, I turn to you, button fans. I know I have severely neglected you, but hopefully I can make this up to you.

Come up with a name, and send it to me either as a comment here, or send me an email.

The winning name gets a 100g theme bag of this new colour. But I need it soon, as our trade show is coming up, and I need all the paperwork done for that. Ok?

Purlesque Launch

2009-08-07T03:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, we are Purlesque, a little craft/ knitting boutique based in Liverpool city centre, and we absolutely fell in love with the new Kokka fabrics from the Button Company! We just had to get some!

We also thought they were worth throwing a party for, so on the 12th of June we hosted a launch night for the new fabrics, more of the Button Company's scrummy buttons and some of the stuff we made from these gorgeous items.

We transformed the shop into a summer haven planted some flower buttons into some plant pots and crocheted some cacti.

Sarah baked some yummy cakes and a good time was had by all! The fabrics have been a huge success and customers always comment at how unique they are and unlike anything they have seen before. Can't wait to order more!

To keep up with more from the Purlesque team, check out their blog !

New Echino 2009!

2009-04-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

New echino collection ordering NOW!

JG-99100 100 100% cotton double gauze
Col. A

Col. BCol. C

JG-99100 102 100% cotton double gauze
Col. A

Col. B

Col. C Col. D JG-99100 101 100% cotton double gauze

Col. A Col. B

Col. CCol. DJG-99200 200 100% cotton sheeting
Col. A
Col. B

Col. C Col. D JG-99200 201 100% cotton sheeting

Col. ACol. BCol. CCol. D

I've got another secret. And it's one you're gonna want to find out...

2009-02-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

Someone told me the other day that I could never be a spy, because I sound like a herd of elephants chasing a herd of buffalo, running for their lives on an african plain, the sound reverberating in the silent morning like thunder at midnight, like, well, the noise I make when I run, apparently.

There is another reason I could never be a spy, and it is not really my fault. It is totally physiological. Something happens to me when I have a secret to keep, especially if it is a good one. My dad is the same. When he has done something naughty or mischievous, you can tell it. It's all in the eye. And I am the same. The secret bubbles around my body, peeping out wherever it can, desperately trying to tell someone it's there.

And once someone knows there is a secret being kept, well, it's only a short while before the secret is being shared, isn't it?

So, for all you shops out there who are coming to see us at the Stitches trade show in later this month, CHECK THIS OUT: We ain't just buttons any more.

*gasp*

What? Now, don't worry, we still have the buttons - and many a luscious one too. It's still who we are and what we do. That could never, and will never change.

But we kept seeing all this lovely stuff that's hard to find on our little island, but I know many of you crafty types would like to buy it so:

for the jewellery maker:

for the sewer:

to the patchworker & felt lover:

for the general crafter:

*eek!*

so to anyone who hasn't planned yet to come to Stitches (and who is eligible) I suggest you get on the phone and get us to send you a leaflet which lets you get in, nice and easy, like.

I would love to entertain you on our stand, which is J42 methinks, or nearabouts. I am liable to be so excited I may do a little dance. But don't hold me to it.

Oh dear, I guess that's one step further away from MI5 then.

See you then x

sneak peeks...

2009-01-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

Here at Button Company we have been beavering away trying to get some new fabby colour mixes out to you... you're going to have to wait a while, and we are still thinking of names for these mixes, and I shouldn't really show you these (one of them was only born yesterday). So if you don't tell anyone, I won't.

The one above is probably one of our most vibrant mixes to date... rachael and I were discussing yesterday that it makes us think of 80's pop videos - something by wham! perhaps.

And then there is this one below.

and you may have seen this new one, pop up in the shop a short while ago. I like the fact that the pink is more fuchsia, more popping. It's amazing how different pinks can be - when you put this next to the hot pinks, the colours are amazingly different.

there are others, but the colours haven't been photographed yet.

Flower Power Button Ring - courtesy of Spoilt Rotten Beads

2008-10-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

This great project was sent to us by Spoilt Rotten Beads

Wire wrapped rings are really inexpensive, simple and easy to make, they make lovely gifts and the possibilities are endless, once you've perfected this project try experimenting with Swarovski Crystals and semi-precious stones...

Ingredients

0.6mm Silver Plated Wire

Flower buttons

Additional Tools Required: Wooden Ring Mandrel, Pencil, Side Cutters, Chain Nose Pliers,Crimping Pliers

Method

1. To begin with you will need to draw a pencil line around your wooden ring mandrel to mark the size that you’d like your ring to be. The easiest way to do this is to take a ring that fits you and put this on the ring mandrel, draw a line around the mandrel underneath the ring.
2. Cut off approx 80cm of 0.6mm silver plated wire and place it around the ring mandrel just below the line you have drawn. It’s important to place the wire just below the line as you need to make the ring slightly large as when you wrap it will become smaller.
3. Wrap it around the ring mandrel 4-5 times being careful not to cross the wires over or it will not sit flat on your finger.
4. Bring both ends of the wire together and put a twist in the wire up against the ring to stop the wires from moving

5. Thread your button onto both strands of wire – thread one end through one hole and the other through the other hole, if your button has four holes use the two diagonal holes.

6. Push the button right down hard up against the ring and bend both ends of the wire over, push down on the button with your thumb and twist the wire into a spiral using your fingers

7. Slip the ring off the mandrel
8. Take one end of the wire over to one side of the ring and down onto the ring band, wrap this end of wire tightly around the ring band about three times, snip off any excess wire and crimp it against the side of the ring band using your crimping pliers, (don’t worry if your ring band gets a little distorted at this stage as you’ll be able to smarten it up again later)
9. Take the other end of the wire across to the other side of the ring and down onto the ring band – repeat step 8
10. Place the ring back onto the ring mandrel to reshape it – if it is a little small at this stage you can take a rubber or leather backed hammer and hammer it down on the ring mandrel to increase the size of the ring.

For more beading projects from Spoilt Rotten beads take a look here

A little explanation

2008-08-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who don't know, last Summer I (Anna) opened a shop in Chichester. It was all a little bit of an accident (sometimes life just hands these things to you and you have to jump in with both feet and both eyes closed... I mean open.) but it came about that I found myself opening a craft shop in the front of the area that Button Company does all it's despatch etc from. And it kept mum happy because she could force me to put out all the buttons she likes so she could research what sells and why at somewhere other than shows. So the point of this little story is to somewhat explain the appearance of items other than buttons at the shows. I must confess to it being my fault that she now touts around fabrics, ribbons, sometimes paper, woolfelt, and other things besides. If she was going to make me put buttons in my shop (that was a REAL hardship, obviously!) then she could do me a little something in return. I am thinking about putting some of them on the button company website, although I couldn't nearly put them all on, it takes me long enough to get them on my shop website (that's The Eternal Maker, btw). At least the woolfelt, I am thinking, and some more ribbons and things. and maybe some selections of things that go with the new colour sections I've made. Hmmm... food for thought...

oooops...

2008-08-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

okay, so it's been a while - I've been busy!!
Actually, the truth of the matter is, I haven't been busy at all. I had my op at the beginning of July, and although afterwards I felt fine in body, my mind just seemed to go bleuughhh. And I had all this time off where I had to rest up and I thought to myself, goodo, I can get on with some of those jobs that I actually WANT to do that lugging around boxes and ordering paper and filing just get in the way of. Ah, I was young and foolish. I got out one project, started it, then my mind went bleuughh. I got out another project, started it, then my mind yet again went bleuughhh. Are you starting to see a pattern?
So where I thought I would be keeping busy with all these lovely projects and then I could show you them and say ooohh look at me aren't I clever I have nothing to show for my endeavours. Although I do have a lot of ideas which I may be able to get around to when I am back in the swing of things. (By which I mean, filing, lugginh around boxes etc...)
The plus side of things is that I have had time to think about the new range I need to get ready for next season. I think it's time to step up a gear, I don't know about you but I am FED UP with the same old same old. Buttons, you know, don't need to all look the same. Also brilliantly, my new dye shop was built while I was off, and oh she's a beaut. 5 little dye pots all in a row. Before I was dealing with mainly one but sometimes two. 5!!!! Hurrah.
So that's all I have to say for now, I am going to go and try and finish some of those projects, I am thinking up some patterns I am going to try and put as free downloads on here and the website... I'll let you know when I get around to it.

Buttonly Loveliness

2008-05-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

Whilst at Stitches trade show I was looking at these oh-so-inspiring books from Autumn Leaves, Designing with Color, Designing with Detail, and The Designing With Recipe Book. I think, quite possibly, and this is really saying something - that they do the best layouts with buttons I have EVER seen. Here's a company that's not afraid to use buttons liberally throughout their projects. Take a look at their new creativity inc. website. Here are a few of my favourite projects from there. this one, and this one, this one and here's another, and finally...

How much do you love them? How's that for inspiring buttonly loveliness? There is another layout in Designing with Detail which isn't in their gallery, but which inspired this card:

The main card is about 6" x 6", the one on top is about 0.5" smaller on all sides, and on this one I lightly drew diagonal lines with my ruler about 1.5" apart, then stitched up them with my sewing machine - I don't think hand stitching would work very well - or at least, not mine! - then on each cross-section I stuck a button - I would have stitched them but for some reason I didn't, I wished I had after, as some of them stuck out a bit too far. On each button I had tied a little knot of ribbon or string or thread - I like the fact that they are different on each one. Then I stuck on the other piece of card which I had used a rub-on 'hello' and stitched around it. I was pretty pleased with it, although I will have to love the person I give it to a lot as it took a little longer than most of my cards. I used little buttons from 'purplicious' & 'vintage' theme bags.

Mini mini mini mini....

2008-04-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

So, the fabulous mini buttons came in today. I knew what they were going to look like as we made and I dyed the original lot we had, but because our packaging costs so much we sent the next lot out to get made. In the meantime we sold out of them and I forgot just how much I like them. Especially the mini inheritance colours, they are SO lovely. I am so pleased we managed to get such good colours on them, and they work really well as embellishments for some of our bigger buttons, and look fab on cards & quilts.... I tossed it up whether to make a card or a quilt as a sample... unsurprisingly the card option won. So here are a few designs I made earlier.

Flowers:

Just a little flower punch, sew back & forth on the machine (normal machine, normal foot, normal thread -although if I'd have thought about it I would have definitely tried the Hemingworth to see how it went) in a contrasting colour - how cool does this acid green & hot pink look on the dark purple card (Raisin, Bazzill Basics)

Cupcakes: well, they're in at the moment, aren't they?

I stuck on the icing of the cupcake first with doublesided tape, then freehand (can you tell?!) machine stitched the rest of the cupcake and it's case. And voila, the cherry on top is perfect chosen from Mini Baby Boom, either round or square. I prefer the ones on cream, it's more crisp, shabby chic almost.

Little trees:
Not sure what type of card this makes, but I wanted to see how the tree card in the last post looked in miniature.

Patchwork:

This seems to be popular with everyone I showed it to, but let me tell you, tidying the knots on the back was a big job...

oh yes, and this little dress...so cute.. but pretty tricky.

That was all I could come up with on Saturday, although I have had a couple of ideas since then. I want to make a tree branch with a nest and bird eggs, although I have a feeling that that idea will be one that never sees the light of day!

Anyone else got any good ideas? I would love to see them.

Olympia & my button/ fabric cards

2008-03-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

Soooo... it's show time again, and this time it was Olympia, in London. It's a quiet show, not our best, but good enough. We decided to combine with my (Anna's) shop product and that seemed to go well. We took all my fat quarters, and some papercraft products and everyone seemed to love them almost as much as I do. Anyway, to try and combine the fabric, paper & buttons I made some cards to display. Well I was pretty pleased with the results...

This one is using Basic Grey Mellow..../ Bazzill Copper & a green fabric with buttons from Vintage. I sewed around the tree on my sewing machine (holding the green fabric in place with some double sided tape) and then stuck the tree trunk & buttons on with more double sided.

Here is a detail shot:
This one is using a lovely Moda pink stripy seersucker (I LOVE this), a big basic pink button, using the offcuts from the fabric to tie the button - these seersucker fabrics, if they aren't good for anything else (which they are) are perfect for this look. this is using purple ribbon with some purplicious buttons, I quite like this, it's fairly simple, but I'm not sure about the ribbon I used, it frayed a bit, and not in a good way!
I've made a whole pile more, it seems when I find the time I have to make hundreds as the time is so hard to find in the first place I have to make the most of it!

2008-03-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

So, in time for the Stitches trade show I made up this little leaflet. (I shouldn't really call it little, it took me long enough to design) It was mainly because although we can sell our necklace kits retail, I could'nt really afford to sell them trade anymore. But I definitely wanted the shops we sell to to feel like they weren't being short-changed and could still give their customers instructions for things. So, if you've always wanted to make one of our necklaces but felt that they are just a little bit too expensive, one of the projects in this leaflet will tell you how. It's not quite the same as the other ones, as the buttons aren't quite so fabulously gorgeous and are generally a little smaller too. Here is a pic of it made with a very berry theme bag:

I don't think it compares too badly with the original. What do you think?

12345678910, 12345678910,

2008-03-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

12345678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 13245678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 12345678910, 123456... how many time can you count to 10 before going completely loony? It's a lot, granted, but it will happen eventually. Case in point, the workers at buttoncompany. Daily I see loopy behaviour from one or other of them (I myself, am of course entirely normal.)

So why are we sending ourselves loony counting 1-10? well, most of our buttons are packed in 10's and unfortunately that is a number too small to bother using on the electronic scales. So, 12345678910, we soldier on. 12345678910, 12345678910....

2008-03-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

The landlord's agent for our premises came round the other day because the landlord is thinking about building an extension, and we asked if we could have it, and are trying to persuade him to build it EVEN BIGGER than his original plans. I don't mean to be rude, but she's a strange old bean, and I get the impression she may not be a button lover. The reason I get this impression was her response to the fact that we needed more space for our buttons. She said this, and I repeat: "How much space do you need for buttons, it's just bloody buttons, REALLY."

*stunned silence*

Now I admit, we have a lot of buttons. (After all, a company called ButtonCompany, it's kind of expected). You wouldn't think there were so many buttons out there, really, would ya? WEll there are, and we seem to have collected rather a few of them.

And unfortunately for my landlord's agent, although fortunately for me, and you, maybe, that's the kind of comment that makes me want to dig my heels in and say - "you think this is a lot of buttons? well, wait until you see THIS"

So, we got a bit busy, haha, and just wait until she comes round next time, she'll see just how many buttons I do need...

Anna

Anna says I have got to learn how to do this!

2008-03-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

So here goes - my first ever attempt at blogging ... good evening everybody ... I hope we are going to be able to provide you with lots of interesting things and a few laughs along the way... I promise to be back on-line from time to time but it won't be very often as I'm better at playing spider solitaire when I do get near the computer. That's all for now - Sarah

Hurrah! ButtonCompany has a blog!

2008-03-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

Ooohhh, this is going to be good... I have been thinking and thinking and thinking and then thinking some more, and I have finally worked out (i'll be the first to admit that I am sometimes a little slow..) that you people out there were just crying out for somewhere to see more of our lovely buttons, to see button projects, to talk about what you want from buttons and to just generally discuss the brilliance that is buttons...

So first up, for those of you who don't know, here's the family: ( I will show photos of us all later, but I have to get appropriate ones first)

Sarah, the big boss, the head honcho, the one that you will have seen if you go to any of the shows, and also my mum, (you can all share her if you like).

Anna (that's me), I do the dyeing, the computer stuff, the designing, and most of the blogging I guess from now on too...

Fiona, the one who knows all the random buttons we have and where they can be found. She likes to say she's an oompa loompa, but she's got more than a little Willy Wonka about her too.

Jan - our Polish engineer, who designs and makes lots of the buttons we sell.

This is the team on the ground here, but we will be looking for a design team to help us design projects with our buttons, both fabric, paper & jewellery. So I guess any offers are welcome at the moment!