Everyone is born with creativity. But those people who appear to be super creative have a secret. They know that creativity has to be developed and exercised to come easily. I am on a quest to immerse myself in creativity of all kinds. I hope you will join me!

 Do you think this will set off the metal detector at the airport? hahaha! I love all of these Blumenthal Lansing buttons, some metal and some rhinestone. All of them look vintage, but they are not! You can buy these at your fabric or craft store right now.


It was a fun project. Watching a movie while sewing buttons on was relaxing.


After a trip to the Salvation Army store, where I bought a jacket for $8, I stitched one lapel full of buttons, both antique gold and antique silver. I used shiny metallic embroidery floss (gold, black, and copper). I cannot tell a lie. That stuff made me say a few bad words inside my head. It is more prone to knotting than cotton floss. But, the little bit of shine it added was worth it. It makes me want to touch it every time I look at it. Texture and shine!


When you go to buy that shiny floss, take a coupon!


I added some french knots and some straight stitches to fill in some places.


Then, I added gathered brown tulle along the entire lapel/collar. The tulle was left over from lamp tutus. It is on a roll, 8" wide. I folded the width in half and made running stitches along the fold. After I pulled the thread to gather slightly, I tacked it to the underside of the lapel/collar. It is exactly the same process I show in my lamp post, except I stitched instead of glued.


Now, I love the buttons and am unsure about the lapel tutu. What do you think?


Love that Vitamin B(uttons)!!!
http://whipperberry.com/2012/02/friday-flair-link-party-12.html
http://simplydesigning.blogspot.com/2012/02/simply-link-party_10.html

 Yesterday's project. I wanted something bright, artsy, almost cartooney. It started with paper.


 In the 80's, I was the paper earring queen. If you knew me then, you remember. Huge earrings were the style of the decade. They were called doorknockers. For some reason, even I cannot explain, I saved my paper earrings from the 80's. I have a big box of them. I used the heaviest watercolor paper I could buy and I added all kinds of embelishments. I taught a class on making paper jewelry....many times. It was popular.


 To begin yesterday's necklace, I started with a sheet of watercolor paper. Watercolor paper comes in weights. Don't use anything under 140 lb. My preference is 300 lb, but 140 lb will work just fine. I used Liquitex acrylics. I like them because they are saturated color and there is a bit of a shine to the finish. 


 In the middle of my sheet of paper, I put out blobs of aqua, turquoise and white. I almost always add white when painting a background. I like the tinting I get with white.


 With a wide flat brush, smear it out to cover the paper. Add a little water to your brush to help it spread. Let it dry. Or use your craft dryer, aka, hairdryer.

 Add a little more texture. You can print with just about anything. This is a piece of corrugated cardboard, with the top layer removed.  Brush some paint onto the ridges and press to the paper. You can see I use this a lot, it has many colors on it. One of my most expensive tools...

 Doesn't need to be perfect. When you cut the flowers out, you will just see little bits of it.


 Freehand cut out some scrapbook paper circles with a pair of pinking shears. You can also use whatever scrapbooking scissors with fancy edges that you have on hand.  Don't bother tracing a template, just cut a circle. Mod Podge it down to the painted surface.


 Now use a smaller flat brush. Squeeze two colors on the palette. This is magenta and white. Dip one corner of the brush in  magenta and the other in white. Make a stroke from the top to the bottom in a C shape, and another the mirror image. Leave a bit of the center showing. And, I like the way you can see the paper zig zag edges if you don't use too much paint on the brush.  More texture. Let it dry.


 With a Sharpie, or your marker of choice, finish the flower. Loosely cut the flowers out.


Punch holes and string to your necklace. Add bead dangles or charms or whatever you would like to add. Make this in colors to suit you. I think it would also be really cute to hang just one as a pendant with beads hanging off the bottom. It makes a really inexpensive piece of jewelry, that is one of a kind.


Thank you for reading the latest from the Queen (retired) of paper earrings.


Use your Vitamin C!

 I love these big 2" wood buttons from Blumenthal Lansing. And, you know me. If it is big enough to decorate, then I am doing it. These days, buttons come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, so you can almost always find the perfect button for your project. But, just in case you need to personalize further, here are three ideas.


 1. Fill the center with Dimensional Magic or craft glue.


 Sprinkle seed beads into the wet glue.

 2. Choose a fabric.


 Decoupage it to cover the front of the button. After the fabric is dry, re-open the button holes with something sharp or pointy. I used a small nail to start the holes and widened them with the handle end of a small paintbrush.


3. Just paint. This is Folk Art Poppy, Yellow Lime, and Licorice.


Use any of these on your craft projects. They will not wash very well, but you can use them on clothing. Stitch through the buttonholes with thread. Don't attach them to anything, just put thread in the holes. Knot it so it will stay. Then attach it to the garment with these pins. When you wash the garment, just un-pin them. Make a different set of buttons for a sweater or jacket for each holiday......


I hope this has sparked your Vitamin C and you have more ideas for designing your own buttons.


Use your Vitamin C!

Challenge #2, I am on a roll! 


This is the piece that was the summer jewelry challenge. 


All of the other bits and pieces came out of my stash, since I am not allowed to buy anything new. I really like the rhinestone piece on the button. I considered using several of them, but in the end, I thought one as the focal point had more impact. I like the way the matte finish provides a clean, subtle background for the bling. I also like the simplicity of it, since that is what drew me to the button in the first place.


Two down, three to go!


Take your Vitamin C!

I beaded the straps of these flip flops last year. I wore them once and they have been in my closet since. They are very pretty, if I do say so myself.


But, they hurt like $*^%$#&*. And apparently I am too lazy to fix them. Maybe I will frame them for an art piece. 


I wrapped the wire and beads to cover the whole strap.  I should have stopped partway up because when I walk and the bottom of my foot steps on the wire and beads...yeeeeeeeeow! It  is worse than walking across gravel barefooted.


So, I urge you to make a gorgeous pair of beaded flip flops like these, but STOP before the end. I think you have to try them on and see where you need to stop.


Take Your Vitamins C and S(mart)

I found this picture on Pinterest and followed the link to This blog where I found Dora and her post on how she did it. It inspired me. Of course, I went crazy and did the whole front of the shirt.

 This is the pen I used. What you see on the shirt is the amount of doodling that can be done with one pen. If you are smaller than I am, you could get the front and back of the shirt.

Here is what I learned about doodling on a shirt with a bleach pen:

• put a board inside the shirt so you have a harder drawing surface
• the bleach can be applied in a thick line (see above where I started with a thick line), or a thinner line
• If you apply the bleach and let it dry on the shirt, the bleaching will be complete and the lines will be white
• If you apply the bleach and rinse it off after 10 minutes or so, some of the shirt's color will remain

 You can see that I let the application on the right dry completely before I rinsed it. On the left, I rinsed after about 10 minutes. There is a little color left. I think I like a little color left, but I could not doodle the whole shirt in 10 minutes.
Anything you can write or draw becomes he design of your shirt. The possibilities are endless!

What a great project to do with a good shirt with a stain you can't get rid of. Just draw over the stain! It is a neat and creative fix for $2.79.

Take your Vitamin C!

Whipperberry!

 My fabulous girls from Praise in Motion came over this afternoon.



 We had lunch and made bracelets. We used a finger weaving technique that I have seen a lot online lately. I found excellent and very clear instructions at V and Co.  Thanks V!

 All you really need is stretchy fabric and scissors. I bought a handful of men's t-shirts at the Salvation Army Thrift store for 50 cents a piece. Then, I tie dyed two of the white ones. The girls began by cutting strips of fabric.

 The finger weaving technique is so easy, they got it after one demonstration by me. They each made a couple bracelets.



 And then the smartypants girlies added beads.

They branched out to anklets and headbands.  We made probably 15 pieces. It entertained us for at least an hour and gave them an interest in leaning to tie dye.

Our vitamin C came today in the form of orange/lemon finger jello.  Try it. It worked for these middle schoolers!