Button Floozies

Here's a collage of some of the beautiful button fun we've had in 2011 here at Button Floozies! Enjoy -- and we invite you to come back and see us every day in 2012! Happy New Year!

Several years ago I wrote a short article to accompany my small collection of clock and time-piece buttons If you want to read this article please visit my blog Vintage Connections .   May you have a healthy, happy & prosperous  New Year,  Tami Hacker

Absolutely ADORABLE! Find the tutorial from Scrapbook Girl's blog ! Thought you would love them! Cheery wave from Bev

Are you ready for Christmas?  Only four more sleeps! Look at these beautiful button tags!  They were a gift from Kathy , who shares my love of buttons and shows some wonderful examples on her blog -- you must visit!  They hang from sheer ribbon and I think they make beautiful Christmas ornaments.  I love how she mixed buttons with wonderful textures in colors to complement the beautiful playing cards. All my gifts are wrapped and I have found time to relax with family and do some creating, like this button bracelet I assembled.  I have always wanted to make one like this!  I love the feeling of accomplishing a long-time goal, don't you? This time, I used all shell buttons, and added some crystal and silver beads.  I made a pair of matching earrings, too.  I hope you are finding time to play in your buttons as you craft, create gifts, and decorate for the holidays!

Charlotte Lyons is one of my very favorite artists/designers/bloggers .  I had a chance to meet her when I took both of her classes at Silver Bella 2010, and she is so nice! Charlotte and me Charlotte has a line of fabrics called Walnut Hill Farm Vintage Keepsake .  One of the designs, in three different colors, is called Button Box and it is so yummy !  Go see -- you will love it! And for a look at the fabrics in sample projects, read her blog post about the quilt market last month!  So much loveliness!

I am always loving button stuff online -- of course I am!  If you are on Pinterest, I invite you to follow my Button Love Board , which is where I store my latest button online finds!  Like this: Soap Buttons from The Charming Frog (Are you listening, Santa?) ALSO: Many more button ornaments have been added to our Christmas Ornament Swap Linky Party post, which you may enjoy by clicking here !

I paint on mother-of-pearl buttons and painted this Santa button as a gift for a special friend and made it into an ornament for her...   And here is how I did it.... First I put a 2 1/2" card stock circle on a 6" silk circle with a touch of glue to hold it in place.  Then I gathered it "yoyo" style.. Then I added some small lace around the Santa and a lace medallion to the silk.  I put it together adding a loop in the back and  some bells to the bottom. This would be fun with any Christmas button and easy enough for youngsters to do.. And here is a close up of the Santa... which is about 1 1/2".   Merry Christmas everyone!

One of my favorite button-related Facebook pages is the one hosted by The California State Button Society . They always have fun and beautiful button updates, so you can drool and learn and laugh about our mutual love of buttons! A while back they posted a photo with a hint (it was a button, of course) and you had to guess what movie it was from.  I was the first to guess correctly, and so I was sent an amazing button gift: It is a bunch of buttons on a card, sent from Janelle, the administrator of the CSBS Facebook page, from her own personal stash!  What a generous soul! I am in button heaven .  I especially love how, in true Button Society form, she labeled each of the buttons! Carved shell buttons (in the photo above -- bottom, left) are among my very favorites!  There's also a designer button from Laurel Birch (bottom, right) and two labeled "Victorian" (swoon!) Look at this black glass button -- it's huge!  Labeled "Ooh-la-la" so I think it might...

A lot of people ask me "where can I buy buttons?" Antique malls and flea markets have buttons, either individually or in bags or jars. Ebay has a huge selection, but they can get pricey. My favorite place to get buttons is estate sales. The reason I like estate sales for buttons is that they are usually untouched and unsorted and in the condition that the original owner left them. If the house has had the same owner for 30 years, you'll probably find a 30 year accumulation of buttons. However, if you go to a flea market or antique mall, the buttons will probably already have been "picked over". Somebody like me will have gone through the buttons and pulled the really good ones to sell individually. So, all that brings me to the question in the title of my post. How do you know when to buy buttons at estate sales? The answer- I don't know, I guess I just kind of go with a gut instinct. On Friday, I was one of the first people in the door at an estate s...

Happy Holidays to All! I created this image with a small metal sleigh and filled it with several of my buttons for the front cover of the Missouri State Button Society 2005-2006 Winter Bulletin - Tami Hacker

Okay, here's your chance to see all the ornaments that were exchanged in the Christmas Ornament Swap we just finished.  With 32 people participating -- there is a lot to see!  Please click on each thumbnail to be taken to participant's blogs or the Button Floozies Swap Flickr page and see all the Christmas fun!

One of my many passions is making handmade flowers.  I love the simple easy techniques that make beautiful flowers for my mixed media and altered art creations. I am hoping some of my fellow Floozies can help me out.  I am looking for some round rhinestone buttons with pearl centers.  These do not have to be old.  They can also be pearl centers with gold tone or silver tone around the edges as well. I have lots of things to trade.  Lace, embroidered trim, other buttons, scrapbook papers, ribbon.  You name it I probably have it.  I even have a few new Tim Holtz distress inks for stamping. Please contact me if you can help me out!  I would be so grateful and appreciative! HugZ, Jean

Oh buttons, how do I love thee ... Let me count the ways. Sorry, I couldn't choose just one or two pictures. These awesome buttons came from the BKG Antique Mall in Lakeworth, Fl. Approximately 75 beaded and rhinestoned buttons for $25. How could I resist? Could you?

Once upon a time, there was a Girl Who Loved Buttons- pink buttons, buttons on cards, what she called her "special" buttons, white buttons, green buttons- most any kind of button. The girl had a friend who had a Yorkie dog named Twinkle and Twinkle was expecting puppies. When the puppies were born, there were six tiny little treasures- three girls and three boys. The friend of the Girl Who Loved Buttons said "I'd like to give you a puppy for your birthday ...and your husband has already said it was ok". The puppies were too little to leave Twinkle right away, and that gave the Girl Who Loved Buttons a chance to think of the perfect name for her puppy. She drove home from the friend's house and looked at all the road signs along the way. Eudora- how about Dory? Evening Star Rd-maybe his name could be Star. Sunflower Ammunition Plant- maybe Sunny. Kill Creek Rd- no, no good idea...

Last weekend I was at a craft fair and saw these cool crocheted bracelets an artist had made.  They were very simple, just a crocheted chain with a clasp.  The first thing I thought was, I could sew buttons onto that! And so, I did!  I just went through my stash of vintage buttons to use for crafts and chose different red, green and white buttons (thinking "Christmas.") I alternated red and green on the "top" of the bracelet... and white along each "side" of the bracelet.  I simply sewed the buttons onto the crocheted yarn.  (You can see the crocheted part in the top middle-to-right of the bracelet in the photo above.) I'm very happy with the way it turned out!  It's chunky, but surprisingly comfortable!  I think it really "pops" and I'm going to have a ball wearing it for casual Christmas-time fun!