Howd.i.y. (a craft blog)

it’s been a crazy busy week… but today starts a loooooong weekend here in australia (labor day) – so, i’m jetting on a plane tonight to meet my man who’s been away the past week at a conference in the northeast corner of queensland where the ‘rainforest’ and ‘great barrier reef’ reside. (i’m so excited for a little r&r!) anyways… i’m short on time, but wanted to give all the howd.i.y. readers a quick little project before i go.  this one is fun, simple & useful – it’s a case for your ipod, camera, phone or item of choice.

cost: $3
creation time: 30-60 mins
supplies: one piece of felt, one color of embroidery thread, needle, buttons & 2 ft of yarn

1. measure your device which you wish to create this for (i made the one in the pic for an ipod)
2. cut two identical pieces of felt from the original piece. Each piece should be 1.5 inches wider & 2.5 inches taller than your device measurements
3. using the embroidery thread, sew the pieces together on 3 of the sides – on the top sew around each of the openings
4. braid some yarn to use as a fastener – sewing the ends to the felt with the embroidery thread
5. finish off with a cute button to add some personality… and there you are – a cheap & cute case personalized to your liking

everyone is entitled to a little shameless promotion, right?!  as you may remember the very first post that i did revealed my backstory with buttons and my etsy store that complimented it. on top of that, you may have noticed that the blog postings have been a little slow the past couple of days — this is due to the fact that i spent pretty much my entire weekend taking new photos, writing product descriptions and sorting out the stock for my little shop. (i did however find a few hours to get out into the amazing sydney spring sun. 75F and not a cloud in the sky).

with that… the shameless promotion comes in the form of me telling you about my relaunched etsy shop, the new stock & the limited time offer.

everybutton offers cheap international shipping + for a limited time (until 10.10.10) get 20% off all products.

so after 12 months of living in a foreign land to that of where i started my little etsy shop, i finally got the shipping all sorted and got up some great new stock – including headbands, bracelets, totebags, necklaces, rings, etc… (plus i’ve still got another 30+ products to post in the next couple weeks).

a few of my favorites include:

• the elastic headbands that are sure to turn a bad hair day into a statement
• the totebags that can fit all your daily essentials (+ some)
• and finally, the bracelets & necklaces with fabric buttons made by sustainable australian company ‘bird textiles’ (website)

if you like what you see, want to learn more or want to share with a friend – then these links will hopefully come in handy:
the etsy shop: www.etsy.everybutton.com / the facebook page: www.facebook.com/everybutton

ok, that’s all – thanks so much for letting me take out time from our ‘regularly scheduled programming’ to allow me to share a little bit about my handmade hobby with you!

-bec

whether you are looking for something to spice up a simple ‘do’, turn a bad hair day into fashionable OR just want a fun little personalized gift for someone special… creating these embellished elastic headbands are easy & cheap, but bring a big sense of head-turning color and creativity .

cost: $5 – 10 (makes multiple headbands)
creation time: 10 – 15 mins
supplies: lightweight elastic trim, buttons/jewels/feathers/or beads, needle & thread

how-to:

1. cut a 12-14 inch piece of elastic (consider different colors, textures, widths, etc… working with lace is my favorite)
2. fit the elastic around your head (pulling it tight) and tie into a knot at the bottom allowing comfortable breathing room to slide on and off
3. trim the excess pieces of elastic from the knot area
4. identify where you would like the jewels, buttons or beads to sit on your head and mark the area with your needle
5. attach the embellishments with the needle & thread
6. now you’ve got a unique & one of a kind headpiece that’s sure to stand out in the crowd – the end!

since moving to australia – i’ve become obsessed with totebags.  in fact, on my last trip home to the u.s., I bought a beautiful new marc jacobs leather bag — however, due to my love for the flexibility and bottomless pit of these cotton bags, the MJ has gotten little airtime.

this is another one of my little projects that I enjoy making for gifts, as you can really personalize a bag for someone by picking the right fabric & applique shape. with that, here is my totebag recipe…

cost: approx $5 -10 (depending on the cost of your totebag. I get mine for $1.50 each at lincraft in australia, though I know most of the u.s. chains have the same great deals – esp if you buy in bulk)
creation time: 30 mins
supplies: cotton totebag, buttons, fabric, fusible web, a marker, needlepoint thread, scissors, iron & a needle

how-to:

1. using your fabric & fusible web, you can create your own iron-on appliques. (check out this d.i.y. youtube video that I found with the how-to) *if you prefer to have someone else make the iron-ons for you… check out applique heaven’s shop on etsy, i love their designs + they are so cheap & they ship internationally
2. once you have your iron-ons, decide how you want to place it or them on to the bag.
3. using your iron on low heat iron the fabric onto the bag and then flip the bag inside out to give it another good mounting
4. once the iron-on is now mounted to the fabric, go around the edges with a colorful thick thread
5. i often like to give my patchworks an eye or emphasize the design with a couple cute buttons
6. to give the bag even a bit more, I’ve done a little cross-stitch in the middle of each of the handles (see below)
7. and ‘viola’… you are done!

i’ve always had a love for buttons.  when I was a little kid, my sister and I would sit on the floor of my parents bedroom and pour out old jars of buttons that my mother had acquired from my great grandmother.  we’d pick out our favorites and fight over who got to keep which buttons (though they always went back into the jar.  well flash forward twenty-some years later, and i finally got all the buttons i wanted when i started my etsy shop ‘everybutton‘.

i’ve been making and selling my little button designs since august 2009. it started out as mainly rings & headbands – and a year later, i’ve branched out making bracelets, totebags, earrings, etc… i’ve sold a good handful of stuff, and just recently started selling at markets. as expected, my mother is my biggest fan and now has a jewelery box filled with little crafty pieces from her daughter’s collection.

as mentioned, the buttons are mostly vintage – but i do pick up a cute unique store bought button here & there. the mountings for the jewelry, i’ve purchased mainly from etsy & artfire.  both sites have a great assortment of supplied spanning vintage and newly designed pieces. my favorite metal to use is brass and I most enjoy mounting a cool button onto an ornate filigree band.

while this shop is never going to be my sole source of income, i enjoy the satifaction and meditation that creating a little handmade item brings to my inner self.  it’s fun to sprinkle a little personal design to a store bought outfit.

visit everybutton at www.everybutton.etsy.com