i can see the future...

I have been thrifting a lot lately, the flee markets and summer fairs are booming this summer, and have found some marvelous new supplies.

I am on vacation next week and a better part of my first weekend will be spent thrifting (there are 4 major open-air flee markets in my neighbourhood that weekend).

Last week i found some marvelous buttons.

I also got these gorgeous bone plastic rings (bone plastic? ha!) that i knew not what to do with...

... until i figured out i could wear them as rings...


I can see the future: vintage buttons and bone rings! :)

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photos a gogo

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Call for artists - Trashion Special Issue Newsletter

We are preparing a Trashion special issue of our newsletter.

We are calling on all artist who are members of the Trashion team to send us a contribution!

We would love to have interviews, coupon codes, adds, banners, articles, pictures, and even some items we could raffle off, if you have some!

So far, we have a few things lined up, like articles on the street team, the trunk show at the etsy labs , trashion in the crochet craft world, and a tutorial on how to make button rings by your’s truly

If you are interested, you can start sending us your things here

It’s FREE PUBLICITY for your shop!

general info:
adds must be 160x160 maximum and in colour
banners must be 100x500 maximum and in colour

articles must be ready to publish (i will not edit them)

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this week-end...

... I've had the joy of meeting Janick from Nea Jewelry
We had shared numerous email conversations, and it was really fun to see her face to face! We could actualy really lough out loud, for once :)
We exchanged supplies (yay!) and I gave her a "custom made especially for her" pair of my vintage silk earrings, on Sterling Silver.
I think she liked them!

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Indie find of the moment: popko

miss popko is a sculptor and awesomely talented jewelry artist!

i adore her style and her flair for materials

She uses glass, tiles, mosaic and butterfly wings! yes, you read that right! butterfly wings!

visit her blog to join her mailing list and stay updated on her creations!

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what's your favorite tool?

Earlier this may i was on Love Gemma's blog ...

I talked about my favorite tool, which is a bit unusual
Its an old beat up Tupperware tv-diner plate that is from the 60s or 70s...

"action shot" while making my world famous button stacks

my amazing mother in law gave it to me thinking i could use it to microwave foods, but its almost twice the size of my microwave ;)
it is separated in 5 nifty compartments, so i can put my tools in the long section (that was intended for utensils) and beads in the other ones (intended for the glass of water or bowl of soup), and work in the middle part, the biggest section, intended for the plate

i love it because my beads don't go rolling around anywhere, and that's a good thing, considering i have 3 cats that are just waiting for a bead to fall on the floor :)

its funny, or maybe ironic, because I've got lots of friends who tell me my jewelry is "TV tray art" because i am not a metal smith, for example, so i can do my thing while watching tv... on a foldable tv table, IN a tv tray! ha!

I've got to say it again, I'm also in love with my fiskars wire jig (i cooed over it here)

And I added to my family of tools these nifty round pliers
I don't know how I was able to live without them!

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More press!

We are all over the web lately!
I'm tickled pink!

We are on the circle back studio blog twice! Here and the again here.

We where also featured in the Etsy Trashion Week on the Impybat~Groovy Vinyl blog, here

And last but not least, another button enthusiast blogged about us here

Thanks so much!

I am really becoming addicted to blogs! I discovered i could track blogs i like reading with bloglines and i now follow several hundred (!!!) blogs...

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simple vintage button flower stationery

These cards are ... as cute as a button!

They have fast become my most popular item! And I adore doing them, so it's a win-win situation, really!

preparing for the creation...

The lovely flowers are hand embroidered, featuring gorgeous vintage repurposed buttons.
The white cards are 4"x4" (10 cm x 10 cm) blank flat notes, made out of recycled paper.

The green ones are a new model i created this weekend, and are 1 1/2" x 2" (3.75 cm x 5 cm) blank gift tags, also made out of recycled paper.

The pink buttons are vintage, I hand thrifted them this weekend, and amazingly, they all match! That is very rare, in my experience, unless they are still on the card when i find them. The white mother of pearl buttons are also vintage.

The yellow buttons are part of the batch of "rejected" buttons i came upon and salvaged...
They where tossed from the factory because they had slight imperfections... some have smudges, or are slightly oval, some are not perfectly embossed, and some even don't have all their wholes, or none at all!
I found myself with a bag full of unloved buttons! I just had to find them a new home!

"marguerites"

They received rave reviews from the Indie Quarter Blog! Thanks so much!

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vintage silk scraps and Silver earrings

What to do with all those scraps of lucious vintage silk fabric?
Why, jewelry, of course!

These unusual little stars are made of gorgeous vintage silk scarf scarps.
The pieces can be rearanged at will.

They are extra light and flutter in the lightest breeeze :)

The earrings are actually made out of my mom's vintage silk scarves she used to wear when she was much younger... I turned the scarves into cuffs, fingerless gloves, and the such... and saved the scraps to make these earrings!
More colours to come!

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indie find of the moment - Kim Westad

Kim Westad is a master ceramist. She creates fine ceramics in pure, simple shapes that are an absolute design delight!

My favourites are the Sweet pea vases.

I also adore her tulip / rose bud shapped vases.

She has some pendants, how could I resist jewelry :) and this one is the best by far.

Visit her shop, or her online portfolio!

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3000 views on .tomate d'épingles. blog!

We have reached, and passed, the 3000 views on .tomate d'épingles. blog!
Thank you all so much for your visits, for reading our news and for all the comments!

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saturday afternoon

last saturday was a really nice summery day and i enjoyed the sun while taking pictures of my latest creations
here's a view of my tiny kingdom

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an amazing week indeed

This week has been quite awesome, for me and my crafty ventures (which is a fun change to everything else in my life...).

I was featured in Fashion Tribes, Blooming Lily and Indie Galore. Thanks so much! Its quite an honor!

I am also verry happy to tell you that my button earrings have been chosen in the first group of jewelry selections for 1000 Jewelry Designs, a book by Sandra Salamony and published by Rockport Publishers / Quarry Books. This first batch is to make the "dummy," the 16 page printed piece that is used as a sales tool for the book. The jewelry will also be featured in the book, with a link to my etsy shop!

They even congratulate me in the Etsy team pages!

It's going to be a really beautiful book. I hope many more Etsy jewelers will make the cut!

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