Tutorial: Easy Button Blossoms!

Years ago I saw some darling flowers made of buttons 

in my favorite magazine, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion.
Inspired to try this new craft project, I made some of my own

using scrapbook papers, miscellaneous buttons, and chenille stems
[we used to call those things 'pipe cleaners', remember?!]

and some green velvet ribbon as 'leaves'...

 Well, that was long ago and they've long since disappeared...

but when I came across these photos recently, I got inspired all over again.

So I decided to make some NEW button flowers,

and create a simple tutorial for you while I was at it!

supplies:

 .

paper - scrapbook paper, sheet music, old magazine & catalog pages, anything.
pipe cleaners / chenille stems - white or green (any color, really!)

scissors and a hole punch

assorted buttons - vintage, thrifted, pulled off of raggy clothes, or new from the craft store.

NOTE: You'll want the buttons to have holes in them - though the smallest buttons can have a shank back and will still work.

.

 #1. cut circles from the paper - various sizes, all bigger than your biggest button sizes.

#2. punch a hole in the center of each circle.

#3. slide a small button with tiny holes onto a pipe cleaner - it should fit TIGHTLY.
pull it down the stem about and inch and a half.

#4. slide on one of the paper circles, so that it fits right up tight against the button.

 add more buttons, working from largest to smallest sizes. 

vary the colors and shapes so that all the details show up.

 #5. secure the top button by bending the end of the pipe cleaner stem over. 

#6. from the bottom of the flower, GENTLY push all of the buttons and the paper circle upward

toward the top, until the buttons nestle closely together.

#7. cut pipe cleaner stems to the length you'd like.
NOTE: if you want your finished stems to be longer than @5",

they can be wound around a length of wire or a bamboo skewer for strength.

 OPTION:
#6. add tiny paper, felt, or fabric leaves to the back of the paper circle

or if you cut them from fabric or ribbon, you can glue them to the stem.

Display in a sweet little bouquet of button-y beauty!

shared online:
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Cupcakes & Crinoline | Project Inspire{d}

One Project Closer | Creativity Unleashed
 

Serving Up Blooms at the Garden Bar

this is the one where Deb turns a folding patio bar into a potting bench!

I use everyday items in ways 

that no person in their right mind would ever think of or attempt...
this is no exception to that rule.

last weekend, my mom was struggling to pot up some plants for her backyard

on her glass patio table. Not the optimum surface for messy work. 

and for my mom, still recovering from back surgery, not the optimum height, either.

not five feet away from her, against the house, stood a folding outdoor bar.
[sitting there, unused, except for large parties once or twice a year.]
only I didn't SEE a bar. I saw a Potting Bench! 

i quickly dragged it over to the edge of the patio, against a shady vine wall,
set it up, gathered a few accessories and gardening staples,

and the 'Garden Bar' was born:

the metal and mesh folding bar is the perfect height for Mom to work at, 

with the bar stool being a perfect resting spot for her - or a potted plant.

 when it came to finding storage containers and accessories, 

i just went with the theme and found things that tie into the 'bar' idea...

assorted galvanized buckets and pails hold potting soil, gravel, and flower vases.
wood wine crates provide more storage for unused pots and hand tools.

inside the bar, items are stored mostly on the right side - 

so that on the left, dirt falls straight through the wire shelves to the ground for easy cleanup.

 behind the bar, a small trellis adds visual interest and a place to hang accessories,

like a small lantern and buckets to hold seed packets.

a burlap wine bag with 3 separated compartments inside

is perfect for transporting a garden kneeling pad, a spade, and gloves anywhere in the garden.

 on top of the bar, items used for beverage service are pressed into action for garden chores:

a silver ice bucket holds watering containers,

including a martini shaker for mixing up crystalized Miracle Gro fertilizer,
an old soda bottle with a vintage sprinkler spout for watering tiny garden specimens,
and empty wine bottles...

the wine bottles are a simple way to water your plants slowly - 

just fill bottle with water, invert into the soil, and gravity will do the rest as the plant soil dries out.

not to be forgotten, stemless wine glasses serve double-duty as mini-cloches over small potted plants.
if you buy the plastic versions of these, they'll fare well outdoors all year long!
[ I shared the glass-as-cloche idea HERE last spring ]

.. and last but not least, used wine corks make excellent pot-fillers - so save them!

[ find instructions for making my Seed Packet Tin Can Vases HERE ]

Mom watched me do all of this with great interest for half an hour.

when I was done arranging everything, 

she asked if I was going to create a 'signature cocktail' for the Garden Bar.

actually, I hadn't thought of that... 

seems like it needs to be made with Godiva liqueur and crushed Oreos so it looks like dirt,

or perhaps something citrus-y with basil from the garden. 

i guess I'll have to spend some time at the Garden Bar to figure it out!

shared online:

One Project Closer | Creativity Unleashed Link Party #9

ReCycled Art!

My Mom's favorite painting is Pierre-August Renoir's 'Luncheon of the Boating Party',
painted in vibrantly-colored oils in 1881.

You can see a part of that painting in the photo above,
on a beautiful wine box that I gave her one Christmas.
When I found it with her favorite scene on it, I knew it was a perfect gift.

Here is a view of the Renoir painting in its entirety:

On my parent's 20th wedding anniversary,

I wanted to find a really special and personal gift for them...

so I found a poster-sized lithograph of this painting and over-painted it.

Yes, I defaced a perfectly good print of a famous painting!
I did that because I wanted to personalize it, 

but didn't want to have to paint the whole scene from scratch...

My idea was to make the characters in the painting portray our family,

 making the original scene reflect the faces of my parents and my siblings and our spouses...

as if we were gathered together to celebrate their marriage.
(We're a blended family)

It was a surprise, so I had my siblings send me photos of themselves in certain poses.
Using those as a reference, I changed a few things from the original:
removed some characters, moved some characters, changed faces and clothes a bit,
and the end result was a NEW painting -that we call 'Luncheon of the Mendelson Family'.

Here's my 'personalized' version of Renoir's famous party:

The man in the top hat in the top center of the painting was removed, 

and woman on the top right was moved to where the man in the top hat stood .
She had blonde hair added, and now resembles my sister in law Amy, 

standing next to my brother Scott. 

(who doesn't really look all that different from the original man standing there, actually....)
The two men from the upper right have been removed, as well.

The sweet young lady leaning on the railing has had long brown hair added,

and the seated gentleman in the brown hat has his face turned a bit more to the front - 

that's my lovely sister Linda and her husband Ray.

I'm the woman at the table across from 'brown hat guy'...

with a wine glass and blonde hair 

(because when I painted this, I was blonde and worked at a winery).
I was married then, and so the man seated next to me in the painting

had glasses added so he'd resemble my husband.
When I was editing the photo for this post, I made the decision to remove him...  
he's still on the original, though, and will remain there.

The bearded man at the railing in the left foreground got sleeves added to his shirt,

and the woman seated near him had longer blonde hair added...

that's my brother Don and his sweet wife Beverly.
(If I was being totally realistic, I'd have painted Don with a fishing pole and line in the nearby water ;) )

The lovely brunette standing on the right side is a total re-do of the original character:
The manly coat and tie were repainted as a feminine blouse,

and the straight hair changed to a curly brunette style

to more accurately portray my beautiful sister Stacy.

And the two people seated at the front right corner of the table are our parents,

at the center of the celebration.

I think Mom looks a little too much like Martha Stewart here, honestly,

but that's her blonde hair and loving smile as she looks at her husband, our Dad -

who has also had sleeves added to his shirt, along with glasses and gray hair.

One added detail you can't really see is on the wine bottles on the table...

Years before, my parents had me create a custom logo for their own use at parties,

touting their 'Turtle Creek Winery' (they collect turtles).
They used the logo for napkins and aprons and even wine bottle labels,

so I put that logo on the bottles in the painting.
It was just one more way to reflect their lives and marriage...

This is what the actual painting looks like in the frame:

My Mom loves it... it hangs in her office, and she looks at it every day.
I really had fun creating it for her and Dad!

If you are searching for a truly personalized gift
for an anniversary, wedding, or birthday this year...

take someone's favorite painting and put them IN it!

See another of my altered paintings here

a Touch of Spring

If you're aching for spring to arrive,

try this simple and inexpensive decor idea with an everyday item:
hang a coffee or tea cup from a ribbon tied to its handle,

and tuck a tiny nest inside!

I make my own simple little NeSts from dried daylily and daffodil foliage...
you can too, using my tutorial here !
 'faux' nests in various sizes are always available at craft stores,

and of course you can use a tiny real birds' nest, if you have one.

 You can use other 'handled' items in a similar fashion... 

like this vintage ironstone chamber pot!

I have a precious bone china cup, saucer, and dessert plate with a golden daffodil pattern,
and I love to display it differently every Spring.

This year, I tipped the cup on its side, and tucked a little grass nest inside,
and added dried blossoms from last year's white narcissus flowers.

A lacy white cupcake wrapper adds more feminine detail to the vignette...

Just the tiniest touch of Spring does the trick!

shared online:

One Project Closer | Creativity Unleashed

Happy Hearts Day!

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day...

and for those who aren't getting flowers from someone else, 

please accept these from me!

Photos taken by me in 2013 on location at:
Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach, California
Sharyn Sowell's private garden in Mt. Vernon, Washington
The Old Irvine Ranch in Irvine, California

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