New projects

What have I been doing lately? Or what have I realized I need to get done, now that it's October?
I signed up for a Pretty Pennants swap on one of my Yahoo groups, and realized it needed to be in the hostesses hands by Oct 15th. Last time I posted it, I hadn't quite decided on the edges.
I tried doing some embroidery that waved sort of like ric rac, but it did not look good. Then I remembered these nice tiny trims I got a t a yard sale and attached them.
And once again, blogger has deleted one of them, the third one has little tiny flowers for the trim. Now I need to figure out how to finish the back, take care of the fraying on the top edge and figure out a way to hang them. I have a piece of quilt batting on the backs of them to give them more support, but I still need to actually finish the back and add my information. I think I might just add eyelets for the hanging part. I also realized how empty the top third now looks, but I think the front is actually done.

Next up, I have to do one more ATC for my Yahoo group for last month, the theme was Kawaii, and I have to say it's really not inspiring me.

You totally can't tell that that blob is a cat, I embellished the flower that's on his head.
Here are my other member's cards:

I also have to finish my Altoids box for a button swap I'm doing, and put together the fall packets for my Yahoo group. Sometimes procrastination is not good at all.

What projects are you all working on?

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

I haven't participated in this for a long time, mostly because I don't generally have anything neat to show you. Today, I do:
I joined a Pretty Pennants swap on a Yahoo group I'm in. I was orignally going to make my pennants with vintage hankies, but they weren't big enough. By that time, I'd already got myself so excited about fabric, I just had to find some. I chose this vintage green scarf, I affixed it to a piece of quilt batting with spray adhesive and went to work.
There is a row of vintage buttons with old thread in them at the top. The middle piece is from a doily I picked up from a garage sale and the button is also vintage. I couldn't find the right thread in my stash, so they are all sewn on with some cord from some tags.
I think I might add some decorative stitching and some beads or buttons hanging off the end. I'm supposed to have a way to hang it as well, and finish the back (which is just the batting and stitches right now), but I'm not sure how.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

What's on your Workdesk? Go over to Julia's to see some more workdesks.

Buttons!!!

Here is my collection of buttons:
This table is about 4 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide.

These are two color buttons

These are mostly shank buttons.

These are my purple buttons

These are my hearts and a few with anchors imprinted on the front.

These are white shell ones, and ones with printed words on them.

These are my metallic buttons.

These are the red ones.

These are brown ones, balloons, and some round ones.

Here are my white ones and some of my orange ones.

Here are my orange and some of my yellow ones.

Here's a better look at my yellow ones, and some more of my shank ones.

Here are my blue ones.

And my pink ones.

And my green ones.

Here's a better shot of the new/old ones I got a few weeks ago.

These are interesting, they're edges are cut sorta like gears.

The colors are a little off because these were taken at night on a dark table, they're mostly bright colors.

Any ideas on what I should do with my buttons?

Buttons

I have too many buttons, and I try not to buy more, but last weekend I went to a flea market and broke down and bought some.
Here are my metal ones, the one with the green circle in the middle is missing some of the clear stones around the edge, so I got it free.
OK, this is not a button, but it's a cute little dog pin I picked up

My favorite in this picture is the one that looks like a die, and the green one with the leaf and the wooden one next to it with the red flowers.

Here's a close-up of my favorite ones

Last weekend, we went up to our timeshare in Okoboji, IA. While there, other than going to the flea market, I picked up some nice beach glass. I just don't know what to do with it now.

Chinese papercuts

I found these gorgeous Chinese paper cuts at a garage sale this weekend.
There were two packages for fifty cents, I was curious as to what they were, and figured if they weren't anything exciting, I could always sell them online.

Inside the packagaes were these very delicate paper cuts.

They're either cut from rice paper or tissue paper, I don't know the difference, and then painted.

What you see in the pictures are the paper cuts sitting on rectangular papers. They are gorgeous.

Anyone got any ideas of what to do with them? Or want any? Let me know.

Bird Song Tag Book

Do you all remember when I made these? Well, I got my tag book in the mail today, and the tags I got are great. First is the cover made by Karla Nathan. I was perusing her book covers and loved the one she made, she said it's a scanned bird picture printed out onto a book page, and I love the tiny bird in cage charm on the bottom. Here's the front:
The back is a nice piece of wallpaper, here it is:

The first tag is made by Debbie. It's cute that Debbie's seems to focus more on the girl, but still has the bird element on it. I also love the velvet trim and the cute pink bling at the bottom. Here's the front:

And the back:

The second tag I have is unsigned, so if you know the artist, please let me know. I love the little crocheted flower on the bottom. Also, I don't know if you can tell that much, but there's a very nice layering of blue glitter all over the tag. Here's the front:

And the back:

The third tag is made by Glenda Bledsoe (no blog). On the back, it says she took the picture of the hummingbird, I'm amazed it sat still long enough for her to capture it. I also love the flower punches. Here's the front:

And the back:

The fourth tag is made by Alveen. I love the 3D birdhouse with the pearl trim and the paper flowers at the bottom. Here's the front:

And the back:

The fifth tag is made by R Flowers (no blog). I love the punches on this one as well. Here's the front:

I really like the little jewel butterfly on the back, here it is:

The sixth tag is made by Karla Nathan as well. That bird with the blue head looks like he's a little annoyed at something. I love the egg and the bling on the top. Here's the front:

And the back:

And the last tag is made by Regina (no blog), here's the front:

I love the layered eggs on the back, here they are:

Thank you ladies for making these, I love my book. Thank you also to Karla for hosting. I have always thought about joining one of Karla's tag book swaps, but always figured my style of art wasn't good enough, but I think I will join again in the future.

The other day, I was at work and someone donated a gorgeous book of bird images, I bought it today, now I can make a lot more bird tags.

I've been making bugs!

I bought a bag of pom poms at a garage sale last week, and wasn't sure what to do with them. After remembering a caterpillar I made with a bug kit, I decided to do more. Here's what I have.
The red and white one is the one I made from the kit. They still need eyes and some kind of antenna, but I think they are way too cute. I'm thinking of making the really small ones into pins and adding them to my Etsy store. Unfortunately I have no idea what to do with the rest, any ideas?