on the button!

Life gets in the way. And the sickness! But that's another story...

Finally found the chance to tell you all about the fun Stacey and I had a few Saturdays ago at The Button Tin, the quaintest little craft kiosk imaginable. And in good old Rotherham of all places!

The lovely and talented textile artist Gemma Nemer opens up her personal workspace to deliver workshops 'with a vintage twist'. Her ethos is all about keeping alive traditional fabric crafts, and re-using and re-working reclaimed materials -a girl after my own scavenging heart!

Apparently we opted for the trickiest, most labour-intensive make Gemma offers -etui sewing boxes. Nothing like jumping in at the deep end!

I'd planned to give the end result away as a gift if I didn't like it. Being a perfectionist I can't bear to look at something I feel I've made badly, but I worked so hard my eyes were crossed and my fingers were numb! And the clashing fabrics I'd chosen, which initially we weren't sure about, looked just so cute together.

There is no such thing as too much pattern!

So now my battered purple sewing tin has a sweet, new, pain-stakingly crafted companion...

...and I'm trying to pick which of Gemma's classes to try next. I'm thinking the nostalgic jewellery making, in the hope my efforts would turn out anywhere near as perfect as Gemma's pretty petals...

See more of her work on Flickr click click!

And visit The Button Tin's website clickety click!

Tangerine Trees

Been soooo busy lately. What with sorting out invitations for my 30th Birthday extravaganza (it isn't for a while yet, but time's a ticking, and I do like to be organised!), the dreaded annual car insurance search (done!), and still finding time to celebrate the bank holidays and socialise (two barbeques within one week, heavily featuring my first attempt at banoffee pie, and fridge cake, just like they had a the Royal Wedding! I so need to do my Denise Van-work-Outen DVD...)

I've also been fairly prolific with my creative dalliances. I think it's the impending pressure of the Summer shows coming up. I've just had 2 pieces accepted for Bury Art Week. I haven't shown there before so am quite excited. Then there's the Great Sheffied Art Show, which is pretty much the highlight of my year. I'm hoping to submit four or five pieces for selection next weekend (haven't quite decided yet), so I'll have fingers and toes and all other appendages crossed, and hope you will on my behalf also!

I've recently reprised my doodled trees motif and am quite pleased with the result.

I've been told that the effect is quite pschedelic, and although that was not the intention originally, I kind of agree, what with the tangerine trees, power flowers and retro backdrop.

I'm not going to put this in my Folksy shop just yet, as I think this is one of the pieces I'll submit for GSAS.

I also completed this trinket box recently, which is available on Folksy, and was inspired by a couple of European trips.

Who knows, maybe if I keep working this hard I'll treat you to a post about a wonderful little workshop myself and the lovely Stacey Grimey-Grime participated in this weekend.

What busy-busy bees!