New at Bumbershoot Supplies. Vintage Buttons and Handpainted Flower Cabochons Continued

This week at Bumbershoot Supplies, I continue to list more vintage buttons and vintage handpainted Japanese plastic cabochons from a large order that recently arrived.  Here are a few of the new items....

In buttons: Some gorgeous vintage mother of pearl from Japan, about 60 years old...

In cabochons: puppies, cherries, sweet peas, orchids, the biggest long stem roses I've ever seen, plus daisies in two types.  Sweet peas and one of the daisies shown below...

And in this delightful combination of both button and cabochon, these vintage buttons with metal loop shanks, made from vintage plastic cabochons.

Plus these great ladybug buttons, for which I also have cabs available.

You will find all the vintage handpainted Japanese cabochons in the "vintage plastic cabochons" section of Bumbershoot Supplies.  Buttons are located in the "vintage buttons" section.  I hope you enjoy these vintage treasures.

Best wishes for a great weekend!

New at Bumbershoot Designs. Envelope Locket

New at Bumbershoot Designs this week, this vintage locket, in the shape of an envelope, is ready for a note, a photo, a lock of hair, a few tiny trinkets, whatever  you want to wear close to you.  Everything but the toggle clasp is a vintage component, and it uses some of my favorite flowers and glass pearls.  The tiny little glass pearl in the center of the flower is from the late 1940's - divine.

But one of the things that makes this design really special is the participation of the wearer.  The design becomes elevated by the meaning the person wearing it chooses and the trinkets they place inside. I love designs that truly come alive in this way.

This very limited edition necklace is currently available at Bumbershoot Designs.  If you click on the link and it has sold, just contact me.

Three Muses. Music.

The challenge this week at the Three Muses is "music".  This is an artist trading card (ATC) featuring a vintage sheet music background, distressed and painted. A pressed Japanese maple leaf from my collection is adhered on top, with a bit of stamping and a transparency sheet covers the entire card, and is held in place with brads.

Sometimes in the autumn, the leaf colors are so intense, they seem to me to vibrate and I think maybe the leaves are singing - a leaf song.

Studio Snapshot. A Girl Can't Have Too Many Pearls...

some of my vintage glass pearls...

I Feel Pretty. Mixed Media Monday

This is my entry for this week's challenge at Mixed Media Monday, "I Feel Pretty".  I've been working on this button bracelet for some time, and the color palette seemed to fit the challenge, so I was inspired to finish it!  It features many vintage items, including glass pearls, buttons and beads, plus a touch of contemporary tiny peach moonstone beads interspersed thoughout.  A mix of eras (1940's to contemporary) and a mix of materials (glass, plastic, metal).

Lots and lots of pretty...

Update May 1, 2020: Now available at Bumbershoot Designs, you will find this bracelet here.

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Columbus' Ship La Nina

(replica of La Nina, Columbus' ship, on Lake Union)

The crew of the caravel "Nina" also saw signs of land, and a small branch covered with berries. Everyone breathed afresh and rejoiced at these signs.

~Christopher Columbus

New at Bumbershoot Designs. Designs Featuring Vintage Freshwater Pearl Flowers

I recently discovered some vintage freshwater pearls that have been woven by hand into tiny flowers. I had to have them! I absolutely adore vintage glass pearls, and I work with them a lot. This was a wonderful opportunity to work with genuine vintage pearls. Today I share two new designs, just listed at Bumbershoot Designs featuring these lovely pearls.

This necklace features a brass clam shell pendant dating to the 1940's. It is rich and aged in appearance due to the gorgeous natural patina that has occurred on the brass over the last 60+ years. The chain on this necklace is long, 36 inches, so you can wrap it around your neck twice, for a layered look.

These pearl flowers also lend themselves to beautiful stud earrings, and I was excited to to find vintage posts to pair with the pearls.

The Pearl Shell Vintage Charm Necklace and the Pearl Flower Stud Earrings are available at Bumbershoot Designs, or just contact me.

Wishing you a great weekend!

New at Bumbershoot Supplies. Vintage Buttons Galore

I am so excited to be expanding the vintage buttons section of Bumbershoot Supplies! I've recently received a shipment of vintage buttons to die for - glass, plastics, crystal, mirrored, handpainted, you name it.

And hugely exciting for me, and I hope for you too, is that these buttons are all coming out of their original packaging.  I am really thrilled to be able to show original packaging that tells us the place and date of manufacture of these splendid bits of history. Plus, it is an incredible experience to be cutting string and opening boxes that have been tied up and closed tight since the 1940's. 

I'll be listing buttons for several days. I've started with some of the vintage plastic rhinestone buttons from Austria (see above), and also some glass buttons from Occupied Japan (below)...

Plus some glass rhinestone buttons on cards, also from occupied Austria, and nestled in their box between layers of tissue...perfect!

Just think of what was happening in the world and in these countries at the time these beautiful works of art and craft were being made.  For me it is so inspirational to refllect on the beauty that continues to be created even during the most difficult times.

Three Muses. Hats and Crowns and Wings and Things

Here is my entry for the Three Muses weekly challenge, where the challenge this week is "hats and crowns and wings and things".  I don't use those motifs much in my paper and fiber art, but for some weeks now I have been looking at these gorgeous 1940's brass crown stampings sitting on my work table and intending to come up with a jewelry design featuring them. This challenge was just the ticket!

I think of this necklace as "The Queen's Jewels" and it features several vintage components from the 1940's to 1950's: the crown, the rhinestone bead balls, the crystal beads and the glass pearls. With a royal swan dangling off the extension chain, hopefully this is fit for a queen :)

Added Apr 28: Available now at Bumbershoot Designs under the name "Royal", you will find this necklace here.

Skagit Valley Tulip Earrings Featured in Etsy Treasury

Many thanks to Kitty of PrettybyKitty for featuring Bumbershoot Design's Skagit Valley Tulip Earrings in an Etsy treasury and on her blog.  Etsy treasuries are time limited, so a great way to view this collection is on Kitty's blog, here. Skagit Valley Tulip Earrings are regularly available at Bumbershoot Designs, so if they show as sold when you click on the direct link, just contact me.

The inspiration for these earrings comes from the gorgeous tulip fields in the Skagit Valley just north of Seattle.

Tulips are blooming now, if you want to visit, check out the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival here.

Studio Snapshot. Vintage Button Inspiration

Beautiful vintage button inspiration...

Look What I Found. Mixed Media Monday

Oh my. All you have to do is go to Bumbershoot Supplies to see "what I found" :)

But for this week's Mixed Media Monday challenge, I focused on one of the most special places in the world to me, the ocean. We are blessed  in Seattle to be very close to water everywhere, including salt water in the form of Puget Sound. And the Pacific Ocean is not too far away.

This is a 6x6 inch art quilt using my hand dyed cloth as a base and featuring some of the treasures I have collected in my trips to the beach.

One of my favorite poets, ee cummings, captures my feelings about the sea so well:

maggie and milly and molly and may

went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang

so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star

whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone

as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)

it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

Triangle. Think Monday Think ATC

This is my entry for this week's challenge at Think Monday Think ATC: triangle. This is an abstract fabric ATC made of a collage of my hand dyed fabrics and denim (from old jeans). It is both machine and hand stitched. Lots of triangles in here.

When I make these types of ATCs, I usually make a large pieced fabric, then use a template with an ATC-sized hole cut in it and move it around the fabric until I find a section that I like. Then I mark and cut out that section.

Since this is an abstract piece, I thought it would be interesting to photograph it in each of the 4 directions in which it could be viewed. See which you like best.

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week

(Skagit Valley tulips)

And tulips, children love to stretch

Their fingers down, to feel in each

Its beauty’s secret nearer.

~E. B. Browning—A Flower in a Letter.

New at Bumbershoot Designs. Jeweled Feathers. A Vintage Button, Bead and Charm Bracelet

If you are familiar with Bumbershoot Designs, you will know that one of my favourite things to make are these button, bead and charm bracelets, pulling together vintage and antique components from my collection.

It takes some time to make each bracelet.  I audition beads, make charms, go looking in my collection and elsewhere for the perfect buttons to complement the other glass and metal components.  Each bracelet remains laid out on my work table so I can see it all the time. 

This particular bracelet features 5 vintage sparkly rhinestone buttons in different sizes and styles. Also featured are 2 individually made lampwork flowers from 1950's Japan in cobalt blue, plus 6 periwinkle teardrop beads, also vintage Japanese. The rivoli faceted glass buttons in cobalt are from 1940's West Germany. There are many charms made with vintage glass cabochons from Japan, West Germany and Czechoslovakia. The bracelet is named after the 3 very old Czech glass feather beads in turquoise with gold detailing (my only 3).

I love these bracelets, since they allow me the freedom to include all the vintage components I adore, in one place.
This one of a kind design is currently available here, at Bumbershoot Designs.

And on my worktable currently is the next button charm bracelet, a flower theme in shades of antique ivory, peach and coral. Stay tuned...

New at Bumbershoot Supplies. Vintage Ribbons and Lace

I have been fortunate to obtain some vintage ribbons and laces from the estate of a retired doll and dressmaker.  Just listed last evening and this morning, currently in stock at Bumbershoot Supplies, you will find some vintage grosgrains from the 1940's to 1950's...

some vintage satin ribbon from the 1940's....

and several laces, all at least 30 years old...

These ribbons and laces are found in the "vintage sequins, trims" section of Bumbershoot Supplies.  I have yardage on each of these trims, so if you would like more than the 2 yards listed, just let me know.  And as always, if you click on the link and items are sold, just contact me and I'll help you out.

Featured Artist. Chantal Regis of Creolane on Etsy

I'm happy to share with you the work of Chantal Regis of Creolane on Etsy.

Chantal purchased some vintage Swarovski crystal beads in a gorgeous apple green. Then she left feedback about her purchase that made me laugh out loud.  I simply had to go over to her shop to see what she was doing with the beads! And here is what I found in her brand new Etsy shop....

 

 

I love Chantal's combination of materials and textures, and also how she mixes vintage beads and components with contemporary ones. 

The other aspect of her work that is interesting to me is that she sometimes alters her supplies to meet her needs, for example these earrings in which she has painted the brass to achieve the aged appearance:

 

 

If you visit Chantal's shop, be sure to notice her shop banner also - it's a band of shimmering color, mezmerizing!