Butterflies and Spring

It's such a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  We had a very mild winter but then spring has just been so damp and cold.  Finally it seems like spring is finally arriving.  With that of course means it's time to do yard work and cut the grass but I'll take that along with the beautiful sunshine.  This little guy was out and about flitting about on the lawn.  So pretty and it's nice to see these little creatures out and about.

Homemade Bread

What's more handmade than homemade bread?  I haven't made bread without the aid of a bread machine in ages.  My mom used to make amazing bread.  Now I cheated and used my Kitchen Aid mixer (I just got one recently and love it).  Mom used to mix everything by hand.  I sure wish she was around so I could get her recipe.  I miss all those recipes and such that I didn't think to get at the time before she was gone.  You always think you have so much time to do these things.....  Anyway no sad thoughts today.  The bread has risen quite well.  This is a picture of it after it has risen the first time.  It's now sitting in the pans for the second rising and will be going in the oven in about an hour.  I've been thinking today I'd like to have more of a "handmade" life.  I, of course, make my buttons and such but I've gotten away from handmade a bit and I've been more into labels and such.  I think I really need to get back to the handmade that I love.   

Ceramic Pendant Pieces

I hope you'll ignore the poor quality photo here.  I just snapped the picture with my phone.  I've finally managed to spend some time working a bit with ceramics.  These are the raw clay pieces that I made this morning.  They are still very wet in this picture.  I'm not sure how they'll dry since they are very thin pieces.  I've put them in a plastic bag and placed them in my basement which is cool and a bit damp (it's unfinished).  Hopefully if I let them dry really slowly then they'll dry without cracking.  If they work out these will all be neclace pieces and pendants.  The birds are birds sitting on branches and the flowers are three dimensional as is the small bird.  I've only made one of each design as I'm just experimenting with these.  I love how they look right now and am very optimistic that they will be popular if I can just get them to dry correctly without breaking so I can get them bisque fired and then glazed.  I'll let you know how they turn out.  Cross your fingers for me :)

Bingo Buttons.

I've decided to add a few buttons related to sports and hobbies.  These would be great for all those bingo lovers out there!  These can be found here http://www.etsy.com/listing/98149662/handmade-buttons-6-bingo-themed-sewing  I haven't played bingo in years but do know that there are a lot of addicts out there :)  I hope these unique handmade bingo themed buttons bring a smile to someones face - and just maybe they will bring a bit of luck!

New Sale Section Added to Buttons By Robin

I have never offered a sale on my buttons before but I thought I'd go for it and offer a sale section for seasonal items and see how it works out.  Normally I just keep the buttons until the next year and they usually sell then.  Since they are small it's not a problem to store them.  I thought I'd give a sale section a try though so I've been adding a few winter and seasonal items and offering them at half price http://www.etsy.com/shop/buttonsbyrobin?section_id=5669566  I'll be slowly adding some items.  I'm not sure how long I'll keep them there but I figured I might experiment a bit.  It's a really good deal for anyone that wants to stock up on seasonal buttons now.

Lots Going On!

I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post.  It's been nearly a month.  I've been a very bad blogger.  I promis I'll try to do better :)  I've been busy working away at adding some bright and cheerful handmade buttons.  The ones here are cherry blossoms I think and can be found here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/97185474/cherry-blossom-buttons-6-handmade  These are just so bright I really love them.  I've also had a mention on a very popular blog in Norway.  As a result I've had almost all my sales this week come from Norway.  I really appreciate all the attention this has brought my button shop.  It just goes to show you never know from one day to the next how a little mention out in cyberspace will impact your shops.  This has gotten me thinking that I should probably start to look for some blogs where my product might fit and see if they are interested in featuring my products.  I've done a couple of give aways and will probably do that a bit although I have to see if the blog is large enough for that to work in my favour.  Another exciting thing is a local biking magazine found my earrings on www.outspokenjewelry.com which is my other site where I sell jewelry made with my handmade buttons.  It's a small local publication but I figure for the price of a pair of earrings (they didn't ask to keep them but I offered them as a giveaway - they only wanted pictures) I thought why not.  I'm still new enough to this that it gives me a little thrill to think of my buttons in a magazine.  I've also had some interest from a magazine in Norway and I sent off some bird buttons to be featured/pictures taken.  We'll see if that works out.  Again for the small price of a set of buttons (again they didn't ask for the product - just the pictures) I thought I'd give it a try.  I do want to caution those of you who may read this that you want to be sure that whoever asks for your products to feature is legitimate before you send off your product.  I've heard of stories where there are people who go and ask for products to feature but they are just out to get product.  Most legitimate magazines will only need pictures and they'll also offer to send you a copy of the magazine with your pictures in it.  Of course I'm no expert and not all magazines work that way.  I just want to caution you to be careful as with anything you do.  Find out the facts before you give away your product.  My items are small and relatively inexpensive so I'm willing to take the chance (after I do a bit of research of course) but just go into anything like this with your eyes wide open.  It could turn out to be a great opportunity.  I always figure any advertising I get is a good thing even if it's a very small amount of advertising.

Handmade Buttons - Paint Chip Sample Buttons

Paint Chip Sample Buttons

I've been having a bit of fun creatively.  I had some paint chip samples laying around the house after some decorating projects.  I'm always decorating and painting so usually have lots of these samples around.  (I don't advocate taking samples from paint stores unless you want them for actual painting projects.) As you know I'm a button maker so one day I wondered if there would be a way to make these into buttons.  This is my first attempt.  These are shades of turquoise green/blue.  I think they turned out really well.  http://www.etsy.com/listing/95510306/upcycled-paint-chip-sample-buttons These are beautiful and simple but I also have lots more ideas for adding images.  I may even dabble into jewelry making with these.  Until I had my idea to make buttons I hadn't seen any jewelry made with these.  Of course once I had my "unique" idea I started to look around and I see that paint chip sample jewelry is hot right now.  Who would have thought.  This won't deter me from making my items.  These are my own ideas and I'll have my own unique spin I'm sure.  The only problem I have right now is I have so many ideas and just not enough time :)  I have decided to, of course, keep up with my resin buttons but I'm going to focus some specific time for "play".  This way I get to experiment with some ideas I have running around my head and still keep up with my usual resin image buttons which have been so popular.  Now I just have to find the perfect balance :)  That may be my biggest challenge.  Anyway look for some new ideas coming.