craft n laugh

Friday, August 17, 2007 @ 8:43 pm
Filed under beading, stuff n nonsense

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Today I spent all day crafting with some friends at the inaugural session of Craft n Laugh - I wish I had thought up that name, I really do, but it was Rachel. I love it! There were four of us mums (Rachel, Ruth, Jess and me) and our various children and we all sat around Rachel’s dining table and talked up a storm while our fingers worked away. We are hoping to do this every Friday - what a great idea!

I wasn’t sure what to bring at first as it had to be light and portable, conducive to chatting and something that didn’t require a lot of contemplation or concentration. In the end, I grabbed a bag of buttons and some jewellery findings and a few other bits and pieces and spent the day making pretty things from buttons.

I threaded buttons as we chatted - easy peasy. The necklace above is made by stringing buttons onto round leather thonging. Cute and colourful.

I ended up making five of these ribbon necklaces for all the kids - they are so quick to make and they loved them. You can also see a button cuff that I made. I cut a piece of beige felt and sewed three rows of buttons onto it and then one huge button to act as the closure. I then grabbed a scrap piece of fabric that from the pile that I had brought along and backed the felt with it, sewing little handstitches all around the edge.

The choker and drop earrings above are made by stringing a large button layered with a small button onto craft wire and using jewellery findings to close. Simple, colourful and fun! I had such a great time making all of these and it was a great way to eat into the large button stash.