A quick review/recap- PART ONE

I fell off the blog mobille!
I have jumped back on!
I can't believe that it has been 6 months since I wrote anything.
Life is always interesting.
The past 6 months have held some good times and some bad times.
Shows, Travelling, Amazing Friends, Supportive Family, Pain, Laughs, Good Food, Driving, Singing, Networking, Twisting, Learning, Changing, Crying, Smiling, Selling, Creating.........
I realized while collecting photos for this blog, too much happened to squeeze in one post!
So, here are some highlights from the first 3 months!

SEPTEMBER

The first demonstration I have ever participated in.  It was a peaceful procession for all the animals killed by the Gulf oil spill.

LAAFF!!!!!!!

Probably my favorite street festival that happens here in Asheville.
The Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival
The Hairy Potter and I shared a booth, the piggy banks and button flowers were pretty ridiculous together! all day the comments were, Oh, how cute!
Masks made from LaCroix boxes and so many local friendly faces = a great time!

A beautiful BLUE wedding order

And to top it all off, I decided to go to New York City at the end of the month!

The show was a horrible disappointment, but I did get to see the statue of Liberty, which was a lot of fun!

OCTOBER

Here, a little girl was trying on some fabulous Button Flower headbands at The Norcross Art Fest outside of Atlanta, GA. 

Carving pumpkins, corn mazes, and tractor hay rides! 

I got to spend a fun time with my two favorite red-headed (nephews).  They did not want to scoop out the nasty guts of the pumpkins, so they just used a marker to draw the faces.

Such a beautiful month with all the leaves changing, but it also brought some hard times.  My mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer.  Thanks to amazing medicine and a great deal of prayers she has now finished chemo and radiation therapy and is doing GREAT!

Alex took his first beach steps! 

He was having so much fun in the water, he did not want to stop to pose for a photo.

NOVEMBER

Shows! Shows! Shows! I did some serious travelling in the pre-HOLIDAY season. 
The First Chatty Crafty Show in Chattanooga, TN! 
I was so excited to get to visit my dear friend Catherine and her lovely little family.  

I met Susan, the owner of Good Dog, hotdog shop in Chattanooga. 

The best hotdog I have ever had! (curry ketchup)

We connected over Circles and if you are ever in this city check out her adorable shop.

For  the Studio Stroll I got to create my own little colorful world in the studio! my studiomate was gone, so it was fun to use the whole space.

Then I turned 27!

Then back on the road to Atlanta for ICE, Indie Craft Experience. 

To be continued........... (soon I promise!)

BLUE

Picasso's Blue period
The Blue Ridge Mountains
Blueberry Yum Yum!
probably my favorite fruit, whose yearly time to shine is NOW!
The color of my first car Bonnie that I just sold today!
300 dollars seems so insignificant for something full of such sentimental value.
A sadness, like when losing a friend.
instead of a black phase in high school, I had a blue one.
My mom's favorite kitchen color.

I found a few pictures of good memories from my Blue Bonnie!

Driving to a Farm vs NRC softball game, good old WWC days...
The dash was always so full of Treasures!

The time Chris left one of my cups on top of the car, we realized while going 70 down the highway on a trip to New Orleans. oh the grabber, boy hanging out the window. cup is still alive.

The epic birthday party shared with good friends. Bean, I am going to miss you. I wish you all the best in your new adventures. I will cherish all the good memories.

The recipe for the world famous Blueberry Yum Yum. Always a crowd pleaser.  

I use less water and cornstarch in the Blueberry part, keeps them a little runny and not so jelatinous! 

Funny, if you Google "Blueberry Yum Yum" you will learn that the rapper Ludacris has a song with the same name.....about things that people smoke. 

On the round-about current events, we got a nice brick sidewalk out front of the building. 

Funny the coincidences in my life, considering that I am working on a Blue wedding right now!

So, appreciate that blue sky and smile into those pretty blue eyes. 

xoxoxo

C

HAIR (toot and hair clips)

Summertime heat makes me want to cut all of my hair off!  I have been resisting the urge to turn the large bun on my head into a short little boy cut!  I just can't decide should I cut it or not?

I have a hard time committing to what my hair style should be, but when it comes to my little dog, I love cutting her hair!  For the past couple years I have been giving Toot a mohawk for the hot summer months.  This year, a friend made a suggestion for a spiral mohawk!  So, I went for it!  I shaved her all over except for the spiral and her fluffy little feet, it makes her legs look so small. chicken legs! She likes to prance around.

From the side it looks like she has on a Tu-Tu.........TOOT-TOOT! She is such a funny little dog, I am so thankful to have her in my life I get to bring her with me to the studio every day! 

She has grown to love small children, especially Charlie, they often will let her lick them as much and for as long as she likes! She loves the snow and Eliza! A little old lady Princess dog.  

So, in the world of button flowers, I have NEW.........HAIR CLIPS!!!!!!

The Hair clips come in 3 sizes- small, medium, and Large.  The order of the pictures is big to small.  I have wanted to make button hair clips for years, but I did not want to just glue the buttons on.  So, I was so excited to find these clips that have holes so that I can wire the buttons on there. Much more sturdy!

xoxo

C 

Baby steps in Business

I am continuously learning. ALWAYS, as well as always working.... The thoughts of to do lists, new product ideas, ways to push me and my business further are constant.  July has been a good growing season.  Unfortunately I have not had time for a garden, which makes me sad.  However,  the Button Florist had the wonderful opportunity of having an intern for the month.  

Dylan is a very smart and mature girl. She was a wonderful assistant, always willing to try whatever new  silly task I had lined up for her.  I really enjoyed having her help me and I wish her all the best in her new school. Thank you! 

I also had a new and exciting opportunity of receiving a brand new copy of a book to check out and share with my fans. 

 The book is Craft Corps, by Vickie Howell. It profiles 30 big-time crafters and 60 everyday crafters — everyone from Jenny Hart (Sublime Stitching), Mark Montano (The Big-Ass Book of Crafts), Faythe Levine (Handmade Nation), Ed Roth (Stencil 101), and lots, lots more. 

I really enjoyed the Introduction of the book when Vickie opens saying, " I've been fortunate to make a career from crafting, and one of the greatest gifts it has given me is a sense of true community.  I've been privileged to meet (either virtually or in person) thousands of fellow crafters as a result of my profession. Because of craft, I share an amazing connection with people all over the world- people of different backgrounds, religions, philosophies, and creeds. I likely would've never met or communicated with many of these folks had it not been for our common bond as creative beings and the explosion in the popularity of crafting.  So I take great pride in presenting Craft 

Corps, a celebration of our unique community."

The craftographies are interesting and include some personal history, advice, philosophy, childhood memories, and even favorite curse words.  As I read through them I was comforted and inspired by the common threads that bind us into the crafting community.  Thank you Kathleen from Lark books for sharing this inspiring book wih me. 

An order I sent off on Friday.  These flowers are headed to Denver, Colorado to help make people smile in Eberle Orthodontics.

I enjoyed working with Nicole's colors of mainly purple, green, with some orange, red, and yellow accents. 

xoxoxC

Craft Shows are controlling my life

The Button Florist in Boston
The Button Florist in Columbia, SC
The Button Florist at the Big Crafty in Asheville
The Button Florist soon to be in St. Louis
Craft shows and more Shows.

I was recently very frustrated after travelling distances to do shows that were not totally profitable. 

It is sometimes so easy to feel discouraged.

But amid all the stress of making stuff, packing and unpacking, driving, networking, it is my loving friends and family that make it all worth it! The ability to travel and have a flexible schedule lets me have a different kind of working life. 

So, no photos of craft shows, booth set-ups, or crowds of strangers....

instead here are pictures of people i care about and fun times that have been had in my recent adventures.

Old school Wilson crew at Kate's Wedding.
Yes, she put her face in my chest, what can I say, the bride gets to do whatever she wants!
Fun times on the way to Boston.
Heidi was so awesome in Boston, after I ended up driving all night, she helped me all day at the show. Boston was full of nice people and cute little dogs.

My nephew just turned one this past week.  

Here he is sticking out his tongue in Mexico. I am sad that I missed his first birthday, but can't wait to be there for the next one.

July birthdays! Italian cream cake and bug cupcakes!

On the way to birthday bowling!

Jamin, Jacob, and Ian!

Round-about update: Today they put in some stone pavers....all I want is some grass, something alive and green in the middle, please! 

New in the Button Flower world.  Crocheted, felted flowers.  

I think there are going to be more of these around....Some on stems, some on brooches, headbands... still figuring out how and where to incorporate them. I love colaborating with other artists. My friend Amber over at RaimbowTree has been making some really cool felt flowers. 

These were made by Holly, more to come! 

xoxo C