FIMO pets and buttons

Last weekend I made these cute little animals from Fimo.  They started as basic Fimo shapes which I painted with acrylics after baking then varnished.

I’ve had my Fimo for a very long time (I think there's still a tiny bit left from some I had when I was 8!) – some is Fimo Classic and some is Fimo Soft.  I much prefer using the soft as you can use it almost immediately but the Classic always takes me ages to soften and I end up making a mess with crumbs of Fimo falling everywhere.

The little animals I made are really small – this rabbit is just over an inch long…

I painted the rabbit with dutch markings – I used to have a white and grey dutch rabbit when I was small :)  Rabbits are one of my favourite animals.  I’ve been watching the BBC series The Burrowers – where they’re following the lives of rabbits, badgers and water voles in burrows specially made for the series.  Of course the rabbits are my favourite – especially the babies which are soo cute!!

This budgie (only about 1.75 inches long) was partly inspired by my green and yellow budgie, Bobby.  Although she was a girl and this is a boy budgie, as above his beak is blue.

While the Fimo was out I thought I may as well make a few more buttons to top up my jar…

I love the colour of the rose – it’s more minty coloured in real life than this photo shows.  If you want to see some of the other polymer clay buttons I made and find out a bit about how I made them, take a look at this post which I wrote a couple of years ago: http://hazelfishercreations.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/polymer-clay-buttons.html

Handmade Gifts

At the craft fayres I went to before Christmas there were so many lovely handmade things for sale – I would have bought so much if my budget had let me!  Here are a few things I did get…

I did a swap with my sister on lip balms from Naturally Maldon. She picked the Cheeky Cherry flavour and my favourite was Very Vanilla.  They’re made from natural ingredients and not only smell gorgeous but are very moisturising too.  My sister also bought me some lavender soap – I love the smell of lavender and it’s supposed to be calming too.  I’m trying to grow a lavender hedge in my garden, I’ve been growing the plants from seed and it flowered properly for the first time last summer.  Although it didn’t do very well after our house was painted (there seemed to be something in the paint that killed off a lot of the leaves on plants near our house) hopefully it will survive the winter and grow well this year.

I also bought some porcelain buttons from Julie Pettitt Ceramics.  I bought the glossy heart for myself and the pick’n’mix buttons for my sister who loves all things to do with sweets and food!  Julie’s developed a beautiful range of pretty pastel colours which she uses on all her products, which include vases, bowls and pots.

Bright as a Button - new printable papers!

Organising the Creations Craft Fayre has been taking over my time a bit recently - I set up a new facebook page for it: www.facebook.com/CreationsCraftFayre and the hall is nearly fully booked with stalls.  I've just started this year's round of stall features on the blog too www.creationsfayre.blogspot.co.uk  It's exciting to see everything starting to come together!

 

I'm trying not to fall too far behind on my other work though - I'm always full of ideas, just lacking the time to do everything!

This is my newest set of printable scrapbooking papers, similar to my Pastel Buttons papers but in brighter colours.  The set contains 10 papers in 5 colour schemes - each colour scheme has a buttons patterned paper with a coordinating striped pattern...

This blue colour scheme is my favourite!

The set of printable papers is now available to buy from my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/111226290/bright-as-a-button-printable

I have some other new buttons designs in progress too - just waiting for a few supplies before they will be finished!! :)

Buttons galore!

I've been having a sort through my button collection... I have some lovely vintage glass buttons - I spotted some just like these in the latest issue of Homes and Antiques magazine...

They are art deco Scottie dog buttons - I have two brown ones and never realised that they came in other colours until I saw red, green and blue ones in the magazine.  I like these ones too much to part with though - sorry they won't be appearing in the shop!
I do have lots of buttons which I will be selling though - like these metal picture buttons which I think are of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti...

These yellow and orange ones are in the shop now too.  The little orange ones are so thin and light weight, I think they are made of metal wrapped with plastic.

I'm determined to get through my button stash so that I can have more room for my favourite ones - hopefully there will be a lot more in the shop over the next few  days.  One day I might even get around to displaying the special ones properly - it seems a shame to just keep them hidden in a box all the time.

Embellishing printables

Today I have a couple of ideas for embellishing printable gift boxes and tent cards.  They can be made very simply - just print, cut, fold and they're finished, or if you have a little more time you can make them more unique...

On this Pastel Buttons gift box I used some fancy scissors to make the front flap a little different.  The box is tied with lilac cotton yarn and I made a tag from one of my matching cupcake toppers.  I punched rounded corners on the tag and stitched a pretty vintage button to the centre.

I think the tent cards look nice simply printed - but I also love to add an extra dimension to cards with embellishments.  This thank you card has some pink ribbon glued along the edge of the button pattern.  As they're only small cards (3.5 inches wide) it's a good way of using left over pieces of ribbon too!

New Pastel Button printables

I have two new Pastel Button themed printables to show you today...

Experiment with your fancy handwriting to personalise these cards for parties!  I used a brush tipped pen for the card above.  There are 8 different designs in this set of name place cards...

 Also new is this set of personalised cupcake toppers (great for using as tags and labels too)...

The set can be personalised for birthdays (like above with name, age and Happy Birthday) or for weddings (with the name / initials of the bride and groom and date of the wedding).  Each sheet of toppers has 4 different designs and is available in a green, teal or cream colour sheme.

I still have more new pastel button themed designs to share in the next few days - and a tutorial too!

Printable Button Paper and New Wedding Stationery

My new button themed printables are ready to add to my shop!! :)
Inspired by my collection of vintage buttons I drew a range of different shaped / patterned buttons in pen.  Then scanned the drawings and used them to make into repeat patterns which I coloured digitally.
This set of pastel scrapbooking papers contains 8 designs - 3 colourways of one of the button patterns with coordinating simpler stripes and spots, and 2 colourways of a second button pattern...

As part of my new range of party printables I am now starting to design wedding printables.  What do you think of my first wedding stationery set?

The customised set contains a save the date card, invitation, R.S.V.P. card and thank you card.  There are three colour options featuring my button pattern - green, teal and cream...

If you like these button designs look out for more printables in the next few days! :)

Buttons Preview

Here's a sneak peak at my newest set of paper designs inspired by my collection of vintage buttons...

Handmade Buttons and Craft Supplies

I’ve added a new section to my craft supplies shop for handmade buttons: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hfcSupplies?section_id=11101007 and have just started adding these to the shop…

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I finally got around to placing my order for new supplies – so there should be more new items in the shop very soon.  I can’t wait to get my new cardmaking kit finished! :)