Do You Think I Could Pull It Off?

I just love Project Runway's Emily and her slanty, jagged bangs. If only I could find a better picture before next week's salon appointment....

Closest I Got to a Gotcha Day About Now

Very, very sweet.

Peyton Pea is our Sweet Baby Boy.

Care for Some More Trash Talk?

My last post was all about my discovery of Trashion and the inspiration/diversion it has provided for me lately. How about some more pictures??

Couple weeks ago my sister sent me a link to a very cute upcycled t-shirt dress that she wanted for her daughter. I suggested that she wait & the two of us try to tackle the project together. Next thing I know, I've got my old t-shirt drawer open and I'm cutting up my old favorite cotton tees. What fun!

Here's the beginning shots. I purchased a second hand tank dress in approximately my nieces size to serve as my guide.


Here are the additional t-shirts pre-cutting:


Ta-Daaaa! Final dress. And, I can hardly believe that it FIT! Didn't get a picture with Little Miss in it though, darn-it!


The big discovery is that I learned how to join two knit fabrics - kindof tricky - and my machine has just the right stitch. So, yeah, there will be more of these over the years....


In other Trashion News...someone contacted me via etsy and complimented me on my fruits, veggies and other plushie creations. She challenged me to make her an Apricot - for her husband who grew up on an Apricot orchard. The most important task was finding just the right color. Apricot isn't really easy. Its not orange. Its not peach. It is Apricot. I had to purchase an Apricot to make sure that I got it right:


Here's how they ended up:


I paired the Apricot hued jean with some perfectly golden corduroy to give these guys a sun kissed look. Both my etsy customer and I were very happy with the result! Click here for more pictures of....Brandy, Goldrich and Bert!

It really is fun creating and sharing. So thanks for indulging me. xo

Trashion!

TRASHION: An Etsy Street Team that is all about visualizing beauty in unconventional objects and materials. Members fabricate art, jewelry, fashion and objects for the home from used, thrown-out & found elements. Trashion is a philosophy and an ethic. It encompasses environmentalism and innovation, and respects the human creative and healing potential.

Making traditional objects out of recycled materials can be trashion. Making avant-garde fashion out of cast-offs or junk can be trashion.

Who knew that what I've been doing all this time with much of my sewing was Trashion! Each and every owl & some of the fruits and veggies that I've sewn were comprised of upcycled materials - usually felted former sweaters, vintage denim and corduroy. Some of my favorite fabrics! The process has been very gratifying and fun. Once I found a group of other artists on etsy that have similar inclinations - of course I petitioned to join their team!

This month we had a Palchemy (read: Pal + Alchemy) swap. Each participant was paired up and asked to send a package of materials to someone else on the team. No specific rules were given beyond the request to send things that were to be upcycled into, yes, Trashion! The next steps: Receive, visualize and create.

Here's what my partner sent me:


Plus some things I added from my own stash:


My first Trashion Project was Kitten Carlisle:


My second was Puppy Rooney:


I cut out the embroidered part of a vintage pillowcase that my swap partner sent me and used that for the kitten and puppy faces...the rest is an amalgam of bits and pieces sent by my partner and what I already had on hand. Sure was fun making something out of "nothing". If you click on the links above - there are more pictures!

You can click here to see more work created as part of the Trashion Palchemy Project - it is quite diverse!

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I know that its been quiet around here - so how about some Words on this fine Wednesday?



Its July 2008 and that means that this buttercup blog has been around for 2 years. I can hardly believe it. To mark the anniversary, I will soon be changing some things up in here...so please stay tuned.

One of the new things that I'm going to be trying out is participating in a "West Coast Wednesday" Sale over at Etsy. So, for the next 27 hours (midnight tonight NYC-Time through midnight tomorrow San Francisco Time) everything at buttercupbloom.etsy.com will be 10% off!!! How cool is that?

Just click on the link in this post - or on the etsy pictures on the right ---> to get transported right over to my virtual boutique.

I'd love to see you over there...and I promise to see you back here later...when I find my voice again.

xo

wordless wednesday + more l8r