Button Bird Designs

Sewing With Miss Shirley!

August 1, 2011

I feel very blessed to have so many people in my life that constantly encourage and inspire me.

Meet Miss Shirley. She is one of the most amazing, creative, giving women I know. I met Miss Shirley 6 years ago when I moved into our neighborhood. We hit it off immediately. I commented on her pretty dress and she told me she made it. She had me at “I made it”. She sews, knit, crochets, quilts, and recently taught me how to crossstitch.

I was in heaven the first time I saw her craft room.

She inspired me to create a space of my own for all my projects. She is always bringing me craft magazines, fabric, ribbon, buttons, books, and leftover stuffing from her quilt group to encourage me to create.

Looks a lot like my fabric stash!

Not only is Miss Shirley incredibly crafty she is incredibly generous. She gives so much for her time to help others. She makes these pillow case dresses for, Little Dresses for Africa. Little Dresses for Africa is an organization that provides relief to the children of Africa. Dresses are made out of pillow cases or fabric and distributed through the orphanages, churches and schools.

Miss Shirley knits hats and takes them to the soup kitchen in the winter for the men that stop in for a meal. She has been working all summer to make sure she has plenty to hand out once the cooler weather sets in. She also works at the food pantry every Tuesday where she hands out groceries for the less fortunate. In the trunk of her car she usually keeps handmade baby quilts in case a pregnant woman or woman with a young baby comes in.

She also makes baby quilts for the hospital. The staff uses her quilts to cover the incubators of newborn babies that can’t go home right away. The mother gets to keep the quilt once the baby has recovered and gets to go home.

She hands out treats to all the neighborhood kids, she’s watched my kids when I have been in a bind, and even taught my Lilly how to sew with yarn. She has promised me that once school starts she is going to teach me how to crochet granny squares like the beautiful blanket above. Miss Shirley has brought so much Joy into my life and inspired me in so many ways. We have so much in common despite the 40 year age difference. She has been a teacher, a guide, and a cheerleader.

Thank you Miss Shirley for being my friend.

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Transformations: Furniture and Myself

July 29, 2011

It’s almost time for the Becoming 2011 conference. Becoming 2011 is a weekend designed to encouraged and inspire women to live intentionally by becoming more creative, purposeful, and frugal. I am doing two workshops at the conference and am soooooooooooo excited but also soooooooooooo nervous. If you know me, you know that public speaking is not my thing. I failed one course in college…….. public speaking! But I can’t let me fear hold me back and cause me to miss out on such an exciting opportunity!

Something has definitely changed in me the past two years. The old me would have NEVER agreed to speak at Becoming. I didn’t have the self confidence, courage or strength it took to try new things or to take risks. These days I can’t wait to get out of bed and see what the day has in store. I can’t wait for the conference, I am going to go and give it all that I’ve got. I may fail miserably, women may laugh at me, Jen and Jenny may regret asking me to speak. BUT what if I do a good job!?!? What if I inspire one person to go home and paint a piece of furniture or make something out of recyclables! What if I leave there feeling a sense of accomplishment and feeling proud of myself for attempting something new and scary.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this transformation that I am going though started the same time I began a real relationship with God. I’m not preaching, I just want to share what is going on in my life. For someone like me to even agree to speak at a conference just wouldn’t have happened two years ago. These days I’m not scared, I am excited. I’m not anxious, I am peaceful. I’m not overwhelmed, I am content. I’m more creative, confident, strong, happy, and simple. This is why I have agreed to do something soooooo outside my box.

I haven’t had a lot of time in the garage or my sewing room this summer to paint and work on all the projects that I wanted to tackle. Two kids and now a puppy (Dixie May, the most beautiful Basset Hound puppy you will ever see) have taken most of my attention this summer. I wanted to have a lot of before and after examples to take to the conference. So far here are a few examples of turning trash into treasure……..

I bought these matching stools at Metrolina for $20.00. I painted the right one with chalk paint (Duck Egg) and then used dark wax. The fabric is a vintage chenille bedspread.

I found these two end tables at a yard sale for $15.00. Once again I used chalk paint to paint this piece. Do you see how shiny it was before!?!? With chalk paint you don’t have to sand or prime. The paint literally sticks to the wood regardless of the finish. If I had used regular paint I would have had to sand alot and then would have had to prime. Even though chalk paint is more expensive than regular paint, it saves me a ton of time and also saves me money not having to use the spray primer.

My mom and dad gave me their old dining room set that included a table and 6 chairs. Nothing was wrong with the chairs but I have always LOVED the look of a table with mismatched different colored chairs. That make over is coming soon, but here is one of the chairs painted, distressed, and waxed. To my husband’s horror, It looks sooooooooo good with the pink, blue, and yellow chair that is now in our breakfast area!

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Collection Obsession

July 27, 2011

At our house we collect a lot of stuff. Some of our collections include… peacocks, buttons, art, fabric, vintage pins, stamps, trim, rocks, snow globes, pitchers, and birds. Here is another collection that my daughter Lilly and I started, our cross wall.

This cross collection is displayed by our back door leading to the garage. An unexpected pop of color!

We look for crosses at yard sales, thrifts stores, on vacation, art galleries, and have received some as gifts. We also love to make crosses out of different materials laying around the house. It has almost become a game to see what we can make a cross out of.

Whenever we visit one of those paint your own pottery places, Lilly and I almost always grab a cross!

This is the most special cross we have in the collection. My husband picked it up while on a mission trip to Mexico.

We scored this cross at a yard sale for a quarter!!

Early one morning, I was out walking and found two pieces of wood out for trash pick up. The two pieces of wood were laid out in perfect cross formation. I grabbed them up (I think my neighbors are use to me going through their trash by now) and took them home, skipping along the way.