Gearing Up, to Wind Down!

As it nears ever closer to Christmas, I can feel myself relax a little more by the moment! I am starting to really get into the Christmas spirit! I got all our gift shopping done, in one afternoon, at least for friends and family. Mr. Husband and I are are keeping it VERY simple this year, and not exchanging gifts until Dia de los Reyes...or as the song says, the twelfth day of Christmas! I have made plans to bake persimmon cookies this morning, and then wrap presents and sign cards with the Hubs! Things that were stressing me out just days ago, like the fact that we have done zero Christmas decorating here at the Button Haus, and I mean, literally... ZERO, have ceased to bother me, ever since I accepted the fact that due to our adoption of a cat with a penchant for mischief, not to mention red wine, it would just be begging for trouble to even think about setting up a proper Christmas tree.  I don't think I could withstand the heartbreak it would cause to get our lovely white, artificial tree (which was a $5.00 score at a yard sale 2 years ago!) set up in all it's 1950's resplendent glory, complete with my collection of vintage ornaments... only to have the kitten tear it to glittery shreds in a matter of moments. I mean, look at what this little guy does to a bottle of La Finca Malbec! Yes, he is a wino. My husband and I thought it was ever so cute when he started casually stealing sips from our glasses when we would have a glass of wine, until the other night when this happened...

He jumped up on the counter and knocked the bottle onto the floor, breaking two wine glasses in the process. Thank goodness no one was cut or hurt...but that was what effectively put the nail in the coffin for our dreams of a White Christmas tree this year...at least until he gets neutered and calms down a little bit! He's been so gosh darned rambunctious lately, I can only attribute it to his little raging hormones!


Another thing winding down is our stay at Division 9 Gallery!!! It has been so lovely to be centralized in a permanent location this month, and it's been tons of fun hanging out with Cosme Cordova and Micheal Elderman and all the interns at the Gallery... everyone has been extremely welcoming and supportive...and I got to meet so many new people! It really was a wonderful time.Our official last day in the Gallery is tomorrow, Thursday the 22nd and I will be there from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00, so if you are in the area and have been putting off coming down, that will be your last chance to catch Button, Button, Who! and get your one-of-a-kind, handmade gifts checked off your shopping list!

We still have some really cute dolls left! Not to mention, our assortment of mini and full sized stockings made from reclaimed felted cashmere! The mini stockings are going fast, thanks to a big order from a certain lovely Mother-in-Law who shall remain nameless! Each day she has added more to her stash! Hurry and get yours before they are gone and you will only have full sizes to choose from!

Not that that would be so bad either...every time I make the big guys, I find something to add to them, and this year, it was the scallop trim! I would be lying if I told you I was not pleased with the effect. Not to toot my own horn, but I wouldn't mind keeping these for myself and replacing the ones I made for Mr. Husband and myself years ago, when I was first beginning to fiddle around with felted wool!

I had seen the beautiful stockings that Alicia Paulson was making with felted wool and was inspired to make some for myself and Mr. Hubs, who back then, was still Mr. Boyfriend. I love her blog, Posie Gets Cozy and I find so much inspiration from her writing. I have been following her blog for years now, and tell anyone who will listen about it! She has the most wonderful photo essays, and her writing style is so clear. I hope you will hop over and take a look for yourselves!

So, if the end of the year keeps going in this relaxed a manner, I can say that, that is just all right with me. I am looking forward to holidays spent with my family and later on with friends, with a LOT of movie watching and snacking with Mr. Hubs sandwiched in between! I swear, I am the luckiest gal! Lucky in Love, Friends, and Family! What more can one person want!

Happy Holidays from the Button Haus! 

A Home Away from Home!

As the holiday season gears up into full swing, we here at Button, Button, Who! have gotten a little Christmas crazy! We have tons of lovely little offerings for your handmade shopping pleasure! This year's felted cashmere mini-stockings and mittens are a big time favorite, the perfect size for stashing a gift card or a candy cane, and each one is one of a kind!
Our full size felted stockings are a sight to behold, as well! Maybe I went a little overboard, but I am quite sure you'll be pleased with the results!
 Also new for this season, we have ornaments for your trees! We have adorable paper owls, just right for hanging on the tree, or using as a gift tag, the possibilities are endless according to how creative you want to get! Also, lovely felted cashmere trees,  Dala horses, fishies, and my personal favorite, chickadees are all adorning the button tree...you can see it in all it's turquoise glory in the window of Division 9 Art Gallery, down on Lemon Street, where we have set up shop for the winter!

 I like to think of it as our home away from home for the season! Yours truly shall be there on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. but the whole kit and caboodle will be there for your perusal every day! The gallery has lots of fun events in the works also!
 This Friday, December 16th, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. is Ugly Criss Mess Sweater Night!  If you wear an ugly Christmas Sweater you get 10% off any artwork & merchandise in the Gallery, including Button, Button, Who! stuff! So dig in your closet, raid the local thrift store and don your most festive apparel to scoot on down to Division 9 this Friday and get some handmade gifts for those you love!
 As an added enticement, this weekend, Division 9 Gallery will be hosting a whole weekend of various workshops. Your Buttontrix, herself, (that's me!) will be there teaching a workshop on how to make Shrinky Dinks from recycled #6 plastic!  Remember Shrinky Dinks? Those adorable little cartoon shaped sheets of plastic you used to color in and then bake in the toaster? Well, did you know that you can do your own customized Shrinky Dinks by cutting and coloring #6 plastic, which are often used in take out containers, yogurt cups and to go drink cups? I will be showing you how you can design your own ornaments while recycling too!!!

 Other workshops will be going on as well;  Erin Maxwell will be teaching a ceramic mosaic class and Cosme Cordova will be teaching an etching workshop!The workshops will be running from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. For more information, you can call or email Cosme at the gallery at 951.965.4392 and cosmeart@hotmail.com.

Feeling all Fuzzy Wuzzy, Big Time!

All the little elves in the Button Haus have been busy snipping and stitching all sorts of lovely things, getting ready for the Holiday season! So far, we have  four great events coming up, and hopefully we can get all our stuff sewn and ready by then, because you are gonna love it!!! Here is a sneak peek of the fuzzy goodness we'll have in store! These are mini-stockings and mittens, just the right size to stash a gift card in, or to hang upon your O Tannenbaum...you choose!

Our first event is this coming Sunday, November 20th at 10:00a.m. - 5:00p.m. at the Riverside Plaza for the Riverside Arts Council Sidewalk Art Sale! We will be sharing an E-Z Up with crafty pal, Beth Musial, aka, Super Beth! Stop by and say hi!

Next, on Black friday, after you've stuffed yourself full of turkey and, well, stuffing...come on downtown to Division 9 Gallery and get some culture! You'll probably be in the area already for the big hoopla over at the Mission Inn Festival of Lights...so why not stop by for the Patron Collective VOL 3: "50 @the 9". Join us for the third Patron Collective at Division 9 Gallery on Friday, November 25, 2011, from 6-9pm. They're holding the event on the night of the Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn downtown, so enjoy the lighting ceremony, and then come over to Division 9 Gallery to purchase your early Christmas gifts for friends and family.  The Patron Collective is designed to be an evening when people who appreciate art can gather to meet several artists, watch art demonstrations, and enjoy appetizers and a glass of wine. This month over 100 artworks will be exhibited, with everything priced at $150 or less. I will be one of two demo artists that evening, and I will have a table set up as well, so you can get some Christmas shopping done too!  Division 9 Gallery suggests a donation of $5.00 at the door. All donations go to supporting exhibits and other art activities at Division 9 Gallery. Come down and support the Arts.

Then, in early December, we've got Arts Walk, on December 1st, from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m., which I am hoping to attend, and on December 2nd,  UCR's Market Day Vendor Faire... from 8:00 - 4:00 p.m.which we participated in last year and had a great time! So far we are kicking off the holidays with four kick ass events, you won't want to miss, so stay tuned!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

As per usual, we here at the Button Haus have been too busy to blog...but that's ok! The result is a plethora of new dolls and soon, new holiday merch!!! This season, as with last, my mom has been indispensable! Everytime I cut out a batch of dolls, I get so ambitious, I inevitably bite off more than I can chew...thank goodness for moms who sew! After many late night sewing sweatshop sessions, we were able to complete almost 100 new dolls just in time for the Dia De Los Muertos festivities downtown. Man! What a night! There were SO many people who came by the booth! It was great meeting so many new people and hearing such nice things about the dolls. I had so much fun, I did it again the next day for ArtsWalk! This time I only did one table and about a quarter as many dolls, but again, we met a ton of nice people, found some lovely new homes for some dolls and gave out the last of my business cards!!! That is super exciting! So, rather than rest on my Dia de los Muertos laurels, I am trying to keep the momentum going into the holiday season. So to that end, I have ordered a TON of new cards, am updating the blog, have contacted a few people regarding holiday craft fairs (more on that soon!!!) and made a trip to Joann's for supplies! As with last year, I will be making Christmas ornaments, stockings, and cards, and a few surprise items as well! I can't wait! Stay tuned for updates of where we will be in the upcoming weeks...there has been talks of a Foodtruck Fair, Market Day at UCR, and other such lovely events!You won't want to miss it! Oh, and remember:

Catching up and getting organized, an ongoing process.

So my intention was to blog at least once a week...annnnnnd let's just admit right up front, that didn't happen. That's ok...nothing to beat myself up over, things have been crazy busy over here! Mr. Husband finished painting our dining room, and I reassembled the newly painted hutch and it is currently housing my collection of Fiestawear and California pottery...the colors are so yummy! We spent an evening hanging a mirror and shelf right above the buffet the night before the piano movers came. It was perfect! The mirror was just the right height to reflect the funky curtains and light through the windows, while the shelf was perfect for displaying artwork and a few choice pieces of glassware...buuuuuuuut...when the piano movers arrived with our 'new-to-us' piano, the space we had intended to put the piano next to the fireplace ended up being exactly two inches too short and this caused a conundrum of sorts which was like the real life equivalent of those picture puzzles where you have to move one tile fifty times before you can get all the tiles in their correct spot so you can see the whole picture correctly. Well, that's what this 'new to us' piano did to our house, because since it didn't fit next to the fireplace, the only other place it made sense to put it would be in the dining room...where the buffet and newly placed shelf and mirror resided. So we moved the mirror up six inches, and got rid of the shelf. The buffet went in the living room for two weeks, while we prepped for a huge yard sale and then recuperated from our huge yard sale. We knew we were going to put the buffet upstairs in the master bedroom,because I needed more storage up there,  but first we had to move a desk from the bedroom into the office to make room for the buffet...this was a bigger deal than it sounds, because a path to the office needed to be made, so the office contents needed to be shoved to one side, and a bookcase moved from the hall...then we could finally move the desk! Progress, but there's still a long way to go! So a few days later, the buffet got moved up to the master bedroom, and while that was going on, a new bookcase acquired during a trade with our neighbor during the huge yard sale got moved up to the hallway and the old bookcase moved downstairs. The bookcase that got moved downstairs doesn't quite fit, so right now, we  are playing musical bookcases to try and make it all fit...that's where we are right now...a little closer to the end, but not quite there yet! Our poor living room and dining room look like we just moved in, and on top of all that chaos, we have been beset by ANTS!!! I guess they are just looking for water, but it's so annoying that there are random ants cruising around the bathroom and kitchen just waiting for me to slip up and leave a chocolate cake on the counter for them to attack. I wanted to post pics, but I seem to have misplaced my camera cable...so that will have to wait, also! Sheesh! I can't imagine what things will be like if we actually moved! Yikes!

Even though I have been keeping busy with all sorts of domestic antics, I have still managed to make time for crafting! Last weekend, I shared a pop up tent with  Beth Musial again at the Sidewalk Art Sale hosted at the Riverside Plaza by the Riverside Arts Project, it was SUCH a hot day! Thank goodness for Beth's pop up tent!!!

This Sunday is The Riverside Art Bazaar "Summer Sale"at Back to the Grind, downtown, from 2p.m. till 8p.m. I am especially excited about this sale because I am going to be selling my usual ButtonButton wares and such, but this Sunday I will also be helping people make DIY shrinky dink jewelry from recycled #6 plastic!!! So for a nominal fee, you can design your own pair of earrings, or  necklace, and I will shrink it for you and attach jewelry fixings! I have done this as a workshop a few times and it was a blast, so I am really looking forward to this Sunday!

Father's Day, Honey-Do's and To Do's!!!

Hey there, Who-bies!!! You like that? That's what I'ma call y'all from now on...Who-bies...it's got a little ring to it. So, for all my Who-bies who've been wondering where ma Owlies at...I have got new-hew-hewz for youse! This Sunday, which is Father's Day, I will be participating in the Sidewalk Art Sale hosted at the Riverside Plaza by the Riverside Arts Project ! I will be sharing an EZ-up with Manda Millar  and Beth Musial out in front of El Torito, getting cozy and hoping if you need a last minute gift for Dad, that you'll think about getting him an owl!
As always, things around here are crazy busy! I stayed up late Tuesday night putting the finishing touches on the kitchen that Mr. Husband so graciously reconfigured while I was up north for my godson's christening. Our kitchen is so much more functional now that our fridge is off in the nook, instead of being in the center of everything, and now we've actually got counter space...all that was needed were a few cosmetic touches, such as art rehung on the walls and new curtains! I got pretty creative with some vintage linen and Ralph Lauren bedsheets. I will try to post pics ASAP. Also, Mr. Husband had a whole week off between semesters so we've been taking this opportunity to finish what feels like millions of projects that have been languishing on his "Honey-Do" List. We finished painting the hutch I got two months ago on a spur of the moment drive through Redlands Thrift Store row...it was originally this funky maple, but we painted it a lovely golden yellow color...sure to provide quite a punch of color in our newly painted, granny apple green dining room!!! Once the room is done being painted, I can hang the lovely vintage curtains I got for $15 last month at an estate sale. And once we rent a U-Haul truck and get about three guys to help, we can go get the piano we bought for $50 at a church rummage sale and we will be all set for Sunday dinners and Sing-a-longs at the Button Haus! I spent last Saturday sewing in the shade dappled sunshine of my backyard with the lovely Manda and Panda and I must say, it was not only a most enjoyable way to spend an afternoon, but highly productive! I am one step closer to having  merch specifically for Etsy and other stuff, just for shows...like the one coming up this Sunday!


In other news, I am participating twofold in next Sundays To-Do Fest!!! To-Do Fest is an awesome gathering of amazing artists, musicians, green educators together to help spread the word about sustainable living. Who can't get on board with that good stuff? Not only will I have a table there for Button, Button, Who! But I will also be running a craft workshop for my group Riverside Craft Therapy! We will be making Shrinky Dinks out of recycled #6 plastic! If you are interested in partaking of the Shrinky Dink workshop, bring any clean #6 plastic you have collected, (the flatter, the better), permanent markers, and/or any old jewelry we can cannibalize for parts (i.e. necklace closures, jump rings, earring hooks)...we will have some to share! 


Stay tuned for more info about upcoming events! I haven't forgotten my promise to get merch in the Etsy shop this summer, and also, there are ArtWalk and Art Bazaar coming up in July!!! It's going to be a fabulous summer, I can feel it!

Rise and Shine!!! Wakey, wakey, buttons and bakey!

Unfortunately, the busy button bees at the Button Haus took a little longer this year to end their hibernation  than expected, but all is well...all the buttons have risen and shone with our first event of the year, SaturationFest! It was a whirlwind 4 days, what with the kick off on Thursday at the Division 9 Gallery North of Mr. Husband's band Captain Apache at which we had a lovely little table! It was a great show and Captain Apache and Mute Point rocked the basement! We took Friday off due to work schedule conflicts and set up shop for the weekend at Back to the Grind for Riverside Craft Therapy's Art Supply Swap and Craft on Saturday and The Riverside Art Bazaar on Sunday!

Artsy Owlies at SaturationFest!

It was a lovely weekend, but by Monday, I was ready for a much needed rest...spent all day in my jammies, house-sitting in the lap of luxury, eating and sleeping and catching up on The Office. I guess my body was trying to tell me something, because by Tuesday, I had a full blown cold, complete with nasty cough...which knocked me out for a good part of the week and kept me and the buttons home on Thursday night when we wanted to be at ArtWalk!!! Oh, well...there's always next month, right? And besides that...I am making my solemn promise to you, that this summer I WILL put stock in the Etsy shop!!! I MEAN IT!!!!

Stay tuned for more Button news...another Art Bazaar will be in the works soon and a possible spot at To-Do Fest!!!