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!!!

Anniversaries, Festivities, and pink Christmas trees!

It has been a whirlwind of activity around here at Ye Olde Button Haus! The last month has been jampacked with so many wonderful events! First of all, there was our anniversary to celebrate! For those of you who don't know, my husband and I got married a year ago on Halloween, at Back to the Grind Cafe. In the last year it has certainly become a home away from home for us, what with all the crafting events we have been involved in there! They were so great during the wedding too! They let us take over the entire shop for most of the day, to transform it for the wedding, and I still get chills thinking about how wonderful it all turned out! Getting married on Halloween not only helps ensure that your husband will never forget your anniversary, (wink wink) but also, that there will almost always be something fun to do that day! As for our first year, we celebrated it by brunching at the Mission Inn, and getting thoroughly tipsy on mimosas in the courtyard. Later, after a recuperative nap, we ventured out to the Queen Mary's Dark Harbor to scare the bejeezus out of ourselves. Nothing says, "Honey, I'm so glad we tied the knot, even one year later!" like running through a maze of zombies on an old ship!  T'was truly a fantastic time! As for anniversary gifts...I know for your first year you are supposed to either give paper, or clocks, but our cousin David, who is a fantabulous photographer, took the most beautiful  photo at our wedding, and I just had to get it made into a painting by one of my favorite artists, Angie Ibarra. I have been a fan of Angie's work ever since my Aunt Griselda clued me into her about six years ago, when she was selling her artwork on eBay. Now,  I know that canvas is technically not paper, but I just couldn't help myself, so I decided to forgo tradition and give my husband a painting for our anniversary and Angie did not disappoint! Her take on our wedding was just so incredible! She managed to incorporate so many aspects of the wedding into the painting, it is destined to become a family heirloom! 

I am pretty sure Mr. Husband liked it almost as much as I liked what he gave me.  Mr. Husband was nontraditionally traditional and actually made me a clock out of a Mexican tin painting of a skeleton couple! So clever, that guy! No wonder I married him!

After the thrill of anniversaries was over, there was still much crafting to be attended to, since it was the week of Dia de los Muertos, ArtWalk and a craft show at the Elk's Lodge!  Cosme of Division 9 Gallery orchestrated a phenomenal event Downtown for Dia de los Muertos! The entire section of Mission Inn Blvd between Orange and Lemon Streets in front of the Museum and Library was just jam packed full of people watching the dancers, or checking out the booths...hopefully next year, Button Button Who! will be among those booths, fingers crossed! As for this year, we had a tiny set up over at Back to the Grind, which was much less heavily trafficked, but there was a lovely mellow vibe that night! A small selection of Frida dolls, Skeleton dolls, and owls are still available at their retail space!

ArtWalk was fabulous, as always! It seemed as though all our friends stopped by to say hello and wish us well, at some point in the evening. It's so nice to have a craft roadie on ArtWalk night to help out setting up and breaking down after the night is done...Mr. Husband is becoming quite the awesome craft roadie! He was on hand  with iced teas, and hot dogs from Relish when it seemed like I was about to perish from hunger. Right now he is working on something to help me display my Christmas merch and the best thing about him, is he works for free! At the Elks Lodge Craft Bazaar, later that week,  he was on hand with breakfast from Jack in the Box for Miss Manda and I...you can get a full recap of our Elk's Lodge adventures over at her place! It was truly a peek into the future to see what may await me if I'm not careful! I too, could be fashioning birdbaths from terracotta pots, or Christmas wreaths from hay...must be ever vigilant to strive for the utmost creative output!

Well,  I don't know about you, but it seems as though the holidays have snuck upon us with a stealthiness usually reserved by old Karate masters about to catch a fly with chopsticks!  I have not gone to bed before 1:00 a.m. all week long, and I have been teaching all week...it has been such an exercise in time management!  Be that as it may, I am super excited about the upcoming festivities, even if it means right now, I am busier than a long tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.

There are SO many fun events coming up!!! Hopefully you can make it out to a couple and check out the new Xmas Stuff we have! I have been up late at night cutting and piecing felted wool and cashmere for our one of a kind Christmas stockings! They are all so festive and colorful, I kinda want to keep them all, but Mr. Husband says there's not room on our mantle for all of them. Here's a little sneaky peak! 

On top of the full size stockings, I am also offering small, ornamental mittens and stockings, which are, oh, shall we say, giftcard sized...just perfect for slipping that last minute giftcard into and making a more presentable...present!  

In addition to the stocking and mitten ornaments, I am making the entire Button, Button, Who! cast of characters, in miniature, perfect for decking out for your tree! So those of you who have been putting off getting your owl fix, can do so for the holidays! I, for one, am going to try and cram my artificial pink tree full of mini owls, just you wait and see!

 Besides owls, we'll have chickadees, whales, cats, Christmas-themed Matryoshkas, and our new Scottie dogs!!! We will still have our old favorites too, for those of you who have been waiting till the holidays to get your Button on...this is the time to do it! We are going to be so busy with events, supplies will definitely not last!!!

Here's a rundown of the Button, Button, Who! Holiday schedule:

11/26/2010 - Thrifty Gifting at Division 9 Gallery (2:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M.)

12/02/2010 - ArtWalk at Life Arts Building - Benefit for Doctors Without Borders (6:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.)

12/03/2010 -  UCR Market Day (8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.)

12/04/2010 - Promenade Elementary School Craft Fair & Pancake Breakfast (8:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M.)

12/05/2010 - Back to the Grind - Art Bazaar (2:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M.)

12/12/2010 - Tio's Tacos with Division 9 Gallery Trifty Gifting! (3:00 P.M. - 8:oo P.M.)

12/18/2010 - Pomona ArtWalk at PB&J's (6:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.)

Hopefully we will be able to meet up at one of those events and I can show you what I've been working so hard on! I can't wait!