Sweater Print Snaps for the Holidays

I can hardly believe how much time has lapsed since my last post.  Right after I had urgent eye surgery.  I had another hole in my retina repaired -- this was the second time but this time in my other eye.  I had to be careful for 3 weeks after -- no stooping, hanging my head down, bending over or lifting anything more than 5 lbs -- which meant I couldn't really do much.  I did manage to rest up which was a good thing.  Right afterwards, however, I ended up with an intense pain in my arm -- mainly my elbow.  Today I am finally feeling a bit more back to normal but babying that arm so as to not aggravate it any more than I have to.  I am discovering that aging really sucks and wish I could trade a few body parts in for some new ones!

So I did manage to finish off some items which will be delivered to the Artisan Market in Sorrento and Shear FX Hair Studio in Chase later this week -- that is as long as the weather cooperates.  We have had some huge torrential rain storms resulting in major flooding in our part of Canada.

Where I live (interior BC) is fine, however the flooding destroyed all of the highways between us and the coast.  This means that there is only essential travel to the coast and supplies are being transported through at a snail's pace.  Canada Post put our area on a yellow alert which means that the mail service will be very sporadic and extremely slow for a long time.  So if you are planning on ordering anything from my online store, please allow an extra week or so for delivery. 

So here are some Christmas sweater themed pieces I created using more silkscreens from Tonja Lenderman.  I really love the sweater designs which were fun to create with.  All of these pieces are on a snap so they can be interchanged.

I have added some of these pieces to my online store.  The necklaces shown in the above photo are cork in (off) white and available in many different colors.

New Buttons for a Sweet Sweater at Intwined Fibre Arts Store

We sell our handcrafted buttons, shawl pins and other accessories through several yarn and quilt shops in BC and what we enjoy the most is dealing directly with the owners.  Each one has a unique style to their shop and are looking for different items to fit in with it. 

We like to customize some items for each of the stores as much as possible or fill a need if they are looking for something in particular.  In this case, Althea at Intwined Fibre Arts in Salmon Arm had knit a girls' sweater from this gorgeous yarn.  It needed 3 larger size buttons on each side in colors to match. 

We designed some concave buttons with a texture and fun colors to coordinate with the colors in the sweater.

We made extras for her store and with our color samples, she can order in her custom colors to go with other yarns she might have.

Visit Intwined Fibre Art's Facebook page for more knitting and crochet inspiration.

When Life Gives You Ribbons...

Make a hat!  I just finished making a bunch more clay dress and hat charms for our Sweater brooch pins.  Most of them were made to fill a special order for Chum N' Luba's Unique Boutique in our town of Chase.  There is a story about how the clay hats came to be.  A while ago I ordered a variety of metal base charms in a hat, shoe and purse theme.  When our order arrived I was a little disappointed to find these ribbon charms instead of the hats.  I tucked them away in a drawer not really knowing what to do with them but thinking they might come in handy some day.

Months later, I pulled out all of our metal charm findings to look for something in particular when I came across the ribbons again.  I could suddenly visualize them made into a hat by filling in the parts with clay.  So my "ADD" kicked in at that moment and completely forgetting what I was looking for, I had to try and make a clay hat charm.   I used a piece of vinyl placemat to create the woven texture.

And here are some more clay dress charms in a few new colors.

Folded Bead Sweater Shawl Pin

Here are some more sweater pins in a different style that were inspired by Helen Breil's Folded Bead tutorial.   The pieces are textured on the front and back and the textures used in the first two  pieces are by Helen Breil as well.  I show how to make the matching clay bead dangle in my latest tutorial, Constructing Accent Pieces for Your Scarves, Sweaters & Shawls.

  

For this piece I used Wendy Orlowski's texture called "Feather Boa".

These are a few of my prototypes and I have a few more ideas that I am playing around with.

Yarn Ball Buttons

One of the things we love about selling our buttons and shawl pins wholesale is working directly with the shop owners and managers.  We get feedback as to what their needs are so we can customize their orders.

Anne from Kelowna Yarn and Needlecrafts in Kelowna, BC requested some buttons that looked like a ball of yarn to go with a sweater she was knitting.  Here she is wearing it, all finished and with the buttons on.

These buttons have a metal shank and so we made some plain buttons for the inside as "backing supports" as you can see here:

We make our own metal shanks with wire.  We have seen how some people use jump rings but I don't see how that could be strong enough for a button with normal wear and tear.  When we make our buttons, we want them to be practical and functional besides just nice looking.  A button for sewing should be made more durable than a jewelry item such as a brooch or earring.

In my tutorial, "Making Beautiful Buttons" I show how you can make your own button shanks and then actually embed them into the clay so no glue is needed.  Glue (no matter what type) tends to dry out and deteriorate after time and if it is intended to go through the wash, glue will not hold up over time.

More of these yarn ball buttons (in other colors) will be available at Kelowna Yarn & Needlecrafts very soon.

Ladies in Red

It has been an extremely busy month but looks like things are quickly getting back to normal.  We have  mainly been filling store orders as this is a busy time of year for them which, of course, is good for us.

For the past year and especially during this Christmas season, we have had more jewelry requests in the color red.  We rarely make the same item in the same color combination more than once but we have repeated certain designs (in limited amounts) due to customer requests and popularity.

Here are some of our creations in this seasonal jewel-tone color.

Other than it being Christmas, there is another reason the color red has been so popular.  Many of you have heard of the Red Hat Society.  Well there is another group of ladies called the "Crown Jewels of Canada" (CJC).  I had the opportunity to meet with some of the ladies who are members of the CJC and after learning more about the group, I felt inspired to make more items in red.

We had bought some kilt brooch pins some time ago hoping to make some sweater pins with them.  These ones shown here as well as other styles and colors are now available at Donna's Yarn & Craft (north shore Kamloops) and will also be listed in our online shop soon.