Mood:
a-okNow Playing: XM 70s - 'Weekend', Wet Willie
Had some simple, silly fun today. You may remember back on Tuesday, I was at GoodWill, and I picked up a doll. Forgot to tell you, I picked up a 'craft grab baggie' for 99c at the same time. Inside was unopened packages of star-shaped buttons, boy-themed 'buttons', and two packs of sequins. The buttons are made by the same company that makes those tiny ones I use for doll clothes, even though they're really marketed and sold to scrapbookers. No kidding, all these buttons I love are usually in with the hole punchers, 50c a page paper, and brads of various sizes. For someone who's not really 'into' scrapbooking, I get a lot of good ideas for my dolls in those aisles - and I sure spend a lot of time there !
Company's name is "Dress It Up", it's a Jesse James Company out of Bethlehem PA, says on the package. They make all sorts of plastic 'buttons', from super tiny ones that equal the dimensions of those on vintage Barbie clothes, to huge ones almost the size of your kneecap. Link to their website at the end of today's entry. I find 'em at both the Mart and Hobby Lobby, and your local craft shop will probably have some in the scrapbooking section. While many have shanks or sew-through holes, most don't. That way, the scrapbookers don't have to snip 'em off. The 'Little Boy' pack I got has flat-back non-buttons, of trains and planes, stars and dump trucks. I plan to glue 'em to Dearest Son's new jacket.
They usually go for around $2. a packet, so getting two packs and some sequins for 99c was a good deal. The star package, labelled 'All American Collection/All American' had three different styles - I got three open white stars a bit bigger than a quarter, three nickel-size matte finish gold stars the size of your thumbnail, and six slightly smaller two-color ones. Those are either red or navy on the outside star, with contrasting red, white, or blue star shapes inside. All but the white open ones have shank backs, so I can have fun with doll jewelry with 'em !
I found a good boot box discarded a few days ago, and when I went to prep it for fabric covering (more later), I discovered a gold cord in the tissue paper. Strung one of the open white stars through it, cut to fit, treated the ends with Fray-Check, and poof ! Instant Crissy necklace ! The gold stars just wouldn't hang right - shank is, of course, centered, I'd need it more towards the top to work. Added a jump ring to the shank, but it still tipped forward. Oh, well.
My eyes caught a little circular crystal I'd found somewhere. It must've been from an old chandelier or candleholder, from the brackets on the top and bottom. Snipped off the bottom bracket, re-bent the top one to form a loop...where to find something really small to act as a cord or necklace ? What I'd used for Crissy's was too big, it quite overwhelmed the tiny crystal. It's about the size of your pinky nail. All the cord I had was also too large...then it hit me. Embroidery floss ! Six strands, can be thinned down easily, or left intact, and I had about three dozen colors. Found a four-strand piece cut from a prior project, and it looks great. Isabella now has a lovely crystal necklace, and I can change the 'cord' with her next outfit. Coool !
So I finally found a use for that little crystal, and the stuff I bought Tuesday. Not sure what'll happen to the sequins, they're rather large for most of my uses. But I'm sure they'll fit in somewhere. The embroidery floss I've had around for years, if not decades, and I just found a doll-related use for it ! :)
I'll probaby root around in the doll jewelry box for more ideas. I use one of those $2. 'floss keeper' boxes, I just love all the dividers. All my broken jewelry, various bits and pieces from damaged doll clothes, beads and sequins and such from grab-bags ends up in there. Ironically, all the floss is in a Christmas gift box, designed to look like a take out box for Chinese food. Maybe I should snag another floss box...
Oh, and about covering boxes ? I'll write that up for you soon, I'm gonna experiment a bit first. The directions I have call for Mod Podge, which isn't expensive, but I wanna try to use what I already have - namely Fray-Check and fabric glue, we'll see how that goes.
Here's the site - it links to a retail outlet to purchase, but you can just look around :
http://www.dressitup.com/
