Happy, Happy Fall

It has been a beautiful past several days here in Wisconsin.  The trees are really turning, and they seem especially bright and pretty this year compared with those in the past several years.  We went on a long walk through a local state park on Saturday and another walk yesterday afternoon.  The sky was a brilliant blue, and the trees....gorgeous!  This picture is of across the street this morning.  Have a wonderful day and week!

Thank you, Lee!

I received my altered Altoid tin full of buttons--all with a fall theme--as part of the 2012 Fall in Love with Buttons Swap hosted by Laurie at Button Floozies. 

Lee was my partner, and she sent a beautifully embellished tin full of pretty fall themed buttons. 

I just love the porcelain one on the top and the large shell one inside not to mention the many others she included.  I'm delighted that she was able to find so many with a fall theme. 

Needless to say, I'm delighted!  Thank you, Lee!

Fall Button Swap

Here are pictures of what I made and gave to my partner, Lee, in the Button Floozies fall button swap.  I am assuming Lee has received her package by now, so I decided it was time to post.  We were supposed to decorate a standard-sized Altoid tin and include at least 40 buttons--all with a fall theme of some sort.

It was fun finding the buttons...and it certainly helped discovering a huge bin of buttons at a flea market last month to paw through.  I bought the pretty paper and owl sticker (couldn't resist the sparkle!) at Hobby Lobby and otherwise used bits and pieces of things that I had around the house.

I ended up putting over 50 buttons in the tin and tied the tin together just to make sure it didn't open in transit.  Hope Lee liked it.  Thank you, Laurie, for hostessing this.  It was a great deal of fun.

Having to Think of Autumn

I REALLY didn't want to start thinking of fall yet.  However, I have had to lately.  All of our school curriculum has been chosen, ordered, and received--we're ready for school, though we will not start until the last week of August.  The kids will pick up and play their violins again this week, after taking two months off for R&R, to get "reacquainted" with them to prepare for lessons again in September.  Also, I've seen fall things pop up everywhere in stores (Christmas things too--c'mon do we really have to in July??).  Some such things are these beautiful doilies I found at the Dollar Store.  They are so pretty!  I'm not sure what I'll do with them or how I'll use them...I just know they "spoke" to me and thought I'd better get them before they were gone.  They have great detail and color and are just gorgeous.  Perhaps the kids and I will have an art class and make something of them.  Couldn't beat the price either. 

I'm also going to list some vintage trim in my Etsy shop.  This trim, though I love and appreciate nice trim, is just not my style.  I know there are very talented people out there who could turn this trim into a beautiful fall project.