Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Button Sheep

I saw this post and was instantly in love, it was such a cute, unique idea that I knew I'd make one. 

I was a little worried about having enough white buttons but you can't even tell I made a dent in my button stash.  I was really lucky, when I started crafting my Mom was more than happy to unload some of her craft supplies so she no longer had to store them.  Among them was her collection of buttons including all the ones she'd inherited from her Mom, I have an awesome container of unique ones.

I decided one evening it was time to start a new craft but it was too late to get any green fabric, I also needed a frame so I went to Micheal's.  I'm not actually very happy with the frame I got, I hate how shiny it is but it was cheap and the right size.  I have visions of spray painting it but for now I was too lazy and hung it as is. 

I also found at Michael's a green canvas bag for $1, I figured that was perfect so I took the back of the frame out and used it as a guide to cut out a square of fabric.  I should have done this last because I didn't leave any room for fraying and I did a lot of handling of the fabric.  Halfway through I stopped and very slightly trimmed with my pinking shears but the damage was already done and if you look at the right angle you can see that I didn't have quite enough, oh well.


I made very few changes to what Fowl Single File did, really the only thing I changed was the face.  I didn't want to use a french knot for the eye because I thought it was too small, I wanted something a little bigger.  Initially I decided to use felt and I came up with this.



Two things wrong, 1. It's in the wrong spot.  2. It's just plain scary.

I unpicked and ended up using the end of a dressmaker pin.  I just used pliers to cut off the head and then I hot glued it on.

If I'm really honest about this piece I'll admit that it really didn't turn out as cute as I thought I would.  I don't know what's different about it that I don't like but it's not a piece that I'll keep around forever.  It's hung in Catie's room beside her butterfly picture, I wanted to put it on the other side but I was afraid she'd be able to grab it.  Like I said, it's fine, if not slightly random in her room.


Here's the original which I love, and then mine which is okay.

Looking at them side by side I'm sure it's the colour of the green that I'm not happy with.  That's not something I'm going to change since I had to sew all those buttons on with different colour thread, I'll just have to learn to love it.  Her vibrant green is really a lot cuter than mine though.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

could be the frame.

EllensCreativePassage said...

Well, I think it is cute...maybe a smaller frame, or a awhite one...but still I love the sheep!

Laura said...

Definitely could be the frame, it is pretty ugly. Perhaps I'll get around to spraying it.