That seems to be my state of creating lately.  I was fortunate enough to inherit quite a collection of buttons through a friend.  She knew this lady who used to do a lot of sewing projects and had collected all kinds of sewing supplies, from buttons, to fabric, to upholstery trim, lace etc.  When the lady approached my friend asking if she wanted to take some of the stuff she had because she was trying to clean up her closets, my friend right away thought of me and let me have first dibs in looking through the treasure trove of sewing supplies.  Although I could have taken it all, I tried to be prudent and really only take the things that I really liked, or really felt I could use in one of my projects. 

When it came to the button collection though, I did not have any qualms taking the whole kit and kaboodle.  I know how expensive buttons can be, and also how versatile they can be.  But since I'm always striving to be unique and come up with things that others hopefully haven't seen, I've been challenging myself to use them in unusual places.  So far I've used them as closures on my cigar box purses
 
in place of beads in my statement bib type necklaces

in headbands

bridal hair combs

barrettes

and brooches
. 
I usually try to combine them with other elements such as ribbon roses, beads, watch faces, feathers.  So far I've been very pleased with the outcome of all these pieces. 

You would think that after doing so many pieces my button collection would be almost decimated.  But, no that is not the case.  I still have quite a large box left.  The challenge has been more in trying to find their unique characteristics, since a large portion of them have the same coloration, either silver, or gold.

So, in my effort to 1) use up my buttons, and 2) use them in unique places, I had this vision of using them to completely cover the front of one of my cigar box purses.  I wanted them to almost look like beads, almost like texture.  From a distance you probably cannot tell they are buttons, they just look like a gold texture in front of the purse.  So this is what I came up with, what do you guys think?


It was fun creating a multi-level collage with the addition also of some pearls to add even more interest, and also to help fill up the gaps so it looks like one continuous stream of color.

So there you have it.  Would love to know what you guys think. is it too much?  Or is gold like being thin, one can never be too thin....or too gold!

If you are interested in finding out what items I currently have for sale, please visit my HandArt Design Studios Etsy store.