Back again

I've become so neglectful of this blog I almost forget I have it! Now and then, though, I like to show what I've been up to in my absence.

As I mentioned many times, I love buttons. Here are a few things I've been working on.

I made this necklace from vintage MOP buttons--about 75 in total--some sterling wire, a sterling necklace, and a few glass beads. Pretty neat, huh? If you're liking it, here's a tutorial.

This elephant thingabobbie I found in a box of old buttons. Carved bone, I believe. Isn't it cool? I used a sterling headpin and a green, jadey-like stone bead to make a necklace pendant. (It'd be cool as a charm, but I think at an inch and a half it's a bit long.)

Another necklace pendant made from a MOP button. On this one, the button itself was about an inch and a half so it too had to be a pendant.

What else? Well, I made another awning for our back porch. It's a difficult one to photograph since my house faces east and the sun's not in a good position for picture-taking until late afternoon. Hmm. It's late afternoon right now. Maybe I'll just nip out and see if I can get a shot or two.

Here it is, awnings closed. The one on the left I made several years ago; the one on the right is the new one. Since we have a western aspect to our back yard, the awnings are necessary to shade the living room. And sitting on the back porch is a killer without them! The new one, though, is mainly cuz in the afternoon the sun shines right in the hub's eyes in the LR!

I made them from drop cloths, a 4' x 15', so all I had to do was cut the 15' direction to length, add a hem to one cut side and along the bottom to hold a pvc pipe, then add rings for the ropes. The hub had to do much more--he put a long rebar inside the PVC to weight it, built the runners for the pipe to ride up in--and to keep the awning from blowing in our strong winds, added pulleys at the top and mounted the whole darn thing. 

While I'm at it, and while I was out snapping the above pics, thought I'd show my caladiums now that they're finally beginning to bloom. Pretty, huh? They'll get even more magnificent before summer's gone.

That's all, folks!