Grateful.

I have been keeping this blog since the 12th of April 2010, a little over 3 months now, and I must tell you that I am enjoying every moment of it. It is truly an honour to be sharing this creative side of myself with you. I hope to keep doing this for a long while still!

During these past few months, many people have come for a short visit. Some have left a kind comment. Some have decided to make a commitment and return on a regular basis. As you know, these people are the "Michele Made Me followers".

Catherine, from The Sewing Attic, is a follower of my little sister's blog, Ariane's Crafts. So when my sister (so very kindly) advertised the first days of Michele Made Me on her blog, Catherine made the leap to my new little baby blog totally blind. She didn't know me! Not from Adam. Not from a hole in the ground. As far as she was concerned, I could be making crap over here. Or macaroni crafts (which I may yet do, be forewarned)! Nevertheless, she became a follower then and there, no questions asked. Since that time she has been amazingly sweet and consistent! She stops by very regularly and leaves a quip, a few words of encouragement, and more often than not, high praise! She is a very kind person and I thank her for that.

With that in mind, I felt I needed to show my gratitude in some way. So I made her this gift.

Thank you Catherine. You are a lovely follower and friend. I hope you enjoy your new crochet hook holder. Happy hooking! :)

A word to all Michele Made Me followers. You are so kind and generous. I am grateful to you all for making this bloggy adventure so special to me. Thank you for coming and I hope to "see" you again very soon!

Have a wonderful day!

Michele

xox

I've linked to C.R.A.F.T. , Night Owl Crafting, Today's Creative Blog, and Somewhat Simple

Beautiful Mail (2nd Post of the Day)!

Look what flew in today! The extremely rare felty bluebird of Massachusetts. This little guy is just about the sweetest little fowl you'll ever catch a glimpse of, if you're lucky. He's a rare bird. Unique. One of a kind. You birdwatchers look hard. You may never again see such a sight. He's way off course but it looks like he may stay a while. See, he's already built himself a most interesting nest out of linen and clothesline! He's a clever one that felty bluebird, wouldn't you say?

He doesn't travel light either. Look what he had packed in his little birdbag. Why it looks like he shops on Etsy! In particular, he may have a weakness for the wares of Amy at During Quiet Time. Oh! Wait a minute! What's that you say little bluebird? They are gifts. Gifts for me? From Amy? Well, I'm just flabbergasted! That is so kind of her... Just look at what she sent along!

Not good enough! Let's see some closeups!!!

My very own square of pansy-printed linen... Score.

Some gorgeous linocut printed covered buttons... Score.

A lovely linocut evening primrose printed card... Score.

And this great card! (Does Amy know I hoard greeting cards?...) Score.

And finally (as if that wasn't enough), some matching pins for my rare felty bluebird of Massachusetts!!!

All made by Amy, here:

That bird is getting comfortable... Yep, he's definitely staying. Welcome home my little friend!

Thanks so much Amy! I love it all! I guess this means I owe you, eh? :)

Tutorial: Handmade Covered Buttons

I LUV covered buttons! Have you noticed a spike in their popularity recently? I have. I'm paying attention over here ya know. So I devised this handy tutorial that avoids the trip to the button store altogether and allows you to make these little babies with stuff from around the house.

Let's do it!

You will need the following:

1. fabric scrap
2. needle and thread
3. polyester batting (not shown)
4. flat plastic (I keep the plastic packaging that comes my way for craft purposes)
5. felt scrap
6. narrow ribbon
7. circle template or round thing
8. pencil or marker
9. scissors
10. craft glue

To begin, draw out 2 circles on your plastic. Cut them out. If your plastic is too thick it'll be difficult to cut out. I use thin, cuttable plastic and layer a few pieces to make it sturdy.

Put a dab of glue on one of your plastic circles.

Place your second circle on top. Let dry.

Draw a circle from your chosen fabric that is about twice as wide as your little plastic circles.

Cut it out! No really, cut the fabric circle out. With a needle and thread, sew a running stitch all around the edge of the circle.

Pull up the ends of the thread just enough to make a little fabric cup.

In your little cup, layer a few pieces of batting. On top of that, place your glued plastic circles.

Now pull up the thread ends tightly so that the fabric comes around and over the batting and plastic circles. Tie the ends tightly.

If you flip the thing around, it should now look like a button! But, patience, we're not done quite yet...

Trim the excess thread. (One handed photography, not too shaky, eh?)

Cut out a little felt circle, slightly smaller than your button. Take a large needle and a short piece of narrow ribbon. Thread your needle with the ribbon.

Create a button shank by sewing your ribbon through the centre of the felt circle as shown in the next photo.

Trim the excess ribbon.

Here's a shot of the shank.

Next, sew your ribbon down onto the felt so that it stays in place.

Then put a whole whack of glue on this side of the felt. This will hold the felt to the button and will help keep the ribbon shank intact as well.

Place your gluey felt circle on the button bottom.

Here's a side view.

Using some nice matching thread or embroidery thread, blanket stitch the edge of the felt to the button.

And that's it! You are DONE! A beautiful inexpensive covered button!

I made a whole bunch of them...

They are kinda addictive...

Let the button-making begin!

I'm joining a few link parties today:

Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog and also Lucky Linky Tuesday at Lucky Star Lane!