Introducing.....MY MOM!!.....and her sewing wreath, button pic, and button man

My Mom, class of '55!

Any creativity I have should be credited to the amazing creative brain and spirit that my Mom was given, and was handed down to me.  She has always been the most creative person I've ever known, and when I grow up I hope to be just like her!

Here are some things she made and gave to us:

Well, she didn't make the horse tack, but I thought it was too cool to leave out of the picture!

close up of Mom's wreath

She just took a small grapevine wreath and a hot glue gun, and went to work with some antique sewing supplies she had.  She used paper ribbon to wrap around the wreath first.  It also makes a nice backdrop for the wreath.  Notice the old belt buckle holding the paper ribbon together at the top, and acting as the base for the simple wire hanger, shown below:

This may be hard to see.  The wire is firmly attached to one of the heavier vines on each side near the top, and goes up and is looped around the back of the belt buckle in 2 places, with some left at the top for hanging.......all cleverly hidden behind the lovely sunflower ribbon.

mom's button picture

I love how she used an old doily on the top right, and the beauty of her proportions and arrangement.  For the background, she just glued fabric onto cardboard.

mom's button "manny" for Sonnet!

When Sonnet was a baby, Mom made this cute little button manny.  The eyes and mouth are painted onto a black wooden bead, which she also painted.  The nose just looks like a little red plastic circle she had from something, but could be made out of clay, or even painted cardboard, covered with polyurethane.  It's just glued on. As for the sewing together of the buttons, that is a bit harder.  The buttons at the bottom of the legs and arms are shank buttons.  (This means they don't have holes through the top, but instead have a "shank" underneath, with which the button is attached.)  She started with very heavy duty thread, probably meant for sewing carpets or upholstry, and sewed long lengths of it onto those 4 shank buttons. 

At this point, I go into guessing:  She then sewed the threads up through 2 holes in each button to form the legs and arms.  She then sewed the threads up through the body buttons, through the head and hat, tying them off to hold the hat in place, but also leaving a long loop for hanging, if that is desired.  The attachment of the arms was probably done by just tying them on at the right place on the body.

Don't I have a wonderful Mom?!?!  ;)