Tag Archive for 'buttons'

shop update and what’s going on

I added a few pinback buttons to my shop.
Did you know that tallgrass prairies could be 6 feet tall, but still there is more underground than what is seen above ground? And according to wikipedia 99% of the original prairie is covered with farmland now. I once heard that the majority of the remaining original prairieland runs along railroad tracks.
My grandmother, who was involved in prairie restoration, got me very interested in prairies when I was a child. I’ve loved them ever since and wanted to bring something with my love of prairies to the shop. They’re 1″ with pinbacks, or a magnet if you prefer, and they’re priced at just $1. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

As for “what’s going on?” Not much. The heat has officially kicked on and thus I feel super lazy. I hate sweating unintentionally. My face gets drenched and my make-up melts off. It’s also very hard to get motivated to do anything, even exercise, even though I’m already hot and sweaty. Yesterday I mowed and the rest of the day I had a headache and felt like I could not get th heat out. I kid you not, I even sat at the computer, air conditioner on, with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables on my head hoping to cool off, but no dice. BUT, good news, as erin noted to me the other day, the cicadas are already started to sing which means the end of summer, hurrah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I probably just had 2 of my 3 readers unsubscribe from my blog for saying that. People seem to really love their summer here. But, I was thinking earlier this week, I have a very small window of comfort, 65 to 75 degrees. If it’s above, I’m sweating, if it’s below, better pile on the layers.

Even Bishop and Theo feel the heat. Must be torture with permanent fur coats. Above you can see how they are getting along. We are pretty comfortable allowing them to be together alone, without fear of one tearing the other one to shreds. We also have the sneaking suspicion that while we are gone during the day Bishop sleeps outside of Theo’s cage. Tomorrow morning Bishop is going in for the big snip-snip. And while my friends Al and Elinor are in between moves, I’m renting their budgie, Ted Nugent. It’s nice to have some company in my studio while I work.

buttonsssss


I just finished a set of 50 buttons to include in my artomat set. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m still working on putting those together to send out.

I’ve been kind of feeling uninspired lately. Maybe it’s not so much uninspired as it is a lack of motivation, or drive. I have plenty of ideas of things to work on, but I just don’t feel that gung-ho feeling. Is it the heat? I’ve been doing little projects here and there, like scanning all the paintings, spinning some yarn, working in my page a day, etc.
I’m trying to not stress out about it, I know that I occasionally go through my ebb and flow phases, and I can’t always be the production queen I’d like to be. I think I need something new to get really excited about. What shall it be? I’m sharing this just so you understand why I might not be posting as frequently as I like.


I’d like to leave you with a scan of an ad my sister in law Dacia took out in the local paper for her garage sale this weekend.

button, button, whose got the button?

originally uploaded by robayre.

Last night after watching a tutorial, (or was it just craft night?) I was inspired to break out my button maker and make some buttons. I was really stumped what should be on them until I remembered this page from my page a day book that I really loved.

Tonight my sister, sister-in-law and I are going to go see The Swell Season at the Chicago Theatre. You know the Swell Season, they’re the couple from Once. If you haven’t seen the film yet, get thee swiftly to the video rental store.

april 24 Polaroid Week 2008

april 24 Polaroid Week 2008, originally uploaded by robayre.

Wow, I’m blowing through polaroid film this week like it’s going out of style (or maybe just being discontinued).
Have you seen the Save Polaroid site? They have a survey up, go take it.
One thing that makes me really sad about the end of instant Polaroid Film is all the stuff I wanted to do, but will never get the chance. I’ve always wanted to try emulsion transfer with polaroid, and there are so many different types of cameras and films that I never got to use. I’m still trying to get over the end of joycam and i-zones :(


I came up with the idea to make some polaroid buttons like this one and will hopefully add them to the shop soon, so keep an eye out for those.

long day

It’s been a long day. This is all I could muster up tonight. Abstract grass, I guess. Watercolors. Buttons, or maybe magnets, whatdayathink?

My dad is in the hospital for surgery on a broken arm. During the height of that stupid Mercury in retrograde madness, he slipped on the ice and broke his upper arm and they need to operate it to place it and pin it (I guess).  He was supposed to have the surgery today, but there were some hiccups in his EKG that gave the dr.s concern. Hopefully, they can proceed tomorrow. Anyway, if you could please think positive thoughts and/or say a prayer for him, I would be grateful.