buttons and more buttons

I love buttons, and if I see a tin or a jar full in a charity shop or car boot sale I'll pounce on them!

I have such a lot of them I decided to experiment with some wire and thread some up...
into neck pieces and large pendants.
I'm even thinking they'd be great stitched onto a dress or made into a whole top!
The possibilities are endless.

organic shopping?

I was blogged by the lovely Cathy Cullis on her shopping list saturday...
which I was really excited about , as I am a fan of her work!
I thought I'd do my own shopping list thing here, to show some of my favourite etsy finds.
So every Friday.....I'll put in a few items that I love!

my first one is a gorgeous shawl made by wet felting, silk chiffon, crochet and knitted pieces and threads.
It's from a shop called Living Earth Gallery .
Her work is so organic, and the combination of different fabrics and threads is amazing!
I'm finding it hard to choose a favourite....
to buy!




The second beautiful item I found is a birch bark cuff made by Bettula .
Heather makes jewellery from birch bark and other natural materials, and each piece is simple and delicate....showing the detail and pattern of the wood.
She makes ear-rings , and necklaces too....
and has a sale on until March 21st!!!



The last one is from the very talented Kaylacoo
who I found on flickr and makes the most enchanting and colourful felted brooches and little pictures!
Her work is full of life and the attention to detail is so lovely!

Inspired about recycling....

Yesterday I met up with a man who runs the Greenhouse Charity shop in Dingwall.
Dave Lynch is part of the Dingwall and District Environment group and set up the shop a few months ago to raise funds for the group, it's environmental projects and other worthy causes in the area.
It's a lovely shop and well worth visiting...I could've stayed and rummaged for hours!

He is keen to make people aware of the possibilities of recycling clothes and re-using materials that would end up in landfill.
I've been making garments and accessories from recycled materials for a while now, and it's really nice to find others in my area who are as enthusiastic and inspired as I am!
I am very excited about what could happen now that I've connected with Dave and the group!
I'm also keen to get more involved with my local environmental groups and projects.
I also came across the local Friends of the Earth group in Inverness, that I'll hopefully get along to sometime soon.