Fancy Vintage Clutches

I've been finding vintage clutches at thrift stores like nobody's business. I think they are adorable all on their own, but I decided to fancy a couple up for fun this week.



I embroidered a red feather on this camel colored clutch. It actually has a nice strap attached to the zipper. Does that make it a wristlet?



This is a smaller, velcro closed clutch. There is a scuff on the front, and the corners have some of their black worn off. I'm considering buying some leather care stuff and fixing them. What do you think about that? Is part of the vintage magic in their age scuffs?

I'll be listing these in my shop soon!

My goals for today are to make some birthday presents for my mom and another cute dress for myself!

New Pouches

I found this pouch almost completely finished from last year!



New pouches in the shop this afternoon!

I have something new to debut tomorrow! See you then. :D

Pen Pal Swap

I keep forgetting to post about the super fun pen pal swap hosted by Apron Thrift Girl that I did in April, which I believe was National Letter Writing Month.

The mission was to handwrite a letter on recycled material and send it in a recycled envelope.

This is what I received from Lisa at Parallel-Botany.



The letter was written on a Tyvek envelope, which Lisa says can't be recycled. She stitched "GREETINGS" across the top with cotton lace weight yarn.



It is super beautiful and very creative. It made me feel like a bit of a chump, as all I sent her was a silly story about meeting a raccoon in a dumpster on the back of a menu from the dispensary I clean once a week.

Anyway, thank you Lisa for the beautiful letter and Selena for hosting!

Hot Butter was featured!

A friend of mine impressed her friends at L & B Yarn Co. with one of my pouches, and they featured me on their blog!



Please stop by and check out their website if you like yarn. Tell them I said hi!

I also wanted to let you guys know that I created a page on Facebook for Hot Butter. Go "Like" it if you have a second. I'll be posting shop updates and special deals there!

Vintage Sheet Swap

I received my vintage sheets from the swap last weekend, and they are adorable.





These are a few of my favorites:







What a fun swap! I'll for sure have to do it again next time it rolls around. Special thanks to Katie for doing all the work!

Bonus prize:



Pirate pug and hairy man leg!

Shop Update

I'm in the process of adding a few new things to my shop:







These and more in my shop!

I'll be back tomorrow. I have many fun things to share this week!

My new dress

Here is the dress I made this week.

Basically, I took a lacy black tshirt from the thrift store, cut some excess of the bottom, attached a piece of big black elastic, and sewed on a skirt I made out of a thrift store skirt! I didn't really like the neckline on the shirt, so I expanded it a little. I would have loved a v-neck, but this was my first foray into sewing with knit fabric, and I didn't trust my skills not to mess it up when I want to wear it tonight.



You might recognize the fabric here, where I used the top of the original skirt to make an adorable wristlet, which no one seemed to want to buy. I considered that a sign that I was meant to keep it for myself!

I loved the original skirt, but it was a smidge too tight for me. So now I get to have it as a bag and a dress!

I need to find more cute tops to make more of these!

Fun new things

Please excuse my promise to show off my new dress today. To be honest, I thought yesterday was Thursday and that I was going to wear it today. Turns out it was Wednesday. I was going to show it off anyway, but it turns out all the photos were blurry or not full body shots.

So here are a few lovely things I traded for at Jonesy's Art Bazaar last weekend.



I got this beautiful original art (that's right, original!!) from Cari at Conari Arts. She was a super sweet, super cool lady, and I'm hopefully going to drop in for an art class soon!



I got this super awesome headband from Meredith at In Joy & Play. I would link to her website, but it seems to not be there. She also makes cute leather mustaches, which were impossible for me to resist.





Ok, back to work. I'm crunch time crafting for tomorrow night. Come see me if you can! I'm going to wear my new dress, so I'll for sure be showing it off before I go.

Jonesy's Art Bazaar Report

I don't know if you can read this:



But it says that I was vendor of the month!! I'm not sure how they pick, but I was super excited to be chosen. I got some beads and jewelry makin's for a prize.

Official Report:

I did not make very much money, but my table cost was cheap ($15). I definitely covered that!

I met tons of cool people and completed some fabulous trades. I heart tradesies!

The food at the cafe, Jonesy's Eat Bar, was super fantastic. I had bread pudding french toast with yogurt whipped cream. Do yourself a favor and try that if you're ever in the area.

Verdict: I'll probably try to do it again. I had fun, met some cool people, and it was short and sweet.

In other news, I scored this vintage Jonathan Logan jumpsuit at the thrift store this week.



I can't decide if I should keep it for costume purposes or add it to the Hot Butter Vintage stock. Hrm.

See you tomorrow! I'm going to show off my adorable refashioned dress.

Thrift Share Monday

Once again, playing along with Apron Thrift Girl, who might have my favorite blog and job as of right now. :D



Vintage dresses and shirts bought for 50 cents to $1 last week at the thrift store.



Including this vintage buttery yellow tuxedo shirt. Score!!



These thrifted button downs will be hats or wallets soon!



Vintage thermos, owl salt shaker, and a pretty floral tin.

Most of this was found last week sometime, but some of them have been sitting on my counter waiting to be photographed (I'm talking about you, thermos and owl!). I'll be back later with my Jonesy's Art Bazaar report and maybe some puggy goodness.

My creative space: The Dirty Truth

I love the pretty pictures people show of their creative spaces. I tried to keep mine clean for a while, and it looks like I need to remember to do a better job of that:



Here is the dirty truth of my creative space. I've been crafting hard, demolishing shirts from the thrift store, and making a mess that is not necessarily contained to this area. I'm going to do a little inventory, and unless I NEED to make more stuff before the craft fair, I NEED to clean my house.



I also got started on my Grow-A-Long. I found my Thyme plant at one store and the mint today at another. Apparently the three herbs I need must not reside in one location or the world might end.



I'll have to go search out my chamomile soon! For the record, right after I took this photo I went to move the plants back inside and busted my pot on that crack. GRRR.

Mood Nail Polish

When Kaylah at Dainty Squid showed off her mood nail polish from Claire's, I wanted some in a bad, bad way. Luckily the stars aligned, and I had to go to the mall to get a birthday present (that I tried to locate at several thrift/used book stores). I returned from the mall triumphant!



It's this pretty gray color when I'm cold. My hands are wet because I was cheating and using water to change the colors. It's already kind of starting to change in this photo, but it's the grayest!



It's this pretty peach color when it's warm.



And this is how awesome it looks usually. The nails on my right hand are shorter and looked less awesome.

This polish did dry pretty fast, but I had zero problems painting with it as long as I made sure to keep my brush wet at all times. It also seemed to last pretty well. I'm usually all chipped up the day after I do it, but they didn't start looking crappy until I started doing yard work. I got the blue one too, which I'll be pleased to report on soon!

Vintage Sheet Swap

I signed up for the Vintage Sheet Fat Quarter Swap this year, and I'm so excited about it. Here are my offerings.







Aren't they pretty? I so can't wait to see what I get!!

Looks like I'll be doing this NEXT weekend, not this one, but the next:

Floralia: A Festival of Wine, Women, Spring and Song. Denver's Biggest Girls' Night Out EVER!!

Doesn't that sound fun?! I need to go thrift some men's wear for hats asap!!

Mother's Day

Top secret crafting revealed! I made my mom and my stepmom a set of cute flowers from this tutorial at MADE. I think they turned out lovely, and I kind of want to make a set for myself sometime.

This was the first year Felix got to go to the store and pick out a present for me all by himself. Imagine my surprise Sunday morning to open a set of wineglasses and a wine bottle pourer/stopper. Uh, thanks Felix. In his defense, the wine glasses have pretty colored stems, and he says they're "Game glasses."

I hope all you mamas had a fantastic day yesterday!

I am in the midst of crafting my butt off for this weekend's craft fair. I'll be at Jonesy's Art Bazaar this weekend in Denver if you want to come see me!

New things

I put a few new things in the shop, including some awesome new wallets:





and a couple wristlets





I made up a cute new wristlet pattern the other day. It needs the tar ironed out of it before it gets its picture taken!

I also picked up the new Stitch magazine the other day, and it is truly lovely. I have a kind of long list of things I'd like to sew for fun/for others, but I need to do some "work" sewing first. Don't get me wrong, it's all fun. :D

What would you pay?

I'm playing along with Apron Thrift Girl today. I play this game all the time. Sometimes I see an item from across the way, and I ask myself what I would pay for it before I check out the price tag. I usually don't buy something that is over my top price.



What would you be willing to pay for these items used?

What would you typically want pay for a soft cover book?
$1-2 depending on the book. I like paying 25 cents.

What would you typically want pay for a CD?
I probably wouldn't buy a CD, but if I found something awesome, I'd pay $1.

What would you typically want pay for a hand towel?
25-50 cents

What would you typically want pay for a bath towel?
$3 if it's super luxurious, $2 for a regular. I'd like to pay $1.

What would you typically want pay for a skein of wool yarn?
$1

What would you typically want pay for a pack of vintage greeting cards?
$1

What would you typically want pay for a small pine bookshelf?
No more than $10. Ideal would be between $5 and $8.

What would you typically want pay for a KitchenAid Mixer?
I'd probably spend $25 (or maybe even a little more) for one of these. I want one, and they're expensive.

What would you typically want pay for a jar of vintage buttons?
I have spent $12, but I'd like it to be less than $5, depending on the size. I heart them so much that I will spend more on them, especially if I see some cool buttons in the jar.

What would you typically want pay for a blouse originally from Macy's?
Unless an item of clothing is super cool and super high quality, I usually won't spend more than $3.

I'm adding a couple of my own:

What would you typically want pay for a pair of shoes?
$4 or less. I prefer to buy them from a nearby thrift store with 99 cent shoes.

What would you typically want pay for a piece of vintage luggage?
No more than $5, but I'd like $3 or less.

New pouches

These pretty patchwork pouches are in my shop right now!

Felix and I are going to go to Boulder and see if we can score some books from the used book store for a gift. I personally love knowing when a gift recipient won't be offended by a second hand gift. It usually means I can afford to buy more! I also personally appreciate receiving gifts from the thrift store or used book store.

Would you be offended by a previously owned gift?

I just joined the Vintage Savoir Fair Grow a Long. I tend to be a ruthless slayer of plants, but I'd love to grow a few herbs and use them practically, and that's all we're doing here. I need to get myself some mint, thyme, and chamomile (and calendula bonus plant, if I so desire). Come play along if you've got a mind to.

Scary Story

I was putting Felix in the car at Hobby Lobby when I saw this in the back of the pickup parked next to me. My heart started pounding, and I calmly finished with Felix and walked around the pickup to check it out. I was pretty sure I was going to have to call the cops. Then I realized that if the foot was real, the tool box would not be closed all the way and felt like a total fool!

So if you like scaring suckers like me, please find a fake dead body part to leave in plain site.

I know it's uncool to be so absent. I took a bit of a crafty break for a few days last week and only did top secret Mother's Day crafting last weekend. If I'm not going to create I should at least done some thrifting or something else cool, right? Not so much, actually.

Anyway, I did make a few cute patchwork pouches and have five wallets in the "almost completed" phase of their creation. I'll be back so share a few things in the morning.