Crafty Peep Swap

I made this glorious tote bag for Amber for the Crafty Peep Swap.

If that sounds like I'm tooting my own horn, it's because I am.  I had the idea for making a tote bag with this awesome crewel embroidered owl.  I even had the stuff sitting on the table.  Then I got Amber's email with the stuff that she loves, and I knew I must have been channeling my psychic powers.  I couldn't not make it for her.

The owl was embroidered onto a piece of linen.  I fused it to the bag, which didn't actually work that well because the back of the embroidery was so lumpy.  It did help hold it in place for me to double stitch it onto the bag.

I made the bag out of canvas and interlined it with flannel, and it felt so nice- soft and sturdy at the same time.  

It's lined with a vintage sheet.  There is a good chance that I used the last of my yellow and white sheet on the pocket and front decoration for this bag.  I originally planned to line it with that sheet but could only find a little bit.  I did send some of it out for the vintage sheet FQ swap, but I was both surprised and a little sad to discover that it was almost gone.  It was one of my favorites!

I love this bag so much that I included a note instructing Amber to let me know right away if she didn't love it with all her heart because I would have been happy to get it back and make her something else.  It turns out that she loves it, so I'm just happy that it found such a warm owl loving home.

In other AWESOME news, the Denver Post put a picture of a Hot Butter wallet in an article yesterday about the Horseshoe.  Check it out!

Oh Ferdinand

In the middle of wallet assembly line creation last week, I was overcome with the urge to make a new friend. So I did!



Please allow me the pleasure of introducing you to Ferdinand. He is made from a handmade vintage table runner. I found several sets of owl faces for macrame at a thrift store, which I sewed onto his face with embroidery floss. The beak only had a top hole, so I hammered a hole into the bottom of it with a hammer so I could attach it more securely.



I think he's pretty handsome.







I have a few more long wallets in my shop, including a couple with the pretty pretty Kokka cupcakes we all love. I'm off to work on button earrings. Happy Monday!

Halloween

I decided to go handmade and NOT SEXY this year, just to shake things up. I saw this tutorial Chelsea from Sea Blanket shared on A Beautiful Mess, and decided I wanted to be an owl. I accidentally spent 4 hours working on this part the other day, and I don't have any pictures of it. You'll have to wait for the final unveiling!

Today I made a couple owl masks to go with my costume.



This one is made using a black plastic mask form I bought at Hobby Lobby because Felix begged me to. It was a three pack, and I have at last used one for good! Unfortunately, it's a little hard to see/breathe and my face gets all sweaty in this beast.



That lead to me making this mask out of a pair of thrifted sunglasses. I popped the lenses out and hot glued feathers on it. This one is much more comfortable although I do need to trim some of those pesky nose ticklers!

This is the first of a few years that we're not hosting our own Butter household Halloweenie party. I usually get so stressed out cleaning and cooking that I have a headache by the time the party starts. Not this year! This year we attend a party not of our throwing.



I love Giant Dwarf's Starlette Crowns so much, but I can't exactly afford them. Therefore I copycatted her in a big way for personal use and felt super cute all night at work.

Excuse me, did you drop these turkey flats?

Laura and I went on a hot date that included a trip to the fly fishing store. We got a little crazy making feathered hair majesties, and then we got a little crazier and decided to photograph them on my porch owl Diabeetus, Beetus for short.



Beetus needed hair, so the obvious choice here was Beverly, my beloved mullet wig.



Never mind the dog hair all over my body. Just pretend it's not there and don't mind it one little bit.



Then of course we decided Nana would look absolutely fabulous wearing Beverly. I was a little mad at myself for not thinking of it before.







It has been so awesome being reunited with Laura. In addition to our feather projects, I have also started a couple others, including new small wallets and large and in charge vintage sheet totes. I also created a new yellow corduroy guitar strap for Laura. We found the best stuff on our thrifting adventures while she was here.

Hope you had a great weekend!!

The Flock (I'm giving one away!)

My little flock of Owl Change Purses turned out ever so lovely, if I do say so myself. Photographing owls on a string is kind of like photographing a herd of children- they don't hold still. And two of them kept trying to make out. I busted them in several photos, unable to keep their flaps off each other. It was kind of romantic.

I'm giving on of these away on my Facebook fan page (link on the right). All you have to do is share the Hot Butter fan page with your friends and let me know. For bonus chances, have your friends tell me you sent them. It's really a shameless ploy to get my fan count up so I can reach more people. Expect to see me working hard to make Hot Butter a success in the future. :D



If you can't wait to get your hams on one of these babies, fret not. I'll be adding them to my shop later this afternoon.

Owl Pouch

I have nearly given in to the temptation of purchasing a Keyka Lou pattern several times, but she got my heart last night with the pattern for this adorable little pouch.


Photo from Keyka Lou.

So of course I had to buy it and a few of its adorable pattern friends. Here is my first finished owl pouch:





Beetus the owl approves.



And so does Spiderman. I have several more of these in varying shades of doneness. I'm going to give one away soon on facebook, so if you're not already a fan, use the link on the right to become one!