So i have officially moved the blog over to www.amandabutton.com it is still ever so slightly under construction, but definitely functioning nicely so far! Please come on over to visit, i'd love to see you all there! xoxoxox Amanda Button

write more letters!

I seem to have a "thing" these days with patches!I got a really pretty one from http://allthisismine.com/index.html I used it to pretty up what WAS a very ugly black tote bag that had the logo of my Mister's former employers printed on it. The stitching is a bit wonky, but i still like the bag MUCH better now! Plus, it is a reminder for me to WRITE MORE LETTERS! Snail mail is the best! i am using the bag to carry around my papercraft stuff and notebooks, zines and journals. I run up and down the stairs getting stuff from the art room allthe time, so having a few bags to haul my goodies all over the house makes life alittle easier.

La Vie En Rose

A while back, i signed up for the "Spring Muse" paper doll swap on the BMuse yahoo group. It has taken me forever to get it going, but today the inspiration came and the Edith Piaf doll was born. I truly and deeply love her music, and La Vie En Rose is one of my all time favorite songs. I have been listening to my Edith discs alot lately while i sew and hang out in the "art room" upstairs, so the doll is kinda a tribute to how inspiring i find that incredible French music. I wish the photos were better...i know better than to try to get pictures at night when the light is bad. But i was so excited to have completed a doll tonight that i could not wait to share. I put a necklace on her so that she could have a pearl over her "throat chakra" to symbolize her amazing voice, a rose crown and tulle veil, and her body is covered with rose printed tissue paper, fake roses and petals, tulle, ribbons, lace and buttons. I have a feeling she is a bit dimensional for the swap...but i just CANNOT seem to make a flat doll!!! Oh well. I like her and hate to mail her away tomorrow, but she must venture out into the world. I hope whoever gets her enjoys her as much as i enjoyed creating her tonight.

pretty junk for a happier day

Here are some of the things that are making me very happy right now...the insect specimen and faerie are valentine presents from my eldest. So pretty! The bug is an adult doodlebug/ant lion. I had no idea that they grew up to be lovely winged flyers! The faerie is just so shiny and wonderful that it makes me smile just to look at it. I love my son! Next is the "La Vie En Rose" goatmilk soap i made over the weekend...it is the only creative thing i managed to accomplish, alas. The soap IS very nice, however, so i can't complain too much.

And Here's a big pile of creative chaos....i seem to work best when i am confronted with a big pile of pretty messy junkiness. Blogger is making all my photos look weird and pixelated...this in combination with the fact that it has eaten a few of my posts is beginng to annoy me. i wish that i was more techinical so i could figure this stuff out for myself. grrrr. Just going to have to wait til the Mister is in the mood to help i suppose. Until then, please bear with my ugly blog. :P

it's all about the journey

Back during the summer, i got the most hideously ugly, but somehow sooo very intriguing vintage curtains while thrifting,.Printed all over them are various images of "antiquated" modes of travel...they really are horrible in the best possible way. Over time, i also collected some equally hideous old upholstery fabric. A few days ago, it occurred to me that those two pieces of ugliness needed to be married into something new. Thus, the fabulous new "journey" bag was born: It is lined in olive green cotton (also thrifted) and has a strap made of braided ribbons. Inside are two 'secret pockets" made with more old timey transportation fabric. This bag was HARD for me..thse are NOT my colours and don't fall in my pallete "comfort zone" i fear that this may actually be very hideous, yet somehow, i still like it because it challenged me to think outside my ususal box, plus it is constructed a little differently. This is DEFINITELY a VERY different type of creation for me to attempt.

MAGIC

A while back, i got some really great little canvas monster patches from Fishcakes Designs http://fishcakes.net/ There are so many cute ones that i did not know what to choose, but i KNEW that the little beast NEEDED some tee-shirts with these awesome monster patches sewn on. The above photo is a perfect example...and yes, he DOES disobey, as a matter of fact, so this is the most perfect shirt in the world for mommy's little monster. I will be making LOTS more of these hilarious shirts for summer toddler-wear! LOL!

As if things could BE more wonderful this Valentine week, my most talented and amazing sister made this gorgeous necklace for me. I so wish the photos did it justice, in real life it is much pinker and sparkle-ier and shiny and perfect. It is my new favorite thing in the world adn it makes me feel pretty when i am wearing it...no easy feat!! it really *IS* MAGIC! She is really getting so good at jewelry-making and i am so lucky to get to own these fantastic pieces of wearable art! In a little while, i am taking the beast to his first session at the kid's gym. I am hoping that all the running and flipping and climbing and being in a space where he is ENCOURAGED to run amok will make him a little more bearable at home. We have reaslly been driving each other crazy lately and i am beginning to question my ability to homeschool him. How can i teach him to read when i can't even keep him from peeing into his toybox just to drive me crazy. This has been a most challenging time, these past few weeks, adn i am grouchy and exhausted and as much as i love and adore the little mosnster, i often feel that i can't handle this "job" so well. So cross your fingers that the gym will bring some peace to the house(wife)

valentines day

P2150057 Originally uploaded by mamayaga's travelling chickenhouse.

My Mister man is the best boy in the world. I thought we had agreed NOT to "do" Valentine's day, but he showed up after work bearing wonderful & marvelous things! All this and a big bottle wine too! I have been LONGING to see MirrorMask http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/mirrormask/ for YEARS now....Niel Gaiman, Dave McKean and the Jim Henson Company...i mean OH MY GOD, does it GET better??? Altho' i was ready to tear into that wrapping like a rabid weasel to get to the DVD inside, we waited, as the beast burned his finger on a light bulb and cried forever before falling asleep EXCEPTIONALLY early, allowing us time to catch up on some of the beast-inappropriate TV that has been building up on our TIVO...so we caught up on LOST, and Surface, finally. Yes, i OPENLY ADMIT that i love Surface. It is so cheesy, but it entertains the hell out of me. While watching TV, and geting veryvery tipsy on the veryvery large bottle of wine big D brought me, i finished embroidering my tree. Yes, it is more of my super fantabulous drawing, aren't you awed? LOL! Now that i am done with it, i am not sure what to make with it. Maybe a bag for runes, or perhaps a purse....i can't decide! What do you think i should make from it?

my funny valentine

sillyvalentineval6
Originally uploaded by mamayaga's travelling chickenhouse.

be my valentine



Valentine's day...i have a love/hate thing about Valentine's Day. I think it is a big commecialized pile of crap, HOWEVER, as a lover all that is romantic, frilly, chocolate-y, flowery sentimental and indulgent, i LOVE the "visual" stimulation of is all. I never REALLY want to celebrate VD, yet i still do, sorta. I am thinking that my Mister would not really be all that into a big sappy card or cheesy VD sentiment. Sigh. I suppose i will have to use my imagination this year. I hate valentine's day for the way it makes people feel bad. I never wanted flowers for VD until i worked as an receptionist and had to hand out the 10000 bouquets that came for the girls in the office. It made me feel like the red-haired stepchild when normally i would not have given a flying fuck to the moon about whether thier muggle husbands and boyfriends sent them flowers. And i hate the way it makes single people feel lonely and inadequate. It sucks that there is this holiday that has the power to make some people feel like they are floating and others like they are drowning. All so that lots and lots of cards emblazoned with false sentiments and all the other commercial trappings of "LOVE" can be sold. Bleh. Give me REAL romance, random flowers, an unexpected embrace. A handmade valentine. a genuine smile. Those are the REAL treasures that you can't buy at Hallmark.

Ok, enough of that.

Got an email that confirmed that the app for Mutation was recieved. Still don't know if i got in. I don't have very high hopes at this point, but whatever. The RIGHT thing will happen, whatever that may be. Meanwhile, i have a brand new batch of freshly made bars of soap to package up, a new tacky bag in the works, and a tree to finish embroidering. I just got something wonderful to read : http://www.sundress.net/wickedalice/.
I ordered the new 2005 edition, and they sent me the 2004 edition too, just because!!!! So now i have two lovely new poetry zines to devour. Everything is really really good, valentine's day or not. I don't need a day of love, I have love all year!!! And for all my peeps who are NOT celebrating this day with a significant other...well, you are ALL my favorite funny Valentines today. Love, hugs and kisses to you all.