Coinciding color schemes and magical connections?

Last week I bought a gorgeous Sea Fossil focal bead in ceramic from Birgitta Lejonklou. And I got some extra goodies with the parcel. Thank you so much Birgitta! One of the goodies was the button which I immediately wanted to use in a bracelet. So yesterday I pulled together a soup of beads, which you can see the remains of in the box. Today I had literally just finished off the bracelet only about 30 minutes before Mark came home and had picked up the post. In it was a package from Keirsten Giles, with an awesomely yummy mix of beads of which you see about less than half here, in the piles on the surface. (It's part of a little friendly exchange we currently are pursuing.) I love what you sent me Keirsten. Thank you so much!

(Sorry for the bad photo quality. It is evening here now and I took the picture in electrical light.)

I love it when patterns and colors happen to coincide like this. From far away and near, and now there is just a wonderful connection between the three of us. Birgitta, Keirsten and Malin - BKM. At least that is how I feel. Sort of magical in a lovely way. Even if I don't believe in such things myself really. Keirsten doesn't either ... or that's what I think at least (based just on my own general perception of her/you, sorry if I am mistaken Keirsten). But Birgitta does :-). She even works conciously with things to do with the spiritual world. So perhaps this is all her doing ... or ... ? (Is it, Birgitta?)

Anyway, coincidence or not, it has certainly added an extra dimension to my day today. I think about if Birgitta and Keirsten was packing their parcels at the exact same time, or? Which is very likely in fact. And also, how come I was so inspired to firstly use that particular button out of Birgittas goodies? And how come I did put together the soup I did? In that color scheme. I gotta name that bracelet something along the lines of Three Graces or something. BKM Magic.

And what do YOU think about it all?

Buttons, Ceasar and crazy Gaea

I was so lucky to just in time discover the ButtonSwap arranged by Michelle Mach. We shall send three buttons to our partner. Identical, similar, related or completely unrelated. At least one button should be somehow special. Handmade, vintage, sentimental or otherwise unique. Make at least one project with at least one of the buttons. It doesn't have to be jewelry. Reveal day including a blog hop will be April 21, 2011. I just love arrangements like this. I always get totally excited. Thanks Michelle for arranging this!

And Michelle also offered to be my swapping partner, since I was late with my application. Thanks again! She told me she kind of prefers medium sized buttons with a feminine touch. Boy you could say that is almost the opposite of what I have in my own small button collection. But luckily she also said she would be interested in a challenge. Phew! So this is what I sent, hope you like it Michelle, even though it is not exactly your style:

• A rustic ceramics "Spokes and Dots" button by Tracee Dock of ClassicElements. It is rather big.
• A vintage truly weird large plastic flower button with an obscure pattern in the middle. I would really like to have been around when that design was created. HOW on earth did they think?
• A shank button I have another one of, but a smaller one (or did I send the smaller one?). I bought this last fall in an amazing button and trim shop in central Stockholm. I will take photos next time I go there just to show you heaven. Anyway I think these buttons look like fine quality fudge sweets. Yum!
• And for the fun of it I added three buttons that came in a lot of vintage buttons I recently purchased, (the weird flower came in the same lot). The text says "Stroms Goteborg", which is a shop (tailor?) for men's clothing in the town of Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. The o's comes with two dots to add a touch of Scandinavian exotism to it all.

Gaea Cannaday has gone crazy. She has opened a new shop where she sells things she thinks didn't turn out perfect. She calls it GaeaExchange. I think it IS perfect. The prices are a bargain. I had to buy these four lots you see below.

I get upset with everyone presenting really tempting things all the time. I HAVE to cut down on my shopping for a period. Gaea is not the only one I tell you. (Barbara!)

Radka (my neighbour that I mentioned before) left for Czech republic yesterday. Carrying with her the eleven colour print-outs of my wishes. She'll be back in about two weeks. I hope with a heavy bag of goodies. Ooooohhhhhhh!

All my best,

Malin

Drewling Time!!!!!

I have been struggling with that cube peyote bracelet and the button clasp for a few days now. The one I asked for advice for in my previous post. Have tried 2 versions of metal hook, which I by the way made both myself from wire and the look really good if I may say so myself. But the hook didn't work so well for me, so now I will look into some of the other suggestions I got from you.

And Mary Harding has posted about a bracelet in peyote and a shank button clasp. She had the sides overlapping so no skin will show. I am gonna look into that, although I am afraid it might become a bit thick with 4 mm cubes. I will let yoyu know when I have completed it, and show you.
So ... and I also have a few other semi-finished projects on my desktop. Will take photos tomorrow or day after. I AM gonna fullfill my task of "one-a-day"! I am just a little behind at the moment. Have been feeling rather bad from the MS the last few days, and that steals a lot of energy from me.

Hey!

What better way of cheering oneself up when a little down than doing some BEAD SHOPPING! All the photos in this post are of beads I purchased yesterday and now am waiting for to arrive in my mail. Am I happy about these purchases or what? Are you envious? I would be!

From top to bottom - all on ETSY:

Sedona spacers, lampworked, from Loupiac.

Pomegranate Seed Beads, lampworked, by BoulderGlassMonkey.

Large Hoops, Silver Circles, lampworked, by OutWest.

Wooden Carved vintage beads, from MissUFO.

Blue round fruit nut pit, Indonesia, from YukiDesigns.

Buttons, carved coconut, Indonesia, from YukiDesigns.

Sig-id wood tubes, Philippines, from YukiDesigns.

Discs/tubes, Tiger Ebony aka Camagong wood, from YukiDesigns.

Bracelet in progress & Buttons

I am working on this wide bracelet at the moment. Width: 1 inch and 1/4 or 3,3 cm. Peyote stitch with 4 mm cubes. A huge shank button shall work as the clasp.

Look! I have expanded my button collection. From no buttons at all, to this bunch. A really lovely one in my own opinion. I am planning to start using a lot more buttons in my jewellery. Mainly as clasps, but also just incorporated instead of ordinary beads.

Sia Furler sings Buttons: