Trees galore.

I have a very special friend who blogs almost daily.  I am amazed at how easily she can produce an interesting "read" with no real effort.  Most of her blogs are from her wonderful memories of her childhood, her parents and the beautiful area where she grew up.  Each and every one is filled with so many interesting tidbits, recipes accompanied by photos, especially if she had just baked using her mother's tried and proved favourite recipes.  Ah, I do envy her ability to bring all this to life on a regular basis.  I wish I had half her talent and could blog as often but that is not the case.

This blog of mine is to show you what I have been up to since the last time we came together and to be honest, there really isn't too much to show you.  I have been commissioned by two separate ladies to create button trees.

The first lady had purchased one of my trees and liked it so much that she wanted me to paint one for her, in red and black, to give to a friend who was coming to Canada for a visit.  So, this beauty will end up in Ireland.  I hope it makes it in one piece.

This one wasn't too difficult to create, afterall, I have made about eight others in different colours, but the next commission was a little more scarey.  I lady I had recently met, who seemed to like a lot of my "creations" and had purchased quite a few in one visit to my Boutique, asked me if I would like to take on a project..... to create two larger canvases with trees and, wait for it, antique buttons.  She had quite a large amount of gorgeous buttons which she had saved over the years and after purchasing two of my smaller button trees, she thought it would be an unique idea if I could put her precious buttons to good use and create two larger button trees.  Afterall, what good was it to have all these beauties if you couldn't see them and admire them.

Well, I sure was honoured that she would make that request of me but also quite nervous because I normally don't take on requests.  Anyway, she brought over her buttons and left it up to me how I would do this.  After some research and trial runs, these are what I ended up with....

Gave the canvases a wash of different colours

in the hope that they would fit on any

wall, no matter what colour.

Sketched in the trees and then sponge painted

the foliage so that some of the green would

show through once the buttons were placed.

Painted the trunks,  trying to give them some texture.

Then placed and glued the buttons on the canvases,

being very careful to balance the colours and styles

of the buttons between the two canvases.

I must say that I was very pleased with the final

outcome.  I just hope she will be too.

I found a cute little telephone table and changed it from this...

To this....

It sold immediately.

How about a little loonie piggy bank?  From this....

To this....

Just one more item, a very simple item really but fun to do.....

A kitchen paper towel holder from this...

To this...

That's about if, apart from recycling old picture frames to give them a new lease on life.

Well, that's it for now.  Please stay healthy and happy and I'll catch up with you again soon.  A couple of photos of my darling grands.

Hugs,