All Buttoned Up Market

Do you love buttons? Have a button fetish? Then check out this fab market, All Buttoned Up, at the new 1000 Markets. There are so many clever and appealing items here using vintage and new buttons - for the home, to wear, cards and paper goods - you must check it out if you love buttons as much as I do.

I joined 1000 Markets this spring - it's a beautiful site for shopping handmade. I don't do enough promotion for them, and I'm trying to fix that. A bunch of us sellers have items with free shipping this month, connected with an Amazon promotion, so check out my shop and others. They take Amazon Payments, not Paypal, but doesn't everyone buy from Amazon these days? It's US-only, so overseas folk will have to buy from my Etsy shop, but many pieces from OTT on Etsy are on 1KM.

IKM is juried, which means that shops are vetted for quality and handmade standards. You won't see any resellers there!

Five Treasuries in One Day

Yom Kippur has just ended, so Happy New Year to everyone! I have been very busy this month; family obligations and work have kept me from posting much or making new pieces, which is unsettling. I have so many ideas for fall but no time in which to realize them!

Here I am doing some self-promotion again as a post, as I am featured in FIVE Treasuries today, an almost unheard of event (lately) for this shop. I love Fall on Etsy as there are so many gorgeous pieces to look at and covet from so many shops.

I'm posting four as I don't know what piece was chosen for the fifth Treasury - we don't get to see that info.

I was also a staff pick on 1000 Markets last week, and am still visible today on the page if you scroll down a bit. On the left side of the page, my Orange Juice Vitamin C Jade Necklace was chosen and has garnered many new views!

Found Handmade Blog Feature

Here's a lovely golden brown Fall/Autumn Blog feature that features your truly at this link. Click on the shop links below if you choose to visit the page for closer looks at pretty Autumn wearables!

From Sunrise to Sunset

I worked on a commercial last week for Avis, and we spent half of our day at a heavenly spot, Lookout Point, on Long Island. More pretty Photos on Flickr here. The weather was glorious and a fine time was had by all under such lovely circumstances. The product was Avis Rent a car and we ended the day at their spot at JFK Airport.

Happy Birthday, Michael.

From Google and me.

New Random Photos

Quick shots of some Bergdorf Goodman windows from last week!

Etsy Front Page Thursday

Front Page last night on Etsy, but I was in bed and found out this morning. The featured item was "Mrs. Danvers' Romantic Gothic Necklace", here.

I Love A Good Storm!

I have been offline for a week (not including trips to the Apple Store and my local library to use the computers) and after having the logic board and video card replaced this morning, couldn't wait to upload this storm video that I took last week, on August 18. I was hoping to upload it to NY 1 so they could show it as the lightning was RIGHT THERE and seemingly hitting the next rooftop.

I've lost electronics in the past to lighting hitting my building, so I was pretty happy not to have lost anything this time. I notice that other people also filmed this storm, so you can see it from a few different vantage points.

Front Page Feature!

Very nice to see this on a day when my computer has had a meltdown and I am without one - I'm at the library and am hoping I can upload this widget!

Yay! It worked! Mine is the orange coral necklace.

Newport Nostalgia Costume Ball

I was entranced by this set of pictures by New York Times fashion reporter Bill Cunningham commemorating the 22nd Vintage Dance Week of the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers held last month in Newport, Rhode Island. Mr. Cunningham's copy states:

"The group's members share an interest in the dances and the clothing of the period between the Civil War and the Jazz Age. Each of the five nights is devoted to a ball or dance of a particular time. The daytime activities includes tea on July 28 at Blithewold, an Edwardian mansion with an arboretum in Bristol, R.I. On July 29, a formal ball unfolded at Beechwood, the Newport Home of the Mrs. Astor, Caroline. To see Beechwood under those circumstances was a step back in history at a time when the will of the last Mrs. Astor, Brooke, is being dragged through court in New York. The original Mrs. Astor still reigns supreme in her gilded Newport ballroom."

Here's the link to the page at the NY Times so you can see the pictures more clearly.

I was jolted by photographs 8 and 11, which show one Judith Holcomb wearing a famous gown by Charles Frederick Worth. It looks at a distance to be a beautifully made, somewhat simplified replica of this dress, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have seen this dress close up, and it looks as fresh today as it did over 100 years ago.



It's lovely to look at these wonderful photographs and see how much care was put into this event so that the fashions for the most part actually look correct, with appropriate hair dressing, shoes and I imagine, jewels. If you look carefully, you'll see different silhouettes, from the 1860s (#22)to the Edwardiam Era(#29).

I wish that I could see them in larger detail so that I could see what the menswear looked like as well. I am thrilled by the visuals from the Garden party and daytime shots - so many of these photographs look like they could be paintings of the period by Tissot and others. #2 and #23 especially could be paintings. #21, which shows a lady in a fabulous bustle ensemble, could be a lovely scene from the French Impressionist room at the Met.

If one is fortunate enough to be able to afford, prepare for and attend an event like this, what a week this must have been! Here's some information about this year's event. The site also offers some interesting costume resources full of fashion history, patterns, reproduction historic clothing retailers, fabric sources, etc. A great deal of effort was clearly put into the clothing, and why not, in that setting? You'd hardly want to show up is some sad ersatz costume at an opulent Newport mansion! Bravi to everyone involved!