Nothin' But Eye Candy

At one point in time I had a tin that was full of antique, vintage, and random buttons that my mom gave to me. I think her mom must have given it to her. In that tin were some gorgeous jet buttons from my great grandmother. One day they all melted in 1200 degree flames in my attic. All those buttons saved by me, my mom, my grandma, and my great grandma melted away, probably leaving toxic fumes all over my neighborhood too. I used to love looking through that tin in a kind of ritual treasure hunt.

Since then I have found it inconvenient to be without my wonderful tin of buttons for practical reasons. Whenever I needed a random button I could find the perfect one in my collection. Whenever I needed a pretty button for a special craft or sewing project, I always found something pretty in that tin. Now when I need a button I kind of hang around all my craft drawers and boxes like a mourner at grave side. I know I'm not going to find a secret stash of buttons. I know my old tin is gone and will never materialize again. But I miss it.

When my mom and I went to Schoolhouse Antiques in Lafayette a month ago, the place where I got all the vintage hankies, I found a jar full of buttons for sale. It was not cheap. But I just couldn't stand not having a collection of buttons any longer. So I paid $20.00 for a jar full of buttons. Some of them are gorgeous, some are vintage, some are so worn out you wouldn't put them on anything or use them unless you absolutely had to, like if you had to live through the dust bowl depression of the thirties again. One button in there is jet, or fake jet, and looks like some of the buttons I've lost.

I love my jar of buttons. I want more. Buttons are like food in the pantry, having extras on hand makes me feel more secure.

Another sachet. These are all lavender, by the way. But I would like to do some rose scented ones and also lemon verbena. As much as I love lavender, not everyone wants it. Some people are tired of it. The reason why lavender is so widely used in sachets is because it is one of those flowers whose scent actually drives moths away. Rose oil is much too warm and sweet to do that, but I want to smell roses in my own drawers. I just bought a few very expensive scents to add to our bath section. These scents will cost more than the other ones because I couldn't even afford to get more than .5 oz at a time. Yes, they are that expensive.

Rose absolut is one of them. I can't wait to smell it, but am also a little afraid of being disappointed. I also got ylang ylang, sandalwood, and I think I also got vetiver. For those who want to do a very fancy bath I want to make their wishes come true. I could have just bought synthetic fragrances, which would have been very inexpensive, but I just don't want to do synthetics. Not all synthetics are bad for the environment, or for people, but I just feel like that's not what Dustpan Alley is about.

What do you think of the mushroom detail? Pretty good, huh? I love this one!

Here's the last one I made yesterday. I do love making these sachets. I hope people will buy them. I wish I could carry everything a woman should have in her trousseau. Obviously I'm not going to carry lingerie, but what about heirloom quality linens and these gorgeous sachets?

Oh yeah, and my friend Dominique is in the middle of having a baby right now. Right now. Ouch. Actually, her water broke last night so it's conceivable that she'll turn out to be one of those ultra lucky women who dilates, like, in two seconds, and then pushes that kid out with almost no effort and so has already had the baby. I will call her when I get to work. How exciting for her and her husband Stephen. So here's a shout to Dominique-if you haven't already got little Truitt out: keep it up, you can do it!

Note: Dominique had Truitt at around 7:50am. The whole labor was around 9 hours. Congratulations Dominique and Stephen!!