Here are a few things I made my friends for Valentine's Day. At the top is a chocolate bar cozy (in other words, good for hiding it away so others don't eat it). The hearts are just for hanging.
They are all made of felt because I dislike hemming things. Each heart has a button pinned to it.
Aaron got me a button maker for Christmas and I was itching to use it. I was a little disapointed though as they made sub-standard buttons. I didn't realize the button makers from Michael's or Joann's were so different from the professional quality ones. I am on the lookout for an affordable "real" button maker... any suggestions?
One of the blogs I read has a "Button of the Month" club, and she seems pretty happy about her button maker.
ReplyDeleteHere is he original post about it: http://www.thimble.ca/?p=293
I'm sure she'd be happy to share the details with you! ;)
Ooh I just noticed the details are in her comments!
ReplyDeleteRe-reading that post totally makes me want one of my own.
I started out with a cheapie kids button maker from a closeout store. That's what got me interested. Then I upgraded to a Badge a Minit button maker I got off of ebay. It was horrible. Perfect buttons came out about 60-70% of the time. Such a waste of supplies. I did some research and finally settled on the Tecre Model 100, again from ebay. Trust me, it really is worth it to just spend the extra cash up front. Out of hundreds of buttons, I've maybe had 1 or 2 failures. The Tecre is so easy to use, and it's got a great weight a feel. It's just seems so sturdy and reliable and I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteWarning though, button making is addictive.
i couldn't agree more with iso.bot! the ones you get at craft stores are sub-standard, and the badge-a-minit seems low quality as well (it feels as though the handle might break when you use it and it is SO EASY to mess up button after button). but the one with the red handle is THE BEST. i just bought a one inch-er myself after sharing a friend's for months and it's well worth the investment. the buttons as SO EASY to make, very hard to mess up and the machine is a workhorse. it's really heavy and seems like it will last forever!
ReplyDeletechocolate bar cozy?! What a great idea! Esp. with all the high end chocolate bars coming out now. Good work Jenny!
ReplyDeleteGotta agree with everyone about the Tecre "red-handled" button press. Used my friend's for YEARS while we were in college, and it was fantastic. I'd highly recommend it! As everyone else has said: it's super easy to use, only had one or two ever come out wrong (due to my own fault), and it's heavy-duty-durable!
ReplyDelete