Do your days feel extra full in December too? It’s always a busy time of year. We’ve been working hard to get the last of our custom orders finished up and out the door, and while we haven’t done any shop updates recently, as always we’re busy behind the scenes. Jeff did make a batch of earrings for the shop though, and there’s still time to get them for Christmas! If you are looking for a unique, handmade gift for the holidays, these earrings make wonderful gifts. Jeff has made similar designs over the years and they’ve been so well loved that he decided to make more of them all at once. Each time he makes them they are different, and while these ones all from the same batch (there are fourteen pairs total) might be very similar- no two are exactly alike. So much love goes into making each and every earring.

Jeff made these earrings in red cedar wood and chose a part of the grain that had two different colors, giving these a really fun contrast. He wood burns these by hand, something he really enjoys doing. To me, it’s the magic touch to these beauties and it makes them truly unique. I’m also a huge fan of turquoise, and I love the addition of the turquoise stones in these earrings. I should also mention that the red cedar wood makes for very lightweight earrings, and it also happens to be an absorbent wood so you can use these as aromatherapy earrings if you’d like and add a drop of essential oil on the back of each to enjoy while you wear them.

As for shipping dates in the U.S., I am planning on shipping these out on Monday, December 14th. If you order by then, I can still be shipping out orders through first class mail. If you order them after the morning of the 14th, I would recommend doing the upgraded shipping option for priority mail. Even though USPS says to send gifts no later than Dec. 18 for First Class and Dec.19 for Priority Mail, I think earlier is always better especially since I’ve heard shipping times are running later this year.

We want to thank you for your support this year! We appreciate you supporting a small family business and shopping handmade!

P.S. I have a similar pair of earrings that are one of my favorites, I wear them all the time. I thought it would be good to share a picture to give you an idea of what these look like being worn. I don’t show up here on the blog all that often because I’m usually the one behind the camera, but this time B was the one taking pictures and he took one of me this week. I don’t put a lot of effort in my appearance and when I’m home I rarely even look in a mirror, but when I go out and about I love to put on a pair of earrings- it’s a simple thing that makes me feel dressed up, and it feels kind of special and fun.

In case I’m asked, I’m wearing my Hermione hat I knit years ago. (The pattern is called Hermione Hearts Ron by Christy Aylesworth, it’s free on Ravelry.) I still wear it all the time. My child teased me recently, pointing out the fact that it matches my grey hairs, which is true and also made me laugh. I turned 35 in September and yes, I spotted my first grey hairs this year. I joked with a friend that if ever there were a year to bring someone their first grey hairs it would be 2020, am I right? Other new things this year… I started drinking coffee for the first time, and now I enjoy a coffee drink once a week. Between the grey hairs and the coffee I feel like I can officially be considered an adult now. 🙂

This fall I finished up this bear hoodie for my nephew (which I knit last winter and just needed to add the finishing touches to.) I knit one of these for B when he was little and was looking forward to knitting it again. It’s such a great pattern- The Burton Bear Cowl by Heidi May at The Velvet Acorn. I knit it up in Quince & Co. puffin, in the colorway Twig. It can be a challenge to get good pictures of handknits when they are not being worn, and I found that with this one too, but once this hoodie is on it is just too cute. My sister sent me a picture of my nephew wearing it and he is so adorable, a bundled up cozy bear on a cold day.

The pattern calls for one large, decorative button. I immediately thought of the branches Jeff had in Oregon cascara wood, which is naturally yellow in color and just beautiful. He made me a button to put on the bear cowl, and he made me some extras too. I love these buttons so much! I really liked the yellow button with the brown yarn, I think it makes a great combination. (And I loved how the yellow button matched those fall grapes leaves in the photo above.) I posted nine of these buttons in the shop in case you would like one to make your own bear hoodie, or if you would like some for another project. Happy Creating!

I did a shop update this week that I’ve been excited to share with you! Jeff and I have been focusing on one thing each time- the last big shop update featured our button mixes. I did some mini shop updates since then, but wholesale orders and custom orders are what we prioritize, so the larger shop updates happen when we get caught up on everything else. There’s just the two of us running our business, and these buttons are lovingly made by hand, so the process has it’s own timeline, but they are so worth the wait. That being said, it’s quite exciting when a big shop update happens!

This time, Jeff and I focused on buttons in shed deer antler, since we’d had requests for them. We love the antler buttons! Seriously, so much. Every year male deer shed their antlers and grow new ones. The antlers make for amazing buttons- not only because of how well they hold up, but also because they are so beautiful. I tell people that the antler buttons are worth the extra cost because they can become heirlooms to be passed on for generations, that’s how well they last over time. Unlike wooden buttons, they don’t need the occasional oiling to keep them nice. And the color varieties! I fall in love with each set. Pictured above is one of my very favorites, when you see those buttons in person, the grey-ish color around the edges actually has a purple tinge to it. It’s gorgeous!

We’ve had many requests for large sets of antler buttons over the years, and I want to explain why those are tricky to make. The antler can change size very quickly, tapering from inches to the pointed tip. If you are wanting a set of buttons all similar in size, Jeff can use his saw to be cutting the buttons from the same antler, and he’ll end up with a bunch of buttons in different sizes. If he goes to cut more in a similar size from another antler, the color variations and shapes are often different and don’t match. If you don’t mind the larger set of buttons not being perfect matches in size or color, than we can make larger sets, but if you want them to match- it’s usually the smaller sets that are available. You’ll notice in this shop update that there are a lot of sets of three.

Look at the variety! From a small size with the white hue, to the grey-ish ones (to me, those also have a purple tinge in person, but I don’t see that in the picture as much), to the larger size ones in this bottom picture- see the darker markings in those? It makes me wonder about what created those in the antler- like the rings in wood, I feel like the markings in the antler tell a story.

We do have a few larger sets included in this update as well. I love the shapes in the top set, and the color! The bottom set seemed to be an especially dense antler, and so beautiful too.

We have ONE set available of six buttons in a tiny (1/2 inch) size. These tiny sets are rare. Not only is it challenging to get that many matching in that tiny size, it’s also very challenging to sand that size without sanding your fingers. (Especially since Jeff does a “rounded sand” on his buttons, rather than flat sanding them which is more typical for handmade buttons.) To give you an idea, we could cut hundreds of antler buttons, and only come up with one or two sets like this. I want to explain that so our customers understand why they cost as much as they do. Also, the antler buttons in general cost more because we have the cost of purchasing the shed antler, and only get a limited amount of matching sets from each.

When you look at the price of a set and you divide that to figure out what it costs for each individual button, it gives you a different perspective than seeing the initial price of the whole set. I honestly think that if anyone, who thought the price of our buttons was too high, came to watch the process of one button from start to finish, they would come to the conclusion that we were not charging too much but too little.  They’d need to spend more than a day in our shop, because the process takes time. Jeff wet sands each button on four grits, ending in a 1200 grit, which is super fine. That’s what makes the buttons so incredibly smooth and gives them a mirror finish. Then they need to dry before the final buffing on a polishing wheel.

Handmade things… and farm fresh food… they do cost more. Being a family that makes a humble income, though, I understand the need for budgeting. I’m sure there are plenty of people feeling that way right now, with everything that’s going on. This shop update happens to have our most expensive buttons, but I want to mention that if you are wanting to use our handmade buttons for a project, but need to keep your spending down- please contact me in the shop, we can make rustic wood buttons for a more affordable option. (And we do offer the occasional trade for things we could use, so it never hurts to ask!)

For fun, I put together some mixed sets with the buttons too. It’s usually too time consuming to list buttons as singles in the shop, or even sets of two, so when I put them in larger mixed sets it’s a better use of my time. (To give you an idea- it can take a minimum of six hours for a larger shop update- to process all of the pictures, and create all the listings. That doesn’t include making the buttons, tying them on cards, and the time included in photographing them.)

AND we have antler toggle buttons back in the shop! I’m go glad to have these back. I love them! I want to show the variety in those also. You can see in the first picture that Jeff sanded those smooth. They feel amazing. In the set of three pictured, you’ll notice a deeper brown hue and the antler left natural on the sides. In the last picture is a mix of both. The colors are different and unique with each antler- no two are alike. We have a variety of longer and shorter toggles available. There are only so many tips per antler, so these antler toggles usually cost more than our wooden toggles (the exception being specialty woods.)

Lastly… something I’m really excited about? I made a batch of antler toggle buttons myself and included them in this shop update. I sanded them, drilled them, and felt so proud when I tied them on cards. I’ve helped with slicing, drilling, and many other aspects of the button making process over the years, but Jeff has been teaching me some sanding techniques and I had so much fun making these. I call these ones our rustic antler toggles because I left the edges completely natural, only sanding them at the very ends. I didn’t sand them as smooth as Jeff sands his, and chose purposely to do this so we could offer them for a little less. I’m looking forward to making more of these! You can see the new buttons in the shop here.

Thank you so much for your support and please let us know what you’d like to see in the next shop update!

Happy Friday! Just popping by to let you know that I did a shop update earlier in the week. We had requests for earrings, so I posted more earrings. And there are a bunch of new buttons as well! We’ve been busy with custom orders and wholesale orders so there was a longer gap between shop updates. I’m so excited about all the new things! Oh, and I also wanted to mention- with all the new things (another shop update is coming soon!) – we’ve decided to discount the few things that have been in the shop for a little while and are ready to find their new home. So check out the sale section for some great deals! 

I’ve shared here before about collecting driftwood at the beach to make things, like the floating driftwood temples.  Well, the driftwood love continues my friends. One day at the beach B found a piece of driftwood that looked like it was meant to be a toggle button. He gave it to me and asked if I would make him a button out of it. That sparked an idea. The next time our family went to the beach, I looked for small pieces of driftwood. And the time after that. (I collected larger pieces as well, for some other projects.) When I came home, I spread them out in the sunshine to further dry them out.

I had so much fun sorting through the driftwood, drilling the holes, and tying them on cards. I hoped other people would love them as much as I did. I was so delighted when they were popular at the last fiber festival we went to, and it made me excited to make more! I will be bringing driftwood buttons along this weekend to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, and I posted some in the shop as well. Speaking of that, we have a new online shop! I’ve been looking forward to sharing that with you. It’s been a dream for so long, and now it feels awesome to be making it a reality.

Another thing I’m excited about? Our small button cards. I wrote about them over on Instagram. Jeff had been wanting to make small button cards for a long time, and awhile ago we finally did it. We’re on our third tweak of the design (not pictured), but we love them. The size is so great, and I think they’re really cute. They also had a very warm welcome at our last fiber festival, and we’ve been working on display ideas. It’s kind of funny how excited Jeff and I have been about them, actually.

I appreciate the small cards for online too because it gives me more flexibility when I’m offering buttons there. Posting single buttons in the shop would not pay for the time it took (unless it’s a specialty button that costs more), but if I have a set of matching buttons I can now tie them on single cards and make one listing where customers can choose how many they want. It’s such a great option when people are searching for specific amounts of buttons for their projects and may not want to purchase an entire set of eight, for example. I plan to offer a lot more listings that way in the future.

Okay, I think those are all the updates for today. Now I have a lot of packing to do for this weekend!

P.S. I’m not the only one who has been having fun with driftwood around here. Jeff found a piece of driftwood that was especially heavy and wondered what kind of wood it was. He brought it home, sliced it, and after lots of sanding and polishing- these are the results. Aren’t these buttons amazing? The hue is as dark as ebony. The set above is posted in the shop, and he’s been making more buttons with the rest of that piece of driftwood. He loved the wood so much, he wished he had more!