Rag Rugging!! :)

Good Evening :)

I reeaaaally love rag rugging :) while I was still at uni I'd sit on the living room floor most nights making rugs :) Here's my latest one....

This particular rug is a birthday present for a very lovely friend of mine :) I've made it from a combination of new and old fabrics, to give it that lovely "shabby-chic" look :) 

I hope you all have a really lovely weekend :) 

Big hugs and smiles :) 

Lucy x x x :) 

Cross Stitched Goodness :)

Hi again :)

Today I decided I would show you some pictures of some cross stitching i have done for my mum :)

A little cross stitched skipping bunny and a little cross stitched fox :) Both patterns came from Cross Stitcher Magazine :) I hope you like :) They dont normally live outside bytheway.......but its so sunny today that I thought they'd like to feel the warm sun on their cross stitched fur :) :) I think they are playing hide and seek in mum's flowers :)

I've just finished a new cross stitch for my super lovely friend and fellow CAD fan fiona :) so ill put some pics of that up soon :)

I hope you are all having a wonderful day :)

Big hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x

The Secret Life of Birds

Good afternoon :)

I've just got back from swimming (64 lengths!!- woooo) :) And while I was swimming up and down pretending to be a fish, I was trying to think of what to put on my blog today :) So I've decided to share a little story with you :)

Whilst putting together my degree collection, I decided to write a little book to go with my work, to explain to people what the naughty little birds were doing :) So below are the pages that make up my little story book :)

I hope you enjoyed my little story :) and make sure that you keep your eyes peeled for Charlie and his friends!! :)

Thank you for reading :) I hope you are all having a lovely day :)

Big hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x

Some more CAD work......the naughty little birds are at it again :)

Hi everyone :)

I thought today that I would show you some more examples of the CAD work from my degree collection.

The Secret Life of Birds:

As i've said in an earlier post, the final collection was split into three sub sections. 2 of these sections revolved around areas where the naughty little birds could steal their special treasures such as buttons and tea-cups. As I have shown you already, the birds like to search for their precious objects along British beaches. Another place the birds search is in English country gardens. Below are some examples of the CAD designs I created based on English country gardens;

"Down at the Bottom of the Garden"

"Deep in the Hedgerow"

"Grandpa's Allotment"

"Tea and Two Tweets"

"Mr Gnome's Garden"

"Twit Twoooo"

Just like the British Sea Side collection, I have had all the above designs printed onto fabric, I am therefore going to turn them into cushions as well :)

All the designs were created by combining scanned-in remazol hand prints, Adobe photoshop and Adobe illustrator. :)

Thank you so much for looking :)

Big hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x

A Romantical Cushion :)

Hi again :)

I just thought I'd share with you some pictures of a cushion I've recently made for a friend to give as a wedding gift. I adapted a cross stitch pattern from Cross Stitcher magazine, to include the bride and groom's names. I'm really pleased with the result, it took a long time to complete (I even took it on holiday with me!!),but it was well worth it when I got to see the finished cushion :)

You may note the use of the pop-pom trim again :) I LOVE it :)

Thank you so much for looking :)

Just to let you know whats coming up on bird and button designs...........more cross-stitching, more examples of CAD work and rag rugging!! :)

Big hugs and smiles,

Lucy x x x :)

My email address!! :)

Hi everyone :)

I hope you all had a lovely weekend :)

It has very kindly been brought to my attention that i havent put my email address on my blog :) silly me :)

So if any of you lovely people would like to contact me for any reason, you can use either of the following email addresses:

bird-and-button-designs@hotmail.co.uk

smiley8517@hotmail.co.uk

Looking forward to hearing from you :)

Big hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x :)

"She Sells Sea-gulls by the Sea-shore"

Here's one of my printed CAD designs which I have made into a floor cushion for my lovely friend Hannah :)

I jazzed up the edge with white pom-pom trim :) (I LOVE pom-pom trim) :)

I'd like to turn more of my printed CAD designs into floor cushions because I think they'd look really cute :) Hopefully ill be able to sell these soon.....so watch this space!! :)

Big hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x :) 

CAD designs.....the naughty little bird thieves :)

Hi again :)

As promised, here's some CAD designs from my degree collection;

The Secret Life of Birds:

The final collection was split into 3 mini design collections. One of these was the naughty little birds hunting for objects to steal on British beaches and seasides. Here's some CAD designs from this collection. I actually had these printed onto fabric using the mimaki digital printer at university and am planning to turn them into floor cushions which I hope to sell.

"Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside"

"Buttons and Bunting"

"She Sells Sea-gulls By the Sea-shore"

"Buttons Are Our Treasure"

"British Beach Huts"

"Birds and Bonnets"

I really hope you like the above designs :) I'll put some more pictures up soon of some more of my birdy CAD designs as there is many more of them to show. :)  I have created all the above designs using a mixture of scanned in hand-prints, photoshop and illustrator. (I LOVE illustrator and do a lot of my work on this programme) :) 

Thank you for having a peek  :)

Big hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x :)

Some more Mollie Makes Love :)

Hi again :)

3 blog entries in one day!! You may get to learn that I like to talk quite a lot :)

Another thing you will learn about me is that I LOVE birds. I mean LOVE :) Therefore the free phone pouch making kit that came with the first edition of Mollie Makes magazine was PERFECT for me :) I've made this lovely little pouch this afternoon, whilst watching Location Location Location. :) (I also love tv programmes about houses.....and would like to be Kirstie Allsopp :)

I think it has worked out pretty cute :) and will keep my little blackberry toasty warm!! :)

Big hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x :)

I Love Mollie Makes :)

Hi again :)

Just thought I'd share with you my little project of the day :) Now that I've graduated i'm finally getting to make a few bits and pieces for myself :) Here's some cute flowery felt rings that I made using the free kit with the fabulous Mollie Makes magazine :)

I'd definatey recommend Mollie Makes magazine, its full of lots of fun things to do :-)
Bigs hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x :)

Why Hello There :)

Hi everyone :)

Welcome to Bird & Button Designs :)

Thank you for popping along to see my brand new design blog. :) My hope for this blog is to share my love of crafting and textile design and share the projects that I'm working on. :) :)

I graduated from the University of Huddersfied on Wednesday. The course I did was Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors. I really enjoyed my time there. I thought for my first ever blog post i would share some pictures from my final degree collection with you :)

The Secret Life of Birds:

The following pictures are all from my degree show. The collection was designed to be used by children and their parents to create their own special, secret play-spaces and hideaways. For example the fabrics coud be used to create tee-pees, tents, bed canopies, or even thrown over the back of a settee or a table, to create a secret space for children to play.

The theme for the collection was a naughty little group of birds who go around pinching things that they think are treasures. For example, they love to steal buttons and tea-cups. :) Naughty little things. :) The birds love searching for these objects in English country gardens and on British beaches.

The designs were created with the intention of them being interactive. For example, hidden pockets would enable children to engage with the story and hide their own "treasures", just like the birds in the story.

Over the next few posts i intend to share with you some of the CAD designs from the collection. However, today i will show you some pictures of my final show, displaying the designs from this collection.

I decided to display one of my large designs in a way to suggest a washing line tent :) I was really pleased with the result :)

So there's a few pictures from my degree show :) I'm definately going to share with you some of the CAD designs from the collection in the next few posts :) I hope you enjoy seeing them :)

Big hugs and smiles :)

Lucy x x x :)