Jam Notes

all images (graphics, photos, link to buttons, embellishements and minatures) 

With so many kids at home these days and parents wondering how to engage them in some crafts all the while teaching them:

Math 

Color

Shapes

Cutting 

I came up with some Button IDEAS!

( images will take you to purchase page) 

Button Project #1 

I call them Jam Notes, using Color bag buttons from Shellybuttonsandmore. 

There are a few steps but with some help from parents or grands

they will be able to make a few jars of jam for keeping or giving away. 

You can add seed beeds for the seeds in their jam, and with a variety of button team them up with colors, sizes. You can add

ribbon and labels too. ( let me know if you are interested in how to do them step by step)

Button Project #2

I also came up with this idea. We can do up some Card Stocks ( poscards style, 5 x 7 )

if you like- a collection of 3 so your wee ones can stick buttons onto them.  Make them into kits complete with buttons too. 

How about:

*Name the favorite foods in these colors.

*Their favourite cartoons, movies, shows, searching for names with these colors in the title.

They can color them and then add buttons too.

See you next WEDNESDAY where I will be showing you a new pattern on what to do with MINATURES.

with these and quite a few more.

You will be able to find all of our patterns listed here on Instagram and Pinterest too.

www.instagram.com/shellysbuttonsandmoree
www.pinterest.com/mdmsamm/shellysbuttonsandmore.com
https://www.pinterest.com/buttons0295/boards/

                                                                                you matter,

 

It is a National Holiday in Canada July 1st.

Our world has certainly changed in the last few months but what has not changed is the love we have for HOME. Both Canada and United States will be celebrating birthdays this week, so we will 

 be preoccupied with family and traditions.

Happy Birthday both Canada and the United States of America. 

We will see you next week as we will explore all the notions 

that will make your creative days run smoother.

Be safe and be kind.

Because you matter

Mdm Samm and Shell.

Free Pattern- your Kitchen Dish Dress

My source of inspiration comes from my roots. I lived with Nuns who had to always think outside of a box, they had to use what they had available. There was no internet, no one-stop shops handy, so they made everything. Funny thing they were teaching us all to be creative in a subtle way. My whole life is a reflection of that, when I cannot find anything, my mind sees it, ( actually sees it all in technicolor) I then sit down with my roll of freezer paper. I purchase 200 foot roll every few years. I use this as my pattern paper, great for paper piecing and have been known to wrap gifts, ship packages with it too. And I design.

           

As much as I never gave credit for my creativity to my past, I see now that it has been the basis of all of my successes. You tend to be a problem solver. Not that DISH DRESSES are a solution to anyone's problem, but by golly they look so lovely in your kitchen. As I tend to lean to the "girly-lady side" of everything, I thought of the sweet dresses with peter pan collars my Grand Mere used to make me as a child. Hence a Dish Dress looks very much like the dresses of an era gone by. ( I share that story in the pattern)

This pattern is FREE, I wanted you to see how I constructively create patterns with numerous photos and text, so you can produce exactly the same results, along with some buttons and embellishments for added dimension. We want you to open up shops, sell your products from patterns we design just for YOU. As long as you give us credit, link to Shellysbuttonsandmore, you can sell creative projects and wait till the next best thing that comes out of my head. DEAL?  What we don't want to see is you sharing our patterns, we make them affordable so please adhere to copyright laws. And sometimes they are even available for FREE ( limited time offer) like todays

Back to Dish Dresses, using one tea-towel, dish towel,  cut in half you can create a Dish Dress with some added fabric and buttons and voila you are a Dish Dress designer as each one will be reflective of your creativity and imagination, think of me as a match to the fuel that is already inside you.
I added buttons on the bodice, so you will still be able to use them, but trust me recipients in the past of these, just put them on their stove handles and tell everyone " just LOOK" Kim, comes to mind for that one. wink. I  have made so many of these for gifts but for Christmas orders too -which again, I could go into production with many of my designs, I just prefer to come up with new ideas  and patterns have you prosper.


This pattern has 29 photos (colored) plus the pattern pieces 12 pages in all, and some great tidbits on how to trace using no ink. How many of you have purchased patterns for the COVER and the pattern was full of words that just did not make any sense whatsover.. 

Now I take pride that I have moderate intellect and can figure out almost anything, wellllllllll when it came to other designers patterns, that was not the case. There was but one designer who has it together and she created the Quilt Diva, Amy Bradley, she truly is one designer I never mind purchasing from.  So if I can be a number #2 designer, I would be happy trailing behind this lady who puts new meaning into humor and pattern designs. I ended selling this completed DIVA design which was huge, the size of a large baby quilt to a wonderful lady in Alabama and the proceeds went to purchase 1 luxury sewing machine for a lady in need. What a circle of influence.


So there you have it, this pattern is FREE and at the end of the month like all of last months creations are on their way to Shelly, and we will be selling all of the samples I make so the proceeds will go to local food banks, Stay tuned when we will add a link for you to see what is available.

I made 3 patterns for this Dish Dress which is also included in this pattern. All of our patterns are only $3.00 each with a $20.00 purchase of buttons or $11.00 with no purchase. BUT TODAY THIS ONE IS FREEEEEEE !

Next week as many of you will be celebrating the 4th of JULY, I will hold back to the following week whereby  I will post all of my FAVORITE NOTIONS, everything that I use or at least have handy to create and design patterns using Shellys buttons, miniatures and embellishments. In the past I have always found some awesome treasures from other designers who shared their must haves. Maybe you will find something too and we will have a giveaway too.!

(postpone that for a few weeks, waiting for new notions)

So till then, 

You Matter
Mdm Samm 

You will be able to find all of our patterns listed here on Instagram and Pinterest too.
www.instagram.com/shellysbuttonsandmoree
www.pinterest.com/mdmsamm/shellysbuttonsandmore.com
https://www.pinterest.com/buttons0295/boards/


p.s if you don't see pattern on site, drop me a line here and I will send directly. We had a few glitches this am.

madamesamm@icloud.com

LET'S GO UNDERCOVER.

Seems we have been having a rendez-vous every Wednesday, thanks for making it so special. Today, we are all going UNDERCOVER.

Like anything, when it becomes a norm- as it has in  Canada, a mask has become a fashion statement. I was making masks way before anyone even thought of wearing them. Coming from the Pharmaceutical industry and having a husband in the medical-surgical field who manufacturers the swabs for covid testing, as well as respiratory products,  we were well aware this was a serious infection.

Through the months I have lost count of how many masks I made for friends, family, med surgical associates, and children.  Moms were asking me for something that would make their children excited to wear masks....It only took me a few minutes to think of matching headbands. These satin ones fit all head sizes, and with additional bows, make a pretty fashion statement. Of course, they loved them. Heck, I love them.

This pattern has the masks with all the steps,  ( by the way, there are so many photos and illustrations this PDF file is in two parts) which most of you know how to make, but I also included some different bows to add to the headbands. This pattern will have both patterns, for those who may not know how to make the masks.  And the bows are two different designs. also included.  YOU are getting 3 patterns in ONE. There are 38 colored photos to help you achieve these same results.

These Masks and matching Headbands will also be sent to Shelly at the end of the month, to be sold and proceeds to go to local Food Banks.  Shelly will have some extra masks that I have made for sale and the pattern will have links where you can get these lovely fabrics as well as where you can get the satin headbands.
All of my patterns have multiple photos and written instruction so if you are a visual learner, we got you covered and if you are instructional, we tapped into that area too.

And of course, colorful choices of buttons are added to the bows for that extra accent. ( everything is included in the patterns, where to find, headbands. buttons, fabrics, hemostats, Pellon)
Here are extra undercover masks we will be selling too on shells site, all of them have elastic attached as well they all have been steamed and packaged along with their undercover card on how to tie them on for a perfect fit. There are 21 undercover masks that you can choose... 

All 100% some from Riley Blake Designs and others like the Hydrangeas that  I have held on for some time... they are Holly Holdermand's designs, she was this pretty awesome designer, not sure what happened to her. She owned Lakehouse Goods. I have a lot of her fabric, I purchased and I just could never cut into it till now...

And these are the 3 matching masks and headbands ( below), that will be heading to Shelly, to be sold once they reach her. ( I mailed all the sample projects yesterday, so no doubt she will have them very soon)

Next week's hint, is "Wash and Dry" .
Till we meet next week, I will be undercover but most likely a totally different meaning, will be undercover with some new designs to share with you once again and why?
Because you so matter.

Mdm Samm

Ps All of our patterns cost $3.00 US with an order of $20.00+ of buttons and more.  ( shipping does not count)
If you just want a pattern with no button purchase they are $11.00 US.

All the patterns images will link you directly to Shellysbuttonsandmore to purchase. Just click on photo.

  
You will be able to find all of our patterns listed here on Instagram and Pinterest too.
www.instagram.com/shellysbuttonsandmoree
www.pinterest.com/mdmsamm/shellysbuttonsandmore.com
https://www.pinterest.com/buttons0295/boards/

Pass me a Hankie Please

IF  you are fortunate to hear stories of your grandparents past, you may have heard this one. My Grand Maman- grandmother in English lived through both the 1st and 2nd world wars. These were days of rationing where you learned quickly to make a dollar stretch. I am thankful to her for so many valuable lessons. She was such a grand lady -I never saw her in pants, only dresses and skirts with matching cardigans. This is where the memory of the hankie came to be treasured to this day. She always had a hankie tucked into her sleeve or pinned to her cardigan, adorned with a silver pin on her right side of her chest.

I still remember asking her "why do you love hankies so much"? With her lovely smile and gentle blue eyes, she shared that during the wars, many women did not have a lot of money to spend on nice clothes, but they could always purchase nickel and dime hankies, that they could pin to their sweaters. Even a worn sweater with a colorful hankie pinned on or tucked into a pocket of a blouse would always invite a compliment. A hankie she said could change a whole outfit.

  

When she passed she left me with many treasures, but the one thing I have always fussed over were the hundreds of hankies that were all washed and starched and tucked into shoe boxes lined with tissue that still has a scent that reminds me of her.
For a while, I would hunt out estate sales and bid sometimes too much for a variety of these tiny cotton treasures, suffice to say, my collection has grown. I have lost count, my GrandMaman would be chuckling at what I have made with them, needless to say, she would be honored by this shared memory.

These are Hankie Keepers, they are used to tuck your favorite hankie into them, Makes for a wonderful and unique gift when you are stuck to present someone with something very special. No two would ever be alike. All of mine are made with 3 hankies, One for the construction of the outside, one for the lining on the inside ( the lavender one has purple dots fabric in the lining, as I just could not bear to cut through the extra lavenders I had.  ( so that is optional, you can line them with light cotton. And the third one, a special one, is tucked on the inside.  Otherwise, all the ones you see here are all made from antique hankies. Many have wonderful borders which I show you how to highlight on the outside of your hankie keeper. Nothing is wasted.  Even some of Shelly's buttons and embellishments make for such a sweet touch.

This Hankie Keeper came to mind when I was wondering what to do with my collection, so here is your pattern that has 25 colored photos on how you too can make these fine and delicate treasures, you may just want to keep them for yourself. I certainly am being pulled here, as each one of these I want to hoard away.....but I won't. BECAUSE.....

They will find themselves on their way to Shelly, and after this month has ended. all the samples I have made each week will be all wrapped up carefully so that Shelly can place them up for sale on her site and all the money that is raised, will be donated to a local food bank. I think that is something I can live with, and those who will purchase these will have a treasure and a reminder of what we can do together to help so many.  Also, a great story that you too can share.
All of our patterns sell for $3.00 US. each with a purchase of $20.00 of buttons, embellishments, or miniatures. Oh wait till you see what I have in mind for those. If you wish to just purchase the pattern, they will always be $11.00 US. 

All of the patterns I illustrate with photos and step by step instructions and I always include many tidbits, needles, handles ( Shell will have some) fabrics I have used. Riley Blake Designs will be my favorite fabric manufacturer as they always have my signature gingham fabric along with so many new collections. They have always been supportive of my adventures and not surprising they would embrace me again for this journey into small project designs.

Ps the only one that will not be included for sale is the one with the bubbles, pink one, (that first one)  has already been spoken for. The lady who would not take NO for answer gave a substantial check to our local food bank. Even I could not resist that offer. I really did want to keep that one for me. But I am more than prepared to dig through my boxes of hankies and make more...
You will be able to find all of our patterns listed here on Instagram and Pinterest too.
www.instagram.com/shellysbuttonsandmoree
www.pinterest.com/mdmsamm/shellysbuttonsandmore.com

Handkerchiefs. check out etsy and ebay, I just saw hundreds, be sure to look for those that are around $2.00 a piece, they will work perfectly. There are some as high as $50.00.
So share with us, which one is your favorite? I am leaning towards the lavender one, not sure how that happens but as each season passes, lavender and purples just make me swoon. I know Shelly loves GREEN.


So till we meet again, keep those memories alive, and hint for next week, it is all about a cover-up.


You so Matter,

Mdm Samm

Shining the light on you.

Sometimes we just need to shine the LIGHT on something else.
Today is the day and each Wednesday from this week on, I will be showing you some new projects on what you can do with  Shelly's Buttons, Miniatures, and Embellishments.

If you link to any of the pattern images it will take you to the pattern purchase page. 

 Every project from this week forward will include a pattern, photos of each step so you too, will be able to create what I have shown you here? There is nothing more frustrating than seeing something so cute, so inspiring, and your results are far from that. Well, I hear you, I have been in the same boat.  So I will not hold back, I will shed the LIGHT on all the steps, tricks, tidbits that will have you wanting more. And more I can deliver.

So here is what you will soon be creating- I have made a few- NITE LIGHTS that will be a sweet addition to every room in your home and bonus, it may very well reduce your hydro bills.
As you can see, I tried to create something for the kitchen, a boys room, a girl's room, and even one for your powder room. The only thing that will be limited is your imagination.

COST for Patterns
The pattern will show you every little notion you will need. Cost for these Patterns will be only $3.00 US if you order some buttons and or miniatures and embellishments that total $20.00 before shipping charges.

If you only want the pattern the cost will be $11.00 US.  (it will be a download PDF file)
ALSO, at the end of the month, all the samples I have created will be shipped back to Shelly and she will sell them to anyone interested and all those PROCEEDS will go towards a LOCAL FOOD BANK. 

We are all about giving back, so many of us can make a difference in such a small way. So to shining the LIGHT on you and everyone close to you.
Drop us a line, on what would you like to see in the future, I have a few dozen projects already in mind, but if there is something you would love to know how to make, (small projects) I may be able to show you how to make one.
Keep shining your light, till we meet next week for another new BUTTONS Project.
YOU so matter.

Mdm Samm
p.s hint for next week.
You will be able to find all of our patterns listed here on instagram and pinterest too.
www.instagram.com/shellysbuttonsandmoree
www.pinterest.com/mdmsamm/shellysbuttonsandmore.com

Martha Stewart of Canada, Shell calls me.

Hellllllllo,

 By way of introduction, Shell calls me Martha Stewart of Canada.  I have always been in awe of Martha, so I take that as a genuine compliment. Here are some differences, I am French,  was raised by Nuns, and grew up in a boarding school. They taught us to think for ourselves and what was driven into our heads; "whatever you start, you must finish".

As I was always eager to tackle new projects I learned to do things quickly and efficiently. I do believe my creativity was something everyone possessed.

I have learned through the years, that this is not the case. I have worked in design, medical, pharmaceutical, and presently I am a Crisis Responder. My creative nature has always been my greatest attribute, although it wasn't until recently that I embraced it.


It is during these times when we must think outside of the box. Not only to do things differently but to teach and guide one another and embrace ideas and market them as your own.
  
This will be my role, to introduce you to projects using buttons, embellishments, and miniatures and serving you with weekly and monthly suggestions and projects to broaden your horizons and make you some money too.

I am thrilled to be part of this new ERA, so BUTTON up, secure yourself firmly as we are prepared to take you on an adventure that will awaken all of your creativity.
By all means if there is something you always wanted to know how to make or cannot find, just let me know, I have been a small project designer for many decades, I have been known to come up with something pretty quick. ( wink)

You can call me
Mdm Samm
Your Creative Director
exclusively for Shell and YOU!

p.s Tune into every WEDNESDAY, beginning JUNE 3rd. for the latest, greatest best, patterns and buttons and more IDEAS!

 

 

this is me as a caricature.

You will become familiar with this character as she is on many patterns I will be creating for you.