Buttons-n-Dollars

My good friend Hayley, breast cancer survivor extraordinaire, recently met a woman named Heidi Marble, an eight-year survivor of inflammatory breast cancer. Heidi has established a registered charity called Buttons-n-Dollars to raise money to help under- and uninsured breast cancer patients with their treatment. Using donated buttons and costume jewellery, she turns broken mannequins into works of art, which she then sells or leases.

If you have costume jewellery or buttons that you're not using, please consider sending them to Heidi to help her continue her great work. You know all those mismatched earrings in the back of your jewellery box? And how about your overflowing button box? Declutter your drawers (or for those of us with a teeny tiny craft supply addiction, make room for more) and help Heidi at the same time!

To learn more about Heidi, her book Waiting for Wings, and her art and to find out how you can help, visit her Undone website. Her shipping address is

Heidi Marble
Buttons-N-Dollars
25017 NE 188th Court
Battle Ground, WA 98604

Love those buttons

I saw on Abbie’s blog that Analise at Sugar*Sugar hosted a button challenge, asking bloggers to post photos of their buttons. I love my button collection, but after looking at some of the ones posted, my little guys look rather ordinary in comparison.

Nevertheless, and despite missing the challenge, this afternoon I spent time that should have been spent working taking pictures of buttons. (This is not the first time I've done this, as shown by two of these bookmarks.) The sun was actually out today (I’m still in shock) so I was determined to do it outside, even though it was very windy and I ended up with shadows of my blowing hair in half the pictures. Some of my buttons blew right off the table and rolled off the deck. I’m sure my neighbors were wondering what the heck I was doing later, peering around the carport looking for lost buttons.

So here they are, or at least here are the photos that don’t have hair shadows in them. Some of these buttons have lived in my button box for years.
Some were recently bought on a whim, with no particular project in mind.
After all the gloomy weather, I was happy to sort out the red ones
and the blue ones.
My collection includes buttons big and small,
buttons colorful and plain,
and buttons of many shapes.

I don’t know much about their vintageness. Some were inherited from my great aunt and my grandmother and some were bought at thrift stores. Many are left over from completed projects and others were bought for projects that never quite got completed. Some were found on the street and others came as spares with shirts and sweaters or were cut off worn out clothing. Most of them are either fairly plain in style or were meant for kids’ clothes.

Compared to some, my collection of buttons is more utilitarian than fancy, but I like it anyway. It reminds me of past projects, of things I’ve made for my children, and of people I care about.