Thursday, July 25, 2013

BUTTONS, BUTTONS...WHO'S GOT THE BUTTONS?

ME!  And they are getting organized!!
 
I hate to admit it, but I have finished VERY little this month.  Whether the result of days of inability, laziness, or a generalized feeling of being pulled in too many directions at the same time...little has actually been completed.  Started?  Yes.  Finished?  Not so much.  But I have set out a goal of organizing one of the most frustrating aspects of my sewing room storage.  Buttons.



Many moons ago (1986 to be exact) Dear Hubby and I went to Walt Disney World on vacation.  We bought this adorable glass container filled with candy as a remembrance of our wonderful vacation.  Once the candy was gone I began filling the jar with buttons.  All kinds and all colors of buttons.  

As my collection has grown, so has my frustration with trying to find just the right button for any project.  It means pouring out all of the buttons, searching for the right one and then putting all of the buttons back in the jar... invariably dropping quite a few in the process.  Doing any type of fine motor action when I am having a bad tremor day is like trying to catch a greased pig...dang near impossible.  But I really didn't have a good solution in mind. 


Then I went to our local thrift store's monthly sale.  My biggest score was three matching cubby units.  At the time that I bought them I really didn't know WHAT I was going to use them for...I just knew they HAD to be mine!


Shortly after bringing them home I began working on the prototype of an idea that had been floating around in my head for a while...a collapsible craft container that could be used as a thread catcher, and a host of other things! 


After completing my first container I happened to glance at one of the cubbies and realized that the container would fit perfectly!  But what to store in all of those little containers?  BUTTONS!!!  

I decided I would divide my buttons by color, each hue in an individual color matched container.  EUREKA! An easier way to find just the button I wanted.  And if I dropped the container I would be dropping a WHOLE lot less buttons to be picked up!


Yesterday I finished my first button container.    Red.


Doesn't it look cute?  

Each cubby is capable of holding two of the containers so I have room to expand my button collection. 


And with all of these cubbies I have more than enough room to store LOTS of different colors!  (Please excuse the slightly blurry picture...I'm really shaky today and I have yet to figure out how to enable stabilization on my new camera, lol). 


Hands willing, maybe tomorrow I can start on my yellow container, then pink, then green...

Anyone recognize the pattern?  I'm sure I can't be the only one who remembers singing the song, same time every day...

"Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue.  I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, too!"




13 comments:

  1. Wow, wonderful idea. I have a box full of buttons that I search through every time I need one. Takes forever to find what I want or need.

    Sorry you have been feeling pulled in so many directions. Hope your week ends with fewer tremors and a more relaxed feeling.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jackie. I have been running to my own doctors plus accompanying mom and dad to their visits to interpret dr speak especially regarding dads two different cancers and the tremors have been worse as have my rapid heartbeat and skipped beats. All in all a royal PITA. I started weaning my steroids yesterday also. Just too much happening at once.

      Delete
    2. Oops, didn't mean to sound like taking the folks to the doctors is a PITA. It is the physical garbage that is making everything problematic!

      Delete
  2. I love your little cubbies and the containers you made! So Cute! You should write a 'how to' on making them, I bet lots of people would benefit from these :o)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a tutorial on my blog. Feel free to check it out!

      Delete
    2. Well, there you go! What a great idea! I too, have to search through tins of buttons to find what I want. Maybe someday I can find a cat-proof way to organize them. (Or maybe just wait until the cats are too old to get into mischief, LOL)

      Delete
    3. Hmmm....are cats EVER too old to get into mischief? You may have better luck finding a cat-proof storage solution, lol.

      Delete
  3. What a great idea! and those cubbies are such a treasure!

    Thank you so much for sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, Kelly! I think those cubbies are my best ever thrift store score!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for linking up. .and here's to feeling better

    ReplyDelete