Button Button, Who's Got the Button?.......ME!

Today Steve and I went to the Metamora garage and antique sale. I found a few neat things. I bought the two photograph books which are full of clip art and places for photos, as well as a few rusty door plates and a couple more old jars (more about what I use the jars for in the post), and a neat pin in the shape of a Maltese cross with a English coin with the Queen on it (Steve is Maltese, and since I keep telling him I am the Queen I had to get it). Below is the jar I found at the Romeo Garage Sale Saturday. The town hosts a neighborhood garage sale each June. Steve, Stephanie, Pat, and I decided to go. We walked the streets from 7 am until 1:00, in the rain (it was light rain on and off all morning). I came to an old barn where a fellow had pulled out some old tins to sell. He had them in a box. When I opened the tins I found they had old buttons in them. Since I did not want the tins, I made him an offer just for the contents. I have to tell you first that they were filthy. It seems they belonged to his mother and he had stored them for years in the barn. I was so happy when he told me I could have the contents for $4.00! Yeah, the contents of all four of the tins. Now don't get too crazy there, they weren't "full", nor were they big tins, and there were a lot of other things in them too, but it was still fun sifting through all of it to find these.... I had to share these new finds with you. I was so excited to find that the majority of these buttons were very old. Most of them shell and glass. There were also many small buckles, snaps, hook & eye's, and what nots that I placed in another container, but finding these alone more than made it worthwhile. So many lovely shell, glass, and metal buttons. There were others too, plainer, they were sorted and put with the others in jars. For now though, lets look at these..... See these really pretty black glass rectangular buttons with a sort of deco-type image carved in them. I wonder what they were on? I have some very lovely metal buttons in here too. I just wish I could capture the shine, the soft glow many of these buttons have. Here are some of the "shell" or "mother-of-pearl", one black glass button and a neat buckle that is so small and delicate. The button with the star is an iridescent shell, I think it has some sort of silver painted on the star. (I do not possess the camera skills to capture the beauty, and detail.) These are all "glass". They do not look like it, especially the two with the color, but they are. One even had mother-of-pearl inlaid. This celluloid button is big but so light.... Look at these cool brass buttons. I will need to polish and clean them up. I have four of them and they are really different. Here are my rustic and wood buttons in this big glass jar I found at a garage sale. Many of the darker ones you might see on men's clothing or coats. I bought it because I really liked the jar, it had a few old dirty grungy buttons in it as well as a lot of dust, dirt, and bit's. After I sorted and washed the buttons, and the jar, it worked perfectly for storing these buttons, and look there is still room left! On this shelf some "newer' buttons not sorted yet, I found this jar at the Salvation Army. Some of my "favorite" little shell and glass buttons... That first jar, with the glass lid, holds my other (well most of my) favorite "shell" buttons. The other jar's hold my white and blacks, okay, "some" of my white and blacks..... Behind that middle jar? Is that MORE white and black buttons in those quart and a half jars? Steve made a nice shelf for me to place my buttons when I redid my studio. So I color sorted them into these old jars.

I had to move some colors up to the quart size.

Yeah, your not imagining it, some are two jars deep.

Lookie what's hiding back here too.....

and is that another jar of unsorted ones?

Darn almost missed these two next to my computer, hmmm, I also did not take a picture of the little cabinet with little drawers full with others waiting to be sorted.

My question is, do you think they have a "Twelve Step Program" for this?