Like Mother - Like Daughter

My Mom was a beautician. She loved to play with hair that's why she went to school to learn how to "style" the strands.

When I was little, she used to pull my thick horse-tail mane up in a ponytail and pull it to turn it into a "waterfall". At least that's what she told me. Mom always had a way of making the plain, ordinary and down right dull seem spectacular.

And, I have course, curly hair that is so thick I need to have it thinned more than a few times a year. When I was growing up, somehow it always managed to get tangled, twisted and terrible. Mom used all sorts of "products" before "products" even existed to try to make my mane more manageable. She used vinegar, mayonnaise, and even lemon juice to try to untangle my locks.

My head always ached from Mom pulling, twisting and brushing. So, I never thought of becoming a beautician but . . .

I have a hair board on Pinterest that I LOVE. I could spend hours looking at the unusual styles, colors and dynamic dos.

It makes me wonder, if a love of hair is something Mom has passed down to me...?

I don't know but it seems like a bond between us.

Treasures Worth More than their Weight in Gold

When I was growing up in the house with nine kids and grandma living in the back bedroom, Mom used to have an ugly old, dented tin. That metal tin was her secret "treasure" chest and it held so many itty-bitty beautiful bits-and-pieces she called "treasures".

But those treasures of hers weren't worth any money.

Still, I used to love to pull out that old tin and rummage through it. I don't remember what I was looking for because it was only filled with old buttons. But I believed it was a treasure chest, filled with pirates gold of colored glass and make-believe doubloons.

See, Mom didn't believe in throwing anything away. I guess she would have been one of the original hoarders only she never had much to hoard. So it wasn't a problem.

I mean, when all you're hoarding is an old tin of buttons, it doesn't take up much room in a house.

Some days, when I came home from school, Mom used to call me out to the kitchen table to talk with her while she made dinner.

She'd cut, chop and dice while I'd sit beside her cutting buttons off our old worn-out clothing. Then I'd slip those little beauties into our "treasure chest". When I'd "saved" all the buttons then I'd cut the fabric into scraps for quilting. Grandma used those quilting blocks to make blankets.

Our rescued buttons went into that old tin to be used at a later date, when a button popped off and rolled away, never to be found again.Then Mom would call me out to the kitchen again and I'd pull out the treasure tin. It was easy to spend hours searching through the treasures for just the "right" button to replace the renegade runaway...or rollaway.

That old tin gave me a love for re-purposing, recycling and reusing...buttons.

Even today, I still love to walk down the aisles at the fabric store and gaze at the beautiful buttons (I know I live an exciting life) and sometimes I buy a few--buttons I might never find a purpose for.

"Sew" crafting friends aren't surprised, at Christmas, if they find a gift of beautiful buttons, fabric and/or yarn tucked away inside their gift.

Maybe that seems odd to most people, but I still think of those beautiful buttons as tiny treasures. Little beautiful baubles, to me they look like gemstones or charms and I love them all.

Tomorrow, I'm thinking of working on a button wreath for Valentine's Day. See the one above. I found it on Pinterest and fell in love.

If you want to see the instructions for this Cute as a Button Wreath, just pop over to this site to check it out.
The estimated cost of making this Button Wreath, if you don't have a tin to hunt through, is $10.00. But I can guarantee you, if you sit with your sons and daughters and make this wreath, together, the memories you'll create will be worth more than their weight in gold. They'll be PRICELESS :D

How 'bout you do you have any secret "treasures" worth more than their weight in gold? I sure do. And aren't these the little things that LOVE is all about.

Tip for Tuesday - Repurpose old File Folders

I was popping around on Pinterest and I found this wonderful idea over at Authentique's Blogspot. We  all have manila file folders sitting around and what a wonderful way to repurpose some recycled folders.

Word for Wednesday

Word of the Day: Pintervention

Do you know what it means?

It's when an intervention is needed to get someone off of Pinterest.

And I know what that's like because I can get lost for hours Pinning pictures to my boards.

If you don't believe me that this is a "real" word, check out the Urban Dictionary here

Pinterest. . .

Have you heard of it?

I hadn't until a few days ago, when Jovan told me I needed to check it out. So, I did. And I think you should check out this article.

If you're on Pinterest tell me how you use it, what you like about it, your favorite use of it.

I'm just now seeing what it's all about and I can use all the help I can get.