yay! it’s today! March 3, 2009

I’m so happy that today is the official release date for Button It Up! March 3rd seemed so far away for so long, and I can hardly believe it’s finally here. Hooray!

Pearl and her book

This book is really for Pearl, since I wrote the book and designed everything the winter I was pregnant, went to the photo shoot in the spring, and looked over the pages and details and bits and pieces all summer when she was tiny… it really feels like her book in so many ways.

Button It Up - the top of the acknowledgments page

And now that I’ve met her and gotten to know her, it’s so cool that she adores buttons — she loves the colors and the smooth clickiness. And when I’m wearing a cardigan or shirt with a whole row of them, she gets a predatory gleam in her eye and pounces on the nearest tantalizing one. I know all babies like small cool things, but this seems like true love.

Pearl looking at her mention on the back cover

When I roll the dice and actually wear a piece of button jewelry, it’s like a magnet. I usually don’t last ten minutes before taking the necklace or earrings back off in self-preservation. And she’s not picky, button books look pretty good too.

Pearl tries to eat the book

Once she’s well past the no-don’t-touch-that stage and into the ooh-that-looks-cool era, I think we are going to have a lot of fun sewing and gluing and making some shiny things! But for now, she’s all about the grabbing and clutching and seizing, and when Lee surprised me with this awesome 500-piece button puzzle to celebrate the book, Pearl scooped the box right up to shake it to her heart’s content. Another instant favorite.

Pearl with her new favorite thing

So yay, Pearl’s book is out! I wanted to mention a few more things to go with it:

Now that it’s officially today, I added all the new stuff to the Button It Up site — project extras and patterns like these three sewing projects,

Big-Eyed Owl, Button Sampler Tote, Spring Roll Delight Market Bag

plus a ton of helpful resources and the reviews it’s gotten so far. And I started a button it up flickr group for spotlighting vintage buttons and projects, I’d love it if you wanted to join and share some treasures over there!

I also added two signed copies of Button It Up to my Etsy shop — all the proceeds of these first two copies are to help out Baby Ike and the Roy family. So if you would like a signed copy, I would be very honored if you supported the fundraiser. (Rachel just posted about some really cool crafty things folks are doing near and far too!)

Button It Up - cover!

And I’m so pleased that some of my favorite sites are doing very generous giveaways. First, Button Sampler Tote designer Diane Gilleland is offering up a copy: tell her a button story by Wednesday at noon and you’re entered to win! I love the comments people have left so far. Awesome.

Natalie at CRAFT: did such a nice review + giveaway too — leave a comment letting her know why you need your own copy of Button It Up by 10 am Wednesday and you could win one of two copies!

And Michaela at CraftStylish wrote an absolutely lovely post welcoming the book, with a special spotlight on the projects my fellow CraftStylish writers Diane, Kayte, and Linda created. Leave a comment by next Tuesday and you could win a copy there too!

Last, a huge thank-you to Rachel Hobson of Average Jane Crafter for her thoughtful and generous review of the book today! I am so grateful that people are enjoying the projects and the photography and illustrations, but it means the world to me that people like the me-parts — the vintage button history I really enjoyed writing up, and the button-love itself.

So thank you for reading and supporting me in the new-book adventure! I really appreciate it, more than I can say.

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