Category: Fashion

Repurposing a Vintage Button into Wearable Jewelry

I recently checked out a new crafty store with a friend and ended up sorting through some beautiful vintage buttons. They had a ‘fill a bag’ special, so I ended up with an assortment of vintage, antique and sparkly bits and pieces. Did I have a plan on what to do with them? Mostly nope. Except when it came to this one:

How gorgeous is this? There were four of these vintage buttons which looked to have abalone stone on them. I just loved them on sight. My friend added one to her bag and I added the remaining three to mine. I was only planning to buy one, but then I felt kind of guilty leaving the stragglers behind.

And it was a good thing too, because somewhere between purchasing her buttons and getting into her car, my friend’s buttons disappeared!

Luckily mine made their way home with me, so I decided that I’d not only make myself a necklace from one of the buttons… I’d make one for my friend too.

Each button had four little holes for securing them:

So I threaded some elastic string through a hole, knotted it twice and started adding beads. When I ransacked my bead drawer, my green beads and metallic beads were calling to me. So I made two similar versions of a necklace – one with just a few metallic beads near the button, and the other which alternated gold and green beads in sets of 5.

Here’s what the back looks like with the elastic secured:

I love how they both turned out and I gave my friend first pick of which one she’d like to keep. She chose the necklace on the right, so the one on the left is mine:

I really enjoyed upcycling a vintage button to make a unique piece of jewelry that will live on. I think these will look great alone, as well as layered with a metallic chain necklace.

Styling Ember Tieks

I’ve coveted Tieks for more than a decade, so when I finally pulled the trigger to place my order, I combed through the Tieks website. There are so many beautiful colors and patterns to choose from, so it was a super hard decision to make. I wanted something relatively neutral, so that it would go with many of my different outfits. However, I didn’t want something too simple or boring. I just wanted them to feel special and have a little bit of WOW factor.

I finally decided on the Ember Tieks. I liked the coppery-brown tone and the dragon scales-like pattern. It looked like the color would go well with my skin tone, fit in with my wardrobe and also feel super special to me. And just a few days later, they arrived!

You guys. Tieks really knows what they are doing with their packaging. It felt like a super special gift that I was opening (and honestly, it WAS a super special gift!). On the outside of the box was a pretty flower that matches the colors and theme of the shoes. Inside the box, you have the shoes, as well as a collapsible shoulder bag (to hold the uncomfortable shoes you take off) and a little stretchy bag (to hold the Tieks in your purse so that they are ready to go). On top of it all, there was a personalized note. WOW.

Let’s talk sizing. I typically wear anywhere from an 8.5 to a 9 in shoes. Tieks flats come in whole sizes and they recommend you size up if you are in between sizes, so I picked a size 9 for myself and they fit great. After wearing them the first day, they were comfortable everywhere except for my right foot’s big toe. It needed to work-in/stretch out a bit, but I’m impatient. So, I grabbed a plastic Easter egg from Jack’s toy stash and worked it into the toe area where I needed a little stretch:

I left it for a couple days and then wore them again, and they were PERFECT!

As for the color of Ember, I’m so pleased with my choice. The leather is super soft and supple and the color and pattern is absolutely gorgeous. I also really like the distinctive teal accent on the back and the soles, as well as the fact that the soles are perfectly grippy so I’m not slipping and sliding around.

The Ember Tieks go with SO MUCH. Here are just a few items I pulled from my closet to check the color combos:

And now, let’s check out some styling fun! Here a few outfits I put together with my Ember Tieks:

I tried everything from a velvet wrap dress, to a linen skirt outfit, to my mended jeans and they look pretty adorable.

Thank you to Tieks for reaching out to me a few weeks ago and gifting me these absolutely gorgeous shoes. I am so grateful to add them to my closet and can’t wait to style them time and time again!

Disclosure: Tieks gifted me these shoes in exchange for an honest blog post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My Style: November 2024

November is a short and sweet style month, since I was spending a lot of time teleworking and must not have bothered to take non-work outfit photos this month.

Let’s take a look:

Apparently I was all about the florals this month! To be honest, I’ve been pretty swamped at my new job so I chose ‘old faithful’ looks that I could just throw on and be comfortable wearing as I filled and overfilled my brain. The two bottom looks have gorgeous embroidered Johnny Was blouses — both purchased at different times from the same consignment shop!

And here we have the same look, two ways. I picked up this J.Crew skirt at a consignment store at the end of October and I loved it paired with a simple Boden top and my new Tieks (full blog post on Tieks coming soon!). It was a little chilly, so I topped the look with a denim jacket for the first part of the day.

New vs. Secondhand Tally

This month, I count 2 items that I purchased retail, 1 item I was gifted, and 14 items I purchased secondhand!