It's a Creative World

Quick and Easy Button Necklace

About a week ago I was in John Lewis and saw some lovely necklaces made out of buttons.  They were quite expensive and, being a typical crafter, I thought I'd have a go at making my own.  It was really quick and easy to do, and I'm quite pleased with the results!  Here's how I did it.

 

First I chose a nice piece of scrapbook patterned paper. This one is October Afternoon.  I used some clear buttons which I got from Stampin' Up! and glued them over the pictures I wanted using Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects.

All that was left to do then was to punch the button holes through the paper with a paper piercer and thread them onto 3mm co-ordinating ribbon.  I made the necklace long enough to go over my head so I just tied it with a knot, no clasp was needed.

The great thing about this idea is that you could make necklaces and bracelets to match any outfit, just pick your favourite patterned papers! It would also make a great last minute Christmas gift for someone.  You could even use some Christmas scrapbooking paper!

I hope you like this idea and I'll see you again soon!

Joanne x

Embroidered notecards

 

Hello, Eleanor here.
I still had several small offcuts of fabric on my desk, after my recent embroidering, so I decided to make some simple notecards as a gift, contained within a special envelope.
I stitched a thin vintage mother of pearl button onto a 2 by 2 inch scrap of plain fabric, added a few       straight stitches, and then stitched the square onto a plain white notecard (a quarter of an A4 sheet of good cardstock). I stitched about a quarter of an inch in from the edges, then pulled away the threads up to the stitching line.Wonkiness is good. Honestly it is.

To keep them tidy, I made a fabric envelope, attaching one final embroidered square to the 'flap', with room to fit the 6 notecards plus their envelopes inside .

An easy gift, and a nice one for a teacher, such as Karen,

(which reminds me...Happy Birthday to Dolly,)

and also useful for anyone who likes to write thank you notes/keep in touch with distant relatives.

(lol, edited as Sarah quite rightly told me off for assuming young people don't correspond)

See you soon folks.

Buttons, buttons, buttons

Hi from Jo!

I don't know about you but I love buttons and now have a huge collection which includes the contents of my Grandma's button box (that I used to play with as a child) along with buttons found in charity shops and the more unusual ones I found on a certain auction site!

While trying to think of small Christmas presents I came across some papier-mache pen holders for £1 each. I painted my first one using a tester pot from a DIY store but of course acrylic paints would work just as well or you could use patterned paper . I then wrapped some vintage lace around it and used cord around the top and bottom.

 

I now have some other items to give the same button treatment to!

I hope I've inspired you to use your spare buttons.

Decorated Mini Birdhouse

Hi all, today I am decorating a mini birdhouse, its not going in the garden but on my dressing table, I got the idea for this one from  Karlas Cottage and  Gathering Dust two of my fave blogs of the moment, they did a Bling your Birdhouse party between them on their blogs earlier this year, I was too late to participate but it gave me the inspiration to do mine.

 

 

I started off painting it deep red (Anitas Acrylic Wine)  Then glued some cream pom pom braid on the roof edges with cream ric rac over the top, down the front edges and around the bottom of the house.

Then I got to work with hundreds of modern and vintage small cream and white buttons, I started by trying to stick them in rows and layering them up over the top to get maximum coverage.  To cover the hole on the front of the house I used a free image of a bird that I had found on the internet and placed it on the back of a faux optical lens, then glued that over the hole.

To finish it off I tied a piece of vintage lace round the perch and used a lovely vintage flower button to cover the ric rac join at the apex of the roof.

 

 

Hope you have enjoyed today’s post, please take a look at Karla and Beths blogs, they are full of pretty things and lots of inspiration.

Trish xxx

                       

Paper flowers

Rebecca Sower is one of my all time heros when it comes to creative genius!! She has an eye for design and her scrapbook pages are awesome.  Scrapbooking lifes little MOMENTS, is a well read book in my house!

These paper flowers are inspired by Rebecca.....

All you need to make them are a few circles of patterned paper (great way to use up scraps!), some buttons, craft wire and florist wire.

Oh and some wire cutters and craft pliers come in handy too :)

You can see Rebeccas tutorial on making the little wire bits here!

I crumpled and inked my paper circles, then layered them before making a hole in the centre with a thick needle.
Thread the wire through the hole and wind it around the florist wire (or kebab stick) stems.
A twist in the stem makes the 'leaf'.

They are so simple to make, and the best bit is they last forever :)

haPPy tueSDAy!!
Caz
xx

Quick and Easy Card

Hello Everybody! Joanne here! This is my first post and I'm a bit nervous! From now on I'll be sharing the Thursday card slot with Andrea and today it's my turn. Here's the card I've got for you, super quick and easy and even better - it only takes one sheet of patterned paper!

The secret to one sheet of paper is to use the wonderful Scenic Route Scrap Strips. The one I have used for this card is Sumner Scrap Strip 1. So, here goes:

Here are all the elements you need. One sheet of cardstock to make your card (or you could use a blank ready made card), one sheet of Scrap Strips, a few American Crafts felt flowers, small chipboard frame or similar and two buttons.

Step 1

Cut your cardstock to 15cm x 22 cm and fold in half for a landscape card. Cut two strips of the patterned paper 5 1/2cm x 15cm and cut a smaller strip to go across the middle. Ink the edge of the smaller, middle strip for a little definition. Arrange on your card like so:

Step 2

Arrange flowers and stitch together with a button. Stamp a sentiment onto a scrap of the cream cardstock and attach to chipboad frame as shown. Ink the edges for a little definition:

Step 3

Arrange the flowers and sentiment on the card and stick down. There you have it! Super quick and easy card!

I hope you liked this card and have fun making it.

See you soon! Joanne x

Button Heart

I imagine that a lot of you are like myself and have LOADS of buttons lying around; well here is a quick and simple project that will use some of those spare buttons. The base is a 4x4 inch deep edge canvas, painted to the colour you want. Draw a heart shape on a piece of painted/coloured card and cut out. Using Glossy Accents (or any other strong clear drying glue) start to place the buttons round the edge of the design, I used all different sizes and pale colours in mine. When you have filled the centre of the shape you will find that you need to put buttons on top to fill in the gaps, keep going until you are happy with the result. Hope you have fun with this project. Trish xxx