Craft ideas using buttons

Have a ton of buttons just laying around.  Time to get your creative juices flowing and use them up.

Today at most craft stores you can purchase large amounts of crazy buttons for a matter of $5.00 and less.  This is great especially if you are looking for a small button to replace one on a blouse or something.  But then what do you do with all the left overs, well here is a full list of things you can do to use them up.

A pair of earrings

You will need a pair of matching buttons something that is really decorative, jewelry glue, earring backs the flat kind work great for bigger buttons. Don’t forget a pair of heavy duty scissors.

1. if the back of the buttons that have the hole for sewing on to thins is plastic, use the heavy duty scissors to cut this part off.  This will give you a flat place to work on.
2. Take the jewelry glue and apply to the back of the button then place on the earring back.  Let the piece dry.

Keep the earrings for yourself or give for a gift.

Make a decorative pillow case.

Do you like to dress up your bed, well do it with buttons.

You will need; two matching pillow cases, choose a color that you think will make the buttons pop.  buttons, thread, needle, scissors

1. Lay out your pillow case.
2. On top of the pillow case create the design you wish to have.  You could just do the edge or go crazy and come up with a fun pattern all over.  If this is going to be a gift for a child, you could put their name in buttons, a wedding gift make them bride and groom or him and her pillow cases.
3. Get sewing.  This is one of the most time consuming parts of the project.  Make sure you use several loops going through each button that way if the receiver or whom ever is getting the cases, the buttons don’t come off.

You’re done.

Cute and fun frame art.

This is great for the grandparents.  You can have the children get involved in decorating this one.

You will need; the buttons, heavy craft glue, an inexpensive frame that you can get from a dollar store.

1. Lay the frame on your working surface.
2. Pick and choose the buttons you wish to use on the frame. Create the pattern
3. Glue the buttons into place.  Let the glue dry for several hours.

A fun sweat shirt

This is great for an older sweat shirt that might have a stain that you want to hide.

You will need; a sweat shirt, buttons, thread, needle, scissors.

1. Lay out your sweat shirt
2. Create a fun pattern design on the shirt.
3. Sew each of the buttons into place.

With this idea, you could even create a jacket out of a sweat shirt using the buttons to not only decorate it but create a way to fasten the new jacket closed.

Keep time with buttons

This is a fun way to use them up and create something for someone who might be a major crafter.

You will need; buttons, clock fixings you can find these at craft stores or an old clock that still works that you want to liven up, craft glue.

1. Lay the clock on your working surface.
2. You can use large buttons for the 12, 3, 6 and 9 places then decorate with smaller buttons for the remainder of the numbers.  You could even glue some of the buttons on the hands of the clock, but be careful, because one of the hands passes under the other, so you need to make sure the buttons are thin enough to do this.
3. Let the glue dry.  You are done.

You can let your imagination run very wild when it comes to buttons.  How about decorating up a lamp shade or maybe an eyeglass case, or how about creating a desk organizer set and using the buttons to decorate that.  Change the decore in a bathroom to be all buttons, this can be fun as well.  The possibilities are endless.