DIY Button Ornament

Hey, friends!  Let’s have an “honestly” moment, shall we?  Here’s the thing.  I love LC’s school.  It’s a fabulous, amazing place with an incredible staff, and he’s learning SO much.  I love that LC goes to school too, because it means I can actually have more than five minutes to myself in a given day.  But I’m seriously bummed that this school business majorly interferes with our Mama-LC Crafting Time.  We used to have all day every day to do whatever we wanted.  Now, I see him for about half an hour in the morning, and then get a very tired boy for about three hours or so in the evening before bedtime.  That doesn’t leave much time to get our craft on.

But, never fear, where there’s a will, there’s a way.  When you put two people together who both really want to do something, they’ll find time to do it, which is just what we did the other day when we made this simple and super-fun Button Ornament.

I honestly had no particular plans to make a button ornament.  But, last Friday when LC finished his homework, we were both in the mood to make something.  Anything.  We just didn’t know what.  So, we did what we often do when the creative itch strikes…we headed down to our craft stash in the basement, which has a selection of supplies to rival Michaels itself.  Little Crafter spied the pack of buttons my good friend Laura Kelly had sent us as a fun surprise present just a few days before.  “Ooooh, Mommy!  Let’s use Miss Laura’s buttons!”  Oh, yes!  Let’s indeed!

But what to do with them?  Then, I spied a small clear plastic ornament left over from last year’s ornament making adventures.  Aha!  And so, we got to work.
This project literally cost nothing for us because we already had all our materials, and you probably do too.  But just in case, here’s what you need:

Materials:
– small plastic ornament {ours was clear, but a colored one works too}
– Laura Kelly Buttons Galore assorted buttons
– hot glue gun and glue sticks {mine are my trusty AdTech low-temp}
– ribbon
– scissors

Literally, all you do is place a dab of glue, stick a button on, and repeat until the whole thing is covered.  They won’t all fit exactly, so sometimes we glued small buttons on top of larger ones to fill in the gaps.  Because you’re using hot glue, you and the kiddos obviously need to use caution when you’re sticking the buttons on so you don’t burn any fingers.  We used a low temp glue gun and were just fine…LC even applied many of the buttons himself {he’s had a lot of experience crafting, so he knows where not to touch}!  You could use another kind of glue but it will take forEVer to dry and you won’t be able to finish in one sitting.

When you’re finished, just add a ribbon to hang the ornament from…ours is purple for the Ravens.  They’re still our team even when they forget how to play. {sigh}  You can do all kinds of variations on this by choosing buttons that are all the same color {ie: red}, a particular color mix {ie: red, green, and white}, or make an “anything-goes” one like ours.  Personally, I really love the colorful and random mix; it looks so cheerful and bright!

 

The optional final step, if you’re a blogger, that is, would be to sneak across the street in your slippers to “borrow” your neighbor’s pine tree so you can get a “realistic” looking picture of your Christmas ornament in November.  Then, the pine needles will make ugly shadows on your ornament and the branch will droop and you’ll remember why you buy Douglas Firs instead of White Pines for your own tree.  And, finally, you’ll run back to your house ignoring the stares of the people driving down your street who are wondering what’s wrong with you.  But remember, that’s all optional.  If I were you, I’d just put that baby aside until you get your actual tree up and then hang it and enjoy.

Hugs & Glitter,