“Who’s got buttons?”
YOU may have said those words at a crop but I never have!
I bring buttons with me!
After all, you never know when you’ll want to use some on a layout or project.
I recently came across the lovely button and snowflake art (shown above).
It was shared by Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine and it inspired me to dig out a couple of my old layouts. I’ve always had a love of pretty buttons. There’s nothing like a jar full of old buttons, especially if you’ve never seen it before–or just haven’t looked in a while.
Try it. Dump them out. Look at how pretty!
Here’s a couple of examples of how I used ordinary buttons on layouts.
The first layout is relatively clean. The blue is a very thin mat under a piece of white cardstock. I cut a frame, also in white to set on top by lightly pencilling a mark and then carefully tearing the paper around the inside. A ruler can help keep the tearing in line. Journalling is done directly onto the mats next to the photos.
I have enormous button collections. They are one of those things I find hard to resist at garage sales and sometimes even in the little bags of “junk” around the perimeter of Value Village. I went through looking for small buttons that were close in size and ranging from white to beige to varying shades of blue. I can’t even remember how I attached them but any strong adhesive should work whether it’s glue dots, scor-tape or a strong glue. The letters for the word s-a-y were adhered to three small circles and I added the word “uncle” underneath.
Here’s another layout, using a few less buttons.
(Oops…I cut the bottom off!)
That frayed mat is a material called “mulberry”. It may not be familiar to newer scrapbookers. I suspect some longtime scrapbookers still have some in their stashes. I’m not sure that I’d use it today. Would you?
As for the white buttons on this layout, I strung them onto very thin wire. (If you don’t have any, you can probably pick some up at a dollar store. Or check your hubby’s tool box!) I left enough wire on the ends to do some little twists. Try wrapping the end around a pencil, then gently sliding it off to get this effect.
Other than that, I think this layout is pretty easy to figure out. Again, it’s a simple, timeless design.
I should point out that the title–Courtney–was hand-cut using an exacto knife! Who remembers those days? We would painstakingly cut–and sometimes mat– titles for all of our pages. I don’t do that any more. I must confess I’m not much of a diecutter either. Give me a few packages of “Thickers” and I’m happy.
If you’d like to own some Thickers, just let me know. I don’t always have a ton in stock but I can always order them!
What I really like about these layouts is that they are still timely despite the fact that they were done several years ago.
When using buttons, think about how much bulk you want in your pages. Sometimes very thin buttons are best when they’ll be in a traditional album. Buttons will sometimes leave indents on other pages, particularly if you don’t store your albums upright.
For mini albums, cards or other projects you can be more experimental. I have some beautiful buttons that work great for cover embellishments. If your buttons have shanks on them, simply use some pliers or a shank remover to get the shanks off and allow the button to lay flatter on your page.
You might wonder why I sell product and tell you to shop at yard sales but in my opinion, we always have plenty of scrapbook items to buy. Save where you can and ALWAYS spend your money on good quality adhesives, cardstocks and pattern papers. Those are the mainstays that will give you good quality, enduring projects.
And back to those buttons; there are techniques you could do today to fit more with current scrapbook trends. While I like some of the trends, I much prefer a layout that I can go back and look at it and not wonder what I was thinking!
Scrapbooking is about the photos but it’s also about the art and it should bring you pleasure. Because that’s what art does.
So go make something.
(Do you have lots of buttons around? Have you ever done a layout using buttons? Feel free to share it in the comments section. If you can’t get it there, simply send me a picture or post on The Scrapbook Room’s Facebook page .)