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Honour the Child
BTRT Patterns (on Etsy)
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Buttons are all the rage right now (if Pinterest hasn't lead me astray).
And we are in search of fun, attractive and affordable kid-friendly Christmas crafts for giving to family and friends.
I have been mulling over two crafts:
{{THIS}} button wreath by Martha Stewart and {{THIS}} sweet felt tree.
I married the two and came up with some sweet Button Trees for Christmas!
My family is exchanging small and simple gifts this year.
For each tree, Rowan and I chose a few special buttons from my Grandmother's old button tin, which holds a place of honour in my crafty space.
These ornaments will bring together 4 generations of memories (yay!).
Did I mention these are kid friendly, too?!
Materials:
♥ A variety of buttons, old and/or new, various sizes
♥ Scissors
♥ Embroidery floss, brown is suggested
♥ Needle longer than your tallest intended tree
♥ Alternative: hot glue
♥ Optional: raffia or ribbon
1) Choose your buttons.
There are no rules! Ideally, you will want to choose 3-4 buttons for the trunk of the tree and then buttons from large to small to create the body of the tree. Do not make your tree taller than the length of your needle!
Choosing buttons is a great task for kids, as is stacking them in piles, sequenced by size (go math!).
Once we stacked our buttons to test their shape as a tree, Rowan spread them out in a long line in the desired order.
2) String them together.
Things will definitely go smoother if all of your buttons have the same number of holes!
As we were using a mix of new craft buttons and vintage buttons, we didn't have this luxury!
Begin with the trunk, string the buttons together and passing your needle and thread (3-4 strands of floss) up and down through them several times.(This is an adult job unless your kids are 9 or 10+).
Then, turn tie the string securely at the base of the trunk before proceeding.
I have used white thread here on the sample, but I suggest using a brown as the thread will show on the bottom of the finished tree.
Continue adding and securing buttons.
You must run the needle right up and back down the tree, try breaking it up into groups of 3-4 buttons in order to ensure a secure finished ornament~ nothing worse than a string of buttons scattering away!
Alternative: You could use hot glue and glue all the buttons together. Personally I like the 'wiggliness' of the threaded buttons, but to each their own!
3) Adding the tree topper.
Be creative! Use what you have on hand!
We had a number of shank-style buttons which worked perfectly as tree toppers, as we were able to attach them 'standing up' and to choose toppers to suit our various family members.
4) Add a hanger.
We used raffia. You could use ribbon, wire hooks, string...
5) Give!
For my mother, we used lots of her mother's buttons:
Now go and make some button trees of your own!
I think I will make some more for teacher's gifts~ we have some hand shaped buttons to top the trees and thank them for helping hands.
Be sure to link up to this blog and come back to share your finished work! ♥♥
And we are in search of fun, attractive and affordable kid-friendly Christmas crafts for giving to family and friends.
I have been mulling over two crafts:
{{THIS}} button wreath by Martha Stewart and {{THIS}} sweet felt tree.
I married the two and came up with some sweet Button Trees for Christmas!
My family is exchanging small and simple gifts this year.
For each tree, Rowan and I chose a few special buttons from my Grandmother's old button tin, which holds a place of honour in my crafty space.
These ornaments will bring together 4 generations of memories (yay!).
Did I mention these are kid friendly, too?!
Materials:
♥ A variety of buttons, old and/or new, various sizes
♥ Scissors
♥ Embroidery floss, brown is suggested
♥ Needle longer than your tallest intended tree
♥ Alternative: hot glue
♥ Optional: raffia or ribbon
There are no rules! Ideally, you will want to choose 3-4 buttons for the trunk of the tree and then buttons from large to small to create the body of the tree. Do not make your tree taller than the length of your needle!
Once we stacked our buttons to test their shape as a tree, Rowan spread them out in a long line in the desired order.
Things will definitely go smoother if all of your buttons have the same number of holes!
As we were using a mix of new craft buttons and vintage buttons, we didn't have this luxury!
Begin with the trunk, string the buttons together and passing your needle and thread (3-4 strands of floss) up and down through them several times.(This is an adult job unless your kids are 9 or 10+).
I have used white thread here on the sample, but I suggest using a brown as the thread will show on the bottom of the finished tree.
You must run the needle right up and back down the tree, try breaking it up into groups of 3-4 buttons in order to ensure a secure finished ornament~ nothing worse than a string of buttons scattering away!
Alternative: You could use hot glue and glue all the buttons together. Personally I like the 'wiggliness' of the threaded buttons, but to each their own!
Be creative! Use what you have on hand!
We had a number of shank-style buttons which worked perfectly as tree toppers, as we were able to attach them 'standing up' and to choose toppers to suit our various family members.
We used raffia. You could use ribbon, wire hooks, string...
For my mother, we used lots of her mother's buttons:
For our own family tree (ok, for *me*) I made a pair of trees entirely of white and pearl buttons from Grandma's button tin. I love the variations in colour and the textures. ♥♥
I think I will make some more for teacher's gifts~ we have some hand shaped buttons to top the trees and thank them for helping hands.
Be sure to link up to this blog and come back to share your finished work! ♥♥
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18 comments:
Super cute project!
Becca
Love. Love. Love. That's it. Just love it! I need to get some buttons! Thanks for sharing :-)
so funny - this is on our advent for this week, supplies all ready to go in a basket in the art cabinet. i saw it on pinterest a while back and had to give it a go! thank you for all of the detailed tips and instructions! these will certainly be useful when we try it. happy holidays!
Ha ha, that's fab! I'd love to say great minds think alike but I just copied Martha Stewart :) x
LOL It is a gimme if you think about, no surprise we all share it!! Have fun!
These are SO cute! I'm a button fan and my girls would love to make these, thanks for sharing! I enjoyed my visit to your blog and am a new follower as well. Happy Friday!
Oh-em-gee!! I love this! Thank you for sharing this fantastic project!!! My five year old also wants to say THANK you for it too!
Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie!
I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
AllieMakes.Blogspot.com
these are so cute. What a great idea
These are adorable!! Love it!!
Thanks!
Hi! Thanks so much for this idea. We did these today at a Mary Kay/Holiday party that I hosted. It was a huge it! I just did a blog post on it- http://havingkidsisfun.blogspot.com/2012/11/two-really-fun-crafts.html. Thanks again!
Love love love these!
I found you through Pinterest, these are great, thanks for sharing.
-Molly
JustALittleCreativity.com
So adorable, I'm sold. I'm gathering my grandkids up for a craft fest. Thanks for the sweet idea!
Hi Lori! My kids just did a trial run of this project for our upcoming party! http://www.jeannewinters.com/2012/12/3rd-annual-kids-christmas-craft-party.html
They loved making these! Thanks!
Thank you so much for the directions to create these sweet decorations. I finished my first one & love it - you may see a picture on my facebook :) now I'm getting my neighbor kids involved & we're going to make an entire forest :) using a stretchy piece of gold or silver elastic simplifies it even more and eliminates the need for a needle.
I just blogged about doing this, it really is a great project for kids. I like your cool cream ones too.
They look so cute! Im bummed i didn't find them in December. I've featured this project in my DIY button ideas list at http://wishfultinker.blogspot.se/2013/02/10-diy-projects-with-buttons.html , I'll just have to remember them for next year.
This is such a wonderful project! Thank you for sharing this. Awesome and perfect for the kids! I loved the details of this toothpick art. We also did a Washi Tape Flags out of the same materials you used. You should check this out!
EarlyLearning.Momtrusted.com: Tape Flags