Pinterest Project: Button Monogram

Yes, yes we’re all on Pinterest. It’s amazing. It’s been such a great tool for my work, and for inspiration and for smart ideas. I finally buckled down and tackled one of these smart ideas and made my own Button Monogram for Baby Girl’s new nursery.

Here’s the inspiration:

This project was originally posted here and I fell in love with the idea. So I started collecting buttons in the color scheme I knew I wanted to do for the nursery. I previously did not have a random button box like my mom seems to have had since before I was born, so it took some time to get a good collection. Luckily she was kind enough to let me go through said button box, so I got some unique cool buttons in addition to the store-bought basic ones.

And here’s what we ended up with:

I’m a little bit in love. She lists her process in her blog, but there were a few things I did differently. First I used simple scotch double-stick tape to cover the inside of the “A” before placing my large buttons. This allowed me to reposition and move things around if I wanted. Next, I layered most of the buttons using a hot glue gun. I had to clean off all the glue strings, but it gave me a really good hold that I’m not worried about hanging up. And last, when I started cleaning it up with brads, I used my seam ripper to poke holes in the paper first. This helped me stop from bending my paper by trying to force a brad through double-stick tape. I’m sure they have more sophisticated tools for that, but the sharp, small point of my seam ripper worked great. And last but not least, I used a shadowbox frame to allow for the depth. This baby is like three layers deep in some places, and I wanted to be able to put the glass on it to protect it.

While I was doing this project (in my new craft area to be shown next Tuesday) my wonderful daughter saw all the buttons and was naturally curious. So I drew her an “E”, put some dots of Elmer’s glue all around and let her go to town. Here’s what she ended up with:

I’m not sure we’ll be hanging it up, but she had fun all the same.

Have you found any projects on Pinterest that you’ve tried? Or are there any you’re wanting to attempt? Do share!

Happy Friday!