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Ultimate Buttons Stash-Busting: Fill a Shape!

September 2, 2012 By 14 Comments

For our Buttons Week Finale, we are talking about the ultimate button-stash-busting tip of all: Create & fill a shape on your card or layout with buttons!

PCC Creative Squad member Kimberly Neddo created a beautiful card to demonstrate …. {swoon!}

Card created with papers from Crate Paper, Little Bo Peep collection; Buttons from Jenni Bowlin.

Kimberly says:

My goal for this card, was to create a shape with using different color buttons inside the frame, a mosaic kind of effect, to help the image shape stand out. I used my tonic scissors to cut some buttons to fit. The result? A simple sentiment, shown in a unique fun way, showcasing the heart in the center as the message.

How easy & fun is this?!

Here are a few other projects from others I’ve found that share some popular shape ideas that you can create with your buttons stash …

Hot Air Balloon of Buttons: Card by “Yepbrook” in the Sweet Shop Designs Community Forum

Tree of Buttons: Layout by “Marnel” found in the Scrapbook.com gallery …

Rainbow of Buttons: Layout by Heather of Stamp with Heather.

Buttons as Animal Shapes: Like this Elephant Canvas project from “Busted Buttons“

So using your button stash and a wire cutter or scissors, you can create a custom made embellishment to accent any story! Trees, hearts, rainbows, clouds, cupcakes, pumpkins, and more. The sky is the limit!

If you have projects you’ve created using the “fill a shape with buttons” approach, I’d love to see them! I invite you add your projects to this post via the “linky” tool below↓



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Buttons as Design Element for Scrapbook Layouts & Cards

August 31, 2012 By 3 Comments

Alright team! Did you eat your wheaties for breakfast? Today is our most challenging day of Buttons Week. Today, there are no guidelines to follow. No flower centers to add buttons to;  No car wheels to replace with buttons; No chipboard to stack a button upon. Nope, today, buttons simply ARE one of your design elements.

It’s tough … but you can do it! Especially with the beautiful inspiration we have for you today!

Buttons as a Scrapbook & Paper Crafts Design Element

Frame Your Photo

On the below layout, PCC Creative Squad member Kimberly Neddo frames her photo with buttons ….

all products are from the new Bella Blvd Thankful Collection

Kim says:

I wanted to get a little more creative with the buttons and framing a photograph for this project, so I created different buttons with a button punch and patterned papers, as well as real buttons. This added a really great dimensional effect to framing my photograph.

Any time you want to really draw the viewers eye to your photographs, framing ideas like this will really help achieve that goal. It is simple and effective every time.

I love how she slipped those flat paper-punched buttons underneath the edge of her photo mat as well as underneath the flower embellishment and then used some on top of the edge of the mat. It adds such a nice level of dimension & visual interest!

As a Pop of Color

Kimberly created this gorgeous, sophisticated black & white card … and used her buttons to add subtle color….

As a Pop of Dimension

Check out this card Lisa VanderVeen created for Jillibean Soup …

And don’t forget Corrie’s amazing Starburst layout we showcased during Misting Techniques Week.  The buttons on her layout added pops of dimension to her background.

Strategic Scatter

And the most difficult to define & mimic — the general “strategic scatter” category!

In this layout, Sarah Hill from The Paper Bakery leverages the “circle” as a design element with her buttons …

And check out this AMAZINGly adorable card Cheryl Leong created for Pretty Little Studio …

I love those few buttons thrown in with the sequins, tiny diecuts and confetti. This card just looks like FUN!

Whew!

We have just ONE more stash-busting button technique to share and then Buttons Week will be complete! Have you been taking careful notes? Because I have a feeling there may be a quiz of some kind ;)

Have you been enjoying Buttons Week? If so, please be sure to Like us on Facebook and SHARE about us with your friends using the sharing buttons below↓!

 

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Clear Buttons: Your New Best Friends!

August 30, 2012 By 8 Comments

I will never look at clear buttons the same way again —  And after you see these PCC Creative Squad projects from Ro & Christine, neither will you!

Welcome back to Buttons Week. So far this week, we’ve shared 25 ideas, tips & techniques for using BUTTONS on your projects. Today, we have just 1 idea — but it’s a big one! Turn those CLEAR buttons into your favorite new embellishment!

Clear Buttons –> Your Favorite New Embellishment!

First up, we have a clever tag from Christine Ousley. Her tag is her take on the ever-so-popular BANNER. Check it out.

Christine says:

This was so easy to do.  First I collected some clear buttons in two different sizes.  Then I punched out circles from patterned paper that were close to the size of my buttons.  Then lining the buttons up on the circles of paper, I used a paper piercer to punch through the button holes.  Then I threaded a needle with embroidery thread, (I used all 6 strands), and sewed through all of the buttons and paper without cutting the thread.  Then I attached the strand of buttons to the tag with adhesive.

I love this! What a clever idea! The button banner combined with the buttons as flower centers turns a simple tag into a work of art!

Clear Buttons -> Embellishment: Layout & Tutorial!

Ro Phillipsen took a similar approach by taking her simple clear buttons and backing them with paper. Her approach ….

Step 1: Use a punch to punch a mini circle …

Step 2: Use a generous amount of transparent glue or Glossy Accents.

Step 3: And you will have a NEW, customized button!

And you put it all together and checkout what these fabulous, custom-made embellishments can do ….!

 

And do you see that she also used a few of those same clear buttons in the upper right and simply threaded them with a floss color to coordinate with her Webster’s Pages Game On & other fussy cut elements? AMAZING!!

WOW! Can you imagine? What could YOU do with a stash of clear buttons?

Stay tuned. More BUTTONS ideas coming your way. EEK! I think BUTTONS WEEK may spill over into a few extra days! There are just too many great ways to use buttons on your layouts, cards and altered arts projects!

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Button Ideas – Off the Page!

August 29, 2012 By 8 Comments

Welcome to day 3 of BUTTONS week! Today, we are going OFF THE PAGE to show some great home decor and gift ideas that will really bust that button stash!  Strictly a paper gal? Don’t worry — we’ll be back tomorrow & Friday with more “on” the page button tips & ideas!

Buttons — Off the Page!

First up today, I have an amazing home decor project PCC Creative Squad Ro Phillipsen made us for buttons week. Check it out …

Isn’t that adorable!Ro does such amazing work ….{sigh …}

Even though I have HUNDREDS of buttons in my stash right now, I’m not sure any are as cute as these Doodlebug Buttons! Yikes! (Stay tuned — I have a feeling some Doodlebug buttons *may* find there way into our upcoming buttons week giveaway. Shhh!)

As you know, I’m a huge fan of all of Ro’s work …. here is another of her “off the page” projects featuring buttons. It’s an Easter tree she created in April for an online class she was teaching …

Isn’t that beautiful! You can visit Ro’s blog here for the full instructions & step-out photos. The instructions are in Portugese but she has google translate enabled!

So now that we’re thinking “off the page” — what other home decor & gift ideas do you have?

Buttons as Gift Wrap, as with these packages featured on the One Lucky Day blog  …

Or this simple version from the Inspiration for Home blog …

Button Monograms:

Embellish or create a monogram using buttons. Select button colors & styles that coordinate with the style of the room you’ll be using them in! A huge range of possibilities ….

Like this brightly colored rainbow monogram from the “Let’s Button Up” shop on Etsy would be terrific in a child’s room!

Or a more sophisticated approach … like this  monogram ‘A’ created by Jen Jockish for American Crafts …

Visit the American Crafts blog here to see Jen’s photo tutorial on how she made it!

Create ART

And what about this FABULOUS artwork that paper crafter / mixed media artist Candy Rosenberg created …???

Totally amazing, right?!? You can learn more about this project and see a close-up of that corset on Candy Rosenberg’s blog here.

Christmas Ornaments

I could never do what Candy did …. but I could make a few Christmas ornaments, I think!

Visit the Curbly blog here to see 4 more ideas for creating Christmas decorations using buttons!

And I could go on & on …. and on….. but alas, I can’t! I need to get cracking on TOMORROW’s post for more ideas for using as THE visual interest element on layouts & cards. Yes, we’ll be back ‘on the page’ tomorrow. See you then!

 

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Buttons: Layer them on your page elements & “step it up!”

August 28, 2012 By 6 Comments

Welcome to day 2 of Buttons Week! Yesterday we covered 10 simple ways to substitute buttons for another element on your page, such as to represent the eye of a fish or ornaments on a Christmas tree.

Today, we are talking about easy ways to layer buttons to add that extra “oomph” to your existing embellishments ….. Ways to step-up your page or card by a notch … or more! You already know how to use chipboard, flowers, bingo cards and more on your projects. Why not simply add a button to “step it up?”

Step It Up

PCC Creative Squad member Corrie Jones added buttons to the banners she used to embellish this FABULOUS layout she created about her daughter’s first cross-country meet this year ….

This is a beautiful layout! It’s great without the buttons …. but by adding them to the banner pieces, it steps the layout up a notch. Love that!

Now check out this adorable yet easy tag Christine Ousley created which also demonstrates this concept …

Not only did she layer the buttons on top of her fabulous Petaloo flowers …. but she double-stacked them to make them really stand out! That’s a great stash-busting technique!

Christine also snuck-in a cute idea that would have fit in with yesterday’s “10 Clever Button Ideas” …. by using the buttons to “represent” grass. Once you’ve introduced a button element on your project in one place, it actually makes the project more ‘cohesive’ to replicate that element in different ways!

Here are some other ways that you can simply “layer” or “stack” buttons on your existing embellishments & page elements …

10 Ways to Use Buttons to “Step it Up” On Your Layouts & Cards

  1. Use buttons as the center of flowers (see Christine’s tag above.)
  2. Pinwheels are super trendy — and they just beg for a button in the center! Like on this mixed media project we showed earlier this year HERE from PCC Creative Squad member Angie Gutshall.
  3. Stack buttons on your chipboard elements. Add them as an extra embellishment layer to chipboard butterflies, stars, etc. Like Nicole Harper did for Studio Calico earlier this year ….. And Like Vicki Boutin did on this layout for Bella Blvd this week.
  4. Buttons make a great center for those trendy pleated paper wheels that are so hot these days. Check out this card that PCC Creative Squad member Kimberly Neddo made for Crate Paper earlier this week …
  5. Banners are hot, hot, hot. And buttons make a great addition to any banner!  Add buttons as elements of the banner itself, add buttons on top of your paper banners (as Corrie did in her fab layout above!), or just use buttons as the “fastener” to the edges of your banner like Ashley Cannon Newell did on this card for PaperTreyInk …
  6. Doesn’t a BINGO card need a “marker?” I think they do! Like this card that Sheila created for Vintage Street Market …
  7. Add buttons to your journaling spots and tags — (on a layout or in your project life album) like Stacy Michu did on this Teresa Collins layout I found in the Two Peas gallery …
  8. Layer them onto your flat die cuts & stickers!
  9. Add them to your pennants & flag pins!
  10. Add buttons to doilies … either to the center of the doily itself …  Or use the doily as a mask and add the button to the center of the misted doily image as Kimberly Neddo did in this layout for Studio Calico earlier this year …

I used to think that buttons only worked for a “country” or “shabby chic” styled paper crafting project. Boy was I wrong! No matter what your style, buttons are an inexpensive & easy touch to “step up” just about any embellishment!

Are you enjoying buttons week? Be sure to come back tomorrow as we share even more tips & ideas for using buttons on your layouts, cards and altered projects!

 

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10 Clever Scrapbook & Card Button Ideas … and a Tutorial!

August 27, 2012 By 11 Comments

Do you have an ever-growing button stash? I sure do! They are just so darn cute, inexpensive and easy to collect! But I must admit that I struggle with finding creative ways to actually USE those buttons. So this week, we are sharing a multitude of ways to incorporate buttons into your cards, layouts and ‘off the page’ projects.

Are you ready to get started?

Today, we are starting with one of the easiest and ‘clever’ ways to add buttons to your projects …. simply use buttons to represent another circular element on your page.

Clever Button Ideas Tutorial

PCC Creative Squad member Christine Ousley has created a FABULOUS page & tutorial to give you a few ideas ….

Buttons are such fun embellishments.  There is a way to use them on everything you create.  I have a huge stash of buttons that I have collected over the years.  Most of them I have sorted by color so it’s easy for me to find the ones that I need.  I had a lot of fun using buttons on this layout.  

When I decided to create a beachy layout, I thought it would be fun to create an underwater scene.  Right away I knew I wanted to use buttons as bubbles.  I had a couple of sparkly clear buttons but not enough so I decided why not create my own.  

I applied Stickles to some clear buttons in a couple of different sizes and let them dry.  Note: It does take a little more time to dry than I have experienced on paper.

The fish eyes were another fun way to use my buttons.  I wanted some dimension and decided to use buttons for the eyes but when I tried the plain white ones they didn’t look so good.  So I got out my Ranger Inkssentials Enamel Accents in black and squeezed a drop on the middle of the white button and let it dry.  The enamel covered up the holes nicely and created the look of a pupil.  

My final button accent were the orange stars.  These are some new buttons from Bella Blvd and the star shape and color worked great in my underwater scene.  They also were a fun accent in my title where they took the place of the “oo’s” in Cool with a movie star flair.  Perfect for the picture of my young son wearing his sister’s glasses.

Wasn’t that fun! Such cute ways to have use your buttons to support the “theme” of your layout! Thank you, Christine!

Let’s make a list of 10 ways to incorporate buttons as project elements … using some of the tips from above and MORE!

10 Clever Button Substitutions

  1. Replace the “O” in your title (as above.)
  2. As ‘bubbles’ (as above) or as with this layout by Amy Heller for October Afternoon …
  3. As the eye of a fish, insect or animal diecut. (as above)
  4. Use one large button & two smaller ones to represent the “Mickey Mouse” logo as with the layout by Allyson Meinholz for Bella Blvd shown below …
  5. As the wheels of a car on a diecut, as with the adorable icecream truck card created by Heidi Van Laar for GCD Studios …
  6. As the ‘dot’ of an ‘i’ or ‘j’ or exclamation point in your title.
  7. As points on a map as with this home decor project by Laura Beth from “Step In The Journey” blog.
  8. As balloons as in this card from Ivy of “I should be sleeping” blog…. or as hot air balloons like in this simple card by Susan Raihala on her blog, Simplicity By Late Blossom …
  9. Buttons as cherries …. like on this card by “She Who Must Stamp” …
  10. Buttons as Christmas Ornaments, like on this card by Michelle Philippi

So, what do you think? Just with these ‘literal’ uses, your stash of buttons is already starting to take on a life of new possibilities, isn’t it? And just think …. we’re only just getting started with Buttons Week!! See you tomorrow!

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