Button Monogram

I got this fun DIY from Myra at My Blessed Life. I pinned the project ages ago (remember here) and finally got around to it yesterday while taking a break from the yard. We've gotten a little further but are waiting for the lumber so for now it hasn't progressed much past this state.

You can read Myra's whole tutorial here but I'll give you the basic rundown.

Start by printing out the letter you want to have on an 8X10 piece of card stock. I used Bookman Old Style in size 500 (sorry for the bad picture the camera didn't like focusing on the paper).

Start by out buttons around your perimeter like so.

Don't worry about the gaps in the middle but try to cover all the lines as much as you can. It really helped me lay out all the buttons first before beginning to glue so that I knew I had the spacing right (though I ended up with one leftover button when I was done, it was like putting together Ikea shelves).  Then just keep adding buttons until you like how it looks. This is definitely an easy project to go overboard on so when in doubt, you're probably done.

Next just pop it into a mirror (without glass otherwise you will need a shadowbox frame) and enjoy.

See how fun the textures of all the different buttons are? I tried to put my favorite pretty ones near the top so I could see them. I also made sure to find places for those cute heart buttons. I love getting close to it and looking at all the different ones.

As to framing, I used a spare frame I had laying around for when I get to making my gallery wall. I've been collecting nice wood picture frames from the thrift store that have interesting designs to flesh out my gallery. I plan to just spray paint them all black to match. It's a great way to add some texture to a gallery wall and not have everything looking too flat and Ikea-ie. I'm still in the market for some more frames but they are piling up downstairs.

Until I get the wall up this little gem is up on my mantle so I can enjoy it. It looks great next to my button billy balls.

Now I can finally clean up all the piles of buttons on the dining room table and pretend my house is clean again. I've still got plenty of buttons left and have many more plans for them.

For now it is nice to have a break from the yard and catch up on the Norman dust bunnies that are multiplying in corners. Funny how that happens...**sigh** such is life.

Cheers!