Pumpkin Button Art

I have truly become obsessed with making things out of buttons! It all started with THIS egg. Then I made THIS, THIS and THIS. Well now, we have a button Pumpkin!

And here's how I made it...

I started with this frame that I bought for $1.99 at Joann's, 90% off, I knew it had potential! 

Can you believe the original price?! Yikes!

Here is a shot of the back...

I just ripped the middle piece out and then wrapped it in burlap and taped it. 

I found an image online of a pumpkin that I liked and I printed & cut it out and traced it onto the burlap using a fine tip sharpie. If you are using darker burlap, I would use chalk. 

Now it's time to basically put the puzzle together. I put the buttons down where I think they will look good and then switch them around until they fit as well as they can. 

Aren't these buttons gorgeous?! 

After all the buttons are put in place, I then use a little dab of super glue on the back of each button. The reason? It holds the buttons in place while you are stitching them and hot glue in my opinion would be a more painful and messy option.

When they are all glued down, simply lift the burlap off the board you taped it to and stitch all the buttons. I used 3 strands of embroidery floss. 

And then you have this.... 

Oh, and I may have forgotten to mention that I painted the frame white :) Did you notice? 

I love my pumpkin button art and I think it definitely looks better than the original :) 

I am linking this project to THESE parties 

Family Photo Wall

A few weeks ago I finally put together our family photo wall. I had most of the frames already but they were in other places around the house. The others I collected over a few months. Most of them came from Hobby Lobby and where half off, but a few came from the dollar store and walmart!

I wanted this wall to kind of represent what my husband and I are all about. Instead of recent family photos, I wanted to put  photos from our marriage and our favorite photos of our grandparents. Okay and one of our cat :) I am still working on getting photos of my husband's grandparents so while we wait, I just filled the frames with more photos of us :) 

Normally, when hanging photos, I just hold the photo up to the wall and say, "Eh, that looks okay" and then end up nailing it in the wrong spot. :) This time I decided to be smarter (and put less holes in the wall).

I got some craft paper (or mailing paper) from the dollar store for $1.00 and just laid all the frames down and traced them. 

After that, I cut them out and taped them to the wall where I thought they would look nice. It was so amazing to be able to just un-tape the paper and move it to another spot. 

I also labeled each piece of paper so that I could tell what was in the frames because some of them were similar in shape. 

My cat Murphy was a huge help during this process....

 Here is the finished photo wall...
I LOVE IT! 

And here is a photo that I labeled for you so that you can see what is in all the photos...

Now that's it done, it makes me so happy every time I see it :) 

I am linking this project up to these parties! 

In this Home Project...



Most of you have seen this quote...

via Pink Ink Doodle

and you probably love it like I do! I printed one out and framed it for my home but it just wasn't big enough for me!

I had this frame...

which is nice and big but I had already turned it into THIS. I really liked the chicken wire frame but it didn't really fit in my house. Does that make sense? So I decided to change it up!

Here is what I did...

1) I took the mat and glass out. I saved them of course because you never know when you might need them.

2) Paint the board in the back of the frame (is there a technical term for this?!) Above is what it looks like without paint. Below shows you the board with wet brown paint.

3. Measure the board to see how large you need to print your vinyl. Subtract a 1/2 inch to 1 inch from that total (length wise) so that when you put the frame on, it doesn't cover the vinyl wording. I didn't do this and almost covered my writing.

4. Print vinyl and attach to board.

5. Frame and hang up!

I LOVE IT!

 I have to admit though, there is something about it that bugs me. See how the space between "We do Mistakes" and "We do I'm Sorry's" is closer together than the other lines are? I cut my vinyl in half when I was attaching it so that it wasn't such a huge piece at one time. Well, when I went to put on the second piece, I didn't line up my spacing right so it ended up a little off.  I'll probably fix it one day :)

I put the new gigantic quote next to the little half wall with a window that seperates the kitchen and the living room.

It's a great family motto and it makes me happy every time I see it :)

HERE are the linky parties I am joining this week

4th of July Craft

I know it's been awhile but I finally have a craft for you that I made! Things have been nuts the last couple of months since I began working again so I apologize for the lack of crafts done by me! 

Are you ready for a quick, easy and cheap 4th of July craft? I've got a good one for you! 

Tutorial:

 1. Take a piece of scrapbook paper and cut it to the size of the frame you are going to use. Mine is a 5x7. 

2. Cut out a star with your Cricut or by hand with a coordinating color.

3. Cut a strip of white cardstock about 1 inch x 7 inches. 

4. Glue your star and strip of cardstock down. 

5. Use stamps (or your hand) to write "Freedom" or another patriotic saying on strip of cardstock

6. Take a sharp tool and make 2 holes on either end of your cardstock strip and insert brads. 

7. Insert into frame and your done! 

Wasn't that easy?! It's super cute too! Let me know if you make one, I would love to see your version. 

I am linking this craft to the THESE parties

Spring Sign

Back when we lived in Texas I was at my favorite thrift store and found 2 oval frames for only $1.99 each. It felt like I had won the lottery! I made THIS with the first one and I have been waiting to think of a cute idea for the second one.

Finally inspiration hit! Here is what I made....

I used a gorgeous blue and white dot paper for the background and then picked out really cute bright colors out of my cardstock scraps. I used SCAL to design and cut it out on my Cricut then simply used my glue pen to make the letters say on. I have been dying to try out Kiki's tutorial on fabric roses and finally I had a chance. While they do not look like hers, I am very happy with mine! If you make one be sure to email me a photo, I love to see your projects!

I will be linking this project up to THESE parties

Yellow Button L

I have been having a lot of fun with buttons lately. One night last week I decided to make myself a button letter. I used some gorgeous yellow buttons I had and since yellow is my favorite color, I was pretty excited with the outcome.

Here she is.....

I am linking up to THESE parties

Initial Button Egg

After posting THIS button egg on my facebook page, my friend asked if I could make her a button egg with her last name initial in the middle. I love doing custom orders, so I was really excited! I knew I needed to make it an 8x10 egg instead of a 5x7 in order to have enough room to put an initial in the middle. I hope she likes it!

A Button Egg and Stuffed Bunnies!

I've been itching to make something for Spring! I've been obsessed with Bunnies since I was a little girl. I even had bunny wall paper :) When I saw THIS on Sandy's Creations, I knew I had to make one! The pattern is free! Because me and my sewing machine never get along, I hand stitched mine and it was super easy. But if you have a good relationship with your sewing machine, I would use it instead :)

I made the tall bunny and then decided he needed a friend, so I shrank the pattern and made a smaller one. They were all done and looking cute but they really needed something, so I added ribbon around their necks, and as you can see from the top photo they look much better!

While I was stitching the bunnies I had an idea to take some brown burlap I had and put some buttons on it in the shape of an egg. I took some photos along the way. Here they are....

Step One: I took a piece of cardboard and cut it so that it measures 5x7.

Step Two: I cut a scrap of burlap and taped it to the cardboard.

Step Three: I took some chalk and drew an egg on the burlap. Since eggs are a pretty simple, I free handed it but if you aren't comfortable with that, you could find an egg on clip art and then print it out and trace it.

Step Four: Dump out all the buttons you own :) Okay, maybe just the colors you need. Place the buttons on the chalk egg you just traced. It will take a little bit to figure out where the buttons fit best, kind of like a puzzle. It won't be perfect but just try and fill all the spaces in the best you can.

Step Five: Once you have all the buttons where you want them, take some super glue (this is what works best for me) and glue each button down starting on the outside and working in. Just a little tab is fine because you are going to stitch the buttons on once the glue dries.

Step Six: When all the buttons are glued down, stitch the buttons into place.

Step Seven: Hot glue the burlap to the cardboard and put in frame!

Please let me know if you have any questions! I hope you will make this for your house too!

Click HERE to see which link parties I am joining.

Monogram Frame

Lolly Jane is such a great blog and it is run by twin sisters! How fun is that?! I love this monogram frame they posted a few months ago.

They took this....

and turned it into this....

What a difference some paint and vinyl make! Please go to their blog for the whole tutorial.

Shamrock Tree Frame

Lindsey from Inspiring Creations made this super adorable Shamrock Tree from a $1 Michael's Frame. She gives a full tutorial on how to make one for yourself as well!