Button H

A few weeks ago I was at Walmart and needed to buy wrapping paper for a wedding I was going to. I saw this awesome iridescent black and white paper and thought it was just too beautiful to only be wrapping paper. So I also picked up a super cheap 11x14 $5 frame. I had seen some cute button letter projects on Pinterest and I thought I'd give one a try. Here are two of my favorites. (K originally from here - $55, and M originally from here).

When I got back home I first wrapped the gift I was taking to the wedding (I teased this wrapping paper post here). Then I cut a piece of wrapping paper the size of my frame. It was so pretty I almost left it just like that!

Then I jumped on the computer and found a font that had an "H" that I liked. Blew it up, printed it out, and cut around it. This will be my pattern for the buttons.

I made sure the paper H fit appropriately in my frame and then just traced around it with a pencil.

To apply the buttons I used a small glue gun and put a line of glue around the edge of each button. I made sure to lay all the buttons out first, then pick them up one by one and glue them on. For the most part I followed my H pattern I printed out and then traced, but as you know buttons are round and do not lend themselves to fitting in straight lines very well. I had to make some adjustments but as you can see I think it held the shape pretty well.

The black just wasn't doing much for me though. I could hardly even see it. So I thought long and hard about just scrapping the project and either doing completely different colored buttons or using a simpler background (which would have been tragic - I love the wrapping paper). So I got a little crazy and thought I'd add some pink buttons in the mix. My one accent color in the bedroom (it is all gray, black, and white in there) is a single pink pillow on the bed, so I thought these pink buttons may look appropriate.

I thought it helped quite a bit! Here is how my button H looks on the wall in my bedroom. The only thing I'd do different next time is, sadly, not use wrapping paper. The buttons are a little too heavy for such light/thin paper and the buttons pull the paper a little bit. To remedy the situation I just pulled the edges tight and taped them down to the back of the frame. Something a little heavier like scrapbook cardstock would do the trick. Also note that I did not put the glass back in the frame. I ended up layering some of the buttons to add depth and decided the glass would squish it down too much.

Other button projects I'd like to try? Check them out below (both found via Pinterest - wreath originally from  here and pillow ($65) originally from here). I also just made some living room art that used buttons. Check that out here.