Cute as a Button

I have a very Dear Friend & she has an endearing love of buttons ~ I have never really given buttons much thought.  I usually save buttons but that is usually  so I have them when I need one. You know.....just practical reasons.  Once in a great while I find one that I admire.

My friend saves them because she finds them beautiful! After witnessing 1st hand the joy they bring her I decided I was going to make something for her...something that represents her love of buttons.

Almost a year ago I found a nice "R" made out of MDF at Michaels on clearance for a really good price.  I knew I would either use it for my hubster or save it for my dear friend.... she was the lucky winner of the nice "R".

All I have to say is pinterest is the most addicting astounding website I have ever been on for creativity.  It amazes me everytime I get on there how many cool things you can find & then want to make & I have a lot of those "Why didn't I think of that" moments :) 

Pinterest helped inspire my project for my Dear Friend!

So the search was on for all kinds of buttons in black........ as my search went on & my project progressed....... I decided it would look even better if I added white & gray to the mix.

I started with my shadow box......... I wanted it to look like a show piece that she would be proud to have for many many years & thats why I chose to put it in a black shadowbox as opposed to just sticking it to a picture frame with no glass.

I then tormented chose the perfect scrap paper for the background. This was a big decision! The background set the tone for the whole project.  It had to look stellar but not out-do the nice "R" ~ no easy feat I tell you.  I finally found a paper that would be neutral enough to work in any room but not look boring.

Now the fun can really start...........

I spent several evenings gluing buttons to my nice "R".  New buttons, unique button, antique buttons, large buttons, small buttons, found buttons, given buttons, you name it....it was there.  I was so Thankful that my Mom had really cool buttons that she donated to me for this project.  There was some really neat stuff on there! I used E6000 glue for this project.  I didnt want to use hot glue because I wanted this to stand the test of time.  I have learned the hard way that hot glue is not right for all projects.... quick & easy is sometimes not the way to go, especially on a project of importance like this one.

I am not going to lie.....there was a point in this project that I thought, "what was I thinking"??? I am going to run out of buttons! or I am not going to be able to cover all the nooks & crannies & it will look like a 5 year old made it.........  but I continued on & when I thought I would run out of buttons... I would search deep into my bag of goodies & find just a few more awesome buttons to use.  I realized at that point that I must have loved buttons too otherwise I would not have had all these amazing buttons stashed away!

I smiled a lot working on this project because I felt so excited to give this gift to her! partly because I was buying several jars of buttons from a lady I met & when I mentioned this to my friend (we share just about everything with eachother) she asked if she could buy a few jars too!!! WHAT?!?!?! why did I tell her that!!! now I wont have enough for the nice "R"!!! you know that panic of I can't tell her WHY I dont want to share with her.. it would ruin it.  So I told her I would see what the lady had........ I sat on the floor that night & went through.... mmmmm about 8 jars of buttons to separate what I really wanted to use & what I thought she would enjoy to have.  Not easy at all because I didnt want her to feel like she just got some junky buttons BUT I wanted to put all the cool ones on the nice "R", afterall, she was getting it anyway.

In the end it all worked out. I was able to give her a couple jars of buttons & I still had plenty for myself her.

I had so much fun assembling this nice "R".  It was almost like a puzzle trying to get all these different buttons to work together to make the perfect gift for my Dear Friend ... & I must say..... I think I did a pretty awesome job on it!

Oh wait.......... It looks awesome BUT on the very last night when I put it all together I realized I glued the nice "R" onto the shadowbox in the wrong direction & the hanger on the back is useless!!! UGH... dont you hate when you think you have checked something & it turns out you were backwards in the head abou it!?!  Oh Well.... maybe she can put in on a nice picture stand & set it on a table! {just one more thing we get to laugh about}

I was so excited to give my Dear Friend this gift .... & I think she was so excited to get it.  She let me know that this was the piece that inspired her to make a focal wall in the great room of her home!!! This melted my heart & made me feel so very proud of the gift I made for her & of our friendship!

There is nothing I L-O-V-E more than making something special for someone with my own hands.  I also love that when my Dear Friend & I give tokens of friendship....its usually handmade ... what better way to share friendship!?

~Happy Creating