Five Techniques to Alter Your Buttons – Andrea Ockey Parr

Hi everyone,

Do you like buttons? Do you own many? Check out this fabulous tutorial by Andrea altering buttons.

Andrea says:

Ah, buttons!  How I love the variety of sizes and shapes that buttons come in these days.  From vintage to modern, from bland to bold, there are buttons to fit any project.  Even so, it can also be fun to alter your buttons yourself.  Using only a few products which are listed below, you can try these five button-altering techniques for yourself!  Like any good make-over, I’ve included button before and after pictures.  The button the left is how it looked before and the button on the right is how it looked after.

• Wood or plastic buttons
• Stamps and ink
• Acrylic paint
• Embossing powder and heat gun
• Watercolors
• Fabric

Stamp Your Button

One of the quickest and easiest ways to change how your button looks is to stamp on top of its surface.  This works especially well on wood buttons.  Also, make sure you pick a button with a nice flat surface.  If you’re stamping on plastic buttons, use an ink that will remain permanent even on plastic.

Paint, Stamp and Ink Your Button

Don’t like the background color of your button?  Paint it with acrylic ink before you stamp on it.  If you’re painting on a plastic button like I did, lightly sand the surface first so the paint has some grit to adhere to.  After I painted it, I stamped some text on top and inked the edges to give it some more depth.

Emboss Your Button

Want to give your button a metallic aged look?  Heat emboss your button with metallic embossing powder.  Simply rub your button on an embossing pad, sprinkle on the metallic embossing powder, then heat it with your heat gun.  After the powder melts onto the button, add ink if desired.

Doodle on Your Button

I made a simple spiral doodle and then painted the design with simple watercolor paints.  Be sure to doodle with a waterproof pen if you don’t want your outline to bleed when you add the watercolor paints.

Cover Your Button with Fabric

Trace your button on a piece of fabric and cut out the circular shape or use a die cutting device to cut the perfect-sized fabric circle.  Adhere it to the top of your button with a strong glue stick or adhesive of your choice.  Go back and punch out the button holes using an awl or pointy tool.

Altering your own plain-Jane buttons is a great way to let your creativity shine even on the tiniest embellishments.  So whip out your neglected buttons and see if you can breathe some new life into them using these easy techniques.

Happy Crafting,

Crafting Ireland Team