Antique Button Monograms

Hey you guys!! I am so excited to show you my latest crafty goodness!!! :0)

My mom and I were out shopping at our local Peddlers Mall and I saw these two old frames tucked away in the back of a booth.   They had $8.00 each on them…um no, I didn’t want to pay that. My mom was buying another item from the same booth and she called and talked them down on both items…hers and mine!  Thanks mom!  I paid $5.00 each for these lovelies! 

I had no idea what I was going to do with them when I bought them, but I knew I loved the old patina and chippy paint, so I got them anyway.  On the way home I said to my mom…”OH…a monogram!”  I decided they would look great with a monogram in them!

There was no glass, backing…nothing, so I cut up a cardboard box to make a backing for each frame. Easy peasy!

….and they fit right in!

I used my cardboard circles as a pattern for some scraps of drop cloth I had in my fabric stash.  I cut the circles out and then ironed them…….drop cloth wrinkles …a LOT!

I used this spray mount from 3M to get the fabric circles to stick onto the cardboard circles.  I just sprayed it right onto the cardboard, then laid the fabric on top…making sure to smooth the wrinkles out before I stuck it down.

Then I got on my trusty NEW computer and found a lovely script font.  I printed out an M and T in a VERY large font size to use as a template.   I actually printed out two of each one….I’ll show you why in  a second.

First I want to show you what I used to make the monograms…. I dumped out my big blue ball jar full of these…..

Antique buttons! Aren’t they beautiful?! I love all the different creams, whites and metals!

Ok…the reason you need two of each of your script font print outs is this….you need one as a pattern to lay out your buttons on….(sorry they’re fuzzy, but I wanted you to see what I did anyway and they’re the only ones I took)….

The second print I used as a stencil……I cut it out and centered it in my frame on the fabric like this…

After I centered them in the frames, I used a piece of chalk to fill in the stencil so I could see the monogram…

See…..

Then I got out my handy dandy glue gun and started transferring the buttons from the paper, to the fabric.  I did layer some of the buttons, so you’ll want to make sure you put the bottoms buttons on first. :0)

See how I layered the buttons on top of each other to give it a little depth and interest…..

Notice how I used smaller buttons at the starting points and larger ones at the beefiest parts of the letters…then I layered some more on top once I got the bottom buttons in place.

Here are some pics of the finished products……

Now I just have to figure out where I want to put them!  I’m thinking I might put them in my dining room when all is said and done.  My dining room is going from fancy formal to farmhouse fresh a little at a time! :0)  Yay!

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!

Love you guys bunches!

Missy

Technorati Tags: how to make a button monogram,what to do with old buttons,decorating with old frames,antique buttons

How to Make a Hallway Sign

 

Howdy!  Just thought I’d show you how I took the following items…… 3 plant brackets,  3 plaques from Walmart, and 3 cup hooks…………………

and turned them into this….

I saw this pic from Destiny, @a place for us.. and was inspired to make my own for my hallway….

Source

Okay…here we go!

I already had the plant brackets, so they were free, but you could pick some up in any garden section of your dept store.

These little wooden, oval plaques are literally just .97 each at Walmart…I bought three.  I put the cup hooks on the top center of each one.

Here’s a up close shot…see, I just put it right in the middle of the top edge…..

Just make sure whatever plant bracket you get, that the plaque will hang in the space under it without touching the bracket. You don’t want it to hang crooked…

I gave my naked plaques an antiqued finish by first applying a coat of creamy colored paint, then I put dark brown just around the edges.  Then I gave it one more light spray of cream just in the center.  After they dried really well,  I sanded them down a little and this is what I got……

I used my Cricut to cut out some vinyl words, but you could use rub on letters from your scrap booking section of a store. You can also find places all over the web that will cut words for you. Shelley, from House of Smiths, has a great selection of word wall stuff, and I’m sure she would do special order words.
Here are the words I cut
Bath..

Office…

and Laundry……

I put the vinyl lettering on both sides so you can see it either way you’re going down the hallway.  I made sure to buy a plaque that was double sided too….meaning it had the finished grooved edge on both sides.

 

Here’s the finished product….

BEFORE signs….(and if you’d like to learn to build these doorway headers, go HERE.

AFTER signs….

So what do you think?  (the office also doubles as my hubbies drum room…hence the drum décor on the door) :0)

I thought the signs gave it some extra punch, and now when we have company, I don’t have to feel like I’m playing “Let’s Make a Deal” while I’m telling them the bathroom is behind door number 4~! Ha!

Hope you all are having a wonderful week! We’ve all been sick all week long, so we’re finally feeling like we’re back in the land of the living!

OH..by the way, this project cost me just $3.00 cause I had the brackets, paint and cuphooks……..so all I was out was the three little plaques.  I thought that was a lot of bang for my three bucks!

Blessings

Missy

EDIT: I’ve had several people ask me what cartridge I used on my Cricut, but I actually used Sure Cuts a Lot software that was compatible with my Cricut, so I didn’t use a cartridge at all.  You can Google the software, but it does take a little computer knowledge to get it up and going.   One of my readers said she has researched it and the newer software from them isn’t compatible with Cricut anymore, so you might want to look for the older stuff if you’re interested in it at all.
OH..and one more thing, I put a little dab of hot glue on the plant bracket where the cup hook sits, when I hung up the sign….so it wouldn’t swing around and would be stable.  :0)

I’m linking to My Repurposed Life

Technorati Tags: how to make a sign,hallway decor,vinyl lettering,signs,antique paint finish

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!

Hope you get to spend the day with the ones you love!

Blessings
Missy