Button & Ribbon Necklace

Yesterday while the men were a'fishin and the baby was a'sleepin, Momma went a'craftin and made this funkalicious necklace! I love all things BUTTONS and have a fondness for ribbon too. I had become recently frustrated working through various tutorials with another necklace project, so I

decided to just "wing it" and come up with my own lil' creation... which I love!

Keep three things in mind with this supply list and some of the directions:

#1- I have a large neck.

#2- I like to wear my necklaces long (or find myself claustrophobically clawing them away from my neck).

#3- I have a pretty big button collection to work with.

So, you may want to make adjustments anywhere along this process to fit your tastes, supplies, and needs. 

The materials I used were:

- 12 inches of chain (You want it to be a bit heavier and bigger to handle the weight & appearance of buttons. I used some from a 7 yard spool I bought at Michaels; Brand name is "Bead Landing.")

- 4 pieces of a light gauge wire, each cut to 4 inches in length. (I used 24 gauge.)

- 9 mm jump rings ( I used 25 of these.)

- A tool to open & close jump rings (I used my 3-in-1.)

- Buttons! (also used 25 of these)

- 2 pieces of ribbon, 9 inches in length each

- Toggle Closure

- Beading Board (optional, of course)

And... This is what I did:

After having already sorted my mountain of buttons by colors with an earlier project, next I sorted through the red ones for this project.

(Obviously this isn't an important step to the non-OCD tinged of us.)

First I chose what would be the center button for the necklace since that would the "statement piece." Then I chose to build it symmetrically on both sides.

I thought a Beading Board was a frivolous purchase, but still got one when I saw them 50% off at Michaels and I had a coupon and I

 get a Teacher's discount, so it ended up being 75 cents. I'm really glad that I did now.

It helped in visualizing the lay-out much more than just positioning them on the work table would have.

Using the 9mm jump rings, I attached the buttons to the chain. I wanted an "intentionally cluttered" look. So, I chose to work with the larger buttons first and spaced them with three open chain links between them. This was my first time working with jump rings, so a few went to waste, but it was pretty simple & quick once you got into the groove. (I only used my teeth to close few of them ;)

Next, I chose the smaller buttons to fill in the gaps between the ones already attached.

Having left three empty links between each of the first set of buttons, I then went back to the chain and added one smaller button

between each of the larger ones. The pattern this created in the end was big-skip-small-skip-big-skip-small-skip-big-etc...

I varied the pattern on both ends by finished with two of the smallest buttons on the necklace.

It gave it a nice graduated look, as if tapering off.

Next loop one piece of the ribbon through the end of the chain. Then, wrap one piece of wire around the two-ribbons, about 2-fingers width from the chain to secure them together, and the ribbon to the chain. This one is wrapped about 11 times and then I cut off the excess. Be mindful of where you are cutting to make it pretty or make it hidden! Also, use your needle-nose pliers to wrap! It is much cleaner than just using your hands to twist. (I just figured this out and am trying to sound experienced here.) Of course you are going to repeat this entire process to the opposite side of the necklace.

Next, I used a small wire to wrap the top of each ribbon in the exact same fashion as before. For this necklace I left enough wire at the top of the wrap to attach the toggle closures. Next time though, I will attach the wire to the closure first and then wrap the ribbon. So, I suggest trying that way instead.

This photo was taken before I used a lighter to singe the edges of the ribbon just a bit to clean it up.

And there you have it, you're own funkalicious button and ribbon creation!

I am going to try some other colors and variations of this- will post pics soon!

DISCLAIMER: "Funkalicious" was not a word in my vocabulary prior to this post... but feel free to use it as your own!

Button Monogram

This evening, I returned to the Button Monogram project that I abandoned earlier in the week when I could not make a final decision on whether to use an eclectic mix of button colors or a hodgepodge of white buttons. Obviously, I chose the latter. This is a pretty self-explanatory craft. Pretty easy, and since I had all the supplies needed lurking in my closet, it cost $0.00 to do!

Supplies Needed: small canvas, fabric (large enough to wrap canvas), hot glue & gun, buttons, ribbon, and a pencil

Before firing up the glue gun, you will want to decide on your fabric and button choice. My first attempt at this project was using the variety of buttons so I spread them over the fabric choices to decide. When I changed my mind to using all white buttons today instead, I used this same technique and swathed all white buttons over my fabric choices to see which combination I liked best.

Once decided, you are going to wrap the canvas "Christmas present style" and hot glue the corners in. Avoid the urge to use too much glue because it will make the bottom edges look lumpy and take away from the overall appearance of your project.

Next, separate your entire button collection into coordinating colors, and once you have decided which color to use, separate those buttons into small vs. large, 4-hole vs. 2-hole, matte vs. shiny. Actually, I am kidding. Do not do this unless you are OCD-tinged like some of us and want to turn a 1-hour project into a 4-hour one!

Instead, with a pencil sketch out your chosen letter directly on the fabric. Do not bother trying to be fancy or cutting out a stencil for this. Your buttons are going to ultimately determine the shape for you and too much pre-planning would be a waste of time. Next, lay out your first layer of buttons on the sketched alphabet. Don't glue until you have laid it out first and are pleased. Use your biggest buttons first to form a base Don't worry that it looks too uniform, or "neat," adding the layers of buttons will give a personality!

Then... you just keep gluing and gluing until the World Tetris Champion could not possibly find another spot to fit a button. It works best to progressively with with smaller and smaller buttons so the tiny ones can be clearly seen on top. To hang my canvas, I simply hot glued a piece of ribbon to both sides of the back canvas and tied them together in a bow to hide the nail hanging the print.