Tag: buttons

Christmas, Craft Projects, DIY GIFT GUIDE, Gift Idea, Holiday

DIY GIFT GUIDE: Snowman Ornament

Jessica Smith

DIY GIFT GUIDE Snowman Ornament

Day 4 of the DIY GIFT GUIDE series brings us this adorable snowman ornament. If this guy doesn’t belong on your Christmas tree, I don’t know what does.

Supplies:

Styrofoam Balls

  • Styrofoam balls in three varying sizes
  • Craft Wire
  • 2 black beads
  • Silver tacks
  • Ribbon
  • No-Fray
  • 1 button (white)
  • Hot Glue

Steps:

  1. Cut a long piece of wire and bend it in half. Feed it through two holes of a white button. This will secure the styrofoam balls to the wire.Button through Wire
  2. Feed the wire through the largest of the three foam balls. Try to get the wire to go straight through the middle so the snowman isn’t off kilter.Ball on wire
  3. Stack the remaining two balls on top of the first with the medium ball next and the smallest ball on top. In between each ball, place a small bit of hot glue on the wire to keep the ball secure once it is in place.
  4. When the snowballs are assembled, secure them at the top by making a wire loop, then wrapping the remaining wire around the base of the loop. Add a thin ribbon here to hang the ornament.Snowman assembly
  5. Next, create the snowman’s face by firmly pushing two black beads into the styrofoam for the eyes. I used faceted beads, not round beads, thinking they’d stay in better.
  6. For the mouth, take a small pice of craft wire and bend it into a smile. Then, form 90 degree bends at the end of the smile and push it into the styrofoam.
  7. For the buttons, take silver tacks and stick them into the styrofoam to act as buttons. Place a dab of hot glue under each one so they don’t loosen and fall out over time.
  8. The scarf is next. Find a thick piece of ribbon and tie it around the snowman’s neck. Then, take scissors and “fray” the end of the scarf by cutting small slits. Use no-fray to seal the ends so the ribbon doesn’t unravel.
  9. Take a long piece of wire (12″) and fold the wire in half. Twist the wire until it is 1/3 of the way twisted. Then, take the straight wire and wrap up the twisted portion. When the wire reaches an inch from the top, start twisting again. This will form the two forks in the arm. When both forks are twisted, wrap the remaining wire down the base of the arm, then stick the wire bottom into the styrofoam. Secure with glue and repeat.Wire arm
  10. Hang snowman ornament on tree!

Snowman ornament

Snowman

Check back tomorrow for another DIY GIFT GUIDE post! Hope you are getting some good holiday gift inspiration.

Craft Projects

DIY Button Tray

Jessica Smith


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Need a fun project for the upcoming weekend? Why not try making your own button tray?!

This tray takes a while, but the end result is totally worth it.

Supplies:

Step one: Prepare your tray for painting by doing a light sanding (if necessary).

Plain tray

Step two: Apply several coats of paint to your tray, allowing adequate dry time in between coats. I opted for an off-white color for my tray.

Step three: Once your tray is dry, start securing buttons to the bottom using glue. I used super glue until I ran out of it and switched to hot glue. Glue your buttons as close to one another as possible. Do not skip the gluing step because the buttons will rise when you pour on your super glaze.

Button Tray

Button TrayStep four: When all of your buttons are secure and the entire tray is filled, it is time for your super glaze. I buy mine from Home Depot. Mix up your super glaze according to the directions pon the box (1:1), then pour over the buttons. To get the best results, I poured my first layer and let it dry for the recommended 72 hours. Then I came back and poured a second layer to fill in any nook, crannies and buttonholes.

Step five: This is the hardest part — let your tray dry for the full 72 hours. I had to wait twice since I did mine in two layers! If you don’t, you will get fingerprints on the clear finish and it might be tacky. Also, let the tray dry in the warmest room in your house. I let mine dry in our office — the hubby’s computer makes it super warm. When I let it dry in our cool basement, the finish on the super glaze was tacky to the touch. Always place cardboard underneath in case anything leaks out (which is did because my tray cost $.50 and wasn’t the greatest work of construction known to man).

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Step six: Admire your hard wok and patience by displaying your beautiful tray proudly in your home.

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Button Tray square

 

Craft Projects, Jewelry, Life

Ravens Win the SUPER BOWL! … and another set of earrings, too.

Jessica Smith

What a SUPER weekend (pun intended)!

If you follow my blog, you know my husband and I are really big Ravens fans. Now we are Super Bowl champs!!! So exciting. We spent all weekend getting ready to host  a few friends and mentally preparing for what was an awesome game. We are even going to the Super Bowl homecoming parade tomorrow in Baltimore!!!!

Even Remmy had a great time during the game. He scored lots of delicious treats and got to pretend he was a person, which is pretty much his favorite pastime.

Remmy Ravens Jersey

While not in football mode, we also helped my mother-in-law paint her textured ceiling in a room she is redoing. The ceiling was dingy from years of fireplace soot hitting it, and now it is bright and white as snow. I much preferred painting her ceiling than ours — the texture really hides any imperfections.

Textured Ceiling

OK, let’s talk about this room. 1. The ceiling is beautifully white, right? And isn’t the texture awesome?! I really like this kind of ceiling versus the popcorn ceilings. I’m not a fan of those. 2. Look at that fireplace. It is gorgeous. And, my MIL just had a gas fireplace retrofit into her existing fireplace that is absolutely stunning. I have fireplace envy. I wish we could flip ours on with a switch, especially since our family room is so darn chilly.

We’re going to help paint the walls soon, too. This room is going to be so pretty when it is finished! BTW — it used to be covered in dark paneling! You’d never know.

To round out this completely all-over-the-place post, I wanted to update you on the earrings post I did on Friday. I am totally ecstatic about making my own stud earrings now — I should have made them forever ago!

Anyway, I wanted to show you all another fun way to make these button stud earrings. As I was making a bunch of new pairs this weekend, I found that you can take  buttons with the attachment on the back (I swear I used to know the name of these) and use it with a button with holes to make a combo button earring.

Find two sets of buttons you’d like to combine…

Button earrings

… then cut the loop off the back of the button that will go on top.

Button earrings

Put some E6000 onto the button on top, then line up the two prongs of the top button with the holes in the lower button. Then, press them together and let the glue harden.

Button earrings

Attach a stud with the same glue and let it dry overnight.

Button earrings

OHMYGOSH Are these cute or what!? I made them for my friend Amy. Love love love them.

Button earrings

I also made a set of sister earrings 🙂 Mine are on the left, Em’s are in the middle, and Allie’s are on the right. So cute!

Button earrings

I’ll post pictures from the parade tomorrow!!!!