Cute As A Button Frame

Cute as a button! The frame's pretty cute, too.

Since I missed last week's Iron Craft, I was determined to do this week's. Challenge #29 is called Button Up and is all about it - you guessed it - buttons! I delved into my button stash and came up with a Cute As A Button Frame.

Ingredients:

• Photo frame with a flat front
• Buttons
• Embellishment
• Hot glue gun & glue sticks
• Acrylic paint
• Paint brush

The ingredients - part 1.

The ingredients - part 2.

I started out by painting my frame, giving the edges and insides three coats. The front will be mostly covered, so I just gave that one quick coat. I let the paint dry and then hot glued the embellishment to the corner.

Painted and embellished.

Starting at the embellishment, I glued on the buttons more or less randomly. I kept the ones at the bottom edge even.

Lots of buttons.

I then filled in the gaps by layering more buttons on top.

More buttons.

I then added some acrylic paint. With a damp sponge brush, I gave the buttons a quick coat, making sure to get in all of the crevices.

More paint.

I let the paint sit for a moment before lightly blotting it with a paper towel. This removes some of the paint to allow the colors of the buttons to show through.

Painted and blotted.

From beginning to end, including drying times and taking photos, this project took about an hour total.

Finished!

That photo is of Zara at a couple of weeks old. It's so hard to believe she was ever that tiny.

This is Zara yesterday. She's grown quite a bit.