Raise your hand if you want to learn how to make this fabulous piece of home decor:
Supplies needed:
- Printer
- Scissors
- Cardstock
- Pen or Pencil
- Adhesive
- Paper Piercer
- Buttons and Brads (a complete list of the Elements Jen used is at the bottom of this post)
- Frame without glass or shadowbox
Jen says, "I collect A's for my daughter Ayla, and am always looking for cute ways to make her some more. I saw a pillow on a blog that had used buttons to create a monogram and thought it would be a fun and easy way to create a wall hanging to add to her collection."
To create your monogram, begin by cutting cardstock large enough to fit in your frame. Next, you will need to print out a letter. I played around with it and printed a few to find the size and font I wanted, I ended up with Helvetica font at 700 font size. Keep in mind that you want thick lines in order to fill them up with buttons and brads. Then cut out your letter and place in the center of your cardstock, tracing the lines onto the paper. I used a light pen because I could not find a pencil anywhere, but I do think a pencil would work best.
Start placing your large buttons and/or brads onto the cardstock, keeping them as lined up with the edges as possible. Since we're using rounded Elements, you won't be able to fill the corners, but we will fill them in with smaller brads and buttons later. I used the AC tape runner to put a little adhesive on the back, I wouldn't use a liquid adhesive because you may need to rearrange some things as you go.
Once you've covered your letter with Elements, place it in a frame. I used an IKEA frame and just removed the glass since this isn't flat, I also think it'd be great for a shadowbox. I adhered mine to the frame on the back just to help keep it stable, the paper is fairly heavy once finished.
Stand back and enjoy your new creation!
Here all the Elements Jen used to create this work of art:
Variety Buttons (85509), Fabric Brads (85520), Assorted Brads (85521), Mini Pearl Brads (85516), Mini Pearl Brads (85508), Large Jewel Brads Primaries (85300), Large Jewel Brads Pastels (85301), Large Jewel Brads Metallic (85304), Large Pearl Brads Primaries (85315), Large Pearl Brads Pastels (85316), Large Perl Brads Brights (85318), Medium Jewel Brads Primaries (85218), Medium Jewel Brads Pastels (85286), Medium Jewel Brads Neutrals (85291), Mini Jewel Brads Primaries (85270), Mini Jewel Brads Pastels (85271), Mini Jewel Brads Tropicals (85272), Large Glitter Brads Tropicals (85362), Large Jewel Brads Brights (85363), Medium Glitter Brads Primaries (85345), Medium Glitter Brads Brights (85348), Medium Glitter Brads Tropicals (85347), Mini Glitter Brads Tropicals (85332), Mini Glitter Brads Pastels (85331), Mini Glitter Brads Brights (85333), Medium Brads Brights (85393), Medium Brads Tropicals (85392), Medium Brads Baby Girl (85397), Mini Brads Brights (85378), Mini Brads Tropicals (85337), Mini Brads Primaries (85375)
Now I know what to do with all my leftover brads and eyelets and buttons! Thanks for the great idea Jen!
This project gets an A for the day....thanks for sharing
Posted by: Annette A. | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 09:08 AM
This is fantastic!!
Posted by: Becky Williams | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 09:31 AM
Great project!!! I want to create one now!
Posted by: TanishaRenee | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 09:46 AM
LOVE this Jen! I need to make one - thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by: cindy tobey | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 09:50 AM
Beautiful! I love this!
Posted by: Jasmine Ford | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 09:51 AM
AMAZING!!! I am so doing this <3
Posted by: Candace Robichaud | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 09:58 AM
this is amazing .. I am doing one now .. thanks for the inspiration.
Posted by: Sasha Holloway | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 10:04 AM
This is fabulous!!! :)
Posted by: emily (justem) | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 10:29 AM
How fun!
Posted by: ShellyJ | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 10:57 AM
What a great idea for all those left-overs from projects. Awesome.
Posted by: Marisela Delgado | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 12:07 PM
absolutely darling - what a great idea! i have to try this now. love how you are able to use up all those supplies on one project! suzy
Posted by: suzyplant | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 12:28 PM
BRILLIANT! I'm making one for my daughter!!!
Posted by: Jane | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 01:25 PM
I absolutely LOVE this! What a great idea to use up leftover supplies!
Posted by: Mandi | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 01:32 PM
going to try this, with a J and an N! :)
Posted by: jackie radu | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 02:18 PM
Awesome idea! I have just the perfect spot for this project too. TFS!!
Posted by: Cynthia B. | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 03:35 PM
I love this so soo much. I have so many extra buttons and brads too. It is the perfect thing for the new baby (as soon as we figure out a name!)
Posted by: Nirupama | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 04:41 PM
I had the idea to do this a while back for one of my assignments having to use buttons, but I didn't have enough to cover my initial. I will definitely do this with brads, flair and the buttons though, I love it!
Posted by: Melanie | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 05:27 PM
love how this came out!
Posted by: Jess | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 05:34 PM
Oh you creative types! That is so cool! I love it.
Posted by: Shereen | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 05:35 PM
yep, this is plain awesome. Thanks Jen!!
Posted by: Jenny Chesnick | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 06:07 PM
LOVE this!!!
Posted by: Chantal | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 06:27 PM
awesome Jen!!
Posted by: gretchen | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 06:42 PM
neat! Love this
Posted by: Patty | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 06:45 PM
LOVE LOVE LOVE! I am SOOOOOOO doing this for BOTH my girls!! Hey, I might even do one for my husband and I!!!
Posted by: Alex | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 09:41 PM
This is soooooo fabulous...! Totally love it...!
Posted by: AnnaB | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 11:33 PM
Love this execution of this awesome diy-home decor! :)
Posted by: ania | Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 11:44 PM
Absolutely amazing!!! Fabtastic...I love it!
Posted by: Lindy | Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 06:28 AM
AMAZING! love it!
Posted by: Janna | Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 07:32 AM
Thank you so much for the tutorial...I love this! Definitely making this!
Posted by: Janelle | Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 07:34 AM
Eeek! This is *so* gorgeous!! :) Jen rocks!
Posted by: Michelle Clement | Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 04:10 PM
how much do i LOVE this?! TONS.
Posted by: amy tangerine | Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 08:34 AM
LOVE this :)
Posted by: Nicole Pomeroy | Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 04:15 PM
How does this work with the brads? Can you get the back of them off easily?
Posted by: Kim | Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 06:02 PM
Wow this is just amazing. Great idea
Posted by: Brandt-Lassen | Friday, February 25, 2011 at 03:24 AM
I love this.... I am doing this project for my little girl too. Thanks for the inspiration.
Posted by: Lorie V. | Friday, February 25, 2011 at 07:08 AM
wow i love this! I think I'll make a C for my niece!
Posted by: nicole | Friday, February 25, 2011 at 04:01 PM
This is absolutely GORGEOUS! What a great idea! It would make a great gift for kid birthdays too! TFS!!!!
Posted by: Amy Baldwin | Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 11:04 AM
I just love this Jen & am totally going to make 1...or 2!
Posted by: Martha Bonneau | Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 06:29 PM
Thanks for the great instructions...I would never have thought to use brads to fill in all the gaps!!
Off to print out an O and J :)
Posted by: Jaki | Monday, February 28, 2011 at 05:23 PM
LOVE! I've already made two! An 'O' for my Owen and a 'J' for my Joely! I plan to share this idea with everyone! :) Thank you!
Posted by: Jana | Tuesday, March 01, 2011 at 09:03 AM
What type of glue did you use to hold the buttons on?
Posted by: jill | Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 12:19 PM
This is fantastic! I have used your tutorial to make my own version for my baby boy's nursery http://jennaulls.blogspot.com/2011/04/b.html
Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by: Jen Naulls | Tuesday, April 05, 2011 at 04:41 AM
it is fabulous!
Posted by: Patricia Cugnod | Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 01:11 AM
Really cute. I think this will make a cute gift too. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Tiffany | Monday, May 16, 2011 at 11:59 AM
This is awesome!!!
Posted by: Sara G | Saturday, June 04, 2011 at 06:14 PM
I posted a link to this tutorial today.
Nancy Ward
PaperFriendly
http://www.nancywardcrafts.com
Posted by: Nancy Ward | Tuesday, June 07, 2011 at 07:26 AM
I NEED to make one of these!!! And it would be a great gift idea to make for others!
Posted by: kim | Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 10:30 AM
Any links to where we can buy similar buttons?
Posted by: D | Monday, June 13, 2011 at 04:47 PM
This is such a cute idea! I have more than a few friends that are expecting and I have decided that I am going to do this for all of them!!
Thanks!!!
Posted by: Donialle | Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 05:08 PM
love this project... where do you buy all the variety buttons? i am looking online which not much luck.
Posted by: carol | Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 12:47 PM
Neat idea!!
Posted by: Mimi | Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 06:19 PM
This is a great tutorial! Thanks!
Posted by: Peony and Thistle | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 12:21 AM
This is so beautiful! I would love to make these for my daughters! Thanks for such a great tutorial.
Posted by: Margaret | Friday, July 15, 2011 at 01:19 AM
LOVE THIS! I'm a brand new blogger and just posted a link to your tutorial!
http://lifeofthepowers.blogspot.com/2011/07/im-very-pinterested.html
Posted by: Dana | Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 05:41 PM
This is fantastic! I'm in the process of re-doing my youngest sister's room and will most definitely be incorperating this in the design.
How much did it cost to put this A together?
Posted by: Sarah | Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 04:54 PM
I love this!
Posted by: Rooted in Atascocita | Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 10:03 PM
So fun! Side question...what is the exact colour used on the wall behind?...love it!
Posted by: loni | Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 04:51 PM
Amazing element monogram tutorial shared by you here. It's really creative idea to make this one easily. Great job done by you.
Posted by: טיפים לאיפור | Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Lovely monogram. I used a light pen for making this type of monogram which is little different from you. Your monogram is very nice.
Posted by: מרפאת שיניים | Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 10:59 AM
Awesome monogram. I like to read such post related to different monogram with great color combination. Thanks for sharing this.
Posted by: סידור בתים | Friday, September 30, 2011 at 12:11 PM
As soon as I found this tutorial via Pinterest I wanted to make one. I love it so much. I blogged my attempts here http://craftytails.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/diy-cute-as-a-button/ but nowhere near as nice as yours I have to say. But still I hope baby H will like it!
Posted by: Jenny | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 02:29 AM
Magnifique!
J'adore cette utilisation des boutons !
Posted by: Catherinedeartcadeaux.fr | Thursday, November 03, 2011 at 02:29 AM
Where did you buy all of your buttons and brads?
Posted by: Andrea | Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 08:27 PM
Found this via Pinterest, thanks for the great idea. Mine turned out unique to me because I used beads that I already had on hand instead of the layers of brads, but my girls loved them!
Posted by: Suzy | Wednesday, January 04, 2012 at 09:44 PM
Oh..here is my "tutorial". I linked back to this blog. I bought my buttons from Walmart...I had to stick to our "handmade Christmas gift" budget :)
http://wanderingbutnotlostsuzy.blogspot.com/2012/01/handmade-button-monogram-bs-for-my.html
Posted by: Suzy | Wednesday, January 04, 2012 at 09:49 PM
I LOVE this! But I have only one question, is it the brads that make sure none of the buttons fall off?
Posted by: stephanie | Friday, January 06, 2012 at 02:45 PM
so nice! will make one for my daughter and hang it from a string! love.
Posted by: joy | Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 04:56 PM
My sister's living room is all Americana stuff, so I'm going to make USA all in seperate frames, using red, white, blue, black and silver. Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Tami | Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 09:04 AM
Wow! A great Idea! I'll try it!
Posted by: Agentia Web | Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 02:22 AM
я
Posted by: Павел | Thursday, April 05, 2012 at 03:40 AM
This is such an original fun idea! I'm writing an article about easy button projects to make and was wondering if I could include one of the photos from this article. Please let me know when you get a chance. Thanks! :) randomcreative28 at gmail dot com
Posted by: Rose | Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 07:17 PM
Just found this on Pinterest. I absolutely love this! Two of my girls share a room so I also need to make an A and then a L! Thanks so much for sharing.
Posted by: Julie {CalleLillyCafe} | Friday, July 06, 2012 at 02:11 AM
Thank you soooo much for sharing this. I had a big tin of antique buttons that belonged to my late Grandmother. I made an L for my daughter's new big girl room. Turned out great, looks awesome with sentimental value as well. Thanks again!
Posted by: Millie | Monday, July 09, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Can you be more specific about what you used to adhere the buttons to the card stock? I am confused (not surprising)!
Posted by: Amy | Friday, July 27, 2012 at 02:28 PM