holiday jumpstart

Have you made your list yet of the projects you want to get done for the holidays and then determined which will be the projects that you want to be quick and easy and which you want to spend a little more time on? I thought so.

So part of this is most likely your list of people that you would like to make a gift for, of course. And you are thinking of making a few extra special cards for your close family and friends, right? If you are like me, you have so many things already in your crafting supplies that will be great to use for making gifts. Sometimes the ideas don't just come to you and you have to look for some inspiration. I had a little inspiration walk into my house a couple of months ago. Tacy's PCA (personal care assistant), Kristi, shared a craft project that her and her friend had made after seeing a necklace that they both liked at the mall. Right away, I knew this was a perfect project to share with all of you and I know that at least some of you will get the itch to make some for gifts and for yourself!

Isn't the button necklace and bracelet so cute? And with all of Papertrey Ink's wonderful vintage mix buttons, isn't this just the perfect project? The best part is going through the buttons and deciding which ones you are going to use!

The card features the new set Tree Trimming Trio (available for sale on the 15th at Papertrey Ink) and instead of using the ornaments from the set, it was perfect to use buttons as my ornaments to go along with the button necklace and bracelet.

 

I used a necklace and bracelet as a guide for the length. I wanted the necklace to be longer so that it could be worn down or looped and worn up shorter too. You can click on any of the pictures to see them larger.

Materials that you are going to need for this project. Thin, clear, elastic beading cord (I used a .5 mm diameter), buttons, small beads to go in between the buttons (I used white seed beads), buttons (of course, and your choice of jewelry findings to finish the ends off and add a clasp. I used a crimp ending to cover up the elastic thread and added my clasp findings from there.

I am going to share some very basic threading instructions for the buttons, the rest of the design for your project is up to you...

You will use 2 strands of the elastic beading cord and I suggest cutting the cord 3 times the length of your finished project.

In the pictures below I used 2 colors of string so that you could get a better look at how they are threaded through the buttons. Again, you can click on any of the pictures to see them larger...

 

Knot the 2 strands of cord together at the top. Thread one strand through the button (the green string in the first photo.) Now thread the other strand through the button the opposite way.

Now, this is the point where I threaded the bead that will go between the 2 buttons. The next button that I am putting on is a 4 holed one so you can see how that looks. Thread one strand of cord through 2 holes that lay diagonally from each other (the yellow string in the photo.) Thread the second strand through the same 2 holes, but the opposite way.

Add another bead and you are ready to add the next button. Keep repeating until you get to the length that you want.

The whole Papertrey Ink design team is sharing some great hand made gift inspirations, along with more ideas for the new Tree Trimming Trio set. Head over to Nichole's blog to link to all of the design team members blogs.

Button Tree Card

stamps: Tree Trimming Trio, Polka Dot Basics II (Papertrey Ink)

ink: Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, True Black, Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)

cardstock: kraft, white, Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink)

other: Dark Chocolate grosgrain ribbon, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado, & white vintage mix buttons, Rustic Jute button twine (Papertrey Ink), 1" circle punch (EK Success), Threading Water border punch (Fiskars), white Inkssentials pen (Ranger), crystal glitter (Martha Stewart), dimensionals