The Monday Project - Save The Date Button Cards

So I don't know anyone getting married at the moment, but last year I had to design my brother's wedding invitations and things. Of course, my first thought was: buttons. Bizarrely, my brother isn't into his buttons so much (I know, right?), so this ended up a no-go. Nevermind, ignore my brother and his non-button love, here are some save the date cards that embrace the button love.

You will need:

Plain Card

Patterned Card

Small Button selection - to match your colour-scheme

Needle & thread - to match colour scheme

Corner Rounder Punch - optional

Computer & Printer (or rubber stamp, or beautiful handwriting and a steady hand)

Paper trimmer

Sellotape and double-sided tape

Here's How To:

Set up on your computer the information you need in a fancy font. (Remember you can download hundreds of beautiful fonts for free off the internet, to get exactly what you're after). Copy & Paste over the whole page (you can get about 12 to a page). Print onto your plain card. If you don't want to use your computer, you could get a stamp made up, or you could do it all by hand if you're a confident calligrapher.

Cut each card out - you should end up with a finished size of about 6cm x 8cm. When you cut, cut close to the left hand side of the writing, and leave a gap on the right. Measure and cut the patterned card to about 1cm larger than your plain card.

At this stage, with your corner punch, you can round off the corners of either one or both of your cards. Experiment, see what you like. Oh, and check out the top picture, can you spot the deliberate mistake? Hmm..

Next, thread up your needle. You don't need it for the wrapping around the card, but it'll make life easier for putting the buttons on. And it helps to have your tape in an easy dispenser too, if not, three hands may be an option you'd like to consider!

Stick the end of the thread onto the back of the plain card, on the other side of the blank part. then wrap roughly three times around the card. Fix on the back with a bit of sellotape(fig. 1 & 2). On the fourth time around, thread on your buttons. Place them where you want on the card, and pull the thread tightly to the back. Fix again with tape.

Now, with double-sided tape, centre this card onto the patterned backing card. Stick down firmly, et voila. You're done. Repeat 150 times (or however many guests you have!)

By the way, the names 'Marjorie & Edward' and their wedding date were randomly generated by Rachael- but if by chance someone happens to be called that and is getting married on that date - they can totally steal this idea ;)

The Monday Project - Off-Centre Button Brooch

I've made plenty of stacked up button brooches in the past - and we've even sold kits of them in the past too - but this is a little take on the theme. So today's Monday Project is the off-centre button brooch, which does stack buttons up, but it puts the stack off to the side, giving the old classic a bit of a twist!

What you need:

• 1 x large button (5cm diameter works well) you can find them here and here. We've used coloured agoya shell buttons, as the colour on them is like no other. Here's a couple.
• 1 x brooch pin (any size will do)
• 1/2m waxed cotton cord in a complementary colour to your buttons, thin enough to go through your button holes.
• Small selection of buttons (for the topper)

Here's How To:

Decide what buttons you are going to use on your topper. This could be one, or could be two or three. On my sample I've used two. Thread the cord up through the back of both buttons, and down through the front, pulling them tightly together. Pull them to approximately 1/3 of the way along your cord.

Using the longest side of your cord, thread down through the front of one hole of the big button (fig.1). At the back, thread through the base of your brooch pin - making sure the flat side is flush to the button back(fig.2). (The amount of times I've done this the wrong way round I am too embarrassed to tell you.) Then thread the cord back to the front of the button (fig.3).

Position your button to one side as desired. Pulling the cord tight across the button, pull around to the back and wrap around the base of the brooch back (fig.1). This will give you an anchor with which to tie your knot (fig.2). Tie your knot tightly, and trim the ends of your cord close to the knot (fig.3). You may want to dab a little bit of glue or clear nail varnish on the knot to keep it doubly-secure.

As you can see in the top picture (the whale button) you can use shank buttons too. I tied a knot at the back of the shank to secure it in place (it wobbled otherwise), and double cord for extra effect. Then used a fine permanent ink pen (like a cd-writing pen) to draw on the bubbles. I have also in the past used charms on the tops of the buttons (dragonflies and butterflies make for a cute flowery effect!).

As usual with button jewellery, the concept is super simple but the possibilities are endless... so I'd love to see what you all come up with.

a x