Lately, I've been seeing a ton of button crafts on Pinterest. With my sister and her family visiting from Wisconsin over the weekend, it was the perfect time to try my hand at making a button tree.

What You'll Need:

  • A canvas, any size
  • Black or brown acrylic paint
  • Paint Brushes
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Buttons

You can do this project very affordably. I buy two-packs of canvases from the craft store when they're on sale. Cheap paint brushes will work fine and a small tube of paint won't cost much more than a dollar. We scored buttons on sale plus we had a coupon, so they were less than a dollar per package.

Find Your Inspiration

I recommend browsing through pins to get a clear idea of the direction you're heading. There are a TON of button options and it's really easy to get overwhelmed by all the choices. In the end you'll end up with a more put together looking piece of home décor if you have a set piece of inspiration before you start. I used this pin as my inspiration.

Jennifer Fevold
Jennifer Fevold
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Involve the Kiddos

Part of the reason we chose this craft was so that my five-year-old nephew, Sam, could do one too. Sam picked out a couple of monogrammed 'S' buttons and one giant hot pink button. He was very excited to get to work!

Pour Yourself a Cocktail

...or not. But I will warn you that tree painting is stressful! Just remember either way that this is supposed to be fun.

Sketch Your Tree(s) -- A Stress-Relieving Tip

If I knew then what I know now, I would have sketched out my trees in pencil before painting. That isn't quite as simple as it sounds because you'll have to get all of the lines covered in paint one way or another. Be conservative as you sketch and remember that you can always thicken areas up as you're painting.

Jennifer Fevold
Jennifer Fevold
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Paint Your Tree(s)

I painted trees for both me and my sister. As you can see, my love for my sister is so deep that I decided to paint her the better tree. Mine turned out a little sad, especially on the right hand side, but read on and I'll show you how to remedy that if this happens to you.

Layout Your Buttons

Initially, I hadn't planned on doing a layout before I started gluing, I thought it would be fun to decide on button placement as I went.  I saw my sister take the layout approach and decided it might be a good idea.  By doing this, I was able to make sure that I addressed the bulky, ridiculous looking portions of my tree. You can't hide everything with buttons, but they're great for covering up some of those little imperfections.

Bust Out the Hot Glue Gun

Once you've got a layout you like, it's downhill from there! We used hot glue to secure our buttons. The kids will need a little help here, but Sam loved picking where he wanted his buttons to go. Hot glue is my nemesis, but it's definitely the fastest way to finish this project up. Good news-- I only scalded myself once!

If you're looking for an alternative to hot glue you can use any kind of fabric adhesive as long as you're working on canvas. This option is more kid friendly, too. The only downside is a much longer dry time than hot glue. If you've got the time and the patience -- go for it.

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This was a really fun craft! I especially like that it's kid friendly and it was a blast to do it with my sister. She is, after all, the person who started me on my love of crafting. Overall, it is pretty hard to mess this one up, even if you don't have the best tree painting skills.

The perfectionist inside of me has been debating taking another stab at this project. I'd definitely like to try it with some color on the background and I feel confident that I could turn out a better tree than I did the first time around!

 

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