Boring. Dull. Drab. White. Sad.
These are the words that I use to describe the walls in my house. We can't paint right now because we are renting and most of the pictures I have hung are old and boring. I have hauled them from house to house and just stuck them up on the walls. When we moved to this house I was pregnant, hormonal and not so pleased to be moving -- not the best decorating combo. Now I look around and the walls are crying out "HELP ME."
Enter Pinterest. There are about, oh a million, ideas for walls on there so I thought it was time I grabbed one. There are all these super cute ideas about initials and I love the button ones so I looked at a couple and decided to whip one up. Oh, you haven't seen them? Well, here's one from diyideas.com
I wanted to get a great picture of the wall for you but since it has been raining non-stop here, the sun wasn't working with me. Once the sun decides to visit me again I promise to give you a better picture. I hope you get the point though and get inspired!!
Have Fun!!
These are the words that I use to describe the walls in my house. We can't paint right now because we are renting and most of the pictures I have hung are old and boring. I have hauled them from house to house and just stuck them up on the walls. When we moved to this house I was pregnant, hormonal and not so pleased to be moving -- not the best decorating combo. Now I look around and the walls are crying out "HELP ME."
Enter Pinterest. There are about, oh a million, ideas for walls on there so I thought it was time I grabbed one. There are all these super cute ideas about initials and I love the button ones so I looked at a couple and decided to whip one up. Oh, you haven't seen them? Well, here's one from diyideas.com
so cute right??
I was debating on the white buttons since I have a few --
Okay, more than a few... I have a ton. Side note -- sorting buttons can be a maddening experience.
After looking at my white walls (again) I couldn't bare any more white so..
Ta Da! Another Pin!!!
This one explained how to dye buttons, that's right - dye them!! Thank you Rit Dye YAY!
I know, you are thinking "Jamie, get to the dang project already - I don't have all day!" I hear you - I'm on it. Grab some dye, it looks like this:
I had to use two colors because our store didn't have orange and it's a popular color in my house so I figured I wouldn't buck the system and I'd dye the buttons orange. Once you have the dye, mix 2 tsp of dye with 1 cup of hot water in a container you don't care about (because it will get dyed). Dump the buttons in and stir them around. They need to sit in the dye for about 5 minutes.
Lovely, right?
I left my buttons in the dye for about 8 minutes because I wasn't sure the dye was really taking. I also did something that wasn't at all in the instructions, so be forewarned - I broke the rules. I microwaved my buttons for about 20 seconds...and then another 20 seconds. Before you gasp in horror, hear me out. I dye yarn and it goes in the microwave to help the color set, so why not buttons? I didn't believe the color was setting on the buttons and the water was a tad colder than I liked, so I nuked them. Sue me. I let them cool for a bit and then gave them another stir for good measure and rinsed them. Once they were all rinsed they looked like this:
No more white!
While the buttons were getting good and dry, I went to my trusty Word and found a big ol' B that I liked. You can use any font you want, but just remember that you have to get your little buttons to cover the letter so a thin lined letter may not work very well. This is the one that I chose.
Trace that puppy onto your paper (or fabric) of choice and you are all set to go. I glued the buttons on randomly with craft glue. If you are a hot glue gun wizard, feel free to use that, but I always end up with more glue on me than anything else. Since I used the craft glue, I had to wait and wait for it to dry. Once it was FINALLY dry, I just popped it in a frame - if you use a fabric backing and not a piece of paper, make sure you tack the fabric to some cardboard so its nice and tight.
Here's my finished product - what do you think?
Have Fun!!
