"Secrets" Button Fairy

by Kris Hankins



Have you ever made a “button fairy”? These are a fun and easy project to create. Normally I make my button fairies with wings, but I decided to make this one using the new Tim Holtz Flower Die Cuts.

"Secrets" Button Fairy

Materials

• Paper
• Basic Gray Papers, Porcelain
• Rochelle     ( BG-POR-1613   $0.69)
• Langley     ( BG-POR-1601   $0.69)
• 3" Scrap pf Coordinating Cardstock
• Embellishments
• Autumn Leaves Buttons, Foof-a-la Savannah     ( AL-BT-43018   $5.99)
• Tim Holtz Idea-OlogyTrinket Pins     ( ADV-TH-92720   $3.99)
• Tools
• Sizzix Bigz by Tim Holtz, Tattered Florals     ( SIZ-DBigz-656640   $10.99)
• Marvy 1” Jumbo Circle Punch     ( MAR-J-1circle   $8.99)
• Adhesive
• 3D Square Foam Dots     ( BC-foam-lgsq   $2.99)
• Other
• Bottle Cap
• Vintage Printed Face Image
• Scrap of Ribbon (6”)
• Craft Wire (coated/colored) – about 24”
• Glass Beads (2 or 3)
• Crystal (optional)

Instructions

• Start by cutting a piece of each Basic Gray paper the size of the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die. Run these through your die cut machine, resulting in a variety of flowers to pick from.




• Pick two contrasting flowers to make your button fairy with – one large and one smaller in size. Put the remaining cut flowers in your “flower stash” for another project.




• Go through your bag of Autumn Leaves buttons and find coordinating buttons in varying sizes. Lay them out so you can visually see what the sizes, shapes and colors look like together. You will need about 6” worth of buttons. I also gathered up a couple of basic glass beads, a Tim Holtz vintage trinket pin, and a crystal to help embellish the fairy’s tail. If you don’t have a crystal, don’t worry… you can replace it with a spiral curl of the wire or a dangling glass bead.




• To assemble the Fairy’s tail, thread the first button onto the wire leaving about 8” of wire at the top end. Thread the wire through the first button hole from back to the front. Thread it from front to back in the second button hole. Think of this as being similar to hand stitching the buttons together with thread.


• If it is a four hole button, just repeat the process in the second set of holes. You can use 2 hole, 4 hole and shank buttons.




• In the photo above, you can see that I added a glass bead to the wire on the second (green) button. After you put the thread through the first hole (back to front), simply place the bead on the wire before threading it into the second hole (front to back).


• The wire will run down the back side of the buttons and be almost invisible to the front. Make sure that the buttons are snuggled up next to each other tightly – overlapping a bit. Curve the wired buttons as you go.




• You can be very creative with this by adding favorite beads, buttons, and other embellishments. I chose to add a Tim Holtz Vintage Trinket Pin to my “tail”. I threaded it onto my wire when I was threading the buttons together. It has the word “secrets” on it.


• At the bottom of the wired button tail, I threaded on a plastic crystal and then secured it by twisting the wire and trimming any excess wire. If you don’t have a crystal, you can add a favorite larger glass bead or other embellishment. You can also create a flat spiral or bend the wire in a zig zag at the end of your tail.


• Lay your tail aside.




• Take your large flower and with a pen or paint brush handle, curl the flower petal edges backward.




• Take the smaller flower and curl it’s petals forward.




• Take a bottle cap and flatten it with a hammer. I recycle regular bottle caps. I just run them through the dishwasher. There are many ways to flatten bottle caps but I simple put mine under my old eyelet setting mat and give it a good tap with the hammer. They usually flatten without problem.




• Using a Marvy 1” circle punch, punch out a printed face image. Feel free to use a stamped image, or use an actual photo of a person you know. Glue this to the bottle cap using your favorite adhesive.


• Next, punch (2) 1” circles from a scrap of cardstock. Adhere one to the back of large flower. This will help in the construction of you fairy. Glue the smaller flower to the front of the larger flower. Glue the bottle cap to the front of the smaller flower.


• Lay the excess wire on the top end of your button tail along the backside of your flower stack. Snug the top button up to the edge of the bottle cap at the front of the flower. When you have it lined up where you want it, just tape or glue the wire to the circle on the back of the flower stack.


• Take two 3D Foam Squares and place one on each side of the wire. Place the second 1” punched circle directly over the first one. This gives you a nicely finished back on your button fairy. It’s a great place to write a small message or sign your name.




• Trim the remaining wire on top to 3 or 4 inches. Make a flat spiral or a simple loop. Add your scrap of ribbon to the wire and now you are ready to hang up your button fairy.


• She will watch over you and keep all of your “secrets” safe.

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