.....A bit of creativity during down-time. My friend Jan got me started on these Paper buttons, which originally were from an instructional post by Kelli Nina Perkins. Check her post HERE for all the details.
First off, it doesn't take much to entertain me or make me happy. Old book pages, glue sticks, anything to make a mess and I'm just a lucky-ducky.
First off, it doesn't take much to entertain me or make me happy. Old book pages, glue sticks, anything to make a mess and I'm just a lucky-ducky.
The above photo shows beautiful fluid, glass-like buttons sent to me from Jan, and then my lazy take on things; paper punches, papers and the final glued and stacked paper I punched the shapes from on the right. (check the tutorial for this to make more sense...)
I wanted my outside layers to be chinese-character paper and some mathematical equations. So my inner package was three sheets (ha! three sheets in the wind more likely!) of heavy textbook paper, and then the choice sheets on each side. The punches *just* cut through all that.
So you can see how lovely Jan's free-cut buttons are...and the detail and luster. She also used UTEE where I used a store brand of heavy embossing powder and there is definitely a difference. UTEE is better. (♥LUV♥ these Jan!)
The tutorial said, I think, to use a skewer to put holes in, but I used this tiny punch that is normally used for marking my card stock glove patterns~~where to join points and seams.....well, everything around here gets more than a single job!
And here is the yield from a piece of glued papers 3 1/2" x 6" : a total of thirty 3/4" buttons and fourteen 1/2" buttons....all nice and, well, THE SAME.
I'm thinking my anal retentive side is showing through....
Moving on, when it came to COLORING, that got thrown to the wind!
I got out my Sharpies, Zigs and PrismaColor markers and cut loose! What fun! (and yes, both sides and the edges are colored) I did discover the front and back papers accepted marker differently, and while I used the same colors on both sides, they did not LOOK the same.
Older papers tend to absorb in an unpredictable fashion, and it was fun watching what happened.
BTW, this was a SLOW PROCESS, as I was doing a few at a time and the fumes were getting to me. I also went about with multi-colored fingers for a while....
Next was the embossing, of which there are NO PHOTOS because that was a mess and really, trying to hold the button on a bamboo skewer, the embossing gun AND the camera wasn't going to happen. I might also add, do not do this after having wine with dinner.
Embossing guns and wine are not a good mix......just warning. ;-)
The final product, for your comments:
Clear embossing powder, then while hot, edged with either gold, copper or silver, or a combination there of. Nice and shiny, fairly sturdy, happy Anne!
And while I very much LIKE mine, I still like Jan's better! I think everyone would have a different product, an individual outcome, and that's what is so nice about them.
I really recommend giving these a try when you just need something fun and to clear the mental palette before a big project. They all look so different when complete~~even the less-that-lovely ones become lovely with the rest.
But I have ideas for the next bunch I try.....things like, a flower shaped punch, coloring the paper package FIRST, crackle finish, etc etc etc.....
It takes so little to get the gray matter going.
Gosh I'm glad I love the small things!
Pax....
This post first appeared on El Milagro Studio: Little Miracles Of Art, please read the originial post: here
