Hello there and thanks for joining me as I begin my first series! I am so excited to start this! I hope you find great ideas for your home, for gifts, and ideas that encourage your creative side, that you can get lost in. For me creating is like a day at the spa. I just NEED it! Um, wait- I've never had a day at the spa...
Anywho-I don't know about you but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the holidays. I love that the greatest gift to ever be given has already been given, and TO ME, I love the food, my F-I-L's homeade toffee, the extra time with family and friends, the shine in my kids eyes as we go through our traditions, and they open presents. I love the decor. I LOVE THE DECOR. Have I mentioned that I LOVE THE DECOR!? I usually pour through magazines for inspiration, and books, and blogs, too. As my children have gotten older (who am I kidding 6, 5, and 3 is NOT old?!?!) I do have more time on my hands for my decorating (thank God for first grade and part time preschool!) and project making. I also don't have to worry about little ones crawling everywhere and trying to eat my stuff. Or slam it on the ground. Or throw it across the room. In our adorable little 1600 square foot -1 living room -eat in kitchen -cape cod I don't have a 'Mommas parlor stay the heck out' kinda place. (I'm not sure I would even WANT one of those!) So, this being said, Christmas 2009 marks the first year that I am going ALL OUT in my Christmas decor. All out doesnt mean expensive.
ALL OUT to me means beautiful, and not one speck of decoratable space left out of the Holiday spirit! ALL OUT to me means enjoying myself as I go through the process, making my home more enjoyable for those that enter it, and for those that live here. After all, I am not only a Blessed Mama but a Home Blesser, and I want to, through Gods grace, be a Home Blesser Extroidonaire! ALL OUT to me means beautifully livable. PLEASE eat at my table, PLEASE put your feet on my $8.00 coffee table, PLEASE stink up my bathroom(just use the spray when you are done and turn on the fan, thank you very muchly) PLEASE eat seconds of my pumpkin and turtle cheesecakes and hot cocoa!
So- Join me as I go ALL OUT this year!
My first DIY project is a knock off of this gorgeous , pulchritudinous, swoon worthy, squeal evoking garland from Ballard Designs. For $39.00 plus shipping you get 27 feet of garland.
One look and I just knew I had to make one. I searched buttons high and low. I purchased mine on Ebay
from this seller. For $4.99 plus shipping I received 300 mother of pearl buttons in 3 sizes.
(This is the BACK of the buttons- the shiny mother of pearl kept messing with my flash.)
There were auctions for lots of vintage buttons on ebay, and maybe you could find some at Goodwill, your local flea market or antique mall. Maybe mom or grandma or geat aunt Penny has a jar of buttons laying around? I didn't want to drive all over town lookiong for buttons and DID want all mother of pearl ones So I took the quickest way out, and ordered them online. It did take about 2 weeks for them to arrive, they ship from Hong Kong I believe- so order now girls! I DO wish I had ordered all the same size BUT it still worked out nicely. If you go to Joanns or Hobby Lobby be prepared to pay out the wazoo for buttons. I have found large bags of buttons for $4.00 in the scrapbooking section but they are plastic and more suited for a little girls room garland. Hey- there is an idea! Wouldn't this be adorable in pinks and purples and greens in your daughters room? I've always wanted to decorate a little girls room!
Okay- off the rabbit trail and back to the main objective here!
At Walmart I bought 2 spools of this ribbon
in cream for $0.47 each. It was 10 yards/30 feet. I then proceeded to pick a Sunday afternoon when Hubby was watching football and sit on the couch with him and thread all 300 buttons onto my ribbon.
I twisted the end like so
(Yes that is gold acrylic paint on my thumb nail. No- I do not have nice nails. God blessed me with creative ability and fab cooking skills to make up for my thin, always breaking nails)
and pulled it throughThe BOTTOM of the button on one hole, like so
over the top and throught the other side.
I slid it FAR down the ribbon and kept sliding, until it was about half way done my length. I then repeated the process. Many. Many. MANY. times. Then half way through your button stash, start at the other end and repeat. Many. Many. MANY times.Why the half way? Because your ribbon will start to get worn if you thread 300 buttons down the same piece 300 times before you get to the last one!
Decide before if you want your buttons right next to each other, or maybe a little space in between. The space -in-between-approach will obviously allow you a longer garland using less buttons. You have to work at keeping your ribbon untangled. I suggest stretching it out on the floor by you, and keeping the pets away! (And Kids) My boys helped me stretch and straighten mine out when it got tangled up a bit... This is tedious. It takes MANY buttons. I ordered 300 more...And those I got for $2.99! I bought more ribbon. I sat and twisted and pulled. You can be anal like me and make sure all of your buttons face the same way. Although when you hang it they still won't. (See pic below!)I knotted each end of my garland and she was done. To keep it from getting tangled into oblivion and me getting uber frustrated I hung her on a hanger in my coat closet.You could go for wider ribbon and sew them on, or hot glue them (Nester would LOVE that idea!)- that would be fast, and would work well with the wider ribbon- because let's face it-
who WANTS to sew 300 buttons onto a ribbon by hand?
Jewelry making wire would work, or even thin twine or hemp. Lovely. Like a burlap effect.
The end result of my garland?
She speaks for herself. And quite loudly I may say.
Isnt it BEE-YOU-TEA-FULL???!!!???!!!
And this is just on the little tree inspired by Frontgate. (I gave you a sneak peek of my next post, because I am thoughtful like that)
I cannot wait to add it to my mantel swag and my big green tree! I am giddy just thinking about it! Why, you ask, do I not have a picture of it on my big tree? Because it is still the 1st week of November as I write this and I Do not put up my tree THAT early. Other stuff, yes- tree has to go up AFTER turkey day!
Total cost? $9.86 before shipping.And remember I got TWICE the amount of garland for my money! And had leftover little buttons for my envelope advent garland as well as future projects...(or mini button garlands for mini trees...)
I will be linking this Series up to several par-tays (say it out loud with me in a Highpitched enthusiastic voice!)
And possibly more to come as we go along!
Quite the satisfying decor project if I do say so myself- Now go forth and buy yourselves some buttons girls and deck those halls!
23 comments:
Oh my, this is soooo pretty!!! What a fab idea! How fun that you made it yourself and saved money too.
I love your black bust too, I actually have that exact same one!! Only mine has a little ding out of the back of her head, from my husband accidentally knocking her off of the table.
What a great idea for a series, I can't wait to see what's next!
Hi there Karen! Thanks for your sweet comment!
Can you believe my bust was $o.50! They had the matching man but I just was NOT feeling him! I love her cracks and all! My 5 yr old TRIED to talk me out of buying it because it was 'broked and stuff, like cracks Mom.'lol Great minds think alike! ;-)
Very smart. Love the idea
I usually swoon over Frontgate and Ballard...love your idea! Can't wait to see more!
What a great idea. The buttons make me think of sea shells....and living by the ocean puts that garland right in my court.
Thanks also for your nice comment on my blog. I'm not sure if tung oil is the same as teak oil. I once used teak oil a lot when we had a boat but I haven't seen it since!
Take care,and Happy Holiday decorating!
Joanne
Thanks for the tip about buying the buttons on Ebay.
I have seen these and love how they look...you did a outstanding job on yours! Hope you have a FUN day!
Blessings,
Linda
This is very cute. I have a stash of white buttons that I got at a thrift store recently that should work for this project. This will keep me busy as I watch some of my favorite night time shows.
Thanks!
Jane
I do love the button garland and have been thinking about this myself. It does seem like LOADS of work...but I may just check out ebay.
Looking foward to checking your blog.
How unusual and gorgeous. Love it. Thanks for the tutorial. Hugs, Marty
Very nice! And if I ever have enough money, I will hire you to decorate Maura's room :) I'm sure anything you could come up with would be better than whatever mommy would think of!
you dont have to hire me- just tell me what colors/ideas Ill come up with a plan nd you go buy the stuff- easy peasy mac n cheesy!
Mother of pearl buttons are so full of beauty and nostalgia. The garland looks fab. Worth the effort. xx
It looks great. Thanks for the idea.
Very cute idea! Nice knockoff. I love when you see something that's craxy expensive and you can make it yourself. Well done!
How I love Ballard too. Love your button garland. You must have more patience than I!! It is gorg-e-mus!! Cant wait to see the rest of your holiday goodness.
What a neat idea, I love it!
This Rocks!!!! I already have my tree up this year, but this might just be my garland next year! LOVE IT!!!!
OMGoodness! I have been wanting that button garland too! See this post I did on it. ;)
http://www.mooreminutes.com/2009/11/ballard-designs-holiday-heaven-etc-etc.html
Now I really want to make it. Thank you so much for all the info on it. And yours turned out SO gorgeous!! Love it.
Fabulous!!!!
m ^..^
Just finding this now, thanks to Pinterest. Wonderful idea, will definitely try this year!
So simple...which is why I think it is so very lovely.
I will be doing this with my granddaughter. Have a tin of multi colored buttons that will work perfectly. Will let you know. Thanks for the idea.
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