Burlap Canvas Button Art

 

I had seen some cute button art projects on Pinterest and with friends having babies I thought it was a cute piece of artwork to make to have in their room. Here is how I made mine.

First you want to take your burlap and wrap it over the canvas to determine how much burlap you need. I used two layers of burlap so you couldn’t see the white canvas. You could paint the canvas a complimentary color and then use one layer of burlap so the color shows through if you like.Then use a rotary cutter and a straight edge to smoothly cut your burlap to size. If you don’t have those items you can use scissors but I strongly recommend them as it makes it a lot easier to cut the burlap or any fabric. Then you are going to wrap the burlap around the canvas and begin hot gluing the edges down while holding the burlap tight so it lays flat. Try to keep it so the weave in the burlap is straight on the canvas. If it is crooked it makes you think the letter is crooked and will drive you crazy.

Next take your buttons of varying size and color and lay them out in the desired letter or pattern. It takes awhile to play with them to figure out what looks best so take your time. For letters think of the type of font you want to replicate. Once you have it laid out, begin hot gluing each button down. Then you are done!

 

 

Tips:

*Use a hair dryer to blow off the left over hot glue cobwebs

*make sure you have plenty of glue sticks, it takes quite a bit of glue to get the burlap on

*Use a cool hot glue gun (or just be careful) as your fingers are pretty close when you are holding the buttons

*Use common sense and keep this artwork away from young babies and children as the buttons are a choking hazard

*Use both sides of the buttons to create variations

*Use clear ruler/straight edge to make sure the letter is spaced appropriately on your canvas

*Make sure you cut your burlap so there is enough room to wrap it around the edges. As I was hot gluing mine I also realized a staple gun would have made this pretty quick and easy to attach to the canvas.

Please share your canvas art pics! I would love to see what you make!

3D Printing Pen

 

This is going to blow your mind. There is a kickstarter fund going on right now for a 3D printing pen. It was hard for me to imagine how that actually worked until I watched the video. It is pretty cool! You insert plastic filaments and it heats up and works somewhat like a hot glue gun, but dries quickly. Surprisingly, this pen is pretty affordable! I’m not sure what the final sell price will be but on kickstarter, you could purchase the first version of the pen for $70 and the refills will be around $10 for 10 inserts. For more info check out their website.

 

LIX THE SMALLEST 3D PRINTING PEN from LIX 3D PEN on Vimeo.

Christmas Printable Art

I love that Pinterest has made it so easy to find printables! Every holiday or season I find a printable I love, trim to size and put in my white picture frame. It is the easiest and cheapest way to add some fun décor to your house. To get the printable I have below, go to Design Dazzle.



Here are some other fun holiday printables I’m loving!
Large Christmas Lyrics
Subway Art
Big roundup of Christmas printables
Chalkboard printables

If you missed my tutorial on the gold glitter deer above, check it out here!

Gold Glitter Deer Artwork

 

I have seen several images floating around Pinterest showing gold deer or reindeer art and really wanted to make it. I already had a canvas, craft glue, a pencil, a paintbrush and cardstock. I stopped by Michaels and picked up some gold glitter and got to work. I found a deer image by Googling deer silhouette, then printed it out on some cardstock. I cut out the deer image and lightly traced it onto my canvas. I then used some “glitter glue” that came with a set I had to cover the entire area of the deer. Unfortunately there wasn’t quite enough, I should have added more craft glue but instead I applied the glitter. I was sadly disappointed when awhile later I took the glitter off and I had all these empty spots. My biggest suggestion is to thoroughly cover the area with an even coat of glue. I continued adding glue to the empty spots and applying more glitter. I had to go through this several times and then my lovely boyfriend decided he wanted to help and add eyes and a mouth to it. Really?! This just caused nice clumps on it. Finally I applied a thorough and even coat of glue to the entire thing and coated it with glitter. I let the glitter sit in place for awhile to really get adhered. When I finally shook the glitter off I had my complete gold glitter deer art work. It turned out to take way longer than it should have but I love the result!

I think this project would be pretty cute to do with any silhouette. If you wanted to create a holiday one you could do an ornament, tree, snowflakes, gifts, a bow, etc. Have fun crafting and glittering!

PS Glitter has been banned from the house now after this project!

Pretty Painting

pierone.com

I loved this painting I saw at Pier One the other day! It is so warm cheerful :) Reminds me of sunny days. I love the shimmer and sheen it gives off in person and I believe the seeds were done in beads! $150 for a large piece of art is a pretty darn good deal.

PS again this is from my phone so not the best quality. I really need to invest in a nice DSLR.