Upcycling: The Pin-Ups

I lurve Jenni Bowlin something fierce. Her simple, graphic, vintage style adapts well to so many artsy occasions. She's just introduced these cute as a bug chipboard buttons at winter CHA that have storybook graphics or text on them. Very, very cool.

I have these clear buttons that I bought way back when I was working part time in my local scrapbook store (where I fully spent each and every paycheck on whatever came in each week). I think Junkitz or 7Gypsies made them. We all just had to have them, in vast quantities.

Only, duh, I have barely touched them.

I have all this old sheet music, atlases and pages from old books.

And I hoard it all, barely touching it.

So, seeing Jenni's new chipboard buttons, I got to thinking. And what I got to thinking was nothing new or particularly original, but it was a way for me to upcycle supplies I already have on hand and actually PUT THEM TO USE dagnabbit!

And here are my upcycled buttons recreated as push-pins...All ready to hang artsy creations on an inspiration board or in my case, the wall of my studio where I am free to poke holes into the drywall willy nilly. Or I could bundle up some on cardboard squares as cool gifties.

Here you can see a few of my precision instruments, most notably, the toothpicks. I find this to be the easiest, least fussy way to apply the E6000 glue to bond the thumb tacks and buttons. What's missing is the adhesive I used to glue the paper onto the buttons. In my case, I used Club Scrap's bookbinding adhesive, but Mod Podge, K&Co craft glue or any favorite adhesive should work just fine. What is also missing is the sandpaper I used to sand excess paper off after I roughly cut around the papered buttons. For added embellishment, more buttons can be glue on in layers. This is also a great way to winnow down a stash of a bazillion buttons. (like the little cards of push pins in this post: Little packages )I also have a nice little supply of ready made buttons that will be great embellishments for future projects. They'll wait in this pink dish beside my bowl of glittered chipboard. (Now have I racked up enough recycling points to go ahead and buy all that Jenni Bowlin stuff I'm dying to have?)