{craftivity} vintage button thumbtacks

One of the projects I was busily wrapping up in my office/guest room last weekend was this totally re-done picture frame corkboard:

like night and day!

I hung the glossy-white-burlap-covered-goodness on the wall, and after gazing at it for a moment or two I  thought to myself,

Self, you can’t just put a tear sheet up on that cute thing with just any ol’ thumbtack!  That would be heresy and defeat the purpose of prettifying that corkboard!

My eyes settled on a long-ignored tub sitting on my stuffed to the gills and cluttered bookshelf [note to self: purge and organize said bookshelf] and the lightbulb went off: button thumbtacks!

You see, a few years ago I was really into making rings out of vintage buttons I would find at thrift shops and antique stores (or gifted from super thoughtful friends like The Girl).  I wore them all the time and frequently gave them to friends for birthdays and whatnot.  That craftiness, like many other noble quests of mine, fell by the wayside long ago…  BUT, lucky for this project, I still had a slew of cool buttons stashed on the bookshelves, ready to add some blinga-blinga to the new corkboard.

STEP 1:  Gather supplies

Luckily I had all the supplies I needed right at my fingertips:

• Cool buttons (preferably plastic – affixing metal to metal is not easy)
• Flat-headed thumbtacks
• Button shank cutter (it cuts off the “loop” on the back of  some buttons)
• Superglue

getting ready for the project

STEP 2:  Prep for gluing

First, I picked out the buttons I wanted to use for this project, and then proceeded to cut the shank off of those buttons that had it.  Now they’re ready for gluing.

The flat-backed thumbtacks I happened to have on-hand had colored plastic covers on them.  So, I used the button shank cutter to bend back the edges of the plastic and remove the covers so they were totally brass-colored.

covers removed

STEP 3:  Glue away!

Turning the buttons pretty side down, I squeezed out a blob of superglue onto the backs of the buttons and placed the thumbtacks smack in the center.  Make sure you let them dry all the way!!! – don’t get impatient!  I would probably allow 4-5 hours until you try to stick them on your corkboard.

drying future thumbtacks!

STEP 4:  Use and enjoy

Stick those button thumbtacks up on your corkboard and you’re set!  No unsightly circus-colored thumbtacks to be seen!

perfect!

just what the corkboard ordered!

Seriously folks, this little project (not counting the drying) took all of 10 minutes.  And what a difference it made!

How about you?  Any easy – but big impact – projects you’ve done recently?  I’d love to hear!