Design Blog

Last spring I purchased a shabby, antique button with two Scottie dogs in the design.  (Yes, I'm a Scottie dog lover.)  My plan at the time was to paint the button a single color, red, and place it against a tartan, paper background.  I now concede this plan was far too simple and unimaginative.  Instead, I thought I should step outside my comfort zone and try my hand at giving the button a proper refresh with a few different paint colors.

For the sake of full disclosure, painting definitely isn't one of my fortes, unless we're talking about walls and trim.  What I was convinced would turn into an awful, failed experiment was actually something I really enjoyed.  I learned that mistakes can easily be fixed with small touch-ups, so the little mishaps I was totally afraid of turned out to be nothing at all.

Not only has the button been transformed, it's found new purpose in a glass, dome paperweight.  (PhotoWeights: Dome Paperweight Kit)

The paint I used is acrylic craft paint that can be purchased at your local craft store ($1-2 for a 2 ounce bottle).  The brands I use are Apple Barrel, Plaid, and Top Notch.

I've accumulated so many different colors over the years, I purchased a wall shelf last week to organize and display them.  Before the shelf was in place, my paints were hidden out of sight in a few different boxes.  Having all my colors in view, within reach, will definitely motivate me to use them in more of my projects moving forward.

Before I painted the button, I cleaned it with a soft, dry toothbrush to remove any dust or loose particles.

I started with a green base coat.  Because a couple of the colors I applied over the green required two coats, I realize I should have started with a lighter shade.

      

The paint was applied one color at a time.  As I mentioned earlier, it's easy to fix mistakes with small touch-ups.  Just wait for the paint to dry to avoid colors from blending or bleeding through.

I cut a swatch of green scrapbook paper to use as the background for the button.  The paper was applied to the adhesive side of the mounting board (included with each paperweight kit).  I used a pair of scissors to trim the paper that overlapped the board.

Hot melt glue was applied to the back of the button.  I avoided the areas near the button holes and the outside edge to prevent glue from oozing out from underneath when the button was pressed into place.

The button was adhered to the center of the mounting board.  After the glue had a few moments to cool, I used a sharp, pointed tool to poke through the button holes and looped a piece of string through them.  The ends of the string were attached to the back of the mounting board with glue.

The finished mounting board was placed in the center of the adhesive side of the felt bottom pad.  The felt bottom pad (with the design attached) was applied to the bottom of the paperweight.

I hope this particular project will inspire you to try something different, something you may be a little afraid to endeavor for the first time.  You may be surprised by how easy it ends up being, after all.