Mama's getting crafty!

So, I'm not much of a crafter. In theory, I like the idea, but--aside from the occasional cross stitch--I don't seem to have the time, the talent, or the patience. However, I've been thinking about somehow creating a button-oriented craft for the nursery door for a while. This weekend, while Jeff was away visiting a friend, I had the perfect opportunity to get crafty!

I started with some online searching and discovered this fabulous blog with great instructions about making "button animals" on a canvas. A quick trip to Michael's on Friday evening resulted in a canvas, some ribbon, and an assortment of buttons. (Though I wanted to use buttons I already had, it turned out I didn't have nearly enough blue ones for the project.) On Saturday, I sketched out a whale and a wave on canvas, and then, this morning before church, I did the first layer of painting, using the leftover paint from our nursery walls.

It wasn't much to look at yet, but I was pretty excited all the same, given my general lack of artistic skills. Once I got back from church and armed myself with a hot glue gun, I was ready for the next step: the first layer of buttons.

In retrospect, I wish I hadn't used the lighter blue ones--they were too close to the paint colors. However, the second layer of buttons started to cover them up.

Isn't the eye too cute? Those are actually the only buttons I used from my own collection. Next came the spout:

Because I still didn't feel like the waves were nearly dark enough and I was bothered by the lighter buttons peeking through, I did a few more touch-ups and then added a ribbon. (It's a pretty grosgrain ribbon I found at Michael's, which I doubled over on the ends, secured with hot glue, then nailed into the back of the wooden frame.)

And now it's proudly hanging on Button's door! I love the way it gives a little "sneak peek" into the full nursery decor, and I really love that I'm now inspired to do more crafts with our little girl in a few years!