Tag Archives | Christmas in July

Christmas in July | Embroidery Hoop Christmas Card Holder

By Kelli Stradling on July 28, 2017 in Christmas, Holidays

You can celebrate a little bit of Christmas in July by crafting this fun and easy Embroidery Hoop Christmas Card Holder. This simple craft is a great way to get your kids involved and teach them basic button sewing. It will look so cute on the wall holding your Christmas cards! You can customize it by changing the button shapes, or colors to suit your decor needs.

Supplies Needed to Make Embroidery Hoop Christmas Card Holder:

Buttons Galore “Contemporary Christmas” Button Basics
Buttons Galore “Christmas” Button Bonanza
10″ embroidery hoop (a larger hoop would work too)
1/4 yard of fabric (I used canvas fabric)
scissors
red and green thread
needle
ribbon
hot glue

Step one:

To start making your embroidery hoop Christmas card holder, lay your embroidery hoop on your fabric and trace around the outside edge of the hoop. Don’t trace right along the edge of the hoop, since you want the fabric circle to be bigger than the embroidery hoop. The circle doesn’t need to be perfect. You will need two fabric circles. I used a canvas drop cloth that I already had, but you could also use a cotton fabric or even burlap. You don’t want the fabric to have too much stretch though, since it needs to hold the weight of the buttons and the cards firmly.

Cut out the circles of fabric, and then cut one circle in half. Don’t waste too much time trying to get the cuts perfect. You won’t even be able to tell if they are or not once the project is finished!

Step two:

Finish the straight cut edge of your half circle by gluing ribbon to the edge and folding it over.

Step three:

Trace a small circle onto the half circle of fabric. I used a wide mouth mason jar lid to trace the circle for my wreath.It was a perfect size. You can make your wreath bigger or smaller as desired.

Step four:

Stretch the half circle fabric piece into the embroidery hoop for stability. Sew green buttons around the circle that you traced on the fabric. Tie a knot in your string and start under the fabric. Bring the needle up through the button and back down into the fabric.

Repeat this step again so that your button is firmly attached to the fabric.

I used big buttons and small buttons around my wreath for some visual interest, and I used green buttons from both the Contemporary Christmas mix and the Button Bonanza Christmas Mix to vary the colors.

Step five:

Use a few small red buttons for berries in the wreath. Sew them randomly into the green buttons using the red thread.

Step six:

Add a small red ribbon bow to the button wreath. You can sew the bow to the wreath with your red thread, or you can use hot glue to attach it.

Step seven:

Lay your button wreath half circle of fabric over the full circle you cut in step one, and stretch them into the embroidery hoop. This creates the pocket for your cards to go into. Trim any extra pieces of fabric on the back of the hoop. Hang your completed embroidery hoop Christmas card holder on your wall!

You can fit quite a few cards in one hoop, but if you typically get lots and lots of cards from your friends and family, you might want to make a couple of these fun hoops and hang them in a fun arrangement on the wall.

I think I will make two more hoops and put a Christmas tree shape on one, and perhaps some Christmas holly on another. The buttons are such a fun and cute way to add the colorful shapes to the fabric. Do you do any Christmas in July crafts? If Christmas in July isn’t your thing, this fun card holder can be customized to any time of the year! Create a fun button flower shape and hang it on the wall year round to hold other special occasion cards you might receive, or even just to hold your mail!

Christmas in July | Craft an Easy Christmas Tablescape

By Lorrie McCullers on July 26, 2017 in Christmas, Holidays

Hi everybody! It’s Lorrie here from the Buttons Galore and More design team, and today I am here to show you a fast and fun way to craft a Christmas tablescape for your holiday gatherings. This holiday decor project is amazingly easy — the kids could even help out with this one!

Supplies to make a Christmas tablescape:

Buttons Galore “Tree Trimmers” buttons
Buttons Galore “Christmas Sparkle” buttons
Buttons Galore “Christmas” Button Bonanza
ribbon
glue
styrofoam balls
scissors
button shank remover
glass jar or vase

Instructions to make a Christmas tablescape:

To start your Christmas tablescape, wrap a styrofoam ball once with ribbon. Cut and glue the ends of the ribbon. Continue wrapping the styrofoam ball with ribbon until the entire ball is covered.

Once the styrofoam ball is entirely covered in ribbon, glue buttons to the ribbon in a variety of patterns. (Before gluing down shank buttons, use a pair of scissors or a button shank remover to cut the shanks off.)

Repeat the previous steps until you have made enough balls to fill a jar or vase for your Christmas tablescape. To display your balls, fill the bottom of the vase with a mixture of red and green buttons (such as Buttons Galore “Christmas” Button Bonanza, and then add your new ornaments!

This Christmas tablescape project is so quick to make but would add so much to your holiday table, mantel, or coffee table. Of course, if you prefer a more trendy color scheme for your holiday decor, try pairing these buttons with white ribbon and our Contemporary Christmas button mix for a touch of lime green and light pink. It also doesn’t have to be just for Christmas — you could always make the same craft using different ribbon and buttons for various holidays or for every day use!

Make DIY Button Filled Christmas Ornaments with the Kids!

By Katie King on July 21, 2017 in Christmas, Holidays

Hello Everyone! This is Katie from the Buttons Galore & More Design Team and today I have a fun button filled ornament project for you to make if you are loving Christmas in July!

The great thing about this button filled ornament project is that it doesn’t involve any type of special tools or glue. Because of that, these button filled ornaments are super easy to put together and would be the perfect project to make with your kids. In addition, since this project requires no drying time and is only three steps, you can make a ton of these ornaments over the course of a weekend!

To decorate my ornaments, I used a combination of buttons and sequins. With that being said, I decided to stick with a traditional color palette of red, white, and green. So, in this tutorial, you will see buttons and sequins in those particular colors. But if you want to experiment with a more non-traditional palette, you could try using the The Merriest Button Bonanza, the Winter Wonderland Button Bonanza, the Contemporary Christmas Button Basics, or the Winter Flurries Button Basics.

So, to find out how to make your own button filled ornaments, keep reading below!

Supplies

Buttons Galore “Christmas” Button Bonanza
Buttons Galore “Holiday Fun – Holly” 3D Buttons
Buttons Galore “Sugarplum” 3D Buttons
28 Lilac Lane ”Winter Wonderland” Embellishment Bottle
Clear Plastic Fillable Ball Ornament
String or Ribbon
Scissors

Step 1: Take apart the two sides of your clear ornament ball, and clean out both halves. (The reason why we are doing this is to make sure that there is no dust or small particles in your ornament.)

If you are using another type of clear ornament ball, simply take off the top and run it under some water to clean out the inside. But using the type of ball that separates into two halves is best as it lets you put larger items inside the ball.

Step 2: Fill up your ornament with buttons, sequins, seed beads and whatever else floats your boat! In the ornament above, I used the following: “Christmas” Button Bonanza, “Holly” 3D Buttons, “Sugarplum” 3D Buttons (I used the candy canes from the pack), and the 28 Lilac Lane ”Winter Wonderland” Embellishment Bottle.

When doing this step, I recommend filling up only one side of the ornament ball. Filling up only one side of the ornament will make snapping the two halves of the ornament back together much easier.

Step 3: Once your ornament has been filled, gently snap the two halves back together. Then tie on a string or ribbon to the top of the ornament.

Once you are happy with how your ornament looks, you are ready to hang it on the tree!

These button filled ornaments were so easy to make and were so much fun to put together! Creating this project actually got me really excited for Christmas!

While creating this project, I started thinking about how these ornaments would make great gifts for co-workers, family, or friends. If this is something that you are considering, then you could personalize these ornaments even more by adding buttons related to that person’s career or hobby. For example (like shown in the last photo above), if you are giving this ornament to a nurse, you can mix in some buttons from Buttons Galore and More’s “Doctor Doctor” button set.

If you made these Button Filled Ornaments, what color or style of buttons would you use?

Christmas in July | Button DIY Candy Cane Ornaments

By Connie Mercer on July 19, 2017 in Christmas, Holidays

Hi, it’s Connie here with the Buttons Galore & More design team. We are celebrating Christmas in July, with handcrafted ornament ideas to create with the family. Looking for a DIY Christmas ornament that is easy for little hands to make? These DIY candy cane ornaments with big red, green and white buttons are easy for little hands to pick up and glue down.

These DIY Christmas ornaments are fast and are very kid friendly to create!

Instructions:

Create a pattern by drawing a candy cane on chipboard and cutting it out.
Punch a small hole, in the top of the candy cane, and place twine through for the hanger.
Wrap the candy cane with jute string, adhering to the top of the candy cane and the bottom. Adhere big buttons to the wrapped candy cane with a strong wet glue. Let dry. Add embellishments, if desired, to complete the ornaments.

The candy canes are wrapped with jute loosely. Once the big buttons are adhered the jute is nice and secure.

You may be familiar with our color mixes of flat buttons, but did you know that Buttons Galore & More also makes the cutest 3D buttons? Today, I’m using some called the Holiday Fun collection, that include snowmen, Christmas trees, stars, deer, and a cat and dog, just to name a few. They are so fun, just like their name! I snipped the shanks off and added these cute “Holiday Fun” buttons to the candy cane ornaments. Paper holly leaves are tucked in behind the “Holiday Fun” buttons.

These ornaments are great for gift exchanges and teacher gifts. Decorating a gift bag is another way to use these candy cane ornaments!

I’m looking forward to adding these handcrafted candy cane ornaments to my little Christmas tree this year, mixed with some real candy canes. That is sure to make everyone happy!

Supply list:

Buttons Galore & More “Holiday Fun” 3D buttons
Buttons Galore & More “Country Christmas” Button Bonanza
chipboard
heavy jute
twine
clear drying glue
cardstock (to cut holly leaves)

Thanks for stopping by~

Connie Mercer/DT Member

Christmas in July | Easy Button Christmas Ornament

By Aimee Davis on July 17, 2017 in Christmas, Holidays

July has come and that means we are half-way to Christmas! Even though the heat index is out of this world, it’s never too early to start working on Christmas crafts, ornaments and decor. I’ve got an easy button Christmas ornament craft that is simple for even the most beginner seamstress to do. All you need are a few easy-to-find supplies and a cozy spot to sew, and you are ready. This is a super craft for children learning to sew also.

Here’s what you need:

28 Lilac Lane “Holly Jolly” Embellishment Kit
28 Lilac Lane “Yuletide Greetings” Embellishment Bottle
3 inch and 4 inch wooden embroidery hoop
divisible embroidery floss
needle and scissors
scraps of white cotton fabric

Put your cotton fabric scraps inside the hoop and gather up your buttons and sewing supplies.

You can attack this little project a couple of different ways, by planning ahead or by winging it! I prefer to go ahead and lay out all the buttons ahead of time, so I have an idea of how many I will need. Or you can just choose the buttons you want as you go. Either way works!

No matter how you decide to proceed, you do need to sew down the center row first. For the smaller hoop, it works best to make a center line with 4-5 buttons of equal sizes. For the larger hoop, it’s fun to mix and match and make it look a little zig-zag. Use one strand of a corresponding embroidery floss color and sew each button down with at least 2-3 stitches. After you have your center row stitched down, it’s time to start filling in the top and bottom of the hoop.

To finish, cut your white fabric about one inch from the outside of the hoop and hot glue it to the inside of the hoop back. Then you can hide all your stitches by cutting out a piece of scrapbook paper and gluing it to the edge of the hoop back. Use the ribbon from the embellishment kit for hanging your ornament, and find a fun place to display your new ornaments!

Christmas in July- Shadow Box Button Ornaments

By Melony Bradley on July 29, 2013 in Christmas

Christmas in July – let’s make some Shadow Box Button Ornaments!

To make Button Ornaments:

It seems like its never too early to be thinking about Christmas crafting. When I was asked to do a set of Christmas ornaments using Styrofoam and buttons from Buttons Galore and More, I asked if I could use foam core instead. Lately, I have become somewhat of an addict to manipulating the craft knife to cut various shapes. For these ornaments, I challenged myself to cut circular shapes rather than my usual safe square or rectangular shapes.

To make Button OrnamentsFirst I created cardstock circle templates in three different sizes. One for the back, one for the front and one to use to cut a circle in the center of the large circle. I used Elmers Foamboard for this project.

Now for the hard part. Use a very sharp craft knife with and a self healing cutting mat to cut the circles out. First, score lightly along the traced line, then pass the knife back through cutting almost to the other side. Use a third and/or fourth pass to cut the circle all through way through. This is referred to as the “three pass rule” and when used with patience, will result in perfect cuts. If you do end up with stray bits of foam core, use a sanding block or file to smooth the edges.

Trace a circle in the center of the cut circle and cut out with knife. Cut a slightly larger circle to enclose the back of the ornament to create a shadow box effect.

Trim the edges of the circle with scalloped edged scissors.

Paint the pieces of the foam board and cardboard with acrylic paint. I choose coordinating colors of DecoArt’s Americana Acrylics.

Spray the cardboard circle with a sealer and coat with glitter.

Next, assemble the ornament with a strong tacky glue.

For the green and yellow ornament, I formed a tree shape in the center of and used green and red buttons to decorate the edges.

Paint and stamp blank craft shapes with a holiday sentiment and attach it to the front of the foam core.

I hope I have inspired you to try your own Shadow Box Button Ornaments! Choose from an array of inspirational buttons from Buttons Galore and More to come up with your own themes and designs. Start now and you will have plenty of these budget friendly creations ready by the holidays for your tree and to give as gifts.

Live Life Creatively,

Melony

Needlefelted Winter Scene

By Carla Schauer on July 13, 2012 in Christmas, Holidays

It’s Christmas in July with Buttons Galore & More and STYROFOAM Brand Foam! I used my buttons and STYROFOAM Disc to create a holiday needle felting project. Styrofoam is a wonderful base for needle felting, since the wool roving can be felted directly onto the surface, and if the piece is thick enough, no pad is needed. I used a non-traditional color scheme of light blue, raspberry, and lime. This color scheme can go up before Christmas and last through January.

Supplies:

Buttons: Sea Glass, Clear, Wood
Styrofoam Disc, 6×1”
wool roving, light blue
Clover needle felting tool
ric-rac, lime green
cardstock, raspberry
hemp twine, raspberry and dark brown
ribbon, light blue
accent ink, Smooch (Clearsnap)
thread, white
scissors
Beacon Adhesive
heat tool, optional

Instructions:

Needle felt wool roving onto STYROFOAM disc using needle felting tool until entire front is covered. (Note: fibers felt together with motion of felting tool. Be sure to use straight up/down motion to keep needles from breaking.)
Cut lime ricrac into pieces, each smaller than the last. Layer smaller pieces over longer, and glue together.
Use scissors to trim into desired tree shape. Wrap raspberry twine around tree to create “garland”
Thread wood button with dark brown twine. Glue into place as trunk, and glue tree over top of button. Thread clear button with white thread. Draw star on button using Smooch, covering thread. Allow to dry (or use heat tool), and glue to top of tree.
Thread Sea Glass buttons with white thread and glue to roving around tree for “snow”.
Cut cardstock strips to cover sides of STYROFOAM disc and glue into place.
Carefully apply thin layer of glue to raspberry twine and attach between cardstock sides and felted front of disc to create finished look.
Cut length of aqua ribbon and attach to back of disc to form hanging loop.