Creating a Button

Somewhat Simple participated in Craft School Sundays over at Creative Jewish Mom on how to make a button with a text box code below for cutting and pasting here http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2010/02/blogging-101-how-to-make-button.html and if you have ever wanted to create a button with a text box users can use to link back to your blog for any reason this is a good way to get your feet wet.

I decided to create a featured on button for my other blog Unique Unusual or Interesting for those that have been featured can post on their site and created the following using Photobucket and the instructions indicated. 

This is the first time I had used Photobucket for editing and I like the animated lettering option and I also liked the animated mask sticker, although their selection for animated stickers is very limited.  Another drawback is if you don't set the size right it will not always resize correctly and had to start over when it wouldn't resize the completed picture to 200 x 250 and I ended up scraping it and starting all over. 

The color coded instructions over at http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2010/02/blogging-101-how-to-make-button.html make it a world of difference to edit the coding you will need to copy and paste then edit to the location where the photo is at, although you will need to download the code and instructions in order to copy them.

I am not HTML literate and I end up deleting some of the code recommended (specifically the code for 200 x250 as it showed up as text) but it did not affect the functionality of the button.
<a <br /> href="http://uniqueunusualandinterestingart.blogspot.com/" width="250" src="<a href="http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/KMOM14/?action=view&current=black-1.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd88/KMOM14/black-1.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a>"</a>

FELT YO-YO FLOWERS WITH MILK CAP COVERED BUTTON

This was inspired by a tutorial for making felt flowers at the following site:

http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-make-felt-yo-yo-flowers.html

As I wanted my to be more 3-D with a Dr. Suessish cartoon like quality, I added a milk cap fabric colored button for the center.

Items used:

• 2 pieces of felt
• sewing machine or needle and thread
• scissors
• pen
• hot glue gun and glue

You start out by main basic yo-yo by starting with a circle. I used a margarine lid and this circle is little over 5 inches in diameter.

Based close to the edge all the way around and be sure to leave enough thread at the end to be able to pull to gather the stitching - I stitched about 1/2 in from the edge, but for a regular yo-yo you would want to stitch even closer to th edge.

Gather up the stitching and then flatten out to make a circle.

Cut small wedges around the edges about 1/2 inch or so apart.

To make the fabric covered milk cap button use a small glass or can that it about 3 inches around and draw a circle on the felt the same and repeat the first 3 steps above, putting the milk cap in the center and drawing the fabric up around it and then stitch the the bottom shut.

Use a hot glue gun to glue the button to the center of the flower.

Blooming Tote Bag - version

Just because making fabric and felt flowers is addictive and I need something to put them on. All of the flowers that I made on this are put together using hot glue. The frog at the bottom is a scrap left over from another project, as are the artificial flowers.

FABRIC AND FELT FLOWERS

This flower I came up with while playing around with organza and felt.

Stack the two larger pieces on top of each other just slightly off center then center the felt on the top one, then take a needled and thread and hand baste about 1/4 inch from the edge on the felt around the entire edge (sorry the pic did not turn out of this) the pull the thread to scrunch the center of the flower and it will produce the "flower"

This flower is based on flowers by Halie T. at Thttp://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/felt_flowers_2 It is made of three different colors of felt and a the centers are more boxy and a button is used for the center. Instead of sewing the layers, I glued them together with a hot glue gun.

DIY FABRIC BUTTONS FROM SCRAPS & TRASH

I read of the tutorial and history on making your own Dorset Singleton buttons over at Craft /Stylish (the concept dates back to the 1600 and named Singleton after the family that first began making them and Dorset as tthey originated in Dorset, England.)

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/42746/how-to-make-singleton-buttons

For mine I used:

- Plastic ring off the top of a soda bottle

- Pop Can (to make circle template)

- Paper (to draw on to make the template

- Pen

- Scissors

- Scrap of fabric

- Thread

- Needle

- Straight Pins

I made the button using the plastic ring off of a plastic soda bottle (it is the ring that the lid twists off of) as my base.

To make a template of for the fabric to cover the plastic ring, I used a soda can and drew around the perimeter with a pen, then cut out the circle.

Here is a comparison of the template size to the plastic ring.

Pin the template to the fabric then cut to make a fabric circle. Hand baste approximately 1/4 inch away from the edge of the fabric all the way around, then put the plastic ring in the center the pulled the thread (like you do when you are making a fabric yo-yo).

Pull the fabric taut then hand stitch to secure the fabric.

Turn the button over and hand stitch close to the edge of the plastic all the way around the perimter to produce the above button.

FUN FABRIC FLOWER FACINATOR MADE WITH DIY DORSET SINGLETON BUTTON

I had originally planned to make something more elaborate, but working full time and my ex still recovering from surgery and staying with us until he recouperates, I ran out of time. This quick and simple last minute project is a melding of old ideas with new technology and will go with a red dress that I have that has obnoxiously large cheery red flowers on it. The tutorial for the button in the center is based on the following, except I used a plastic ring off of a soda bottle instead of a plastic ring. http://www.craftstylish.com/item/42746/how-to-make-singleton-buttons I made the button using the plastic ring off of a plastic soda bottle and then cut a yellow scrap of fabric in a circle and hand stitched around the edges the pulled the string (like you do when you are making a fabric yo-yo) and then hand stitched just inside the inner edge all the way around the inside of the button then stitch up the button's back. To make the facinator flower, I used a scrap of red glitter nylon net about 6-8 inches wide and folded it into 8 inch squares, then sewed the button on the middle, then cut the petal into the flower, then I hand stithced the button to the fabric. I then used a hot glue gun to hot gule the flower to a hair clip.