How-To Tuesday: Make Button Stamps

Happy How-To Tuesday!  My parents are coming into town today and I am so so excited to see them. My dad hasn't been out to Connecticut since I moved here two years ago and I'm excited to see how my mom has progressed with her speech... it's always so hard to tell over the phone.

Today's How-To was inspired by the one and only Martha (of course) to make button stamps. The best part about this craft is that it is FREE and very very kid friendly; a perfect craft to keep little ones entertained on a summery day.

Materials:
Old sewing or crafting buttons. Pick the ones with the neatest shapes!
Wine corks in your stash
Glue dots or any other strong adhesive
Inks and Papers for stamping

Step 1, find some neat buttons

Step 1: find some old wine corks

Step 1 - This is the easiest step but will probably take you the longest. I spent so much time rummaging through my buttons and making sure to pick only the plastic wine corks I don't care about. I'm not a sewer, so I'm sure you'll find much more exciting buttons than I! Did you notice the writing on the ends of my corks? If the wine or champagne was enjoyed on a certain occasion, I write the event and date on it with a sharpie. Cute huh? (The ones you can see in the left corner say 'Turkey Day' 'Parents 1st Visit' and there is one peeking out that says 'He Proposed!' aww)

Step 2: Glue em

Step 2 - Adhere the boring side of your button to the end of your cork. I used glue dots because they stuck very well and then I didn't have to wait any time for glue to dry.

You're finished!

Did you see that? No more steps! You're finished! So (sew?) easy right? I doubled up the stamp capacity by putting a button on each end of the cork. 3 corks equals 6 stamps!

Button Stamps

 This is the row of paper I stamped with my buttons. Tips for stamping: since the button is a hard plastic, try stamping with a piece of fabric or folded paper towel under your paper. By gently rocking your inked up stamp you should get full coverage.

It was actually pretty cool to see the shapes that I ended up getting once the button got stamped... some were what I expected and some weren't! Oh the joys and surprises of crafting :)

Have fun! And try this one with the kiddos!


<3 RWK