All Buttoned Up ~ Button Monogram



We've been in our house about a year and a half, and I'm slowly, but surely, putting up the finishing touches in each room. This week I decided to tackle the wall decor for the kids' jack-and-jill bath. 

it's a long and narrow bathroom between their rooms

A few weeks ago I made these embroidery hoop chalkboards--

btw, from a  tooth brushing, flossing & hand washing perspective, they really work!

even my 2 year old looks at them every day and makes sure we don't accidentally skip a step

To keep with the theme, I've decided to use embroidery hoops to decorate the tall, and very blank wall behind the sinks.  

At around $1.50 apiece, embroidery hoops are cost effective, will add a touch of color and whimsy to the bathroom and, if I hang them right, may even look like bubbles (which, hopefully makes it bathroom-appropriate art).

First off, I decided to create monograms for above the towel bar.  They should help with the "which one is my towel?" and "where do I hang up my towel?" type questions that I get every day.

Inspired by this button monogram art, I went to work with a piece of burlap, a handful of buttons & a hot glue gun...

materials used:

printed letter

buttons in assorted sizes

permanent pen

hot glue gun

scissors

material (not shown)

embroidery ring or frame (not shown)

i cut out the font and traced it onto the burlap.  since my buttons are black, i used a black sharpie.

make sure to color-coordinate your pen with your buttons because the lines do show through.

you don't have to use a permanent pen, but it does help make the lines look straight... especially if you're using a block font with round buttons.

for a more free-form, pen-free look, i'd use a soapstone pencil (or other fabric quilting pencil) that erases with a damp cloth.

i used a hot glue gun to glue down the buttons.  if you're feeling extra crafty, you could also stitch them on. i chose the glue so that i could overlap the buttons so that there wouldn't be any "spaces" peeking through.

note that the color of the material does show through the button holes.  i don't mind and feel that it gives the buttons a more 3-d effect, but if i wanted a solid-color letter, i'd color in my monogram before gluing down the buttons.



all done, ready for hanging!

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p.s.  click here to see the finished wall

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