K is for Kaylee

I had seen these button monogram letters all over Pinterest and thought they looked really sharp, and fairly easy to make, a good combination in a craft project ;o) I used the font Headline News and made my letter size 600. I knew I would be using an 8"x10" frame so I then adjusted the dimensions of my letter to 7"x8.5" in my Silhouette program. Pick a font you like and then play around with the sizes to get one that fits with your frame. I cut out my letter using the Silhouette and then traced it using a pencil onto an 8"x10" piece of white cardstock. I bought a bag of bright buttons at Wal-Mart but any and all buttons will work. I used my American Crafts adhesive runner to apply adhesive to the back of the buttons. I entirely filled the inside of the letter with buttons, starting with the largest ones. You may want to overlap your pencil marks to save yourself erasing later. I had bought some jeweled thumbtacks and some small, self-adhesive pearl gemstones at the Dollar Store. I already had the flower brads. I used all of these to fill in any and all spaces left on the bottom row. For my top row of buttons, brads and tacks I used a glue gun. I also added a layer of cardboard behind my cardstock to push my brads and tacks into. I erased my pencil lines as I went along on my top row. I removed the glass from my frame and added my cardstock/cardboard monogrammed button letter K. LOVE!
My lessons learned: My kingdom for an adhesive that works (my battle continues)! A glue gun is not ideal for sticking plastic buttons to plastic buttons, especially where they only overlap a very small amount. If you find something better that works for you, go for it! You should also just plan on making your project 2 layers of buttons. I tried to fill in all the small spaces on the bottom row with other small buttons when one big one on top was a much better idea. And trace your letter lightly, erasing in between small spaces is not easy. Another option to consider would be to cut your letter out of colored paper, adhere that to the cardstock, and then cover it with buttons. This would save you seeing any white spaces. I think foamcore would be a much better choice instead of cardstock and cardboard if you are planning on using brads or tacks as I did. I hope my ideas/suggestions help, and get yourself a frame or shadowbox and make your own personalized piece of artwork!