Make your own four-season button tree!
It’s easy to turn assorted buttons into beautiful artwork that celebrates the four seasons— simply paint some tree branches on a few craft-store canvasses, then glue on the buttons as leaves! “This project just seems to make everyone’s heart sing,” says Amanda Formaro of Craftsbyamanda.com. “That makes me so happy!”
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
4 canvasses (Amanda’s were 14"x18" each)
Decoart Americana acrylic ® ® paint: for green canvas—sour Apple, Bright Green; for blue canvas—whispering Turquoise, Indian Turquoise; for yellow canvas—moon Yellow, Marigold; for pink canvas— Royal Fuschia, Spice Pink; for trunk/branches—traditional Burnt Umber; For highlight dots—white.
Tacky glue (Amanda uses Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Glue)
Assorted buttons (shades of green, white, pink, red, orange, yellow and blue)
Clear spray acrylic sealer, matte finish
Command™ Picture Hanging Strips
1 Paint canvasses. For an interesting ombre effect, Amanda painted one canvas in shades of green, the others in shades of yellows, pinks and blues. (Novice painter? Amanda says it’s okay to use a single shade of each color instead.) Let dry.
2 Practice drawing the shape of your tree (trunk and branches) on a piece of scrap paper, using Amanda’s sketch (below) as a guide. Then lay canvasses together on a flat surface and use a pencil to draw the tree shape onto the painted canvases using your paper sketch as a guide. 3Paint
the entire tree with the Burnt Umber color. Let dry. Apply a second coat. Let dry.
4 Glue the assorted buttons to the canvases in clusters of colors that match the four background colors as shown in photo. Amanda suggests starting with the larger buttons, then filling in with the smaller ones.
5 Use a toothpick dipped in the white paint to add tiny highlight dots around each of the clusters of buttons. Let dry completely (overnight). Spray with sealer to protect finish. Hang with Command strips.