Ever since I was a little girl, I preferred destruction to construction. My dad used to bring home old, random pieces of equipment that he picked up on various curbs as he drove around to job sites. He would bring them specifically for us to take apart. My favorite was an old typewriter with elegant white-on-black keys – with our screwdrivers and other tools, it didn’t take long for us to completely dismantle it.
So it’s not much of a surprise to me that I like to incorporate distressed, rough edges into my scrapbooking. I am definitely not a Martha Stewart of designer. Clean edges need to be ripped, embellishments crumpled and buttons broken.
Welcome to my SMASHING BUTTONS tutorial!
First, you need a hammer (metal, not anything that is supposed to dampen sound, they just won’t work – too much rebound), some buttons (do you think I have enough?) and a Ziploc or other closeable baggie.
The buttons that work best for breaking are the ones with a lip and a larger inner surface. Buttons without a lip tend to be more structurally sound, but obviously your mileage may vary.
Insert buttons into bag, seal bag, raise hammer and SMASH!!!
It’s quite cathartic, honestly, especially if you’re angry at something that is out of your control!
So after you’re done smashing, you’ll be left with some sizeable pieces, some medium pieces and some crumbs, or button dust. Button dust is kind of what gets left in the corner of the bag, and can be used similarly to glitter.
I really like to use Button Bits (I’m so trademarking that!) as a replacement for traditional embellishments. They can be used to cover an area, as in the Be Mine card, or in place of a tag or other sort of ribboned thing as in the Feb 14 card.
I also used them to decorate the entire side of this little notepad!
You can also use them as a feature, as on the True Love layout, wrapping them with ribbon for a funky look.
Overall, I just like to be different and use button in a different way, because I have SO MANY of them. I hope you enjoy some cathartic hammering!
6 comments:
LOVE this idea! I'm going to give that a go, for sure!!! TFS!
Ok...never would have thought of this! I am soooo going to give it a try!
Great ideas Elly :)
Great idea! You sure have a LOT of buttons! :D
It looks like Ima bout to get my smash on .. that is a good idea .. never ever would have thought of that .. let me wait until I had a bad day though .. then I would not think about it too much ..
Never thought of smashing my "precious" buttons - and I must say I never use them anyway... so why not get a hammer!!!! I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! And I think the broken buttons look way better than the whole ones... thanks Elly! I definitely will try this!!! Looking forward to it even!
Post a Comment