» posted on Monday, November 28th, 2011 at 12:46 pm by ABM

When the weather outside is frightful, button ornaments are delightful!

Decorating the Christmas tree is a time-honored and much-beloved by tradition by countless families across America and throughout the world. It is a wonderful experience to share with the entire family and brightens up houses for the entire month of December.

And guess what: we’ve got a way to make an already wonderful experience even better!

It’s true.

We suggest a slight alteration to your ornament strategy this year, but it’s not something that you can just run out to the store and buy – what would be the fun in that? Nope, we suggest making at least one but perhaps more of your own ornaments this year, and there is no better way to do just that than by making button ornaments!

What exactly is a button ornament? It’s a button that you hang on your Christmas tree as an ornament. (Congratulations! As your Christmas present this year, we’ve decided to give you the gift of the obvious.) Actually, button ornaments are such much more than just ornaments to be displayed only at Christmas time. They are versatile decorations that you can hang on your tree during the Yuletide season and then repurpose for other decorative uses during other times of the year.

Just look how pretty and festive button ornaments look on a tree:

How do you make them? Let’s discuss the details.

The easiest way to make a button ornament is to use one of our 1.5” Necklace Kits or the new 2.25” Chunky Necklace Kits. You can then either use a standard hook, ribbon, or thread to hang it from the tree.

You can also take the pin out of a pinback button and push a mounted eyelet through the back of the buttonhole. Make a button as usual then attach a jump ring to the mounted eyelet. Then thread a hook or ribbon through the eyelet to make a nice custom ornament.

You can make a double sided photo button by gluing some ribbon in-between two flat back buttons. These are available in a variety of sizes from the tiny 1” button all the way up to the extra large 3.5” buttons. You can send them to friends and family as gifts or simply put them on your tree to remember special family occasions.

Want to mix and match several designs? Why not use a Versaback to show off the season’s celebrations? All you have to do is snap a Versaback into the back of a collet style button. You can string them around a tree or use a keychain versaback option as stocking stuffers.

And finally, you can use bulldog clips. Pull the adhesive label off the back of the bulldog clip and apply it to the back of a button. Then clip the button onto branches.

Whew. Okay, let’s catch our breath. Any questions? (The comment section is a great place to pose them.)

The great thing about all of these different methods of turning a button into a button ornament is that they are all done after the button is created, meaning you still have a limitless horizon of possible ideas for what to put on your button. Family photos, Christmas-themed photos, abstract designs, etc; everything is fair game. Then all you have to decide is how you want to hang it from the tree and marvel at how you made an already great tradition just a little bit better.