I recently checked out a new crafty store with a friend and ended up sorting through some beautiful vintage buttons. They had a ‘fill a bag’ special, so I ended up with an assortment of vintage, antique and sparkly bits and pieces. Did I have a plan on what to do with them? Mostly nope. Except when it came to this one:
How gorgeous is this? There were four of these vintage buttons which looked to have abalone stone on them. I just loved them on sight. My friend added one to her bag and I added the remaining three to mine. I was only planning to buy one, but then I felt kind of guilty leaving the stragglers behind.
And it was a good thing too, because somewhere between purchasing her buttons and getting into her car, my friend’s buttons disappeared!
Luckily mine made their way home with me, so I decided that I’d not only make myself a necklace from one of the buttons… I’d make one for my friend too.
Each button had four little holes for securing them:
So I threaded some elastic string through a hole, knotted it twice and started adding beads. When I ransacked my bead drawer, my green beads and metallic beads were calling to me. So I made two similar versions of a necklace – one with just a few metallic beads near the button, and the other which alternated gold and green beads in sets of 5.
Here’s what the back looks like with the elastic secured:
I love how they both turned out and I gave my friend first pick of which one she’d like to keep. She chose the necklace on the right, so the one on the left is mine:
I really enjoyed upcycling a vintage button to make a unique piece of jewelry that will live on. I think these will look great alone, as well as layered with a metallic chain necklace.
That’s such a good idea! Somewhere, I have an old necklace with this stone. It is on a broken chain. Maybe I will revive it. I like the idea of taking something old, and giving it another life. Thanks.