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Valentine’s Vintage Button Craft Idea

There’s something uniquely charming about vintage buttons – each one tells a story, carries a memory, or hints at a bygone era. This Valentine’s Day, let’s transform these tiny treasures into a stunning piece of art that captures both heart and history.

Valentine's vintage button craft on a wood canvas.

Why You’ll Love This Vintage Button Craft

Creating art with vintage buttons offers a special kind of satisfaction that goes beyond typical crafting. Each button you select brings its own character to your piece, making every creation truly one-of-a-kind. This project is wonderfully adaptable to your skill level and available materials – you can make it as simple or intricate as you desire.

The beauty of working with vintage buttons lies in their imperfections. Those slight variations in color, size, and wear add depth and personality to your finished piece. Plus, this craft provides a wonderful opportunity to repurpose family heirlooms or thrifted finds into meaningful artwork that can be displayed and cherished for years to come.

Close up of a valentine's vintage button craft.

Can I Use Other Designs for This Craft?

While our focus today is on creating Valentine’s-themed art, the possibilities for vintage button crafts are nearly endless. These timeless treasures can be arranged into various designs that suit any season or occasion:

Consider creating a family tree where each branch features buttons from different relatives’ collections. Transform your buttons into blooming flower gardens for spring decor, or arrange them into festive holiday wreaths. Monograms made from vintage buttons add a personal touch to any space, while abstract designs can create stunning modern art pieces.

Join our crafting community to find more DIYs and upcycled craft ideas. It feels good to repurpose and upcycle!

Materials Needed

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Canvas and wood blocks.

How to Make a Valentine’s Vintage Button Craft

I shared the tutorial for this pretty valentine’s vintage button craft on a Facebook live which you can watch here or if you prefer the photo tutorial, continue reading below.

For the Crackle Effect

To start, carefully remove the canvas from around the wood frame.

Mix equal parts brown acrylic paint with water in a small container and paint your wooden frame and wooden block. Set aside to dry.

Painting the wood frame brown.

Paint your canvas with a red base color. Let dry completely.

Painting the canvas red.

Next, paint a generous coat of school glue onto the canvas. Let dry until TACKY (the glue needs to still be wet for the paint crackle finish to form).

While the glue is still tacky, brush the canvas over with white paint.

Adding white paint over the glue.

Allow the paint to air dry, or use an air gun to speed up the drying.

Drying the paint to create a crackle effect.

Once dry, hot glue the frame over top of the canvas and cut any excess canvas hanging from the sides.

Gluing the wood frame over the canvas.

Adding Vintage Buttons

Draw a heart shape onto the canvas and hot glue buttons onto the outline.

Hot gluing vintage buttons onto a canvas.

Continue gluing with buttons until the heart is filled.

Hot gluing vintage buttons.

Use a wood block to write the word “love” and glue it underneath the heart.

Finally, add embellishments like ribbon or greenery to the top of the frame.

Valentine's vintage button craft on a wood canvas.

Vintage Buttons Make This Special

Working with vintage buttons is more than just a craft project – it’s a way to connect with history while creating something new and beautiful. Each button carries its own story, and when combined into your Valentine’s Day creation, they weave together to tell a new tale of creativity and love.

Whether you’re making this as a gift, a family keepsake, or a decorative piece for your own home, remember that the irregularities and uniqueness of vintage buttons are what make this craft so special. Don’t strive for perfection – embrace the character that comes with using these time-worn treasures.

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Collage with text overlay showing how to make a vintage button craft for valentines.

Valentine’s Vintage Button Craft

Jane and Sonja
Use vintage buttons to create a stunning piece of art that captures both heart and history.
No ratings yet

Materials
  

  • Vintage Buttons or jewellery
  • Canvas
  • School Glue
  • Wood Blocks
  • Paint in Red, White, Brown
  • Paintbrushes
  • Paint pen
  • Hot glue

Instructions
 

For the Crackle Effect

  • To start, carefully remove the canvas from around the wood frame.
  • Paint your wooden frame and wooden block brown. Set aside to dry.
  • Paint your canvas with a red base color. Let dry completely.
  • Next, paint a generous coat of school glue onto the canvas. Let dry until TACKY.
  • While the glue is still tacky, brush the canvas over with white paint.
  • Allow the paint to air dry, or use an air gun to speed up the drying.
  • Once dry, hot glue the frame over top of the canvas.

Adding Vintage Buttons

  • Draw a heart shape onto the canvas and hot glue buttons onto the outline.
  • Continue gluing with buttons until the heart is filled.
  • Use a wood block to write the word “love” and glue it underneath the heart.
  • Finally, add embellishments like ribbon or greenery to the top of the frame.
Like this craft? Leave some stars!& mention @SustainMyCraftHabit or tag #sustainmycrafthabit on Instagram!
Tutorial Rating




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Barbara

Tuesday 11th of February 2025

Wait… did you glue the frame face down onto the canvas, or are the corner staples supposed to be visible?

Jane and Sonja

Thursday 13th of February 2025

Each frame is a little different, so I will use the nicer sides. This one unfortunately had the staples on the same side as the side with the nicer grooves. The frame under this canvas was much nicer: https://sustainmycrafthabit.com/reverse-canvas-craft-with-dried-lavender/

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