
Crafters know that the thrill of hoarding supplies comes extremely close to the joy of crafting itself. If your button jars are overflowing, it’s time to put a few handfuls to use. Never fear! Our favorite ways to use old buttons will set your creative spirits alight.
Incorporate Them Into a Homemade Greeting Card

Remember when greeting cards used to cost a dollar or two and not the nearly $10 they’re going for today? Put your creative hands to work stamping, cutting, and gluing, and you can keep festive costs low while using up your spare button stash.
Take any card design up a notch with some well-placed buttons, such as adorning Christmas trees as faux ornaments or gluing them to create textured flowers for spring. If it’s the thought that counts, these thoughtful cards sure count a whole lot.
Add a Few to Your Bridal Bouquet

One of the most recognizable bridal moments in pop culture memory is Bella Swan’s vintage-inspired wedding dress from the first Breaking Dawn film. Cascading down the back is a series of cloth-covered buttons, harkening back to a storied bridalwear tradition.
Yet, your wedding dress isn’t the only place these glittering and glamorous buttons can add a beautiful touch. Placing a few matching buttons — whether with your color scheme or the outfit itself — on your bouquet will create a resplendent visual cohesion you and your guests will love.
And the best part? Adding them doesn’t take much time at all.
Recycle Them in a Handmade Scrap Bag

While transforming old jeans or jackets into scrap bags isn’t something new, putting a personal touch with a well-placed button may never have crossed your mind. Trim the pocket, edge the straps, or pop a few on to create a unique pattern.
The point of scrappy crafting is to use what you have in new and unique ways, and a few bold buttons on your clothing scrap bag will fit right in.
Add a Little Pizazz to the Corner of Your Packages

Giving presents or care packages doesn’t mean settling for boring cardboard boxes. Give your gift a little personal pizazz with a few hot-glued buttons. A handful of colorful or seasonal buttons placed in the box’s corner adds a special smile-inducing touch.
A button shank cutter can make any button style glue-ready.
Decorate Your Desk With a DIY Pencil Jar

Recycling doesn’t just look like tossing your old sauce jars into the proper bin. It also looks like reusing old materials in new and exciting ways. Finished off a glass jar of jam and have some cord or yarn lying around?
With a little hot glue, a few buttons, and an afternoon, you can make a new home for some markers, pencils, pens, scissors, and more.
Embellish a Sock Puppet With Button Eyes

If you have kids, summers can be stressful. Thankfully, crafting is one low-cost, time-consuming alternative to expensive daytime camps. Sock puppets are just as fun to play with as they are to craft, with buttons making the best eyes and noses.
Anyone can bring a new puppet friend to life with one old sock, a few buttons, and some thread.
Truss up Your Tree With Button-Adorned Ornaments

Slinging acrylic paint inside of a transparent plastic ornament isn’t the only way to make homemade baubles for your holiday trees. Sewing and stuffing simple shapes is a great way to use up old fabric and buttons without spending a lot on supplies. There’s no limit to what you can make, from hearts to stars and everything in between.
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Put a Y2K Bedazzled Spin on Your Jeans

You couldn’t flip through the pages of a magazine in 2002 without finding at least one bejeweled back pocket or flare pant. With ‘00s fashion back and bigger than ever, now’s the perfect time to bedazzle your jeans with sparkly buttons.
Get Your Crafts Buttoned-Up & Ready to Go

What’s not to love about downsizing your button stash? From prepping your Christmas tree with some buttontastic ornaments to decorating a sustainable scrap bag, these are just some of the ways we like to put our buttons to good use. What can we say? When in doubt, put a button on it!