Silver Button Blingy Decor Ball

I posted this several months ago when I was a blog newby, so I'm posting it again for my new friends. This is the little display/vignette at the end of the counter when you come into the house from our deck. This is our buffet counter when the fam is here and the rest of time it is Stacking Central cuz it's so convenient. A red glass vase with twisty twigs, berries, flowers and dried eucalyptus, two milk glass pieces and yes, that's a chunky tequila bottle that I've embellished and filled with glass marbles.

So I've been trying to keep this counter cleaned off except for this little bit of decor and it's okay and pretty, but.......the silver ball in the milk glass urn just needed a little something, you know? It looked too much like an oversize plastic Christmas ball, which is exactly what it is. I decided to just do something fun and a little over the top. You know when you go to someone's house and you see a decor item that just draws you and you want to pick it up and handle it and you say, "What is it? This is so cool!" That's what I was shooting for.


I hied me away to my craft room and my store of silverish buttons. I opted for silver to match the ball and glued my first button on. Then it occurred to me that the ball was very slick and so were the buttons, so I roughed up the ball with some sandpaper to give the surface some tooth for the hot glue to grip.


I also pulled out some glass half marbles and some scrapbook gems to fill in any gaps.
















And I snipped the hasp thingies off the back of the buttons with my wire cutters. I don't have to show you how to do that, do I? Good.






So then it was me and the buttons and the ball and my glue gun. Put on a little smooth jazz on the CD player, some diet pop close at hand and I went to town. I threw in a few silvery stars and snowflakes and some beads......

Oooh, I like it. I like it alot! I used the little gems to fill in the spaces and some bottle caps for a bit of rustic charm and I had a good time! Ignore the hot glue strings, I dealt with them later. The hubs poked his head in and said it looked steampunky. Is that a word? I agree. It does look kind of steampunkerish.


And a couple hours later and a bit of scrubbing with a stiff toothbrush to take off the glue webs and I have this.....


So now comes the fun part, trying it out in different places in the house and seeing how it looks.



In the living room on the shelf right by my reading chair?



On the shelf in the hall bathroom, right below the mirror?



Or right there where it started, at the end of the counter when you come in the door? Yeah. That's the place. I love the way this came out! Don't you want to pick it up and turn it over and check it out? So do I! ; 0 )

Posting this over at the Fine Craft Guild linky party. She asked for a post with lots of good directions and this definitely qualifies!!