Great Big Button Tree Art

780 buttons. That’s right. I counted them. That’s how many buttons I used to create this 4 foot wide, 3 foot high canvas. Back in 2012, I created this smaller button tree and published it here on this blog. That one was much smaller and I hung it at the end on the hallway so I could see it everyday, I loved it that much!

I want to start by saying that for years and years I created projects and wrote tutorials on this blog. And all those tutorials are still here.

Finding Joy in My Art

However, I’m finding new joy in creating lately so I haven’t been posting what I make. I hope to change that, starting with this tree, but they won’t be the detailed tutorials you remember. I’ll tell you what I did and how I feel about it, and my hope is that it will inspire you to create as well.

I actually made this piece of art in March of 2024. It’s been on my wall for 2 years, next to a painting that my husband did. We love to create in this house, but my recipe blog takes up so much of my time that I haven’t been able to post any art.

We are lucky enough to have a large attic space above our garage. It mostly serves as a painting and sculpting area for my husband, but I used it to spray paint the background of my canvas. As you can see, a respirator is a good idea for something like this.

When it dried, I brought it inside to add the tree outline. I basically free handed the design and then just drew it with pencil right onto the canvas.

I just used a basic brown acrylic paint for the tree. It’s meant to be more silhouette-ish rather than shaded and highlighted. I changed my mind about that later and did do a LITTLE shading and highlighting. After I glued all the buttons on, I gave it some flicks of a toothbrush with white and black paint for effect.

As you can see, it’s pretty big! Hence 780 buttons! I hope you like it. It’s often a conversation piece whenever someone new comes into our home. It was a fun project to do!

Supplies etc

• Buttons – I’ve bought buttons on Amazon, from craft stores, thrift stores, and flea markets. Anywhere I can find them. Just before creating this tree, I scored a couple of good sized bags from an estate sale. These are some of the buttons I bought from Amazon – these and these.
• Paint – I used spray paint for the background because it’s so much faster than brushing something this large. For the tree itself I used Americana acrylic.
• Glue – I actually used Aleene’s Tacky Glue to add the buttons. It works surprisingly well and isn’t gooey and messy like E6000.
• Canvas – I will be completely honest, I don’t remember where we got these big canvases! We bought 4 of them so we would each have two large projects to create. This is sized 48″ wide x 36″ high.
• Easel – We have a couple of these pretty cool easels that are great for all sized projects, especially big ones!
• Respirator – If you’re spray painting in an area that isn’t the outdoors, it’s a good idea to wear a respirator. Get some filters too.

Why I Love This Project

I mentioned that I had the smaller button tree hanging at the end of my hallway years ago. It went kind of viral on Facebook at the time and several people wanted to buy it. If you know anything about me, then you know I don’t really sell my art. I make it for me or friends or family. I usually give my stuff away if and when I get tired of it.

Well, one woman in particular emailed me multiple times. She really wasn’t taking no for an answer. So I caved. I packaged it up and sent it off to Canada. I regretted it every day after. I really loved that painting and don’t know why I sold it. So all those years later, making this super sized version made my heart happy. I hope it makes you smile as well.

Until next time! 🎨