Use flat nose pliers to open the jump ring by moving one side of the ring away from you or toward you. Do not pull the sides apart.
Add a jump ring to the hoop on the earring wire. Close the jump ring in the same manner as how you opened it, lining up the two ends together. Use a back and forth motion to adjust and line up the ends. Add two more so that you have three individual jump rings hanging from the earring wire.
As a beginner, I found it easier to add the buttons to their individual jump rings first and get those all set up. You can certainly combine this step with the next one so you are only opening and closing the jump ring once instead of twice.
Open a jump ring and add a one or two beads and a button. Close the jump ring. Repeat for all the buttons.
Start adding the jump rings that have the buttons on them to the earring with the jump ring trio. Add two buttons to the bottom jump ring.
Add the remaining buttons, one on each side of the middle jump ring, and one on each side of the top jump ring.