If you've got a button — or a scrap of cereal box and five minutes to make one — this tutorial is for you. I show how to turn small real buttons, large DIY paper buttons, round ones, and square ones into tiny bound journals and booklet charms, using nothing but paper scraps, ribbon, embroidery floss, and a little glue. The whole idea came from watching artist Aisha Khan do a version of this, and I immediately had to make one, then a bigger one, then a whole collection.
What we cover
Three scales of button journal, from micro to oversized: small round and square button booklets made from paper scraps, a large DIY circular button journal with a ribbon closure, and a square button journal with mitered corners and eyelet holes. Along the way I cover binding, closure mechanics, how to find dead center on a square button, and a few honest notes about what makes circle-cutting harder than it looks.
What you'll learn
How to make a micro button booklet from paper scraps, including:
- Tracing around a real button and leaving a small spine intact before cutting
- Cutting a clean circle by hand — keeping your thumb close to the blade and moving it toward the edge as you go
- Filing down uneven edges if you want a tidier finish
- Inking the edges to conceal imperfections before the button goes on top
How to bind a small booklet with a pamphlet stitch — either two holes or three depending on how wide the spine is, using embroidery floss or gold thread, finishing with a double knot
How to thread ribbon or thread through button holes and secure it, including:
- Using double-sided tape to hold ribbon tight while positioning
- Adding glue over the tape as a second layer — double-sided tape alone won't hold long term
- Bringing the ribbon through the binding before gluing everything down (much easier than trying to do it after the button is glued in place)
How to make a large oversized DIY circular button from cereal box and scrapbook paper, including:
- Backing the circle with chipboard or cereal box for rigidity
- Adding eyelets (and how to enlarge holes when your eyelets don't quite fit)
- Using a thick Sharpie to accentuate button holes if you don't have eyelets
How to assemble a large circular button journal with a ribbon closure, including:
- Threading decorative ribbon through two of the four holes
- Threading closure ribbon through the remaining two holes with enough length to wrap around
- Cutting a second circle for the back to cover and secure the ribbon ends neatly
How to make a square button from chipboard and scrapbook paper, including:
- Wrapping the edges with mitered corners for a clean finish
- Finding dead center by drawing diagonals from corner to corner and marking where they cross
- Measuring out from center to place holes symmetrically
- Reorienting the hole layout depending on whether the closure runs horizontally or vertically
Why square buttons are easier to work with than round ones — you can use an X-Acto knife to cut the pages cleanly, the booklet can be thicker, and you never have to wrestle a circle by hand
How to turn a small button booklet into a wearable charm, including:
- Adding a jump ring through the binding
- Attaching beads or small charms to the binding threads
- Finishing with a single knot instead of a bow so the booklet opens and closes easily
How paper choice affects the button effect — busy, patterned scrapbook paper makes it harder to read as a button at a glance, while plain or lightly textured paper makes the button shape and holes read clearly. Neither is wrong; it just depends on the look you're after.
Tips & gotchas
The single most useful thing I can tell you before you start: square buttons are easier in every way. Easier to cut, easier to make thick, easier to cut precisely with an X-Acto knife. Round buttons are charming but cutting a circle by hand — especially a thick booklet — tests your patience. Give yourself permission to be imperfect, or file the edges down and ink over them.
When cutting circles, keep your thumb very close to where the blade is and keep moving it toward the cutting edge as you go. This holds everything in place. If the circle comes out slightly uneven, a quick pass with a nail file smooths it out before inking.
For the ribbon: always bring it through the binding before you glue the button cover down. It's possible to do it after — I've done it — but it's fiddly and unnecessary. One small habit that saves a lot of frustration.
Don't rely on double-sided tape alone to hold your ribbon in place long term. Tape it down first to get the tension right, then go back and slather glue over the top of it. The tape is for positioning; the glue is for holding.
If you're making a four-hole button and want the holes placed symmetrically, draw diagonals from corner to corner on your chipboard square and mark where they cross. That gives you true center, and you can measure out from there in any direction. For a two-hole closure layout, the holes need to run horizontally so the ribbon wraps around the journal correctly — it's easy to accidentally punch them in the wrong orientation.
No eyelets? A thick Sharpie drawn around each hole works as a reasonable substitute. It gives the hole definition and reads as a button detail, especially on busier paper.
On that note: the busier the paper, the less the button shape registers. That's not a problem if you want something that reads as a little journal first, but if the button quality is the point — especially for charms — simpler paper shows it off better.
The small booklets become charms, earrings, or necklace pendants with a jump ring and a few beads. The large round journals sit beautifully as closures on bigger junk journals — there's a separate video in the library showing exactly that. And the square version, with its clean X-Acto-cut pages and mitered corners, works as a proper mini journal rather than just a decorative piece. It's one of those projects that's genuinely quick to make once you've done it once, and it uses up the tiniest scraps of paper — the strips and odd corners that are too small for anything else.
