If you've ever found yourself with a pile of painted paper scraps, a stack of cereal boxes you couldn't bring yourself to throw away, and absolutely no idea what to do with either — this tutorial is going to ruin you in the best possible way. I made 69 paper buttons over two days, dreamed about them, and I'm not even sorry. These oversized, jumbo, thoroughly addictive paper button embellishments are made almost entirely from scrap materials, they require no die-cut machine, and they come out looking like something you'd find in a curated craft shop.
What we cover
This tutorial covers making large, oversized paper button embellishments from layered cardstock and cereal-box cardboard — including how to build up layers, cut clean circles, finish the edges, and punch or set holes. We also go through a wide range of surface treatments and materials: painted papers, fabric, music pages, map pages, coloring book pages, photo paper with alcohol ink effects, texture paste, foil, felt, glitter, stamping, and stickers. By the end you'll have a complete method you can run as a little production line, with as many variations as you have scraps.
What you'll learn
How to build a multi-layer paper button from scratch, including:
- Using cereal-box cardboard or any available cardstock as the structural core (one or two layers depending on how thick you want it)
- Applying a decorative top layer with the circle already cut to shape
- Adding a finished backing layer so both sides look intentional — no raw cardboard showing
Why you only need to cut the top layer perfectly — the decorative circle on top guides the scissors when you trim all the layers together, so you only worry about one clean shape and the rest follows.
How to glue layers so nothing lifts or peels, including:
- Using a glue stick first, then a wet glue over the top to push adhesive all the way to the edges
- Pressing the assembled layers under a heavy book for 10–20 minutes while the glue sets
- Using wide carpet-style double-sided tape as a quick alternative when you want to skip the drying wait
How to finish edges cleanly, including:
- Inking edges with a distress tool or Sharpie for a tidy, finished look that also hides minor irregularities
- Applying gold paint with a fingertip (or a makeup sponge) for a decorative metallic edge
- Filing rough or slightly uneven edges with a nail file or sanding paper before sealing
How to punch and set holes, including:
- Poking small holes with an awl or needle — perfectly fine for thin twine or thread
- Using a crocodile punch tool for larger, cleaner holes
- Setting eyelets (or faking the look with a Sharpie coloring the inside of the hole when you'd rather save your eyelets)
- Using white-out or a Sharpie to mark hole positions on dark or hard-to-see materials
How to run a batch production process — while one button is drying under the book, you're cutting the next one, and the one after that. This is how 69 buttons happen in two days without it feeling overwhelming.
Surface treatments and material variations, including:
- Painted scrap papers — brush-cleaning pages, paint study pages, anything with color on it
- Fabric backed with double-sided tape (or book cloth made from the bookbinding cloth method)
- Music pages, map pages, book pages, and scrapbook paper
- Coloring book pages — works especially well when the printed design lands nicely in a circle
- Photo paper with alcohol ink backgrounds for a glazed, shiny surface
- Texture paste applied before cutting the circle out, for raised texture with clean edges
- Foil tape (the kind from hardware shops) with alcohol ink applied for colorful metallic buttons
- Rubber and felt circles — raid your coasters or op-shop finds
- Stamped paper and glitter-covered surfaces
- Circular stickers as a ready-made top layer that skips the initial gluing step
- Foiling with foil glue — beautiful but time-intensive, better suited to one or two statement buttons
- Layered circles stacked on top of each other before setting the holes
How shape doesn't have to mean circle — any shape with two holes punched through it becomes a button. Butterflies, leaves, flowers, birds — existing embellishments from your stash are already halfway there.
Tips & gotchas
Get the glue all the way to the very edge — every time. This is the thing that separates a button that holds together for years from one that starts peeling at the corners after a week. I use a glue stick first for coverage, then go over it with a wet glue and literally smoosh the layers together so you can see glue seeping out at the sides. If it's seeping out, you know the edges are covered. I'd much rather clean up a little excess glue than deal with lifting layers.
Put it under a book. Ten to twenty minutes is usually enough depending on your glue, but don't skip this step — especially with larger buttons where the layers are more prone to warping or bubbling as they dry.
If you're using double-sided tape, your scissors will get sticky. Clean them with eucalyptus oil or tea tree oil on a tissue — it really does dissolve the gummy residue. For the crocodile punch, I saturated a tissue with the oil and worked it into the mechanism as best I could.
Apply texture paste before you cut the circle, not after. If you apply it to a finished button, you'll struggle to get the edges looking clean. Do it to the flat sheet first, let it dry, then cut.
The more layers of cardboard you stack up, the harder the final cut is going to be. Two layers of cereal-box cardboard is usually plenty for a sturdy result. Beyond that, scissors start to work against you.
Marking hole positions on dark materials is genuinely tricky. White-out (correction fluid) or a white Sharpie gives you something to aim for without losing the mark against a dark background. For lighter materials, a regular pencil mark is fine.
Slightly uneven hole spacing looks almost entirely fine once you run twine or thread through — the lacing draws the eye and the asymmetry disappears. I say this having made sixty-nine buttons with imperfect holes in almost all of them.
Imperfect circles are not a problem. The edge inking — whatever method you use — tidies up minor wobbles in the cut. And honestly, a slightly irregular shape can look more handmade in the best way.
Same painted paper, two different hole configurations, one with thread, one without — they read as a series rather than identical copies. When you've got twenty or thirty made from related papers, the possibilities for using them in junk journals, mixed media pages, and bound books really open up. The next video in this series goes into exactly that — what to actually do with a pile of 69 (or more) paper buttons once you have them.
