Making custom buttons pins is a great project for any type of crafter. Whether you’re a novice or you have your own booth of pins at a mall, button pins are relatively simple to assemble. The materials are also easy and affordable to source, but first you need inspiration. Follow any of these 10 tutorials for a fun activity at a kid’s birthday or as a personal project to make special gifts for your friends.
Emoji Lapel Pins
If you’re good at drawing, these emoji lapel pins are great for bringing back the classic emojis and displaying them on your bag or shirt. They require a few supplies, but all of them are reusable for tons of future projects.
What you’ll need:
- Shrink Film
- Sharpie
- Sand Paper (fine grit)
- Craft paint
- Hot Glue Gun
- Paint Brush
- Acrylic Sealer or Decoupage
- Pin Backers
Use Stickers To Make Pins
Purchasing pins from your favorite show or movie can be expensive, with many of these licensed products costing up to $30.00 per pin! You can make your own pins at a fraction of the cost by using stickers and a few simple materials.
What you’ll need:
- Stickers
- Clear Resin
- Craft Paint
- Pin backs
DIY Woodland Creature Pins
With a little bit of clay, you can make these cute forest creature pins. Start off with these simple silhouettes to get the hang of it, and then get creative with other animals. No oven required!
What you’ll need:
- White clay (air drying)
- Clay Knife
- Rolling pin
- Sandpaper
- Templates for woodland creatures
- Acrylic paint
- Hot glue gun
- Pin backs
Cloth Button Pins
If you have any scraps of fabric lying around, these cloth button pins are the perfect solution. You won’t need much, so they’re perfect for using up any bits of scrap.
What you’ll need:
- Fabric scraps
- Wire cutters
- Pin backs
- Sharp scissors
- Adhesive
DIY Bachelorette Party Buttons
When shopping for bachelorette party favors, you can face a frustrating amount of options. Making your own custom button pins will put an end to the never ending search, and add a personal touch to the special day.
What you’ll need:
- Clear buttons (local dollar store)
- Template for design, printed on paper
- Glitter and diamond ring stickers
Bottle Cap Pins
Twist off metal caps are rarely useful. Unless you’re a crafter, these caps are likely to go in the trash. Consider making them into pins to always represent your favorite beer!
What you’ll need:
- Bottle caps
- Casting resin
- Safety pins
- Paper
- Solder gun
- Scissors
- Sandpaper
- Disposable Cup and stir sticks
Halloween Pin
Perfect for kids who can’t dress up to school on Halloween, these pins are a great alternative to stay true to the Halloween spirit. Cupcake liners come in an infinite number of patterns and they’re the primary material in this project, so the possibilities are endless!
What you’ll need:
- Plastic buttons or pins (2 ¼ inches)
- Cupcake liners
- Letters
- Glitter paper
Wooden Decoupage Badges
Decoupage is a crafting technique where you use paper cutouts. These wooden badges use decoupage and lacquer for really simple and totally customizable button pins. Whether you use your own pictures or find them online, the finishing touches with resin make sure they stay intact.
What you’ll need:
- Wooden shapes
- Small images (clippings)
- Glitter
- Sealant
- Paintbrush
- Pins
- Resin
- Acrylic Paints
- Super Glue
DIY Flair Pins
These exciting flair pins are made using Shrink Film, a special kind of paper that shrinks any design to about 50% and turns into a hard, enamel-like piece. These are especially great for family and friends who are difficult to buy for. Just print a happy memory or a picture of their pet and gift them a pin they can’t buy anywhere.
What you’ll need:
- Pictures or clip art
- Shrink dink paper
- Pin backs
- Push pins
- Super glue
Personalized Pins
Kids will find any way to express themselves in school, especially when their dress codes are confined to school uniforms. These personalized pins are the perfect creative solution. They’re simple to make and can be rocked on backpacks, lanyards,
What you’ll need:
- Permanent markers
- Shrinky Dink Paper
- Wax Paper
- Superglue
- Pin Backs
Buttons can serve a purpose other than being a way for your personality to shine through. Buttons can also raise awareness about a variety of causes, events or a movement that you believe in. Simply by wearing a button, a dialogue can be started about a topic that may be otherwise difficult to bring into a conversation. And to top it off, creating them with a group of friends or as a project with children is a fun opportunity to get creative and crafty.
