If you remember that button elephant I created a while back, you might also remember that I promised a tutorial asap! Well, asap has finally come, so here we go!

To make this cute little elephant, all you need are some buttons, hot glue, a wee bit of paint, a canvas board (which you can find at any craft store) and a frame.

First, draw out a nice, chunky elephant. I used card stock to make a stencil, which was inspired by a fabric pattern I saw online. You can feel free to yoink this elephant. And by ‘yoink’ I mean ‘copy’.

I got a dozen orders of these cute littles as soon as I shared the first one, so I was on an elephant-making rampage! As you can see, I used watered-down paint to quickly fill in the outline. This makes the end product look more profesh.

Now for the buttons!

Get out your trusty glue gun and add the first layer like so, trying to cover as much space as possible without going over the edges.

You know what? Making a straight line out of circles is kiiiinnnnd of difficult! But- with practice, you will figure it out pretty quickly!

For the next layer of buttons, try to overlap along the edges to create a straighter line, and fill in any gaps.

For the tail, just find a tail-shaped button…Wait, what?!?! How on EARTH did I stumble upon a tail-shaped button?!?! That was pure luck, so if you can’t find a perfect button, use some fabric or ribbon like I did on the lovely couple below.

For the ears, just use some buttons that are bigger and darker than your base color. I like my buttons how I like my men. bigger and darker. Just kidding….? Oh gosh someone stop me. Use white and black buttons for the eyes.

Add some button balloons, button grass, and a bit of detail with a pen, and stand in awe of your precious pachyderm!

Lets give these two some privacy. 😉

Oh gosh! It’s an infestation!

I was feeling generous, and my friend requested a button animal, so…

I slugged it right on up. Complete with slime trail. Cuz, hey, why not? And what better place to display slug art than on a cake pedestal? I always knew those things were designed to carry bigger and better things. 😉

Speaking of bigger and better things, check out what else I’ve been up to at my new Etsy Shop! I’ve got some button art for sale, and also some really nifty jewelry! Check it out 🙂

Well, thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more fun nifty bloggage coming up soon! If you want to get more updates and fun buttony ideas, you can follow me on Facebook!

AND it’s your lucky day 😉 I have two of my button pieces for sale (and on sale!) Click this photo for a link:

Or this one:

Happy pachyderm perfecting and button collecting!

~Dot