Buttons à la Russe

Russia has a beautiful craft tradition of hand-painted wooden items.  Sometimes a husband-and-wife team does the work: he does the woodwork, and she paints.  I adore traditional hand-painted items, so you can imagine my delight when a friend gifted me with two sets of hand-painted Russian buttons, made by a husband and wife team from Moscow.  In today's post, I want to show you how I used two of these buttons on layouts.
 

Supplies: all paper, die-cuts, & stickers by Lily Bee Design; thread by DMC; glitter paint & Distress Stain by Ranger; button by Vadim & Galina for Peace Fleece.

You saw the first type of button, with a leaf design, in the photo at the top of this post.  I used it on a layout with photos from my husband's childhood.  "Gump" was his baby-name for his grandfather, and this layout is called "P.J.'s with Gump!"  It's readily apparent that Gump (whom, alas, I never met) was a loving grandfather.

I used Lily Bee die cuts and letter stickers to create the two parts of my title: "P.J.'s" [pajamas] for the first part and "with Gump" for the second.

I edged all my page elements with Distress stain, so that the page would have a soft, vintage feel, to match the feel of the photos.

My second layout has an entirely different feel, though...
 

Supplies: cardstock by American Crafts; stickers & glitter paper by Doodlebug Design; party hat paper by Crate; vintage-look ephemera, flair badge, & blue buttons by October Afternoon; strawbery button by Vadim & Galina for Peace Fleece; white button by Blumenthal-Lansing; chipboard by DCWV; foam embellishments by Darice; rhinestones by Petaloo; white paint by Deco Art; orange paint by Plaid; dark & light blue paints by Ranger; pen by Creative Memories; twine by Crystal Palace; thread by Singer; scrap of felt. 

Here is a celebratory, carnival-themed page.  Did you spot the button?

This time I used a strawberry button, and it is one of several embellishments that I used to add an eclectic variety of textures to the page.

I paid special attention to the "northeast" and "southwest" corners of this layout, applying a thick layer of glitter paint to the photos.

I also added a sprinkling of confetti-like embellishments in the corners.

These two layout are vastly different in character, but both were a joy to create.  I still have two more Russian buttons to use on future layouts.  I wonder what those layout will look like.  Time will tell!  :)