Tuesday 12 June 2012

Ta-dah! Tuesday - Badge Heart Art

This is another idea I've had languishing in a folder for ages - before the invention of Pinterest even  (shock horror!) but have had to be slowly gathering supplies for. I have no idea if Brigitte Herod was the first to make one of these pictures with retro badges - that would be like establishing who got in first with the scrabble tiles idea - but her badge heart at Rockett St George was the first one I found.



Who doesn't feel a pang of nostalgia for their childhood when they see all the brightly coloured badges - I know I had quite a collection from places we'd visited when I was a kid, but sadly when I found them a few years ago most of them had gone rusty. However, I bet you don't feel enough of a pang to pay £175 for one of these pictures! When I checked the Rockett St George website yesterday, they had stopped selling the small version, but they did have an enormous 120cm square canvas version - only £1,500! Want to see?

If you want one, they're available here

Despite the sad loss of my World Wildlife Fund and Walkers crisps badges from my youth, I did still have quite a few badges knocking around, as some years ago I made my own version of a Topshop bag (er, with badges on) and I just dug it out of the back of a cupboard. The few extra I needed came as part of a job lot from eBay, and I also found some I'd got with NME years ago. If you don't still have your childhood collection, you quite often see baskets of old band pins to rummage through at boot sales, market stalls and sometimes vintage shops. Children's birthday cards are another fertile source - how many 'I am 4' badges does one kid need  anyway?

I forgot to take a before photo, but I'd bought a nasty Next Homes type picture from a charity shop - a pine box frame with some uninspiring dead twigs and skeleton leaves in. Ripping out the foliage tore the back cardboard, so I covered it with some turquoise wrapping paper (£1 from Paperchase) and painted the frame white. I arranged the badges as well as I could and then hot glued them in place one at a time. If the back of the badge was very deep, I added a bit of blue-tack before glueing over it. If you don't want the picture to be permanent, you could probably just use more blue-tack and skip the glue altogether.

My version. For not £175

I think these are easier to do if you have a selection of different sized badges, I had a few larger ones but mostly they are the typical small button size. Having a variety would make it easier to fill in any gaps, but I don't think it came out too badly. Not quite as good as the £175 version, but a lot cheaper!



So, what have you been up to? I'd love you to link up your latest ta-dah! posts. Please link back here so others can join in.

Lakota x


56 comments:

  1. Love that idea - somewhere I've loads of 80's band badges that use to decorate my school uniform - I might have to hunt them out and find a frame.

    I did something similar the other year using buttons as a pressie for my Mum - mine cost pennies - the NOTHS one was £200+!

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  2. can't believe they charge that much for that big heart badge pic!!! Crazy...I just wonder how many they're SELLING. Linking up soon.xx.

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  3. Oooh - love this idea (I hadn't come across it before) may well give something like this a go as a decoration for Sam's room... would have to do a non heart version though - hmmmm.

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  4. I love this.... but no badges. I threw them out years ago :( Could kick myself now! I have finally linked my blanket Tahdah back to your Tahdah Tuesday..... its only taken me four weeks, I did not know if my latest Tahdah post of DIY would be ok to add, so its the blanket xxx

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  5. Fantastic idea! I still have a box of my kid's badges in a cupboard somewhere .... ? Must dig it out! Great idea for displaying them. Love it!
    Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

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  6. I love that idea. My husband has lots of button badges for some Saxon and we were wondering what to do with them.

    C
    xxx

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  7. That is a brilliant idea and i have to say yours is just as good as those expensive ones. Why pay more when you can do it just as good as yourself ;-)) Im going to try link up with you today never done it before but i will work it out ;-)) dee xx

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  8. What a brilliant idea! My girls have lots of Birthday badges that I didn't know what to do with - I do now! I still have the badges I collected in the 80's including one with Kylie and Jason on and another with Bros - don't think they deserve wall space though! :o)

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  9. Your version is brilliant Lakota - I love it!!! I think the blue paper really adds to the look and your badges are ace. Alas, I don't have any badges but I am tempted to try this with good ol' buttons!!

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  10. Ta-Dah! indeed. Well done you. I love to see folk making their own version of expensive things. xx

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  11. Beautiful project Lakota. Depending on the size of collection you could do lots of interesting shapes. Heavy metal badges - lightening bolt?
    Punk rock badges - Safety pin?
    ....I'll get my coat....

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  12. I LOVE this post. Well done you. I have mentioned your post on my blog, cos I think your take is BRILLIANT

    blessings xx

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  13. I like! I would have a fun ol' time looking at all those different badges. I never had any badges like this growing up (wish I did though)..
    Magie x

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  14. Awesome Lakota! I'm currently collecting corks to make a heart that I've seen that I instantly thought, ohhh I could make that!

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  15. Godammit Lakota, it's brilliant. Love this idea. Sadly no badges but am also liking Vicki's button suggestion and I've got loads of those. Yay! xx

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  16. This is such a great idea! I have a big jar full of bardges and I barely wear most of them, using them for something like this would be perfect!!!

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  17. That would work brilliantly with retro buttons, wouldn't it? Such a cool idea and much better to use badges that are personal to you. x

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  18. love this idea! you could keep adding to it and the heart would just grow bigger. lovely post :) x

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  19. What a cool idea amor!
    I don't think I have that many badges, I use my badges for hair bows.
    Besios

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  20. I have also had this idea languishing around for sometime. I too collected badges when I was younger, but they went missing a few years ago.

    I think yours is wonderful.

    ~x~

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  21. I love this - I wish i'd of known about doing something like this when I still have my huge quality street tin filled with pins that my cousin had passed on to me because she was bored with them. Shame I passed them on to the charity shop!

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  22. You are so superskill!
    This looks SO cool, retro-punk-chic.
    I've never really been one for badges but this might turn me! x

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  23. You are flipping clever, wanna swap lives? Brill post as always x x

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  24. So annoyed with myself - I used to have a brilliant collection of badges, but they ended up in a box and then I think the box ended up in a bin...
    I love your clever, creative ideas - really inspiring. My mission now is to come up with a Ta-dah! of my own x

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    1. Er..... Shells, UHU. I think you have lady.

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  25. I love that idea! Yours looks really great too.

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  26. Fantastic and handmade to boot. Why would anyone pay all that for a picture made from badges, why... why...?
    Your's is equally as gorgeous and original. Perhaps you should try flogging them, mrs!
    I like these Ta-Dah Tuesdays, they make me get my a--e in gear to finish stuff!
    Your poor boy! Chicken pox is rotten. I feel for you too, having to try to stop him scratching himself silly.
    Hope he's soon better.
    xx

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  27. Oops - forgot to link back to here - sorry Lakota, I've done it now!

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  28. Awesome, Twiglet's Dr Who badges would make a great picture. I had a huge badge collection in the 70s
    Twiggy

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  29. What a fab idea! I distinctly remember going through a phase of adding as many offensive bands and smutty slogan badges to my schoolbag as I could get away with. Needless to say, many were confiscated! I love how personal these can be, especially if you've amassed a collection over many years, yours looks great :) xxx

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  30. I love it! What a great idea! I like that you used the turquoise wrapping paper for the background.

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  31. This is genius!! What a wonderful way to exhibit childhood mementos that would otherwise be extradited to charity shops etc! We used to have a HUGE badge box when I was a kid- I wish I still had it- I'd totally do this! Beautiful idea!!!

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  32. Wow what a great idea. I've got a massive collection of badges from when I was young, I now know what to do with them thanks x

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  33. I would take your version over the MASSIVE EXPENSIVE one any day. *Sheesh* people must have alot of cash to burn if they would spend that much hard earned money on a bunch of framed buttons. Now I can see if the buttons were from like the 1900's to the 1930s or something... but that does not seem like the case.
    I think this idea is fun and makes a cute piece of art. There is baskets of buttons at all the thrifts I visit and they are usually priced at .25 -.50 cents a button. I will have to keep a eye out for ones I like and give this craft a try.

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  34. what a fab idea, have always wondered what to do with the masses of birthday badges I seem to be accumulating (along with all the other sentimental crap I accumulate..waaah!) Will definately give it a go...need to get me some 80's badges though..wish I still had my AHA one... :(

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  35. Great inspiration and looks like a fun project to do! Yours is just as good! I'm uncertain what my parents did with our badges, probably lost mine in our many moves!

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  36. A fab idea, a fun way to use up those badges you don't know what to do with- personalised too

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  37. Oh that is perfect for the little badges. A happy heart of memories.
    Love v

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  38. Aww that's such a cute idea! Love your finished product - way better than the madly overpriced version! I don't think I've got any badges other than my golly collection though and they're not the right shape (also probably madly un-PC now).

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  39. Great idea, your version looks wonderful. I like the button idea too. I don't have a SINGLE badge, isn't that sad? xxxx

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  40. I like the idea of saving £175 pounds on one of those! I had a huge badge collection as a kid, but I think they all got thrown out when I left home! A great way to display a collection - I feel inspiration creeping up!

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  41. That's super cute! Never seen one of those. Now if I could only find my badge or pin collection. I'll give it to my daughter for her bday. haha. She's gonna hate me!

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  42. It looks stunning and a much better price to pay! I like to collect badges just for fun! Maybe I'll do this one day. xx

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  43. Wow I love it! You know I'm heading straight to the badges in charity shops now. I wonder if it would work the same way if you were to do different shapes or even text? xxx

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  44. oooh good idea, I have loads of precious badges I'm not sure what to do with, seens like a good idea, especially if the backgroud was fabric and I could pin them on

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  45. Oh my! Yours turned out really great. I love the background color that you used. Awesome!!!! This is my first late entry!

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  46. To brighten your weekend I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award :)
    Victoria xx

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  47. What a great idea to use up old badges! I've send these on NOTHS and they are very expensive to buy. I like the idea of using a blank canvas and filling it with memories:) Becky x

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  48. Oh ARSEBISCUIT!! Now I have to start collecting badges so I can make one of these - it is FABULARSEHOLE!!!

    Sarah xxx

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  49. I've badges from the 80's...now to find a picture frame in the charity shop.

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  50. I made one of these too, great minds eh? Here is my effort... http://makedomum1.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/badge-of-honour.html I can't believe you have a 'Welcome to Croydon' badge too!! Mine is there just above 'I heart ET' :D

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  51. I love love love this idea and I am in the process of doing a budget house makeover o my blog and I woundered if icould use your photo and a little bit of your tutorial on my Family-Budgeting.co.uk blog with ful links back to you . Pls let me know at becky@family-budgeting.co.uk

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  52. I could throw in my World Cup Willie badge for good measure....

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