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Marston Makerspace George A. Smathers Libraries
Services Overview

Button Templates

To use the button machine, it works best to work off of a template. American Button Machines (our supplier) provides this handy Button Template Guide that you can use to determine the size of your photos. It’s important to note that the outer rim of the template wraps around the button, so you want to make sure your image stays within the smaller, dotted picture line, and that anything which extends out beyond that to the cut line will be wrapped around. Reminder when using the template that our buttons are either 1.25″ or 2.25″.

American Buttons Template for 2.25" buttons" the cut line is 2.635" and the picture size is 2.063"

We’ve also created a handy Canva template that you can use with a free Canva account. We’ve created both bordered and non-bordered templates that you can slide your images directly into! You can change the color of the border easily in Canva to match your design.

template with border
template without border

How to use the Canva template

open the template, click the save icon, and save the template on your computer

Step 1: Download the pdf of the Canva Template

In Canva, select "create" and choose Flyer (Portrait)

Step 2: Open Canva.com (if you don’t have an account, you can sign up for free) and create a flyer

in canva, select "uploads", then "upload files". Choose the template, then it will appear under "Your projects"

Step 3: Upload the PDF you downloaded into the flyer using the upload button on the left. Once uploaded, click on the file that was uploaded to open it in the left panel.

When you click on the uploaded template in "uploads" you can select the page you want (depending on the size and if you want a border)

Step 4: Choose the page or pages you want to use by clicking on the one you want, or by applying all 4 pages

drag your image from uploads to the circle

Step 5: Upload your image to Canva in the same way you uploaded the PDF. Then drag and drop your image into the circles with the landscape image. This will automatically put the image in the correct sized circle.

change border color by clocking on the border, then the purple circle at the top

Step 6: Once it is in the circle, you can double click the image to reposition it within the frame if needed, right click to detach the image if you no longer want that image in there, and click on the border to change its color.

Printing the Template

Step 1: Download the template (Share > Download > File type: PDF). Be sure to select only the pages you want!

share is in the top right corner of the screen and file type and download options appear after clicking share.

Step 2: Plug the EPSON printer into your computer directly (we don’t have a wifi connection available for the unit, please ask for an adapter if you need one). Open the PDF and hit print.

look at the USB cord coming out of the printer to make sure you are attaching the correct USB to your computer

Step 3: Make sure the printer destination is set to EPSON ET-2720 Series, and the scale is set to Custom -> 100

select the EPSON ET-2720 Series printer, and make sure the scale is 100%

Step 4: Double check! If you’re printing more than one page, make sure the option for two-sided printing is not selected. Then hit print!

single sided printing only

We can also help you with formatting during Open Lab hours in the Makerspace. Once printed, don’t use scissors to cut out each circle by hand! We have punch cutters for that. For detailed instructions on how to make the buttons, check out our button making tutorial page!