DIY Vintage Button Earrings

I was at my sister Lou's house recently and, as she's got a very new little bub, I was helping her make some vintage button earrings for the mother's day stall at her son's school.  So effective and so simple!  I went straight home afterward and delved deep in the vintage button stash that I inherited from my husband's great aunt to find as many matching buttons as I could so I could make some for myself!

All the supplies, from the earring backs (you can even purchase the clip-on kind) to the special glue and even the vintage buttons, can be purchased online from Etsy or Craftumi (among other sites).  The store I have used before is here. 

 The strongest and best glue to use when making the earrings is E6000.  The glue does take a few days to fully set though, so although these are the ideal quick and easy DIY, you'd need to give yourself a few days before wearing or gifting them.

Do you love vintage buttons?  Which ones are your favourite in the pic above?

For more easy peasy gift ideas (for yourself or others!) you might like to check out my series on Simple Handmade Gifts for Girls or my recent post on Simple DIY Mother's Day gift ideas.

Nine Simple DIY Mother's Day gift ideas from FGB

1. Make some masala chai for one.  

We have made lots and lots of these tea sachets using seed packet sized envelopes purchased at office supply stores and I'd highly recommend, however I ordered some tea bags from the Haby Goddess last week and they arrived this morning.  I'm really excited to try out our masala chai for one recipe in the tea bags and also Jodie's hot chocolate recipe which simply uses grated chocolate and marshmallows in the tea bags - yum!

2. Make your own flavoured Hot Chocolate.

As mentioned above, how cool would these be in tea bags?  

You'll find the recipes for the ones we made below in this post.

3. Sew your own teatowel.

Cut a rectangle from linen/cotton blend fabric and give it a hem. I added a small piece of twill tape on mine to make a little fancier ;).  I'd love to find some plain linen/cotton fabric and get the kids to paint or draw with fabric paint or fabric markers.

4. Sew a Bag Bag (aka grocery bag holder)

You know those things you put your spare plastic bags in from the supermarket. 

For those times when you forget your green bag again! 

You'll find a great bag-bag tutorial here. 

5. Decorate a Shopping Bag

In counteraction to the last suggestion, for those mothers who do actually remember their bags at the supermarket a little more regularly, decorating a calico shopping bag is something we love to do.  Whether it is apple printing, fabric paint or no-sew applique. 

6. Sew a Wheat Bag

The nights are getting colder here in Melbourne and our wheat bags are coming out every night.  Just a minute & a half in the microwave and the bed is nice and toasty.  There are some gorgeous corduroy fabrics around which are lovely and soft.  There is a tutorial here if you'd like to give these a try.  Perfect project for a beginner sewer.

7. Make some Fabric Covered Gift Cards

Here is a tutorial for how to make your own fabric covered cards.  I often give these away in a nice tin for the recipient to use whenever a card is required.

8. Fabric Covered Coat hangers

These babies are going to my Mum this year (don't worry she's already seen them - in fact I was making them for myself and she practically asked for them).  If you like my scruffy & tattered look, I followed this tutorial, however one step up from coathangers, impeccably made & not frayed or tattered in the slightest, my friend Jane from Planet Joy makes beautiful made to order Liberty fabric wrapped wire words.  (Sometimes it's easier to buy handmade than to make yourself, right?)

9. Make a no-sew Upcycled Tshirt Scarf

Follow this link for my tutorial.

For those of us who are a little time poor, but still love to dabble in a bit of creative DIY, if you already have the supplies on hand, perfect, otherwise the aforementioned ideas are all the kind of gifts you can grab the supplies for during the week and then whip up on Saturday ready for Mother's Day on Sunday.  Seriously.  Quick and easy.  What Mum doesn't love the extra special touch of handmade, right?  ;)

What are your thoughts on handmade gifts?  

Not worth the hassle?  Cheapskate?  You just can't top handmade?  

Love handmade, but just prefer someone else to make it?

P.S. Addition (20/05/2013) - Thought I'd be a bit cheeky and come back later and add 3 more quick & easy DIY ideas to the list above... All things that we've made here at FGB headquarters...

10. Vintage Button Earrings
Just glue some earring backs on the back of some vintage buttons and you have some pretty funky earrings.  Details of suppliers in this post.

11. DIY bath bombs 
Fun & fizzy in the bath.  For step by step instructions on how we made these go to this post.

12. Peg magnets
Some origami paper stuck on a wooden clothes peg using double sided tape and magnetic strip attached to the back.

DIY Mother's Day Gift - Bath Bombs

Mother's Day is coming very soon here in Australia and in the lead up I thought I'd do a couple of posts on quick and simple (yet still stylish) gifts for Mums that kids can be involved in or totally make on their own.  I'm notoriously late in organising pressies and can often be found quickly whipping something up the night before.  These gifts all fit into that category - perfect last minute gifts!

Last year bath bombs were all the rage at our place.  These pics were snapped a year ago when Frog and I were having a practise before we made them with the MOPS Mums.  I've been meaning to share them with you ever since...

You'll see pics of two colours here which I hope isn't too confusing.  The purple mix was for lavender bath bombs where we used dried lavender, lavender essential oil and purple food dye and the yellow mix was for citrus bath bombs where we used grated lemon and lime rind, lemon essence and yellow food dye.  

BATH BOMB RECIPE:

1. Mix dry ingredients together:

½ cup baking soda

¼ cup citric acid

¼ cup corn flour

2. Mix together wet ingredients:

½ tspn dried lavender or grated peel if desired

2 drops grapeseed oil

2 drops of colouring 

2 drops of essential oil or essence

3.  Slowly add wet mixture to dry mixture.

4.  Add some water, using a spray bottle, a little at a time and mix together with your hands until it becomes a thick, slightly damp powder.

The pic below is an example of how much water to put in.  When you scrunch it up in your hand, if it holds it's shape, you have enough.  If you put in too much water you'll know as it starts to expand when you put it in the moulds and won't stay put! 

5. Pack the mixture firmly into silicone molds.  I used ice cube & mini muffin trays.

Frog was 3 years old at the time these pics were taken and even though, as you can see, a rather large mess was created, she was very involved in the process and did lots of it on her own (under a watchful eye of course)!

6.  Leave them to dry in the mold for about 10 minutes before popping them out of the mold onto a teatowel to dry.  Leave them overnight to really harden. Or you can just leave them in the mold overnight before popping them out in the morning.

7. The next morning, once they are completely dry, run yourself a bath! Or package them up as a gift for Mother's Day!

Above is a pic of some that we made one Christmas using orange rind and essential oil - the smell was divine!

You might also like to try making some bubble bath to go with the gift like the one we made below.  See this post for our recipe.

Stay tuned over the next week for more quick and easy gifts that you can make for Mother's Day, or any time of the year really.

What are you doing for Mother's Day this year?

TILLY'S HORSE RACING PARTY

As this seems to have become a month of birthday party posts here on Frog, Goose and Bear, I thought I'd share with you some pics from my niece's first birthday party that I've been meaning to share since last October!  The perfect theme for a one year old in the middle of Spring Racing Carnival here in Melbourne for a little girl who was off and racing long before she turned one!  My sister-in-law did an amazing job!  Love that cake!

You might recognise a couple of props from a certain farm party and pirate party.

Do you have a party coming up?  How are you celebrating?

For more kids party ideas head on over here...

A Tree Party

Yes, you read that correctly, a "Tree" party was the theme of choice for my 7 year old nephew a couple of weeks ago.  Just a small do with a couple of school mates and his extended family.  

Game #1: Pass the parcel.  
For details on how to play this version of pass the parcel see this post.

Game #2: The flour game.
For details on how to play the flour game see this post.

Game #3: Pin the bird in the nest.  

Tree painted and names written on the birds by the birthday boy.  Love kid involvement in birthday prep!  In fact the whole party was designed by him!  Love this kid.

Game #4: Worms tied to string on the clothes line.

The kids had to eat the lollie worms with their hands behind their backs.  

Game#5: Tree pinata.

 Containing glow in the dark bugs, bouncy balls and wrapped sweets.

Some pinata action shots!

As well as some sushi and hot dogs at the birthday boys request, for dessert we had Chocolate Birds Nests

Fruit Cups with Tree toothpicks

Choc Grissini Sticks (aka 'tree branches') 

and a wonderful tree birthday cake!  It was dark by the time the dessert came out so along with glow sticks and sparklers.

The party was a week earlier than his birthday as his Mum (my sister Lou who many of you know) was due to give birth within the following weeks.  Not sure exactly how she managed it, but a week after his party, at 11.15pm on the day of his actual birthday, he received the best present of all - a new baby sister.  Seven years apart, brother and sister share the same birthdate!  Which ironically enough is the same date as our Dad, their Grandpa, who is of course quite chuffed.

How close together are your children's birthdays?!
How much scope do you give your children in party prep?  
Do you run with whatever theme your child suggests or steer them in a particular direction?  Or is the whole 'theme thing' just not for you?

If you'd like to see some pics of some more diy parties, you might like to head over to the Frog Goose & Bear party ideas page...