I Work in a Button Factory

For some strange reason, I'm still very familiar with a song that I learned in elementary school. It went something like this:

Hi, my name is Joe and I work in a button factory.

One day, my boss came to me and said, "Joe, are you busy?"

I said, "No."

He said, "Turn the button to the right..."

Hi, my name is Joe...

You get the idea. The song continues in a round-like fashion. It's painfully brutal and impossible to get out of your head. Today, I had myself a little button factory in my living room. These are no ordinary buttons though. These buttons have the sole purpose of celebrating success in my students. The idea was first introduced to me by adorable Miss Kranz here. She mentioned that several of her coworkers attended a workshop with none other than Ron Clark. Are you familiar with Ron? He's wonderful. I'm sure you've stumbled upon one of his many books or articles.

Miss Kranz created celebratory buttons for her kiddos to wear after receiving a positive score on a test. What a GREAT idea! Who doesn't love to be celebrated? Letting kids wear buttons all day long and bask in the glory of their hard work sounds pretty stellar to me. On top of that, other students and teachers are complimenting them on their hard work! 

On my drive home today, I stopped into the oh-so-wonderful Hobby Lobby. I picked up 3 packages of "Design a Button".  As soon as I got home, I did a little spray painting (#craftoholicproblems) and rushed to my computer to make a design for my buttons. 

Just like any other button factory, I started making button...after button. But, hey! They turned out pretty schnazzy. Now I just have to wait a couple months to actually use them. Arg! The agony. 

I made my buttons on a basic word document. The circles were 2.25" by 2.25". Then, I printed them on scrapbook paper to add a little extra pizzaz.  If you're interested, I made another version on the document and put it on Scribd. All you have to do is just download and print it on your own! I suggest enlisting others to participate in your button factory.


Button Template

Crankin' Out Coasters

I have been searching for the perfect coasters to compliment my living room. I can never find any that I like.  Since I'm on this DIY kick nowadays, I suppose I'll make my own! 

Luckily, I found The Coaster Tutorial on The Cottage Home blog and fell in love. 

In order to start this craft, I needed tiles. This meant I had to take a trip to Home Depot. Me and a hardware store is like oil and water. Two things that really don't go together. Imagine a cat trying to swim in the ocean. The few times that I have been to them (alone) I usually wander around aimlessly and ask for help within 3 minutes. Today was no different. I made one lap around the store before I stopped and asked where the tiles were. This was my conversation with the Home Depot worker:

"Excuse me, where can I find tile?" 

"Are you tiling a kitchen?"

"Um.. not exactly..." (ashamed)

"What size do you need?"

I made some awkward movements with my hands and spit out, "small!"

"Take a left and you'll be in the flooring department."

I scurried off ashamed! 

Once I stumbled upon the small pieces of tile that I needed, I was SHOCKED by the price. I literally shouted, "WHOA." Hopefully no one heard me. Although, at this point it was no secret that I was a first timer. Anyway, I loaded up with cream tiles at 13 cents a piece and felt like a champion as I strutted to the check out. 

In order to complete this project, I also had to purchase Mod Podge. It's okay, you can laugh. I laughed at the name of the goo too. Whatever it is.. it's great! 

Once I was home with all my supplies and PODGE (hehe), I riffled through my scrapbook paper and got to work! I made 3 different sets of coasters. I wasn't lying when I said I was cranking out coasters. I made one set with flowers on them. Another set with bright colors and stripes. 

My last set was a special set to replace my poor Harrod's coasters that rest in peace. I purchased them in 2008, but they lived a hard life at the bungalaja (it's a real word, I promise) ... so they haven't really been living a good life. I guess it was either me or the coasters that would survive college. Good thing it was me!

Dry my little coasters... dry!

The set on the right are my special "travel" set! The first coaster is my favorite because of it's London theme. Sorry folks, you won't be receiving this set as a gift!

Ignore my finger. Oops! It's probably hard to do since I brought it up. 

Lastly, I made a special "teachery" (that's a word, too) one for my kitchen.  Cute, eh?

Well, that project was a hoot!

That's all folks!