Button Bracelet - 15 Minute Craft

You will find these all over Pinterest right now.  Just google "button bracelet" and you will get thousands of tutorials on how to make them.  I am the creative activities coordinator for my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group this year.  That means that I am in charge of planning crafts for our moms to do at various meetings.  I need simple and inexpensive crafts for our 50+ moms to creative in a 20 to 25 minute time frame.  This craft fit the bill perfectly!

The longest part of this craft was selecting my buttons.  Once I had them selected, it only took 10 to 15 minutes to make the bracelet.  I read several instructions for these and tried a couple, but none of them worked for what I needed.  They either involved sewing (which takes too long for my time slot), used materials that were not in my budget for this large of a group or just didn't work (ie. the bracelet ended up too small for my 6.5 inch wrist).  So, what do you do when that happens?  You make it up yourself!

I was able to use coupons at my local craft store and plan this craft for about $10, and after 50 women make a bracelet I will have lots of left overs.

Gather Your Materials

• 24" of 1mm waxed cotton cording (in the jewelry making section)
• 10 to 12 buttons of various sizes, shapes and colors
• scissors

Make It

1. Start by folding your cord in half.  Tie a knot to form a loop at the folded end, this will become your "hook".  Make sure that the loop is big enough to fit your button through.
2. Before threading your buttons onto the cord, lay them out to make sure you like the pattern.  Then thread them on and slide them together to your liking.
3. Once you have them all on, wrap it around your wrist to check the length.  If it is too long, take some buttons off and if it is too short, add some more buttons.
4. Tie a square knot under the last button and trim the excess cord.

You are all done!  

Little Mama's Super Yummy Chicken Salad

I love chicken salad!  It's always been something that I just throw together, but I have had SO MANY people tell me how much they love it and ask for my recipe.  Well, here it is!

Gather Your Ingredients:

• 10oz shredded, cooked chicken
• 2 stalks diced celery
• 2 to 3 scallions, sliced (I like lots of onion so I use 3)
• 10 to 12 red grapes, quartered and then cut the quarters in half
• 2 to 3T mayonnaise, just enough to coat all of the ingredients
• salt and pepper to taste

Make It:

1. There's only one step ... combine ingredients and let chill for at least 30 minutes or longer to combine the flavors. 

Want to kick it up a notch and take the flavors to a whole new level?  Add a handful of chopped pecans ... you'll thank me!

Kitchen Tip - Fruit

Maybe some of you have already figured this one out, but in my mind ... I'm a genius! LOL   I have had one too many experiences with "gross things" lurking on the inside of my fresh fruit.  So, I now "prep" the fruit before consuming it.  With kids in the house, I also spend a lot of time slicing apples etc for them.  I have one of those apple slicers, but it doesn't work on all fruit.  One day I saw my under-utilized melon baller and voila!

1. Step One ... slice said fruit in half.  If it has a hard pit in the middle, slice through as far as you can and then rotate the fruit until it is cut all of the way around.  Then grab each side and twist until it comes apart.
   
   
   
   2.  Step Two... Use the melon baller to scoop out seeds.
   
   3.  Step Three... Slice fruit, trim any ends (like where the stem is) and enjoy!