Being back at work is exhausting. On top of that Benny is away so I have no-one to cook dinner for me at night :( and I'm on my own with the housework too. I've also had heaps of orders from my Etsy and Madeit stores (of course this has to happen when I'm working and not when I'm home doing nothing) and that's about all the craft I've had time to do.

But this morning I thought I'd try a quick (2 minute or less?) craft with minimal supplies.

I know this idea has been around for a while but I haven't gotten around to trying it until this morning. I bought a few pairs of post earring parts a few weeks ago - they were in a pack of 2 pairs for $2.20 but you can probably get them cheaper if you shop around and buy a larger quantity. You also need a pair of buttons or something similar and some super glue (the best thing ever).

Glue the post to the back of the button. Wait a bit for the glue to dry. Done.

I could make so many of these... 

I have a love-hate relationship with my sewing machine and sometimes we just don't get along. Today it really tested my limits but in the end I won.

This is a $2 tea towel I found in the bargain bin at Pillow Talk. I really liked the colours and the patterns and I was determined to make it into something cool.

I made the straps from my stash of calico and even went so far as to line it. I sewed some lace around the top which was awesome because I knew where I secured the straps onto the bag would be completely covered.

In the end this turned out better than anything I thought I could have done and all without any instructions or tutorials!

Check out the tutorial for this cute leather cuff at ISLY, one of my fave blogs! It caught my eye ages ago but I didn't have any leather. When I found a leather placemat at Kmart for $2, I immediately thought of this project. Mine turned out slightly different to the original tutorial because of the materials I used. It's pretty stiff because there are 2 layers of leather and so I had to glue instead of sew the band around the middle of the bow. I also gave it a button instead of the stud because I didn't have one on hand. 

The tutorial includes a template and you can also also find on the same site a tute for making stamps from your leftover scraps of leather!