Easy DIY Photo Card Stationery

How are we in February already? And, how am I so behind in sending out thank you notes from the holidays? Am I the only one who falls behind? (Probably, because I’m the nutty girl who wants to make everything herself.) But these… these are way cool. I’ve thought about doing this for a while now.

The possibilities are endless with your camera, willing family members (i.e. children), blank white boards or cardboard, Sharpies and blank cards. I took about 10-15 pictures of the kids and picked my favorites. Uploaded and printed them out at the photo center for very little cost. If you print them glossy, you get the coolest effect.

I love my Sharpies. Use them and turn these blanks…

… into any card you want! For 4″ x 6″ pictures, you could purchase empty photo card frames. I have extra cardstock laying around so I just cut it to size for my blank cards. (See first picture.)  They measure at 4-3/4″ x 6-3/4″.  I get weird when it comes to the borders… I don’t like them too wide.
And to stick them on the card, use double stick tape or glue dots. If you want to get fancy, use photo corners or with an X-acto knife, cut slits on a diagonal at each corner and feed the corners of the photo through.

Don’t limit yourself to just saying “Thank you.” You can split it up like, “Cool! Thanks a bunch!” Or “Happy / Birthday”.

My daughter thought the pictures “freakishly” looked like the words were already printed on the boards.

Yes, I could’ve printed the cards out at the photo center as folded cards (for a whole lot more money), but what’s the fun in that? Enjoy… let me know if you’ve done this or if you might try it!

Tags: cards, crafting, family, gifts, paper, tutorials

Making a Magnetic Pin Holder

More decoupaging. This Altoids mint tin was stashed in a box waiting for its next life. Yeah, yeah, on the brink of hoarding here, but I LOVE recycling, or upcycling. Maybe this could hold some paper clips, safety pins, or thumbtacks if you’re not into sewing.

Here’s what I did to make this fun little box. I took an old refrigerator magnet (an out-of-date freebie sheet magnet), cut it to size and stuck it on the tin.

I dug up some scrap fabric and traced around the lid. Then I just cut around my traced line to make sure the fabric would completely cover the lid.

I lightly brushed Mod Podge on the top of the lid and flattened out the fabric. When the lid was dry I decoupaged two opposite sides down to cover the entire lid… like pick the front and back, or the other two sides. It’s the corners that demand your attention. I treated the corners like I would wrapping a gift box lid – nice, neat hospital corners. Then I “Mod Podge-d” the heck out them so they’d stay down.

Used my sharpest craft blade (X-Acto knife) and trimmed around the lid when everything was dry. I let it dry for 24 hours (Mod Podge paranoia). Tip: Take your time with the cutting and trimming part. Mod Podge gets all crispy and tough to cut through. PLEASE be careful.

And here it is! My own little magnetic pin holder.

Look! The pins stick to the top!

Those are a couple of my other pin holders. Vintage, eh? I’m so looking forward to having the magnetic one next to my sewing machine… pins won’t get away from me so easily now. Maybe this means I have sewing projects coming up?? *grin*

Tags: crafting, crafts, recycled, sewing, tutorials

Putting Away Christmas Lights

I usually wait until the feast of the Epiphany to take down Christmas decorations in our house. It all goes smoothly, especially the Christmas lights. I learned this trick from my sister-in-law, who probably learned it from her parents. Guessing my father-in-law.

Stashing the Christmas lights doesn’t take fancy spools or contraptions. All you need to do is a little back-and-forth, alternating sides with the lights. This will create a nice bundle out of a jumbled strand of lights. The plug side of the strand will be long enough to wrap around your bundle… and then hook up with the other side of the strand. Voila!

Favorite Posts from 2012

Hi everyone. Hope you enjoy this look back at some of my tutorials and recipes from the year. (I hope the links all work back to the original post! ACK! Might need to work on this still. The pictures aren’t linked, but the posts are all listed underneath.)

This year did not fail to amaze me… the good and the bad. But sharing ideas and meeting many of you near and far has been such a highlight of my year. I’m thankful and humbled by your continuing readership and friendship. May 2013 bring all of us peace. Blessings to you, friends!

Favorite tutorials and recipes from 2012

• Cranberry Raspberry Jello Crunch Recipe
• DIY Subway Art Tutorial
• Upcycled Sweatshirt Pillow Tutorial
• Irish Stout Coffee Cake Recipe
• Upcycled Paper Bag Envelopes (Use those shopping bags!)
• Rice Krispie Sushi Treats
• Teacher Appreciation Notes and Gift Idea
• T-Shirt Quilt Completed (no tutorial or recipe – just a project update)
• Bottle Cap Art Magnets Mini-Tutorial
• DIY Beer Label Coasters made with stone tiles
• Chicken Broccoli Braid (Bake) Recipe
• Glass Tile Ornament Tutorial

Tags: cooking, crafting, favorite, look back, recipe, tutorials

Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea: Daily Dose of Kindness and Free Printable Template

Thoughtful teacher gift idea

Don’t know about you, but once Spring Break ends, school days go by like an out-of-control snowball on a sledding hill. And the parties, picnics and project lists grow and grow. So I like gift ideas that are pretty easy to put together, both in time and materials.

A few weeks ago we celebrated National Teachers Appreciation Week, and I had a nice time putting this together for my daughter’s homeroom teacher: a giant “pill box” with letters of appreciation from her students. It’s thoughtful and heartfelt; an option to candy, flowers or a gift card – which we all know we all do.

Along with the letters, I put together a “word cloud” using wordle.net, printed it out and framed it. All the students listed two or three words that they felt described their teacher.

Materials needed for a giant letter-pill box:

• (5) plastic containers (2-3 cup capacity)
• Stencils or vinyl stickers for the days of the week. I was able to print out letters and use my Xyron Creatopia machine to make stickers.
• Scotch tape or clear packing tape

Here’s a Cute template for student letters that I made using Microsoft Publisher. Totally optional, but it’s something easy to print out and have all the students do. They can draw a picture and write their letter… so cute. (If you click on the picture below, you will also be redirected to the printable document.)

Hope this inspires you to shower your favorite teachers with a dose of kindness!

Tags: crafting, gifts, kids, school, teacher gift

Rice Krispie Sushi Recipe Tutorial

These are more like instructions rather than a recipe since you’re not going to cook a thing! We served these at a party where kids and grown-ups gave us great feedback about the rice krispie sushi. This might be something fun to do for a kids (heck, for adults, too) birthday party, a potluck? If you gave up sweets for Lent, this is a sugary way to break your fast.

What You Need

One batch of prepared Rice Krispie treats
Cooking spray (like Pam)
Candy: Swedish Fish, Fruit Roll-ups (fruit leather, preferably dark in color), cake decoration sprinkles

For the Nigiri (hand-rolled) Sushi

Spray or coat your hands lightly with cooking oil. Butter, magarine works okay too. Create an oblong mound of rice krispies in the palm of your hand. Top with a Swedish fish and wrap with a thin strip of cut fruit leather.

For the Maki (rolled) Sushi :: inside-out roll featured in first picture

This one is a little trickier. Make sure your hands are well coated. Using your hands or a rolling pin, you will need to press or roll the rice krispie treats to a thin thickness. 1/4″ – 1/3″ inch should work. Swedish Fish in a row along one end of your prepared rice krispie treat. Roll the end of the rice krispie treat up and over the candy fish until they are covered.

(I have to say, at this point, we forgot to add strips of fruit roll-up for the “seaweed”. Lay down some fruit roll-ups before the Swedish fish. You can see it better in the very first picture of this post.)

Trim away from the remainder of the rice krispie treat. Shake some sprinkles on the roll (like sesame seeds), and using a sharp, buttered knife, cut into circles – like you would cut cookies.

For regular maki

You’re going to follow similar directions as above, but save your strips of fruit leather, and roll it around the rice krispie treat after you’ve cut them into shapes.

If you attempt to make these, I love to hear how it turns out! Share your pics and links! Enjoy…

Tags: cooking, crafting, eating, fun, kids, recipe, sushi, tutorials