How to Make Your Own 2014 Photo Calendar

As we're nearing the end of 2013, I see companies like Shutterfly, Vistaprint, and even Walgreens offer 2014 calendars with your photos and I thought, "There's gotta be a way to do this for less than $20, right?" Well kids, I did it for free! You can make one for free too if you have:

1. Microsoft Word
2. Digital photos
3. String/yarn/something to hold the pages together
4. Paper (I used white card stock but you could use printer paper, photo paper, etc.)
5. Hole punch

The hardest part was creating the actual calendar part. I could have copied a calendar from Google by searching "January 2014", "February 2014", etc. but instead I made it from scratch. To save you the time and headache, I'm offering my template here (click on the small down arrow on the left-hand side, next to the printer icon, to download). Feel free to change the font of the month (I used Betty Noir in 60 pt. font).

Once you have the template open, you can add in holidays, add photos, etc. For example, for every member of our family, I put their photo on their respective birth date. That way, I would know exactly whose birthday it was and when!

The easiest way I found to add photos in Word is by doing the following:
1. Go to Insert --> Picture --> From File
2. Find your photo, select it, and hit Insert
3. Double-click on the photo or go to Format --> Picture
4. Click on Layout and make sure "Behind Text" is selected and hit OK
5. Size photo to your liking

You can then print out each page, hole punch three holes (one on each end to loop string through and one in the middle to hang on the wall) or you can keep going like I did and add more photos to the opposite pages!

I used Word again and made new documents to add my photos (note that I kept the .5" border again) and I tried to keep separate documents, so as not to confuse myself. One document was called "January" and I included all photos taken in January, then next document was called "February", etc.

Now here's where it can get a bit tricky. I'm glad I punched the holes in all the pages before moving on because it was easier for me to figure out how to feed the pages into the printer. Every printer might be different but here's what I did:

For example, I created an "August" document and added all the photos I wanted for that month.

Then I took the July page face up and with the holes on the right side, so that the August photos would print out correctly on the opposite side.

And I did that for each page until it was all printed out. You'll have to punch in holes again for the center (if you want to hang it). However, if you don't want to hang it on a wall, you don't have to, as I ended up putting mine on the fridge!

TOTAL COSTS: Free!
However, I already had Microsoft Word, paper, string, and a hole punch on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Times may vary
It depends on how many photos you want to include but my calendar took about 6 hours to complete

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
If you're not familiar with arranging photos in Word, this might be a little difficult to get at first but you'll figure it out soon enough!

How to Make a Crystal Snowflake

The entire country has been slammed with cold weather (except Florida... they're not participating in December) but here in LA, it's still not cold enough to see snowflakes. What's a girl to do? Well, make snowflakes in the kitchen! This post comes to us from Enchanted Learning.

First, grab 3 pipe cleaners (preferably white but I only had light green on hand) and make a 6-pointed star by twisting:

Next, grab some string and tie/wrap it around each stem, cutting off the excess string:

Then grab a wide-mouth jar (I used a pickle jar) and fill it with boiling water. If you want to add food coloring, you can, but after the fact I noticed it didn't do a thing. Might work better if the pipe cleaners had been white. Anyway, add in 20 Mule Team Borax to the water until it's super saturated - the original post said 3 Tablespoons for every cup of water. In my 2 1/4 cups of water, I added 3/4 cups of Borax.

Keep the snowflake in the Borax/water solution overnight. I kept mine in there from 9pm - 9am and this is how it turned out:

9pm

9am

It worked! Only... there was one teeny tiny problem. You see, when the crystals form on the pipe cleaners, you want to make sure you have ample room to get it out of the jar! My stems were the right length but the crystals added a few centimeters and thus my snowflake stayed in the jar. Oh well.

TOTAL COSTS: About $7 but you could make so many!
$1.79 for pipe cleaners
$5.46 for 20 Mule Team Borax on Amazon (realized it was cheaper in the store after I bought it online! Note this is for about 5 pounds worth and you're only using a small amount in this recipe)

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 12 hours
Ideally you want to leave it overnight

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
You're just wrapping pipe cleaners around themselves, tying on some string, and sticking it in a water/Borax solution. Doesn't get much easier than that folks!

UPDATE: It has been 4 months since I wrote this post and someone asked me how long they last. Well, half of the snowflake still has crystals on it (though I did keep it in the jar the entire time). Hope this helps!

Wood String State Art

Not sure what wood string state art is? I wasn't sure either until I saw this post by The Harpster Home and wanted to give it a try. If you have wood, string, nails, a hammer, and a printer, you too can also make this unique piece of art! You don't have to do a state, either. I've seen some people on Pinterest and Etsy do reindeer, snowmen, polar bears... or you could spend $50 on one like this but making one is MUCH cheaper!

The original post called for a 12" x 12" piece of wood but I went with a 9" x 12" and focused on the lower peninsula of Michigan (sorry Yoopers!). Make sure you have a LOT of nails and a LOT of string before you even get started. I didn't have enough string so I ended up using sewing thread, which worked fine but was pretty thin.

So using scotch tape (or painters tape, as the original post called for), tape down whatever it is you're going to outline with nails so it doesn't move around the wood. Then, one nail at a time, nail down around the edges of the design. When you're done, remove the paper design.

Take your string, tie it around one nail, and start going back and forth between the border nails and the heart nails, just zig-zagging back and forth. Be sure to pop in a podcast or music because this will be as boring as the hammering part.

One big mistake I made? The heart around my hometown wasn't fully nailed into the piece of wood, so the nails got pulled in all directions, making the heart look sloppy:

Once your'e done, though, you'll have a unique piece of art that didn't cost much and would make a great holiday gift!

TOTAL COSTS: About $17 (MUCH cheaper than the $50 piece on Etsy!)
$9.99 for the wood from Michael's
$2.19 for thread from Vons
$5.20 for 4 packs of nails from Home Depot (be sure to go with the nails with heads on top - I ended up using 15 nails for the heart and 125 around the state)

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Almost an hour
35 minutes to go around the state with hammer and nails
20 minutes to go around with string

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
The hardest part is just making sure the nails are far enough into the wood so that they won't move - don't make the same mistake I made!

Thanksgiving Table Runner and Candle Sticks

Want to put together a rustic, yet festive Thanksgiving table? With some scrap wood and string, you easily can. I found this video from Vintage News Junkie and found it a little confusing but eventually figured it out enough to share!

First, you'll a table.
Next, you'll need string. Any kind will do.
Finally, you'll need scrap wood pieces.

Once you have your supplies, take your string and measure out a length longer than the length of the table. I thought "Oh, my table is 55", I'll have the string be 58"." That won't work because you're wrapping the string around the wood so you're going to lose some inches. I could have had a longer table runner had I made my string longer! So to be on the safe side, go for 10" longer than the table, if you can. The more, the better. Once you have your string the length you want, make three other strings that same length. Now you have four strings - tie two together and the other two together.

Next is the annoying part and it probably took me a good 10 minutes to figure it out. Take your wood and one pair of string and stick the wood in the string, so there's a piece of string on top and a piece under.

If you like simple directions: twist the string and place your second piece of wood. Twist the string again and place down another piece of wood. Keep doing this until you run out of string.

If you like complicated directions, watch the video I mentioned.

Once you've done this, do the same for the other side, which felt a lot like weaving (right string goes under, left string goes above, left string goes under, right string goes above, etc.).

Unfortunately because my string wasn't long enough, I was off by about 3" on either side of the table. ::insert sad trombone::

But honestly, no one is going to notice at Thanksgiving when your table is set up.

Now that you have your table runner completed, want some festive candlesticks? Check out how to make apple and twig candlesticks here, otherwise find things around the house! I grabbed some popcorn kernels and candy pumpkins to fit the bill!

TOTAL COSTS: $4.25
$4.25/bundle of 15" scrap wood at Home Depot
String, popcorn kernels, candles, and pumpkins on hand - just find things around the house to decorate your candle holders! Find leaves, find acorns, find pinecones!...unless you live in Hollywood, in which case you won't find any of those things...

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 35 minutes
20 minutes on the left side
15 minutes on the right side

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5
The most difficult part is just getting the string on the wood. It's not impossible, just take a while to get the hang of it. Once you do, it's a piece of cake!

Tissue Paper Flowers

A friend of mine tipped me off to these beautiful tissue paper flowers and asked if I could try them out. Absolutely, I said! This post comes to us from BohoWeddings.com and are very easy, fast, and creative to make. These would be perfect for any engagement party, wedding, birthday, etc. I followed the instructions and wanted to throw in a couple tips I had along the way.

First off, I don't really follow centimeters as well as I do inches, so get 8 sheets of 24" x 20" tissue paper (those are the standard measurements for tissue paper). I figured instead of using colored tissue paper and forcing you guys to remember which were on top and which were on bottom, I numbered the sheets 1 through 8 - 1 is on top and 8 is on the bottom.

Next, fold about 2" on the shorter side so the bottom sheet (#8) is now showing

Then, start folding accordion-style. Once you've folded everything, grab a piece of string (mine was about 12" long) and tie a knit in the middle. At this point, the bottom sheet (#8) should be on top

Now you can cut your petals! There are multiple ways to do it, I've provided examples below.

But I decided to keep with the original post and cut the same way she did - definitely have a good pair of scissors on hand, though, as you'll be cutting through a lot of sheets at once!

Once you've cut both ends, spread out the petals and start lifting the tissue paper one sheet at a time. I lifted up 4 sheets on one side, flipped it over, and lifted up the other 4 sheets.

And voila! You're done! Now this thing is pretty big... to get a sense as to how large a flower it is, I've put my husband's bike helmet next to it. It's twice the size of a helmet.

But if you flip it upside-down, you'll be able to see the excess string (on the #1 side) and can tie it up, if you so choose!

TOTAL COSTS: $2.95
$2.95 for white tissue paper from Vons
String and scissors were already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 15 minutes
You could probably do it in less time since I was trying to take photos, find my scissors, etc.

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
This is a very easy project and one that could turn out beautiful results, depending on the colors you choose, the sizes, and the petal cuts.