Instagram Magnetic Photo Strips

These are not only creative, but would make great stocking stuffers, gift tags, or party favors - Instagram magnetic photo strips! You don't have to make them magnetic, and you don't have to use Instagram, you're free to use any digital photos you have, but the original post I found by CNET used Instagram so that's what I'll use here. All you need is:

1. A printer
2. Paper (I used cardstock)
3. Instagram (or digital photos)
4. Adhesive magnetic strip

If you want to use your Instagram photos, go to web.stagram.com and click on "Login". From there, you can enter your Instagram username and password. You'll be able to see all of your photos (under "My Photos") and all of your friends photos as well.

When you find a photo you like, right-click and hit "Copy Image"

Now the original post used a website called Pixlr.com/editor to create the strip but I wasn't able to paste the image without it looking red, for some reason. So I opened a new Word document and right-clicked to "Paste" the image there. I did this for 5 images total and once they were on the document, I went to Format --> Document --> .1" margins all around.

From there I doubled-clicked on all the images and:

Under "Colors and Lines", I selected a black 0.75 pt line
Under "Size" I made all images 2" x 2"
Under "Layout" I made all the images "Behind Text"

I added a line next to the photos so I would able to cut it evenly when I printed it out on white cardstock.

Then take your roll of adhesive magnetic tape and cut it to the length you desire. I decided to do one long strip but you could do a bunch of small squares on the back.

Stick it on your fridge and voila! Your very own Instagram photo strip!

TOTAL COSTS: $4.99
$4.99 for 1" x 10 ft. magnetic tape from Michael's
Paper, printer, scissors, Word, and digital photos already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 30 minutes
Grated, a lot of that time was spent finding the right photos!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
If you don't use Word a lot, that might be the hardest part for you but if you're familiar with the program and adding/editing photos, this will be piece 'o cake!

Oreo Peppermint Truffles

Oreo. Peppermint. Truffles. Three of my favorite things rolled into one! They're perfect for a cookie exchange or a holiday party you might be hosting, they don't require an oven, and they're super easy to make! This recipe comes to us from Cooking Classy.

Ok, so here's what you'll need:

1 Package of Oreo's (NOT double-stuffed)

16 oz. of white chocolate (I realized after I bought them I had CandiQuik, a vanilla candy coating, instead of white chocolate. It still worked!)

8oz. cream cheese (the "whipped" kind worked great!)

1 t peppermint extract

Crushed peppermints (I used 10)

Plastic bags & a hammer or rolling pin (or a food processor if you have one)

Wax paper and cookie sheet

So the first mistake I made was using a VitaMix blender to try and crush the Oreos. Big mistake and big waste of time. I ended up transferring the Oreos to a plastic bag and using a rolling pin to crush them instead.

Once the Oreos are crushed, mix the cream cheese and peppermint extract in a bowl. Now I know the instructions say to add the cream cheese mix to the Oreos but I did it the other way around and it worked just fine. 

Once you've mixed it thoroughly, then it's time to get your hands dirty! I used a big spoon to scoop out the mixture and the balls were formed quite easily. Put them on the wax paper that's on the cookie sheet and stick 'em in the freezer for 10 minutes. The original post claims you can make 36, I was lucky to get 24.

While they're in the freezer, get out your peppermints and start crushing those as well. It's times like this I wish I had a food processor. Instead, I have two plastic bags and a hammer. Double bag those suckers (incase you make a hole in the bag like I did) and crush those bad boys! It's also a nice stress reliever.

Once those are crushed, it's time to melt your chocolate. Now here's the second mistake I made: I burned the chocolate. While I was able to melt it in two minutes on the stove, I was also able to slightly burn it, which resulted in some chunks in the chocolate. However, once you dunk the Oreo balls in the chocolate and sprinkle with peppermint pieces, you can't even tell!

And voila! A yummy peppermint chocolate treat!

TOTAL COSTS: About $16 (assuming you need all ingredients - prices from Vons)
$3.99 for Oreos
$4.49 for CandiQuik
$2.99 Peppermint extract
$1.99 for Cream cheese
$3 for 2 packs of peppermints

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Almost an hour to make 24
10 minutes with the blender (that didn't work)
5 minutes with rolling pin after that to crush Oreos
5 minutes mixing in cream cheese, peppermints, and Oreos
10 minutes to roll into balls
10 minutes in the freezer (which was enough time to melt chocolate and crush peppermints)
15 minutes to dip in chocolate and cover in peppermint

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
The only difficult thing was crushing the Oreos and the peppermints but it wasn't that hard, just tedious. It's worth it in the end, though, I assure you!

How to Make a Lava Lamp in 5 Minutes

When I saw this post by Stuff Parents Need, I had my doubts... but coming from someone who doesn't have kids and who is easily entertained, I thought this was pretty darn cool!

All you need is:

An empty bottle (I used an old water bottle)

Canola oil (original post says any oil will do but I decided to stick with what she used)

Food coloring

Alka-Seltzer



Pour in two-thirds of oil and one-third of water into the empty bottle, leaving an inch at the top.

Next, pour in 10 drops of food coloring:

And finally, crush up an Alka-Seltzer and drop pieces in. And voila! You're done!

...still don't believe this works? Watch the video below - after 1 minute, I drop in a bigger piece and it really starts to go! Note: no cats were harmed in the making of this video:

TOTAL COST: Free!
Assuming you have an empty bottle, oil, food coloring and Alka-Seltzer at home

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 5 minutes or less

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
This would be a great experiment for kids or for the kid at heart!

How to Make Felt Booties

Babies to the left of me, babies to the right... they're everywhere! Sometimes I feel like the only woman who doesn't have a bun in the oven but that's ok, I'm happy to make things for other people's kids! For example, this post from Purlbee shows how to make felt booties, perfect for the wee one who'll grow out of them sooner than you think!

All you need is:

1. Some felt
2. Some embroidery thread
3. A needle
4. Some elastic
5. A printer and scissors to cut out the template
6. Some pins (about 20 pins -- 10 per shoe)

Cut out the pattern, trace it onto the felt (I didn't have an erasable marker so I just used a pen), and pin a long piece to a short piece. Pretty self explanatory, you're making a shoe!

By the time you're done pinning both shoes, you'll see they're approximately 4" long, the size of a 3-month old baby's feet. Hopefully.

And then comes the sewing... my big mistake for this project? Reading the instructions as needing "4-6 inches" of thread instead of "46 inches". I actually didn't need that much, I was able to sew with 36 inches. Now I don't know about you, but her instructions for a button hole stitch made no sense to me whatsoever so I turned to this video for help. See, you don't have to already know how to sew to do this project!

If you can't see the video, here's all you have to do: always sew from the back to the front and when the thread is almost taut, stick the needle through the thread and then pull it taut, like the photo below.

The hardest part for me was sewing the elastic, but it really shouldn't take more than 5 minutes per shoe. It's just making sure the elastic is sewn in on both sides that proves to be a bit awkward but not impossible.

And voila! Slippers for the little one!

TOTAL COSTS: About $18 (to make about 24 shoes)
$12 for 2 packs of different colored felt from Fiddlesticks in San Francisco
$.60 for embroidery thread from a knitter at Zoe Zeynep in Los Angeles
$2.59 for elastic from Michael's
$2.99 for pins from Vons
Needle, scissors, and printer/paper already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: First time 1 hr. 20 minutes; Second time 54 minutes
First time: 35 minutes to cut out felt and pin shoes, 40 minutes to sew both shoes, 5 minutes to sew elastic
Second time: 16 minutes to cut out felt and pin shoes, 33 minutes to sew both shoes, 5 minutes to sew elastic
See? The more you do it, the faster you'll get!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5
For someone who doesn't sew, I found this to be moderately difficult but not impossible! It does get easier the more shoes you make!

Holla for some challah!

What better way to celebrate Hanukkah than with the smell of warm, delicious bread coming out of your oven? Even if you're not Jewish, you have got to try challah at least once in your life. So put away that bread maker, give your self some time, and make this delicious bread recipe I found on AllRecipes.com.

Why do I say to give yourself some time? Well, because there's a lot of sitting and waiting but good things come to those who wait, I promise!

Things that you'll need (other than the ingredients listed on site):
1. 2 cookie sheets
2. PAM or something to grease said cookie sheets
3. Clean counter space
4. Flour to put on said counter space

After you've made the dough, waited for it to rise, cut in half and then into thirds to make the braids, I can't recommend enough the 1 hour resting period before putting the bread in the oven. Look at what a difference it made:

Before

After 1 hour

However, here's one change I'd make (because we all knew I had to make a mistake somewhere): the recipe says to leave it in the oven for 40 minutes but after 25 minutes, I smelled burning and yes, I did burn a little off the bottom so keep an eye on your bread and note that 40 minutes is way too long! I knocked and got the hallow sound under both loaves so they were definitely done baking!

TOTAL COSTS: Free!
Assuming you have yeast, honey, vegetable oil, flour, eggs and salt

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 3 1/2 hours
This includes the waiting times to let the dough rise

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
The only "hard" thing might be the braiding but if you know how to braid, it should be easy-peasy for you to do!

Hanukkah Ideas!

Well, we're past Thanksgivukkah and have had our Gobble Tov, but we're still celebrating Hanukkah because it lasts for 8 craaaazy night (thanks Adam Sandler). Need some ideas for around the house, for a party, or for the kids? Hopefully these will three ideas help get those creative juices flowin'!

First, I saw this post on Celebrations.com and thought it would be sooo easy, I could do it in 10 minutes or less. It's just a tin can candle holder, how hard could it be? Well, here are a couple tips for you DIY Jews out there -

1. Find a thin tin can, not a thick one. I used one that had previously been for holding vegetables and it was just right.

2. Draw a Star of David on a piece of paper and tape it to the can. This will help you tremendously. I originally thought needing a template would be a waste of time but believe me, you'll want to follow it!

3. Use a thumbtack, NOT a nail, and wearing gloves, hammer the thumbtack into the can. The reason for this is because the thumbtack will give you something to hold on to while a nail will slip right between your fingers. Trust me, it took me 10 minutes to realize this.

4. Once you've punched out your entire design, take off the paper and ta-da! Your very own Hanukkah candle holder!

                    

TOTAL COSTS: Free!
Assuming you have an empty tin can, paper and pencil, a hammer, and a thumbtack

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 30 minutes
Keep in mind it depends on how big your star is, how many holes you make, etc.

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
It's not a difficult project, it's just hammering in the holes that might hurt your fingers after a while!


Ok, now that you've got some decorations, how about something for your stomach? These sweet treats I found on Nichole Heady's site looked delicious and festive!

All you need are:
1. Large marshmallows
2. Pretzels
3. Hershey's Kisses
4. Sprinkles
And might I recommend
5. Frosting (to "glue" the Hershey's Kisses to the marshmallow) and
6. Powdered sugar (to "glue" the sprinkles to the marshmallow)

It's pretty self-explanatory. The pretzel goes in one end of the marshmallow:

the Hershey's Kiss on the other, using frosting as "glue":

and using a little powdered sugar and water, mix them together to create a "glue", brush the marshmallow with the glue and cover it with sprinkles:

And there you have it! They're incredibly sweet but are sure to go quickly!

TOTAL COSTS: About $18 (assuming you don't have ingredients on hand - prices from Vons)
$2.99 for marshmallows
$3.99 for Hershey's Kisses
$3.29 for the pretzels
$1.99 for frosting
$2.99 for sprinkles
$2.59 for powdered sugar

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 5 minutes to make 6 dreidels

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
This is something the kids could get involved with, so long as they don't eat all the ingredients before putting them together!


And finally, this would be a great activity for the kids! This actually comes to us from a website called MormonShare.com - a homemade scroll telling the story of Hanukkah!

All you need are two rolling pins, some paper (and tape if you don't have long enough paper), and some markers or crayons. Have the kids tell the story of Hanukkah through their drawings and I bet they'll have a better understanding than if they were just read the story year after year. Be creative, have fun, and join in!

TOTAL COSTS: Free!
Assuming you have paper, tape, crayons/markers, and two rolling pins

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Depends on how much you draw!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
This would be a great Hanukkah activity to get the kids involved in and yourself as well!

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!