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My new favoritest project EVER--DIY photo booth with a refrigerator box

Booth in action

Our family friends shoved inside for a portrait--they didn't ask to be on the blog, hence the blurry faces ;)

Awesome results. LOVE

Last Saturday our super awesome mailman showed up on my porch with a big refrigerator box.

"I found it!" he told me. "I've been asking around all week and finally got one at the apartment complex."

I was perplexed, "how did you know I needed a refrigerator box?" I asked.

"Biscuit told me."

So there you go.

This idea popped into my head a month or so ago and I mentioned it to Biscuit at some point. Apparently she and the mailman were chatting so I got a box to fulfill my vision of a DIY photo booth. Thanks to our incredible mailman.

Of course Biscuit wanted to make it THAT MINUTE and we had guests coming over and stuff to do but I relented and in less than 15 minutes the photo booth was operational. I guess I envisioned it being painted and decorated and Pinteresty but the sheet backdrops are kinda cool. You can flip over a new background just like JC Penney!

Now whenever folks stop by I invite them in for a photobooth session. It's awesome having a giant photobooth in your living room. I just took an adorable shot of Biscuit and her cousin and sent it with the cousin as a little souvenier. She'd never seen polaroid type film so that was fun :)

If you want your own photo booth you need:

• one refrigerator box (ours is from what must be the tiniest refrigerator ever so it maximizes the squished-in look of traditional photo booths)
• An instax camera for instant gratification (I have the Instax mini which is perfect)
• A box cutter/knife/exacto
• Some fabric/sheets/paint
• A stool/small chair to put inside
• A ruler helps for cutting a straight doorway

Directions: Cut a big hole in one side to get in (leave a bit at the bottom so the box doesn't fall apart) and cut a window for the camera on the side adjacent to your doorway.. Drape sheets over the back and around the sides without the window. (this also creates a curtain across the "door").

Shove in your people and snap away. SO. FUN.

Enjoy!

Boiling the ocean

So I made sea salt. "Made" sea salt. The ocean made the sea salt I just took the water out.

I did make the salt dish.

Anyway, sea salt. It was kinda fun. I was inspired to do this after listening to a Spilled Milk podcast where she mentioned Admiralty Salt. I had grand dreams of making this post a sort of spoof on that site. On one hand I think what they're doing is super cool. On the other hand, c'mon, it's salt. Though after making a bunch (and ruining a bunch) I will say there is some skill/art/craft to getting it right.

Once I decided to "make" sea salt I googled around for a how to and basically made it up as I went along loosely following various tutorials. Want a tutorial?

Step 1: Collect sea water.

Water collection was the not-so-secret ulterior motive to this beach trip. I totally fell in and scraped my leg on a rock. And got drenched on a cold day.

We collected about 20 gallons of water. (way, way, way more than we needed) off the coast north of Bodega Bay.

Step 2: Remove water.

Ideally we would have collected water in the summer and let the summer sun evaporate the water but alas it was November and even in warm California I had to resort to boiling.

Step 2, part a: strain water (through muslin to remove any sand) and put into pot

Step 2 part b: switch to non favorite pot (realizing this pot will be in use for days and days). Bring to boil then reduce to simmer and/or leave in warm spot on the back of the stove for a while. Like hours on simmer or days on warm spot. A bit of salt appears.

Step 2 part c: a scum appears on the surface. It looks like something gross got in your water but, guess what?, it's salt! In this photo it even looks like salt but an hour before it looked like scum.

Step 2 part d: continue with gentle stove top heat, remove more water and more salt appears!

Step 2 part e: keep going. Until you have a pile of mushy wet sand. Much less water than the photo below.

step 2 part f: the step where I had the most problems. Put the salt mush on a cookie sheet and continue to dry it on really, really low heat. I think the summer sun would be ideal for this step but I used a very low oven (200 degrees turned off and then door propped open). Basically every time I baked I put my salt sheets into the cooling oven to use residual heat. But I sometimes forgot them and if you bake the salt at 350 degrees it burns. Well, it probably doesn't technically burn but something bad happens to the texture and you get salt rocks (opaque, white lumps) rather than salt flakes (translucent, almost damp seeming shards). The salt below is not perfect, a bit too rocky. The salt-on-cookie-sheet phase took several days.

Step 3: package! I used spice jars from Ikea and a cute label found free on the internet.

I didn't keep very close track but I estimate I used about 10-12 gallons of water and made about 7 cups of salt (including about a cup that I ruined by baking). Rough estimates but really a surprising amount of salt. I have about 2 cups left after gifting and after all that work I'm almost afraid to use it. So far all I've done is sprinkle it on a few holiday chocolates. Yum! Salt!

Advent calendar

I finished a new advent calendar in the nick of time. Inspired by this calendar from A Beautiful Mess I wanted something that would reveal family photos as the days go by (but also have candy to keep the kid interested).

Clothespins would have kept the paper folders closed better but I didn't want to put more holes in the wall for the strings to hang the cards from. This old window was sitting in the corner waiting to be hung so I used it.

Each day is a folded piece of cardstock with a family photo stitched in to make a pocket to hold the candy. It was so fun scrolling through the last year of iPhoto--we did so many things (many of which I had forgotten). I printed a random selection of family pictures.

The numbers are glitter glue that took FOREVER to dry. Hours and hours to dry. So even though I started at 7:30 am this didn't get hung till about 7 pm.

Biscuit promptly grabbed the chocolate coins and I reattached the #1 square with the cardstock folded back and the photo revealed.

I debated hanging garland on my wall branch but I think I'll skip it. Maybe a few ornaments? I like my wall branch spare but December is not the time for minimalism.....

I used my own tutorial

There are a very few posts on this very old blog that drive traffic from google (and now Pinterest). One is this silhouette tutorial. I recommend that you ignore that entire tutorial except the part about taking the picture of the kid, printing it at the size you want your silhouette and then using it as a cutting pattern. Entire tutorial, one run on sentence.

I've done a handful of Biscuit silhouettes since that original but realized I had never done one of Oscar.

It's very hard to take a photo of glass that isn't filled with random reflections. Hence the weird angle.

I found oval frames on sale at Michaels (oval frames, surprisingly hard to come by) and then we redid the hallway so timing was perfect to create a set. I reframed Biscuit's silhouette from when she was about 5 and did a new one for Oscar.

This is the view of the hallway from Biscuit's room.

Oscar's head is a little bit big compared to Biscuits but it'll work and it's nice to have them both on the wall.

Super simple smoothie tutorial

This post is for my brother-in-law. My sister texted a photo of something that looked sort of like sorbet or ice cream but was supposed to be a homemade smoothie. Since I make smoothies several days a week (for Biscuit who is getting pickier and pickier in her old age) I thought I'd post a simple tutorial.

To make this smoothie you need: A plastic cup (a red solo cup works surprisingly well); a stick blender (if you don't have one, buy one. best kitchen tool ever); plain yogurt; juice or juicy fruit; frozen fruit; non frozen fruit (ideally a banana).

Put in a few spoonfuls of yogurt (about 1/3 cup? I never measure--about 3 heaping spoonfuls)

add 1/2 banana, broken up. The banana makes it nice and creamy but if you don't have a banana, just skip this.

Now add a small handful of frozen fruit. I try to freeze fruit that is about to go (especially stone fruit and berries) so Biscuit gets a lot of plums, peaches and strawberries. Trader Joes also has great frozen berries so I've been working through some raspberries I bought for scones. Frozen mango is great. Tropical fruit is great in smoothies.

Now you need liquid (this is what my brother-in-law missed!). This time of year we have great valencia oranges so I add half an orange (minus the seeds). Without oranges I'll put in orange or pineapple juice. Or you could toss in some milk...

Blend.

And serve to the kid. The good thing about this breakfast is that it can travel around with her as she gets ready from bedroom for dressing to bathroom for hair doing. We rarely have time for a sit down breakfast.

Good morning!

Luggage tag DIY

I made the favors for my sister's wedding shower--luggage tags to go with the travel theme. In orange, of course. I also tried making a visual tutorial which is not as easy as it looks--I kept forgetting to photograph steps as I went. But here goes.

SUPPLIES:

Actually, that vinyl piece is better if it's 1/8" bigger in each direction. Cut it 4 1/8 x 2 7/8.

Now I missed photographing a step. If I was a truly diligent tutorial maker and blogger I would go photgraph it now. But I have to go pick up the kids in 10 minutes and still need to take a shower since I am stinky from a run so I best forge ahead.

Here is the instruction: Stitch around the inside cut out area as close as possible to the center.

Onward.

That step wasn't worth a photo, was it?

Can you tell the vinyl is in there covering the window? It is.

That's it!

I made 21 of these over the course of two evenings so it does go pretty quick.  Enjoy!

Vacation scrapbooks

As I did in 2012, I created a spiral book and gathered supplies to "scrapbook on the road" for the summer road trip we took in June. This year Biscuit wasn't quite as into it but I still had fun documenting our travels with stories and bits of paper then coming home and adding photos. I did a terrible job allocating space for photos to match up with the text but that's okay--you get the idea.

I love how this book captures the bits and pieces of the trip. Biscuit's Junior Ranger book parts, rubbings of things, receipts, campground tags and all the things you think would be fun to save but wouldn't really have use for.

But, since our summer trips are pretty epic (thanks to all of Mr. H's good planning) I also like to print a digital photo book as I do of most trips (not just road trips). As soon as we get home I sort the photos and get them into a digital book. Within two weeks of arriving back I have the printed book in my hands and can share photos with family and friends (beyond what they already saw on Instagram). This year I used Costco for my photo book. Their new design and upload tools are fantastic and easy to use. The price is great (no shipping costs) but I don't love the quality. I can't quite tell if it's my photos (very possible) or the book but it's just not quite perfect. Still, for the convenience I'd totally use them again.

I still can't say I want to go entirely to digitally printed scrapbooking but wow. For the price, quality and compact size it really can't be beat. And I love having all the photos I want printed and organized so we can look back on this trip. It was a great time.

Roll ups for the lunch box

I wasn't sure which Instagram filter was best for sliced ham. I chose Hefe. Still not sure.

Anyway, Biscuit asked for "roll ups" for her lunch this week. Here's the recipe I came up with that has satisfied all three roll up eaters in the family:

• Lavosh bread (from Trader Joe's)
• Sliced ham (from Trader Joe's)
• Cream Cheese Spread

Cream Cheese Spread recipe (adapted from the UC Davis Coffee House Cookbook)

The measurements are (obviously) approximate. Use what you've got!

• 1 green onion, finely chopped (2-3T)
• 2 small carrots, grated (1/3-1/2 cup)
• 1-2T parsley, finely minced
• part of a green pepper, finely chopped (1/4-1/3 cup)
• pinch of salt
• few grinds of pepper

Stir into 8 oz of whipped cream cheese.

Cover Lavosh with thin layer of spread. Lay a single line of ham slices across it and roll and slice. (Each lavosh made 8 little roll up slices).

Yum.

 

Crazy (awesome) silhouette art tutorial

Because I'm a week behind on everything, including New Years, I'm still working on my resolutions. But I think one will be to post one tutorial here per month. But then the internet is FULL of AWESOME tutorials whereas mine tend to be a bit more...hmmm... homespun? Novice? Crappy? So I'm also considering a resolution of making one thing per week all year.

Either way, this Crazy (Awesome) Silhouette Art project totally fits the bill.

Supplies:

• a piece of wood or plywood or some other smooth surface (I used a square of 1/4 inch masonite about 14x14 inches)
• photo of your subject in profile
• Contact paper
• Scissors or really, really sharp exacto
• spray primer in black (or some other cool color)
• assorted acrylic paints and brushes
• spray on clear coat (if desired)
• string and glue gun (or some sort of hanger)

Process:

1. Take a photo of your subjects in action. Aim for a neutral(ish) background and faces in profile. Convert to black and white and crop as desired. Print out on regular typing paper the size you want your silhouette to be (I printed the image below on 8.5x11" paper)
2. Spray your wood with primer. This will be the color of your silhouette. You only really need to spray the area where your silhouette will be. see how the wood below has primer on one side? And the photo is printed (ignore the blue stripes--printer issues!)
3. Tape your contact paper sticky side up to a self healing mat. Tape your photo on top and cut out image using exacto. (notes: you might want to outline with a pen first to ensure you know where to cut. If your exacto is anything less than razor sharp use double stick tape or a glue stick to adhere the photo to the back of the contact paper and cut out with scissors)
4.  Peel it all apart and stick your contact paper silhouette to your primered wood. Press down the edges really well.
5. 
6. Here's the trick I learned about on HGTV at some point....spray paint again over the contact paper mask. This should help keep the edges clean as they'll be sealed down with matching paint!
7. Now go to town with the acrylic paints. Choose colors you like and don't worry about it. I recommend employing a child to help--it'll force you to be spontaneous and to not try to do anything too fancy. Or you could just paint it a solid color (if you're booooring....)
8. 
9. That red smear looked vaguely heart shaped so I made it a bit more heart shaped. That was about it as far as trying to do anything planned.
   
   
10. Watch your paint dry. (in our case, force your child to take a bath with the promise of peeling off contact paper when she's done.)
    
11. PEEL! Carefully peel off the contact paper with fingers crossed. Yay! I hope it looks awesome.
12. If desired, spray on a coat of polyurethane or acrylic clear coat. If you're hanging your work attach the fastener. For this light masonite a hot glued a piece of ribbon to the back and it seemed to work fine.
13. Hang and enjoy!

Watercolor building block art--a tutorial

I have been having so much fun with this project I thought I'd share a little tutorial. It started with Biscuit and I working on some Eric Carle inspired art. So colorful and fun!

Start by using water colors to brush blocks of solid (or blended) colors onto whatever paper you have on hand. We used some computer paper, some sketch paper and found the backs of the covers of sketch pads have a great texture for watercolor. Biscuit was trying some stippling but I liked the look of straight brush strokes or swirls in the finished project.

OR, even better, if you have a toddler/preschooler odds are you have some painted art that has come home. I had an entire sheet of paper a younger Biscuit had painted brown and used it throughout this project since I didn't have brown water color. What a great way to use/repurpose/save young children's art. I wish I had more of her paint scribbles (no idea why I had the brown piece).

Use a papercutter (or craft punches if you got 'em?) to cut out traditional block shapes. I used somewhat consistent sizing so the 'blocks' would fit together. I cut a mix of squares in 2x2 or 1x1 inches, rectangles in 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, 2x3 an 2x4 and triangles which were 2x2 or 3x3 squares cut in half on the diagonal. Remember that blocks always have those cool arch pieces. I cut those rectangles 2x3.5 or 2x4 and free handed the arch cut leaving about 1 inch on either side for stacking. Use the interior of the arch cut outs as well. Here is an image for inspiration that makes me think I should have cut some of my rectangles into triangles. Next time.

Now have FUN playing "blocks" and making castles and towers and other arrangements on a blank sheet of cardstock. I tried to "design" each block tower to be something that could actually stand up if it were 3-d. Ideally you'd have a kid to help you with this section but I was addicted and Biscuit had NO interest in arranging blocks--she was too busy with her own project.

Glue! I used a glue stick to get the glue all the way to the edges of each block. When pasting, leave a sliver of white showing between each block. As soon as everything is glued press your piece under a stack of books or magazines to get it flat.

We made this building block art to supplement the project we did here and a note Biscuit wrote her brother at school. My goal is to create a wall of original "art" by family members to hang in Oscar's room. The frames are all cardboard and part of the project as well (I have a phobia about having real picture frames fall on me when I sleep--hello growing up in earthquake country--so cardboard frames felt just right for above a crib. Plus they are fun to make, kitschy and the price is right too!)

Here's what we've got so far. The lower left with the car, horse and tree is Biscuit's piece. I love it and feel bad the "frame" isn't a better fit. Hard to find really big pieces of cardboard.

Have fun!