I love taking photos with Instagram because even blurry ones can be salvaged with a filter applied. Check out my blurry pics:

My mom loves photos of the kids, but normal 4×6 prints weren’t going to cut it for Instagrams and I’m a little too frugal to use the many Instagram photo printers out there. Being the crafty type I wanted to DIY it. I remember seeing How About Orange’s DIY pantone chip magnets and thought a fun twist would be to use photos.

While browsing the craft store for magnetic backing and the paper glaze I came across some wooden squares and added those to my basket thinking they would make a nice sturdy base. Plus I have a bad track record with cutting foam board (which I was going to use instead).

Here’s what I left the store with:

- Adhesive Magnetic Sheet (used for photos)
- Aleene’s Paper Glaze
- Wooden squares (1.25 inches, 3 packs of 5)

Using iPhoto I printed the pictures 6 up. Select your photos, choose print, select the contact sheet theme. Change the number of photos in a column to 6. This size will give an almost perfect fit on the 1.25 wooden squares. Cut the photos to size leaving a small white border around the edge. Following How About Orange’s suggestion I taped them onto the wooden squares using double sided tape. Then spread the Paper Glaze on top. (I’d recommend doing a test to see how much glaze to use. My first attempts were too thick and the glaze was still cloudy on some parts. Oops!)

I noticed little bubbles in the glaze and used a toothpick to smooth them out. You can see the magnet of the stuffed dog has a big air bubble on his head (oops again!) After drying overnight I attached the adhesive magnetic sheets. Cut to size then peel and stick. Here’s the back:

And the fronts:

Because I took the photo straight on you can’t see the glossy surface but it’s there, I swear! It’s not as puffy as I would have liked but another coat probably would do the trick.

They’ve held up pretty well. I made these for Mothers Day and gave each grandma 6 and I kept 3 for us. The kids like to play with them… not sure why, maybe it’s because they like to look at themselves?!

Total the cost wasn’t that bad, I tossed my receipt but think it was under $10 to buy all the supplies. I had a 40% off coupon as well.

This party was so much fun to plan and execute. I’m not gonna lie, I love how it turned out! I wanted a fun and bright theme and the result was colorful.

My goal was to spend as little as possible on decorations because the bulk of the budget was going towards food and alcohol. We had to feed approximately 60 people! One pack of colored paper and 6 streamer rolls really went a long way! Keeping up with tradition I made  the invitations, “Happy Birthday” banner, circle toppers, food labels, and the streamer buntings. (Not sure if you would consider those buntings?!)

The streamer buntings were the result of laziness to grab the ladder from the garage. Initially I had planned to string them along the ceiling in the living room. I think I got more bang for my buck by making the buntings though and I was able to make a few to hang around the house.

The desert table included fluffy mousse (super yummy btw!), two cakes (one smash), and candy. Both cakes were from Lunds. It took all day to make the mouse because of the many layers but they look oh so cute!

And there’s the birthday boy. He had a great time with the cake. Unsure at first if he should dig in but then bawled when we took it away. One year old already. Can’t believe how fast the last 12 months have gone.

I’ll be offering some of the printables as free downloads soon, so stay tuned!

EDIT: The printables are here!

When my son started preschool, I didn’t realize how much “homework” I would end up having. Making homemade play dough was one of them but it turned out to be quite fun; as an added bonus, I finally found a use for cream of tartar (who knew?!). Anyway, I searched online for a simple recipe and came across one on Pinterest from Art Nest. The consistency was great, the colors are endless (it’s a great project to help your kids learn which combination of colors make new ones!) and it didn’t have the smell you’d get with the store-bought kind. It was also a great workout for my forearms but the best part was having my son enjoy it with his classmates.

TIP: This is a great party activity and party favor!