A (SUPER EASY) (But Really Wonderful) (And Pretty) Handmade Gift DIY + GIVEAWAY!

Hi friends! How are you? How was your weekend? The weather here was amazingggggg. This weekend was incredibly busy, eventful, and truly tiring– but good. Honestly, I’m really looking forward to Marlowe not having school and all week and Alex having the next three days off. I haven’t made any holiday plans whatsoever. I didn’t even know that Alex had it off until yesterday! My brother invited us over and I said I would come under the condition that I could show up in my pajamas and not do anything. I’m a great sister, ya?Our yard sale went really well!I had never done one before so I didn’t know what to expect. It was definitely A LOT of work and felt crazy to wake up before the sun to start bringing things into our yard, but all in all it was good. It was cool to meet a lot of local readers— I just wish I could be more coherent this weekend– I feel like my brain is too on and my body is too off (if that makes any sense_ — both have been pretty glitchy, haha.

Everyone knows we don’t have a TV, yah, but it was definitely the yard sale that brought to my attention how little electronics we really have! Computer, phones, a speaker, one iPad: check. But Thats sort of it. I  did get this HP sprocket recently, which is pretty much the radest thing. I REALLY wish I had had it before Guatemala– because it would have ben PERFECT for Marlowe’s daily journal. But regardless, its so freaking cool. Basically an updated version of a polaroid. Except you don’t have to worry about printing out crappy photos, haha. You get to choose what you want to print and not print! (And the film is way cheaper too). Want a chance to win one? Keep reading!

The HP sprocket connects to your phone via bluetooth and then connect to your photos or any of your acoail media accounts to print photos directly! And the photos are tricky-backed so, if you’d like, you can stick them anywhere…. like, the fridge, a notebook, your dogs head, wherever.

As you guys know, we’ve been slowly phasing out christmas– and other holidays over here for a while now. But we’re still all about thoughtful gift giving– not because a season or holiday expects us to, but because, it’s a nice way to show you care! And some of the best gifts? They’re handmade. The HP sprocket is a super useful tool to create wonderful personalized handmade gifts for people. Marlowe and I started making a few different gifts together with the sprocket– but I thought I should share, by far,  the easiest one– that you can make in seconds to give to family or friends.

You’ll need:
-a thin would board (mine was 12 x 6 inches to fit three photos on it)
-photo clips (make sure to find ones with holes for screws and nails)
-thick card stock paper (we went with black)
-small screws
-a screw driver
-the HP sprocket (duh)
-ruler
-pencil

How to:
-pick your favorite photos and print! peel backing and stick to your card stock paper
-cut card stock paper to reveal a boarder around photo
-if you’d like it, and depending on your wood, it might be a good idea to sandpaper the edges
-with a ruler, mark the very center of your wood board and careful screw in your first screw. I’d recommend screwing in the screw a bit first, without the clip, then unscrewing, and placing clip. Does this make sense? Basically pre-make a hole– because it can be tricky to make the whole with the clip in place.
-place first photo in clip.
-take your ruler and measure from the edge of that photo to the edge of the wood board and measure your middle point again. repeat steps above on both sides.
-and voila the cutest, changeable photo board to gift!

voila!