Tutorial - Free Facebook Photo Collage for Your Computer Desktop

I just happened to come across a really cool site tonight. I have so many pictures on my computer and memory cards that I haven't done anything with. All of a sudden, it's really bothering me and I want to create some books, collages, etc.

This is a free service that you can upload pictures from your facebook, flickr, or from your computer. It is super easy to make and you don't have to give them any personal information! If you would like, you can order prints of the poster collages for a pretty decent price as well.

Go to www.postermywall.com and click on "Create your poster now".

Next click Facebook InstaCollage

Choose your orientation

Now you will have to allow access to your facebook account. It will pull up all of your albums. Click the photos that you want to appear on your poster. For a good quality poster, the site recommends that you choose at least 80 photos. It seems like a lot, but I have way more than that on my page.

When you have chosen your photos, it will give you a few more options for borders, etc.

When you are finished, click on Download at the top of the page. It will allow you to save to your computer. It will automatically save with a different extension, although it is a jpg. So, you will need to save it with .jpg in order to be able to open the collage.

Go to your control panel and choose Display. Change the photo in the Desktop tab to your poster and it makes the best desktop background ever!

It will look better than it does on my blog because it is a lot bigger!

How to Disguise a Tear in a Dress Neckline

My friend's daughter got a small tear in the neckline of her dress. It was definitely a dress that had to be saved!

First I zig zag stitched across the tear a couple of times.

Then I sewed a square of velcro right in the middle along the top of the neck line.

Now is the fun part. I picked out a few pretty flowers, cut the green part down on the back, and glued velcro to them. (Some flowers will come apart if you cut the plastic off. If this happens, you can hot glue the pieces back together!)

Now she has her super cute dress with interchangeable colored flowers!

Eco-Friendly Party Favor Bag Idea - Capri Sun Wallet Tutorial

Capri Suns are a great thing to upcycle. I have been making tote bags, lunch bags, purses, aprons, wallets, belts, etc. My MOMS Club is going to be hosting a playdate at an indoor playground for a group of moms and kids from SafeHouse. SafeHouse is a safe place for women and children to stay when they break away from abusive situations.

We want to give both the moms and kids a "goody bag" when they leave. I thought that a great idea would be to use Capri Sun Wallets as the bags. It's something kids love and a great way to upcycle and not create more trash for the landfill.

I go to my sons school and collect Capri Sun pouches at lunch. The lunch room is really loud, but it's actually a lot of fun to hang out with the kids.I bring my Capri Sun tote bag and walk around to the lunch tables and collect the empties. It's really funny to watch the kids try to suck them down when they see me coming. I have been able to collect as many as 100 pouches is one day!

Once you get enough pouches, throw away the straws and peel any remaining straw wrappers off of the front. Next, put them in your sink and slit the bottom open. Then rinse them clean.

You will need 4 cleaned pouches to make a large wallet/goody bag.

Using a wide zig zag stitch, sew 2 pouches right next to each other. Make sure to overlap the pouches enough to make sure that they are sturdy. Sew 2 more together.

Then overlap the one row on top of the other and zig zag them together. Now you will have a rectangle made of 4 pouches.

Turn the rectangle so that the labels are upside down, but the silver side is showing. Fold the bottom side up. This will be the actual pouch.

Now zig zag stitch through both layers, starting on one end, making your way across the top and back down the other side.

This stitched side will be the flap. Fold it down and secure with some sticky velcro.

You're done!

If you don't want to make one yourself, you can check out my Etsy Store for my Capri Sun creations or my Facebook page, Made by Mel-Upcycle the Sun. A percentage of my Capri Sun sales will be donated to my son's school, David M. Cox Elementary!

Don't forget to "like" my You Made That? facebook page as well!

Giveaway Winners!!!

Ok, the winners have been chosen for my giveaway on A Law Student's Journey and Kitty's giveaway on my blog!

The winner of the t-shirt headband and necklace set is: elisekayem

The winner of the apron is: M from Livin' & Lovin' Life in the 9-4-1

Congratulations ladies!

Thank you Kitty for the giveaway swap!

Yarn Wrapped Bangle Bracelet - Upcycled from a Mac & Cheese Box!

Hi Everyone! It's Melanie from You Made That? and I am so excited to be partying with you all!

I am linking to the Ultimate Blog Party 2011 and hope to meet a bunch of new people!

My blog is all about easy and thrifty craft ideas and recipes. I am a stay at home mom and have just started blogging a couple of months ago. Here are a few of my tutorials:

Yarn Wrapped Bangle Bracelet - Upcycled from a Mac & Cheese Box!

Mod Podged Comic Book Letters

Playground Slide Mat

Wrap Skirt for Dance Class - Tutorial

I am so glad that you stopped by my blog. Please follow me and leave a comment. I will follow you back! Have a great time at the Ultimate Blog Party 2011!

Thank you Janice & Susan!

Almond Milk

I have a really hard time getting my boys to eat vegetables, so I've been trying to find some healthy things to add to their diets.

When shopping for groceries, I decided to try Silk PureAlmond. To my surprise, it is really good. I bought the unsweetened, but they have vanilla and a couple other flavors as well.

First I poured some in my Fiber One Honey Clusters cereal. It was really good. The honey and almond flavors went well together.

Next, I tried some in a fruit smoothie. My boys drank it up and loved it. I added a banana, an orange, some ice and orange juice. Smoothies are a great treat and even better with the extra nutrients!

Today I tried to make some Jello Instant Pudding with the almond milk. It tasted great, but was a little liquidy. My boys drank it and loved it as well. I think next time I will try half milk and half almond milk so that it will thicken up a little bit more.

Tonight I tried to make chocolate almond milk. It was pretty good, but I added a little regular milk as well.

I am so happy that I finally tried this and will be trying the different flavors soon. 1 serving = 1 cup and only has 35 calories!

If you want to know what's so healthy about almond milk, click here!

Go to the silk facebook page and if you like the page, you can get a $.75 coupon. If you do a quick survey, you can get a $2.00 coupon!

There are a lot of recipes for smoothies and other ideas on allrecipes.com. If you find another use/recipe for almond milk, please share!

Don't miss out on my t-shirt/headband set giveaway from A Law Student's Journey. You can enter through March 31st!

Another Dress/Shirt That I'm Proud Of

So, it is 3:30 am and I just finished this dress/shirt. I really like how it turned out and had to share with you all!

What do you think?