Pumpkin Spice Macarons

 Gather your ingredients:

Almond Meal

Confectioner's sugar

Creme of Tartar

Eggs

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter

 In your mixer, whip 3 egg white and 1/4 teaspoon of creme of tartar on medium for 3 minutes, then on high for an additional 4 minutes.

 While your egg whites are beating, you can mix your dry ingredients: 1 cup almond meal, 2 cups confectioner's sugar, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. When your egg whites are done beating, you will fold in the dry ingredients, starting with half, then folding in the other half after the first in incorporated well. After everything is mixed together, put the mixture in a pastry bag and pipe 1 inch circles on your cookie sheet. I like to use the silicon pan liners, it helps the macarons bake more evenly.

 Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees and wait. Your little macarons need to rest before baking. At least 30 minutes, longer if it is humid. You will know when they are ready because you will be able to touch their tops without your finger sticking to them.

 Bake for 18 minutes. Remove and let cool completely. Once cool, spread Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter on half of the macarons, then sandwhich them with the remaining half of the batch.

Voila! Enjoy!

How to soften your hair with Coconut Oil

You will need:

Coconut oil

A ceramic cereal bowl

A glass

A spoon

A tea kettle

A shower cap

Scoop 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil into your glass. Place the glass in your ceramic cereal bowl.

Boil some water in your tea kettle.

Pour the boiling water into the cereal bowl and stir around the coconut oil in the glass. The coconut oil melts at a pretty low temperature, soon your coconut oil will be melted down to a clear liquid oil. Dip your fingers into the glass and run the coconut oil through your dry or damp hair until your hair is thoroughly coated.

Cover your coconut oil infused hair with a shower cap. Leave on for at least an hour. I like to sleep with it in over night.

When you are ready to complete your treatment wash your hair twice and condition as usual. You will notice that your hair is ridiculously soft. My hair tends to be frizzy, and this treatment totally tamed my frizz. I've been doing this once a week for a few weeks now. If I feel a little frizzy between treatments I will take a small bit of coconut oil from the jar, rub it between my fingers to heat it up, and un it through my hair for a leave in treatment. 

Instagram to photo canvas tutorial

 Supplies: 

Canvas (I used 4"x4" canvas for this project)

Photos

Black Paint

Paint Brush

Mod Podge

Sponge Brush

Optional Supplies: 

Ribbon

Felt

Superglue

 First you will have to either sync your iPhone to your computer to download your Instagram photos, or email them directly to yourself from your iPhone's picture album. You can resize these photos using image editing software, I use photoshop. For 4"x4" canvas, I printed my photos at 3.75"x3.75" and trimmed them from the original photo paper. When printing these out, I did use an Epson inkjet photo printer with Epson photo paper.

 Because most of the filters I use on Instagram have black borders, I painted the sides of the canvases with black paint so that the photos would appear to blend into the canvas more than they would if the canvas was left white. 

 After painting the canvases, I let them site about 2 hours to be sure the paint was dry.

 Before applying the Mod Podge, I placed the trimmed photos on the canvases to be sure they fit. Looking good!

 Next, I covered the top surface of each canvas with a layer of Mod Podge.

 Then, carefully placed the photos on top of the Mod Podged canvases, being sure to carefully line them up.

 This next step is optional, you can leave the photos uncoated if you do not want a textured finish. I was experimenting, so I decided to coat the canvas and photo in another layer of Mod Podge to be sure it was really sealed together. Then I left them to dry over night, just to be safe. Once dry, you're done and they are ready to display!

However...

 I was making a few of these for my family as Christmas gifts to commemorate my nephew's first Christmas last year, so I took a few extra steps to turn these into Christmas Ornaments!

First I cut enough ribbon to form a little loop for hanging on a tree, then I super glued each end to the back of the canvas.

 Next, I cut a felt square to the size of the canvas and superglued it to the back of the canvas to hide the staples and give it a more finished look.

 I let these dry for about an hour to be sure the super glue had cured before wrapping.

Find a sturdy branch, because these little babies can be a bit heavy for the smaller branches.

I found inspiration for these projects on Pinterest (of course!).  You can check out the post that inspired me here: http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2011/12/mini-photo-canvas-ornaments-featuring.html