Tutorial: How to Make a Money Lei

I've been the room parent for both of my children ever since they entered kindergarten, and I think the biggest reason I've been asked to be room parent each year is that the teachers know they'll receive a money lei as their holiday gift from the class ;) As you can see above, it's not immediately obvious that the lei is made up of 100 $1 bills, and it's something of a show piece. The drawback is that the lei would have to be dismantled in order to spend the money, but when I've asked if the teachers would prefer to just have the cash, I've been assured that they would prefer the lei instead.

I've also been asked many times, "How do you make that?" As impressive as the finished lei looks, it's actually very easy to make, so I've prepared this step-by-step tutorial to show you how to make one yourself. Since I collect money from the entire class, it's actually a very cheap project. But I will be upfront in saying it's tedious and time-consuming, so just be prepared.

How to Make a Money Lei

Materials Needed:
100 new $1 bills
12 feet of string or ribbon
scotch tape
decorative ribbon

Step 1: Get one hundred new $1 bills at the bank. This is not as easy as it sounds. Apparently, today's banking system means banks rarely get new bills, and you really need new, crisp bills for this project. However, my bank is willing to request new bills, and although they can't guarantee they'll get them, they haven't failed me yet. It does take some time, however, so be sure to allot at least an extra week just to get the money.

Step 2: Start folding. This step is the definition of tedium. Basically, you're making a fan out of each bill, as demonstrated in the video below:



When I'm getting started, I put the entire stack of $1 bills in a reusable shopping bag. After I fold each bill, I drop it back into the bag until it's time to assemble the lei.

Step 3: Assemble the lei. You'll need to cut 12 feet of string or ribbon. I like to use white curling ribbon, but that's certainly not the only type that would work in this project. Once you've got your length of ribbon, find the center, fold the length of ribbon in half, and make a knot, leaving a long tail on the end, as shown:


Next, place a folded $1 bill in the center of the knot, and tie it into place. Fan out the bill, and tape the ends, as demonstrated in this video:



Repeat with all remaining dollar bills.

Step 4: Finish the lei. Once you've tied all 100 $1 bills in place, you're ready to finish the lei by bringing the two ends together and making a tight knot, as demonstrated in the video below:

Cut off the excess ribbon. Then cover the last knot with a decorative ribbon, and voilá! Your money lei is done!

Now you just have to decide . . . is it too pretty to give away?

Apple Sauce Easter Craft & Apple Sauce Pie Recipe from Musselman's

My kids love Musselman's apple sauce, so I readily accepted when Musselman's offered to send me some applesauce for a craft as well as to eat. I was curious about the craft, which turned out to be for Bunny Place Cards that uses apple sauce in a very non-traditional way. Here's the "recipe":

What you'll need:
1/2 cup Musselman's Apple Sauce
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons cinnamon (one 2.37 oz bottle)
glitter (optional)
white craft glue (optional)
waxed paper
bunny (or other Easter shape) cookie cutter
paint pens/glitter glue pens

Instructions
1. Stir together apple sauce and 1/2 cup cinnamon until the dough becomes soft. Knead the dough with your hands for several minutes until it holds together and is completely incorporated. If desired, add glitter while kneading for extra sparkle, and craft glue for extra strength. If the dough is too wet, add 1 tablespoon of flour and knead until the flour is completely incorporated.

2. Shape the dough into a disk and place it on a sheet of waxed paper. Place a sheet of waxed paper over the dough and roll it out to 3/4 inch thick. Use the cookie cutter to cut out bunnies or other shapes.

3. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons of cinnamon on a cookie sheet and place bunnies on the sheet. Bake at 200 degrees for approximately two hours, turning bunnies periodically so they dry evenly and the edges don't curl. Brush of the excess cinnamon and air dry the bunnies overnight on cooling racks before decorating.

4. Once the bunnies are completely dry, write each guest's name with a paint or glitter glue pen and use them as place cards. You can add extra embellishments with acrylic paint, ribbons and/or fabric.

Note that these place cards are not edible.

If you're looking for something edible, I highly recommend Musselman's Apple Raisin Crumb Pie. I've adapted the recipe as follows:

Apple Sauce Raisin Crumb Pie
Serves 8

2 cups Musselman's Natural Apple Sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup raisins
4 eggs
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell with high fluted edge

1. Combine the apple sauce and brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add 3 tablespoons butter and stir until melted. Stir in the raisins. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. In a small mixing bowl, beat the eggs and add to the apple sauce mixture. Pour the apple sauce mixture into the pie shell. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, blend the oats, sugar, cinnamon and butter until crumbly. Remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top. Bake the pie for another 25 minutes, or until the top and crust are golden brown.

This pie was a huge hit at my house. I reduced the sugar from the original recipe because I thought it was a little sweet. The mixture was a tad loose, so I might add another egg the next time.

Musselman's has some printable coupons on their web site, including $1/2 42-48 oz. Apple Sauce.

Disclosure: Musselman's sent me the supplies to make the bunny place cards, but the boys and I haven't gotten to them yet and I'm not sure when we'll have time. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Easy and Inexpensive Homemade Gift: Scented Bath Salts

On the rare occasion when I have time to make a homemade gift, I like making scented bath salts. They make thoughtful thank-you gifts and great baby or bridal shower favors. They also make a great addition to a spa or pedicure-themed gift basket. (Check out Mommy Making Money for ideas on how to make such baskets for free via The Drugstore Game.)

The best part about scented bath salts is that they're inexpensive and super easy to make. I use a recipe that I think came from Martha Stewart, although I can't find it online:

Just combine nine parts of epsom salt with one part baking soda, then add several drops of the essential oil of your choice until you achieve the desired fragrance. You can add a couple of drops of food coloring if you want to color the bath salts (a little goes a very long way). I've found that the easiest way to combine everything is in a large zip top bag - just moosh everything together until thoroughly combined. Then pour the bath salts into a pretty jar and affix a label and maybe a ribbon.

That's it!

Image credit: Amazon.com.

Make Great-Looking Gift Boxes out of Cereal Boxes

I love saving money but I also love giving gifts, and there's nothing I love more than taking a great gift that I got a great deal on and making it look even greater. These cool boxes look like they'll fit the bill, especially with a pretty ribbon. Plus, I love the idea of recycling cereal boxes and helping the environment! (Especially since we go through a lot of cereal in our house these days.)

Also via Craftzine.

What to do With Those Digital Photo Proofs: Make Personalized Cards

Whenever I have digital photos printed, I get a proof sheet with tiny versions of the photos. I've never been able to bring myself to throw the proofs away, but I didn't know what to do with them either. Finally, I found the perfect use for them: cut the pictures out and make personalized cards with them. This is especially great for grandparents.

The photo to the right is of the Father's Day card I made for Marc. Here's how I made it:

Items needed (all of these can be found with scrap booking supplies or at an office supply store):

one 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of white card stock, cut in half the short way
one sheet of colored paper
double stick tape or photo mounting squares
foam mounting squares
proof sheets with the photos you want to use cut out
acid-free stickers and/or pens, optional

Steps:

1. Fold the card stock in half to make a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch card.

2. Cut or tear the colored paper to make a rectangle that will fit on the front of the card. Attach the colored paper to the card using the double stick tape or photo mounting squares.

3. Attach the foam squares to the back of the cut out proofs and affix to the front of the card. (You can cut the foam to fit the photos.) If desired, create a personalized message with stickers or pens.

Note: You can find envelopes to fit your card at stationery or office supply stores - look for No. 5 1/2 invitation envelopes.

Homemade Pop-Up Cards

Directions for making this card and many others are available on Robert Sabuda's website.

You might recognize Sabuda as the author of many elaborate and popular pop-up books like Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Not surprisingly, Alex loves these books. Equally unsurprisingly, he's destroyed them (we had at least some of the books before he was born - they weren't intended for him when we got them). At least they've been good teaching tools - we've taught him new words, and used the books (with some success) to convey concepts like gentle and looking through a hole (when Alice falls through the rabbit hole in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).

Hat tip: Thingamababy

Diaper Cake

A diaper cake makes a great baby shower gift and/or centerpiece. I received a large one at my first baby shower and thought it was great. For my friend's baby shower, I was inspired by this picture from a Right Start catalog and decided to make a small diaper cake to be the centerpiece. I used these directions as a general guide, but made only two layers (I wanted to keep the cake low so the guests could see across the table). I found that a relatively tight rubber band around each layer was a must. I also ended up rubberbanding most of the diapers individually to keep them tightly rolled. To keep the cake together, I used chopsticks instead of dowels. For presentation, I bought the kind of cardboard used to serve cakes at a crafts store. I had thought that the diapers would be white and originally intended to use a cute pink gingham ribbon to disguise the rubber bands, but had to go with plain white ribbon when the diapers turned out to be quite colorful. (I used about 30 Huggies Supreme size 1s for my small two-layer cake.)