7 Easy Holiday DIY Crafts That Will Help You Make Great Holiday Memories

By

On December 23, 2016

In Holidays

With the kids out of school, you’ve probably found yourself at a loss for ideas to occupy their time at least once or twice.

Luckily, there are plenty of fun, easy DIY crafts that you can do with your children that will let you spend quality time together, while making your home more festive. Here are a few of our favorites.

Candy Cane Garland

If you’ve got old paint chips lying around that you’re not going to be using again, use them to create a candy cane garland.

Trace candy cane shapes on them and let kids cut them out. Then use a hole punch and twine to string them together.

7-easy-holiday1

via Real Simple

Cookie Cutter Ornaments

These stylish cookie cutter ornaments are perfect crafts for older kids who are handy with scissors. With some inexpensive aluminum cookie cutters, festive paper, photographs, and glue, you can turn these out in a matter of minutes. They make lovely additions to gifts, too.

7-easy-holiday2

via Martha Stewart

Tiny Wreaths

Making wreaths you can hang on the door may be a great craft for you, but it can be a little much for the kids.

Instead, help them make a kid-sized wreath by wrapping pipe cleaners around an embroidery hoop and providing decorations that they can add. Pompoms, glitter, felt leaves, and sequins all make perfect additions.

7-easy-holiday3

via Real Simple

Salt Dough Ornaments

Salt dough ornaments are an old standby when it comes to holiday crafts – in fact, you probably made some when you were young.

With just a few dry ingredients and water, you can easily create keepsake ornaments that kids love to paint and decorate. Do these every year and you’ll have a whole collection of special memories to hang on your tree.

7-easy-holiday4

via I Heart Arts and Crafts

Wine Cork Reindeer Ornament

With all that holiday shopping, gift wrapping, and baking you’ve got going on, you’ve surely got some wine corks sitting around! Make good use of them with this cute reindeer ornament craft. All it takes are pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pompoms, and bits of pinecone.

7-easy-holiday5

via Remodelando la Casa

Styrofoam Snowmen

Those styrofoam balls you can find at craft stores make adorable snowmen. Attach two or three together with toothpicks, punch out some black construction paper circles with a hole punch for eyes, and use pipe cleaners for a nose, arms, and scarf.

For some extra sparkle, lightly brush the styrofoam balls with glue and dust with glitter.

7-easy-holiday6

via Real Simple

Popsicle Stick Ornaments

Popsicle stick ornaments are another tried-and-true craft beloved by elementary school teachers the world round. That’s probably because they’re first, easy, and second, they allow kids to get extra creative.

The link below has instructions for reindeer, star, and tree ornaments, but you can make almost anything – snowmen, Santas, sleds, you name it.

7-easy-holiday7

via evite

Don’t forget to snap a picture or two while you’re making these crafts with your family – and then put down your phone and enjoy the moment. The pictures will look great on your Nixplay Wifi Cloud digital frame’s holiday photo playlist.

The Best Gifts for Photographers This Holiday Season

By

On December 21, 2016

In Gifting Guides

If you’ve got a shutterbug on your list this year, you’ve got plenty of options when it comes to what to buy. Gifts for photographers and photography enthusiasts abound – so how do you choose the best one?

From special lenses and camera equipment to books and gadgets, here are our picks for the best gifts for photographers, whether amateur or pro, this holiday season.

  1. Photography at MoMA: 1920-1960. This beautiful survey of modernist photography, published by the Museum of Modern Art, tells the history of this artistic period through photographs in MoMA’s collection. The book consists of 8 chapters, each with a scholarly essay to introduce it, and features works by Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, and Dorothea Lange, among many others. This would look great on the coffee table of any art photographer (or art photography buff).
  1. iPhone Telephoto Lens. Even photographers can’t always carry their best cameras around. When all they’ve got is their iPhone, this telephoto lens can help make an average snapshot into a great snapshot – maybe one that’s even up to their exacting standards. The lens can fit in a pocket or purse with no problem, making it just as portable as the phone, and comes with a mini-tripod and phone case.
  1. Lens Coffee Mug. Photographers need coffee, too – especially when they’re out to catch that “magic hour” just after sunrise. This travel mug that looks just like a camera lens is just flat-out cool. Just make sure they keep it nice and far away from their actual camera lens…a mix-up would definitely not be cool.
  1. The Nixplay Iris. This digital frame is our latest offering, and is designed to look more like a traditional picture frame than our other digital WiFi cloud frames. The Nixplay Iris allows you to send photos from your phone or other device straight to the frame, no matter where you are in the world – if you’ve got WiFi, you’re connected. This would make a great gift for traveling photographers, as they can send their photos to the frame at home, sharing them with family in real time.
  1. MaxStone Wireless Camera Remote. Any professional photographer will doubtless have one of these in his or her bag already, but beginner photogs will discover a whole new world when they start using this. The gadget allows you to take pictures remotely, so you can not only take selfies that look more like real portraits, but you can also take better pictures of unpredictable subjects – namely, kids and animals.
  1. The Sun Strap. Even the most experienced photographer has found herself without a spare battery on occasion. Help the photographer in your life avoid that sinking feeling of realizing that his camera is dead with the Sun Strap, a strap with a flexible solar panel built in. The solar panel stores energy in a battery pack that has both a USB and micro USB output, so you can use it to charge not just your camera, but your phone, iPad, or other mobile device.
  1. Green Screen Kit. While pros might want something a bit fancier than this portable kit, we bet your average amateur photographer would be over the moon to receive this this year. This is also a great kit for high school or college-aged photographers, who will have fun experimenting with backgrounds and lighting.
  1. Spider Camera Holster. Camera straps and camera bags have their uses, but they can cause a whole lot of neck and back pain if you’re wearing them for hours at a time – like wedding photographers do, for example. This holster is a wonderful alternative. It eliminates the back pain because it sits around the waist, and the quick-release mechanism allows photographers to access their cameras at a moment’s notice.

We hope this list helps make your gift-giving a bit easier this year. If a Nixplay WiFi cloud digital frame is on your list, check out our post “A Lifetime in Pictures: Suggested Pictures for Your Gifted Nixplay Digital Frame” for some great ideas on how to personalize your gift.

The Best Places to Spend the Holidays This Year

By

On December 19, 2016

In Holidays

Who says you have to spend Christmas at home? If you’ve got a serious travel bug, then why not spend the holidays in a new, beautiful place, soaking up the local culture and celebrating in a unique way?

There are all kinds of ways you can create a special holiday while out of town, whether that means heading out on an outdoor adventure, soaking up the sun at a warm, sunny beach, or taking to the Alpine slopes. Here are just a few ideas of the best spots in the world to spend Christmas.

Tromso, Norway

If you’re not looking to escape the cold, visit this island city for its incredible Scandinavian culture. You can try dogsledding, eat authentic Norwegian food, and enjoy a vast array of markets, concerts, and other free Christmas-themed events.

The best reason to visit at Christmastime? Tromso is located in the actual Arctic Circle, and offers incredible views of the Northern Lights. Who knows – you may even come across a stray reindeer or two.

North Pole, Alaska

If you’ve got Christmas spirit in spades – or if you have children who’ll be making the trip with you – a visit to North Pole, Alaska is in order.

This small town a couple of hours outside Fairbanks is brimming with Christmas spirit. There’s the Santa Claus House Christmas store, a red and white landmark that’s been operating since the 1950s, streets like Kris Kringle Drive and Mistletoe Lane, and even a post office where 40,000 letters addressed to Santa Claus arrive each year.

And when you get tired of the kitsch, you can head to one of the many beautiful parks or wilderness areas that Alaska is known for. Just make sure to look up every now and then – you can see the Northern Lights from here, too.

Durango, Colorado

If staying stateside is what you’re looking for, try heading to Durango, Colorado for Christmas. This Western town is usually snowy starting in the middle of December, and it’s close enough to the ski town Telluride that you can easily head out for some skiing if the mood strikes.

One of the things Durango is most known for is its steam train, the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. At Christmas time, you can take advantage of several seasonal excursions: there’s the Polar Express for families, a Christmas tree run that takes you into the forest to cut down your own Christmas tree (and transport it back, of course), and a daily excursion into Cascade Canyon.

You also won’t want to miss the holiday events in town, like carol singing, holiday markets, and more.

Zurich, Switzerland

Featuring incredible views and old-world traditions, Zurich is beautiful at any time of year – but at Christmastime, it really stands out.

You’ll find lots of Christmas events in this Alpine city, from holiday markets and ice skating, to free, daily concerts and Lichterschwimmen, a breathtaking event when children send hundreds of floating candles down the River Limmat. And of course, when it comes to that favorite holiday treat – hot chocolate – you can’t beat Zurich.

Bali, Indonesia

In Bali, Christmas is part of the high season, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t spend your holidays there.

There are few places on earth that can boast the feelings of peace, tranquility, and goodwill that Bali does. The people are kind and friendly, the pace of life is slow, and the landscape is incredibly beautiful.

While there are plenty of Christmas events, resort deals, and Christmas meals available, you can easily opt for a quieter holiday by staying further out from the city center. A bonus? By moving further from all the people, you stand a better chance of booking a room with an incredible view of volcanoes or rice paddies.

Wherever you are this holiday season, make sure to stay in touch with your loved ones by sending your photos to their Nixplay Cloud WiFi Digital Frame via the Nixplay app! And if you need help creating a photo playlist to share with everyone back home, read our post “How to Create a Meaningful Photo Playlist to Share Your Trip with Loved Ones.”

Gift Guide: What to Buy the Mom Who Has Everything

By

On December 14, 2016

In Gifting Guides

Moms: They give us everything, and they never ask for anything in return. So when it comes time to buy mom a gift, you want to make sure that you’re getting her something as unique and beautiful as she is.

This holiday season, try giving Mom one of these special gifts.

A beautiful coffee table book

Who doesn’t love a gorgeous coffee table book? And since these big, beautiful books are something most of us rarely splurge on for ourselves, you can be pretty sure you’re getting Mom something truly special.

If your mom is a home and style enthusiast, try Styling Nature: a Masterful Approach to Floral Arrangements. If she’s a lover of fine portraiture – or Annie Leibowitz – go for Vanity Fair: the Portraits.

An elegant smartwatch

Smartwatches don’t have to look like a tiny wearable computer, as several companies have proven recently. For a smartwatch with a traditional aesthetic but a typical smartwatch display, opt for the Fossil Q.

The Pebble Time Round smartwatch is a sleek, lightweight watch that offers a minimalist design and plenty of useful features.

If you want a smartwatch so well-designed it could trick people into thinking it’s a high-end, traditional watch, take a look at the Huawei Watch.

The Nixplay Iris

Mom deserves style and grace in everything she owns – even her digital picture frame. The Nixplay Iris’s sleek, silk-metal finish and three color choices (Silver, Peach Copper, and Burnished Bronze) make this digital picture frame something she’ll want to display right alongside her traditional picture frames.

The Nixplay Iris’ features include a high-resolution display, an activity sensor that tells the frame to “wake up” when someone enters the room, and WiFi connectivity, so you can send Mom pictures from anywhere, at any time. It’s a great way to stay connected with her through all of life’s little moments – even if she can’t be there with you.

A swanky cookbook

If mom loves to cook – or if she just loves flipping through all those delicious pictures of food – pick up a high-quality cookbook. For the romantic at heart, there’s Ina Garten’s Cooking for Jeffrey: a Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, which features recipes that Garten makes for her husband of 45 years, Jeffrey.

For the adventurous, fun-loving cook, try the totally unique Dirt Candy: a Cookbook. This graphic cookbook is filled not just with recipes, but with comics detailing everything from how to properly slice a zucchini to what it’s like to run a restaurant.

A subscription box for sweets

Subscription boxes are the gifts that keep on giving, and boxes that deliver a collection of delicious chocolates or candies to you every month – well, we’re hard-pressed to think of anyone who wouldn’t be thrilled to get that as a gift.

For the chocolate lover, try Chococurb’s mini box, which will send Mom a box of three personalized premium chocolate items each month.

If she’s a true chocolate connoisseur, you may want to opt for Choco Rush. This club offers a three-bar-per-month box featuring all bean to bar chocolate – in other words, chocolate from makers who perform every single step of the chocolate making process in-house.

If Mom’s more of a candy person, try Treatsie, which will ship her a collection of artisan confections from sweet makers from around the country each month.

Amazon Echo or Google Home

Whether or not Mom is particularly tech-savvy, she’ll be able to get a lot out of the Amazon Echo or Google Home, two smart home bluetooth speakers and virtual assistants that both came out in the past couple of years.

You’ll want to think long and hard about which to get Mom, as a device like this is a highly personal item – but then again, who knows her better than you do?

Happy shopping! We hope your holiday season is filled with lovely gifts, but more importantly, with making happy memories with the ones you love.

Do People Really Have A “Good Side” In Photos?

By

On December 12, 2016

In Photography

You’ve probably heard it a hundred times, or even said it yourself. “Get my good side.” Most of us probably just think of it as a joke and allow ourselves to be photographed on whatever side we happen to be facing at the moment. Still, there are people who will change positions in a photo because they swear that they have a good side—and they won’t be caught dead posing with their “bad side” facing the camera. But how much truth is there to that? Do people really have a good side and a bad side?

Well, it turns out your position-changing friend may actually be onto something. Even the best looking people don’t have perfectly symmetrical faces, so there are always going to be very slight differences in the photos you take from each side. Many people know this already, but don’t use that knowledge when it comes to photos. If you look in the mirror, you might notice that when you smile, one corner of your mouth moves upward a little more, or one of your eyes closes slightly less. This is pretty normal, and though most people don’t really notice it, you do because you look at your face so often.

But that’s not all. It turns out that most people are perceived more favorably when they are photographed from the left side. A study found that people overwhelmingly prefer to look at the left side of other people’s faces in photographs. That even held true when the left side was mirrored to look like it was the right side. The study found that people’s left side tended to exhibit “a greater intensity of emotion.”

So you’re most likely going to look best photographed from your left, but that’s not 100% certain. Some people may legitimately look better from their right, so don’t give up hope if you think your right side is your best.

What you can do is check out your old photos and decide which side you think suits you best, and get some opinions from trusted friends. You probably have quite a few pictures from either side if you haven’t given it any thought until now. You can also hold a piece of paper up to cover half of your face while looking in the mirror. The side with the most upturned features (mouth, cheeks, eyebrows) is probably your “good” side.

So is your friend being a little dramatic when she moves to another position before you take a picture? Probably, but it does seem that she’s technically right about being photographed from a certain side.

No matter what side you’re standing on when a picture is taken, the best way to display it is always with a wifi cloud frame from Nixplay. Enjoy crystal clear picture quality for all your photos—not just those selfies from the left. Check out our selection of frames today and find the perfect one for you!

Page 75 of 91

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén