I love cheesecake. But I don’t love having to wait 4-5 hours for it to set after you bake it.

I found this No-Bake Cheesecake recipe from Marthastewart.com. Its super easy to do. The results are more custardy than cakey, but it was still pretty yummy.

You will need:

2 8oz bars of cream cheese

1 14oz can of condensed milk

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (that’s about one whole lemon)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

STEP 1:

With your mixer on medium, whip the cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

STEP 2:

Slowly mix in the condensed milk.

STEP 3:

Mix in the vanilla and the lemon juice. Scrape the sides as you go along, so that all the ingredients get mixed in.

STEP 4:

Scoop out into your prepared crust.

STEP 5:

Wrap up your cheesecake and cool in the refrigerator for about 2 hours or until firm.

This is a quick and super super easy recipe. There isn’t a real substitute for a good baked cheesecake, but this is a good back up recipe.

I work at an office where they like to make tons of extra copies. It bothers me to no end. We go through about 15 reams of paper in a month. I guess there’s no real way of forcing everyone into the habit of using the extra copies for printer paper or to make everyone not make extra copies.

One day I took them home and made a scrap paper notepad.

Supplies/Materials:

Scrap paper

Hard stock or used folders (I like manila folders) and magazine cut outs or pictures to decorate the covers with.

Yarn or embroidery

A hole puncher or paper needle

Scissors or a utility knife

Ruler (preferably a three sided engineering ruler, it’s sturdier than a regular flat ruler and theres not fear of accidentally cutting your hand with a utility knife)

Glue (I prefer rubber cement. It is mistake and user friendly)

Step 1: Cut your paper to the size you want your pad to be. Remember that you are going to lose an inch to a half an inch for the binding.

Step 2: Cut your cardstock/cover sheet/folder…etc to the size of the scrap paper. Remember to cut one for the back too. For the cover, fold about a half and inch to an inch down to create crease.

Step 3: Decorate you cover pieces before you bind them. I use old magazines.

Step 4: Figure out how you’re going to bind the whole thing together. I used a thick paper needle and poked holes all the way through the packet. It is easier to use a hole punch I have found.

Step 5: Take some leftover yarn/ribbon/embroidery floss and stitch everything together.

Finished Product:

I think this is a pretty good way to use up scrap paper that would otherwise end up in the trash.

I found a bunch of old cloth we had used for wise men costumes. I salvaged them and made a rug.

Materials:

1 large crochet hook

rags or other weave-able material

Step 1: Lay out the cloth

Step 2: Cut the cloth into long strips. Leave about one inch on every other end. This will create one long strip.

Step 3: Take the ends of the trips, and sew them together.

Step 4: Roll the long strips into loose balls. You can sew all the different kinds of cloth/rag together or for an organic design, crochet them together randomly.

Step 5: Crochet away.

Since the purpose of this is to use up pieces of cloth or other materials, the end result can turn out pretty random.