Whether you're getting an early jump on holiday gifts or just want to have an Instagram-like hard copy of your favorite photos, wood transfers are a great way to to turn a photo into a keepsake. We've found a method where all you need in addition to the wood and laser printed photo are two art-store chemicals, brushes, scissors, and towels.

Photography weblog Photojojo has tons of cleve photography tricks, here's their method for achieving easy wood transfers: First you'll need to reverse the photo you want to transfer, which can be done in any image editor. While you're in there make sure the photo will be nicely sized to print on your wooden plaque. Print the photo in reverse from a laser printer using at least a 300dpi resolution. Then cut out the photo and brush a thin layer of matte gel medium on top of the photo's surface. Very carefully lay the photo down on the wood piece and use an edge of a gift card to smooth out the photo. Let this dry for eight hours and then place a water-soaked rag on top of your transfer and let that sit for a few minutes. Now you just rub off the white paper fibers with your fingers or the rag and let it dry

Additional tips and step-by-step photos can be found at the source link below.

DIY: Make Easy Photo Transfers on Wood | Photojojo

You probably have a slew of gift cards from the holidays, but chances are many will go unredeemed, lost, or somehow unused. To make sure you know your rights in the event of a problem, just print out this foldable card and keep it in your wallet, too.

You can download a printable PDF card here and cut out the card for your wallet, but read on for the tips you'll find on the cards. We were able to create this card thanks to the help of Joshua H. Camson, Esq., who graciously provided the information.

Before we get started, know that these rules only apply to retail and merchant cards. Retail gift cards are the ones you buy at a specific store or restaurant and can only be used at that one location (or locations, in the event of a chain store/restaurant or mall gift card). Merchant cards are branded, prepaid debit cards that can be used anywhere that type of card (e.g. Visa, Mastercard, American Express) is accepted. Now that you know, here are your rights:

• Cards cannot have expiration dates of less than five years from The date the card was initially issued or the date on which funds were last loaded on a reloadable card (whichever date is later). If a card does expire in less than five years, the remaining value can be transferred to a new card at no cost or fee.
• No dormancy, inactivity, or service fees can be charged unless there has been one year of inactivity on the gift card; and the consumer is given clear and conspicuous disclosure about the fees. No more than one fee is charged per month
• The card must have a clear and conspicuous notice of either a website or telephone number to obtain a replacement for an expired, lost, or stolen card.
• A fee cannot be charged to replace an expired gift card, but a merchant can charge a fee to replace a lost or stolen card

These rules do not apply to:

• Reloadable prepaid cards that are not marketed or labeled as a gift card or gift certificate.
• Prepaid cards received through a loyalty, award, or promotional program.
• Any gift certificate or card issued in paper form only.
• Cards or certificates useable solely for telephone services.
• Any card redeemable solely for admission to events or venues or for goods/services in conjunction with admission to an event or venue (e.g., present this certificate for a free hot dog at the next Steelers game at Heinz Field).

Those are your rights. Just download and print the card to have them in your pocket whenever you need them!

Know Your Rights Printable Card: Gift Cards (PDF)

Holiday stress doesn't end after the holidays: now it's time to take down the decorations, put away all your new toys, and get rid of the stuff you no longer need. If looking at your disaster of a house has got you stressed out, here's how to easily de-clutter after the holidays.

Photo by SAJE/Shutterstock.

Pack Up Your Decorations Neatly

Every year, we toss our Christmas decorations in boxes haphazardly, and every year we curse ourselves when it's time to take them out. This year, take a bit more time to pack up those decorations and make sure they're neat. If you're still using old cardboard boxes that are barely hanging on, invest in a few plastic containers and stick some labels on them so you know what's what. If you don't have sticky labels, that's fine—you can just as easily stick a piece of paper in the clear tupperware container for easy viewing.

When it comes to packing up your lights, wrap them up in a way that won't get them tangled. We've mentioned using a coffee can, but eHow has an even better solution: wrap them around those wrapping paper tubes you just used up! Once all the lights are off the tree, check out our guide to packing it up like a pro, too.

Replace Old Items with New Gifts

Apart from decorations, most of your clutter is going to come from all the new stuff you got this year. As you start to file away all your new goodies, throw out or donate their old counterparts. For example, if you got a new camera, donate your old one or sell it instead of keeping it around. Over at weblog Organized Home, they recommend following a "Get One, Toss Two" rule to keep your house really clean: for each new gift you put away, get rid of two counterparts. By the time you're done, you'll already have a jump on your spring cleaning, because you'll end up with even less than you started with.

Of course, clearing all that stuff out of your house is a chore in and of itself. Organized Home's solution? Fill up all your empty holiday boxes with the stuff you're going to get rid of:

Have mailing boxes piled up as holiday gifts arrived? Sure, you could recycle or reuse them, but for maximum end-of-year clutter-cutting, take the Holiday Mailing Box Challenge!

Your goal: to fill every seasonal mailing box with items suitable for donation to Goodwill or a similar recycler for used household items, and deliver them to charity before year's end.

It should only take you a day or so to clear all that stuff out, and when you're done, you'll have killed two birds with one stone.

Sell or Regift Unwanted Gifts

As you pack away your awesome gifts, separate your not-so-awesome gifts from the herd. Don't even put them away—if you don't want them, there's no reason to keep them around and let them collect dust until you clean your house again next year. We've already covered a lot of things you can do with unwanted gifts, but it bears refreshing: if you can return them, that's great, or at least sell them on Amazon and get some cash back.

Alternatively, you can regift those items to another friend or family member. Some of you may take issue with this, but it isn't really a bad thing. If it's going to go to waste in your house, you should give it to someone who will appreciate it. Of course, you don't want to just start handing out random gifts—only regift an item if you know someone that will actually enjoy it. If that isn't as easy, remember that everyone gets gifts they don't want—so consider hosting a white elephant regift exchange for everyone to get rid of their unwanted items. If nothing else, it'll be good for a few laughs, and if you end up with something even worse than what you started with, you can always donate it through a charitable organization.

Lastly, if you're still at a loss for ideas, check out our previous Ask the Readers on unwanted gifts—you're bound to find a few clever solutions in the comments.

You know the old saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure. At Swap.com, a marketplace for trading just about everything, you can take your unwanted "trash" (like bad holiday presents) and turn it into "treasure."

The free service simply facilitates old-fashioned bartering: You add items you have to swap, then browse for stuff available, and work out the details with another swapper (you make an offer and can complete a swap by shipping items or meeting up locally). Because Swap.com claims to be the biggest community of swappers in the world, there's a good chance you'll find something you want. You can even trade Groupons and gift cards.

Swap.com works on the honor system, but swappers are given ratings so you can decide whether or not to trade with certain people.

If you have something you can't find a good use for, check out Swap.com to see if someone else can—and save yourself some money on stuff you actually want.

Swap.com