INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Using your hands, thoroughly mix the ground beef with approximately 3/4 tsp (3.75 ml) salt and 1/2 tsp (2.4 ml) ground black pepper.  Add more or less salt according to taste. The same goes for the black pepper, as well. If desired, you can use a separate hamburger spice blend or other seasonings that you enjoy tasting in your burgers, like garlic powder or chili powder. Make sure that the seasonings you choose will complement both the beef and the cheese, though. Break the chunk of ground beef into four even, separate pieces. Roll these portions into balls. These “balls” of hamburger need to be pressed together firmly so that the meat is dense and able to adhere to itself. When using this technique, you cannot afford to have crumbly burger meat. Use your thumb to indent the middle of each ball. The indentation should be deep enough to reach the center of the ball. Alternatively, you could also use the handle end of a wooden or plastic mixing spoon to form the indentation. Fill each indentation with roughly 2 Tbsp (30 ml) shredded cheddar cheese. Use your fingers to smooth the top of the beef over the exposed indentation, hiding the cheese in the center as you do so. Cheddar cheese is recommended by default, but you can get creative by trying other types of cheese, as well. You can even stick small wedges or cubes of cheese in the center of the burger as long as they fit and are roughly equivalent to 2 Tbsp (30 ml) of shredded cheese. Use your hands or a burger mold to flatten the filled burger balls into patties. For these burgers, it might be easiest to form the patties using your hands. You could still work with some sort of patty press or mold, though. Line the mold with plastic wrap, press the stuffed patty ball into it, and flatten out the meat until it fills the mold. Wrap these patties in plastic wrap or an airtight plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes before taking them out and cooking them.

SUMMARY: Mix the beef and spices. Form four balls. Create an indentation. Pack cheese into the center and close. Flatten into patties. Store the patties until ready to use.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Craft stores are the best place to find all kinds of different beads, buttons, and other cool things to make into stud earrings. Look for items that have a flat surface on one side. This will make it much easier to attach the items to the earring flatbacks. If using buttons for your earrings, you may want to paint over the button with some clear nail polish before gluing it onto the stud flatback. This will make the button shiny if it is a matte button. Let the nail polish dry completely before gluing it onto the stud. If you want to create your own beads to glue onto the earrings, then clay beads are a great option. Try getting some air drying clay in your local craft store and then shape the clay into bead to glue onto your earring flatbacks. You can use multiple colors of clay to create interesting designs in the clay. You can tie ribbon into a bow and then glue the bow onto a flatback for a cute pair of bow earrings. Look for ribbon that is narrow enough to tie into a small bow. Then, tie two equal length pieces of ribbon into bows and glue them onto the earring flatbacks. If you want to make a special pair of earrings for a holiday, such as St Patrick’s day, Halloween, or Christmas, then you can look for holiday themed pieces to glue onto stud earring flatbacks. Craft stores are the best place to find these kinds of items. For example, you could glue a four leaf clover charm onto an earring flatback for St. Patrick’s Day, or glue a jack-o-lantern piece onto an earring flatback for Halloween. You can make yourself a pair of holiday themed stud earrings for every holiday of the year! If you don’t want to buy any new beads or other notions to turn into earrings, then you can also convert your old, unwanted jewelry into stud earrings. Try taking apart old necklaces and bracelets and using the beads and charms to create stud earrings.  Be sure that you no longer want the item and that it is something you can break apart before you try to harvest the beads and charms from a piece of jewelry. Use scissors to cut the string holding the beads and charms together. Break apart the old jewelry over a bowl or other container to ensure that the beads do not go everywhere.

SUMMARY:
Look for beads and buttons in craft stores. Use clay to make your own designs. Make a pair of bow earrings. Create a pair of holiday themed earrings. Try using old jewelry.