Photo Cubes

These are 3 1/2 inch pine photo blocks that I purchased from http://www.craftparts.com  part # SQH350.  They are $3.50/each.  They do have various sizes to choose from, however for the directions for cutting your photos, I have used the 3 1/2 inch size photo blocks.

*********************************************************

I used  Rub ‘n Buff  gold leaf and a cosmetic sponge to rub gold leaf on all the edges.  You could paint with acrylic paint too in your color choice.

Here are my blocks with all the edges rubbed with gold leaf.  They are ready to put the pictures on now.

Cut your photo template at around 3 3/8 inches square(or slightly less) for the 3 1/2 inch pine photo blocks.  You could cut this out of tranparent plastic like tranparencies you would use on a projector.  This will allow you to see your picture before you cut it.  Use the template to cut your photos to size.

Paint one side with Modge Podge adhesive brushing out to the edges.

Center a photo on top of the Modge Podge.  Left dry for a minute before moving on to the next side.

Once you have all your sides covered with photos….put an additional layer of Modge Podge OVER each photo painting it on evenly.  You will want to do the 4 sides first and let them dry for a while before doing the top and bottom photos.  You don’t want to smudge your sides by trying to paint on the Modge Podge to the top and bottom photos before they are completely dry.  Layout your photos like the template below. The reason for rotating the photos is if you put all 4 sides with the photos right-side up….you will never see your photo on the bottom.  If you put them like the template below..you will always have 2 photos side by side with the photos upright…which allows you to turn your photo block upside down to see the bottom photo.

Day 327 – Christmas Paper Ring Garland

List of supplies:

6 different digital designed papers

12 pages of matte Presentation Paper

Paper cutter

Scissors

Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher Stapler

Printer

I printed on both sides  of (12) – 8.5 x 11 inch Presentation paper(using a different pattern for the opposite side).  I printed 4 of each combo I chose to put together.

After printing, you may need to trim off the white edge on all 4 sides of each paper.  Then place each paper lengthwise in your trimmer and cut into 1 inch wide strips x roughly 10.5 inches(remember you trimmed off the white outer edge.)

Cut a piece of plain white paper the same way in a 1 inch strip x the same length of your patterned strips and then fold it in half and cut along the fold. You will use this 1/2 strip to help you place the long strips back on your cutter to cut each long strip in half.  This will save a lot of time cutting multiple strips at a time.

Line up all 8 strips and cut them in 1/2 all at once.

You will get (16) 1/2 strips out of each page.  You will end up with (192) 1/2 strips in all.

Remember these are all printed double sided so find a pleasant color pattern before you start stapling.  Below are the opposite sides of each of my 6 patterns.

Now get your Tiny Attacher and start making loops and overlapping at the ends about a 1/4 inch. You can put one staple in the middle of each overlapped end. Keep your 6 stacks of paper in a row and just use one of each and then start over again.  Doesn’t the inside look pretty with a patterned printed on both sides?

I ended up with about 18 feet of garland when I was finished!

It went around my tree about 3 times.

And here is a closeup of the garland on the tree!

The digital designs I used were from the Jessica Sprague Christmas Blog Train(2010)

Day 310 – Key Lime Pie!

Yummy!!!  I made a Key Lime Pie today with a Meringue top!  Can’t wait to have a piece when I get home from work!  Pulled the last few limes off of my tree to make this…..and made the crust from scratch too!  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crust

1  1/4 cups Honey Maid Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

5 T. margarine, melted

Mix above ingredients well and press into the bottom and sides of an 8 inch pie tin.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Filling

3 egg yolks

2 t. lime zest

1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

2/3 cup freshly squeezed Key Lime juice, or store-bought

Beat egg yolks and lime zest with an electric mixer in a mixing bowl for 5 minutes on high speed.  Gradually add the condensed milk and continue to beat an additional 3 to 4 minutes until thick.  Lower the mixer speed and slowly add the lime juice just until mixed in good….no longer.  Pour the mixture into the baked pie shell and bake for 10 minutes @ 350 degrees.  Cool on a wire rack.  You can top with Cool Whip or Freshly prepared whipped cream, or top with meringue like in the picture above.  See below for whipped topping and meringue instructions.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy or whipping cream chilled

2 T. confectioners sugar

Whip the cream and the confectioners sugar until nearly stiff.  Spoon onto pie.

Meringue Baked Topping

4 egg whites

1/2 t. cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

Whip with electric mixer the egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in sugar on medium speed.  Beat for 4 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and stiff glossy peaks form. (I didn’t beat mine for 4 minutes).  Spread over pie sealing to the edges of the crust to prevent shrinkage.  Use the back of a spoon to create little curly peaks.  Bake an additional 13-15 minutes to brown on the middle rack in the oven set to 350 degrees.  Don’t burn the top.  Let cool for 3 hours before cutting.  ENJOY!

Day 308 – A Amazing Video

I LOVE this video!  It just makes me smile!!!  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504784_162-20050976-10391705.html  Wonder how many hours and hours and missed shots occurred making this vid?!

Day 306 – Bokeh Photography

I took this picture of Tony in Las Vegas in a little cafe on Fremont Street.  I had made a little cuff for the lens on my 50mm, 1.8 lens that has a star shape cut of in the center.  This cuff is placed over the lens and makes the start shape you see in the lights.

Day 306 – Photography Challenge

This is a submission for a bi-weekly photography challenge at www.jessicasprague.com  This challenge was titled 11-11-11 Flip-It.  We were supposed to take an image, and clear out the background…copy the image, flip-it and apply a gradient black to white layer mask to it.  I used this picture of the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas for this challenge.  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Day 280 – Spraguefest 2011

Tony and I arrived last night and walked a little bit on the Las Vegas Strip.  We are staying at the Flamingo hotel and I took this photo of the neon sign outside.  This has to be one of the best pictures I have ever taken.  I can thank Candice Stringham and the things I learned in her classes at JessicaSprague.com    We got to meet Jessica tonight and Candice, and Carina Gardner and others at the reception.  It was so nice meeting some of the community of people that I’ve been talking to over the last 2 years.

Day 275 – ATC

I’m getting ready to go to Las Vegas this week on Thursday for the 4th Annual Spraguefest.  What’s a Spraguefest you ask?  It’s a gathering of the Jessica Sprague community.  Jessica Sprague has an online website where you can take fantastic classes online…and the community is friendly and very supportive.  Jessica teaches digi scrapbooking, photo editing, hybrid classes and teaches classes on Photoshop.  This will be my first Spraguefest…and Tony is going with me.  We are going to be trading Artist Trading Cards (ATC) and I made two versions to share with the other crafters there.  I did not make the background papers….they are from a group of papers that were supplied for one of the classes were are doing in Vegas, but I did make the halftone brush that’s in the background upper left corner.  On the back of each ATC I have put my name, user ID for the Jessica Sprague website, blog address and email contacts.  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Day 272 – Family Photos

Sunday we are all getting together at Carol, Amy and Art’s house for family photos!  Can’t wait……here’s a preview of what’s to come.  I edited this photo to brighten the colors.  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Day 270 – A Great Visit With My BFF!

My best friend from my childhood came to town to visit with her parents and it had been quite some time since we had seen each other.  I took Friday and Monday off from work so I would have more time to visit with her before she had to go home today.  We had a great time….we went to Clovis’ Farmers Market Friday evening…..went to the Antique fair on Sunday…and played lots of Mexican Train with her parents on Saturday, Sunday and last night!  It was great to see her again!  And can’t wait until the next visit.  Thanks for sharing her with us Tim!

Day 240 – Slow Sync Flash

In our photo challenge at jessiccasprague.com we are using a technique called slow sync flash.  It’s where you use a slow shutter speed…and the flash goes off toward the end of taking the photo.  It gives some really cool background effect while keeping the main subject in focus.  Here is a website with some neat examples.  http://www.digital-photography-school.com/13-great-slow-sync-flash-images  And here is my attempt at this earlier today in the late afternoon/early evening when the sun was going down.  I am spinning as I am taking the picture.  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Day 224 – Mini Gift Bags You Can Make!

Here are some of the cutest little gift bags that are really easy to make.  The paper bag is made from your decorative paper cut from a rectangle 15.5 in wide  x 8.25 in tall. The finished size is 5 inches tall by 4.5 inches wide by 3 inches deep. You will need scissors, craft tape(sticky on both sides), decorative paper, thicker cardstock for inside top flap of bag to make it stronger, rivets, rivet punch like the BIG SHOT and ribbons or cording.

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

Make pattern: Cut plain paper 15.5 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall.  This will be your guide.   Make markings as shown in picture.   Horizontal lines….1.25 inches from top, 2 inches from bottom. Verticle lines starting from left edge…4.5 inches, 3 inches, 4.5 inches, 3 inches and 1/2 inch from right hand edge.

Cut your patterned paper 15.5 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall.  Fold bottom edge up 2 inches and top edge down 1.25 inches.  Place on pattern making left and right edges even with pattern. Make your folds at 4.5 inches…….

Then a 3 inch fold…………

Then another 4.5 inch fold………..

Then another 3 inch fold……………

Then fold up the last 1/2 inch.

Open up and unfold top and bottom flaps and adhere outside edges with double sticky tape or glue.  The 4.5 inch end will overlap 1/2 inch and meet at that 1/2 inch fold.

Make sure all four edges have a good crease.

Fold bottom flap like you would do if you were wrapping a package.

Adhere with double sticky tape or glue.  Make sure you don’t put the tape on the white part…or when you fold the bottom up…you will have a sticky section on the inside of your bag.

It should look like this when you have it taped down.

Cut 2 pieces of thicker cardstock(I used the dividers from my box of Lipton tea bags) at 4.25 inches x 1 inch.  You will adhere these with tape inside so that when you fold down the top edge, you’ll have a stiffer thicker top which will make the bag more sturdy when you add the rivets and ribbon.

Adhere to the inside of both 4.5 inch front and back with double sticky tape or glue.

Put double sticky tape on the inside and fold down to create finished top of bag.

Crease and fold your bag like you would a lunch bag.

Now you are ready to put the rivets and the ribbon handles on.  I used the BIG SHOT rivet tool and the larger rivets.

Cut a piece of paper 3 inches wide, or use a ruler and mark where you will put your rivets with a marker or pencil.  For the picture below, I cut a paper 3 inches wide and marked on the outside edges on the paper bag with a black marker about 1/2 inch from the top edge(denoted by arrows in the picture below).  This is where I will punch the holes for the rivets.

Line up your hole punch for the rivets………

And punch your holes.

Now add the rivets

Cut 2 ribbons or cording 14 inches long each.  Make a knot in one end of each ribbon and thread it from the inside to the outside and back through the second rivet to the inside again.

Tie another knot on the end of the ribbon and repeat for the second handle.

Voila!  Here is your finished gift bag!  You could add a little scalloped tag or rectangle tag to the handle to customize for birthday, thank you or whatever occasion.

Day 219 – A Fun Day Yesterday!

Yesterday Tony and I put the top down on the car and drove up the hill to Chukchansi Resort for a nice buffet lunch.  It was really good….we had mostly Chinese food….I threw an enchilada on my plate too….Tony added some Mexican corn to his plate of Chinese food.  The hot and spicy soup was REALLY good!  After lunch we drove a few miles down the road to Bass Lake and had about an hour to kill before we needed to take off for the melodrama.  We thought we might go on a boat ride, but found out when we got there that they only have one ride on Saturdays….at 11 a.m.  So we missed that.  We decided to go to the patio bar and grill and have a couple of margharitas and daquiries and just relax for a little bit.  The patio is on the 2nd floor overlooking the lake.  We watched a momma duck and her 6 babies swimming around the edge of the lake in front of us.  Those little ducks were so cute.  I was hoping to see an eagle…..but we didn’t see one this time.  Here’s a pic of Tony and I on the patio enjoying our drinks!

We had fun and did a lot of laughing at the melodrama too.  The villain was really funny and if we didn’t boo or hiss loud enough, he would face his palms toward us and wiggle his fingers egging us to cheer louder right then and there….or he would say something like.  “Aren’t I EVIL enough for you?!”  Making everyone boo and hiss louder, amidst lots of laughter!  After the show we put the top down on the car again and drove home in the cool evening air with the stars right there with a glance toward the skies.  It was a heavenly day!!!

Day 202 – Photo Mask

My friend Catherine has made a beautiful photo mask and I had to put my grandson Kayden’s picture in it!  Thanks Catherine!  Here’s a link to her website…   http://butterfliesandbluebells.com/  and the title of this beautiful mask is Swish V2.  Catherine was one of my classmates in the Art of Digital Design class I took about a year ago at www.jessicasprague.com  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Day 194 – Birthday Cards!

Tony likes to send his family birthday cards all at once to cover them for the year!  So it’s that time again to send them cards.  I made 2 Hello Kitty cards for the girls…although one is not Hello Kitty, it’s a cupcake from the Hello Kitty Cricut cartridge.  Then I made 3 Mickey Mouse cards for the 3 boys!