I’ve Moved!

On the internet, anyway.

All the same delicious random-ness, with extra decoration!

Find Me Here

http://jesscabrera.typepad.com

And please remember to change your bookmarks and/or google reader: because I want to see you there!

OPAM Update

Whoops!

I just realized that I forgot to add my “After” picture for the November OPAM. It got done. Promise. They’re all pictures of different things and people at Disney World.

Also, I had decided back in November that I was going to take a break from the OPAM thing in December, because of all the Christmas stuff that goes on. But I guess I forgot to tell you that, too, o internet. Hee.

Ok, then.

So this is some of what I’ve been doing around the house this month instead of an OPAM:

1. Hung these ornaments from monofilament above my kitchen counter. Note to self: next year, use shatter proof ornaments OR don’t do this barefoot OR have someone ELSE (who isn’t such a butterfingers) hang these up.

 

2. Not much in the way of greenery in Florida, so we cheat.

 

3. We have a full sized tree, which houses all of the ornaments that Manny and I have acquired together. But this one holds all my childhood ornaments. I love it. :)

 

4. On the front door.  Jingle, jingle = someone’s here!

 

5. My little nutcracker collection, hanging out on the window sill by the “big tree.”

 

6. This year’s official ornament. It opens up like a locket and holds photos. :) BIG smile when I found it on sale at Pottery Barn.

 

7. Made this last year to hang in my studio, but since I haven’t finished unpacking it from the move (I KNOW! I moved in July! I guess I know what January’s OPAM will be…) it’s hanging on the fridge this year instead.

8. See Cole?? You’re not the only one with decorative mittens. :)

 

9. Like this so much that it may stay up year ’round.

 

10. Still plugging away at this garland. But dang it, it’s so CUTE!

 

11. I *heart* Willow Tree. I bought the little angel in front for a gift exchange two years ago, but I liked her too much to let her go.

 

12. Yep. Those of you that asked yesterday, this is Willow Tree. It’s just so simple and perfect. I feel like it’s humble, just like being born in a stable.

 

13. There are no fireplaces in Florida. Well, OK. But not many. And we don’t have one. So we make due.

 

Forgive me for no December OPAM?

Well, even if you don’t, I do. ;)

See you in January with more projects!

December Daily 8-15

Whew!

I’ve been getting the pictures taken, printing and gluing them to the pages. But I didn’t get a chance to embellish any of them until last night. So here we have it: Days 8 through 15.

Day 8:

This was the day that I was super, super sick all day. I wrote about it, but it’s not exactly something I want to see a picture of, you know? So instead, I made the photos a bit of a holiday tour of our home.

Front:

The journaling says: “So Monday I was REALLY sick. I mean, Manny really lived up to the “in sickness” part of the vows. And since I didn’t think THAT should be immortalized in photos, I thought I’d take you on a little holiday tour of our home – little touches here and there.”

And Back:

 

And Before:

 

Day 9:

I made this one about the garland that I’ve been working on for our Christmas tree. I’ve been plugging away at it, bit by bit, for a couple weeks now. So I made the focus of the page on the fact that all the women in my family, for at least 4 generations now, have enjoyed making things. I also used a little piece of the felt from the garland to embellish the page.

Before:

The patterned paper is double sided, so the back is just a simple piece of paper. I attached the crystals, and the ‘9′ rub-on you see here to the outside of the page protector.

Front:

Back:

Day 10:

Front:

Day Ten is about the fact that I am RIDICULOUSLY behind on my Christmas shopping. Inside the envelope is my list of people to shop for, and ideas for things to get them.

Back:

And Before:

 

Day 11:

Not my favorite page, design wise, but it’s done. That’s what counts, I guess. :)

Here’s the before: I added this clear, acrylic fram to the outside of the page protector, with the idea that I would slide a photo underneath it and attach it to the paper. But I ended up not liking that with the pictures I ended up with, so I removed it altogether.

 

Front:

Back:

 

Day 12:

Here’s the before: I circled the 1 and the 2 on the clock to indicate that it was Day 12, but I didn’t really like the way that looked. Luckily, when I was assembling the page, I found that the clock section was covered in thin protective pastic that I hadn’t removed. So when I pulled it off, the ink was gone. I used a rub-on frame instead on the finished version.

 

And After: The transparency and the photo are not connected.

 

Day 13:

I had a lot of material to cover this day, so it has multiple pages. I used the back of day 12’s page to hold the journaling for Day 13.

Day 13 is made up of the journaling page, a transparent page (front & back) and one more page behind the transparent one.

Here’s just the transparent page:

And the back of the same page:

And the front and back of the following page: (I made the back from a holiday card I received from a business last week.)

And Before:

Day 14:

I had two stories I wanted to tell this day, so the first is on the front of the page:

The journaling says: “We *heart* BAD Rowdy. The gate went in to keep him downstairs. He didn’t like that. So he immediately started looking for a new way around it.”

The next spread is about my holiday baking. I did some of it on the night of the 14th, and finished it up on the morning of the 15th. So I turned it into a spread that covers the pages for both days.

Before:

Day 15:

Here’s the Before:

The back of this page will contain the info for Day 16, which I haven’t finished yet (But it’s coming soon-ish!).

 

Thanks for reading this super long post!

A Christmas Tradition

One of my family’s favorite traditions, at least since my parents moved to Tallahassee, is to drive through the GIANT light display at Flower’s Baking Company in Thomasville, GA. It’s about 30 mins from my parents house, and when I was in high school we always made a point to go there on my birthday weekend.

We were all pretty happy that my brother’s graduation fell on the appropriate weekend this year, and we made a point of driving up to Thomasville to see the lights.

It’s a cool set up: the headquarters for the Flowers Baking Company is there in Thomasville, and every year on their premesis they set up a HUGE, drive-through Christmas extravaganza. If you roll down the windows there is even music to accompany the lights (Although there was much grumbling about that this year, as it was 38 degrees outside. For us Floridians, that’s like being in the Arctic.)

Anyway, here’s some photos:

This was the actual office building which, in true South Georgia style, looks more like a Manor house than an office. They always put that animatronic Santa up on the balcony to welcome everyone in.

 

 

This was a new addition this year. The donkey looked so real, I did a double take. :)

 

 

I was so grateful to have the chance to go here for the first time in years. Can’t wait to get it in the December Daily!

Christmas Presents from the Cheap Girl

… aka: Holiday Baking.

I knocked most of this out last night.  Pretty simple recipes for pretty simple cookies.

Usually, when I give away cookies I give them away in red or green gladware. But this year, I found these super adorable Martha Stewart cookie boxes on deep discount at Michael’s.  (Click the picture for a link)

Oh the cuteness!

So I needed four simple cookie recipes, so that my co-workers could enjoy a little Christmas cheer, and I could get off the hook with super cheap presents.

This is what I came up with:

Pretzel Kisses:

These are so much easier than chocolate covered pretzels, but just as tasty!

Get a bag of Hershey Kisses or Hugs, and  another bag of bite-size pretzels. Place a Kiss/Hug on top of each pretzel on a cookie sheet covered with foil. Place them in a 100 deg. oven. I like to do them in my toaster oven, so that I can keep a super close eye on them.

When the chocolate begins to look shiny (just a couple minutes after being placed in the oven), immediately remove from heat. These go from perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds… thus my love of doing them in the toaster oven.

Once you’ve removed them from the heat, press a single MnM into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool in the fridge.

Here’s the finished product, super cute and ready to EAT!

 

No Bake Cookies:

I can remember my grandma making these. And if I’d known how simple they were, I would have started making them a LONG time ago!

1.5 cups white sugar                                    2 cups oats

1/4 cup butter or margarine                   1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup milk                                                   1 tsp. vanilla

4TB cocoa

 

Combine sugar, butter, cocoa and milk; boil 1 minute. Stir in oats and peanut butter. Drop from spoon onto waxed paper, then refridgerate.

How simple is THAT?

Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies:

These are simple and delightful cookies! I got the recipe when I was 9 or 10, and I’ve been making them ever since.

2.5 cups flour                                  1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda                     1 cup butter or margarine

1/4 tsp. salt                                      2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup packed brown sugar         sugar and cinnamon to taste

In a small bowl, shift flour soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, blend sugars. Add butter and mix to form grainy paste

Add flour mixture. Roll into balls approx. 1″ and palce on cookie sheet. Sprinkle on a mix of sugar and cinnamon.  Bake at 300 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

 

Lastly, I made my favorite, FAVORITE cookies. I shared this recipe back at Thanksgiving, but it’s worth a second mention.

Gooey Chocolate Cookies

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 c. butter at room temp.

1 tsp. vanilla

1 package of devil’s food cake mix

Blend first three until creamy, then add cake mix. Refridgerate at LEAST 2 hours (over night works well.) Roll into balls (approx 1.5″), then generously coat in powdered sugar. Bake 10 mins at 350. Don’t over bake, they’re supposed to be a bit gooey. Sprinkle with extra powdered sugar once they cool.

These are serisouly the BEST cookies I’ve ever had. EVER. Just don’t think about the calories too much. ;)

 

Here’s what my cookie boxes looked like completed:

Now if only I could eat this delicious goodness… :)

AFK (Away from Keyboard)

I’ll be gone to Tallahassee this weekend, to watch this guy graduate from college:

Where does the TIME go?

Photo Tag

My good internet buddy, Canada Cole, tagged me in a little photo game.

The idea is that you are supposed to go into your 4th photo file, find the 4th photo and share the memory.

Here’s my gem:

Well! If it isn’t the Baddest Dog in All the Land!

I took this picture in September, because I’d just received that awesome Halloween collar in the mail. I got it from my very favorite-ist Etsy shop: Lucky Fiona. I always leave positive feedback when I get great service, so I had taken this picture to send to Fiona.

Cool thing was, Rowdy was so dashing and handsome that he got chosen to be the Official Friend of Fiona. Much excitement was to be had at our house. See my post from September about it.

So now, the fun part. I’m supposed to tag Four Lucky People, who can play along! (Although if you’re reading, why not play along? It’ll be fun!)

I choose the last four people to comment on this here bloggity:

Sara (Pip Scrap Studio)

Cara S. (… story worth telling)

Lauren (2H Design)

and

Brenda (Momster Me)

Hope you play along!

PS: My favorite from this particular series of photos was the 6th one:

Hee.

How to Change Colors in PSE

Sara left me a question in the comments a couple days ago, and it’s been a while since I did a Photoshop tutorial, so I thought I’d share that here.

She had bought some overlays from Ali, which I have several of too. Thing is, they all come in black and she wanted them to be white.

With something like this, that comes on a transparent background, and has nice clean edges, it’s relatively simple to change the coloring.

Start by opening up the file. It should have a grey and white checkered background (this isn’t one of Ali’s overlays, but its the same idea. This one was actually made by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals):

Next, you’re going to want to choose Edit>Fill Layer.

From here, a pop up box will appear. In that box:

FIRST make sure that the “Preserve Transparency” check box is CHECKED.

THEN, in the “Use” drop down menu, select “White” (Or whatever other color you want).

Click OK.

Voila! White overlay!

From here, drag-and-drop it onto whatever you’d like.

Just a helpful hint, though: when you close this original file, make sure you do NOT save the changes you made. :)

Good luck and Happy Creating!

Just a Note:

… which I copied and pasted directly from Ali’s blog:

“And a couple things to keep in mind as you work on this project:

1. There is no “behind” in this process. Sometimes things get in the way and that’s just how it is in life. Don’t be discouraged and don’t give up completely. There are still great stories to be told during this time of year even if you don’t get to put something together everyday.

2. This process is about sharing and encouraging and telling our own personal stories. It’s not a competition. If you find yourself comparing your album to others in the gallery, take a deep breath and remember why you are doing this. “

 

Remember that, OK? :) Smile. It’s Christmas time.

December Daily 3-7

Whew!

It’s a lot easier to MAKE the pages than it is to photograph them and get them on the internet, apparantly. But here it is, in all it’s long awaited glory (cough):

First off, you should know that my dog thinks that I am unable to photograph any project without his help.

Day 3 Before:

This one is simple, simple, simple. The original page didn’t even have any Christmas themed product on it.

For the finished page, I focused on my Christmas present for my grandparents. It’s turning out to be a big part of my Christmas season this year, and I just so happened to get a Thank You note from one of my grandmas in the mail that day, which I included on the page.

 

I was able to include all the “documenting” on the front, so I just decorated the blank back of the page:

 

Here’s Day 4  Before:

And After:

 

On the 4th, our local Chamber of Commerce had a “Family Fun Fest” in the parking lot of our business. So that was the subject of day 4.

 

Here’s the back of Day 4:

 

 

Day 5 was a long day for everyone (as demonstrated by the picture!). Rowdy collapsed on the floor like that by the tree, and that’s pretty much all I did when I got home from work, too.

Here’s the back of Day 5. I printed the photo on the back here larger than the original paper, then used scissors to cut the photo to the same shape as the paper.

 

Here’s Day 5 Before:

For Day 6, I had a LOT of photos. So I used my existing page to hold all of those, then included a Jenni Bowlin bingo card scrap that I had left over from another project to put my journaling on.

Here’s the before:

And the afters:

 Notice I added some extra patterned paper to the page protector by the rings. I like that SO much, that I might start doing it on all my pages.

Here’s the back of Day 6, which I made entirely digitally:

 

Day 7 was pretty simple, just how I like it. Here’s the before:

For the front, I just added a 4×6 photo, with a little bit of digital embellishment that was added before I printed:

 

The back of the page is a 4×6 piece of the program from church that morning, glued directly onto the back of the photo. Then I added a chipboard star on top, and used a Slick Writer pen to add the journaling there:

 

I leave this album out on our coffee table during the Christmas Season. I really like that about this project, I think it makes it feel really “lived in.”

Well, this is what I have done so far. Hope you all are having a memorable December, too!