I wanted to give Heather a photo album for her birthday in February (okay, I may have sent it out in March, and it may have gotten lost in the mail, and we may be really sad about it, but we’re moving on). Anyway, 90% of the pictures I take when we visit are of her children…So, instead of going out to buy an ordinary album, I decided to make my own accordion album. Here’s how…

Step 1: Make Front and Back Covers:

A: Cut Cardboard into 7″X 7″ Square (or something like that): I used the box from my earth shoes. I wear them to work. They make a WORLD of difference. Get it? earth…world…? That has nothing to do with this project, though, so I’ll keep going.

B: Choose paper for your covers, and cut it with 1/2 to 1 inch extra on each side. Lay the cardboard in the middle of the wrong (or back) side of the paper.

C: Fold over the edges of the paper, (like wrapping a gift) and secure with glue or tape. I used regular tape, because my double-sided sticky tape wasn’t working very well with the glittery paper, and I was not patient enough to use glue.

Step 2: Use Manilla Folders to Make “Accordion”

A: You can use any paper, but manilla folders are convenient because they already have a fold in the middle, and they aren’t flimsy. Measure out squares slightly smaller than your cover on either side of the fold, then cut along your lines (but not down the middle!) You can do this with as many folders as you want. You will get 4 total pages from each folder.

B: Once the folders are cut, you’ll need to attach them to each other.  Again, I decided to use regular tape. I held 2 folders together so that they made an accordion shape and attached the edges with tape. You’re not actually taping the two pages on top of each other- more like putting the edges of the paper right next to each other on the tape, and the tape acts like a hinge. …I hope that makes sense…

Step 3: Attach Accordion Pages to Covers:

A: When all of the folders are attached to each other, you can attach the covers. Use glue, double-sided tape, or whatever you prefer, to attach the end page of the accordion to the “wrong” side of the cover. Do the same with the other end and the other cover.

Viola! Now you have your accordion album:

Step 4: Add Pictures!

My favorite part….decorate both sides and add pictures

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Welcome to the “Wedge”. Make sure you don’t get squashed.

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If you want to see how I made these little cake bites, you can find the instructions at these two websites:

Bakerella’s Website (the original creator!)

and

The Pioneer Woman’s Website

They were so fun, and much simpler to make than I originally thought! You definitely need to try them.

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I must’ve tricked my friend from work into thinking that I’m some sort of photographer, because she asked me if I could take some pictures of her as a favor.  She was a little surprised when I suggested California Adventures as the place to go, but she decided to give me the benefit of the doubt (even though I was questioning the choice myself), and we were not disappointed! Here are some of my favorites…I bet you’d never guess the location from most of the shots! Good thing we both have annual Disney passes

I loved the yellow chairs…thankfully we were pretty much done at this spot when an employee came out to nicely ask us if we would stop climbing around on everything…

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Every once in a while, I find a …distraction… on a picture of someone’s face. Or, the picture is just lacking the soft quality that I want. The GIMP editing program gives me all the tools I need to fix this…without going over the top. I’ve seen some pictures that have been "retouched" so much that your (okay, okay, MY) first reaction is "ummm, that is definitely not what his/her face really looks like." My goal is to show you how to take away distractions and make a face look a little softer, without anyone supposing that you did.

Technique #1:

There are two main tools that I use for retouching faces. The first one I’ll show you is the HEALING tool. I call it the band-aid. I love using the band-aid.

The Original:

Poor Lily had scratches and funny little red bumps on her face when I took this picture. While she’s still adorable, I think it detracts, eh?

Step 1: Make Background Copy

Click on the "duplicate" button to make a background copy. That way you always have an untouched original version of the picture. Remember to select the copy as the layer that you’re working on.

Step 2: Select the Band-Aid

Select the band-aid button (highlighted in yellow). This tool copies the texture (and maybe a little more?) of any area you choose. Our plan is to copy the smoothness of Lily’s cheek to the spots where she has a scratch or bump. Next, select your brush. I always use one of the fuzzy brushes to avoid hard, obvious lines.

Step 3: Set Opacity and Scale

Use the opacity slider to determine how obvious the change will be. Sometimes it is too obvious if you leave it at 100%, so play around with it. Use the Scale slider to change the size of your brush.

Step 4: Set Copy Area

Find a nearby spot on the face that is nice and smooth. While holding down the ctrl button, click on that spot. This is the texture you will be copying.

Step 5: Smooth it out

Let go of the ctrl button, and paint over the area that needs to be fixed. You are basically copying the look and feel of another area without completely copying it. If that makes any sense at all. There’s another tool for complete copying…

Now I’m going to do the same thing by Lily’s mouth. I moved the copy area closer to where I’m working. Notice that the area you’re copying from moves with your cursor. That means you have to pay attention to where your original circle was set. For example, if I set the copy area close to Lily’s nose and didn’t pay attention to it as I moved my cursor, I might end up copying Lily’s nostrils to another area, and that would look pretty weird, right?

Before and After

Notice that the change I made was very subtle? Lily’s face doesn’t look fake, but it doesn’t have those little bumps and scratches on it anymore.

Technique #2:

This shows you how to use a Gaussian blur to smooth out the face. If I use this, I use it in conjunction with the band-aid tool.

The Original:

Lily, again. She just shows up everywhere. She’s in a huge percentage of the pictures on my computer at this moment.

Step 1: Select Tool

You can use the lasso/free select tool (third from the left on top row) or the scissors tool (far left on second row- sorry I forgot to highlight!)

Step 2: Using the Scissors Tool

I chose to use the scissors tool because it gives you more control over what area you select. When I use the lasso, my hands aren’t always steady enough. To use the scissors tool, click around the area you want selected. It will automatically "snap" to the closest boundary, giving you a pretty accurate outline.

When you get all the way back around to where you started, click on the original dot to connect everything. Then, click inside the area to select it.

But look, my eye is in there- I don’t want my eye and eyebrow to be smoothed out with a blur…

So, I chose the scissors tool again, to deselect the eye area. Hold the shift button, which makes a minus sign appear next to your cursor. Click around the area you want to deselect- in this case the eye. Connect the last two dots, then click inside the area WHILE holding down SHIFT.

Viola! The face is now selected while the eye area is not. I hope my explanation made sense. This one’s harder to explain through typing than I thought…

Step 3: Apply Gaussian Blur

To smooth out the face, go to filters >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur

Step 4: Select Blur Radius

A box pops up asking for the blurring specifics. See the up and down arrows next to the number 10? Use this to increase or decrease the amount of blur. I think it defaults to 5 if you don’t change it. Some pictures need more blurring than others. You might want to try lower, then go high. Remember, you still want it to look natural, right?

If the blur wasn’t enough, you can select "repeat gaussian blur" to repeat at the same intensity. Or, you can set the intensity to another number.

Before and After:

There isn’t a huge difference between these pictures, but I think the second one has a slightly softer quality to it, don’t you? I used the band-aid technique to quickly touch up the areas that the blur didn’t reach.

I promise, I don’t do this to all the pictures of myself!

Happy Editing!

PS: Does this simple edit make you question that perfect skin that all the models seem to have? hmmmm…

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On the day after Christmas (I know, I know, I’m going backwards since I still haven’t shared the pictures from Christmas day)…anyway, on the day after Christmas, my mom treated us all to a trip to the San Fransisco Zoo. We had a lot of fun, and the weather was surprisingly perfect . Here are some of our pictures! And a warning…I just noticed there are about a bajillion-and-a-half pictures of Lily in here. My camera had some sort of attraction to her sweet little face.

Carter wore last year’s Halloween costume so that he could “match the lions.”

First, we found this lion. Carter thought it was pretty neat, but not quite the real thing.

When we saw the tigers, we asked Carter what he thought of them. His only answer was, “They don’t match me!”

After hearing lots of “I wanna see the lions. They match me. Where are the lions? They match me,” we finally made our way to the lions!

Carter gave us a big roar, but I think he was restraining a little bit, because so many people were watching him.

Just look at that round floofy lion belly…

Tim and Elaine!

Lily was dressed in her wildest outfit with a zebra jacket, and she was ridiculously adorable- as usual.

There was a lot of posing as different animals going on…

Lily waves to her fans:

Lily waves to her fans again…she must know the power she has…

When we got to the penguins, Carter looked at them, then looked at me….then looked at them, then looked at me, and said “Hey! They match you! You match the penguins!”

See the little penguins on the bottom of my shirt? I matched the penguins.

All the girls:

Lily will never be able to say that she didn’t get enough lovin’ growing up.

Here’s my sister and me…oh, no wait: that’s my mom. Sometimes I forget.

And I’ll leave you with this face that Tim captured. I’m not actually sure what he is, but he looks cuddly to me. or maybe not…

What Next?

• If you haven’t had enough, you can watch a SF ZOO SLIDESHOW to see more pictures!

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A couple months ago (before I got a job) I decided to try to be creative for Christmas. So, I leisurely set to work on “The Glamorous Gal’s Domestic Charm Collection.” Then…I got a job. This halted most everything besides sleeping and eating…and even some of that. A few days before we planned to leave for Middletown, I realized that I was less than half way done! So, I whipped out the sewing machine, spray paint, computer designy tools…and some quick meals….and here are the results!:

The Packaging!

I think I had a little too much fun designing the labels…maybe that’s why I had so many aprons to do at the last minute?

The Aprons!

For Mindy and Katie:

I had fun adding something different to everyone’s aprons, like Mindy’s little yellow flower pocket. Mindy’s apron had to be delivered because she wasn’t with the rest of us at Christmas I bet it looks cute with her pregnant belly

For Heather and Elaine:

For Lauren and Ruth

Ruth hasn’t received hers yet…seeing as she’s out of the country at the moment….so if you’re reading this Ruth, expect the green apron on the bottom to arrive in a package sometime, because it’s for you!

The Girls & their Aprons:

Not everyone was with us at Christmas, but here are some pictures I did get of the girls and their aprons:

The Supermodels:

Elaine uses her apron to help support her little pregnant belly:

Grandma wasn’t there for Christmas, either, but I snapped this picture after a mini late Christmas exchange at her house:

The preparation may have taken a while, but it was lots of fun and totally worth it! I love giving homemade Christmas presents! …do I really have to wait another YEAR??

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Margaret and I spotted an interesting new style as we walked around Disneyland today. Apparently, there are multiple facets to this style. We saw people sporting either some or all of the following:

1. Colorful beaded bracelets (often going all the way up the arm)
2. Stuffed animal/cartoon backpack
3. Brightly colored suspenders
4. Wide-leg pants made from brightly colored (often fuzzy material)

This wasn’t something we spotted on one or two groups of people. Oh no, we saw these creative kids everywhere. Can anybody clue us in?! Is this a trend? A statement? The new teenage rebellion?

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Tim and I made a last minute decision to drive to Arizona for Thanksgiving. Even though we had to turn around and come back in 2 short days, it was worth the drive. Here are some pictures of our wonderful family!

It was a very pretty drive…It rained off and on (which made the desert air smell delicious), and love was in the air. Get it? I found a heart in the clouds…Love is in the air? I crack myself up.

The clouds were creeping over the top of the mountain, and it was pretty radical.

Some of the cousins before our Thanksgiving lunch….and before the little soccer game that reminded some of us (me) that we need to start working out again.

Here I am leaning over because I feel too tall and monstrous next to my beautiful sister-in-law.

We always have lots and lots of these pictures. And, it’s very common for people to be patting each other’s bottoms- like Elaine and Amy here. Very common- this is the family I married into.

We went for a walk and spotted Elaine street. Good thing we always have cameras with us for these types of emergencies.

Hmm…this pose looks familiar…

Nobody told Aunt Patty that we weren’t being silly anymore.

Ah, here we go. Saying our goodbyes before we got back on the road again.

Tim and Elaine with Grandma Betty. She showed us lots and lots of good old pictures, and Elaine tried to quiz her on dates and everyone’s ages.

Tim and me with Grandma Betty. I love her pretty white hair…mine will probably never look like that.

Our trip was short, but sweet. We love our family!

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Kristin needed a “model” for a fun, experimental photo shoot a couple days ago. I use the quotes around “model”, because I’m really no such thing. Maybe a guinea pig? Whatever the case, I dressed up in a couple different outfits, arduously put on some fake lashes, then did whatever Kristin told me to do: hop up on a dumpster, commune closely with ants crawling on a tree…whatever.

Here are a handful of the shots she got. It was lots of fun, and I wasn’t awkward like I feared I might be. Okay, maybe I was once or twice, but I don’t really want to talk about that. You can check out her blog to see some more…

This is where I started to commune with the ants…

These arm warmers are my new favorite thing.

Try to figure out the secret message in the writing on the trash cans…

Just kiddin…there’s no secret message. Here’s where I used those platform heels to propel myself up onto the dumpster:

What Next?

• Go to Kristin’s Website
• Go to Kristin’s Photography Blog

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