Insting Blogs

• Miniature Clay Pot
• Red or brown "pom-pom"
• adhesive/glue gun
• googlie eyes
• brown construction paper

• Hay From The Manger(Mac n' Cheese)
• Gifts (Cut Outs of Smoked Salami)
• Sweet Fruit (Cantelope/Honeydew)
• Sonshine Juice: (Sunny D)

• red 12x9 construction paper,
• glue,
• scissors
• craft “popsicle sticks”
• hole punch (1/4 inch preferable)

• The tighter the inner circle, the more it will bend out. 
• The wider the initial cut, the fatter the petal will be.
• I purchased the colored craft sticks at the Dollar Tree
• And because I had all the tools on hand, this fun project was free!

• I used comparable photo papers The HP Advanced 4x6 Photo Paper and the Kodak Premium 4x6 Photo Paper - both glossy 
• Kodak has contacted me personally (via twitter) about this, mentioning that their Ultra Premium Paper does not produce these results. That might be true, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of their low ink costs?
• The HP paper I used isn't even their best paper, which says something about the quality of it's paper.
• The results from this video are kind of hard to see because the youtube download is kind of grainy.
• The reliability of HP's products really make a difference here, in my opinion.
• I will ALWAYS be buying Advanced/Premium Photo Paper from now on.
• The right printer + the right ink + the photo paper makes all the difference.

The Branch From Jesse

• (1) 2 1/4 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, into 1 1/2 in. pieces
• 1 1/2 cups seedless red grapes (about 8 ounces)
• 2-3 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 2 Tbsp. thinly sliced fresh sage leaves
• 2 Tbsp. EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
• 2 Tbsp. (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skins removed, and chopped

• Preheat Oven to 425 degrees F
• Combine butternut squash, grapes and onion in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil.
• Season genrously with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
• Spread out onto large rimmed baking sheet
• Roast until squash begin to soften, stirring occasionally, approx. 30 minutes
• Brown butter in skillet, add sage, then add sliced shallots and saute for 1 minute.
• Toss butter sag shallot mixture with butternut squash mixture
• Add hazelnuts
• Roast another 10 minutes
• Transfer to platter and serve (serves 8 people)

Show your gratitude this holiday season with photos! Photo Thank You Cards are fun and easy to make. Before you know it, you will have a personal and creative thank you card ready for that special occasion. You’ll need a few things to get this simple project completed.

• Magnetic Alphabet Letters
• Digital Camera
• Photo Printer
• Cardstock in color of your choice
• Glue stick (acid free) or photo corners

I happen to have been blessed with a photo printer thanks to the fine folks at HP. So this project was that much easier because I was able to print the photos at home. (If you don’t have a photo printer at home, then have them printed via your local 1 hour print shop. Many grocery stores have photo printing services available, so you can pick up your print when you are shopping.)

• Arrange the magnetic letters to spell the words “Thank You”.
• Photograph the words in good light near a window. Try not to use your flash
• Print out the image on 4x6 photo paper, set aside
• Cut  cardstock to 6 1/2 by 9
• Fold cardstock in half to make a 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 folded card.
• Adhere “Thank You” photo to front of card using photo corners or adhesive.
• If cardstock is dark in color, think about lining the inside with a piece of white cardstock sized 4 x 6.

***I am including the “thank you” images in this post, so that you may use them if you wish. I put a creative commons liscense on them, so if you use them in a blog post, just attribute back to me. So, if you don’t have alphabet letters, you can just use mine!

***Click on the photos to be taken to the image in my flickr photstream.

This idea would work great for other occasions like birthdays and get well cards.