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10 Simple Steps to a Great Holiday Photo

Published
by
shopmom
on November 13, 2008
in How-to, Online Coupon Codes and Winter Holidays
. 0 Comments


Now is the time of year when families across the world get out their cameras to attempt to take the perfect holiday photo. It’s always a struggle, isn’t it? To get everyone facing the camera, smiling, to get the lighting right, to not have red eye? It’s enough to get to you give up on the whole concept of making up holiday cards in the first place. But don’t despair, here are 10 simple steps to getting your family photos looking great.

  1. Make Sure Everyone is Fed & Well Rested

    There is absolutely no use trying to take pictures when the family is crabby and hungry, it is only going to be asking for trouble. So try picture taking after breakfast or after naptime. Everyone should be relatively happy, well rested, clean and full from a hearty breakfast or snack.

  2. Turn off the Flash

    Turning off the flash on your camera will do two things. It will eliminate red eye and will give your faces a more natural look. This will mean that you will either have to go outside or stand by a window. Before you take your photo, search out the lightest room in your house, open all the window coverings and hold your photo session there. If the photo still comes out too dark or fuzzy it is time to head outside.

  3. Stand in the Shade

    I spend my entire childhood being told to stand facing the sun when I had my picture taken. Its a miracle that I even have my eyesight for all of the squinting I did. This is not only unpleasant for the person getting their picture taken, but I’ve found that pictures taken in full sun either come out overexposed or with funky shadows. So I’ve discovered that standing in full shade is the best spot. Because you are outside, it is light enough where you don’t need a flash, yet the solid shade provides an even tone over your face to result in a beautiful picture.

  4. Put Baby in the Car Seat

    When babies are too young to sit up by themselves, it can be challenging to find a good spot to prop them up. Try lining their removable infant car seat with your favorite blanket and place it outside in full shade. This will give them a nice seat to sit in and give them a pretty background too.

  5. Get Down at Their Eye Level

    If the main subject of your holiday card is your little one, make sure you bend down to get at their level. Doing this will really help capture their true facial expressions and help engage the viewer. That said….

  6. Try Shooting from Different Angles

    If your baby is very tiny, try laying them down on the ground and shooting from directly above them. Place something near them to illustrate just how tiny and precious they are. Or decorate their surrounding with some seasonal decor.

  7. Wrapping Paper Background

    Have you ever noticed the cute backgrounds they use in the parenting magazines? Why not hang up a festive piece of wrapping paper on a brightly lit wall and have your little one sit or stand in front of that? Or if you are taking a family photo, why not use a holiday bed sheet strung on a clothesline for a background like this?

  8. Use a Summertime Photo

    Why battle for the perfect ‘festive’ themed photo when you have a perfect family beach photo from June? Remember your friends and family want to see you happy and smiling in your card and they won’t mind a bit if your photo is six months old.

  9. Go Black and White

    If the colors just aren’t right in your photo, use your photo editor to convert the photo to black and white. While many professional photographers might not agree, to use amateurs a lot of photo sins can be erased once you take out the color.

  10. If All Else Fails…

    Go for a photo collage card. If you somehow can’t manage to get a photo of everyone looking handsome and happy at one time, try a photo collage card to get everyone’s smiling face into one page.

Now, where should you order your holiday photos? Snapfish (where you can get November Promotion 15% off holiday cards + 50 FREE 4×6 prints to new customers!) and Tiny Prints are my two favorites. To see a round up of all the online photo card prices, check out The Mother Load.

How about you, do you have any holiday photo taking tips? Or care to link to your holiday card photo?

International Babywearing Week

Published
by
shopmom
on November 10, 2008
in Baby Wearing
. 11 Comments

Sick, sleeping baby
This week is International Babywearing Week! Above is a photo of myself wearing my son last year. He was sick with his fifth cold in a row and in need of some desperate cuddle time. That’s the fantastic thing about babywearing, even though it was just before dinner and all he wanted to do was cuddle and all I wanted to do was cook dinner, we could accomplish both tasks happily. Happy Baby, Happy Mom.

If you’d like to read more about what I’ve learned about baby wearing click here. Otherwise, go check out other babywearing moms at Adventures for Babywearing and if you link to her with pictures of you wearing your baby you could win some fantastic baby carriers from Nonny & Boo!

Frugal Friday : Savings Links

Published
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shopmom
on November 7, 2008
in Frugal Friday
. 0 Comments

There’s been so much great stuff going on in the world of personal finance blog lately. Here’s a few of my favorite things:

How to Wear Your Baby

Published
by
shopmom
on November 6, 2008
in Baby Wearing and How-to
. 8 Comments

“It’s like people have evolved to not have arms!” That was my moms opinion after our trip through a big box baby store at the beginning of my first pregnancy. We both couldn’t believe all of the contraptions invented to hold babies when the best baby holding gadget are our own two arms. I’m not downplaying the existence of bouncy chairs and infant swings by any means. Those things allowed me to take showers, carry a load of laundry to the washing machine and all sorts of other things to keep my life in functioning order. However its just so important to hold your baby!

Research has shown that babies who are held and carried as much as possible during their first year of life get all of their ‘touch needs’ well met and are much less clingy and overly dependent. They also cry much less and grow up to become happier, more social, independent and even more intelligent than babies who were left in these so called baby holding contraptions. Isn’t that interesting? I personally liked how peaceful my baby was when I wore him in our wrap and how he’d fall asleep so naturally in it.

When my oldest was born, four years ago, I only knew about the Baby Bjorn, but I rarely used it because it put such a strain on my shoulders and back. Then I tried one of those huge backpack carriers from an outdoor store and that wasn’t much better. Not only was it not comfortable, but the darn thing was so big and bulky.

When I was 38 weeks pregnant with my second son I did a little research on babywearing and a whole new world opened up to me. I learned that I wasn’t the only mom fed up with the Bjorn and there were a vast amount of more comfortable options for wearing your baby.

Here are my three favorite ways to wear a baby. The fantastic part about all three of these carriers is that you can wear your baby on your front or on your back!

The Wrap

This is the first method I tried and the most comfortable. This is the type I read about when I was at the end of my pregnancy and I was so excited about it, I immediately ran to the fabric store to make one. For $16 and an hour spent hemming, I had two wraps! That’s $8 per wrap! This was without a doubt the most comfortable way to wear your baby. It does take a little more time to put on than the next two I’m about to tell you about, but it’s worth the effort if you are about to go on a walk or out shopping or somewhere where you need to hold your baby for a long time. It holds the baby tight to your body without feeling restricting. I would wear him in the forward cross wrap position and my son would instantly fall asleep in it when he was an infant and sometimes I’d honestly forget I was even wearing him. As he got older I tried out the different types of ways to carry him both on my side and on my back.

The Mei Tai

After my son got to be about six months old, I made a mei tai, also known as an asian baby carrier or a.b.c. This automatically became my next favorite baby carrier. While its not quite as comfortable as the Wrap, its faster to put on. You can easily wear your baby on your front or back. To this day, at two plus years old, this is my favorite way to get around the Farmers Market or stores with narrow aisles.


The Ergo Carrier

I didn’t have the fortune to try one of these until about a year ago. Its modeled after a Mei Tai, but clips together instead of ties, so its even easier to put on. I like it when I first tried it, but became sold on it when my four year old decided on our weekly walk that he wasn’t going to walk another step. Luckly my girlfriend who I was walking with, offered to let me use her Ergo. I ended up carrying my 4 year old five blocks in that Ergo carrier. And, it was actually very comfortable! I would recommend this carrier to anyone. It is expensive, but capable of carrying many children for many years.

Since I learned how to wear my baby my life became so much easier. I was able to snuggle and bond with my baby while having two hands free. A win-win situation! The best part is that I didn’t have to lug around bulky strollers and car seat contraptions everywhere we went. I could just fold up the soft cotton carrier and put it into our glove compartment. After more than two years of wearing my baby, I can tell you that just as the study says he is an independant little boy, who loves to socialize with his friends. And maybe it is just mothers pride, but he is pretty darn intelligent, if you ask me.

Here’s a few other moms who wear there babies:

Do you wear your baby? Send me a link to your baby wearing blog post and I’ll add you on!

Why it is Important to Vote as a Family

Published
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admin
on November 4, 2008
in Uncategorized
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Election day has arrived! As a mom of a busy young family, I know all too well how lovely conveniences are. We try and use as many things as we can to make our lives simpler. So signing up to vote by absentee ballot is tempting. However, I’d like to make the argument that taking the time to go together as a family to your local polling place is worth the extra hassle.

You know how important voting is, I don’t need to tell you. It’s what made our country the wonderful place that it is. So lets get our children excited about it too. One way to do it is to start early and make voting a positive memory for them. Children really look up to their parents and hopefully seeing us vote, will inspire them to want to vote when they grow up. I myself have fond memories of going with my folks in their brown 1970’s Ford Mustang to the local polling place, playing in the booth curtains and running into friendly neighbors. I think its these fond memories that have driven me to never miss voting in an election.

When our children are just wee-little ones, it may be too early to have a discussion about the issues at hand, however its never too early to make a fun trip out of going to vote. Make it easier on yourself by reading up on the issues before heading over and marking your choices on the sample ballot. This will help with getting in and out quickly. Then bundle up, make a mug of hot cocoa if your so inclined and head out to your polling place. Maybe walk or bike ride, something that distinguishes it from an ordinary errand to your children. Make sure you grap some ‘I Voted’ stickers to let your little ones decorate themselves with and head home knowing that you made a difference. Not only with yoru vote, but also in your young childs life. And while you are at it, why not go out for a slice of apple pie, what could be more American?

Recycled Holiday Cards

Published
by
admin
on November 3, 2008
in Winter Holidays
. 1 Comment

Ready for the holiday craze? Now that Halloween is over get ready to be bombarded with holiday madness. One thing I’ve found to cut down on the last minute stresses is to order my holiday cards early. And I’d like to share with you my favorite picks for this year. They are all from Tiny Prints, of course, because everything they do is so incredible. I’ve received quite a few Tiny Print cards over the years from friends and the quality and design can’t be beat. They are lovely and better yet, many of them are printed on recycled paper!. Take a moment to shop their Tiny Prints 2008 Holiday Cards

Clockwise from top left:
Nature’s Gift, Drifting Dandelions,Holiday Nesting, Christmas Cardinals

Frugal Friday : A New Way to Budget

Published
by
admin
on October 31, 2008
in Frugal Friday
. 2 Comments

Many of you have already signed up to receive our free budget spreadsheet, but recently this new way of budgeting has caught my eye. It’s called the Balanced Money Formula created by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi in their book, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan.

The basic principle is that no more than 50% of your after-tax income should be spent on necessities, such as your mortgage, utilities, food, transportation etc. Then 20% should be put into savings and the remaining 30% should be spent simply on the things you want. Doesn’t that make things easy? Get Rich Slowly has a great further write up with charts, if you’d like to read more.

I will admit if you are a stay at home parent living on one income, having your needs only take up 50% of your take home money is tough. But keeping your spending in percentages is a nice way to work. Maybe at this point in your life 80% of your take home salary goes towards needs, 10% towards savings and 10% towards wants. Or 80% is needs, 15% wants and 5% goes towards savings. You can see how you can customize it for your current financial situation and as time goes on you can work towards the 50-30-20 principal.

I think this is a great concept because it makes living with in a budget much simpler and can’t we all use a little more simplicity in our busy lives? I also like how this method of budgeting gives you a generous 30% to spend on things that you simply want. As you know, I love to be frugal, but I also like to indulge in the occasional luxurious baby item or that seasonal pumpkin spice latte when the mood arrives.

How do your percentages look? What do you think of this budgeting method? If you are searching for the perfect easy to use budget spreadsheet, take a look over here.

Last Minute Cookie Costume

Published
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admin
on October 29, 2008
in Halloween
. 0 Comments

While reading my Google Reader, I found the cutest homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Costume made by the fabulous mom behind Make Baby Stuff. Not only will it make your little one adorable on the big day, but it doubles as a chair cushion. Who doesn’t love a multi tasking costume?

Last Minute Halloween Costume Compendium

Published
by
admin
on October 24, 2008
in Halloween
. 5 Comments

Only one more week friends until Halloween. Do you know what you and your children are going to be? There are thousands of ideas out there, but I’ve narrowed it down to a great child-friendly list of homemade, frugal and last minute Halloween costume ideas:

The Cutest Giveaway Ever!

Published
by
admin
on October 13, 2008
in Shopping and handmade
. 0 Comments


I know I just posted about Craftsbury Kids, but I just found out about this giveaway they are having and I couldn’t stop myself from posting about them again. If you are the winner, you win all of these lovely things plus nine other adorable baby must haves! The total package is worth $450!

Go here to learn how to enter. Hurry contest ends today!