Thursday, November 30, 2006

A simple little Advent Calendar that works

There are dozens…if not hundreds...of advent calendars out there. We've tried many different complicated varieties over the years. Invariably, we start out strong and then by mid-December we start forgetting and have to play catch up for the days we missed.

A couple of years ago, I created a simple Christmas tree advent to help my kids keep track of the days. Much to my surprise, we managed to follow through with it every day. We kept it on the fridge so we wouldn't lose track of it. Each morning whoever managed to get ready and sit down to breakfast first got to color in (or put a sticker on) one of the ornaments on the tree.

It became a fun little race each day and motivated the kids to get moving in the morning. Now that they're a little older, I think I will print out one for each of them and let them keep in in their school folders or on their bedroom doors.

I recreated the Christmas tree file this year and thought I'd post it on my website. It's not fancy or particularly creative, but that's the beauty of it. It's a 'no-mom-required' solution that works. Just thought I'd pass it on.

You can find this file in the free download section of my website www.meckmom.com. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Money and time saving Christmas Cards

December is a crazy month for our family. With three birthdays and Christmas all falling into a few short weeks, I'm forced to find creative ways to save myself time and money. One of my favorites, is our digital Christmas Card.

Christmas cards can take up tons of valuable time…getting the perfect picture, getting prints, tracking down addresses, you know how it goes. Last year, in an effort to save myself the hassle, I decided to create a digital version. I used the pictures I had stored in Picassa (see previous post) and another free program called Microsoft Movie Maker. The end result was a fun, 2-minute glimpse of our year in photos that I was able to email to my family and friends.

I'd never used Movie Maker before, but I found it really easy to work with. I simply imported 20 of my favorite pictures from Picasa as well as an instrumental Christmas song from one of my CDs. Once the photos were in the program, I arranged them into sections (I did a spotlight on each child and then a section of family fun). Next, I inserted some transitions between the photos (they're built into Movie Maker) to help it flow from one picture to another. Technically, you can add video clips as well, but I didn't want to devote the time to editing. I also used a graphic design program to add in title slides (like the one pictured here) but if you're not tech savy you could skip those and just use the title pages that are included in Movie Maker.

Once I was happy with it, I saved it and composed a traditional Christmas card-type letter for the body of the email. I chose a Christmas-themed email stationary, attached the Movie Maker file, and added all the recipients. Thanks to the wonders of email, my digital Christmas card was instantly shared with over 50 family & friends. It was quick, efficient and best of all...free.

If you're a little more traditional and would rather go with mail, Movie Maker can help you too. You can create a CD of your file within Movie Maker with a simple click of a button. Add a cute Christmas label and you can mail the CDs to everyone on your list.

I know this isn't the right solution for everyone. I sure there are tons of you out there that love the whole Christmas-card making process. As for the rest of you…you may want to give this easy and free alternative a try. It worked for me. Just thought I'd pass it on.

If you have a newer system, you probably already have Movie Maker installed. If not, here's the link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx Posted by Picasa

Thursday, November 09, 2006

A great solution to organizing and sharing your photos

I'm horrible at journaling. It's one of those things I've always wanted to be good at, but can't seem to do consistently. In an effort to save my memories until I have time to jot them down, I take tons of pictures and videos. However, after awhile the hundreds of digital media files can be overwhelming to keep organized. I don't have the time, budget or energy to scrapbook, so I opted for an easier digital solution.

About two years ago I discovered Picasa. It's a clean, efficient, and free program available from Google. Essentially, Picasa searches your hard drive, finds all the image files and organizes them for you by date. Once Picasa adds them to its library, you can label them and organize them into virtual 'albums'. Picasa also offers great tools to edit, print, email, or blog whatever you've got stored.

I love it because it doesn't actually alter any of the original files. If I crop and lighten a picture, I can come back months later and undo any changes with a simple click of a button. They also have a great search tool which allows me to find specific pictures quickly and easily. For example, my daughter's teacher needed a picture of her in her Halloween costume for a class project. I typed in her name and the word 'ladybug' and Picasa showed me only the pictures that had those two words included in the label. I was able to find the exact picture I was looking for in just a few seconds. I hit print, threw it in her backpack and she was good to go.

Earlier this year, I decided I wanted to filter through all my photos this way, so I bought a scanner and scanned all our old prints. Picasa added them automatically and I labeled them as they loaded. Now I've got all our family's pictures in one place and they're completely searchable.

One of the great things about Google programs is that they are always improving them. A new feature they've added in Picasa2 is called Web Albums. Web albums allow you to upload tons of pictures (you get around 1000 for free and can pay to upgrade) into albums that your friends and family can view, print, or download anytime. It's kind of like having a digital scrapbook on your own webpage. It's also a great way to back-up the photos stored on your machine. If for some horrible reason my laptop crashes I know that I can just click over to my web album and download all my photos instantly.

It's no journal and it's certainly not the beautiful finished product that you scrapbookers produce, but it works for me. It's simple, efficient and free. It's tough to beat that. Just thought I'd pass it on.

Here's the link if you're interested: http://picasa.google.com/index.html

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

A creative way to get rid of Halloween Candy Overload

After 3 Halloween parties, a ward trunk-or-treat, and a big night of trick-or-treating my house and my kids are in Candy Overload. Rather than watch my kids gorge themselves on junk food all week, I opted to try something new this year. We're calling it our post-Halloween Sweets Swap.

I spent $10 at Target and purchased a few small toys that I know my kids would like. I also made up a few coupons like "Trip to the McDonalds play land", "Get out of chores pass", and "Mom makes my bed". Each item has a candy price. For example, the 'Get out of chores' coupon is 30 candy pieces, the Matchbox car is 20. When the kids get home from school today, I'll set out the store and have them swap their junk food for more tummy-friendly alternatives. This way, they only hang on to the candy they really love and I get to save myself from a week of spoiled suppers and crumpled candy wrappers. It's a win-win. Just thought I'd pass it on.

I wish I could remember where I read/heard the original version of this swap. I know it came from somewhere but I can't seem to place it. Whoever you are, thanks for the bright idea!