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How To Take a Beautiful Professional Style Baby Picture for your Holiday Photo Cards

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Professional Style Black and White Baby PhotosWith a few helpful tips, you can take a professional style photo of you and your baby for your holiday photo cards.

Things you will need:

  • A Baby (duhhhh)
  • A Digital Camera
  • A Black T-Shirt
  • Mom or Dad (to hold the baby)
  • A Photo Editing Program

Have mom or dad (or both) put on a solid black t-shirt and hold their baby in their arm(s) close to their body. Take more pictures than you think you’ll need so you have lots to look through to find your favorite.

Make sure you have good lighting because you don’t want to use a flash unless you have a special kind of flash or a diffuser on your flash. Natural light is good, or even a lamp to retain tones on your photos. The photographer should  take pictures with the light behind them, and try and position everything so that there are no major shadows.

Load the pictures on to your computer. With your photo editing software, crop the pictures so that nothing but arms and the upper half of the baby’s body are showing. On your photo editing program change the picture (if haven’t used the option on your camera already) to sepia. Then use the brightness/contrast setting to adjust the contrast. The goal here is to get the black t-shirt to be a solid black background.

Once you’ve selected your favorite photo, it’s time to order Christmas photo cards to show off your newborn to friends and family.

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Make taking your Annual Holiday Photo Card Picture a Family Tradition

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

Green Damask Holiday Photo CardsDo you dread taking a family photo each year for your Christmas photo cards? With a few tips and a reward thrown in, you can turn this chore into a fun family tradition.

Mount your camera on a tripod and use a self-timer so the photo taker can be in the photo too. Do a variety of poses and rearrange everyone so you have a choice of several images to use. Then celebrate by going out to dinner or set another tradition you can all look forward too after the photo taking is done.

If you have a fabulous vacation photo with everyone in it, by all means, use it for your photo holiday cards. You don’t have to use formally posed photographs or winter scenes for your cards.

Wishing You Joy Christmas Photo CardBefore mailing your Christmas photo cards, add a personal touch to your cards by writing a personal message on the back (with a sharpie so it doesn’t smear) or include a family newsletter for everyone to catch up on what your family’s been doing for the past year.

Shop our Digital Holiday Photo Cards

Shop our Traditional Folded Christmas Photo Cards

New Year’s Eve Invitations & Low Calorie Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

Saturday, November 27th, 2010
New Year's Eve Party Invitations

New Year's Eve Party Invitations

There’s nothing silly about these mushrooms, except for how insanely overstuffed they are…and the fact that they have only 33 calories each, so stuff yourself silly with them. Try them at your next party!

FOUR-CHEESE STUFFED-SILLY MUSHROOMS:

Ingredients:

  • 6 medium-large baby bella mushrooms (each about 2 inches wide)
  • ¼ cup fat-free ricotta cheese
  • ¼ cup finely chopped onion
  • ¼ cup canned spinach, thoroughly drained and dried
  • 2 tablespoons fat-free cream cheese
  • 2 tablespoons shredded fat-free mozzarella cheese
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon reduced-fat Parmesan-style grated topping
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

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Gobble, Gobble Cranberry Grilled Cheese Turkey Sandwich Recipe

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Cranberry Turkey Grilled Cheese SandwichWhat do you do with the Thanksgiving left over turkey? Here’s a great sandwich idea – the Gobble, Gobble Cranberry Grilled Cheese & Turkey Sandwich.

An amazingly unique and delicious sandwich to make with your Turkey Day leftovers.

Ingredients:
2 slices light bread
2 tsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread (like Brummel & Brown), room temperature
1 wedge The Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss cheese
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. jellied cranberry sauce
2 oz. cooked and sliced lean skinless turkey breast
1 slice fat-free American cheese

(more…)

December Birthday Party Invitations & Party Planning

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Winter Birthday Party InvitationsChildren with December birthdays often think they’re cheated out of a real party. With preparations already going on, why not make the birthday part of the holiday?

Families with December babies have a lot to juggle every year with holidays and birthdays. Sometimes the stress of the season results in parties being thrown together or not happening at all. Using the holidays as the inspiration and not the frustration can make everyone happier.

INVITATIONS: Choose a winter theme with snowflakes, snowmen or a Christmas theme. December schedules fill up fast for grownup parties on the weekends, so for a good turnout, you might want to select a week day and a time that works for you and your guests.

DECORATIONS: Think of the theme you want to use, such as snowmen, candy canes, snowflakes or a red and green theme party. For birthday decorations, use the basic holiday decorations that you already have in place and add more to the kitchen or dining room, wherever the main portion of the birthday party is going to be held. Festive red and green loops (you can have your child help make these by cutting strips of red and green construction paper and gluing the ends together to form a chain) and maybe some other decorations that will be up for the party only.

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Why do Formal Invitations often have a Second Envelope? We’ll Tell You!

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

Footman with MailWhen invitations were hand written, the names of guests were written as part of the invitations themselves and hand delivered by a footman.  If the footman didn’t know the home he was to deliver the invitation, detailed directions to the guest’s home were written on the outside envelope. Or, if you didn’t have a footman, invitations were put into envelopes and the address of delivery was written on the front envelope and was delivered by the post.

Households typically contained extended families and when the invitation was delivered, the outer envelope was removed and the household members invited to the event was written on the front of an inner envelope. To prevent snooping, the inner envelope was often sealed by wax so only the invited guests would see the envelope contents.

So, the purpose of two envelopes is that the outer envelope detailed whose household the invitation was going to and directions for delivery and the inner envelope stated who in the household was actually invited to the event.

NEW Exclusive Christmas Photo Cards you’ll Love!

Monday, November 22nd, 2010
We’ve been creating and adding Digital Christmas Photo Cards and here’s one of our favorites.  Come see them all! 
Green Damask Holiday Photo Card
Green Damask Holiday Photo Card

Click here to Shop all our Christmas Photo Cards

Party Hors d’oeuvres: Low Calorie Tarragon-Rice Stuffed Mushrooms

Monday, November 15th, 2010
Cluster of Grapes Invitation

Cluster of Grapes Party Invitation

When your party invitations state appetizers or hors d’oeuvres, here’s a receipe your guests will love that is low fat and low calorie:

Tarragon-Rice Stuffed Mushrooms

18 large white mushrooms
1/4 cup canned fat-free chicken broth
1 shallot or green onion, minced
1/2 cup cooked, cold long-grain white rice
2 teaspoons light mayonnaise
2 or 3 fresh basil leaves, chopped
 2 tablespoons freshly-grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop the stems finely.

In a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the shallot and mushrooms stems; cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes. (more…)

Try Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Spiced Apples for your Next Party

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Apples RecipeFor our holiday family gatherings, sweet potatoes are a must! Not all of us like them but we still can’t go without them.  If you have picky eaters in your family, try this new twist on sweet potatoes from Reynolds that will have your family wanting more!!

Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Spiced Apples Recipe:

1 Reynolds® Slow Cooker Liner
3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups diced apples
1/3 cup orange juice
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Glazed Pecans (optional)

Open the slow cooker liner and place it inside a 5- to 6 1/2 -quart slow cooker bowl. Fit liner snugly against the bottom and sides of bowl; pull top of liner over rim of bowl. (more…)

Plan a Christmas Getaway for the Family or Just for Two

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Santa and Reindeer in Convertible Holiday Invitation

Santa and Reindeer in Convertible Holiday Invitation

After all the holiday parties are over, what are you going to do December 25th?

Most traditional Christmas Holidays are spent with friends and family sitting around the Christmas tree at home which is great but how about switching it up this year and take the family on a special Holiday Road Trip!  Plan a Christmas getaway! With the millions of places to go, how do you choose?

You could go to New York and lace up your ice skates at Rockefeller Center or Central Park.  While you’re there, you could see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes, or see Wintuk, it’s a show especially for the Holiday season by the fantastically creative Cirque du Soleil. 

New York City is the top town for Holiday Windows, with awesome displays at its famous department stores.  At Macy’s for instance, “Miracle on 34th Street Windows are an annual tradition.  Take a walking tour of the best window displays, great family fun for the best price…FREE!! Gocitykids.com covers hundreds of events going on for families in New York City, including many minor, but sill fun performances.

Our Family took a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas for Christmas one year and it was a blast! We had breakfast with the Disney Characters and the kids usually “ride for free”. There are lots of things for the kids to do like live shows that include original, Broadway-quality Disney musicals performed exclusively at the Walt Disney Theatre. (more…)

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