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    Happy Fridays: 5 Eco-Friendly tips from Oprah!

    September 17, 2010 | Posted by Kristen the designer

    So this week’s post is all about ways to be environmentally friendly in your own home, and it’s from one of our favorites: Oprah! Oprah did a segment on her show featuring these tips and how easy it is to implement them in your day to day life. Of course everyone wants to be eco-friendly, but sometimes it’s hard to find practical ways to feel like you are making a difference. Not anymore! With these tips you’ll save energy, save money, and make your life a little bit greener.

    Oprah’s 5 Eco-Friendly Green Living Tips

    Eco-Friendly Tip #1: Eco-friendly Canvas Bags
    When you’re deciding between paper and plastic at the grocery store, choose neither. Plastic takes 1,000 years to decompose and paper bags use 14 million trees a year. Instead, an easy eco-friendly tip is to use cloth grocery bags. Any cloth bag will do, but Oprah said that her website is selling organic cotton canvas bags made without pesticides.

    Another easy eco-friendly tip is to use an organic mesh bag for organic produce. One eco-friendly expert urged consumers to look at the amount of packaging in the grocery store. Since petroleum-based packaging isn’t good for the environment, buy items that use minimal packaging.

    This easy eco-friendly tip may cost you a little more money: organic produce. It’s a green tip because it takes less energy to harvest and doesn’t use pesticides, so it’s healthier for the planet. But, organic produce isn’t necessarily a green money saving tip – though it could make you physically healthier.

    Eco-Friendly Tip #2: Eco-Friendly Eating
    Elizabeth Rogers wrote The Green Book, which contains dozens of easy eco-friendly tips that Oprah loved. In writing The Green Book she wanted to answer the question, “What are the easiest things we can do that make the biggest difference?”

    One of Rogers’ green tips is using one less napkin a day because paper napkins make a huge difference. Give up one paper napkin a day, and you’ll save a billion pounds of paper waste in landfills a year. Using cloth napkins is one easy eco-friendly tip on Oprah that makes a huge difference.

    Eco-Friendly Tip #3: Natural Cleaning Products
    “Clean doesn’t have a smell,” says one environmentally friendly family. When your bathroom is clean, it shouldn’t smell like pine or lemon. Switch from toxic to non-toxic, natural cleaning products. Seventh Generation sells non-toxic products, which improve your family’s health by being less likely to cause asthma attacks. Or try Green Works!

    Eco-Friendly Tip #4: Change Your Lightbulbs
    Most of the energy comes from coal-fired plants. A compact fluorescent light bulb is more energy-efficient and will save your money in the long run. CFL lightbulbs are energy smart; they’re more expensive, but they’ll last longer.

    Eco-Friendly Tip #5 on Oprah: Daily Green Tips for Every Family
    These easy eco-friendly tips are things you can do every day. The green tips come from the Squire family (a green family featured on the eco-friendly Oprah show).

    - Use the same cups over and over.
    - Don’t run the dishwasher unless it’s absolutely full.
    - Don’t throw clothing or shoes away, especially leather shoes.
    - Buy clothes at secondhand, consignment, or resale shops.
    - Put power strips on your tv to turn everything off when you go to bed or leave for the day.
    Vampire or standby power drains energy.

    Finally, one last eco-friendly tip on Oprah is to go to a landfill and see where your garbage goes. It doesn’t just disappear! When you see a landfill in person, you’ll think twice about what you throw in the garbage and what you recycle. Recycle as much as you can. Make sure you check what types of plastic are recyclable in your city, through the Public Works or Sanitation Department.

    Hope these tips will help everyone be a little greener! Happy Friday everyone!

    Amy LarsonAmy Larson

    Session Share: Fun at 6 Months!

    September 16, 2010 | Posted by Amy Larson

    I love photographing chunky six month olds!  At this stage in life, babies are just starting to discover the world around them.  They are growing rapidly and very active, but more often than not, they are still a little wobbly; not fully able to sit up on their own for more than a few minutes at a time.  With their lack of body control, a cushy surface is helpful to pad their fall.  When scheduling sessions, I recommend mommy and daddy’s bedroom as a natural light studio.  What better surface to fall back on than a soft padded bed? To ensure safety, I always place the baby/babies in the middle of the bed and have mommy and daddy beside them at all times.  Once everyone is in place, it is time to snap away.  Babies sitting, babies on their bellies, babies on their backs, babies eating their toes… the options are endless!
    Session Share Survey:Inspiration: My clients are my true inspiration. I try to translate their connection with each other in every photo I capture.
    Favorite Element    :     I love that mommy included her own touches, from the hair bows to the tutus.
    Biggest Challenge    :     Photographing twins has enough challenges of its own, but I would probably say attempting to get both girls to sit up at the same time!
    What Clients Said    :     “Amy is an amazing photographer! I was pleased with the pictures she took of our twin girls. Amy was extremely accomodating and when she arrived at our home for our session, I felt like I had known her for years.”
    Final words from Photographer    : I want to say a special thank you to the Hodges family for choosing me as their photographer.  When they first contacted me to photograph their girls, they shared a piece of their lives that touched my heart.  It was only a year and a half ago that the Hodges experienced a tragic loss.  Their firstborn son was born prematurely and passed away in the NICU when he was only five weeks old.  Sadly, he never had the opportunity to leave the hospital to be at home with his family.  Shortly after his death, they found out they were pregnant and the delightful news of twins made it twice as special. Clients like the Hodges make my job that much more meaningful!

    Annie JonesAnnie Jones

    Session Share….. Little Super Heros

    September 14, 2010 | Posted by Annie Jones

    I’ve always visualised myself as a ‘collector of light’. Like all photographers, I adore light. I ‘see’ it and ‘feel’ it everywhere I go. Thats right, I feel light. It’s warm, and comforting. It flows like golden syrup across valley’s, down hills and over streams. It wraps itself around little toes and lights up faces. Light is simply, beautiful.

    Inspiration: Never is the light more beautiful, than during our winter, and never have I seen it look more spectacular, than in a sugar cane field whilst doing the daily school run.  I pulled the car over several times just to watch how the rays of sunlight flowed over the field, and how it lit up the tips of the grasses. I decided after one evening drive out to the field, that this was the place, and this was the light to capture a session based on our memories of childhood. Those memories? Well having three boys, it had to be little super heros.

    Favourite Element: can I have two? Aside from the golden light, the cape! What a find! It was custom made for me, by Wendy from Little Hero Designs. I found her on Facebook. She even pressed it and drove it out to me the morning of the session.

    Biggest Challenge: keeping the little men motivated until the sunlight diffused! We did lots of running around being super heros, gave stacks of encouragement and of course had some treats.

    What the Clients Said? They absolutely adored them. Mum said little Master R had never looked so angelic.

    Photographer’s Final Words: If you have an idea, no matter how mad it seems, give it a go! It will eat away at you otherwise, then you’ll be full of regrets that you didn’t try it. Whilst planning this session, I visited the location several times and checked the light and also looked for different viewpoints. I made sketches of any poses I thought might work and I discussed clothing co ordination with the parents. They really made the session, especially when they turned up with superman tee shirts! Perfect!

    Robin LongRobin Long

    Canon 7D vs Barbie Video Girl

    September 13, 2010 | Posted by Robin Long

    Here is a funny follow-up to the popular Barbie Video Girl NAPCP posted last week in their Happy Friday post.

    If the Canon 7D is a bit out of your price range for your 5 year old, think about getting the new Barbie Video Girl.  You may even want one for yourself.

    With all her glam and glitz, Mattel has now come out with this ever-so-clever Barbie Video Girl.   Check out this fun video comparing the two cameras.

    Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

    She seems a little more fun to me and the special hand effect in every scene is a bonus.  I think this will be on every little girl’s wish list this year….including mine!

    Kristen the designerKristen the designer

    Happy Fridays: Cool Toys for Fall 2010

    September 9, 2010 | Posted by Kristen the designer

    So for the past week I’ve been scouring the internet for the best toys of 2010. Some have already been top sellers and some haven’t even hit the shelves. I know it’s only September, but it is never too early to be in that Christmas state of mind. With the way toys sell out today, you may need to buy one now just to be safe!

    From left to right and top to bottom:

    1) Ni Hao Kai Lan  doll – Hold Kai Lan’s hands and watch her head rock back and forth and her heart change colors as she thinks about what emotion she is feeling! Let her hands go, and Kai Lan will play out one of 6 different emotions, colors & eye movements. Kai Lan’s arms can move up to her heart and up to the sky as she asks the child to hug her, dance with her and more!

    2) Hyper Blast – Hyper Blast is a numbers game that gives players a physical and mental workout.

    3) Bucky Balls – I have seen these everywhere recently, and have to admit they are quite addicting. Each set contains 216 powerful rare earth magnets that can be shaped, molded, torn apart and snapped together in UNLIMITED WAYS.

    4) iXL Learning System – The iXL Learning System is a learning and entertainment center for preschool kids. The iXL Learning System comes with six applications: Story Book, Game Player, Note Book, Art Studio, Music Player and Photo Album.

    5) My Pal Scout (Leap Frog) – Give learning a personal touch with this soft, cuddly green puppy named Scout! Scout connects to the computer so you can customize the music and personalize the learning with your child’s name and favorite food, animal and color.

    6) Moon Dough – Much like their great Moon Sand, Moon Dough is a non-drying, non-stick, hypoallergenic play substance that will provide endless hours of fun. Moon Dough is reportedly marshmallow-like, but it isn’t sticky and doesn’t leave any stains, and it never dries out.

    7) Dave the Funky Monkey – Dave the Funky Monkey has been designed to interact with people in several different ways, displaying a number of individual mannerisms. For example, if someone shouts at Dave the Monkey, you will make him sad. He is brand new and doesn’t have a release date yet, but a lot of hype has already been built up about this toy.

    8 ) Crayola Beginnings Color Me a Song – Helps build toddlers’ creativity, confidence and independence through creative experiences. Helps develop fine and gross motor skills. Allows toddler to create original music with their scribbles. Music will change based on speed of coloring, the faster you scribble .. the faster the song.

    9) Stinky the Garbage Truck – All boys love garbage trucks, it’s a fact of life. And now they can play with their own: Stinky the Garbage Truck! Stinky is a real working garbage truck that boys can drive around, load and unload. But Stinky the Garbage Truck also talks and tells jokes, eats, sings, and even has a few fun surprises that kids love.

    And the toy that I am most excited about for 2010….

    This is Video Barbie Girl, the newest in a long line of Barbie toys from Mattel. I have to admit when I saw this at first I didn’t think it was real. The idea seems kind of crazy, but is actually pretty cool for kids. The doll features a video camera built directly into Barbie’s necklace with a LCD video screen on her back, so you can record and view everything that Barbie’s seen and experienced. You can record video and then watch an immediate replay with the LCD screen on her back. Or you can plug a USB cable into Barbie herself and view your video masterpiece on the big screen like a TV or computer. Record videos up to 30 minutes long and even edit videos (add music and sound effects) on Barbie.com. The Barbie Video Girl Doll costs around $50 and became available in July 2010.

    This new Barbie is nothing like the Barbies I remember. I felt a little nostalgic when I saw it though!

    So that’s the list! Hope everyone saw a toy or two they know their kids would love. I am amazed these days with the innovations in the toy industry. So many types of creative outlets for children of all ages. Stay tuned next week for a brand new Happy Fridays post!


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