If you’re looking for something to give the mommy-to-be, here are a few ideas that go beyond the typical baby bottle and diaper cake gift. One thing you could do is create a bag of goodies for the new family. Include address labels with the family’s name, cute gift tags for the new family to use on future gifts, and matching thank you cards. Put them in a cellophane bag facing out so all of her goodies can be seen.

These can be personalized, comes in different colors, and is a thoughtful way to make the mom to be feel special that’s a little out of the ordinary, and so very extraordinary!

By guest blogger: Rich Bucich

This is the second installment of tips to help you take better photographs of babies.
If you read my last post, hopefully you have a greater understanding of how your camera’s auto-focus works and the impact of good light on achieving a sharp, clear photograph. There’s much more to the equation however, and understanding the settings on your camera will give you a distinct advantage.

Good light provides a faster shutter speed for the camera. The faster the shutter speed, the more the movement will be frozen and “camera shake” will be minimized. In poor lighting, your camera will try to speed up the shutter speed by adjusting settings which may degrade the quality of your photo.

The camera will likely take the following steps to speed up the shutter:

• The camera will open the aperture (AKA f/stop) - this will let more light through the lens but will also require much more accurate focusing. The area achieving sharp focus may be very narrow, i.e. tip of nose is sharp, eyes out of focus. The term is called “depth of field.”

• The camera may increase the ISO* - a higher ISO will allow for faster shutter speeds but can severely degrade the quality of the photo. For best results with “point & shoot” type cameras, keep the ISO at 200** or below. Digital SLR camera will be much more tolerant in this regard, often being able to shoot in excess of 800 ISO with acceptable results.

• The camera may turn on the flash - the flash is your friend, but automatic settings will often create harsh shadows or over-exposed areas if too close to your subject.

*ISO stands for International Standards Organization and is essentially a measurement of light sensitivity.
**Higher ISOs settings may be required under extreme low light situations such as parties and events where shutter speed needs to be maximized. In these cases, the additional sharpness may trump any graininess. We don’t recommend high ISOs in baby photography because the skin tone can be severely degraded.

If manual settings are overwhelming, you will have a huge increase in your photo success rate if you just focus on providing as much diffused ambient light as possible.

Our Tiny Prints website also has many effective tips with examples which may be helpful as well. Please register and post a comment if you have any questions.

We love when our customers share their creative ideas with us! In fact, we were super impressed when Leah England forwarded us photos of a headboard that she created based on the Sweet Chics invitation used for her baby shower. Check out Leah’s great idea below:

Did you know that May is officially National Moving Month!? Did you also know that some statistics state that the average American moves about 11 times over a lifetime. Well, I believe it. I personally have packed my life into dozens of boxes, hauled them around the country, and redecorated a new apartment 9 different times in the past 8 years. I am exhausting just writing about it!

I hate moving - it is the one task in life that literally calls for “blood, sweat, and tears.” In addition to that comes the hassle of sharing a new address (once again) with friends and family. For most of us a mass e-mail will seem an easy solution to the problem - however, a moving announcement sent via snail mail will make anyone’s friends impressed with how organized and put together they are!

If you’re moving this month, check out our new line of moving announcements .

With summer just around the corner, are you prepared for your kid’s being out of school? Long, hot days and restless kids may be parent’s worst nightmare unless they have a plan. Being a long-time fan of Oprah, I found a link on her website which provides tips for parents. The article is by actress Holly Peete and her husband Rodney Peete and is taken from their radio show interview with parenting expert Dr. Michele Borba. From choosing your child’s summer camp to tips on how to have happy family road trips, this article might help you and your kids have a happy summer!

Source: http://www.oprah.com/xm/peetes/200805/peetes_20080506.jhtml?promocode=901

Mother’s Day is creeping up upon us. For all you late shoppers out there, here’s another idea for a late mom gift, a graduation present or a thoughtful birthday gift to give anyone you know.

One year for Christmas my mentor and boss at the time gave me one of the most precious and useful gifts I’ve ever received. She gave me a box of beautiful stationery personalized with my name on it. To this day, I still enjoy using it. I loved sending friends, family and acquaintances brief notes of appreciation on those cool, personal cards.

Wouldn’t it be nice to do the same for the people in your life? If you know someone who’s graduating, has a birthday coming up or for your mom who always sends personal thank you notes, send them these. With a variety of designs to suit their personality and personalized with their name, it’s sure to make them feel special too.

Though the Fourth of July may seem eons away, it’s right around the corner. With summer getting closer, maybe it’s a good time to think about what you’re going to do to celebrate this year. A famous tradition has been Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest which takes place in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. Do you remember the excitement of last year’s contest? Takeru Kobayashi was defeated by Joey Chestnut who won by eating a record breaking 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes!

While most other Americans celebrate their patriotism with decorations, fireworks, and a little less hot dogs than Kobayashi and Chestnut, we’re wondering what you’ll be doing this July 4th. How about gathering friends and family for a picnic or barbecue? Tiny Prints has brand new invitations made especially for this holiday. Check them out!

Happy Friday!  I thought since it was the end of a long week that I would share one of my favorite links.  The baby photo gallery at About.com always lifts my spirits, and I guarentee that these photos will make you “oooh” and “awwww” for at least a few minutes!

How could we possibly forget all the mothers in our lives? From our own mothers to our mother in-laws to our friends who will be mothers really soon, what a wonderful opportunity to show them how much we care!

If you are a little late and fresh out of ideas for what to get the mothers in your life this year, here’s something that may help. How about getting her a gift certificate you know she’ll use? Tiny Prints has a whole bunch of products for her from thank you cards to birthday invitations to choose from. Ranging from $10-$100, this is a great gift to give the mom who loves to plan parties for her kids, and always sends you a thank you note. This will save her time and money and we think she’ll definitely send you a thank you for this gift, maybe even one from our Tiny Prints line.

Did you know that 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of Mother’s Day? The first Mother’s Day was celebrated by Anna Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia at the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church. On that day, Jarvis passed out more than 500 carnations to each mother in the congregation - a white carnation was worn to honor deceased mothers and a pink one to honor a living mother. This custom quickly caught on and spread throughout the country and in 1914 President Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day as a day to honor mothers whose sons had died in war.

Today, Mother’s Day has expanded into a day where we honor all of the mothers in our lives. This can extend beyond our “moms” to our grandmothers, mother-in-laws and any other inspirational women who have made an impression on us.

How do you plan to honor all the moms in your life this Mother’s Day?