Pepper Ferguson

Project 52: Hand over the Camera

Last week Zane spied my camera and asked, “Can I take a picture of you Mommy?” I smiled, we had his first picture shoot a month or so ago and he did pretty good, though most pictures had a finger in them.

You may be afraid to hand over your camera to your toddler, but I just make sure to be a arms length away and make sure he knows he has to have the strap around his neck. You may also be concerned with the photos that result, even if it is your husband or a friend who has your camera.

Just make sure you know your best side, what way to stand, try and make sure you are looking up at the camera if possible. If you are working with a child this last one might be hard. I sat on the ground so Zane could get good angled photos of me.

Don’t be surprised if the new photographer gets a few bad shots, that is one of the great things about digital photography. Tell them to keep taking pictures and encourage lots of photos. They will get a few keepers!

[flickr-gallery mode=”tag” tags=”photosbyzane” tag_mode=”all”]

Join Project 52: Self Portraits

Lynda (from Daily Window) and I are not going to be putting up the linky anymore, but still want to invite you to participate in this project with us. I hope you will join us!

If you want to use the Project 52 badge feel free and grab it and use it on your post. You don’t have to do every week with us you can post just once even and you don’t have to follow the weekly theme either. We just hope that you will join us for some fun.

This is the challenge take a photo of yourself!

A Craft a Day

A Craft a Day: F is for Fish

This is the week that got interrupted with illness but we really did have fun doing these crafts. Besides doing the crafts the boys got to go fishing a few time this week. Once down by the river where my husband grew up and once at a stocked fish pond that I went to when I was little.

If you are new to A Craft a Day

A Craft a Day gives you five activities that you can enjoy with your kids, one for each day of the week. Most of these activities work well for preschoolers, but you may be able to adapt them for your toddler. If you want to learn more about the basics of A Craft A Day you can find them at a Craft a Day: Coming Back Soon. I will post the crafts on Saturdays so you can use the weekend to get any supplies that you may need. We are making our way through the alphabet this year so if you missed a you can find it here.

Are you Supermom?

Now I’m not supermom and I don’t expect you to be either. We don’t always get to each activity, sometimes life is just too busy. Hopefully you may try one or two of these activities with me and my kids! You don’t have to do every single one. You don’t have to be doing preschool with your child. I just hope to give you a resource for some great fun with your kids!

The Crafts:

School of Fish – These turned out pretty cool even though my apricots weren’t shaped perfect like theirs. Plus I lost the photos of us making them!
Good Luck Goldfish – I was a little skeptical about this working, but it worked so well I’m going to have to do more plastic wrap and Elmer’s Glue crafts!

Sun Catcher Aquarium – This was basically like the fish, but then we decorated the aquarium after it dried with fish and sea shell stickers.
Foam Fishing Set – This was a huge hit with Zane as he is just learning to fish with his daddy and is now obsessed. With this set he can now fish whenever he wants!

Supplies: dried apricots, cream cheese, pretzels, chocolate chips, tissue paper, Elmer’s Glue, plastic wrap, goldfish template, scissors, construction paper, fish and shell stickers, dowel, yarn, strong magnet, craft foam, paperclips, glue dots, google eyes

Be Featured

If you do any of these crafts and happen to take a picture or write a blog post about it please make sure and share your link in the comments. Also don’t forget to link the original crafter! I may feature you and your blog on the following weeks post!

Uncategorized

PSD Makeover: Oh So Very Me

Jenny is actually one of my online friends and so when she signed up I was excited but also nervous at the same time she has a lovely site.

THE PROS

Good Color Scheme
Beautiful Photographs
Great layout overall

THE CONS

No real feature post to show off her beautiful photos
Sidebar a little crowded
A little plain for her quirky personality and great coding skills

THE PLAN

Add a Feature section to highlight the photos

Add a Footer to spread out all the content from the sidebar

Add some quirky fun design elements

THE REDESIGN

Want to Volunteer?

I will create a PSD (photoshop file) redesign of your site. You will also learn about the strengths and weaknesses of your design. I will email you the final PSD file for you to do with as you want.

Basically you will get a free professionally designed concept for your blog and a file you can use to hire someone to create the design (you can use a PSD to HTML service or a web designer to code the design).

Requirements:

WordPress Based Blog or Website
Family Friendly Site

If your interested leave your name, URL, and email in the comments below and let me know you want to volunteer.

Crafts

A Foam Fishing Set

Zane has a new hobby that he loves, fishing! My husband is loving teaching him how to fish and the other weekend we went out two times to different places to try fishing.

I wanted to help Zane create a little fishing game. I had seen a few different examples of these, I decided to use the supplies I had at home and make our own.

Supplies: dowel, yarn, strong magnet, craft foam, paperclips, glue dots, google eyes

Pre Prep: I cut out the fish from the foam and attached the paperclips. I also cut out a fishing hook.

Step 1: Tie yarn on the end of the dowel

Step 2: Use glue dots to attach the string to the top of the hook and the magnet to the bottom of the hook
(you can cover your glue dot with a little extra foam where you placed the string to cover the exposed glue dot)

Step 3: Attach the eyes to the fish, both sides

Step 4: It’s time to fish!

You can use a towel or small rug as a “pond” inside.

Or you can use an empty kiddie pool outside.

Zane absolutely loves this game and actually cried when we had to leave to go to dinner because he wanted to stay and fish!

I’ve seen some great learning ideas you can combine with this game. You can have your children fish for specific colors to learn colors. You can write big and small letters on the fish with a sharpie and your children can try and make letter matches. You could also have the children give you a word that starts with the letter they “catch”. You can write numbers on the fish and teach your child addition, subtraction and more.

Any other ideas how you can use this to teach your children?

Android Family

5 Basic Android Apps Everyone Needs

I’m addicted to my android devices! I have a Samsung phone which I won’t name because it’s not my favorite and I’m waiting for a new one to come on the market to replace it. But I also have an Acer Iconia Tablet that I adore.

I’m constantly downloading apps and playing with them and I thought I would share some of my favorites. After starting writing this post I realized I was going to need to make this a series! In this first post I will be giving you a list of must have android apps.

Advance Task Killer

When I first got my phone I really needed this little guy. But doing some research for this article I found out that I don’t need him anymore and he may be hurting my phone and tab. I was chatting with some people on google+ and got some great information on this:

“… don’t use them on ANY android OS 2.2 or up, you can on Android 1.5 and earlier … I mean, you can use them on 2.2 and up but it’ll just argue with Android’s built-in task manager and could drain battery even faster.” – Randall Hanley

Amazon App Store

Amazon App Store is great because they offer a free app every day. Some days are okay apps, but I have actually gotten a few apps that I almost bought. You do have to follow special instructions to download this app to your phone as it is not available in the market. Learn how to get started.

Or download it via QR code:

Barcode Scanner

On of the greatest things I love about smartphones is that you can use it to scan barcodes. This is great for shopping and price comparisons it’s also great when you see a QR code and want to find out more about it. Or even download apps like the one above!

Ringtone Maker

I’m a true geek I love customizing my phone and one of the first things I do! I liked ringtone maker because it had some great variety and I was able to snip the part of the song I wanted for the ringtone.

FxCamera or Little Photo or Vignette

I’m torn between these photo editors. If you like the photos you see people posting from instagram these are the closest options for editors to make similar photos from an android phone. Have you used one of these are a combination of them? Which is your favorite?

Pandora

I’m not a huge music person, but even I like Pandora. I think one of the reasons I like it the most is that I can turn it on, choose the genre I’m in the mood for and get some great music. I have found some new music and bands that I would not have found otherwise. So for me I like Pandora.

Conclusion

I will be sharing more apps that I use on my phone and tablet including preschool/kid apps, organization apps, blogging apps, and more. I hope you will join me as we talk about some of the great apps.

What is your favorite android app? What kind of app have you been looking for?

A Craft a Day

A Craft a Day: If I had girls

As I had mentioned last week we are taking a short break from the craft a day letter series and just sharing some great crafts that I have come across.

This weeks theme is going to be girly girl crafts. If you have been following along on Pepper Scraps for a while you know I have two wonderful little boys. Most of the time my crafts are gender neutral. But sometimes I come across some amazing crafts that are just too girly for my boys. Today I will be sharing you some of these finds.

If you are new to A Craft a Day

Are you Supermom?

The Crafts:

Fairy Garden – The other day I asked if he thought Zane was patient enough to do a “Gnome” garden he laughed at me. I still may make this just for me. You can also find fairies and many other things you can make for your gardens.
Dress Up Felt Board – I know girls are a little better at detailed work so they may be able to help you make these. They can at least help you design outfits to make.
Foam or Felt Food – I’m actually thinking about making these for Zarek, he loves playing with fake food. I loved this idea for “making” cookies (If you use foam you shouldn’t have to sew). More food ideas. And you may need a pretend stove for this activity too!
Weave a Jump Rope – What a fun way to start teaching your little girl hand weaving.
DIY Mobile – I loved these and may try them with the boys, but the detailed ones would be hard to get Zane to make. I love the butterflies!

Be Featured

Hi I am Pepper, yep that’s my real name, it’s on my birth certificate. I’m an old school blogger going back to her roots. In 1999 I wrote out my feelings and shared my silly random thoughts.

Well I’m back! This is me sharing the real me, hoping that it shows you that hey you aren’t alone in those weird, funny, hard moments in life. I’m putting the pieces of life back together after divorce, emotional abuse and starting out on a new adventure. Want to join me?

More about Pepper >>

My Weight Loss Story >>

Written by

Pepper Ferguson

Join Project 52: Self Portraits

This is the challenge take a photo of yourself!

If you are new to A Craft a Day

Are you Supermom?

The Crafts:

Be Featured

Want to Volunteer?

Conclusion

If you are new to A Craft a Day

Are you Supermom?

The Crafts:

Be Featured