Do It Yourself Family Photos

Welcome back to 31 days of Being a Stay At Home Mom! I am so glad you stopped by! Today I am going to share with you a way I save HUNDREDS of dollars a year! Since my children were born it has been extremely important to me to capture every moment. I had pictures done of my children for 3mon, 6mon, 9mon, 1yr, 18mon, 2y and every year after. Not to mention random holiday photos (I didn’t do them for every holiday) and if I wanted a picture of the kids together. So if you are anything like me you can see how this really adds up over time. I don’t regret having had their pictures done, I cherish every single one and I will still occasionally have professional pictures done in the future, just not every time I want them done and for every birthday. Instead I am taking my own pictures. Now I am by no means a photographer but I am finding ways to make them look really nice and saving a lot of money in the process. So I will give you a few of the tips I have learned in the last year or so I have been doing this.

1. First of all the best place to take pictures is outside. A really sunny day isn’t so great because the kids just want to squint the whole time so choose a day that is nice out but not really sunny. I just did my kids pictures a few days ago because we finally had a warm sunny day and they did pretty good but it was a little too sunny, you will notice in the pictures I show you that they are a little squinty.

2. Talk to them before hand about what you want to do, “Hey kids mommy wants to take a few pictures of you and I need you to be really good for me. I want you to listen and give me really big smiles”! I have found this works wonders and my kids will almost always cooperate.

3. Have realistic expectations. If you have 2 or more children and you want to take individual pictures of each of them and group pictures don’t attempt to do them all in one sitting. They just can’t do that for that long and will not cooperate. When I did pictures this week of my kids I did the 2 yr old before the other two got home and I did them for about 3 minutes. I only got about 10 pictures but for a 2 yr old that is a realistic amount of time. Then as soon as the other two got home I told them what I wanted to do and said I would be real quick but I needed them to be really good for me. So I took pictures of them for about 3 minute each and then got a quick group shot. So I actually did them all and a group in one sitting but I only spent about 10-12 minutes total doing it and it was spread out.

4. Also if it isn’t working out one day try the next or wait a few days. Maybe they are just having a bad day.

So now you say “I can do all that but how do I make them look good, I don’t know what I am doing”?? Well here is what has been working for me.

1. Make your child/children the focal point of the picture. Use nature and fun places as a background but really focus on your child.

2. Take lots of close ups. You do want full body shots but focus on the face.

3. For something different offset your child in the photo. Like the ones below.

4. Have your camera handy and capture moments you didn’t plan. Like this one below, we went to the park for a picnic dinner one evening and we went for a walk and there was this really cool bridge (I love bridges!) and I told them all to hold hands and walk across the bridge and this is what I got! I didn’t even have my camera with me just my phone! 

The last tip I will share with you is have fun with photo editing.

This is my favorite part! You don’t need some fancy, expensive software, there are lots of free ones online. My favorite is picmonkey, I use this for all my photo editing. There is a free version with lots of good stuff on it and also a small yearly fee if you want some extras.

Here are some fun things I did with the picture from above.

Turned a color photo into a black and white photo.

The same one into a sepia color.

And then did some softening of the picture, a hazy border, and a sweet quote about family.

The possibilities are endless! Just play around, have some fun, and make some amazing memories to last a lifetime!

Thanks for stopping by, come visit me on Facebook too!

~Bonnie

Other great money saving tips from Bonnie:

Gardening on a Budget

Shower Cleaning Tip

DIY Hair Accessories Organizer

Homemade Baby Wipes

Day 16: Oven Makeover

This is a project that I have been dreading and putting off for a couple months now, I really thought it would be an awful and hard job too! Turns out it wasn’t so bad. I tend to put off cleaning my oven for several reasons. Top on my list is I can’t stand chemical oven cleaners! I don’t want my children any where near them and I feel they are unsafe for my health as well. I also dislike using the self cleaner too, it gets so incredibly hot it scares me. The outside of the oven is hot to the touch and I am afraid of it burning my house down so I won’t do it in the middle of the night or when I am out of the house. So I put my favorite, all natural cleaners to the test yesterday and I am thrilled with the results!

Here is what my oven looked like before cleaning it.

         

Sorry its pretty gross, like I said I really put this job off.

First I took the racks out and sprayed down the oven with my Basic H2 degreaser formula. I let that sit for 10-15 minutes to loosen the grime!

Then I took my scouring paste, Scour Off, and went to town with my scrubby pad until I had removed all the baked on mess.

It took me a lot less time than I had expected, I only scrubbed it for 10-15 minutes!

The I took the racks and put them in the bath tub and sprayed them with Basic H2 degreaser and let sit for 10-15 minutes

and scrubbed them with my Scour Off.

This is what my oven looked like after I was all finished.

The best part about these results are how well it worked and the fact that I could do it with all natural, safe products!

If you are interested in the products I use check them out here:

My Shaklee

Basic H2

Scour Off

Share with me what you think! Follow me on Facebook for more great home and family tips @ From Nature to Nurture!

Day 13: Tar Removal From Skin~Safe and Naturally

Believe it or not this may come in handy! If not for the hubby or man in your life than for those crazy little kids who seem to find everything they shouldn’t! I was actually at the doctor’s office when this little incident occurred. How my son found tar is beyond me but leave to a 5 year old little boy to do so.

I own an amazing cleaning product that I was hoping would get the tar off my son without harming his delicate skin but I wanted to see what the internet came up with first for tar removal from skin. The advise I found suggested any type of household oil and leaving it soak for a minimum of 30 minutes and then proceed to scrub the skin. Another tip said to use gasoline or even diesel fuel! And I think the most interesting advise told me to apply shaving cream to skin and proceed to shave it off of him! I was shocked at how hard it truly is to remove tar!

So my next step was to try my good old Basic H2. It is an all natural cleaner, safe and nontoxic to its user. It is also highly concentrated so a very little cleans a whole lot! I used the Basic H2 and the tar literally fell off his skin! I took a rag and gently wiped the rest off! The Basic H2 also removed the tar just as easily from his shoes, pants, and shirt too. To say the least I was in awe! Every time I find a new thing to clean with my Basic H2 I am just amazed at the results.

I have also used it to clean my fruit and veggies, scrub my carpeting, and clean my grill and chain saw, it is truly amazing stuff. If you are interested in giving it a try, click on any of the links above or visit my website, HERE! Here are some of the before and after pictures of my son’s foot and shoes:

Here are some other great before and after pictures using Basic H2!

I use it often to remove stuck on food.

It is also safe for wood.

Please share with me what you thought of these amazing results! What household cleaners do you use? Would you like to change to safe, all natural, effective cleaners that were still economical?

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Day 9: Garlic Chicken

Good morning! It is quite the gloomy day here in Wisconsin, I think it is officially fall weather now! I think we are a little beyond our peak in color although it is still quite beautiful. Today I have another recipe for you, those seem to be the most popular so I will share another. It is not a crockpot one this time, those are definitely my favorite but it is really easy with very little prep involved.

So here is your ingredient list:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or the amount needed for your family, just make a little more of the topping if you do more than 4 chicken breasts)

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 Tablespoons of brown sugar

3 teaspoons of olive oil

Direction:

Preheat oven to 500* and lightly grease a casserole dish.

In a small sauté pan, sauté garlic and oil until garlic is tender.

Remove from heat and add brown sugar.

Place chicken breasts in prepared baking dish and cover with garlic brown sugar mixture.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bake uncovered for 15-30 minutes.

Here is my little helper!

I served it with garlic buttered noodles and corn!

 

Clean up was a breeze, after baking in a 500* oven for almost 30 minutes there was a lot of bakes on grime. I just added a squirt of Basic H2 and warm water.

     

I intended to wash it after a short soaking but never got to it so I did it right away this morning. I just rinsed it out, added a little soap and washed it with my rag, no scrubbing involved.

I did use a little Scour Off to scrub off the baked on cooking spray on the top rim though, that is almost impossible to get off with!

                           

                           

I hope your day is wonderful! Follow me on Facebook for more great homecare tips! @ From Nature to Nurture

Day 6: Amazing Fruit & Vegetable Wash

Today I want to share with you an amazing and safe way to get your fruits and vegetables clean. Yes, I said clean your fruits and vegetables! I  have to admit that this is the first time I have ever really cleaned a fruit before, yes I rinse them off with water but that is really it. Well I have been using Shaklee products for several months now and if you have never heard of them or know only a little they are a safe and all natural health and wellness company. One product they carry is an all purpose cleaner called Basic H2, and it truly is an all purpose cleaner, there are thousands of ways it can be used and it is safe for you and your family. Anyway, back to the fruit! I bought grapes for my children when I went grocery shopping today. I went to give some to my son for his afternoon snack and I have noticed this before and it has bothered me but I wasn’t sure what to do about it. The grapes had this whitish film on them that wasn’t washing away when I rinsed them.

This is what they looked like before I washed them, kind of gross! Especially when I don’t know exactly what that is.
So I decided to try my Basic H2 on these grapes. I had heard that you could use this cleaner on fruit and it was safe, I just never tried it. So I followed my directions and……..

Water and Basic H2 going into a bowl of cool water.

I just swished the grapes around in the water………..

Rinsed them well…………

TA DA!!!!!! Amazingly clean grapes, cleaned with a natural and completely safe product! I am so impressed! Thank you Shaklee!!!
If you are at all interested in the product I used to safely and naturally clean my fruit you can check it out here. Please feel free to ask me any questions, I am happy to help! Let me know what you thought about my amazing results, comment below or follow me on Facebook @ From Nature to Nurture.

Day 5: Meal Planning

One of the hardest things I find about being a wife and mother is planning my meals for dinner each night. There is a huge part of me that says, “Oh crap, they need to eat AGAIN”! I hope I am not the only one who feels that way. But whether I feel that way or not my family needs to eat and I find it my responsibility to not only make it happen but to find new ideas and try to be healthy while doing it. Those may seem like the hard parts but the truly hard part is finding meals my picky family will like. I start on payday or shortly before searching my cookbook binder and Pinterest for new and loved recipes. This is what my binder looks like.

 

Nothing fancy as you can see, just a regular 3 ring binder. I have typed up a lot of my recipes and added picture to each recipe also. Then I section them off in categories such as, Deserts, Crock Pot, Chicken, Beef, Soups, Breads & Muffins, and so on.

  

I try to shop only once every two weeks when we get paid. It is a hassle to shop more than that and I save money by shopping all at once. So after I choose a recipe I write the needed ingredients on my shopping list according to the store I will need to get it at. I limit my shopping to two stores at a time, with multiple children that is all I can handle.

As you can see nothing fancy here!

I plan out 6-8 meals for a two week time period, you can always do more that is just what I do . With 6-8 meals for 14 days we have a few days in there for left overs and for quick dinner nights when we have other activities going on. Again I do nothing fancy but post the meal list on my refrigerator so I don’t forget the meals I have planned and then I can cross them off when I make them!



Next week I will share with you some of my recipes for the week. We are going to be trying several new recipes so I will let you know how they go!
 Enjoy your weekend, Bonnie!
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Day 4: Homemade Baby Wipes

Today I want to share with you another recipe. This is not a food recipe though, it is a homemade recipe for baby wipes. My youngest son has very sensitive skin and he develops rashes and dry skin very easily so about a year ago I started making my own baby wipes. Once you have all the tools and ingredients it is really a quick and easy process. I have never really done a cost comparison on homemade verses store bought wipes but I suspect that homemade ones are a little cheaper and they are really easy to make.  Here is a list of item you will need:



*Small Rubbermaid container (the one I have is 3quarts and is the perfect sixe and shape, I found it in a set of four at Walmart for about $10)
*4 cup measuring cup & 1 Tablespoon
*Large kitchen knife, not a serrated one
* 1 roll of Viva paper towel (I use Viva because it is soft and strong when wet) One other little tip, do not use the make a size paper towel, it makes the wipes too small.
*Baby soap of your choice, I prefer Shaklee’s Gentle Baby Wash, it is all natural, hypoallergenic, and safe for your baby’s sensitive skin.
*Baby oil, I also prefer Shaklee’s Baby Massage Oil, its natural and organic.
*2 cups of warm water
1st step is to cut your roll of paper towel in half. This may sound like a pain but it is really pretty easy. In the ingredient list I wrote that you don’t want a serrated knife, the reason is it will shred your paper towel. So use a large regular knife and slowly saw back and forth until paper towel is cut in half.

 
Ta Da!

Next you take your large measuring cup and add 2 cups of warm water. Then add 1 Tablespoon of Baby Oil to the warm water, gently stir.



Next step is to add 2 Tablespoons of Baby Wash, gently stir.



Next, put your half roll of paper towel into container, with inside paper roll still in the middle. Pour contents of measuring cup over the top of paper towel.



Wait a few minutes until all water/soap mixture in soaked up into the paper towel. Then gently pull the paper tube out of the center of paper towel roll.

  

You also need to pull the paper towel out of the center of the roll, this is where you will pull your wipes from.

  

And there you have it! Homemade baby wipes! The whole process takes less than 10 minutes and as long as you have the paper towel in the house you will never run out of wipes! Please share with me your thoughts on this recipe! Enjoy! Bonnie
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