Do you know about the Grand Magazine — the online magazine for grandparents?  I think that you should check it out.  They have great articles.

One such article is by Sally Wendkos Old, who wrote the book Super Granny.  (Remember, I interviewed her?)  I recommend that you read her article The Breakfast Club.

Ever wonder how someone’s mind works? (Besides your husband’s. . . )  Wonder how in the world they come up with their clever, creative ideas? Well, I do. Especially when they do something spectacularly creative. Like Ellen Ugelstad has done with The Shoe Project. (Visit her page so that you can enjoy the clever pictures she has taken!)

To the left, you see a ‘portrait’ that Ellen has done.  Instead of capturing the typical studio style portrait, Ellen captures a portrait style picture in addition to the subject’s feet.  Then, she combined them into one picture creating a unique portrait of the person.

So, the next time you gather with your grandchildren give this activity a whirl.  (Hey! Mother’s Day is coming up and this would be a fun activity to do with teen-aged grandchildren)

Take a portrait styled picture of your grandchildren.  Encourage them to have various facial expressions (surprised, pensive, goofy).  Then, take a picture of their feet with unusual shoes on or with their feet in an unusual position.

Combine the two pictures into one using Photoshop, or Photoshop Elements, or Picasa — which is free.  (What?  You don’t know about Picasa?  I’ll have to tell you about it in a later post.)  Print the pictures up to put on your fridge or to frame and hang on your wall.  Make sure you print two copies — one for you and one for your grandchild.  This portrait is WAY more fun than the yearly school picture.

You might want to tell your grandchildren in advance to come with a funky hairdo, off beat shoes, or an unusual outfit.  But don’t tell them why.  Just tell them to be prepared to have a fun activity with you when they come to visit.  This will pique their curiosity and make them eager to come and visit to see what Grandma has up her sleeve.

I have grand dreams of creating movies of when our son was married in Hawaii.  But that was over two years ago.  Dreams of making movies of our trips to Tahiti.  To Costa Rica.  To Jamaica.  I’ve started the one for Hawaii but have run into some glitches.  Technology is sweet when it works and frustrating when it doesn’t.

I think I have a work around.

Enter Grandma Kathy from Elk Ridge, Utah.  Grandma Kathy recently went to Disneyland with their children and grandchildren for a family vacation.  Afterward, she collected everyone’s pictures and created a book.  An actual hold-in-your-hand-and-look-at book.  What a novel idea!  (She also created another book with the pictures from her trip to the Mediterranean.)

My first thought always leans toward creating DVDs of these types of events.  But, how many do I have to show for all of my good intentions?  Zero.  How many books has Grandma Kathy created?  A flurry!

As I pondered the pros of a book over a movie, I realized that maybe a book is the best way to go.  Technology advances so quickly that probably in 5 years what I would create now (if I ever got around to creating it!) probably wouldn’t work on the technology of the day.  A book is always accessible. So, I’m thinking about switching to making books instead. (I can’t believe the digital grandmother just said that!)

Grandma Kathy has used both Shutterfly and Snapfish.  (She likes Snapfish better because of the background design for the pages.)  When you use these sites to make a book, you can choose between a professionally bound hard or soft cover books printed with high quality archival paper.  You can choose from a variety of sizes — a 12″ x 12″ memory book down to a 4X4 brag book. Prices range from $13 to $50.  Other options include:

• Padded covers
• A window on the front cover
• A picture on the cover
• Hundreds of backgrounds and layouts
• Drag and drop insertion of pictures
• Additional pages for a small price

If any of you have created books using other online services, please post a comment and tell us about them!

Digi-Gram

(As a sidenote, here is a hilarious clip on YouTube about tech support.  I’ve provided tech support in people’s homes, at my work, over the phone, via e-mail and I identify with the tech support guy in this clip.  This is a classic.  I hope you find it funny, too.)

It’s fun to go to baby showers to ooh and ah over the cute baby clothes and see all of the fun gifts that the expectant mother receives. But sometimes they play awful games — like the one where they smash a candy bar in a disposable diaper and then you have to decide the name of the candy. YUCK!!

When I was planning a baby shower for my niece, I came across the clothespin activity.  I liked it SO much better than the diaper game.  We played it and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  The game is reminiscent of the olden days of cloth diapers being hung out to dry on a clothesline.  Here’s what you do.

Get a plastic hanger and about 20-25 clothespins.  Put the clothespins on the hanger — not too close together or it will be really hard for the guests to remove the pins.  Then, each guest takes a turn trying to take off as many clothespins as possible using only one hand.  When she drops one, her turn ends.  She counts how many she took off.  The guest that removed the most clothespins is the winner.

Here is a video of my other niece (the little sister of the mother-to-be) demonstrating the game.  (Before filming it, she was laughing and having a good time.  When we filmed her, she got way too serious!)

Our daughter is expecting (Yipee!) and so we will be having a baby shower for her.  If you have any ideas for fun activities, please post a comment!  (I need all the ideas I can get . . .)