Last week, a wonderful lady contacted me about an app for the iPhone that she has created.

Let’s pause here for a moment.

I took a computer programming class eons and eons ago (well at least a long time ago in technology chronology).  I learned lots.  Like the fact that I didn’t want to spend my life looking for errant semi-colons and brackets in computer programs that I wrote.

However, I thought I was a pretty hot shot beginning programmer when I created a fun little program that was like the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books that my children enjoyed while they were in grade school.  But that programming euphoria dissipated as I realized programming wasn’t for me.

While I don’t know the exact age of the woman who created the application that I’m going to talk about, I do know that I can claim her as a peer.  I am SO impressed that she (at her age) knows how to develop applications for the iPhone.  I’m even MORE impressed to know that she taught herself how to code for the iPhone.  Let’s bow down and worship her — and give her a big round of applause.  (Clap, clap, clap.)

Now.   Back to our regularly scheduled post.

Dawn has created the application ItsAGranddaughter with companion programs for a grandson, son, daughter, niece, nephew, and twins.

The idea is that after you’ve been snapping photos with your iPhone of the new darling little grandchild, you can add one of twelve background designs, all of the birth stats, and then e-mail the photo to all of the folks in your contact list on your phone.  (That’s grandma’s bragging on steroids!)

I don’t have pictures of our new granddaughter, Kaylissa, on my phone (because I had my camera there that took higher quality pictures).  However, I did have a couple of our other granddaughter and used those pictures to try out this application.  They weren’t taken when she was born but that’s okay.  They will still work.

The pictures here are examples of what the program creates.  (The cute pink background is my favorite background!)

This program is exceptionally easy to use.  Maybe I’d better qualify that a little.  If you know how to use your iPhone it is easy.  (I know people who only know how to call out and receive calls on their phones.  Those folks might need someone to provide a wee bit of tech support at first. But just a little bit because the program is so simple to use.)

You can find these wonderful applications at http://www.dawnkempf.com.

There’s only one eensy weensy bug with the program in my humble opinion.  You can’t have a weight that is in even pounds (like six pounds even).  You cannot set the ounces to zero.  While that really isn’t a big deal, it doesn’t let you give the correct birth weight if the baby weighed say an even seven pounds.

Don’t have an iPhone?  (My sympathies go out to you.)  However, do the parents of your grandbaby have an iPhone?  If so, you could give the gift of this application at a baby shower or before the baby was born so that the proud parents can be ready to shout out to the world that their little bundle of joy has arrived.

Now, I just need to get the application ItsAGrandson and then I’ll be set for the arrival of our next grandchild regardless of what flavor it is.  (My phone is ready, are my children ready to give me another grandchild???)

The other day, I saw a website that did a ‘Mailbox Monday’ post.  I thought that was a clever catchy title.  I wanted to share that little phrase with you, my Dear Reader.  Maybe you haven’t heard of it before, like I hadn’t.

You can dub your Mondays as Mailbox Monday and make a special effort to send e-mail to your grandchildren that day.

Do you worry that you’ll run out of things to say if you e-mail them every Monday?  Why not send them a joke, a recipe, a photo you took, or a motivating quote?

Share the story about the day your grandchild was born and how you felt — especially when you were first able to hold your newborn bundle of joy.

Send a story about something their parent (your child) did when s/he was your grandchild’s age.

Share an interesting news story that they might not be aware of.

Most importantly, tell them how special they are and that you love them.

Teen-aged grandchildren disdain e-mail.  It’s oh so old-fashioned.  They’re into texting.  So, have a Texting Tuesday for them.  (Ha!  I made that phrase up . . . or at least I’ve never seen or heard anybody using that before . . .)  Do a Texting Tuesday — assuming you have a cell phone AND that you know how to text. 

I’m hoping that you, Dear Reader, have basic technology skills.  You know, simple stuff like clicking on links, typing, clicking on buttons that say ‘generate.’  Got those skills?  Whew.  I’m glad.  Otherwise, you’d be up a creek without a paddle.

The writer in me loves this Newspaper Generator.  (BTW, in pre-historic days, I wrote a column for a loco local newspaper.)  Simply type in what you want your clipping to say and click generate to get your clipping.  Beneath your clipping will be the option to download it.

You can write a newsflash of when your grandson made his first basket when playing basketball with grandpa, or a write-up of the Valentine’s Day party held at your house, or a wild, far-fetched, make believe tale of daring-do featuring your grandchild.  Isn’t this fun?

If you have a grandchild that is enamored with film making, create a clapboard instead.  Create goofy movie titles of times when they have stayed with you or have done something special like won first place in a debate meet.

Make a street sign with your grandchild’s name at Easystreet.  (Maybe make a sign with the name of your grandchild’s pet or favorite cartoon character or her best friend.)

How about making a scrolling text LED light sign?  Signbot helps you out.  (Maybe create one to wish your grandchild happy birthday, happy St. Patrick’s Day, or happy 4th of July.  Whatever.)

You have several options with these sites.  You can make something yourself to share with your grandchild.  Send it to them in an e-mail.  Post it on your blog.  Make it for your grandchild’s blog.  Print up to hang on your fridge when your grandchild comes.  Or, you can print up your creation and send it to those grandchildren who live far, far away.

Or, you can send them the links and let them generate something themselves.  Or, when they come to visit, you can spend one-on-one time on the computer, checking out these sites, and creating something together.

You are so creative, I’m sure you’ll come up with some spectacular way to use these sites with and for your grandchildren.

By the way, you might also be interested in the AutoMotivator site where you can make your own  motivational poster (or de-motivational one) and the TinyTag site where you can make an itsy bitsy tag like those you see on  items for sale in a store.

Yesterday on my post about Picnik, Lisa commented that she uses Picasa.  Good for her!  That’s another great technology to use.

Her comment made me think that maybe, just maybe, there are some of you grandmothers out there who don’t know about Picasa.  So, I am taking it upon myself to fill in all of you unenlightened souls and tell you about Picasa in comparison to Picnik.  Aren’t I nice?  After all, isn’t that what a digital grandmother would do?  Sure ’nuff.

As I mentioned yesterday, Picnik is a photo editing, scrapbook making online program that you use through your browser.  So if you want to edit a photo and add those scrapbooking type of elements, then use Picnik.

Picasa is more of a photo management system. If you have lots of photos on your computer, Picasa is a great way to organize and view them.  It does provide you with basic editing options such as cropping, eliminating red eyes, adding a soft focus or sepia tone, retouching blemishes, or adding text — to mention just a few.  But nothing cutesy.

Picasa reminds me a lot of iPhoto in that you can add geotags or name tags or other personally determined tags to photos. You can also put photos in web albums.  An, you can create collaborative albums where you can directly upload pictures to a friend’s album.

You can also create a Quicktime movie from selected photos.  You can’t fine tune your movie like you can in iMovie on a Mac.  Rats!  However, I think that I like Picasa for creating movies better than MovieMaker on Windows.

Here’s a little movie that I created in Picasa to show you what the end product would look like.  It’s 4MB and might take a moment to show up down below.  (Please disregard that there are two of the same picture.  A little technology gremlin sneaked the extra one in when I wasn’t looking.)

Since Picasa and Picnik have different purposes and both are free, I highly recommend that you take a look at both of them.  They can sure make your digital photo life easier — and more fun1