In a college photography class, Sue Tenerowicz was introduced to letter art. Her assignment that was to go out in the world and find letters that the world created.  Then spell something.

She says, “A simple idea, but the concept stuck with me.”

“I’ve always used words in pictures to send a special message. Sometimes, it was a message written in the snow, captured in a photo, and sent to a loved one. Other times it was an “I Love You,” written in the sand to capture a beautiful testament with a glowing sunset on the beach.”

“When my husband, Rob, and I moved back to the Bay Area with our boys, I started noticing the letters that were all around us – like the great H on the span of the Golden Gate Bridge. I kept seeing letters in everything from fences to flowers.  It brought me back to that college assignment.”

I want to do this with my kids! I think it would be so much fun to go out on hunts for letters in their names, snap photos and then print them out for a bulletin board or the door of their room. (Although I’m sort of envying my friends who named their kids Max and Ty right now. I don’t know if any of us have the attention span to seek out Julian and Scarlett.)

I used images from Sue's site to make Scarlett's name

Want to try this?
Here are three ways to go (the first being the most hands-on):

1. Take your children on amazing scavenger hunts until you find (and photograph!) all the letters. Print your photos and choose one of these multi-photo frames to display your masterpiece.
2. Find your letters on flickr using this fun tool. Print and frame.
3. Let Sue do all the work for you and buy your chosen word from her on her website SpellItOutPhotos.com

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Letter art not your thing? Choose another fun makin’ it project from our growing list.

We are big fans of the I Spy books, starting with the board book versions I bought when Julian was a baby. We play “I Spy” with regular books, too, and now we’ve graduated into Where’s Waldo? territory.

When Julian was four, he and I did a little photo shoot with big plans — still unfulfilled as of this writing — to make our own I Spy book. We ended up with unbound printed photos. (You can do it, that way, too.)

DIY I Spy Book

1. Set up a solid colored background on the floor. We used a foam play mat.
2. Gather a laundry basket full of {insert nice word for “junk”}. Include favorite objects and personal items.
3. Spread your items on the background as you like. Since there’s no wrong way to do this, let your preschooler help.
4. Try to talk your preschooler out of being in the picture himself. I failed. See above.
5. Photograph the scene.
6. Arrange new items and repeat.
7. Upload set of photos to your choice of photobook makers and order yourself a book.
8. Alternatively, cheap out and simply print the results on your own printer. Paper clip the photos together to make a set of I Spy cards for use in the car or on the plane.

Another fun version of this activity is to dump your purse and photograph the results.

This is part of our year-long series Makin’ It with The Rookie Moms. To contribute your own idea, click over here.

Snapfish recently challenged me to to solicit reader suggestions and make a cool photo book. So, not only did the ideas have to be interesting, but they had to also be easy enough for me to execute. Based on your great ideas, I picked the easiest one: One Fun Day.

Alissa commented: Did you do something fun as a whole family this year? Even just a one day thing at home, like raking leaves? I took a gazillion pictures of us playing in the leaves this fall, and if I had the gumption that would totally make a fun photo book – all of us playing and having fun on one simple day in our front yard. I took some photo close-ups of leaves and fall colors, so I’d use those as background (dunno if Snapfish allows you to do so, but it’s really cool if they do) and put photos on top. Maybe a little prose to describe the fun you all had, and you’re done! A fun way to remember a great day had by the family.

Using a basic template, I uploaded pictures that my friend Eric took of a recent holiday cookie decorating party. Eric always takes such beautiful candid shots, I figured that the book would be lovely and simple (in addition to kicking ass in the multi-blogger contest so I could win you guys some photo books of your own).

Here is the cover showing the front on the right as a full-bleed photo on hardcover and the backside on the left.

Here are a few interior pages:

I was able to add images easily from my computer. From experimenting with other concepts, I also could import images from my friends’ snapfish albums and directly from Facebook. Creating my photo book was straightforward once I selected and uploaded all my images. Designing and ordering the entire 20-page book took only one hour. I could drag them and move them around any number of layouts. For this concept, I selected only one photo per page.

I’m excited to receive the book and am sure that my boys will enjoy looking at it! Thanks clever rookiemoms readers and thanks snapfish.

Disclosure:

This post series is sponsored by Snapfish as part of the “Your Creative Lens on Life” campaign. Photo book credits will be awarded if my book wins the contest to all commenters on my previous post. Stay tuned.

After returning from a jaunt to Tahoe with his toddler, Ainslie, our friend Doug gave me tips on fun stuff to do in the snow. (That’s right old friends, I’m embarrassed to admit it but snow is something we visit out here — not endure. And we “jaunt”).

For the baby set:
Walk around with Bjorn and congratulate yourself for being active.

Sharon reports:

We would have normally planned to go snow shoeing or skiing and planned a romantic dinner out. But we spent our time walking around the village, shopping a little, having a nice dinner, going for a long walk, and taking lots of pictures of Ainslie.

Our friends, Doug and Sharon, are total bad-asses. So, when they recommend to take it easy with your rookie baby, you should listen.

Last year, Whitney and I did their 22 mile charity bike ride and were proud to complete it. Sharon did the whole thing 6 months pregnant while Doug had a 30-pound toddler in the bike trailer.

My mom makes mini photo books with Shutterfly for my kids every time we spend a weekend together, so we have a whole bunch of them. She is/was a creative director at her own ad agency, so she’s pretty darn good at it. But the hardbound books that Shutterfly is promoting now are in another league. I saw them in person last month, and I was impressed.

What I like the best was the approach to storytelling they shared. It has helped me stop thinking that a photobook has to be a comprehensive summary of the whole year or even a whole vacation. This template, for example helps you create a top 10. How easy is that? Only ten photos needed!

It doesn’t even have to be a Top Ten of the year. It could be “Top Ten Things about Julian’s 7th Birthday Party” or “Ten Things Scarlett Does Everyday” or “Top Ten Adventures in Our First Ten Years of Marriage”.

Another direction: This template is for “A Year of Firsts.”

Yet another example:  Catherine from Weelicious made a book documenting how to make a particular kind of cookie. The whole book is photographs of the recipe steps with instructions. I think this would be fun to send to a niece or nephew. I was hoping the photos I took of Julian making slime could be used as a How to Make Slime book. (See exactly how Catherine’s book came out on Shutterfly’s site.)

Note that these templates live on the “Storytelling” tab of the Shutterfly site.

GIVEAWAY! Now that you have tons of ideas, and know that the bar might be as low as collecting 10 photos with a theme, here’s your chance to win $150 dollars of credit to use on Shutterfly.  We wanted to make sure that if you make a book, you can buy multiple copies and have them shipped directly to your loved ones. (You know what I wish someone would do? Make a book of their baby doing every activity on our list of 52 challenges for rookie moms! Shutterfly, can you help us make that happen?)

UPDATE: Giveaway now closed (1/2/12). Winner will be notified on 1/3/12.

I was at a board meeting for Help A Mother Out when I met a lovely rookie mom named Catherine. The topic of Huggies’ holiday Santa diapers came up as we sat around the conference table (HAMO is a diaper donation advocacy organization, after all) and Catherine excitedly reached for her purse to reveal her family’s holiday card. Take a look. If this doesn’t charm you, I’m not sure what would!

I thought this was a brilliant greeting card design (do you see his *belt buckle*?) and asked her if I could share it with you.

To replicate this photo shoot, here’s what you need:

• One adorable baby or toddler who wears a diaper size 3, 4, or 5
• One long-sleeved red shirt
• One Santa diaper by Huggies. (As of this writing, packages of these diapers are 40% off on Diapers.com. You’re welcome.)
• One small Santa-style hat, available for a few dollars at any drugstore

Obviously the Photoshopped background pumps up the graphic impact of Catherine’s card, but I bet you’ll figure out something that works for you.

P.S. If you can afford a package of Santa diapers, consider buying an extra package to donate to a homeless shelter or food bank this holiday season?

P.S.2. As part of the Huggies blogger ambassador team, I have been hired to help spread the word about diaper need and the Every Little Bottom campaign. All the genius ideas I post, however, are either my own or belong to someone I admire.

Have you ever made someone a beautiful personalized photo book and seen their face light up? It’s a good feeling. After my mom took me to Italy to celebrate my 30th birthday, I totally “won Christmas” (my new invented expression for the best gift of the year — let’s all make it a thing, ok?) by giving her a commemorative photo book. Years later, it is still sitting in a highly visible spot.

I don’t know if I’ve had as good an idea for a photo book since then. I need one now, though, and I hope you can help me out. Snapfish has challenged me to unleash my creative lens on life in the form of a unique photo book and it’s a contest.

If your ideas spur to me win the best photo book out of a pool of ten, then we all win. Literally. If I win due based on the ideas of Rookie Moms readers, you commenters win a photobook, too!

Here’s some fodder to inspire you (to inspire me).

• I have a beautiful baby boy who is likely to be overshadowed in many ways by his big brothers. I could whip up a little book documenting his first three months, birth, or gestation.
• Then again, I have a delightful boy who has just become a middle son; I could create something uniquely his so he doesn’t feel that he has to be the biggest or the smallest just to get our attention.
• And Holden… well, isn’t everything in this house already labeled with his name? I probably wouldn’t do a dedicated “Holden is awesome” book but I could do something clever featuring our house rules or jobs that makes being the biggest a little bit more fun.

But let me consider your ideas (so we can really turn this contest up to eleven). What would you do? What should I do? How can we make this photo book really special?

Want to win your own awesome photo book?

Leave a comment on this post suggesting a creative idea for my book (and your email address please). I will choose my favorite suggestions from you guys and create a book using the Snapfish design experts. If my book is good enough (and kicks the butts of the 9 other photo books competing), you guys will win photo books too. I’ll share the final product and my process in my next post. Got it? So, bring it on!

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This post series is sponsored by Snapfish as part of the “Your Creative Lens on Life” campaign. Photo book credits will be awarded if my book wins the contest to the first 100 commenters below.

This challenge, your 48th, goes out to all the urban mamas who need a scavenger hunt for the day.

Take a picture of your baby in front of graffiti – as explained by Dutch, the dad who writes on Sweet Juniper. He has an awesome set of Flickr photos that inspired us to do this. We set out to find the best graffiti in Berkeley and packed up the boys and our cameras. Now, we have to get really brave and try all four five kids!

Please share your attempts here in our comments or on the Rookie Moms Facebook page. If you have any tips on getting your kid to stay put while you take the pictures, let’s hear them.

Your baby too young? Choose another challenge.

When my husband had to be gone for six whole nights on business leaving me alone with baby Holden, I panicked and called in my smartest mom friends for advice.

They had perfectly reasonable suggestions about lowering my expectations, keeping it simple, and making plans to keep from going stir crazy.

This tip came from my friend Molly, a mom of two, and thus an expert:

Think about one thing you might do if it were just you on your own, or perhaps if you were going to play host to a dear friend who you rarely see and wanted to impress. Visit a museum with an important art show? Take a drive to a beautiful place and go for a hike to see the magnificent view? Go to a cafe and chat with the strangers at the tables nearby just to feel the buzz of the city?

Now then – dive in and do that thing with your boy even if it seems like it might be stressful. I promise, it won’t be.

It will be fantastic and fulfilling because it will be the first time you intentionally planned something for your shared enjoyment and edification. A touchstone for all the many many times you will do things together, just you two, in the coming years.

Not wanting to let Molly or myself down, I saddled up the boy with most of his corresponding gear and we tried a new brunch spot, just the two of us. Me with a cocoa and him in his nasty highchair. We flirted with folks at other tables and shared our food. He ate some of my pancakes, scrambled eggs, and strawberries (I did have to pull the pancakes and strawberries apart in a decidedly un-adult fashion) while I licked some of his cheesy cauliflower off my hands.

What would you do with your baby if you treated him like a dear friend you wanted to impress? Now, go do it!

This is your 45th weekly challenge.

Your 42nd weekly challenge is a seasonal photo assignment. You can’t take a bad picture in a pumpkin patch. Good assignment, right? Find a pumpkin patch. Go. Take pictures.

Use hay as a background, too.

photo: backpacktobuggy

photo: Marketing Mommy

If you do this, we would LOVE to see your photos on our rookiemoms facebook page. Is your baby too little or is it the wrong season where you live? Choose another challenge.

Look at my son. Sigh. This photo was taken almost six years ago at a photoshoot for my former employer who had a last minute need for a baby model.

Although I am usually opposed to studio photography, there is something about it that’s easy to look at. I guess that’s why our parents took us to Kmart for portraits all those years.

Your assignment: Take advantage of a free 8×10 portrait offered by any number of portrait studios on their website.  It seems the style of photography is a step up from the Kmart photos we grew up with. Cheesy or adorable – there is a fine line. And when it comes to your own baby, I’m guessing you’ll side with “adorable”.

This is the 33rd week of our rookie moms challenges.

Check these photography studio sites and use their store locator to find out if this is a feasible spur of the moment outing. Call ahead to make sure they’ll be available and honor your coupon.

• Olan Mills – Free offer only for newborns
• JC Penney Portrait Studios – Free 8×10 for family
• PictureMe studios (inside WalMart) – Free collage-style photo
• Sears Portrait Studio – Free “designer montage” photo

My professional advice (and yes, having done casting for catalogs, I am actually qualified to give this) is to have your baby wear something timeless such as a solid colored onesie and jeans or overalls. The more skin you show, the better. Bare feet and bare arms make baby photography even more irresistible. Jeans + Bare Feet = One Cute Picture. And don’t forget to take a couple of pictures with you in it, even if you think you have bad hair, are fat or unworthy. You are her mother, and you are beautiful. She will definitely want the photos later in life, when she’s done hating you.

Make a deal with yourself that you will not buy more of the pictures than the free one. You might be embarrassed to leave the place with only your single free picture, but that’s the only way we can keep this activity in the free/cheap category.

When Julian has a day off from school that Scarlett doesn’t have, I usually take him on a special date. We have done karaoke, gone to a kid’s art museum, seen a movie in San Francisco, and hit The Exploratorium. Recently we went to Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world.  Lombard Street is depicted in a few books we have about San Francisco, which is about 25 minutes from our house. I let Julian (age 6) take all the pictures.

I mentioned a few months ago that I planned to start a Posterous site for him. We’ve been loving it. It’s his own website where we can forward pictures that his grandparents send us to show him and they are displayed as blog posts. He has added YouTube links to his favorite videos and my husband posted his soccer team roster there. You can post anything, like a regular blog, but also you can add a “post”, just by sending an email to a certain address. The site is private, so I don’t have to worry about him writing crazy posts as he tends to do and the whole world seeing them. For example, he wrote a recent post titled “My Dad’s Phone Number”. The text of the post? His dad’s phone number.

After our Lombard Street outing, during which he counted the steps alongside the street, he posted a tally of the stairs he counted:

Later, I uploaded one of his photos to the post.

Often other parents at school send me pictures of my kid as attachments. I know I’ll never remember to look at those emails again or to show them to Julian. Sometimes they’re so enormous, I can’t even see them on my screen properly. It’s dead simple for me to forward them to post@posterous.com. The subject line of the email becomes the post title and the photos show up in the body of the post. The images get resized automatically. Here’s one I received from the last day of school.

This post, as you may have guessed, is sponsored by Posterous. Anyone who is concerned about privacy and security of their photos might consider setting up an account for sharing kid photos. Also? If you don’t need all your former co-workers seeing your summer vacation/bathing suit pictures, this is a way to create an online record of your photos without opening them to your entire Facebook posse. Simply send them as attachments to emails addressed to post@posterous.com and they’ll be displayed as posts.

Check it out — there’s an iPhone app, too!