Monday, March 15, 2010 at 3:16pm
Baby sign language classes in the Hamilton and surrounding areas! How cool is that?
Here is some information about baby sign language, and the classes, taken from the My Smart Hands website:
Imagine communicating with your baby before he or she can even speak. Baby sign language reduces frustration, accelerates verbal development and strengthens cognitive skills. It also enhances child-parent bonding through time spent teaching signs to your baby.
Research shows that preverbal infants can communicate through the use of sign language long before they can verbalize their needs. At My Smart Hands™, we will give you the skills and knowledge you will need to communicate with your preverbal, hearing baby. So come and take a class with My Smart Hands™ and learn how to sign with your baby!
Courses in Hamilton are starting up again in June and you can also sign up for private/mom’s groups lessons in your own home. Please contact Karen at Karen@mysmarthands.com for more information and check out the My Smart Hands website for lots more information, too.
Be sure to come on back here next Monday for a little more Linky Love!
{p.s. As always, I cannot personally vouch for any Linky Love businesses (unless I’ve worked with them, myself…). I just want to pass onto you some information about a few of the local groups and businesses we have in our community that may be of interest to all you Moms and Dads out there – so you can go ahead and check them out yourselves. Thanks!}
Friday, March 12, 2010 at 1:10pm
It’s time for Fix-it-Friday everyone and this week’s photo was a tough one. It goes to show you, though, the importance of getting your exposure right in camera. It is very, very, tough to fix a photo that is underexposed by more than a stop or two. But, this is still such a sweet photo of such a cutie-pie so it was really fun to work with. This photo was taken by Amy Pinney and is up for Fixin’ over at I Heart Faces.
The first thing I did was to run some noise reduction software. That helps to get rid of some of the graininess in the photo. I use Nik Software for both noise reduction and Color Efex Pro 2.0.
After reducing the noise I adjusted the levels to bring the exposure of the photo way up. Then I cropped to get in a little closer on her face and I used the clone stamp tool (in Photoshop 8.0) to clone out the dark spot on her arm (basically, you are “painting in” her arm). I also decided to clone out the jacket in the background. I don’t think there is anything really wrong with it but, just for fun, I decided to “get rid of it” and turn it into a backdrop. I also put a blur on the background and just left the little girl and the pinball table in focus. Of course, I also needed to play around with my Florabella actions and I decided I liked the “Soft Urban” action the best. I used the action at 100%.
Finally, I added just a touch of sharpening and that was that.
Here is the before….
And the After…
Cutie!
See ya’ next week for more Fix-it-Friday fun.
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 3:31pm
This week’s photo challenge over at I Heart Faces is “Jump for Joy” – so here is my little monkey “Jumpin’ on the bed“.
No human face in my photo this week…but there is the face of a stuffed animal bunny. Does that count?
Ah well, I couldn’t help but enter this one. It’s not everyday you see a little baby catching so much air!! 
For more Hoppin’ Fun Photos head on over to I Heart Faces by clicking on the button below.
Thanks!
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 8:00am
Hey there!
So, were you able to make it out to the Hamilton Baby Expo this weekend? I had to take my big girls to their last swim lesson of the season (couldn’t miss that! It was report card day. They did great, too), but I did swing by the Expo after we got home. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of the festivities (I missed the Diaper Derby and the Beautiful Baby Contests!! I bet that was stinkin’ adorable!) but I was able to meet a lot of the vendors and I scooped up lots of great information for you…in case you missed it! I’ll try to feature some of these local area vendors over the next few Linky Love Mondays. Please keep in mind that, unless I say so, I’ve not actually had any personal experience with any of these businesses so I cannot personally vouch for them. I’ll just pass along the information so you know what cool services you can find in our area, and you can check them out for yourself.
Up first: Social Mamas!
Social Mamas is a community of Moms in the Hamilton area. Their group was “founded on the basis of friendship and philanthropy” and they offer lots of fun events and get-togethers (both on-line and in person) within our town. Here are some examples of what the Social Mamas do and provide (as listed on their informational hand-out):
- Events, such as stroller walks, picnics, playdates, day trips, workshops, mom’s night out, couple’s nights, MamaPreneur Group and so much more
- VIP Card for discounts to local businesses
- online forums, personal profile, photo gallery, event calendar
- a chance to give back to our wonderful community through fundraisers, volunteer work, clothing/food drives, etc.
- amazing group of friendly moms who support each other!
Sounds like fun!
For more information or to join online head on over to Social Mamas right now.
Stayed tuned next week for some more Linky Love.
p.s. The First Annual Hamilton Baby Expo raised over $5000 for Ronald McDonald house. Way to go Hamilton!
Monday, March 1, 2010 at 11:33am
It’s time for the first in the series of “Linky Love” posts! These are the post in which I will share with you all the greatest finds for Mom’s (and Dad’s) and their babies on the interwebs. And this first find is actually another exciting first: it’s the very First Annual Hamilton Baby Expo.
The Expo takes place this Saturday, March 6th at Marritt Hall, 630 Trinity Road R.R.#1, Hamilton (Jerseyville) ON. You can Click Here for directions. The Expo will run from 9:30 am until 5:30 pm and includes all kinds of fun for you and your baby. There will be speakers and seminars, an adorable baby contest, and even a “diaper derby” for all those speedy crawlers out there. It sounds like a ton of fun, with lots of great information and giveaways, and the best part of all is that ticket proceeds will be going to help out Ronald McDonald House. Ronald McDonald House is a great local charity that “offers safe and economical accommodation to the families of critically ill children who are receiving care at our local children’s hospital. Imagine not only having a sick child, but facing the prospect of having nowhere to stay near them. Ronald McDonald House gives a sick child the one thing they really need – their family – by providing them a home away from home” (Hamilton Baby Expo).
Tickets are $5 per adult; children 12 and under admitted free. There will be a Free Gift Bag given out to the first 500 people through the door!
So, be sure to check it out! And, go early!!
Oh, and look for Pea Tree Photography in the Baby Expo brochure. I’ve got a little ad in there. Advertising. So exciting!
That’s one other first!
Friday, February 26, 2010 at 4:04pm
It’s Fix-it-Friday!
I worked on today’s photo (which was downloaded from the I Heart Faces website…click HERE for more information!) in Photoshop Elements 8.0 with the help of Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3.o. I used the “Darken/Lighten Center” command to bring up the light on this adorable little girl’s face and I used the healing brush tool to smooth out her elbows a little bit. I removed a few distracting spots from her dress and I cropped and rotated the photo for better placement of our little model (I thought she was getting a little too lost in all that, albeit beautiful, sky). I decided to rotate it, too, because I like the way her hair falls down to the bottom of the frame with a 90 degree rotation. Finally, I used Nik’s noise reduction plug-in and Florabella’s beautiful Retro Vintage action. I just love the Florabella actions. They are so pretty! Very last step was to resize and sharpen for web.
Ta-da!
Here is the Before shot.
See ya’ next week for more Fix-it-Friday fun!
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 8:33pm
Well, we haven’t gotten very much snow this winter. At least not around here. At least not until today!
And once my big girl got home from school, the middle-sized one couldn’t wait to get out in the backyard to play with her…in all that fluffy snow. I thought Maddie’s purple hat and gloves looked so pretty against the snow-white backdrop, so even I (who is allergic to the cold) had to get out there to take a few shots. This one is my entry for this week’s photo challenge over at I Heart Faces!
For more handy shots…head on over to the I Heart Faces website just by clicking on the button below.
Thanks!
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 11:50am
Oh my! It has been a long, long, time since I posted to my poor bloggy here. But, I’ll keep it short anyway because this post is gonna’ be a quick entry into this week’s photo challenge over at I Heart Faces. The challenge theme for this week is “kisses” and I really wanted to share this cute kissy picture.
I loved you before I met you.
For more mushy-goodness please head on over to the I Heart Faces Website by clicking on the button below. Thanks!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 5:26pm
The theme this week at I ♥ Faces is Excited and I don’t think my friend Michelle could have been any more excited to see just who was developing in her tummy!
Turns out – it’s a girl!! And, I’m hoping to meet her later this week!!
Congratulations Michelle! I’m so, so, happy for you!!!!
For more Exciting photos, be sure to head on over to I ♥ Faces by clicking right HERE or on the button below.
Thanks!
Friday, October 2, 2009 at 2:20pm
I am so excited and I have been just dying to share this with you all, but I really wanted to wait until everything was all nice and official and…done! And, now it is…
It’s my brand new PhotoBlog with my brand new Business Name and my brand new LOGO made by a real-life designer guy. How cool is all that?! I had so much fun throughout the whole design process and I just love looking at my new logo now. It was made just for me!! I still can’t get over it. And it’s so pretty. And cool. And fresh. And whimsical. Hey, I’ve always wanted a tattoo! Ahhh…maybe not. Needles scare me. But, still, I love it!
So, welcome to Pea Tree Photography!
This is just the beginning…
by The Chick Pea
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