News You Can Use - Volume 1

I have come across so many nifty things lately on Twitter and Pinterest that I decided you simply had to know about this great stuff!

So without further ado, I give you "News You Can Use" - a variety of things I find interesting that I think you might, too.

Instagram News:

Most of you know that I'm a big fan of Instagram, the fun and easy way to share photos with your iPhone. So how about some ideas on how you can get those photos off your iPhone and into your hot little hands?

• Stickygram turns your Instagram photos into magnets.  Jim over at Just a Lil' Blog tried this out so maybe he'll leave a comment and let us know what he thought.
• Postagram is an app that turns pictures from your phone, Facebook, or Instagram into photo postcards. And here's the really cool thing - you can customize a message, choose people from your contact list to mail the postcard to and when they receive the card, they can pop the photo out to display.
• Printstagram is an app that turns your Instagram pictures into cool posters, miniprints, stickers, photo books, minibooks, and tinybooks.
• InstaShirt prints your Instagram photos on a shirt.  The baby onesie is especially cute.
• CanvasPop will print Instagram photos on canvas.

And for the computer savvy out there, here's a tutorial on creating DIY Instagram photo strips through Photoshop.  Very cute!

Special Needs News:


Notice anything about this Target ad?

Now take a minute to read this great article, "Target is 'Down' With Down Syndrome: 5 Things Target Said By Saying Nothing At All".  It'll make you smile - and give you another reason to feel good about shopping at Target, as if you needed one!

Here are Friendship Circle's Top 20 Special Needs Resource Posts of 2011.  

Now, I'm not foolish enough to think that you've got time to sit down and read every single one of these but glance through the list and see if something catches your eye.  The list runs the gamut from school lunch ideas and suggestions for play therapy all the way to handwriting tips and 17 great colleges for special needs students.

Technology News:

For those of you interested in sharing some engaging Bible stories with your kiddos, check out the free Read and Share app from Thomas Nelson.  

Once you've downloaded the free app, you can purchase a book a week for $2.99.  If you click the link, you can see a video that lets you know what the stories are like.  I personally love the illustrations!

And speaking of apps, how about a list of 25 of them that the whole family will love?  Click here to check them out.

Most of us with special needs kiddos have our iPads in cases designed for maximum protection.  Well, I can't vouch for any increased protection with this case, but the iGuy is one of the cutest covers I've seen - and ideal for hands free vertical viewing.

Organization News:

Now that a new year is here, maybe you've decided to eat out less.  This handy fill-in-the-blank menu planning & grocery shopping form should help you meet your goal.

Want to simplify but getting started just seems so complicated?  

Look no further than the e-book One Bite at a Time - 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler.  

I just purchased my own copy so I don't have a personal glowing review yet but here's what sold me - I don't have to do the projects in any particular order, I don't have to do a project a week and be done in a year (even though there are 52 weeks in a year), and some of the projects, I might not even need to do. 

But what it does do is give me a place to start -  to take some of the tasks I really need to do around here and break them up into very manageable steps.

For those of you who want to start even smaller and just get a good daily to-do list going, click here for a free printable daily planner page from Ann Voskamp.  This is a daily draft with a higher purpose so be sure to read how to fill it out... and be inspired and encouraged at the same time.

So - that's it.  A collection of things that caught my attention in the last couple of months - that hopefully won't totally overwhelm you and send you running for the hills since I crammed it all into one post!

Now get out there and have a great weekend, folks!