FeeFiFoto Blog

FeeFiFoto Fame Contest: You'll Be As Famous As That Woman With The Octuplets, Minus The Hate Mail

A Contest Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen

It's time once again for the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest.

You've seen contests to win beauty supplies. You've seen contests to win baby supplies. You've seen contests to win computer supplies. Now for something completely different:

Enter this contest to win FAME.

You'll be as famous as Octuplet Mom, but without all the controversy.

The winner of this contest will have one favorite photograph incorporated into a landing page on FeeFiFoto. Just visit FeeFiFoto, cruise around as long as you like, then come back here and leave me a comment about which item you'd like to see your photo on.  No actual prize will be given -- just the right to see your photo on the home page of my website throughout spring.

Giving It Away For Valentine's Day

"Give Romance A Chance" Giveaway #2:  That's me.  Stroll on over to A Blog of Goodies and leave a comment to win a watch with your photo on the face.  It might look like this:

that is, if your kids look like these kids, but I'm sure your kids are way cuter.

We've recently added some items that would make perfect Valentine gifts; my favorites are wooden jewelry boxes that display your photo on a ceramic tile on the lid.  You can choose mahogany finish, or pecan, rosewood, maple or cherry.

Creating A Memento Of A Family Vacation: Personalized Photo Book

Remember our trip to London?
Kids!  What Are You Gonna Do?
Now Accepting Applications For The Position Of Grandchild
Teachable Moment
Her Dead Father
Jet Lag + Muscle Relaxers = ZZZZZ

Cleo and I made up a photo album of our trip.

Now.  Here comes what some might regard as shameless flogging of our photo gift site, FeeFiFoto.  If you're not interested in a bit of flogging salesmanship, then feel free to move along, but do come back and visit us tomorrow.

We made a real, hard bound book commemorating our trip, containing 100 pages and somewhere between 100 and infinity photographs of Cleo, me, Schpilkes, The Man From D.A.D., various famous London locations, antiquities, food, the occasional celebrity, and a Rolls Royce, but mostly Cleo.

It's Always Appropriate To Say Thank You To A Teacher

Do you give teacher gifts at Christmas time?

My parents taught me the importance of expressing gratitude.  The Man From D.A.D. conducts himself graciously with everyone he meets.  He ran a large manufacturing company for more than 40 years, yet never felt too important to recognize anyone who made his day a little easier; he once stopped to compliment a maintenance man changing light bulbs for "making our lives a little brighter," (yes, corny). Considering how selective my dad's memory can be for names (but still not as porous as mine), I'm fairly certain he didn't recall the man's name, but that didn't stop him from offering praise and thanks.

My mother, Schpilkes, has been a non-professional fundraiser for a long time; her network of nearest and dearest friends and associates numbers well into the hundreds.  She sends a thank you note to everyone who invites her to a wedding, party, bar or bat mitzvah, luncheon, rubber-chicken dinner or official gala.  She knows how hard people work planning events, and she makes sure to acknowledge their efforts and thank them for including her and my father.

Amy at Chicago Moms Blog says:

"Now that Halloween is a pounding, sugar-headache memory, it’s time to start thinking about the other holidays... No matter what you celebrate or how you celebrate it, there’s a gift or two involved, right? ... There will be giving and hugging and “oh you shouldn’t haves.”...

I was a preschool assistant teacher for a few years... [L]ast year, the holidays came around and I got one gift. One. I didn’t teach for the gifts but I didn’t get cards or thank you’s. Honestly, I don't think anyone uttered a Happy Holiday sentiment. So, no apple mug, no chalkboard appliqued tote bag. OK, I coped. I got one gift card for which I was very grateful. It was more of the sign that no one was really appreciative of the time and effort and love I had for their child when I was with them. And according to feedback and reviews -- I was doing a good job..."

I Think My Favorite November Holiday, Aside From My Birthday, Is "Use Even If Seal Is Broken Day": Unusual Holidays

Order personalized photo calendars from FeeFiFoto as outstanding Christmas gifts, but make your calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates.

November seems to be a month to celebrate scads of creative innovators, including James Naismith, Madame Curie, Margaret Mitchell, Marie Antoinette, Aaron Copland, Georgia O'Keeffe and Voltaire.  See if anyone notices if you add some of these kooky dates to your 2009 personalized photo calendars.

November

1
Plan Your Epitaph Day
My Birthday!

Just In Time For Christmas -- Oops -- Halloween

Photo personalized princess and superhero DVDs, in time for Christmas and as a follow-up to Halloween

Halloween is coming, in case you hadn't noticed due to obsessing to the point of droolage about why stores have been packed with Christmas stuff since you began your back to school shopping.  Seriously, one of our town's radio stations changed to an all Christmas format a couple of weeks ago.  At first I thought it was a mistake or a joke but they've been at it all day every day since then and there's no sign that they're letting up.  I've accidentally clicked on Alvin and the Chipmunks' Christmas song twice, which is just about the number of times I'll need to hear it this calendar year.

Goodie Goodies: Giveaway

Karen, from A Blog Of Goodies (Hi Karen!  Big air kiss -- mmwaah!), is running two giveaways with prizes from FeeFiFoto; one prize is a porcelain snowflake ornament with your photograph:

and the other prize is a canvas tote bag, also with your photo:

The rules are easy, so I'll let Karen take over from here:

"This giveaway is for anyone with a mailing address within the U.S. only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

You MUST do #1 to be eligible to win the prize. After that, #2 & #3 are optional ways to gain an extra entries. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Each person can earn up to 3 entries.

1) Head over to FeeFiFoto and take a look around. Come back here and post a comment telling me which item (other than the 3 pictured in this post) you would most like to have for yourself.

2) Subscribe to this blog's feed. Then leave a separate comment telling me that you did so.

3) Vote for this contest on Contest Live. Then leave a separate comment telling me that you did so."

The winners will be chosen on October 31 at 11:59 p.m., which coincidentally happens to be the commencement of my birthday, so there you go.

Raise Your Hand If You've Ever Heard Of An Alaskan Klee Kai

You're not imagining it -- I posted this piece a couple of weeks ago. Since then I've tweaked it so I'm posting it again.  And I can do that.  Why?  Because it's my blog.

So there.

With all this publicity about Alaska swirling around, let's test our knowledge of Alaskan terminology, shall we?  Who knows what an Alaskan Klee Kai is?

Is it a boat?

 

Image courtesy of Planet Earth Adventures

No, that's a Kayak.

October's Full Of Strange Holidays

Order personalized photo calendars from FeeFiFoto as outstanding Christmas gifts, but make your calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates.

October's much more than Halloween.  In fact, we might refer to October as National Comedian Month; we have two Stooges and two Marx Brothers.  Let's tabulate them, shall we?

1
World Vegetarian Day
Magic Circles Day
Vladimir Horowitz, v. 1903

2
Name Your Car Day

In a fit of creativity while reading Paradise Lost in college, I named my first car "Beelzebub"

Bud Abbott, b. 1895
Groucho Marx, b. 1890

Two for one

Goodie! I'm A Top Pick For Guy Gifts.

Karen from A Blog Of Goodies has featured FeeFiFoto as a Top Pick for personalized gifts. 

Karen's featuring a Photo Personalized Clipboard from FeeFiFoto as a great gift for guys.  Imagine proud dad, brother or uncle, coaching dear daughter's or son's soccer team, carrying the day's lineup on a clipboard personalized with a photo of the team.

I'm also donating a Snowflake Photo Ornament (okay, the one in the photo is a heart -- we have both):

and a Canvas Tote Bag:

to ABOG's October Giveaway Carnival, so make sure to visit ABOG and sign up when the giveaway is officially announced.

Bizarre September Holidays

Make personalized calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates; here are some for September.

The same holidays year after year after year.  Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Groundhog Day.  Spice up your personalized calendar with some truly bizarre dates, just to see if anyone's paying attention.

September

1

Yvonne DeCarlo, b. 1922

Emma M. Nutt Day

Who was Emma M. Nutt?  Hellooo...

Let's Get Ready For Christmas Early

Now that we have all the back to school shopping done and the little darlings are on their way to the bus -- wait, you haven't finished your back to school shopping yet?  What are you waiting for?  Run like a bunny and get on it, and then come back here when it's all done.

**musical interlude: "Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Jed / A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed ..."

All done?  Good.  First things first, I always say.

Energize A Slow News Month With Strange Holidays

Make personalized calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates; here are some for July.

FeeFiFoto has been producing personalized photo calendars as a core part of our business since we were established about five years ago. For the 2007 Christmas season we added a bunch of new templates, a thousand or so pieces of clip art, and the capacity to arrange photos in collages instead of being limited to a single photo per page. We've always had a feature that lets you enter your own family birthdays, anniversaries or special events.

Last year the kids and I designed calendars for our family, and in addition to the usual birthdays and anniversaries, we chose one day each month for a fictitious holiday just to see if anyone was paying attention. January 16 was Talk Like Pirates Day, February 24 was Walk Backwards Day, March 1 was Talk Really Fast Day, August 17 was Snowball Fight Day, and November 2 was Kiss Your Mom Day. We also acknowledged some legitimate holidays and anniversaries, like the Ides of March (March 15), Beethoven's Birthday (December 16) and the anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride (April 18). It was fun and silly.

Here are some silly, and real (supposedly) holidays you can add to photo calendars.

WOW -- JULY ALREADY: Kids Will Love Photo Personalized Plates With Their Favorite Cartoon Characters

We love our kids nearly as much as we love our dogs and cats, and we're constantly looking for ways to indulge them, whether for birthday, Christmas, or just because Grandma loves them. Take a look at FeeFiFoto's photo personalized melamine plates.  Your favorite child can eat her lunch from a plate featuring a photo of herself with some of her favorite Disney characters. Sturdy melamine plate is kid-proof and dishwasher safe. Diameter approximately 10". Do not use in microwave.  Melamine plates can be produced and ready for shipping in as little as 3 business days.

Cinderella Fancy Plate: For the Princess in every girl

Patriotic Goofy and Pluto Plate: Raise the flag!

The Incredibles: Violet Plate :She's no shrinking Violet

Winnie The Pooh With Butterflies Plate: Butterflies as sweet as Hunny

Visit FeeFiFoto to find dozens of choices for personalized plates.

The Winner Of The FeeFiFoto Summer Fame Contest

 

So I run this Fame Contest at the start of every new season and the winner gets to have a favorite photo pictured on a favorite item from FeeFiFoto and displayed on our home page until the next contest's winner is announced. This season's winner, Chatbug Karen sent me one of the funniest photos I've seen in a long time, along with its companion shot and an explanation:

"[T]hat picture was taken about 30 years ago. Hubby and I had traveled to Canada to go fishing with his Boss and Boss's wife. I like to fish and was very proud to have caught this nice Northern Pike fish. (We actually caught a huge Muskie that still holds the record at the camp we stayed at on the Georgian Bay.) Anyway, I was holding the fish when it started to slip out of my hands. I should send you the picture before this one so you can show the progression of my expression."

Karen opted to have her photo displayed on a totebag so we put her photos on our Mia Cameron microfiber totes, although a canvas tote might be more handy for carrying fish.

Can you carry fish in a canvas tote bag?

Amazing Dad Stars In His Own Superhero Movie

For Sweet Talker's third birthday he received a video depicting Barney (yes, that Barney) planning a party in his honor; the role of Sweet Talker was played by a two-dimensional cartoon body featuring Sweet Talker's smiling face. The animation was primitive -- well, in fact it wasn't even animation at all, since nothing moved. You know how the characters move laterally on South Park? This video didn't even have that level of sophistication.

Fast forward to ten years later: Sweet Talker's preparing for his bar mitzvah musical extravaganza featuring a cast of thousands; South Park is still on the air but now the characters move somewhat diagonally; and the latest generation of personalized video DVD is available at FeeFiFoto. You just have to see it because it's so corny that it's adorable.  In fact, the Amazing Dad movie was featured on The View this morning and they raved about it.

We're carrying them now and there's still time to order and receive for Father's Day. By the way, there's also a Christmas DVD, and in case you haven't checked in lately, you have a mere 201 days before the present ripping open begins.

Strange June Birthdays

Make personalized calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates; here are some for June.

FeeFiFoto has been producing personalized photo calendars as a core part of our business since we were established about five years ago. Recently we added a bunch of new templates, a thousand or so pieces of clip art, and the capacity to arrange photos in collages instead of being limited to a single photo per page. We've always had a feature that lets you enter your own family birthdays, anniversaries or special events. Here's a list of June dates that will make your personalized calendars just a touch more memorable.

1
Dare Day
Marilyn Monroe, b. 1926

How About A Watch For Father's Day?

More on the subject of Father's Day gifts: how about a personalized photo watch from FeeFiFoto?

Sewing Mom would love to give her husband a Breitling watch, which can retail for upwards of $25,000 (yes, that's twenty-five thousand dollars):

"My daughter and I are still discussing what to get my husband, her dad, for Father’s Day ...  I may have mentioned at some point that he collects time pieces, quality watches. It’s something I’ve always wanted to buy him, but he is extremely particular about his watches and I would never presume to know what he would like ... I do know that he has always admired Breitling watches. ... I’ve also been looking at several jewelry watches that I think he would enjoy. He likes having a variety of watches and doesn’t usually wear the same one two days in a row. It’s similar to ladies changing their jewelry, he changes his watch, besides his wedding band, it’s the only jewelry he wears ... "

Here's some information on the History of Watches, courtesy of Paralumun.com:

1500s : Creation of the first pocket watch.
1485 : Leonardo da Vinci sketches a fusee for a clock
Early 1600s : Form watches becoming popular. Cases are shaped like animals and objects.

Time out

Really, Dad, We Love You. Honest.

Remember to enter the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest.  The drawing is on June 1.

Why don't football players ever shout "Hi Dad!" into the camera?

Search "Mothers Day Gift" in Technorati and, as of today, two weeks AFTER Mother's Day 2008, you'll find the phrase in more than 22,000 blog posts with any level of authority.

Search "Fathers Day Gift" and, as of today, three weeks BEFORE Father's Day 2008, you'll find the phrase in 10,000 blog posts.

No Time Mom lists all of three contests or giveaways for Father's Day.

End Of The Year Teacher Gifts

Making end of year teacher gifts meaningful and useful.

My Uncle Mac was a slight, gentle man with a soft voice and wavy silver hair combed carefully back from his forehead. He enjoyed entertaining children with impromptu origami demonstrations, delighting them with cranes crafted from any handy piece of paper, even a children's menu.

Uncle Mac kept a cartoon on his desk and gave a copy to everyone he met. There were no words but the message was clear and simple:

After recently coming across a copy of the cartoon, I scanned it into FeeFiFoto and had the graphic printed on stainless steel travel mugs to give to my kids' teachers as end of the year thank you gifts. With these mugs they'll always have a concise illustration of cooperation to show their students.

 We don't always give holiday gifts and end of year gifts to the teachers, not because we don't love them but because I'm never quite sure where to draw the line; I'm afraid I'll miss someone I should have acknowledged. Instead, I occasionally send snacks or fruit baskets to the school office for everyone to share; I figure that in the span of an academic year I'll hit all the faculty and staff at least once.

But I decided to give gifts this year in addition to the occasional treats. I always look for any opportunity to promote FeeFiFoto, and I figure sooner or later someone will ask the teachers where they got the cool mugs with the cool message. But, just as important, this year's teachers were special for both of my kids, and Robey is moving on to middle school next year, so I wanted him to leave this school with fond memories.

What was special about your favorite teachers?

Visit FeeFiFoto and design photo mugs for favorite teachers.