Wish I would have known about this trick when I was potty training my son. While watching an episode of “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ where they took the kids on a trip to a theme park, Kate Gosselin explains how the girls were afraid to use the potty because it had the automatic flusher. My son used to freak out with these things too. The first time one flushed on its own he cried for what seemed like hours. Just couldn’t comprehend 1.) how it did that on its own and 2.) why I didn’t let him flush it.

Kate explained that she now puts a piece of toilet paper over the sensor so that it won’t go off until the kids are doing using the toilet.

Genious.

I decided to create a photo frame to wrap around a photo of my new baby and send to our family for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s going to be her first “holiday” so I just thought it would be a creative way to send an updated photo. Since I went ahead and did all the work in PhotoShop I decided to offer it here as a download for anyone who wants to use it. I put together a quick how-to.

Enjoy!

How to:

1. Open stpattywrap.psd in Photoshop.
2. Click (highlight) on the “Insert your photo here” layer.
3. In a new window, Open your photo.
4. Size your photo to 375 x 500 (width x height). (Go to the Image menu, choose Image size, type in your dimensions and click OK.)
5. Drag your photo to the open stpattywrap.psd file. Since the Insert your photo here layer is highlighted it should show up behind the green border.
6. Save the file as a JPG. (File Menu, Save as.)

DOWNLOAD THE FILE NOW.

Now you can post it on your blog or sent to your family and friends via email. Leave a comment below if you enjoy this and I’ll try to make more for other holidays.
Enjoy!

Baby photo courtesy stock.xchng.

Life Coach Cheryl Richardson says, “Guilt is good,” for moms. She appeared on “Good Morning America” with 19 women who are trying to be Superwoman. They feel “invisible.” They can’t say no. These women are overwhelmed with work, children, families. They are putting themselves last, if at all.

Sound familiar?

“Where do I say no?” asks one mom on the show. Cherly gives excellent advice on how to say no, to whom and to not feel bad about it.
Put You First

Cheryl says to put you first.  Take time for you. This is so hard for women. Especially mothers and caregivers. We tend to want to do everything for our children, but sometimes loose sight of the fact that if we are taking care of ourself, that’s the best way we can help our kids. We need to teach them how important it is to take care of yourself.

Guilt is Good

She wants you to make friends with the guilt. That if you feel guilty it means you are taking care of yourself.  “Carve out space for yourself.” She tells these women to talk to their husbands to let them know how to do this. To explain why it is important to have time for me.

Watch the segment on ABCNews.com.

Richardson has a new book dedicated to this topic, “The Art of Extreme Self-Care: Transform Your Life One Month at a Time.”

Suzanne Wells, “the eBay Coach” sent me a note the other day offering her eBay selling book to my readers.

Here’s what she said:

“Here is a freebie! Get a free copy of my book, “The Stay at Home Mom’s Guide to Successful eBay Selling.” So many people are losing their jobs, taking pay cuts, or can’t find work. Maybe this will help someone make a few dollars from home and pay some bills.”

I would say this is for more than just SAHMs, everyone can use tips on how to sell their stuff. People are looking for ways to make money and I’ve heard several people say they are going to finally learn how to use eBay. Suzanne is offering some of her advice so you can get started. Inside you’ll find information on topics like:

• What to sell
• How to take professional photos
• Building your customer base
• Shortcuts
• Shipping

MORE:

• Get the free updated eBook version here (be patient, it takes a minute to open).
• Visit Suzanne’s blog.

Like a lot of new moms, I had the brilliant idea to bake a cake for my son’s first birthday.

I started out by looking up a cake decorating class. I headed to the nearest craft store and found a series of Wilton classes offered. For one month I made one cake a week at my weekly cake decorating 101 class.

That a lot of work. You have to bake a cake every week and frost it, then in class you decorate it in a new style each week. I took the class about four months before I wanted to make an official birthday cake. Glad I did too.

In the class I learned how to properly use the icing tip bags, how to make the frosting (you make it thin or thick based on what you are decorating) and other useful tips.

Once I completed the class, I started practicing on my first cake: a duck cake for my son’s first birthday.

It all starts with the duck pan.

Tips I Learned Along The Way

• I tried my favorite cake recipe in the pan for the first go round, but it didn’t hold its shape so I used a pound cake from the box. I find it’s the best for these molded cakes that need to hold a shape.
• I made the base of the cake out of a sheet pan (two layers). Looking back, I wish I had used more blue frosting and made waves in the icing.
• I just placed the duck on top, no dowels.
• When icing a cake with star tip, you must first have a base of smooth icing on the cake (in the same color.) If you neglect this step, you’ll definitely see the bare cake under your frosting.
• I used a white life saver candy with a blue MnM on top for the eyes. They really make the cake. Just glue them on with some of the icing underneath each piece of candy,.

He’s not perfect, but he is cute.

Those eyes. They make the cake.

The pan is versatile enough that you could make this cake for a baby shower too.

Related:

• Wilton classes
• Wilton buttercream icing
• The pan — you can’t do it without THE PAN
• Wilton’s Sweet Duck Cake directions
• Duck cake pictures — these are better than mine!
  
• My Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake (with photos)
• My car cake (with photos)
• Butterfly cake (with photos) — my favorite cake so far.