Online resources for mothers

One useful thing for mothers is to build a positive community of online resources to gain knowledge and advice to help us through this magical period. I have collated some of favourites, mostly New Zealand based online blogs, magazines, links and websites that provide a range of opinions, facts and community between mothers.

The Domestic Wannabe-
A blog I follow religiously! WARNING: This blog contains photos of some of the cutest kids ever! You have to read this blog for some amazing insight into motherhood and the joys it contains. I highly suggest for tips and advice to add this to your favourites. I think with the combination of amazing photography and highly relatable stories, this is fun and inspiring to read for any mother.

Baby Life Magazine-
I can't recommend this place enough. It doesn't just focus around baby necessities but also includes a directory of other useful thing like Health and Wellbeing businesses, Learning and education centres etc. I love the website (Click here to visit) because it is easy to use and holds an array of great information. I highly enjoy their status updates on facebook as it is always different, inspiring and interesting, I would suggest reading everyone of them just for entertainment.

The Baby View-
Wow! I have been a facebook fan of The Baby View for a while now and have only visited their online business directory for some contact details. However I just finished scouring their website (Click here to visit) and couldn't be more impressed at the range of helpful advice and tips that this website offers. It has a big focus on baby related businesses which is really helpful for mothers wanting a certain product, they also have recipes and a list of articles. A website definitely to store for a later read, but  like their page on facebook as it will provide a lot of resources that might make your life a little bit easier!

These are just a few of my favourites, and I am pleased to let my amazing fans know that the awesome "Jackie" from Baby Life Magazine has taken time out of her busy schedule to write a blog for next week's entry! Make sure you take a listen out for her expert advice!!!

Turning your baby videos into a fully fledged dvd

For Christmas, I decided to make all the family members a DVD of Summer's first 8 months as this was a more affordable option. Well for those mothers like me that aren't especially technology savvy it was a definite learning curve. So I thought if you might consider this option I would write a basic guide on how to get from movies/photos on your computer to a five minute DVD like the one of Summer I have put here.

I definitely don't claim to be an expert on any level but at least this might be a place to start :)




Have you got everything?
Select a certain time frame for your movies (aka the first 8 months) so your video seems semi on target. Then gather all of these videos and put them in a separate folder on your desktop so they are easily accessible. The next thing you need is Windows Movie Maker, for this you need Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP, check that it isn't already in your program files otherwise download it for free by Clicking here.


Open Windows Movie Maker:

You will get a  screen that looks
 something like this. I suggest the first thing to do would be save the file by clicking the little floppy disk at the top left hand corner of the screen.








Adding Photos and Videos:
On your home tab you will find the option to "ADD VIDEOS AND PHOTOS". Click this button and search for the newly created folder that you have added your movies/photos into. Once into this folder just press CTRL and A to select them all and let them open before your eyes. This has saved a lot of time doing these separately and now you watch, edit and move them all within one program. Spend time playing around with the animations tab, slow them down, speed them up, add narration over top etc. If you need any help with any of the tools head over to the Windows Support page otherwise everything is fairly self explanatory.

Adding Music:
It is great if you have the music you want as the background music already on your computer but if you don't then that's no problem either. File sharing is a big thing these days, I generally download my music from a great site kickass torrentz which I would definitely recommend. You also need a something like utorrent which downloads the torrent then magically turns it into an mp4 file! Which will be saved in your allocated folder ready for you to just click on the "ADD MUSIC" button in Windows Movie player. Feel free to cut edit, fade it in and out and make it as fun as you like. Just remember copyrighted music in the background means that you won't be able to share it on facebook etc.

Adding Titles:
Adding Titles is important in my books as it helps introduce certain aspects of your video. Under the home tab there is an option with "TITLE" on it. There are some great themes etc just to add the icing on the cake. Don't overuse the titles though as viewers aren't completely clueless as to what is going on.

Publishing:
So after previewing your videos a billion times, you are wondering what to do next. I suggest the Windows DVD maker option if you would like to that way so I have provided a link with step by step instructions.


Good luck with your movie making experience and remember amateur footage and movies make for the best laugh. I am still working out how to flip my movies round so they are all on the same angle. Don't take it to seriously and have some fun!