Eye Fi and Shutter Snitch

About a month ago, I got the notification that I was one of the ten chosen as an Eye-Fi Big Shot.  I was so excited, I couldn’t believe it.  A week or two after that I received my welcome package – which had some great information, business cards a lanyard and a gorgeous, brand new Eye-Fi Pro X2.  I think I might have actually squealed when I opened the package.  So now I’m a very lucky girl with two Eye-Fi Cards!  The new one and the the original Explore Video Card.  I love the original, but this new one.  Oh. My. Ad hoc networks, works with RAW files, 8 (8!) GB!  I love my new card.

There’s a card for every budget and if you take pictures on the road, or at events, you should really look into it.  There’s a great support forum fueled by other users and a community of people who are trying to extend the usability of this idea. Which brings me to the reason for this post; Shutter Snitch. This is one really cool app.  ($7.99 in the app store) For the iPad and iPhone, but I’m focusing on the iPad, right now.

This took me a bit of time to figure out.  Honestly, once I really thought about the technology and what it can and can’t do right now, it made way more sense.  From the developer:

Wirelessly transfer images to your iPad from your Eye-Fi card, soon Canon, Nikon or other filetransmitter that supports uploading to an FTP server.
When a JPEG arrives, ShutterSnitch analyzes it and warns you if anything differs from the rules you’ve set up.
For now shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, and light level is checked – but more will be added in the future (suggestions are appreciated).

The set up instructions are super easy and the developers notes are very clear – if it’s not working, disable relayed upload.  Unfortunately, that means that you can’t upload to online services – you can switch the settings back and forth, but since I’m lucky enough to have two cards, I use the older card for Shutter Snitch and the newer card for online sharing.  So far it’s working perfectly.  I take my pictures, protect the ones I want to transfer (you can choose to transfer all pictures, but I take a lot of pictures and they’re not all share worthy!), open shutter snitch…

Choose your device and set up Eye-Fi access (you only have to do this once, unless you change the settings on your card)

Open, or create a new collection (you must be inside a collection to receive images)

Then wait.  It takes sometime for the images to start transferring.  The developer mentions this, but I kept thinking there was something wrong.  It does take a while.

But then, like magic, there are your images -

I love the way the gallery looks, it’s so elegant and smooth – you can rate your images, view the histogram, set up rules about your images, such as warnings when your shutter speed or aperture is not what you’re looking for. I don’t really understand much of that yet – but I will… you can email your images, export them to flickr or an FTP server location, preview them… I can see how a professional photographer might use this to show a client previews from a shoot.  I love this app- it’s so well done and it makes me feel like a pro -

That’s the peach pineapple salsa from yesterdays post.

Venus Ribbon and Giveaway!

And we have a winner! Mary-Frances C.  Congratulations!

A few weeks ago, the very nice people at Venus Ribbon offered to send me 10 yards of the ribbon of my choice as well as 10 yards for one of my readers.  I love ribbon and because I’m trying to learn to sew, I was thrilled by this! When I visited the site I was overwhelmed by all the gorgeous choices!  First I thought I’d like the Groovy Peace but then I thought maybe I should get something more musical or maybe the Pink Denim (!) or maybe one with dots, or ladybugs, I love ladybugs!  Really, there are so many unbelievable choices that it was hard to pick just one.

In the end, I went with Groovy Peace because I happen to have fabric that matches it and I thought it would be fun to do maybe a bag with ribbon trim and a headband to match, or a sundress with ribbon trim at the hem, or just tie it up into a couple of big bows and adorn things with them in my living room, because it really is so pretty that I want to look at it all the time.  Then I took a deep breath.

When I received the ribbon I was so impressed, it’s a lovely ribbed, soft grosgrain with really vibrant colors and while I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with it, I didn’t want you to have to wait. Maybe I’ll get something done before the end of this contest which, by the way, will run until Friday June 18th at 11:59 PM.  I’ll choose a random winner on Saturday June 19.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

Prize: One free 10 Yard spool of Venus Ribbon

To enter:
1.    Please visit www.venusribbon.com and leave a comment on this post with your favorite pattern and what you would make with the ribbon. (Mandatory)

For 1 extra entry    Follow Venus Ribbon on twitter (www.twitter.com/VenusRibbon)
For 1 extra entry    Become a fan of Venus Ribbon on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Venus.Ribbon)
For 1 extra entry    Subscribe to the Venus Ribbon mailing list (on the Homepage)

Good luck and enjoy!

Full Disclosure: I was compensated for this post, my opinions are my own.

Glee and TPain Apps

These two apps might be the most fun I’ve ever had with my phone.  Auto tuners, harmonies, pre loaded songs, or a capella (your choice). Self indulgent? Definitely. Crazy fun? Yep.

The first one is “Glee” and if you live under a rock, you might not have heard about Fox’s smash show – the most addictive show on TV as far as I’m concerned (you know, since Lost is over), and the show that has most successfully used Social Networking to increase it’s popularity by creating terrific buzz via Facebook and Twitter.  Anyway, I digress.  Glee is s Smule app available for .99 in the app store.  It comes with a few songs to get you started, and an ever growing catelogue of new songs, available for .99 a piece, although they’re playing with a new idea about unlocking songs as you reach different goals.  You can also use your iTunes library, but you can’t share those (more about sharing in a bit).

Plug in your headphones and start your song and sing along, choose whether you use Auto Pitch, or Auto Harmony, or both, or neither.  It does seem to sound better if you use a “smaller” voice rather than belting your songs out, but maybe it’s just the songs I’ve chosen.

When you’ve got something you like, you can share it on Facebook, Twitter, via a link, or you can broadcast it so that other Gleeks, all over the world can listen in, weigh in on your performance, or add their voice to your song.  Rate each others performances to earn “gleeks” which unlock a new song when you earn enough (currently it’s 50 and there’s only one song to unlock, but I’ve got hope for more!)

As my gift to you, here’s  my version of True Colors for you to make fun of as you see fit.

And if you’re not a show choir/musical theatre sort, there’s a similar app with a Hip Hop slant. I am TPain available for $2.99 with more content available for purchase.

Very similar features, this one came out first, but I’m sure no one here wants to hear me rap, so I’ll spare you.  Another app that’s great fun though, this one operates the same way.  Freestyle, beats, additional songs for purchase, and the ability to share it worth the world.

I think my favorite part of this one, is recording messages for my kids with the Auto Tuner – you know things like “did you finish your math? Well you should, cause I’m on a boat!” I think I’m very funny, don’t you?

I received no compensation for this post, I just love these apps.

I Love Build A Sign

So remember that blog party thing we’ve been talking about so much? Well, not only did I donate prizes, but I won one too! And a pretty terrific one, I might add.

Let me give you a little back story.

I have, forever, talked about getting custom bumper stickers for ColorMePink.  Seriously – if ask my husband he will tell you that I’ve been thinking about it and planning it and talking about it for years.  But I always procrastinated.   So when I saw that one of the prizes at the Ultimate Blog Party was custom bumper stickers from Build A Sign, I immediately listed that as a prize I would love.  And you know what?  I won them!

I immediately created an account and began designing my custom bumper stickers.  I really wanted the design to coincide with the blog, so I created a higher resolution version of the ColorMePink butterfly and uploaded it the Build A Sign’s server.  It could not have been easier and within a couple of minutes I had a design that I thought really worked.  Simple, yet eye catching and I placed the order and then immediately started to check the status of the order.  Do you think I was excited?  Oh yeah.

Well, they arrived well before the expected arrival date and I. Am. Thrilled!  As you can see, I don’t do a lot of stickers… The one on the far left says, “Montauk The End” because I’m from Long Island and Montauk is the Eastern tip of the island and I love it there and it’s a little bit about telling people where I’m from and then in the middle there’s an Apple because, well duh.  And now, there’s a ColorMePink.com bumper sticker!

So cute right?

So, if you see me on the street, honk and say hi, ok? And if you’d like one of these for your car, let me know and I’ll send you one!

*Full Disclosure: I received these bumper stickers as a prize in the Ultimate Blog Party, no further compensation was received.

Lash Out!

It’s no secret. I’m a girly-girl. One of my favorite things to shop for is makeup. I have more make up than I can use and now that my daughter is getting older, one of my favorite things to do is teach her how to use makeup.

I definitely have my favorites.  Urban Decay shadows, Lancome Juicy Tubes lip gloss, and something I can’t live without is Smashbox’s Layer Lash Primer.  This stuff is wonderful.  Put it on under your mascara and it gives the mascara something to hold on to. Makes the color truer, the application smoother and really makes a difference!  It’s $16 at Ulta, and I just love it.

The one thing I never seem to be happy with though, is mascara.  I need a volumizing mascara, not a lengthening mascara.  Unfortunately the only parts of my body that are too skinny are my lashes and it’s hard to find good, volumizing mascara that isn’t also lengthening.  I wear glasses and my lashes already hit the lenses, I do not need help there. I also hate gloppy mascara and don’t have time to separate each lash after I apply mascara.  I don’t know anyone who has that kind of time, do you?

So yesterday I went to Ulta because I needed more Layer Lash Primer and while I was there I asked the woman working in cosmetics if she could recommend a really good volumizing mascara.  Without hesitation she walked right over to a display and her exact words were, “This is the best mascara for volume that I’ve ever used.”  Wow.   I figured with a recommendation like that I had to try it right?

Cargo Texas Lash Mascara was $20 and I purchased it and went home.  I couldn’t wait to try it!  It was a beautiful, velvety black and the brush was nice and big.  I applied a coat of primer and then a coat of the mascara and I was thrilled.  Nice, thick lashes, not at all clumpy, and once dried, very soft to the touch and not at all crunchy.  All in all I was really pleased with the product and at $20, it’s not exactly cheap, but I’ve certainly paid more money for mascara that wasn’t as good.

What do you think?

cute, right? And in case you’re wondering, the liner is Urban Decay’s shadow in Ransom, applied with a liner brush.

Full Disclosure:  This is my experience, I was in no way compensated for this review.

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