iPhone, iPod Touch Scrapbooking – Say Goodbye to Scissors and Glue

Scapbooking- don’t you almost feel obligated to do it being a mom?

I’d love to do it, but when, where, how, and OMG is it expensive to just buy the supplies. I’ve done a couple digital scapbooks on sites and had them printed, but even that takes quite a bit of time, uploading photos to the site and designing the pages, etc.

Mommas, if you are like me and use your iPhone as your digital camera, then listen up (or read closely…) I’ve found an even faster way to display those precious memories (in cute fashion of course)….yep, you’ve guessed it, with an app.

The TapnScrap App for iPhone, iPod Touch, and soon to be on iPad, allows you to customize and add effects to the photos you take on these devices, and set them on backgrounds, with text, objects, and frames. You can save multiple scrapbooks with unlimited number of pages. The app costs $1.99 or $4.99 for the HD version.

Sharing your scrapbook is easy; just click the Share button on the bottom toolbar and you can choose to email your scrapbook, save the scrapbook to your computer for printing, or share your scrapbook on Facebook.

What’s really cool is that there are plenty of free features with the app. You can edit photos, add “stickers” and word bubbles. You can also re-size and position an image, all with your fingertips. Here’s a page that I designed myself (in about 10 minutes) with the free features.

There are several different themes (backgrounds, imagery) you can purchase within the app (in the ScrapStore), as you desire for new scrapbooks. These cost $.99-$2.99; much cheaper than going to a craft store and buying +$20 in supplies each time you want to do a new scrapbook.

I love looking back at photos and reliving all the moments; to think I used to wish time would go faster! I have made it a practice of mine to never go through my day wishing it was the weekend, for example; I try to find enjoyment of the right now.

Visit tapnscrap.com to learn more.

Disclosure: I do not receive compensation for writing this app review. This app was just a nifty app I wanted to share with y’all. Sometimes I receive promo codes for apps in faith of writing an app review. The photos used were taken as screen shots from my iPhone. If you wish to have your app reviewed by Apps4Moms, please visit the Submit App for Review page on this site.

App You’ll Love to Play as Much as Your Kids: Toca Hair Salon

The Toca Hair Salon by Toca Boca is an app that I bought for my daughter, but I like stealing a minute to play with it. In fact, I caught my husband playing it too….

The app takes place in an artsy hair salon where you choose from 4 characters that need a new ‘do. The app adds an element of fun and surprise with the responses of the characters.

You have several tools available to create your hair masterpiece: scissors of course, comb, hair coloring sprays, a blow dryer (love the facial expressions while doing a blowout), and special growing potion that grows the hair you just cutoff (we all wish we had some of that for the regretful haircut in the past).

What is also great, and what the app developers Toca Boca emphasize about their apps, is that there are no high scores or time restrictions. The game is fun and creative-not stressful. It builds into the child’s imagination in a unique way to be expressive.

The app is recommended for ages 3-7…or let’s just say 3 to infinity…I know you’ll enjoy it just as much as your kids. The app is $1.99.

Get the app here

The Babysitting Guide App

Your child babysitting this summer? The Babysitting Guide by phoneflips (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android) is a great resource for anyone who is taking care of children.

The app has everything from preparing to become a caregiver, finding a job, communicating with parents, setting rules/disciplining, and safety. It’s a great app to keep as a reference if an incident/emergency takes place too. It costs $1.99 from iTunes, or get it for only $.99 for Android at Amazon.com.

The app is very informative, simple, and straightforward; no flashy animations or illustration, or sound effects, none of which is needed. I also like how it isn’t just a list of facts and steps, but gives real parenting advice. For example, not calling a child “bad” but discussing behavior and helping a child to understand it by asking questions that can’t be answered by “no.” I bet you can think of a parent or two that could benefit from this app right?

I think this app deserves a space on your mobile device screen, if you have little one’s in your life. Get the app here from iTunes. Get the app here for Android.

Great app for Parents of Newborns- Grow With Me

For iPhone and iPod Touch

I wish I knew about the Grow With Me app when I gave birth to my daughter!

This app is a great tool in helping you record all the information your brain is too fried to remember after giving birth and living in the hospital for a few days. It keeps track of the times of feedings (left and right breast feedings too), how many wet and dirty diapers, hours sleeping, immunizations received, medications given, growth, and an appointment feature with alerts.

You go to the doctor often when you have a newborn baby, and I know it was always challenging for me to remember how many diapers she went through a day, figuring out how many ounces she gets on average, etc. This is great to pull out on doctor visits and look back to see if your baby is developing healthy patterns. Heck, you can even be specific with recording what kind of bowl movement your baby had. You also are able to compare your child’s growth stats to the national average on this app.

If you are reading this and thinking, that sounds great but my kids aren’t newborns anymore, well this app can be helpful to you too. The Grow With Me app “grows” with your child in keeping track of medical records and immunizations, growth, illness, etc.

Check it out for yourself. Get the app here. Oh, did I mention, IT’S FREE.

AllRecipes App

Your husband utters those three words that you dread to hear every evening at 5 o’clock…. “what’s for dinner?” Well, this app can fix the mental “cooker’s block” that may come over you when it’s time to fix something to feed your clan.

Whether you’re just trying your hand in the cooking world, or are an experienced so-called chef, you’ll certainly find the AllRecipes.com app helpful when dinner time rolls around, or breakfast, lunch, dessert, or cocktail time too. 

Its main feature is the Spinner. The top row rotates at your fingertips, till you select the type of dish you are looking to make; i.e. main dish, breakfast, appetizer, dessert, etc.

The second row does the same, but in this row you select what main ingredient you have on hand, i.e. beef, pork, vegetable, cheese, fruit, etc.

Lastly, the third row gives you different timing options you have available to make your meal, i.e. 20 minutes, 45 minutes, slow cooker, etc.

Then the magic happens, it instantly filters its many recipes to the ones that meet your selected criteria on the spinner. You search through recipes till you find the one that tickles your fancy and your tongue.

You can also save recipes to your favorites to access again, or be spontaneous and cook up whatever AllRecipes.com has as the featured recipes. In addition, you can search by keywords, like finding recipes on how to make key lime pie for example.

This app has great graphics and many of the recipes have images, which I especially like because it helps in determining how appetizing it will look.

So grab a spatula and an apron, oh, and don’t forget your cell phone or iPad, and get cooking!

This app gets an A in my cookbook. Now, if only it cooked and did the dishes, then I’d give it an A+.

Mom Maps – Great App for Planning Playdates

This app is great for playdates! It finds the closest parks, playgrounds, restaurants museums, and indoor playareas near you. Select what type of place you are looking for, and the app maps out the places within so many miles of your current location (you can select the number of miles in the settings option).

You can also create an account and view pictures and reviews by other parents who have visited the places listed. There is also an option to add a play place that isn’t listed. I live in Cincinnati, and I didn’t find any indoor playareas come up on my search, even when I extended the miles up to 50, so I plan on adding a few areas that I’ve tested and approved.

One drawback about this app is that it is not covered in all cities: it only includes San Francisco, New York City, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland, Boise, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Albuquerque, Maui, Oahu, and Seattle. The app developers promise that it is continually being updated with new locations, so if your area isn’t covered, check back in a few months. I’ll also blog out updates to this app as well.

More Time Moms Family Meals

Looking into the app More Time Moms by Family Meals for the iPhone 3g/g4, iPods, and iPads.

It provides a menu for every day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or just dinner if you prefer) for up to six weeks. Then it gives you a weekly grocery list for the items. Seems really useful when your house has no food, but you have no inspiration on what to get to make for dinners. I think it would be pretty easy to substitute a meal or ingredient out for something you know your family will enjoy better.

The only drawback is that it doesn’t provide free recipes on how to prepare the menu and grocery items it provides; it would have been nice to have it all tied together, but I guess you’ve got to make money somewhere so I understand. Coming soon is the recipe book you can purchase on the ipad or as an ebook for $19.99. However, that doesn’t discourage me, because you can easily avoid the cost and just Google the menu for recipes online. Or you could give back to the app if you found it helpful by purchasing the cookbook, plus 5% of all profits go to children’s charities which is great.

Still trying it out, and will give it a whirl at the grocery store tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it fits budget wise too. Leave me feedback if you’ve used it.

Here’s the website to learn more: http://www.moretimemoms.com/