Greathouse Photography Blog

25+ Uses for a Coffee Filter!!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Better than paper towels and a lot less expensive... COFFEE FILTERS

Coffee filters .... Who knew!

And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing even the large ones.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome... Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust. 6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc. on them. It soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors. 17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.

18. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.

19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.

20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.

21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.

23. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book.

25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.

OH YEAH THEY ARE GREAT TO USE IN YOUR COFFEE MAKERS TOO.

Time for a PARTY!!!!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:23:00 +0000

We are having an Open House and Facebook Party for Seniors 2010! It will be this coming Thursday evening, July 30, from 5 - 8 p.m., at our Home Studio in Lenexa. We will have some pizza, snacks, sweets and drinks. It is a great opportunity to bring a friend and visit with us about getting custom Senior Portraits for 2010 Seniors.

We will take 4-5 images, in our studio, of each guest that attends our gathering and put our favorite on Facebook for you to use on your profile.

Can't wait to see you!

Our address is: 14940 Rhodes Circle, Lenexa, KS 66215

Or check out our website for the address and link to mapquest for directions.

See you soon, Mark & Pam

Jordan & Carl

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:14:00 +0000

I was second shooter at this wedding with my fellow photographer LouAnn Balderston. What a great day we had! Jordan and Carl, thank you for making our day with you sooooo easy.

Katie's Ambassador Session

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Katie is another new Senior Ambassador!

She goes to McClouth High School. We can't wait to do her fall session in McClouth!

Here is her Ambassador Show.

Kelly's Ambassador Session

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:09:00 +0000

Kelly is from Olathe East and is our first 2010 Senior. She is also our first 'Ambassador'. The ambassador program is for a select few seniors from each school, who receive discounts, complimentary product and can earn by referring others to our studio.

Great job Kelly!

Mark & Pam

Yes, We Really Are Still Here .....

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000

As we grow, we have neglected our blog readers; and for that, we are sorry.

So here we go..........

OUR MASCOT, TOPAZ

To our clients and friends who have come to know Topaz,
we are sad to inform you that we had to say goodbye
to her in May. She is greatly missed. She was nearly 14.

NEW Team Banners!

We have introduced a new Team Banner Program!
For each varsity team we service, we provide a complimentary 6' x3' team banner,
complete with team roster and graphics. We can also produce the 2' x 3' Senior Individual Banners
to recognize your Senior athletes. It is important to get your team scheduled early
so you can enjoy your banners as long as possible.
Banners are delivered to teams within 10 days of picture day.
Call now for more info and to get started! 913-677-2594

One Last Thing

It is time to start your Senior Portrait Plans.

To get started, call us, 913-677-2594

Stay tuned for our Open House,

to be announced this week!

And the Winners Are....

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:57:00 +0000

At last weekend's THS Basketball Tourney we had a drawing from all of our customers. We drew 5 names and each winner will receive a Custom Single Image Print, like the example here, of their athlete. It can be either an 8x10 or 11x14.

The winners are:

Michael Ellis-Lansing Girls'

Tim Dieker-Silver Lake Girls'

Jana Hague-Eudora Boys

Deron Johnson-Silver Lake Boys

Janet Gripka-THS Dance Team

Congratulations to all! We will be in touch soon!

Yours truly, Mark

To see all the tournament images click this line.

Tongie Tourney is complete!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:34:00 +0000

The 50th Annual THS Tourney is now complete! After 24 games and over 1800 images it is time for a day's rest.

This year's Girls' Champions are the Lansing Lions!
Great job Lions!

The boys Championship game was between Tonganoxie and DeSoto! This is the first time in my 5 years that THS Boys made it to the final game. Congrats THS!
Unfortunately, the game didn't go quite the way they would have liked. DeSoto pulled away in the 2nd quarter and never looked back.

Congratulations to the DeSoto Wildcats!

Thanks to all the teams, parents, coaches and THS families
that made this 50th Annual Tournament a wonderful week!

Mark

To see all the tournament images click this line.

It's Tourney Time in Tonganoxie Again!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:18:00 +0000

This morning I travel to Tonganoxie High School. It is time to hang my lights in their gym for tonight's first game of their annual basketball tournament. This is a special tournament as it is their 50th anniversary of the Tourney! It has grown to now include 8 girls' teams as well as the 8 boys' teams. This is my 5th consecutive year to offer tournament photography coverage for them.

This year the teams playing are:
Atchison, DeSoto, Don Bosco, Eudora, Jeff West, Lansing, Silver Lake and Tonganoxie.

Games start at 3pm today. They will have 4 games tonight and tomorrow, Tues. And then 4 more games Thursday and 4 more Friday. Then on Saturday they will have all 8 finals. It is always a fun filled and very busy week.

And last but not least, the hospitality room. The past 3 years THS has gone thru some major renovations to their school. This year they have taken what used to be their old theater and made it the Chieftain Room. A great multi purpose room! During the tournament it is the hospitality suite. If any tournament wants to learn how to run a hospitality room, look no further! The booster parents do the best job taking care of teams, officials and any tournament workers of any tournament I have ever been to! You guys are the best!

Yours truly,
Mark

OE Boys Swim Team

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Next, we traveled to California Trail to take the OE Boys' Swim Team pictures. The ONW coach referred us to the OE team and we have been taking their team pictures for 4-5 years as well. Thanks Hank!

These first four images are the four class groups that we do for the team for their end of year banquet. This group has always been fun to work with as they express themselves and their spirit!

Here is the team picture with one of the individual images. We wish the Team and Coach Dave a great season!

Mark

ONW Swim and Basketball Teams

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:43:00 +0000

Just before Christmas break we were with the ONW Ravens Boys Swim Team. We have enjoyed the opportunity to take their team and individual images for five years now. A great group and always fun to work with! Good luck this year!

Then, just after the holiday break we gathered with the ONW Girls' Basketball team. Again, we have been their team photographer for five years. The last two years we have taken the individual images at the backboard. It takes a little more time than the usual pose on the floor, but it is worth it! And our thanks to the coaching staff to give up a little more of their practice time to get these unique individual images. And hats off to the girls, as some of them have not or very rarely ever climbed a ladder! Here are the two team pic's and a sample of the individual shot and one really fun buddy picture!

Great job Teams!

Mark

Our Holiday Time

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:23:00 +0000

It has been a busy Christmas and New Year season! Our oldest daughter has once again moved. She visited a high school friend who has moved to Prague, that's right, the one in Czech. She came back crazy about him again and announced that she was moving there on Dec 17. So away she went! We get to visit with her on Skype with a webcam. My first experience with Skype and now our other two daughters, one in Georgia @ UWG and the other @ Butler CC are also set up so we can not only talk with them but see them a little more often.

Our Georgia girl, Jenna, was only home for a bit more than 3 weeks and time just flew by. She spent as much time as possible with her Czech bound sister for 3 days before she left and fought a cold for a bit.

Our youngest, the Butler girl, had almost 6 weeks off! I think it was almost too much as she had a hard time going back and getting in the grove again. Mikenna is only a bit over 2 hours away, so we still see her on weekends no and then.

We got the family a Wii for Christmas! What a great break in the evening and cold and snowy days to have something at home besides the TV. My personal favorite is the tennis. We also enjoy the bowling. It made our daughter want to go bowling for real and she came home with a new view on how hard it really is. We had dinner with family before Ciara moved to Prague, and my dad enjoyed Wii enough to go get his own the next week.

Mark

Thanksgiving with the family!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:35:00 +0000

THANKSGIVING with the family (well, almost everyone) - Thanksgiving was nice to have at our house for the whole family with a traditional feast. We don't often have the holiday celebrations at our home. It was nice that family members could come and go as they wanted. Having a home gallery is great on holidays. It is a blessing and convenience to get portraits of everyone while eating, watching television and playing games (except for the photographer...). These are 3 of our adult kids. The missing one is our daughter in Georgia that I am visiting tomorrow. I look forward to sharing pictures from the trip. You may notice there is another redhead, but she is our son's "girlfriend".

This is Mark's sister with her husband and son. It is hard to get all 3 of them together for a family portrait. They are on our front porch.

This is our nephew, James with his girlfriend.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYBODY! MARK AND PAM

Matt Scores Big!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:33:00 +0000

It was a long wait to get his baseball jersey, but it was worth it! Matt is a SMW Senior who has spent all his extra time playing baseball and now considering which college scholarship to accept. It goes without saying that some of his session would be centered around baseball. You would never know from the portraits that Matt had to "fight" the breezy day but short hair helps (ha, ha). We look forward to hearing more about your scholarship choice and seeing you again soon.

Mark and Ciara

No mask needed for this Halloween shoot!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:31:00 +0000

What a beautiful Halloween day! We had amazing colors with the fall leaves and a wonderful afternoon sun but it is Melissa that shined today! We started out at her house in the country and it is obvious that she is at home in the quiet surroundings of Tongie. We found a quiet country road, went downtown to the old train depot and finished at a secluded pond in the woods. Thank you for sharing your 'peace in the woods' with us.

These are just two of her favorite 36 images.

To see the rest click here.

See you soon! Mark & Pam

An outing with the Edinger's

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:16:00 +0000

The entire Edinger family went with us to Unity Village for their portraits. The windy day posed a challenge but didn't stop the kids from laughing, playing and being happy for the camera, well, most of the time... Having a casual picture walking and the more formal portraits is what makes Unity a good choice for families. Happy birthday Jenna!!!

Mark & Pam

Back to our home page.

Butler CC Soccer wins first playoff game!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:17:00 +0000

In a defensive battle on a chilly, windy day the Butler CC Soccer team eliminated Neosho CC in double overtime 1-0. They will move on to play this coming Saturday in Topeka in the KJCCC regional quarterfinal game. The last two years the Butler squad has not been able to advance past Saturday's game. Stay tuned for more!

For all the game images from Butler click here!

Click here for our Home Page

Wyatt, KJ and our kids babysitter.

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:26:00 +0000

Pam and I were out on a Senior Safari at Antioch Park and ran into the young lady that was our babysitter when our family was young. Stephanie started sitting for us when she was 12. We were friends with her parents at our church. She would go on vacation with us every summer at the lake, play with the kids, and give Pam and I a 'night out'. We had not seen or heard from her for 5 or 6 years and were absolutely delighted to have found her again. She has since married the same boy she was seeing when she sat for us and they now have 2 beautiful children. Steph brought the kids over to have some fun and get a few images. We look forward to seeing them more.

Good to have you back in our lives!

Mark & Pam

To see the rest of their images click here.

Greathouse Photography Home Page

Baron Turns 1!!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:07:00 +0000

We got to help Grandma surprise Baron's parents with these portraits for his first birthday! We have had the fortune of starting with this family by being their wedding photographer. Again for maternity images and then Baron's first baby pictures. Thank you for counting us in all your special moments!

Mark & Pam

See the rest of Baron's images here.

Our Home Page Here!

U of West Georgia Wolves!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:37:00 +0000

Last weekend I finally got to see my other daughter, Jenna, in a soccer game with her new school, UWG! It has been really hard having her so far away. The game was in Searcy, AR, only 480 miles away and the closest game to us this year.

The Wolves gave us a great game to see. It wasn't looking so good at half, we were behind 2-1. But they came out in the second half and turned it up! They tied it up on a great corner and header that got behind the keeper. Here is the sequence!

UWG scored the game winning goal with only 1:30 left in regulation. It was a powerful shot from around 25 yards that was just high and hard enough to go through the goalie's fingertips and into the net.
Their victory knocked Harding U out of playoff contention in the GWC and moved within one game of securing their spot in the Conference tournament. Here is the team after the game!

Click here to see all the images from the game!

Jenna, it was unbelievably great to see you and watch your new team play!

Love U, DAD

Our Personal Mascot & Greeter!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:11:00 +0000

Whether you have already met Topaz or not, she will probably beat us to the door to greet you. She is as eager to meet you as we are. One of the friendliest dogs you could ever imagine. My grandmother always said "Topaz, you always make me feel good, you have more wrinkles than I'll ever have."

THS Cross Country

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:09:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to be at SM Park for a Cross Country meet. It was beautiful that day with blue skies, a nice breeze and fall temps.

I don't know how you all run these distances!

Running was never in my 'bag of tricks'.

For all the images from these meet click here.

Andy & Bailey B!

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:24:00 +0000

While at the Cross Country meet at SM Park today, I ran into my daughter's club soccer coach and friend. Andy and the Legends were not my girls' first coach but with his unique training and disciplines, he helped them be in a position to play competitive soccer and earn scholarships for their craft. This is Andy & Christie's third daughter, who was running in today's meet.

Thanks Andy!!

Mark & Pam

Eliason's Senior Story

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:43:00 +0000

Eli is a SMW Senior who knows where he came from,

who he is now,

and has already picked his college destination. Eli took us on a 'Safari' and shared his transition from a previous city and lifestyle, to whom he has become while at SMW.
Thanks for sharing and good luck!

Mark & Pam

Lauren's Senior Outing

markandpam@greathousephotography.com (Greathouse Photography) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:34:00 +0000

We had another great experience with a THS senior, Lauren. With a winning smile and dimples to match, we just couldn't go wrong.

Great Job Lauren!

Mark & Pam