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Five Handy Websites I Keep Bookmarked

Whether it’s for food, photography, travel or shopping, here are just a handful of the helpful websites I visit regularly that make my life easier!

camelcamelcamel

5 Useful Websites You Need to Know About

1. CamelCamelCamel. CamelCamelCamel is an Amazon price tracker. Search for any item you’d buy on Amazon, and it will give you a history of the item’s price. You can see if there was a recent price drop — or a recent price hike. You can set up a free alert to notify you when the price drops below a certain number. It’s a great tool if you’re wanting to make a big purchase (like a Kitchenaid Mixer) but want to wait for it to go on sale first.

I recently used CamelCamelCamel to save $20 on this Cuisinart Griddler. The price had been hovering at $99.95 for weeks, but according to CamelCamelCamel, it’d sold for less than $80 in the past. I set up a price alert to notify me when it dropped to $80 or below. Sure enough, it dropped to $79.95, and I got the email. I bought it that day, and guess what? The next day, the price was back up to $99.95.

webstagram

2. Webstagram. This is a neat site for Instagram. With this site, even if you don’t have Instagram, you can view a gallery of all your favorite users’ Instagram photos. I know I would’ve LOVED to know about this site before I got Instagram! I would’ve loved to be able to view my friends and favorite bloggers photos in gallery form and subscribe to them by RSS so I could stay updated without Instagram. With Webstagram you can easily search for a user, scroll through their photos, see all the comments, get a link to the full-size image, and even see what filter they used. You can even use a site like FeedMyInbox to get their new photos emailed to you daily.

picnik

3. PicNik. I’m sure you guys know about PicNik for free online photo editing, but since I mostly use Photoshop, I didn’t really check them out until recently. I wish I had sooner! They’re great for quick and easy collages, like the one above. You can even easily add in sweet rounded corners for personality. I could do this in Photoshop — and have done it before — but it’s so much faster (and much less of a hassle) to just drop these in a PicNik template for a quick, gorgeous collage. A huge time-saver!

yelp

4. Yelp. This is the site I use to find restaurants and bakeries everywhere I travel. I put in the city I’m visiting and search by category for the most reviewed and highest rated bakeries, sweet shops, and restaurants. It’s great for other things too, like shopping (where to find cute and hidden boutiques) and pedicures — a friend used it to find Nouvelle Nail Spa in Atlanta, Georgia where she took me and we received the most incredible pedicures of our entire lives. I go back as often as possible, and would live there if it was in my city.

Honorable Mention: Urbanspoon. This is another one I’ll check for restaurant recommendations by city. I like how you can view a list of the top 100 restaurants in the city.

5. Calorie Count Recipe Analysis. I’ve told you guys about this site before, but it’s such a great tool, I had to share it again. You guys know I love to bake sweets and could practically subsist on sugar! But I’m able to do that by watching what I eat on a regular basis. Although it would be much more fun to subsist on sugar. Alas. Using this site lets me enjoy the best of both. I can use the website or the iPhone app to track what I’m eating and it automatically counts the calories for me. For me, I generally eat between 1200-1500 a day. Unless I’m on vacation. Read more about that (and see some before and after photos) here!

What I love most is the Recipe Analysis tool. The site already has the nutritional information for most fast food restaurants and a lot of chain restaurants, but I usually cook at home. With the Recipe Analysis tool, I can copy and paste the ingredients for any recipe I want to make and it will automatically generate the nutritional information, including the number of calories, for the recipe. You also have to enter a “serving size” so that way you’ll know exactly how much you can put on your plate.

Later this week I’ll be headed to San Diego for some sweet shoppin’ and bakery hoppin’ fun with Jenny. Keep in touch with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, I’ll be sure to post lots of photos of our sweet finds! Have a great rest of your week, I’ll be back on Friday with a fun giveaway, stay tuned! :)

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53 Responses
  1. Jessica M

    Thank you so much for posting this! I didn’t know about Picnik, and don’t have photoshop….so this is a great site for me!

  2. Donna

    Thanks for the great sites. I’ve shared them with my sweetie as we do a ton of online shopping and price comparisons so this will be helpful.

    Have a great trip – wonderful weather here in California right now!

    Blessings, Donna
    grandma4five

  3. Rachel

    Thanks for that picnik one! I have been using photoshop to try to make collages and it takes forever! This is so much easier and handier…I will be using it often on my blog now!

  4. Mary Cardini-Anderson

    I see the same thing when I open up Picnik. It may have not worked because I only opened one photo. I will try again. Thanks Amanda. :)

    Mary

  5. Kristin Murdock

    I love PicNik!!! You’re exactly right, it’s a great alternative for Photoshop when you just want to do something quick and simple. I am also a huge Yelp fan. How did I ever know where to eat or stay before Yelp? :) Hope you have fun in SD… next year I’ll join you gals.

  6. Tiffany

    Thanks for sharing. I have picnik and love it. I also use instagram, didn’t know about Webstagram! Will definately check it out. I’m diggin’ that Camel 3X too! Thanks for sharing!

  7. Niki

    I LOVE using Calorie Counter. It’s the best tool for recipes! I can’t wait to try out PikNik. I’m a horrible photographer, so I’m constantly trying to find ways to make my photography better!

  8. Mary Cardini-Anderson

    Hi Amanda,

    I have PicNik and have never seen the template that you used. I just looked for it after reading your post and still can not locate it. I pay for the service so Ishould have access to it. Can you please tell me where on PicNik it can be found? Thanks. Love your photos.

    Mary

  9. Liz (Little Bitty Bakes)

    Gosh, I wish I could go to San Diego, BlogHer sounds like so much fun. Actually, BlogHer sounds like a good time… it’s the bakery hopping, sightseeing that sounds like a GREAT time!

    Off to check out Picnik, thanks!

  10. HeatherB

    Love the list of websites. I think UrbanSpoon is going to be my undoing – they have quite a few choices (and high ratings) for restaurants and bakeries my city and I wasn’t expecting that.

  11. Stephanie

    Um, I just feel the need to let you know (probably again) how awesome you are! Thanks so much for sharing. I’ll definitely be visiting these sites in the near future!

  12. TidyMom

    I love most of those already but didn’t know about CamelCamelCamel! thanks so much Amanda!!

    I’m doing a post on favorite iphone photo apps tomorrow

    Have fun at BlogHer

  13. Jeanette

    Thank you Thank you Thank you! I’ve bookmarked two already! I was just looking for a quick and easy way to do collages so this is perfect! Thanks for sharing!

  14. Tracy

    Thank you SO MUCH for sharing that first website! I notice there’s a lot of price dropping/hiking on Amazon, and I’ve always just tried to keep track of it myself. This will make my life so much easier!!

  15. Shelley

    Hi Amanda, I am loving your blog! I get such great inspiration from your posts and am hoping to rejuvenate my blog soon. I’m currently “under construction” (but live) and I’ve learned so much from you. I am so envious that you and so many others are going to San Diego! I wish I could go but its our wedding anniversary. I will definitely be going next year and hopefully by then my blog will be a little more interesting! <3 Can't' wait to try all of your fun ideas, especially PicNik! Oh, and I'm a total Yelper! ;) Thanks for your wisdom!
    Shelley

  16. Amanda Bumgarner

    Oh my gosh, Amanda! You have simultaneously destroyed and enlightened my life. I did NOT know about Picnik, but after spending the last hour playing with photos, I do now! I have always wondered how people get those awesome collages, and now I can do it too! Thank you thank you! {p.s. the destroyed part comes in when I stop going to work and spend all my free time making picture collages}

  17. Jan

    Thanks for the all the sites! I use MyNetDiary to count calories…I also stay around 1500 cal/day. Unless I just feel like splurging or am on vaca! Have a great time in San Diego!

  18. The Mrs @ Success Along the Weigh

    I don’t go *anywhere* without checking Yelp first! From restaurants to attractions to doctors, it’s the best! I’ve used Picnik before but didn’t know it did collages! *runs off to Picnik site* *runs back*

    Thank you for sharing!

    *runs back off the Picnik site*

  19. Kathy - Panini Happy

    Thanks for the heads up about CamelCamelCamel (and congrats on the new Griddler!) – I’m an amazon addict, I should definitely be using this site. :-) Looking forward to catching up with you on Friday!

  20. Noe

    First time commenter but reading you for abt 2 years now :)

    I’ve recently splurged on Picnik Premium, totally worth it ;)
    Thank You so much for the heads up on this websites.
    I’ve been so itched to get an iphone that’s how in LOVE I’m with
    Instagram, but too bad i phone service is just too expensive in South America
    for the limitet acces to apps we have. So this totally helps me to hold on my obsession LOL. Thanx! xoxo

  21. Averie @ Love Veggies and Yoga

    Amanda, I love the links!

    The CamelCamelCamel sounds awesome.

    But Webstagram..off to check that next. I have become HUGELY addicted to Instagram the past month (love looking at all your pics!) on IG

    And with Webstagram, I smell another new and easy addiction brewing :)

    Picnik…b/c I have Lightroom, I have only used it once but need to do it more. So much easier for collage making.

    And I live in San Diego! If you have a free minute, I’d love to say hi to you..and Jenny! I am going to a few blogger events Thurs night. If you want to join up, lmk!

    :)

    1. Amanda

      Hi Melissa! I created an action that will do it, and I’d love to share it, but it’s not as simple to use as a regular action — which is the only reason I haven’t shared it yet! :)

      First, the image has to be a certain, exact size — 480 x 480 pixels. It can’t just be square, it has to be that exact size. Second, you’d have to install a pattern first (that crisscross background pattern). You’d only have to install it the first time, and it’s easy to install, just drag and drop into Photoshop I believe (that’s how it works on the Mac, not 100% sure for Windows!)

      I could also include a tutorial for how to get it to work on photos of a different size. You would just have to do 2 quick steps first, then you could run the action.

      Would that be too much of a pain, or is it something you guys would be interested in? :)

    1. Casey L.

      There are some frames, like the before/after feature where it will leave a watermark. Otherwise, nope, no watermark. I ended up getting premium because I love using a few of those features but before I paid for it I never had a watermark. (And I’ve used it for a few years.)

  22. Natalie @ Queen of Whirled

    OOO! Thanks for PicNick. Lightroom storyboards are also a snap. Editing in general is a snap in LR. Have you tried it?

  23. Southern Gal

    Oh, why didn’t I know about CamelCamelCamel before I bought my camera. It dropped in price immediately after I purchased it. Now I know. Thanks!

    I subscribe to picnik because it’s the only photo editing tool I use and I wanted to have access to more tools. (My old computer won’t support PhotoShop and still run…) It was only $24.95 for a one year subscription.

    I’m off to check out Calorie Count and yelp now. Thanks again.

  24. Julie

    I LOVE Picnik, I haven’t learned Photoshop yet, so this is what I use all the time. Thanks for all the sites, I will use them all.

  25. Maria @ Busy as a Bee in Paris

    Amanda, Good to know about piknik, i just use picasa because it’s so easy, but have been tempted by piknik many times and like you said, it’s free! only problem: my very old computer just can’t handle it, but as soon as we get a new one…. i think piknik is going to become my new friend! bisous xoxo

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Meet Kevin & Amanda

Kevin and Amanda

We love to travel and to eat! Here we share our favorite quick and easy recipes, plus travel tips and guides for our favorite places around the world. If you have any questions about what camera I use or how I edit my photos, check out my photography tutorials.

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