A trip to the apple orchard
The lingering smell of hot apple cider and apple mini donuts welcomed us as we arrived at "Apple Junction". It was our first time visiting the Apple Junction. We'd visited other apple orchards in our area years past, but this year, my sister thought it might be fun to check out some of the smaller, more charming apple orchards. I wasn't sure what to expect, but turns out, the small orchards are just as great, if not better, than the larger, more popular orchards. Both the places we visited had a nice selection of fresh apples & activities for the kids. I ended purchasing a medium size bag of Honey Crisp apples, homemade apple cider, cider spices, and apple crisp mix. Ethan spent a lot of time running around, climbing on pumpkins, and mingled with the local farm animals on display. We dedicated the entire afternoon to the trip and by the time we got back, we were totally exhausted. It was soooo worth it though :) With the apples already almost gone, we'll be due for another trip to the apple orchard in the very near future. I love this time of year in Minnesota.
I've been very conservative with purchasing scrapbook product lately. For the first time in months, I placed an order with A Million Little Things. Since the their original debut, I've been anticipating the release of Collage Press's newest products; Clear stamps and paper lines "Camden" & " Jackson Lodge". Last week, while strolling the world wide web, and by some mere crazy accident, I ran into the newest Collage Press product at A Million Little Things. I picked up a few of the stamp sets and all of the papers. Believe it or not, the stamp sets are bigger than they appear online. Each set is 6" wide x 8" tall. The stamp sizes are proportional to the needs of a traditional scrapbook 12" x 12" layout. They're not so small that they get left behind in a layout design. They're actually quite large (the largest ring from the Charleston Ring collection is 5" wide) and highly noticeable on a 12" x 12" page. They're obviously made with the scrapbooker in mind. I love that. I also like the image designs, especially the rings. They're practical and can be used on any type of layout.
I also purchased a few other misc. items, including these cool, simple sticker labels from Luxe Designs. Again, it's all about practicality for me right now. These stickers will definitely find a place on my layouts/projects:
Prima Marketing came out with these 4-way vintage article transparencies. I added two of them (I believe there are 4 total transparencies available in this style) to my order. They're a great option for experimenting with new techniques and ideas. For example, how about including these in a mini album (as pages)? What about painting the background of one of the sections and including it on a layout? Layer the section with photos, journaling, miscellaneous stickers, papers, etc. There's an infinite number of possibilities using these beautiful, new transparencies.
Ethan remains interested in all things mechanical, including this nifty cool toy he took home a month or two ago. It's a plane on rails! With the touch of a button, it takes off into the "sky" and rotates through the air all by itself. It's an ingenious display of toy technology at it's finest. I still can't believe how well it works considering how often it gets used at my mom's place..I've transferred it there, which is where Ethan spends his afternoons while I work from home. I haven't done a lot of documenting of Ethan's toys. After Ali E. mentioned something about scrapbooking her son's toys, I knew I needed to do the same. It's an easy subject to forget when scrapbooking, though ironically, it's a subject we often reminisce about as adults (who doesn't think about the kinds of toys they played with as a kid?) I'm tempted to create more layouts on this subject. It's refreshing and oh'so fun.
*Lastly, I'm currently setting up a class schedule for 2009. If interested in having me teach in your area (or store), please contact me via email. Thanks!
