Digital scrapbooking even faster!

Close To My Heart has introduced Express Collections that make digital scrapbooking with Studio J even faster! Express Collections are groups of layouts that are designed for you. Examples include "A Year in Review", "Travel", "School Days," Little Miss", "Little Man" and more.

I have been loving these new layouts - I used the Travel collection and within a couple of hours scrapbooked 8 layouts from two of our cross-country trips! I can't do that with classic scrapbooking. Drop in the pictures, edit the titles, add journaling and I was done.

Check out this video to see how Express Collections work:

A Week at One-Room School House

We had a chance to experience 1860 pioneer life at Black Creek Pioneer Village at the beginning of September. The kids and I spent four days in school with seven other homeschool families participating in a one-room school house. There were 35 children altogether, ranging in age from 4 to 17  - a true one-room experience!

Jeremy learning how to spin wool

 

Highlights of the week included a visiting the blacksmith, flour mill, a spelling bee, learning a dance (the girls enjoyed this anyways), and bread, butter and jam sandwiches for our pioneer lunches.

Jeremy during his math lesson

Our group

Dancing

Inspiration from CTMH

Close To My Heart has come out with quite a few new videos showcasing their latest and greatest new products! Here's two of my favourites:

First, learn about our fantastic new alcohol based markers while making a harvest banner:


and second, discover a super simple new stamping technique to add interest and dimension to your stamping!

Day 7 - Toronto, ON

We arrived home in Toronto around 8:30 pm Friday night and unpacked the van. The kids were pretty distracted checking out their rooms and toys again though! No pictures from the day - we basically just drove after doing a little bit of shopping in Kalamazoo. We stopped at one park along the way to stretch our legs but it was another hot day so the kids barely played - the swings were the best part! We're looking forward to attending our church on Sunday and worshipping and fellowshipping with our friends there. This week the kids and I will be at Black Creek Pioneer Village attending a one-room school  - I'll share pictures and let you know how it goes!