Saturday, August 31, 2024

Digitalscrapbook.com September 2024 Blog Train: Homecoming

Once upon there was a website called Pixel Scrapper, which is now digitalscrapbook.com.  This site revolves around a strong community of scrappers and designers who create amazing digital goodies for use in scrapbooking and other paper crafting.

This site has been running a monthly blog train of designs for over ten years.  Over the years designers have come and gone, but this month they're running a "Homecoming" train and they've asked designers who once participated to come back and join in.  It has been quite a while since I did a blog train, so I thought I'd hop in!  These two paper packs are 3600x3600 pixels at 300dpi and they're good for personal or classroom use (don't sell things you make with them). 

Just click each preview to download the paper pack.

Glitter paper for the September 2024 digitalscrapbook.com blog train

Click above, or HERE to download the glitters.

pattern paper for the September 2024 digitalscrapbook.com blog train

Click above, or click HERE to download the patterns.

Thanks for stopping by!  I don't update this blog very often now since I'm busy teaching and living life, but feel free to subscribe over in the sidebar --> if you'd like to see when I do update.  

Monday, August 19, 2024

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 During my recent trip to Canada, I spent a day on Toronto.  With my friends, we took a train that ended up at the Union Station.  Upon exiting the station, this was my view:

Stepping out of the station...

Then, we boarded a tourist bus.  It was a double-decker, hop-on/hop-off tour and it was a lot of fun, though the timing didn't quite work the way we expected and we ended up making 1 1/2 circles around.  The reason for that will come in a later post!

The ride was great.  I really like buildings, so I took a lot of pictures of skyscrapers and other buildings.  I have no idea what some of them are, but they looked neat, so I snapped away.









Yes, I took this one backward/upside down!


I loved seeing all the flowers and plants all over the buildings. It's very pretty.



There were lots of other touristy things I saw, of course.  The CN tower, of course:

CN Tower.

Distillery district.  It was very crowded.


Dundas Square in Toronto, supposedly comparable to Times Square due to the flashy signs.


Monday, August 12, 2024

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

I recently took a trip to Canada in order to meet some friends I've known online for several years, but never got a chance to meet in person.  Don't worry! We talk at least twice a week, we have video chatted, I've spoken with their significant others and children, so it was definitely a safe trip, despite them being "internet friends."  It was a magical trip!

I spent a day in Niagara Falls, and a day in Toronto.  This post is about Niagara - the Canada side, because the American side looks really boring!  I actually flew into Buffalo, NY, then one of my friends met me at the airport and drove me to Canada, because the plane ticket was several hundred dollars cheaper that way.

Crossing the Border to Canada

After crossing the border, we met my friend L's wife and daughter and another of my friends, P, at a restaurant that serves a lot of chicken.  It's called Swiss Chalet.  Apparently this is a popular Canadian chain.  I don't like new food, so I got chicken tenders - which are universal, and hard to mess up.  It was good!  Then, we drove around the tourist area of Niagara Falls.  There are lots of things to see there, and it reminds me a lot of the 'strip' in Branson, Missouri.

Go-karts or something similar.

Touristy Stuff

More touristy stuff.

Tall hotels that overlook the falls.


We were going to actually stop and look at the falls, but I was there on a very busy Saturday afternoon and there was nowhere at all to park anywhere near a spot with a view, and we are old and out of shape and couldn't walk that far.  So, we went back on Tuesday morning.


The roaring water was soothing.  It was raining, and the mist from the falls is pretty overpowering right at the edge, so I was drenched but it was still great to see!  Here are a few pictures:


A tourist boat that goes near the bottom of the falls.  I did NOT want to do that, so I just watched these lunatics do it instead.

Such pretty colors in the water!

Two tourist boats are visible here, along with both sets of falls.

This is the view driving over the Rainbow Bridge between Canada and the US.


Thursday, August 1, 2024

Simple Weekly Planning Page

 This is a pretty simple page I use to plan my week.  My classroom is not typical - we don't study a traditional academic curriculum, but I still try to do something in that realm daily.  Each week I pick a theme, then find a video for each day.  I also find a read-aloud for each day (or a longer one that takes all week), an educational activity, and a small craft or project.



If you're interested in using this for your planning, please do!  Just don't sell it.  You can click the image, or click HERE to download the pdf file.