Amelia’s Aprons is moving

May 7th, 2008

Yea! Our family here at Amelia’s Aprons has been learning much about patience and God’s timing. Over the past 2 years we have looked at over 10 different properties with great interest in all of them. However, none of them seemed to be where God would have us. So we have been content and have been given great opportunity to practice our longsuffering while living in my mom’s basement. God, is good and all things work together for His purpose in His timing. And, we are glad for it.

We have finally found a home that is in the right place, at the right price with the right amount of land and very nice neighbors. ALL the others were not so perfect. God has kept us and placed us exactly where we wanted us to be despite ourselves. Praise the Lord.

So, our closing date is tomorrow May 8th, we will get the keys and begin our move. Since this property is essentially only 30 minutes down the road we will be working for a couple days taking a few trips rather than renting a moving truck.

What does this mean for you our beloved customers. Not a lot ;) We may be a little slow in answering e-mails over the next few days, but you should not experience any delays in shipping times. We should be able to move our operation from here to there in one smooth trip.

But, what it will mean for you, is that now we will have a full kitchen and garden, so posting will commence on all the wonderful goodies that we will once again be creating and all of the bountiful harvest that we look forward to collecting. Hopefully this will be a wonderful blessing to you.

So please bear with us, and rejoice with us and look forward to more post to come.

Return of the Apron

April 28th, 2008

This is an article that I wrote a little over a year ago. I thought I would repost it now,in an attempt to replace some content that was lost. 

Return On the Apron

Aprons have been a part of our culture for hundreds of years. If you take a look back in history, you will see that aprons were used for many practical purposes and were worn by both men and woman. They were worn by blacksmiths, farmers, shopkeepers, and millers and used in daily chores like gathering eggs, working in the garden, cooking and cleaning. The main function of the apron was to protect the clothing and keep trade tools handy. Whatever you were doing on the farm or in your profession, the apron extended the number of days that an outfit could be worn before washing and extended the life of the clothing underneath. Most aprons were long and made of durable fabrics; some were even made of wool to protect women from burning when cooking over an open hearth.As the years progressed, apron styles began to change to meet the needs of the wearer. With the end of World War II came a boom of home entertainment and dinner parties. It was the “Leave it to Beaver” era, and moms were in the kitchen. Homemade pies and breads awaited hungry children almost every afternoon, and mom enjoyed her daily task of home management. The apron then took on a new look. It was no longer worn for just practical purposes; it was now worn for style. Aprons were soon known as the symbol of the homemaker, and every mother and hostess had one, if not several. There were hundreds of styles and colors, and most moms had fancy, decorative aprons to match outfits for special occasions. Then, almost overnight, the apron was gone. Not quite without a trace, but gone as far as the fashion industry was concerned.

I have heard the apron called an icon of the past, so where did it go? With the dawn of the women’s liberation movement, more and more jobs became available to women, and women slowly began to leave their homes. There was no longer a need for feminine fashion statements that had such close ties to the home and hearth. There was no time to bake or entertain–no time at home to do many of the things women once enjoyed doing. Many of the homemaking skills like cooking, baking, sewing, and even cleaning were looked upon as drudgery. We hired maids, cooks, and childcare professionals to do our jobs for us, and the skills of the home manager were all but lost. Our young maidens no longer had moms at home to teach them how to be homemakers, so they, in turn, went off to work, too. You could say, “We’ve come a long way baby”, but I think we have been traveling in the wrong direction.

However, I do not despair, for I see a change in the tides. There is hope on the horizon, because the apron is back! I know the apron by itself cannot help women reclaim their home and once again embrace motherhood. But, statistics show that sales of aprons are on the increase. If more women are buying aprons, that means more women are once again embracing God’s design and returning to the home–returning to raise their children, cook the meals, clean the house, be helpers to their husbands and managers of their homes, therefore having a need for functional, feminine aprons.

New payment option-that earns you money

April 25th, 2008

Over this past week I was introduced to a new company used for internet payment. Revolution Money Exchange work much like paypal. Without some of the fee’s that Paypal charges.

Currently this company is offering a sign on promotion. You can earn $25.00 just for signing up. It is really very simple. You create an acount just like you would for paypal or any other internet payment site. They send you $25.00.After you accept the money it is yours. No gimmicks, No tricks.

They are also offering a $10.00 referal promotion that is only good until May 15th. So I would encourage you to act quickly. When your friends sign up under you, you recieve another $10.00 for up to 50 people. for a total of $500.00 wow!!

Use the link below to get started. Then tell all your friends. But hurry you only have until May 15th to earn the bonus money.

Refer A Friend using Revolution Money Exchange

  

 

We are planning to use this company as a payment option for our apron store very soon. If you would like to pay with this option before we get things set up please e-mail me for details.

 

oops, again :)

April 24th, 2008

You may be asking yourself what the previous post listed here have to do with aprons? Nothing. Once again my lack of experience and my over load of “to do” list items caught up with me in a very unpleasant way.

While trying to build a blog on my web hosting site. I inadvertently installed that blog in the same data base as this blog. The result, I lost ALL my content. So in an effort to maintain the same look and feel of the previous blog I had to copy the version from my book blog. So, I am back up and running, but It will take me awhile to retrieve my post. If I can retrieve them at all. I apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience while I work to sort out and re-post content that is relevant to this blog. In the mean time your preschoolers may enjoy some of the activities listed here. Thanks for your understanding

Sculpting with Foil

November 9th, 2007

What To Use

  • Plenty of aluminum foil
  • Clear tape
  • Long strait pins
  • Paint and brush or markers
  • Scraps of fabric or paper
  • Glue

What To Do

  1. Crumple aluminum foil to form shapes of object or creatures.
  2.  Fasten clumps together with pins or clear tape.
  3. Use paint or markers to add color.
  4. Glue on scraps of fabric, paper, and yarn, ect. To add details.

Enhance the creativity in your children by allowing them to create characters for a story. If you have young boys they may wish to create things like dinosaurs and creatures from long ago, or your young maiden may prefer to make a doll or a playmate for her doll.
 
Possibilities are endless when you unleash the creative mind. I encourage you to give very little direction on what to make, only direct in how to assemble. Leave the rest to their creativity.

Publishing News

November 2nd, 2007

I have experienced a delay in gathering finances to print these wonderful books. I do have a meeting with my illustrator (aunt) this weekend so we can finalize some things, then I am off to find a few investors for the printing of this project. The delay has been a long one but it looks like we may be able to print the first 3 books instead of just 1. This is great news for me and hopefuly you too. As soon as this project goes to the printer I can being taking pre-orders for them. Look for special early bird pricing and other great opportunities coming soon.

A full jar-art or sand and water play

November 2nd, 2007

This simple art project can help children grasp the concept of size and proportions. The key here is to experiment with several size jars and many different ideas to fill it. In doing so your child can learn simple proportion and relativity.

Can a ship really fit into a jar? How many jellybeans can fit in a jar? I would encourage you to also experiment with the real jar. Measure ahead of time bowls of water. Some bowl should fill the jar perfectly, some should not even come close and others can overflow the rim. Your child will have fun choosing which bowl to try next.

A Full Jar

What to use :

  1. A drawing of a bottle or jar Crayons,
  2. markers, or colored pencils

What to do :

  1.  Draw the outline of a jar or bottle.
  2.  Now think about what you might put in that jar that would really fill it. Use your imagination—-think of something that wouldn’t usually be found in a jar.
  3.  Now you are ready to draw. Make sure it fills the jar
  4.  Try it again with a different jar and a different filler

Compost Viewer

June 30th, 2007

This project is a great way to teach children about composting. Points of interest would be…

  1. What is compost?
  2. What items can go into a compost pile.
  3. What items cannot go into a compost pile.
  4. Why do we compost?
  5. What can we learn about recycling from composting?
  6. Being good stewards of what God has given us.
  7. And many more

Ok here’s what you need.

  1. 2 liter bottle
  2. Lettuce leaf
  3. Apple slice
  4. Any other compost-able food product
  5. A piece of Styrofoam
  6. Garden soil.

To create our compost viewer you will first need to cut off the top of the 2 liter bottle and poke holes into the bottom of it. Place your compost items into the bottle where they can be viewed from the side of the container. Slowly add your dirt until the container is about half full and all of your items are in view from the outside of the bottle. Set the bottle on a pie plate. Spray soil with water as needed to keep it moist.

Mark a calendar the day you set up your project. Check to see how many days before your food items begin to show change. Did the Styrofoam change? Discuss the effects that items like the Styrofoam have on our environment

Ink Blots

June 30th, 2007

Here is another great project using the India ink.

You can create your very own ink blots to encourage creative thinking.

  1. Fold a piece of art paper in half, then re-open.
  2. Place a blob of ink on the one half of the paper (experiment with ink placement)
  3. Fold paper in half and smooth with your hand
  4. Open and presto, your very own ink blot.

Ink Art

June 30th, 2007
Newspapers are a great thing to have around for this art project. It is lots of fun but can be a little messy.

You need

  1. drawing paper
  2. straws
  3. and India ink (found at most office or craft stores)

Place your drawing paper on top of newspapers (to protect your table) Place a drop of ink on the paper and set your child to blowing.

You can use this as a science project as well. Demonstrate the effects of the wind on the ink. Blowing harder produces a wider image where as a soft and gently breeze will make straighter lines. Encourage your child to control his breath to create a picture of his choosing.