When Microsoft nixed its two-screen tablet project, local engineers Benjamin Monnig and Ricky Drake decided to incorporate the technology into an iPad app. Taposé was funded by a Kickstarter campaign in early 2011 and allows users to open up a digital journal on one half of their screen and a separate application on the other. You can add sticky notes, change pen colors, and even include photos, videos, and audio recordings. Taking notes is finally fun. $2.99, tapose.com

Bicoastal sisters Susan Givens and Carol Mack started bag brand Dabbawalla when Givens’s oldest reached school age. “I had been working on sketches of travel bags for women, but we switched gears when I couldn’t find a suitable lunch bag for my son,” says Givens. The colorful backpacks and lunch bags she came up with instead incorporate whimsical designs and are made from materials tested above and beyond government children’s safety standards. By the way: A dabbawalla is a person who delivers lunchboxes in India. Look for an adult line next year. Backpacks $40, lunch bags $30, dabbawallabags.com

Shortly after graduating from college with a bachelor’s in biology with a focus on zoology, Tere Hurst decided she preferred drawing animals to studying them. So she headed off to illustration school in New York and, following a series of jobs that included everything from executive chef to surgical instructor, launched her craft line Murmur Fremo in Seattle in 2010. The artist, who works primarily as a surgical technologist in Swedish Hospital’s OR, now dabbles in ceramics, painting, and textiles, but her favorite medium is paper clay, which she uses to sculpt well-dressed animal miniatures like this ruler-wielding owl. $28–$55, murmurfremo.com

In 2004 Guided Products was a small Ballard company run by long-time friends David Stober and Brant Williams. Today the company has a growing product lineup of office supplies—like the Green School Supply Kit, which contains a durable three-ring ReBinder and six earth-friendly notebooks and six folders—that are American-made, entirely recyclable, and ideal for creative types and doodle fanatics. $40, guidedproducts.com

The Experimental College at the University of Washington started when a group of students sought to restructure the education system by providing community-­focused classes with no grades or credits. Did we mention this was the ’60s? Since then, the experiment has grown into a less radical alternative-learning program offering over 120 courses each quarter. Local experts submit class proposals with curricula ranging from conversational Tagalog to Flirting 101. Classes are available to students and community members alike, with prices ranging from free one-night sessions to multi-class courses for around $100. depts.washington.edu/asuwxpcl

Lee and Vanda Minea opened a one-and-a-half-acre apple orchard in Redmond in 1989, and what started as a weekend hobby quickly grew into a full-on working farm. Minea Farm now has over 100 apple trees and a clucking flock of chickens that keep the Mineas busy producing apple butter, applesauce, and fruit leathers and rounding up eggs from their brood. In 2000 the couple acquired a 100-year-old apple press that was formerly housed in the McNeil Island Corrections Center. Today it presses fresh cider for everyone all year round. 13404 Woodinville Redmond Rd, Redmond

Published: September 2013