Choo, Choo! The April Blog Train is Full Steam Ahead!

Ok...sorry for the delay folks, but the Simple Girl Design freebie is ready to roll.

Download here.

Your next stop down the line: Snowraven's Cave Designshttp://silversnowyraven.blogspot.com

If you need to get back to the Blog Train Blog click here.  

Enjoy the ride!  And don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to find out about more Simple Girl Design freebies!

April Blog Train!

Having a little trouble uploading, please check back.  It should be uploaded and ready for download in the next hour or so! In the meantime, take a peek around, sign up for the newsletter and scroll down, there might be another freebie down there that you can download too!  If you want to be notified when the blog train freebie is up and ready subscribe to the blog (of course this will notify you of all other freebies as well:) 

Luck of the Irish to ya'

Happy St. Patrick's day everyone!  So, did anyone get pinched for not wearing green?  I was only able to muster up a green elastic for my hair today, but I work at a Baptist church, so I figured there would be no pinching going on.  My seven year old, however, was a bit concerned about getting pinched and left the house in quite a getup today kinda Tony Hawk meets the deer hunter.  The camo pants were a last minute addition so that he was wearing some kinda green. Thankfully he did not wear a bright day-glo orange hat!

This will be a quickie post.  Just wanted to remind you that I released the Lucky One kit and all the coordinating products today at Digital Freebies and there is a free gift with purchase the first week its in the store, so you want to head over there and grab it.  Plus all new releases are 30% off the first week, so its an extra sweet deal!

Don't forget to scroll down and pick up your coordinating freebie!  It will only be here a few more days and then it will be gone, gone, gone!

In the spirit of green and celebrations, I have a recipe link to share with you!  I came across this recipe/picture today and just had to share.  Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

Don't they look delish?  I may have to try these really soon(like today?).  In the article on Simply Recipes they are described as a "Thin Mint reincarnated as a cupcake".  Yum!  And it is Girl Scout Cookie time, ya know!! Head over to Simply Recipes right now and maybe you can add them to your St. Patty's day party menus....they do sport some green.

Enjoy! and stop by soon.

Goin' Green!

Seems like everywhere you turn another company or organization is proclaiming that they too are "going green".  Those two words seem to just wriggle their way into nearly every conversation these days.  Its definitely the new "catch phrase", reminds me of some others, "fat free", "no carb", "these economic times"...you get the idea. Even still the little buzz words "Goin' Green" are popping up everywhere and have permeated my cerebral layers in such a way that I'm taking account of the green all around me.

Driving around town this week, barely one week after we were rendered homebound, if only for a day, by a quickie snow storm unloading 4 inches, I find many of our flowering trees are in full bloom.  And the blooms are giving way to that precious sparkling green, that can only be described as new growth green.  That bright, vibrant green that will only last for a few weeks while the new leaves mature into the summery green that is inevitable.

<deep long sigh> I truly love that new growth green.  I find it inspiring and comforting at the same time.  It inspires me to dig in the dirt, to plant seeds, to grow things which will in turn bring more of the sweet green in my view.  It comforts me in the knowledge and routine that the seasons bring with them.  That soon the grass will be lush and my roses popping with pink.  Soon there will be shade from the trees and kids running amuck in the sunshine, coming home tired at the end of the day coated in layer of powdery dirt.

And in the spirit of "Goin' Green" (and trying to afford organic produce as much as possible) I am planning a series of gardens for my back yard.  So I am inspired to plant things and have procured quite a little stockpile of seed catalogs and seed packets and gardening books.  Two of my favorites after reading so many, are All New Square Foot Gardening and Lasagna Gardening(see links in sidebar).  They both offer alot of help, especially for gardening in small spaces, like I will be doing this year.  I used earth boxes last year with great success and I am looking to expanding my harvest this year and would like to plant a substantial strawberry crop.

So the gorgeous green that has been in my eye's view of late has given way to celebrating the wearing of the green!  And to do that I have produced a new scrap kit called "Lucky One".  Rich in the greens of spring and it includes enough gold to satisfy your hidden leprechaun.  

The full kit will be released along with a coordinating alpha, glitter overlay pages and glitter styles this Tuesday, March 17 at Digital Freebies.  I'll post more previews next week as we get closer to the release.  To sweeten "the pot"  there's a free gift with purchase!

And to thank you for indulging me with my spring green ramblings, here's a little freebie for you...so you can be "Goin' Green" too!

click here to download.

thanks for stopping by, 

Tanya

In like a lion, out like a lamb

Ok....so here it is March 5...its been a while, huh.  I could go on and on about how the last couple of months have been so laboriously busy....peppered with sick kids, snow days, holidays and teacher workdays.  I could go on and on about how its been nearly impossible for me to complete an entire work week for the last two months due to these and other crazy busy things going on, resulting in getting my work done each week with one less day....but really, who wants to hear it, right?  

Suffice it to say I am aghast that it is the first week of March and my little blog has been so horribly neglected.  2009 has been a complete whirlwind for us, so many personal changes going on in our lives, that it is almost too much to begin to even listen to the socio-economic-cultural firestorm abrewing out there since Obama took office.  It is not my desire to turn political here...not at all...but there's been a whole lotta CHANGE and not much HOPE in a very short amount of time and its a bit mind-numbing...so there...that's all I'm gonna say.

I know for our family the weeks leading up to March have stormed through like a hungry lion on the prowl.  March has definitely reared its blustery head in our lives and forces me to contemplate its recent historical impact.  I have come to approach the month of March with a bit of trepidation.  Just as it is a seasonally tempetuous month....over the last few years it has proven no different in my personal life.  March has been added to my exhausted brain's tickler file, under the category "get ready, here it comes".

It's the month wrought with more significant life altering events for me more than any other month of the year.   Some of the changes have been good ones, like in 1996 and 2001 both during the month of March, I found out I was pregnant with my children.  And again in 2005, my (now) husband and I had our first date...in fact it was March 5.  Many of the changes have been less joy filled.  It was in March 2000 that I returned to my first husband(now ex) after separating for a while because of his anger issues...big mistake.  March 2002 found me in court in a highly emotional and expensive custody battle for my step-daughter forcing me to be separated from my breastfed infant and other small son for three days.  March 2003 I left the ex with my kids for the final time and did not look back....even though I had no job at the time...that was tough.   March 2004 my beloved Aunt Judy died after a four year battle with breast cancer(and I think she was diagnosed March 2000...but I'm not sure).  Oh yeah and I experienced my first (and hopefully the last) firing by a crooked real-estate appraiser a week later, because I missed work for the funeral, nice guy, huh?(huge blessing in disguise).  March 2007, my mother, my fiance and my best friend's hubby were all laid off in the same week!  Last year the events were not quite as drastic...I think my husband suffered a couple of injuries and was visiting the urgent care every week.

I'm kinda nervous about March 2009....go figure?  Perhaps this year, March will mark itself as a jumping off point for renewed creativity.  That's what I'm going with.   And in the spirit of that notion, here's a freebie for you!  I've made a delightful desktop wall paper for you using the my New Bloom Add-on kit.  Its an add-on to the March Club Collab kit at Digital Freebies.  Dielle Designs and I(Simple Girl Designs) worked up some pretty fabulous kits and add-ons to celebrate the month of March and season of Spring which it ushers in.

Upclose and personal of Simple Girl Designs portion of the kit.

You can pick up the Club Kit and all the Add-ons by clicking over to Digital Freebies here.

Ok...thanks for indulging me.  Remember to send folks to the page and not to hot link, also it is not ok, for you to give this away on your own, send them back here.  Thanks!

HERE'S THE NEW LINK....TINY LITTLE ERROR ON THE FIRST ONE:)