My Memories Winner

Sorry I'm a day late in announcing the winner to the My Memories software giveaway.

There was a small issue with my laptop cord- one that involved sparks and smoke, however.  

Thankfully, the issue is solved thanks to a kind gentleman at Radio Shack and I'm once again connected to the internet world.

Without further rambling, the Random Number Generator chose comment number 4-

Congratulations Anne!  

I'll be sending you the code for your FREE download soon.

Thanks for joining in the My Memories giveaway.

Happy April!

Blessings,

Catherine 

My Memories - A Giveaway

Hello there.
Today I have a very nice giveaway for one of my blog readers.
My Memories has offered to give one blog reader a FREE download of their My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software.

We have enjoyed using  the scrapbook software in our home.  My daughters have made individual photo pages that they printed and mailed to friends, and I have been playing with some pretty daily to-do pages and such.  I like that My Memories can be used for more than just scrapbooks and albums, it is also great for projects such as photo books, tags, invitations, labels, blog headers, blog buttons, etc.  

Below is a super simple page I made with the software in just a few moments to give you an idea of what you can do with it beyond the great scrapbooking projects it offers.  

The software is user friendly.  My 10 and 12 year old daughters quickly learned their way around the system and enjoy making photo pages, bulletin board decor, covers for books, and more.  The only issue I have with their love of this software is they are having so much fun that they don't want to let me have a turn!

To enter the giveaway, please visit the My Memories website and take a look around.  Choose your favorite digital paper pack, then come back here and leave a comment telling us which one you like best.  

For extra entries, visit the  My Memories blog and follow them on Facebook or  Twitter.  Leave an additional comment for each of these you do for up to 3 more chances to win.  

A winner will be chosen by random number on Monday, April 1st. 

Please tell your friends to drop by Love Living Simply and enter the giveaway!

Herbal Blessings Giveaway

I'm having a giveaway at The Renegade Farmer this week.  Please stop by and enter the Herbal Blessings Giveaway to win a copy of The Essential Herbal magazine, Peppermint Rose Bath Tea, and another herbal treat or two!

Celebrating Home

 

Pop over and enter the Celebrating Home Party Giveaway at Prairie Flower Farm!  Linda's blog is lovely and her words always uplifting and encouraging.  Tell her Catherine sent you!

 

Blog Party

Prairie Flower Farm is having a blog party.  Stop by and enter to win some lovely prizes. 

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the Earth Day Seed Share is ...

Michelle!

Michelle said...



Hello Catherine,


I found your blog through 5 Orange Potatoes and it looks great! I'd love to be entered into your seed giveaway. I've just built some raised beds to start a new garden after several sad years without one. A little assortment would be perfect for me right now!


Michelle, please email me at lovelivingsimply at gmail dot com with your mailing address and I will send your little assortment of seeds to you!

Thanks to those of you who entered my little impromptu giveaway.  Stay tuned, another giveaway is coming soon!

Earth Day Seed Share

I've been thinking I should do a giveaway here at Love Living Simply, and Earth Day seems like the perfect day for it. 

I've got lots of seeds in my seed box, I mean lots of seeds!  Not that having so many is a bad thing, but sharing my blessings with others makes me happy.

I purchased most of my seeds from favorite seed companies such as Botanical Interests, Bountiful Gardens, Seed Savers Exchange, etc.  I'm a goner when I see all those gorgeous seed catalogs arrive, and want to order almost everything in sight.  Some seeds have been gifted to me by sweet friends who know my fondness for all things green and growing.  And some I have saved from my gardens or brought home from a walk or wander.  

Sometime Saturday I'll draw a name from those who leave a comment on this post, and I'll send you a little assortment of seeds to plant.  I'll put in a bit of this and that to make things interesting.  I promise not to send anything invasive ... (Anne, no birdhouse gourds OK?!).

Those of you who keep telling me you have brown or black thumbs, now is your chance to try again.  I promise, if you'll just keep planting things, those thumbs will turn greener and greener.  A few dead plants just means more compost.  I still kill plants ... my very first raspberry vine was my most recent victim (a very sad occurence, too).  But, there will be more raspberries next year and I'll do a better job of getting that little thing planted right away. 

OK, so leave a comment, tell your friends to drop by and enter the  Earth Day Seed Share, and have a Happy Earth Day! 

Giveaway Winner and Random Ramblings

First of all, pop over to The Renegade Farmer to see the winner of my Herbal Goodness Giveaway!   That was fun, I think I will have a giveaway here at Love Living Simply soon.  I also talked a bit about growing herbs in containers if you are interested in container gardening. 

I'm also participating in a Secret Seed Swap with some of the farmgirls at the Mary Janes Farm forum.  More fun, a package of surprise seeds to plant and wait for the magic to grow, love it!  I'm trying to decide what to send my partner ... something lovely, something unusual ... hmmmm I'll have to sort through the seed box and see what I can find. 

Thanks to all you dearies who left comments on my Alphabe-Thursday post, I promise to read your entries, too ... very soon!  I was sick, sick, sick (I'll spare you the details of that one) Thurs. evening and all day yesterday (My sil works in a school and since I've been babysitting my niece we have been sick more in one year than in years and years ... ggggrrrr!  I'm going to set a new rule- do not bring the baby unless no one in your household has been over any illness for at least 48 hours... not that she will abide by that ....sigh) .  I spent the entire day in bed yesterday, something that almost never happens.  Thankfully, my husband is off on Friday mornings, so he took the girls with him to work in the gardens.  I was a bit sad knowing that "they" were planting my tomatoes for me ... I wasn't sad that they weeded out all of the grass that had sprung up, however! 

Today my oldest daughter is baking a birthday cake for Grandma, her favorite- Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and we are making her favorite meal - pork chops, macaroni & cheese, and asparagus.  Easy to please, my Mother in Love!

And if it doesn't rain, I plan to get out in the yard and over to the garden and plant a few things myself- okra, Blue Jade corn,  strawberry popcorn, peppers, and Lemondrop basil, sweet basil, shisho, cosmos, Mexican sunflower ...

I was very thankful yesterday for ginger and peppermint tea and lavender essential oil ...

Have a great weekend! 

I'll leave you with some excellent words of advice:


Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius,
power and magic in it.
Begin it now!
~Goethe~

Don't Miss Out ...

There's still time to enter my Herbal Goodness Giveaway at The Renegade Farmer!  Drop by and leave a comment to be entered to win a herbal goodie bag filled with Comfrey Calendula Salve (hand made by yours truly), dried calendula blossoms, beeswax, and a few other herbal surprises. 

The drawing is bright and early Friday morning, so enter while there is still time!

Herbal Goodness Giveaway

I'm having a Herbal Goodness Giveaway at The Renegade Farmer this week, please stop by to enter! 

For You Sunshine

Taking a moment from my Monday morning chores (the maid refuses to work weekends it seems ... oh that would be me wouldn't it, nevermind) ... to spread a bit of sunshine. Speaking of sunshine, it was sunny and 75 here yesterday, and today it is c0ld and icky and "the experts" say that it may snow tomorrow, oh the joys of Texas weather!

Back to my blog sunshine... I was recently given this sunny little blog award

and I would like to pass it on to someone who always adds a bit of brightness to my days -

Jenny Matlock.

If you haven't read Jenny's blog before, you are missing out; she is so much fun and always has something interesting to say. (Just a little warning, be very careful about drinking tea while reading her blog... unless your computer happens to be spew proof, because she IS going to make you laugh.) Jenny is also a wonderfully generous lady and I've recently been blessed by her own delicious way of spreading sunshine-

and sweetness. (Sorry Jenny, no photo of those sweet treats, the maid is also very careless about forgetting to charge the camera batteries AND infinitely curious so she unwrapped the little goodies without waiting to take a photo. FYI they are lovely dishcloths disguised as pastries!)

Hope you enjoy your Sunshine Award, Jenny. You certainly deserve it.

And if you haven't visited Jenny before, get on over there and say Hello!

Now back to my regularly scheduled homekeeping ... I do have new dishcloths to make it that much nicer, though!

Great Garden Giveaway

Jenny is hosting a gardening giveaway . And what a great gift- a $50.00 gift certificate from The Tasteful Garden!
Stop by her blog and enter today, and while you're there, enjoy her warm and wonderful words!

A Little Sunshine

Oh what fun ... I won Jenny Matlock's giveaway of a little sunshine ...
a box of lemons for myself and a sweet friend. Thank You, Jenny!
I am already dreaming of the lemony things I'll make ...

lemon curd

lemon pound cake

And, though these only have a teaspoon (or is it a tablespoon) of lemon juice, they popped up when I searched for lemon recipes on my homestead blog ... Cheesecake Bars. They were so very yummy, I'll have to make a pan of them as well.

Of course, I'll be having lemon in my tea for the next little while. And ... well, we'll just have to see what else I can dream up before that box arrives. I love lemon "any and everything", so this is an extra special blessing for me!


The giveaway was actually 2 prizes, one for me and one for a friend ... Anne, be watching your mail for your own box of sunshine! I'll be waiting for recipes for the delicious things that I know you will create with your lemons, my friend.

Thank you so much for sharing your lemon harvest with us, Jenny!

Thank You, Thank You!

A big Thank You to Blue Yonder and the The Crafty Crow for my Book of Days!
I entered the blog giveaway at The Crafty Crow last week, and much to my surprise, I won!

This is such a fun little downloadable book! I can't wait to get started on the activities with my girls.

Here is what Blue Yonder says about their Book of Days:

"Fun for Families. Food for Thought.

The Book of Days is a simple way for your family to slow down and spend some time having fun together.

With this monthly download you’ll make some science magic, cook up a little fun in the kitchen, create something new, explore the natural world, and so much more… there’s poetry, big ideas, famous folks, faraway places and artistic endeavors too!

The best part? The memories your family will make together, exploring your world with the Book of Days. "

At only $6 per download, this is a very affordable source of fun and creativity for the whole family! Stop by Blue Yonder Ranch and get your copy today! Be sure to visit the The Crafty Crow for oh so many fabulous creative ideas, too!

Garden Giveaway

Here's a chance to win some heirloom seeds! The Victory Gardener is having The Great Victory Garden Giveaway on her blog. Pop over there and leave a comment for your chance to win.

FREE ISSUE

Click here for a free downloadable issue of The Essential Herbal Magazine. Lots of great info. in there! Check out the HerbMentor site as well, it is a wonderful resource for those of us who are into learning about and/or using herbs.

Blog Giveaway

Spun by Me is having a 100th Post Blog Giveaway. Lovely things, they are, too! Pop over and congratulate her on her 100th post for your chance to win a very nice gift.

E-PATTERNS from SENSE & SENSIBILITY PATTERNS

Sense & Sensibility Patterns

Sense & Sensibility Patterns offer lovely dress patterns from the Regency, Romantic, Edwardian, & Titanic eras. Now they are offering these patterns as pdf e-pattern downloads, which will save you money, and time in getting your pattern. Please visit Sense & Sensibility Patterns today and see the beautiful things you can make using one of their e-patterns.


Blessings,

Catherine

Cute Blog Give Away

Aunt Daisy's Cottage is having a 100th post Giveaway! Pop over there to see the lovely pincushions and other handmade goodies she is so generously sending to some lucky person.