Peace One Day - and a freebie!

On September 21st, people from all over the globe, people of all ages, races, sexes and faiths, commemorate Peace Day in many ways. What are you doing today?

Be a part of the peace process. Follow these three steps:

1. Decide what you will do to make peace on 21 September, at school, at home, or in your local community
2. Log your Peace Day commitment at www.peaceoneday.org
3. Tell others around the world and ask them what they're doing on Peace One Day

Here's a teeny, tiny, peaceful freebie for you. Please send all your friends here to get their own peace rock, too.

Namaste

How to Make Corned Beef Brisket, Nitrate-Free at Home

A little late in the day to start this, but you can always make some for later and save this recipe for next year (start it on 6 March for best results!).

Click here: How to Make Corned Beef Brisket, Nitrate-Free at Home

Arrr Matey! It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day an' here be some treasure fer ye!

My pirate name is:

Calico Charity Bonney

Often indecisive, you can't even choose a favorite color. You're apt to follow wherever the wind blows you, just like Calico Jack Rackham, your namesake. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Here be some booty fer yer ship - er, computer -

free TLAP wallpaper. I dug up 2 sizes so you can outfit any size ship.
There be no date on it so ye can re-use it every year!

Click here or click the image above.

Nollaig Chridheil [Happy Christmas] to you all!

I hope you all have a very, very peaceful Christmas filled with family and friends and love. Here's a festive wordart present from me to you. Click on the image to unwrap it.



(does not include the background paper)

Happy ChristmaHanaKwanzika - And A Free Gift For You!

Thanks for being my customer in 2008 - I really appreciate your business! Here's a special Celtic snowflake ornament just for you. Just click on the image to download it.



Want some more special ornaments? Of course you do!
Visit these blogs from my friends from Plain Digital Wrapper anytime during the last 12 Days before Christmas (13-25 Dec) to collect them all.

Brandi White - Tammy Moore - Tracy King - Tammy Kat - JulieItIs - ScrapDZines

Slainte {Gaelic for Cheers!},
Catriona MacGregor
Digital designs available exclusively at Plain Digital Wrapper.

Giving Thanks, a Photo Challenge, and a Freebie!

In these stressful times there are still things that make us thankful. I am thankful for the big things like my family, friends, and job of course, but I'm also thankful for the little things like audiobooks, Earl Grey tea, e-mail, and fizzy bath bombs.

Photo Challenge: Take some pictures of the things that make you thankful. Here are some additional ideas:

• your creativity
  
• warm socks on a cold night
  
• the first cup of coffee or tea in the morning
  
• that album or song that always makes you feel better
  
• spellcheck
  
• your snuggly bed pillow
  
• leftover turkey and pumpkin pie (yum!)

Here's a special 12x12 quickpage made from one of the 52 weekly templates in my upcoming "Project 365" set to help you scrap your "thankful" photos. Click here or on the image to download it.

Leave me a message in the comments area with a link to your finished page. I'd love to see it!

Please remember to send your friends to this blog to get their own quickpage, too.

Oh yeah, before I forget...THANKS! for visiting my wee blog!

Good Karma Friday, a freebie, and a $5 gift certificate!

Now is the time to think about getting military holiday packages ready to mail. Show your appreciation for our men and women in the armed forces and their families this holiday season by donating handmade cards.

Cardsforheroes.org is a non-profit organization that offers safe and secure ways to donate your handmade cards. Want to participate? Please visit: http://www.cardsforheroes.org.

And here's a couple of free card sketch ideas to get you started! Click on the image for a larger view.


Send me a link to your beautiful cards and I'll post them here and give you a $5 gift certificate for my shop!

Arrrr! Buy my treasures for only $1 each!

Hey, all you scurvy scrappers...in honor of TLAP Day, I'm selling all my treasures at only $1 each!* Even my newly released "Here There Be Pirates" kit, its two add-on packs, AND the bracket book (pictured below)!

But HURRY! This bounty will only last for two days - Friday and Saturday - and then it'll be back to business as usual! Arrrr!



What arrrrrr you waiting for? Go grab ye some bountiful booty! Don't forget, all the other rascally pirate gals are selling off their treasures, too!

* Pssst...come a little closer...all my Commercial Use products are only $3 each!

Yo ho! Yo ho! Tomorrow is Talk Like A Pirate (TLAP) Day!

Sail on over to Plain Digital Wrapper to join in on our 2nd annual "Pillage and Plunder" sale!

While cruising around YouTube, I found this great video featuring George Harrison singing his little known hit, The Pirate Song. Aye, matey, it be a good one! LOL!



Want to learn more about the official TLAP Day? Click here.

Earth Day Every Day - 5 Simple Artsy/Scrappy Projects You and Your Kids Can Do Now

Earth Day was 22 April but it’s never too late to do things to help out the environment. Best of all, these 5 simple ideas can be turned into hybrid scrapbooking or art projects!

1. Be gasoline-free and walk or bike to work, school, or shopping as often as you can. It’s good exercise, good for the environment, and you’ll save money, too. Take your camera and snap photos of your journey. You’ll be surprised with what you see when you aren’t zooming by in a car.
   


2. Create recycling bins or decorate your current ones. Cut out pictures of plastic bottles, paper, and aluminum cans from old magazines (recycling again!) and create a collage label. Adhere to the bins with clear laminating shelf protecting material (like Contact paper) to protect it from the weather. But don’t worry – if they get damaged by sun or rain or even just everyday use, you can always make more using more old magazines!
   


3. Create a special recycling bin for items that can be used in future art and craft projects. When you come across bits of ribbon or yarn, stray buttons, pieces of cardboard, scraps of colored paper, or even small pieces of broken toys, put them in this bin. When you have a craft day or just need inspiration, go to the art bin and see what you find. Don’t forget to make a special collage label, too!
   


4. Get together with your family and create an artsy altered journal with ways your family can help the earth. Decorate it with photographs, poems, and pictures cut from old magazines and catalogs. Update it weekly or monthly so you can see your progress. Encourage the kids to create their own journals and identify projects they can do themselves. They may also be able to use their project for school credit or, if they’re in a scouting group, for an activity award.
   


5. Grow something. Plant a tree or a seed in a pot, garden, or backyard and watch it sprout and grow. Take a photo of it
   every week and make a brag book sized (6”x4”) journal album all about it
   including how often you water and fertilize it. If you planted a fruit or vegetable, what did you do with it when it was ripe? Include a recipe if you wish.

Don’t forget to visit your local library
and read more about the earth and our environment.
A couple of good books are
The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss and
50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, by The EarthWorks Group.

I'm with Cupid!

Happy Valentine's Day from me to you!

I hope you have a loverly day with someone you love today. If you're apart from each other...why not scrap a page about your sweetie! Here's a freebie to get you started: one 12x12 paper with a doddled border and a quote from Romeo & Juliet and a wee word art with Cupid's bow and arrow and quiver.

As always, please send your friends here to get their own copy. Why? I make and give away freebies so you can check out my style and also get a taste of a full kit. It's a nice form of advertising - for both of us!

Slainte! {Gaelic for Cheers!}

Twelfth Night – Celebrate the End of the Daft Days

Let mirth abound, let social cheer
Invest the dawning of the year.
~ Robert Fergusson

The celebration of Twelfth Night, 6 January, is part of the end-of-the-year festivities of both the British Isles and France. And, if you haven’t gotten around to taking down your holiday decorations, today is the day to do it! As for me…maybe tomorrow, LOL!

Happy Ne'erday!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.
~ Robert Burns

Ne'erday, 1 January, falls in the middle of the Daft Days which end with a big party on Twelfth Night (6 January) also known as Uphaliday.

In Scotland, the official start of the new year was changed to 1 January in 1600, while England and the rest of Europe stayed with the date of 25 March for another 151 years (1751).

Here’s a recipe for the traditional Black Bun to take with you while First Footing today. (However, you really should have made this several weeks ago, (like a fruit cake) so it had plenty of time to mature.)

Black Bun

Crust Ingredients
8 oz flour
4 oz butter
1/2 tsp. baking powder
a little cold water
1 beaten egg for finishing

Filling Ingredients
2 lb seedless raisins
3 lb currants
1/2 lb chopped blanched almonds
3/4 lb flour
1/2 lb sugar
2 tsp. Jamaica pepper (allspice)
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 level tsp. cream of tartar
1 level tsp. baking powder
1 tblsp. Brandy
1/4 pt milk

Crust Directions
Rub the butter into the flour, add baking powder, and mix to a stiff paste with water (about 4 tblsp). Put on to a floured board and roll out to a thin sheet. Grease a loaf pan (8 in by 4 in by 3 in) and line with the pastry, keeping back enough for the top crust.

Filling Directions
Mix all the filling ingredients together except the milk. Add just enough milk to moisten the mixture. Put it in the pastry-lined pan and cover with the top crust. Crimp the edges well to seal. Prick all over with a fork. With a thin skewer, make four holes right down to the bottom of the cake. Brush the top with beaten egg and cook in a slow (225F) oven for about three hours. It will keep for a year in an airtight tin.

Happy New Year!

31 December - Hogmanay - New Year’s Eve!

Hogmanay is when Scotland becomes one huge party where everyone is related to everyone else, and everyone is welcome!

In Scotland, New Year's Eve is called Hogmanay, where the birth of the new year is welcomed with wassail and good wishes. It is a celebration that dates from pre-Christian times and is more important, even today, than Christmas.

The roots of Hogmanay reach back to the celebration of the winter solstice among the Norse, as well as incorporating customs from the Gaelic celebration of Samhain. The Vikings celebrated Yule, which later contributed to the Twelve Days of Christmas or the Daft Days as they were sometimes called in Scotland.

The origin of the word hogmanay, is lost in time but scholars suggest that it most likely came from the French homme est né [man is born]. From other languages come these possibilities:

• hoggo-nott [the feast preceding Yule] - Scandinavian
• hoog min dag [great love day] - Flemish
• haleg monath [holy month] - Anglo-Saxon
• oge maiden [new morning] - Gaelic

As with all things Scottish, there is a lot of tradition designed to ensure good luck and involved in celebrating the end of the old and the beginning of the new year. What happened during Hogmanay was a portent of what the rest of the year would bring. This is why such importance was attached to the First Foot.

The First Foot is the first person to cross the threshold after the last stroke of midnight, embodying the spirit of someone bringing food and comfort to the house and good luck for the coming year. According to tradition, the best person to have come calling as a First Foot is a tall, dark haired man because fair-haired people were considered to be unlucky (were these the Norse invaders of old?). First Footing is the practice of going from house to house with little gifts and a bottle of whisky or wine. The host is given a token gift and a drink from your bottle and, in turn, gives you a drink from his.

The traditional handsel, or gift, brought by the First Foot is to ensure prosperity to the house being visited. To visit a house empty handed for the first time in the New Year signifies poverty will come upon the household. Each of the gifts a First Foot brings has a special meaning. A piece of coal, peat, or a small log symbolizes warmth, a coin symbolizes wealth, and whiskey symbolizes prosperity. An oatcake, piece of shortbread, or slice of black bun (a traditional spiced cake) symbolizes health.

Happy Hogmanay!

Here’s a wee freebie for your celebrations. Click on the image or click here to download it. Remember, it’s polite to send your friends here to get it rather than just share it around. How will they ever learn about Hogmanay?

Slainte! {Gaelic for Cheers!}

Merry Christmas! Nollaig Chridheil!

I hope you all have a very, very Merry Christmas!
Here's a wee word art giftie from me to you!
Click on the preview image to begin your download.


[By the way, Nollaig Chridheil is Scottish Gaelic for Merry Christmas!]

Happy Turkey Day!

(I can't take credit for this bouncy little bird...it was sent to me in an e-mail!)