love to find and share free online treasures. 

Dawn at The Feathered Nest has posted two really pretty printable images.

My Cherry Heart’s Dolly, who really is looking forward to Spring, is offering all you can take free snow.  *smile*

Widgetbox has free widgets for your website or blog.  Lots of cool things here.  Do people still use the word “cool?”  Oh, well, I do.  *smile*

The Jukebox offers free music from the Golden Years of music.  Do what it says…find a time frame you like and let it play in the background while you surf.  Still humming “A Summer Place.”  Remember Troy Donahue?  *smile*

Animate yourself at Gizmoz.

MorgueFile.com has free for download, high resolution photos.

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For homeschooling…

• Scott Foresman offers grades 1-6 Online Grammar and Writing Handbooks in PDF formats.
• Evan Moor’s monthly offering of free lessons and clipart is nice.
• SimplyCharlotteMason.com has a free e-book, Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life, to download.
• Free Virtual Field Trips!

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Free Tips for Healthy Easter Treats and Healthy Easter Treats II and Inexpensive Easter Baskets.

…and a couple of little freebies from Dover, made transparent and printable by me.  If you want to use on the web, just resize and use a sharpen tool.

Right click on the image to save the transparent GIF.

Click on image to view and download the PNG.

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In your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it,
You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.
I’ll be all in clover, and when they look you over
I’ll be the proudest fellow in the Easter Parade.
On the Avenue, Fifth Avenue,
The photographers will snap us
And you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.
Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet
And of the girl I’m taking to the Easter Parade.

In my Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it,
I’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.
You’ll be all in clover, and when they look me over
You’ll be the proudest fellow in the Easter Parade.
On the Avenue, Fifth Avenue,
The photographers will snap us
And you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.
Oh, you may write a sonnet about my Easter bonnet
And of the girl you’re taking to the Easter Parade.

My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over, and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth, the time of the
singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle
is heard in the land.
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the
vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
…………………………………Song of Songs 2:10-13

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Enjoy these links, searching for…
“The Fragrance of Spring”

Fragrance of Spring Print

+++Fragrance of Spring
(sound on)

May Days - The Writings of Henry David Thoreau

Pucca - Fragrance of Spring
(sound on)

Fragrance of Spring - Flickr Photo

 decided that I wanted to create an icon for my website.  As usual the web has a wealth of information on it…even when I wasn’t exactly sure what terminology to use to do the search (I started with “icons for a website”).  I quickly found out that what I was looking for was a…

Favicon (pronounced fav-eye-con) is short for ‘Favorites Icon.’ A Favicon is a multi-resolution image included on nearly all professional developed sites. Within Internet Explorer the Favicon is displayed on the Address line and in the Favorites menu. The Favicon allows the webmaster to further promote their site, and to create a more customized appearance within a visitor’s browser. Often, the Favicon reflects the look and feel of the web site or the organization’s logo.

Photoshop doesn’t have the capablities to create/recognize the icon format (.ico) on its own but there is a free plugin that will.  I downloaded, installed and quickly created one using my Spring Girl fairy image which is on my main website, Dani3D.com.  I then uploaded the icon into the root directory of my website.  Firefox recognized it instantly and Safari did as soon as I saved it as a bookmark.  I had a bit of trouble though with Internet Explorer and had to follow the steps on this page to make it show up.

If you don’t want to create one in PS, you can create one online or just use one from one of the free sites online.

The image that I used.

 My wee tiny, little icon.

A closeup of my favicon in different browsers…click image to view.

love visiting online vintage stores.  I found some new ones this weekend…

Artful Dreamer

Quilly Silly’s Vintage Paper Boutique

Razz Pizazz Boutique

The Antique Paperie

Heather Bullard from Present Past Collection always seems to be shopping lately..lucky Heather!  Since I don’t have the time nor money I guess I’ll just have to live vicariously through her wonderful posts.  *smile*

ooking for new ideas for Valentine’s Day I googled the words heart and valentine and wound up…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

• At Home with Kim Vallee where there are lots of great Valentine’s Day ideas. Then I clicked on the link to Bakerella…Wow! I love all the different ideas and recipes. Two new keeper food blog links.

• Everything a Teacher Needs for Valentine’s Day with lesson ideas, crafts and more
• A cute little widget from Google that lets you say “I Love You” in different languages
• and a poem, Valentine’s Day with Jesus.

Thankful Thought #6 - Children

Thankful to be Catholic

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Thankful Heart Thanksgiving Card

Homeschooling Carnival - I am Thankful Edition

Our Thankful Forest

Flickr.com’s Thankful Cluster of Photos

You Are 94% Thankful

You’re an incredibly thankful person, and everyone around you feels very appreciated. You inspire people to be more optimistic, forgiving, and grateful.

How Thankful Are You?

The twins scored 69% and Michael, my pessimist…35%.

Some beautiful Thanksgiving ideas can be found at the French Garden House.

Check out the “Giving Thanks” posts at There is No Place like Home.

Beauty Tips for Ministers offers up Thanksgiving Ideas and Manners.

Sur la Table has a wire tree with strawberries dipped in chocolate ornaments and this wonderful Wilton Giant Cupcake Cake Pan…and Michael, if you are reading this, I want this cake pan along with the Dyson, okay?!! *smile*

Elizabeth at Real Learning shares an amazing Christmas book find in Serendipitous Christmas. I’ve already added it to my Amazon wish list.

Terri’s Pumpkin Spice Cake sounds delicious!

I love to look at “pretty blogs” and Bella Pink Cafe always offers great eye candy and decorating ideas.

During my time in Texas, many years ago, I had a wonderful friend, Kristin. Though we’ve lost touch, I always remember with fondness and thankfulness how she and her family always made me feel welcome, especially during the holidays that I couldn’t go back home for. Her momma, Helga, worked at a lighting store and her Christmas tree was decorated in tiny white lights and hundreds of chandelier crystal drops…the most stunning tree I’ve ever seen. Chez Fifi has a smaller version…very pretty!

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
(1803-1882)

The boys turn thirteen tomorrow and I have so much to do! Connor and I finished up shopping for the party favors yesterday. Today is the grocery store plus I have to clean…though I’m not sure why I have to clean when dozens of teenage boys will descend upon my house to trash it tomorrow! Maybe I should wait until Friday to clean. *smile*

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Thanksgiving Printable/Craft Links

• Thanksgiving Planning Calendar
• Garland of Gratitude
• Pilgrim Hat Centerpiece
• Thanksgiving and Fall Crafts for Kids

I won a contest that my friend, Shelley, was having last week and received my prize in the mail today. Isn’t it pretty? I love it, Shelley! Thank you so much.

~~~ . ~~~

ODE TO AUTUMN

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,–
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
~John Keats~

a beautiful photojournal, Fragments from Floyd, Virginia.

I’ve finished up 7 themes (containing 2 to 4 pages each) for Momma’s and Daddy’s book. This has really become quite an emotional endeavor for me. I sit here at my computer in the early hours of the morning, late afternoon, or evening, working, drinking endless glasses of iced tea, trying to put order to the photos, write words that convey heartfelt sentiments…crying. How quickly the time has gone by. Below are the pages on Eastern Shore, where we spent nearly twenty years of family vacations. All of the journaling on the pages are our memories.

Memories

~Allison Chambers Coxsey~

Tattered ’round the edges,
And faded now with time;
Memories that linger still,
Are what they left behind.
Like a precious package,
Kept in a secret room,
Each memory a treasure,
A family heirloom.

On rare and quiet occasions
The package opens wide;
revealing then the memories,
That nestle there inside.
Faces etched in memories
Like photos from the past;
each snapshot printed in the heart,
Are memories that last.

Worn and ragged photographs,
So faded now with time;
Yet the lasting love deep in your heart,
Is what they left behind.

State Bird Font and some other pretty ones at Fancy and Unique Fonts.

Olive Cheese Bread at The Pioneer Woman Cooks!  I made Marlboro Man’s Second Favorite Sandwich (with chicken and peppered bacon) for the boys yesterday and they loved it.

My Country Living, Martha Stewart Living and Country Home magazines are piling up a bit but I’m getting caught up with my reading while the boys swim.  Country Living recommends some great crafty blogs…

Pozie Gets Cozy

decor8

SIS BOOM Day Dreams

MarthaStewart.com has lots of summer crafts, cakes and decorating ideas!

Some websites for the 4th…

4th of July Project Ideas, Template, Clip Art and Fonts

Kaboose Holidays - July 4th is Independence Day

Wilstar.com’s Independence Day

Happy 4th of July 

Hallelujah Nuns

h/t: The Anchoress