March Birthstone and Flower Mandala

Happy Birthday to everyone born in March!

Time for a new birth flower/birthstone mandala! March is aquamarines and jonquils or daffodils which seems very appropriate because if you aren't living in a zone 3 or 4 area, you've probably got spring bulbs coming up now! The rest of us still have to force them in our homes for pretty spring flowers. 

Click the image for a larger version, print and color. As usual, you can also use these in crafty applications. 

Click here to see the rest of this series of mandalas. 

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Green Giant's Giant Surprise Talent (sponsored)

Surprise talents, my family has a lot of them. My husband impresses me constantly with them. He can seem so serious that it would take most people completely surprise to find out that he can juggle and was a yoyo champion when he was young.

My dad seems anything but silly, but used to wake me up with the most annoying song ever that he made up.
"Wake up wake up you sleepyhead, get up, get up, get out of bed, wipe your eye out with a sock!"

Green Giant has a giant surprise talent too. The name that makes you think of frozen and canned vegetables also makes chips!! Crunchy, yummy chips with veggies in them and a lot of whole grain and fiber goodness. I got to try the Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips and the Green Giant™ Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips – Sea Salt Flavor.

My husband and I, and our two children are all left-handed, but the graphics that I post on this site are all drawn with my right hand. So that's my surprise talent! The rest of my family has one that I can't do. They can all raise just one eyebrow. I've spent hours making funny faces at myself in the mirror trying to do it, and just can't do it all. But for them, it's easy, and for my daughter, it's two different looks depending on which brow she raises.

This looks doubtful doesn't it? She's not doubtful about the chips, it's just her raising that brow on demand.

Green Giant™ Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips – Sea Salt Flavor are so delicious. Crisp, delicious and lower fat than regular potato chips (40% less fat!). I love these so much and think they would be just amazing on a Southern style macaroni and cheese. If they last until dinner time. They are so good. 14 grams of whole grains per serving.

The other brow, her serious and making a point brow. 

 Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips have all natural flavors, and the flavor is cheesy. Not the super, salty actually kind of gross cheesy flavor of a lot of corn chips, but a really wonderful cheddar taste that gets a bit of a salsa kick from the peppers and other vegetables in the chip. My husband said "These are pretty doggone tasty!" (yes, he said doggone, yes, I was absolutely charmed by it.) 17 grams of whole grains per serving.

Want to see lots of great surprise talents collected by Green Giant and learn more about these great new chips? Check out Green Giant's YouTube page and see the surprise talents they found. You can also like Green Giant on Facebook and upload a video of your own surprise talent!

Thank you to The Green Giant™ for being a sponsor. Show the Giant your surprise talent at www.facebook.com/greengiant

Shamrock Box

For me, the first sign winter is almost over is that February ends. The stores fill with green for Saint Patrick's Days and chocolate bunnies and eggs for Easter. I can look at the snow and think "Soon, this will be a garden and yard again!"

I hope you like this printable box. Click on the image for a larger version, print on card stock, cut out, score, fold and glue!

Today we made chocolates. It was a lot of fun and very very messy. We filled them with jam made by a friend of mine. If they turn out well I'll post instructions later. 

Intricate mandala to color

This mandala is one I started 3 days ago. Then decided I didn't like the center, and it took a long time to color even doing it digitally. Then after I had the colored version just done, it wasn't just right. So I had to recolor it. I do like the color wheel effect now that it's done! This is for the people who really love intricate designs and have very sharp pencils or fine tipped pens!
Click on the image for a larger version to print.

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