Go GREEN!

It's Earth Day!! Are you doing anything to recognize this day? Earth Day is a good time to remind your children about the importance of good stewardship of the earth God gave us to care for. We are conscience of living for the earth everyday, but there are always improvements that can be made in our habits to help better care for the earthly resources we have been given.

As scrapbookers I think we are already of the mindset to analyze an item before it is trashed, to see if it might be recycled into a cool embellishment. I'd tell everyone to go DIGITAL and save trees, but hey - I love my paper, paint and chipboard as much as the next traditional scrapper. (LOL) Today's layout, however, is all digital and was created using a quote from my April inspiration challenge at KjoiStudios.com. This time of year I love to observe nature as it wakes up from winter. Green plants start to emerge from the brown ground, trees bud, and some of our favorite songbirds, such as bluebirds, come forth from their winter time refuge. The children are eager to spend time outdoors - Abby has been running up and down the slope near our garden a couple of times a day, just because... (LOL)

Our family has an acre to care for, and we thoroughly enjoy the birds and animals around us and do our best to help provide for them. Our wooded hillside behind our home has some bushes with dying branches. Many people would be eager to cut these out, but the branches provide an excellent refuge for small animals and birds. We do not use chemicals on our lawn - a few dandelions never hurt anyone and the flowers are good for the butterflies and bees. We also plant flowers and bushes that specifically benefit the animals for food, shelter and nesting. With the valley around us being turned into homes for humans, and the farmland behind our place on the brink of extinction for 182 homes, we do what we can on our little piece of God-given land to help care for His creation.

We became environmentally conscience more than 20 years ago when my husband and I raised parrots. Toxic cleaning chemicals were not allowed in our home - as the fumes could easily kill our birds. We turned to homemade cleaning solutions, with my husband's favorite window cleaner being made of a bottle of rubbing alcohol, 2 T. of dishwashing liquid and water. If you are interested in eco-friendly cleaning solutions for your home (which will benefit the well-being of your family as well) visit Ecocycle for ideas and recipes. We still have two parrots in our home, but we also have two children and I would much rather use safe, non-toxic cleaners around them than risk the many hazardous materials available off the store shelf.

Today the kids and I donned some green in recognition of earth day. I filled the bird baths early this morning, and we set out the "toad abodes". As I gave the flower bed in front of our home a spring cleaning yesterday our daughter discovered a toad that had come out of winter hibernation. It has become "tradition" that a toad found becomes an overnight house guest. So we added damp leaves and such to an ice cream bucket, DS found some worms and bugs, and we fitted the bucket with a screen top as Mr. Toadie spent the night in our son's room. Before school the kids released him near where he was found, with the kids both hoping he would go into the terracotta abode. (LOL) Later on we plan to hike the school prairie and pick up any trash we find, however, a spring storm is threatening our afternoon plans at this point.

Enjoy earth day - and every day be aware of electricity consumed, water usage, and trash produced. Think about one thing you might do differently. For me, it would be to make use of the canvas grocery bag a friend gave me - I need to store it in my car so I actually have it when I go to the grocery store.

"GO" digital elements used:
Sande Krieger – Embrace Life kit
Black crumpled paper, stitched green and stitches: SNT Cheryl from DigiShop talk
Alphabet – Sande Krieger and BVT Designs
Fonts: Dirty Ego, Carolyns Print

Journaling:
Boots for puddles, birds singing spring songs, bright flowers breaking through the brown ground - these first signs of spring tell me that winter is over and spring is a GO!