Sweet Thursday: Spring Edition

It's time once again for Sweet Thursday! If you have a dessert to share with us, I'd love for you to link it up below! (I'll even give you an extra entry in my current giveaways!)

Next Round-up:  Our next round-up will be on May 27.  The theme will be Cupcakes & Muffins! Get your dessert featured here by emailing your link to simplysweethome@hotmail.com. Or link on the day of the round-up!

Pineapple Orange Streusel Coffee Cake from Recipes for Moms

Mini Brownie Muffins from My Sweet & Savory

Springtime Mousse from Comfy Cook Blog  

Chocolate Crunch Mousse Pie from My Sweet & Savory

Coconut Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting from Millie's Place

Boston Cream Pie Truffles from Millie's Place

Sugar Cookies from Simply Sweet Home

-Jerri

$100 Children's Clothing Giveaway from Tea Collection

I'm pleased to present Children's Clothing from Tea Collection.  This company centers the themes and styles of their clothing around various world cultures.  Their 2010 Spring Collection Destination is Korea. 

I was very impressed by the clothing offered on this site.  I love the boy's outfit to the left.  I think it would look so cute on my nephew who's 5.

I'm also loving their girl's line!  They have so many cute prints and styles. (I wish they had a few of these outfits in ladies' sizes!) 

I know that these days people are cutting back and you may not have as much money to spend on your children's spring clothes, so I'm very excited today to give you a chance to win a gift certificate to Tea Collection worth $100. Awesome! 

And just look at some of the cute items you could purchase with this!

Win it! One Simply Sweet Home reader will win a $100 gift certificate for Tea Collection.  To win, just visit www.teacollection.com then come back tell us your favorite item. Deadline: April 13

Extra Entries:
-Two entries for following my blog publicly.
-Two entries for following me on twitter.

-One entry each time you link up at Friday Favorites during the giveaway period.
-One entry if you link up something for Sweet Thursday on April 1.
-One entry for tweeting about this giveaway (limit one entry per day). (Sample tweet: I want to win $100 worth of Children's Clothing from Tea Collection @SimplySweetHome http://bit.ly/bVJcO6)

-Two entries if you display my button on your blog.

-One entry if you're a fan on facebook.

-Three entries if you are subscribed to my Feedblitz mailing list.

-Three entries if you post about this giveaway on your blog and include a link back to SSH.

-One entry if you follow Simply Sweet Creations.

-Five entries if you make a purchase from my etsy shop.

-Jerri

Lemon Cupcakes - Help!

Reminder: Sweet Thursday this week! Email a submission to me by Wednesday or link up at post at the event on Thursday!

Ok, well, instead of a recipe this week, I'm asking for assistance (though I do have a few recipe links included here, so as not to let down those of you who came looking for a recipe).

My hubby recently went to family reunion, and he came home with these yummy lemon cupcakes! Isn't he the sweetest? (Especially considering he doesn't even like lemon flavored desserts!)

The Frosting is called Lemon Buttercream (I think), and I've really been wanting to make some of my own.  Only one problem....I don't know the recipe! (And I don't know who made these, or else I'd get it from them.)  So I decided I'd ask all you lovely foodies out there if you have a recipe for this frosting.

Here are links to a few recipes that I found online:

Lemon Buttercream Frosting From Cooks.com

Lemon Buttercream Frosting From Recipezaar

Lemon Buttercream Frosting From Wilton

The one I've most considered using is the one on recipezaar (but that may just be because there's a picture beside it--pics tend to lure me in).  However, I'd hate to make one of these recipes and find that it's completly not what I was looking for.

So more specifically, the frosting on these cupcakes tastes just like the lemon cream that comes in lemon sandwich cookies. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? And does anyone have a recipe like this?  If you can help, I'd really appreciate it!

-Jerri

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I'm posting a link to this post on the following sites:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday is hosted by Blessed With Grace.
Homemaker Mondays is hosted by 11th Heaven’s Homemade Haven.
Tasty Tuesday is hosted by Balancing Beauty & Bedlam.
Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by We Are THAT Family
Tip Me Tuesday is hosted by Tip Junkie
Tackle it Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom
Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
Friday Food is hosted by Mom Trends
Friday Foodie is hosted by Designs by Gollum
Finer Things Friday is hosted by Amy's Finer Things
I'm Lovin It Fridays is hosted by Tidy Mom
Show off Your Stuff Thursday is hosted by Fireflies and Jellybeans

Winner Announcements

I have a couple of new winner announcements for you today!

In the Uprinting - Online Poster Printing Giveaway, the winner is Vivian.  She's won an 18x24 poster print of her favorite photo.

And in the Dick's Sporting Goods Giveaway, the winner is Anne of Upstate Ramblings.  Anne has won a $50 gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods.

Thanks everyone for your great participation.  Ya'll are super!!!

Be sure to check out my other giveaways:

Survival Seed Pack Giveaway

DIY Fashion Giveaway  

And check back later because I have some excellent giveaways coming in April!

-Jerri

DIY Fashion Giveaway from New York Design Shop

Calling all Craft Goddesses!  I'm pleased to present a fun DIY Giveaway from New York Design Shop.

New York Design Shop carries cute fashion accessories, apparel, and DIY materials.

You can use their DIY Materials to personalize clothing of all styles for all ages. Or you could use many of these items for non-clothing projects too!  Materials include iron ons, appliques, trim, studs, chains, feather trim, flowers, rosettes, bows, and more!

Today I'm excited to be giving away a tote from New York Design Shop filled with DIY materials!  Additionally Simply Sweet Home readers will get 10% off all orders. Just use the coupon code "simplysweethome" at check out.

Giveaway Closed. Thanks for entering!

-Jerri

I'm a Tropicana Juicy Insider

Recently I was selected as one of twenty-one people to become Tropicana Juicy Rewards Insiders through Savvy Auntie.  As insiders it's our job to let our readers know about the program!

I was first attracted to the Juicy rewards program because Tropicana has been my favorite orange juice since childhood. And now we can all enjoy our favorite juice and earn points towards great rewards!  Doesn't that sound great?

To get your reward points all you have to do is purchase specially marked Tropicana Pure Premium and Tropicana Trop50 products and enter the 10 character codes found on the cap or package in to the Juicy Rewards website! It's that simple!

There are several great companies partnered up with Tropicana for this program.  One of my favorites is Adidas.  My husband loves their athletic shoes, so we will likely use our rewards points for that!  There's also some local museums and other fun places that I'd love to get free passes for!

If you love Tropicana OJ like I do, you should definitely go by and check out the Juicy Rewards program.  You can also connect with Tropicana on Twitter and Facebook.

Something To Get You Started: If you enter the code SAVVY-AUNTI* within 6 hours of registering for Juicy Rewards you'll get one extra bonus point worth $5 in savings immediately! Excellent! (Please note: there is no 'E" after AUNTI).

-Jerri

Full Disclosure:  As a Juicy Rewards Insider, I received a $50 Visa Gift Card and 12 Juicy Rewards points for telling you about the program.

Friday Favorites - Week 5

I can't believe it's already week 5 of Friday Favorites!  Thanks everyone for your participation! Don't forget if you link up this week, you're eligible for an extra entry in my Survival Seed giveaway!

Also, just a quick reminder, if you are a baker/food blogger, we're having Sweet Thursday next week.  The theme is Spring Desserts.  If you'd like to be featured in the post, you can email me a link to your post by Wednesday of next week or you can participate via Mcklinky on the day of the event. Hope to see you there!

Now for this week's features. Please grab my "featured" button if your post is here! Thanks!

This recipe looks right up my alley: Grilled Chicken Rio Grande from Nancy's Daily Dish. Delicious! 

I just love birds! And monkey themed paper too? Excellent! This Little Birdy Craft comes from No Money Mama

More birds on this cute easter tree from Bird Crafts

I really want to make these: Artsy Clothes Pins from Monkey See Monkey Do

And I love this handbag from my newest sponsor Nancy's Bags Etc

Let the party begin! Link up your favorite posts below! Don't forget to post my link or button so that others can come by and join the fun!

-Jerri

Friday Follow

Time for my weekly Friday Follow post!  

If you're stopping by from that event welcome to my blog!  While you're here, please link up at my  Friday Favorites party!  (Your post might get featured here next week if you do!)  Also, check out my current giveaways.  We have some great ones going on this week and more to come!  Also, be sure to come back next week to link up a dessert recipe for Sweet Thursday!

Simply Sweet Home has everything from recipes to organizing & housekeeping tips, as well as product reviews, craft projects, giveaways, and more! 

I hope you'll take a look around and decide to become a follower! And please leave me a comment, so I can come over and follow you!  I look forward to "meeting" you and seeing all your blogs!

 Friday Follow is hosted by One2Try,  Hearts Make Families, and Midday Escapades.  

Follow Me Friday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse

-Jerri

Nancy's Bags Etc.

Want to make a fashion statement with your own one of a kind handbag? Then you'll love my newest sponsor, a fabulous etsy shop called Nancy's Bags Etc. Nancy offers gorgeous bags for all your various needs. You'll find handmade purses, yoga tote bags, organizers, and medium size tote bags. These are very chic and stylish, and they come in a variety of colors and designs.

Nancy has been sewing since childhood--everything from pillows and quilts to clothing. Her new love is making bags, and when you look through her stock it's obvious that a lot of love and care goes into each bag. From the pattern design, to the fabric selection, and until the last stitch is sewed, her bags are uniquely designed with quality craftsmanship in mind.

Here are just a couple of Nancy's creations. I love the detail work that goes into this spring purse with flower, and the cotton purse for spring with it's bold, bright colors, just makes me want to go out for a walk in the sunshine!

Whatever your taste, you're sure to find a bag for you. So head on over to Nancy's Bags Etc. and pick out your favorite for spring time! Also, check out Nancy's other shop Designs in Stained Glass for some cute additions to your home decor.

-Jerri

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Making the World Cuter Monday hosted by Making the World Cuter
I'm Lovin It Fridays is hosted by Tidy Mom
Show & Tell Wednesday is hosted by Blue Cricket Design
Finer Things Friday is hosted by Amy's Finer Things
I'm Lovin It Fridays is hosted by Tidy Mom
It’s So Very Creative & It's So Very Thrifty hosted by It’s So Very Cheri
Market Yourself Monday is hosted by Sumos Sweet Stuff
Marketing Mondays and Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse

Survival Seed Review/Giveaway - Grow Your Garden!

Do you have an emergency food supply? Is your family prepared for a food shortage? In the event of a natural disaster, terrorist attack, and other catostophic events, it's good to have the ease of mind in knowing that your family has plenty of food to eat.

Unfortunately most of us only stock enough food to sustain ourselves for a few weeks. For many of us, this is due to a lack of funds. If you live paycheck to paycheck, as many of us do, you buy what you can, which is generally a week or two weeks worth of groceries. But it's also due to a sense or (as some would say) a false sense of security. As I stated in my previous post, we have the luxery of being able to go to the store anytime we want: today, tomorrow, next week, etc. And most us of never consider what it would be like if we did not have this opportunity. Most people have no idea what they would do in the event of a major disaster or even what they would do in the event of a personal emergency (job loss, accident, etc.)

One answer is to grow your own garden. Although maintaining a garden can be hardwork, it gives you the opportunity to be self reliant and continuously create a new food supply year after year. It also saves you a lot of money. Growing a garden is also a great project that you can work on with you family, and it can help you to teach your children about responsibility, self-reliance, and the value of hard work.

Today I'm giving away a survival seed pack from Hometown Seeds. The seed pack consists of Non-Hybrid Survival Seeds. This means that they are not genetically modified and they will produce true to variety seeds to replant for future harvests. The seeds have a 5 year shelf life (10 years, if frozen). And the package includes nearly a pound and a half of seed---enough seeds to plant 3/4 of an acre. Also, the seed pack sales for $35 and will yield about $600 worth of food a year!

The package also comes with a fabulous instruction booklet. This tells you everything you need to know to start growing your garden: when to plant, where to plant, crop spacings, germination periods, soil modification, etc.

Your Survival Seed Pack will include 16 varieties of seeds:

-Lincoln Peas (5 oz.)

-Detroit Dark Red Beets (10 grams)

-Kentucky wonder Brown Pole Bean (5 oz.)

-Champion Radish (10 grams)

-Lucullus Swiss Chard (10 grams)

-Black Beauty Zucchini (10 grams)

-Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach (10 grams)

-Scarlet Nantes Carrots (10 grams)

-Long Green Improved Cucumber (10 grams)

-Golden Acre Cabbage (10 grams)

-Romaine Paris Island Cos Lettuce (5 grams)

-Golden Banterm Sweet Corn (5 oz.)

-Yolo Wonder Pepper (5 grams)

-Waltham Butternut Winter Squash (10 grams)

-Rutgers Tomato (5 grams)

-Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion (10 grams)

Win it! If you'd like to win your own survival seed pack (a $35 value) go to Hometown Seeds and tell us your favorite product OR tell me what crop you'd most like to have in your garden. Deadline: April 5

Extra Entries:
-One entry for following my blog publicly.
-Two entries for following me on twitter.

-One entry each time you link up at Friday Favorites during the giveaway period (3/19 edition through 4/2 edition).
-One entry for tweeting about this giveaway (limit one entry per day).

(Sample tweet: I want to win survival seeds for my garden http://bit.ly/assh9Y @SimplySweetHome.)
-One entry if you link up something for Sweet Thursday.
-Two entries if you display my button on your blog.
-One entry if you're a fan on facebook.
-Three entries if you are subscribed to my Feedblitz mailing list.
-One entry if you follow Simply Sweet Creations.
-Five entries if you make a purchase from my etsy shop.

Rules/Restrictions: Giveaway is for US residents only. If you don't have a blog or profile with a visible email address, please leave one with your comment so that I can contact you if you win.

-Jerri

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I'm posting a link to this post on the following sites:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday is hosted by Blessed With Grace.
Homemaker Mondays is hosted by 11th Heaven’s Homemade Haven.
Tasty Tuesday is hosted by Balancing Beauty & Bedlam.
Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by We Are THAT Family
Tip Me Tuesday is hosted by Tip Junkie
Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
Friday Food is hosted by Mom Trends
Friday Foodie is hosted by Designs by Gollum
Finer Things Friday is hosted by Amy's Finer Things
I'm Lovin It Fridays is hosted by Tidy Mom

It's So Very Thrifty is hosted by It's So Very Cheri
Show and Tell Friday is hosted by Romantic Home

Disclosure: I did not receive monetary compensation for this post. The opinions expressed here are my own. I received a seed pack in return for posting a text link and another package to give away to my readers.

Click here to see the entire Giveaway Blog Hop List....

The Need For Food Storage: How Much Food Do You Have on Hand?

photo credit: The Daily Telegraph

Is your family prepared for emergencies? My husband and I spoke with a network marketer who said that 95% of people just make a living. Whether they work as a store clerk or mechanic, or whether they're a business owner, doctor, or lawyer, they have to keep trading their time into that profession in order for the income stream to continue. And for most of us, if we stopped working for a few weeks (because we lost our job, got sick or had to take care of a sick loved one, etc) it would create a big financial burden in a hurry.

And this not only applies to our finances but to our personal food supply. The majority of people only have enough food to sustain their families for a couple of weeks. For some people it may be more, but for others on a tight budget, it may be less. We've grown accustomed to living our lives day to day, knowing that we can go to the grocery store and get everything we need today, tomorrow, next week, and the week after that. And we give very little thought to food storage for emergency preparedness.

Think of all the things that could affect your personal food supply and/or your ability to get more food. Here are just a few things: tornado, flood, terrorist attack, civil unrest, massive power outages, inflation and even on a personal level, the loss of a job or income stream or a family emergency that prevents you from working.

Last summer we actually had a massive power outage that lasted for 3 days. I don't know if you've ever been to Alabama in the summer time, but trust me, you don't want to be without power for 3 hours, much less 3 days! Anyway--we managed to get some ice and transfer some of our refrigerated goods over to coolers, but unfortunately we had to throw some things out. And during that time we had to spend some our money on fast food.

That same week, many households were without power for 5 days. I remember reading in the paper about a lady who was in desperate straits because she'd just bought groceries before the power outage and now all her food was spoiled, and she simply couldn't afford to take her family out to eat again. And because she only got paid every two weeks, she was in a quandary over how she could get groceries for the following week.

But what if the situation had been more dire? What if it had been a longterm problem?  For us, going 3 days without power seemed to drive us mad, not just because of the lack of internet, tv, and other luxeries, but because there was no way to cook our food or keep it cold. I can't imagine what it would be like to be in that situation for a week, a month, or longer.  Can you?

We often read articles about emergency preparedness: having smoke detectors, a weather radio, a home evacuation plan, etc. But often food and water, the most vital things to our survival don't get a lot of  mention.  I've been looking in to this topic, and as I prepared for the survival seed giveaway that I'm doing this week, I got inspired to create some other posts on this topic, starting with this one--sort of a mini series.

If you're interested in learning more about this topic, I'll be doing more posts on the subject in the next few weeks.  Also, later on today I'll be launching the survival seed giveaway, which you are welcome to enter.

-Jerri

Friday Favorites - Week 4

Friday again! This month is going by so fast! This week I have something special for all you Friday Favorites participants: A Giveaway! Next week I'll be launching a Survival Seed giveaway (worth $35), and I'm giving everyone who links up this week and/or next week extra entries in the giveaway!  My review post and complete giveaway details will be up early next week, but till then here's a preview pic of the prize that's up for grabs (angel planter not included):

 

That's a lot of seeds! So if you'd like these for your garden, just link up below. Then come back next week for more chances to win!

We had so many great posts  linked up last week, I had a hard time deciding which ones to feature! But I finally managed to narrow it down.  Here are this week's picks.  If you're featured, please take the "Featured" button for your blog.

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Tracey at Girls To Grow wrote an excellent post: 8 Tips to Developing the Writer in Your Child.

You know I love pink & green! This lovely Spring Wreath was created by The Single Nester.

I love this Dollar Store Cake Stand made by The Little Brown House.  

So unique! This Designer Inspired Gift Bag came from In My Own Style

And for dessert....this Chocolate Pudding Cake with Truffle Frosting from The Misadventures of Mrs. B.

Now let's see your favorite posts from this week! Link up below.  Please link to your actual post, not your blog.  And please include a button or a link to my blog so that others can come participate!

-Jerri

Friday Follow

Hey everyone and welcome Friday Followers! While you're here, please link up at my Friday Favorites party!  (Your post might get featured here next week if you do!) And check out my current giveaways! 

Simply Sweet Home has everything from recipes to organizing & housekeeping tips, as well as product reviews, craft projects, giveaways, and more!

We also have a monthly dessert carnival called Sweet Thursday. Our next event is Spring/Easter Sweets on April 1. (You can email your submissions to me and be featured in the Sweet Thursday post, or you can link up on the day of the party) 

And there's always other surprises just around the corner! 

I hope you'll take a look around and decide to become a follower! And please leave me a comment, so I can come over and follow you!  Also, if you're tweeter, I'd love for you to follow me there.  I look forward to "meeting" you and seeing all your blogs!

 Friday Follow is hosted by One2Try,  Hearts Make Families, and Midday Escapades.  

Follow Me Friday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse

-Jerri