Well its here – March that is! Some of us have had no end of rain and wind, and a little bit of snow so some spring weather will be nice thank you very much.

March is a busy month as it officially marks the start of spring, and St Patricks day don’t forget us UK mums celebrate mothers day too on March 22nd.

Graphic Central has had sad news this last month. Our very much loved Margarita has stepped down from her position as Community Director, Marg has suffered with continual overload of family commitments and such like so she felt it was time to move on.
As a result this meant that I have taken her place as Community Director, and Pamela (aka PamelaT) has taken on the responsibility of being Assistant Community Director. All the new contact details can be found on the site announcements forum Site Announcements - SheKnows Message Boards.
We also have a new Host on the Glitter forum AirForceWife2008 please stop by and wish congratulations to Heather Lynne

And remember that we are always here to fulfil your siggy, blinky or glitter needs anytime. Maybe something for the spring or St Patrick’s Day?



Our Get-To-Know-You question this month is do you celebrate St Patrick’s Day, and if so how? Please, all hosts answer this question in the Community Leaders board and leave your P&P email address so you get your points. Thank you.

*remember to answer this question as your monthly check-in in Community Leaders! When answering, please let me know your Points & Prizes username.




Each month we try to publidh a tutorial or some tips written by our expert graphics hosts. This months tutorial is written by Tiffany (Glitter Girl).

IHow to make a Glitter Fill using Photoshop

1. Start by opening a new canvas. Ctrl + N or FILE------>NEW
2. The Width and the Height should be small. Use 120x120pixels

3. With this new canvas up click on the Paint Bucket Tool.
4. Pick the color you wish to use and click on the canvas once colorizing the whole canvas.
5. Go to the Layers Pallet and Right-Click on the layer that is your canvas.
6. Click Duplicate Layer
7. Repeat once more
8. You should have 3 layers with the color you picked
9. Click on the eye of the layer in the Layers Pallet for each of the top 2 layers
10. Go to FILTER------>NOISE-------->ADD NOISE
11. After the Add Noise prompt pops up makes sure you have the following settings

12. You can lower or higher the percentage of Noise depending on your own personal preferences.
13. Now, click on the eye for that layer in the Layers Pallet and unclick the eye for the next layer on top of the one we just used.
14. Repeat what we just did to the previous layer. Add the noise, but this time bump it up to 22% and click OK
15. Click the eye of the layer we just added noise to to make it disappear.
16. Unclick the eye of the layer that's left.

17. Repeat the Add Noise process for the last one bumping up the percentage to 24% and click OK.
18. Now hit Ctrl + Shift + S or FILE----->SAVE AS
19. Save this file as a 1. Repeat this step, but remember the "eyes".
20.Unclick the 2nd eye and click the first eye so only the middle eye is showing
21. Save as again but name it 2
22. Do the same thing for the 3rd but remember the eye

23. You will need to open an Animation program or find one online that will animate it for you.
Make sure you save your new animation under a GIF file so it will animate.




Special days

March 1st National Pig Day, peanut Butter Lover's Day, St Davids Day, Share a Smile day
March 2nd, Dr. Seuss's Birthday, Read Across America Day
March 3rd, National Anthem Day
March 4th, National Poundcake Day
March 5th, Multiple Personalities Day
March 6th Dentist Day,
March 7th,Telephone Patent Granted
March 8th Buzzard Day, Daylight Saving Time Begins, Working Women's Day
March 9th Barbie's Birthday Commonwealth Day, No Smoking Day Panic Day
March 10th First Paper Money Issued
March 11th First Basketball Game 1892
March 12th Girl Scout Day
March 13th, Good Samaritan Day
March 14th , Albert Einstein's Birthday, Pi Day, Potato Chip Day
March 15th Ides of March
March 16th, Everything You Do Is Right Day, Freedom of Information Day
March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, Submarine Day
March 18th Birthday of Sparky the Fire Dog, Johnny Apple seed Day
March 19th Swallow's Return Day.
March 20th Big Bird's Birthday, National Quilting Day , First day of Spring
March 21st , Children's Poetry Day,National Teen-Agers Day, Single Parents' Day
March 22nd National Goof Off Day,National Sing-Out Day
March 23rd, Toast Day.
March 24th, Chocolate Covered Raisin Day, Harry Houdini's Birthday
March 25th, Greek Independence Day
March 26th Make Up Your Own Holiday Day
March 27th National "Joe" Day
(Everyone who hates their name can be called Joe this day.)
March 28th , Something On a Stick Day
March 29th Coca-Cola was Invented
In 1886.
March 30th Doctor's Day
March 31st Cesar Chavez Day, Tater Day

Month Long observances

American Red Cross Month
Irish-American Heritage Month
Music in our Schools Month
National Craft Month
National Frozen Food Month
National Noodle Month
National Nutrition Month
Woman's History Month
Youth Art Month



St Patrick’s Day cocktail
Green Apple Martini



Ingredients:

2 oz Sour Apple Schnapps
1 oz vodka
1 dash sweet & sour mix
green sugar
green apple, thinly sliced
Preparation:

Pour the ingredients into a shake with ice.
Shake for 30 seconds.
Strain into a martini glass, rimmed with green sugar.
Garnish with thin slice of apple, if desired.

More cocktails like this one can be found here St. Patrick's Day Cocktails



Create your very own crock of gold


What You Need:
8-10 iridescent yellow pom poms
yellow curling ribbon
green tissue paper
small baby food jar
white craft glue
water
scissors
paint brush or sponge applicator
M&M®'s, Skittles® or other colorful small candies (optional)
What You Do:
Thoroughly wash and dry small baby food jar and lid. Mix 4 tablespoons of white craft glue with enough water to bring it to painting consistency.

Have children cut tissue paper into squares. Starting with small sections, apply glue mixture with paint brush or sponge applicator to jar. Stick tissue paper onto glue mixture and continue all the way around the jar. Apply glue mixture over the top of tissue paper layer. Apply a second layer of tissue paper, allow to dry completely.

While jar is drying, apply glue around the outer edge of the jar lid. Adhere the ribbon around the lid lip and tie in a knot. Curl the ribbon by sliding the flat edge of the blade from a pair of scissors along the ribbon. Glue pom poms to the top of the lid and allow to dry.

When jar and lid are completely dry, fill jar with colored candies and give to the lucky recipient! Attach a cute note such as "Kiss me. I'm Irish!" or "A Lucky Pot of Gold for You!".



Earn points. Win prizes.

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Here's how it works:

Get free points by visiting web sites
You'll have lots of chances to find point codes throughout our partners' web sites. You can pick up even more points by subscribing to and reading email newsletters, entering contests and doing other easy, everyday things.

Redeem your points for a variety of prizes
Our prize box is regularly updated with all kinds of new goodies you can "buy" with your points.

It's free to join, and registration is fast and easy. Sign up here! Points and Prizes - Earn Points. Win Prizes.

Check out our very points & Prizes forum over here at SheKnows Points & Prizes - SheKnows Message Boards



Question - how do I get in touch with the staff at Graphic Central?
You can either email or PM ...

Community Director - Amanda aka crisantemo amandamcwhinney@aol.com

Assistant Community Director - Pamela aka PamelaT Pamela_Tingle@yahoo.com

Would you like to have a special anniversary, birthday, or celebration you would like honoured in the monthly newsletter? Just let the Community Director know before the 25th of the month to get it into the following month's newsletter.