Pay it Forward

I started my small business from home a few years ago.  My family was tight on cash and I needed an outlet for my creativity.  A few friends encouraged me to start creating logos.  My business isn't booming by the national standards but I stay busy and enjoy what I do.  At the beginning of 2012 I decided it was time to start giving back.  I know first hand how hard it is to run a business from home.  Getting funds together to brand your business and take it to the next step is not always priority.  I have been randomly choosing people throughout the year to be a part of the "Pay it Forward" program.  I create a new logo or blog design for them all I ask in return is that they find a way to pay the kindness forward.  They can host a giveaway of their products, help promote my business, or whatever they feel led to do to help someone else out in the future.  I need your help!  I need some nominations for small businesses to take part in this in 2013.

FILL OUT THIS FORM to nominate a small business for the Pay it Forward 2013 year!

Update...

Tis the season for... FLU!!!  YIKES!!!  My entire little family has passed it from one to the other over the last 10 days.  It has been a very long Thanksgiving season.  We should buy stock in Kleenex and Tylenol.  Praise the Lord my children have insurance and were able to be treated with Tamiflu.  You wouldn't even know that either of them were sick.  Hubster and I are a completely different story.  I think our barking cough can be heard for miles around!  lol!!!

We will be working on make up work and other work throughout the week.  Not to mention the housework and graphic orders that need to be caught up. Ughh... a mothers work is never done!!

I asked for it...

and I got it!  I prayed that God would help me be able to help out with some of our bills and get a few odds and ends through my graphic arts business on Facebook, Tatorbug Creations.  I prayed that if it were His will to allow me to be able to handle the work load and the school load.  I asked, he delivered.  I have been missing from the blog for a while now because I have been extra busy with my work.  I have been creating customized personal planners for some friends and new clients, I have been creating some new custom logos and I have been inspired to create some great new pre-designed logos.  My heart is over flowing.  During this season I have cut back on some of our school work and the kids are excited about that.  We have not been doing much of the busy work we were doing and have been working on things that inspire us (along with the essentials of course) like cooking together, crafting together and creating fun Christmas ornaments.  I am so thankful that I am finding balance and rhythm in my life.  I am disappointed that I didn't get to follow through with my journey to thankfulness on the blog like I had hoped.  I pray to move forward with something new soon. I am just working to add the blog into the mix and get life in order!  Thank you all for your patience with me!

Journey to Thankfulness - Thanksgiving/Fall Craft Link Up

Today on our Journey to Thankfulness I want to feature some crafts for the Thanksgiving/Fall season.

I LOVE this idea of painting fall leaves found HERE.  Thank you Melissa for such great instructions that include step by step pictures.

These cute candle holders would be a great craft for older children.  They would make some great gifts as well.  Thank you, Aurie for submitting this idea!

These adorable leaf collages are perfect for those sunny fall days where you can still stand to be outside.  Go collect some leaves and start on this craft today.  Such a great idea, Marcy!  

Thank you to each of you who submitted your craft ideas.  

Do you have an idea you want to share?  Please link up below...

We Choose Virtues - Review and Giveaway!!!

We Choose Virtues is a great, straight forward, Godly approach, to teaching children character traits. We received the Flash Cards to use in our home{school} room about 3 weeks ago.  The flash cards are small 4x6 cards with the virtue on the front, along with a cute illustration, and the catch phrase and Bible verse on the back.  We Choose Virtues offers a wide variety of products from full kits to individual pieces that combine to create the perfect tool to teach your children about character.

The 12 virtues they teach are:

• I am Diligent
• I am Kind
• I am Helpful
• I am Obedient
• I am Forgiving
• I am Perseverant
• I am Gentle
• I am Patient
• I am Self-Controlled
• I am Content
• I am Honest
• I am Attentive

These are virtues that everyone - not just children - should learn.  I have found that it is very hard to know how to teach these to my children because honestly, they were never really "taught" to me.  Sure learned how to treat others and how to behave but I was never taught why or how to respond to situations like the We Choose Virtues program teaches.  I really like how each virtue is taught with "I am ..." at the begining so children learn to own those traits right up front.

How we use the flash cards:

The cards came with an instruction card and a game card.  We haven't gotten all the way through the virtues yet, but as soon as we do, we will be playing the games they have listed.  For now, I introduce a new virtue at the begining of the week.  We talk about the picture on the front.  Is it a boy?  Is it a girl?  Do they look happy?  etc...  Then we talk about the meaning of the virtue we are studying.  We then move to the back of the card and memorize the catch phrase and Bible Verse.  S has been using the verses for copywork to reenforce her learning.

What we think...

I love this program.  Even though we just have a snippet of it, it is enough for my small children.  It gives them a taste of the virtues and we will continue working on them and building on them as we go.  I most definitely plan to purchase more products to add on to our journey as we go!

Want your own?
We Choose Virtues has been SO kind and has offered one of my lucky readers a set of Flash Cards to use in their own home!  YAY!!!  Please enter the Raffle Copter Widget below to be entered.  If you are reading this via email or rss you will need to go to the blog to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Journey to Thankfulness - Free Printables Linkup

Come join me on my Journey to Thankfulness.  I want to spend the month being thankful and counting my blessings and not my problems.  

Today begins the journey of thankfulness. I have thought all day about what I am the most thankful for and each time it came back to one thing. I am the MOST thankful for my salvation. Knowing that this life with all of its trials, struggles, blessings, and gifts is only temporary makes living this life much easier. I may not be able to post each day about what I am thankful for but I am going to try.

I also want to spend the month sharing things with you that have blessed me and that I am thankful for.  I will start with this great free printable.

At the beginning of the week I posted on Facebook that I needed a printout for Thanksgiving for my kids.  I said I was looking for something with a space to write what they are thankful for and then to draw it.  My friend (even if we only know each other from the internet) Heather, from Upside Down Homeschooling, told me to hold on just a day or two and she would have something put together.  Last night she sent me the file over and she got exactly what I was looking for.  Check out her FREE Book of Thanks.  Download your copy and start on your journey of thankfulness with your kiddos.

Link up here with your Free Thanksgiving or Thankful printables.