I sort of have a love hate relationship with these free printable Wednesdays.  I love that it makes me create something new AT LEAST once a week, but sometimes I hate the pressure.  Either way, in the end, it’s fun for me even if no one downloads them.  Drawing something, anything, is good for me to do.

Anywho, I was dabbling around today and ended up making a card for my moms birthday this weekend.  I sort of love it, and will share it later, but It got me thinking about more cards to make.

So in the spirit of brightening someones day with a card, I thought this particular printable wednesday would come with a task!  Yep, you can print this, BUT there are rules!  We’ll get to those soon.

There have been a handful of times where someone has taken the time to say, very simply, “katie, you are a good mom”.  These words are powerful.  Being a mom is freaking tough, and some days are super huge winners, and other days are big ol fat stinky losers.  Those days it’s easy to feel a bit like the worst.  None of us are perfect.  None of us feel like we do our best or do things well all of the time.  I’m pretty hard on myself and I have a bar set pretty high for some reason, and its super easy to fall short.  But, to have a friend who I admire (who most likely feels the same way I do a lot of the time) tell me, I’m doing a good job.  Man, that is just good stuff.

It’s good to encourage others.  It’s good to lift each other up.  Especially in our time of raising kids where theres a billion books telling you the “right” way to do stuff.  “so and so doesnt use organic anything…” OH POO!  so and so loves her kid and should be encouraged!

sidenote:  I’m so and so…i dont use organic anything.  people who do are great moms also…but you get my point.

SO…back to the printable.  Here are the rules to this free little diddy.

1.  Print this bad boy out.  It is sized down to a 4×7, so you can print it on a half sheet.
2. Cut it down and fold it into a little card
3. Write a sweet note to a mom friend and tell her shes awesome and beautiful and her baby weight is just melting away!  You know…the stuff moms want to hear
4. Mail card to said friend.
5. Smile, cuz you just made that persons day/week/month (depending on how old their children are)

You can totally also print this and put it in a little frame to remind yourself that you, too, are in fact a good mother.  We all need to take the time to encourage ourselves as well.

We got this mamas.  Even on the big ol stinky loser days…we got this.

//download the print HERE

Or click the pic for the link.

I almost didn’t want to make this printable free, because I liked it so much.  BUT! That is not the point of free printable wednesday.  The point is to create for the sake of creating.  To draw…something…anything!  And to not worry wether or not someone will buy it or share it or like it a million times.

Recently I started to offer custom family portraits.  They haven’t made their way to the shop yet, but I’ve made a few sales.  This is SUPER exciting! I love being able to create something that people love enough to purchase and hang in their homes.  It’s super flattering when someone likes my “style”, which I didn’t really even think that I had! On the flip side, this also comes with…DUN DUN DUN…expectations.  Ahhhhhhh!

So, in a nut shell…I love Wednesdays.  It’s free from thinking too much.  There aren’t any rules, and I can make whatever I want.  And if you like it, you can click print and have it, and that makes me happy.

So, happy Wednesday!  I’ve had a couple several cups of coffee and my daughter took 2 hours to fall asleep for a 45 minute nap…so the days sorta even at this point.

High Five!

//download the printable HERE

Or click the photo!

On this edition of Free Printable Wednesday, it’s just a little healthy reminder to be kinder…to yourself.

This is something I have to remind myself to do everyday.  So really I made this printable for me…but you can have it too if you deal with that sort of thing.  I feel like I’m pretty good at the being kind to others thing.  In no way am I perfect…and I totally have the capacity to be very unkind.  But, in general…others…they get my kindness.

I on the other hand get no kindness from me.  Im hard on myself in everything I do, and I think I mumble some sort of smart ass comment about how “fat” i am on the daily.  Even admitting that out loud makes me cringe a bit.  I would NEVER ever EVER call someone else fat.  EVER.  I hate that word…yet I’m so comfortable showering myself with it constantly.

It’s not just body image it’s motherhood, it’s adulthood, it’s creative-hood.  Each of those things is riddled with insults I wouldn’t even say to my worst enemy.

Recently on vacation Brett and I had some time to burn some birthday cash and go shopping.  I’ve been avoiding jeans for a while now, because well…I don’t feel at my best.  We went into a couple of stores and I figured something must be wrong because I was fitting into sizes that in my mind were impossible.  I’ve been on the prowl for the perfect boyfriend jean, and we wandered into an American Eagle during my hot pursuit.  I grabbed a size smaller than I usually pick up and the unthinkable happened.  They were way too big.  It must be mislabeled, there’s now way I could fit in something smaller, so against my better judgement, I grabbed the next size smaller.  They fit!  They even had a little room!  I almost cried in the dressing room.  I even took a little selfie to keep on my phone to remind me when I start to go to the negative place (i had already spent my birthday cash, so the jeans live in AE still…they’ll be mine soon…maybe next month).

This isn’t about weight loss and jean size as much as it is about believing what is true about yourself and not believing the really awful terrible lies we tell ourselves.  I went into a store believing one thing, and stood there staring straight into the face of reality.  So I had a choice…to forget and walk out of that store with the same mind-set and calling myself mean names, or be encouraged that the things i’m doing are in fact changing my body and be excited about the little victories.  Focus on the positive people.  Take care of yourself.

Be kind, and then be kinder still.

// Click HERE to download this print

Or you can click the photo.

In the spirit of getting out of the house…here’s a print to remind you to do as the adventurers do.  Get out!  It’s good for ya.  *Drops Mic*

// click HERE to download

I definitely talked about this a long time ago on the blog, but since mine and my loves birthdays are coming up next week, I thought I’d share it again in free printable form.

Brett and I are not the kind of people who think you can over say “I love you.”  We throw that around all day urr day and we love it.  I’m pretty sure thats why Pennys first official phrase was “I lah loo”.  We’re all about telling each other how great we think the other is, and I’m thankful for it.

One of the things we say just as often as the L bomb, is a little sign off we’ve been rockin since the pre “I love you” days.  Any time we say good bye to eachother, Brett yells “YOURE BEAUTIFUL!” and I respond “YOURE HANDSOME!”.  Not a day goes by where my husband doesnt tell me I’m beautiful, and I always tell him he’s hot stuff.  It may sound sorta lame, but it’s definitely one of my favorite little things about us.

I have a version of these on canvas above our bedside tables and I love having little reminders of how to love each other around our house, and when they are personal to us it makes it even better.

So print these little guys out, put em in frames and tell your S.O. that you think they are hot like fire!

Happy Wednesday friends, its almost Friday!

// download YOU’RE HANDSOME HERE

// download YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL HERE