It’s hard to believe my little dude is THREE now. In February, I set about to craft up his 3rd birthday invitations. He has a big love for all your typical “boy” things lately…trucks, cars, tractors, airplanes, and of course, DINOSAURS!

Here is a glance back at when I did his first birthday invitations with the Dr. Suess theme. I’m back again with the fun Paper Source invitation boxes! This time, I used the larger A7 size in the color “Lake,” which is a nice blue color. These mailing boxes are so fun and unexpected than your traditional mailing envelope. They really stand out in your guest’s mailboxes!

Each year I like to to incorporate a photo of him with the invitation. The shirt I picked out for him to wear by chance had a number 19 on it – the same day as his birthday! I incorporated colors of blue, orange and green and fun, worn-looking fonts to play up the pre-historic theme. 

Kraft krinkle paper shred stuffing helped fill the box. Then, using a box of Melissa & Doug wooden dinosaur magnets (Colin enjoyed playing with the ‘leftovers’), I tied a tag around each one that read “Dig for all the Dino-mite Birthday Details!” This was because guests literally had to “dig” for the invitation.

Completing the design was a label address wrap that carried the dinosaur artwork and fonts to the outer box.

Believe it or not, our birthday parties are pretty low-key at home. Since we don’t go all-out for the party, I like to do something a little extra-special for the invitations. Stay tuned next week for a few little details from the birthday party!

Speacial Note: this blog post is tagged under the “AH Inspired” category because this will be an on-going feature highlighting some of my close friends and their creative businesses. I look forward to sharing more creative entrepreneurs in coming posts with you all!

Meet my good friend Ashlee Proffitt, a stationery and graphic designer in Tampa, Florida. I first met Ashlee when she was one of my roomies at Stationery Academy last July. She is such an incredible woman with a beautiful soul, huge heart, and an amazing mama with unshakeable faith. We all need a friend like Ashlee in our lives!

Ashlee has been a very busy bee not only with relaunching Ashlee Proffitt with lovely new products – like these art prints below – but also she’s been busy growing a sweet baby girl! Ashlee would be front and center at AH Inspired Tampa in May when we visit her hometown… if she wasn’t due to give birth that very same week! I will forgive her this time… ;)

Here is a preview of Ashlee’s new kids art print collection. They are a meaningful and sweet way to decorate your little one’s room. Each print is marked with a sweet reminder from the Bible about how they are loved, pursued, and valued.

Ashlee’s cars print on the far right we have hanging in Colin’s new big boy room that features lots of cars and trucks.
I love displaying it in a worn blue wood frame I picked up from Hobby Lobby.

You can visit Ashlee’s shop at ashleeproffitt.etsy.com to see the dozens of different art print styles. Even better, all of my Amber Housley blog readers can enjoy a 15% discount. Here is the coupon code:

Additional Details about the collection:
• size: 8×10 fine art print
• paper: Highest Quality Paper (Luxe White Paper (300gsm))
• printing: Printed With Archival Inks
• packaging: Packaged in Clear Envelope with Chipboard (for protection against bending)
• shipping: Shipped in Protective Stiff Envelope (for protection against bending)

And….I’m hosting a giveaway! One winner will receive a print of their choice from the collection.

ENTRY DETAILS
1. Share the link to this blog post on Facebook or Twitter
2. Visit Ashlee’s shop: ashleeproffitt.etsy.com
3. Leave a comment on this blog post with your favorite piece from the Inspired Kids Collection and how you shared.

CONTEST DETAILS
1. Contest ends on Tuesday, April 3 at midnight.
2. Winner will be announced on Friday, April 6.

I can’t wait to see what your favorite prints are!

**contest is closed, thank you! however, coupon code is still active!** :)

Today marks what is hopefully the start of the end of Housley Spring Cold/Flu season 2012.

Starting late last week, just as Colin was finishing up with his latest round of daycare induced sniffles, Brandon and I started feeling crummy. And so it began…round the clock medicine, Lysol spray, coughing, fevers, voice-loss, sneezing, half dozen time sheet washing…for five days straight.

When you become a parent, there is nothing worse than getting sick.

When both of you are sick at the same time, it’s a fight for survival.

In our case, I was the considerably less sick one (compared to my husband who was on his death bed with strep + flu), so that meant managing and keeping up with our three year old alone. It also meant that we needed to stay out of the house as much as we could so we wouldn’t catch the strep ourselves. So Colin and I walked around more stores and shopped than I can recall in recent months…which is so sad because this girl LOVES to shop. Just not when she is feeling rotten. We went to the park, we ate out….this sounds like a vacation right?! Yeah, I wish.

Meanwhile, our little guy is growing like a weed, running like a cheetah and attempting to show us his latest ‘trick’ at every corner. He is entering a new phase of toddler-hood…and I’m not going to lie, it is tough. He is pulling out all the 3-year-old attitude stops….he can be so sweet and loving one minute, and then incredibly defiant and independent the next. I read this article yesterday and she nailed it on the head. Our little dude is an “active” one.

It’s exhausting.

Speaking of exhausting…let’s touch on the subject of potty training for a minute.
It sucks.
It’s not working.
We’ve been doing it for what seems like YEARS, and now I feel like we’re back at Day 1.
Child #2 seems like a very distant pipe dream until we get past this potty training hurdle…

Luckily this little dude is cute beyond measure (but still would be even cuter if he was potty trained….) sigh….

We’ve been eating a lot of ice cream and fro-yo lately. Because you know, that *totally* helps chill him out. ;)

We also added a truck to the family…we’re calling it Colin’s 16th birthday present, 13 years early. I hope he runs and jumps this excited in 13 years.

On Monday, I announced via the AH Inspired newsletter (sign up here if you aren’t already receiving it), that our next stop and details were now live!

In just 8 weeks, myself, Courtney, Sara and Jessica will be packing our bags and flip flops to head south to the beaches of St. Pete, Florida. We can’t wait to meet another amazing group of 20+ creative women and spend not one, but TWO DAYS getting to know each other, dreaming big dreams, and sharing as much knowledge as possible to take your creative business to the next level.

Registration for the special Early Bird rate ends April 24, which many have taken advantage of already! (For Nashville, we literally sold out before the Early Bird rate was over). I’m also giving away one seat again to an up and coming creative entrepreneur. Scholarship entries are being accepted though this Friday, March 30. Big dreamers and those who want to make big things happen are encouraged to apply!

Check out the super cute, 60′s inspired, Postcard Inn that will serve as our host venue in St. Pete:

(You can watch a little video of the Postcard Inn here as well)

Adorable right?! I can already see a whole lot of photo ops I’m going to have to get Sara Rose lined up for! ;)

And the adorable courtyard in the top photo? It is where we’re going to be hosting our cocktail welcome reception party on Thursday evening. It will be a great opportunity to get to know each other further in a casual setting to mix and mingle. I also encourage attendees to wear something of the white, orange and/or pink color range….why? So we can all look fabulous and match the decorations, of course!

When I first posted a survey asking where AH Inspired should go next, hands-down Tampa was the most requested city, so we are squeezing in one trip before the busy summer season is really under-way. Many people have asked me about potential for other cities later in the year. At this point, there are likely plans for a San Diego stop and possibly a Northeastern city this Fall. The point is, between client work and our family schedules, additional cities are going to be very, very limited, so definitely jump on the opportunity now if you can!

Another common question that is sent my way, “what if I don’t even have a business yet? Is AH Inspired still for me?”

YES! I can’t think of a better way to start your business from the ground up than to walk away from our workshop with the knowledge and content we are going to arm you with. Kristina Proffit is a wonderful example of a creative entrepreneur who is just starting out. This was what she had to say about her experience at the Nashville workshop:

So tell me, are you ready to take the leap? I can’t wait to meet you!

It’s been almost three weeks since the very first AMBER HOUSLEY Inspired workshop here in Nashville. The growth and excitement I’ve seen from the attendees – who I now call friends – has been phenomenal! You can read about some of their experiences here: Lovespun Studio, One Happy Mama, Road Called Life, Party Press Blog, I’m Inkpressed, Kelbysews,  Lucky Penny Events,  Quad Deuce Design Blog, and Saucy Pants.

But I think the experience is best served in showing you this little video of our day…it brings the BIGGEST smile to my face! (…especially Courtney’s little piece at the end)…

AMBER HOUSLEY Inspired Nashville – Recap from Amber Housley on Vimeo.

And…drumroll please…I’m excited to announce that our next city will be…

Tampa/St. Pete, Florida! SAVE THE DATE now for May 24 (1/2 day) & 25 (full day)…details will be announced this Monday and registration will open. I will also be opening submissions for one scholarship seat. Stay tuned here for the big announcement or sign-up to be the first to hear the news. I have no doubt this will sell out like Nashville, especially with all the fun we have in store!

P.S. I’m still taking open votes for which city we go to next…be sure and let me know right here!