Renée Trudeau is the award-winning author of Nurturing the Soul of Your Family and The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal. A sought after life balance coach/speaker, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, US News & World Report, Spirituality & Health and more. Trudeau graciously agreed to share the following guest post with Girls That Create. As we begin a new year and set resolutions, Trudeau wants you to remember self-care is not about improving yourself.  Self-Care is Not About Improving Yourself One Sunday morning I was lying in bed reading from author Anne Lamott’s beautiful little book Small Victories. In one of her stories about parenting, she shares with a little self-deprecation, but mostly tenderness, how she doesn’t bake for PTA fund raisers, is often disorganized and sometimes forgets to follow-through on updates from her son’s school. Her ability to accept who she is is both endearing and freeing. Her story got me thinking how so many people I meet have a misguided sense about the concept of self-care. I often hear a lot of “shoulds,” and many confess they downright suck at self-care. A a life balance coach/teacher, I have studied, explored, written books about and taught self-care to men and women globally for more than 20 years. I can wholeheartedly share that self-care–a practice that has changed my life more than any other– is NOT about: fixing yourself or turning yourself into a “makeover version” of you trying to become someone who “has it all together” or who’s always …

Out with the old and in with new is January’s motto. To help you with organizing an art space, the office or anywhere needing a thorough clean out, here are free storage labels. There are six colorful sheets altogether. Click to download Free Printable Storage Labels Things you should know before downloading: Girls That Create printables are for PERSONAL USE ONLY You may NOT modify, re-sell, redistribute, or claim the design as your own If you’d like to share this project, credit must be given to Girls That Create and linked back to this post More Girls That Create posts: Make Your Girl Her Own Art Space At Home and Free Printable Powerful Girl Gift Tags www.girlsthatcreate.com

Whether you love it or hate it, Christmas music is here again. Readers loved the last Girls That Create post on holiday songs by women, so here are 10 more for your playlist. Once again we’ve thrown in some soul, rock and other numbers with all the feels (Spotify link below). Enjoy and Happy Holidays! 10 More Christmas Songs Where Women Rock It 1) Christmas, Baby Please Come Home:  Darlene Love If you’ve seen the 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, you’ll recall Darlene Love (if you haven’t seen it, please do, the film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 86th Academy Awards). Love grew up listening to gospel music and began singing in her church choir at age 10. She is also an actress. For years Love brought the house down on the Late Show with David Letterman singing Christmas, Baby Please Come Home. 2) Winter Wonderland: Eurythmics British pop duo Eurythmics gifted us this beautiful version of Winter Wonderland. Member Annie Lennox’s vocal range is contralto. She has earned the distinction of “most successful female British artist in UK music history”. Enjoy Lennox’s talents. 3) Joy: Tracey Thorn Tracey Thorn began her musical career in the punk-pop hybrid group Stern Bops playing guitar and providing some vocal backing. She is best known as being one half of the duo Everything but the Girl. Joy is on Thorn’s fourth solo album entitled Tinsel and Lights. Listen and watch this moving video. 4) I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas: Kacey Musgraves  At age eight …

2020 has had us all on an emotional roller coaster, kids included. Many children have experienced feelings of sadness, loneliness, fearfulness, anxiousness, and disappointment. Chicago-based writer Fern Schumer Chapman shared the following guest post on why books are an ideal tool to help children identify and express their feelings. Chapman recently wrote Happy Harper Thursdays, a picture book that explains to young kids why we can’t be with the people we love during COVID-19. Give Children Books This Holiday to Help Them Understand Their Confusing Emotions Many children have wrestled with powerful emotions this past year, as they have had to adjust to the pandemic’s required changes at school, at home, and with friends. Many young people are sad, lonely, fearful, anxious, and disappointed, and they don’t understand their own feelings. Now, the pandemic will disrupt upcoming holiday gatherings and traditions as extended families won’t be able to celebrate together. These disruptions are likely to intensify a child’s feelings of confusion and loss. Books, always a wonderful holiday gift, may be even more appreciated this year; books can be an ideal tool to help young children identify and express their feelings. Picture books are especially engaging and helpful for young readers; the images and words work together to evoke powerful emotions. For children, reading is like role playing, where they can see the world through someone else’s eyes. Through reading, young people gain new perspectives, and learn, for example, how to negotiate friendships and handle conflicts on the playground. In addition, books build empathy in children. The …

It all started with figs. In 2010, siblings Nate Padavick and Salli S. Swindell launched the website They Draw & Cook (TDAC). The duo came up with the idea during a family vacation. Padavick had been trying to replicate a fettuccine recipe with figs while Swindell was using her watercolors to paint the fruit in its crate. This led them both to realize how fun it was to illustrate food. Today artists from around the world submit their work to TDAC, making it the largest online collection of illustrated recipes. TDAC has generously shared several recipes with Girls That Create. Take time to create these delicious dishes with your family (click on recipe images for larger view). Jungle Critter Pancakes by Sue Mattero (website, Instagram) Harvest Apple Kale Salad by Lisa Lane (website, Instagram) Butternut Mac & Cheese by Lisl Christie Grandma Susie’s Ranger Cookies by K. We Recipe books can be purchased on the TDAC site. Swindell and Padavick are also behind the website They Draw and Travel, which is a collection of illustrated travel maps created by artists from around the world. More recently they launched Illustrators for Hire, an online global directory of creatives. Across all three sites the founding principle of TDAC is as true today as it was 10 years ago: to promote the careers of freelance illustrators. They Draw & Cook Website Instagram Pinterest Salli S. Swindell Website Instagram Nate Padavick Website Instagram Images provided by They Draw & Cook More Girls That Create posts: Kate Allan: Q&A With Author and Illustrator …

Shannon Brescher Shea is passionate about telling stories that bring together parenting, sustainability, and social justice. Shea has been participating in some form of environmental activism since the age of ten. A mother of two young boys, she recently released the environmental parenting book Growing Sustainable Together. It has tips, tools, advice and activities for raising eco-friendly kids while nurturing compassion, resilience and community engagement. Shea spoke with Girls That Create by phone about her book and why inspiration struck to write it. Her writing can also be found on the blog We’ll Eat You Up – We Love You So.  Q&A With Shannon Brescher Shea What inspired you to write Growing Sustainable Together?  I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since I was a kid. I started reading at a young age and have just always been enamored with books. I really loved Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods and how he combined personal experiences, historical research, and scientific aspects. My day job is working as a science writer for the federal government. I’d always known I wanted to write a book but had no idea what it would be about. That changed with having kids and me constantly feeling a combination of green guilt and mom guilt. After talking with other environmentally conscious moms, I came to realize green living and great parenting can actually go hand in hand. What I loved most about writing this book is that it gave me an opportunity to combine all the things I am passionate about. When …

Sometimes the universe sends us a message. The most recent (for me) is this graphic from the National Museum of Women in the Arts. It’s a strong reminder on why I created Girls That Create and believe in its purpose with my entire heart. I’ve been trying to figure out how to financially support Girls That Create with an online platform. Several weeks ago I was chatting with a dear colleague who suggested I look into setting a Patreon account. What is Patreon? They’ve put together a great video to explain. Basically Patreon allows you to directly support Girls That Create on a monthly basis at predetermined giving levels (tiers). Based on the tier level you support, at the end of every month (and in some cases every three months) your support is rewarded with special offers that only those giving through Patreon receive. As written on the Patreon page, “Our platform provides thousands of creators the opportunity to create on their own terms.” Right now there are 200,000+ creators on Patreon. In a nutshell, if you like the content appearing on Girls That Create and want to see the project grow – become a Patron. If you feel strongly about balancing out representation in mainstream media and seeing more women in leadership positions in the arts – become a Patron. If you want to help artists and inspire the next generation of artists – become a Patron. You can stop being a Patron at anytime. Click HERE to see the different tier levels, they …

Renée Trudeau is the award-winning author of Nurturing the Soul of Your Family and The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal. A sought after life balance coach/speaker, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, US News & World Report, Spirituality & Health and more. Trudeau graciously agreed to share the following guest post with Girls That Create. In these uncertain times, cultivating an attitude of gratitude is a powerful action that can greatly benefit our emotional well-being. Want to Feel Good? Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude Growing up, our overachiever family placed a high value on competency. Often that translated into a critical mindset toward self and others, where we frequently saw the bad before the good. This way of being, like all patterns, became habitual for many of my siblings. And as my father’s daughter and a champion of “let’s make it the best,” it’s a tendency I’ve been unraveling for years. When you walk into a room and see your child working on a science project, greet your partner at the end of the day after a big presentation, or receive an email update about a work project, do you see what’s going “right” or immediately look for what’s going “wrong?” Cultivating a gratitude practice has helped me to shift my perspective and see the gifts in any situation–even those that look horribly astray. An attitude of gratitude doesn’t come naturally to us. It was something I had to learn, to bring my attention and focus to, and to practice, practice, practice. I chose to …

“If you could see yourself the way I see you.” I often think about this saying when witnessing girls being way too hard on themselves and doubting their value. How can we help girls see their strengths? That is the question I sent to Career Coach and Dream Strategist Kyla Martin. For the past 25 years, Martin has guided new college grads, entrepreneurs, full-time moms, individual contributors, managers and executives at Fortune 500 companies to maximize strengths and pursue passion. Often called the “Purpose Whisperer,” her strength is helping women uncover and apply their purpose in life, including overcoming limitations and creating an actionable roadmap to live the life they always imagined. She graciously wrote the following post for Girls That Create.  How to Help Your Girl See Her Strengths I remember vividly when my niece was about 2 years and she began (what we referred to as) “quiet” temper tantrums. She would lay face down on the floor in the middle of the kitchen, and not respond to anyone or anything until she processed her feelings. At age 5, she began experimenting with fashion. Her very colorful, mismatched choices reflected her quiet determination to express herself. My sister gently offered other options, but she would simply look away – resolute in her choice. As she approached her 9th birthday, she wrote in a school paper that she could “feel” her friend’s feelings. As a coach, I was fascinated that she knew this about herself – and had a language for it. She clearly was quietly observing. Today, …

Are you looking for picture books where female artists are the main characters? Well look no further, here is a free printable listing 20 picture books that all star a woman artist. You will find painters, sculptors, photographers, dancers, musicians, singers, and filmmakers. List inspired by Girls That Create post Picture Books With Women and Girl Main Characters. Click to download Free Printable Picture Books About Female Artists Things you should know before downloading: Girls That Create printables are for PERSONAL USE ONLY You may NOT modify, re-sell, redistribute, or claim the design as your own If you’d like to share this project, credit must be given to Girls That Create and linked back to this post Other Girls That Create posts: How Real Stories Help Girls and Creator Spotlight: Jessica M. Rinker and Daria Peoples-Riley Top image Daria Shevtsova from Pexels www.girlsthatcreate.com