Happy Birthday Asher!

 Happy birthday sweet boy.

You are a delight to this family and never cease to make us laugh. 

Your favorite things include:

your brother Drew, your binky (pacifier), lolli-pops, hershey kisses, m&m's... really anything with sugar, balls, blocks, and the always present light saber.

This year held some big changes for you. 

You got a lot more teeth so you began eating everything in sight. You have not stopped since.

You finally learned to walk. And shortly thereafter to run. I love your little run.

You got a new big boy bed to share with your brother. Now you sleep cuddled up next to your brother every night and I am pretty sure you both love it. We hear you laughing together almost every night.

...

Today I am praising God for you, such an incredible little boy.

My heart is full thinking about what a miracle you are and how fast the past two years have gone by.

Our prayer for you today and everyday, that God would turn your heart towards Him. That you would grow to love Him with all of your heart, soul and mind. That you would grow to be an amazing leader among leaders. That you would be both tough and tender.

 

Little one, we praise God for you and your amazing little personality and your love for life. 

May we treasure every crazy minute with you!

Happy birthday sweet boy!!!

 {Enjoy a year in pictures... in no particular order}

Sneaking into the pantry.

Loves marshmallows.

Learning to walk!

Silly boy.

I am obsessed with these three.

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Winner!

Thank you to so many for entering this little giveaway!

There are more Inspired Kids products coming your way in the next few weeks 

and I'm thinking a few more giveaways are in order as well.

Felicia, send your shipping information to info (at) ashleeproffitt.com.

I can't wait to get this print to it's new home!

The New Ashlee Proffitt...

Well... a piece of the new Ashlee Proffitt.

Back in August I attended the most amazing workshop. The Stationery Academy breathed life into a hopeless Ashlee Proffitt and re-ignited a vision within me that I thought was lost.

For as long as I can remember I have tried with such effort to figure out who I am, often conforming to those around me. I wanted so badly to get life just right that I spent much of my time trying to be like everyone else. I brought that insecurity into my marriage as I tried to figure out what it meant to be a godly wife by comparing myself to other women I loved and respected; I brought it into motherhood as I battled daily with guilt over whether or not I was being the best mom. And let's face it, there is a standard our culture sets today about what it means to be a great wife and mom, and I am pretty positive that that standard was not defined by God. I even brought those insecurities into my business as I compared myself to every other artist around me and tried my hardest to be just like them.

In August, there were about a billion amazing things said, that I will save for a future post (one day! I promise!) but overall the biggest challenge and the biggest reward was delving deep in order to answer those tough questions about who I really am... who God had made me to be.

I left the Stationery Academy determined to be authentic and true to what God had called me to be.

Here is the beauty in that decisions, when you finally give up trying to be everyone else, the real you just fits. Effortless and comfortable. No more forcing something that isn't meant to be. Emily Ley said it best when introducing her new business brand, "And y’all… this just feels so good. Like a comfy sweater on the first day of Fall."

With that being said, I want to introduce the first collection of fine art prints from the new & improved Ashlee Proffitt.

This collection is so dear to my heart. I first had this idea of creating beautiful illustrations with Bible verses about a year ago and am so excited that it has finally come to fruition. Great artwork for children's rooms are hard to find and artwork with true meaning is pretty much non-existent. I am excited to be able to provide your little one with a piece of art that will daily remind them of God's love and sacrifice towards them!

I have had so much encouragement and am so thankful for an amazing husband who believes in the work you are doing and for amazing friends who push you along the way.

A little side note: each piece is named after a sweet child in my life.  I asked each of their mommas to give me a life verse for their little ones and I was blown away by the amount of thought and prayer these godly women put into that aspect of this project. Thank you to all of you amazing ladies for helping me on this endeavor and more importantly, for being amazing examples of godly mothers!

Below is a small portion of the new collection. To see each new design you will have to take a peek at my shop: ashleeproffitt.etsy.com

P.S. If you read to the end there may be a prize in it for you! :)

Introducing

 Austin

 

 Camden

 Zeke

Micah & Eli

Brothers

Reece & Dillan

Children Are A Gift

Chloe & Vera

 

Sisters

Your Chance to Win a FREE Print!

ENTRY DETAILS

1. Share the link to this blog post on Facebook

2. Visit my shop: ashleeproffitt.etsy.com

3. Leave a comment on this blog post with your favorite piece from the Inspired Kids Collection

CONTEST DETAILS

1. Contest ends on Sunday, February 19 at midnight.

2. Winner will be announced on Monday.

. . .

 

 I cannot wait to hear which design is your favorite!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 To you and yours,

a very happy Valentine's Day. 

May you show someone today just how much you love them!

Artwork by Ashlee Proffitt.

Progress!

I am so excited I can barely stand it!

I have made huge progress over the past week with a project that I have been dying to do for over a year!

Thanks so much to my amazing mom & step-dad who are visiting helping me with life this week (i.e. watching my little ones, cooking, cleaning, and among other things assembling an entire new bedroom set for me and my sweet husband! And since they are holding down the fort, I have not left my office chair for days (insert: no make-up and p.j.s for days...)

A formal introduction will be coming later this week, but for now here is a sneak peek!

Get excited friends! This is going to be big!!!

Pink, Peach & White Baby Shower!

 

This past weekend a few of my closest friends threw an amazingly beautiful (and so tasty!) baby shower for a very sweet friend of mine. Thank you so much to Abby, Kortni & Megan for making this so special for Shay!

Baby Vera,  I hope you know how loved and prayed for you already are (and just how much I love your mommy!)

I wanted the shower to be beautiful, feminine and soft with lots of pink details.

 Tulle Pom Poms

(I created these using my own simplified version of this tutorial.)

But more than decorations and yummy food we use these special moments (baby & bridal showers alike) to display and teach about Christ's love. We do this in a variety of ways. The first is through these cute little Love Notes. We asked everyone to fill out a 'Love Note' for baby Vera. A prayer or favorite bible verse that Shay could put in Vera's baby book. We want Vera to know just how much she means to us and more importantly how much she is loved by God... even before she was born!

The second way we display Christ's love is through a time of devotion & prayer. I taught on this passage from Deuteronomy 11:18-19. It is a beautiful reminder of the responsibility we have as mothers who are striving to teach their children to love the Lord.

We use prayer cards like this and the guests volunteer to pray for the specific request listed on the card. Feel free to download these for the next shower you throw!

On to the details!

The menu was soups and salads with lots of yummy appetizers and desserts. 

The food was unbelievably amazing. Seriously.

 

 Homemade strawberry cupcakes.

(Recipe from Martha Stewart. of course.)

We served strawberry lemonade out of mason jars made complete with these adorable pink & white paper straws.

 For tasty edible favors, our sweet friend Abby made these delightful chocolate covered pretzel sticks in pink, peach and white.

In lieu of games, we decided to get crafty instead! Abby (from Three Little Acorns) created a 'Make a Headband' station for baby Vera.  She made about a million flowers that were later crafted into headbands and clips by the guests at the party. (We saw this cute idea here.)

I hope you enjoyed all the little details!

. . . 

 Thanks Kortni for helping me capture all the special details.

Goals for February.

Like I said on Monday, I feel like a new person who has been given the world, when in fact it is just a few hours added to my day 2x a week. It is amazing how much a mom can get accomplished when she has solitude. :)

Last week I wrote an entirely too long post about my goals for this year. It was one of those blog posts that never got posted due to internet issues. I decided that instead of posting a bunch of goals at the beginning of the year, I wanted to increase my accountability and post monthly goals at the beginning of every month. I hope to update you on how these goals are coming along at the end of each month.

I will create goals about each area of my life: personal, wife, mom & business owner. I wanted the goals to be tangible and easily made into action. I think I have succeeded and I am excited to head in to February!

So here goes!

What are your goals for February?