Late in the summer I received a call from a friend of mine, Missy Ward, inviting me to get involved with a new project she was working on. As soon as she finished describing the project, Suze Orman’s new community called Money Minded Moms, I was shocked I was having this conversation. Me? Really? How cool is that!?

A thousand things ran through my mind in about 1.67 seconds. I’ve gone through the “can I do it” to brainstorming a gazillion things I want to say or share.  I’m sure I even envisioned myself with pom poms and a megaphone… where was the rest of the elated rallying troops for this excitement!?

It wasn’t real for me until this week when I first saw my happy face on the website. This is fantastic! I’m so excited to be part of an amazing group of women sharing their ideas, experiences and expertise with moms around the world. We’re all here to help teach, encourage and empower each other to gain more control of our money instead of letting our money control us.

Money Minded Moms

This is another opportunity to put our best creative foot forward. Creativity isn’t just about creating pretty things, its about thinking smart, coming up with the best possible solution and doing something amazing with our ideas. This type of thinking applies to money too.

This community presents a fantastic opportunity for moms everywhere. We can work together to make this success work for us all. I haven’t always been the best money manager I can. We all struggle with balancing a budget and a family. We want to give our kids the very best yet teach them that it takes hard work to earn what we have. We want them to grow up to become successful, happy adults. Managing all this and staying within financial means is often a daunting task. This community was created so that we can come together and share ideas.

I’m officially a “featured contributor”. I plan on sharing my own ideas for saving money – a lot of which focuses on making things yourself. You don’t have to be an artist to make wonderful gifts and create a little happiness with a bow for someone else. I’ll also share fun little recipes and ideas for spending smart.

I hope you’ll join me on this journey – it will definitely be a grand one!

Check out the other fabulous women writing for Money Minded Moms:

Vicky Collins – AskTheMama.com

Doreen Kukral – MomGoesGreen.com

Mariel LaSasso – LaSasso Griesmeyer Law Group PLLC

Tricia Meyer – Helping Moms Connect

Sabrina O’Malone – WorkingMom.com

Eva Rosenberg – TaxMama.com

Kim Rowley – Key Internet Marketing

Phyllis Shelton – LTC Consultants

Liz Strauss – SOBCon

Missy Ward – Affiliate Summit.com

Julie Vazquez – Community Manager – Julie’s Journal

Sharing some happiness with Money Minded Moms is a post from: The art of Jen Goode

Sign up and mark your calendars! From May 3rd to May 15th Laura Bray is offering a fantastic online education series called Multiple Streams of Income: An Online Course. I’ve partnered with Laura to share my knowledge about making money with your art through print on-demand services such as CafePress, Zazzle, Printfection, ImageKind and more. So, if you’ve been wanting to ask me questions about getting started or using in print on-demand here’s your chance! I will be participating in a live chat on May 11th. I’ll be there to happily answer as many questions as I can to help get you going to successfully sell your art through print on-demand.

Laura’s entire online course is packed full of ideas, tips and information about making money with your art in a variety of areas. All for the exceptionally low fee of $32.00!

Sign up for Multiple Streams of Income – you’ll be glad you did!

You’ll receive:

• Access to the private, online community on the Ning network.
• 7 Lesson Plans about the various income choices you have as an artist/crafters
• Live chats with experts in: Blogging, Product Design and Print On-Demand
• Blog posts from experts in art licensing, children’s book illustration, selling online and teaching.
• A free copy of Laura Bray’s ebook, “Multiple Streams of Income: Getting Started”.

The entire course begins May 3rd and runs through May 15th. I will be available to answer questions LIVE via chat on May 11th. There’s so many ways you can earn money as an artist, this course will provide you with information you can use to move forward and start increasing your art related income to reach your goals.

I’m delighted to be a part of this program and look forward to sharing ideas with you!

Find out more and Sign Up Today!

Multiple Streams of Income: An Online Course

Mark your calendars! Join me for a live chat about Print on-demand is a post from: The art of Jen Goode

Here’s a fun page for you to color with your kids, just in time for Easter. A cute Easter Bunny holding a basket full of eggs. Do you see the birdie? Or how many flowers can you count? Find all the Easter eggs or create a color sequence with the jellybean border. There’s loads of fun in this one.

Print out this free Easter coloring page at Projects for Preschoolers

Easter Bunny coloring page is a post from: The art of Jen Goode

A fun St. Patrick’s day activity for all your color loving kids (and grown ups too). Here’s an original JGoode doodle just for you, complete with a rainbow, leprechaun and even a pot of shiny gold – woo wee! Maybe in your Irish dreams, the shamocks are purple and the pot is filled with strawberry ice cream?

Grab your own copy of this s fun St. Patrick’s day coloring page

St. Patrick's Day Coloring Page is a post from: The art of Jen Goode

Color for treats!
For a little festive fun, grab yourself (and the kids) this Happy Halloween coloring page. Just in time for some super sweet grins and goblins! Share your finished picture with us and you could win a fabulous prize!

click to download

The Contest Details
When you are finished with your coloring page, scan or take a photo of your finished picture and upload to Facebook or flickr and tag with “jgoode halloween coloring contest 2009“. Then visit the Halloween coloring page at JGoode.com and leave a comment with the location (web address) of your finished masterpiece.

Don’t forget to include your email address so I can get a hold of you if you win!

Tell your friends! Share the fun! The contest ends October 31, 2009.

Winner will be announced November 6, 2009.

Please note: by sharing your finished art, you are granting permission to JGoode Designs to republish a representation of your finished art images on this blog.

Grab yourself some Halloween happiness Free is a post from: The art of Jen Goode

Disney on Ice is coming to Denver March 12th-15th. You can get 4 tickets for $44 when you use the coupon code MOM (in the MC promotion box)

We’ve never been to any of the “on ice” events before but were invited by a friend with this discount package so we’re going this Thursday. If you were thinking about going or know someone else who who loves Disney, here’s a little discount for ya – looks like it might be lots of fun!

There’s a printable flyer with info available here.

Yay Mickey I say! Please feel free to pass the info and coupon on!

Discount Tickets for Disney on Ice in Denver is a post from: The art of Jen Goode

So just because I love you.. or you love someone, or there is love somewhere on the planet, so I’m told… not to mention Valentine’s day is oh so close and I know you’re so burnt out on the walmart spongebob special vday pack…

I have free valentines for you. Really!

Just download the front and back pdfs and print and cut and voila.. free from me to you! Give a lil’ love to someone.. special or not.

Hugs and kisses and noodles.
-jen

Sample:

Free Valentines! is a post from: The art of Jen Goode