All About the TWEEN {Handmade Gift}

“I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Clearasil. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.”

I have recently entered a new stage of parenting, TWEENS! I have to say I was completely unprepared for this stage of life. The constant emotional roller coaster, attitudes and mood swings. The word TWEEN became a four letter word in my house; where had my nice sweet daughter gone!!!

I am slowly learning to handle my new life that I will be in for FOREVER with 6 more kids following in her foot steps. I realized I needed to find the good in this stage of life and come up with some new ways to deal with the daily happenings.

One of the things that I have decided is to celebrate all the new firsts we are having. Now these firsts are not near as wonderful as first smiles and first steps but they are first just the same. My oldest is 11 so I know I have so many more unpleasant firsts ahead but so far we have had the deodorant first which was very entertaining and recently we had our very first pimple!!

I have to say this one was very traumatic for my oldest because she is very into her looks. Lucky for her I was prepared and had the new Clearasil Daily Clear Hydra-Blast Oil Free Face Wash under the bathroom counter waiting for just the right opportunity. #MC

We learned all about taking care of our skin and how important it is to start developing good habits with your skin at a young age. Such as washing your face morning and night. I am horrible at washing my face at night before bed and trust me I haven’t been a tween in a very long time!!! I wish I had started those habits back when I was kid. #ClearasilMom

She was very excited when the Clearasil Daily Clear Hydra-Blast Oil Free Face Wash worked so well and so fast. She and her sister love the way there face feels after they wash it. I actually had to tell them to not wash there face so much, but it is nice to know that the Clearasil was mild and gentle enough to be used numerous times a day and not hurt their skin. Its funny how they love doing things that makes them feel older.

My next coping mechanism for the TWEENS, ugh I hate even writing that word. It makes me cringe! HaHaHa! Anyway, I have made them each a You & Me Journal.

This is a journal that they can write in and then leave it on my bed and I can write a response or tell them something and leave it on their bed at night. It is an open forum with no restrictions I can’t get mad at them for anything they write. It is great because as they get older there are things that they might not want to ask out loud but writing isn’t as embarrassing.

They are very easy to make. I just covered a composition book with some cute cardstock and double sided sticky tape. Each of my girls are so different I made them in colors that I knew each of them would like. I found this super cute “You mean the WORLD to me” stamp at So Suzy Stamps that I had to put on the cover. After a bad day of arguing and attitudes I want my girls to see this quote at the end of the day. They definitely don’t always listen when I say how important they are to me but hopefully reading it will make it sink in.

If you don’t want to create your own cover, you could get a cute decorative notebook at the store. I had all the supplies already on hand for these notebooks and love making something out of nothing. It makes the perfect gift for a TWEEN and I even picked up some neat pens to make it more fun!