TIP TUESDAY #24: Hey girlfriends - what's your favorite hobby/passion?

I've heard that if you look back to your childhood, before boys had an impact or peer pressure was in it's teen madness, you'll find the things that you genuinely love to do. Maybe it was acting, drawing, talking, cooking or even dressing up. When we were eight to ten years old, we did whatever we loved - and why not?!

My mother is an artist so it is no surprise that I grew up doing crafts, drawing people in church, making sand art (a long-lost talent!) or other creative exercises. I designed the cover of my Jr. High school year book and won an award for a paper mache dragon that I made with a girlfriend. Is it any wonder that several decades later, I ended up in the craft/hobby industry?!

Last week I interviewed CAROL DUVALL for the Girlfriendology podcast. On TV for 56 years, this 'Queen of Crafts' is an amazing woman. She is a living legacy of TV history as well as the inspiration and teacher to millions of us as we learned new crafts and laughed along with her and her guests. I had the honor of being on her show a dozen times so I really enjoyed just catching up with her and having a conversation about our girlfriends on the show. And, Carol just wrote a book with the help of one of the girlfriends from her show, Cherryl Greene - Paper Crafting with Carol Duvall.

Recently I was asked what my favorite craft/hobby is so I thought I put it to you. This week's TIP TUESDAY question is:

What is your favorite hobby? AND who inspires you?

Carol Duvall inspires me. (And she will you, when you hear her podcast that will be posted on Wednesday evening.) My creative girlfriends Katie Hacker, Jill MacKay, Vicki Schreiner and Linda Peterson inspire me, along with dozen of other wonderful, super-creative women I've met in the craft industry.

How about you? Think back to your childhood and what hobbies you could spend hours doing. Remember the pure joy of playing music, baking, playing with clay - whatever made you happy! What hobby do you love with a passion and who inspired you? Share with us. You might just inspire someone else to find a new hobby/passion in their life!

p.s. And Carol's book as well as several others are in the monthly contest so send in your girlfriend story!

New GIRLFRIENDOLOGY site - Experts Wanted!

Hi Girlfriends! Just wanted to share that thanks to YOU and your support and enthusiasm for 'girlfriendship,' GIRLFRIENDOLOGY IS GROWING! We've already expanded the podcasts to two/week* and we've added videos, as well as bunches of prizes in our May Girlfriendology Contest! We're busy updating the website and plan to launch it this summer.

Now, we're adding more of YOU! We're looking for 'experts' to be the girlfriends we want to talk with when we have a question or just need some advice. You'd be part of our network which would mean that we would publish your stories, advice, articles on your area of expertise as well as interviews on our podcasts, etc.

Specifically, we need the following experts: a Mom (or a couple, depending on age of your children, specialties and other factors), Crafts, Fashion, Food, Travel, Books, Small/Home Business and other general women's topics.

You must be friendly, fun, helpful, a good writer, an expert in your field and willing to provide blog articles and assist with podcasts on a regular basis. In exchange, Girlfriendology will promote you and your site/blog on Girlfriendology.com, podcasts and upcoming events and opportunities.

If you or a friend are qualified and interested, please contact debba @ girlfriendology (dot) com. (I guess that helps the spammers not find me!) Thanks girlfriends!

* And with two podcasts/week, we need more 'girlfriend authors and experts' to interview. Please send us your ideas! And listen in for our recent KATE JACOBS interview and coming conversations with CAROL DUVALL and DEBBIE MACOMBER!