Those Hard to Buy For People -- Holiday Preparations -- Gift Buying

Disclosure: Uncommon Goods sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. All of the pictures are from Uncommon Goods website. 

Have you begun your holiday shopping yet? Now I know there are 68 days still before Christmas. However I for one like to have my shopping basically done by Thanksgiving. Why? I like to be able to relax and enjoy the Advent season plus I work in retail and my work schedule gets a bit crazy so I honestly don't want to shop and deal with the crowds. Plus there are so many fun things to do besides shop during that time of year. Therefore I start early. The best part of shopping early is you spread out the bills that come in from holiday shopping!

Hostess Gifts & More for Summer Parties

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post and this post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Have you been looking for a gift to bring a hostess of a summer party? Or perhaps for those hard to buy for people? One of my favorite places to check out is Shop gifts under $25 at The Grommet. The Grommet is a company that helps launch new products onto the market. Usually it is the inventors/creators of the items that they are helping. The gifts are unique and new. Check out some of these great ideas from the gifts under $25 at The Grommet. 

Light Box Arts Creations -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Light Box Arts sent me a voucher to create this light box on their site in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Confession time, I am not a very good drawer.  When I try to draw or paint I am never happy with my work. However I am excellent at using computers to create fun artwork. I am also a great cutter and paster. So when Light Box Arts asked if I would like to try out their new Design Yours feature on their site, I jumped at the opportunity. 

Light Box Arts offers pre-designed light boxes as well. There are many different categories like Attitude, Vacation, Inspirational, Kids, and more. These are fun and beautiful, but I was excited to make something personal. I thought a personal light box would be perfect to celebrate our 11 year anniversary this summer. I got to work. I Googled for some ideas for anniversary quotes and found "Once upon a time I became yours and you became mine and we will stay together through both the tears and the laughter because that is what they call happily ever after." I loved it and wanted to add it to our wedding picture. 

Mother's Day and Homeschooling Gifts & Books

Disclosure: I was sent these products to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Can you believe tomorrow is Mother's Day? Where has the time gone? I suppose with all the recent changes in our lives time is really flying. A few weeks ago we pulled Hazel from her school and I began homeschooling her until the end of this school year. We will be sending her to a new school in the fall. However I have to say I have a lot of respect for anyone who chooses to homeschool. It is a lot of work and this is with the workbooks and such that she was already using this year. Go Teach offered me some supplies for Teacher Appreciation Week to make gifts and I explained I was now homeschooling, but thought they would make nice Mother's Day gifts for the homeschooler (or for end of the year gifts for a teacher). (Now I know most moms probably want something for themselves and not their classroom, but some of the supplies could be used for their own crafts as well.) Plus I have some fun books about moms and spending time with your mom for younger kids from MacMillan Publishers. We will start with some gift ideas. I was sent white board markers, glue sticks and scented twistable crayons.

MindWare Gifts -- Perfect Gifts to Get Them Thinking!!

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from MindWare. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

I have been sharing some of our favorite places to get gifts and tonight I am sharing a new one. MindWare has many educational and fun gifts. They are connected now with Oriental Trading. You can get your party supplies and gifts in one stop!! The first thing I knew I wanted to check out was Qwirkle. I had heard of it but never played. 

Advent, Christmas and a Tea Party Crafts & More! -- a Crafty Weekend Review & Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

We are getting ready for our busy December which includes Advent (which starts next Sunday), Christmas and Hazel's birthday. Hazel decided she wants a fairy tea party this year for her birthday party. We recently received a few products from Oriental Trading to help get ready for all three things. We will go in order starting with Advent.

Photo Gifts with Tiny Prints

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Please consider making a purchase and supporting Crafty Moms Share. Since I do not accept advertising, this is my only income from this blog. Click pictures for links. I was compensated for this post.

Are you still trying to figure out the perfect gift for your kids to give your husband or perhaps a grandparent? This year Tiny Prints saved us with one of their Deal of the Day and we got this photo mug for free. We just had to pay for shipping and handling. Hazel helped me design it and is very excited to give it to Steve this Christmas. He is one of those impossible to buy for people. He usually only tells his mother what he wants from her because she will buy for him no matter what. He always tells me he doesn't want anything. Ugh!!  Photo gifts from Tiny Prints are the perfect gift for dads, moms, grandparents and more! Then I saw that the Deal of the Day was a free Tiny Prints Custom Photo Mugs that was white so I went for it.

Holiday Gift Ideas -- Holiday Preparations

Disclosure: I was sent these products to review free of charge from Uncommon Goods. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

"On the first day of November my holiday preparations caused me to shop for those hard to get holiday gifts." Do you know my secret to loving the holiday season? It is having my preparations done early, and I mean really early!! (I'm actually basically down for Christmas with shopping.) Now we all have people who are hard to buy gifts for. Who are yours? Mine are Steve, my husband, and my 14-year-old nephew. My solution is Uncommon Goods. They have some amazing ideas for everyone and they are things that you cannot find everywhere.

Books that Inspire the Imagination -- Summertime Fun

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Summertime is for day dreaming and imaging. Don't you agree? I remember those summer days of making up games and just pretending with friends or myself. I always love giving Hazel time to do this and today I am sharing four books that help inspire that feeling. The first is The Bell in the Bridge by Ted Kooser and illustrated by Barry Root.

Perfect Gift Wrapping Ideas -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Have you entered my current giveaway for a custom canvas print? There are only one more day to enter!!

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

How do you wrap gifts? Do you just throw them in a gift bag? I'll admit I often do at least for gifts for kids. However I always love playing with gift wrapping. At work we charge at least $6 plus the supplies for gift wrapping. I'm always amazed when people pay it. I will admit the gifts always look beautiful when they are done. They are usually done in a seam line wrapping style. And today's book that I am sharing gives a tutorial in this kind of wrapping!

Canvas Factory Review & Giveaway

Disclosure: Canvas Factory sent me a coupon to get this print free of charge for this review and are providing the winner of the giveaway with a coupon code. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the site for your convenience.

Do you have a favorite photograph that you have taken recently? Have you noticed the new thing is to have canvas prints done of your photographs? When I took Hazel and my nephew in to have their pictures taken I got one with our package. (Don't tell my parents since the pictures are their Christmas gift.) At many of the photo studios these canvases can cost over $100. Imagine my excitement to be offered a free 16 x 20" canvas to review and one to give away!! And right now they have a sale going on where it costs $38.70. You can even create canvas collages with various size prints and more!!

Religious Gifts (and One Non-Religious) for Baby

 Disclosure: Kregel Publications sent me copies of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. The Gymboree links are affiliate links where I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through them. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

It seems like just about everyone I know is posting about new babies or new pregnancies. And almost all of them are having their second or more baby. This of course means baby gifts. Now I love all the adorable baby clothes. Gymboree has the most adorable baby clothes!! However I remember always getting baby clothes from people and the most recent baby girl already has a big sister (who has plenty of hand-me-downs for her little sister). I wanted to give this new adorable baby something more meaningful for her baptism. Kregel Publications sent me two great ideas. The first book is perfect for any new Christian baby at any time and does not have to be for a baptism. It is First Prayers for Baby, Gift Edition, by Sophie Piper and illustrated by Annabel Spenceley. 

Mother's Day Gifts & Heat Embossing Tutorial -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

Today is Mother's Day in the United States. Yesterday Hazel spent the morning making her gifts for her grandmothers and one for me. I bought some canvas bags and she was able to paint them for each person. She also jumped at every chance to make a card for me. She did one at Paper Source, our public library, and Lakeshore Learning. She also made her ice cream cone about me at school and a few cards and a book on her own!

Non-Candy Easter Egg Gift Ideas

So this month Hazel had to go to the dentist and get four fillings (two pairs of adjacent teeth). As I think about Easter (it is only a little over a week away!), I know I do not want to fill her basket and her plastic eggs with too much candy. And the truth is she gets candy from everyone at Easter. We still have chocolate bunnies from last Easter that she got from somewhere. Steve and I end up eating a good portion of the candy. So this year I wanted to come up with some non-candy ideas to fill her plastic eggs. The truth is she LOVES the egg hunt. She often wants to play egg hunt for a month before and after (at least) Easter.This year I wanted to use less candy and still hide lots of eggs for her. My first thought was Shopkins. I managed to find some Season 3 packages for half price with the ones she really wanted. I put two in an egg since I bought so many.

Origami Zoo Kit -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

So Hazel's birthday was last week. We had a fun ducky themed party for family and a few friends. And we will be having a Wild Kratts themed party for her school friends. You will be seeing some posts about that party this week and next! However Ann at Tuttle Publishing sent Hazel a gift this year. It was one of the first gifts she got this year!

Easy Christmas Thank You Notes -- Free Printable

Did you have a nice holiday? We had such a great time with family. It is always nice to be back with my parents and sisters and to see my nephew!! We do not get to see my oldest sister and nephew all that much since they live in North Carolina. Hazel got just about everything she wanted and some things she didn't know that she wanted (or that they existed or they would have been on her wish list). Now that Christmas is over it is time to write the thank you notes. As a beginner reader and writer I wanted to make this task relatively easy on her and me. I made up some fill-in-the-blank thank you notes.

Christmas Crafts & More

Although I have not been sharing them all, we have been doing some crafts for Christmas. So for my Christmas Eve post, I thought I would share some of what we have been up to and a few other things we love for Christmas!! By the way Sharing Saturday is 2 weeks long and still going on. For Christmas Day there will be some Christmas themed features and the continued link party!!

Let's begin at the beginning of the season. In November Hazel and I purchased four rabbit ornaments for the Multicultural Kid Blogs Ornament Swap. I also made three (well five) ornaments from fabric.  

Little Loving Hands -- Product Review

Disclosure: Little Loving Hands sent me this month's box free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Have you noticed all the monthly box subscriptions out there? There are so many of them and they all have a slightly different theme, however here is one that teaches kids to about charity and giving. Little Loving Hands offers a monthly subscription where a box with a craft arrives each month and with the craft is also information about who the craft is for and an envelope (with postage paid) to mail it to the charity. The explanation of the charity was double sided

DIY Christmas Cards & Gift Tags

Disclosure: My Memories gave me a copy of this product free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.

Are you getting ready for Christmas? Have you mailed your cards yet? Wrapped the gifts? There always seems to be so much to do this time of year. I always look for ways to stop and enjoy the season. In our house this often includes some crafts. This year we made our own Christmas cards. We always do a photo card and we still did, but we added our own personal touch with a simple craft. I had bought the tree punch at work as well as a pack of spruce flat cards. We punched them and decorated them with gel pens, liquid pearls and washi tape and then glued them on to the cards and added a sticker star. Some we used plan cardstock and covered in the washi tape and then punched.

Holiday Gift Suggestions--Books for Kids to Create Their Own Play

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Storey Publishing. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

In honor of Black Friday I thought I would share some fun books for kids of different ages to create their own fun and play. The first is Teddy Bear Doctor  by Deanna F. Cook, and we have already reviewed this amazing book. This is our go to gift for Hazel's friends. We buy a copy of the book with a small stuffed animal and it is perfect! The age recommendation is ages 3-8. Some of the crafts in the book would be difficult for a 3-year-old, but it is perfect for the 5-8 range.