Sharing Saturday 15-2

Have you entered my current giveaway for a wooden watch?

 Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! There were some amazing ideas as always!! And a very special thank you to everyone who visited the posts shared!! For features this week we have penguins & more and Valentine's Day and more.

Just Us Girls Book Review--Mother Daughter Crafts

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Quarry Books. 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.

Today I get to share with you a wonderful book called Just Us Girls: 48 Creative Art and Craft Projects for Mothers and Daughters to do Together by Cindy Ann Ganaden. This book has some fun projects for any mother and daughter team to try. It promotes bonding time which is always important. Hazel loves that it is called Just Us Girls. She thinks of it as a secret time to do fun things. As usual I let Hazel go through and pick some crafts to try. She limited herself this time or maybe I limited her by not giving her as many papers to mark pages. 

Wooden Watch Review and Giveaway!!

Disclosure: I was sent this watch to review free of charge from JORD Watch. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. JORD Watch is also providing me a watch to giveaway to one of you!!

 I am so excited to review this product and offer one as a prize!! Why? Because it is something I have been searching for almost my whole life. I know you are now thinking I am a bit crazy. After all it is a watch and you can find watches everywhere. However I have extremely sensitive skin and possibly an allergy to nickel. With this issue every watch I have owned has given me a watch if I wore them regularly. And I should add I have owned/tried many watches. I grew up in the 80's so I always wore a Swatch, but every couple of weeks I would have to put nail polish on the battery cover so it would not give me a rash. I wasn't so sure about always having nail polish next to my skin and stopped wearing them. I had a nice gold watch my grandparents gave me for my high school graduation, but I could only wear it for one day or it would give me the rash. I even found watches with ribbon bands, but where the ribbon connected still gave me the rash. (Did I mention the button on jeans gives me a rash?) So in college or so I stopped wearing watches and had finally just given up on them. Then JORD Watch contacted me asking if I would like to review on of their wood watches. When I saw that they were almost completely wooden, I jumped at the chance.

Teaching Young Children about Martin Luther King, Jr.

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs Martin Luther King Day for Kids Blog Series. 

With all the talk in the news today about race and the race issues and violence that have been occurring I think it is the perfect time to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. I have teamed up with some members of Multicultural Kid Blogs to share resources for celebrating Martin Luther King Day. I have decided to share with you ideas on teaching younger children about Dr. King.

Frozen Themed Birthday Party with free printables and product review

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. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease but receive no compensation.

This weekend we had Hazel's Frozen themed birthday party. Ever since Hazel saw the movie (her first movie at the theater), I have been collecting Frozen ideas on Pinterest. I got to use several of the ideas I pinned and products I pinned for this fun party. All of the girls had a great time and loved it. Today I am going to share the details with you including the products Oriental Trading sent me for the party to review. First I have to share Hazel's Elsa dress. Elsa is Hazel's favorite character in the movie and she really wanted an Elsa dress. With all the sheer fabric on them I knew her delicate skin would not be able to handle just any Elsa dress, so I made one for her. I used the Simplicity Pattern 1233, however I lined the bodice and cannot imagine using any of the sequined fabrics without lining.

Sharing Saturday 15-1

Happy New Year!! Welcome to the first Sharing Saturday of 2015!! This New Year's Eve was the first time we really celebrated with Hazel. We counted down to 8 p.m. with her and let her have noise makers, jump on bubble wrap, wear hats and drink sparkling cider. She loved it!! Did you have a fun New Year's celebration? If you want ideas for celebrating with kids, make sure to check out last week's Sharing Saturday. There were some wonderful ideas shared. Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week and a very special thank you to all of you who come to see what others are up to. For this week's features I picked nine non-New Year's posts to share. I hope you will check them out!

Features

DIY Doll Camping Equipment

Happy New Year!! I hope all of you have a healthy and successful 2015!! I know I am planning some exciting things for Crafty Moms Share and hope you will stay tuned. (One of the best ways to stay tuned is to subscribe to Crafty Moms Share! See the ways to do so in the right column.) I am lining up some amazing giveaways and reviews as well as fun crafts and activities to do with your child(ren). 

Today I thought I would share the main part of Hazel's birthday present from us. This year's family birthday party was American Girl Doll themed, so it seemed appropriate to give her something for her dolls. We gave her the beautiful carrying case with murphy bed from Queens Treasure for Christmas with a homemade quilt. When we were at the American Girl Doll Store for my birthday this summer, Hazel fell in love with the tent they sell. However I was not going to spend $85 on it. I figured I could come up with some way to make one. I happened to find roasting sticks on clearance for a $1 at the end of the summer and bought them thinking they could be the poles for the tent. I also saw this great tutorial over at The Frugal Crafter using cardboard to stiffen the sides, but I really wanted her tent to have a window like the one at the American Girl Doll Store. After a couple of tries I got a tent. It is not perfect and I now know what I would do differently. The first would be not bothering with the "poles". 

DIY American Girl Doll Themed Birthday Party with Free Printables

For Hazel's sixth birthday, we decided to have a small family party and a friends party. So on her birthday we invited her grandparents (and aunts and cousin who live too far to come) and a few close friends like her godparents and their daughter. Since Steve always takes Hazel's birthday off and her grandparents are retired, we had the party on her actual birthday. We had all three of her living grandparents, her godparents' daughter (age 3) with her grandmother and one of my best friends with her two boys (ages 4 and 1) who Hazel loves. The invitations invited the guests to bring a doll with them. Only the two boys did. Hazel wore the crown I got at the American Girl Doll Store for my birthday and Ducky wore one of the ones that the dolls got. 

Fun Crafts and More Book Reviews

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to 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.

Today I get to share with you some fun books from Candlewick Press. All three are intended to let a child be creative in fun ways. The first is a simple book that is intended for younger children. It is Maisy's Placemat Doodle Book by Lucy Cousins.

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Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! This week we have two days of features!! For Christmas I chose some Christmas themed posts to feature. Please take the time to check them out and pin them for next year's crafts! For this week's features we have some December holidays and snow themed posts as well as  a couple of extras.

Holidays

1) From Living Montessori Now: Free Kwanzaa Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time

2) From A Life in Balance: Kid-Friendly New Year's Eve Party for Families

3) From The Practical Mom: Glitter Stars with Popsicle Sticks

4) From Powerful Mothering: How to Make a Quiet Book

Little Quilts -- Book Review

Disclosure: Ryland, Peters and Small 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. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Today I get to share a wonderful quilt book, Little Quilts by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger. Two things interested me with this book. First the idea of little quilts will mean easier (smaller and quicker) projects so it will not take me months to make one and second little quilts are often doll size. With Hazel being so focused on her dolls she wants doll quilts, so I figured this book would help me get creative!!

Merry Christmas 2014

I will be spending Christmas with my family, but will be back for Sharing Saturday!! But until then, here are a few Christmas Features from this week's Sharing Saturday. Many have ideas for things to do this year in case you need them!!

1) From Stimulating Learning with Rachel: Christmas 1 (Lots of ideas and lessons)

2) From Lou Lou Girls: Christmas Singing Time Idea for Children

3) From Multicultural Kid Blogs: Celebrating Christmas Musical Traditions Around the World

4) From Like Mama ~ Like Daughter: Elfing

1) From Brain Power Boy: LEGO Learning: Christmas Projects to Make

2) From A Well Balanced Life: 29 Holiday Snacks for Kids

3) From Powerful Mothering: Kid Made: Feather & Pipe Cleaner Angels

4) From Tiny Tots Adventures: Candy Cane Ornaments

Christmas Crafts & Sewing: Elf on the Shelf, The Christmas Story, and Frozen

Well with Christmas fast approaching, I thought I would share a bunch of the things we have been up to lately. It is amazing how fast Christmas is coming. Between Hazel and I getting sick I feel like we have not gotten everything done that I hoped. Now we are hoping Hazel's fever stays away long enough for her not to be contagious (she has strep and possibly something else) so we can celebrate with extended family. With my time I have been doing some sewing and am working on a quilt to review a quilt book hopefully later this week since I'm hoping to have the quilt as part of Hazel's Christmas gift.

Gift Bringers Around the World

So the other day Hazel came home from school and told me she had been arguing with some of her friends at school about whether Santa Claus is real or not. She asked who was right. In the past (maybe November) I told her Santa Clause only brings gifts to children who believe in him. She grew very concerned that one of her friends at school did not believe in him so she wouldn't get any gifts. At almost six I didn't want to ruin the magic for her, but I was not going to lie to her face. We had a discussion of how she learned about St. Nicholas in her old Waldorf School and how Santa Claus came from his stories. However since St. Nicholas is no longer alive there really is not a Santa Claus alive, so Mommy and Daddy buy the gifts from him since the spirit of Santa Claus is really part of the holiday spirit. She took this information and decided she was right--there is a Santa Claus. The next day she wanted to get her picture with Santa again at the mall when we were there (though she did tell this Santa that she already told the Santa at the other mall what she wanted for Christmas and he did not know what to say to that).

Of course I should add that the two Santas looked very different from each other. Having just written the history of Christmas trees and Christmas tree traditions around the world post, I was curious as to the Santa Clauses or Gift Bringers from around the world. I of course turned to two of my favorite sources for information, Multicultural Kid Blogs bloggers and the library!

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #22

Please note this is NOT Sharing Saturday, but the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop. If you do not have multicultural activities, crafts, etc. to share, you can still share at Sharing Saturday.

Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop!

The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time!

Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs.

This month our co-hosts are:

Multicultural Kid Blogs  
Crystal's Tiny Treasures  
Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes 
 All Done Monkey

Crafty Moms Share  
For the Love of Spanish

Eva Varga  
Tara Kamiya

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place for you to share your creative kids culture posts. It's very easy, and simple to participate! Just follow these simple guidelines:

Sharing Saturday 14-51

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! While I was busy taking care of my sick little girl, many amazing ideas were shared as well as a few germs since now I have the illness. Our features are completely holiday related. With the start of Hanukkah this week there are a few Hanukkah Features and then lots of Christmas Features including a section on Christmas trees (crafts and crafts for the tree).

Hanukkah Features

1) From Living Montessori Now: Free Hanukkah Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time

2) From Royal Little Lambs: Celebrating Light

Mutlicultural Product Review: Dutched Up! Rocking the Clogs Expat Style

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book to review free of charge from Multicultural Kid Blogs as part of the Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Today's post is about a wonderful new e-book written by a group of bloggers who live in the Netherlands. The book is Dutched Up! Rocking the Clogs Expat Style by Olga Mecking, Lynn Morrison, et. al. Many of the authors are also members of Multicultural Kid Blogs. This book is an adult book but many of the stories can be shared with children as well.

Have you ever considered moving to a new country? Did you ever wonder what it might be like to adjust to the different culture there? I know I think about it when I watch HGTV's House Hunters International. Then it is more about just the different home styles--room size, kitchen differences, etc. This book shares stories from women who came from all over the world to live in the Netherlands. The women describe some of the things they had to adjust to in this new country. The stories are divided into twelve chapters and share the tales of everything from culture shock to doctor's visits, transportation to throwing a party and so much more. 

Some common themes are the height differences and the bicycles. Did you know Dutch people are among the tallest people around and their homes show it? Or that most Dutch people own multiple bicycles since it is a major form of transportation? The stories shared are funny and real. Some will make you cry and all of them will give you a better picture of what it is like to live in the Netherlands and perhaps give you insight into things to consider before moving to a new country. 

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about the Dutch culture or is considering a move to a new country or just wants to be entertained. I hope you will check it out!

Multicultural Product Review -- Celebrate Christmas Around the World

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Multicultural Kid Blogs as part of the Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Today I am going to review for you a wonderful Christmas product. It is a e-book/packet to learn about Christmas celebrations in other countries and is published by Multicultural Kid Blogs. It seems like the perfect time to share this with you since we just did our Christmas in Different Lands post yesterday. Plus Christmas is on Hazel's mind. She has been home sick much of this week but started to get bored and decided to play Mary.

Christmas in Different Lands -- New England

This post is part of the Christmas in Different Lands series from Multicultural Kid Blogs.  Be sure to visit the main page and Pinterest board!

This year instead of investigating what Christmas is like in another country, I decided to share Christmas in our neck of the woods. Of course then I had to wonder "What defines Christmas time in New England?" 
 

Map of New England Source

In many ways I often feel like Christmas time is a step back in time in parts of New England. Many houses (and almost all the churches) are still decorated with white lights on the tree, candles in the windows and a wreath on the door. I tried to get a picture of our church at night, but the candle light seems to blur.

My First Chess Book -- Book Review

Disclosure: Ryland, Peters and Small 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. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease but receive no compensation.

My husband loves chess though he hardly ever plays anymore. He has a collection of chess boards around the house so Hazel has always been curious about chess. I have only played chess a handful of times in my life. I was taught by a boyfriend from high school/college time and played a few times since dating him. I am not much competition for Steve. I thought My First Chess Book by Jessica E. Prescott could help us teach Hazel how to play and hopefully help improve my game. 

Multicultural Product Review-- A Little Mandarin

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from A Little Mandarin as part of the Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Today I get to review for you an award winning CD. The CD is A Little Mandarin by Toni Wang, a Shanghai born New York City mother. This CD has fifteen classic Chinese songs. Many are to familiar tunes and some are the familiar songs in Chinese. The music is very upbeat and perfect for little ears to hear. Here is a little introduction to it, so you can check it out yourself.

Sharing Saturday 14-50

This weekend was planning on I taking off with a girlfriend for a much needed mommies weekend away, but Hazel developed a fever, so plans postponed. However the party will still go on!! Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! This week's features are divided into Multicultural Holidays, Christmas and Winter and Stars. I went a little crazy with the number of features so I hope you enjoy them all!!

Multicultural Holidays

1) From Multicultural Kid Blogs: Hanukkah for Kids

2) From Dad's The Way I Like It: A Toddler's Christmas in Wales

3) From Planet Smarty Pants: Christmas Around the World -- Germany

4) From A Life in Balance: Swedish Christmas Braid

Christmas Features

1) From An Idea on Tuesday: Vegetable Printing Nativity

2) From Christianity Cove: Holiday Snack Idea: Jelly Bean Christmas Trees

3) From A Life in Balance: Easy Gingerbread House for Christmas

4) From Best Toys for Toddlers: No-Sew & No-Glue Paper Roll Christmas Elves

5) From Kandy Kreations: Christmas Shepherd 2 Nativity Advent Calendar Gift Idea Day 5

Winter and Star Features

1) From The Practical Mom: DIY Christmas Decoration: Star Lantern

2) From Sunshine and Hurricanes: Frozen Inspired Christmas Crafts

3) From Life with Moore Babies: Egg Carton Snowmen

4) From In the Playroom: Kid Made Star Display Inspired by How to Catch a Star

5) From Say Not Sweet Anne: Creamy 3 Ingredient Hot Cocoa

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

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From Your Hostess: This week we shared some simple nativity crafts, reviewed some books for traveling from home, shared the history of the Christmas tree and some customs and trees from around the world, and shared our persimmon exploration!

Now for This Week's Party 


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