Sharing Saturday 17-32

It is time again for Sharing Saturday! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. So glad you joined us!!

On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop.

Books for Earth Day

Disclosure: I was sent these books 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.

Saturday is Earth Day and to get ready for it, we have been having fun with many different books that go along with the Earth Day theme. I started sharing some on butterflies with you last night. Today we have many more on different themes. We will start with 23 Ways to be an Eco Hero by Isabel Thomas. 

Heart & Fairy Crafts -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

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

This month I have been working many weekends at the store. Hazel has been missing me quite a bit, so this weekend I devoted time to spend with her when I was not working. She wanted to have a pretend sleepover in our family room, so she set up her sleeping bags and made a pretend pizza and snacks. Then we played a card game and decided to do some crafts. She had gotten as a gift The Fairy Kit. 

Reflections on the work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther KIng, Jr. and a simple craft

As I thought about what I wanted to do this year for Martin Luther King Day for Kids I reflected on what we have done in the past. We have shared numerous books on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as other Civil Rights Activists. We have done various crafts about unity and diversity and peace. I'll be honest I wasn't sure what to do. Hazel understands the teachings of Dr. King and we have focused quite a bit on the Civil Rights Movement in the past. I want to first reflect on a few things.

Fairy & Ice Cream Party Updates

Disclosure:  Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

I am finally stopping to catch up after the holidays and Hazel's birthday. Today I am going to share some of the details of her two birthday parties. First we always have a family and adult and younger kid party for her birthday. This year we decided on an ice cream theme. I made invitations with My Memories Suite.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures & Fairy Tale Baking!

Disclosure: I was sent these products 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.

Now I have been planning on reviewing these two amazing books from Crocodile Books USA. I had planned to write this review on Monday, but this week has gotten away from me, so here I am writing it on Wednesday. I am planning however on bringing back Fairy Tales in Different Cultures back in the new year, so stay tuned!! Our first book for today is The Crystal Mountain retold and illustrated by Ruth Sanderson. 

Felting with Crafty Felt Products -- A Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

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

Recently I heard from My Crafty Felt to see if I would review her wool roving or needle felt kits here and I agreed. She recently opened her Esty store and is selling a very high quality wool. She is in Europe but ships worldwide. I know here in the United States I often have trouble finding good needle felting supplies so I am very excited about this. After looking at her selection I asked to be sent the Nudes with one change. Instead of the Black Coffee I wanted Soft Blanket because I knew I wanted to try to replicate an ornament I saw at Target. I wanted the Nudes because I am always looking for good skin tones to make people and currently Hazel wants fairies!! We are getting ready for her fun fairy tea party for her birthday party. So my first crafts were fairies.

Sharing Saturday 16-50

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop (a new one starts this week and I'm hosting). We also are hosting a Virtual Holiday Cookie/Treat Swap Around the World. Stop by to share your cultural treats and learn about various holiday traditions & recipes!!

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at last week's party! With the start of December we have a large number of Christmas posts being shared. Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have two groups of features: Holiday and Non-Holiday Features.

Fabulous Fairies Coloring Book -- A Relaxing Friday Review

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

Somehow my morning got away from me today, so this post is a little late. However I have been wanting to share this fun coloring book with you for awhile. It is Fabulous Fairies Coloring Book by Margaret Tarrant. I will admit when I saw it I knew Hazel would love it and she has colored more of the pictures than I have. In fact I usually cannot get it to color since she is always coloring in it.

Fairies and Princesses

Disclosure: I was sent these products 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.

Yesterday I shared some fabric pumpkins including a tutorial for Crafty Weekends and we are having our largest party yet!! While I was making the pumpkins Hazel was sewing with my mother's help. She made a quilt for her china doll. Hazel sewed the squares together. My mother had cut them and then finished the quilt for her on her machine. Hazel is very proud of it and came home and worked on another one.

Non-Scary Halloween Part 1 -- Peanuts Party, Teal Pumpkin & More

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.

It is October and this is Hazel's least favorite month. Many of the Halloween decorations and costumes scare her. In fact there are only a few stores she will go into with me this time of year. Yes, just seeing the Halloween displays can give her nightmares. But she does love to dress-up and loves to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, so I always try to find a friendly way to celebrate Halloween. Last year we did a Christian Halloween party. This year Hazel discovered Snoopy and the Peanuts gang so thanks to Oriental Trading we are hosting a Peanuts themed Halloween party. 

Imagination Builders -- Back to School

Disclosure: I was sent these products 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.

Have your children started school yet? Almost everyone I know has or will this week.  I have decided to share products that will help everyone who homeschools or just supplements their kids' schools with learning at home. Today's focus is building imagination. For reasons why building one's imagination is important you can check out this article in the Wall Street Journal and this article at Huffington Post. The first item I am sharing is a new book by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston called A Child of Books. 

Summertime Fun Ideas from Oriental Trading

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 the products for your convenience but do not receive anything if you buy from them.

So one of the things that got me going on our Summertime Fun Series is this amazing review for Oriental Trading. We picked out a variety of things to review to bring different summertime activities to you. Hope you will try some of them out.

The Fairiest Fairy -- Book Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of these books 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.

This week I have been on a fairy and fairy tale train. So I figured I would continue it with one of the sweetest fairy books around or almost around (it is being released on April 26th). We love this one!! It is The Fairiest Fairy by Anne Booth and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw. 

Betty is a fairy that just never gets things quite right. She was always messing up all of her fairy spells and behaviors, however she would always stop what she was suppose to do for fairy school and help an animal in need. Every year the fairy king and queen had a fairy ball and selected the fairiest fairy of all. Of course to be picked the fairy had to perform all the fairy tricks that Betty could not do quite right. However all the animals she stopped to help come to help her and she is chosen because Betty demonstrates how to be a friend and that helping others is what matters. 

This adorable book is written in rhyme. The story is quite lovely and fun and the pictures are just adorable. They are colorful and yet simple. The book is a feel good book and really demonstrates the importance of helping others and being a good friend which is always a lesson a young child needs to be reminded of a few times. Hazel of course loves it. First it is about fairies and second it has a message that is very true to her. She is in many ways like Betty and for that I am proud. I hope you will check out this wonderful book!!

Ninja & Bunny's Great Adventure -- Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent this ebook 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.

Welcome to the Ninja and Bunny Tour with

Author Kara S Tyler and Illustrator Sarah 

Pacetti

Today I’m hosting this stunning Children’s Picture Book about two sisters. It’s appropriate for all ages, boys and girls, and will delight parents as well with it’s great message and gorgeous illustrations. Check out my review below and make sure to enter the great giveaway at the end of this post with special prizes that fit the themes of adventure, fantasy, and heroism included in this book.

For awhile now Hazel has been into fairies. We love the Rainbow Magic series and are working our way through the various books in the series. However today we are sharing a fun new fairy adventure. Ninja and Bunny's Great Adventure by Kara S. Tyler and illustrated by Sara Pacetti shares the tale of two sisters who go on a fairy adventure.

Hamster Princess Series -- Book Reviews

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books gave 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.

I am always looking for princess books with not your pink frilly princesses. I want Hazel to have strong role models and see that girls do not have wait around for a man to save them. Well the Hamster Princess is one of those princesses. I will admit that I was not sure I would like them and for that matter that Hazel would (and she was worried she wouldn't). However we loved them. She begged me to read more than one chapter each night and often chose to just read these books and not the usual various picture books with a chapter or two of the chapter book. The first book Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon is based on the story of Sleeping Beauty. 

Origami Fun for Kids Kit & Fun Origami Paper -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this kit and packages of origami paper 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.

One of our favorite crafts is origami. Now I love origami for many different reasons including teaching math. Hazel loves creating the various things. Today we are sharing Origami Fun for Kids by Rita Foelker as well as two packs of origami paper: Japanese Bird Patterns and Kaleidoscope Patterns. 

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.

The Year of the Monkey -- Exploring Chinese New Year with books & Chinese New Year Link Party

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copies of these 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. 

We have explored the lunar new year and more specifically the Chinese New Year for several years now and have tried many different crafts, recipes and books (see below for a sampling and links). We have looked at the Chinese Zodiac and as of yesterday we have begun the year of the monkey. Last year was the year of the sheep.

A Monkey Valentine Craft from a Kit

 Since we are not Chinese or any of the cultures that celebrate the lunar new year, we do not do too much for our Chinese New Year except try to learn a bit about it. This year since we have an idea of the celebration and the stories behind it we decided to take a look at Chinese stories and especially ones involving the monkey.  We started with Celebrating Chinese Festivals by Sanmu Tung.

The Time Chamber -- New Year Resolution Review #4

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books 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.

On Monday I started a new series for this week: New Year Resolutions Review. My first goal for 2016 is to work with Hazel more regularly on her Spanish. My second goal was to find joy in my every day life. My third goal is to grow closer to Jesus. My fourth goal (and these are in no particular order) is to find time to relax. The product I am choosing to review today to help with my relaxation is an adult coloring book called The Time Chamber by Daria Song. Now this book is the second book and the first is The Time Garden, the first adult coloring book I reviewed.