Kid's Bunny Diorama -- a Crafty Weekends Post & Link Party

This week our craft is actually one Hazel made. She made it at a workshop at Paper Source this week. I happened to be the teacher of the workshop though. She picked to make a bunny themed diorama. We used the small vanilla (white) shirt box for the diorama. For the person and her clothes came from the Paper Doll Kit.  The bunny ears and bunnies were cut on a Cameo Silhouette. The flowers and leaves were from punches.

Vacation Week Crafts - a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing 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.

This past week was Hazel's spring break. We have had quite the week and a half. The last week of school included Hazel's class's Easter play and my parents came to see her and celebrate Easter with us early. Then my sister came to go to the Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday with us. Then we celebrated with my mother-in-law on Easter Sunday. On Monday we headed to the American Girl Doll Store Boston (which is not in Boston). Hazel had saved almost enough to buy herself a doll. We loaned her the last $30 since we were going. My plan had been to take her so she could really decide which doll she wanted. Seeing the dolls in person helped her really decide which were her top picks. Some that had been top picks fell off the list in person. After a bit of thought she decided on Kit Kitteredge. She LOVES the books about Kit, so I thought this was a wonderful choice.

Crafts from Recycled Materials (Valentine Themed) -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent these products 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.

Happy New Year!! Crafty Weekends has been on hold for a few weeks due to the holidays and Hazel's birthday parties. We are back this week with a review of two great children's craft books using things from your recycle bin!! I put a Valentine's Day twist onto the ones I made. I am also providing you with some free printable Valentines in case you do not want to make the crafts to go with them. 

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.

Princess Hazel -- I See Me! Personalized Book Review for National Princess Week

* Disclosure: The Gymboree and Little Passport links in this post are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Disclosure: I See Me! Inc.  gave me a copy of this book and ornament free of charge. 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.

Did you know there is a National Princess Week every April? It is always the last full week in April. It started in 2012 when Julie Andrews, Target and Disney joined together to create it. Julie Andrews's website says "Believe in yourself! Only then can you truly let your sparkle out for all the world to see." (Source) The website also has a post of 30 Ways to Celebrate National Princess Week.  We chose a fun way to celebrate and started a bit early. I See Me! sent us the Princess Personalized Book. All I have to say is Hazel was really excited when it came! 

Easter Bunny Crafts & More from Oriental Trading Company -- Crafty Weekends 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 the products for your convenience but do not receive anything if you buy from them.

Easter is only three weeks away!! It is early this year. I have been seeing so many cute bunny things this year and I wanted to jump on the band wagon. I asked Oriental Trading Company to help me make some fun bunny crafts and a few other Easter things. I fell in love with the bunny tote bag at work, but didn't want to spend the money on it since it looked easy enough to do a DIY if I had the canvas bags. So I asked for the DIY White Bags and got to work.  On one of them I hand stitched the eyes, whiskers and mouth and sewed on a pink pom pom (from Hazel's collection) for the nose. On the other I used fabric paint and glued on the pink pom pom.

Sharing Saturday 16-10

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, 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 the Creative Kids Cultural Blog Hop lasts all month for anything cultural or diversity posts!! Be sure to join us at it!!

 Thank you to everyone who shared at last week's party!!  I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! The features this week are Book Related and Everything Else. 

Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party -- Book Review & Costume

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me an advance 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.

Have you discovered The Princess in Black yet? I wrote about our discovery of this amazing series back in July. Hazel chose The Princess in Black as her prize for finishing the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program. It had been a tough choice, but she was really glad with the outcome!! This became one of her favorite books ever. Then we discovered that a new Princess in Black book was coming out October 13th and from Candlewick Press--one of our favorite publishers. I asked for a review copy and they sent it right away. Can I tell you how excited Hazel was to have the second book in the series months early? Oh, my, she has been telling everyone about it. Anyway, today we are sharing The Princess in Black and The Perfect Princess Party by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale and illustrated by LeUyen Pham. 

Themed Play Dates -- Oriental Trading Products 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. I am including links to the products for your convenience but do not receive anything if you buy from them.

Perhaps it is my love of planning parties and such, but I love throwing themed play dates for Hazel and her friends and Hazel really enjoys them. This summer we have had or will have three different themed play dates and we used some products from Oriental Trading to make them even more fun. The themes are fairies, mermaids and Bible stories: Creation and Noah's Ark. 

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Abadeha: the Philippine Cinderella

I am doing our Fairy Tale in Different Cultures a day early. I am hoping to have our dish from Croatia tomorrow. I hope you will come see what we make!

Continuing with our Asian-Pacific theme for May, I thought I would share another Cinderella tale this time from the Philippines. The book is Abadeha: The Philippine Cinderella adapted by Myrna J. de la Paz. Before I share the story and craft, a bit about the Philippines.

Source: Lonely Planet

The Philippines is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia. It lies in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of over 7,000 islands. The total area of the country is about 115,831 square miles making it the 64th largest country in the world. It is a constitutional republic with a presidential system. Filipino and English are the official languages however there are over 171 living languages spoken there. The capital is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon city. It is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator and as a result is prone to earthquakes and typhoons. Its rainforests and coastlines provide diverse ranges of birds, animals and plants. It has one of the highest discovery rates in the world with sixteen new species of mammals discovered in the last ten years. They have many unique species of animals as well as plants like many rare orchids and rafflesia.

In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan arrived and claimed the islands for Spain. The Spanish established Manilla as the capital city in 1571. The Spanish fought many wars with indigenous people as well as other countries for control of the Philippines. The Spanish introduced the idea of free public schooling as well as Christianity. They also brought many different types of food from the Americas like pineapple, corn, chili peppers and tomatoes. In 1898, Spain sold their rights to the United States for 20 million dollars as part of the 1898 Treaty of Paris. In 1935 the Philippines were granted Commonwealth status. During World War II the Japanese Empire invaded and took control until the Allied Forces defeated them in 1945. The Philippines became a founding member of the United Nations and the United States recognized its independence in 1946. 

Now onto our story. The story begins as many Cinderella tales do. A fisherman named Abek, his wife, Abadesa, and their beautiful daughter, Abadeha, live happily  in the islands called the Philippines. When Abadeha is thirteen her mother suddenly gets sick and dies. Abek and Abadeha are filled with sorrow. Eventually Abek marries a widow from another island who has two daughters of her own. He hopes to make a loving family for himself and Abadeha. However the stepmother immediately notice how plain and mean-spirited her daughters are in comparison to Abadeha. Abek is away from the home more since he has a larger family to support and while he is away the stepmother mistreats Abadeha making her work from morning to night cleaning the house, cooking all the meals, fetching the water from the river and tending the stove. She is often covered with soot and each night she is so tired she falls asleep on the kitchen floor. Her stepsisters began to tease her for her dirtiness. The stepmother begins to throw impossible tasks for Abadeha to do like change a black handkerchief to white and a white one to black or she will be whipped. Abadeha goes to the river crying and missing her mother. She cries out a prayer of sorts to her mother and the creator of earth. Suddenly the Spirit of the Forest appears and promises Abadeha that all of her hard work and patience will be rewarded. Then she changes the handkerchiefs for her. When Abadeha returns home, her stepmother is angry that she was able to do it. The next morning she has Abadeha spread newly harvested rice on a mat to dry and then pound the winnow and cook the rice for the evening meal. While Abadeha works in the kitchen a wild pig wanders into the yard and eats the rice while the stepmother watches. The stepmother does nothing until the pig has left and then tortures Abadeha and tells her she must mend the mat that the pig shredded.  Abadeha takes the shreds of mat to the river and says her prayer again. The Spirit of the Forest comes even quicker this time. She has female spirits quickly repair the mat and gives Abadeha a sarimanok. A sarimanok is a chicken with a long flowing tail and feathers the color of the rainbow. The stepmother is annoyed again when she sees Abadeha has completed the task. She takes the sarimanok from her and tells her she will take care of her pet for her. Early the next morning she chops off its head and feet and begins cooking it for dinner. Abadeha sees it and weeps. She grabs its feet and runs to the river. The Spirit tells her to bury the feet by her mother's grave and to pray to her ancestors. She does this and plants a garden around her mother's grave as well. It is awhile before she returns to her mother's grave and when she does she discovers a tree filled with treasures like jewelry and gowns. She grabs a few pieces of jewelry and keeps the enchanted tree to herself. 

While hunting in the forest, the son of the island chieftain saw a sarimanok. He followed it to Abadeha's secret garden. He took a ring from the tree and put it on his finger. When he returned home his finger began to swell and he could not get the ring off. He told his father about his finger and how he was in great pain. His father sent for the Babaylan, the priest healer. The Babylan told him he had to listen to his heart. That night the pain in the prince's finger was so great and he had a dream where a sarimanok brings him an orchid and when the prince kisses the flower it turns into a beautiful maiden who shows him the ring in her hand. He tells his father of the dream and his father announces that the girl who can remove the ring from his son's finger will marry his son. When Abadeha heard this announcement she asked her stepmother to go and her stepmother locked her in the kitchen and then went to take a nap. The Spirit of the Forest came and unlocked the door for her. When she arrived her stepsisters were there. They began to yell at her for being there. The prince heard the commotion and asked Abadeha to come to him. She lovingly was able to take the ring off his finger even if she was dressed in rags. The prince was overjoyed and married her. Abadeha wore the golden gown and the jewelry from the enchanted tree. Her father came home just in time for the wedding. The prince banished the stepmother and her daughters to the chicken yard. Abadeha and the prince shared their happiness and wealth with the people on the islands and lived in peace and love and harmony. 

In the author's note it is mentioned that this story is a traditional Philippine folktale that has disappeared from mainstream Philippine folk literature. With more than 300 years of Spanish colonization and a century of Americanization this is a common casualty there. She wanted to record the story before it was lost forever.

As a craft I made a paper plate sarimanok. I did it similar to the sea gulls Hazel and I made at the library a few weeks ago. I added the red comb and the tail of rainbow feathers. It is very easy.

For other Asian-Pacific Island Cinderella tales check out:

• Golden Sandals: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Tale
• The Golden Slipper: A Vietnamese Cinderella Tale
• Chinese Cinderella Tales
• The Korean Cinderella
• Kongi and Potgi: A Cinderella Tale from Korea
• Kao and the Golden Fish A Cinderella tale from Thailand
• The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Tale from Indonesia

Spring Fever: Planting Hazel's Meadow/Garden

Spring has finally hit our area. It is hard to believe it is already May and the temperatures are just getting to be springlike. After school and gymnastics class, Hazel wanted to come home and get outside. I didn't blame her. She asked if she could plant some flowers in her garden. A few weeks ago we read Henry Cole's On Meadowview Street and Hazel wanted to do what Caroline did in the book.

In this book, a young girl named Caroline moves into a new house on Meadowview Street. While her family is settling in she decides to see if there is a meadow on Meadowview Street. On her way to see, she sees one lone flower growing in the middle of the lawn. She wants to save the flower and finds some sticks and string to rope it off. As the flower grows more flowers come up and she expands her meadow. Birds and bugs come to visit and soon she wants a tree. Eventually her whole yard is a meadow and some of the neighbors follow suit. 

Since we don't have a random flower in the middle of our yard, Hazel decided she would do it in her garden. Last year Steve dug me a new garden with better sunlight, so my old garden became Hazel's. It has my oregano and our raspberry bushes in it, but otherwise is hers to play and/or plant. Since she wanted a meadow, I bought her some butterfly and hummingbird flower seeds. We also found all the flower seeds from the past couple years that hadn't been finished. We figured we can see what will grow. The first thing we had to do was get rid of the weeds. Hazel took out her hoe, but I didn't get any pictures of it. Steve dug up some of the oregano (which has taken over this garden the past few years) and then our landscaper came and he wanted some to take home so he dug up the rest of what I didn't want. Once the weeds were up, Hazel began planting the seeds. I planted some of the milkweed seeds we found in the beginning of April. Then I explained to Steve that she wanted to rope it off like the girl in the book. He pulled out some of my stakes and I gave them some string. 

We also released her ladybugs today. They did not seem to want to leave their plastic home, so we put it in the garden.

Hazel had so much fun, digging, planning and planting. I hope some of it grows for her, but I figured we can always buy some annuals if they don't. For now the fun is just the hope and getting out there. Plus we let her do what she wanted with all the seeds. She asked for help with pouring them into her cup.

She and I discussed where to plant the sunflowers. This year I bought her pink sunflowers (Ms. Mars from Burpee). I hope they grow since she is so excited for them. I also found an old pack of yellow sunflowers and we mixed them up for her. 

Steve asked if she wanted a scarecrow for her garden and put it in for her. Then he helped her rope it off (while I took a nap). 

When Hazel came in, I ran out to get a picture of the final product. They added some more things like a "Welcome to my garden" sign and fences. Hazel also wants to put her wooden bird feeder and bird bath that she and Steve put together. That may be tomorrow's adventure.

Hopefully later in the year, we will have a butterfly and hummingbird paradise. I'll let you know!

For more of our gardening posts check out:

• Gardening Blog Hop
• The Garden Classroom Book Review
• Spring Flowers and Wildlife
• Fairy Garden 2012 
• Starting Seeds and Other Gardening Projects
• Earth Day 2014
• My Gardening Pinterest Board

Simple Spring Needle Felted Projects

Today I have a quick post for you. I made these crafts about a month ago and was inspired by the beautiful needle felted bunnies shared at Sharing Saturday by ZingZing Tree: Needle Felt Easter Bunny (Cookie Cutter). But before I get into my crafts a few quick May Announcements!! First Happy Belated May Day!!

Virtual Book Club for Kids

The author for Virtual Book Club for Kids this month is Mem Fox!! Join us starting May 12th for posts about her books!

Around the World in 12 Dishes

This month we are stopping in Croatia. Join us starting May 19th for exploring Croatia and the fun dishes we all make.

Now for my needle felting. I used some Easter cookie cutters to make these shapes. I did not have as cute of a bunny cookie cutter as ZingZing Tree, but I did have a tulip and a jumping bunny.

The bunny is very easy. You put your roving into the cookie cutter and then felt it trying to make sure the entire shape is filled in. You also will want to flip your shape (and cutter) to felt both sides. I am thinking of adding an eye, but haven't done it yet.

The tulip I made three dimensional. I needle felted two tulips from our cookie cutter and then cut one in half and needle felted it to the middle line of the first one. Then I added a green stem. I used a pipe cleaner in the stem to make it more steady, but it still bends. Of course many tulip stems bend too, so I like it.

Today feels like the first day of spring. It is actually suppose to finally warm up a bit. Hopefully the warm will stay this time!! I am not liking this cold spring. Everything around here is behind as a result. Happy May!!

For some more flower crafts and spring crafts check out:

• Spring Fairies 
• Tulip and Daffodil Peg Dolls 
•  Daffodil Fairy and Other Flower Fairies 
•  Flower Fairies and Love Bugs
• Sister Spring and Crocus Fairy (with other flower fairies) 
• Paper Lillies and Daffodils 
• Decorated Spring Buckets 
• Ava's Poppy with Paper Poppy Craft 
• Flower and Water Play and Science 
• Spring Flower Match Game
• Sunflower Picture Frame Magnets with Personalized Poem/Song You Are My Sunshine
• Spring Pinterest Board
  

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Beauty and the Beast

I know I have not been sharing my Monday Fairy Tales in Different Cultures. I was taking a little break since the truth is I was getting a little sick of Cinderella tales. However I discovered a wonderful version of Beauty and the Beast retold by H. Chuku Lee. The story is pretty much the classical story, however the pictures are beautiful! The illustrations are done with a West Africa influence. The illustrator is Pat Cummings.

The pictures like I said are amazing and it is nice to see a classic story set in a different place. I love that it is a multicultural book. Like in the classic story, Beauty is the youngest daughter and asks her father to bring her back a rose unlike her older sisters who have long wish lists. The father runs into trouble and then is out during a storm. He founds a palace to stay in with invisible staff. As he is leaving the next morning he notices the flower garden and picks a rose for Beauty. The Beast appears and threatens to kill him. He asks to say goodbye to his family before he is killed. The Beast allows this. Beauty insists on returning with her father since it was her rose that caused the problem. The Beast is willing to allow her father to live if Beauty stays in his palace. Beauty agrees to keep her father alive. Over time Beauty becomes to enjoy her dinners with the Beast. The Beast asks her several times to marry him and she always answers no. His servants give her anything she wants from beautiful dresses and jewels to basically whatever she desires as long as she stays. The Beast gives her a magic mirror that she can see what is happening at her home from the castle. One day she sees that her father is sick and she begs the Beast to let her go and see her father. He agrees as long as she returns in seven days. She promises. However while home with her sisters she decides to stay longer then worries that the Beast may be dying since he said this would happen if she did not return. She goes back to the castle and dresses for dinner, but the Beast does not show up for dinner. She runs to the garden to find him collapsed and dying. She tells him he has to live so she can marry him. With that declaration of love, the Beast turns into a handsome prince. Beauty and the Beast are married and her entire family moves into the palace.

The introduction to the book says Beauty and the Beast was first told in 1740 by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot Gallon de Villeneuve.

Welcome, Spring!! Spring Craft Round-Up

What comes to mind when you think spring? There are so many wonderful parts to spring. The weather gets warmer; the flowers bloom; the world seems to wake up and then there are all the animals that return. Since spring officially began today at 12:57 p.m., I thought we would do a round-up of my spring crafts, activities and books so far on Crafty Moms Share. I will do an Easter round up another time and I did a Lent round up a couple of weeks ago.

Sharing Saturday 14-9

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There was a little technical problem on the part of Linky Tools and I apologize for it. Apparently they were upgrading there servers and had a hard drive crash. It was the one with the images for the linky parties. Of the three back-ups only one was good and it did not include anything from 2014. Thus why all the images for the Linky Tool link parties for 2014 are gone. However the few that linked up after this issue still have their image and all the links still work. However I did still pick many features to share with you and highly suggest you check out some of the great ideas even without the pictures.

Christmas Crafts Round-Up from 2011 - 2013

Last week I did a round-up of some of our favorite Christmas books that really share the story of Christmas or the giving spirit. This week I thought I would share a round-up of the Christmas crafts we have done since Crafty Moms Share started. But before we share our past crafts here is a clip angel we made for one of Hazel's angel crafts from her Advent calendar this year. I was inspired by the Easy Paperclip Angel Ornament on Crafty Journal that I saw on Pinterest.

We used glittery pipe cleaners instead of ribbon and wooden beads instead of pearls.

I think the pipe cleaner made it easier for Hazel to do on her own. We made two before breakfast one morning. Now as I was going through my Christmas crafts of the past, I discovered I had too many for just one collage (Picmonkey wouldn't let me put them in one), so I made four. Two are general Christmas crafts, one is nativity crafts and one is "gingerbread" house crafts.

1) Felt  Peace Dove (Advent Week 2: Peace)
2) Paper Star Bag (Christmas Prep)
3) Felt Covered Ornaments
4) More Felt Covered Ornaments (Simple Christmas Ornaments/Decorations)
5) Snow Globes (apparently I didn't share these before, but they have liquid in them)
6) Painted Wooden Ornaments
7)  Painted Cardboard/Paper Mache Ornaments
8) Paper Advent Wreath
9) Coffee Cup Christmas Tree
10) Coffee Cup Angel
11) Kenyan-inspired Clay Ornaments
12) Kenyan-inspired Wire Ornament
13) Simple Christmas Cards (Operation Christmas)
14) Felt St. Nicholas
15) Felt Candy Cane Mouse (Holiday Stroll)
16)  Hope Ornament (Hope--First Week of Advent)

1) Felt Sheep
2) Our Salt Dough Ornaments
3) Angels, Angels Everywhere and Angels with a Toddler and  Some Angels
4) Pasta Wreath
5) Pasta Tree
6) Needle Felted Dala Horse
7) Needle Felted Elf
8)  Mini Advent Wreath (Advent Calendars -- Start of Advent)
9) Popsicle Stick & Button Trees
10) Button Tree Card
11) Straw Christmas Tree (Christmas Crafts for Kids ebook Review)
12) Snow Globes (Busy Day Getting Ready for Christmas)
13) Jingle Bell Crafts
14) Punched Paper Chain
15) Felt Ornaments
16) Fruit Candy Cane (Christmas Crafts for Kids ebook Review)
17) Toddler Fun Tongue Depressor Elf
18) Stick Reindeer (A Lovely Visit)
19) Christmas Book Ornaments (A Lovely Visit)
20) Beaded Wreath Pin
21) Winter Flower Fairies
22) Poinsettia Fairy
23) Painted Pine Cones
24) Applesauce and Cinnamon Ornaments
25) More Salt Dough Ornaments

Foam Trees and Gingerbread Men

Pine Cone Christmas Trees & Busy Weekend Slow Down

Beaded Candy Canes

Beaded Candy Canes

Nativity Crafts

1)  Nativity Bracelet (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
2) Foam Nativity Kit
3) Cloth Nativity
4) Toilet Paper Roll Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and
5) Wooden Nativity Pieces (Advent Week 2: Peace and Advent Calendars--Start of Advent)
6) Craft Stick & Felt Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and Busy Weekend)
7) Felt Nativity Ornament
8) Needle Felted Nativity (Sharing Christmas and Needle Felting)
9) Treble Clef Savior (Hope--First Week of Advent)
10) Gingerbread Graham Cracker Creche (Hope--First Week of Advent)
11) Wooden Nativity Craft (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
12) Nativity Earrings (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
13) Colored Wooden Nativity (Operation Christmas)
14) Nativity Story Stones
15) Printable Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and Sharing Saturday with Free Printables)

1) Toddler "Gingerbread" House
2) Valentine's Day Gingerbread House
3) Valentine's Day Gingerbread House
4) Gingerbread Train
5) Christmas Prep 2012
6) Post Christmas Gingerbread House
7) Mortimer's Gingerbread House (Virtual Book Club for Kids: Mortimer's Christmas Manger)

Decorating for Halloween & Fall

Have you entered my new current giveaway?

This past weekend we made a very easy Halloween decoration. Our decoration was inspired by the DIY Halloween Tissue Ghosts I saw over at Shindigz back when I was doing a review for them. I happened to find the tissue paper bells on clearance at the Christmas Tree Shop and I think I paid something like a dollar for all four. Then we took a piece of black construction paper and cut out eyes and mouths. I let Hazel cut her own and then we glued them on.

Since the bells had strings and the bottoms had the round ball that would ring the bell, we hung them on our chandelier to greet anyone who comes to our front door. Since we were hanging them, we skipped the tulle as well.

I guess we did a good job since Steve thought I had bought them that way. We also hung the extra spider web we had leftover from our various crafts and added the big spider we used at Hazel's nursery rhyme birthday party for Little Miss Muffet.

We also went on a wonderful nature walk around our neighborhood. We of course took our wagon (to carry everything and in case Hazel got tired) and a bag to collect things. We some saw fun mushrooms. We thought this one might be a fairy bathtub or pool.

And here is a fairy village.

The colors were also beautiful on the walk.

The trees have been so wonderful this fall. The colors are so vibrant.

We were collecting leaves and such and Hazel picked up a stick and started putting leaves on her stick. She decided it was a leaf stick. It came out beautifully and we have it sitting in a glass jar on our table now.

We planned on making more, but haven't made it out there yet.

But in the jar it looks like a flower. We love it! How are you bringing nature in to celebrate the season?